Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 29, 1866.

You have heard what Elder Charles S. Kimball has said this afternoon relative to the general belief of the people in the old countries—That Brigham Young reads all letters before they leave this county, and if any are not written to suit him, they are destroyed by his order! In this way they account for so few letters reaching the members of the Church in distant lands from their friends here in Utah. I will now make a public request that the Saints hereafter cease to bring their letters to me, if there are any that have ever done such a thing; and I also request the postmasters throughout the Territory to stop sending all foreign letters to me for my inspection previous to mailing for abroad; that is, if they have ever done such a thing; and for this simple reason, that I have so much to do that I cannot possibly pay attention to such an extensive amount of reading. If any of you, or if any of the people in any part of the Territory have ever sent letters to me to read, previous to sending them to their friends abroad, be so kind as to take notice and cease to do this thing from this time henceforth. If any postmaster has ever sent me a single letter to read belonging to any person—Jew or Gentile, Saint or sinner—I request him never to do so again; for I have such an extensive correspondence of my own, that it is a very great labor for me to read and answer what I am obliged to do in my business and calling. People who suppose that I can see and read the foreign correspondence of this whole community, give me credit for an amount of physical and mental endurance which I do not possess.

Brother Charles has strongly requested those who have friends in the old country to write to them, and I would make the same request, that you write often to your fathers and mothers, and brothers and sisters and friends, and acquaintances and neighbors, whom you have left behind in those old countries. Tell them the truth with regard to the people here, and with regard to the country, and when you, who are going to that country, arrive there, tell the people the truth.

In this country there is ample opportunity for people to get rich, to gather up property, and accumulate and store up wealth, and the minds of the people are so occupied in this labor that they do not take time to write to their friends, and many not even to fulfill their promises to write. Some of those who have borrowed money of their friends in the old countries, and promised to work when they got to America and send it back again to them, have forgotten to do so. I am sorry to be obliged to say this. If I could have my way, every man who professes to be a Saint would act like a Saint. However, we are trying to be Saints. We have embraced the Gospel of the Son of God; we have embraced a marvelous work—a work which is a great wonder to all people. As the Prophet has said, “Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.”

The brethren have been testifying to the truth of this work, and there is not a man or a woman on this earth who receives the spirit of the Gospel but what can testify to its truth. We are the witnesses of this great work which the Lord has commenced in the latter days. Were you to ask me how it was that I embraced “Mormonism,” I should answer, for the simple reason that it embraces all truth in heaven and on earth, in the earth, under the earth, and in hell, if there be any truth there. There is no truth outside of it; there is no good outside of it; there is no virtue outside of it; there is nothing holy and honorable outside of it; for, wherever these principles are found among all the creations of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and his order and Priesthood, embrace them.

When we talk about making sacrifices for this work, the word to me is without meaning; for if a man desires to get a good name—a good character—if he wishes to make fast friends, if he wishes wealth, comfort, joy, and peace in all of his life here on the earth, let him embrace the truth and then live it. When the unbeliever has a realizing sense of his own condition, he lays down on his bed in sorrow, he wishes things were a little different; he lays down in sorrow, and wakes up in doubt, to live every hour and minute through the day in anxiety. There may be hours and minutes in which people forget themselves; but, when their minds dwell upon their situation and being in life, they are in doubt, they are in anxiety, darkness, and ignorance; they do not know who they are, what they are on the earth for; they know nothing of their pre-existence, or comparatively little of their present existence, only that they are here in the world, and by-and-by they will die and leave the world. Where they will go when they leave the world, they know not, and there are many who do not care. Some strive to be infidels to a great deal of that which is true, to that which it would be to their best interest to believe and know.

If you have truth, you have got what is called “Mormonism,” or, more properly, the Gospel of life and salvation. It is here, and it is nowhere else to the same extent that it is in the doctrine that this people say they have embraced. Do they know it all? In comparison to what we have yet to learn of the things of God, we are but babes and sucklings in the knowledge of God our Father, in the knowledge of his work and of the labor and the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ, that we profess to be so familiar with. If it can be said of us that we are children in the knowledge of God, we have progressed tolerably well.

It has been remarked this afternoon how difficult it is for our Elders to go forth and contend with the learning of the age. You heard the few remarks regarding the religions of the day, and the idea that generally prevails in Christian countries, that it requires men to be qualified, and learned, and eloquent to stand before the people to act as religious teachers. I will give you the reason why this is so. When a false theory has to be maintained, it requires to be set forth with much care; it requires study, and learning, and cunning sophistry to gild over a falsehood and give it the semblance of truth, and make it plausible and congenial to the feelings of the people; but the most simple and unlearned person can tell you the truth. A child can tell you the truth, in childlike language, while falsehood requires the lawyer and the priest to tell it to make it at all plausible; it requires a scholastic education to make falsehood pass for truth. Anciently, all the people, and the publicans, who heard Jesus, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, not being baptized of him. When a simple, honest-hearted man, sent of God with the truth to the world, shall question the most learned upholders of false theories, the gilding falls off, and falsehood, in all its deformity, stands naked and exposed. I have scores of times read from the Bible, and the people would declare that it was not the Christian Bible, but the “Mormon” Bible I was reading in; and to convince them to the contrary, would have to read the title page.

Men are educated to promulgate and sustain false theories to make money, and to create and uphold powerful sects. “And they teach with their learning, and deny the Holy Ghost, which giveth utterance.” “Because of pride, and because of false teachers, and false doctrine, their churches have become corrupted, and their churches are lifted up; because of pride they are puffed up. They rob the poor because of their fine sanctuaries; they rob the poor because of their fine clothing; and they persecute the meek and the poor in heart, because in their pride they are puffed up.” And all this because the fathers transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, and broke the everlasting covenant delivered unto them. The truth is easily understood, and as easily told. The agriculturist and the mechanic can tell the truth, and become efficient ministers of it, by living faithfully in accordance with what they know of the Gospel; for in this way they obtain the Holy Ghost, which giveth utterance. Education is a good thing, and blessed is the man who has it, and can use it for the dissemination of the Gospel without being puffed up with pride. “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things which are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.”

However good and useful a classical education may be in the possession of a good and wise man, yet it is not essentially necessary for him to have it to tell the simple truth which is given to mankind by the revelations of God, because it can be told by the simple and the unlearned. But if the profession of a lawyer is chosen by any person, he needs to be educated in all the learning of the age to be successful; for it is a hard thing for him to make a man appear innocent before a jury of his countrymen whom he knows to be guilty. It is a hard matter to make a jury of men endowed, not with great learning perhaps, but with hard sense, believe that white is black, and that black is white, as the case may be, to present the truth in such a way that they will believe it as a lie, and a lie in such a way that they will believe it as a truth. It requires a lawyer—a man who is well schooled in all that men know, to make things appear what they really are not.

That which will apply to law in this case will apply to a false religion. We take our young men who have been brought up in this community, and I care not whether they can read a chapter in the Bible or not, if they will repent and seek diligently for the Spirit of the Lord, and send them out into the world to preach the Gospel, and if they are faithful, they will be able, ere long, by the blessing of God, to confound the great and the wise of the age in matters of theology. “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.”

It was observed here this afternoon that it requires our boys to go into the world to preach the truth to know that “Mormonism” is true. The older portion of this community embraced the truth through the conviction of it, and prayed unto the Lord for the light of it, and they received the testimony of the Spirit of God; but our children do not know the greatness of their blessings and privileges. They are entitled to the Spirit of the Gospel from their mothers’ wombs; they have it with them all the time; they are born in it. We say that they are rude, that they are rough and unmanageable, etc.; they do not know that they possess the light of the Holy Spirit until they go out into the world and learn the great contrast—see the blackness of night, the thick darkness of error that has settled down like a great pall upon the moral and religious world. They hear their fathers pray, and they hear the Apostles and Prophets preach, but they cannot know that “Mormonism” is true for themselves until they have had the privilege of being placed in circumstances to exercise faith for themselves, and to pray to God for themselves for testimony and knowledge. Then they obtain the power of the Holy Spirit, which awakens their senses, and they know for themselves that God lives, for he hears and answers their prayers.

I could say something encouraging to parents, if they would heed. Let the father and mother, who are members of this Church and kingdom, take a righteous course, and strive with all their might never to do a wrong, but to do good all their lives; if they have one child or one hundred children, if they conduct themselves towards them as they should, binding them to the Lord by their faith and prayers, I care not where those children go, they are bound up to their parents by an everlasting tie, and no power of earth or hell can separate them from their parents in eternity; they will return again to the fountain from whence they sprang.

I am sorry that this people are worldly-minded; that they are in their feelings and affections glued to the world so much as they are. I am sorry to hear Elders of Israel use words, and manifest anger and impatience that are unbecoming. Men who are vessels of the holy Priesthood, who are charged with words of eternal life to the world, should strive continually in their words and actions and daily deportment to do honor to the great dignity of their calling and office as ministers and representatives of the Most High. We are trying to be Saints, and many of the brethren sin, and repent, and ask forgiveness, and intend to do better in the future, and perhaps tomorrow they lose their temper and swear at their oxen, etc. They love the world, and covet their fine horses; their affections are upon them, and upon their farms, upon their property, their houses and possessions, and in the same ratio that this is the case, the Holy Spirit of God—the spirit of their calling—forsakes them, and they are overcome with the spirit of the evil one, so that they have not strength to resist the weaknesses of their nature; and they swear and take the name of God in vain, are impatient with their families and often abuse them. Such things as these should not be among the servants of the Most High.

If we have possessions, it is because the Lord has given them to us, and it is our duty to see that everything we have is devoted to the advancement of truth, virtue, and holiness, to beauty and excellence; to redeem the earth, and adorn it with beautiful habitations, and orchards, and gardens, and farms, and cities, until it shall become like the garden of Eden. All that we possess belongs to the Lord, and we are the Lord’s, and we should never lust after that over which he has made us stewards, but we should use it profitably to the upbuilding of the Zion of our God, to send the Gospel to all the world, and to gather and feed the poor. I am thankful that I am able to say these few words. May God bless you. Amen.

Remarks by Elder John Taylor, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 7, 1866.

It is good for the Saints to meet together; it is good to reflect upon the work of God; it is good to be in possession of His blessings; it is a great privilege to enjoy the light of eternal truth, and to be delivered from the darkness, the error, the confusion, and the iniquity that prevails generally throughout the world. There are but very few men in the world who can realize the blessings which we enjoy unless their minds are enlightened by the Spirit of the living God. There are, in fact, comparatively few among the Saints who realize their true position, and who can comprehend correctly the blessings and privileges that they are in possession of; for men can only grasp these things as they are enlightened by the spirit of truth, by the spirit of revelation—by the Holy Ghost—which has been imparted to the Saints by the laying on of hands, and through their obedience to the principles of the everlasting Gospel. If men are in the dark in relation to any of these principles, it is because they do not live their religion; because they do not walk according to that light which has been given to them; because, as we have heard here, they do not pray sufficiently, they do not deny themselves of evil, and cleave close enough to the principles of eternal truth. The Gospel is calculated to lead us on from truth to truth, and from intelligence to intelligence, until that Scripture will be fulfilled which declares that we shall see as we are seen and know as we are known, until one will not have to say to another, know ye the Lord, but all shall know Him from the least unto the greatest, until the light and intelligence of God shall beam forth upon all, and all shall bask in the sunlight of eternal truth.

It is a blessing to have the privilege of meeting together in our general Conference, where the Authorities of the Church can assemble from different parts of the Territory, and of the earth, to learn the law of God, to transact business pertaining to His Church and kingdom, and to build up and establish righteousness on the earth. We cannot realize the extent of the blessings that we enjoy. We are situated differently from any other people under the face of the heavens. There is no people, no government, no kingdom, no nation, no assembly of people, civil, religious, political, or otherwise, that enjoy the blessings that we are in possession of this day; for whilst others are groping in the dark and laboring in a state of uncertainty in relation to the position that they occupy, whether political or religious, we are free from any surmises or doubts concerning these matters.

As it regards our political status, we are well acquainted with that; we know the destiny of this Church and kingdom; we know the position that we occupy towards God and towards the world; we know that the Lord will accomplish His own purposes; and having this knowledge, we rest perfectly easy in relation to the result. We know that the kingdom of God, which is established among us, will continue to spread, increase, and extend, until it covers the earth; and we know that all the plotting, and machinations, and designs, and combinations of men and devils will not be able to stop it in its progress; but as it has begun to roll forth, its speed will continue to accelerate until it has accomplished all for which it is designed of God, and until the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and His Christ, and He shall reign with universal empire over this earth, and to Him every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. Therefore, we have no trembling, no feeling of fear, no anxiety or care as to the result. All that we have to care about in relation to these matters is, that we, individually and collectively, do our duty; that we maintain our integrity before God; that we honor our Priesthood and our calling; that we pursue a course that shall at all times receive the smiles and approbation of the Most High, and then as to the result we care not for we know what the result will be.

As it regards our religious status, we feel just the same in relation to that, for everything is connected with our religion and our God. We are not indebted to any church in existence for the position which we occupy, nor for the intelligence we are in possession of. We have no need to trace our authority through the Popes, or through any other medium, we care nothing about them. We do not need either to go to the Roman or to the Greek Church to find out whether we are right or wrong, where our religion commenced, and whether we are placed on the right or on the wrong foundation. We are not under the necessity of searching the Jewish records, or any other records, in relation to these matters. We are not indebted to any of the schools, academies, or systems of divinity, or theology, or any of the religious systems extant, nor to any of the heathen nations. There is no nation, people, kingdom, government; no religious or political authority of any kind that is of an earthly nature, that we have to go to in relation to this matter. We disclaim the whole of them; claim no affinity to any of them; are not of them nor from them; and, consequently, so far as they are concerned, we are perfectly independent of them. Our religion came from God; it is a revelation from the Most High; it is that everlasting Gospel which John saw an angel bring to be preached in all the earth, and to every people, nation, kindred, and tongue, crying with a loud voice, fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come.

Then God is the author of our religion; He has revealed it from the heavens; He has sent His holy angels for that purpose, who communicated it to Joseph Smith and others. Having restored the everlasting Gospel, He has sent it forth to all the world, and those men who have delivered that Gospel to us have received it by revelation directly from God, and have been ordained by that authority. If God has not spoken, if the heavens have not been opened, if the angels of God have not appeared, then we have no religion—it is all a farce; for, as I have said before, we claim no kindred, no affinity, or relationship with them—God forbid that we should, we do not want it. This, then, is the platform we stand upon; this is the position that we occupy before God; for this is God’s work that we are engaged in. If He has given any authority in the last days to mankind, we are in possession of that authority; and if He has not, then we have no authority, nor any true religion, nor any true hope. I shall not this morning enter into all the arguments concerning these matters. All that I can say to you is what Paul said in his day, “Ye are his witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.”

Brethren, is your religion true, and do you know it? (Voices, yes). Yes, you know and realize it; it is written in living, indelible characters on your hearts, which nothing can remove. We are living witnesses of the truth of God and the revelations which He has given to His people in these last days. Well, then, we are not concerned about what the nations of the world can do against it, for they will crumble and totter, and thrones will be cast down, as it is written in the Scriptures. The empires of the earth may be dissolved, and all the nations may crumble to pieces, and wars, and pestilence, and famine may stalk through the earth; this is not our affair; they are not our nations; they are not God’s nations. Religionists may squabble, and contend, and quarrel, and live in difficulty, doubt, and uncertainty in relation to their affairs; but that is none of our business, it is entirely their own affair. There may be written upon the whole world, religious and political, “MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.” (Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.) What is that to us? It is none of our affair. We are not associated with them; our interest is not bound up with them; they have nothing which we can sustain. In relation to all these matters we feel perfectly easy. If war goes forth and desolates the nations; if confusion exist among religious denominations; and if they should continue to act as they are doing, like perfect fools, it is their own business. The Pope may tremble on his throne, and be afraid that France or some other power will not sustain him; it is not our affair; we feel perfectly easy and tranquil; all is right with us, for we are in the hands of God, and it is his business to take care of his Saints; therefore, we feel perfectly easy, quiet, and peaceable in relation to all these matters.

Would they try to injure us? Yes. They never tried anything else, and we are not indebted to them for anything which we enjoy. Did any of them help us along in our religious matters? Who are we indebted to in this world? Is there a religious society under the heavens that we are indebted to for any ideas or intelligence which we possess? Not one. Is there any priest in Christendom that has helped us forward in the least in our religious career? Not one. You cannot find one. Are we indebted to anybody for our political status? We are not. Who is there that helps us? There has never been a man yet who dared, at any time, to advocate our principles and rights in the legislative halls of this or any other nation; there has never been a man who has had the honesty, and truthfulness, and integrity to do it; they dare not do it, because it is unpopular. We dare advocate our prin– ciples, and God dare help us; and if we enjoy any rights, and privileges, and peace—if there are any blessings of any kind that we enjoy—we derive them from our Heavenly Father, and we are not indebted to any power, government, rule, or authority, religious, political, or otherwise, throughout the whole of this habitable globe, for any blessings or privileges we enjoy, excepting sometimes, by a little persecution they help us to be a little more united, that’s all; and we do not thank them for this, for it does not come with their good will. If their lies shall make the truth of God abound to his glory, all right; they will lie on, because they are of their father the devil, and his work they will do. He was a liar from the beginning; he is the father of lies, and they are his children. Therefore, in relation to all of these matters we feel perfectly easy.

I was asked the other day if I would like to go and bear testimony before the court in relation to whether polygamy was a religious ordinance or not. I answered yes, if they subpoena me. They have not done it yet, and I do not know whether they will or not. I am quite willing to go and testify to that matter at any time. I think I will testify to you here. To begin with, there is nothing that I know of, or am acquainted with in this world, but what is a part of my religion and mixed up with it. It is all religion with me. I was told that the parties desired to know whether or not I believed that polygamy was a religious ordinance or institution. If this question had been put to me, I should have been inclined to ask the parties what they understood by the word religion; because, if I could not find out what their view of religion was, of course I could not tell whether I, in their estimation, had any or not.

This consideration led me to a few reflections in relation to this matter. I had recourse to some of our dictionaries, to find out what popular lexicographers said about it. I referred to the standard works of several different nations, which I find to be as follows—

Webster (American), “Religion includes a belief in the revelation of his (God’s) will to man, and in man’s obligation to obey his command.”

Worcester (a prominent American). “1. An acknowledgement of our obligation to God as our creator. 2. A particular system of faith or worship. We speak of the Greek, Hindoo, Jewish, Christian, and Mahomedan religion.”

Johnson (English), “Religion, a system of faith and worship.”

Dictionary of the French Academy, “La croyance que l’on a de la divinite’ et le culte qu’on lue rend en consequence.”

Foi croyance.

The belief we have in God and his worship.

Faith—belief.

German Dictionary of Wurterbuch, by Dr. N. N. W. Meissner, a standard work in Germany.

“Religion, glaube, faith, persuasion.”

Here, then we have the opinion of four of the great leading nations of the earth, as expressed by their acknowledged standard works, on what they consider to be the meaning of the word religion.

The German has it—faith, persuasion. The French—faith, belief; faith in God and his worship. The English—a system of faith and worship. These three are very similar.

Next we have Webster, American, which is our acknowledged standard, and he says, “Religion includes a belief in the revelations of God’s will to man, and in man’s obligation to obey his commands.”

This is, indeed, very pointed; and if this definition be correct, it would necessarily lead us to inquire, as did Paul of old. “Whether it is better to obey man or God, judge ye.”

Worcester, another prominent American lexicographer, speaks of “Religion as an acknowledgement of God as our creator, and a particular system of faith or worship.” Here he agrees with the French, German, and English. He then quotes from a prominent work—“We speak of the Greek, Hindoo, Jewish, Christian, and Mahomedan religions.” He might very properly have added Mormon.

Faith, belief, and worship seem to be the prominent idea advanced, with the addition of our popular lexicographer Walker, who adds to the faith in God, that it must be in the revelations of His will to man, and in man’s obligations to obey His commands.

Having now found out what the meaning of religion is, we shall be the better prepared to inquire whether a plurality of wives, or, as it is sometimes called, polygamy, is a part of our religious faith or not.

The Constitution of the United States says that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” I have thought of the law which Congress has made in relation to polygamy. The question, however, necessarily arises, is it constitutional for Congress to interfere with religious matters—with the establishment of religion, or the free exercise thereof? The Constitution says no. Then is polygamy a religious question or is it not? Is it a marriage ceremony or is it not? Marriage is received by the Greek church as a solemn sacrament of the church; the Roman Catholic church and the Church of England also admit marriage to be a religious sacrament; and so it is admitted by the great mass of religious sects now in the world. These are facts that need no proof; everybody is acquainted with them. It is true that in France and in the United States magistrates are authorized to officiate in solemnizing marriages. But in France, to this day, unless they are married by a minister of religion, many of the more conscientious feel that they are living in a state of adultery.

Now, in relation to the position that we occupy concerning plurality, or, as it is termed, polygamy, it differs from that of others. I have noticed the usage of several nations regarding marriage; but, as I have said, we are not indebted to any of them for our religion, nor for our ideas of marriage, they came from God. Where did this commandment come from in relation to polygamy? It also came from God. It was a revelation given unto Joseph Smith from God, and was made binding upon His servants. When this system was first introduced among this people, it was one of the greatest crosses that ever was taken up by any set of men since the world stood. Joseph Smith told others; he told me, and I can bear witness of it, “that if this principle was not introduced, this Church and kingdom could not proceed.” When this commandment was given, it was so far religious, and so far binding upon the Elders of this Church, that it was told them if they were not prepared to enter into it, and to stem the torrent of opposition that would come in consequence of it, the keys of the kingdom would be taken from them. When I see any of our people, men or women, opposing a principle of this kind, I have years ago set them down as on the high road to apostasy, and I do today; I consider them apostates, and not interested in this Church and kingdom. It is so far, then, a religious institution, that it affects my conscience and the consciences of all good men—it is so far religious that it connects itself with time and with eternity. What are the covenants we enter into, and why is it that Joseph Smith said that unless this principle was entered into this kingdom could not proceed? We ought to know the whys and the wherefores in relation to these matters, and understand something about the principle enunciated. These are simply words; we wish to know their signification.

Where is there in the world a people that make any pretensions to have any claim upon their wives in eternity? Where is there a priest in all Christendom that teaches anything of this kind? You cannot find them. Marriage is solemnized until death do them part, and when death comes to either party, then there is an end to the whole matter, and what comes after death is in the dark to them. It was so with us up to the time of the giving of that revelation; we had no claim upon one wife in eternity. They had obeyed the Gospel as we had; they had been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins as we had; we had been married to them according to the laws of the land, and were living as other Gentiles were, but we had no claim upon them in eternity. It was necessary that one grand truth should be unlocked, which is, that man and woman are destined to live together and have a claim upon each other in eternity. The Priesthood being restored, the key was turned in relation to this matter, and the privilege was placed not only within the reach of the Elders of this Church, but within the reach of all who should be considered worthy of it, to make covenants with their partners that should be binding in the eternal worlds; that in this respect, as well as in other respects, we might stand as a distinguished people, separate and apart from the rest of the earth, depending upon God for our religion.

Previous to this revelation, who in all the world had any claim upon their wives in the eternal world, or what wife had a claim upon her husband? Who ever taught them any such principle? Nobody. Some of the novel writers have noticed it, but they did not claim authority from heaven; they merely wrote their own opinions and followed the promptings of their own instincts, which led them to hope that such a thing might be the case; but there was no certainty about it. Our position was just as Joseph said: if we could not receive the Gospel which is an everlasting Gospel; if we could not receive the dictum of a Priesthood that administers in time and eternity; if we could not receive a principle that would save us in the eternal world, and our wives and children with us, we were not fit to hold this kingdom, and could not hold it, for it would be taken from us and given to others. This is reasonable, proper, consistent, and recommends itself to the minds of all intelligence when it is reflected upon in the light of truth. Then, what did this principle open up to our view? That our wives, who have been associated with us in time—who had borne with us the heat and burden of the day, who had shared in our afflictions, trials, troubles, and difficulties, that they could reign with us in the eternal kingdoms of God, and that they should be sealed to us not only for time, but for all eternity. This unfolded to us the eternal fitness and relationship of things as they exist on the earth, of man to man, and of husband to wife; it unfolds the relationship they should occupy in time to each other, and the relationship that will continue to exist in eternity. Hence it is emphatically a religious subject so deep, sacred, and profound, so extensive and far-reaching, that it is one of the greatest principles that was ever revealed to man. Did we know anything about it before? No. How did we get a knowledge of it? By revelation. And shall we treat lightly these things? No. The Lord says that his servants may take to themselves more wives than one. Who gives to them one wife? The Lord. And has he not a right to give to them another, and another, and another? I think he has that right. Who has a right to dispute it, and prohibit a union of that kind, if God shall ordain it? Has not God as much right today to give to me, or you, or any other person two, three, four, five, ten, or twenty wives, as he had anciently to give them to Abraham, Isaac, David, Solomon, etc.? Has not the Lord a right to do what he pleases in this matter, and in all other matters, without the dictation of man? I think He has. Every principle associated with the Gospel which we have received is eternal, hence our marriage covenant is an eternal covenant given unto us of God. Then, when poor, miserable, corrupt men would endeavor to trample us under their feet because of the principles of truth which we have received from God, shall we falter in the least? No, never. Its opposers may croak against it until they go down to the dust of death; God will defend his work which he has introduced in the latter days; and, the Lord being our helper, we will help him to sustain it.

Associated with this is another important principle—the baptism for the dead. One of the prophets has said that, “I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord: And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” This Elias signifies a restorer. Jesus said of John the Baptist, in his day, “And if ye will receive it, this is the Elias (or restorer), which was for to come.” “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” But they would not hear: they did not receive it. They beheaded John, crucified Jesus, killed his apostles, and persecuted his followers; and their temple, nation, and polity were destroyed. But the times of restitution spoken of by the prophets must take place; the restorer must come “before that great and terrible day of the Lord.” The hearts of the fathers must be turned to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers, or the earth will be cursed. This great eternal marriage covenant lays at the foundation of the whole; when this was revealed, then followed the other. Then, and not till then, could the hearts of the fathers be turned to their children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers; then, and not till then, could the restoration be effectually commenced, time and eternity be connected, the past, present, and future harmonize, and the eternal justice of God be vindicated. “Saviors come upon mount Zion” to save the living, redeem the dead, unite man to woman and woman to man, in eternal, indissoluble ties; impart blessings to the dead, redeem the living, and pour eternal blessings upon posterity.

Let us now go back to the action of Congress in relation to plural marriage, of which these eternal covenants are the foundation. The Lord says, “I will introduce the times of the restitution of all things; I will show you my eternal covenants, and call upon you to abide in them; I will show you how to save yourselves, your wives and children, your progenitors and posterity, and to save the earth from a curse.” Congress says, “if you fulfill that law we will inflict upon you pains and penalties, fines and imprisonments; in effect, we will not allow you to follow God’s commands.” Now, if Congress possessed the constitutional right to do so, it would still be a high-handed outrage upon the rights of man; but when we consider that they cannot make such a law without violating the Constitution, and thus nullifying the act, what are we to think of it? Where are we drifting to. After having, with uplifted hands to heaven, sworn that they will “make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” to thus sacrilegiously stand between a whole community and their God, and deliberately debar them, so far as they have the power, from observing his law, do they realize what they are doing? Whence came this law on our statute books? Who constituted them our conscience keepers? Who appointed them the judge of our religious faith, or authorized them to coerce us to transgress a law that is binding and imperative on our consciences? We do not expect that Congress is acquainted with our religious faith; but, as members of the body politic, we do claim the guarantees of the Constitution and immunity from persecution on merely religious grounds.

What are we to think of a United States judge who would marry a man to another man’s wife. He certainly ought to know better. We are told that she was a second wife, and, therefore, not acknowledged. Indeed, this is singular logic. If she was not a wife, then polygamy is no crime in the eyes of the law; for Congress have passed no law against whoredom. A man may have as many mistresses as he please, without transgressing any law of Congress. The act in relation to polygamy contemplates punishing a man for having more wives, not mistresses. If she was simply his mistress, then the law is of no effect; and the very fact of Congress passing such a law is the strongest possible proof, in law, of the existence of a marriage covenant, which, until that law was passed, was by them considered valid. If, then, she was not his wife, no person could be punished under that law for polygamy. If she was his wife, then the judge transgressed the law which he professionally came to maintain.

In relation to all these matters, the safe path for the Saints to take is, to do right, and, by the help of God, seek diligently and honorably to maintain the position which they hold. Are we ashamed of anything we have done in marrying wives? No. We shall not be ashamed before God and the holy angels, much less before a number of corrupt, miserable scoundrels, who are the very dregs of hell. We care nothing for their opinions, their ideas, or notions; for they do not know God, nor the principles which he has revealed. They wallow in the sink of corruption, as they would have us do; but, the Lord being our helper, we will not do it, but we will try to do right and keep the commandments of God, live our religion, and pursue a course that will secure to us the smiles and approbation of God our Father. Inasmuch as we do this He will take care of us, maintain His own cause, and sustain His people. We have a right to keep His commandments. But what would you do if the United States were to bring up an army against you on account of polygamy, or on account of any other religious subject? We would trust in God, as we always have done. Would you have no fears? None. All the fears that I am troubled with is that this people will not do right—that they will not keep the commandments of God. If we will only faithfully live our religion, we fear no earthly power. Our safety is in God. Our religion is an eternal religion. Our covenants are eternal covenants, and we expect to maintain the principles of our religion on the earth, and to possess them in the heavens. And if our wives and children do right, and we as fathers and husbands do right in this world, we expect to have our wives and children in eternity. Let us live in that way which will secure the approbation of God, that we, his representatives on the earth, may magnify our calling, honor Him, and maintain our integrity to the end; that we may be saved in His celestial kingdom, with our wives, and children, and brethren, from generation to generation, worlds without end. Amen.

Remarks by Elder Amasa M. Lyman, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 5, 1866.

I am glad to enjoy the privileges that are extended to us on this occasion, and to meet with my friends, and to unite with my brethren in the ministry to render the occasion instructive and profitable. Whether we have much or little to say with regard to the great good there is to be secured and enjoyed, I would hope that in our efforts we might be blessed and favored in making some suggestions to the audience that will be calculated to awaken in their minds good thoughts that will lead them to God, and to a knowledge of the principles that are involved in its work.

From all I have been able to gather from observing the course taken by ministers in their labors for the enlightenment of the people, I have come to the conclusion that, perhaps, there are not very many who will be able of themselves, and within the limited circle of their personal labors and exertions, to tell everything, even if they should know it, and communicate all that may be communicated for the benefit of the people. I believe that the servants of God, in their efforts generally, reveal to the people the workings of their own minds, under the influences of the Spirit of God, and are able to bestow upon them for their comfort, encouragement, and aid in the great work in which they are engaged, the results of their experience, of their reflection and thought. The Gospel that we have received is something that, as I view it, bears a direct relationship to our condition here and hereafter, and that it proposes to so direct our actions and our conduct in life, that they may all be made to assume a proper character. When our actions are right they have the character of virtues, and virtues commend us to God and to one another. Virtue, when practiced by us, is the surest and best foundation that we can have for confidence, not only in God, but in ourselves, and in one another, a degree of which is necessary to our happiness, to our comfort and joy. It appears to me that the man or woman, whose course of life is such that he or she has no confidence in his or herself, properly can have but very little in God. As brother Hyde has remarked, the time is near when we are to encounter the realities of our religion. I believe it is so. We have professed to receive the Gospel and have adopted our faith years ago. We have received more or less of a series of lessons that have been given to the Saints, from time to time, through the revelations of God, as they have been communicated to His people.

There is a feature in our religion that I have thought was but little understood; it is like many other things that would be of much more value to us if they were well under– stood; our understanding of it is limited as a people, and about that very feature in our religion I feel disposed to make a few suggestions, as the results of my own thoughts and reflections, and of all that has been opened up of the matter in my mind with regard to it. As this feature of our religion is now receiving considerable attention from the people of the United States, who have become deeply concerned in regard to it, probably it would be well if we talk a little about it ourselves, that they may not be the first to learn, the first to know that which we ought to know.

The question arises here, what is it that they have become concerned about? Not about our sins; but they have given us credit for a great many good things. They can but acknowledge that we have been brave in conquering the dangers of pioneering our way into an untried land and country; a land that was barren of comfort, barren of these things that were necessary to the sustaining of human life. They will compliment us today for our persevering industry, for the toil that we have endured, and for the perseverance that we have evinced in working our way, not to where we expected to find hidden treasures of gold and silver, but to the desert, to find a place so poor, so barren, and so forbidding in its aspect that none others would desire it, but that we might, in its desolation and isolation from the rest of the world, enjoy the poor privilege of living there without having our right questioned. They say we were brave. So we were: we had good reason to be so; we could not well be anything else. We encountered the desert with all its worthlessness and with all its unproductiveness, and we not only made bridges and roads, but we actually conquered the desert.

“Why do you not say that the Lord did it?” If I were to say the Lord did it, then would you not ask me how the Lord did it? I know how he did it, because I saw it done. The Lord led us out here, but I know that he walked us on our own feet all the weary miles of our journeyings until we reached our destination. I know that since all this our friends from the States have come out here, and can now partake of our hospitality and feast on the fruits of our labor, industry, and enterprise. They are pleased at finding a comfortable halfway house between the Atlantic and the Pacific, where they can rest, eat our fruit, and enjoy themselves; yet they smooth down the wrinkles upon their visages (the fruits of indwelling hate), look very grave, and returning home lie about us, and represent the people of Utah different from what they are.

We would suppose that they are blind with a holy horror, excited in them by the contemplation of a phantom which haunts their imaginations continually; they are afraid that the people in Utah will do wrong; they have got so far from the confines of Christian civilization and refinement that they are fearful, if they do not take some action in relation to the Saints, that they will go widely astray and perpetrate some great wrong. We have been asking them for years to admit us into the Union. Would they listen to us? No. Does our constant begging and praying for admittance into the Union ever awaken a feeling of sympathy in them towards us? It does not. Yet they make out to be so alarmed for our moral safety that they seem to have forgotten all the festering corruptions of the great cities of the east.

When the great nation with which we are connected politically begin to make our faith the subject of special legislation, is it not time that we should know and say something about it? They do not complain of any dishonesty and corruption among us; they do not tell us that the land is sowed broadcast with iniquity; they are not alarmed about this, but they are alarmed because men out here in Utah dare marry a wife honorably and fearlessly, and then publicly own her as his wife. This is all they complain of. If we will only ignore this, I do not know but they will admit us into the Union. Do you think we had better ignore this little bit of our religion, or have we really determined within ourselves, soundly and sentimentally, whether it is actually necessary, proper, right, and just. If we could only slip it off and get admitted into the Union, it might be an advantage to us; but if it is worth enough to cling to, even if we have to live out of the Union, we ought to know it, that we may be the better able to make a good trade when we do trade. It is simply plural marriage that they complain of. They corrupt themselves elsewhere all over the world; but out in Utah men actually presume to marry women honestly; they presume to consider this the best course to be pursued to maintain the purity of man and woman.

How shall we determine anything about the value of plural marriage, so that we may know whether it is worth anything or not? I do not know any way better than by determining first whether single marriage is of value or not—whether it extends any advantages or not to those who are parties to this relationship. Were we to ask the multitudes of the earth what the institution of marriage is worth, what the amount of blessing and salvation that accrues from it, to those who are parties to it, we should, no doubt, receive for a reply, “We do not know.” A man marries a wife to keep his house, to do the drudgery, to become a slave who shall do the labor about his place, and become the creature of his wants and wishes. Does he entertain any ideas of any value that pertains to the institution of marriage beyond this; if he does, it is but little. A great many men live in the world, and throughout all their lives they never appreciate the value of marriage in such a way as to ever induce them to marry; they think they can get along better in single life.

How can we be led to an understanding, in a limited degree, of the many advantages that result to men and women who are honorably married? Why, look at the evil and the corruption, and consequent wretchedness that curse the condition of that broad margin of women that never are made to feel the responsibility, comforts and blessings resulting from a pure, and healthy, and virtuous marriage. Where is this state of things to be found? In every Christian community that I know anything about. It is the root of that festering corruption that is eating out the core and vital energies, and sapping the foundation of life in the race of man. It is found in every community where it is declared that a man shall marry one wife only, and it shall be considered a virtue; but to marry a second wife while the first wife is alive, is considered a crime and punishable by confinement in prison, or the payment of a fine, because it is a sin. What, this in a Christian land? Yes, this in a Christian land! Christianity of the most approved kind is advocated where it exists. In the same thoroughfare the victims of corruption and vicious passion, and the devotees of Christianity jostle against each other. In the same locality edifices, whose lofty towers point to heaven, and wherein are held sacred the paraphernalia of Christian worship casts its lengthening shadows over the dens of corruption and crime, where the victims of passion and unhallowed lust live to drag out a miserable existence; in the reeking corruption which is the result of their own sins. The religious sanctuary and the brothel flourish together; they have their development there; in that land we see woman in her most wretched condition. We first see her in the morning of her life, innocent and pure—innocent as innocence itself, pure as the spirit that comes from God. In this condition we see her enter upon her life’s journey. We meet with her when she has progressed, when she has trod far in the path of folly, degradation, wretchedness, and sin; but she is innocent no more. Are the blessings of home extended around her any more? No. Has she the blessings of the warm sympathy of kind friends any more? No; they are frigid and cold; the warm heart gushing out the blessings of friendship is closed against her; she is not fit to be associated with any more; she is unfit to be welcomed to the society of her more fortunate sisters; and, consequently, she is not welcome to return to a pure and better life, could a disposition be awakened in her to do so, and she seeks for the means of prolonging that worthless life as best she can find them. If she carries personal charms, they are to feed the wishes and satiate the appetite of the gloating libertine; for he will give her money. When those charms have faded from her form—when youth is passed and followed by decrepit old age, she becomes the loathsome thing that no one claims or desires, for which none manifests any warm sympathy and affectionate regard. This is the fate of a class of women who were born pure and innocent as you, my sisters, were born, situated as you were, bearing the same relationship to high heaven by creation as you bear, yet she drags out her miserable existence to her resting place, the grave, when death terminates her suffering and wretched existence; no father was there, no mother was there, no kind sister to weep over her departure, no brother had regard for her, no kindred relationship to pay so much as the tribute of a single tear on the spot where her frail dust found its last resting place.

This is the unwept, friendless fate of an extensive class of our erring sisters. What do we call them? Oh, she is merely “a common woman on the street,” “prostitute,” which means a woman, created by and bearing the image of God our Heavenly Father—a woman prostituted to become the victim of passion—passion unhallowed, impure passion in man who should have guarded her virtue with the most scrupulous care, with the most vigilant watchfulness—man who should ever have recognized in her his sister, who should have regarded her as the personification of the purity and innocence of heaven itself, and who should never have made her the victim of his unholy passion. But she has fallen, and this terminates her wretched career. If she leaves an offspring, the vile stain of bastardy is attached to it, and her children are cast out of society, like their disgraced mother; they are discarded and shunned by what is called refined and Christian society; no paternal provisions are made for them, no paternal care and anxiety is cherished in relation to them. The state only sees in them, if males, prospective soldiers, who for a little pay are marshaled to fight its battles, and bleed and die upon the battlefield. If any of them happened to be brave, can venture further and kill more than his associates, the probability is that he will gather to himself the honor, and the glory, and respect which his frail mother failed to secure.

This is the most favorable termination of the earthly career of that class of unfortunate women and their children. I appeal to you, who are honorable wives and mothers, if you do not think there is real, unmitigated misery in this? Or do you think that it is merely something of my picturing? I am not here to treat you to empty romance. The tithing of all the misery, wretchedness, and crime that exist among the female sex, or our race, in the great Christian cities and heathen cities of the world, cannot be told; it would be vain for me to undertake to tell it all. I have instanced what I have, that you who are wives and mothers may see something of what you have been saved from, by being blessed with the opportunity of becoming honorably married. You are saved from all the wretchedness which characterizes the life and death of your unfortunate sisters.

Does marriage possess any value, then? Would it not be a very good thing if the blessings arising from it, which you enjoy, could be extended to all? Why is it not so? Because monogamic Christianity says it shall not be extended to all. This Christianity is like the prophet’s bed, “shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.” I do not know that the prophet thought anything of Christianity as it now exists in the world, although this figure is very apt in its fitness to it. Comparing monogamic Christianity with the prophet’s covering, it may be of a fine texture and good, as far as it goes, but it is decidedly too small. This is unquestionably the fault with a Christianity that does not extend the mantle of salvation to all who should be the recipients of its blessings. If all men and all women in a community were honorably married, you can readily understand one thing, that there would be no prostitution of women in that community, there would be an end of the corruption of man in that community, there would be no illegitimacy there. You can see, then, that it is only a question of advantages resulting from a pure marriage to all the inhabitants of any community, who can be blessed by such an institution of marriage; only introduce this, and the cause of all this sin and moral and physical degeneracy would have an end.

“But then,” says one, “is it right?” “We should have no objections to a plural marriage if we could only believe that it was right.” How in heaven’s name you would have to feel, to feel that it is wrong, I cannot imagine. You say that when one wife is married to a man, there is in that transaction nothing but what is religious; nothing but what is godly, healthy, pure, and good; it is good enough to go to church with; it is something you can pray about; you can have it sanctified by the presence of the priest. It is sacred; it is so commendable that the most fastidious will hardly blush at the idea of a man marrying one wife. He who marries one wife is considered an honorable man, and his wife finds a place among honorable women, and their children are honored upon the same plane that is secured to them by the character and standing of their honored parents in the community. They have their entry into society; it smiles upon them and extends to them its patronage, and their path is the path of honor from the time they open their infant eyes and gaze upon the surrounding objects in the midst of which life to them has a beginning, and through all the subsequent stages of the lengthened way. These blessings come to them because their parents were honorably married and kept sacredly the vows that made them husband and wife. Their marriage was virtuous and just. What a pity it is that this state of things could not be extended to all. I allude to this single marriage because I want you, Latter-day Saints, that are before me today, to begin to think, if you never have, to begin to reason, if you never have, that you may know and understand, if it is only to a limited extent, the reasons that exist why marriage is a pure, holy, and saving institution.

Says one, “The Bible says it is.” But suppose the Bible did not say so, would that make any difference? If a woman were associated in the relationship of wife with an honorable man who kept his marriage vow, would it change the fact that there would be purity, innocence, truthfulness, and virtue in this that could not be found elsewhere—that could not occur without the same intimate relationship between man and woman—aside from the covenant that makes them man and wife.

We say, then, if this is the reason why in Heaven’s wisdom it was ordained that man and woman should be married, it was simply to regulate the actions of man and woman in the most sacred, holy, high, and responsible relationships that exist between them, to preserve in man and woman the fountain of life in purity, that there might be given to earth a people in purity, and free from the taint of inherent corruption. How do I know that? Because that it only requires the careful and continued observance of the law of marriage, as God has revealed it, to preserve man and woman in purity.

Then what bearing has a pure marriage upon the interest of the world that it should be necessary to introduce it as one of the leading features in the great work of God, developed and established in this our day for the prosecution of his will and purposes in the salvation of mankind? Has it any bearing at all upon the purity of man and upon the race? From the little reflection that I have bestowed upon the matter, I have learned to regard it as the world’s great necessity—the great necessity of the race today, and it is God’s greatest necessity in reference to the salvation of the world, and to the development of His universal empire of peace and righteousness over all the earth. Why? Because I have learned that there has been, and that there is still in existence, operating and producing its deadly effects, a system of physical degeneracy that is telling fearfully upon the history of the race.

The Bible tells us that men used to reach a longevity that extended to near a thousand years; this was near six thousand years ago. To say that this is not true would be to question the validity of the Bible, and I would not dare to do that, however presumptuous I may be in a thousand other things. We are descendants of that same race who enjoyed the blessing, if it was a blessing, of an extended longevity; yet the statistics of today relating to the average life of the human race show that it extends to a fraction over a quarter of a century. Should anybody be alarmed at this? If they not know the causes which have led to it they will not be; but if they have a knowledge sufficient to understand that if the race has so degenerated, physically, in five thousand years that the term of a man’s life is reduced from near a thousand years to a quarter of a century, the question would be awakened in their minds as to how narrow a margin of time is left for the continuation of our race on the earth before it becomes entirely extinct—that there will not be a man, woman, or child to awaken the cheerless condition of the desolate earth with the music of their voices and the light of their smiles. They have ceased to be.

It used to be told us when we were children that the world was coming to an end. We thought it was coming to an end; that something was about to be revealed from somewhere that would burn it up. We see that the world is actually approaching desolation, to a point beyond which it would not be possible for human life to be extended. Is there nothing alarming in this? To me there is. I pore over, in my own mind, what my prospects are as a servant of God. I have entered upon this work, which we denominate the work of God, and which comprises the building up of the kingdom of God and the extension of the government of God over all the earth, carrying with it the blessings of the rule of righteousness and peace, and it promises that I am going to be a prince and a ruler over countless millions of intelligent beings like myself. Where are they all coming from? Why, they will be your children. That cannot be; for as the human race is fast wearing to an end, there would not any of my children be left in a few generations more. You are, no doubt, mathematicians enough to see this. I give the Lord credit in my feelings for having known this long before I did; and hence I say that plural marriage is the great necessity of the age, because it is a means that God has introduced to check the physical corruption and decline of our race; to stop further contributions to the already fearful aggregate of corruption that has been developed as the result of sin in man and woman. What will that do? It will take off a great tax from the recuperative energies of the race by relieving them from the necessity of contending with increasing corruption beyond its present limits; that man may begin to live until he attain to the age of a tree, as he lived before he first began to sin and violate the laws of his being. It is to effect this that the Lord has introduced plural marriage. “But,” says one, “why do you not prove it from the Bible?” You can read the Bible yourselves. I want to know, see, read, and understand, as it is evinced in the physical condition of the race that these are truths, whether the books refer to them or not. If there was no revelation to reach us from foreign quarters, it is a revelation that is before our eyes; its truth is demonstrated within the circle of our own being—within the narrow limits of our own observation it is made plain, and we should understand and comprehend. When we know this, then we know what the Bible may say with regard to polygamy being true, because we find the evidence of it in truth itself. That is what polygamy is worth. It is simply an extension of pure marriage to all the social elements in the community, man and woman, that is all.

Who is it that says there is licentiousness connected with plural marriage? It is the libertine; that man that is corrupt himself; who has worshipped at the shrine of passion; whose passion clamors in his corrupt soul for victims. He dreams of it and talks of it; and because the Saints believe in a plurality of wives, he thinks there must certainly be a lack of moral purity there—virtue must be easy with the people that have more than one wife.

What do you think they have found out? After making experiments that have turned out rather futile, they have found out that with all their mistaken notions of their deluded fellow citizens in the mountains, the virtue of woman and the sanctity of the marriage relationship cannot be invaded with impunity—it is guarded with jealousy. The same men that were brave in coming over the plains, and energetic in making the roads and in building the bridges, etc., are still here, and continue to be brave. They have not dared so much in the past that they will stop daring now.

Are you going to say something in support of plural marriage? No. I do not wish anybody to tell that I have said a word by way of supporting and sustaining plural marriage. Are you ashamed of it? No. Do you love it? Yes, I love it because it is true, and stands alone, without my aid. “What are you talking about it for, then?” That you may understand the truth and know its value, and secure to yourselves the blessings that only can accrue from the knowledge of the truth. That doctrine is safe and can take care of itself; and if you make an application of the truth to yourselves, it will take care of you; it will secure you from corruption, wretchedness, and death, and give you life and immortality; while others will still sink under the accumulating weight of corruption, until they go down to hell.

“But,” says one, “I have been looking, but I have not seen much change that has taken place in consequence of the introduction of polygamy.” You are not a very close observer, perhaps. When the first edition of Federal officers came out here, we had hardly made a beginning in practical plurality of wives; however, it was awful times for them; they could only once in a while see a woman, and when they did see one, they inquired who she was. “O, she is Elder such a one’s wife.” “Who is that woman over yonder?” “She is brother so and so’s wife.” “Who is that woman that is crossing the street?” “She is Bishop such a one’s wife.” “O, the devil, the women are all married out here.” They begin to look round for a peculiar kind of institution that flourishes so well in Christendom, where such prevail, where they make ample provisions for the gratification of lustful passion; no odds how foul, black, and damning in its consequences, still it can find its gratification at those favored institutions. Those Federal gentlemen began to look for similar accommodations in Utah; but instead of finding them they found schoolhouses and houses for the public worship of God, dedicated to the best interests of humanity, for the improvement of the condition of our race. Their peculiar institutions they could not find here, and they could not stay; they went to Washington, and there they began to send up awful howls about the sins of Utah, and the necessity of active measures by the general government to chastise the Mormons in Utah.

How far they have succeeded is evident. The great Buchanan war brought the flower of the army of the United States out here; the bran and shorts were left behind. They came to correct the poor misguided Mormons. For making prostitutes of the women? No. There are plenty of them at home; but the Mormons make wives of them, and this awakened all their sense of horror. It is this that excites our friends in the east—because we think more and better of women than they do. That is the foundation of all the difficulty; they do not complain of us for anything else now. When the C. V.’s from the west came out here they did not succeed any better. Then they thought they would try the negro. He got part way out here, got tired, and they turned him out. What they will do next to correct our morals is not for me to say. They may tell us that we ought to demolish our schoolhouses and put up houses of assignation, and keep houses of accommodation, such as travelers can find in other countries. They are well pleased with our potatoes and johnny cake, but they would be still better pleased if we would have the other luxury.

We fought our way to this country against all the hardships and obstacles that stood in our path, and, through God’s blessing, we have overcome them; we have cultivated the land and done the best that we could under the circumstances, and we have provided for ourselves and for our wives and children as well as we could, and we have been contented. If the husbands of Utah were poor, their wives were willing to share that poverty with them; they were willing to nibble a living from the same dry crust, out of the same stinted fare that we partook of, because they were our wives, and we regarded them as honorable and as good as ourselves, if they behaved as well. This our friends do not like. Our business here in the mountains is to develop a community in which man and woman shall find, through the extension of honorable, pure, just, and virtuous marriage, the legitimate position that Heaven ordained them to occupy as wives and mothers, husbands and fathers, and a response to every requirement of nature, without stepping aside from the path of virtue and honor.

That is what God designed when he commenced this work—“Why did He not introduce it at the very commencement of this work?” Because He could not—because our ears were not open to hear it—our prejudices would not allow us to receive it. If I had been talked to about plurality of wives when I was baptized into the Church, the Lord may know, but I do not know what I would have done. I had to go wandering over the world preaching the Gospel years after, had to work longer than Jacob did for a wife to get myself in that state of mind that the Lord dare name the doctrine to me. We were not aware that any such a thing as plural marriage had to be introduced into the world; but the Lord said it after a while, and we obeyed the best we knew how, and, no doubt, made many crooked paths in our ignorance. We were only children, and the Lord was preparing us for an introduction to the principles of salvation. “What, the principles of salvation connected with marriage?” Yes; because they are nowhere else. “Will not our preaching save us, our going to Church, and our paying tithing?” People have been preaching, praying, paying tithes, building cathedrals and churches, and the deadly work of physical degeneracy is still going on until the race is nearly upon the brink of extinction. Christianity, as it now is, and has been for centuries, has proved entirely insufficient to stop the great evil—to check it in its fearful growth.

The Lord understood this when he talked to the people of Nephi: He told them they should have but one wife, and concubines they should have none. Why would He not allow them to have concubines? I suppose it was because He delighted in the chastity of women. This was simply avowing His feeling with regard to that matter. Concubinage was displeasing in His sight. He left them at liberty to have a wife, but concubines they should have none; informing them that when He wanted His people to raise up seed unto Him, and if it was necessary they should have many wives He would command them. That is simply what He has done. He has commanded us. It is well enough now for the brethren and sisters who have been in practical polygamy for many years to begin to understand something of the nature and object of the institution, that they may not trade it off simply for admittance into the Union, or for anything whatever that may be offered for its exchange. However their enemies may plead to the contrary, the Saints are gathered together from all the world, that the provisions of a virtuous marriage may be extended to all the social element in the community, and that by this there should cease to be developed in that community the curse of woman’s prostitution or man’s corruption, and where mothers in Zion can make it their business to teach their children the way in which they should go; to implant in early childhood principles of truth; to lead them to God; to grow around the hearth like plants of righteousness, that the saying of the old preacher may be verified, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

We are not a numerous people, but we are more numerous than when the Lord told Adam and Eve to be fruitful, and multiply and fill this their earthly inheritance with intellectual beings like themselves. How well that first pair succeeded is evidenced here today. We need not be discouraged, for we can count thousands that are pledged to this work, which is established to re-people the world, to fill the earth with virtuous, pure, and holy men and women. That is the work that devolves upon us. Should every woman be married? Every woman should be married for the same reasons that one woman is married, namely, to subserve the same high, healthy, and Godlike objects of our being. And for the same high purpose should every man be married.

There are certain facts of our existence which we cannot escape from. We are men and women. The very reason why I have spoken here today is that we are men and women; we have come here with men’s and women’s natures, passions, and appe– tites; and if we are ever saved in heaven, we shall be saved as men and women. Our business here is to save men and women by teaching them to live lives of purity. These are self-evident truths. When we count up the men and women that are in the world, we shall find a broad margin more of women than men; and there is a numerical difference in the sexes, as they are developed in our community and every other community. Women must be saved, if the task should devolve on a man to marry two or three of them, and treat them as honorable wives, bless them, and bless their children, provide for them, and teach them principles of purity. When we who made this feeble beginning in that matter can bear the struggle no longer, we will call around us our stalwart sons and daughters, and pledge them before high heaven to devote themselves forever, and their children after them, to the great work of man’s regeneration.

Let us get the body improved first, that the spirit may live and dwell in a pure tabernacle. When this is done, we can go and cultivate the spirit as much as is needful. The world wants a religion that will address itself to this task, because it will enter into the relationship that exists between man and woman, that will purify them and establish within them the seed of eternal life. Let us pray always and never faint, and ask God to bless us in all that we do, and never do anything that is not sufficiently holy that we can ask God to bless; carrying the purity of Heaven’s religion and ordained principles of salvation into every relationship of our lives, and let the Zion of our God extend forth upon all the earth from this point. What will become of the world? They will live in their corruption until they sink and die in it. Our blessings are to build up the kingdom of God in purity and in its perfection in these mountains. This is our work, and may God help us, is my prayer, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Remarks by President Heber C. Kimball, in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 4, 1866.

Self-preservation is the first great law of nature. It is true, whether it be applied to temporal or spiritual salvation. If a man does not try to save himself through the means which are provided in the Gospel, he cannot be saved. If people will not stop committing sin and learn to do better, my doing so will not benefit them. It would be just as reasonable to argue that I can eat, drink, breathe, and reflect for them.

When a minister of the truth arises to address a congregation it aids him much when the people give their undivided attention to him; but when their attention is drawn off by some trifling interference that may occur in the house, their minds are closed to the effects of truth, and the spirit of the preacher is grieved, and so is the Spirit of the Lord. Paul says, “Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. If anything be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace. For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.” “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.”

No one man knoweth everything, “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal;” “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit,” “dividing to every man severally as he will.” If we exercise upon the gifts we possess in simplicity as little children, striving to do good to one another, and to build up the kingdom of God upon the earth, then we shall be entitled to greater gifts and greater blessings. Let no man lay a snare for his neighbor because of the simplicity of his words, and because he reproves in the gate. If the truth, simply told, is unwelcome to people, it is because they are themselves guilty of sin unrepented of; and by this ye may know that ye need repentance.

The faithful love the truth, though it may be told in the most simple manner; it is sweeter to them than honey or the honeycomb; they are no more afraid of it than they would be afraid of eating a piece of good honey. And to the same extent that they love the truth plainly and simply told, do they hate a lie, and the more so when it is dressed up in the garb of truth to deceive the unwary. Truth is the sanctifier of those who love it and are guided by it, and will exalt them to the presence of God; while falsehood corrupts and destroys, or, to use a common scriptural figure, it lays the axe at the root of the tree. As the axe cuts down and destroys the fruitless trees that cumber the ground, so do wicked acts destroy and overthrow all who persist in them.

Truth is an attribute of the nature of God. By it he is sanctified and glorified. Jesus Christ proceeded from his Father. He is called “His only begotten Son,” and inherited germs of his Father’s perfections and the attributes of his Father’s nature, so that he sinned not. So with us; if the attributes of our nature become refined and regenerated by the truth, our offspring must inherit those perfections, more or less. Then, how essential it is that parents should, by living their religion, improve themselves for the improvement of their race. We, too, are the children of God, but we are the offspring in the flesh of fallen and degenerate parents, and we are prone to sin as the sparks fly upward; but by observing the truth, and by following the direction of the Holy Priesthood which has been restored in our day, we may overcome the evil that is within us and that is in the world, begin to improve and perfect the attributes of our nature, which are like the attributes of the nature of God, and lay the foundation of goodness and truth in our offspring.

The devil was a liar from the beginning. Truth has no place in him; but it being a principle of power associated with all goodness, he hates it, and so do all his faithful followers. It is written, “And now, verily I say unto you, I was in the beginning with the Father, and am the Firstborn; And all those who are begotten through me are partakers of the glory of the same, and are the church of the First– born.” “Truth is a knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come; And whatsoever is more or less than this is the spirit of that wicked one who was a liar from the beginning.” “He that keepeth the commandments of God receiveth truth and light until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things.” “Truth” is a principle of power, and “is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as well as intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence.”

Under President Young I have presided over the giving of endowments for the last fifteen years. Last Saturday there were over twenty persons in the house to receive their endowments. They came well recommended by their bishops as being worthy, good, and faithful members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I had previously had an impression that many of the people were becoming lukewarm, and even cold, in the performance of some of their duties. After the company had gone through I gave them a lecture, and it came to me by the Spirit of God to try if my impression was correct or not. After instructing them that they must not lie, steal, nor bear false witness, etc., I asked them how many of them prayed in their families, and it transpired that there were many who neglected their duties in this respect; yet they were all recommended by their bishops as good, faithful members of the Church of Christ. It made me think of the parable of the ten virgins, five foolish and five wise. Shall we thus cease to perform our duties, while the wicked are striving with all their power to introduce their wickedness in our community and into our families; while they are seeking to influence our wives and children to be disobedient to us and to God? Should we not rather be more faithful in the performance of every known duty, that God may hear us when we pray to him for strength to aid us to resist the encroachment of evil?

The revelations which Joseph Smith has given to this people were given to him by Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world; and this people cannot be blessed if they lightly esteem any of them, but they will lose the Spirit, and sorrow and vexation will come into their families. The Lord designs that we shall be separate and distinct from every other people, and wishes to make us His peculiar people, and to raise up for himself a pure seed who will keep His law and walk in His statutes. For this purpose did He give the revelation on plurality of wives, as sacred a revelation as was ever given to any people, and fraught with greater blessings to us than we can possibly conceive of, if we do not abuse our privileges and commit sin. This doctrine is a holy and pure principle, in which the power of God for the regeneration of mankind is made manifest; but while it offers immense blessings, and is a source of immense power to God’s people, it will bring sure and certain damnation to those who seek through its means to defile themselves with the daughters of Eve. All those who take wives from any other motive than to subserve the great purpose which God had in view in commanding his servants to take unto themselves many wives, will not be able to retain them. Wives are sealed to men by an everlasting covenant that cannot be broken, if the parties live faithfully before God, and perform with a single eye to his glory the duties of that sacred contract. Jesus Christ said to the Pharisees, when they tempted him upon the subject of a man putting away his wife, “For the hardness of your heart Moses allowed you to give a bill of divorcement, but from the beginning of the creation it was not so.” “What, therefore, God hath joined together let no man put asunder.”

I speak of plurality of wives as one of the most holy principles that God ever revealed to man, and all those who exercise an influence against it, unto whom it is taught, man or woman, will be damned, and they, and all who will be influenced by them, will suffer the buffetings of Satan in the flesh; for the curse of God will be upon them, and poverty, and distress, and vexation of spirit will be their portion; while those who honor this and every sacred institution of heaven will shine forth as the stars in the firmament of heaven, and of the increase of their kingdom and glory there shall be no end. This will equally apply to Jew, Gentile, and Mormon, male and female, old and young.

The words of the Lord to the Church, through Joseph the Prophet, in Sep., 1832, will apply very well to many now—“And your minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you have received—Which vanity and unbelief hath brought the whole church under condemnation. And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, even all. And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written—That they may bring forth fruit meet for their Father’s kingdom; otherwise there remaineth a scourge and a judgment to be poured out upon the children of Zion. For shall the children of the kingdom pollute my holy land?” Unless we keep our families in order, and instruct our children to be faithful in keeping the commandments of God, not suffering our wives and children to speak lightly of the Priesthood of the Almighty, and of the holy order of marriage which He has revealed for a great purpose—I say, unless we do this, God will visit our families with a scourge, and if they continue in their disobedience they will be removed out of their place, and their names will not be found on the record of the faithful. But, on the contrary, if we are righteous and keep faithfully all the commandments of God, we, with all that portion of our wives and children who also have been faithful, will go into the celestial inheritance prepared for us in the presence of our God. Will the unfaithful, disobedient, and unbelieving of our families enter with us into the celestial kingdom? They will not. The Lord said to Ezekiel, “Son of man, the house of Israel to me has become dross.” So with the unbelieving and disobedient of our families, and of this people; they will be separated from the pure silver, to occupy a place in the mansions of our Father according to their worth.

If our wives would remember and keep faithfully the covenant they have made, they would observe the laws of their husbands, and teach their children to honor every law of God, and to love, honor, and obey their earthly father. If I keep my covenants, I shall be saved in the presence of God; if I violate them, I shall be damned; and so it will be with my family; and what applies to me in this respect will apply to all.

Let us carry out the great purposes of God, and be separate from the ungodly. “Wo unto him that has the law given, yea, that has all the commandments of God, like unto us, and that transgresseth them, and that wasteth the days of his probation, for awful is his state!” “And wo unto the deaf that will not hear; for they shall perish. Wo unto the blind that will not see; for they shall perish also. Wo unto the liar, for he shall be thrust down to hell. Wo unto the murderer who deliberately killeth, for he shall die. Wo unto them who commit whoredoms, for they shall be thrust down to hell. And wo unto them who die in their sins; for they shall go to their place, and suffer the wrath of God.”

May God bless the righteous; but the men or women who raise their voices or use their influence against that holy order of plural marriage will be cursed, and they will wither away, for they have undertaken to fight against God. “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall leave them neither root nor branch.”

Remarks by Elder Ezra T. Benson, at the General Conference, Great Salt Lake City, Oct. 9, 1865.

I feel grateful for this opportunity of speaking a few words at this Conference, and for the blessings that have been conferred upon us during its session.

We have had a very interesting Conference, and there has been a great deal said which is of vital interest to the kingdom of God. We have come here to receive instruction for our further progress in prosecuting the purposes of God in the future, and for our present individual and mutual benefit. Can we carry the spirit of these instructions home with us, and diffuse it in our families, in our wards, and in the different settlements where we, as delegates to this Conference, reside? If we can do this, then the Saints in the different settlements who have not been at this Conference will be equally benefited with us.

Can we not only treasure up, but carry out, what we have heard this afternoon, and manufacture at home all we possibly can? Yes, we can do it; and we all feel that we can; and we now feel determined in our hearts to commence to do it when we go home from this Conference, that we may be benefited and enjoy the blessings that it is our privilege to enjoy. Who has made this request of us? The President and Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whom we have raised our hands to heaven to sustain. There is not an Elder in this vast assembly that would refuse to go to Europe, or to the islands of the sea, were he called to do so by this Conference. To refuse to respond to such a call would be a disgrace to him, and a sure token that he was weak in the faith, and if he possessed any influence among the Saints he would lose it. Now, it is the same Priesthood, the same power and authority, that has called upon us unitedly as a people, as parents, as children, as families and settlements, as the Saints of the Most High, to produce and make among ourselves that which we consume, to carry out to the best of our ability in all our settlements this very excellent counsel. It is a faithful attention to such instructions that will insure our salvation here, and our salvation in the celestial kingdom of God hereafter; for it is by means of the Holy Priesthood, and the keys and power of it, that we shall be led back into His presence.

The great object and purpose of the religion of Jesus Christ is to bring all the faithful back into the presence of their Father and God; for all who will abide a celestial law shall have a celestial glory, and a celestial glory is the highest glory that we have any knowledge of—it is where our Heavenly Father dwells; and no faithful Saint can ever feel satisfied short of reaching His presence and beholding His face. We are banished from our Father in Heaven in this low, sinful world; but we are not altogether lost, for He is feeling after us, and if we will listen to and obey the counsels of His servants, we shall be saved.

The brethren have spoken to us with great power during this Conference; I never have seen, in all my life, more power resting upon the Elders. I feel to bear my testimony to the truth of “Mormonism,” as the world call it, to the truths that the Prophet Joseph Smith has brought forth, and to the truth that President Brigham Young reveals to this people; these are the truths of heaven, and they will lead all who obey them to the possession of eternal life. Let us give diligent heed to these things. There is plenty for us to do if we are diligent in the things of the kingdom of God. How simple and plain are the principles of salvation! They pertain to us as mortals, and to this mortal world, and they show us that our heaven is here and will be of our own making, for we are of the earth, earthy; we came from the earth, and the meek will inherit it.

We have got to learn how to take care of ourselves, and to organize the elements around us for our own comfort, and cease going to New York, Boston, and other places for supplies. Let our young ladies take pride in wearing bonnets made of straw raised in the country, and braided with their own hands. In doing this they have the satisfaction of following the counsel of the servants of God, and of aiding a little in attaining our independence of foreign markets. Such a course as we have been advised to take at this Conference, with regard to home manufactures, will affect us for the better more sensibly in the future than in the present; but we are apt to think of the present and let the future take care of itself. When shall we be fully delivered from the corruptions of the world and from the influence of the false traditions which our fathers have taught us? The sooner we can overcome these, and follow faithfully and to the letter the instructions of the Holy Spirit, the better it will be for us as individuals and as a people.

May God bless you, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, at the General Conference, Great Salt Lake City, Oct. 9, 1865.

I wish now to deliver a few short discourses to the Latter-day Saints, and it does not matter which of them I deliver first, because they are all of equal interest and importance to the Saints, and will be spread upon the pages of the Deseret News for them to read at their leisure in that order that may suit them.

The first item that presents itself to me is, to call upon these sisters—they forming an important element of the kingdom of God in the last days—to listen to the will of God concerning them, that they go to now and manufacture from straw, grass, or any other fitting material that grows in these valleys, their bonnets and hats, and cease to sell the barley, the oats, the wheat, etc., to buy imported ones, or when the wheat, and the oats, and the barley are all sold, get your husbands to run into debt for that which you can as well make yourselves as not. I am satisfied that we can make, from material grown in these valleys, bonnets and hats as beautiful to look upon as any that have ever been imported to this Territory. I am addressing myself to the ladies of the kingdom of God, to those who know how to keep their houses, furniture and beds pure and clean, who can cook food for their husbands and children in a way that it will be clean, tasteful and wholesome. The woman that can do this I call a lady. In this view I differ from the world generally; for the lady of the world is not supposed to know anything about what is going on in the kitchen; her highest ambition is to be sure and be in the fashion, at no matter what cost to her husband or father; she considers that she may as well be out of the world as out of the fashion.

There has been a great deal said upon the subject of Home Manufacturing; and the article of straw is the readiest to come at of any other material of which clothing is made. Now, my sisters, will you hearken to those who spend all their time to do you good, who traverse the world over to gather the Saints, to preach the Gospel, make believers and gather them together that they become Saints—will you hearken to this counsel and obey it? Rye should be sown in the spring, and cut in the proper season, and cured as it should be to make good straw for hats and bonnets, and our boys and girls should braid it, and have it made up, and save the immense amount of ready means which we have to pay out for that article alone. Will the sisters belonging to the kingdom of God do this? I might call for a vote of those who are present, and no doubt you would enter into a covenant to perform this duty, and many very likely would not give the matter another thought. I will not ask you to vote; but I will ask you to do this as a duty, and to commence right away in this city by wards, and form yourselves into societies for the accomplishment of this purpose, and see that the little boys and girls, instead of their running wild in the streets, throwing the dust and dirt into their hair and garments from morning until night, are brought into the house, their skins and clothes washed clean, their hair combed neatly, and they set to braiding straw. This will teach them to be industrious, and save them from contracting habits of indolence and slothfulness, and be the means of introducing an important branch of industry into our country. How much better this would be than to let our children waste their time in unnecessary play; they need time to study, time for recreation, and time to be engaged in some useful employment. It is the duty of parents to see that the time of their children is properly appropriated to pursuits of usefulness, profit, and advantage to themselves, to their parents or guardians, and to the kingdom of God at large, that they may grow up to become efficient and worthy citizens of that kingdom.

Bishops, will you see that enough rye is sown to supply the wants of the people of your wards, and see that the crop is harvested when it should be to make good straw for braiding? If you will do this, and the people will not avail themselves of making their own hats and bonnets, there is no complaint can be attached to you. I have raised crops of rye from year to year, and invited the people to use the straw for making bonnets and hats; but no; the merchants had imported bonnets, and our ladies preferred going to the stores and buying them. When will this people become Saints indeed? Not until they observe every counsel that is given to them of this kind, doing with their might the things that are required of them. I know it is the will of the Lord that this people should manufacture what they wear and consume; and, in addition to its being the will of the Lord, the liability of our being cut off from supplies, through being so far distant from the great manufacturing districts, teaches us that it is wisdom and true economy that we should adopt this course. The money which this community has expended in hats and bonnets for men, women, and children in the last year would bring scores and hundreds of the poor Saints from the old countries to these valleys of Utah. Is it wise in us, and pleasing to the Lord, for us to place the means he has blessed us with where it does not belong, while our sons and our daughters, instead of idling away their time or being employed in that which does not profit them or us, might be engaged in preserving such means among us to be applied in the further progress of the work of God?

My next discourse will be upon merchandising. We are here in these valleys of the mountains organized as a people; and we know how we came to be here; and we know the designs of God, and the designs of our enemies concerning us; we know the distinction which is drawn between this people and the world; these things we understand. Now, we propose to the Bishops, presiding Elders and leading members of the church, who are here assembled to represent the kingdom of God upon the earth, and to all those who are not here, who act in these capacities in the various places where there are Saints gathered together, to do their own merchandising and cease to give the wealth which the Lord has given us to those who would destroy the kingdom of God and scatter us to the four winds, if they had the power. Cease to buy from them the gewgaws and frivolous things they bring here to sell to us for our money and means—means that we should have to bring the poor here, to build our temples, our towers, ornament our public grounds and buildings, and to beautify our cities. For, as merchandising has been generally conducted here, instead of having our means to perform these public works, it has been borne away by our enemies by the million.

I wish the brethren, in all our settlements, to buy the goods they must have, and freight them with their own teams; and then let every one of the Latter-day Saints, male and female, decree in their hearts that they will buy of nobody else but their own faithful brethren, who will do good with the money they will thus obtain. I know it is the will of God that we should sustain ourselves, for, if we do not, we must perish, so far as receiving aid from any quarter, except God and ourselves. If we have not capital ourselves, there are plenty of honorable men whom our brethren can enter into partnership with, who would furnish and assist them whenever they should receive an intimation to that effect. I know it is our duty to save ourselves; the enemy of all righteousness, will do nothing to help us in that work, neither will his children; we have to preserve ourselves, for our enemies are determined to destroy us. I know it is the duty of this people to build up themselves; for our enemies will not build us up, but they will do their uttermost to tear us down. This will not apply to all; but there are enough to bark, and yelp, and growl, and snarl till the peaceable, good meaning man dare not open his mouth. We have thousands of warm-hearted friends who dare not say anything in favor of this people. We have friends in Congress who wish us to become a State in the Union; but they dare not tell of it. No, let them only say in their own districts that they would vote for Utah to become a State, and that would be their political grave, and they know it. If nobody will speak for us, let us speak for ourselves; if no person else will do anything for us, let us do something for ourselves. This is right; it is politically right, religiously right, nationally right, socially and morally right, and it is right in every sense of the word for us to sustain ourselves.

Let us save that money which we spend for bonnets and hats, and the trimmings that are upon them. You may ask me if I think my family will start out with a good example in this direction; I hope they will. If we will be diligent in this kind of economy, and make all we can within ourselves, and send out as little of our ready means as possible, it will place at our control means, which we do not now command, to gather thousands of the poor Saints.

What I am now about to say is on the subject of the use of tobacco. Let us raise our own tobacco, or quit using it. In the years ’49, ’50, ’51, ’52, and ’53, and so long as I kept myself posted respecting the amount expended yearly by this people at the stores for articles of merchandise, we spent upwards of 100,000 dollars a year for tobacco alone! We now spend considerably more than we did then. Let us save this ready means in our country by abstaining from the use of this narcotic, or raise it ourselves. By so doing we will have that amount of means to circulate in channels of usefulness and profit which will add to our strength, to our permanency, and to our influence and importance as a great people. But when we place hundreds of thousands of dollars in the hands of those who are not of us, whose homes are not with us, who spend nothing to build up our country, but come here merely to make fortunes to spend elsewhere, we give them so much of our strength, and we are proportionately weakened. This is poor economy, and is displeasing to the Lord, because it retards the development of His purposes.

I will not call upon you to enter into a covenant to do this, for some might break their covenants and that would be a sin, but I want what you do in this matter to be prompted by a desire to bring to pass some permanent profit and good to yourselves and to the cause which we represent. I want you to do it as I have done it myself. I have never made a covenant since I entered this Church only to do good and serve the Lord our God, and in every possible way aid in developing His purposes. The Lord gave me strength to lay aside tobacco, and it is very rarely indeed that I taste tea or coffee; yet I have no objection to aged persons, when they are fatigued and feel infirm, taking a little stimulus that will do them good. It is wrong to use narcotics, for the nervous system is destroyed or injured thereby; but we should maintain a healthy action of all the powers of the body, which should be devoted to the service of our Father and God in building up His kingdom on the earth.

Now, brethren, bishops, presiding elders, influential men, men of property and money, will you go to now and gather up the means in your settlements and set some good reliable men to merchandising in every settlement, men who, if they make anything, will devote it to the building up of the kingdom of God upon the earth. I care not how much a man makes, if he only devotes it to proper uses, or how rich he may be if he make a right application of his riches. It is the bad use that men make of their wealth which God objects to. Go to, my brethren, and prepare yourselves forthwith to import the goods you must have, and never admit of a store being started in your neighborhood again that you cannot control. It may be asked how can you prevent it? By never spending a dollar with any who will not aid in developing the country and in building it up.

It is the duty of this people to do their own merchandising, and, if I had the power, I would prevail upon them to take care of themselves, to provide for themselves, and use their means in a way to benefit and bless themselves, instead of pouring into the laps of those who will squander and make an ill use of it, who will use it to sustain the power of the enemy in his operations against the kingdom of God. This is right, and who can say aught against it? Nobody but a faultfinder or an accuser. As it has always been, and will be yet for some time, when the sons of God assemble together, Satan will be on hand as an accuser of the brethren, to find fault with those who are trying to do good. What I have said on this matter will answer my purpose.

There is another item which I will now notice, and until we learn such things I will promise you that we shall never inherit the Celestial Kingdom. We are gathered together for the purpose of learning what to do with this present life and with the present blessings bestowed upon us. If we do not learn these lessons, how can we expect to be trusted with the riches of eternity; for he that is faithful over a few things shall be made ruler over many things. The item I wish to refer to is the great loss which the people of this Territory suffer yearly in stock. I have talked about it heretofore many times, and tried to prevail upon the brethren to save their stock. When we are blessed with an increase of cattle, and we disregard this blessing which the Lord bestows upon us, we thereby incur His displeasure, and lay ourselves liable to punishment. What earthly father would bestow blessings upon a son with satisfaction and pleasure while that son would continue to squander them and gamble them away for nothing? After a time that father would withhold his favors, and bestow them upon the more worthy child. The Lord is more merciful than we are; but there may be a termination to His gifts, if we do not receive them with gratitude and take good care of them when we have them in our possession. Let the people take care of their cattle and horses, and the man who does not do it will lay himself liable to censure in the eyes of justice.

Listen to this advice, for here is economy. We have to gather the people, to send our Elders forth into the world to preach the Gospel to every creature; and when the people are gathered, there is probably not one family to fifty out of those who are brought here that knows anything about cultivating the earth, raising cattle, or doing anything to sustain themselves; we have to teach them this after they come here. We have importuned and plead with and instructed the people on these topics all the day long, rising early and continuing late until now; and many, a great many, have profited by our labors. The citizens of this city are tolerably comfortable; a great many of them have an abundance of fruit, and they enjoy it. It is very healthy for them and their children to eat in the season thereof, and it helps many to sustain their families pretty comfortable; and then they raise a few chickens, and they have one or two pigs in the pen, and a cow to give them milk and butter; though as the cows are now fed they are not very profitable to their owners.

I have lamented much that the people do not take the precaution to feed their cows. Let those who have cows in the city, sow a little lucerne seed in their gardens, say three or four rods square, and see that it is well cultivated, and you can feed your cows with a little of this two or three times a day, and take a little oats or wheat for your labor and get it chopped, and feed them a little of that everyday, and give them the weeds you pull out of the garden, and the slops from the kitchen. In this way it is not difficult to keep a cow the year round. But take a cow six or seven miles over Jordan for a few dry weeds, and be all day, or as long as she remains there, without water and without shade, when she returns to the river she fills herself with water and comes home looking very full, yet hungry enough to crop the currant bushes where she can reach them, and eat the weeds from under our fences. This is not right. Raise lucerne, plant a few hills of corn, and take off the outside leaves of your cabbages and give to her; sow your beets and carrots, and what you do not use for greens, save and give to the cow. Save everything that she will eat, and feed it to her in a way that she will relish it and eat it all up; feed it to her fresh, and not suffer it to rot about the kitchen and the doors to become a sickly nuisance to your children.

By taking this course, you can as well milk eight quarts of milk twice a day as two, according to the quality of the cow and the kind of feed you give her. Thus you have your milk and a little butter, and your meat of your own raising, and your eggs and chickens, and your fruit; and you have a living here off an acre and a quarter of land. Such a little farm well tilled and well managed, and the products of it economically applied, will do wonders towards keeping and educating a small family. Let the little children do their part, when they are not engaged in their studies, in knitting their stockings and mittens, braiding straw for their hats, or spinning yarn for their frocks and underclothing. If this people would strictly observe these simple principles of economy, they would soon become so rich that they would not have room sufficient to hold their abundance: their storehouses would run over with fullness, and their vats with new wine.

Now, cultivate your farms and gardens well, and drive your stock to where they can live through the winter, if you have not feed for them. Do not keep so many cattle, or, in other words, more than you can well provide for and make profitable to yourselves and to the kingdom of God. We have hundreds and thousands of fat cattle upon the ranges, and yet we have no beef to eat, or very little. Kill your cattle when they are fat, and salt down the meat, that you may have meat to eat in the winter and some to dispose of to your neighbors for their labor to extend your improvements. Lay up your meat, and not let it die on your hands. Such a course is not right. Cattle is made for our use, let us take care of them.

I have now a proposition to make to the Latter-day Saints; and here is the strength and power of Israel to listen to it. It is to send five hundred teams to the Missouri River next season—five hundred good teams, with four yoke of oxen forward of a good wagon, to bring all the poor who have a mind to come to these valleys. There are hundreds of the Saints who can get to the frontiers, but no further; and rather than leave their homes in the old countries and be left among strangers in a strange land, they stay at home. What do you say, shall we send down five hundred teams next season? [The Conference was unanimously in favor of this movement.] I would suggest that we take cattle and wagons from Utah. The wagons that are made in the east now are not so good as they were years ago. The demand has made good wagon timber scarce, and it is rather difficult now to get as good wagons as we got a few years ago. Before the time of starting, you will be furnished with a circular of instructions. May the Lord bless you. Amen.

Remarks by President Daniel H. Wells, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, General Conference, Oct. 8, 1865.

It is with joy and satisfaction indescribable to myself that I enjoy the privilege, brethren and sisters, of standing before you at this Conference this afternoon.

It is known to a great majority of you that I have been to Europe on a mission. I am glad that I have been to that country, and that I have been permitted to return to these valleys again. Whether I go away or return is all one to me, inasmuch as I am called to act in the Church and kingdom of God; and where the Lord appoints me to act is where I wish to be; that is my place and position, and it is my delight to be subservient unto the call, and unto the counsel of those who hold the authority to dictate in the Church and kingdom of God. If I know myself, that is the place I wish to occupy at all times and on all occasions, and it gives me great satisfaction if I can fill that place, and perform the mission and duties required of me to perform, in that way that shall be pleasing to them and unto my Father in heaven; for if I please them I shall please Him, and if I please Him I shall please them.

I feel grateful for the privilege of being a member of the Church and kingdom of God, and of being willing to do his bidding and abide the counsels of his servants. I feel happy in this calling, and to be associated with a people whose bosoms beat responsive with mine in regard to the great principles of the Gospel of salvation which has been revealed in these days for the guidance of the children of men upon the earth, that all people may avail themselves of these privileges and principles the same as we have done, if they choose it. They have this option within themselves, to obey and walk in the ways of life and salvation or to reject them; they can do as they please when the principles of salvation are made known unto them; they have their agency, and inasmuch as they will adopt them, they can enjoy the privileges which we now enjoy, and they cannot obtain them upon any other principle. As we have heard this morning, everything that is worth having we can obtain through the principles of the Gospel, and they are for the people of God.

The whole world, we may say, have gone a whoreing after other gods, and they worship not the God of Israel, the true God. They do not know Him, nor do they take the pains to know Him, whom to know is life eternal, as we read in the Scriptures. What can the world tell you about Him? Nothing; they do not know Him. How are we to learn God whom to know is eternal life? We learn to know Him through the principles of the Gospel. He is revealed to man through the authority of the Holy Priesthood, which has been established among the children of men through the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ to His servants. What did we know about Him who is our Father, previous to receiving this latter-day Work? Could we tell anything about the relationship that existed between God and his children? Anything about the object of God in bringing man upon the earth? We knew nothing about this nor about the laws which should govern and control him to bring him to exaltation in the presence of God. In ignorance of these great principles, mankind come upon the earth, they live and they die. They do not know how to subserve the purposes of the Almighty in their own being, how to accomplish the object of their creation and the end of their being on the earth. They cannot learn the things of God without the Spirit of God. I have in my own feeble way tried to teach the people concerning the things of God, to teach them who God our Heavenly Father is, or in other words, the ways of eternal life, and the relationship which exists between God and man; to teach them those principles which will subserve their being on the earth while they tarry here, and the laws which the Almighty has revealed for them to obey. I have borne a faithful testimony to the children of men, so far as I have had the power, while I have been on my mission, and have endeavored to do what good I could whenever an opportunity presented itself. But I have often times felt as though the people did not wish to know the things I had to teach them, and that they might as well be left with their idols. I have felt that my testimony has rebounded back upon me, for they cared not to know the things of God. The world treat the revelations of God to Joseph Smith in the last days as an idle dream. They do not care to investigate it because they think it is a humbug and beneath their notice; they treat it with contumely and disrespect; they are united almost universally in rejecting it, in passing it by, while the kingdom of God is actually transpiring upon the earth, and before the face and eyes of the whole world, and they mark it not; they have eyes and cannot see, ears and cannot hear, hearts and cannot comprehend nor understand, or if they do understand, will not obey the truth, but they will reject it. But does this conduct make it any less true? No, my good friends, No.

We read in the good book that “strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leads to eternal life, and few there be which find it.” If the world wish to be saved in the kingdom of God, let them take heed to the words of his servants that are abroad in the earth, for they have the authority of the Holy Priesthood, the authority of heaven; the angel of God has come and restored the Gospel to the earth in these last days, and we know it, and feel able to bear this testimony to all the world, and it has already gone as it were upon the wings of the morning to all the world. Let the people reject it if they can afford to do so; we know they cannot afford to reject it; it is the most expensive thing they ever rejected; they had better receive it if they knew what would be for their best good. The authority of the Holy Priesthood is here upon the earth, and all people can avail themselves of it if they think proper to do so. Why do not the world do it? That, however, is their own affair: if we are faithful and acquit ourselves as men of God, we thereby clear ourselves of the blood of this generation. The communication has been opened up between the heavens and the earth. Do you know it, Latter-day Saints? You do. Do the world know it? They may if they will take the proper course to put themselves in possession of this knowledge, but they do not care to know it; they are like the blind that are led by those who are blind, and they will all fall into the ditch together.

I have felt a pride in speaking to the people in different nations and countries, of telling them that there is a place where good men may gather together, where men and women of integrity dwell, where the rights of all men are protected; that there is a place upon the footstool of God where the rights of mankind can be enjoyed and respected, where all can have the liberty of worshipping God according to the dictates of their conscience; that there dwells a people who are for God: there the earth has been reclaimed and is being brought in subjection to the rule of the God of Heaven, and the predominating feeling is for God. I have felt proud in bearing this testimony, and pointing my finger to Utah, where good men and women may dwell in peace, and where good order and good government prevail, and the people are in subjection to Heaven’s rule. Who is doing this? You, Latter-day Saints. Where else can such a thing be found? Nowhere. Abroad in the world evil influences predominate everywhere, but here it is not so. Not but that there is evil here, more or less: I expect to find it. If it were not mingled up with the people of God, then the wheat and the tares would not grow together until harvest, as the parable of the Savior plainly intimates would be the case, and this would supply grave reasons against it being the Church and kingdom of God. The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net cast into the sea which gathers both good and bad. I expect this is the characteristic of the Church of God here; but still, the predominating influences are for God, the great majority of the people are submitting themselves to high Heaven’s rule, and seeking with all their might to establish the kingdom of God upon the earth, and it is extending abroad, lengthening its cords and strengthening its stakes. It is a great blessing to live in such a place as this; a great blessing to be a citizen of the Church and kingdom of God upon the earth, and to hail from Zion. The world may treat you with contempt, but let them laugh who wins; and who will win if the Latter-day Saints do not?

The world are in ignorance with regard to the principles that will save mankind; they do not know of any principles that will save any portion of mankind either here or hereafter—they do not know how to save themselves. They have a pretty good government in England, and I like that country pretty well for a great many things. You can go there and bear your testimony, and tell the truth, and be protected by the laws of the country; you can do that without being exposed to much danger of being mobbed, as the Latter-day Saints have been in this country, although there is some opposition; but the people stand in fear of the administrators of the law, because they will administer it even in protection of the Latter-day Saints. It is a nice little island, the island of Great Britain; and there dwell upon it a great many good, warm-hearted people, and I love them. There are a great many people there who are trying to know the ways of eternal life, and they will treat the ministers of salvation with more respect than in many other countries. I am glad to be associated with such a people.

There are many persons who belong to the Church in foreign countries who would be glad to be gathered with the people here, and there are many who, although they do not belong to the Church and kingdom of God, still fail to realize and know that there is something necessary to be done. They have no confidence in the organized systems of religion of the present day. They can see no consistency in them, and suppose that everything in the shape of religion is a humbug. “Mormonism” has sprung up in the same age, and they condemn it without examination as being, like all the rest, nothing more than an idle dream. Talk to them about revelation; yes, they have false revelations, and if they have false revelations and false spirits, does it prove that there are no true ones? The very reverse is the fact, and they would find true revelation and true spirits if they would only seek for them in the right way.

We, as Latter-day Saints, have cause to be thankful that we have found out the way of eternal life, because we have had the blessed privilege of living in this day and age of the world in which the Gospel of salvation has been revealed for the guidance of the children of men; that we have been recipients of that knowledge which leads to eternal life and salvation in the presence of God; that we have been gathered out from the world that we may not partake of her abominations and of the plagues which are to come upon her; that this land has been consecrated and dedicated to God; that it has been held for the Latter-day Saints to occupy, to plant, and build, and inhabit, and that in consequence of this, the land has been made to bring forth for the sustenance of His people who have been gathered out from where the wicked rule and the people mourn.

Those who have embraced the Gospel in foreign lands sigh for deliverance, and the hope of this deliverance is the only ray of light that burns in their souls, and that gives them joy; although they live with their whole lives oppressed, this beam of gladness has found its way into their souls through the principles of the Gospel, and hence they are less oppressed in their feelings than many others. A hope springs up in their bosoms that the time will come for their deliverance from the oppression under which they groan. Many of you have been delivered from those bonds, and from that oppression. You may have suffered poverty and sickness, and been afflicted in many ways, and perhaps have found things different than what you anticipated in many respects in this your newly adopted country, yet you have been delivered from a land where oppression reigns, and have been placed in a land of liberty—in a country where you can expand and grow, where you can plant your children with a hope that they may rise to importance in the kingdom of God, to something beyond what you and your forefathers have been enabled to do in the land where you have formerly lived, that you and your offspring may dwell where virtue, peace, and industry may meet with their reward.

How is it in many of those old countries with the poor? And it is with this class that we have the most to do; for some cause, known perhaps best to Him that rules on high, it is the poor who embrace the Gospel, who receive the Gospel, who receive the message of good tidings, it is to them a theme of gladness and joy more than to any other class of men. Hundreds and thousands of them are out of employment, their stores gone, and they have no resources but what arise from their daily labor, and they are on the borders of starvation. The dearth in cotton has thrown thousands of people out of employment upon the cold charities of the world. How is it here, saying nothing about religion? Here a man can get a little land, and in a short time gather around him the necessaries of life upon which he can subsist and let the world wag as it will; his condition is improved, and he may hope to rise to wealth and influence. How is it there? Why he may tread in the path in which his fathers trod, but can go no further—can advance no higher in the scale of existence; if times are good he may subsist, and that comfortably—I am speaking of the poor classes, those that the Gospel most generally find, to them such a deliverance as the Gospel offers is glad tidings of great joy, for they can plant themselves where their children can rise above what their fathers have been. This is what many thousands of the Latter-day Saints have accomplished by emigrating from that country to this, and many more thousands will be benefited in the same way.

This is only one of the benefits which the Gospel confers upon those who obey it; it benefits man whenever it touches him, temporally and spiritually, religiously, morally, and politically; it gives him an understanding of life; it teaches him how to live and how to exalt his being to the standard of heavenly intelligence; how to bring up his children and educate them in a proper manner, and how to avail himself of the facilities and advantages which the sciences and arts present to advance the purposes of the Almighty in the redemption of the human race; teaching him not only how to live in time, but in all eternity; giving him knowledge how to stand forth like a man of God in the world to subserve His purposes.

The Latter-day Saints have the most cause of any people on earth to rejoice continually in Him who has bestowed upon them the proud position which they occupy; for the authority of Heaven is here, and the wisdom of Heaven is here, and you can find it nowhere else. I had the privilege of telling the people in those old countries that the sanctuary of the Lord was not with them; but in order to get the blessings necessary to qualify them to enter into the presence of God, they would have to go to that place where the people of God are abiding, where they shall be strengthened and become even a great and mighty nation; and I thank God that there is a people on the earth that can no longer be ignored by the great and mighty of the earth, for they have attained a standing and a position that must be respected. They may ignore this people if they think they can afford to do it, and we can afford to wait and see the purposes of the Almighty roll forth on the earth better than any other people can, because we are on the safe side; we have more time to wait. If the wicked knew when it is well with them, they would hasten to make their peace with the Almighty, for his judgments are abroad upon the earth, and who can stay his hand. They are upon the wicked, and they know and feel it.

The great mass of mankind are ready to ridicule the people of God, they are ready to ridicule his servants because they stand forth and declare that an angel of the Almighty has come to restore the Gospel in its full– ness, and that Joseph Smith was called of God to be his Prophet; all this they say is nonsense, and they reject it without inquiring into the reason why they reject it. If they can afford to do this, we can afford to live our holy religion and bear their contumely and reproaches better than they can afford to give them. Such abuse hardly ruffles my feelings, if they will only keep their hands off; and if there is any danger of violence of that sort, we shall be apprised of it; there is not much danger in them, that is, unless they can take you by surprise. If the Latter-day Saint is on his guard, panoplied with the armor of righteousness, he may walk through the earth without being molested, because the Spirit of the Almighty will show him where the danger lies, and he can ward it off; and wisdom will be given him to absent himself from those places where danger is and turn away in another direction. Wisdom will be given him also what to say and what to do under every circumstance. The great evil that besets the path of the Saints is when they depart from the principles of eternal truth and rectitude, and betray their trust; for this they place themselves in the power of the enemy; and this they do when they are asleep, not when they are wide awake, and they are led little by little until they make shipwreck of their faith and go headlong to the devil, which they would not do while walking in the ways of righteousness. Have I felt that I have been in deadly peril? Yes, many times, if the enemy could have had his way. Sometimes I have felt like buckling on pistols, and at other times I would feel perfectly safe without them. In my travels no man has had the temerity to come up to my face and insult me; but I have heard the grinding of their teeth; I have heard what they would say to me addressed to somebody else.

As I have already said, I cannot express to you the feelings of joy and gladness which pervade my whole soul upon my return home, and to meet with so friendly a people; you cannot imagine what big feelings it gives me to have the privilege of meeting with the Saints in this and in other countries. Wherever I meet the Saints I feel that I always have known and been with them. Why is this? Because they have partaken of the same Spirit that I possess, and it runs from soul to soul like oil, or like water, or electricity, pervading each and every Saint wherever I have met them in any country. It is good when you are far distant from Zion to meet a people who will receive you with such a spirit and feeling. It is different now to what it has been with some of the Elders who have gone forth to preach the Gospel in the early days of the Church, when they found none to receive them possessed of a kindred spirit. After they had made known the message of heaven and found a people willing and glad to receive it, they soon found friends, and they found the same friends I found, namely, an honest-hearted people in ignorance with regard to the principles of life and salvation; they have been made acquainted with those principles, and there are many others who have not yet been made acquainted with them, although the Gospel has reached the ears of many of the inhabitants of the earth, and we have established ourselves in the earth as Latter-day Saints—the sons of God—in other words the Almighty has established his Church and kingdom on the earth with the authority thereof, and it is no longer to be ignored by the people of the world; it is a fixed fact.

I do not know what they will do next, but I expect they will be found trying to do their utmost against it. I do not look for anything else. The Latter-day Saints expect to do a great work when they seek to dig down the hill of error which has accumulated for six thousand years on the earth; this they expect to do with the Gospel and by the blessings of God and his power assisting them, and so continue their labor until the earth is redeemed and brought back again to its pristine glory and perfection, and the kingdom of God rules and predominates all over its face, and the power of the wicked be essentially broken, and law and good order prevail everywhere, and men learn war no more. These may appear high-swelling words, and they may appear absurd to the millions of the earth. It does not matter to me how absurd they look, the facts in the case remain the same; all these things will be fulfilled in the own due time of the Lord; this Work has already commenced and is now transpiring before the face and eyes of all men. It is not done in a corner, but before the whole world in the tops of the mountains; our light is not hid under a bushel, but it is set upon a hill, that all the world may see it. The truth of the Almighty is being made known in these last days, and it is a mighty testimony to the people, and they will be sorry if they do not take heed to it. There cannot be a greater testimony to the world than the living existence of this people in the tops of the Rocky Mountains, and all people can see it.

I rejoice in this work; let it roll forth and my heart is glad. I feel proud to be associated with such a people; I feel proud that such a people exist; I feel glad and rejoice exceedingly in my soul, that I have lived in this day and age of the world, and have the privilege of bearing this testimony to the nations, and of becoming a citizen of the kingdom of God; of aiding to lay a foundation to build upon for time as well as for eternity, that we may come forth in the great hereafter and become associated with the Gods of eternity. What do the world know about all this? Simply nothing.

I have been absent from home about eighteen months; during that time I have attended meetings in England among the different Conferences; I have been to Scandinavia on a short visit, and have been engaged in the Office at Liverpool in the publishing department a portion of my time. I felt exceedingly to rejoice in my labors, and had pretty good health, for me, as a general thing; although I have felt as though I could have done more if my health had been better. I felt to regret that I could not do half as much as I wanted to do; this was the only feeling of regret which accompanied me on my return. I have not accomplished half as much as I would liked to have done. It seems a long way to travel, considerable time spent in coming and going, for so short a mission, but with me it is all right to go or to stay; so long as I am useful in the Church and kingdom of God, it does not matter to me where my time is spent as long as I live.

The joy and gladness which I feel in meeting with my brethren again in this place is inexpressible. Some of them have told me that they intended to give an expression of their gladness at my return, and were disappointed at my entering the city sooner than they expected I would. I will take the will for the deed; the good feelings which prompted the wish to do that I think more of than any manifestation or demonstration that might have occurred. I know there exists in the bosoms of my brethren towards me a good and genial feeling that mingles with the feelings in my own breast. I realize that I have the faith and prayers of my brethren, and have realized their effi– cacy in many dangers, both by sea and by land, while I have been traveling to preach the Gospel, while I have been writing, while I have been afflicted in sickness, and while I have had difficulties to overcome. In all these circumstances I have felt buoyed up by that feeling which beats responsive in your hearts and my own. I have had the benefit of your prayers and appreciate them; they have bean answered upon my head, and this is a living testimony to me, also, that your prayers are heard, and that you have learned how to approach God in an acceptable manner to find favor in his eyes, and have your prayers answered. My health is much better; the journey to Europe has done me good, and God has done it. This is His work, and we are His people.

We talk about having done this and that; but it is the Lord who has done it, and we are merely instruments in his hands of accomplishing His purposes in the earth. It is a great honor to be an instrument in the hands of God of establishing His kingdom, and of bringing forth His purposes in the last days. The Saints are based upon the eternal rock of truth and they will stand when the refuge of lies is swept away; they are those who will be found wise in their generation, and with oil in their lamps, and they will be the ruling and governing class of mankind; they will possess the earth, and the kingdom under the whole heavens will be given unto them.

If we read the Bible we find that God has placed in His Church Apostles, Prophets, Pastors, Teachers, gifts, and blessings for the edifying of the Saints and the work of the ministry, etc.; but the religious world in the 19th century say that these are all done away; they are satisfied to read about what the ancients enjoyed, and go hungry and naked themselves. When you go into an hotel for dinner you read the bill of fare, and actually partake of the good things therein noted. We should think a man either crazy or a fool who would read the bill of fare and exclaim against eating the savory food it describes. The Bible cannot ordain a person with authority to stand forth and obey himself and administer the ordinances of the house of God to others. “No man taketh this honor upon himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron;” and how can a man be called of God as was Aaron without immediate revelation from Him? If Jesus had to be baptized unto the baptism of repentance to fulfill all righteousness, who else should be exempt? He went down into the waters and was baptized, and the voice of God said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him.” He said to Nicodemus, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.” This is recorded in the Bible which the Christian world acknowledge to be their rule of faith. I exhort them to live to it. There is nothing said in the Bible about sprinkling, and the word baptize means immersion, and the world may quibble about it as much as they please. It is through these principles and this administration from under the hands of the servants of God that we receive the Holy Ghost, which will lead into all truth, and to an increase of knowledge in the things of God; through this channel we learn to know God, whom to know is eternal life. That Spirit which lighteth every man that cometh into the world, causeth mankind to seek after the truth and to become anxious after their eternal welfare, and to know about their hereafter. You may travel in every country and you will find this feeling pervading mankind; for everybody, except the infidel, worships at some shrine, and the infidel says there is no God, and does not worship anything. The Scripture says, to know God is eternal life. How can we know Him and learn Him? This is an important question for Latter-day Saints as well as for others. How shall we learn to know the only wise and true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent and know the relationship that exists between Him and His children, and the purpose He had in bringing us into this existence?

Let us keep this our second estate, for having kept our first estate we have been reserved to come upon this earth and obtain a tabernacle of flesh, pass through this mortality and have the privilege of accomplishing the object and the purpose of the Almighty in the organization of this earth. Let us be wise in our day, and secure unto ourselves those blessings that are for us. Let us be true and faithful, and full of that integrity which can look Heaven in the face without a blush, clinging to the truth, and never swerving from it for a single moment; and may God bless us and help us to do so is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

By Elder George A. Smith, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, General Conference, Oct. 8, 1865.

It is somewhat of an undertaking to address so large an assembly. I bear my testimony to the truth of the restoration of the everlasting Gospel and this Work which God has commenced in these latter days.

It has been the earnest desire of my heart, from the time I received the ordinance of baptism in 1832, to be able to fulfil my duties as a Saint, and to perform those things which were required of me as an individual—to watch over myself and keep out of mischief; that I might be prepared, when my work is accomplished on the earth, to inherit the blessings and glory of that King in whose service I am enlisted. I presume that a large proportion of the Saints have kept these things in mind, though I am astonished when I reflect upon the great number with whom I have been acquainted that are not now to be found, and of whom we have no report only that they have gone off this, that, or the other way.

This reminds us of the parable of the sower that went forth to sow, as described by our Savior; some of the good seed fell among thorns, and they grew up and choked it; some fell by the way side, and the fowl, gathered it up; some fell upon stony ground where it had not much depth of earth, and it came up quickly, and when the sun was up it was scorched and withered away; and some fell upon good ground and brought forth thirty, sixty, and an hundredfold. This is the substance of the parable, and the kingdom of God in the last days is certainly very much like unto it.

Among the great number who have entered into the fold of Christ, by baptism, few have remained faithful to the present time. There were men among us whose hearts were faint—who felt that it would not do to gather here, because, peradventure, it was the greatest undertaking of any age. To attempt to settle a whole people, situated as we were, in the midst of a howling desert a thousand miles from supplies, was too great an undertaking in the eyes of many, and they dared not risk it. It required faith, courage, energy, daring, and perseverance, almost beyond description, to lead a people into the heart of the great American desert and establish settlements. We now see travelers arrive here by stage, who are proud of the achievement of having crossed the Rocky Mountains. It required a people full of faith, energy, and devotion to the cause of God, and a willingness to abide every counsel given by the servants of God, to come here; and also required a large amount of faith, patience, energy, self-denial, and long-suffering to stay when they got here.

I presume it was over three years after we came before a score of men in the valleys ever believed that an apple, peach, or plum could be grown here, and when the few men who had the faith and the determination to set an example began to produce their peaches, plums, and apples, and exhibit them, many opened their eyes with astonishment. Who on the face of the earth would think that at an altitude of four thousand four hundred feet above the level of the sea, and in latitude nearly forty-one, and near the southern limit of the isothermal line, such nicely flavored, delicate fruit could be raised!

We came to this land because it was so desert, desolate, and Godforsaken that no mortal upon earth ever would covet it; but as Colonel Fremont reported that at the mouth of Bear River, in the early part of August, his thermometer stood at 29 degrees Fah., three degrees below freezing point, which would kill grain, fruit, or vegetables, our enemies said, “You Mormons may go there and welcome,” chuckling to each other over what seemed to them our annihilation. We had been driven several times; our homes had been devastated both in Missouri and Illinois; we had been robbed of everything, and some came here with the little that they gathered up from the smoking ruins of their habitations. The priests sent compliments to each other rejoicing that those “Mormons” (who had been making the people acquainted with the principles of the Gospel by teaching them that the Bible meant what it said) had gone into the heart of a desert, never more to be heard of, for the Indians would destroy and grim want would consume them. The newspapers recorded the joy and gratification felt at the utter end of “Mormonism.” Governor Thomas Ford wrote as follows in the title page of his History of Illinois—“An account of the rise, pro– gress, and FALL of Mormonism.” Notwithstanding, however, the many drawbacks and difficulties encountered in the shape of drouth, crickets, grasshoppers, and the cold, sterile climate, the Spirit of the Lord was hovering over the Great Basin; as linguists tell us the Spirit of the Lord brooded over the face of the waters anciently, so it brooded over the Great Basin and the climate became genial and soft. I never was at the crossing of the Sevier River in summer, for seven years after our settlements in Iron County had been established, without experiencing frost; and now the Sevier valley produces luxuriant fields of grain and vegetables in the season thereof, in every place where the water has been taken out from the mouth of that river to the head of it, nearly nine thousand feet above the level of the sea. Who has done this? God and the Saints have done it! The Saints have had faith and walked over the land with the Holy Priesthood upon them and blessed and dedicated it to the Lord, and have labored according to the counsels of God, and the work has been accomplished.

To have told the Mountaineers ten years ago that grain could be raised in the upper valleys of the Weber, where they encountered heavy frosts every month in summer, would have incurred their ridicule; but the genial influence of the Spirit of the Almighty has softened the rigor of the climate, and the flourishing counties of Morgan and Summit are the result.

In 1853, an expedition went out from Provo City after some Indians that had stolen stock. They went up the Provo River and encamped near where the city of Heber now stands, in the middle of summer. On their return they reported to me that they were nearly frozen, and that much of the wild vegetation was killed by the severity of the weather, and that it would be useless ever to attempt to raise grain there. I suppose that Provo valley, this season, with all its losses, will raise not less than thirty thousand bushels of grain and vegetables. With a little reflection we can readily perceive that the Lord God of Israel has blessed these mountains and valleys, which have been dedicated and set apart by His servants for the gathering together of His people and the establishment of His latter-day work upon the earth.

Go to Pottawatomie, Iowa; Nauvoo, Illinois; or Kirtland, Ohio, and ask for apples and peaches, and you will find them few and far between. In February, 1857, I visited my former field of labor in Western Virginia, and inquired of an old friend for fruit; his reply was, “My peach trees are all killed, and I have not been able to raise any peaches for six years.” Have you any good apples? “Not an apple that is fit to eat; our trees are all diseased, and many of them have perished.” This condition of things was very general. It is so wherever the Saints have lived and been driven away—their glory has departed to return no more, until the land is dedicated and consecrated to God and occupied by the Saints.

We had to produce the necessaries of life from the ground, for we had not the means to send abroad eleven hundred miles to purchase. In a short time after the Pioneers settled this country, some twenty-five thousand pilgrims to the land of gold passed through this Great Basin; a large portion of them came here destitute, and they are indebted to the inhabitants of these settlements for the preservation of their lives.

California is indebted to the Latter-day Saints for its present greatness. We opened its gold mines, explored its country, explored and made the three principal roads leading there, and ran the first ship load of Ameri– can emigrants into the port of San Francisco, then called Yerba Buena. We are the men that developed the resources of the Pacific Coast, and then we fed those tens of thousands passing through to that land, who would have starved and perished on the deserts had we not provided them with bread while they traveled the roads we made, to go to the mines.

The passengers on board the ship Brooklyn not only brought to the Pacific Coast their valuable library, but a printing press, which they established at Yerba Buena—now San Francisco, and from which was issued the California Star in 1847-8. We are the Pioneers of the great West. The Latter-day Saints established the first printing press in Western Missouri, the Evening and Morning Star, published at Independence in 1832-3, and the Upper Missouri Advertiser, in 1833, by W. W. Phelps. After the destruction of the printing office by the mob, the press was removed to Liberty, and was for years used to print the only newspaper printed west of Booneville, Mo., excepting the Elder’s Journal, published for a short time in Far West.

We were the Pioneer settlers of Western Iowa, making the road and bridging the streams from the vicinity of Keeosaqua to the Missouri River, nearly three hundred miles. We established the first paper at Council Bluffs, published by Elder Orson Hyde, entitled the Frontier Guardian, in 1848-9 and 50.

The Omaha Arrow, published by Joseph E. Johnson, was the first paper published in Nebraska, who subsequently published the Huntsman’s Echo at Wood River.

We introduced the culture of wheat and fruit in Western Missouri and Iowa, improved agriculture in California, and developed the resources of these mountains, making the roads and showing men how to travel them safely.

While all this has been done for our country, and we have comparatively tamed the savage and held in check his wild and bloodthirsty nature, that the inhabitants of the world could travel across the deserts without being robbed and murdered, we have been the subject of vile scandal, simply because our religious views were different from those of the hireling clergy who occupy the pulpits of Christendom. We taught that men should preach the Gospel without purse or scrip—preach it freely; and a man who depended upon a congregation for a salary by which to obtain his black coat and fit-out, was ready to denounce preaching without purse and scrip as a heresy; why? Because it would reduce him to the necessity of going to some useful calling, instead of making merchandise of the Gospel, which God has made free. It endangered his bread and butter; and thus priestcraft has raised a constant howl that the Mormons were leagued with the Indians. Why? Because we crossed the plains and the Indians did not rob us. The reason the Latter-day Saints crossed the plains and the Indians did not rob them was, they organized their companies, camped in order, kept up guards, treated the Indians with kindness and respect, seeking no quarrel with them, and passed right along. When the Indians look down from the hills on one of our trains and see it camped, they know it is a “Mormon” train; they see a nice corral, and a guard out with the cattle who are carefully attending to their duty. When they come up they get a kind word. When night comes the “Mormons” kneel down to pray; they do not blaspheme the name of God. The Indians see all this and conclude not to interrupt that company, for they might get hurt—the “Mormons” having always provided their companies with sufficient arms for protection. That is the way the Latter-day Saints travel through these mountains uninterrupted. How is it with others? They would organize a company on the frontiers, travel a while in that condition, quarrel who should be captain, and divide into five or six squads; and by the time they got to the Sierra Nevada there would be only two families together, and they would divide their wagon and make it into two carts, and separate, if they were not afraid of the Indians. This way of scattering presents a temptation to the red men which is really very hard for them to resist, for these plains cannot boast of being safer than the streets of New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, where millions are expended to pay police to guard and protect the property and lives of white men from the depredations of white men.

We can but have a deep feeling of sympathy when we realize the grievous afflictions that have befallen our common country. We look at the cause. When the Latter-day Saints organized their first settlements in Missouri—when they undertook to lay the foundation of Zion, although there was no charge which could be brought against them for violating any law, constitutional or moral, yet, because they introduced a new system of religion, the hireling clergy, the priestcraft of the world, arose against them to destroy them. As Governor Dunklin, of Missouri, said, “There are ample provisions in the Constitution and laws of the State to protect you, but the prejudice is so great among the people against you, that it is impossible to enforce these laws.” There is a great deal said about the origin of the trouble between the North and the South; some said it was the almighty negro; but the fact is, the people did not respect the Constitution of our country; for the Latter-day Saints were driven in violation thereof from Jackson County to Clay, and from Clay to Caldwell and Davis counties, and then from the State of Missouri to Illinois, and from Illinois to the Rocky Mountains, robbed and plundered of their property, their women ravished, their leaders murdered, and there was not a solitary man arose to enforce the laws or the Constitution in our defense. When the President of the United States was applied to, all he would say was, “Your cause is just, but we can do nothing for you.” As soon as the Saints had found a shelter in the Rocky Mountains, this feeling of lawlessness went rampant throughout the Union. Men despised the statutes and the laws with which they were bound, and it was mob upon mob, army against army, until the whole country has been deluged in blood and creped in mourning. When will the nation repent of these follies and maintain those institutions God has introduced for the perfection of mankind? When will they hold the Constitution sacred and inviolable, and seek no longer to prostitute it for the destruction of the innocent? Until this is done they may expect to see sorrow and woe, which will increase upon their heads until they shall repent.

Brethren, we should consider these things within ourselves. We commenced to make our settlements here under these circumstances, and here we have found a shelter. It has been a home for the oppressed, and a shelter to everybody that desired rest. The weary traveler has had a chance here to refresh himself and enjoy the blessings that are to be enjoyed in these valleys, and no man’s rights have ever been trampled upon.

It is true we have had a species of animals pass through here that Alfred Cumming, in imitation of General Zachary Taylor, used to call “Camp poicks,” newspaper reporters, who, Cumming declared, prostituted not only the body but the soul, by selling themselves for a penny-a-line to lie; publishing their lies to the world as scandal upon the heads of the Saints. They come here and drink of the mountain water, partake of fine potatoes, and turnips, and luscious strawberries, and feast upon the fruits of the valleys—the products of our industry—and then go off and defame the people, and try to get armies sent here to destroy the Saints. We care very little about these things; but when that species of animals appear among us, we look upon them as we do upon a serpent; we calculate they intend to bite, and all we ask of them is, to do as they generally have done, tell such big lies that nobody in their right senses can believe them.

We have had another class of animals in the shape of Federal Officials. We have had fifty-eight of them, part of whom came here and conducted themselves like gentlemen; but we have had one thing always to consider, with one or two exceptions—very honorable ones—they have scarcely ever sent anybody here that could get a place anywhere else. If they could get an appointment in any other Territory, or a magistracy in the District of Columbia, or a clerkship in a Department, or the appointment of a weigher or gauger in the Custom House, they would never come to Utah. Coming to Utah was the last thing and the last place for a man perfectly desperate for the want of an office. As the Secretary of State said when he sent Perry E. Brochus here to be judge, he had to send him somewhere to get him “out of the way;” and when he would not stay here, he was immediately sent to New Mexico.

We have generally known what the qualification of men was, and un– derstood it precisely when they came. Their qualification generally was that they had performed some dirty work for some successful politician. A few that have come here have done as well as they knew how, with a mediocrity of talent—that is, if they had bright talents they seldom displayed them; and the majority of them come in here, open their eyes (putting one in mind of chickens just come through the eggshell, when they get a sight of the light for the first time), and exclaim, “There are awful things here! Tremendous things here!” and they begin to make reports, and print and publish them, go off to California and write for a year in succession there, drawing their salaries to report how things are in Utah. All these things we have had to encounter; but our industry, our economy and prudence, our loyalty, and our firm and determined adherence to the Constitution of the United States, have carried us through the whole of it.

The administration of President Buchanan brought the power of the Government to bear against us. The traitor, General A. S. Johnston, was sent with what was then called by Secretary Floyd the best appointed army that was ever fitted out by this Government since its formation. General Scott issued orders to keep the troops massed and in hand, the supply trains to be kept with the main body of the army. The newspaper press of the country asserted that this army was to cause the blood of the Elders and Saints to flow in the streets of Great Salt Lake City. The mails being stopped, and the ordinary sources of communication closed, it was supposed the “Mormons” would be ignorant of the movements until the army came upon them like a thunder cloud. The Governorship was tendered to a number who were unwilling to come out with a formidable army, but were willing to come without. Benjamin McCullough, of Texas, declined the honor on the ground that a confirmed old bachelor ought not to interfere with polygamy. Colonel Alfred Cumming accepted the office, and his appointment was hailed with general acclamation by the enemies of Utah, as he was considered a man of desperate character, who had on one occasion compelled even Jeff. Davis to apologize. When Governor Cumming arrived here and investigated the matter, he was satisfied that the Administration had been duped, and he made official reports to Washington that the charges against the Saints were totally unfounded, and the Administration let the whole matter fizzle out, and Uncle Sam, the generous old gentleman, had to submit to his pocket being picked to the tune of about forty millions of dollars—the cost of the Utah expedition.

The lies upon which the Administration had acted were, that we had driven the judges from the country, had burned the Utah Library and the records of the courts of the Territory. When the matter was investigated it was discovered that the judges had gone off to the gold mines, where they could get some feet, or on other speculations, where they stayed until their time was out, not forgetting, however, to draw their salaries. The Library and court records, never having been disturbed, were found all right.

I have been truly astonished at the character and conduct of a large portion of the Government officials we have been brought in contact with. One of them, Governor Harding, was presented by the grand jury of the 3rd Judicial District of the United States Court as a nuisance, and he was removed by Mr. Lincoln’s Administration immediately after.

Whenever a bill is presented before Congress to benefit the people of Utah in any way, it is generally referred to a committee, and there it dies. What is the reason? There is not a man in either House of Congress that dares to record a vote calculated to favor the people of Utah, for the mass of the inhabitants here are “Mormons.” It is admitted that we have established ourselves in the desert under the most trying circumstances, making a half-way house for travelers between the Mississippi and the Pacific, rendering it safe to establish mail and telegraph lines; but the member who would record a vote in favor of this people in any way, the first thing he would hear would be his denunciation in every pulpit of his district by the black-coated gentry, and that would make his political grave. I sympathize with that class of men, as many of them otherwise would be willing to extend the same privileges, donations of land to settlers, means to erect public buildings, open highways, and sustain schools, as to other Territories.

We have never had one dollar from any source to aid in the cause of edu– cation. We have built our schoolhouses, hired our school teachers, paid the school bills for our poor—have done everything that has been done in education, without one dollar of encouragement from the parent Government. I have been astonished at this. I suppose it is the policy of the Government to extend the facilities of education, but it has not been done here; not one solitary dime has been received by Utah, while millions upon millions have gone into the treasuries of other states and Territories for school purposes from the Federal Government.

This is the freest people on the face of the earth. By a faithful observance of the laws and Constitution of our country, and by obedience to the principles of our holy religion, we can enjoy the greatest amount of freedom.

The foundation has been laid, and the building will be erected upon it. God is at the helm, and no power can destroy his kingdom.

May God bless us, and enable us to fulfill our high destiny, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Remarks made by Elder George Q. Cannon, in the Bowery, General Conference, Great Salt Lake City, Oct. 8, 1865.

I appreciate very highly the privilege that I have this morning, and that I have had during this Conference, in meeting with the Saints; it is the first Fall Conference I have had the opportunity of attending for sixteen years. These are, indeed, precious privileges which God, our Heavenly Father, has given unto us; these opportunities which we now have of assembling ourselves together and dismissing the cares that press us from week to week and month to month, casting them aside to concentrate our minds and our thoughts upon the things of His kingdom, devoting our attention to those heavenly principles which have produced so much happiness and peace in our midst. It is good for us to thus devote a portion of our time to the worship of our God. I do not know how the Conference felt; but, for myself, after the vote was taken yesterday to continue our Conference a week or a month if it were necessary, or as long as the servants of God should feel inclined to continue it, I experienced a great relief in my feelings; I felt that that restraint was removed which had, to a certain extent, oppressed us, with the view of hurrying through the business and getting done by this evening. I thought that it was right, and I felt a spirit of freedom that I had not experienced before, and I presume that all the Saints felt alike on this subject. There is nothing more important for us to attend to than that which we are engaged in today. We cannot think of anything that is of greater importance to us, as individuals and as a people, than this service. It is a delightful work—a labor of love that our Heavenly Father has guaranteed unto us the privilege of performing. The organization that we now behold, the wonderful fruits and results which have attended us from the beginning, and that are so delightful to contemplate today, have all sprung from the service that we are now engaged in. We may devote time, as it is necessary we should, to the labors of this life—to plowing, to sowing, to harvesting, to building settlements, to accomplishing the labors that devolve upon us of a temporal character; these labors are important and necessary, but they are no more necessary than those that we are now engaged in; they are no more necessary than that we should assemble ourselves together frequently to listen to the word of God, to be instructed in the principles of life and salvation by those who have been our fathers in the Gospel.

It is necessary that we should examine ourselves, bring ourselves to the light of truth, to learn whether we are taking the right course: like the mariner, when he returns to port, he compares his ship chronometers with the correct time on shore, to see whether they have been keeping true time and are in good condition to enter upon another voyage, to enable him to obtain his bearings correctly, that he may not lose himself when he is on the trackless ocean. We can come to Conference in this manner and examine ourselves like men returning from a mission after an absence of years among the nations. They come back desirous of comparing themselves with their brethren in Zion, saying, like Paul of old, that they have indeed not run in vain; ascertaining for themselves that the Spirit that they have been possessed of, and the course that they have taken, are the Spirit and course that their brethren in Zion have been possessed of and taken. There is a great deal of profit to be derived from associations of this character. It is necessary that we should be brought very frequently to a sense of our condition, of our dependence upon God, of our relationship to him, of the obligations that rest upon us as his children, and servants, and handmaidens. We cannot do this as we should when we neglect opportunities like this; but, when we come together and our hearts are filled with prayers and anxious desire before God for his Holy Spirit to be poured out upon us, we then can see if we have erred, if we have gone astray, if we have done anything wrong and displeasing in the sight of our Father. These things are brought to our minds, and we see ourselves in the light of the Holy Spirit, we renew our strength before the Lord, and our determinations to go forth and serve him with greater diligence and faithfulness in the future than we have done in the past.

There is a mine of wealth in the Gospel of Jesus Christ that is yet comparatively undiscovered by us. We see the world around us digging here and there, and wandering over valleys and mountains in search of hidden treasures; they spend their days and nights in searching for those things and in planning by what means they can obtain them; but we have, in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ which has been revealed unto us, an inexhaustible mine of wealth that is eternal. There is room for us to continually exercise every faculty of our minds and of our bodies in searching out the deep and inexhaustible riches of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which has been committed unto us. We have already partaken to some extent of this wealth; we already have realized to some extent its richness, its abundance; and what we have already obtained of it should be an incentive to us to be still more diligent and persevering in seeking with earnestness and faith unto God to give unto us of his power, and more and more of his Spirit, and of that wealth which He alone possesses, that we may go on increasing in eternal riches on earth to be prepared to enjoy them throughout eternity. That man is truly rich, whatever his worldly circumstances may be, who improves the opportunities he has, and who seeks with all diligence to obtain all the blessings that pertain unto the holy religion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There are those, however, whom I have met with, who profess to be good Latter-day Saints, who seem to be satisfied with the profession of their religion, who seem to be satisfied with the fact that what is called “Mormonism” is superior to everything else that is taught among men. I presume they are of that class of whom President Young has spoken—men who have been compelled to bow in submission to the truth, because they could not contradict nor gainsay it; and that they have become connected with this system has seemed to be enough for them; but is it enough?

In one sense it ought to be enough for us to know that we have received the truth and be satisfied with it, yet we should continue to seek with energy and with faith to partake of those blessings and of that power which our Father and God has to bestow upon us. If we would seek to be possessed of these things with the same diligence the world seeks for earthly riches, there is not a soul within the sound of my voice but what will be refreshed, filled, and satisfied with the blessings God will bestow upon him or upon her. It is a characteristic of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to not be easily exhausted; on the contrary, it is always attractive. You hear it today, as you heard it thirty years or thirty-five years ago, and it possesses as many charms and as many attractions now as then; repeating it does not wear it out—does not make the subject threadbare—does not deprive it of its interest; but, on the contrary, its interest increases as years roll over our heads; as they pass by our interest in the work of God, and our love for it, and our appreciation of its greatness, increase. In this respect it differs from everything else we know of; it satisfies every want of man’s nature. Is there a want you can think of, is there anything, in fact, connected with man’s existence here, spiritual or temporal, mental or physical, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ does not satisfy? If there is, I have failed to discover it. It comprehends everything; it gives light and it gives intelligence, it gives wisdom upon every department of human life, it satisfies every longing desire of the soul.

Before the Gospel reached you, my brethren and sisters who have received it since you were of mature years, there were wants that existed which now no longer exist; there were long– ing desires which you indulged in, and which were ungratified by that which you could obtain from the world, that are today gratified to their fullest extent; there is no desire of your heart, there is no feeling of your soul, that cannot be satisfied legitimately and consistently with your nature in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know how you were, those of you who embraced the Gospel in Babylon—you know how you were when the Gospel found you; there was, to quote a familiar expression, an aching void within you. There were desires of your soul, or of your spirit, which could not be gratified by the chaff and husks fed unto you by the so-called teachers of the day; there were aspirations for knowledge, for truth, and for God, that nothing could satisfy; you sought in vain for their gratification; you searched on the right hand and on the left, you inquired here and there, but you could not get the knowledge you needed; there was no one who could give you the satisfaction you yearned after; but no sooner did you hear the truth, no sooner did you hear the sound of the everlasting Gospel, and the voice of a man endowed with the Priesthood, than you felt that you had found the pearl of great price, you felt that the desire of your heart was about to be gratified, and that if this religion proved true, if these statements and testimonies could be relied upon, then that which you had so long sought for and desired was within your grasp.

Men may strive to repress these yearnings and desires after knowledge, as priests and teachers do today throughout the earth; they may ridicule and deny their existence, but there is that within us, as children of God, which speaks louder and has more force, potency, and effect than the traditions of our fathers or the teachings of our former priests and teachers ever had; there is the voice of nature, there is the voice of heaven in our hearts, which calls for revelation from God, which calls for knowledge, which calls for certainty, which calls for something that is tangible and that can be relied upon, and which man with his man-made systems and with his fooleries, cannot gratify nor supply by any means in his power. We hear men constantly talk about the delusion that exists here, and about the folly of men seeking for revelation and knowledge from God. The man must be an idiot who talks so; he who makes such assertions does not understand the human character. If he had studied himself he would have seen that there was something within himself which claimed more than that which man can give—that there was a voice within him which demanded and called loudly for truth—tangible, reliable truth—something that could be understood and that came from God. If this were not so, why do we see so many men running hither and thither after knowledge, after spirit rappers, astrologers, fortune tellers, and phrenologists, to tell them their fortunes and reveal something relating to the future; they will do anything that will give them any idea of their future. These may be the perversions of the feeling, yet you see the manifestations of this want cropping out in various forms all over the earth, among every people, and even among the heathen. When it is not governed by truthful principles, it is found running astray, and leading men and women astray who are guided by it.

Wherever human nature exists, there is found a desire for the knowledge of truth, a want of that which pertains to God and to eternity, and this want or desire cannot be repressed. There is no power on earth that can repress it; men’s traditions may stifle it; but when the spirit is allowed to operate freely and unrestrained, it breaks through all these barriers, and brushes aside these cobwebs to seek for truth—pure truth as it comes from the Eternal; and when it once obtains a taste from the fountain of truth, and can drink freely, it is refreshed, and the one great desire of the heart is satisfied. This is as it has been with us, my brethren and sisters; hence the contentment that prevails through our valleys and settlements; hence the peace that is to be observed in our families. Peace broods over Zion; there is life and buoyancy in the hearts of the children of Zion. Why is this? It is because we have received that which we have desired; because we are living in harmony with the laws of our being; it is because the wants of our nature are being gratified through the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. If there be any among us who are not satisfied, if there be any among us who are wandering hither and thither, looking for something that they do not have, they are the ones who have committed sin and transgression; they are the ones who have grieved the Spirit of God; they are the ones who have forfeited their claims upon God for his Spirit and his love, and they go with their souls unsatisfied, seeking for contentment but finding it not. If there be any among us who are thus seeking, they form a class that is distinct from the faithful, humble Saints of God who live their religion and work righteousness.

It should be a cause of thanksgiving and gratitude with us that God, our Heavenly Father, in the abundance of his goodness and mercy has revealed unto us his everlasting Gospel; that in his kindness he has sent his Holy Angels from the heavens, with the truth, and the power, and authority to administer the truth, and the ordinances per– taining to the truth, unto the inhabitants of the earth. Yes, God in his mercy has visited our planet, where darkness reigned, where confusion and ignorance had spread their dread consequences, and all were like the blind groping for the wall, when the voice of God sounded from the heavens and broke the long silence that had existed for so many generations. Brother Brigham has said that, in his young days, when he looked at the inhabitants of the earth he was reminded of an ant hill in a state of excitement, with the ants running hither and thither without aim or purpose. Now, this was the condition of ourselves and fathers when the sound of the everlasting Gospel came to the earth. The inhabitants of the earth were running hither and thither, and there was no one to guide them, no one to control them, no voice to be heard among the children of men saying with authority, “Here is the way, walk ye in it;” there was none to say, “Thus saith the Lord;” not a voice inspired of God, to be heard from pole to pole, from east to west; but all were ignorant, all were confused, all were dark. But since the Gospel has been restored, since it was received by Brother Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and preached to the people, and they listened to the testimony of God, what a charge has taken place in the character of some portion of the population of the globe since that time.

There are principles and qualities that have been and are being developed for the last thirty-five years, that were supposed to have no existence among men; it was supposed that they had disappeared, that they never would be restored again. The key of knowledge through which the Apostles wrought such wonders in the days in which they lived was no longer to be found among men; but as soon as the Holy Priesthood was restored to Joseph Smith—for he received the power and authority from heaven, and through him the principles of heaven were restored to the earth—then what a change we behold! From the midst of the chaos that existed, order has been produced; from the midst of the strife that everywhere prevailed, union has been brought to light; from the midst of confusion and war, peace has been established; and we see qualities developed now in the midst of our fellow men which we supposed never could have existed again. What is this attributable to? Says one, “It is attributable to imposture and delusion.” So they said in the days of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; but, let them say as they please, we enjoy these fruits; for, whereas we lived in strife, we now live in peace; whereas we lived in confusion, we now live in the midst of good order; whereas we lived in ignorance, we now live in the midst of knowledge, we bask now in the light of eternity, in the rays of that light which surrounds the throne of God our Heavenly Father, and our souls are satisfied, and we can rejoice and be glad, and thank God from morning until night for having bestowed upon us his everlasting truth. Why should it not be so?

We are taught to believe that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every soul that believes. Salvation from what? “Oh,” says one, “salvation to our souls.” It is the power of God unto salvation—the salvation not only of our spirits, but of our bodies. In ancient days it saved the Jews, the Greeks, and the Barbarians from error, from evil of various kinds, and it will in like manner save us. In heaven, we believe, it produces order, peace, and happiness; and we expect, when we leave here, to go to a sphere where, under the influence of the Gospel, every good quality of our nature will be developed. Why should we not receive, by the application of those heavenly principles to us and our lives here on the earth, the same results? They have produced them in days gone by, they are producing them now, and will continue to produce them as long as we live in accordance with them.

Now, my brethren and sisters, there is nothing left for us to do but to be faithful to that which has been revealed unto us. The evidences which we have received are of that character that we will be under the heaviest condemnation unless we live agreeably to the principles God has given unto us. We cannot plead, as many can, that we are ignorant; we cannot make excuses of this kind, for we are not ignorant; we are in the enjoyment of knowledge. We never went to prayer in our lives, in secret, and supplicated God in faith for the blessings that we needed, that we did not receive the desires of our hearts, and we arose from our knees feeling that God was with us, and that his Spirit and power were near unto us, and resting upon us. There never was a time, from the day that we became Latter-day Saints to this day, that we have asked in humility and meekness for any blessing and have had to arise from our knees dissatisfied and empty; but we have always received those blessings that have been necessary for us when we have asked in faith. What a blessed and glorious privilege is this! When we are in trouble, in the midst of affliction, and harassed by our enemies, we can go unto Him, who is the Author of our being, unto Him who created all things, who has the power to control our enemies, and pour out our souls in prayer and in supplication, and feel that the record has been made, that the incense of our hearts has ascended acceptably unto God, and is treasured up there, and held in remembrance by his Holy Angels in his presence. What a glorious privilege is this that we have, as a people and as individuals, no matter how bowed down in sorrow, no matter how deep the affliction that may be around us, this is an unfailing source of strength that God has given unto us, and to this may be attributed the wonderful preservations that we have experienced from the beginning.

How diligently our enemies have sought to destroy us, to destroy the Holy Priesthood from the earth and kill the Lord’s anointed! How often has it seemed that they were just upon the point of closing upon us, when it seemed that no earthly power that could be exerted could save us from destruction! To whom shall we attribute these wonderful deliverances which we have experienced? Shall we attribute them to mortal power? Oh, no; we have learned too well how weak and futile is mortal power. But what is it attributable to? To the faith that God has implanted in us through the revelation of the truth unto us. It is attributable to his having rent the veil of darkness that has covered the earth and revealed himself unto us. It is attributable to His having opened up the channel of communication between Himself and us. Yes, there is a channel of communication between this people, the men and women who compose this people, and the throne of our Father and God; and our prayers have ascended acceptably in His ears, and they have been registered on high, and they will be answered in their time. There never has been a prayer offered up in faith, meekness, and humility, from the day this Church was founded until now, but has reached the ears of the Lord, and is registered in His presence, and will be fulfilled, sooner or later, upon the earth we inhabit, upon our posterity, and upon the wicked who have afflicted us. Is not this a glorious consolation? Do not your hearts swell with gratitude and thanksgiving to God when you reflect upon this? It has been as a wall of strength surrounding us; it has been greater than the munitions of rocks and the lasting hills that have been reared like a mighty bulwark around our homes. The prayers of the faithful servants of God, which have been exercised from the beginning in behalf of Zion, have been a tower of strength. Shall we call ourselves Latter-day Saints, and fail to appreciate and make a right use of the privileges and blessings which our God has given unto us? If we do, we are unworthy of them; and if we continue to do so, the privileges and the blessings which we may enjoy will be withdrawn from those who do so and given to those who appreciate them, and who are more worthy of them. You may depend upon that, as surely as you may depend that night will come in the course of a few hours when the earth has performed its diurnal revolution.

If I were to ask you today, my brethren and sisters, what you would take for your standing and your privileges as Latter-day Saints, is there anything that you could name? Is there anything on earth that would be sufficient in your estimation to induce you to barter off the standing you have in the Church of God and the privileges you enjoy as members of his Church? There is nothing. You would say, if the wealth of the world were to be laid at your feet in exchange, you would spurn it as a thing of naught. But Satan does not tempt us in that style; he knows better. He understands our nature more perfectly than this. The experience he has gained in the past has enabled him to understand the best way of approaching the human heart, how he can best beguile us and insidiously lead us astray by temptations that are most effective. If a man who was in the enjoyment of the Spirit of God one year ago had been told that yesterday, on the 7th of October, a trifling temptation would be presented to him of a certain character (and that at the time he would think contemptible) and he would yield to it, he would be astonished; he would scarcely believe it. “What! Will I barter the wealth that God has given me, the wealth of the Gospel, the wealth of freedom which is contained in it? What! Will I barter the joy, peace, and happiness that I now have for so contemptible a temptation as that? Will I do it? No; I will not.” Yet the year passes away and the 7th of October comes to hand, the temptation is presented, and the man who thought himself so impregnable in the truth, and thought that he could not be tempted and seduced from it, falls a victim, and to what? To the wealth of the world? No; but to something that is so truly contemptible, mean, and low, that it is a matter of astonishment to everybody who knows him how he could be overcome by it.

By this we see the power of Satan, the knowledge of Satan, and his cunning. He understands the avenues through which he approach us best; he knows the weaknesses of our character, and we do not know the moment we may be seduced by him, and be overcome and fall victims to him. Our only preservation is in living near to God, day by day, and serving him in faithfulness, and having the light of revelation and truth in our hearts continually, so that, when Satan approaches, we will see him and understand the snare that he has laid for us, and we will have the power to say, “O no; God being my helper, I will not yield to it; I will not do that which is wrong; I will not grieve the Spirit of God; I will not deviate from the path that my Father has marked out for me; but I will walk in it.” Can we do this without the light of the Spirit? No; we cannot see where the path upon which we have entered will lead to; we cannot tell what the results will be; but when the light of the Spirit of God illuminates our minds and we are enlightened by it, we plainly see the results; and if we do not see them at the time, the Lord soon reveals them to us, and shows us that if we continue to take that course we will grieve his Spirit and fall victims to the adversary.

As I said in the beginning of my remarks, there is wealth in the Gospel of Jesus Christ of which we have little knowledge today. There is an eternity of truth and knowledge, principle after principle, law after law, until every quality of our nature, of that Godlike nature which we have inherited from our Father and God, shall be fully developed; until we shall be made capable of associating with God and angels through eternity. The Gospel that has been revealed unto us contains the principles that will bring this about. As we progress in it we will receive additional knowledge, additional light and intelligence, and our souls will be more and more satisfied. I rejoice exceedingly in this, I thank my God for it, because my soul is satisfied in this Gospel, and I know it would not have been anywhere else. I know there is every good thing for us if we will live the religion of the Lord Jesus.

There is this difference between God and Satan in the treatment of mankind. Satan is perfectly reckless as to what the consequences may be of anything he may give to the children of men. He will heap temptation upon temptation before them, give them honor, riches, and position, and, if necessary, he will give them revelation. What for? To damn them. He does not care anything as to what may become of them; but he offers them all he can control without judgment or discrimination. God does not do so. What is the course God has taken with us from the beginning to the present time? Is there a parent in the congregation who has watched as carefully over his children as God has over us? Is there a parent in the congregation who has withheld improper blessings as carefully from them as God has from us? He has watched over us tenderly and kindly, giving us a blessing here and a blessing there, a revelation here and a revelation there, a precept here and a precept there, as we could bear them, developing our experience, and knowledge, and our wisdom, leading us gently and safely in the path that will bring us into his presence. This is the difference between God and Satan; but I can only give you a little idea of it. Our Heavenly Father is a loving and a kind and beneficent Parent. He, himself, has trod the path we are now treading. He is familiar with every step of the road, with all the meanderings of this life; for he has had the experience in it. He knows how to guide us and how to time his blessings to our wants; and when you feel impatient and dissatisfied because he does not give you more than you now have, and when you are afflicted and bowed down in sorrow and pain, let the reflection enter into your hearts to comfort you, that our Father and God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, trod the path we are now treading, that there is no affliction and sorrow that we are acquainted with, or can be, that the Lord has not already had an experience in; and he knows our condition, he knows what is good for us. If we need a gift and a blessing, he knows when to bestow it upon us. This ought to comfort us; it ought to cause us to rejoice and be glad, and our hearts to be filled with thanksgiving continually before the Lord our God for his abundant mercy and kindness unto us his children.

Can we think of anything that would be good for us, or that we ought to possess, that Satan can offer unto us, that we will not obtain if we are faithful? Will he present unto us a good outfit by going to California or to any other place? If we are only patient, and abide our time, and serve God faithfully, he will bestow on us far more than that. There is no good thing that may be presented to us that we cannot obtain in the Gospel. We may let our minds range over the earth and think of the greatness and glory possessed by kings and potentates, these things are all embraced in the Gospel as a reward for the Saints, who will enjoy even greater blessings than these through their faithfulness. We talk about kings and nobles, and we have admired their glory; but the day is not far distant when there will be thousands of men in Zion holding more power, and having more glory, honor, and wealth than the greatest and the richest of the nobles of the earth. The earth and its fulness are promised unto us by the Lord our God, as soon as we have the wisdom and experience necessary to wield this power and wealth. Shall we not be patient, then, and diligent when we have so much assistance given unto us? Shall we not plod unwearingly and unmurmuringly forward in the path God has marked out for us, when we have the help, the comfort, and the consolation which he gives us day by day?

We are not working for that which is in the distance, and toiling for the reward that is far removed, and that we have to look forward to; but we are receiving our reward as we go along, even the rich blessings of heaven, day by day and hour by hour, and we rejoice in them; and if we are houseless and friendless—that is, so far as the world is concerned—we have within us a wealth of comfort and joy that the world know nothing of; they cannot give it, they cannot take it away, for it comes from God. Why should we not be encouraged, then, under these circumstances? If the Latter-day Saints conduct themselves so as to receive condemnation, their condemnation will be most severe, for they have light, they have knowledge, they have blessings the superior of which no other people that we have any account of ever received in the same length of time on the earth. Well, I rejoice in these things. I do not wish to occupy your time any longer. My prayer is, that God will bless you and us all, and enable us to appreciate the great salvation he has committed unto us, for Christ’s sake. Amen.

Remarks made by Elder George A. Smith, in the Bowery, General Conference, Great Salt Lake City, Oct. 7, 1865.

It is with very great pleasure that I have listened to the instructions and counsels of my brethren at this Conference. In fact, the season of Conference is a period of reflection with me. It is eighteen years ago yesterday when the first October Conference was held in this valley under the shade of a hay stack, and it served an abundant means of shading all that attended. As we are here assembled now, it would require an extensive hay stack to create a shade sufficient to accommodate the assembly, and there is but a very small representation here from the settlements of the Territory, though there are considerable numbers from some of them—trains of fifty or sixty wagons loaded with persons to attend Conference. Those of us who are in this city, and who have not had the privilege of traveling through the settlements, can form very little comprehension of the extent, strength, and population of the Territory, and of the amount of labor, toil, and the results of that toil and labor which are progressing throughout.

President Young has devoted a large portion of his time since last Conference, associated with a number of Elders, in traveling and visiting the Saints. He has visited, perhaps, one-half of them, after traveling about eighteen hundred miles. Our Territory is said to be sparsely set– tled, but our location renders it necessary that wherever a settlement exists it shall be of considerable size, in order to carry out the necessary arrangements for protection and cultivation. It is seldom that a small settlement can do this successfully. I have been pleased with the suggestions offered by President Hyde in relation to the better cultivation of the soil; for when we go to the expense of taking out water, of keeping up dams, making requisite canals, repairing tunnels and smaller ditches and water sects, it would seem really sound policy that every foot of land thus watered, in order to make it effective, should be cultivated in the best possible manner. If the Lord had seen proper to send rains from heaven to water our lands sufficiently and gratuitously as in other places, we might spread over the land and cultivate the soil without so much labor on our part. If the suggestions which have been made are duly considered and applied throughout the Territory, the result will be the production of from one to three times more of the necessaries of life on the same area.

So far as the unity of the people is concerned, I have felt to rejoice the past season; I have accompanied the President this summer, except when on his last trip to Cache Valley, during which I was on a journey to the South with Elder Amasa Lyman. We held twenty-four meetings. It is really an expressive and singular incident that we live to visit so many climates inhabited by Saints in so short a time. We passed near the snow region in July, went directly into a semi-torrid zone to see the effects of all the changes in this variety of climate, thermometer at Washington 110 degrees in the shade, all within our own borders. Our settlements may be compared to a thrifty tree, throwing out annually a new growth more extended and more vigorous. While President Young and company passed on south, Elders F. D. Richards and A. M. Musser took another direction through the new counties of Sevier, Piute, and Kane, through a chain of new settlements never before visited, only in part, by some of the Twelve, visiting on their route some 600 families. It is really astonishing to reflect that such an extent of settlements have been thrown out. We have been gratified very much with the efforts and exertions made by our brethren who were sent on missions to our cotton region in opening and enlarging the settlements there. They have met with many difficulties of which their northern brethren have very little conception. The soil along their streams in many places is composed of such loose material that it is almost impossible to carry a water ditch through it for irrigation, the soil of the banks dissolving in the water like sugar in coffee; dams are washed away by frequent bursting of clouds. You may take the best fields in the vicinity of St. George, and the annual expense of keeping up their canals and dams for irrigation has been 15 dollars per acre, and yet the courage, energy, perseverance, and diligence of the brethren have not failed, but they continue to construct dams, and contend with the natural obstacles that lie in their way to the permanent improvement of the country. This perseverance, which will eventually bring forth an abundant supply of the needful staples which can be successfully produced in that climate, is very commendable; to support themselves by producing their own breadstuff is true political economy. Notwithstanding the number of mechanics sent there, they have not sufficient to supply the wants of the people. There are many towns without a blacksmith, plasterer, mason, or carpenter. A considerable number of these could find employment and make themselves good homes in many of the southern settlements. We would direct the minds of the brethren to this item.

There is much land that can be cultivated in wheat with flood water that cannot be made to produce cotton, in consequence of drouth later in the season. The raising of bread this year has not interfered to any great extent with the culture of cotton, the supply of which has been greater than last year; and two-thirds of breadstuff necessary has been produced to supply the inhabitants, the other third must be brought from the north. Many vineyards have come into bearing, and extensive new vineyards have been planted, and the efforts at cultivating more breadstuffs have proven successful; and if the brethren continue their efforts, an ample supply will be produced for home consumption without materially lessening the breadth cultivated in cotton and vines. While my brethren are contending with these obstacles I sympathize with them, and rejoice when I see them victorious. As I passed through the mineral lots in St. George I saw their barren aspect, and saw the men working on them to conquer those combined chemical elements which eat up everything that grows, and though the rocks and fences of sandstones were dissolving before them, yet men are conquering this soil and making it produce. Nearly three-fourths of all the fruit trees planted in St. George have been unsuccessful, yet the place is looking like the Garden of Eden, showing that perseverance, faith, and energy will conquer everything. It is a delightful and pleasant locality. I name these things because we are interested in them, and wish the brethren to realize that those brethren on that mission have spent the accumulated property of many years, and many of them are successful; some are yet struggling to make a start, and it is with them as the old adage has it, while the grass grows the cow starves; but they are not discouraged; their eyes look bright, their spirit is determined, and I was pleased to hear Elder Snow speak of the good spirit they felt, and that they were determined to overcome. A people possessed of such great energy, aided by the ready cooperation of their brethren in the north, are bound to conquer that desert, and not only make it blossom as the rose, but make one of the most delightful regions of the earth. I would suggest to all persons who go there to fulfil what is required of them, and not forget that it is necessary to carry the staff of life with them, that those that are there, and those that are going, may be provided with ample supplies of bread; it is better to have a little over when the next harvest comes than to go two or three weeks without bread. May the blessings of God be upon Zion, and may her cords be lengthened and her stakes strengthened, that she may be blessed continually with that wisdom, knowledge, and intelligence that guide the head and inspire the body. We are improving in everything; we must continue to improve until the light of life shines throughout the whole earth; for our business is to be like a city set upon a hill, or a candle set upon a table, to illuminate the earth, and bring all to a knowledge of the truth, life, and peace. May God enable us to be so is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.