Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, September 2, 1860.

Are our minds framed to receive and profit by those communications which the Lord would give through his servants? We are so constituted that we can receive but little at a time, though there is quite a diversity in men as to their capacity for learning, and also in regard to retaining what they learn. Some comprehend their lessons quickly, while others are not so gifted. I have also noticed that some children commit their lessons quickly and well; but ask them the meaning and intent of what they have committed, and they cannot answer you; while others pay more attention to the intent and meaning of what they learn. Such is the case with all persons, no matter what their age; and some are capacitated to receive more and faster than others.

When the Latter-day Saints and those who believed in the coming of the Messiah, and those who believed in him when he came, and those who have believed in him since he came, see eternal things by the vision of their minds being opened. They will consider it a great mystery why all people did not understand the things of God. They are so easy to be understood and so congenial to our capacities and situation on the earth—so admirably adapted to our nature. That mankind do not understand the things of God is marvelous to an enlightened person, and that what truth they do learn they wish to have it understood that it is by their own wisdom: the wisdom that comes from God they do not desire.

We observe in some of the Latter-day Saints a dull stupidity in regard to learning the things that pertain to life. For persons to understand themselves, their own organization, they must understand the character of that Being who has organized them, or they never can understand their own organization. This mankind are unwilling to admit. No person can follow the thread of his own existence, without inseparably connecting it with the Father—the Supreme Being who dwells in eternity. We are inseparably connected, and must be, to that eternal Being who produced us. You will therefore readily understand that without the principle and Spirit of revelation, it will be impossible to communicate these principles to the people.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the opening avenue—the open gate in the road or way from earth to heaven, through which direct revelation comes to the children of men in their various capacities, according to their callings and standing in the society in which they live. The Gospel of salvation is a portion of the law that pertains to the kingdom where God resides; and the ordinances pertaining to the holy Priesthood are the means by which the children of men find access to the way of life, wherein they can extend their travels until they return to the presence of their Father and God. This no person will dispute, who has faith in the character of the Deity. They will acknowledge that God is true, that his system of salvation is correct, that his law is just, that he is equal in all his ways, and that the ordinances of his house are true and faithful; but when you speak of the Gospel as preached by the Elders of this Church, the query arises in a moment, “Is this true?” Yes, as you have often heard stated, it is a fact that earth and hell cannot deny. The sound of this Gospel carries conviction to every heart that has heard it; it carries an influence and power that no other sound has. But, though they are thus convicted, yet they will query, “Is it true?” If it were not that the conviction of the Almighty pervades even the sound of “Mormonism,” you would not see armies arrayed against this people.

This is the most moral people upon the face of all the earth, with all the rascality there is in a few. The Gospel net gathers both good and bad. We have both here. But this people, as a people, are the most circumspect and moral people that now live. It has been said that we are a low, groveling, lawless people. There is not a man in our Government, who has a good sound heart and brain, but what will say that we are the most law-abiding people in the United States.

All, so far as they have heard, are convinced that the work in which we are engaged is true—that it is the Gospel of salvation—the voice of God from the heavens to all people. Hear it, O ye inhabitants of the earth! The Lord has again spoken from the heavens, and revealed the holy Priesthood, to save the children of men from impending ruin. Though this is true, they fancy that they can devise systems by which they can save themselves, enter into the gate of rest, and secure to themselves that eternal repose the heart aches for all through life. There may be some exceptions to this general truth, but the existence of a Supreme Being is universally acknowledged by man. This is to be found in the lowest of the heathen nations, and they worship according to the best knowledge they have. The inhabitants of Hindostan, Japan, &c., are devotional people, though they worship before images, not knowing better. The aborigines of this country also worship according to their traditions, as do all the heathen nations. They make their graven images of brass, wood, silver, and gold to represent the Deity they seek to please. The Roman Catholic Church uses paintings and images of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary; but ask them if they worship these pictures and images, and they will tell you, “No: the picture or image only represents to the eye the Being we worship.” So it is with the worship of the heathen nations: they will tell you they “do not worship the inanimate image, but that the God they worship is in eternity. We do not see him, but our fathers have taught us many things which we wish to retain in memory.” You present to your children the image or picture of the Savior, or any good being, and teach them to imitate his example, and by this means strive to create the best possible impression upon their young minds. And which is best—to do this, or to present them a pack of cards and teach them the use of them? Then do not depreciate the heathen worship, nor the brethren of our former Christian faith; for the majority of them worship according to the best knowledge they have. Intelligent beings are organized to become Gods, even the sons of God, to dwell in the presence of the Gods, and become associated with the highest intelligences that dwell in eternity. We are now in the school, and must practice upon what we receive. Wickedness now dwells upon the earth; but as we are exhorted from time to time by words, deeds, and examples, and by the faith of the good, let us continue in this labor of love until we overcome the evil that is within ourselves. With all the rest of the good that you can commit to memory, be sure to recollect that the Gospel of salvation is expressly designed to make Saints of sinners, to overcome evil with good, to make holy, good men of wicked, bad men, and to make better men of good. Wherein we are wicked, wherein we have evil passions, the Gospel will aid us in overcoming evil. It gives us the influence, the power, the knowledge, the wisdom, and the understanding to overcome our weaknesses and to purify ourselves before the Lord our God. How often we have heard it said that “a Saint will be a Saint, a devil will be a devil, and the wicked will be wicked!” People should understand that there is no man born upon the face of the earth but what can be saved in the kingdom of God, if he is disposed to be. There is not a word to contradict this in all the sacred writings. When the wicked man forsakes his wickedness, though he has rolled it under his tongue as a sweet morsel, he can be saved. If God has foreordained certain men to certain ends, it is because he knew all things from eternity, as in the case of Pharaoh, who he knew would do wickedly; consequently, selected him to be put upon the throne. “You are determined to be wicked and to carry out the schemes of the Devil; therefore I will use you to promote my kingdom on the earth and to exalt me among men, for I know that you will do all you can against my children, against my work, and against my grace to save the children of men.” God raised him to the throne of Egypt because he foresaw that in this position he could use him to the greatest advantage to His cause—not because he was foreordained to that position.

There are no persons without evil passions to embitter their lives. Mankind are revengeful, passionate, hateful, and devilish in their dispositions. This we inherit through the fall, and the grace of God is designed to enable us to overcome it. The grace of God is bestowed upon all, and the kingdom of God is planted on the earth expressly to enable mankind to overcome the evil that is in them, and to save all. If the Latter-day Saints live their religion, they will forsake iniquity and overcome the evil that the enemy of all righteousness causes to rise within them, until every passion and appetite is as perfectly under their own control as a patient animal they hold by the bit.

Ye wise men, ye great philosophers, do you comprehend and know what is the origin of the intelligence we behold? Where did it spring from? Who is the author of our existence? Who has brought us forth upon the earth and given us this intelligence, creating us erect, given us ability to learn and to continue to learn to all eternity, and to reach forth for the hidden things that are in the future? Can the wise men of the day define this intelligence? Can the chemist analyze it? No; it cannot be searched out by human wisdom. We must admit that God is true, that his law is just, that his kingdom is just and pure, and that it is now set up upon the earth, or there can be no being saved in his presence. We are his children. This is obvious, and is easy to be understood by those who can only understand simple facts. We are his offspring, and to him we shall return. This being so, we should so live as to be counted worthy to be again received into the family of heaven, to be participants of all the glory, excellency, and power that pertain to the family of God in eternity, and to be joined with those who sing hallelujah to his name in mansions of bliss. Let the wicked world pass on and the inhabitants of the earth rail, and let the wicked imagine a vain thing and the heathen rage and run to and fro; yet knowledge will increase, and they cannot prevent it. The kingdom of God and the ordinances of his house are again restored, and we are made happy participants thereof. Praise his holy name, then, brethren and sisters, and acknowledge his hand in all things, improving your talents, and making yourselves worthy to receive more. The kings, queens, nobles, and great men of the earth will yet bow to the Gospel, though not until they are obliged to.

We have not much history of the wise men of the east after they saw the star and found the child Jesus. He had not lived two years before an edict was sent forth to slay all the children in certain regions, under such an age, thinking that the child Jesus would be caught among them and slain. But Joseph was warned in a dream to escape with the young child. Where then were the wise men who came to worship him? They had gone their way, and were still. There are many wise men of this day who feel so influenced; they would worship with the Saints, but will not endure the opposition they must receive, if they should do so. Never was the kingdom of God so privileged as it is now. The children of Israel had the Gospel and the kingdom in their possession, but they were so wicked and ungodly that only Joshua and Caleb, of all the adult males who went out of Egypt, were left to go over and possess the promised land. They were prospered and slew their enemies; but after a while they went into bondage, were again made free, and again went into bondage. Did they enjoy the privileges that we do? No. We can travel and preach from island to island, and from nation to nation, and can travel and preach in our own nation, for God has prepared the way. We are blessed more than all the people on the face of the earth, and are therefore under the deepest obligations to praise and serve God. It matters little, though we have many times left our houses and other possessions, having been driven from them by our enemies; for the earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; the gold and the silver they are taking from the earth are all in his hands to dispose of at his pleasure. He sets up kingdoms and casts them down at his pleasure. The fulness of the earth is in his hands, but it cannot be enjoyed, in the full sense of the term, without enjoying it in connection with his kingdom. When put to its proper use, gold, instead of being made a god of, will be made into dishes, and all things will be prepared for Jesus to reign and rule and live here, for he is the heir of this earth. The gold will also be used for paving streets for us to walk upon: all the faithful will have the privilege of walking the golden streets of the New Jerusalem.

I feel that this is the best day I ever saw; and were I to give vent to my feelings, I should jump and shout, like a Methodist, Hallelujah! God reigns; his kingdom is upon the earth, and he will save the remnant in the latter days. I feel happy. “Mormonism” has made me all I am, and the grace, the power, and the wisdom of God will make me all that I ever will be, either in time or in eternity. Do you think that I suffer affliction? No; for I am happy when in a house, or in the mountains, or wherever I chance to be. Our religion measures, weighs, and circumscribes all the wisdom in the world—all that God has ever revealed to man. God has revealed all the truth that is now in the possession of the world, whether it be scientific or religious. The whole world are under obligation to him for what they know and enjoy; they are indebted to him for it all, and I acknowledge him in all things. Is it not reasonable and highly commendable to worship Him, unto whom every knee shall bow, with a pure heart and conscience uncontaminated by the sins of the world?

The greatest weakness, ignorance, and foolishness of the human family are exhibited in their denying the Savior, denying the hand of God, and not submitting to his supremacy on the earth. O fools, and slow of heart to believe. Let the few who have received the truth live to it strictly, daily, hourly, and momentarily, so that they can receive more and more, and grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth. That is my prayer for you constantly to my Father and God, in the name of Jesus.

That we may be blessed, let us do our duty, gather the house of Israel, redeem and build up Zion, see Jerusalem established, and Jesus reign triumphantly upon the earth; which is my desire, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, September 2, 1860.

I will say a few words to those who have lately arrived.

The Spirit of the Gospel which they received in their native countries caused them to rejoice, lighted the lamp of devotion within them, and created in their hearts a love of truth. When people receive the Holy Ghost, or the Gospel evidenced by the Spirit of truth, they in a degree feel and realize the glory of Zion. The commandment has gone forth for the Saints to gather and build up Zion. They very readily receive the impression that the gathering place is Zion, that the gathered are actually living in Zion, that the evil influences abroad in the world and which afflicted them there will cease to afflict them here, that they will enjoy the sweet communion of the holy ones upon the earth, and that their sorrows and all that afflicts them will have passed away.

I wish to inform you, brethren and sisters, who have just arrived in these valleys, that all your trials hitherto are but trifling in comparison to the trials you will now be called to meet and pass through. How many of you will continue faithful—preserve yourselves in your integrity and in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ? You have come here expressly to be assembled with the Saints; your object in gathering was to forsake the wickedness that is in the world and to mingle with those who serve God with an undivided heart, and you expect to be faithful; but let me inform you that you will not all prove faithful; some of you will apostatize. Can you tell who? You reply, “No:” but the first you are aware, some of you will be off to California, perhaps, with the words—“To Cache or Carson, we don’t care a d—which,” on your wagon covers, as they were on the wagon covers of some who started for Carson last spring. Some of you will be tempted above what you will bear—will tamely submit to darkness and its powers—to the evil influences of wicked spirits—will forsake the faith, and the Devil will get the advantage of you.

Your troubles have just commenced; you are on the threshold of the department wherein you will have fiery trials, such as you have never had. Some who have been here for years will come around you and say—“Well, brother, or sister, how do you do? Do you like the country and people?” “I don’t know. I guess I shall; I should like to have some things a little different; but this is a good people.” “Well,” says an old brother who has been laboring in the Church for years to save the people, “I don’t know about it; I understand that A. says thus and so. I don’t know about it; a few days ago, I saw a brother, who seems to be a good brother, talking with the President; he seems to be in close communion with the heads of the Church, and is all the time stealing horses. I really do not know about this.” Very likely the Lord has suffered this old “Mormon” to stay in the Church thus long to get some of you to apostatize; and when he succeeds, you will go to hell together. Thus you will be led step by step to deny the faith, and to reduce the light that was in you to total darkness.

One will reflect—“I do not know about brother John; there are some things in his character that look dark to me, and, according to the religion I have embraced, I do not understand them; and there is James, if his conduct corresponds with the Gospel as I have heard it preached in my native country, I do not know about it; I will look more narrowly into this;” and the first you know you will retire to rest without praying in your family. And when you rise in the morning you are meditating upon what John and James are doing—that you just saw one of them taking a pole from his neighbor’s fence, and you say, “I don’t know about this; this is rather a dark affair among the Latter-day Saints who have assembled here from among all nations to serve God! Well, wife, have you got your breakfast ready? Come on, family; breakfast is ready; gather round the table.” The wife’s heart sinks, for she had been accustomed to hear this man pray; but there is no prayer this morning. A short blessing is asked, the breakfast is eaten, and the man looks off to John, James, Dick, Harry, the Devil, and hell; and by-and-by away he goes, another apostate.

God gathers his people to school them. While you were in England, France, and other foreign countries, were you prepared to receive the oracles from heaven? No. Are you prepared now? No. Are those who have been in the Church twenty, twenty-five, or thirty years prepared to have the visions of eternity opened to them? No. To hear the voice of the angel Gabriel? No. How can you be prepared, if you let little, frivolous, trifling afflictions and temptations overcome you and turn you away? The Lord has brought you here to try every fiber of your hearts, even as Abraham was tried in all things, to prove whether you are friends of God. And when you see anyone do wrong, you should say, “That is nothing to me; he is in the hands of God, and will have to answer to Him, and I for myself.” And when you see persons about to give way to temptation, you should say to your families, “Let us pray to the Lord to give them strength and power to overcome the temptations of the evil ones, that they may remain here, instead of apostatizing.”

Some of you will do as I have stated; but if you will be faithful to your covenants, you will not only be saviors to yourselves and to your wives and children, but also to your neighbors. When you see a neighbor begin to slip, pray for him that he may have the Spirit of the Gospel as he once had. And if you feel this Spirit within yourselves, pray for an increase of that light you received when you first received the Gospel, and you will save yourself and house.

Yet, after all the labor that will be performed by the Elders of Israel in traveling to the utmost parts of the earth, in gathering out the people from all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, and gathering them home to Zion and Jerusalem, and perhaps other places the Lord will appoint for the gathering of the people in the latter days; and after all the preaching, faith, and toil that will be wrought by the servants of God, when Christ comes, there will be five foolish virgins and five wise.

My exhortation to every man, woman, and child that has named the name of Christ—my positive command to you, which I urge upon you, and which it is your imperative duty to hearken to and obey, is to so live every moment that there will not be a dark spot upon your lives—that you can say every night, “The last is the best day I have ever lived. God be praised that I have been enabled to so live this day that I can go to sleep with a clear conscience.” In short, so live that when you wake in the spirit world you can truthfully say, “I could not better my mortal life, were I to live it over again.” I exhort you, for the sake of the house of Israel, for the sake of Zion which we are to build up, to so live, from this time, henceforth, and forever, that your characters may with pleasure be scrutinized by holy beings. Live godly lives, which you cannot do without living moral lives.

A man can commit sin, and return to the Lord and receive forgiveness; but who has the assurance that he will have power to repent? Who has the right and privilege granted unto him to swear, or to take that which is not his own and make use of it for himself? I know of no such right. Who has a right to commit adultery? If anyone has such a permit from the Almighty, bring it forth and let us read it to the congregation, that we may know it. Who has a right to bear false witness? Who has a right to defile himself by getting drunk? If you have this right, let us see it. If you have a right to disgrace your wives and children in the eyes of the people, and God says it is just and true, bring out your authority and let us see it. I know of no person who has a right to sin.

“Brother Brigham, don’t you sometimes sin?” If I do, it is none of your business; and the whole of you are not smart enough to catch me in a wrong. Look back at my life since I have been preaching the Gospel, and point out, if you can, the iniquity I have committed. “Have you not taken the name of God in vain?” Not the first time have I ever used the name of my Savior, or the name of a holy angel, or the name of the mother of Jesus, or the name of our Father in heaven with trifling feelings. “Have you not taken that which was not your own?” No; and I have not been able to get half of what is my own. I am going to have much more than I now have—not twice or thrice, but a hundredfold more. I never yet felt that I had license to commit a sin; and if I have not, who has?

Some may imagine that I am boasting: you may call it what you please. God has preserved my feet and tongue, and I am here today, though not so good as I ought to be; and you are not so good as you ought to be: there is a chance for us all to be much better. Where is there a boy in this community who has the right to disgrace his father by sin? Where is the daughter who has the right to disgrace her mother by defiling herself? Have you such a license, young women? Have you such a license, young men? If you cannot show your license to commit sin, we shall consider you impostors, and that you have no right and do not belong to our society. We will disfellowship all such men and women, whether old or young: they are already disfellowshipped in my feelings.

You newcomers are here expressly to mingle your faith with the faithful, and your acts with those who perform the acts of righteousness—to bring together to Zion, from every nation, kingdom, tongue, and people, the good, and the strength, power, and wisdom of God that has been dispensed to the nations—to take hold with us who have been trying to purify ourselves and the people. It is your duty to take hold with us with your might to exalt righteousness. Look to God for grace to purify yourselves, instead of looking at your brethren. You who wish to be numbered with the wise virgins, keep your vessels full of oil; do not let it burn out, and lie down and sleep, thinking that you can get a supply of oil when you wake. Be careful that you are not caught with your vessels empty: keep them full, and your hearts full of the Holy Spirit. Cease not to do good. By so doing you will be numbered with the wise virgins.

This is the best country in the world for raising Saints, though many things will cause it to appear strange to you for a time. People here procure livelihoods differently, in many respects, from what you have been accustomed to in your native lands. Many of you have been used to receiving your wages at the end of the week—then only barely sufficient to provide for your wants during the coming week. How did you manage in cases of sickness, when you could not work? I presume some of you nearly starved. Here there as yet has been no starving. Some do not know what they will do here: you cannot starve to death, as many do in countries you have come from.

Find shelter for your families, and do not be in a panic, nor fret; and when a person meets you and says, “Brother, I want to hire a little help,” perhaps you are a collier and never worked above ground, or a silk weaver and never worked at anything else, and you ask what he wants done. When he tells you, you may not know how to do it, but you can learn. If a person wants the silk weaver to take the spade and dig a ditch, let the weaver say, “I don’t know how, but I can learn; fetch on your spade.” Take the first job of work offered, and earn a bushel of wheat or a bushel of potatoes; and when that job is done, another will be ready. Do not be anxious to get great wages. Go to work and say nothing about wages, but feel that “this is Zion; and what can I do to build it up, without asking any man to pay me one dollar?” Let that be your chief joy and delight, and you will never lack for work, food, or raiment. The Lord has all these things for those willing characters.

“But,” says one, “some are very poor.” That is because they are not liberal enough in their feelings. I remember a question being asked of Aaron Lake, in Canada. He went into a house, and by way of introduction was asked, “Can a man rise by falling, or gain by losing?” He thought a moment, and replied, “Yes.” You say, “There are some here who are poor and destitute.” That is because they refuse to fall that they may rise, to become poor that they may become rich, or to humble themselves that they may receive the righteousness of God in their hearts to dictate them day by day. Do you think that the Lord will suffer his people to be hungry and starve to death, to go naked and freeze to death, or to go houseless, if they serve him with an undivided heart? He never will—never, no, never.

This people have been driven from place to place, to give them expanded hearts to receive the blessings of the Lord, and that the wicked might fill the cup of their iniquity and receive their reward, and the right was theirs. So soon as we are prepared to receive his blessings, the warfare is over; but that will not be just yet. We yet have to contend for every inch of ground, for the Devil has power and possession on the earth, and he does not mean to give it up. But, God, angels, and good men being my helpers, I will never cease to contend, inch by inch, until we gain the ground and possess the kingdom. That is my feeling and faith, and we will accomplish it. I will prophesy, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we will possess the kingdom of God upon the whole earth, and possess the earth. Do you believe it? [Many voices: “Yes.“] That is as true as it is that the sun now shines.

God bless you! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt City, August 26, 1860.

I will read a portion of the vision Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon had concerning various kingdoms that God has prepared for his subjects—

“And the glory of the celestial is one, even as the glory of the sun is one. And the glory of the terrestrial is one, even as the glory of the moon is one. And the glory of the telestial is one, even as the glory of the stars is one; for as one star differs from another star in glory, even so differs one from another in glory in the telestial world; For these are they who are of Paul, and of Apollos, and of Cephas. These are they who say they are some of one, and some of another—some of Christ and some of John, and some of Moses, and some of Elias, and some of Esaias, and some of Isaiah, and some of Enoch; But received not the gospel, neither the testimony of Jesus, neither the prophets, neither the everlasting covenant. Last of all, these all are they who will not be gathered with the saints, to be caught up unto the church of the Firstborn, and received into the cloud. These are they who are liars, and sorcerers, and adulterers, and whoremongers, and whosoever loves and makes a lie. These are they who suffer the wrath of God on the earth. These are they who suffer the vengeance of eternal fire. These are they who are cast down to hell and suffer the wrath of Almighty God, until the fulness of times, when Christ shall have subdued all enemies under his feet, and shall have perfected his work; When he shall deliver up the kingdom, and present it unto the Father, spotless, saying, I have overcome and have trodden the wine-press alone, even the wine-press of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God. Then shall he be crowned with the crown of his glory, to sit on the throne of his power to reign forever and ever. But behold, and lo, we saw the glory and the inhabitants of the telestial world, that they were as innumerable as the stars in the firmament of heaven, or as the sand upon the seashore; And heard the voice of the Lord saying: These all shall bow the knee, and every tongue shall confess to him who sits upon the throne forever and ever; For they shall be judged according to their works, and every man shall receive according to his own works, his own dominion, in the mansions which are prepared; And they shall be servants of the Most High; but where God and Christ dwell they cannot come, worlds without end. This is the end of the vision which we saw, which we were commanded to write while we were yet in the Spirit.” (Doc. and Cov., sec. xcii., par. 7.)

I do not know that I have any particular desire to dwell upon this any more than any other subject of the Gospel, although this subject, in the abstract, occupies more of my affection, adoration, and heartfelt gratitude to our Father and God than any other that has ever been revealed to my knowledge, from the days of Adam to the present.

Looking at the human family—the millions of intelligent beings who have come upon this earth from the days of Adam until now, and those that must still come in the course of events—the question naturally arises, What are they created for? What is the object of their being? None of them have power to produce themselves. Jesus Christ is the heir of this vast family. He said that he had power to lay down his life and take it up again; but he had no more power to produce his life, in the beginning of his existence, than we have. Every human being is endowed, more or less, with eternal intelligence, with the germ of life everlasting, of glory immortal; and then, when I view the human family as they are, with the traditions of the fathers, what the Bible has taught, what the priest has taught, and what kings and rulers have introduced and fastened upon their people, through traditions and customs, and contemplate the variety now existing and that has existed upon the earth, the marks of these finites, and what is their end, I can truly say that, in my estimation, no other revelation so glorious was ever given. You may read the character of the Deity as portrayed in all that has ever been revealed, until you come to this vision, in relation to his justice, his judgment, his power, his life, his glory, his excellence, his goodness, his mercy, and the fulness of every gift, of every trait, of every principle inherent in the character of the Supreme Being, and it is not equal in magnitude, in my reflections, to that which God revealed to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon in the vision from which I have read.

We are far advanced in the things of the kingdom of God. To say nothing about any other principle or doctrine that has ever been revealed, the transcending glory, excellency, wisdom, goodness, virtue, and power that God has revealed in this vision far outweigh all the Christian tenets, doctrines, and systems they have drawn from the Bible. No cistern, to use a figure, hewn by man, can hold water; and every human doctrine and principle, professing to point the way of salvation, fades away. The doctrine God has revealed here is more precious to me, and is worth more than all the doctrines of Christendom.

We may read that the Lord will turn the wicked into hell, and all the nations that forget God; but, so far as the Bible and priests are concerned, the world are left in the dark upon what this vision reveals. Fatality is sealed on the world by the priests as an everlasting inheritance and legacy, from which they never can be delivered. Their doom is to dwell in a lake of fire and brimstone. God has created this intelligence to preserve it. If the world, with its present feelings, believed this vision, they would say—“Our condition will be so far better than we had anticipated, that we will continue our course; for we love the world and the things of the world, and we will roll sin as a sweet morsel under our tongues, and delight in all the iniquity we have indulged in from youth, and continue to imbibe the erroneous principles taught by the fathers and others, and will pass on from day to day; for our condition is to be so far better than our priests have taught us.” It would have been better for them had they never been born, were it not so.

Were the wicked, in their sins, under the necessity of walking into the presence of the Father and Son, hand in hand with those who believe that all will be saved—that Jesus will leave none, their condition would be more excruciating and unendurable than to dwell in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. The fatalist’s doctrine consigns to hell the infant not a span long, while the adulterer, whoremonger, thief, liar, false swearer, murderer, and every other abominable character, if they but repent on the gallows or their deathbeds, are, by the same doctrine, forced into the presence of the Father and the Son, which, could they enter there, would be a hell to them.

The kingdoms that God has prepared are innumerable. Each and every intelligent being will be judged according to the deeds done in the body, according to his works, faith, desires, and honesty or dishonesty before God; every trait of his character will receive its just merit or demerit, and he will be judged according to the law of heaven as revealed; and God has prepared places suited to every class. The Savior said to his disciples—“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” How many kingdoms there are has not been told to us: they are innumerable. The disciples of Jesus were to dwell with him. Where will the rest go? Into kingdoms prepared for them, where they will live and endure. Jesus will bring forth, by his own redemption, every son and daughter of Adam, except the sons of perdition, who will be cast into hell. Others will suffer the wrath of God—will suffer all the Lord can demand at their hands, or justice can require of them; and when they have suffered the wrath of God till the utmost farthing is paid, they will be brought out of prison. Is this dangerous doctrine to preach? Some consider it dangerous; but it is true that every person who does not sin away the day of grace, and become an angel to the Devil, will be brought forth to inherit a kingdom of glory.

The sectarian world, as we call them, is a professed church of God, without the Priesthood. Sectarians have not the Priesthood; but all of them who live according to the best light and intelligence they can obtain through faithfulness to what they believe, as taught unto them, will receive a kingdom and glory that will far transcend all their expectations, imaginations, or visions in their most excited moments, whether in their falling-down power, jumping power, or squawling power. All they have ever desired or anticipated they will receive, and far more; but they cannot dwell with the Father and Son, unless they go through those ordeals that are ordained for the Church of the Firstborn. The ordinances of the house of God are expressly for the Church of the Firstborn.

“Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; and he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name,” &c. This is the law of the celestial kingdom, and those who hearken to this law, and embrace its truths in their faith, and live them in their lives, will be brought to enjoy the presence of the Son, and will dwell with him and the Father. And all the residue, who do not sin against the Holy Ghost, will be punished according to their deeds, and will receive according to their works, whether it be little or much, good or bad. Jesus will redeem the last and least of the sons of Adam, except the sons of perdition, who will be held in reserve for another time. They will become angels of the Devil.

What say you, ye Latter-day Saints? Is not this the most glorious thought that ever was revealed to mortal man? Let the Elders of this Church go forth and preach that every person who does not become as they are will have to suffer the wrath of God, and go down to hell to dwell in a lake that burns with brimstone and fire, “where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched,” and I would not give the ashes of a rye straw for all they will do. It is good for nothing: there is no life in it—there is no soul in it.

This intelligence must endure. We must preserve our identity before the Lord, who has sent his Son and angels, and is sending the Holy Ghost, and his ministers, and revelations, to comfort, cheer, guide, and direct the affairs of his kingdom on the earth. Shall we dwindle out in our faith and in those blessings God bestows on us at this time? No. Let us live to increase them. Let us so live, that when we receive our bodies in the resurrection, we will be received in the presence of the Father and the Son. This kingdom is designed expressly to prepare the people to dwell with God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ, and all the world beside will receive according to their works upon the earth. This is a joy that is unspeakable: it is a glory beyond the capacity of our minds at the present time to appreciate. It is a great joy to me.

Sometimes I feel as though I would like to dwell upon these principles, they are so delightful; but I do not feel like preaching or talking much this morning. The glory and intelligence that God has prepared for the faithful, and for every other being that is worthy to receive, expand, extend, and comprehend, no man knoweth. Should not this fill every heart with peace and joy that there is no end to the progress of knowledge? Let us continue to prepare ourselves to dwell with Him in eternal burnings.

May the Lord bless the people! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, August 26th, 1860.

We enjoy great blessings and privileges, and ought to appreciate them. No people on the earth enjoy that peace and tranquility that we do in these mountains; and no people have so much reason to be truly thankful and grateful, and to acknowledge the hand of God in all things, as we have. We have the words of life: the law of life is committed unto us—the Priesthood of the Son of God, which is after the power of an endless life. We are in the happy and peaceable possession of it.

We have great reason to be truly thankful that we are in these mountains. I have said so from the time we first came here. When our enemies learned that we were going to locate in these mountains, they said that we never could be driven from them, and they told the truth. If we ever go from them, we shall go voluntarily. They said that they would drive us from Ohio, from Missouri, and from Illinois, and they did so; but they cannot drive us from these mountains we now inhabit. All we have to do is to do right, walk humbly before God, deal justly one with another and with the whole human family, and let our worst wish toward our worst enemies be that we may see the time when they will be obliged to do right. I never did wish anything worse upon them than they should do right, pay their debts, deal justly, and walk humbly one with another. This is the worst wish I have towards those who are now here and have tried to shed our blood for money, and that when they leave the Territory they do not steal anything. I despair of inducing them not to lie about us.

All the nations are fast approaching the brink of ruin. Search the most enlightened nations now dwelling on the earth, and you will learn that they live upon fiction, delight in shadow, run after error, greedily drink down falsehood, and hate truth. This is particularly the case with the nation in which we live, as everyone knows, who is acquainted with its religious, political, and moral classes. There are individual exceptions; but, taking the nations of the world as nations, they do not believe the truth; they are after falsehood and lies, and say to themselves—“The world goes on—the morning comes as usual, and is followed by the evening. We live day after day, and all things are about as they were yesterday.” How long will they continue so? They think that all things are going to remain as they were since the fathers fell asleep, that Christ is not coming, and that the prophecies will not be fulfilled, except it may be spiritually.

Search history, from the days of Enoch, when he built a city which was taken from the earth; pass on to Noah who built an ark and floated on the water over a drowning world, and to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; read the writings of Moses, and of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the lesser Prophets, down to the time of John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah, or until Mary and Elizabeth rejoiced together that the Messiah was to be born; then read the writings of the disciples of the Lord Jesus, and search history from that day to this, and you will learn that when the nations have for years turned much of their attention to manufacturing instruments of death, they have sooner or later used those instruments.

Our nation, England, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, and other nations have for years exercised their inventive skill, and expended much means in inventing and fabricating instruments of death. Upon his return, brother Hooper presented to me a rifle, for which it is almost claimed that it will kill people while it is hanging up, and without powder and ball; and brother George Q. Cannon brought a brace of pistols, each of which can be fired twelve times instead of six. From the authority of all history, the deadly weapons now stored up and being manufactured will be used until the people are wasted away, and there is no help for it. The spirit of revolution goes on through the nations: it never goes back.

We are in these mountains, and in the enjoyment of peace and plenty. Are there any who have not enough bread? Some complain of living poorly; but what hinders such persons from living well? Have you not plenty of breadstuff? Yes, you have the best of flour, and can have plenty of good cornmeal. You also have rye, barley, and oats. Who prevents your keeping a cow and having butter and milk? Can you not raise potatoes, squashes, turnips, onions, cabbages, and every other kind of produce that you can use? What hinders your keeping a pig and having a little pork? Nobody hinders you: you can have all these things, if you are so disposed, and live well. Who can disturb you? Nobody but yourselves. You can quarrel with each other, rail against each other, and make life disagreeable, if you are so disposed; otherwise you may have an agreeable life here, and the peace of God will rest upon you.

We are the best people in the world, and have the greatest reason to be thankful because of our location and situation. Let us love one another, and love God supremely. It is written, “Love your enemies.” Brother Erastus Snow was going to correct Paul for trying to excuse himself. I do not think the term was any more misapplied than when the Apostles wrote, “Love your enemies;” for I do not believe a word of that. “Love your enemies!” What, love hell? When people do that, they get where devils are. If it had been written, “Love the spirits God has placed in tabernacles, and try to reclaim them and do them good, and pray for those who despitefully use you,” I would feed and clothe them, take peculiar care of them, and place them where they would not hurt anybody. You may think that I am disputing the Bible. If you understood what the Lord means when he talks about loving his children, you would understand that he does not love them as they are now; for he hates and is angry with the wicked. He dislikes their wicked acts, but he loves his children, because he has organized them, and he wishes to see them obedient.

Many of you are acquainted with brother John Smith, the Patriarch, who went to the States last year after his friends. He has just come into the Bowery. The companies are all well. They want some flour, and we can send it to them. Brother Kimball will send his team this time, and there is no necessity for calling upon the Bishops. We have heard from the last company. On the fourth of August they were on Wood River: their cattle looked well, and the company was making good progress. They had been eleven days out from Florence, and had traveled 170 miles. A few cattle have died in some of the companies; and if any of the brethren, who have relatives or friends in the companies still out, wish to assist them, they can do so by sending out their teams and helping them in.

God bless you! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in Provo, August 26, 1860.

I am happy in the privilege of again meeting with you. I am well in spirit and in body. I never was better in my spirit than I am this afternoon. The day I now enjoy is the best day of my life; these days are the best days I ever lived, and I expect them to grow better. The many reasons I might give for this I will omit.

It is some time since we met with you here. Next Sabbath, I think, it will be twenty-six months since I was upon this stand. Our circumstances then were very different from what they are today. Since then, some of our relatives and friends have been consigned to the silent tomb; but there is a goodly number of us still living, and the favorable circumstances under which we are today should influence every heart to rejoice. If we could but understand and see things as they are—comprehend the dealings of the Lord—the workings of his kingdom, it would be a matter of great joy and rejoicing to us; but as yet we only see and understand in part, though it is our privilege to so live that we may know things pertaining to our conduct here as they are understood by more intelligent beings. Let us faithfully improve upon what we do understand.

Can you discern and understand the dealings of the Lord with this people from the beginning? If we can understand this, it is indeed a matter of great rejoicing to us. All intelligent beings who are crowned with crowns of glory, immortality, and eternal lives must pass through every ordeal appointed for intelligent beings to pass through, to gain their glory and exaltation. Every calamity that can come upon mortal beings will be suffered to come upon the few, to prepare them to enjoy the presence of the Lord. If we obtain the glory that Abraham obtained, we must do so by the same means that he did. If we are ever prepared to enjoy the society of Enoch, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or of their faithful children, and of the faithful Prophets and Apostles, we must pass through the same experience, and gain the knowledge, intelligence, and endowments that will prepare us to enter into the celestial kingdom of our Father and God. How many of the Latter-day Saints will endure all these things, and be prepared to enjoy the presence of the Father and the Son? You can answer that question at your leisure. Every trial and experience you have passed through is necessary for your salvation.

The greatest trial this people are under the necessity of bearing is to hold fellowship with false brethren. Which would you choose—to leave your homes, as this people have done in many instances, and suffer yourselves to be driven, and seek new homes, and make new acquaintances in a strange country, or to live in your houses and upon your possessions, and be surrounded with false brethren? That question can be readily answered by every Saint. I can see those in this congregation who were in Missouri when thousands were ready and anxious to kill the few Saints then there; but the Saints would rather suffer all that was suffered there and in other States, than be obliged to live with thieves—with those who would swear falsely against them, and deceive, and be guilty of every kind of abomination. They would rather leave their homes, seek new locations, and make new possessions, than be under the necessity of mingling with, of eating bread and drinking water in the name of Israel’s God, and fellowshipping the ungodly—the wretches who would destroy them from the earth.

Some may think that they have passed through severe trials during the few years past; but so far as my own experience and knowledge go, I have passed through no scenes of trial or sorrow. I have never felt better in my life than I have during two or three years past. I do not know that I have had wicked, unrighteous, or ungodly feelings pertaining to the whole matter, though I may have felt desirous at times to lay righteousness to the line and judgment to the plummet and sweep away the refuge of lies; but that would have only gratified that which pertains to the natural man. I am confident it would not have satisfied that immortal part within us that is pure and holy, but partakes more or less of the weaknesses incident to the fallen portion. I have sometimes had feelings of this kind—“Draw your swords, ye Elders of Israel, and never sheathe them so long as you have an enemy upon the earth.” I sometimes felt before the move, like taking the sword and slaying my enemies, until they were wasted away. But the Lord did not design this, and we have remained in peace and quietness.

Do you see persons who have been in this Church for years, drinking the deathly draught put to their mouths by the wicked? Yes. Have you not seen them forfeit their right and title to the kingdom of God upon the earth, and yield to a paltry, foolish, fallen disposition to do evil? Yes; wives have been called to weep and mourn for their children and husbands, husbands for their wives and children, and children for their parents. The parable of the Savior still holds good—the net still gathers good and bad. There are families here whose husbands and fathers are now preaching the Gospel. They will return by-and-by, and will bring their sheaves with them. Those who have been converted through their labors will follow them, and there will be a few who will be steadfast and live their religion, but not all who are gathered from the nations; for the Gospel net will gather good and bad, and will continue so to do as long as the fishermen cast their net into the sea. Still, a righteous person will never be discouraged, but will constantly contend against his evil passions, and against evil in his family and neighborhood; and the Lord will utterly cleanse his thrashingfloor as with the besom of destruction.

Be not discouraged, for it is a joyful time. Do you have peace and plenty? Yes. We have all the time enjoyed peace and plenty in Great Salt Lake City. Great peace have those who love the law of the Gospel, and nothing shall offend them. Great joy have they who love our Lord Jesus Christ; and great peace do those enjoy who delight in working the works of righteousness. Let the blessings of heaven attend you, is my prayer continually. Be faithful, ye Saints. Contend against evil, and cease not to take every measure to do away with all the evil that is in your midst until God shall sanctify a people and prepare them to dwell in his presence.

Marvel not that we have what are called troubles: marvel not that our enemies seek to destroy us and the kingdom of God from the earth. These persecutions are to prepare the humble and faithful to dwell in the presence of God the Father and his Son, while the vast multitudes of the earth must dwell in the kingdoms prepared for them, but cannot dwell in his presence. If you expect to gain the glory you anticipate, never grieve, nor sorrow, nor mourn at the providences of God when they cause you to suffer, or to part with every earthly object you have. If they cause fathers and mothers to separate from their children, and husbands from their wives, it matters not: God is our Father, and the offspring of Adam are our brothers and sisters. Who is my father, mother, sister, and brother? Those who do the will of my Father in heaven.

God bless you! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, August 19, 1860.

I will bear my testimony to the truths that we have heard this morning. To my understanding, to my feelings, and to the spirit within me, we had a good, sound discourse, about three minutes and a half long, from brother Andrew Moffat. It was right to the point, and every word was a text. We have also had an excellent discourse from brother Hooper: his remarks were sweet to the taste of those who love the truth.

It is a matter of rejoicing to me to have the privilege of bearing my testimony to what we have heard this morning. Brother Andrew Moffat started from here for the States, last fall, on business; and he has labored most admirably in buying cattle and in assisting brother Cannon and others who were engaged in getting up trains, and in so doing has made himself very useful. And I think that he has not neglected, in his business transactions and in his traveling, to let people know that he was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and to bear his testimony of the truth of the Gospel, and at the same time asked no odds of anyone who did not want to hear. This is the feeling of the Elders who are full of the Spirit of God, and what are the wicked going to do about it? The Elders have this assurance within them.

Father Smith, who spoke first this morning, has been in the Church almost from the beginning, but has not gathered with the Saints till this season. In conversation with him the other day, he told me that leading men in New York said that “Mormonism” would be used up at the time the President issued his orders to the troops. Some of them asked what he thought of it? He replied that he did not know what would be done, but the result would be that “Mormonism” would triumph over all its enemies, and in that affray would come out of the top of the heap. This assurance is in every man who lives his religion; but when any begin to doubt, then they begin to think that this is rather a hard religion to live.

All that has been said by brother Hooper about temporal affairs is good. I have lived nearly sixty years, and am acquainted with many portions of the United States, somewhat acquainted with Europe, and historically acquainted with many parts of the world; but, so far as I have traveled and read, this is the best country we were ever in, or can now find, for raising Saints.

The Spirit of the Almighty is being withdrawn from the people; and is it not your prayer that he will gather to Zion all the wisdom, strength, intelligence, and integrity of the earth? This is the prayer of everyone that understands “Mormonism.” What will be their condition when the Spirit of the Lord is withdrawn? They will whet the knife to cut each other’s throats, and, as brother Hooper remarked, try to make Mason and Dickson’s the dividing line; but that will not remain, for they will cross it to destroy each other, and the sword and fire will be prevalent in the land. Says one, “But you are a ‘Mormon,’ and we do not believe anything in ‘Mormonism,’ though we believe that calamities await the people, and that great events are at the threshold.” The world, and particularly the United States, have been told these things during thirty years past; and though no one but myself had warned them, there would not now be a man upon the face of the earth but could have heard the Gospel, if he had been disposed to listen to it. They would have been prepared for what is coming; for any one of these my brethren has said enough to warn the whole world. This frees our garments, for we are bound to do our duty; and then, if they neglect, the blood of their garments will be found in their skirts, not in ours.

Brother Hooper remarked that he had learned that “Mormonism” is true. It is both the duty and privilege of the Latter-day Saints to know that their religion is true. If brother Hooper had yielded to his own natural feelings, he would not have represented us in Congress. Here is a great people, and they wish a man in Congress to represent them in their proper light. Now, who would say that he is capable of doing this? Brother Hooper submitted to the people’s choice, as every man should. Had the choice fallen upon any other, as it did upon brother H. S. Eldredge, who was our first choice previous to the last election for Delegate (but it was thought best to change it), he also would have been able to have done his duty in Congress—to have done whatever the Lord wished to have done. Brother Bernhisel was our Delegate for several years, and are we satisfied with his official course? Yes: he did his duty.

How shall we know what to do? By being obedient to every requirement of the Gospel. Brother Hooper has stated that I promised him the assistance of the Almighty. I did. I laid my hands upon him and blessed him, and told him that he should have dreams and visions, and power with God to know what to do, if he lived his religion; but if he did not, I promised him nothing. He prepared himself to pray; and when a man with a disposition to listen to a truth called upon him, he felt as well as with his friends, and could express his feelings; but if visitors had no place for the truth, the sooner they left the better. Joy filled his bosom, and each time the brethren called to see him was the best time he had. When a man approached him with the Spirit of God, he felt—“This is the man for me: here is the Spirit; here are joy and peace in having fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ and with the Father.” This is the way brother Hooper felt; and just as much confidence as he had in what I told him, so much he received.

Revelation is here poured out every Sabbath. Thank God for it. Am I not happy? Yes, all the time. There is no darkness; and is there any necessity of having sorrow? No. Our religion is peace, happiness, wealth, and a fulness of good things to walk in the light of truth. These blessings are with and for the Latter-day Saints, and we have nothing to do but to live for them.

God has given us our tabernacles, and planted in them the germs of eternity; and it is for us, in this present existence, to let the spirit overcome every passion of the flesh, and never to suffer the spirit to submit to the temptations of the flesh. Labor to bring everything into subjection to Christ, for this is his earth. It came from God in the beginning, and that, too, not by any chances of creation; for all that you see and can comprehend and understand, that is good, is produced by the Almighty Creator of the worlds.

Respect one another; do not speak lightly of each other. Some, if they get a little pique against an individual, are disposed to cast him down to hell, as not worthy of a place upon earth. O fools! not to understand that those you condemn are the workmanship of God, as well as yourselves! God overlooks their weaknesses; and so far as they do good, they are as acceptable as we are. Thank God that you know better, and be full of mercy and kindness. I speak evil of no man; but I hate, with a most cordial hatred, the evil actions of some men. Their or– ganization came from God, but their conduct does not. It is not the persons, but it is their wicked conduct that I despise and hate.

Live your religion. “Mormonism” will triumph, and all hell cannot prevent it; and those that live faithful will be exalted. When people get into the dark, they want to leave; and I do not know but that it is one of God’s foreordinations that as soon as they lose the Spirit they should want to leave. That is just what I want; and I pray that there may be no barrier in their way—that no man may ever stay here, unless he loves God with all his heart.

May the Lord bless you! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, August 19, 1860.

When the preaching is very dry, the Bowery is generally thinly attended; but when the preaching is full of marrow and good things, the Bowery will be full of people. This reminds me of an anecdote. A Presbyterian priest invited an Indian preacher to occupy his pulpit; and when the Indian was through preaching, the priest asked him why the people kept awake during his preaching, remarking that they invariably fell asleep while he was preaching. “I will tell you,” said the Indian: “You feed them with a silver dish and silver spoon; you rap the dish with the spoon, and the ringing sounds put the people to sleep. But the Indian takes his wooden bowl and ladle, and lades out the rich, nourishing succotash to the people, which makes them wide awake, and they want a little more.”

Brother George Q. Cannon has been in the States during two years past, and has done all he could to do good to the people of Utah. He has been faithful, has traveled from place to place, and has accomplished all he possibly could; and what he has not accomplished others have.

You know the history of “Mormonism;” and if this is not the Lord’s work, we had better quit it, for we should derive no benefit from remaining in it. If this is the Church of Christ, God will take care of his people and carry on this work. Brother Cannon stated that one gentleman he conversed with said that there is a power in this work beyond the power of Brigham Young. If we did not know this, we should quickly scatter. All that any man can do is to do his duty. No one possesses power in himself to bear off the work of God and build up the Lord’s kingdom. It is his work, and the Lord will accomplish it by the means he will employ. Brother Cannon has been successful, in the hands of God, in doing good; and so have others. Brothers Hooper and Eldredge have done good.

Brother Eldredge stated that he was not sent on a mission this time. He was not, but I was thankful that he took it in his head to go. We did not know whom to call upon to go and transact business for us in the States. He had crossed the Plains for us so often that I would not call upon him to go, but I was pleased and thankful when he concluded to go and proffered to attend to our business. He has always transacted our business to our satisfaction. I do not know that he has ever dropped a stitch in the net he has woven for us in his business transactions, and that is almost more than I can say of any other man. He has had my faith and prayers, the same as though he had been called. I was determined, if he did go, that he should make the first step towards it. He went, has done good, and all is well; and so have others done good: they have made themselves useful.

While brother Cannon was speaking of the trouble the Gentiles have in providing for their poor, I thought, if they would take my counsel, that I could tell them a better way than they practice. They raise large amounts of means for supporting their poor. It is given to them; they use it up, and are where they were at first. Had they wisdom, they would appoint a man to take charge of the poor and take them into Kansas or Nebraska, or some other locality where land is cheap, and teach them to support themselves. Set the men to ploughing and the women to planting, with a good farmer to show them how, and in a little while they will be able to sustain themselves. Let each Ward of a city do this, until all the able poor are provided with farms and know how to raise their bread; then let them get a few sheep, and manufacture the wool into good, warm, and comfortable clothing, and then raise flax and manufacture it. By pursuing this course, in a few years there would be but few poor in the United States.

The reason we have no poor who are able to work is because we plan to set every person to work at some profitable employment, and teach them to maintain themselves. If a person is not able to take care of himself, we will take care of him. How? Ever since I left my father I have had some of his family to provide for. Ever since I have been in this Church I have never suffered a relative to be maintained by the Church. But some men and women cast their children and other relatives upon the Church. If one has an aged sister who cannot maintain herself, he passes her over to the Church; or if an aged father or mother, why, “let the Church or brother Brigham take care of them and provide for them.” It is a disgrace to every man and woman that has sense enough to live, not to take care of their own relatives, their own poor, and plan for them to do something they are able to do. There are some blind people here who more than maintain themselves. Some old ladies cannot do hard work, but they can darn stockings and do other light work.

There is yet much to be done by the Bishops in these matters, though I have not so much occasion to preach to the Bishops on this subject as I used to have. We have been removing and appointing others who do better. We intend to do this until we have fathers for the people. If a Bishop will act to the extent of his calling and office, and magnify it, there will not be an individual in his Ward that is not employed to the best advantage. He would see that all lived as they should, walking humbly with their God, attending to their prayers, observing the Sabbath day to keep it holy, and ceasing to swear and steal. There would not be a person in his Ward that he does not know, and he would be acquainted with their circumstances, conduct, and feelings. That will be the case by-and-by. We are improving; and by-and-by we shall be quite a well-behaved family, and can hail each other with delight as brethren and sisters, and the Lord will own and bless us as his children.

We are all, both Jew and Gentile, of one common Parent, though now we are divided into various tongues and people having a great diversity of sectional feelings. I am pleased to see national feelings passing away in this community. The spirit of wisdom is so increasing that I think a national feeling is constantly growing less and less in the midst of this Church, though we can still see it in some. If you have the Spirit of God to a fulness, and your eyes are open to see things as they are, you will find that we are but one nation and family—but one people—but one flesh—but one blood, no matter where born.

Put forth your ability to learn as fast as you can, and gather all the strength of mind and principle of faith you possibly can, and then distribute your knowledge to the people. Give them virtue, knowledge, principle, truth, godliness. The Lord is gathering those principles home to Zion from among the wicked nations, and is leaving them in darkness. What a pity it would be for the Lord to gather out all the good, and we be found unworthy of it. We shall be worthy of it, if we live for it; and may the Lord help us so to do!

God bless you! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt City, August 12, 1860.

I fully understand that all Saints constantly, so to speak, pray for each other. And when I find a person who does not pray for the welfare of the kingdom of God on the earth, and for the honest in heart, I am skeptical in regard to believing that person’s religion to be genuine, and his faith I should consider not the faith of Jesus. Those who have the mind of Christ are anxious that it should spread extensively among the people, to bring them to a correct understanding of things as they are, that they may be able to prepare themselves to dwell eternally in the heavens. This is your desire, and is what we continually pray for.

Brother J. V. Long’s discourse this morning was sweet to my taste; and the remarks of brother T. B. H. Stenhouse were very congenial to my feelings and understanding. Brother Long has good command of language, and can readily choose such words as best suit him to convey his ideas.

Brother Stenhouse remarked that the Gospel of salvation is the great foundation of this kingdom—that we have not built up this kingdom, nor established this organization—we have merely embraced it in our faith; that God has established this kingdom, and has bestowed the Priesthood upon the children of men, and has called upon the inhabitants of the earth to receive it, to repent of their sins, and return to him with all their hearts. This portion of his remarks I wish you particularly to treasure up.

If the angel Gabriel were to descend and stand before you, though he said not a word, the influence and power that would proceed from him, were he to look upon you in the power he possesses, would melt this congregation. His eyes would be like flaming fire, and his countenance would be like the sun at midday. The countenance of a holy angel would tell more than all the language in the world. If men who are called to speak before a congregation rise full of the Holy Spirit and power of God, their countenances are sermons to the people. But if their affections, feelings, and desires are like the fool’s eyes, to the ends of the earth, looking for this, that, and the other, and the kingdom of God is far from them, and not in all their affections, they may rise here and talk what they please, and it is but like sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal—mere empty, unmeaning sounds to the ears of the people. I cannot say this of what I have heard today.

Those faithful Elders who have testified of this work to thousands of people on the continents and islands of the seas will see the fruits of their labors, whether they have said five words or thousands. They may not see these fruits immediately, and perhaps, in many cases, not until the millennium; but the savor of their testimony will pass down from father to son. Children will say, “The words of life were spoken to my grandfather and grandmother: they told me of them, and I wish to become a member of the Church. I also wish to be baptized for my father and mother and grandparents;” and they will come and keep coming—the living and the dead; and you will be satisfied with your labors, whether they have been much or little, if you continue faithful.

Brother Long remarked that before he gathered to Zion he had imbibed an idea that the people were all pure here. This is a day of trial for you. If there is anything that should give us sorrow and pain, it is that any of the brethren and sisters come here and neglect to live their religion. Some are greedy, covetous, and selfish, and give way to temptation; they are wicked and dishonest in their dealings one with another, and look at and magnify the faults of everybody, on the right and on the left. “Such a sister is guilty of pilfering; such a brother is guilty of swearing,” &c., “And we have come a long distance to be joined with such a set: we do not care a dime for ‘Mormonism,’ nor for anything else.” The enemy takes the advantage of such persons, and leads them to do that for which they are afterwards sorry. This is a matter of great regret to those who wish to be faithful. But no matter how many give themselves up to merchandising, and love it better than their God, how many go to the gold mines, how many go back on the road to trade with the wicked, or how many take their neighbors’ wood after it is cut and piled up in the canyons, or steal their neighbors’ axes, or anything that is their neighbors. You live your religion, and we shall see the day when we shall tread iniquity under foot. But if you listen to those who practice iniquity, you will be carried away by it, as it has carried away thousands. Let everyone get a knowledge for himself that this work is true. We do not want you to say that it is true until you know that it is; and if you know it, that knowledge is as good to you as though the Lord came down and told you. Then let every person say, “I will live my religion, though every other person goes to hell. I will walk humbly before God, and deal honestly with my fellow beings.” There are now scores of thousands in this Territory who will do this, and who feel as I do on this subject, and we will overcome the wicked. Ten filthy, dirty sheep in a thousand cause the whole flock to appear defiled, and a stranger would pronounce them all filthy; but wash them, and you will find nine hundred and ninety pure and clean. It is so with this people: half-a-dozen horse thieves tend to cause the whole community to appear corrupt in the eyes of a casual observer.

Brother Long said that the Lord will deal out correction to the evildoer, but that he would have nothing to do with it. I do not know whether I shall or not; but I shall not ask the Lord to do what I am not willing to do; and I do not think that brother Long is any more or less ready to do so than I am. Ask any earthly king to do a work that you would not do, and he would be insulted. Were I to ask the Lord to free us from ungodly wretches, and not lend my influence and assistance, he would look upon me differently to what he now does.

You have read that I have had an agent in China to mix poison in the tea, to kill all the nations; that I was at the head of the Vigilance Committee in California; that I managed the troubles in Kansas from the beginning to the end; that there is not a liquor shop or distillery but what Brigham Young dictates it: so state the newspapers. In these and all other accusations of evildoing, I defy them to produce the first show of evidence against me. It is also asserted that President Buchanan and myself concocted the plan for the army to come here, with a view to make money. By-and-by the poor wretches will come bending, and say, “I wish I was a ‘Mormon.’” All the army, with its teamsters, hangers-on, and followers, with the judges, and nearly all the rest of the civil officers, amounting to some seventeen thousand men, have been searching diligently for three years to bring one act to light that would criminate me; but they have not been able to trace out one thread or one particle of evidence that would criminate me. Do you know why? Because I walk humbly with my God and do right, so far as I know how. I do no evil to anyone; and as long as I can have faith in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to hinder the wolves from tearing the sheep and devouring them, without putting forth my hand, I shall do so.

I can say honestly and truly, before God, and the holy angels, and all men, that not one act of murder or disorder has occurred in this city or territory that I had any knowledge of, any more than a babe a week old, until after the event has transpired. That is the reason they cannot trace any crime to me. If I have faith enough to cause the devils to eat up the devils, like the Kilkenny cats, I shall certainly exercise it. Joseph Smith said that they would eat each other up, as did those cats. They will do so here, and throughout the world. The nations will consume each other, and the Lord will suffer them to bring it about. It does not require much talent or tact to get up opposition in these days. You see it rife in communities, in meetings, in neighborhoods, and in cities. That is the knife that will cut down this Government. The axe is laid at the root of the tree, and every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit will be hewn down.

Out of this Church will grow the kingdom which Daniel saw. This is the very people that Daniel saw would continue to grow and spread and prosper; and if we are not faithful, others will take our places; for this is the Church and people that will possess the kingdom forever and ever. Shall we do this in our present condition as a people? No; for we must be pure and holy, and be prepared for the presence of our Savior and God, in order to possess the kingdom. Selfishness, wickedness, bickering, tattling, lying, and dishonesty must depart from the people before they are prepared for the Savior. We must sanctify ourselves before our God.

I wanted to ask brother Long a question this morning—what he had learned in regard to the original sin. Let the Elders who like speculation, find out what it is, if they can, and inform us next Sabbath. Or if you have anything else that is good, bring it along. I wish to impress upon your minds to live your religion, and, when you come to this stand to speak—not to care whether you say five words or five thousand, but to come with the power of God upon you, and you will comfort the hearts of the Saints. All the sophistry in the world will do no good. If you live your religion, you will live with the spirit of Zion within you, and will try by every lawful means to induce your neighbors to live their religion. In this way we will redeem Zion, and cleanse it from sin.

God bless you! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, August 5, 1860.

In instructing the people, I desire and seek to obtain the light of the Spirit of truth, and the power and assistance of God to give me words to so convey my ideas that the hearers can understand me. I have ideas that I deem very valuable, and I wish to so impart them to my fellow beings that they can comprehend them as I do, and, if they will, esteem them as I do, really feeling their worth. It is all I ask. Preachers are in the habit of reading a portion of Scripture for a text, and preaching from it, but seldom upon it. Such discourses as brother Bywater and brother Kimball gave us this forenoon, and such as you generally hear from this stand, would serve those preachers a long time, for they are all texts. We have not time to show wherein an Apostle or Prophet meant thus and so, but we pour out the words of life to the people, as did the Apostles and Prophets anciently.

No man ever preached a Gospel sermon, except by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. Without this power, there is no light in the preaching. Brother Bywater remarked that he did not desire a man of God, when he arose to speak to the people, to say, “Thus saith the Lord God Almighty,” or “Thus saith Jesus Christ.” People who require this, or who constantly require written revelation, have not a correct conception of revelation and its Spirit. What do the present professing Christian world know about the words of the Lord that came to Jeremiah, Isaiah, and other ancient Prophets? They read and hear without understanding much; they have not a true conception of the truth or principle of what they are reading. Is this the case with the Latter-day Saints? It is more or less the case with those who are continually desiring to have “Thus saith the Lord,” and more written revelations. Those who possess the Spirit of revelation know the voice of the Good Shepherd when they hear it, and a stranger they will not follow. They discern the difference between the spirit and power of the Gospel and the precepts of men. When they hear truth poured upon the people, in comparison like the cataract of Niagara, they do not want “Thus saith the Lord,” for it carries with it its own evidence, and is revelation to the believer. They understand, and the fountain within them springs up to everlasting life; they are happy partakers of the peace of God through the administration of his servants, and of the truths the Lord dispenses; and they receive truth upon truth, light upon light, which cheers and comforts their hearts day by day. If you wish to understand the true principles of revelation, live for it: there is no other way of obtaining eternal life.

Our spirits were pure and holy when they entered our tabernacles; and if they have been defiled, it has been by the influence of Satan, through the weakness of the flesh. There is a constant warfare, and in the great majority of cases the flesh overcomes the spirit. In the few cases where the spirit overcomes the flesh, it yields obedience to the whisperings of the eternal Spirit of truth, which elevates it above the power of all unholy desires and passions.

Is there anything on this earth you could not dispense with, for the sake of the Gospel? There should not be.

Our bodies are organized to derive enjoyment from their proper use. There is enjoyment in eating when you are hungry, and in resting when you are fatigued, to the extent the body rightly requires; but if appetite is so gratified that your body, when you wake, is tormented with a raging fever, where is the pleasure in eating so much of this or that delicious food? Satisfying the appetite brings to an end the pleasure of eating; and where food is partaken chiefly to gratify the pleasurable sensation derived from eating, disease is gendered, and true misery springs out of this unwise gratification. Some healthy, strong-constitutioned persons can eat large quantities of food with apparent impunity; but, in so doing, the tax they place upon their systems will ultimately bring disease and death. Those who have suffered excessive thirst while passing over plains and deserts realize that there is no blessing that is greater than cold water. When the system is thus parched for want of the proper supply of moisture to sustain the continual perspiration it is subject to, is there any luxury on the earth that can excel pure, cold water? Though, in case of excessive thirst and consequent exhaustion, care is required not to drink too freely, until the system is cooled, and becomes gradually imbued with this life-restoring element. But through the use of water, by-and-by your thirst comes to an end, and you feel as though you had not been thirsty in your lives: the enjoyment has passed away.

Now, compare the greatest of earthly joys with the joys you receive in believing in Jesus Christ and obeying the Gospel he has delivered to the children of men. It is sweeter than the honeycomb; and to those who live according to it, it gives constant joy—a lasting feast, not merely for an hour or a day, but for a whole life and throughout eternity. The appetite is always keen, and there is always plenty for it to feast upon. This is my experience. The revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ are sweeter than honey or the honeycomb. We can eat, and continue to eat; drink, and continue to drink. Is there durable satisfaction? Yes. I am in the height of my enjoyment. All the pleasure and all the joy that can be bestowed upon a finite being is in the Gospel of salvation, through the Spirit of revelation, upon the creature—upon the Saint of God—old or young, male or female. Not that this comparison fully conveys the idea; for the language of mortals fails to fully portray the joys of the Gospel of life everlasting.

Cease not to do good, but let the Saints cease to do evil and live for God and God alone, and their fleshly appetites and passions will not be in their way. Learn to overcome and control self. It is impossible for me to preach the sermon contained in this text; but let all live the life of a Saint, and they will understand it by-and-by. Let each person be determined, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to overcome every besetment—to be the master of himself, that the spirit God has put in your tabernacles shall rule; then you can converse, live, labor, go here or there, do this or that, and converse and deal with your brethren as you ought. If you have a chastisement for any, you can deliver it in the spirit of meekness. If you are abused, trampled upon, or in any way imposed upon—if men take a course to injure you or your property or feelings, you can treat such conduct as you should, for you live above the channel of selfishness, pride, and every worldly vanity that some men walk in. This is the privilege of all the Saints.

Law is made for the lawless. Let the Saints live their religion, and there is not a law that can justly infringe upon them. They are subject to the powers that be, by living so pure that no law can touch them. Let them live their religion, and they keep the celestial law, so far as it is revealed. There is no law against doing good. There is no law against love. There is no law against serving God. There is no law against charity and benevolence. There is no law against the principles of eternal life. Live them, and no righteous law of man can reach you. The wicked and ungodly can injure the Saints, as they have done all through the history of this world; they can persecute and kill Saints. The wicked said there was no law that would condemn Joseph Smith, for he never transgressed the law; but, said they, Powder and ball will reach him; and they assassinated him. It is the privilege of all Saints to live as he did, that no law in heaven or upon earth can condemn them. It is our privilege to say, every day in our lives, “That is the best day I ever lived.” Never let a day so pass that you will have cause to say, “I will live better tomorrow,” and I will promise you, in the name of the Lord Jesus, that your lives will be as a well of water springing up to everlasting life. You will have his Spirit to dwell in you continually, and your eyes will be open to see, your ears to hear, and your understandings to comprehend.

I will take a text, and I want the people to preach upon it. The brethren cast the seed into the ground, and, so far as we have knowledge, the Lord has given them a bountiful increase.

Brethren and sisters, old and young, here and throughout the world wherever there is a Saint, when righteousness and peace are sown in your hearts, I ask you, for yourselves, for the inhabitants of the earth, for the good of the prosperity of the kingdom of God, and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to water the good seed sown, that the Lord may give you an increase. Let wisdom be sown in your hearts, and let it bring forth a bountiful harvest. It is more profitable to you than all the gold and silver and other riches of earth. Let wisdom spring up in your hearts, and cultivate it. Ask God to help you to live to his glory every day, and when night comes you cannot say you could have bettered it. There are thousands of this community that so live every day that when night comes, they could not have bettered it. That is a consolation. Let us induce all to live so, and we shall have power over Satan, over the powers of the earth, and over all the influences that hell wishes to pour upon us.

Shall we try to cultivate our minds, our feelings, the talent God has given us, so that we may improve continually and grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth, and cultivate wisdom in ourselves, and so live that we can truthfully say, today, that we are masters over every appetite? The person that wants the whiskey, cannot you do without it? Which would you part with first—your tobacco, your whiskey, or your religion? Your tea, or your religion? Which would you shake hands with and bid goodbye forever—your coffee, or your religion? I should think I had disgraced the man that stands before you this day, if I loved any object on the earth better than I love my religion and my God. If we are not willing to live up to every requirement of the Gospel, we more or less disgrace our profession and being.

The woman that says, “I will follow my husband to hell,” will have the privilege. The man that says, “I will follow a woman to hell, but what I will have her,” will have the privilege of following her there. It is a disgrace to a Saint to love anything that he would not drop or forsake for his religion. Love your religion better than anything else. Love your God. Life everlasting is all in all to us. Indulgence of appetite is not worthy the notice of men and women, though the body must be sustained, for that is a duty God has placed upon us.

Let us honor God, and prepare to embrace our Father and the family connection we were associated with at the time we left the spirit world to come here, and to be more familiar with them when we leave this world than we now are with one another. Live so as to enjoy each other’s society hereafter in the light of eternal day; which may God grant. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, August 5, 1860.

I rejoice in the Gospel of salvation. It is the first of all things upon this earth to me and to everyone who has received its fulness and the light and glory of the Spirit that accompanies it.

I have been highly gratified with the remarks just made by brother Bywater: they were truthful and to the point. Also, to what brother Kimball has just said, my heart responds, Amen.

In teaching the ways of life and salvation, a teacher seldom fully explains all the ideas he advances, and the light of the Spirit is necessary for their comprehension. I frequently throw out a part of an idea, or an idea without explanation; and some will understand, while others do not. The Spirit of the Gospel is the fountain of salvation; the Spirit of revelation attends the Gospel, and without that Spirit no man can understand it. Brother Bywater alluded to the consistency of the system adopted by this people; yet it is a great mystery to that portion of the inhabitants of the earth who do not fall in love with the truth and embrace it in their faith.

False ideas and false principles are as tenaciously adhered to by those who imbibe them in their faith as is the truth by those who love it. I presume that the worshippers of idols in China, Japan, Hindostan, &c., were we to enter their congregations and tell them that our religion differs from theirs, would be as astonished as we are that they see and understand things as they do. They are as tenacious of and as sanguine in their belief—as enthusiastic in their religion as ever a true Saint was or can be in his. When I contemplate the endless variety in the dispositions, understandings, temperaments, countenances, and organizations of people, I am not surprised that there are those who do not understand things as I do. I expect people to have their own peculiar views, forms, principles, and notions. In consequence of this great variety, we should not be astonished if all do not believe the Gospel—do not love the truth.

When Jesus was on the earth, he reproved sin, taught righteousness, strove to save the Jews, and deliver the Gospel to the nations of the earth; but the Jews could or would not understand things as they were. He came to save, not to destroy; but the Jews took a course through which they were afflicted and scattered among the nations of the earth, and brought upon themselves that which they said—“Let this man’s blood be upon us and our children,” though he was not disposed to destroy, but to save them. Stephen prayed that those who stoned him might be forgiven, as they knew not what they did. Jesus so prayed for those who assisted in and consented to his death, when he was crucified for the sins of the world. He was not astonished that all people did not believe. They would not come unto him that they might be saved; they would not come to the light that their deeds might be reproved.

It may be asked, Can people come to the light? Yes, all can, that their evil deeds may be reproved—that they may forsake their iniquities and receive the truth. But will all do so? No. Will all people believe the truth? They will not. Cannot the inhabitants of the earth submit to the Gospel? They can. Will they? No, they will not. Is there a conviction upon the minds of the people, when they have heard the Gospel preached, and where they have heard of it? Is there a conviction conveyed by the Holy Spirit that this is the Gospel of salvation? There is; and it cannot be denied without falsifying the truth. This has caused the persecution we have received. We are chastised for our sins, and by this means we are brought to understanding. We have been persecuted because there is a conviction, so far as they have heard the Gospel preached, that we have the truth. This is the cause of the opposition against us.

Would a priest of any denomination oppose “Mormonism,” if he was not convinced that it is true? No. Were a man to come into this congregation and relate something that every man, woman, and child present knew to be false, who would take the trouble to disprove it? We all know the statement to be false; consequently, we will not take pains to oppose it. On the other hand, were there no conviction in the sound of the Gospel to the minds of the people—that it is true—that it is of and from God, who would take pains to oppose it? Let a person go into a congregation of Methodists and try to prove that Jesus was an impostor, that every system of religion is false, and that the Bible is a matter of speculation got up by selfish divines expressly for their own benefit; and who in that congregation would deem it worth while to oppose views so erroneous to the minds of those who have heard, from Sabbath to Sabbath, the doctrines of the Gospel preached, so far as they understand them? No one, because to them the speaker’s views would be so obviously false.

No man can disprove a truth. This is why people are angry, and why they contend against facts. They are fearful, and say at once, “If this system is true, all others must fail.” Why not rather every man rise up and say, “Let God be true, let the truth remain, and let me know the truth; that is what I want—I will submit to it; and let every false theory and principle fall, to rise no more?” Will they do this? No, they will not.

With regard to people’s being confined—cramped—contracted, in their liberties in the midst of these people, all that is required of anyone is to cease to do evil and learn to do well. Brother Bywater observed that he had never been in the least contracted, controlled, or in any way infringed upon, with regard to doing good; neither has any man or woman in this community. But there is a certain class here that say, “We want so-and-so, such a piece of ground, or such other kind of property;” and because they are not always gratified, right or wrong, they say that they are curtailed in their liberty, and allege that they are abused. Permit them to have their way, and what do they do, or want to? Some of them wish to open grog shops, and have the people patronize them, and get drunk. They wish to put the cup to your lips and pour the strong drink down your throats, caring only for what is in your pockets. They remind me of a Methodist priest in Iowa, after a good collection. The money was on the table, and he wished the people to sing; so he struck up, “This is the God we adore.”

Others, of the class alluded to, wish to establish brothels in our settlements; and because we will not permit it, they assert that they are curtailed in their liberties and privileges. That class wish to scandalize the name of every Saint on the earth, and ridicule the name and character of the God we adore and serve; but we will not permit them to do it here. They wish to ride through our streets blaspheming, and damning everything and everybody that does not bow to their corrupt practices; and because we will not permit it, they say that they are oppressed and curtailed in their privileges. Oh, how they are oppressed! They have not the privilege of serving the Devil quite as much as they want to. They do not enjoy quite as much privilege to steal our property, our horses, &c., as they wish to.

Do our enemies love the truth? No; they love lies, and make them. It is acknowledged all the time that there are evildoers here; but are they Saints? No. I am not going to give up the ship, or forsake my religion, because there are those who do evil. I will stick to the old ship Zion until every passenger, the crew, and every officer on board are holy and live to God; and, God and good men being my helpers, we will conquer, and we will run the ship into harbor—the haven of rest. Be encouraged, all good men and women, and all you grumblers and complainers, who think that you are curtailed and oppressed, and do not enjoy liberty here, go elsewhere and get all the liberty you can. We do not want you here; but if you stay, do not take the name of God in vain, nor endeavor to corrupt and abuse everybody within your reach.

We have some drunkards who halloo in the streets, and we bear with them, and intend to as long as we can; and when we can bear no longer, we will disfellowship them. We have men who are dishonest, and are as yet obliged to have them; for the net gathers in the good and the bad. We have the meanest and the best mixed together.

The Gospel we preach is the Gospel of salvation. It is the power of God sent down from heaven. The Spirit of life, intelligence, and reve– lation is in it, and all who do not possess that Spirit do not enjoy our holy religion.

May God bless you! Amen.