Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, October 7, 1860.

You have heard the testimony of brother Hyde: it is full of spirit, full of matter, full of marrow. He has spoken words of truth—the words of the Lord.

There are hundreds and thousands of Elders who would be glad to bear their testimony to the truth. Be faithful, walk uprightly before God, deal justly with all, love mercy, shun every appearance of evil, and magnify your Priesthood, and you shall have the opportunity of speaking, bearing rule, dictating, guiding, and directing, to your full satisfaction, the things that pertain to the kingdom of God. This promise is to all who are faithful. They shall receive a fulness of kingdoms, thrones, principalities, powers, dominions, and all the fulness pertaining to the Godhead, to their full satisfaction and capability. This should be a satisfaction to all.

At the first impression, the testimony of one man is equally valid with that of another; but when people are filled with understanding to discern and comprehend the principles by which the worlds were made, and by which they are governed and controlled, they realize that there is a vast difference between the man who assumes his authority and the one who is appointed by his master, to go and transact business. Suppose that a number of individuals having no appointment, credentials, or authority, should come from any foreign country to the capital of our nation, and pretend to be ministers of the govern– ment from whence they came, what attention would be paid to them by our Government? None, officially; though they would probably be treated kindly, and as gentlemen, if they behaved themselves. But when a minister from the English or any other European court comes with his appointment, credentials, recommends, &c., the President of the United States, the Congress, and officers of state are ready to receive him with the respect due to his position. So it is in the kingdom of God, and in regard to this people.

Our persecutors have supposed that they persecuted us upon the same principle that the Reformers were persecuted in the days of Martin Luther and others; but in this they are mistaken. Tell the world—sound it in the ears of kings and rulers, that they are persecuting a people to whose God they will have to pay every debt they contract: they will be brought into judgment for every act against this kingdom. This is the kingdom of God; these are the people of God, as are all who receive the truth and follow its principles. As to parentage, we are no more the children of God than are the rest of the inhabitants of the earth. Originally, as to our parents, as to our organization and that which pertains to our life, we are all the children of one Father, whether we be Jew or Gentile, bond or free, black or white, noble or ignoble. The difference we see arises in consequence of the different use made of the agency given to man. Be careful, all the world, and touch not the anointed of the Lord. Afflict not the people who have the oracles of salvation for all the human family. Will the world believe this statement? They can if they choose; but the great majority of the inhabitants of the earth will reject life and salvation when it is presented to them, and in the end it will be like the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done. A few here and a few there will receive the truth, and the Lord will empty the earth of the wickedness that now dwells upon it.

As brother Hyde has stated, the “harmonious democracy” that undertook to destroy this people, broke in pieces in the State where the Lord, twenty-eight years ago, on the 25th of next December, revealed to the Prophet Joseph that the nation would begin to break. But I do not wish to make a political speech, nor to have anything to do with the politics and parties in our Government. They love sin, and roll it as a sweet morsel under their tongues. Had they the power, they would dethrone Jehovah; had they the power, they would today crucify every Saint there is upon the earth; they would not leave upon the earth one alive in whose veins runs the blood of the Priesthood. Yet they are our brethren and sisters—bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh—sprung from one parentage. God is our Father—Jesus Christ is our Elder Brother. If the world would understand this, and take warning, and be cautious, it would be far better for them. Will they? No: they do not and will not realize facts as they exist, and we cannot help it. All we can do is to plead with them, preach to them the words of eternal life, and offer it to them as it has been offered to us. If they receive it, blessed are they. If they reject it, it is their privilege. The powers and faculties of their organizations are for themselves to use as they elect; for they, as well as we, are agents before God, and can choose or refuse according to their own pleasure. But they are broken in pieces. Do I wish to predict this? No, for it was predicted long ago. The nation that has lifted itself against the kingdom of God is already shivered to pieces. Touch it, and it will crumble under your touch. The cohesiveness of its particles is gone—they cannot cling together, and they will be sifted as with a sieve of vanity. God’s controversy with them has commenced; he has commenced with this nation, and in its turn he will sift every nation there is upon the face of the earth.

In the beginning, after this earth was prepared for man, the Lord commenced his work upon what is now called the American continent, where the Garden of Eden was made. In the days of Noah, in the days of the floating of the ark, he took the people to another part of the earth: the earth was divided, and there he set up his kingdom. Did they receive his kingdom? No; they rejected it. Afterwards he called a man, and ordained him, and showed to him the inhabitants of the whole earth, and gave to him a promise that his offspring should be the people of God. He spoke to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their children, as his covenant people. The Jews rejected Jesus Christ, who came to redeem the world. They cried—“Crucify him, crucify him! Let his blood be upon us, and upon our children!” God has removed the kingdom from Jerusalem again to Zion, and here he will wind up the scene. Righteousness will go forth, and the wickedness upon the earth will be swept from it. Will I prophesy evil? No; let us prophesy good. But the justice and mercy of God must have their demands. Let everything have its place and its just due, both the good and the evil; and we will not curse the wicked, for they are already cursed; the wrath of the Almighty does not slumber upon their track; their condition is lamentable. They live and flourish, and may have a few days of prosperity, as the enemies of the Prophets did anciently. They flourish like a green bay tree, and may so flourish for a few days; but they will become withered and dried and prepared to be cast into the fire, while the kingdom of God will stand; and if we do not remain faithful, others will take our places.

This is the kingdom of God, set up for the last time; and whosoever persecutes it persecutes the Son of God and the Father who sent him. Here is the Priesthood (the keys of power and wisdom) that unlocks the storehouse of knowledge. These keys and this power the world know nothing of. It is marvelous to the world that the things that are known here—the very things that God reveals here—are often at once known by portions of this kingdom in other nations. To many it is marvelous that intelligence can be so rapidly communicated by means of the electromagnetic telegraph, but our method of communication is from heaven.

We know and understand the nations of the earth, the power by which they exist, and their rise and downfall: the facts are before us. Reflect upon those powerful nations that have existed, but are now nationally as though they had never been: so it will be with the nations that now exist—they will pass away, others will come, and God will reign King of nations as he now does King of Saints. It is a glorious thought, my brethren—a thought that should touch the heart of every being on the face of this earth, that God is going to reign Lord of lords and King of kings—that he is coming to the earth again. His kingdom is growing, and his grace is bestowed upon his children, and they are coming to understanding and growing in grace.

It is not pleasing to a potter, after he has a batch of clay mixed, ground, and made smooth and pliable for working into vessels, to have an apprentice throw rough, unbroken, unground stuff into the prepared clay; but, comparatively speaking, we have to bear this. When we are getting the clay into fine condition, a mass of unprepared material is mixed up with it, and it is our business to continue to grind, to prepare the whole of the mass together. I suppose the Lord wants to prepare all the good clay that can be found upon the face of the earth, that when he comes he can make up his jewels. Then you who have oil in your vessels will go and meet the Bridegroom. Are we going to be prepared? Let every soul of us strive to be found among those who will be counted wise at his coming, for we can go into the highways and hedges and find plenty of the foolish. Let us try to be wise—to obey the servants and commandments of the Almighty, doing his will continually, that we may be prepared to enter at the marriage supper.

The scripture concerning the five wise and five foolish virgins will be fulfilled, as will also the revelation that was given to Joseph about the nations breaking to shivers. I wish some of the world’s learned theologians would tell us what became of the foolish virgins. Call up the wisdom and knowledge there is in Christendom, and learn whether they can tell anything about those foolish virgins. I have not time now to tell what became of them, but I think they did not go to the bottom of the bottomless pit. Is it not a glorious thought that there are kingdoms, mansions of glory, and comfortable habitations prepared for all the sons and daughters of Adam, except the sons of perdition? All will not have part in the first resurrection, and perhaps many will not appear in the second; but all will be resurrected, and, except the sons of perdition, enter kingdoms, the least of which I presume is more glorious than ever John Wesley saw in vision. All the inhabitants of the earth will enter a glory, except the sons of perdition, or angels to the Devil. But where will they dwell? What shall be their fate before they are prepared for a kingdom of glory? They will be cast into prison, and there remain until they have paid the debt they have contracted; wherefore it is better to make peace with the officer while in the way with him, as Jesus has said. After they have been thrust into prison and paid the uttermost farthing, then perhaps they will receive a life, a glory, a kingdom that will be in accordance with their feelings, desires, and doings while they were on the earth.

The kingdom that this people are in pertains to the celestial kingdom; it is a kingdom in which we can prepare to go into the presence of the Father and the Son. Then let us live to inherit that glory. God has promised you, Jesus has promised you, and the Apostles and Prophets of old and of our day have promised you that you shall be rewarded according to all you can desire in righteousness before the Lord, if you live for that reward. As Patriarch Joseph Smith, the father of Joseph the Prophet, said—“If I have not promised blessings enough on your head, and stated enough in the blessing I have given you, sit down and write every good thing you can think of, and every good thing your neighbor can think of, and put all into your blessing, and I will sign it and promise the whole to you, if you will only live for it.” But suppose a person does not live for the promised blessings, will he receive them? No. And we say to the Elders of Israel, Be faithful, and you shall see the day when you will have all the power you can wield and manage to advantage. I can call Thos. B. Marsh, who is now in the congregation, to witness: he was once the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Soon after the selection of that Quorum, brother Marsh felt to complain. I said to him, brother Thomas, if we are faithful, we will see the day, in the midst of this people, that we will have all the power that we shall know how to wield before God. I call him to witness if I have not already seen that day. Look at the rest of my brethren, and have they not all the power they can wield?

Brother Hyde, in his remarks, spoke about the voice of God at a certain time. I could tell many incidents relating to that circumstance, which he did not take time to relate. We were in his house, which was some ten or twelve feet square. The houses in the neighborhood shook, or, if they did not, the people thought they did, for they ran together and inquired whether there had been an earthquake. We told them that the voice of God had reached the earth—that they need not be afraid; it was the power of God. This and other events have transpired to satisfy the people—you, and all who belong to the Church and kingdom of God upon the earth.

When I met Sidney Rigdon, east of the temple in Nauvoo, I knew then what I now know concerning the organization of the Church, though I had told no man of it. I revealed it to no living being, until the pioneers to this valley were returning to Winter Quarters. Brother Wilford Woodruff was the first man I ever spoke to about it. Said he—“It is right; I believe it, and think a great deal of it, for it is from the Lord; the Church must be organized.” It then went to others, and from them to others; but it was no news to me, for I understood it then as I understand it now.

The policy of God is not the policy of man: his wisdom and power are above the wisdom and power of man. Be faithful to your calling and magnify it. The kingdom and the greatness thereof under the whole heaven are ours. The yoke is broken, the fetters are burst, and the Lord Almighty will assert his right; and his will will be done by the Saints on this the land of Zion, to purify and cleanse it. And those who are expecting to receive the benefit and blessings of Zion never will, but will receive the judgments of Zion, unless their hearts are as pure as the angels. The man that is acting according to his ability, as are the angels, must be pure and holy in heart, must not have an evil wish or desire reigning in his mortal body, but must be sanctified through the truth to the God of heaven. What do you think, Elders—will any of you receive blessings upon any other grounds? No, not one of you.

There are a great many who profess to be still in the faith, neglecting to gather, and waiting for the time when Zion will be redeemed. George W. Harris, whom many of you remember, was going to wait in Kanesville until we returned. Brother George A. Smith told him that the nearest way to the Center Stake of Zion was through Great Salt Lake City. Harris has gone to the spirit world, and where his circuit will be I neither know nor care, though I am well convinced that brother George A. Smith was right.

Where is the Center Stake of Zion? In Jackson County, Missouri. Were I to try to prevent you from going there, I could not do it. Can the wicked? No. Can the devils in hell? No, they cannot. Zion will be redeemed and built up, and the Saints will rejoice. This is the land of Zion; and who are Zion? The pure in heart are Zion; they have Zion within them. Purify yourselves, sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and have the Zion of God within you, and then you will rejoice more and more. Pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks. Is it not a hard task to live this religion without enjoying the spirit of it? Such a course worries the feelings, fills a person with sorrow and affliction, and makes him miserable. The easiest life to live, by any mortal being on the earth, is to live in the light of God’s countenance, and have fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ. I know this by my own experience. In this course there is no darkness, no sorrow, no grief. The power of the Spirit of God has preserved me in the vigor of youth, and I am as active as a boy. How is it with you who do not enjoy the spirit of your religion? It is a hard life for you to live; and you had better, from this day, take a course to enjoy the Spirit of the Lord; then you will be numbered with the wise. Let us all so live as to have oil in our vessels, our lamps trimmed for lighting, and be ready to go in with the Bridegroom to the marriage supper. I could tell you the meaning of that portion of Scripture, but I have not time now.

The most ignorant of our Elders, with the Spirit and power of God upon them, can, in knowledge of Scripture, lead the smartest of the Gentile priests into deep water, and dip them under, and draw them back again at their pleasure, and confound the Scripture knowledge of the priestcraft that is on the earth. During our return from England, brother Heber C. Kimball was beset by a number of Baptist priests who had been attending a conference. He read them all down out of the New Testament. Brother George A. Smith sat beside them with a pocket Bible, and brother Heber would say—“Brother George, turn to that.” “Oh,” said the priests, “you need not turn to it, for we recollect it,” when there was no such passage in the Bible. He sat for two hours and advanced much Scripture that never was in the Bible, as did Benjamin Franklin, when he was conversing with a man who opposed him upon the subject of charity, and was particularly in favor of justice. “You remember the Scripture,” said Franklin, “where it reads like this—Once on a time an old man came at eventide to Abram’s tent. Abram bid him welcome, but as he entered the tent he gave not God thanks. He said to Abram, Canst thou give me meat? And Abram said, Thou art not a servant of God, and thou shalt not have meat. The old man said, Let me have meat, that I may live and not die. And the voice of the Lord came to Abram in this wise: Abram, Abram, beholdest thou this aged servant of mine, with whom I have borne ninety-nine years, and canst thou not bear with him one night?” When Franklin got through, the man had yielded the point, and asked him where he read that; to which Franklin replied, “You will find it in the 51st chapter of Genesis!” and there are only fifty chapters in that book. Our Elders may tell the priests that there are fifty-one chapters in Genesis, and but few of them, if any, will know that there are only fifty. With regard to true theology, a more ignorant people never lived than the present so-called Christian world.

Saints, live your religion faithfully, and you will enjoy life; and when you are as old as I am, your hair will be as bright as mine is. If I live to the first day of next June, I shall be sixty years old, though I do not look or feel as though I had reached that age. What preserves me? The spirit of my religion—the power of God that is upon me and through me. I love it; it is better to me than meat and drink—than my temporal life. Many a man will lay down his life for his religion, but will not live it one day. Live your religion, and have no desire but to build up the kingdom of God on the earth. The love of God is bestowed upon this people, and what is its effect? Persons in foreign lands, for the Gospel, for the sake of Jesus and the kingdom of God, have left fathers, mothers, children, wives, husbands, and every other relative they had, and come to this distant region. The Gospel will take two of a city, and, once in a while, one of a family; it will take one here and another there. Fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters are no more to me than are any other persons, unless they embrace this work. Here are my fathers, my mothers, my sisters, and my brethren in the kingdom, and I have none outside of it, neither in any part of the earth, nor in all the eternity of the Gods. In this kingdom are my acquaintances, relatives, and friends—my soul, my affections, my all.

I will carry this idea a little further, for the sake of those who are unmarried. Since I was baptized into this Church and kingdom, if all the female beauty had been simmered down into one woman not in this kingdom, she would not have appeared handsome to me; but if a person’s heart is open to receive the truth, the excellency of love and beauty is there. How is it with you, sisters? Do you distinguish between a man of God and a man of the world? It is one of the strangest things that happens in my existence, to think that any man or woman can love a being that will not receive the truth of heaven. The love this Gospel produces is far above the love of women: it is the love of God—the love of eternity—of eternal lives.

May God bless you! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, October 6, 1860.

I feel quite thankful for the comfortable circumstances we enjoy—for our blessings, spiritually and temporally, which I realize to be the free gift of our Father and God. All the wisdom, ability, and talent displayed among the children of men are the gift of God to them. He has given us ability to make ourselves comfortable and happy, for which I am extremely thankful.

I am happy in hearing the voices of the brethren, and would be very much gratified if we had time, and it would meet the minds of the brethren, to give them an opportunity to speak as the Spirit might dictate, and bear their testimony. It has been a source of comfort to me to hear the speeches of my brethren, and to observe the variety of capacity, of reflection, and manner of communication displayed by them. I should be very glad if we could have the privilege of hearing many of them speak during this Conference. Whether we shall or not, I am not now able to say. Our Conference commences today. Tomorrow is the Sabbath, and probably many who have come from the country will wish to return home on Monday. Whether we shall continue our Conference longer than tomorrow, I do not know. We shall continue it until we finish the business to be transacted and fully answer our feelings, and then we will close. I wish to present several ideas; but I have been more edified in hearing the music in brother Kimball’s remarks this morning than I would have been in speaking myself.

When the authorities of the Church are present, if we are possessed of the true spirit, we are ready to sustain the faithful, and to wish them to continue in the faithful discharge of their duties. And the brethren who rise to testify of the things of God, if they enjoy the Spirit of the Lord, know that “Mormonism” is true. No person can receive a knowledge of this work, except by the power of revelation.

All the world are ready to tell you that this work is not of God. Kings, princes, dukes, lords, and other great men of the earth are all combined in this testimony. Why do they fear this work, if it is the work of men? The very sound of it carries conviction to all the inhabitants of the earth—a conviction that it is ordained of God. Were this not so, you would not see it contended against by the priests in the pulpit, who are bitter against it, and are most vigilant in circulating all manner of falsehood concerning it, picking up the sayings of corrupt, debased, abandoned characters to swell their catalogue of lies against it, which they publish throughout the world. All this would sleep, if this work was not of God. They would never think enough of it to say one word about it. But they are pricked by the conviction of its truth when they hear the sound of it. When false reports go out against Joseph Smith and his brethren, against the Book of Mormon, and the kingdom of God, a conviction goes with them to the hearts of the people that this is the work of the Almighty. Were this not so, we should not have been persecuted—we should not have been driven as we have been. But we have been driven for the last time, thank God my heavenly Father. But our persecutions are a subject that I do not wish to speak about. We have the power in our own hands, if we live with our lives hid with Christ in God. We are here where the Lord wants us to be; and if we will be as he wants us to be, the kingdom is ours—the greatness, the glory, power, excellency, light, intelligence, and eternity of the kingdom of God are ours, and no power can hinder it.

When men lose the spirit of the work in which we are engaged, they become infidel in their feelings. They say that they do not know whether the Bible is true, whether the Book of Mormon is true, nor about new revelations, nor whether there is a God or not. When they lose the spirit of this work, they lose the knowledge of the things of God in time and in eternity; all are lost to them. Contemplate the things of God and his kingdom, this earth, man in his present condition, and you may clearly comprehend that we are now in the midst of eternity. When we preach, or pray, or exhort each other to good works, if we could realize it, we are in the midst of the kingdom of God, and his all-searching eye is here. You may readily comprehend this; for, when I look at you as you are now assembled, I can see several hundred faces at once. Now, suppose that I had power to see as the Spirit sees, I could then look through the earth and see our antipodes as well as I can look through what some term empty space. My eyes would be eternal, and I could see the vast eternities of God as I can now see your faces. God sees us; and if we had eyes like his, we could behold him as we sit here as easily as we can now see each other’s faces—no matter where he dwells, whether in Kolob or anywhere else; for his glory and light fill the sun, and we could behold it as we now behold each other’s faces. God has the power to look at his vast works; and if we had power and eyes like his, we could behold him as he does us. He is in the midst of eternity. His kingdom is here, a portion of his glory is here, eternity is here, and we are in the midst of them. Let us live worthy of them, and not dishonor our being upon the earth.

There are many of the Bishops here today, and my advice to them is for them to be honest with me, to be honest with their God, to keep their covenants sacred, and to make a clean breast of all their business transactions, that their consciences may be void of offense towards God and man. I am not searching only the course of the Twelve, or that of the High Priests and Seventies, but I am searching after all the authorities whose conduct is not in accordance with the best interests of the Church; and from this time forth, if they do not do different from what many have done, they shall do wrong knowingly, with their eyes open. I want the Bishops to remember the counsel I have given them. I shall learn whether they are strictly honest or not; and if they are not honest, I will expose them. If they come out and own things as they are, and honestly prove that their past errors have proceeded from the head, and not from the heart, they can be placed upon the right track and magnify their calling. Some may not understand the cause of these remarks concerning the Bishops, and I will explain. For instance, when tithing chickens, butter, &c., are brought in, a Bishop says to his clerk—“You need not trouble to take an account of these chickens; my wife will keep an account of them;” and the Bishop’s wife takes the chickens, the ham, the butter, the cheese, &c., and puts them away; and when the clerk wants to know what has been brought in by such a brother, “O never mind,” says the Bishop; “my wife will give an account of it;” and the wife forgets it. “Are such things done?” Yes, more or less, all the time. This example was set long ago, and some of the Bishops have followed it.

At the death of Joseph, when the Twelve returned to Nauvoo, to use a comparison, the horses were all harnessed and the people were in the big carriage, and where were they going? They did not know. Who would gather up the lines and guide the team? No man would step forward, until I did. There was not one of the Twelve with me when I went to meet Sidney Rigdon on the meeting ground. I went alone, and was ready alone to face and drive the dogs from the flock. When I got hold of the lines, and began to direct the team, I found tithing butter spoiled, potatoes rotted in the cellars, and pork spoiled in the barrels, while the brethren at work on the Temple would come to their labor without breakfast, and pork, butter, beef, &c., rotting under the feet of the Temple Committee. Said I, “Empty these barrels, or I will walk into your cellars and empty them for you: let these workmen have something to eat.” “Oh,” said the committee, “we are afraid there will not be enough to last a year.” Then, if we starve, we starve together; and if we live, we live together. I ordered the wheat, the pork, the butter, &c., to be issued to the workmen. Too many of the Bishops here have taken pattern from those who have gone before. I have been to Bishops’ houses when they had hams and eggs during months in the year, while our hands on the works were not able to get one; for the Bishops had eaten all the hams, every egg and chicken, and all the butter. I will trace out those who conduct in this manner and expose them, unless they honestly report their transactions and strive to do right. Brethren, you may think that I am a little extravagant in my talk; but time will prove.

When a good, handsome cow has been turned in on tithing, she has been smuggled, and an old three-titted cow—one that would kick the tobacco out of the mouth of a man who went to milk her—would be turned into the General Tithing Office, instead of the good cow. If one hundred dollars in cash are paid into the hands of a Bishop, in many instances he will smuggle it, and turn into the General Tithing Office old, ringboned, spavined horses, instead of the money. I am inquiring after such conduct, and will continue until I cleanse the inside of the platter.

Brother Heber has been speaking about discipline. Elders in Israel, I am as willing and ready to be closely examined and scanned as I am to examine and scan you. Walk into my office, examine my books, and scan every act of my life. I am as ready to have it done as I am to search into your practices. You may say that you have not been dishonest, or, if you have been, that you were ignorantly so. I am glad, if such statements will prove to be correct. I never saw the day in this Church that I could consider it honest to take one cent of tithing and turn it out of its legitimate channel; but some of our smart men do not know as much as that, though they would seem to know more of the great things of the kingdom than I do. I want to instruct you in the little things. It is the little foxes that spoil the vine; it is the little acts of men that make up the sum of their lives and form their characters for eternity.

Some may think that I am rather too severe; but if you had the Pro– phet Joseph to deal with, you would think that I am quite mild. There are many here that are acquainted with brother Joseph’s manner. He would not bear the usage I have borne, and would appear as though he would tear down all the houses in the city, and tear up trees by the roots, if men conducted to him in the way they have to me.

I am required by those who sit here today and by the whole Church to bear off this kingdom, to see that it is preserved inviolate, and that the Priesthood is honored; but it seems, on the right hand and on the left, as though there is a concerted plan among nearly all the Elders and High Priests to keep every dime of money out of my hands, make me pay the debts of the Church, do the work, and they keep the means and use it for their own purposes. The ancient Apostles and ministers of Christ could not live without eating. They had to eat, drink, and wear—to have sustenance while on earth. So do I, though I do not require the rich luxuries of life. I am not so fond as many are of high living, but I have to eat and rest. And when a Church debt comes from England, New York, Missouri, St. Louis, or elsewhere, the money has to be paid. I cannot chew paper and spit out bank bills that will pass in payment of those debts, neither shall I undertake to do it. I want the gold and silver that are paid on tithing, and the identical horses, cows, and young stock that are brought in on tithing; or, if stock and other products are retained, give us better than what you keep, and not keep the good and give us the bad. Neither do I wish a person owing tithing to offer an old hipped horse at forty dollars, and ask me to pay him twenty dollars in cash and let the balance go to pay tithing, when the old animal is not worth ten dollars.

Pour means into the storehouse of the Lord, and prove him, and see whether he will not pour out greater blessings than you can contain. You have not room enough this year in which to store the abundance of grain the Lord has given you: you have to store it in wagon boxes, &c., and much of it goes to waste, and the people are not blessed for it. You ought to carefully save every kernel. As for prophesying that a famine will come upon you, I shall not do so. Should it come, we will do the best we can. We have had a light famine here, and dealt out provisions to the brethren as long as we could, and got along very well.

May God bless you! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, October 6, 1860.

Last spring we called upon some of the Bishops to furnish a few teams to go to the Missouri River and back this season, to prove to the people a fact that several of us were convinced did exist. We obtained twenty teams from the Wards; I also sent a few, and they have successfully performed the journey to Florence, N.T., and back, under the charge of Elder Joseph W. Young. Bishop Woolley also went down with some mule and ox teams, and returned with the ox train. I want to hear them both speak this afternoon on the subject of freighting with teams sent from here.

The handcart system has been pretty well tried; and if a handcart company start in proper season, and manage properly, I will venture to say the most of them can come in that way more pleasantly than they generally come with wagons. But drawing their provisions, &c., is a hard task, and it would be more satisfactory, if we could manage it, to bring in wagons the freight and those who are unable to walk.

In 1834, a company of us were called upon to go to Missouri, and in that trip the labor of walking, so far as we averaged in a day, was very fatiguing. A great many of that company walked, and we cooked by the way as much as do those who travel across the Plains, and we carried a greater weight than is generally carried by those who walk from the Missouri River to this city. This I know, for I was one of those who walked the whole distance. In less than three months I walked two thousand miles, as far as to Florence and back; and others of the company did the same. And instead of having a healthy climate to walk in, we passed through one of the most deathly and sickly climates in the United States, which proved to me that most people can walk, if they will try.

We now contemplate trying another plan. If we can go with our teams to the Missouri River and back in one season, and bring the poor, their provisions, &c., it will save about half of the cash we now expend in bringing the Saints to this point from Europe. It now costs in cash nearly as much for their teams, wagons, handcarts, cooking utensils, provisions, &c, for their journey across the Plains, as it does to transport them to the frontiers. We can raise cattle without an outlay of money, and use them in transporting the Saints from the frontiers, and such freight as we may require. Brethren and sisters, save your fives, tens, fifties, a hundred dollars, or as much as you can, until next spring (considering yourselves, as it were, a thousand miles from a store), and send your money, your cattle, and wagons to the States, and buy your goods and freight them. Twenty dollars expended in this way will do you as much good as several times that amount paid to the stores here.

If we can convince the brethren that it is a successful operation, we shall endeavor to engage in it largely next year. We wish to send two or three hundred wagons, with two or three yokes of cattle to a light Chicago wagon. If you have not the wagons, you can send the money and buy them. In this way, where we could emigrate a hundred from Liverpool to this place by the old method, we can emigrate some two hundred by going to the frontiers and bringing them. This will facilitate, by almost half, the gathering of the Saints, and at the same time enable us to procure, at cheap rates, such articles as we do not produce. I wish the brethren to grasp in their faith the facts that will be presented, and believe that we can do all that we can, and then be ready to do it. We have plenty of cattle and can send them, and they will perform the journey as well as horses or mules, with far less risk of their being stolen on the Plains.

I wish the Bishops to improve upon the counsel I gave them this morning, receiving it as kindly as it was given; for we only desire to turn the current of our business transactions into the channel that will most conduce to the welfare of the Saints. I also want them to present to their Wards the plan of sending teams to the frontier; and I want the men who think and write to send to the Editor of the Deseret News articles about sending teams to the States to bring our poor brethren and our freight, and to take out and bring back our Missionaries.

Last spring our Elders went down with the trains at a saving of some two thousands dollars in cash, and on reaching the frontier were prepared to go on their way rejoicing. And when they return, I anticipate the honor of our teams bringing them back as poor as they went—that they will not return as merchants; for if they do, from this time forth, the curse of God will rest upon them, and they will lose the spirit of their religion and apostatize. I want them to respect their missions, themselves, their brethren, their religion, and our God, as to return poor in regard to gold, silver, &c., but rich in gathering the souls of the children of men to this place, where we can chasten them and prove whether they are Saints or not, and where the Lord will have the privilege of proving them either to be Saints or unworthy of the kingdom.

I will now call upon brother E. D. Woolley to preach a sermon about ox-trains going to the States.

God bless you! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, October 6, 1860.

I wish the people could realize that they walk, live, and abide in the presence of the Almighty. The faithful shall have eyes to see as they are seen, and you shall behold that you are in the midst of eternity and in the presence of holy beings, and be enabled ere long to enjoy their society and presence. You are greatly blessed. How many there are who say—“God bless you!” How many times it is said to the Saints—“I bless you, and may the Lord bless you!” You shall be blessed all the time. Good is poured out on the people, and we say Amen.

The brethren have done nobly in their contributions to the Missionary Fund, and we expect to continue to do nobly. How much do we expect to do for the kingdom of God? The talent, ability, and everything placed in the hands of this people shall be devoted to his cause and kingdom on the earth, in the name of the God of Israel. These are my feelings. As far as I have control, and as far as I have influence in this kingdom, all within its pales shall be devoted to its upbuilding. When Elders are called to go and preach, they go; and when we want means we shall have it.

Tomorrow morning we expect to meet you here again. When shall we meet to part no more? Never, never; no, never. That is a curious idea, and I have not time to give full explanations. We shall go and come; and when we are in the eternity, we shall be on this earth, which will be brought into the immediate presence of the Father and the Son. We shall inhabit different mansions, and worlds will continue to be made, formed, and organized, and messengers from this earth will be sent to others. This earth will become a celestial body—be like a sea of glass, or like a Urim and Thummim; and when you wish to know anything, you can look in this earth and see all the eternities of God. We shall make our home here, and go on our missions as we do now, but at greater than railroad speed.

It is time to close our meeting; and, by the power and right I have in the Priesthood of the Son of God, I bless the Saints of latter days. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, September 30, 1860.

I feel the force of the ancient saying—“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.”

I realize all that has just been said in regard to the blessings of heaven being ready to be poured out upon this people, if they were prepared to receive them, and that too in a far greater degree than has ever entered into the heart of man to conceive; for the heart of man is incapable of fully comprehending the blessings that God has in store for the faithful, unless he has revealed those blessings to them by the revelations of his Spirit. The natural man is contracted in his feelings, in his views, faith, and desires, and so are the Saints, unless they live their religion. If they live their religion, all that has been said this morning they will fully realize to be true.

It may be asked, “Shall we go to the world for wisdom?” They have none, so far as pertains to the plan of salvation. To be sure, they have considerable knowledge of the arts and sciences; but in those do they understand all that has formerly been understood? I have no idea that they do. Do they know anything of the things of God? No. Brother Taylor observed, “Go to the priests of the day, and they cannot inform you.” There is a good reason why—because they know nothing directly in regard to the things of the kingdom, and they are equally ignorant with regard to the design of their present existence, to say nothing of either their prior or future existence. They are a mystery to themselves, and do not even understand the things which they see; still they are searching and researching, and studying and striving with all their powers to understand the things they see every day, and come short of doing that. How, then, can they understand the invisible things that pertain to eternity? There is no knowledge of these things in the so-called Christian world, in comparison with what they should possess, in consideration of the advantages which have been granted to them, neither is that knowledge among those denominated heathen. There are only a few dark traditions—a few incorrect and garbled ceremonies and ordinances remaining of the true system that was once possessed by mankind.

We are in the kingdom of God, and must yield obedience to it. We say that we do—we feel that we do, but when will this people fully see and understand things as they are? I may answer in the future, and all I can now say is that they are learning —growing in grace and in the knowledge of the truth; but to say we are perfect, we cannot. When brother Taylor referred, in his remarks, to our leader and dictator, with regard to his perfections and imperfections, I felt that I could almost say that I did not want him to be perfect yet. I remember Joseph Smith’s saying, “If I were as pure and holy as you wish me to be, I could not stay with you; I should not be here to guide and direct you, for the Lord would take me from you.” He did take him; the people were not worthy of him. The people required him to be as holy as the Almighty himself, and to never make a mistake. Wherein the First Presidency and the Twelve do wrong, it is not in the ability of the people to detect them in those wrongs. They are far advanced, and they know enough more to lead out; and if they commit an error, it is passed over, and the people cannot tell wherein or when, nor how to correct it.

The Christian world are all looking for a day of perfection, and are donating their money and sending out Missionaries—they have also a great many Tract and Bible Societies, &c., &c., expressly to convert the world and bring forth the day the ancient Prophets have written about—a day of rest, the millennium, or any other term you please to apply to it, but it is a day when the Saints who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ shall see eye to eye, when all shall come to the knowledge of the truth, and the law of the Lord shall be written in the hearts of all, and none shall need to say to his neighbor, “Know ye the Lord,” for all shall know him, &c. All Christendom is looking for that day. I will inform this congregation and the whole world that they will never come to perfection—never can commence the great work of reformation in them– selves and with each other, until the superior knowledge can take the inferior and direct it, and, if need be, chasten it, and remove its errors, and give it the truth.

During a few weeks past much has been said in relation to the folly, feelings, and doings of Elders of Israel. Joseph Smith was a rod in the hands of the Lord to scourge the Elders of Israel; he was the mouthpiece of the Almighty, and was always ready to rebuke them when requisite. You who were acquainted with him know his course and life. He had a word of comfort and consolation to the humble and faithful, and a word of rebuke to the froward and disobedient. But for a few years past, in the midst of the Elders of Israel, they have treated each other with what may be called silken words spoken with velvet lips; and what you have lately been hearing about has produced this course of life and feeling among the Elders not to chasten or rebuke each other. If they wished to correct, they would preach a long sermon, and tell how miserable they themselves were, how wicked they had been, how much evil they had done, and how many times they had transgressed and been out of the way; and after they had painted their own characters as black as darkness, they would say, “Brethren, do you not think that you have done wrong in what you have done? I am afraid you have; but my own evil works are so much greater than yours, that I dare not mention it.” This conduct is connected with other things; in fact, the whole experience of man and the whole plan of salvation are so interwoven that it is hard to draw out and divide one subject from another, though it may be done in some instances. Men become darkened in their minds; they say that the Elders of Israel, they believe, have fallen from grace and have received the spirit of the world. Those Elders are not willing to acknowledge this, but almost every track they make proves it; almost every deed they perform proves that they have become lukewarm, and they preach with silken lips, and do not pour the truth of God upon the people as the Lord wishes them to, nor cause the overt acts of the ungodly to feel the wrath of justice and the weight of truth. This is what I see, and what I have seen for a long time.

People become covetous. The whole world is more or less covetous; and when the questions are asked, “Where shall we go for wisdom—for strength? To whom shall we apply for knowledge? Where shall we seek for life?”—there is but one source, and that is the God who organized us. When will we become entirely independent? Never, though we are as independent in our spheres as the Gods of eternity are in theirs. When will we lead out and act for ourselves? When we have overcome, and that is not yet. Jesus has not yet overcome; he has not received his kingdom from the Father. He has to contend against the enemy—against the power of the Devil, until he overcomes death and him that has the power of it. If he is successful, and we believe that he will be, when he overcomes and subdues all enemies and puts them under his feet, he will present the kingdom to the Father; and then he will be crowned, and not until then. When will we be crowned? Not until we pass through ordeals preparatory to receiving those crowns. We are not our own. We have our existence, but it is not our own.

That which we seem to possess is not our own, but is owned and controlled by a superior power. Even the power of the Devil can take money from one man’s pocket and place it in another man’s pocket, to say nothing of what the power of God can do. Some men seemingly possess much riches, as did Job, and how long may it be before they have not a farthing’s worth of property, or a wife, or child? In a few weeks the Lord took almost all from Job; he spared to him a wife, who, as recorded in the Bible, seemed to taunt Job’s trust in his God—his fidelity to his Maker. “Now,” says she, “you had better curse God at once and die. I told you that he would not stand by you.” I presume Job felt like saying, “Go to the Devil your own road.”

Who does have true power? Those who have overcome and sat down with the Gods in eternity, and who have committed to them the keys that are prepared for them. Then they can reign triumphantly, for they have perfect control over death and him that has the power of death, and over all evil: then they control life.

I frequently reflect upon how much power we need. You hear the Elders of Israel praying for power to overcome their enemies: they want power to strike them blind and to strike them dead. We have seen times, within a few years back, when we would have been glad to have had power to destroy our enemies. Have you power, independently, to make a kernel of wheat grow, or any vegetable with which to feed yourselves? No; you have not power to control those lesser powers that pertain to the elements.

What does the Lord want of us? To build temples, raise potatoes, wheat, &c., and preach the Gospel to and gather the poor. The Elders of Israel do not thoroughly know how to do this; yet they want to rise here and tell how the Gods are made. They had better learn how to raise potatoes, and how to take care of them after they are raised. Some do not know even this, but would let the potatoes rot before they are half used up. If they had an abundance of gold and silver, they would not know what to do with it. Are not the people reaching after that which does not belong to them? That is the reason why the whole world do not receive the Gospel; it is too low and humble for them. They are looking after something in the future; they are like the fool, whose eyes are wandering to the ends of the earth; like some of the Elders who rise here to preach and want to tell what is going to be in the millennium, and what has been long before the creation of the world, but never think of inquiring as to their duty today. Learn first to obtain power over the smaller objects and principles around you. Learn to control yourselves and that which is immediately around you, and always keep in view that the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms—the earth and its fulness—will all, except the children of men, abide their creation—the law by which they were made, and will receive their exaltation.

Who will possess the earth and the fulness thereof? Will those who love money, and who barter their lives and their hopes of salvation for a little gold? Those who love it in its present existence will perish. Gold is one of the most refined metals, and mankind have to be tried like gold that has passed seven times through the crucible, making it a little hotter each time, until the metal is as pure as it can be. Who will possess it? Who will possess the earth and all its fulness? Will it not be those whom the Lord has reserved to this honor? And they will come upon Mount Zion as saviors, to labor through the millennium to save others.

Are the Elders able to correct a person when he is wrong, without having personal feelings? You are not as you should be, unless you can correct every person you know to be wrong, without having personal ill feelings against them. If you cannot possess gold and silver without having one particle of love for it, you are not as you must learn to be. All that a man should have in his heart with regard to goods, and chattels, and possessions on the earth, is to know of the Lord what to do with them. If I do a wrong, let me correct that wrong, and become right; if I see a wrong in my neighbor, correct that, and remove the fault from him, and give him something better. The object of the Elders of Israel ought to be to glorify God and sanctify their feelings and affections before him. If we have anything else in our hearts, it is wrong: contending one with another is wrong.

May God bless you, brethren! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, September 23, 1860.

I am happy in discerning from brother Calkin’s remarks that he is really expanding and improving. He could not have talked to this people before he went on his mission as he can today. I now know that he has been prompt and fervent in the discharge of his duty, and has enjoyed the Spirit of the Lord. And so far as I have learned concerning his labors, I do not know but that I am perfectly satisfied with his course during his absence. He reported himself immediately upon his arrival, before he went home, saying, “I am here, and all I have is here; now what is wanted of me?” Go home, rest, and make yourself happy and comfortable, and by-and-by we will have a long talk. I am pleased with his remarks today. He is ready to leave again tomorrow, to go here or there, east or west, north or south. This is a satisfaction to me. He feels to bless the people, and to pray for them. He has had no doubt in regard to the results of the afflictions or seeming trials that our enemies strove to bring upon us. Every heart that believes in the fulness of the Gospel of life and salvation, as it is revealed in this our day, has never had a doubt as to the good results: there is no doubt in the case. We may fail, if we are not faithful; but God will not fail in accomplishing his work, whether we abide in it or not.

I will now express a wish in relation to all who may rise here to ask a blessing on the bread and water of the sacrament, or to speak to such large congregations as assemble here. When a blessing is asked upon the bread and water by some persons, you cannot hear them ten feet from the stand, and only a few persons in this vast congregation can hear one word. I want brother Hunter to let his voice partially correspond with his body; and when brother Hardy opens his mouth, or any of the rest of the Bishops, I want their voices to correspond with the occasion; I want them to so lift up their voices that all may hear, that all may say “Amen.” When the Elders rise here to speak, I want them to so raise their voices that the people can hear them, that the audience may be able to say “Amen” to all the good; and if there is evil, refuse it. Naturally, I speak low, and use but few words; but here I see thousands of people who wish to hear what is said; and how can they hear, unless the speaker uses sufficient voice? I am often obliged to so raise my voice beyond my natural strength that it hurts my lungs and my whole frame; but I do this for the satisfaction of the people. I want my brethren to do the same, that the hearts and faith of the congregation may have an opportunity to join in the worship of God. When anyone rises to preach, pray, sing, exhort, or bless the sacramental emblems, let him do so with voice sufficient for all to hear.

I am highly gratified with brother Calkin’s report in relation to the Foreign Missions. We understand the situation of the brethren in those Missions, and one fact we wish the Saints at the gathering place to understand. How many hearts are now ready to receive what I am going to say? How many of you can receive the sentiments I will now advance, and treasure them up—make them more choice in your feelings than the pure gold? They are worth everything to us and to the people abroad. Do you know that here is the standard, the nucleus, the fountain, the head for all the exercises of the kingdom of God upon the face of the whole earth? Now, let the Saints in this congregation droop in their faith, and that spirit will spread before tomorrow morning throughout the vast domain of this creation. Every Elder that goes abroad is a witness of this fact. This spirit spreads through a telegraphic influence or force that is independent of wires. Let this people at the gathering place wake out of their slumbers, gird on their armor, and go forth like men of war against wickedness, and every Branch throughout the Church feels the influence in a very short time—it is speedily imparted to all creation. The wires, as it were, are set, the lightnings flash over them, and all feel the influence, when we are doing our duty here. It all depends upon us here. “Are we not obliged to send forth Elders?” Yes, for helps and governments, which are all necessary to God’s work.

Here is the kingdom, the Priesthood, and the power. Here are the eyes, and here is the sense; the head and the body are here, and every component part that comprises the kingdom of God upon the earth. The small Branches abroad feel the impulse of the spirit here, whether it is for good or for bad, whether it is for information, for forgiveness, for life, for faith, for light, or for power, or apostasy; the whole Church throughout the world feels the spirit that predominates here. Hear it, O ye Saints, and profit by it. We are sending forth our Elders, and do you think it is in our power to tie their hands? If the head that has sent them forth into the world to preach the everlasting Gospel goes to sleep in its armor, wallows in wealth, or in anything that is this side of the power of God, our Elders are at once tied; they feel the oppression, are trammeled and weakened, and will totter and fall, unless the head is wide awake for them.

Brother W. C. Staines, in his remarks, wished the Saints here to remember him in their prayers. Thousands here will hold him up in their faith and prayers. I wanted to add to his life on the earth, which going on his mission will do, even many years, if he does his duty. Such will be the case with brother John Needham. They are merchants, and have heard that they are sent on this mission because they are speculators. I do not know anything about that, but I feel that it is time that William C. Staines went on a mission: his life is worth more than the gold which he gathers from the sale of the goods he deals in. He is going on a mission, and is going just right. Brother Needham has been a merchant from his youth, and brother Staines has been a tiller of the soil. I have not the least fault to find with either of them; but brother Needham would probably die in a short time, were he to stay here. If he goes on this mission, he will probably live many years to do good, and be richer than if he stayed here and followed merchandising. We have called them because we want them to go, and we wish them to go their way rejoicing.

We have promised the Missionaries, if they will live according to the manifestations of the Spirit, and preach the Gospel by the power of God sent down from heaven, that they will feel more of the Spirit and power of their calling than they have ever felt before. Do you think that we are always going to remain the same size? I am not a stereotyped Latter-day Saint, and do not believe in the doctrine. Every year the Elders of Israel are improving and learning, and have more power, more influence with the Heavens, more power over the elements, and over diseases, and over the power of Satan, who has ruled this earth from the days of the fall until now. We have to gain power until we break the chain of the Enemy. Are we going to stand still? Away with stereotyped “Mormons.” I have more power than I had last year. I feel much stronger than ever before, and that too in the power of God; and I feel as though I could take the people and bring them into the presence of God, if they only hearken to counsel. Do you think that I am improving? “Yes.” Keep up, then; keep your places, and follow in the track.

The kingdom of God is all that is of real worth. All else is not worth possessing, either here or hereafter. Without it, all else would be like a dry tree prepared for the burning—it is all consumed, and the ashes are driven to the four winds. Let the brethren who go upon missions go with the power of God upon them, and shun every appearance of evil. Love the Gospel and cling to the Lord. Seek unto him by day and by night, that you may have his Holy Spirit to be with you to guide your feet and your affections, and give you wisdom to ask and answer questions; then you will not be apt to fall into temptation and be caught away in the snares of the Devil.

So far as I have learned, the brethren and sisters have most liberally responded to the call made on them last Sunday for sending forth the Elders. I have not a full list of the contributions, or I would report it to you today. A few of the Bishops have reported to me what their Wards have done, but I have not learned the full amount that has been collected. So far as I can learn, the Saints have felt the responsibility that is upon them. It belongs to us to send the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth, and it belongs to the Elders to preach it. Some may say that the Elders ought to start from here without anything, and go into the world and get their support. You who have never given anything, since you have been in the Church, for the spread of the Gospel, have an opportunity to begin now; and those who have always been on hand to help will help more; and between the two classes, we will receive enough to send the Elders abroad, and sustain their families during their absence, so far as their families need assistance.

I wish the Elders to go forth as I have taught them. If you have a clean shirt and one to be washed, then be satisfied. If you are clothed so as to be comfortable, be satisfied, and do not let your minds reach out after anything, only to preach the Gospel and gather the souls of men. That is all the business you have upon your hands—it is your whole mission; and trust in God to get home—trust in the Lord to go from place to place, and the way will be opened for you. And when you start to come home, if you have more than you need to bring you home, without bringing a dress pattern for your wife or children, and though, when you reach home, your own clothes will be worn to strings and tatters, if you have five dollars more than you need to defray your expenses on your return, help the poor Saints with it, and I will warrant you more food to eat, more clothing to wear, and more friends in heaven and on earth, more houses, lands, and possessions, than you would have, were you to bring home rich dresses for your wives and expensive clothes for yourselves, with your minds shrunk with covetousness and love of the world.

I have been striving with my brethren, all the day long, to build up the kingdom of God. As long as Joseph lived, I labored with all my might with my brethren. In the days of the Prophet it was proven to a demonstration that he could not bear off this kingdom without temporal means. If this was absolutely necessary in his day, why not now? Elders of Israel have taken a course—those who have been to Australia, to the East Indies, to California, San Bernardino, the State of New York, Philadelphia, and other places in the United States, and those who have had charge of the European Missions, to keep every dime out of my hands. I will not suffer this any longer. They require me to bear off the kingdom of God, and they would keep every dollar from me, if they could. I am satisfied with the brethren, for they seem to have supposed that this kingdom was a kingdom of merchandise. I do not say that the brethren have done as they have with their eyes open, for they are as good men as ever walked on this footstool; but they have been mistaken. This is the kingdom of God, to gather the poor, for the poor are the people of God, and they shall inherit the earth; and if you make merchandise of anything, buy the souls of the children of men, and bring them into the kingdom of God, and lay them at the feet of Jesus.

Every person who knows anything about life must know that it requires means to carry on this work; and that means I shall require, from this day forth, to be at my control, and not at the beck and call of every Elder; and at the same time they make me gather the poor and pay all the debts of the Church. We want to build the Temple walls on this block. We now support thousands of people, and wish to support thousands more. They want hats, coats, shirts, dresses, tea, coffee, and sugar. The wife wants the comforts of life to give to her husband while he is laboring hard, and for herself while she is knitting stockings, etc., for the hands. The Elders abroad are wallowing in their riches, and there are women here before me in their silks and satins that have been bought with money that belongs to my purse. They shall not do this any longer. I wrote to brother Calkin to give me a history of matters abroad: he has done so. In the emigration operations of one season Church funds were kept out of my hands by Elders, and they rolled seventy-six thousand dollars of Church indebtedness on me to pay, and that too without the least notification, until it was all transacted and done. While the Elders were buying the best silks and satins for their wives, and the most expensive clothes for themselves, with the money that I ought to have controlled (going out preachers and coming home merchants, with their pockets full of money and drafts), I have had to take the old worn-out horses, and the old toothless cows, and the potatoes, and wheat, when they would not bring money, and make a shift of a shirt, and a shirt of a shift, and a pair of breeches of a shirt, and then make another shift to get hold of money to keep the work in motion. If I were not one of the best financiers on the earth, we should have been in trouble today; and all I know, God has taught me. I have been obliged to ask brother Wells to work like a slave, to deal for me here and there, and change property, and to keep him running until he was almost run out; and now the people are teasing him all the time, for they want dresses, shirts, boots, pantaloons, etc.; and he has nothing to give them, while some are rolling in wealth.

I am going to make the Elders of Israel help to bear off this kingdom, or I will scourge them until they do. “How is it with yourself, brother Brigham?” I would rather wear gray homespun than your fine broadcloth. I have it made up; but, to please my family and the people, I wear such as I do. I would as soon wear a good homemade coat as a coat of the finest cloth in the world. As to food, my greatest luxury is roasted potatoes and a little good, clean, sour buttermilk. Such fare is good enough for Brigham.

Now, let me say to you all, and hear it, O Israel, you have either to give me the control of the Church funds, and pay your Tithing promptly, or take the responsibility of bearing off this kingdom. If the Twelve Apostles and the Presidents of Seventies and the High Priests will take the responsibility of bearing off this kingdom and sending the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth, of gathering the poor, building up Zion, and doing all that is necessary preparatory to the coming of the Son of Man, Brigham is with you to labor with you all his days, and support himself. I have fed and clothed myself from the beginning, and I am willing to do it now, and to spend all my time in the work of God, no matter in what department. If you take the responsibility, you shall have the means; but if you roll the responsibility upon me, I must have the means. If you wish me to bear off the kingdom, will you give me the means to do it with? If you will, raise your right hands. [All hands were raised. To the contrary vote, not a hand was raised.]

We all should follow our leader; and when we are perfectly united in one, we produce the best results for Israel.

God bless you! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, September 16, 1860.

In the forenoon, brother Hooper asked—“What will not people do for gold?” I will answer the question. They will not serve God with a pure heart; you cannot hire them to do this. If they serve God, it will be by their own free will and choice. Persons can be hired to preach for money, but it does not follow that such preaching is doing God service.

As I mentioned this morning, when the god of this world is hoisted, the priest from the pulpit and the pious deacon and the people worship at its shrine. All the churches and all the world run after gold.

The arts and sciences are somewhat advanced among the Christian nations; but as to a true knowledge of things as they are in eternity, there never were nations more ignorant. According to my definition of the word, a people are heathenish that do not know things as they ought. The Christian world, so called, are heathens as to their knowledge of the salvation of God. If those nations that we call heathen were civilized as we are, intelligent as we are, we would not call them heathen. The civilized world term those heathen who do not follow their customs, who are not educated as they are, and who do not worship according to the modern Christian form of worship. Without doubt, much of the display and pretended knowledge and wisdom that were presented to the Japanese visitors by the senators, representatives, and great men of our nation, were offensive to them; and perhaps they looked upon the inhabitants of the United States as a poor, miserable, degraded, abominable people, not fit to live upon the earth. Pass from Japan to China, then to India, then westerly across Asia, and probably those people view our nation in much the same light. And when you arrive in the Christian nations, they esteem themselves wiser and far in advance of those they call heathen.

The women in Christendom cannot successfully compete, in spinning and weaving, with those in the East Indies and some other heathen nations. And arts and sciences, in the so-called heathen nations, in many respects excel the attainments of the Christian nations. Then pass in review the ancient heathen nations—examine their architecture and their other productions in the mechanical departments, as to this day exhibited in their works and ruins, and all the boasted knowledge of Christendom in those branches fades in comparison. The civilized world have a tolerably good understanding of the art of navigation, but father Noah knew more about it than do all the mariners now upon the earth. Abraham knew more about astronomy and true philosophy than does all Christendom. The civilized nations know how to make machinery, put up telegraph wires, &c., &c.; and in nearly all branches, they are trying to cheat each other; and finally they will learn that they have been cheat– ing themselves for the golden god—the Mammon of this world.

The world is drunk, but not with wine or strong drink; and our country is the most drunken of all. They are deluding themselves; they are drunk with party fanaticism; they are high-minded, heady, and senseless, and are fast going to destruction. As brother Heber has stated, the Lord Almighty will empty the earth of the wickedness that has dwelt upon it for so many hundreds of years: it will not be suffered to dwell upon it much longer. The wicked will go to their place, and the Almighty will gather his Saints and raise up a people who know their right hands from their left, which Christendom does not know, so far as pertains to the plan of salvation.

Serve your God, but not for gold. Strive to be righteous, not for any speculation, but because righteousness is lovely, pure, holy, beautiful, and exalting: it is designed to make the soul happy and full of joy, to the extent of the whole capacity of man, filling him with light, glory, and intelligence. If you cannot love it for that, do not undertake to be righteous. A man cannot be a Saint at the same time that he loves sin and rolls it under his tongue as a sweet morsel, any more than an Elder can do good on a mission while his heart is set upon riches, planning to bring home merchandise. The Elders cannot accomplish both these things at once; and in trying to do so they have missed their aim, for they have neither got rich nor magnified their calling and priesthood.

I can say amen to what brother Heber has said. Those who now go forth upon missions will feel more of the power of God than they ever had, and will speak as men having authority, asking no odds of the wicked. I said, in Nauvoo, that we were going to leave our possessions. We did so, and God has been and is our helper, and is on our right and left, and round about us like a wall of fire to defend this people, if they serve him with an undivided heart. Will our enemies be saved? No. They have had the Gospel preached to them year after year, and have rejected it. What are they? Comparatively nothing. Where are they? Nowhere. Who are they? Nobody; and as they ripen in iniquity they will depart to the place prepared for them, and be as though they had never been. Can you so much as hire them to serve God? No: but go into the East Indies and you can hire hundreds to profess to serve God, by paying them so much a day. Christian ministers are said to build up their churches there by hiring the natives to be sprinkled and have their names written in the church records. There is a gentleman now in our city who has been blamed by missionaries, both in Europe and America, for writing the truth about their operations in Africa. They had not made as many converts as they had lost missionaries on the African soil.

We want the Elders of Israel to preach the Gospel without purse or scrip, and to trust in God for their food, raiment, and lodging. If you have not a second shirt with you, do not be fretting about it, but trust in God for some person to give you another; for you will not have anything without the Lord pleases, neither food nor raiment; and what he wants you to have he will bring about. Then trust in the Lord, going forth in his name. I will leave the matter of gathering means to the Bishops.

“How much, brother Brigham, do you want gathered to enable the Missionaries to reach their fields of labor and assist their families during their absence? Will five dollars do? for we are very poor in our Ward: we cannot give much.” You are a poor Bishop. We want your hundreds and thousands; and what is not needed now, we will save for the Elders next spring; and when we bind burdens for you, you shall not be able to truthfully say that we will not reach out our little fingers to lift them. You may bring two or three of your best men, and I will give more than they all; I will put forth my whole hand. If any man in this kingdom will give me two-thirds of what my property is worth, I will sell it to him and give every dime of the money towards gathering the poor, and in ten years from now I will be far richer than I am now. I would like to devote every dollar I am worth to preaching the Gospel and gathering the poor, to show the people what God is willing to do for his servants, though he be possessed of weaknesses. Bring the man or woman, who has labored for me, that can say in truth that I have oppressed the hireling in his wages. No living being can in truth say that I have; but I have fed and clothed hundreds and thousands who have not labored for me.

I shall keep the plan of assisting our Missionaries from here before the people until we learn that it is the best policy. I do not, on this account, wish the people abroad to omit paying their Tithing and doing all they can; but I wish to dictate the Church means in a way that will benefit the kingdom of God; for I will gather the poor and build up Zion, while the course of others wastes and destroys. Doubtless many of the Elders think that they are smarter than I am. As brother Kimball has said, some of the knowing ones marveled when we were called to the Apostleship. It was indeed a mystery to me; but when I considered what consummate blockheads they were, I did not deem it so great a wonder. When they would meet brother Kimball and myself, their looks expressed, “What a pity!” Then I would think, You may, perhaps, make tolerably good men after a while; but I guess that you will tumble out by-and-by, just as they did: they could not stay in the Gospel net, they were so big and grew so fast; they became larger than the ship and slid overboard.

I ask no odds of the enemies of truth, neither have we from the beginning. Let us so live that God and angels are with us, and all is right; and if we do not, it matters not what becomes of us, nor how quickly we are overthrown as a people. Let all hearts be fervent in their covenants, and glorify their Father who is in heaven, with their spirits and bodies, which are his. Let our most earnest desire be to bring forth and build up the kingdom of God upon the earth, save the house of Israel and all the honest among the Gentiles, and fill the whole earth with the light, glory, power, and knowledge of God, and be prepared to enjoy it; which may Jesus grant. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, September 16, 1860.

I can say amen to what brother Pratt has just said. I think I can with propriety say to him and a great many of the Elders of Israel that they may dismiss those little doubts that brother Pratt has spoken of in regard to proving faithful. You who are in the Church and have been a long time faithful, the Lord will never suffer to so fall away that you cannot be saved. I hardly know of a man who has been in the Church fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five years and longer, but what had better be thankful that that time is past, and not wish to live it over again, for fear he would not do as well. True, some of the brethren have taken missteps—have dealt amiss in some instances, and have not done so well as they could, had they lived so as to have known more; but I am satisfied with them, if they will continue to learn and improve upon their gifts and become perfect; otherwise, I shall not be satisfied, either with myself or with my brethren, the Elders of Israel. The knowledge we now have in our possession is sufficient to guide and direct us step by step, day by day, until we are made perfect before the Lord our Father. If we do not take a course to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts, and attain to perfection, I do not intend to be satisfied with either myself or anyone who comes short of this.

When I came into the meeting, brother Pratt was speaking upon the principle of covetousness, which is idolatry. This a matter that ought to be understood, though it is as impossible to make those understand who are not seeking to know, as it is to make blind people understand the difference between colors. It is a hard matter to so bring some to their understanding that they will comprehend, recollect, and practice correct principles. Preaching the word to Saint or sinner is of but little moment, unless there is a place in the hearts of the hearers to receive it; otherwise it is to them like sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. To enjoy the light and power of the Holy Ghost day by day is prayed for by brother Pratt; but the preacher does not need it any more than the hearers. The preacher needs the power of the Holy Ghost to deal out to each heart a word in due season, and the hearers need the Holy Ghost to bring forth the fruits of the preached word of God to his glory.

We need not refer to the traditions of the fathers with regard to the manifestations of the covetousness we see so much of. Observe the customs and habits, not of the fathers, but of the children—our brethren and sisters here. We see men, from twenty years up to old age, who are entirely overcome by their desire to obtain gold. It is asserted that there are 75,000 people at Pike’s Peak. What business have they there? Simply to worship the god of this world. He was said to be there, and they flocked there to worship him. A little gold dust was found near Pike’s Peak; the golden god—the god of this world—was hoisted, and what is the result? Priests and people, the old and young, rich and poor, wise and foolish, noble and ignoble, are all running after this god.

Are all who profess to be Latter-day Saints entirely free from this Mammon worship? No. You have heard “Oppression!” sounded from Maine to Texas, from Texas to California, then to Washington Territory, in the British Provinces in America, in England, and all over the world—“Great oppression in Utah!” because we exhort the people not to be such fools as to run after the golden image; and sometimes we tell them that we will cut them off from the Church, if they do. This has caused this great outcry. Some who have come here this season expressly to enjoy the privilege of their religion are not satisfied, but want to go where there is more money. Money is their god. Go—go after it and worship it as much as you please, and trouble us not. Go your way rejoicing as much as you can; but you will have sorrow in that course. Instead of bettering your condition, you will make it a great deal worse. Your spirits will sink into darkness and wretchedness, and you will go your way mourning instead of rejoicing.

It is reported that thousands of persons will soon be on Strawberry Creek, a little east of the South Pass. What are they after? Someone, they say, has found sand with a little gold dust in it. There is their god again, and hosts are coming running after it. The world is after riches; riches is the god they worship. It is a marvel that they do not discover the emptiness of earthly riches, when hundreds are going out like a candle burnt down in the socket. We know that we are here, and how soon we shall go hence we know not. Perhaps some of us may be called from this life before tomorrow morning, and some, perhaps, before sunset will pass into the spirit world. But that does not lessen the appetite for gold. I do not know that a miser’s appetite for gold would be lessened in the least degree, if he knew that he would be required to leave it tomorrow.

Such riches can give no real enjoyment. There is no happiness in gold, not the least. It is very convenient as an article of exchange, in purchasing what we need; and instead of finding comfort and happiness in gold, you exchange it to obtain happiness, or that which may conduce to it. There is no real wealth in gold. People talk about being wealthy—about being rich; but place the richest banking company in the world upon a barren rock, with their gold piled around them, with no possible chance of exchanging it, and destitute of the creature comforts; and they would be poor indeed. Where then is their joy, their comfort, their great wealth? They have none.

What constitutes health, wealth, joy, and peace? In the first place, good pure air is the greatest sustainer of animal life. Other elements of life we can dispense with for a time, but this seems to be essential every moment; hence the necessity of well ventilated dwelling houses, especially the rooms occupied for sleeping. You can live without water and food longer than you can without air, and water is of more importance than meat and bread. In what, then, consists your riches? In being comfortably clad, comfortably sheltered, and suitably provided with food. Gold, where those comforts could not be obtained, would avail nothing. But the greatest of all comforts are the words of eternal life: they also comprise the greatest of all riches. The greatest riches that can be bestowed upon man is eternal life—the power to sustain ourselves and preserve our identity before our God, though this is not esteemed riches by the world. You may assemble such men as Dick Turpin of England, Joaquin of California, and Joseph C. Hare of the United States, and let them hoist the golden flag, and you will see priest and people running after them, and they will call them fine gentlemen, give them of their substance, and their daughters to wives.

We have the real wealth here. We have not much gold and silver here, but we have the good, fine flour, good wheat, horses, cattle, beef, pork, vegetables, fruit, sheep, and wool, and good wives to manufacture the wool into clothing. This is real wealth. This people is a rich people. We are the wealthiest people, in what constitutes true wealth, and in proportion to our number, that there are in any other part of our country: we have the comforts of life.

I will now inform the Latter-day Saints in this Territory that I wish them to fit out our Missionaries, who are going into the world to preach, with means to go to their fields of labor, and then sustain their families when they are gone. That is the text I wish to lay before the people. If I do not preach upon it this morning, I may this afternoon. I was with the Bishops last Thursday evening, and I requested them to notify the brethren to come here prepared to donate their half-eagles, eagles, fifty dollar pieces, horses, mules, wagons, wheat by the twenty and hundred bushels, and other available means, that we may send these brethren away rejoicing; and then we will give them a promise that we will provide for their families after they are gone, so far as they are unable to provide for themselves.

You may inquire, “What has hap– pened? Is there anything new under the sun? Are the Church and kingdom of God becoming different from what they were?” All this can be explained to you—only give us time. I think that the brethren were required to go and preach “without purse and scrip,” and that is what I am now trying to get them to do—to go “without purse and scrip,” and not beg the poor Saints to death. Let us support the Elders, instead of making the poor do it. We are able to send these men out to preach the Gospel, and they may go “without purse or scrip.” It may be asked, “What do you say to the following words of Paul?—’Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and so remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” When the Elders are on Missions, I want them to let speculation alone. I call trading, begging, and borrowing, and laying plans to come home wealthy, speculation. The Elders of Israel have not magnified their callings as they should have done. Had they known things as they really are, and seen them as they are in the bosom of eternity, they would rather have suffered their right hands to be cut off, or their heads to be severed from their bodies, than do as some have done.

“The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.” All the gold and silver are in the hands of the Lord. When he is so disposed, gold cannot be found; and when he is disposed, the surface of the earth is full of it. There may be gold here; but, to find it, the persons will have to ride over my faith. No doubt many of the Elders are hunting to find gold. I was going to say that I would rather they would find hell; for they would, if they found gold. Every man that prays to find it here virtually prays that the Devil may have power over the kingdom of God to destroy it from the earth. Perhaps some of these very men will give a sixpence, shilling, or a dollar to the Elders who are going out to preach. Such men know no more than those Elders who go out on missions to gather gold to administer to their nonsensical appetites; but it goes from them, and they know not where it goes. Every Saint should understand that the Lord will bring forth to us the gold when we need it. We now want shoes, boots, hats, bonnets, dresses, coats, food, and comfortable houses, to enable us to live long on the earth, with wisdom to know how to use all creature comforts.

The means which you donate for supporting our Missions shall be entered in the book of the law of the Lord, that the record thereof may go down to your posterity. It will not be put into our pockets, nor used for other purposes—at least, not with my knowledge or consent. I shall throw this business into the hands of the Bishops. The good Bishop will get a liberal donation, while the others will not get much. “As is the priests, so are the people;” and as is the Bishop, so is his Ward. Let the Bishops commence at the intermission to receive donations, and continue so to do until a week from tonight. With these means we expect to send the Elders directly to their fields of labor.

It is my business to control the disbursements of the Tithing paid by the Saints, and not the business of every Elder in the kingdom who thinks the Tithing belongs to him. In the English Mission, where comparatively but little was done, fifty-four thousand dollars of the Tithing money has been expended by the Elders during the last two years. This has been kept from my knowledge until recently; but I have now got hold of the rope, and I will search out every secret act pertaining to this matter. The money that has been spent on those Elders ought to have been used to gather the poor and pay the debts previously contracted in their emigration. Elders have expended hundreds of thousands of dollars of Church funds, and have left me hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay. The motto of many seems to have been—“Not one cent will we let the Trustee-in-Trust have, if we can keep it out of his hands.” I am going to search into this course until it is stopped. It is the business of the Elders to preach the Gospel and gather the poor. If they do not do this, they will come home shorn of their strength. You may wonder why I have not sooner spoken of this. I could not get it in shape to do so until now, and have had to groan under it. My Counselors and immediate associates know how I have felt, ever since I have been in this Valley, with regard to the way in which the work is carried on abroad.

The Lord takes one man, whom he knows to be just and righteous, and places in his path an abundance of possessions—houses and lands, cattle, and every good thing that can be bestowed upon an individual, while many of his brethren and neighbors around him imagine that he has obtained his possessions by deceiving, by oppressing the poor, and keeping back the wages of the hireling, and they undertake to get rich by dishonesty. This is the case with many of the Elders of Israel, and herein they make a great mistake. “The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor riches to men of wisdom,” but to those whom God favors. You may ask me for proof of this. It is ready, were it wise to produce it. May the Lord bless you! Amen.

Instructions by President Brigham Young made in the Bowery, and in the Historian’s Office, Great Salt Lake City, September 9, 1860.

If I have the Spirit of the Lord sufficiently, I may have a word for each and all classes present; though in a few remarks I by no means expect to comprehend all the duties that devolve upon the Saints. Here are newcomers who, for the first time, have the privilege of assembling with the Saints at the gathering place; some of them perhaps have been here one Sabbath, and others two. You have traveled thousands of miles to be assembled with the Saints. Here is another class of persons who have been living here for years, and who also need teaching. And here is still another class that needs teaching, perhaps, more than unbelievers. I refer to the Elders who are about to start on their missions.

We say to them, Go forth and preach the Gospel, gain an experience, learn wisdom, and walk humbly before your God, that you may receive the Holy Ghost to guide and direct you, and teach you all things past, present, and to come. I cannot say that this is sufficient to say to them, for it is not.

We say to the citizens of these valleys who have lived here and are going to stay here, Seek unto the Lord your God with all your hearts, ye Latter-day Saints, and so live, that the Holy Ghost will be your constant companion. It will teach you all things; it will bring to your remembrance past things that you have forgotten, things that are now present, and show you the providences of God, the dealings of the Lord with his people, his designs in organizing the world and in peopling it, &c. You Latter-day Saints, live humbly and live your religion faithfully, that you may enjoy the spirit of revelation to a fulness.

We say to the newcomers, If you will live your religion—live to the light that was given to you when you embraced the truth, you will enjoy the same Spirit you then received, and there is not the least danger but what in so doing you will be Saints at home and abroad, in the morning and in the evening, enjoying the light of the Holy Spirit; and the Holy Ghost will be your constant companion, teaching you all things, which will constantly suffice for you.

For unbelievers we will quote from the Scriptures—“Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” Again—“Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.” I will now give my scripture—“Whosoever confesseth that Joseph Smith was sent of God to reveal the holy Gospel to the children of men, and lay the foundation for gathering Israel, and building up the kingdom of God on the earth, that spirit is of God;” and every spirit that does not confess that God has sent Joseph Smith, and revealed the everlasting Gospel to and through him, is of Antichrist, no matter whether it is found in a pulpit or on a throne, nor how much divinity it may profess, nor what it professes with regard to revealed religion and the account that is given of the Savior and his Father in the Bible. They may say that they acknowledge Him until doomsday, and he will never own them, nor bestow the Holy Spirit upon them, and they will never have visions of eternity opened to them, unless they acknowledge that Joseph Smith is sent of God. Such people I call unbelievers. They tell about believing in Jesus Christ, but they might as well talk about birds understanding the Hebrew language. This statement is no more positive than true.

The spirit that confesses that this is the kingdom of God and his Church has the Spirit that fills the heavenly worlds, and every other spirit is of Antichrist. All whom I call unbelievers, if they will repent of their sins, obey the requirements in the New Testament, be baptized for the remission of sins by a man who holds the key and authority to lead them into the waters of baptism, and receive the laying on of hands for the Holy Ghost, shall receive a witness that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, and that he was sent of God to build up his kingdom in this last dispensation. You will receive a Spirit that will bring all things to your remembrance, past, present, and to come, teaching you all things necessary for you to understand. There are but a few in this generation who will do this. “Will one to a thousand?” Doubtful. “One to ten thousand, or a hundred thousand?” I hope so. Of the Latter-day Saints there will be many who will not so live their religion as to fully enjoy the Holy Ghost. The Latter-day Saints are like children who have to be taught continually, and still, like children, they handle, figuratively speaking, razors, glasses, cups, sau– cers, &c., contrary to the teachings that are given them.

Those Elders about to start on their missions will declare before this congregation and before the whole world that they do know, by the power of God, that Joseph Smith is a true Prophet of God, and that this is the work of God; that God has set to his hand to gather Israel: but let them neglect their duty and get into darkness, and they will lose this Spirit and testimony. They do not see this with their natural eyes, for it is spiritually discerned, as all things of God are. Let them do wrong and lose the Spirit, and by-and-by they apostatize and declare that they do not know “Mormonism” to be true, and think that they never did. How many are there of this class? Brethren, live your religion. As a mischievous child needs constant watching to keep it from falling into the fire, or otherwise injuring itself, so you need watching, warning, teaching, and admonishing all the time; you need to be continually teased to your duty.

A spirit prompts both the good and the evil: an invisible influence seems to be shed abroad upon all nations. Let us seek unto the Lord, that we may be prompted by a good spirit. It matters not what your neighbors do, look to your God with all your heart, instead of watching your neighbors, and there will be no danger of your leaving the true path. If they will only live up to it, there has already been enough taught the brethren who have lived here for years to prepare them to enter into the strait gate and into the New Jerusalem, and be prepared to enjoy the society of the holy angels.

No other people are under the obligations to God that we are, who have been privileged to meet here Sabbath after Sabbath. We have the privilege of being gathered—the privilege of the law of the celestial kingdom, of receiving revelation, of enjoying the keys and power of the blessings of the Priesthood as sons of God. What other people have these privileges? No other that we have any knowledge of. This brings us under deep obligation to one another, to angels, to Jesus, and to God our Father. We have to live close to the Lord, in order to have his Spirit to learn and understand what he requires of us. You hear some say—“I wish I had influence and power, and were in a situation to do good!” Is there a man in this community deprived of the privilege of doing all the good his heart can desire? You can every day live to promote the cause of our God, and your whole lives can be filled with doing good.

The travels and labors of the Elders about to go on missions will throw them into positions which will cause them to seek unto the Lord. They need to live their religion, to go forth with pure hearts and clean hands, and then preach the Gospel by the power of God sent down from heaven. They should touch not and taste not of sin, and when they return they should come pure and clean, ready to meet the Saints with open countenances. To all appearance, the Elders on missions have been in the habit of making their pockets a matter of more consideration than the souls of men. I am not going to suffer this any longer.

I want every Elder to make his calculations to get rich here, and not go abroad to get riches from the Saints there. Plan and operate here to make as much property as you please; and if you can put it in a shape to gather the Saints, do so; and when you are abroad use every sovereign to emigrate the poor. You may have one shirt on and one at the washerwoman’s, and decent and comfortable clothing; but what you obtain over this must be used to gather the poor. “May I obtain money enough to come home?” Yes. “How many coats and pantaloons may we bring, and how many trunks packed with clothing of the most expensive kinds, for our wives and children?” I utterly forbid this practice. I forbid your bringing or sending home silk dresses and the like. Send and bring home the poor. I forbid your coming home in your carriages; I forbid your going out preachers and coming home merchants, but come home bringing your sheaves with you—the souls of the children of men—spirits clothed in tabernacles. I forbid the Elders of Israel coming home as they have; but men, women, and children must be all the property, means, wealth, glory, and power that they bring home.

O ye gentiles, let me tell you that every Elder will do as I have told him, when he learns that the opposite course is wrong. And let me tell you that you will see the day when you will wish that you were “Mormon” Elders. By-and-by the Elders of Israel will have gold and silver for plates, cups, saucers, &c.; and when we have adorned and furnished our houses we will have gold and silver to pave our streets, and their enemies will be in hell, unable to raise a decent fiddler there, or any liquor, for it will all burn up, and every decent fiddler will go into a decent kingdom: we will have them. We are going to have the kingdom of God and the fulness thereof, and all the heights and depths of glory, power, and knowledge; and we shall have fathers and mothers, and wives and children.

Brother Cannon remarked that people wondered how many wives and children I had. He may inform them that I shall have wives and children by the million, and glory, and riches, and power, and dominion, and kingdom after kingdom, and reign triumphantly. “What will you do with all those who have sought to kill you?” Make them soap boilers and kitchen flunkeys. We are not going to send them into hell fire, for it takes a good Latter-day Saint apostatized to get down into that deep (did I say bottomless?) pit. A person, to become an angel of the Devil, has first to be a good Saint, and then deny the Lord who bought him.

Do you query why we give endowments to A., B., and C.? It is to make devils of those who will deny the faith, for that is also necessary, as a host of devils will be needed. We also want Saints, angels, holy ones, and those that are exalted to the highest glory—we want them to inherit kingdoms that number millions on millions.

Brother Hooper stated that he had charity. My charity is that God has provided for his children, the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, where all who have lived according to the best light they had will have better kingdoms than ever entered into their hearts to conceive. That is the charity of God in his plans to save his people. Will the Latter-day Saints so live that they can enjoy the fulness of the heights, depths, glory, and intelligence in which the Father and the Son dwell? If they do not, they must go into another kingdom. He has designed that we should become Gods—the sons of God—fathers of eternal lives, like Abraham. This is the promise he received—to be the father of endless lives, that his posterity and generation should never cease, in time nor eternity.

Some may think that the restrictions upon our Missionaries are greater than they should be; but if they learn to be practical men, they will learn that my system is the best. Send Elders forth to attend to the business of the churches—to the spiritual and the financial departments, and to preside over them, and the care and toil are very laborious. But if, at the same time, their minds are upon speculation, and they lay awake at night to calculate how they are going to speculate—how many teams they need to bring a lot of goods across the Plains, &c., the labor becomes so severe as to nearly drive them crazy: it at least causes them to have but little spiritual strength when they return; and I really think it best to relieve them from this extra burden. To study, plan, and labor to be merchants, and to bring home silks, satins, velvet, &c., for their wives and children, is a great burden; and we wish to relieve them from that, and let them come home, bringing the poor with them.

If Elders go and fill their missions, they have enough to do; and if they at the same time study to be merchants and to speculate, it will crush them into weakness and poverty. Those who have mixed speculation with preaching, and have thereby oppressed and hedged up the emigration of the poor, upon their return seem to have no spirit left for anything except speculation. Your best plan, if you wish to make money, is to make it here at the gathering place. This is the place for you to accumulate property—to make your families comfortable, that when you go on your missions you can go stript for the race and harnessed for the battle, for the work before you, and have nothing else in your hearts.

If the Lord ever revealed anything to me, he has shown me that the Elders of Israel must let speculation alone and attend to the duties of their calling, otherwise they will have little or no power in their missions or upon their return. It commenced long ago in England, and those who have practiced it are in poverty; and it is high time that it was put a stop to, which I am going to do, God and good brethren being my helpers.

I am in earnest in this matter, and God will sustain me in it. Quit sending or bringing silks, satins, and furbelows for your wives to flaunt in. I am strongly opposed to it.

Some may inquire whether I did not make money when on missions. If I did, it has been expended to gather the poor. When I returned from England, I had but one sovereign left when I reached home. Brother Joseph asked me what I was going to do for a living. I told him that I was going to borrow fifteen cents to put with my sovereign to buy a barrel of flour, visit my friends, and when that flour was eaten I should be ready to do what the Lord required. I went on my mission to England, performed its duties, and returned with clean hands and a pure heart; and all who desire to honor God and their holy calling to the Priesthood must pursue this course.

From this time forth every man that goes on a mission with a view to speculation will be overtaken by poverty, for speculation is no part of the duties devolving upon the Elders. They should practice the strictest economy, especially while on their missions. I have not sought for riches, nor placed my affections upon the things of this world. I do not at home any more than I did abroad. When I obtain money and other property, I study to dispose of it to the best advantage for promoting the cause in which we are engaged. And I tell you, in the name of Israel’s God, that it is my counsel and imperative command that our Missionaries let speculation alone, and preach the Gospel, and so live that when you blow the Gospel trump your words will be like melted lead in the hearts of the people, and not return unto you void, that you may glory and do good in the labor to which God has called you. Do not operate as some have, but let your minds and energies be devoted to the business on which you are sent.

Publications have been issued from the Liverpool Office and crowded upon the people, seemingly regardless of the wants or ability of the brethren, and creating what is known as the “Book Debt,” the very sound of which is disagreeable; lithographed and engraved likenesses of Elders have been forced upon Conferences; and in some instances the money on hand in London and Liverpool has been taken and used by the Elders to the estimated amount of the publications and likenesses, a large portion of which remain lumbering storerooms as dead stock, except where sold out of the way as waste paper. Brethren have been obliged to take more or less copies of publications, whether they could use them, or afford to pay for them, or not; and this very system of forcing publications upon the brethren and Conferences has prevented hundreds and thousands of the Saints from emigrating, turned a great deal of money from its legitimate channel, and left us useless articles instead of the money the Church or the people should have had. Put thousands of pounds into the hands of an Elder in this manner, and it will go from him without his being able to tell where or how it has gone: it seems impossible for him to keep it or its value; it slips away.

There are thousands of pounds’ worth of books, &c., now lying useless in the Liverpool Office, that have been paid for with Tithing money, which ought to have been used for emigrating the poor, paying debts, and otherwise carrying on the work, in accordance with counsel from here: but instead of this, the books lie use– less in the Office. And a few have tried to get rich, but all their riches seem to have had the wings of the morning and have flown far from them.

How many in Utah pay Tithing on their money? Comparatively very few. Probably we do not get one dollar to a thousand on cash Tithing. And if horses, oxen, or cows could be sold for money, probably but few of them would be turned in on Tithing; and if wheat could be sold for money, we should get no wheat except from a very few. But we get along and are not dead yet; and we shall live and do well, while others will be dead and in their graves. The humble will live, their spirits will be buoyant, and they will live to a great age.

You Elders who are selected to go on missions, be virtuous and holy before the Lord your God, that you may be filled with his Spirit. And when you reach your respective fields of labor in the States, in England, or elsewhere, do not begin to pull down your predecessors. So far as their conduct will permit speak of them as your brethren, and as men who have done the best they knew how. Testify that you know them to be good men, when you know that they have been doing according to their best judgment and understanding; and do not say hard words about your predecessors in the vineyard. Not one who does this will gain anything by it. Do not discourage, deride, or bring anything against any of your predecessors to lessen the character of anyone who has done the best he knew how. You have not heard me say that I disfellowship them, for I believe that they have not intended to do a wrong thing in all that is past. All that I blame them for is because I believe that they could or should have known better. I consider that having lived till now, they should so live as to have the Holy Ghost within them continually, to guide them in the way of life.

We are so organized that we need preaching to all the time. This is because of our weaknesses, and we shall have to bear with one another until we become stronger and wiser. Until then, we will travel and preach and do all the good we can. And those that put their shoulders to the wheel, with a desire and determination to preach the Gospel, save souls, and aid in whatever they are called upon to do for the rolling forth of this great work, will live the longest, have the most gold and silver, and enjoy more eternities of happiness and exaltation than those who do nothing but grumble and find fault with what others do and say.

It is not necessary, in crossing the Plains, for our Missionaries to travel on foot and carry their valises; and we wish you to be provided to cross the Plains comfortably, and to take prudent care of your bodies while absent and to come home as comfortably as you can: but do not get money from the poor Saints to buy a carriage with. I have traveled and preached a great deal, and had to live, and I have always had a large family to support. I have had to borrow money to come home with, and I do not remember that I ever brought any money home, but what it has gone directly to relieve the Prophet of his burdens. He used to ask me how I managed to support myself and family. I told him that I made a sixpence go, perhaps, as far as some would make a quarter of a dollar go—that I had done what I could, and the Lord had done the rest, and that was all I knew about it. Of course there are some things I know, and many that I do not; but I do know that Heber C. Kimball and myself used 86 dollars in board and other expenses when tra– velling on a mission, and that when we started we had but 13 dollars, 50 cents. And I do know that I once took a five-dollar bill out of my pocket, when we were raising money for brother Joseph, and threw it in, and that the next day I had just as much as I had before I gave away the five dollars. I do know that when I went to pay some money that I owed, after giving some away to the poor, I had just as much when I came to pay my debts as I had before I gave any to the poor. I do know that I handed out a half-eagle to a poor man in my office, and then found two half-eagles in my pocket that I never put there. And I also do know that I never hungered or thirsted for property.

Some may say—“Brother Brigham, you are boasting, and you may be tried.” I may be tried; but if I am, I pray God to give me strength to bear the trial. I feel under the most positive and strict obligation to make every penny go as far as I can towards preaching the Gospel, gathering Israel, and doing good. I do not lust after property; and I wish my brethren could see my heart as I see theirs. I know the hearts of my brethren who are around me, whether I chasten them or not. You act out what is naturally in you, and I can tell, by the acts, by the faces, and by the doings of men, what is in their hearts. We are here, and we have the kingdom of God to build up as the Lord directs, and carry out his requirements in all things.

The Saints abroad are required to pay their Tithing, but they have been made to donate and pay so much that they have felt that the cords were drawn pretty tight. Of late we have let the strings loose, and the people in the European Missions have become slack in regard to paying even their Tithing. This is a natural result, and I expected it. The brethren will now exhort them to renew their good works in again paying Tithing, and we must have a correct account of it, and must have the privilege of directing its expenditure for gathering the Saints and building up the kingdom. We wish to hurry and gather the brethren, that they may receive their endowments, and either remain Saints or apostatize; and those who continue faithful may be taught to more and more honor their faith and cooperate in building up the kingdom of God on the earth.

I have detained you long enough. God bless you! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, September 9, 1860.

The instructions, faith, revelations, and Scriptures that have been given from the earliest ages to the present—all the past that has come within my notice—all that is now transpiring among the nations of the earth, so far as we can see and understand—all the privileges that men can enjoy, that are allotted to the intelligent beings now before me, with the rest of mankind, and much more than all this, continually occupy my mind, feelings, sympathies, and judgment. We enjoy the greatest blessings and privileges of any people we are acquainted with.

What causes this people to do as they do? It is written, “But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” It is a spirit that causes this people to do what they do—to leave their native countries, to leave their fathers and mothers, brethren and sisters, and take up their line of march and travel thousands of miles to this distant country; and then, when selected for missions, to again leave their fathers, mothers, and friends, and travel back to their native lands, or to some other place, wherever they are appointed to go. We cannot behold that spirit and influence with our natural eyes. The results alone are known.

What causes the inhabitants of the earth to do as they do—those who do not believe in the Christian religion? You remember that a few years ago Mr. Sutter, in California, hired some of our brethren, who had been in the Mormon Battalion, to dig a millrace, in which they found gold. The news spread rapidly; and now, in the States, how many places you can find forsaken! Good farms, mechanic shops, stores, and other good situations for men to live in and make themselves comfortable, are deserted, having been sold or mortgaged for a few hundred dollars with which to go and get gold. Then try to number the widows and orphans who have been left in a state of destitution; then count the bones that are bleaching on the prairies between the frontiers of the Eastern States and California, and is not this conduct as great a mystery as it is to see our Elders do as they do? There is also a spirit that prompts this craving for gold.

There is a spirit that prompts the nations to prepare for war, desolation, and bloodshed—to waste each other away. Do they realize it? No—no more than a wicked man realizes the propriety of an Elder’s taking his line of march to Europe to preach the Gospel. The Spirit of the Gospel that is in the hearts of believers prompts them to do as they do, and the spirit of the enemy that is in the wicked prompts them to do as they do and is it not a mystery? Verily we can say that man is a mystery to himself—that he does not understand himself. When he understands himself, he will understand much about his Creator—his Father and God.

The greatest desire in the bosom of our Father Adam, or in his faithful children who are coworkers with God our Father in heaven, is to save the inhabitants of the earth. Many spirits have gone forth into the world—very many, as also the Holy Spirit of the Gospel to lead this people and all the human family, who will receive it, back into the presence of our Father and God. It has been the greatest desire of the faithful to see their relatives and friends follow that good Spirit, that they may return to the presence of their Father and God.

Brother Hooper has stated that he has charity. Every good man has; but there are only a few men on the earth who understand the charity that fills the bosom of our Savior. We should have charity; we should do all we can to reclaim the lost sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, and bring them back to be saved in the presence of our Father and God. If we do this, our charity will extend to the utmost extent that it is designed for the charity of God to extend in the midst of this people. But I have no love or charity for a wicked and corrupt scoundrel, who commits iniquity with his eyes wide open, though I pity and regret the condition of the human family in their ignorance. They would come to the light, but for one thing—their deeds are evil, and they do not mean to have them reproved. They would be rebuked, and they will not bear it; and so they pass on, and will, until they are punished.

May God bless the righteous and sustain his cause. He will do so. The wicked cannot do anything against the truth. Every move they make to crush the kingdom of God will be attended with the signal blessings of the Almighty for its further extension and ultimate triumph. All their efforts will result in the overthrow of sin and iniquity, and the increase of righteousness and the kingdom of God upon the earth, until “the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ.” “Shall we see this in the flesh?” Yes. “Before we receive new bodies?” I do not know, though I expect to see all this in the flesh. Whether in this or in a new body, God being my helper, I shall contend for the righteousness of God and the rights of his Saints, and contend manfully, until we gain possession of our relatives, friends, neighbors, country, the nations of the earth, and the earth, to purify it and prepare it for the habitation of angels. That is our business. May the Lord help us to accomplish this purpose! Amen.