Discourse by President John Taylor, delivered at Malad, Oneida County, Idaho, Wednesday Morning, October 20th, 1881.

I am pleased to have the opportunity of meeting with you. We have been traveling during the summer through many of the various Stakes of Zion, and we thought that our labor would not be complete without visiting you. We have general and Stake Conferences, but the circumstances and numbers of the people do not allow of them attending these meetings, and therefore we think it well to come among you at your own homes, to see you, and converse with you, and to feel after your spirits, and that you may see and talk with us and feel after our spirits, that we may be mutually benefited and blessed; and that we may be the better prepared to operate together; for if we can comprehend it, we are engaged in a very great work. Not only we who are here, for we form but a very, very small portion of the Latter-day Saints; but the people that are Latter-day Saints in this Territory and those that are in Utah, and that are in Colorado and Arizona, and those that are scattered abroad in the different places throughout the earth, wherever a branch of the Church is organized. We do not all comprehend this work; in fact, comparatively a very few do. It is a work in which not only the Latter-day Saints are interested, but everybody else, if they could understand it; but they do not. And, indeed, we can hardly understand it ourselves. We get a faint glimpse, as it were, of certain truths, mixed up with many errors which we have previously entertained; but it is very difficult for us to understand correct principles; and if we would comprehend them at all, it must be by a life of devotion to God, and by complying with His laws, some of which Brother Joseph F. has spoken upon this morning, and which the other brethren present talked about yesterday.

The object that God has in view is to benefit mankind as much as lies in His power. We talk sometimes about moving heaven and earth, but God has moved heaven and earth for the accomplishment of that object. Men in most instances have been blinded by the adversary who leads them captive at his will, but they do not know it. And he operates very frequently among us trying to lead us astray, and we do not know it. It is a very difficult thing for us to comprehend the position that we occupy to God and to His Church and Kingdom.

God desires our welfare, and He has instituted laws for that purpose; He has introduced the everlasting Gospel for that purpose; and He has restored the Holy Priesthood that existed anciently, together with all the principles, blessings, powers, rites, ordinances, and privileges that have graced the earth from the commencement of time. We can hardly realize this important fact, but when you reflect you will see some peculiar features associated with this work.

We all look upon Joseph Smith as being a Prophet of God. God called him to occupy the position that he did. How long ago? Thousands of years ago before this world was formed. The Prophets prophesied about his coming, that a man should arise whose name should be Joseph, and that his father’s name should be Joseph, and also that he should be a descendant of that Joseph who was sold into Egypt. This prophecy you will find recorded in the Book of Mormon. He had very great and precious promises made to him by the Lord. I have heard him say on certain occasions, “You do not know who I am.” The world did not like him. The world did not like either the Savior, or the Prophets; they have never liked revealed truth; and it is as much as a bargain for the Saints even to bear the truth.

In the commencement of the work, the Father and the Son appeared to Joseph Smith. And when they appeared to him, the Father, pointing to the Son, said, “This is my beloved Son, hear him.” As much as to say, “I have not come to teach and instruct you; but I refer you to my Only Begotten, who is the Mediator of the New Covenant, the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world; I refer you to Him as your Redeemer, your High Priest and Teacher. Hear Him.”

What next? Then came men who had held the Priesthood before. Who were they? Moroni, an ancient Prophet who had lived upon this continent and who had charge of the records from which the Book of Mormon was translated—a fitting person to introduce the same principles again. Afterwards it was necessary that the Priesthood should be conferred; and John the Baptist came and laid his hands upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, saying, “Upon you, my fellow servants, I lay my hands, and confer upon you the Aaronic Priesthood, which shall never be taken from the earth again until the sons of Levi offer an acceptable offering before me.” That was the Lesser Priesthood—the Aaronic—appertaining to the bishopric. And why was John the Baptist chosen to confer this Priesthood? Because he was the last that held this holy Priesthood upon the earth. And why did he come? Because the Priesthood administers in time and eternity; both the Aaronic and Melchizedek. And he, holding the keys of that Priesthood, came and conferred it upon Joseph Smith. When he had conferred this Priesthood upon Joseph Smith, other things had to be conferred; that is, what is called the Melchizedek Priesthood. But you understand but very little about that, as the Indian would say, about so much (meaning the point of the finger). If you did you would think and act differently from what you do. Who held the keys of that Priesthood? Peter, James and John, who were three presiding Apostles. Did they confer this Priesthood upon Joseph Smith? Yes; and if you were in Salt Lake City and should go into the Assembly Hall, you might see these things pictured out on the ceiling of that building.

What next? They built a Temple by and by, as we are doing now, in Kirtland, Ohio. And in that Temple the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to them again, the account of which you may read for yourselves in the Doctrine and Covenants. Jesus appeared there, and Moses appeared there, and Moses conferred upon Joseph the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four quarters of the earth, and also the ten tribes. And you are here because that Priesthood was conferred upon the Elders who came to you with the Gospel; and when they laid their hands upon your heads, among other things you received the Holy Ghost and the spirit of the gathering. But you did not know what it was that was working in you like yeast sometimes under certain conditions, producing an influence causing you to come to Zion. Yet you could not help it; if you had wanted to help it, you could not while you were living your religion and were governed thereby, for that spirit brought that influence and power along with it, and it carries it with it wherever it goes. And as men received the Holy Ghost so they received the spirit of the gathering, which was conferred by Moses upon Joseph Smith, and by him upon others, and which created that anxiety you all felt to gather to Zion.

What next? Elijah was to come to “turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers.” This has not been the case with this world, generation after generation, yet it must be, for the same Prophet says that, “If it is not, God will smite the whole earth with a curse.” There is a very trite saying, “every man for himself and the devil for the whole,” and I am inclined to believe that there is more truth than poetry in it. God feels interested in the welfare of all mankind as peoples and nations, white and black of all classes and conditions, Jew and Gentile, bond and free. He does not run on a narrow track as we do. We are too apt to feel as the man did when he prayed, “O Lord, bless me and my wife, my son John and his wife, us four and no more. Amen.” That is the way we feel. And if anything is introduced among the people that would be calculated to promote the general good the first thing we do is to screw ourselves up and begin to inquire, How is that going to affect me, I wonder? Who cares about you? It is not for you we are operating. It is not for you God is operating. It is not to make you rich or to exalt you particularly that God is operating; but it is in the interest of the whole human family that has ever lived or ever will live or that now live. That is the religion that I believe in. I do not believe in this narrow tucked up thing that you can pinch up and stick in your vest pocket, and nobody knows where it is. We want something more liberal, something that will reach the wants of the whole human family. But Satan has had so much power in the world; and God has been trying to frustrate his designs, and He will do it as sure as He lives. He will accomplish that which He set out to do when He organized this earth, and placed man upon it. And He will keep striving and working at it until every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ to the glory of God the Father. Until every person in heaven and on the earth and under the earth shall be heard to say, “Blessing and honor and glory, might, majesty and dominion be ascribed to Him that sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever.” And He will do it in His own way and in His own due time. And this principle that I have spoken of, turning the hearts of the fathers to the children, etc., is one of those methods by which He will do it. How many thousands and millions of people have died without a knowledge of the Gospel? Do you know? No, you do not. But as Jesus has said, “Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are that go in thereat.” They have found, as the antediluvians did, a prison in which they are put, and in which they will stop until they are redeemed by the holy Priesthood. As Jesus went and preached to the spirits in prison after He was put to death in the flesh, to those spirits that were sometime disobedient in the days of Noah; so those men that go the broad way will go into the prison house, and they will have to endure the wrath of God. And whatever they think about it, after many, many years shall have rolled away, when the due time of the Lord comes, this very Priesthood that the world have despised and refused to accept, will be their deliverers, by going, as Jesus did, and preaching to the spirits in prison.

What else? We will administer for them on the earth. Here is the turning of the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers. The ancient Prophets and Patriarchs and men of God who held the Priesthood and preached in and labored in time are now operating in eternity; and those whose names I have mentioned came to Joseph Smith and revealed to him what? Why, the dispensation of the fullness of time, when God would not only gather all things in one, but when Temples should be erected and the dead as well as the living should be looked after; when saviors should come upon Mount Zion, and the Kingdom be the Lord’s. Others had their time. They had the Mosaic time; and Moses who stood at the head of it, came and conferred his authority upon Joseph Smith. They had their prophetic time: and the Prophets came and conferred upon him the prophetic influences. They had the Aaronic Priesthood; and those who held it came and conferred it upon Joseph. They had the Melchizedek Priesthood, and the keys thereof, and they came and conferred it upon him. They had the gathering dispensation; and Moses was appointed, who held that in his day, to confer it upon Joseph. This is not one dispensation, but the dispensation of the fullness of times wherein all things are gathered together into one. Then the hearts of the fathers who are living in the heavens are turned to the children; they are feeling an interest in their welfare, like a great many men whom we know today, good men, but their sons do not do right. Adam had two sons, one of whom was a wicked man, and the wicked one killed the good one. At this stage of things I suppose the Devil thought he had a good thing. But he did not. And then he led the people into sin until they were prepared to be overthrown by the flood. I suppose the Devil laughed at the way things were going. But Jesus went and preached to those spirits in prison. And the people that are independent, who think they can get along without religion or without God, will find that in time or eternity they will have to come to the Priesthood of God.

I will go back to the things I was talking about, concerning the hearts of the fathers being turned to the children, etc. This, when fully accomplished, will reach all men that have ever lived. At the present time we are connected with it to a certain extent, and the Spirit of God leads us to build temples. Why is it that you go to work and build temples? You hardly know. You see them; they are pretty nice buildings. We talk about being saviors; but are we saviors unless we save somebody! No. But we build our temples as the Lord has directed, and then we administer in them for the living and the dead; and then we are saviors upon Mount Zion. You here have this same kind of feeling—have they not Bishop? [Answer: Yes, sir.] Moses conferred that upon Joseph Smith, and Joseph conferred it upon the Elders, and they preached to you, and you received the Holy Ghost. And when you gathered together they began to talk about these things; and that Spirit rested upon you, and you said, “I want a hand in it; I want to receive blessings in that temple, and I want also to look to my father’s totally, and those I have been associated with who have died without the Gospel.” And that is the meaning of the turning of the hearts of the fathers to the children, etc.

The world want to know what Mormonism is doing. Some of us hardly know. But, it is known that we are building temples; but the Christian world do not know what temples are for. If temples were built for them they would not know how to administer in them. And we did not know until God revealed it. And unless Elijah had come and conferred the keys it would not have been revealed. Hence I was showing you who and what Joseph Smith was. He has introduced the Gospel together with the dispensation of the fullness of times, which embraces all other things.

Then again, did Enoch build up a Zion? So we are doing. What is it? The Zion of God. What does it mean? The pure in heart in the first place. In the second place those who are governed by the law of God—the pure in heart who are governed by the law of God. Shall we build up a Zion? We shall; but we shall not, every one of us, have our own way about it. We shall feel that we need the will of God; and we shall feel that we require the Priesthood, under His direction, to guide and direct us, not men who are seeking to aggrandize themselves; but men who are seeking to build up the Church and Kingdom of God upon the earth; men of clean hands and pure hearts, every one honoring his Priesthood and magnifying it. Then we shall feel that we want to act like little babes, to ask them for counsel and instruction, and then be governed by it, under the counsel and direction of the Almighty and the aid of His Spirit. Now, this is what we are building up, and they built up a similar thing before the flood; and the Elders went forth in those days as they now go forth; and they baptized people and laid hands upon them, and gathered them to Zion; and after a while that Zion was caught up from the earth. And we will build up a Zion: that is what we are aiming at. And that Zion also, when the time comes, will ascend to meet the Zion from above, which will descend, and both, we are told, will fall on each other’s necks and kiss each other.

These are some of the things we are after. And we are traveling about to teach the people. Why? Because we want all to have the spirit of Zion. We sing sometimes and talk about Zion, that she shall arise, and the glory of God shall rest upon her. We want to lift up Zion. And we want you Welsh and other folks to work to this end—I suppose most of you are Welsh, and if you are not, you are Latter-day Saints, and if you are not Latter-day Saints, you ought to be. And you ought to be pure in heart, too; you ought to be living your religion, and if you are not, you had better turn round and live right before God, and walk worthily of the high vocation that he has conferred upon you. I have not time to talk upon these principles: but I have said enough to give you a general outline.

God is interested in this work, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Patriarchs and men of God are interested in it; and we are interested in it. And we have a little of that spirit upon us; and we would like you to drink of it too. Having been baptized by the same baptism that you may all partake of the same spirit, that we may build temples and administer in them; and having received the Gospel, to feel free to preach it to others. Our duty is to preach the Gospel to all men. Who, the First Presidency? Yes, if there is nobody else. The Twelve? Yes, it is their especial calling to preach it themselves or see that it is preached to all the world. And, then, the Seventies, it is their duty to go forth at the drop of the hat, as minute men, to preach the Gospel to all nations, under the guidance of the Twelve. And, then, it is for those who are in Zion, the High Priests, and others to go and preach the Gospel. And we are doing this in spite of the opposition of men, and in the name of God we will do it until He who directs us shall say, “It is enough: turn now to Israel.” When He says that, then we will quit. And if they love the devil better than God, they can do so and sup trouble and sorrow and calamity and war and bloodshed. For nation will rise against nation, country against country; and thrones will be cast down and empires will be scattered to the four winds, and the powers of the earth everywhere will be shaken; and the Lord will come forth by and by to judge the nations, and it behooves us to know what we are doing, and while we profess to be the Saints of God, not to be hypocrites, but be full of truth and full of integrity and magnify our calling and honor our God. This is what God expects of us. And then to build temples, and what then? Administer in them. Send the Gospel to the nations of the earth. And then gather the people in. What then? Build more temples. What then? Have men administer in them. And when we get through with our relatives and friends, and trace back our ancestry as far as we can, then we will call upon God to give us information as to who need to be administered for in the heavens; and we will work at it for a thousand years, until all the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and everything spoken of in the Prophets shall be fulfilled.

Now, you who live in this little place, look to it that you are found in the line of your duty. You have a beautiful location, and I would like to see you make the most of it. I would like to see at least a hundred times more apple, pear and cherry trees planted out; and all of your streets lined with shade trees. And improve your dwelling houses. If you cannot find the style of a house to suit you, go off to other places until you do find one, and then come back and build a better one. Beautify this place, and make your homes pleasant and agreeable, that you may have nice places for your wives and children, and thus help to fulfill that Scripture which says, that Zion shall become the praise of the whole earth; and that kings will come to gaze upon her glory. I have already had many honorable men from many of the civilized nations call upon me, and they generally express themselves in this way: “What a beautiful place you have here, Mr. Taylor;” “O, yes, (I would say) it is well enough for us, we can please ourselves, it is very difficult to please others, we do not profess much. You hear curious stories about us; but we would rather have our works speak for us.” There is nothing to boast of, and what there is we should not have if God did not give it to us. For we are dependent upon Him for all we have. We live and move in Him, and through Him we have our being. And if we can operate together upon the principles of virtue and holiness, and have more brotherly feeling, we should feel much better. Some people say, I hate such a person. I would not like to have that feeling about me, I don’t know of a person upon the earth whom I hate. What, not the wicked? No, I would say, “the Lord judge between thee and me.“ For if they can afford to do wrong, I cannot.

I will talk about some other things. Go to work and build a meetinghouse half an inch bigger than this. (Laughter). Then you have a public square, make some nice grounds in and about it. And then beautify your private squares at your own homes. Let every man make his own grounds pleasant and agreeable. And let every woman make her husband as happy as she can. The sisters ought to be like angels, ought they not? Be full of good, kind, pleasant and agreeable feelings. And we men who profess to be saints of God—saints of God! What an expression! Do we understand it? There is a peculiar form of expression in the German language. The term Latter-day Saint in the German is: der Heiligen der Letzten Tage, which being interpreted is, the holy of the last days. There is something very expressive about that. We should be the holy of the last days, under the influence and guidance of the Lord.

We talk about the Kingdom of God. God’s Kingdom is not our kingdom. Who manages, directs and controls? God. In whose interest? In the interest of the community, and for the happiness and the welfare of all Israel, and the whole of the human family, so far as they will let Him.

I want to talk about a principle here. We get up sometimes a very rash feeling against people who do not think as we do. They have a right to think as they please; and so have we. Therefore, if a man does not believe as I do, that is none of my business; and if I do not believe as he does, that is none of his business. Would you protect a man that did not believe as you do? Yes, to the last bat’s end. He should have equal justice with me; and then I would expect to be protected in my rights. We have in Salt Lake City, Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Roman Catholics, and all kinds. Do we interfere with them? No, not at all. Nobody persecutes them, but they do us in their weak way. They get up meetings and pass resolutions against us, poor, miserable “cootes.” They do not know any better; they do not know nor understand the rights of men as American citizens, much less about the Kingdom of God. So let them “resolute.” We believe in returning good for evil, right for wrong. Because they lie about us, that is no reason why we should lie about them; it would be bad enough many times to tell the truth about them, much less to resort to falsehood. On the same grounds I would not wish to interfere with their political rights, nor have them interfere with mine. I think that is correct doctrine; it is good democracy and good republicanism which we can all subscribe to. But because I would treat them right I would not want them to teach my children. I want good, honorable Latter-day Saints to teach my children because I want them taught correct principles and the fear of God along with their secular education.

It has been published in our papers about different religious bodies getting up resolutions against the “Mormons” to the effect that it is necessary something should be done to them. Well, what about it? Oh, let them “resolute;” our corn and potatoes grow just the same; so it makes but little difference. All we say is, “hands off.” We do not want it to go any further than talk. And if blab-mouthed people who do not like the truth choose to tell falsehoods about us, let them do so. Who cares? I do not, and I do not think you care. And so in regard to other things. What will we do? Try to educate ourselves and our children, and get good teachers who fear God, who are honorable men and women, and who take delight to instil honorable principles into our children. And set them good examples at home, you fathers and mothers. You should never say a word or do an act which you would not want your children to copy after. The idea of men who profess to fear God, and some of them Elders in Israel, being addicted to swearing. It is a shame and a disgrace to high heaven, and this is sometimes done before their families; it is a shame. And then some men give way and say they have a bad temper: I would sell it for nothing, and give something to boot to get rid of it. I would be careful that all my acts and doings were right. And it is right for heads of families to get their families together every morning and evening, and pray with them. Every man and woman to dedicate themselves to God; and in their secret prayers to ask God’s care over them during the day. That will not hurt any of you. That was the doctrine that Joseph Smith taught me; and I have always appreciated it. I would look upon it as a very great trial if I were stopping at a place and if I could not have my private prayers. If we cannot lean upon God, what is our religion worth! Not much. We will treat our wives right. He is a mean man who would abuse a woman. I never liked to see a big dog bite a little one; but if a little dog bite a big one, it is not so reprehensible. And if a man abuse a woman, who is the weaker vessel, it is an outrage to me. Have you not made covenants with your wives for time and eternity. Yes, you have. Would you not like, when you get through, to be able to say, Mary, Jane, Ann, or whatever the name may be, I never injured you in my life. And if you are wives, would you not like to be able to say, Thomas or William, I never injured you in all my life. And, then, to spend an eternity together hereafter.

Then, lay aside your covetousness; that is idolatry. And while laboring to be industrious, do not covet any man’s house, nor his farm, nor anything that is his; nor defraud one another, nor bite nor devour one another. But love one another, and work the works of righteousness, and look after the welfare of all, and seek to promote the happiness of all. That is what God is doing. That is why He has told us to go to the nations of the earth—and many of us have been hundreds and thousands of miles without purse or scrip. I have seen you, lots of you Welshmen, in Wales. And what was I doing there? Preaching the Gospel. How? Without purse or scrip. Did God take care of me? Always, and at every time and place; and I bear this record for God and His Priesthood and His Kingdom, that I was never at a loss for anything that I needed. He always took care of me, and I could do it without begging too. I believe in the same God yet. And I believed then I was benefiting mankind; and I believe in doing so now. But I do not believe in our being led away by their evils. Keep yourselves pure. Do not let corrupt men ingratiate themselves among you, to defile you. Preserve your virtue, you men and you women; preserve your virtue, and live uprightly before God. For as sure as you do not the wrath of God will rest upon you; and the Spirit of God will be withdrawn from you. Keep yourselves, therefore, pure, and be honest and virtuous, and be honest with all men, and treat all men honorably. We can afford to do that; and not be governed by their vices, nor permit them to introduce them into our midst. We cannot afford to follow after the ways of the Gentiles, nor to copy after their illiberality. We want the principles of liberty to extend and to expand so that all men can worship God as they please, without anyone to interrupt them.

Brethren and sisters, let us be virtuous and pure and holy, and God will bless us and lift us up and the power of God will be with us; and we will rejoice upon the mountains; and we will build our Zion upon the principles of righteousness, and we will love and fear God all the days of our lives. And by and by when the dead that are in their graves shall hear the voice of God, the Saints of God shall come forth to live and reign forever among the just who have lived in different ages, and have the privilege to perpetuate the lives in the eternal worlds, worlds without end. Amen.

Discourse by President John Taylor, delivered at Box Elder County, Wednesday, Oct. 19th, 1881.

I am pleased to meet with you, and I should have been so the other evening, when you held your last meeting, but I thought it proper to remain among our Lamanitish brethren, as they look to us for instruction. We sent other brethren along, but I heard some of the Saints felt a little disappointed because we did not come. We feel you are our brethren and sisters, and that you are one with us, and we are one with you, and with all who love righteousness.

We are endeavoring to build up the Zion of our God, that we may fill the measure of our creation upon the earth, and fulfil the various duties which devolve upon us, and also teach others to do the same. It is for this reason that we travel around among the people; and there are a great many people to see now. In a short time hence we shall have traveled all through the Territory, visiting almost all the settlements. We are building up Zion, and Zion is not confined to our prominent cities, but includes all the cities of the Saints. We are desirous that all should become acquainted with the principles which God has revealed for the guidance, benefit, blessing and salvation of His people upon the earth. These are our feelings towards you, and towards all the Saints. And then, we have not any bad feelings towards others, although the world generally are opposed to us.

You have a beautiful valley here, and have facilities for a large settlement; and the water, perhaps, if properly managed, would not be malad, or sickly.

Zion is growing, and the Lord has said it should; and it will continue to grow, and it is for us to grow with it—to grow in intelligence, virtue and purity, and in the knowledge of correct principles ourselves, and then to teach the same to our children; to cultivate these virtues in our own homes and in our little settlements, and to have all our surroundings such as God, angels, and all good men would approve. That our daughters may grow up virtuous, pure and happy; that our young men may abstain from licentiousness, from wrong actions, and from wrong speaking; that we ourselves may set our children a correct pattern, reverencing the Lord our God, and acknowledging His hand in all things—in the blessings we receive from Him, in the food we have to eat, the raiment we have to wear, and every temporal blessing that is conferred upon us, for all that we receive and enjoy comes from Him. And we are told that with none is the Lord angry, except those who do not acknowledge His hand in all things. Seek for His blessing upon everything you engage in. If you have a farm, dedicate it to God, and pray that His blessing may be upon it. If you build a house, dedicate it to God; also your garden, your cattle and sheep and all that you possess, and pray that His blessing may rest upon you and upon everything that pertains to you.

I am told you have had rather severe times, that you have been a good deal afflicted with grasshoppers and other things, and that for a number of years you have had short crops; that, in fact, you have not been able to raise sufficient wheat to bread your settlement. Well, while this is so, we must bear in mind that you here are not the only ones who have thus been afflicted. I am told that the crops throughout our Territory are far better than the general crop throughout the United States. The destructive insects and elements which you have had to struggle against begin to appear in other regions, afflicting the people of other places as they have you.

God has given unto us a land, but there are houses to build, farms to open, fences to make, our wants to be provided for, our animals to be taken care of, etc.: all these are necessaries that seem to crowd themselves upon us. Bishop Hunter says, children never come into the world with shoes and stockings on. No, nor clothes either, and if they did, their clothes would soon be too small for them. We have to try to make provision for the wants of our families, and to make them comfortable. The difficulties that you have to contend with, we have experienced; and as far as difficulties are concerned, none of us are free from them. Men of wealth among us, as elsewhere, who command their tens and hundreds of thousands, who have their every want supplied, have more anxiety, care and perplexity than many of you, who have to struggle for a comfortable living. And if you were placed in their position you would be a great deal more uneasy than you are now. We do not realize these things, but they are given unto us for our experience, and we should learn to understand and appreciate the position we occupy here upon the earth.

There is quite a fine opportunity now for men—good men, pure and virtuous men and women to raise up a goodly seed. A Bishop has a good chance, also his Counselors and those who are associated with him—and he should seek to gather around him the most honorable, chaste and virtuous men, and endeavor to elevate those over whom he presides; and as things progress get better houses and better gardens and surroundings in keeping with them. And upon everything we do we need the blessing of the Almighty; and we need to put our trust in him. If, for instance, I was living here and was raising a family, the first thing which I should do would be to dedicate myself and my family, my house and garden, my land, my cattle, and everything I possessed to God, and should ask his blessing upon them. Then every morning when I arose I should kneel down to supplicate his blessing upon me and mine during the day, to preserve us from evil influences, accidents and dangers, and to otherwise bless our labors in obtaining a livelihood. And then I would pray for those who presided over me in the Priesthood. Joseph Smith, upwards of forty years ago, said to me: Brother Taylor, you have received the Holy Ghost. Now follow the influence of that Spirit, and it will lead you into all truth, until by and by, it will become in you a principle of revelation. Then he told me never to arise in the morning without bowing before the Lord, and dedicating myself to him during that day. Some people treat these things lightly. I do not; because I know that we derive our food, our raiment, and all earthly as well as spiritual blessings from the goodness of God our Heavenly Father. I know, furthermore, that as President of this Church I should not know how to dictate if the Lord did not help me. Should I desire people to yield to my ideas? I have no ideas only as God gives them to me; neither should you. Some people are very persistent in having their own way and carrying out their own peculiar theories. I have no thoughts of that kind, but I have a desire, when anything comes along, to learn the will of God, and then to do it, and to teach my brethren to do it, that we may all grow up unto Christ our living head, that we may be acquainted with correct principles and govern ourselves accordingly: and if we have our trials—why we are all tried. You see people well off, such as I have referred to; they have just as many trials as you have. They may have nice houses, and have at their command many comforts; but what of that? Such things alone do not make people happy. It is a mistaken notion that wealth makes people happy. Cattle, sheep, houses, possessions, would not bring you happiness. The Scriptures tell us that he that hath eternal life is rich: and the Lord has told us to seek after the riches of eternal life.

We are here occupying a peculiar position. The Lord has called us from the nations of the earth, and he has restored to us the everlasting Gospel, and that Gospel is calculated to elevate us in time and throughout eternity. Jesus, in speaking to his disciples, called them his sheep; and in praying to the Father in their behalf, he said; “Thine they were, and Thou gavest them me. * * I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given me; for they are thine * * * Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom Thou has given me, that they may be one as we are.” That there may be nothing but harmony and peace, and the Spirit of the Lord, the spirit of intelligence dwelling in all, that all may feel to promote one another’s welfare, and all try to enhance the happiness of the whole. That is how Our Heavenly Father feels towards us.

Through some remarks already made I am reminded of my boyhood. At that early period of my life I learned to approach God. Many a time I have gone into the fields and concealing myself behind some bush, would bow before the Lord and call upon him to guide and direct me. And he heard my prayer. At times I would get other boys to accompany me. It would not hurt you, boys and girls, to call upon the Lord in your secret places, as I did. That was the spirit which I had when a little boy. And God has led me from one thing to another. But I did not have the privilege that you have. There was nobody to teach me, while you have access to good men at any time who can direct you in the way of life and salvation. But my spirit was drawn out after God then; and I feel the same yet.

We are here as Latter-day Saints. What would you do? I would try as much as circumstances would permit, without laboring too hard, to make comfortable houses, to make good orchards; I would endeavor to make my family comfortable and would try to promote their welfare.

Have you a school here? (Answer: Yes, sir). Have you a good teacher? (Ans. A pretty good teacher). Well then, I would educate my children. The teacher should be a man or woman who fears God, who not only teaches grammar and the common branches of education but the principles of the Gospel as well, that our children may grow up in the fear of God. And then if I were the head of a house, I should consider it not only a duty but a great pleasure to call my family together and pray with them morning and evening, and to pray for them, and to teach them to cherish this feeling and spirit. Do you think I would ever want them to hear me swear? Oh, how ashamed I should be if my children or my wives or any of my good brethren were to hear me swear. That would be setting a very bad example; while we, as parents, are required to set good examples to our children and to all men. And then we ought to be honest with one another; we should be truthful and never prevaricate. Parents, be truthful; let your children have confidence in your word, so that if father or mother says anything, they might say, “if father or mother says such and such a thing, I know it is right, because father or mother said it, and they never prevaricate or tell a falsehood.” That is the kind of feeling we want to cultivate among ourselves and with our families. And again we want to be cleanly in our persons, in our houses and in everything. And mothers, you ought to cultivate in your hearts the spirit of peace; you ought to be like angels of God, full of every virtue. And the father ought to treat the mother right. Has she her infirmities? Yes. And so has he. What would you do under such circumstances—would you bear with her? Yes, of course, and love her, and do everything I could to promote her happiness; and instead of trying to perplex and annoy her, I would bear with her in the spirit of love and kindness, and cultivate that everywhere. And on the other hand, I would say to the sisters, treat your husbands right, and make their homes pleasant. Is there anything they would like to eat? Try to prepare it for them; and let your children see that you love one another, that they may grow up with the same feeling, and be led from principle to honor their father and mother. These are the kind of feelings that will elevate us; and we will try to educate and elevate the Indians around us; and when they become educated, we will send them out to preach the Gospel among their own people, as we have done among our race. Oh, if we could comprehend the glory, the intelligence, the power, the majesty and dominion of our Heavenly Father! If we could contemplate the exaltation, the glory, the happiness which awaits the righteous, the pure and the virtuous, of those who fear God, even the Saints of the Most High! If we could comprehend the great blessings that God has in store for those people that fear him and observe his laws and keep his commandments, we should feel very different from what we do. But then, we do not. The Lord has brought us from among the different nations, that we may be educated in the things of the kingdom of God. He has conferred the Holy Priesthood for that purpose: and the very organizations that we have of Stakes and Wards, with their Presidency and Bishops, High Councils, High Priests, Seventies, Elders, Priests, Teachers and Deacons, etc., are placed in the Church by the Almighty, to educate and elevate us: and we are going around today lecturing on the principles of education. Education in what? In everything. In our morals; in our social position; in our religion; in everything pertaining to time and to eternity, so that we may be happy in our families, that we may prosper in our enterprises, and operate together and have the confidence of one another, and do away with everything that is wrong and dwell together in love and peace according to the Gospel of the Son of God. This is the kind of feeling we want to be educated in, and we want to start with it first in ourselves. As fathers and as mothers we want to do right; and as children we must do right. If they will not, as parents, we will set them good examples, and be kind to them, and lead them as well as we can in the paths of life. That is the spirit that dwells in our Heavenly Father. We want to follow after him, and cultivate these principles in our bosoms and in our hearts. For this reason we have various organizations in our midst. We have our Bishops; and it is their duty to look after their wards, and see that everything is moving along right, and that everybody is doing right, and if there be any poor or sick, to feel after them and relieve them; and then to enlist the sympathies of the brethren and sisters, that they may also feel after them. Then we have out Mutual Improvement Associations. Have you got one? (Answer, Yes, sir.) What are they for? To instruct the rising youth. This is another branch of our education. Our sisters, too, in their Relief Societies are doing a good work. Continue in it. Our sisters know a great deal better now to sympathize with their sex than the brethren; they can better enter into their feelings. Carry on this work. This is another part of our education. And referring again to our Young People’s Improvement Associations; how much I should have enjoyed such privileges when I was a boy. But I had no such opportunity. I had no Priesthood to teach me. You have privileges, young men and young women, that we older folks had not. And this spirit and feeling of improvement is not confined to one or two places; it is all over, and a good work among the young is being done throughout the dwellings of the Saints. And the Contributor, which I believe is the organ of the Mutual Improvement Associations, is an excellent periodical; and the young people ought to avail themselves of its pages by subscribing for it, which, no doubt, is being done generally. This movement among the young people is another branch of our education. Another is our Sunday School movement. Our children should be taught by good men and good women. Train their infant minds, and lead the little ones in the paths of life that they may understand about the Church of Christ, and be nurtured in the fear of God. By and by they will be men and women in Israel. It will not always be as it is now. Men will not always entertain towards us the feelings they do today. When they find that we are not the people the world has held us up to be; when we shall have proven to the world that we are not what they have believed us to be, but that we are a virtuous and law-abiding people, the honorable among men will acknowledge our worth. And the day will come when it will be said of our children, as the old Prophets have prophesied, that such and such a one was born in Zion. It will be considered a great blessing and one of the greatest honors that could have been inherited by our children to have been born in Zion among the people of God. These people are not liars, whoremongers, adulterers or thieves, as represented by our defamers, but they have learned the principles of virtue and holiness, and such things as are calculated to exalt and ennoble individuals, families and nations; they are in possession of these principles, and are exalted by them; and is it not an honor for a child to be born of such fathers and mothers? Yes. Then let us be such fathers and mothers. If we have done wrong, let us cease our evil practices and repent of all wrongdoing; humble ourselves and become as little children before God. Let us lay aside covetousness. We need not scramble, for there is not much to scramble after. There is not so much in the riches of this world as some people think there is. They cannot be compared for a moment with the riches of the kingdom of heaven, which are within the reach of all men who have not forfeited them.

Then we should treat everybody right, those who are not of us, as well as our own brethren. Would I cheat a man because he is not in the Church? The thought of such an act would bring the blush of shame to my cheek; and I feel chagrined when I hear of men, who have entered into solemn and holy covenants, doing such things. It is a common thing among a certain class of men to say I made a splendid trade today with Brother So-and-So. But did Brother So-and-So make as good a trade out of you? If he did, all right. But if you, because you happen to be a little smarter, or shrewder on a trade than your brother, have got the better of him, it is not all right, it is all wrong, and I do not think it a credit for a man to be possessed of that kind of smartness. I do not think it a credit to anybody to want something which belongs to somebody else. The Lord is trying us; and some of you are already pretty well tried: and you try one another sometimes. David, you know, said on a certain occasion, if it had been an enemy he would have borne it; but it was his friend that did it, and that cut him to the heart.

It is necessary that we should be tried, and that we should be cut to the heart. And why? “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering.” Why? In order that we might have a High Priest who is acquainted with our affairs, and one who was tempted in all points like unto us. He was tempted as we are. I have seen men tempted so sorely that finally they would say, “I’ll be damned if I’ll stand it any longer.” Well, you will be damned if you do not. So you had better bear it; and go to the Lord and say, O God, I am sorely tempted; Satan is trying to destroy me, and things seem to be combined against me. O Lord, help me! Deliver me from the power and grasp of the devil. Let thy Spirit descend upon me that I may be enabled to surmount this temptation and to ride above the vanities of this world. This would be far better than giving way to sin, and proving yourself unworthy of the association of the good and pure.

I am reminded of Elijah. There was a time in his life when we find him alone in a solitary place. And it thundered and lightened, but God was in neither. By and by a still small voice whispered to him, “What doest thou here, Elijah?” Elijah told the Lord that they had digged down His altars and slain His Prophets, and that he only was left; and said he, they seek my life also. This was a gloomy picture; it was a sad story to tell the Lord. But God understood the situation better than Elijah did; and said he, I have reserved 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal, in whom are the principles of integrity and honor. Abraham was tried, and so was Job. Abraham was tried severely. He was told to take his son Isaac, him that had been given to him by promise, through whom all the families of the earth were to be blessed. Now, said he, Abraham, take thy son and offer him as a sacrifice. Do you not think that some would say, “I’ll be damned if I do.” Abraham did not stagger. He be– lieved that God had given him this son in his old age, and that a great and glorious promise had to be fulfilled through him, and moreover if he was sacrificed God was able to raise him from the dead. He did not stagger through unbelief; but he went in obedience to the command to offer up his son. A great deal might be said, but it would take too long to show what Abraham expected. But he did expect that his seed would inherit the Priesthood through all subsequent time. And that is the meaning of that saying, “In thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed,” not cursed. Abraham, through the spirit of prophecy, had gazed upon his posterity as they should exist through the various ages of time. And among other things he saw the days of Jesus, when he should come; and we are told, he was glad. And after all this, God told him to take the life of his son. What, and thus prevent your posterity from coming upon the earth as you beheld it in vision? Yes, and in one stroke of the knife blast all these glorious, these blessed hopes. He approaches his son, and says, Come, Isaac, come with me upon this mount. And they went. “Now, let us build an altar.” And they built an altar. And the boy was heard to say, Father, here is the wood, and here is the altar, but where is the Lamb for the burnt offering? Says Abraham: The Lord will provide the offering. Finally, the father, choking, probably with the awfulness of the moment, as his thoughts crowded upon him, says, My son, thou art the one that I have got to offer up. Then at last he takes his son and lays him upon the altar, and at the last moment he is seen lifting the knife to slay the promised child, when the voice of the Lord is heard, saying, Hold, Abraham, put not thine hand upon the lad. Look; there is a ram caught in the thicket. Take that, and offer it as a sacrifice. Would you, my brethren, like to be put in that position? And referring to Job, he was also proven. It seems that at a certain time the sons of God were gathered together, and the devil was among them. And the Lord, addressing himself to Satan, said, Hast thou considered my servant Job? Oh yes, but you have put a hedge about him. If you were to serve me the same way, I would be as obedient as he. Possibly I do not know about that, says Satan. Let me tempt him. Well, replies the Lord, you may try. Then what do we read?

“And there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house:

And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were ploughing, and the asses feeding beside them:

And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

While he was yet speaking, there came also yet another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house:

And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

Job received all this intelligence, sad as it was, without being moved in the least to anger. He, we are told, rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down and worshipped, and said, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” We do not always feel so. We used to say in Missouri, “Those damned Missourians have stolen our cattle. Those damned Gentiles have done this and that.” But they could not do it if the Lord did not permit them. Here is another evidence of our being in the hands of God, and we should feel that we are in his hands; and then it will be all right. We will not blame the devil, nor wicked, corrupt men; for they are of the devil whose works they do. But we will say with Job, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the Lord.

The devil again appeared before the Lord, and the Lord said to him: “Well, you told me that Job would do thus and so; but he remains true and unshaken, although thou movedst me against him to destroy him.” Satan then answered and said, “Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.” And the Lord said unto Satan, “Behold, he is in thine hand; but spare his life.” Satan sallied forth again from the presence of God, and smote Job with sore boils from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet. And while in this condition we are told that he sat down in ashes, and took a potsherd and scraped himself. And his friends hearing of his misfortunes came and taunted him with being a hypocrite, etc., as we are apt to do when a series of misfortunes overtakes a man. But he would not be moved by this, although he was stripped of everything and afflicted withal. At last his wife thought she could not stand it any longer; she got worked up over it, and I can imagine her saying to her husband Job, I would not stand it any longer, I would curse God, and die like a man. Job still retaining his self-possession turned and said to her, “Thou speakest as one of the foolish women.” “What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? Naked came I into the world; and naked must I return. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” And said he further, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. I know that my Redeemer liveth.” Job was a man that feared God and lived up to his privileges, and the Spirit of the Almighty God rested upon him; and hence he says, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter-day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, and revel in this brain; although I go down to the silent tomb, there to rot and become as the dust of the earth, yet, in my flesh shall I see God; and these eyes shall gaze upon Him. And I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that these eyes shall see him, and he shall reign in the lat– ter-days upon the earth. That the kind of religion those men had; and we want the same kind of principle. After Job had been tried and proven, the Lord lifted him up again, and increased his flocks and herds and everything in the shape of earthly possessions which the world calls good. And so great was the goodness of God extended to Job, that we are told he was more blessed in his latter days than in his former days. And it was as the devil had said, God put a hedge around about him; and so he does about us, and we do not know it.

Here is Brother Cannon, for instance, who is soon about to go to Washington as our Delegate to Congress, and you know the influence that has been exercised against the people whom he represents, and you know also that he, as Delegate, is not entitled to a vote. And notwithstanding the devices and schemings of men and organizations, that have used their influence directly for the purpose of bringing inimical legislation against us, God has confounded them in all of their plans up to the present time. Has not God put a hedge about us? Yes, He has. And as long as we fear him, he will continue to do it; and he will preserve us, and no power this side of earth or hell can injure us.

One of the poets says—

“Shall I be carried to the skies On flowery beds of ease, While others sought to win the prize And sailed through bloody seas?”

And John, while wrapped in vision, saw an innumerable company of the redeemed clothed in white raiment, singing a song that no man knew save he that received it. And he inquired saying, Who are these arrayed in white, and whence came they? These are they that came up through much tribulation, who washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. I have heard Joseph Smith say to the Twelve, “God will get hold of your heart strings, and he will wrench them to the very core.” Has he done it? He has. The Twelve know that he has. President Young knew it, and Joseph Smith knew it; and finally he had to give himself up as an offering for this people. Have we passed through suffering? We have. And shall we have more of it, to face? We shall, if we be found among those whom John saw. We have got to be sifted in the sieve of tribulation until we shall prove our integrity to be true to God and man. Brethren, seek for the Spirit of God upon yourselves, and all that pertain to you, and live so that your prayers can be heard and answered upon your heads; and walk according to the light of that which you have already received, and the blessings of God will attend you. You can make a little heaven right here among yourselves, if you want to; and you need not go anywhere else for it. Live your religion, and you will be blessed in time and all eternity. God bless you. Amen.

Discourse by Apostle F. M. Lyman, delivered at the General Conference, Friday Morning, October 7, 1881.

My brethren and sisters, I am pleased to meet you in this General Conference, and although it is a great task to undertake to speak to so large an audience, I am willing to undertake my part if you will give me your faith and prayers, and the Lord will bless me with His Spirit. The work that engages our attention is more remarkable than any work that the Lord has ever commenced upon the earth. The determination of our Heavenly Father that this work shall stand forever, that it shall not be taken from the earth nor be given to another people, is one of its important features. And I sometimes fear that we do not feel as ambitious, as energetic to do our part, to bear the responsibility that he designs to come upon our shoulders, that we are not as careful as we ought to be in observing his laws and requirements; that we do not appreciate them and prize them as we ought to. If we did we would not sin; if we did we would every day of our lives seek to know the mind and will of the Father; to have His Spirit to be present with us, prompting and inspiring and urging us forward to the accomplishment of the purposes of the Lord. We forget the early love of the Gospel. We are too much swallowed up, perhaps, in the making of a living, in obtaining the comforts of this life and a little more of this world’s goods. We ought to labor; we ought to be industrious; we ought to seek to gather from the elements means that would sustain us, to clothe us, to build our habitations, and to enable us materially to build up the kingdom of God. But as the spirit and body are one, and grow together, sympathizing with each other, the spirit giving life to the body, without which the body cannot live at all, so it should be with us in regard to the things of the kingdom. The Spirit of the Lord should be first, the life, the energy that should propel us to the performance of our temporal duties. In cultivating the earth, in buying and selling, in caring for the wealth of the world, our object should be to supply our necessities, to make ourselves comfortable, to keep us alive, to keep us in good condition; but the chief part of our lives should be used in works of righteousness, of charity, seeking to improve the spiritual condition of man, to develop the intellectual man, to develop the moral man, and to gain favor with our heavenly Father; and to lay up treasures in this life that can be taken hence with us. We are not ambitious enough to excel in doing good. We are ambitious enough to excel in obtaining wealth—and yet I do not know that it ought to be called wealth. President Taylor gave a very nice explanation of true wealth yesterday. Quoting from the revelation of God to us which says, “He that hath eternal life is rich,” and applying those words to our late Brother, Orson Pratt, he said, pointing to his remains, “There lies the body of a rich man.” We all know that Brother Pratt was not rich in this world’s goods, but it can be safely said of him, that he is rich—rich in the things of God. What he has done and accomplished is more than all the wealth of the world, the gold and the silver, the diamonds and precious stones, the houses and lands, and the cattle on a thousand bills; for he has earned the title of a son of God, and he cannot be robbed of it, having been true to the end and faithful to his latest breath.

Well now, what of worldly wealth, what of houses and lands, flocks and herds? They bring care and responsibility and trouble, that is if we have too much of them, and if we do not use them properly and rightly. If a man is endowed with the Holy Ghost; if he has first and foremost the kingdom of God and the righteousness of our heavenly Father, let wealth flow unto him as it may, he will use it properly; he will remember the poor, he will pay his tithing, he will give liberally for the building of Temples, for the supporting of the families of missionaries, and for the building up of home industries. The more wealth a man has, the better if he has the Spirit of God to guide him in its use. The kingdom of God must be built up with means. Money is necessary in some instances with us today. I presume the Trustee-in-Trust finds money very necessary to supply certain materials in the building of Temples; and the men working on them need some money to procure some of the necessaries of life, and probably, in some instances, the unnecessaries of life. Money is necessary to supply these demands, and we cannot very well get along without it, not as well as we could when there was none here. But it is not necessary that a man should be contaminated with wealth. If wealth necessarily contaminated and destroyed life or destroyed man, what should we say of our Father who dwells in heaven, for His wealth is boundless. The wealth of the world is only borrowed for a little season. The wealth of our millionaires does not belong to them in reality, it is not theirs, not a dollar of it; they are entitled to use and to enjoy the benefit of it; in other words, they are stewards over it for the present time. If the wealth they possess were theirs, they would take it with them; they would not divide it among their friends, they would take it with them. That is, that amount which they hold to in this world. They would still cling to it tenaciously if it were possible to take it with them. Of course, I except that which they distribute before hand; and I am not sure but what to me would be less generous in the distribution of that wealth even to their children if they could take it with them. But they know they cannot do this, hence they divide it as they see fit before they are released from their stewardship. These means are necessary. God has made this earth. He put in every vein of gold and silver and iron and precious metal, etc. He has given fertility to the earth; and he has done these things by His own power. And He has a right to say what shall be done with them. He has a right to say to us, when you cultivate the earth, “I require you to give me one tenth of all that is produced, and the nine-tenths you are welcome to use for your own support, and for the accomplishment of my purposes. But I require this of you as an acknowledgement that you are using the earth that belongs to me.”

Why should the Lord require this? There is a philosophical reason for it, there is a philosophical reason why He should require us to have faith in Him, He being the owner of the earth has the right to direct and control in regard to it, and to all who come upon it, hence it is necessary that we should have faith in Him. For He is the foundation of life, the fountain of intelligence, the fountain of knowledge, of happiness, of joy; and He knows exactly what is good for us. He knows every particle of experience that we pass through, that is necessary for us. And this earth has been brought together and arranged according to eternal principles, eternal laws, by which other worlds have been made, and by which other worlds will yet be made, that are behind us, that will follow this earth. The Lord is well acquainted with these things; and the revelation of the Gospel is intended to give unto us knowledge in regard to these eternal laws, that we may go parallel with them, walk with them and by them, in order that we may be saved—saved from sin and sorrow, saved from death, saved from destruction, saved from evil, and be blessed and rewarded for our fidelity and faithfulness to those laws.

In the first place, God requires us to have faith in Him, because it is not possible to please Him without faith. If we do not have faith in Him, we will not listen to Him, we will not accept His word, we will not be led and counseled by Him, hence it is necessary that this principle should be and abide with the Latter-day Saints.

It is necessary, too, that we repent and turn away from sin, and work righteousness. I would to the Lord that all Israel had thus worked up to this day, from the time we embraced the Gospel, that we had done right from that time until now, that our sins should all be forgiven us. We cannot have our sins forgiven, and continue in sin. That would not be rational; it would not be philosophical. We will find that every requirement that God has made upon us tends to direct us in the strait and narrow path. But when I consider the organization of the kingdom of God, the Priesthood that he has restored to us, crowned with the First Presidency and the Apostleship, giving to us every quorum in the Melchizedek and Aaronic Priesthoods, setting all things in order; and requiring every man and woman to be prayerful morning and evening, and to remember our secret prayers; to pay our tithing; to build Temples; to perform missions; to partake of the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper every Sabbath day—and the various duties that are required of the several quorums of Priesthood: it does seem to me that the Lord has been well acquainted with man’s situation and necessities here, to arrange so many safeguards and provisions, for caring for the people, looking after them, and feeling after them, directing them, counseling and advising them, and holding them to the strait and narrow way into which they have been led by faith. And not only do they need to be planted in the strait way, but it is necessary that all those requirements be made upon them, and that they listen to them, and heed them in order that they may be kept in that way through life. For there is another power in the world that is working assiduously and faithfully, by night and day, to destroy the children of men and defeat the will of God, and to thwart His plans. And it is the business of that power to destroy man, to turn him from the service of God to the service of the Evil One. And hence the necessity of all this carefulness, these detailed plans and regulations urged in the Gospel of Christ, to keep men in the strait and narrow path. And with all this, some of Israel will go over the wall, they cannot be kept in. They will break out in spite of all the guards and bulwarks thrown around them. And the Spirit of the Lord which we received when we embraced the Gospel, and that was intended to be with us always, is grieved and driven from us because of our want of fidelity and humility, and because of our carelessness in the observance of the laws of God.

I spoke somewhat in regard to the ambition that Latter-day Saints should have, which I think has somewhat cooled in the Elders of Israel. If it was in the obtaining of a good country; if in colonizing Arizona, for instance, we had found an admirable country like Illinois, like Ohio and the Mississippi Valley and the Middle States that are watered by the rains and the dews of heaven, if we had found a country like that in Arizona or Western Colorado, or in Southeastern Utah, in Southern Idaho, in Eastern Nevada or Western Wyoming, broad acres inviting people to come in and take up large farms, we would be ambitious enough. There are railroads that are being built in the country; we are ambitious enough to take contracts and work in their construction. The Latter-day Saints cannot be charged with being idlers, but on the contrary, they are working themselves to death, in many instances. They are not a slothful people, if they were they never would have been satisfied with this country, and subdued it as they have. The spirit of the Lord has prompted them to industry. But it seems to me that our desire to work carries us to such an extent that we have little time to devote to the performance of our religious duties. We have not been so prompt in attending to our prayers, and to our meetings; our time and attention seem to be absorbed in getting teams and wagons, horses and lands, and clothing and food for ourselves and families. In early times we did not take our meals so regularly; food was not so plentiful, neither was it so easily obtained, consequently we did not get the variety nor so much of it as we do today. Circumstances have changed; and as the earth answers to the labors of the husbandman, we put on better clothing, we set our tables more sumptuously, and our homes are altogether better furnished. We eat more and drink more; we eat extravagantly and we drink to excess of things that are proper to be taken, and of things that are improper and should not be indulged in.

This is not right, and the Lord is not pleased with those who do it. And it is the duty of every one bearing the holy Priesthood, to make his voice heard against extravagance and evil. But first of all let him see that he himself is free from that which he would denounce in others. He should himself observe the law which God has revealed as to what we should eat and what we should drink. The Lord knows exactly what men should do and how they should live in order to obtain happiness, the realization of which is the object or life. There are a variety of ways in which men seek happiness, which, however, result in their sorrow. But there is no sorrow to be found or experienced in keeping the commandments of God. It is true, we may have to face death, and perhaps meet it; we may suffer from the loss of property, and have to endure persecution; but when we suffer such experience by reason of our rendering service to God, it promotes eternal joy in the soul of man. Our mission as Elders should be from now on to vie with each other in doing the works of righteousness, and in living humble and pure lives. In this we will find wealth and joy, and I desire to say to you that the Elder, the Priest, Teacher or Deacon—and the term Elder covers every man bearing the Melchizedek Priesthood—who neglects these things, will be found sorrowing; he will be found mourning; that, he did not fill his mission—and every man is on a mission upon whose head the hands of the servants of God have been placed, conferring upon him the holy Priesthood; all such persons are missionaries. And we should not wait to be called to the Old Country or elsewhere, or to be set apart as Home Missionaries, or to be Bishops or Presidents of Stakes, High Councilors, etc. For I say unto you that every man who has received any portion of the Priesthood is a missionary; and the salvation of the world, to a certain extent, rests upon his shoulders. And the man who neglects his duty will see a day of sorrow for his neglect.

Then, I exhort you, my brethren, as your fellow laborer, and as a servant of the Lord, to be diligent in observing to keep the commandments of God, to magnify the holy Priesthood that the Lord, through his servants, has placed upon you. We are expected to be saviors, working in conjunction with our elder brother, Jesus, and also in conjunction with our deceased friend and brother, Apostle Orson Pratt, who has gone to continue his labors in another sphere. When did Brother Pratt allow his mind to be idle? He exercised it continually in the right direction; he labored and studied; the bent of his ambition lay in searching the Scriptures, ancient and modern, and seeking to become acquainted with the Lord. Hence he became profound in knowledge, a man possessing the true riches, a servant of the living God, who has gone to reap his reward—gone from his sorrow, from his weariness and from his labors in this life, and, as was remarked yesterday, he will find his quorum, he will find his place therein, and will abide with the saved, exalted and redeemed and those who have “fought the good fight and kept the faith.” May this be said of us! But if it is said, it will be because we labor better in the future than we have done in the past.

Let every man look into his own heart! Let every man ask himself this question: Has this tongue of mine been used to the very best advantage? Have I spoken words of counsel to my neighbor? Have I taught my wives, my children, my brothers and my sisters as I ought? Has my mouth always been willing to give forth counsel to the world? Have I shrunk from bearing testimony of the truth? If you have in the past do not do it in the future. This life is not very long. We are only here for a little while. We are here to obtain experience. That is the object of our being, and the Lord has revealed unto us the Gospel, and we should be faithful. When we look over the world and find it teeming with millions of people who have not a knowledge of the truth—and many of them just as honest as we are in their worship, but they know not the truth, they have not sought after it, and in some instances they have been so educated and so prejudiced, and have taken error for truth, until they do not know the truth when they hear it—what a boon it is to us that God has given us a spirit by which we may know the truth and not be deceived! What a great gift and boon this is, and it ought to make us good husbands, good wives, good parents, good children, good neighbors, good men and women, laboring for the salvation of the human family.

We cannot be Saints without the spirit of the Lord. And as I said before in regard to these ordinances and requirements, they all tend in their particular place and time to keep us in the strait and narrow path. Hence upon the Sabbath we partake of the sacrament, and thus renew our covenants with the Lord, we fellowship each other, and we ask the Father to forgive the sins of the past and desire to have His Spirit to be with us in the future. This we do every Sabbath day, prayers every morning, prayers every night, prayers secretly every day of our lives; and when this is the case with the Latter-day Saints, when they partake of the sacrament worthily, and do not eat and drink condemnation to their own souls, there will be less sickness and less quarrels among us, and the spirit of the Lord will brood over Zion.

I have thought that if we as Elders of Israel would seek to obtain a knowledge as to why these principles are given to us and their force and effect upon us, we could then explain them better to our families than we can today. But we have been satisfied by receiving a portion of the spirit of the Lord. We have not progressed as we should; we have yielded obedience to the ordinance of baptism, but we have not gone forward as we ought to have done. Possibly we have gathered with the Saints into these valleys, but individually we have settled down more or less to follow the ways of the world, to the making of means, to the cultivation of our farms, etc. We send our children to school, it is true; but there is not that system of education, there is not that training and teaching of the sons by the mothers that ought to be. We have grown more or less careless regarding these things; we have become somewhat wrapped up in the things of the world. But I tell you that every Elder in Israel ought to feel like saying, “Father, use me as thou wilt. Give me power to magnify my calling and Priesthood, so that when contagious diseases come into the land I may look unto Thee for help.” By observing the Word of Wisdom, I believe that many of the calamities which come upon us as families could be averted; not that we would live forever; but I do believe that many would be saved unto us that are taken away because of our want of faith and because we break the laws which have been revealed unto us. When a man is doing right he has remarkable courage. You know it is said that sin makes cowards of us all. Now, the man that would approach the Father should not be a coward. In approaching the throne of grace, we should do so with humility, but with frankness, asking in faith, believing that the Lord will give.

Take my exhortation, my brethren and sisters, and observe the laws of the Lord; become acquainted with them, practice them in your lives, and let your time be employed from this day henceforth in observing the laws of God, that we may have His salvation and blessing in this life and exaltation in the life to come. May the Lord bless you. Amen.

Discourse by President John Taylor, delivered at Provo, Sunday Afternoon, August 28th, 1881.

We meet together here and elsewhere in a Conference capacity, for the purpose of regulating, managing and directing the affairs of the Church, and submitting the reports of the several Stakes to the people, that the Saints may comprehend the position which they occupy, and that through our inter-communication with each other and through the various reports, we may become acquainted, to a certain extent, with the spirit and feeling, the desires and motives that permeate the Saints of God, throughout all the land of Zion.

We talk about a great many subjects, and many principles are introduced to our notice. The various duties and responsibilities of the presiding authorities are referred to, as well as those of the Presidents of Stakes and their Counselors, the Bishops and their Counselors, and the Priests, Teachers and Deacons, as also the various societies and organizations which exist as aids to the Holy Priesthood in the several Stakes. All these things are very good, so far as they go; but it is proper that we should examine ourselves, and when it is our duty so to do, examine one another; and then ask the Lord to examine us; for it is possible that we may entertain ideas regarding ourselves and our position that may not be sanctioned by the Almighty; and if this be the case, then if that harvest should come off which we have heard sung this afternoon, it may find some of us who are not “wheat,” not faithfully performing in all respects the various duties and responsibilities which devolve upon us. And it is quite proper that we, as an intelligent people, professing preeminently to be the servants of God, should act with candor and truthfulness, and should be able to scan our own actions as well as those of others, to see wherein we come short in following the example that was set us by one of the ancient Prophets, in which he said, “Search me, O God, and try me and prove me; and if there be any way of wickedness in me, bid it depart.”

The position that we occupy is indeed a very peculiar one. We are gathered here from the nations of the earth. We are gathered here because of certain plans, purposes and designs of Jehovah, pertaining to the world wherein we live, pertaining to the peoples who have existed before us, and relating to all men whether living or dead. And as the Lord organized this world; as He is said to be the God of the spirits of all flesh; and as he is interested in the welfare of all humanity, he would be the proper personage to inaugurate every measure, everything that would be calculated to promote the interests of mankind. And in the accomplishment of the salvation of the human family his designs, plans and purposes have been perfected generations long ago. If he could reveal unto Adam all of the events which would transpire upon the earth associated with coming generations, he certainly must himself have had a knowledge of those things which he communicated to our first parents, or he could not have revealed them. Among other things which the Lord designed should be introduced upon the earth was what is termed the dispensation of the fulness of times, wherein he would gather together all things in one, whether they be things on the earth or things in heaven; but all should be gathered together in one.

We have had in the different ages various dispensations; for instance what may be called the Adamic dispensation, the dispensation of Noah, the dispensation of Abraham, the dispensation of Moses and of the Prophets who were associated with that dispensation; the dispensation of Jesus Christ, when he came to take away the sins of the world by the sacrifice of himself, and in and through those various dispensations, certain principles, powers, privileges and Priesthoods have been developed. But in the dispensation of the fulness of times a combination or a fulness, a completeness of all those dispensations was to be introduced among the human family. If there was anything pertaining to the Adamic, (or what we may term more particularly the patriarchal) dispensation, it would be made manifest in the last days. If there was anything associated with Enoch and his city, and the gathering together of his people, or of the translation of his city, it would be manifested in the last days. If there was anything associated with the Melchizedek Priesthood in all its forms, powers, privileges and blessings at any time or in any part of the earth, it would be restored in the last days. If there was anything connected with the Aaronic Priesthood, that also would be developed in the last times. If there was anything associated with the Apostleship and Presidency that existed in the days of Jesus, or that existed on this continent, it would be developed in the last times; for this is the dispensation of the fullness of times, embracing all other times, all principles, all powers, all manifestations, all Priesthoods and the powers thereof that have existed in any age, in any part of the world, For, “Those things which never have been revealed from the founda– tion of the world, but have been kept hid from the wise and prudent, shall be revealed unto babes and sucklings in this, the dispensation of the fullness of times.”

And who was to originate this? It originated with God the Father, and it was sustained by Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, and it was sanctioned by all the Prophets, Patriarchs, Apostles and men of God who held the Priesthood in former ages. And finally, when all the preparations were made and everything was ready, or the time had fully come, the Father and the Son appeared to the youth Joseph Smith to introduce the great work of the latter days. He who presides over this earth and he who is said to be the maker of all things, the Father, pointing to his well-beloved Son, says, “This is my beloved Son, hear him.” He did not come himself to regulate and put in order all things, but he presented his Only Begotten Son, the personage who should be, as he is termed in the Scriptures, the Apostle and great High Priest of our profession, who should take the lead in the management and regulation of all matters pertaining to the great dispensation that was about to be ushered in. And that Jesus who had been spoken of by all the holy prophets since the world was, and was the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world, who was the Son of the Eternal Father, and who was the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of his person, he it was who was to take charge of this all-important work, to regulate the affairs pertaining to the interests of humanity, to introduce the dispensation of the fullness of times, and to operate with the various Priesthoods that had existed and the men who held the keys of these Priesthoods in former times for the salvation of humanity.

And thus the work was commenced. Everything was prepared in the heavens that had been contemplated from the beginning. And I here desire to mention one thing pertaining to the Son of God. We are told that when it was determined to organize the earth, and when God had laid his plans before the councils of the heavens that he asked Lucifer what he would do. Lucifer answered, “Behold I, send me, I will be Thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost; and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor.” The Father then turned to his well-beloved Son, and asked, “What will you do, you have heard these things as well as Lucifer?” The Son replied, “Father, thy will be done, and thine be the glory.” Satan, we are told, rebelled against God; and he wanted to introduce something that was contrary to the law of God and to the counsel of God; as much as to say, “O, you do not know much about it; I will go and save all; wherefore give me thy glory.” Some of our folks nowadays feel and say sometimes, they have a portion of the Priesthood, and they think they are almighty personages; they think they know better than anybody else, better than the Bishop, better that the Twelve, better than the Presidency of the Church: they are puffed up and filled with their vain imaginations. Say they, “let me have my way; and then, I want you to give me your honor to help me to carry it out.” Or, in other words, “I want to fight against the work of God and against the Priesthood of God, and I want you to give me power and influence to accomplish it.” They do not tell you that in so many words; but those are the facts. Now, we are told that Satan rebelled against God. He could not rebel against a law if that law had not been given; he could not have violated a commandment if that commandment did not exist. And we are told that he sought to take away the agency of man, to make man a poor miserable serf; and then to take his own course in regard to the destiny of the human family. But God would not have it so; and because of his rebelling he cast Lucifer out of heaven and with him one-third of the hosts of heaven because of their departure from God and his laws, and because they sought to pervert the counsel of God, and violate those principles which he had introduced for the salvation of the world which was to be, and upon which we now dwell.

Was it known that man would fall? Yes. We are clearly told that it was understood that man should fall, and it was understood that the penalty of departing from the law would be death, death temporal. And there was a provision made for that. Man was not able to make that provision himself, and hence we are told that it needed the atonement of a God to accomplish this purpose; and the Son of God presented himself to carry out that object. And when he presented himself for this position he was accepted by his Father, just the same as any man who owes a debt, if he is not able to pay that obligation, and somebody steps forward and says, I will go security for him. If the persons to whom he is indebted are willing to take him as security they will receive the security’s note or obligation to meet the debt. So Jesus offered himself. Now, man could not have done that. Man could do all that he is capable of doing. But there was an eternal law of God violated and it needed an eternal, infinite sacrifice to atone therefore; and Jesus offered himself as that sacrifice to atone for the sins of the world; and hence it is written, he was the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world.

Now, to carry out this view of indebtedness a little further. We will suppose that a man has given his note to pay a certain amount in a certain given time, and in order to keep that note good, he agrees to pay interest on it. Now, when Jesus gave himself up as security for the sins of mankind, and God accepted of his security, what was done then? Why, sacrifices were introduced as types of the sacrifice of the Son of God, to show that the ancient servants of God recognized this principle which had existed in the heavens, and many of them understood the principle with great clearness. We find that Adam offered sacrifices, and when he did this, he said in answer to a question put to him by an holy angel, I do not know why I do it, only the Father has commanded it. And then the angel commenced to explain to him that this rite was a type of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father who should come in the meridian of time to offer himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world; and said he, “Thou shalt do all things in the name of the Son, and call upon the Father in his name for evermore.” When Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, the mercy of God was extended to them, and they perceived as Eve expressed it, that if there had been no fall, they would have had no posterity, and that they would have been deprived of many joys and blessings relating both to this life and the life to come. And so Adam and Eve rejoiced in their hearts that God had provided the plan, and although they were fallen, yet in this life, through the atonement, they would have joy, and by and by they would return to their Father, and there rejoice exceedingly in the abundant mercy of God, and in the redemption wrought out for them by the Son of God.

We find that from that time Satan began to operate and to use his influence against God, seeking to introduce rebellion on the earth as he had done in heaven. He succeeded but too well in his operations. And when Cain and Abel offered up their sacrifice, Cain would not have done it if the devil had not urged him; but we are told that Cain loved Satan better than he loved God, and that he departed from the laws of God. Satan requested Cain to offer up a sacrifice, which he did, and the Lord rejected it, but he accepted his brother Abel’s. Why did the Lord refuse one and accept the other? Because the Lord knew that Cain had departed from him, and that he was not sincere in his offering, as we sometimes are not sincere in our offerings and in our worship, and therefore he rejected it. Then Satan came again and whispered to Cain, I could have told you all about it before; God is an unrighteous God; he gathers where he has not strewn, he reaps where he has not sown. He was unjust to me in heaven, and therefore I rebelled against him; and I advise you to do so also. And Cain listened to the advice of Satan, and as the devil was a murderer and a liar from the beginning, so he induced Cain to become the same, and he instigated him to kill his brother Abel. Here were the two powers represented in the two men, that of God in Abel, and that of Satan in Cain; and thus the warfare commenced, and the opposition was inaugurated, for we are told it was necessary there should be an opposition in all things. And furthermore, we are told that it became him of whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through suffering.

Now, these things spread and grew. It was necessary and proper that there should be good and evil, light and darkness, sin and righteousness, one principle of right opposed to another of wrong, that man might have his free agency to receive the good and reject the evil, and by receiving the good (through the atonement of Jesus Christ and the principles of the Gospel, which he introduced, and which were advocated long before he himself appeared on the earth), they might be saved and exalted to the eternal Godhead, and go back to their Father and God, while the disobedient would have to meet the consequences of their own acts.

This warfare continued; and as men began to increase upon the earth, so wickedness increased, until it was decided that they should be destroyed, that they might be deprived of the privilege of perpetuating their species. Why? Let us go back to the time when Satan rebelled against the Almighty and drew away one-third of the hosts of heaven. We find that there were pure spirits that stood that test and who had given to them the promise of bodies on this earth. Let us suppose that you and I were there as spirits, awaiting the privilege of taking bodies, and that we could see the wickedness and corruption that was going on upon the earth, and that we could see Prophets going about teaching the principles of righteousness and warning the peo– ple of judgments that should come, of the flood that should overwhelm them and of the prisons prepared in which the ungodly should be cast. And we say, “Father, you see the people on the earth that they are wicked and depraved, fallen and corrupt!” “Yes.” “Is it right and just that we who have done no wrong should have to enter into such corrupt bodies and partake of the influences with which they are surrounded?” “No,” says the Father, “it is not just, and I will cut them off, I will cause the floods to come upon them to destroy them, and I will send those wicked and disobedient spirits into prison,” which he did.

Here was an act of justice. Some men who profess to be very wise, think God was unjust in thus destroying so many of his creatures. They know nothing about it because they do not comprehend the law of God and the purposes of God. It was an act of justice and righteousness according to the eternal justice that dwells in the bosom of the Father.

What next? Before they were destroyed, Enoch ministered unto them; he organized a church, and he sent forth Elders, as we are now doing, to warn the people of the desolation that was about to overtake the inhabitants of the earth; and the Savior, according to Luke, said referring to this event in the world’s history, “And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man.” And says Matthew, in referring to the same thing, “As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.” After these Elders had gone forth, under the direction of Enoch, they gathered together those who believed in their message, and they built up a city which they called Zion. And the power of God was with Enoch, and with those Elders; and the enemies of God and of his law arrayed themselves against God and against Enoch and his people, as some of our very pious people are doing today against us, and as others would like to do. Say they, “Look, what a wicked people these ‘Mormons’ are, they have more wives than one. It is true we have mistresses besides our wives; it is true we commit adultery; it is true we are covered with infamy and debauchery; it is true that the stink of our crimes and iniquities rises into the nostrils of Jehovah, as it did in former days, but we will cover all that over.” But they cannot do it; it sticks out on every side; the covering is too narrow. They are murderers and murderesses of their infants, and the stench of their infamy ascends into the nostrils of Jehovah; and you that want them, take them, and you that do will go along with them, and go to perdition with them; and I tell you that in the name of the Lord. And you that want your children to go to perdition send them to be taught by those not of us. Are there any more foolish than some of the Latter-day Saints are today? We read in our newspapers from time to time of certain combinations conspiring against us, and who are they? The Methodists, the Presbyterians, the Baptists, the Episcopalians and others, and they want to petition Congress—what to do? To destroy the very people whom you profess to love; and still you would send your children to be taught by them, to drink in their influence and spirit, and in time to imitate their acts, would you? What is being done in certain parts of the Southern States today? Mobs, led on by Christian ministers, co-religionists of these men, are seeking the lives of your own brethren, and those who are here manifest the same spirit and would perpetrate the same acts if they had the power in the same way that is being done in Georgia, for instance; but they pretend to be so nice, and so pure and so virtuous, and to have such agreeable manners, and to be so well educated, and they want to teach your children, and to tell you the truth, to lead them to hell. And you will assist them to do it! Woe to that man and that woman who permit their children to come under such influences! They will sup sorrow in time and in eternity, where there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Do you hear it? I tell it to you in the name of the Lord. Woe be unto those fathers and mothers, I say, who thus tamper with the children that God has given them.

I am reminded of a case of mobbing which occurred lately in Georgia, in which Elder Geo. W. Bean, a young man from this place (Provo), was attacked, the mob as usual having been gotten up by Christian ministers. And this same class of men will tell you what good people they are, and yet they will approve such acts; and on the back of that they will ask that your children may be sent to them to educate, to be taught what? How to mob; how to trample on the rights and liberties of men, how to trample upon everything that is great and noble and exalted in Israel. And they will pull down the pillars of this nation by their mobocracies and infamies; and, yet, you will tamper with them, will you? Leave them alone. Tell them to convert those Christians who are engaged in mobbing their fellow men, and when they get that done to come and convert you afterwards.

You know they had Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, etc., in Enoch’s time—or a lot of religious professors like them. Perhaps they did not call them by those names; but they assembled together their armies, the same as armies have been assembled against us, and will be again. And some of you will help to do it, and teach your children to do it. Now, the wicked assembled against the people of God, and Enoch rose up in the power and spirit of the living God, and prophesied and the mountains shook, whilst the people trembled and fled afar off, because of the power of God that was with him; and the power of God will be with Israel today if Israel will serve God; but if we pander to iniquity, evil and corruption, we will have to abide the consequences. What next? The flood came and destroyed the unrighteous, and their spirits were confined in prisons, as they are termed. And I think I hear the devil laughing, as some of them did when we were driven away from our homes, thinking that “Mormonism” had gone to perdition. But we live yet, and they were mistaken; and so was the devil. For although they were destroyed in the body, yet when Jesus came and was put to death in the flesh, yet quickened by the spirit, he went and preached to the spirits in prison that were disobedient in the days of Noah. And then the devil put on a long face and said, I imagined I had got rid of these fellows, but they are going to have a chance yet that I did not think of. And after the flood we are told that the curse that had been pronounced upon Cain was continued through Ham’s wife, as he had married a wife of that seed. And why did it pass through the flood? Because it was necessary that the devil should have a representation upon the earth as well as God; and that man should be a free agent to act for himself, and that all men might have the opportunity of receiving or rejecting the truth, and be governed by it or not according to their wishes and abide the result; and that those who would be able to maintain correct principles under all circumstances, might be able to associate with the Gods in the eternal worlds. It is the same eternal program. God knew it and Adam knew it.

Now, with regard to Noah and his day. God made arrangements beforehand, and told Methuselah that when the people should be destroyed, that a remnant of his seed should occupy the earth and stand foremost upon it. And Methuselah was so anxious to have it done that he ordained Noah to the Priesthood when he was ten years of age. Noah then stood in his day as the representative of God; and after him Abraham was selected to take the lead in relation to these matters pertaining to man’s salvation, Some people suppose that Abraham was an old fogy who knew but little, a kind of dull, dumpy old shepherd. But we were informed that he was a man that followed after righteousness, and that he sought to obtain more righteousness; that he searched the records of his fathers as they had come down to him, and traced them back until the days of Adam, and even before the world was. Before the world was? Yes. God, we are told, talked with him, and told him of certain noble spirits who stood in his presence in the beginning, whom he had determined to make his rulers; “and thou, Abraham,” said he, “art one of them.” He was not only a prince on the earth but a prince in the heavens, and by right came to the earth in his time to accomplish the things given him to do. And he found by tracing his genealogy that he had a right to the Priesthood, and when he ascertained that, he prayed to the Lord, and demanded an ordination. And he was ordained (as we are told by Joseph Smith) under the hands of Melchizedek to the holy Priesthood. And afterwards, we are informed, became in possession of the Urim and Thummim by which he could obtain a knowledge of God and of his laws, and all things pertaining to the earth and the heavens. And God revealed himself unto him; and he told him that in blessing, he would bless him; and in multiplying, he would multiply him, and that in him and in his seed all the families of the earth should be blessed. And has this been so? Yes; from that time forth, by that lineage the blessings of heaven have flowed to the children of men. Let us examine a few things. Who were Isaac and Jacob? Heirs of the same promises as himself. Who was Joseph, who was sold into Egypt? A descendant of Abraham. Who was Moses, who delivered the people from Egyptian bondage? A descendant of Abraham. Who was Aaron, who was associated with the Aaronic Priesthood, and who presided over it? A descendant of Abraham. Who were the Prophets that we read of in this Bible? They were descendants of Abraham. Who was Jesus, who as the Son of God, taketh away the sins of the world? A descendant of Abraham according to the flesh. Who were the Twelve Apostles, commissioned to preach the Gospel to all nations? Descendants of Abraham. And who were the Twelve Apostles that lived upon this continent? Descendants of Abraham. Who was Joseph Smith, to whom the Gospel was revealed in these last days? A descendant of Abraham. And it had been predicted of him that his name should be Joseph, and that his father’s name should also be Joseph, and that he should be a descendant of that Joseph who was sold into Egypt. And who are the present Twelve? Just the same kind of people. And who are we gathering to Zion? A remnant of that seed, with a considerable mixture of grizzly, grey, and all kinds. But Jesus said, My sheep hear my voice, and they know me, and a stranger they will not follow, because they know not the voice of a stranger. And why do not the millions of the inhabitants of the earth embrace the Gospel? Because they are not sheep; that is all. And if the goats kick up and cut a few antics, you need not be astonished. It is the nature of goats, is it not? (Laughter.)

This Gospel is introduced that we may be taught and instructed in the ways of God, and that the Priesthood may be organized according to the holy order of God, What for? That this Priesthood may associate with the Priesthood behind the veil, who are operating with God and for God in the interests of humanity. That is the reason of it. And hence we find that these men who hold the Priesthood, the everlasting Priesthood, that ministers in time and in eternity, coming one after another to Joseph Smith, and conferring upon him the Priesthood which they held. They conferred on him first the Priesthood of Aaron, a descendant of Aaron, John the Baptist, who held the keys of that Priesthood in his day, came to Joseph Smith and to Oliver Cowdery, and laid his hands upon their heads and said, “Upon you, my fellowservants, in the name of the Messiah, I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministry of angels, and of the Gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.” Then came Peter, James and John, who conferred the same Priesthood and keys that they held. And then came other powers, principles and revelations in succession, one after another. After the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods had been conferred in general terms, then some of the most specific things in regard to the introduction, of this Gospel were accomplished. When Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were together in Kirtland Temple, we find that Moses appeared to them. He committed unto them the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north. And did they have this power conferred upon them? Yes. And is that power continued? I think it is or I do not think you would be here today. What brought you here? Why did you not stop where you came from? Because you believed the Gospel. When you heard it and obeyed it, the Elder who laid his hands upon your head, conferred upon you that principle which brought you here, and you hardly know why you came, but you could not rest easily until you did come; and you entered into all kinds of plans and calculations to get here. And I have known people so anxious to come here, that they were ready almost to sell themselves. And was it because we were such a good people? I do not know about that; I do not think we were as good as we ought to be. Nevertheless, that spirit operated upon you, and you could not rest until you got here.

Another thing associated with this was the coming of Elijah. What to do? To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers. And what is meant by that? He was a representative of a certain class in the heavens who felt interested in their children. And their children are our fathers; and hence they, the father’s hearts, are turned to their children; and our hearts who are their children, are turned towards them. And we begin to build Temples. Some think this is a very foolish thing to do. It does look like it to some, but not to those who are informed. Why do we build Temples? Because Elijah conferred certain keys which he held upon Joseph Smith. And when he laid his hands upon Elders conferring on them the Holy Priesthood, they carried the principles imparted by Elijah to Joseph to you and to others, and you received it without knowing it. And by and by as the Church began to gather together, we began to talk about building Temples in which to receive and to administer ordinances which had been revealed unto Joseph Smith, pertaining to the interest of the living and the dead and necessary to our salvation and exaltation in the kingdom of our God, as well as for those for whom we administer. And we have not only talked about it, but have done considerable in that direction. For besides having one handsome structure in St. George, we are employing not less than 500 men today who are engaged in the same work in different parts of the Territory. And we intend to go on with this work; and while our Christian friends look on and wonder what it all means, we will carry on the work, for we know what we are doing if they do not. As I have remarked before in speaking on this subject in other places, if we were to turn over a Temple to them after we had built and finished it, they would not know what to do with it, for God has not communicated this knowledge to them; and hence they could do no more than they used to do when I was a boy, and which I suppose they still do; that is, the minister, if an Episcopalian, would appear in a white surplice with a prayer book in his hand, from which he would read something like this: “We have erred and strayed from Thy ways like lost sheep”—which by the way, would be quite correct (laughter); “we have done those things which we ought not to have done, and left undone those things which we ought to have done.” And if the minister were a Methodist, he would be in favor of getting up a great revival, to embrace each other and invite each other to “come to Jesus,” and call upon the mourners to come to the mourner’s bench to be prayed for, and the sum total of the whole would be, “Come to Jesus.” Say some, “What shall I do to be saved?” Says the Methodist, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” “Well, I do believe.” “Well, continue to believe.” “But I do believe.” “Well, continue to believe,” (Laugh– ter). Would not the devil laugh at such foolishness? Yes, and the angels would, and everybody else who had good common sense, for such kind of foolishness is incompatible with the plan, ordinances, order and law of God, and with the Gospel of the Son of God.

In our Temples we expect to receive certain ordinances revealed to us from God through His servants. And would not the world like to know what they consisted of? They will have to go to their God to find out. But I am afraid that he would be a good deal like the gods we read of. It reminds me of a story told of Abraham. It is said Abraham’s father was an idolater, and that he had a number of gods in his house. This grieved Abraham, whilst his father wanted his son to believe and worship as he himself did; but Abraham knew better than to do such a thing. Abraham at last thought he would teach his father a lesson by making a clean sweep of his gods. So he got a club, or some other weapon, and knocked off the heads of some, the arms and legs of others, and made a general wreck among the idols, but left the biggest untouched. When Abraham’s father learned what had happened, he of course was greatly exercised; he inquired of Abraham who had done it. Abraham told him that the gods had had a quarrel among themselves, “and,” said he, “here is the fellow, (pointing to the big one he had spared) that did it.” Said the father: “My son, why do you tell me such a thing. My gods cannot fight; they have legs, but they cannot walk; they have arms, but they cannot use them; they have eyes and ears but they cannot see nor hear.” “Why, father,” said Abraham, “is it possible that you worship a god that cannot hear or see, walk or use himself at all?” The god of the Christians, according to their own description of him, being a god without body, parts or passions, would be as unlikely to hear them: when they called upon him, as were the gods of Terah, Abraham’s father, when he called upon them.

In speaking further on this matter, I will tell you what we are doing. We are building three Temples, besides the one that is built in St. George. Two or three weeks ago we were in Logan; and we were on the roof of the Temple at that place. Brother Woodruff was at Sanpete; he says the Temple being built there is progressing finely. And then we are moving along with ours at Salt Lake City. A gentleman who called on us lately asked me when we expected to finish our Temple. I told him that I could not tell him. “I suppose,” said he, “it will depend upon the means at your disposal to carry on the work.” “O no,” said I, “money has nothing to do with it; we go at it, and work at it, and intend to work at it until it is done.” To show the kind of feeling that existed in Cache Valley, I will say they were a few thousands of dollars behind, and they applied to me, as Trustee-in-Trust, to help them. “O yes, I said, we cannot only help you, but finish the building. But we would not do that. Why? Because we would be doing you an injustice. When you build it yourselves, you have a right there. You are called to be Saviors upon Mount Zion, and it is one of your privileges, of which we would not deprive you, to build a Temple to the Lord, in order that people may be saved therein.” And it is not the men that wear the best clothes that are doing the work. I said to the people in Logan, the man who chops down trees, and those who drag them through the snows and frosts, and expose their bodies to the inclemency of the weather in the interests of the kingdom of God, as well as those who hew the rock and carry the hod, are as much interested in these things, and will receive their reward as well as those who contribute money or other means for that purpose. I saw, amongst others, a number of Lamanites helping to make mortar. I felt like blessing them in the name of the Lord. All men, those engaged in the work, and those who contribute to it, have an interest in these things. God is looking upon us, and has called us to be saviors upon Mount Zion. And what does a savior mean? It means a person who saves somebody. Jesus went and preached to the spirits in prison; and he was a savior to that people. When he came to atone for the sins of the world, he was a savior, was he not? Yes. And we are told in the revelations that saviors should stand upon Mount Zion; and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s. Would we be saviors if we did not save somebody? I think not. Could we save anyone if we did not build Temples? No, we could not; for God would not accept our offerings and sacrifices. Then we came here to be saviors on Mount Zion, and the kingdom is to be the Lord’s. Then what shall we do? We will build Temples. And what then? Administer in them, When we get them done. Do we know how? Yes, we do, for God has told us how. And who shall we save? Our fathers and mothers, our uncles and our aunts, our grandfathers and our grandmothers, and we will look after the interest of all we can trace; we will still go to work, after we have settled indi– vidual matters and attended to our family affairs and a few little things among us—for we are a small people comparatively, notwithstanding that we talk about extending our power; we are a few people comparatively, but God has chosen us and selected us and planted us here, and told us what to do. Then after we get through with our own affairs, what next? There are myriads who have died without a knowledge of the Gospel, that God and Jesus and the ancient Patriarchs and Prophets and men of God were interested in as they are in us, and whom we are informed shall have the opportunity of receiving the Gospel if they had it not on this earth. And are the Priesthood operating behind the veil? Yes, and we are operating here. And we have a Priesthood here, and they have one there. Have we a Presidency? They have one there. Have we a Twelve? So they have there. Have we Seventies here? They have there. Have we High Priests here? They have there. Have we various quorums? Yes, and we operate in them; and when we get through we join our quorums above. As I told you yesterday that when Patriarch Joseph Smith died we were told that he was seated at the right hand of Abraham. And why was he there? Because Abraham was a Patriarch, and Joseph Smith’s father was a Patriarch. He was at his right hand because he was associated with the dispensation of the fullness of times, the same as Abraham was a leading Patriarch in the dispensation in which he lived. And David Patten, one of the first Twelve, what about him? Another was to be ordained in his place, but he was not to have his Priesthood; of David, we are told, his Priesthood no man taketh—he should stand in his proper position. Where? He was dead. No, he was not; he was alive. But he died? Yes, he did; but he lives. He was killed by a mob in Missouri, but he lives behind the veil and occupies his proper place there in his own quorum. Then, there was a man named Seymour Brunson, who died, who was a member of the High Council. It was said that another should be put in his place, but that he held his Priesthood: Where? Behind the veil. What of Seventies and High Priests? Just the same, if they fulfil their duties and magnify their callings. Has Joseph Smith ceased to minister in his office because he has left the earth? No; he administers in his office in the eternal worlds under the direction of the Son of God, and a proper presiding Priesthood as it exists in the heavens. And so will we. Hence they have gone to live forever. If a man dies, shall he live again? Why, yes. A man goes to sleep, but he wakes again. It is said that Jesus possessed life in himself; and says he, “I have power to lay down my body, and power to take it up again.” But we have not that power. But says he, “I am the resurrection and the life;” and, “Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” Die! We will go to sleep, and we will wake up again. We will associate with the Priesthood again; and that is the reason why we want to have our records all right, and everything straight in relation to all of these things.

If we are saviors, what have we to do? Build Temples. What then? administer in them; and others in the heavens are engaged in the same work as we, but in another position and in other circumstances. They preach to spirits in prison; they officiate in ordinances with which we have nothing to do. We administer in ordinances which God has revealed to us to attend to; and when we attend to them correctly, God sanctions them. For instance, you Elders who have been out preaching, you told the people if they repented of their sins and were baptized they should receive the Holy Ghost, and they received it, according to the promise you made them. God sanctioned these proceedings, and you are all witnesses thereof. And God has said that it was his business to take care of His Saints. But then it is our business to be Saints.

And then, in relation to these matters, when we are faithful and true to our calling on the earth, and we step behind the veil and are associated with our quorums in the heavens, and there continue to operate, what shall we have to do? We are told that all those myriads before referred to, that would have received the Gospel, but had not the privilege of hearing or receiving it in this world and have died without it, shall have the opportunity of receiving it hereafter. But who are to be the administrators of these ordinances? Are we? No, they are out of our reach, they are behind the veil. But there is a Priesthood there; and there is a place for the Seventies and the High Priests, etc., to operate there. And what were the Twelve to do who lived and operated on the continent of Asia? It is written that they should sit upon twelve thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel. And what of those Twelve that were on this continent? They are to be judged by the Twelve whom Jesus chose in Judea. And then the people of this continent will be judged by the Twelve that were here; and very likely the Presidency and Twelve of this Church will have something to do in this matter in relation to those who live in this age of the world.

Now if they have that to do what have we to do? Build Temples. What then? Administer in them. And when we have got beyond the range of those whom we know, we shall need information from the powers behind the veil to know for whom we are to be baptized. Do you think they will be at the trouble of informing us? I rather think they will, if they are set to judge people. And having seen proper to organize the Church and establish the Holy Priesthood and reveal the first principles of the Gospel, it is but reasonable to conclude they will be sufficiently interested about the other matters. But it is for us to build the Temples and administer in them, and help the fathers to save their children, and the children to save the fathers. Have they rights in heaven? So have we on earth. Have they privileges? So have we. Have they earned salvation and become saviors? We also shall participate in that if we magnify our calling, honor our God, and keep His commandments. Hence we are joint saviors with them. We need their assistance, they need ours. These are some of the things that we have to perform. We have a labor before us. You, Seventies; you, High Priests, you are not here to find out what you shall eat or drink, or wherewithal you shall be clothed. You are not here to quarrel over little things and to have your own way. Jesus said, “Father, Thy will be done.” He said, He came not to do His own will, but the will of His father who sent Him. And when His disciples came to Him and said, Lord, “Teach us how to pray, as John taught his disciples.” He said, pray, “Our Fa– ther who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name: Thy kingdom come.” Let the rule and government of God be established. “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” This was His feeling, and this is the feeling of all good Saints and faithful Elders in Israel. And what did Joseph Smith come to do? The will of his Father, to learn that will and do it. What, was the duty of Brigham Young? The same. What is mine? The same. What is the duty of the Twelve? To follow the counsel of the Presidency. What is the duty of the Presidents of Stakes? To follow the counsel of the Presidency. What is the duty of the Bishops? To follow the counsel of the Presidents of Stakes and of their presiding Bishop. I have had men frequently come to me and want to pass by the Presidents of Stakes. I pass them back again. I tell them to go to their Presidents. Again I have men come to me who wish to pass by their Bishops; I send them back to their Bishops as I wish to honor all men in their place. I have enough to do without interfering with the little details of others and so on from them to the Elders, Priests, Teachers and Deacons, every man in his place.

When the disciples of Jesus desired to know who should be the greatest amongst them. He placed a little child in their midst and said “Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

We need not talk about our dignity; we have none only as God gives it us. We want the spirit of union and harmony in our midst, every man being governed by the principles of the Gospel and the laws of God. We are traveling through the Stakes instructing the people in the principles of life, that they may be one as the Father and the Son are one, that we may be one in Him; and that all the Presidents, and all the Bishops, and all the various authorities of the Church may see eye to eye, as we are told they shall when God brings again Zion. We want men to be governed by those principles; and for this reason we are traveling among the Stakes to teach people the principles of truth and righteousness; and we want you to be governed by your various officers; and by your various courts too.

Here I want to talk a little on a certain principle. There has been some considerable difficulty between you people of Provo and those of Salt Lake County about water. You should come together as men, and if you cannot compromise the matter, bring it before your High Council, and have it regulated there: and I will tell you here today, that if you take this matter to law before the courts of the ungodly, you shall be cut off from the Church. Now, do you hear that? If I have any voice in the matter I wish to be heard, and I tell you, in the name of Israel’s God, we will not tolerate such flagrant violations of the law of God, among the Latter-day Saints. No man shall hold a standing in the Church and kingdom of God, or preside in that Church, who will violate the laws of God, and seek to the ungodly, inasmuch as God has laws by which He expects us to be governed. That is my feeling about it; and we will carry it out, God being our helper. For we will not suffer this kind of iniquity; and if they do it in the other county, we will treat them the same. It is time for us to lay aside our follies and nonsense, and cleave to the truth and rely upon it, and maintain the Church of God upon the earth. If we do this, we shall be the blessed of the Lord and our offspring with us; and if we do not, then we shall not be, and this will not be a land of Zion unto us. But it will be a land of Zion. The work of God will progress; but the ungodly shall be severed from this Church. I will not fellowship them. And any man who does it, he does it at his own peril, for I will not have anything to do with it. God has given us laws to regulate these matters and all our matters before our High Councils, under the direction of inspired men who have been ordained to the holy Priesthood to judge in matters brought before them. And when we turn to the ungodly, we sell ourselves to the devil, which we will not permit men to do and maintain the fellowship of the Saints and a standing in the Church and kingdom of God. Now, all who are in favor of this hold up your right hands. (The congregation held up their hands). Now, Brother Smoot, you see that carried out.

Brethren and sisters, God bless you and lead you in the paths of life. Do I talk plainly? God expects me to talk plainly. I have not come here to daub you with untempered mortar, but I tell you the truth. And while He has called us to high privileges, to thrones and principalities and dominions, and to be saviors on Mount Zion, and to be kings and priests unto God, and our wives, queens and priestesses unto their husbands, while God has ordained us for this, in the name of Israel’s God we will try and carry it out. And we will find enough that will be true and faithful to God and to His Holy priesthood. And the work of God will roll on, Zion will be established, and the kingdom of God built up, and no man will stay its progress. Amen.

Remarks by President George Q. Cannon, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, July 3rd, 1881.

We have been traveling this last week through the settlements of Davis and Weber counties, meeting with the Saints in their various wards and visiting the people at their homes. It has been one of the most interesting trips I have taken for several years, and I think this is the general feeling of all who were of the party. A visitor to our settlements at the present time is impressed with the evident increase of the numbers of the people and of comfort and, it may be said, wealth. The land is being rapidly taken up and occupied, and places where a few years ago it was thought that no one could live, we now find farms and orchards and good substantial dwellings, and all the evidences of thrift. The water is being taken out, and large sums are being expended in the formation of canals and water ditches; but the most pleasing feature which presented itself to my mind was the contentment of the people and the spirit which they enjoy. Our meetings were excellently attended and were of a very spirited character, the people turned out in large numbers and crowded every meetinghouse to overflowing, so much so that in most places seats had to be arranged out– side, and the windows thrown open, so that those who could not get into the houses could hear. In several places we met under bowers constructed for the purpose of holding meetings in the open air.

It is truly marvelous when we look at it—that is, those who have been familiar with the early settlement of the Latter-day Saints in these mountains—the great changes which have been effected in the condition and circumstances of the people. God has abundantly fulfilled the promises which were made in the early days, after the Latter-day Saints settled here. Some questioned in those days whether we should be able to find suitable places outside of this valley where the Latter-day Saints could live. And many of those who first came here had grave doubts whether we could, in this climate, be able to raise a variety of fruits. But God has tempered the elements; He has ameliorated the condition of the soil; He has blessed the labors of the people; and with the experience of the past confidence is felt that their is scarcely a valley in these mountains, however elevated, in which fruit cannot be raised, and all the grains and vegetables necessary for the sustenance of man be produced. Of all people who live upon the face of the earth, it seems to me, the Latter-day Saints should be the most thankful to the Most High for His kindness and mercy manifested unto us. We came here as weary pilgrims, fleeing from persecution, glad to find a place where we could rest for a little season, and be free from violence and mobocracy. And though I, myself, at that time, was but young, it seemed to me that I would be content to live here the remainder of my days, and subsist upon the most meager fare—bread and water—if we could only enjoy peace and freedom from the annoyances to which the people had been subjected, and especially if our leading men could be free from those harassing persecutions which they had been compelled to endure. While but a youth I had helped, with others, to stand guard at nights at their houses, that they might sleep with some feeling of security; for there were months, and it may be said years, before we left Illinois, when the lives of a number of the leading men were threatened. Some of the most painful recollections of my boyhood are the scenes of persecution and affliction through which the Prophet Joseph Smith had to pass. When his martyrdom, with that of his brother, the patriarch of the Church, was accomplished, it seemed as though the rage of mobs ought to have been satisfied; and the people, being bereft of their leaders, might be suffered to dwell in peace. For it had been repeatedly stated, that if Joseph Smith were put out of the way, there would be no trouble with the Mormons. He was the object of hatred; he was the target at which all the arrows of malicious envy were shot; he was accused of em– bodying in his own person everything with which the people were charged, and it was claimed that if he could be disposed of, then they could be managed and there would be no difficulty. But this spirit of persecution is not exhausted by success; it derives strength therefrom, and the more victims it has the more it craves. Instead of the people being left unmolested after the martyrdom, the violence of mobs was redoubled; they were emboldened by the impunity with which they had performed this bloody deed, to make more cruel attacks upon the people. The Apostles who stood forward to take the lead after the death of the Prophet Joseph, became in their turn the objects of hatred. Charges of every kind were sworn to by men who were determined to frame some pretexts for bringing them into difficulty; and the most absurd falsehoods were circulated concerning them. Numerous writs were issued and officers frequently came to Nauvoo, to take the leading men into custody; it being the aim of the men who had banded themselves together in secret combinations for the purpose of taking their lives, to get them into their power as they had the Prophet. On this account there had to be a constant guard kept over the residences of the Twelve Apostles. As for myself, I never left any place with more gladness than I did Illinois. To launch into the wilderness, to grapple with all the difficulties incident to such a life, and even to run the risk of famine, or any other evil which might have to be met, seemed small in comparison with the evils we had been and were subjected to. It was with great gladness the entire people who took up their line of march, left what is termed civilization, to go among the red men of the plains. To dwell among them and to take chances among them, seemed preferable to being exposed to attacks having the form of legal measures, and claiming the authority of law, but which, in the most of instances, only furnished a covering for violence and the most deadly schemes of vengeance.

Although the Prophet Joseph Smith, during his lifetime was brought upwards of forty times before tribunals, upon one pretext or another, in every instance when he had a fair trial he was acquitted; none of the accusations were ever substantiated against him. And when at last he surrendered himself, after receiving the pledge of the governor of the State that he should be protected—he having pledged his own honor, and the honor of the State to that effect—those who were his persecutors, who claimed to have grounds of charge against him, were well aware that the treason of which they accused him, could not be sustained; and because of this they said, “he is likely to be acquitted again and escape us; but if the law cannot reach him, powder and ball can.” With blackened faces, banded together and led by a preacher, they made an attack upon the jail, and the few men left there to take charge of it, fired upon them with blank cartridges to make a show of resistance in order to cover up the bloody deed, as one done without their connivance.

The last time the Prophet addressed the people he predicted that peace should be taken from the earth, and that terrible calamities would come upon its inhabitants, and particularly upon our own nation. He predicted what the results would be of the spirit of mobocracy which then raged, and which had caused our expulsion from our homes, if allowed to prevail. Already, the prediction had been recorded by him, twelve years previous to his death, that there would be a rebellion break out in South Carolina, and a fratricidal war commence between the South and the North. The revelation upon this subject had been written; it had been published. It was well known to the great bulk of the Latter-day Saints years previous to this. I, when quite a child heard it, and looked for its fulfillment until it came to pass. And this was the case with the body of the people who were familiar with the predictions which had been uttered by the Prophet Joseph Smith.

If the voice of this man could have been heard and his warnings listened to, the evils which have fallen upon our nation might have been averted. To many, doubtless, such a statement as this may seem presumptuous, because of the views they entertain respecting this Prophet. But whether it be admitted that he is a Prophet or not, it cannot be denied by anyone who is familiar with the tone of his teachings, with the character of his expostulations and warnings, with the manner in which he protested against the spirit of mobocracy, it cannot, I say, be denied by any of these, that if his counsels had been followed, many of the evils which have afflicted the nation might have been averted.

There is no form of government upon the earth under which so large a degree of liberty can be enjoyed as that under which we dwell; it is the best form of government ever devised by human wisdom for mankind. Larger liberty, greater freedom of expansion and development to man in every direction can be at– tained under it, than under any other form of government. Every man and woman who professes the faith of the Latter-day Saints, must love it, because, under it the development of the Kingdom of God is possible; for believing as we do that God inspired the founders of this government to perform the work which they accomplished; that He raised up men for the express purpose of achieving liberty upon this land, building up this grand fabric of free government, we must of necessity admire and have a deep attachment to its principles. While the people are pure, while they are upright, while they are willing to observe law, the best results must follow the establishment and maintenance of a government like this; but, on the other hand, if the people become corrupt, if they give way to passion, if they disregard law, if they trample upon constitutional obligations, then a republican form of government like ours becomes the worst tyranny upon the face of the earth. An autocracy is a government of one man, and if he be a tyrant, it is the tyranny of one man; but the tyranny and the irresponsibility of a mob is one of the most grievous despotisms which can exist upon the face of the earth. And it is from this which we have suffered; it is this which caused us to take our flight into the Rocky Mountains; it is this which caused the founding and peopling of Utah Territory. When attacked, despoiled, and driven by mobs, the Latter-day Saints appealed to the authorities of the States where they lived; but their appeals were in vain, because the authorities were only the creatures of the mobs from whose cruel attacks we suffered, and whom they dare not offend. Hence our appeals were in vain. When we appealed to courts, the courts dreaded the power of public opinion, which was adverse to dealing justly with us, and they dared not do anything to favor us for fear of offending the mob who persecuted us. When appeals were made to legislators, the same result followed; when governors were appealed to they were in the same position; and when the case was carried to the President of the United States, he dared not face the issue, but declared that Congress had no power to deal with a sovereign State for its treatment of the Latter-day Saints, though they had been expelled from the State by violence. And even when Joseph Smith was barbarously murdered while under the pledged honor of the State, there was no redress; his murderers went scot-free, one of them a senator of the State in which he lived, and others well-known to the general public. There was no disposition to punish those men, although they were red-handed with the blood of innocence, and although it was well known that they were the men who perpetrated that cruel deed.

We have suffered enough from this spirit of violent lawlessness to feel profoundly moved in our hearts at the dreadful occurrence of yesterday. It comes to us as it does not to any other people, for we have suffered from this as no other people have. The men whom we loved better than we loved our lives, for whom this people would have been willing to lay down their lives, if by so doing they could have saved them, were stricken down by the hands of assassins, while they were helpless like sheep in a pen. They were slaughtered by a band of ruffians, who knew that they had the power if they could break into the building where the victims were confined, to take the lives of those men, for they were defenseless.

When the leading man of our nation is stricken down, as General Garfield was, it arouses emotions in the hearts of the Latter-day Saints—those of them especially who were participants in the scenes to which I have referred—which language cannot describe. There is something so abhorrent, so horrible in this method of curing evils, that as one of this community I cannot think of it with any other feeling than one of horror. General Garfield, I may say, was my personal friend, we having served eight years in Congress together. I have been intimately acquainted with him during that time, and I know him to be one of the greatest men of the nation. He may not be a strong man in every direction; I do not think he is strong enough to follow his convictions upon our question. He knew better concerning us than any man in public life, that is, he knew more of us. He was brought up in Ohio, near where our people had lived in early days, in the days of his childhood. He was familiar with men who had been members of our Church, and I believe was connected remotely by marriage with some of our people; and while he had no sympathy with some of our doctrines, nevertheless he had opportunities of knowing many things concerning us which others did not know. He had visited this city twice; he had become acquainted with the people, seen them at their homes, and had frequently conversed upon our doctrines. I know therefore, he understood our question probably better than any man in public life. But for fear, as I fully believe, that he would be suspected of cherishing sympathy for us, he uttered expressions which I thought were exceedingly unwise and unstatesmanlike in his inaugural address. But notwithstanding this, I must bear testimony to the man and to the largeness of his soul and the breadth of his mind. He is a man of broad intellect, of wide experience, and naturally of a good heart; and I cannot imagine any reason which could justify an act of violence towards him. There has nothing occurred during his administration to provoke such an attack as that made upon him.

But the word of the Lord has gone forth concerning all such matters as these. Deeds of violence will become more common, whether the world believe it or not. The Lord inspired His servants to predict these things, if the spirit of mobocracy were permitted to reign unchecked and unpunished. Innocent blood has been shed in our land, the blood of innocent men, the blood, as we believe, of Prophets and Apostles and Saints of God; and their blood stains the escutcheon of the States where it was shed, and it has not been atoned for. There has been no voice of protest against those deeds; on the contrary, today, notwithstanding the horrors of the past; notwithstanding our track is lined with the graves of our people who fell by the wayside, whilst fleeing from their persecutors, religious denominations all over the land meet together in public conventions, and appeal in the strongest manner to the government to review the old scenes of persecution against a people, who have done them no harm, and who fled as far as they could from their confines, and from their civilization. Today there are those who call themselves ministers and followers of the meek and lowly Jesus, who, if they could, would stir up every feeling of hatred and animosity and bloodthirstiness in the human breast, and bring down anger, vengeance and destruction upon a people whose only crime is they will not worship according to their dictation—a people who have come into these mountains and reared themselves homes, and made this once desolate land beautiful; a people who have created wealth here for the nation; who have offered an asylum to all; who have fed the strangers and travelers as they passed through here, administering comfort and relief to them, and who have been inspired by Heaven to impart blessing and benefit, and exert an influence for good upon the hearts of their fellow creatures.

Now, as much as I deplore such acts as that of yesterday, I look upon it as one of the consequences which must follow. General Garfield, the President of the United States, innocent of any act which can be tortured into a justification for a deed of violence, now falls a victim to this spirit of lawlessness and personal revenge. When men permit the spirit of mobocracy and violence to prevail, when they suffer crime to go unpunished, when innocent blood is shed and is not atoned for, the time must come sooner or later, when the evil results will become widespread. As men sow, so will they reap. It is an eternal law and can only be avoided by deep repentance. Every nation which commits a crime must atone for that crime. God holds nations responsible as He does individuals. When a man sheds innocent blood a crime is committed by him, and he must atone for it either in this life or in the life to come. God will visit them in His own time and in His own way, until these things are atoned for. He will leave men and nations to themselves, when they abandon themselves to evil, and His spirit cannot abide with them.

It may be said that the Latter-day Saints were an insignificant people, and that therefore their treatment was a matter of little or no consequence; so it might be said respecting the disciples of Jesus. Jesus himself was an obscure Being on the earth—His persecutors at least thought him such; but He was the divine Redeemer, he was the Son of God. His disciples were obscure men; they were poor fishermen, yet they were disciples of the Lord Jesus, and because of the cruel killing of the Son of God, and the persecution inflicted upon His disciples, Jerusalem was overthrown, the Jewish nation was broken in pieces, and scattered among all nations.

My brethren and sisters, we, of all people upon the face of the earth, should be the last to rejoice in calamity of any kind, or to indulge in any feeling which would have the appearance of rejoicing over anything that may appear like vengeance. There is only one feeling which ought to have a place in our hearts, and that is one of deep sorrow when men do wrong, when they commit crimes, even though we ourselves should be the victims of the wrong. There ought to be no feeling in our hearts to wish or desire vengeance to come upon those who commit those acts. Our Savior has given us an example in this. He said after He had been lifted up upon the cross, “Father, forgive them; they know not what they do.” This ought to be an example to us. The man who indulges in any other feeling grieves the Spirit of God, and is not worthy the name of Latter-day Saint. He certainly is not one; because any other spirit than this is in opposition to the Spirit of God; and there ought to be no feeling in our hearts excepting one of deep sorrow that our fellow beings do anything which would bring down the anger of God upon them. And I pray God the Eternal Father to bless us and fill us with the Holy Spirit to enlighten us, and lead us into all truth, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Remarks by President George Q. Cannon, delivered at Hooperville, Monday, June 27, 1881.

It affords me great pleasure to travel as we are now doing. It is a number of years since I had the opportunity of thus traveling in this county, visiting the people in the various settlements, and witnessing the changes and improvements which have taken place, which indicate the growth and development of the people.

It is only a few years ago that our enemies, in speaking of us, said, that we were a miserable, decrepit, weakly, dying-out people. They described us as very poor, miserable-looking creatures, all bearing the impress of our polygamic practices upon our faces; and our children as being weakly, with poor intellect, etc. And this description of us went the rounds of the press, and was believed in by a great many. And some people were so credulous that they supposed that as soon as they came into a “Mormon” city they could easily tell the “Mormon” women by the sad, depressed expression of the countenances which they wore. For a few years this idea prevailed, having been voiced by the press generally; and lecturers, in speaking about us, dwelt upon this peculiarity. Of late, however, the tone has changed, and instead of entertaining the idea that we are about to die out, the feeling concerning us is one of fear, lest we should spread out and take possession of the surrounding country.

It has been the case for many years, in fact, from the beginning, that our Elders have been proclaiming to the world that we are a growing people, and predicting that God has a great destiny in store for the Latter-day Saints; that “the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the Saints of the Most High,” etc. And this and other predictions of a like import were testified to by the Elders of this Church wherever they went; but the people generally, who heard our brethren preach such doctrine, were reluctant to believe it, and did not believe it, in fact. Of late, however, there has been a great change; people who have all the time looked upon the “Mormons” as a lot of fanatics, whose race could not be otherwise than a short one, already begin to fear that there is some truth in these predictions.

During this last winter I found myself in a rather peculiar position —a position I had never occupied before—of being under the necessity of endeavoring to calm the fears of the public respecting our growth and increase, they had such ideas about it they were apprehensive lest we were not only going to possess Utah, but going to take possession of Idaho, Arizona, Nevada, and cross into Colorado. And I myself was under the necessity of calming their fears in regard to the growth of the people, and of saying to them, we were not increasing so fast as to give cause for any reasonable apprehension. This shows a change that has taken place in the mind of the public with regard to the Latter-day Saints. And this morning while sitting under the cool shade of this bowery looking upon the faces of these children and young people, I thought that I never saw healthier children. And every countenance is cheerful; every one bespeaks health and our young women show that they have been born of healthy parents, and brought up and trained so as to develop their physical natures; I am glad to see this; I am thankful that we live in a healthy country, and that we have the Word of Wisdom given unto us by revelation from God; and by observing it we are very likely to have an exceedingly healthy race of people, who will also be long-lived. I think it a matter of great importance to endeavor to train ourselves and our children so as to have health, and not only health but long life on the earth, so that we may accomplish that which God has given unto us to do. For there is an immense amount of labor to be performed in connection with this work. With good health we also have plenty. These fruitful farms; these teeming orchards; with flocks and herds of cattle, of sheep, of horses, with the dwellings and everything else to show how comfortably situated the Latter-day Saints are. They have honey, they have butter and milk, and their bins are overflowing, so to speak, and in many instances actually so, with wheat the finest that is grown on the earth. And there is nothing to prevent our becoming physically perfect. But there are great responsibilities resting upon the parents among the Latter-day Saints; and not only upon the parents but upon the leading men in our settlements and cities and stakes.

There is one thing that you who reside here—and in fact it may be said about every settlement in these mountains—that you should be particularly careful about, and that is, the education of your children. I hope in your general prosperity you will not overlook your educational interests. It is of the utmost importance to us and to our children and to the work of God which is entrusted to us, that we should give our children every advantage of education, including the training of them in the principles of the Gospel; for it is of the first importance that all should have laid the foundation in their hearts of faith in God and confidence in the Holy Priesthood, and in the ordinances of the house of God. This is of the first importance, more important than anything else; more important even than teaching them to read and write. Train them in the faith of God and in the knowledge of God, so far as it can be imparted to them, until they can find out God for themselves, seeking him in earnestness in their closets and private places. And when we have laid this foundation in their hearts, then impart to them skill in education to read and write perfectly, so that every boy and girl in our community can read and write his and her tongue perfectly. Do it so that no one can find fault with it, that it may be ready for the press, if they should wish to address a communication to the press, without having to make a single correction. Our children have the brightest intellects of any I have ever met. God has given them this blessing; all that they require to develop themselves is the opportunity, and this they should have. God has given unto us means. There is no necessity for us to keep our children out of school, as was the case in early days. I think it a matter of the greatest importance that parents should impart to their children these facilities. Place them within their reach so that the talents of our boys and girls may be developed, for there is an abundant field for its exercise throughout our land, and also beyond, and in the countries to which they are being sent. We are spreading out, and we want men who are cultured; we want women of culture who can train their children in the spirit of true education, so that when visitors come to our land, or our children go to other lands, those who see them will feel there is a superiority about the Latter-day Saints that they did not look for. Great pains should be taken in this direction. Parents, school trustees and educators should exercise themselves in behalf of education; nothing should be left undone to give every one, no matter how poor, an opportunity to obtain it. You know the difference between a well cultivated field and one that is poorly cultivated. You know the difference between carefully selected and bred cattle, and cattle that are allowed to run at large on the range without attention. You know the difference between fruits that are well selected and cared for by the hand of the skillful gardener, and those that are allowed to grow as they please. The lesson that may be drawn from these plain practical things is applicable in the rearing of these little ones. You need not think, you parents, because you have got through life with little or a meager education, that your children ought not to expect more than you possessed in starting life. You do not know anything about the future that lies before them. The boys and girls of today, if they are prepared for it, will have opportunities of moving in the higher circles of society; boys will be required to go among the leading men of the nations; and how embarrassing it would be for them if they should not be qualified for it. But they should be. Every day the prospect is widening, the field is opening up before us, and men of this kind are needed all the time. We need them for legislators; we need them for Apostles, Presidents, Bishops and Counselors; we need them for every department of life. They should be cultivated so that they will be capable of discharging these duties and filling any position.

The Lord has bestowed upon us the temporal blessings which we have for a wise purpose. We should use them aright and not set our hearts upon these perishable things. We should hold them as the gifts of God, subject to his counsel. The man who sets his heart upon riches cannot serve the God of Israel. No man can serve two masters, Jesus said. He said it 1,800 years ago; it is true today. Whenever you see a man serving Mammon, you may know he cannot serve God as well. There cannot be a division in these services; half-hearted service cannot be acceptable to the Lord. We must serve God with all our hearts, our love and affections reaching after Him, and the things of this world must be looked upon by us as secondary considerations. They are good enough in their place; right enough to be attended to; but subordinate always to the love of God. That should be the first love, greater than every other love. A man that loves a wife, a man that loves a child, a man that loves anything upon the earth more than God, is not a true Latter-day Saint. He may have a lovely wife, he may have a lovely child; he may have a rich farm, he may have stock, elegant residences, horses and carriages, together with an abundance of wealth to command all the comforts of the earth; but I tell you, as a servant of God, if he loves these things more than he loves God, he is not a true Latter-day Saint. He cannot serve God and mammon together. One love must predominate; it must be superior to every other love, and that is the love of our Heavenly Father; the keeping of his commandments and attending to the ordinances of salvation which he has revealed to us.

While Brother Woodruff was speaking about what President Young had told him in Winter Quarters, respecting the Prophet Joseph’s teachings, with regard to cultivating the spirit of the Lord, a thing came to my mind that I was taught in the same way in the beginning of my labors on my first mission, and the impression it made upon my mind has been a lasting one; I have never forgotten it; and through taking that lesson to heart I feel that I have been exceedingly prospered in my life.

There were ten of us, of whom I was the youngest, wind-bound in the Bay of San Francisco, and we had been thus delayed for nearly a week near the Golden Gate in consequence of head winds. I dreamed one night that this party of brethren were heaving at the windlass, having a rope attached to it reaching forward to the anchor at the bow of the vessel. We were working with all our might endeavoring to raise the anchor, but seemingly we made but little progress. While thus engaged I thought the Prophet Joseph came from the after part of the vessel dressed in his temple clothes, and tapping me on the shoulder told me to go with him. I went, and he climbed on to the forecastle which was higher than the main deck and on a level with the bulwarks, and there he knelt down, also telling me to kneel down with him. He prayed according to the order of prayer which is revealed. After prayer, he arose upon his feet. “Now,” said he, “George, take hold of that rope”—the rope we had been pulling on with all our might. I took hold of it, and with the greatest ease and without the least effort, the anchor was raised. “Now,” said he, “let this be a lesson to you; remember that great things can be accomplished through the power of prayer and the exercise of faith in the right way.”

I would like to impress this, with what Brother Woodruff has told you, upon the minds of the young, also upon the middle-aged and the aged of this congregation if they choose to take it; great is the power of prayer when properly offered to the Lord. Whatever success I have had upon my missions in battling with the adversaries of this people, in being able to hold my position, when warred upon—and it seemed that nothing in the world but the power of God could save me or prevent legislation adverse to this people—whatever success there may be about this in the past, throughout my life—and I believe it was the case with my predecessors—it has been due to faith and prayer. I have remembered this always; I have endeavored to exercise faith in God, through prayer, which has been heard by the Almighty. Men have met in secret in holy places, and have besought God in the appointed way, according to the holy order revealed, and deliverance has been wrought out for Zion, when it seemed that everything was dark before them and without one ray of light. At such times, when everything has been hedged up, the servants of God have met in secret places and have plead with God according to the holy order, and the heavens have been moved, and difficulties have vanished away, and our path has been made plain before us, and we have escaped the hands of our enemies.

My brethren and sisters, my young brethren and sisters present, remember this lesson. Cultivate the Spirit of God; keep it with you. Remember always, there is power in prayer greater than anything man can do. There is no power in monarchs, there is no power in armies, there is no power in legislation, nor in anybody nor anything else upon the earth that equals the power of God in prayer.

That we may always remember it, and keep it constantly in our minds throughout our lives, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by President John Taylor, delivered at Hooperville, Monday, June 27, 1881.

It is a very great privilege to be Saints of the most high God, and it is of much more importance than many of us sometimes comprehend. It is a great privilege to have God for our father and friend. And then while we have God for our father and friend, on the other hand, we ought to be the friends of God. It is said of Abraham, that he was the friend of God, and we, the Latter-day Saints, ought to be the friends of God, and to take pleasure and delight in doing his will; for we are indebted to him for every blessing which we enjoy, whether pertaining to this earth or to the heavens, to the life that now is or to the life that is to come. Many of these truths are not known in the world, for the simple reason that they have not been taught, nor are there any people outside of the Priesthood of this Church who are capable of teaching men the principles of life, the principles of salvation, the principles of exaltation and eternal lives. And the reason why they are not capable of teaching them is, because they do not understand them themselves. And no man can teach correctly principles which he does not himself comprehend. It was upon this ground that Jesus in his day said: “If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” Also quoting the words of the Apostle: “The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.” And if we do not find out, we Latter-day Saints, how to approach God, as has been referred to by a previous speaker, and how to call upon him acceptably and to approach him as our Father, and to feel that we are his children, and to take pleasure in calling upon him, and to cultivate His Holy Spirit; if we do not do this, nor comprehend these principles, we have indeed made slow progress in the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

God has restored the Gospel for the purpose of bringing life and immortality to light; and without the knowledge of the Gospel there is no knowledge of life and immortality; for men cannot comprehend these principles only as they are made known unto them, and they cannot be revealed only through the medium of the Gospel, and through obedience to the laws of salvation associated therewith. And hence as the Gospel emanates from God, and as that is the great medium of salvation, through the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, God said in former times to his former-day Apostles, and also in latter days to his latter-day Apostles, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” He sent them with a message that was fraught with greater blessings than anything that could be conferred upon mortals. And hence when the heavens were opened and the Father and Son appeared and revealed unto Joseph the principles of the Gospel, and when the holy Priesthood was restored and the Church and kingdom of God established upon the earth, there were the greatest blessings bestowed upon this generation which it was possible for man to receive. If they could comprehend it, it was the greatest blessing which God could confer upon humanity. Then he sent his servants forth to proclaim this Gospel to the nations of the earth, and he is now sending them forth to preach the Gospel of the Son of God, to deliver the testimony that he has given unto us. And, speaking for the Priesthood, have we done it? We have, and we have done it in the name of Israel’s God; and he has been with us and I know it. And with regard to praying, if we had not known how to pray we should have been in a bad position many a time, regarding both temporal and spiritual things. But we learned to call upon him, and he has heard us and has come to our help in time of need. Is it not a great privilege and blessing to have a Father of this kind to approach. Let us look at it. Jesus tried in his day to get the people to comprehend one thing—to ask and receive. It is a simple thing. Seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you. For he that asketh receiveth, etc. Do you believe it? If you do, go and try it, and see whether God lives or not, and you will know for yourselves. It was said in former times, “We know that God lives.” How do you know? Because we received the things which we asked at his hands. In one place the people are told. You receive not because you ask not; and our Heavenly Father upbraids them for not asking. The Lord declares, I have plenty; I own all things, the gold and the silver are mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills are mine. Now if you are prepared to use them properly, he is prepared to give them to you. He enquires, If a son ask for bread, would you give him a stone? The little child when it is hungry, asks its mother for a piece of bread and butter; the mother would not think of picking up a stone and handing it to the child; but she gives the little one something to eat to satisfy its hunger. And when the child is hungry it will come again and ask for more. After this kind of reasoning the Savior then said to those around him, if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father in heaven give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him. Let us try then to have confidence in God, as our children have confidence in us. They will come to us and say, Papa, can I have a new hat? Mamma, can I have some new shoes? Papa, please give me five cents to buy candy. If you can you like to gratify their little wants. Our Father feels just the same towards us. But suppose they were to ask you for a razor? “That would be dangerous,” you would say. “Why, child, I don’t want to give you that.” And then when you want things of no use to you, and your Father knows that it would not be good for you—although he does not tell you so, he does not give them to you because they would be injurious.

There is nothing of more value to me than the principles of eternal truth; than the principles of eternal lives; eternal salvation, and eternal exaltations in the kingdom of God; but then it is for us to comprehend it, for if we do not comprehend it, no matter how great the truths, they cannot benefit us. We frequently think a little more of a nice span of horses, or a nice wagon, or a favorite cow, and such things, than we do of God’s work, as our boys sometimes get attached to a few marbles, thinking that they are everything, and they do not like to leave their marbles to obey father or mother; and God finds us about the same. We get a few dollars, or a farm, and a little stock, and a few other things; and we cannot afford to neglect these; we cannot afford to take time to pray, nor to listen to the voice of Father, we are so busy playing marbles. And occasionally when we play marbles among the dollars, we try to cheat one another, as boys sometimes do at marbles, and try to take advantage one of another. I never like to see boys cheat, and never like to see men cheat at their kind of marbles. Our feelings and affections get placed on wrong things. We are here to build up Zion, and to establish the kingdom of God. The kingdom of what? The kingdom of God. Then if it is the kingdom of God, it is not the kingdom of man, originating or belonging to man. It came not of man nor from man, it came from God, and we are indebted to him for it; and we are indebted to him for all the light and all the intelligence we have. For the life we have, for the pure air we breathe, for the use of our bodies and our reason, for the food and raiment we eat and wear, and in fact, for everything we have and enjoy, both of a temporal and spiritual nature. All these things God gave us. We did not have them; we did not grow them. You may have planted the corn and plowed it; but I think the Scripture tells us that Paul may plant and Apollos may water, but it is God that gives the increase. It is so in our farming or anything else. If we have good crops, it is through the blessings of the Almighty that we receive them, and if he did not give them to us, then we should go without. He could send an army of crickets or grasshoppers, or a great hailstorm, sweeping away the fruits of our labors, and in that event, whose would they be? I think it very foolish to quarrel over marbles; I think it foolishness in men to seek after the things of this world and place their affections on them. I see men, and I have seen a great many men in my time, grasping after the world, and they sometimes will succeed in gathering considerable together; and when they have gathered it, they would fold their arms and say, “Soul take thine ease; eat, drink and be merry, for I have much good laid up in store; I am not dependent on any man, soul, take thine ease.” That man hears a little whisper; the finger of God is laid upon him, and this whisper says, Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee; and then, whose shall these things be that thou possessest? Who shall have them then! O, I will leave them to my children! But somebody may cheat them out of it. It is a very difficult thing for people to leave things for their children, and have things done just as they wish, there being so many people to interrupt and grasp after this world’s goods righteously or unrighteously. What a fool to gather large possessions, and now to only occupy a few feet of mother earth. And that brain once so busy, is now slumbering, decaying in the tomb, and worms are reveling within its chambers. And those limbs that were active and energetic and full of life, are now helpless and powerless. And what of these things? I have sometimes, in speaking on matters of this kind, related my own experience when a boy. I have dreamed, for instance, of being very rich, but I would say in my dream, I am afraid I am dreaming; I am afraid when I awake I shall not find my treasures; but I’ll try to hide them and make them secure. In the morning I would hunt for my treasure, but never could find it. You will find, every one of you, that, naked you came into the world, and naked you will return; you can take nothing pertaining to this world with you, not if you were to possess the whole earth. If you possess any portion of this earth by right or title or authority, you will have to get it from God, and you will have to get it when the earth shall be renewed. Abraham had great promises of lands, so had Isaac and Jacob. And what did Abraham have? We are told by Stephen, who lived many generations after him, that God had promised Abraham that he should have this land; but nevertheless he gave him no inheritance in it, not so much as to set his foot on. Notwithstanding the promise of the Lord to him respecting his possessing that land, he had to buy a place in which to bury his wife, and in which he himself should be buried. And yet, did God’s promise fail? No, he will yet possess that land and his seed with him, and the promise be literally fulfilled. While it is proper for us to seek after everything that is right and honorable, on the other hand it is quite as right and very proper that we should set God before us all the time and render obedience to his law, so that we may acquire an eternal inheritance in the kingdom of God. God is now establishing his kingdom upon the earth. If it is the kingdom of God, and he is establishing it, he expects us to be subject to his law, and to be governed by it, and to keep his commandments.

What then shall we do? We will do everything which God requires at our hands. Have we families? We will try to train them up in the fear of God. Have we wives? We will treat them as we would angels of God, and be their protectors and guardians and make them comfortable and happy. And then, as was remarked, we will dedicate our houses and lands to God, and ourselves to God, and our wives and children and everything we have, and feel that we are the children of God and our offspring with us. Again, if I was a woman, I would try to treat my husband right and to make a heaven of my home, and would try to make everything pleasant around me. You husbands now and then quarrel with your wives, and you wives quarrel with your husbands, and you wives sometimes quarrel with one another; I will say cease such folly, and have another kind of feeling; and treat everybody not as they always treat us, for that would not always be right; but let us do unto all men as we would have them do unto us. A man came to Jesus on one occasion, and asked him, which was the greatest commandment. The Savior answered him: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Can we do that? It is sometimes hard work, is it not? We too frequently feel we would rather put two dollars in our own pocket than one in our neighbor’s, do we not? We would rather have two or three cows than that our neighbor should have one? Is not this the kind of feeling? “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” The law—some of us talk about law sometimes; we cannot get enough of it in the Church, therefore we want to go outside for it. I have known, for instance, men to go to law over water difficulties, and they would fee the lawyers liberally, and then, of course, the streams would flow in rich abundance, and there would be plenty of water for everybody. [Laughter]. I remember when a little boy, seeing a somewhat curious picture. Two farmers were quarreling over or disputing the ownership of a cow; and one had her by the horns, the other had her by the tail. In order to settle the difficulty they secured the services of one of these peacemakers of the law, and his love for his fellow man was so great that while they pulled at either end of the cow, he sat between them quietly milking her. [Laughter]. In case of difficulty, for difficulties will arise sometimes, would it not be better for us to attend to the milking of the cow ourselves; and go to the Lord for His guidance and manifest feelings of liberality and kindness towards our fellow men, towards all men? What, would you do so with Gentiles? Yes; it would be a pity if we could not do that. Why, we are told that the Lord “maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” Let us try to be like him. We do not want much association with them; we do not want to take counsel at their hands; we do not want to be influenced by them; we do not want them to teach our children while they are seeking to destroy us and to induce legislation against us, and are doing everything they can to injure us. We will say, Father, these are thy children as well as we are; we ask thee to put a hook in their jaws, so that they cannot go any further than thou shalt permit them; and the balance of their conduct we will strive to endure. Make us worthy to be acceptable in thy sight; and if thou seest fit to let them stir up any commotion, we will try to bear it, because we believe it will be overruled for our good and for the advancement of thy cause in the earth. Would I hurt them? No, if I were to see one of them hungry, I would feed him; if I were to see them naked, I would clothe them; but I would not give them my daughters to wife, neither would I let them teach my children to lead them down to death. I want those to teach my children and the children of this people who will lead them in the paths of life. But treat everybody well, and do what is right to everybody, and cultivate the spirit of kindness towards all. And when you see somebody’s cattle in somebody’s grain, feel sufficient interest in his welfare to go and drive them out; and try to promote the welfare of your neighbors and make them feel as comfortable as you can, and God will bless us, and we will bless one another.

And we will build our Temples; and what will we do with them? Administer in them. And then we will spread the Gospel to the nations, and teach our children the principles of intelligence and set before them good examples. And let every father of a family feel that he would not want his wife or wives or children to see him perform an act that he would not have them do; and thus be prepared to say: Follow me as I follow Christ. Let us live together in peace and union and cultivate the Spirit of God, and sustain those who are placed to preside over us. You have a President of the Stake, pray for him that he may comprehend correct principles and draw near to God, and bring down his blessings upon him. Pray for Brother Richards, and pray for us. Here is Brother Woodruff, a faithful man; so are the balance of us; so are many of you, good, faithful men. Well, sustain all honorable people. We need praying for; we are all alike: we are all of that class of whom the old lady was talking when she said: “We are all poor, miserable, independent sinners.” We all need assistance, and we should bear with one another. And while we are seeking to do right in many instances, let us be kind and charitable and long-suffering in the Spirit of Christ, which is the Spirit of the Gospel.

Brethren, God bless you; Sisters, God bless you and God bless your institutions. Be diligent and faithful in observing the laws of God, and the peace and blessing of God will be with you. I pray my heavenly Father to bless this people, and to bless these lands, and all that pertains to you, that your habitations may be habitations of peace, that your children may grow up full of light and truth, and become no– table men and women in Israel, whose names shall be known among the honorable of the earth. Zion is onward; let us progress along with her, and the men who at present affect to despise us because we are so small, will by and by dread us because of our unity and power. While the finger may be pointed in scorn at a “Mormon” today, by and by it will be said that such and such a man was born in Zion, for we are men and women of integrity and fidelity; that will be the case with our posterity, who will rise up and call us blessed. And they will esteem it the greatest honor that could be conferred upon them, so far as the honor of this world is concerned, to have been born in Zion; because we purpose living in such a way, that while the world generally will grow worse and worse, our conduct will be of that nature that we shall command the admiration of honorable men as well as the favor of our Heavenly Father. God bless you. Amen.

Discourse by President John Taylor, delivered at Bountiful, Sunday, A. M., June 26, 1881.

We have not come my brethren and sisters to preach great discourses, but to talk to you in a friendly way about some of the things in which we are all interested. When I am instructing others I feel instructed myself, and the advice I give others, in a general way, fits me also. The best of us are not too good; we all of us might be better, and do better and enjoy life better, having more of the Spirit of the Lord in our own homes and in our own hearts, and do more to promote the welfare of all who come within our reach and influence. To serve the Lord, is one of the great objects of our existence; and I appreciate as a great privilege the opportunity we enjoy of worshipping God on the Sabbath day. And when we do meet to worship God, I like to see us worship him with all our hearts. I think it altogether out of place on such occasions to hear people talk about secular things; these are times, above all others perhaps, when our feelings and affections should be drawn out towards God. If we sing praises to God, let us do it in the proper spirit; if we pray, let every soul be engaged in prayer, doing it with all our hearts, that through our union our spirits may be blended in one, that our prayers and our worship may be available with God, whose Spirit permeates all things, and is always present in the assemblies of good and faithful Saints.

I will tell you how I feel on a Sab– bath morning. I realize this is a day set apart to worship Almighty God: now I ought to worship God myself, and I ought to look after my family and discover whether they are engaged in the same thing or not. For we are commanded to keep holy the Sabbath day and to rest from all our labors, as God did when he created the earth upon which we dwell. He has given us six days to attend to the various labors and duties of life, and if we pretend to keep the Sabbath, let us do it acceptably to God our Father, dedicating ourselves to him at least, for that day, and placing our feelings and affections upon him. And then, the Elders of Israel, throughout the broad earth are engaged this day in trying to teach the principles of salvation, and I feel like praying for them, and also for our missionaries who are going abroad among the Saints in this land, as well those who speak, as those who dictate in the assemblies of the Saints in this land and in all other lands, that as this is a day set apart for the worship of God, all Israel everywhere may be under the influence and guidance of the Spirit of the living God, and that those especially who speak may be under the divine influence of the Holy Ghost, and present to the various congregations the words of eternal life. God has conferred upon us very many great and precious blessings, and I sometimes think it is difficult for us to appreciate them as we should.

We are here in the land that is emphatically called, the land of Zion. I think when I hear these words, that they have some significance. What is meant by Zion, or the people of Zion? As I understand it, in fact, as the Lord has told us, it means, the pure in heart. That would hardly apply to all of us, but it would in part. We would like to be pure in heart, but we can hardly reach it yet. There are a great many things which we admire in others, and there are a great many principles which we admire in the abstract, and there are a great many things which we wish we could do, but which we do not do. Still we are aiming in a great measure to do what is right; and if there are any people upon the earth that are doing this, I believe the Latter-day Saints are that people. And, yet, we do not do it, do we? If I were to ask you individually, the answer would generally be, “No, I do not perform my duties as I should, but I would like to do so, but sometimes I yield to improper influences, and while I know that in doing this, I am not performing my duty, yet I realize in some instances that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” But I think we are improving, and that is encouraging. We are the professed people of God, and being so, we ought, at least, to observe all of the leading principles of the Gospel, not to hear them only but to do them. We profess to be under the government of the United States, and being citizens we want to be good citizens, better than any other citizens, and I believe we are. I firmly believe that we are more loyal and more patriotic to our national government than any other citizens belonging to it. That is my opinion. And I think that we can well afford to observe all of the principles instituted among men by any proper government, we can well afford to observe all the prominent principles thereof, and I do not know of any law that as a people, we violate, excepting one, and that has been made on purpose to make us either break the command of God, or violate the law of the land. I wish that our legislators would not make such laws; I wish they would adhere strictly to the Constitution, and to the spirit and genius of our institutions, and not depart from them. For while we are desirous of obeying all of the laws of our country, we cannot violate the law of God. We say, O Lord, teach me thy will and help me to do it. The law expects that one man shall not infringe on the rights of another. That is right; all would agree to that. It expects us to contribute our proper proportion to maintain the existence and responsibilities of the government, both in times of internal trouble and outward aggression. That is proper and we do not wish to have any other feelings than that. They make laws that men should be honest; that is all right. If a man steal, he should be delivered over to the laws of the land. That is part of our religion as well as part of our politics. Our governors sometimes act foolishly, but we cannot help that. The office they hold is a part of our institutions, and because they act illiberally and dishonestly toward us, shall we condescend to berate them? No; it would be bad enough to tell the truth about some of them without resorting to falsehood. We will respect every man in his position, whether he respects himself or not, and respect all laws and all proper authority everywhere. What, would you pray for the Government of the United States? Yes, certainly; and when it shall depart from correct principles and violate the laws of God, and incur his displeasure, I shall feel very sorry for it. Before our late war broke out I knew it, for God had revealed it to me; and when it did come, the trouble and distress that would overtake the people I knew of, and my heart wept over them be– cause of it. But it had to come, and no man could prevent it. When wrong is committed, or an unwise course is taken, it bears with it its own punishment. And as far as we are concerned, so long as we keep the commandments and are true to the trust that God has reposed in us, we need not fear the consequences, for he has said, it is his business to take care of his Saints. It is our duty to cultivate and cherish the spirit of the Lord. And what is the fruit of that Spirit? In former days it was—“love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance.” What is the fruit of the spirit of evil? Envy, malice, hatred, evil-speaking, lying and slandering one another and towards other people. This was the fruit of evil anciently; it is so today. Principles that were good eighteen hundred years ago are good today. And if men, by taking a wrong course, act imprudently and seek to injure us, shall we seek to injure them? No, we will try to do them all the good we can. “But that is not natural.” But then we ought to be changed from nature to grace. Jesus stated, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you,” etc. When you have done all that and met all the requirements of the law, what more can be asked of you? Nothing. Some say we violate their laws. What law? The law that was introduced to make us violate the revelations of heaven; but though men seek to trammel us, yet in the name of God we will perform all our religious duties and responsibilities, and let all Israel say amen. [Amen from the congregation]. And yet, will we be subject to law? Yes. Here is Brother George Reynolds, who is present, he was subject to the law. Did he fulfil the law? Yes, he did. Did he meet all its demands? Yes. And having met them, what more remains? If a law is made, and because we are conscientious before God, seeking to fulfil his law unto us, we violate such a law, and we are deprived of our liberty, by the help of God, his power and grace being with us to sustain us, we will bear the consequence. What can be asked then? We think we can fulfil the law of God and the law of man as near as they will let us; and if they wish to punish us for keeping the commandments of God, let them do it, and let them abide the consequence. And when we get through we will say, you Judge and Jury, who passed upon certain men, we have met your requirements, we now go to the Lord and say, Father, we have also met thy requirements; we could not barter away thy laws; we could not violate thy commandments, but, O God, we have been true to thee, and we have been true to our national obligations. And having done our best to promote peace, and having fulfilled the law of both God and man, we feel that we shall be justified by the Lord, and by all honorable, highminded, just and patriotic men. We are not the first who have been put to the test—Daniel and the three Hebrew children had to pass through this ordeal, they met the consequences, as we propose doing. This was under a despotic government, but under our republican form of government, and with our free institutions, with a Constitution guaranteeing human liberty and the free exercise of religious faith, we have a right to ex– pect a different action. But should this nation persist in violating their Constitutional guarantees, tear away the bulwarks of liberty, and trample upon the principles of freedom and human rights, that are sacred to all men, and by which all men should be governed, by and by the whole fabric will fall, and who will sustain it? We will, in the name of Israel’s God. Of this the Prophet Joseph Smith prophesied long, long ago. This is the position we stand in. And if the Government of the United States can afford to oppress us, we can afford to suffer and grow strong.

Let us go to the law of God. We are here to build up Zion; and how ought we to feel? We want to make as good houses as we can. That is all right provided we come by them honestly. We want to lay a foundation for our children if we can. That’s all right. But do not let our hearts and affections be placed upon these things, for there are other things we have to do. We have to pay our tithes and offerings, as we have been commanded. We have to build Temples. And that is all right. I was going to say, if we do that; I need not put the if in, for we are doing it, we are building three Temples today, and I feel to give credit to the Saints for their liberality and zeal in the work. So far that is all right.

But do we want to speculate out of our brethren and get something from them to build us up? That is not right. We want to build one another up as well as ourselves. Do we object to a man making money and means? O, no; but I should very much dislike to see him accumulate it from his brethren by taking advantage of their circumstances. That is not right. We should be governed by the principles of law and equity. The Scriptures say, speaking of the Lord, “judgment and justice are the habitation of thy throne.” But “who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoreth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not. He that putteth not out his money at usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.” Let us seek to promote one another’s welfare, and feel that we are brethren, that we are the representatives of God upon the earth. Our Heavenly Father is desirous to promote the happiness and welfare of the whole of the human family; and if we, any of us, hold any Priesthood, it is simply for that same purpose, and not for our personal aggrandizement, or for our own honor, or pomp, or position; but we hold it in the interest of God and for the salvation of the people, that through it we may promote their happiness, blessing and prosperity, temporal and spiritual, both here and in the world to come. That is why the Priesthood is conferred upon us, and if we do not use it in this way, then there is a malfeasance in office; then we violate our obligations before God, and render ourselves unworthy of the high calling that the Lord has conferred upon us. The Priesthood always was given for the blessing of the human family. People talk about it as though it was for the special benefit of individuals. What was said of Abraham? “In thee and in thy seed”—what? I will confer blessings upon thee. O, that is all right so far as it goes. But “in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” Let us act in the capacity of benefactors, and if we are descended of Abraham, let us walk in his footsteps and make ourselves worthy of the promises, let us extend our feelings wide as eternity, and seek to bless and benefit, lift up and ennoble all around us; that we may all rejoice together and be exalted by the same principles which have been revealed for the benefit of all men. That is the way I look at these important matters, and such is the position we all should occupy.

People talk sometimes—they have a particular case to be adjudicated, and they would like to get hold of a High Councilor and warp his judgment, and make him dishonor himself and his calling. Tell such men when they approach you, to desist; that you are after justice, equity and mercy among men; and then let everything else go, yielding individual feeling, relations and all else to justice and equity, and God will sustain you. While speaking of justice, I do not believe in seizing a man by the throat and crowding him down; but do justice between man and man when placed in that position. We do not wish to destroy men, nor to use any vindictive or oppressive measures. It is said of the Savior: “The Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” That is the way I read these things. And while we deal justly, let us deal mercifully. While we act in righteousness, let us do it with judgment. We all need the Spirit of the Lord; and we all need to humble ourselves before him and seek for his guidance. Were I a President of a Stake, I would feel like saying, O God, help me to control and manage things according to thy will, for I do not want my way or to carry out my own feelings; I want to do thy will; show it to me, O Lord, and help me to do it. If I were a Bishop—I do not know what I would do, but I know what I should do. I should feel like saying, Father, thou hast committed a number of souls to my care; help me to look after their temporal interests and also to promote their spiritual welfare, and see that they are properly instructed in the laws of life; help me also to teach the teachers that go among the people, that they may go full of the Holy Spirit to bless and benefit the people, that with the aid of my brethren I may be a Savior among them. That is the way I ought to feel and to do if I were a Bishop; and that is the way you Bishops ought to feel and to act, and do it humbly with a desire to do good. And then, if I were a Priest, Teacher or Deacon, and was going around as an instructor among the people, I would want to watch over their welfare. And if I knew of difficulty between two neighbors, I should try to hunt it out, and seek after the Spirit of God to guide me, that I might do everything that is right and be under its influence. And if I was not a Teacher, but was the head of a family, I would want to teach my family right and teach them the principles of virtue, holiness, purity, honor and integrity, that they might be worthy citizens, and that they might be able to stand before God, that when they and I get through this world, we might be worthy to meet the elect of God (those whom he has selected from the nations of the earth), and the Gods in the eternal world. Therefore, every morning, as head of my family, I should dedicate myself and my family to God; and if there be trouble existing between me and anybody else, I would meet them half-way, yes, I would meet them three-quarters or even all of the way. I would feel like yielding; I would say, I do not want to quarrel, I want to be a Saint. I have set out for purity, virtue, brotherhood, and for obedience to the laws of God on earth, and for thrones and principalities and dominions in the eternal worlds, and I will not allow such paltry affairs to interfere with my prospects. I am for life, eternal lives and eternal exaltations in the kingdom of God. If we obey the law of God, and then obey the holy Priesthood over us and respect them, and, instead of falling out with them, pray for them, it would not hurt us, would it? We must learn to do good for evil. It is a most delightful principle. David prayed that his enemies might go to hell quickly; but Jesus prayed, saying, Father forgive them, for they know not what they do. I like the sentiment and feeling of the latter better than that of the former, because it is calculated to cement people together in their interests and feelings, in their desires and sympathies. Let us try to make a heaven on earth. God bless you, and lead you in the paths of life, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Remarks by President Wilford Woodruff, delivered at Bountiful, June 26, 1881.

There are a few of us still living in the flesh and able to mingle with the people, but our orbit or circuit has become so extended that we are a little like the courts—it takes us a long time to get around to visit the people.

You have had excellent counsel this morning from our brethren. They have taught us a portion of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which we should treasure up. We occupy a different position from any other generation; there has never been a generation since God made the world that has been called upon to perform the work that the Latter-day Saints have. Reference has been made to the city of Enoch. Enoch stayed as long as he could in this world; and through his labors a people were sanctified who, with himself and their city were taken away from the earth because of their righteousness. The people of God in no generation have been able to dwell upon the earth only so long as they were able to finish their mission; the wicked living contemporaneously with them have warred against them and have conquered and overcome them in a great measure, until many have had to seal their testimony with their blood. It is our lot to live in the great and last dispensation that God has given unto man, the dis– pensation in which a people is to be prepared to build up the kingdom of God on the earth, which is to be thrown down or overcome no more forever. God has called a class of men and women who, with the exception of a few, have been permitted to live out their days and die a natural death. It is true that Joseph Smith, who laid the foundation of this work, and others, have had to seal their testimony with their blood; and if I were to tell what I think about it, I would say it was ordained of God that our Prophet and head should be sacrificed in the manner that he was, as much as it was ordained of God that Jesus Christ should be sacrificed in the way that he was; and that for two purposes—in order that his testimony might remain in force upon all the world from the hour of his death, to rise up and condemn this generation who reject the Gospel of salvation. With the exception of a few, it has been designed, I believe, that the Prophets and Apostles of this dispensation should not have to seal their testimony with their blood, but that they should live until they finish their missions on the earth, bearing their testimony to the truth of the work, and building up the kingdom of God; and then they will gather up their feet and sleep with the fathers, surrounded by their children and friends. This people and these Elders who bear the Melchizedek Priesthood, through the providence of Almighty God, will not be called upon to go forth, like David of old, and shed the blood of their fellow man in their own defense. There were many things required of him which will not be required at our hands; and some things he was not permitted to do, because he was a man of blood. These are my views with regard to our position.

We are called of God. We have been gathered from the distant nations, and our lives have been hid with Christ in God, but we have not known it. The Lord has been watching over us from the hour of our birth. We are of the seed of Ephraim, and of Abraham, and of Joseph, who was sold into Egypt, and these are the instruments that God has kept in the spirit world to come forth in these latter days to take hold of this kingdom and build it up. These are my sentiments with regard to the Latter-day Saints. I will repeat what I have often said—there is no power beneath the heavens that can remove Zion out of her place, or destroy this Church and kingdom, as long as the people do the will of God, for he will sustain, them, and overrule the acts of their enemies for their good and for the final triumph of his truth in the earth. It is now over fifty years since the organization of this Church and kingdom, and since its birth it has continued to progress and grow in numbers and in influence and power, and it will do so until Zion presents herself before the heavens in her glory, power and dominion, as the old prophets have seen it in vision. Then, what manner of men and women ought we to be, who are called to take part in the great latter-day work? We should be men and women of faith, valiant for the truth as it has been revealed and committed into our hand. We should be men and women of integrity to God, and to his holy Priesthood, true to him and true to one another. We should not permit houses and land, gold and silver, nor any of this world’s goods to draw us aside from pursuing the great object which God has sent us to perform. Our aim is high, our destiny is high, and we should never disappoint our Father, nor the heavenly hosts who are watching over us. We should not disappoint the millions in the spirit world, who too are watching over us with an interest and anxiety that have hardly entered into our hearts to conceive of. These are great and mighty things which God requires of us. We would not be worthy of salvation, we would not be worthy of eternal lives in the kingdom of our God, if anything could turn us away from the truth or from the love of it. The Lord told Joseph that he would prove him, whether he would abide in his covenant or not, even unto death. He did prove him; and although he had the whole world to contend against, and the treachery of false friends to withstand, although his whole life was a scene of trouble and anxiety and care, yet, in all his afflictions, his imprisonments, the mobbings and ill-treatment he passed through, he was ever true to his God, and true to his friends.

I have had some reflections on the same subject referred to by Brother Cannon. In going into the house of Brother Call, and those of the many of the brethren, what do we see? We see good houses, pleasant homes, and the inmates thereof, enjoying the necessaries and comforts of life. We have places to rest, we have places to lay our heads. How different are the circumstances that surround us today in comparison with our situation before we came to these valleys, and in comparison with the experience of many of the ancients. Jesus himself, the son of the living God, had not where to lay his head. The foxes, he said, had holes, and the birds of the air had nests, but the Son of Man had not a place to lay his head. He traveled in the midst of poverty all the way to the cross. We have been in the same condition. We who have been in this Church since its early days, have known what it is to be without homes, to travel without purse or scrip, to go hungry and almost naked, to suffer from cold and fatigue. When we came here the ground was all that we had to lie upon, and we were glad and felt to rejoice in our hearts that God had brought us to a place where we could lie down if it was upon the ground, in peace, free from the persecution of our enemies. God has proved us in days that are past and gone. He has now given us a country and a home. It has been well said that we should be careful lest these conveniences and comforts, by which we are now surrounded, should draw us from the things of God. Remember, my brethren, the greatest gift that God can bestow upon us is eternal life, and it is worth more than all the houses and lands or the gold and the silver upon the earth. For by and by we will go to the grave, and that puts an end to worldly possessions, as far as our using them is concerned. The grave finds a home for all flesh, and no man can take his houses and lands, his gold and silver, or anything else of a worldly character, with him. We brought none of these things with us when we came from our previous state. As Bishop Hunter says, babies are born without shoes and stockings. All the knowledge that we can accumulate from experience and observation, and from the revelations of God to man, goes to show that the riches of this world are fleeting and transitory, while he that has eternal life abiding in him is rich indeed.

We have a great work before us in the redemption of our dead. The course that we are pursuing is being watched with interest by all heaven. There are fifty thousand millions of people in the spirit world who are being preached to by Joseph Smith, and the Apostles and Elders, his associates, who have passed away. Those persons may receive their testimony, but they cannot be baptized in the spirit world, for somebody on the earth must perform this ordinance for them in the flesh before they can receive part in the first resurrection, and be worthy of eternal life. It takes as much to save a dead man as a living one. The eyes of these millions of people are watching over these Latter-day Saints. Have we any time to spend in trying to get rich and in neglecting our dead? I tell you no.

Here is a subject I have thought about. David said, “Let my enemies go to hell quickly.” He got angry, and he did some things he should not have done. Our Savior acted right the reverse. The more light and knowledge a man has, the more of the power of God he enjoys, and the more he is able to comprehend the things of God. Why did the Savior say, when he was under the agonies of death, “Father, forgive them?” Because He knew well that, although they were blind as to what they were doing, they and their posterity would welter for 1,800 years under the curse of God, for the deed they were perpetrating. He knew what the result of the shedding of his blood would be upon the human family, yet he was sorrowful because he knew that before he should come again as their Shiloh, the Jewish nation would be trodden under foot of the Gentiles. The result of their treatment of the Savior of the world still afflicts them. In many countries they are still persecuted and deprived of the right of citizenship, and are not permitted to purchase land and hold it as personal property. The Savior could foresee their future, and what would befall them and their race, until he should come again. While he himself suffered, he could exclaim, knowing all the circumstances, “Father, forgive them.” Brother Taylor feels the same towards this nation. We should all have the same feeling, and if we enjoy the Spirit of God, we can overcome that feeling which arises in the hearts of men to resent a wrong, to return evil for evil. Joseph went to God, and he opened his mind by vision, in which he saw the destruction of our nation; he saw that famine and pestilence and war would lay waste our land, until it became so terrible that he prayed God to close the vision. Well may we say, “Father, forgive them.” Well may we pray for them, and feel in our hearts not to envy them, but leave them in the hands of God.

There are two spirits with us. I will relate a little circumstance which took place with me. I brought President Young sick in my carriage on July 24th, 1847, the first time he set his eyes upon this valley. In process of time I followed President Young to the Utah penitentiary, under the edict of a religious bigot and wicked man, because he felt his dignity was not honored by President Young. On my way to the place of confinement I remember what my reflections were. I thought to myself, “Now, here is President Young, the man, under God, who came here, far removed from civilization, the pioneer of emigration to the great West, and found a barren, desolate land, inhabited only by a very poor lot of Indians and wild animals: today it blossoms comparatively as the rose; and today he is a prisoner on his way to jail.” It worked upon my mind considerably. By and by another spirit said to me, “Be still, and know that I am God, and will fight the battles of this people; you need not allow yourself to be troubled about this.” The result we all know. That very act leveled Chief Justice McKean to the ranks of the common citizen from which he never rose again, and he has since passed away, and like others, is in the hands of God. Brigham Young will rise in judgment against him and against all men who have persecuted and maligned and abused him. That will be the case with all of us—we shall be called upon to judge this generation. We should as Saints of God, never allow ourselves to wish the destruction of those who oppose or persecute us, but leave them in the hands of our God, to deal with them as he in his justice and mercy may see fit.

With regard to the law of God, it is all right. We can well afford to keep it and trust in him. I look upon it as really marvelous, when we bear in mind the ceaseless endeavors to make themselves notorious at the expense of those who have obeyed that law. I say, when I look upon the results of all that has been said and done about it, I regard it as a marvel. If the hand of God has not been manifested in behalf of this people, I do not know where to look for it. This kingdom will stand, God will plead with her strong ones, but Zion will not be moved out of her place. Quite a remarkable thing has just happened—four cyclones start from near the same point, each taking a different course, the results of which are known. God has nothing to do with them, says the world. But the judgments of God will be poured out, and the spirit of unbelief will grow in the hearts of the people, and they will be blind to his power until it is too late.

Brethren and sisters, seek after God; call upon him in your secret places, and do not turn away from righteousness and truth; there is nothing to be gained by doing that, but everything to lose.

God bless you. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Erastus Snow, delivered at the General Conference, Monday Afternoon, April 4, 1881.

I desire to be heard, not that I am ambitious of speaking, but if I speak I desire that my strength shall not be unnecessarily taxed.

One of the ancient expounders of the Christian religion said, that the Gospel was the perfect law of liberty. I believe it; and if I take a text at all, that is my text.

The Gospel as understood and expounded by the Savior and his ancient Apostles, is a perfect law of liberty. Everything pertaining to the spirit of the Gospel, as taught and expounded and practiced by the Savior and His disciples, tended to liberty. All the revelations which God ever gave to man from the beginning of the world tended to liberty. The government which our heavenly Father has exercised, or attempted to exercise over His children on the earth or in the heavens, has not in the least tended to restrain or abridge them in their liberty, but rather to enlarge it, to extend it, to insure, to preserve and maintain it. The Gospel of Christ, and all of the revelations of God to man have sought to mark the line of distinction between liberty and license, between correct principles of government and anarchy or oppression and slavery. Oppression and slavery are the result of sin and wickedness, violations of the principles of the everlasting Gospel either by the rulers or ruled or both, and generally both. True freedom of mind and body and true liberty, even the enjoyment of human rights is founded and maintained, and rests upon human integrity and virtue and the observance of those principles of truth on which all true happiness and true freedom is founded. Sin was never righteousness, nor can be; license was never liberty nor can be; misery was never happiness, nor can be; and yet because of the blindness and ignorance of some people, they never appear to be happy only when they are perfectly miserable. And there are some people too who think they are always in slavery and bondage unless they are trying to get themselves into trouble; and they think there is no true liberty only in acting like the devil. The Nihilists of Russia, the Socialists of France and their sympathizers in America, including the “Liberals” of Utah, are panting for liberty; they are restive under the restraint of order and law; they are opposed to government, and like the French Socialists and Communists, they would destroy Jehovah himself and behead the king and burn up Parliament and assassinate every representative of power and government; and when they had reduced the country and themselves to anarchy, they would look upon their condition as the acme of freedom and human liberty. The world today is drifting in this direction, including our own liberal America.

If we take a retrospective view of the dealings of God with his people whom he recognized, and who acknowledged his laws, and among whom he raised up Prophets, and with whom he established his covenants, we will find that they have been the freest of all peoples which have existed on the earth. The students of the Bible and the Book of Mormon know this to be the case. They know that the first king who ruled over ancient Israel, was chosen at their own earnest solicitations, when they began to apostatize from God, and to despise His counsels. They know that Samuel the Seer, who judged them in righteousness, and who taught them faithfully the ways of the Lord, earnestly remonstrated with them when they clamored for a king to go out and in before them and lead them to battle, that they might be as other nations who were around them. Samuel foretold the results—that such a course tended to bondage; that they were but forging the links of the chain that would bind them and deprive them of freedom. He labored long and arduously to dissuade them from it; but they would not listen to him. And yet they were not willing to consent for anybody else to make them a king but that same Samuel; and when he had prayed to the Lord, the Lord told him to “hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee; for they have not rejected thee but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.” Samuel did as the Lord commanded him, and Israel was ruled over by a king of their own choosing. But the heavens were displeased with them for so doing, and you who are conversant with Bible history are familiar with the troubles and sorrows which befell Israel in consequence of this departure from the ways of God. And those who read the Book of Mormon find the same spirit breathed throughout that book. The people, in the days when they were willing to listen to the voice of Prophets and inspired men, were the freest and best of all people; but when they began to apostatize and harden their hearts against the words of the Lord and the counsel imparted to them by His servants, they began to drift with sin and oppression and bond– age. Anarchy—shall I say, is the worst of all governments? No: Anarchy is the absence of all government; it is the antipodes of order; it is the acme of confusion; it is the result of unbridled license, the antipodes of true liberty. The Apostle Paul says truly: “For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” At first this is a startling statement. Even the monopoly of the one-man-power as in Russia, or the monopoly of the aristocracy as in other parts of Europe, or the imbecility and sometimes stupidity of a republic like our own, is far better than no government at all. And for this reason, says the Apostle Paul, “The powers are ordained of God,” not that they are always the best forms of government for the people, or that they afford liberty and freedom to mankind, but that any and all forms of government are better than none at all, having a tendency as they do to restrain the passions of human nature and to curb them, and to establish and maintain order to a greater or less degree. One monopoly is better than many; and the oppression of a king is tolerable, but the oppression of a mob, where every man is a law to himself and his own right arm, is his power to enforce his own will, is the worst form of government. The efforts of extremists clamoring for human freedom are all tending in this direction; and those who clamor for human rights are, as a general thing, the first to trample them under foot—I mean those who are the most loud-mouthed; their ideas of freedom are all on their tongue; they conceive of no freedom only when they wield the sword, or dictate terms to others. The Gospel of the Son of God extends to the world that perfect law of liberty. Founded on truth, and a proper appreciation of those principles which tend to the largest possible happiness to humanity, it restrains mankind, not in the enjoyment of freedom and liberty, but from efforts to deprive their fellows of it. In other words, the power which God has sought to exercise, and which he has recommended and sanctioned, is only to seize the arm which is raised to fell his fellow, and to stop the loud tongue of the raging maniac, which would destroy the peace of his fellow man, and who would seek to build himself up on the ruin of others. There is no system of government ever instituted among men which is so well calculated to give and maintain human freedom, and at the same time to restrain the vices and excesses of fallen humanity, as the government of the Gospel sought to be established by the Savior and His Apostles. We heard quoted this forenoon the words of God spoken through the Prophet Joseph, and which are and always will be in force among this people, to the effect that the powers of the Priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and cannot be exercised in any degree of unrighteousness; that the power of that man departs from him when he attempts in the least degree to exercise an unrighteous dominion over his fellow man—or any power or dominion except that power of truth and of persuasion founded upon it.

The teachings of the Savior in relation to the settling of difficulties arising among brethren in the Church of Christ, through visiting them and talking frankly one with another, explaining and expounding to each other until they come to an understanding of all troubles which may arise among members of the Church; and in cases of disagreement invoking the aid and council of visiting priests and teachers to act in the premises as peacemakers, as helps to the parties to arrive at a proper understanding, constitute the best method of settling and adjusting the differences of mankind which has ever been instituted; agreeing with the experience of Bishop Hunter, who has often said, that no cases of difficulty are so thoroughly and effectually settled as those which are disposed of in this way. This is the chief labor of the visiting Priesthood among the people of God. And yet the enemies of this people prate a great deal about the oppression of the Priesthood. There is no pope or bishop, priest or clergyman or ecclesiastic belonging to any sect on the earth, so far as my knowledge extends, which is so approachable as the President and Apostles and Priests and Bishops and Elders of this Church, whose hearts and ears are open to everybody to hear what everybody has to say, and to give it due weight in all patience and long-suffering, to enlighten and teach them correct principles, so that they may act honestly with each other and secure each other the greatest possible amount of liberty, freedom and happiness. The same may be said of the domestic relations in the family circle—I will not say with wicked men, with men who are naturally tyrannical, having the spirit of tyranny and oppression born in them; but I will say that free men and women who are imbued with the spirit of the everlasting Gospel, who are living in polygamy, that they manifest a greater degree of parental affection and of conjugal love, and evince greater earnest desire to promote peace and happiness and comfort and liberty and freedom to each member of their families, than at least the great majority of the families of the Christian world. And as I have often said—and I am as well acquainted with polygamous families in Utah, as perhaps, any other man, in consequence of my traveling constantly among the people and mingling with them—that, as a rule, the polygamous families of Utah are the best regulated families in the land, and they enjoy the greatest degree of happiness and freedom, unity, fellowship and love and reverence for correct principles. Our would-be regenerators would feign try and make us believe that unless we all go to the polls and vote their ticket we are slaves to the Priesthood; that because we chose to vote for our friends, we are doing the bidding of the Priesthood. Yes, and so we are. The Priesthood has always taught us that we would be fools, indeed, to vote for our enemies, for those who would rob and plunder us, for those who would not only rob us financially, but would steal from us the common rights of citizenship were it in their power to do so. And, yet, forsooth, because we vote for our friends, for men in whom we have confidence, they say we are priestridden, etc. And what does it all mean? “Why, we want you Mormons to vote for us that we may get our arm into the public treasury, for we are too lazy to work.” All who are acquainted with the administration of affairs in Utah, know that the affairs of government, both territorial and county, and also municipal, are the most economically administered of any other Territory or State in the Union; that there is not one delinquent or case of embezzlement to where there are ten in any other Territory or State. And yet our would-be regenerators are exceedingly angry because we will not vote for men to misrepresent us and our interests at the seat of government; because we do not squeak when they squeak, because we do not sneeze when they take snuff. This they call liberty! And there are perhaps some of our own people who are so far befogged that they run with this class of men; they read their twaddle so much and they become so much beclouded that they think it is necessary, in order to show their manhood, to vote for their enemies because, if they do not vote for their enemies they will be put down as “Mormon slaves;” and this would be too much for them, they could not stand so much.

Now, thinking men understand the object of all this cry. It is prompted by the same spirit which we see manifested by the extremists almost throughout the civilized world. It is true there is a great deal of oppression in the world, and these men see it and they wish to improve things, but do not know how; and instead of commencing to rectify what is wrong in their own hearts and in their own families, and then extend their influence for good to those immediately around them, instead of using moral suasion and showing a good example, they turn to and undertake to serve God like the devil, trying to right things the wrong way by casting down everything in the form of order and government, producing anarchy and ruin instead. Like the idiot who, because he himself was houseless, having to sleep on the doorstep of some rich man, put the torch to the rich man’s palace and destroyed it. Fools can demolish and destroy; it requires wise men to build.

I said of the ancient people of God; I say of the Latter-day Saints, there is no people capable of appreciating true liberty and of understanding the principles on which it is founded, and who know so well how to maintain them; because we have found it in the Gospel which we have received. And every man who has received the spirit of the Gospel, and whose heart is warmed with the love of it, is preparing his heart and is using his influence to educate the people to understand the true principles of human freedom, and the means by which they can be maintained. And I say, as President Cannon has said, referring to what the Prophet Joseph Smith told us, that the time would come when the extremists of the land, who are undermining the fabric of freedom, and little by little breaking under foot the guarantees of human liberty which have been raised up by our heavenly Father, through the instrumentality of wise men whom he raised up to establish the institutions of our country; these extremists of the land are gradually undermining those safeguards of human liberty, and plotting to carry out their nefarious designs in their endeavoring to oppress the people of God, and to destroy the institutions of heaven out of the earth. The time will come when the voice of such men will be heard in the land, like the roaring of a tornado, so that the still small voice speaking from the heavens cannot be heard; and the voice of the loudmouth, plotting destruction to human liberty and freedom will be heard all over the land, and everybody raise up and say, it is the voice of God; and they will be willing to stand and look on and see the Saints butchered and Prophets martyred, and our institutions wrested from us and wasted away. But when that time arrives, the Lord will come forth from his hiding place and “vex the nations;” he will raise his arm, and it shall not be turned back, and he will stay the hand raised against his people to destroy them and their institutions.

The Gospel has been the means of gathering us out from among the nations, and has made us a free and happy people, an able and united commonwealth; and the Lord is using us to establish its principles in these mountains, that throughout these valleys may be formed a nucleus around which honorable men and women may gather, men who will be capable of appreciating the blessings of liberty and of helping to extend them to others. And all presidents and senators and judges, and all men in official authority who shall lend themselves and their influence to trample upon the common rights of man, those rights which God has bestowed upon us and which are our common heritage, and who shall be found warring against God and his institutions, when the cap of their iniquity shall be full, the Lord Almighty will cause them to disappear from the public gaze, he will let them sink into oblivion and disgrace.

Those who suppose they can secure happiness in doing wickedly are grievously mistaken. And if they seek to oppress their neighbor by appropriating to themselves his hard earnings without rendering him a just equivalent, they will find every time they do it, they are but weaving together withes for their own backs, preparing punishment for themselves, and bringing themselves into bondage—the bondage of sin. For all judgments and punishments which the law of the Lord has ordained and appointed unto man are designed to correct their errors and sins. And where they are corrected and they learn better, then He is ready to stretch forth His hand to save and exalt them. The Gospel is ever ready to step in to assist repentant man when he has become sensible that he needs help to be redeemed, and he realizes that he has not the power to redeem himself. Then repentance unto life is granted to him; but it never can come until his judgment is convinced, until his mind is enlightened and his eyes are opened to see himself, and to comprehend his true position. And whether he be in this world or the world to come, he must place himself in a condition to be saved before redemption can come unto him; and it is only by the light of truth and of true and correct principles which can bring happiness and liberty and freedom, and with it a disposition to extend that liberty to all around, and to maintain it and protect each other in its enjoyment; and not with a spirit of vengeance upon the erring, and oppression upon the ignorant, but only with a disposition to seize and hold the hand which is raised to smite his fellow and stop in his wayward course the individual who would override his fellow. And all men should be protected in this freedom to go so far and no further.

May the Lord help us to live and walk in the light, and think for ourselves, and act like sensible people, paying heedless regard to the blatant foolish lunatics who are attracting the attention of the world. They, however, have their day, after the manner of the old adage—Every dog has his day; and when it is past he will cease to bark and bite.