Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, July 29th, 1860.

Here is a congregation of Saints who have forsaken all they formerly esteemed near and dear, for the sake of the knowledge of the holy Gospel of salvation; and when an Elder of Israel rises to speak to you, how many are paying attention to what he says? People are, in comparison, like little children who have to be frequently cautioned not to throw articles into the fire—not to cut or mar the furniture, and requiring almost constant watchcare and instruction. In like manner, the young, middle-aged, and old require to be taught every Sabbath, every day, and all the time, as it is written—“Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another.”

We are but babes in the Gospel of life and salvation, take this people as a whole. What poet, who understands things as they are, would write—“Bear the cross and despise the shame?” It is a cross to the feelings of many to acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ. “Take up your cross, brother, and bear it, and you shall wear the crown.” What cross? If the eyes of a person were opened to see the eternal principles that pertain to the worlds that are, that were, and that will be, and the Gods that dwell upon those planets we behold, would he talk about a cross—about despising the shame? What is the shame? Where is it? Miserable, filthy individuals, full of the principles of death, point the finger of scorn at those who confess that Jesus is the Christ. Will you regard their scorn? No. Pity the ignorant creatures who are bound to ruin. To a man devoted to God, and endowed with the fine feelings and principles of life everlasting, the pointing, by the wicked, of the finger of scorn at one who acknowledges that Jesus is the Christ—at one who believes in God the Father and in Jesus the Mediator, is not worthy of the least regard. Do you despise those who scorn and ridicule the righteous? No; for in comparison they are no more than the dust, or the smallest insect you can behold with your best microscopes.

True, the human family are endowed with the germ of life; but who is capable of preserving that life—of preserving his identity?

When we talk about sinners, Saints, the world, Christ, men of God, men of the world, men of science, men of talent, and kings on their thrones, every person that understands the Gospel of salvation realizes that more glory and honor are attached to his character and calling than to all the man-made kings ever crowned upon the earth.

When I reflect upon these things and realize them, it is impossible for me to answer my feelings before the people. You frequently hear me express a wish that I had a voice to penetrate the heart of every being upon the earth. But if I had the power to speak to them, and the ability to convey my ideas in language so plain that children could not misunderstand, speaking to all in their own language, I should still come far short and be obliged to say, “My soul is burdened, because I have no place to pour it out.” That is the situation of angels and Prophets who have gone behind the veil. Here are persons who have been in this Church from the beginning. Do they so live that the heavens are open to them? Or are they still of the earth, earthy? Are they groveling in the darkness that covers the nations of the earth? This inquiry you may answer for yourselves. Perhaps some will say they have a reason to be discouraged. This people have not received, improved, grown, and enlarged in their capacities as fast as they should have done. I am not accusing any individual; but, as a community, we have not improved and increased in the knowledge of God and godliness according to our privileges. Am I discouraged? I am not. Does my heart fail me? Am I ready to say that the kingdom of God is broken, and there is no salvation for the people? By no means. If I live as long as Enoch lived, who walked with the Lord three hundred and sixty-five years, can I then see a people prepared to enter at once in the celestial world? No. Many may think that Enoch and his whole city were taken from the earth directly into the presence of God. That is a mistaken idea. If, within three hundred and sixty-five years, I can see a people capable of surmounting every sin, of overcoming every evil and effect of sin to such a degree as to be separated in the flesh from the sinful portion of the world and from all the effects of the fall—a great people as pure and holy as were the people of Enoch, I should not complain, and, perhaps, have no cause to. Yet, in the latter days, God will cut short his work in righteousness.

Do you understand that what the Lord will perform in the latter days will be done quicker than in the former days? He suffered Noah to occupy one hundred and twenty years in building the ark. Were he to command us to build an ark, he would not allow so long a time for completing it. On account of the work’s being hastened in our time, I have good reason to urge upon the people the necessity of their living their religion every moment—of their increasing in faith, in wisdom, in knowledge, and in power to forsake all bad habits—to say to all who are in the habit of doing wrong, of getting angry, of contending with their neighbors, and abusing them with their tongues, and abusing themselves, Refrain from your evil ways. “We will,” say they; but in a very short time many are engaged in their former evil practices, like the child’s whittling the furniture. It appears as though such persons were glued to the world, and will love and worship it. When they learn the truth, they will learn that it is a folly for a man to love gold and silver, goods and chattels, or any other kind of property and possessions. One that places his affections upon such things does not understand that they are made for the comfort of the creature, and not for his adoration. They are made to sustain and preserve the body while procuring the knowledge and wisdom that pertain to God and his kingdom, in order that we may preserve ourselves, and live forever in his presence.

When the Elders address you from this stand, how many of those who seem to be listening hear and understand? Are most of the congregation thinking about what they design to do tomorrow? Are the sisters planning their weaving and spinning for tomorrow? Are the brethren planning to go to the canyons tomorrow? Do you know that it is your privilege to so live that your minds may all the time be perfectly within your control? That you may be so well schooled in the knowledge of your religion, that your minds are as perfectly under your control as are your bodies, except when they are nervous? Persons taking too strong tea or coffee, or too much whiskey, have not that control over themselves that they should have, because they become too weak. Study to preserve your bodies in life and health, and you will be able to control your minds. And when you come to meeting, bring your minds with you. After all our experience and the knowledge the Lord has given us, but few can take their minds to meeting. Others have their minds here before them; their affections and feelings are at the assembly of the Saints, and they want their bodies there also, to enjoy themselves. That class come here to pay attention, and to understand all that is said to them. Others come here with their bodies, but where are their affections? Upon the labors of the coming week. “I do not know how I shall get my adobies tomorrow, or how I shall get my timber out of the canyon.” Or, “I have a fence to build, to secure my field before the crop is destroyed,” &c., &c.; and the mind is not in the meeting.

Can you understand that we are behind our privileges? I know the argument that arises in the minds of the people—“I am bound to provide for myself.” I wish that obligation rested stronger on some than it does. “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” That is the argument, and yet some will sell their last bushel of wheat, and then come to me, or to others of the brethren, and beg. They will peddle off every particle of substance God has given them for their sustenance. It is our duty to be economical, to go to meetings, to the canyons, and to build, plant, and do everything required of us to build up the kingdom of God on the earth; but the first duty is to learn how to sustain ourselves. The people have not yet learned that, though they are learning it. One may plough, plant, water, and till, but have no increase. Another person sows a field with wheat, but cannot get water for it, and goes to this neighborhood and that to attend to a little Church business; and when harvest time arrives, he reaps an abundant harvest. The man who took the water has no wheat, and the one who labored, as his Bishop called upon him, for the benefit of the people, has a good crop. This is a lesson the people are learning, that God gives the increase.

How the world hate us! How they despise the kingdom of God! How they have sought to destroy it! How they exclaim—“What ignorant, degraded beings the Mormons are!” The insignificant, low, degraded, contemptible opinion they have of the Latter-day Saints does not reach the depth of the low, miserable degradation that they themselves are in. But do we despise them? No; we pity them. “Pity them?” Yes, pity them. They are flesh of your flesh, bone of your bone. God “hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth;” consequently, they are flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone. They profess to despise us, but they are not able to think as meanly of us as we know them to be, and we pity them. We seek to do them good. They are endowed with capacity to learn and practice principles that will preserve them on the earth, in the world of spirits, and after the resurrection; but they are abusing their talent, and they are to be pitied.

All who understand the principles of eternal life look upon their fellow beings with a watchful eye, and their hearts are filled with deep anxiety for their welfare. They anxiously desire that people would see and understand what pertains to eternal life. It is highly gratifying to the Lord, to angels, and to all good men, to see intelligent beings organized to receive a great amount of intelligence—seeking to possess eternal life. On the other hand, how sad it is to see them wasting their time with trifles, and directing their steps to eternal death! How delightful it would be to see them pursuing the way of life—to preserve both the body and spirit, and in the resurrection to see their noble spirits reunited with their bodies and coming into the presence of God to live forever! There are men here who look upon us as being of an organization inferior to that of the generality of the people of the world. If I did not pity them, I should be chagrined at myself.

Contrast the course this people are pursuing with that of the world. All ye inhabitants of the earth, hearken and hear! God has, in our day, spoken from the heavens; he has bestowed his holy Priesthood on the children of men; he has called upon all people to repent; and here are the few who have left all for the sake of the eternal life proffered to them, and their course is upward and onward to eternal increase. Do this people know more than they did a few years ago? Yes; every day’s experience adds to your amount of knowledge: you are treasuring up knowledge and wisdom. The children raised in this Church are more than a match, in spiritual matters, for the kings, princes, governors, senators, representatives, and all the reputed wise men of Egypt. And the boys from twenty to twenty-five years of age, who have been raised in this community, who have enjoyed the teachings of the Prophet Joseph, will outweigh, in intelligence in relation to national policy, the Congress of the United States, with the President at their head.

Your course is onward and upward, although you do not improve as rapidly as you should. You should walk continually in the light of God’s countenance, and no more walk in darkness. Were such the case, would you hear of any contention—of those little, frivolous, trifling difficulties that now too frequently occur? Would you hear, “The world is something to me!” “My farm is something to me!” “My goods are something to me!” “My heart is upon the things of this world!” “I must provide for my family,” &c.? There are but few of this people, in comparison, who yet know how to provide for a wife and two children. What of the world? Are they any more capable of providing for themselves than are this people? In the world you will find many more, in proportion, who know less, and are less capable of taking care of themselves.

I wish you to thoroughly under– stand economy, and how to preserve your bodies. I wish you to fully understand the principles of natural life. How necessary it is that you should know them for your own benefit, and that you may be able to teach them to your children, which you should do all the time. Be careful of your bodies; be prudent in laying out your energies, for when you are old you will need the strength and power you are now wasting. Preserve your lives. Until you know and practice this, you are not thoroughly good soldiers nor wise stewards. Learn how to do good—how to do right. Work righteousness, and build yourselves up in the faith of the Gospel.

In the ordinance we here attend to in the afternoon, we show to the Father that we remember Jesus Christ, our elder brother: we testify to him that we are willing to take upon us his name. When we are doing this, I want the minds here as well as the bodies. I want the whole man here when you come to meeting. “Is that the way you come?” Yes, it is the way I go everywhere, when I go from home. When I leave home, I dismiss it from my thoughts. “Is not your mind upon your family?” When I pray, I ask God to bless and preserve them; and then, whether he does or not, it is all the same to me. I do not trouble my mind about anything but the business before me. That is the way for us to conquer this weakness in us, and take our minds with us. Then, when you come to meeting, you know what is said, and what this ordinance is for. Then, when you are baptized, you know what it is for. Whatever duty you are called to perform, take your minds with you; and apply them to what is to be done. You may leave your selfishness when you start to meeting, but take yourselves. And if your minds are reaching after this, that, or the other, tell those ideas to stay away. You may feel anxious about your fields, about your crops, or about going to the canyons; but bid those thoughts depart, for you want to go to meeting to worship the Lord, and wish to drop all care while at meeting. Then, when the time comes, go to the canyons and to your other avocations, and do not let anything else interrupt you. That is the way to live.

May God bless you! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, July 22, 1860.

It is a great privilege to enjoy the society of the Saints. We are in possession of great blessings and privileges, if we can but realize it. No person can realize the blessings, or understand the providences of God, unless he has the light of the Spirit of God. Without that Spirit, a person is dissatisfied, though he be constantly privileged with the society of the Saints, and all his transactions and associations are with them. With that Spirit, a person placed in the society of the wicked, unless duty requires it, is sorrowful, uneasy, and unhappy: he is not filled with the joy and peace he delights in. He desires to see the face of a Saint, to hear the voice of a Saint, and to be associated with those who love God.

How many are there here who do not like to pass by a camp of emigrants, but much prefer, if they could do so with impunity in regard to the feelings of their brethren, to go into the camp, sit down and chat, apparently with a filial feeling towards those who regard not the things of God—who treat lightly everything that is sacred? The name and character of the Being we worship they hold in derision; and yet how many of this community delight in such society? They do not realize the blessings conferred upon them. How many desire to mingle with the ungodly?

It may be asked, and with pro– priety, “Is it not reasonable, right, and our duty to associate with the wicked?” Yes, when duty requires it. I presume that Jesus had no hesitancy in his feelings or in his faith, when the time came, to fill his mission to the dark and benighted spirits in prison. But do you think that he visited those spirits because he delighted in their society? Every person will at once answer, “No.” He did not visit those spirits, nor have a desire to preach to them, until his body lay in the grave. That was the appointed time, and he refused not, but said, “Not my will, but thine, O God, be done: now is the time for me to preach to the spirits in prison.”

But you can see persons who call themselves Latter-day Saints composedly listening, and that, too, with apparent delight, to those who are blaspheming the name of God. How do you feel about such conduct? Take this community, as they are, and place them in heaven, and do you think they would be satisfied to stay there? They would be in complete misery; and yet we are called Saints. It is easy to see that this people are not yet prepared to enter into the fulness of the glory, power, exaltation, and excellency of the knowledge, wisdom, light, and intelligence of heavenly things that they expect to enjoy when Jesus will be revealed from heaven. A father says, “I cannot part with my son,” when the son is a miserable, drunken, swearing thief; and a son, who has a beastly, low, and debauched father, says, “I must have my father with me.” Do you not see, at a glance, that if the Savior was now here, those persons would prefer to walk hand in hand, and then must join hands with some others of like character, and they must join with a crowd worse still, and they with another still worse, until they muster in the hosts of hell, and march with them; they will not part from each other. Do you not, then, see the situation of many in this community?

Who among you realizes the blessings we are privileged with? Glory, immortality, eternal wisdom, and eternal existence are on one hand; darkness, night, death, pain, damnation, and hell are on the other; and some would like to join those opposing principles, and are striving to do so.

The Elders exhort you to refrain from every evil, to be careful, prudent, faithful, and wise, and to learn how to sustain your mortal career—how to preserve your bodies. Will you give heed? Not all of you. The Elders of Israel may preach themselves to death, and still fools will sell their last kernel of grain for whiskey, or for a song, and, so far as they are concerned, let their families die of want. I greatly desire to see you all so live that you can understand the blessings God bestows on us, the organization of the spirit and the body, and the germ of eternal intelligence that is planted within us to increase. I would like to have all understand that the Lord has sent forth the plan of salvation expressly to enable mankind to overcome the sin sown in the flesh, and exalt themselves with the faithful who have gone before to dwell with angels and Gods.

We cannot alter our position, only as we live for such change as we desire, and prevail upon our friends to follow our example. Here are thousands of the brethren who are anxious to preach the Gospel to the world, declare what they understand pertaining to eternal life, and gather their scores and thousands, with what result? The saving of a portion of the whole number, while the rest will be prepared for eternal destruction. Is it not grievous? How many there are who have been taken like infants, as it were, from foreign countries and from the States, and been helped, fed, clothed, and nourished, and yet have turned round and become our greatest enemies! Is not such folly sickening to the soul, and an abhorrence to every feeling? Mankind have the privilege of eternal life—the privilege to prepare themselves to dwell in the presence of the Father and Son—to dwell in eternal burnings, where all is pure and holy. No sin—no corruption can dwell there. Sin came through the fall, and death by sin; and they are warring against our spirits now in tabernacles, which warfare continues from childhood to death; and who will overcome?

A propensity to evil seems to be sown more strongly in the natures of some than it is in others. One seems to love strong drink better than he loves his life; it is sweeter to him than is the cooling stream, and he is overcome through the weakness of the flesh. Who has the greatest reason to be thankful to his God—the man that has no strong passion or evil appetite to overcome, or the one that tries day by day to overcome, and yet is overtaken in fault? The power of his strength, faith, and judgment is overcome, and he is found in fault through his evil propensities, though he is striving, day after day, and night after night, to overcome. Who has reason to be the most thankful? The being that has comparatively no strong passion to overcome ought constantly to walk in the vale of humility, rather than boast of his righteousness over his brother. We are under obligation, through the filial feeling and ties of humanity, to more or less fellowship those who do evil. We must endure this until the Lord shall see fit to separate the wheat from the chaff—until the righteous are gathered out, and the wicked are bound in bundles prepared for the burning—until the sheep are separated from the goats. Those who have not strong passions to contend with, day by day, and year by year, should walk in the vale of humiliation; and if brethren and sisters are overtaken in fault, your hearts should be filled with kindness—with brotherly, angelic feeling—to overlook their faults as far as possible.

Where persons wish to go to the States, to California, or elsewhere, to gather riches and return, they still have a desire to drink of the bitter cup and mingle with the ungodly that will give them sorrow. If understood, to associate with the Saints is one of the greatest blessings we can enjoy upon the earth. I should be much pleased, and so would you, were we to never again hear the name of God taken in vain. And I have thought, for years and years, that if the Lord had plenty of labor for me to do in the midst of the Saints, I would be well satisfied to never again place my eyes upon a human being who hates God and righteousness. Why not live perfectly satisfied to look only upon the Saints—upon our brethren and sisters—the old, the young, the middle-aged, and the children, whose faces smile and glow with that heavenly expression through which the Spirit of the Lord is beaming? I would be well satisfied not to be required to ever again see the face of a devil. Why not so live in time, and through eternity? A certain class would refrain from mingling with the wicked, while others delight to mingle with them: they long to know what is in the world, and present plausible arguments for their desire. Our children plausibly state, “We know nothing of the world; we know nobody but ‘Mormons.’” It is sufficient to mingle with the wicked when duty requires.

The providences of God are over all the works of his hands, and it is our privilege to so live that we can understand those providences, and understand his design in the creation of all things. His watchcare is over all his work, and he turns, overturns, and changes at his pleasure. It is our privilege to understand this; and if we do, and practice in accordance therewith, we are the best people upon the face of the earth. We enjoy privileges that no other people on earth enjoy; and the greatest of all is to enjoy communion with our Father and his Son Jesus Christ. There is no blessing equal to that, whether it is enjoyed in palaces or in prisons, in wandering in the mountains, or passing our time pleasurably in great cities. Whoever the Lord Almighty enlightens and fills with the joy of the upper world is happy: the Spirit, the joy, the peace, and the comfort are within them.

We are to learn how to enjoy the things of life—how to pass our mortal existence here. There is no enjoyment, no comfort, no pleasure, nothing that the human heart can imagine, with all the spirit of revelation we can get, that tends to beautify, happify, make comfortable and peaceful, and exalt the feelings of mortals, but what the Lord has in store for his people. He never objected to their taking comfort. He never revealed any doctrine, that I have any knowledge of, but what in its nature is calculated to fill with peace and glory, and lift every sentiment and impulse of the heart above every low, sad, deathly, false, and groveling feeling. The Lord wishes us to live that we may enjoy the fulness of the glory that pertains to the upper world, and bid farewell to all that gloomy, dark, deathly feeling that is spread over the inhabitants of the earth.

My brother Joseph, before “Mormonism” came to us, was a man of a sad heart, seeking to find in the Bible the principles of eternal life. He once said to me, “Brother Brigham, there are no Bible Christians upon the face of the earth, and I do not see any possible escape for the human family. According to the writings of the Old and New Testaments, all must go to perdition.” I do not suppose that he had a smile on his countenance for years. I said to him, “You and I believe in God and in the Bible. We suppose the Bible to be true, or at least the most of it. I admit it to be true, and admit that there is a God. We have always been taught so, and that we have a just God, if we have any. I believe in a just, holy, equitable Being; and if the Gospel is not on the earth, my feelings are to do about the best I can; and when I am through, I shall be in the hands of the same God in whose hands I have been all the time, and I will risk it. I did not produce myself—I did not cause my existence. A being superior to me has done this; and if I do as well as I know how, I will then risk all in his hands, and be perfectly contented and satisfied. I shall go with a cheerful countenance, and shall pass through the world as cheerfully as I can, making the best of it.” But there was more or less of a gloom over my feelings from the earliest days of my childhood that I have in any recollection, until I heard the everlasting Gospel declared by the servants of God—until I heard men testify, by the power of the Holy Ghost, that the Book of Mormon is true, that Joseph Smith is a true Prophet of the Lord, who had revealed the holy Priesthood from heaven, had established his Church, was going to gather Israel, and was coming to judgment. Under that preaching the gloom vanished, and has not since troubled me for a moment.

The dark shade of the valley of death is over the nations of the earth; the veil of the covering is over them; they are hid from the presence of the Lord. They do not behold his glory—they do not understand his providences; the fear of death is over them, and it is a dark shadow. That was over me, and I made the best of it. But “Mormonism” has opened up light. Removing the curtain from the broad sunshine, it has lighted up the souls of hundreds of thousands, and they have been made to rejoice in the light of truth. Continue to be faithful to your calling. It is your privilege and duty to so live as to be able to understand the things of God. There are the Old and New Testaments, the Book of Mormon, and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, which Joseph has given us, and they are of great worth to a person wandering in darkness. They are like a lighthouse in the ocean, or a fingerpost which points out the road we should travel. Where do they point? To the fountain of light. Joseph has gone to the spirit world: he is on his way to his glory and exaltation, and all his sayings, from first to last, lead us to the fountain of light, where we can understand for ourselves and walk in the light. That is what these books are for. They are of God; they are valuable and necessary: by them we can establish the doctrine of Christ. I never asked for any book when I was preaching to the world, but the Old and New Testaments to establish everything I preached, and to prove all that was then necessary—that it was the duty of the people to throw off their sins, cast evil from them, return to the Lord their God, embrace the fulness of the Gospel, be baptized for the remission of sins, receive the Holy Ghost, and then go forward in all the commandments and requirements of heaven, walking in the light of eternal truth.

Our duty is to make the best of our present position. We have the Gospel of life and salvation, to make bad men good and good men better. We are to preach, exhort, expound, continue in our duty, be fervent in spirit, bearing and forbearing with our brethren, being filled with love and kindness; and we will yet, perhaps, get some of our froward connections into heaven. Jesus said, when the woman caught in adultery was brought to him, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” We are all sinners, and it is our duty to cast sin from us when we learn what it is. If we are a little good, become a little better; if we have a little light, get a little more; if we have a little faith, add to it; and by-and-by we shall be prepared to build up and beautify Zion, and to be exalted to reign in immortality and be crowned with the Gods.

God bless you! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, July 15, 1860.

Often in the Tabernacle the congregations were crowded, but there is room under this bowery for more than are here today. If the brethren and sisters do not wish to come to meeting, knowing what they know, they have the privilege of staying at home. While Bishop Hunter was relating his feelings with regard to the people, and speaking of his great interest for their welfare, an anecdote occurred to me—one which many of you, perhaps, have heard. Many of you have heard of Lorenzo Dow and his oddities. He would go into the woods, get onto a stump, and preach without a soul being near to hear him, and probably leave an appointment to preach in the same place a year from that day. I have seen him. He was as odd looking as were his acts. When traveling in the State of New York to fill an appointment, as he neared the foot of a bad hill, he overheard a man cursing and whipping his team, and rode on carefully until he overtook the swearing man, and said to him—“If you will swear as wickedly as you can until you reach the summit of the hill, I will give you a dollar.” The man agreed, and added to his own condemnation by striving to earn the dollar, which Dow handed to him, and rode on his way.

How many of you will stay away from meeting for a dollar? This people delight in attending meetings.

If any Elder dislikes to hear others preach, come to the stand yourself, full of the Holy Ghost, and preach the everlasting Gospel to the people, and they will come to hear you again. But when you spend your time foolishly, and your hearts and affections are, like the fool’s eye, to the ends of the earth, after speculation, if you come here and speak to the people, you are like “sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.” Though a man should say but a few words, and his sentences and words be ever so ungrammatical, if he speaks by the power of the Holy Ghost, he will do good. The people want the shepherd to feed the sheep, though it is not prudent to feed them too much at a time. Brother Kimball says that he holds the salt tight, and lets the sheep lick it through his fingers, and they run after him; but if you throw down a large quantity at once, they will eat until they are cloyed, and will not follow you. Improve upon even a small portion of what has been taught, and you may grow day by day, which you cannot so well do when surfeited with good things.

Unless you improve upon it, every correct principle advanced through the authority of the holy Priesthood becomes to you a dead letter. But if you have the life within you, you will grow, whether you stay at home or come to meeting; and every true principle, power, and manifestation that God gives you, you will improve upon and treasure up in your hearts. Ask the Father, in the name of Jesus, to help you to treasure every true principle in good and honest hearts, that it may produce to your own advantage and that of others. Then your capacity and ability will increase, your faith in Christ will increase, and the light of Christ will increase within you.

As I have before mentioned, I heard brother John Taylor preach in the Tabernacle one of the most heavenly discourses ever spoken, upon the principle of Jesus Christ being in man a well of living water. If people will live to the light they have, and to every manifestation from God, they will arrive at such a state of perfection that God will dwell in them a well of everlasting life—a fountain of living water that will dispense life wherever they go. Whatever they do, every act, thought, and word will be full of life, and they will grow into eternal lives in the kingdoms of our God. It is your privilege to so live that you are constantly filled with the light of revelation, that Jesus Christ may be within you as a fountain of living water continually springing forth and yielding life eternal.

God bless you! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, July 15, 1860.

The words of eternal life, the holy Priesthood of the Son of God, with its keys, powers, and blessings, are committed to us. If they and the God who gave them are honored by this people, great peace and joy are ours, through the Holy Spirit of this Gospel. Great peace have they who love the law of the Lord and abide in his commandments.

It has been said this morning that those who turn away from the Lord are dark—very dark and benighted. Every principle of true philosophy convinces a person who understands the spirit of the Gospel and has received the good word of life, that the darkness is in proportion to the light that has been forsaken. Rear a child in a cell which only admits a small glimmer of light, and the child will pass its time with some degree of satisfaction, when a person accustomed to the bright light of day could not at first see anything. And the greater the light bestowed upon an individual or upon a people, the greater the darkness when that light is forsaken.

The light of the Spirit reflects upon the understandings of those who have not passed the day of God’s favor, and teaches them whether they are walking in the truth or violating the commandments they have received of the Lord. If persons reach a period when the Spirit of truth ceases to reflect upon their understandings, then they know nothing of the commandments of the Lord, but follow the lusts of the flesh and of the mind, and are bound to perdition. So long as persons are in a position that it is possible for them to return to the Lord, after having once received the love of Christ—after having once been enlightened by his Spirit, there will be times when they will be taught whether they are walking in the truth or not.

Truth is the opposite of error—it is a matter of fact—no matter where it is found. A man, though he has not received authority from heaven, but is convinced by the light he has received that the nations have wandered far from God, and that his associates—members of the same profession or community—are not walking according to the revelations given in the New Testament, rises up and declares that he feels bound in his faith and conscience to go forth and raise up a pure church unto Christ. He goes forth and preaches to the people, calling upon them to be Saints of the Most High. He calls upon the people to return to the Lord with all their hearts—to become truly the children of God by faith—teaches many good and wholesome principles, many of the commandments of the Lord, and the revelations given in the New Testament, knowing nothing further. Revival after revival and seceder after seceder follow in the footsteps of the reformer. He professes to teach purer and holier doctrine than has been taught; and the question arises, who is under obligation to obey that man’s mandate? The Lord has not called him; Jesus has not appeared to him; Peter, James, and John have not met with him and conferred upon him the keys of the holy Priesthood; he has no communication with the heavens, only through the spirit of conviction.

Such is the situation of the Christian world. They are convinced by the traditions of their fathers, and by that portion of the light of Christ that lighteth every man that cometh into the world, that they are under obligation to a Supreme Being, and him they are naturally inclined to adore, reverence, honor, and worship. Under that impression they build up churches, professedly unto Christ on their own responsibility. Who is under obligation to obey their words? When truth is presented, it matters not whether by a deist, atheist, professor of religion, or a person of no such profession, it belongs to the people of God. Were Lucifer to present a truth to this people, they have a right to take it, for it is theirs. But if he demands obedience to the truth, are people under obligation to hearken and obey through his word? Not in the least.

When a man merely from a spirit of conviction goes forth to build up the kingdom of God—to reform the nations of the earth, he can go so far as morality operates upon and enlightens him; but he is without authority from heaven. Let such a person come here and teach one truth, or ten or a hundred truths, he is only handling that which does not legally belong to him unless he obeys the commandments of the Lord. That property is ours. It is for us to receive all truth. But we are under no obligation to obey any man or being in matters pertaining to salvation, unless his words have the authority and sanction of the holy Priesthood.

All truth belongs to the Saints of the Most High. They inherit it through obedience to his commands. It does not belong to the hypocrite—to those who disobey the commandments of the Lord or turn away from them; it belongs to the faithful Saints—to those who love and revere the name of God and keep his commandments. All truth, every good and holy principle, the fulness of the heavens and of the earth, and all time and all eternities that ever were, or are, or are to come, belong to the Saints of the Most High. Do those blessings belong to others, if they take an opposite path—if they disobey the commandments of the Lord? No; but they, as well as the faithful, will reap the reward of their doings. If they take the road that leads to destruction, they may expect to be destroyed. If they take the road that leads to dissolution, they may expect to be dissolved. If they take the road that leads to ruin, they may expect to be ruined. The words given to us in the Bible and Book of Mormon, and the words of the Savior, through his servant Joseph Smith, will all be verified and fulfilled. How do the Saints feel in regard to this matter? Is there faith and power among them? Do they feel grounded upon the Rock of Ages? Do they feel that the words of Prophets will be fulfilled? There are times, perhaps, when men are measurably left to themselves, and when they are somewhat in doubt. But when they are active in the faith of their calling, are they sure and steadfast, and do they feel built upon the rock of eternal truth, the rock of ages, the rock of revelation? Do they realize that all the words of the Lord will be fulfilled? Those who read and hear, and do so understandingly, can comprehend for themselves. But how can people understand? They may read and hear the words of truth—the words of life, and yet the natural man in his natural state cannot understand them. Mankind must have revelation, either through a preacher or some other source, and must enjoy the Spirit that should always attend the preaching of the Gospel, to enable them to understand what they hear.

“Do you think there is calamity abroad now among the people?” Not much. All we have yet heard and all we have experienced is scarcely a preface to the sermon that is going to be preached. When the testimony of the Elders ceases to be given, and the Lord says to them, “Come home; I will now preach my own sermons to the nations of the earth,” all you now know can scarcely be called a preface to the sermon that will be preached with fire and sword, tempests, earthquakes, hail, rain, thunders and lightnings, and fearful destruction. What matters the destruction of a few railway cars? You will hear of magnificent cities, now idolized by the people, sinking in the earth, entombing the inhabitants. The sea will heave itself beyond its bounds, engulfing mighty cities. Famine will spread over the nations, and nation will rise up against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and states against states, in our own country and in foreign lands; and they will destroy each other, caring not for the blood and lives of their neighbors, of their families, or for their own lives. They will be like the Jaredites who preceded the Nephites upon this continent, and will destroy each other to the last man, through the anger that the Devil will place in their hearts, because they have rejected the words of life and are given over to Satan to do whatever he listeth to do with them. You may think that the little you hear of now is grievous; yet the faithful of God’s people will see days that will cause them to close their eyes because of the sorrow that will come upon the wicked nations. The hearts of the faithful will be filled with pain and anguish for them.

How do you feel, Elders of Israel? Do you feel as though this tribulation would come soon? Would you like to have the scene commence this season, and have the vials of God’s wrath placed at your disposal? Would you like to unstop those vials and pour their contents upon the heads of those who have afflicted you and driven you from town to town, from place to place, and from city to city, until you found a home in the mountains, and have even followed us here, believing that they yet have power to destroy the last Saint? Would you like to empty these vials upon the heads of the nations, and take vengeance upon those who have so cruelly persecuted you? Do you delight in the sufferings of your fellow beings? Jesus died for those very beings. Have you ever realized that the blood of Jesus, the Son of God, was voluntarily shed for those very characters as well as for us?

Do you not think that he has feeling for them? Yes, his mercy yearns over the nation that has striven for a score of years to rid the earth of the Priesthood of the Son of God and to destroy the last Saint. He has mercy upon them, he bears with them, he pleads with them by his Spirit, and occasionally sends his angels to administer to them. Marvel not, then, that I pray for every soul that can be saved. Are they yet upon saving ground? Many of them can yet be saved, if they will turn to the Lord.

If a person with an honest heart, a broken, contrite, and pure spirit, in all fervency and honesty of soul, presents himself and says that he wishes to be baptized for the remission of his sins, and the ordinance is administered by one having authority, is that man saved? Yes, to that period of time. Should the Lord see proper to take him then from the earth, the man has believed and been baptized, and is a fit subject for heaven—a candidate for the kingdom of God in the celestial world, because he has repented and done all that was required of him to that hour. But, after he is baptized and hands have been laid upon him for the reception of the Holy Ghost, suppose that on the next day he is commanded to go forth and preach the Gospel, or to teach his family, or to assist in building up the kingdom of God, or to take all his substance and give it for the sustenance of the poor, and he says, “I will not do it,” his baptism and confirmation would depart from him, and he would be left as a son of perdition. But if he says, with a willing heart and mind, “Here is my substance; I will not only pay the tenth of it, but the whole of it is at your feet; do with it as you please,” does he not continue to be saved? Yes.

It is present salvation and the present influence of the Holy Ghost that we need every day to keep us on saving ground. When an individual refuses to comply with the further requirements of Heaven, then the sins he had formerly committed return upon his head; his former righteousness departs from him, and is not accounted to him for righteousness: but if he had continued in righteousness and obedience to the requirements of heaven, he is saved all the time, through baptism, the laying on of hands, and obeying the commandments of the Lord and all that is required of him by the heavens—the living oracles. He is saved now, next week, next year, and continually, and is prepared for the celestial kingdom of God whenever the time comes for him to inherit it.

I want present salvation. I preach, comparatively, but little about the eternities and Gods, and their wonderful works in eternity; and do not tell who first made them, nor how they were made; for I know nothing about that. Life is for us, and it is for us to receive it today, and not wait for the millennium. Let us take a course to be saved today, and, when evening comes, review the acts of the day, repent of our sins, if we have any to repent of, and say our prayers; then we can lie down and sleep in peace until the morning, arise with gratitude to God, commence the labors of another day, and strive to live the whole day to God and nobody else.

Whomsoever you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are. Do not obey the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the groveling grasping after property. There are those in this congregation who are so shortsighted, and so destitute of eternal wisdom and knowledge, that they believe that brother Brigham is after property—after the things of this world. That is a false feeling, a false view, and a false faith in such persons. I am obliged to take care of what God puts in my possession, and to make the best possible use of it. I seek not for the world, nor for the things of the world; but God heaps property upon me, and I am in duty bound to take care of it. Do you think that I love the world? I do not. Where is the man who would more willingly give up his property than I would?

Do not gather to yourselves false notions. When you imbibe that which is not true, it tends to darken your understandings. I wish you to feel right and do right. Love not the world—seek not the things of the world, but seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all things necessary will be added to us. Perhaps some of you think there is more added to me than is necessary. I do not think a single individual in this congregation knows how to take care of the things of life any better than I do.

You have been asked, today, whether you know how to save yourselves temporally. I have seen persons who were devoted, spirit and body, to their religion, and yet did not know how to hoe through a row of potatoes: they would be all over the field hoeing—a little first in one row, and then in another. One of the brethren that brought the Gospel to brother Kimball, myself, and others, happened to be by when we were raising a log house. We then, as now, believed in men’s making themselves useful in all places, and asked the minister to help us to roll up a log. He took the handspike and undertook to lift the log onto us, instead of onto the building. There are many just as ignorant as this man.

Though some persons do not know how to obtain the necessaries of life, they may know how to gain the kingdom of heaven. If the knowing ones are not faithful with the mammon of this world, who will commit unto them the true riches?

God bless you and all who love the truth! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, July 8, 1860.

I will say a few words before we dismiss, and I wish to say that which will be comforting and consoling to those who delight in the truth—that which will be pleasing to our Father in Heaven, and be sanctioned by his Holy Spirit, by angels, and by the Saints who live upon the earth.

You hear much said by some about their sacrifices. As they use the term, it is without meaning to me. Divines exclaim—“Come, and give all for Christ.” I would like to know what the children of men have to give—what they have to sacrifice. To my understanding, the term is used improperly. We are but stewards over what our Father puts in our possession. We possess houses, farms, gardens, orchards, vineyards, and plea– sant locations; but are they actually ours? No. Is there a foot or an inch of this earth that rightly belongs to us? No. God has put it in our possession, and has given us ability to take from the elements to make habitations to shelter ourselves; but are the elements ours?

Suppose the Lord should cause a tornado to pass through here, as he has lately done in some places in the States, and destroy all we possess, can we say to the winds, Cease blowing? Or suppose he should cause lightning to destroy our buildings, can we stop it? No. We have power to plough, sow, till, and irrigate; but can we, of ourselves, produce one spear of grass, or one kernel of grain? No. With me, it is folly to say that we own anything; and to speak of giving or sacrificing, as many do, is a misapplication of terms.

The spirits of the human family are pure and holy at the time they enter tabernacles; but the Lord has so ordered that the enemy has great power over our tabernacles, whose organization pertains to the earth. Through this plan arises our probationary warfare. Our tabernacles are conceived in sin, and sin conceives in them; and our spirits are striving to bring our bodies into subjection, and to overcome the Devil and the evils in the world. This war and striving to overcome that evil power must continue until we triumph. To accomplish this, we must so yield obedience to the Divine influence as to learn the principles of eternal life—to learn to bring the whole man—all the passions, sympathies, and feelings in subjection to the spirit. Our spirits are warring against the flesh, and the flesh against our spirits; and all we have to do is to let the spirits that have come from our Father in heaven reign triumphant, and bring into subjection everything that tends to evil: then we are Christ’s.

The Savior has not finished his work, and cannot receive the fulness of his glory until the influence and power of the wicked are overcome and brought into subjection. When the wicked inhabitants of the earth, the beasts of the field, fowls of the air, fish of the sea, all mineral substances, and all else pertaining to this earth, are overcome, then he will take the kingdom, present it to the Father, and say, “Here is the work you gave me to do—you made the appointment—I have wrought faithfully, and here are my brethren and sisters who have wrought with me. We have wrought faithfully together; we have overcome the flesh, hell, and the Devil. I have overcome, they have followed in my footsteps, and here are all thou hast given me; I have lost none, except the son of perdition.”

Jesus suffered himself to be crowned with thorns and crucified; but suppose he had said, “I will not make this great sacrifice; I am the Almighty; I will dash my enemies to pieces, and I will not die for the world,” what would have been the result? Jesus would have become a son of perdition; he would have lost every power and right to the kingdom he was about to redeem—would have become no better than the son of the morning who contended against him, and would have contended against righteousness from that time, and against whoever the Lord would then appoint to destroy sin and death, and him that had the power of it.

We can follow darkness and death, if we choose; but let us cling to light instead of darkness, malice, hatred, wrath, and bitterness; for Jesus will make an end of all evil. Himself is all that man has to give for wisdom. When you do this, it is not giving facts for facts, but it is exchanging falsehood for facts, and folly for truth. What have you to give for life everlasting? You are your Father’s. We cannot own anything, in the strict sense of the word, until we have power to bring into existence and hold in existence, independent of all other powers. One will say, “I have given a thousand dollars towards building up the kingdom of God,” when strictly he did not own a dollar. You take the money you have in your possession and put it in another place, or to another use; and though you thus use millions of gold and other property, unless you do so with that spirit of charity in which the widow cast in her mite, it will avail you nothing.

We have received this and that, but it is not ours; it is committed to us as agents. We have nothing of our own, and will not have until we have power to sustain our own lives. You have not power to sustain your own lives, and yet you have done much. You can own nothing until you have filled your missions on earth, and gained power with the Almighty, when you will be clothed with glory, power, and dominion. When the Lord says, “This is yours, my son; I give you power to control all under your jurisdiction;” then you can consider that your own.

Our religion has been a continual feast to me. With me it is Glory! Hallelujah! Praise God! instead of sorrow and grief. Give me the knowledge, power, and blessings that I have the capacity of receiving, and I do not care how the Devil originated, nor anything about him. I want the wisdom, knowledge, and power of God. Give me the religion that lifts me higher in the scale of intelligence—that gives me the power to endure—that when I attain the state of peace and rest prepared for the righteous, I may enjoy to all eternity the society of the sanctified.

We have been keeping the commandments of the Lord, and should continue to do so more diligently; for he has commanded us to do so—to strive to overcome the evils and put away the follies and sins which have been sown in our nature by the fall of our first parents, and let every feeling and affection be centered upon him and the things of his kingdom, that when we awake in the morning of the resurrection we may be crowned with honor and glory in our Father’s kingdom. When the wicked appear, they will learn that God is a consuming fire, while that which is for him is eternal in its nature. The principles of our religion are good. If we will obey them, we shall reign eternally with the Father and the Son. There are kingdoms also prepared somewhere for those who obey not the celestial law.

May the Lord bless you! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, July 8, 1860.

Our minds are capable of receiving and digesting a certain number of ideas; but we are not able to comprehend a great many at one time. We can hear all that a speaker is disposed to say; but whether we can comprehend it, be it much, or, as in many instances, little, is another and very important consideration. Some minds can comprehend but very little at a time.

What we have just heard is very good. True, we have been taught those principles from our youth. There are but very few in Christendom who have not been taught those principles in childhood by their parents, and in maturer years by their schoolteachers and priests. The character of the Savior has been exalted as much as our language will permit.

Brother Joseph Young, in his remarks, frequently quoted the words of the Savior, as recorded by his Apostle, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” I would be pleased to see the divine who can thoroughly acquaint us with that Being whom we call God—the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. From our youth, we have heard much in regard to the Father and the Son, but in a mystified manner, so far as treated upon by the divines and theologians of the so-called “orthodox” churches. How many of you can give us sound, sensible ideas relative to the character of our Father in heaven? If the Elders of Israel, who speak to us from Sabbath to Sabbath, and who go forth into the world to preach the Gospel of life, cannot, no man on the earth can. How much have we learned in regard to it? How far have our understandings expanded to comprehend the character of that Being we call God? Or even to comprehend the character of his Son Jesus Christ, whom we call our Savior?

The character of the Father is plainly portrayed in the Bible, so far as it is necessary for it to be revealed; but who can tell anything about him? All that we hear from this one, that one, and the other, is but very little. We have formerly been in the habit of hearing—“Great is the mystery of godliness, God manifested in the flesh,” and there having the subject left. With the world things pertaining to eternity are such a mystery that all is left in the dark—left with the mantle of ignorance cast around it. But, God be praised, the veil begins to be thinner, and will be withdrawn for us, if we are faithful. The work that God has commenced in this our day is calculated to remove the veil of the covering from all the face of the earth, that all flesh may see his glory together. And if the principles of the holy Priesthood that we have received continue to be carried out by the people at large, the veil will be taken away, so that we can comprehend that Being who is such a mystery to the great portion of the human family.

Jesus was appointed, from the beginning, to die for our redemption, and he suffered an excruciating death on the cross. A person possessing the power of the Gods has that power to sustain him in all his trials and sufferings. He has power and faith to endure unto sweating blood, to bearing thorns, and to being nailed upon a cross, as patiently as did our Savior. Is this speaking disparagingly of his character? Not in the least. Many of our people have suffered unto death. Could a God do more? He could not. Could he suffer more? Only in proportion to his intelligence, faith, and power, which also proportionally sustain him in his sufferings. Many of the Saints have been pierced with bayonets, riddled with bullets, beaten to death, and slain in various other ways, for their testimony of Jesus. They paid the debt. Jesus fulfilled the obligations he had entered into as the heir of all things pertaining to this earth. He is the King—the Ruler, and the results of the acts of the people he brings forth, and will continue to do so, till he reigns King of nations as he now reigns King of Saints. When he again visits this earth, he will come to thoroughly purge his kingdom from wickedness, and, as ruler of the nations, to dictate and administer to them as the heir to the kingdom; and the Gentiles will be as much mistaken in regard to his second advent as the Jews were in relation to the first.

The eyes of the Gentiles are like the eyes of the fool, wandering to the ends of the earth. They are deceived, blinded, and far from understanding the things of God. All who would understand the things of God must understand them by the Spirit of God. In reflecting upon his providences, it often seems singular that every person cannot understand the things of God; but when you understand the Gospel plan, you will comprehend that it is the most reasonable way of dealing with the human family. You will discern that purity, holiness, justice, perfection, and all that adorns the character of the Deity are contributing to the salvation of man.

Those who acknowledge the hand of God in all things, and abide in his commandments, are the only ones who will sustain the principles of truth and purity. If their influence upon the character is not good and pure, how will they produce that pure feeling, pure faith, and pure godliness which prepare a person to dwell in eternal burnings? Should we not abide in and be influenced by the commandments of God? We should; for, without the spirit of revelation, no man can understand the things of God, nor his dealings and designs in relation to the inhabitants of the earth.

While brother Joseph was referring to the providences of God, I was led to reflect that there is no act, no principle, no power belonging to the Deity that is not purely philosophical. The birth of the Savior was as natural as are the births of our children; it was the result of natural action. He partook of flesh and blood—was begotten of his Father, as we were of our fathers.

Do you understand yourselves, brethren and sisters? Only to a small degree; and there are as yet but few who can strictly govern themselves. The foundation for all intelligence is placed in man to be developed to produce great and more powerful results than he has ever thought of. You may place all the world’s wisdom in one man, and ask him whence he received his intelli– gence, and he cannot tell. Ask him, “Do you believe man has a soul? Do you believe his soul lives when he dies?” He will answer, “Yes; but I cannot tell where.” Or inquire of him, “Do you believe that the soul had an existence previous to its coming here?” He will reply, “I do not know.” Can you answer such questions? Yes; for you have been taught concerning these things. Have you been taught the character of the Father? Yes.

Will you improve upon the gifts bestowed upon you? Let me ask you, as a favor, to bless yourselves and friends by conquering and controlling yourselves—a principle that you should cultivate; then you may control others. But unless you control the passions that pertain to fallen nature—make all your faculties subservient to the principles God has revealed, you will never arrive at that state of happiness, glory, joy, peace, and eternal felicity that you are anticipating. Then learn to govern yourselves.

Were any professed Saints present, and there may be, who indulge in paltry pilfering, thieving, carousing, tippling, cursing, &c., I would advise them to contemplate their conduct with shamefacedness. Shame, also, to those women who run after the Gentiles! Such women are so corrupt that they are a distress to their sex. Are there any here of that class? I expect there are a few who will say, “Brother Brigham, how are you?” and shake hands, and then go and lie with a Gentile. I don’t want such persons to shake hands with me.

Brother Joseph has exhorted you to revere the character of our Savior. He who does not will sooner or later suffer. The Lord will bring us to an account for all we do, before that tribunal that will punish for all disgraceful conduct. Shame to those men and women who call themselves Latter-day Saints, and act disgracefully! You ought to be as pure and holy as angels. We are commanded to be pure as Christ is pure, and holy as he is holy. He passed through the trials, became sanctified, and prepared himself to dwell with the Gods; and he dwells in the midst of eternal burnings, where the principles and all that pertains to the celestial kingdom are a consuming fire to all that is impure. He has been exalted, crowned, and has received thrones, principalities, and powers; and he commands us to walk in his footsteps, in reference to every principle that pertains to eternal lives. Let us do this, that the whole body, from the crown of the head to the soles of the feet, may be sanctified. Those who come short of this will be judged accordingly.

As to the persecution, the slander, and malicious acts aimed at us, who can expect anything else from the wicked and ignorant? Christ and Baal are not reconciled; the Lord will hold no fellowship with the Devil. But Satan will contend until he is driven from the earth. He is the adversary, the opposer, and accuser of the brethren. He opposes the Son of God in the great struggle between truth and error. This victory must be gained in our houses, neighborhoods, towns, counties, and states; and this common enemy of all Saints will continue to offer his opposition until driven from the earth, and will contend for every inch of ground.

Let us walk in the footsteps of our Father and of our Savior, cling to the principles of life, and live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Live to purify yourselves, and you will be able to overcome every power of the enemy. Children are now born who will live until every son of Adam will have the privilege of receiving the principles of eternal life.

God bless the Elders who preach to the nations, the sisters who pray for the kingdom, the men who labor in the fields and elsewhere, and all who ask Him to bless and build up his Zion, and bring in the reign of righteousness and peace, that all who desire may rejoice in the blessings of the government of God among men. God bless them, and the children of the Saints, in the name of Jesus.

Parents, have you ever noticed that your children have exercised faith for you when you have been sick? The little daughter, seeing you sick, will lift her heart with a pure, angelic-like prayer to heaven; and disease is rebuked when that kind of faith is exercised. God bless the children! I pray that they may live and be reared up in righteousness, that God may have a people that will spread and establish one universal reign of peace, and possess the powers of the world to come. This is my prayer constantly.

God bless you! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made at Kaysville, June 13, 1860.

I have time to say but a few words. It is three years and a few days since I was last here, and you are acquainted with the scenes we have passed through since that short time.

I am rejoiced to meet and associate with the Saints. It is one of the greatest privileges and blessings I can enjoy on the face of this earth, to gather out from the wicked world with the Saints, and be far away from the contaminating influence of the breath of the ungodly.

It is a great comfort to enjoy the privilege of passing day after day, week after week, and month after month, without hearing the name of God blasphemed. Here we have the privilege of sending the Gospel to the utmost parts of the earth, of teaching our children righteousness, of setting a righteous example before our neighbors, of associating together, of praying with and for each other, and mingling our voices in praising our God. Is not this a blessing? True, we are not entirely free from wickedness; we are in a world of sin and iniquity. All the inhabitants of the earth have wandered from the path of truth, and it is our duty to lead our children and friends towards our Father and God, to forsake the wickedness that is in the world, and promote righteousness and the principles of life—the life of the body and of the mind—the existence of the spirit and the body here and to all eternity—to dwell with our Father and our God. Life is before us.

Here are the Saints, and the words of the Savior will apply to them—“He that liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” He does not say that his body shall not crumble to dust. It will go back to its mother earth, to be raised immortal—to be brought forth to enjoy the light, glory, and presence of our Father and God, which we cannot endure while we are in this mortal tabernacle. This body must be purified and prepared to dwell in eternal burnings, for it is there where our Father and God dwells in the perfection of glory, light, and power.

Is it not a blessing to have schools in our community, where our teachers can teach our children correct principles, and impart to them education that will be useful? Is it not a blessing to associate with each other and build up the kingdom of God? Is it not a blessing to you, mothers, to raise up Prophets and Apostles—men filled with the glory of God, to go forth and extend the work of our God?

Do I not realize, day and night, that I have the good feelings, prayers, and faith of the Saints on the earth? I do. Let me enjoy the fellowship of angels, of God, and of his Saints, and I am right.

You have my prayers continually for the welfare of the kingdom of God on the earth.

May God bless you! I know that his blessings will rest upon you, if you live for them. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made at Ogden City, June 12, 1860.

I am very thankful for the privilege of meeting with you this afternoon. There may be many present who never saw me until now, and many who are acquainted with me, but, probably, have not for years had an opportunity to speak to me. As I now have the privilege of speaking to you, please accept of my good feelings towards you, and of my good desires in your behalf. Peace be to you and to your habitations! And may God bless you!

I will not occupy much time; for I understand that, through some mistake in the appointment, many of you have been here a good part of the day. I am aware that both yourselves and your children are weary, and I think it would be a relief to the children if the teachers would supply them with water.

For many years I have been trying to promulgate the principles of eternal life, and I am thankful that we are in possession of that religion which gives food to the mind and exercise to the body, I am thankful for such a religion. It is different from the religions of the day: it is not only a Sabbath-day religion and a Monday religion, but it is an everyday religion—a religion that will feast a person all the time. It draws forth the mind, and expands the understanding of every intelligent being who will open his mind to understand and see by vision the creations of God—the worlds that are and the worlds that have been—who can grasp in the vision of his mind the truth that there never has been a time when there have not been worlds like this, and that there never will be a time when there will not be worlds organized and prepared for intelligent beings to dwell upon.

Those beings bear the image of Him who is invisible—of our Father and God. Were your eyes opened to see the heavenly hosts, you would see beings similar to us. We are in our weakness and imperfection—we are in darkness; they are in light—they are in glory. We are in mortal flesh, subject to sickness, disease, pain, deformity, and death. The heavenly hosts are beings like these my brethren, only in greater perfection, having passed through the same ordeals we are now passing through. They have been made subject to vanity, as we now are; they have had to taste of the bitter cup as we have; they have had the privilege of the light and of the darkness, of the truth and of the error, which privilege we now enjoy. Life eternal has been offered to them, and they have chosen it. It is offered to us who are here assembled, and we have chosen to follow in the path in which it is to be obtained. Had we chosen, we might today have been in our native lands, as are those whom we have there left.

It is to us a matter of joy and rejoicing, a solid satisfaction, to know that there are a few among all the inhabitants of the earth who are willing to receive the words of life to prepare themselves to dwell eternally in the presence of our Father and our God. We enjoy a great privilege in being gathered out from the wicked. We now have the privilege of asso– ciating together, not only as individuals, families, neighborhoods, and cities, but God has provided the place where we can assemble, as it were, in a national capacity. We are now in the relationship, so to speak, of a limb or branch pertaining to the Federal Government, which must grow, increase, spread, and prosper exceedingly.

You have built a commodious Tabernacle, where but a few years ago was a swamp. But a few years ago, there were no inhabitants here. When we first visited this place, after the people began to move here, there was hardly a settlement between here and Great Salt Lake City. There were a few families at Willow Creek, but none north of that, and only a few between here and Great Salt Lake City. You may now ride until you are weary, and pass through settlement after settlement, neighborhood after neighborhood.

You have manifested a spirit of advancement and improvement, which is according to the Gospel of life we possess. The intelligence we possess was given to us for a purpose. We are the children of the Supreme Being of the universe. The inhabitants of the whole earth are the offspring of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Intelligence is given unto us to improve upon. Who will choose life? These my brethren and sisters. The Valleys in the Mountains are becoming filled with those who have chosen the way of life, and thousands more are in Europe and on the islands of the sea. The Gospel we preach has been proclaimed to most of the nations of the earth. God will gather his children from all nations, and bring them home to Zion. This is the land of Zion—this is the continent whereon the Lord has commenced his work for the last time, and whereon Jesus will make his appearance the second time, when he comes to gather and save the house of Israel. It is our duty to prepare for his coming.

Each person possesses an intelligence, each one has an agency, and each has his own salvation to work out, for the spirit and body to be crowned with crowns of glory, immortality, and eternal lives. Let not your hearts sink, nor your faith waver; let not your fervency slacken in the least, for the kingdom is ours. God has prospered his work on the earth. Towns and counties have risen up against it, and States have united and organized to destroy this kingdom and the government of God from the earth. The kingdoms of the world are opposed to the kingdom of God. You have seen your neighbors rise up and persecute you—you have known those who should have been your friends and assisted you forsake and persecute you, for the Gospel’s sake. You have all, more or less, experienced such treatment. Is it at an end? No.

You see persons gather here, and assist to gather hundreds and thousands, and yet some will turn away. Does this discourage you? How frequently it has been said to me—“A great many are going to California.” My reply is, Let them go; there will be plenty left. This work is on the increase, and the power of God is becoming more and more manifest before all flesh. The faith of the Gospel is increasing among the children of men, and the Saints are increasing. Compare this place with what it was here ten years ago. Has there been an increase? Yes, and a very great increase. Ten years ago, how many were there in the States and in foreign lands who wanted to come here? Not one to where there are now ten. The spirit of the Gospel is going forth among the nations, and the people are gathering out. The kingdoms of this world must become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ. To aid in accomplishing this work, we must overcome sin and every evil propensity of the natural man—every selfish and unhallowed desire. Let no man covet the things of this world, nor lust after the vain and foolish things that pertain to it.

It is the privilege of the Saints to enjoy every good thing, for the earth and its fulness belong to the Lord, and he has promised all to his faithful Saints; but it must be enjoyed without the spirit of covetousness and selfishness—without the spirit of lust, and in the spirit of the Gospel: then the sun will shine sweetly upon us; each day will be filled with delight, and all things will be filled with beauty, giving joy, pleasure, and rest to the Saints. The vegetable kingdom is made for man, to gratify the taste and add health to the body and gratification to every sense. The gold and the silver will be given to the Saints, the riches of the world will be put in their possession, and they will be legal heirs. We are now passing through a day of trial, to determine whether we will prove worthy of all we may enjoy and possess, for it must be enjoyed and possessed without the spirit of covetousness. Without the pure Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, we cannot enjoy the good things of life.

The fulness of the heavens and the earth—the mountains, the gold, and precious things in them—will all be devoted to those who are devoted to their God and their religion. The wheat, the fine flour, the oil, and the wine, the cattle upon a thousand hills, and every blessing the Lord has in store for every creature he has organized and placed upon this earth, are to fall into the hands of the legal heirs, who are the Saints. This is an unpleasant idea to unbelievers. Then why do they not believe? If there are any here who do not believe the Gospel, and think that the Saints are selfish, all they have to do is to become Saints; then they will be heirs with the rest of the Saints. There is no selfishness about it that I know of, for they have the same privilege that we have, and that any man or woman upon the earth has.

The kingdom of God is set up, the ordinances of the Gospel are dispensed to the people, life and salvation are offered to all, and who would miss entering into the kingdom of our Father and God? All who believe, have honest hearts, and bring forth fruits of righteousness, are the elect of God and heirs to all things. All who refuse to obey the holy commandments of the Lord and the ordinances of his house will be judged out of their own mouths, will condemn themselves as they do now, will be accounted unworthy, and will have no part or lot with the righteous. But the heathen nations that now exist and that have existed on the earth will all be blessed, will see the time when they will have the privilege of receiving the blessings of the covenant established on the earth by the Son of God, and through it will be brought into glory and rest.

Brethren and sisters, I wish you to continue in your ways of welldoing; I desire that your minds may be opened more and more to see and understand things as they are. This earth, in its present condition and situation, is not a fit habitation for the sanctified; but it abides the law of its creation, has been baptized with water, will be baptized by fire and the Holy Ghost, and by-and-by will be prepared for the faithful to dwell upon.

Shall we not strive to prepare ourselves as much as possible for the coming of the Son of Man? The Savior will dictate his kingdom, through his Apostles and Prophets, until all the heathen nations are virtually redeemed by the ordinances that effect redemption, that they may inherit the kingdom that is prepared for them. This work must progress. This earth must become a paradise—must be purged of the sin that has been upon it for many generations, for all sin and iniquity must be swept from it, and a people be prepared for the coming of the Son of Man. He will prepare a people long before the earth is celestialized and prepared for the presence of God. The Saints will increase, the Spirit of wisdom and knowledge will increase, and every grace of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ must increase upon the earth, until a people and place are so prepared that the Savior can come and finish the work given him to do, when he will present the kingdom to the Father.

There is a great work for the Saints to do. Progress, and improve upon, and make beautiful everything around you. Cultivate the earth and cultivate your minds. Build cities, adorn your habitations, make gardens, orchards, and vineyards, and render the earth so pleasant that when you look upon your labors you may do so with pleasure, and that angels may delight to come and visit your beautiful locations. In the meantime, continually seek to adorn your minds with all the graces of the Spirit of Christ.

Sin must be overcome and righteousness exalted, until Jesus reigns King of nations as he reigns King of Saints. This is not unkind to the wicked, for they have the privilege of embracing the overtures of mercy, if they choose. No one will be compelled to do so. All may freely eat, drink, and satisfy themselves, or they may turn away and feed upon husks. Let everyone who wishes to go to California, go, for we do not want them here. This country is most excellent for sifting out those who are not here for the love of their religion. The mountains, the deserts, the barren plains, hard labor, and hard fare are all so calculated that those who do not love the truth will leave for California and elsewhere, and we love to have them go. Some who are now here ought to leave, unless they will repent and become good men.

Be faithful, humble, prayerful, and watchful, and be sure to live your religion. Store up your surplus grain; and when you have done that, do (to speak ironically) as some have done—take every pound of butter, every dozen of eggs, every bushel of grain, and every good thing you can lay hold of to those who would cut our throats, if they had the power. Had they the power, they would slay every soul that would not renounce this work. They have not the power, and never will have. Israel will be gathered, the poor will be gathered, and this land of Joseph will be freed from oppressors. Their power is broken, and they will go down to the pit, while Zion will arise, and wicked men and devils cannot prevent it. God has decreed this, and we are going to help him to perform it and bring righteousness upon the land; and the righteous will see the day when they can say their prayers and lie down in peace, for murderers will not be around them.

Will you let every act of your lives promote the kingdom of God? If you do, you may be sure that every person who is opposed to righteousness will be our enemy. But those who are here to steal our cattle and horses, instead of striving honestly for an honest living, had better forsake their evil habits, or go where they are more popular. The Lord Almighty will have a pure people—a people that will serve him; and we shall yet see the day when we shall be free from murderers, thieves, robbers, liars, whoremongers, drunkards, and every other description of persons who pollute the earth.

My constant prayer is that the anger which is in the hearts of the disobedient will turn upon each other, and the wicked slay the wicked, until no place can be found on the earth for those who will not observe good laws, that the righteous may live in peace. The wicked are doing so; and in the midst of their rage which has been around us, it is astonishing how the preserving and invisible hand of God has been over his people. I do not now remember that any in our Territory, during the time alluded to, who desired to live their religion, fell by the hands of the wicked, except brother William Cook. They credit this wonderful preservation to me; but they are mistaken. The Lord Almighty can control the acts, and bring forth the results far beyond the wisdom and calculation of man. He has brought to pass these purposes, and the wicked have been and are helping him. “The wrath of man shall praise him.” May the Lord God of Israel bless you and the whole house of Israel, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made at Willow Creek, June 12, 1860.

Brethren and sisters, I will occupy a short time, and then give way for others who may wish to address you.

We are trying to be Saints, and intend to keep trying. We are for the kingdom of God, and are not going to the moon, nor to any other planet pertaining to this solar system; but are determined to have a heaven here, and are going to make it our– selves, by the help of God and his angels. We have been traditionated that when we were prepared to be saved, we ought then to pass from this stage of existence, and that then we never would have anything more to do with this earth; for all our connections and associations with it, as pertaining to this life, also passed away, and we should see and know nothing about it in the future. This is not according to the design, as we believe, of God and his providences and works. It is not the work of the Lord to organize an earth and destroy it. That is not the system he has devised. His plan is to organize an earth, people it with intelligent beings, present to them the principles of eternal life, and bestow upon them the keys thereof, that they may be able to prepare themselves to dwell to all eternity, and to bring forth their increase to dwell with them. This our belief.

When the light of the Gospel came, truth sprang out of the ground, and the heavens were opened. The plan by which God works is rational, and meets the capacity of his children. This earth is the home he has prepared for us, and we are to prepare ourselves and our habitations for the celestial glory in store for the faithful. None will be destroyed except those who receive the oracles of truth and reject them. None are condemned except those who have the privilege of receiving the words of eternal life and refuse to receive them.

From Adam to the least and last of his posterity, none will be condemned and suffer as we were taught in our youth. The Christian world teach that the heathen and everybody else, except a few belonging to the Catholic church, the Church of England, or some of the orthodox sects of the day, are to be cast into a lake of fire and brimstone. The Bible teaches that the wicked will be turned into hell, with all the nations that forget God. That is true. How many nations do you think have forgotten him? The Lord will save all, except those who have the privilege of life everlasting and reject it.

What is our duty? To promote the kingdom of God on the earth. Every person that confines his thoughts and labors to happifying his own family and immediate friends will come far short of performing the duties devolving upon him. Every sentiment and feeling should be to cleanse the earth from wickedness, to purify the people, sanctify the nations, gather the nations of Israel home, redeem and build up Zion, redeem Jerusalem and gather the Jews there, and establish the reign and kingdom of God on the earth. Let that be the heart’s desire and labor of every individual every moment.

I am extremely happy, and my joy increases according to my understanding and the sensibility God has given me, that this people, called Latter-day Saints, are improving—that they improve every year, and increase in the knowledge and understanding of the dealings and providences of God, and understand themselves more and better. You may ask, “How do you know this?” Because it is before me, and plain to be seen. True, there are some rude persons within our borders, and too much stealing is carried on. How is it with you? Are you in the stock-driving business? Do any of you belong to the class of marauders, pilferers, drunkards, or swearers? The very great majority of this people are striving to improve themselves before their God and their brethren. The wicked seek to destroy the kingdom of God, and it is for us to build it up, and promote righteousness upon the earth. When we do this, we shall promote honesty in all our conduct and transactions.

As we increase in understanding we shall increase our efforts to adorn our minds, our families, our possessions, and our neighborhoods, and seek to promote every pure, holy, graceful, and delightful principle, custom, habit, or whatever else pertaineth to correct human conduct. This will increase the Spirit of life in the people, and will make the aged beautiful as well as the young. Without the Spirit of truth, without the Spirit of Christ, people will become hateful and disagreeable, or what the English term ugly, and the Yankees, homely; or, as others express it, ordinary looking. The Spirit of truth beautifies and lights with intelligence an otherwise forbidding countenance. We need it to beautify both the body and mind.

I do not see much, if any, improvement in this settlement during the past three years. True, you lost time and labor in moving south; but if you labor all your lives, and God does not bless your labors, they are in vain. He can give you possessions and great wealth, as he gave Job. In a short time he added to Job much more than he had even previously possessed. If your hearts are pure and holy, the Lord can in a short time restore to your settlement fourfold.

How many times have I asked the Latter-day Saints what they could do with regard to building the New Jerusalem? Suppose the word were to come to us that Jesus had appointed a certain time in which he would again visit this earth, and that he wanted a place prepared for him; or the command, “Go forth, ye Latter-day Saints, and begin to build the New Jerusalem, and prepare to receive the city of Enoch that will come down out of the heaven;” where is the man competent to go and collect stone fit to lay in the first tier of the foundation of the walls of that city? To judge from their improvements, there is hardly a man capable of judiciously directing the labor of even two men—hardly a man that can properly erect a gristmill or a building for carding machines. Where are your useful machinery, your beautiful habitations your fertile gardens, your lovely walks, and magnificent palaces? You may reply, “We are not going to stop here, but are going to the Center Stake of Zion,” and so you pass on in comparative inactivity, and attempt only to build log houses or mud shanties. If you had the spirit of your calling, you would be anxious to build the best houses you could, and make the best gardens, fields, and vineyards, though you knew that you would not enjoy them one day after they were completed.

I will here quote the words of the Savior—“And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?” Now, he that is unfaithful in building a house, or in making a garden, an orchard, a farm, or in beautifying what is in his possession, who will commit to that man or people the great things of the kingdom of God that are to be attained on this earth?

I cannot preach upon the words quoted more effectually than I do in building, improving, and occupying upon the talent God has given to me. If it is ability to dictate the making of a road, dictate it, or make it as others dictate. Where is the man that made a road in a canyon as it should be made, until I dictated it? Men go into canyons and drive up and down hills where it requires six horses to haul up or hold back an empty wagon, and break their animals’ legs, and kill men and boys. Who has broken wagons on roads that I have dictated? No one. In such canyons persons soon save more in cattle, wagons, time, and labor, than the roads cost. Why do not the rest of the brethren learn this?

I know how to build a meetinghouse—how to place the first and last stone and piece of board, and how to put on the first and last touch of paint. I know how to build a mill and put the machinery in it, and I intend to keep improving as long as I live. There are mechanical branches that I do not understand, but I am constantly trying to learn. Should I live—and I would not then be a very old man—to hear the command, “Return and build the Center Stake of Zion,” I intend to know how to build it.

You may say, “If you know all about it, there is no necessity for our learning anything concerning it.” We cannot be in every place; and though we could, every man, woman, and child should improve as rapidly as possible. Parents should know how to teach their children, women should learn to make the most beautiful cloth, and men should become skilled in raising sheep, and in the improvement of all kinds of stock, and in making all kinds of useful machinery. It is said we are yet young. True; but we ought to, at least, make a beginning. Not one woman in ten, that I ever saw, thoroughly understands keeping a house.

Why do not women learn to be housekeepers? They may reply—“Brother Brigham, if you will teach us, we will keep our houses according to your instructions.” I could go into your houses and tell you item by item. Your husbands may furnish fine furniture and glass and chinaware, and some of you suffer your children to mar and break it. Give children such playthings as they cannot break, and with which they cannot hurt themselves. Were I now to go into one of your houses, perhaps I should hear the mistress inquiring for the dishcloth; but Sal does not know where it is: the last she saw of it little Abraham or Joe was playing with it outdoors. Where is the milk pail? Turned bottomside up on the hogpen.

What I say of housewives will fully apply to farmers and mechanics. I labored many years as a mechanic, and in the darkest night I could put my hand upon any tool I used. You may call this boasting, but it is not. It is merely mentioning the order in which I kept my shop. When a farmer has done with his ploughs, he should put them under shelter until they are again wanted. When harness is taken off, it should be so hung up that you can go at any time of night and find it, or a saddle, bridle, saddle blanket, or any other trapping, and be ready at once, without a hostile Indian’s being able to see you, or being made aware of your preparations, through your being obliged to take a light to hunt scattered articles.

We have been toiling and delving at home, and now you see us enjoying ourselves, without one word of discord. A week ago today we passed this settlement, with several men, women, children, horses, mules, and vehicles; and I ask the company whether a single person has been found out of his place? We have traveled in order and peace, notwithstanding our dispensing with a formal organization. “Where is the captain of the company?” I do not know, unless I am he. We have traveled in the order in which persons joined us, and I do not think a rash word has been spoken by any man, woman, or child since we left Great Salt Lake City. What does this prove? That when the law of God is written on the hearts of a people, every person will know his place. It proves that we are improving.

Law is for the disobedient and lawless. When a people are made free in Christ, and come to understanding, they will know that there is a place for everybody, and everyone will seek to fill his own place, and every hand will be reached forth to promote the kingdom of God on the earth. Our business is not merely to prepare to go to another planet. This is our home. We are to purify our hearts, our habitations, our families, associations, settlements, states, and country, until improvement circumscribes the whole earth, and sanctifies it, and prepares it to be brought back into the presence of our Father and God.

When your eyes are open, you will see that this earth has fallen from the glory and presence of the Father, to pass through certain ordeals, together with the people upon it. And by and by, when Jesus reigns and rules King of nations, he will say to his Father—“Here is my work! Here are my brethren! Here is my redemption—the fruit of my labor! I have ceased not to contend with the Enemy until I have put him under my feet. I have destroyed death, and him that has the power of death.”

You work hard. Study to apply your labor to advantage, and you will accomplish much more, without wearing yourselves out so fast. If you have to roll a log, cut down a tree, etc., study how to take advantage of the work. Contrive to accomplish your work with the least expenditure of strength.

You have rich land, good water, a pure atmosphere, and one of the pleasantest locations in the Territory. Adorn your houses and your city. I marvel to see you contented to live as you do. I have passed much of my life in a log house, but do I like bedbugs and darkness? No. I love light. Were I obliged to live in a log house, I would have it plastered and whitewashed, that it might be neat and pleasant.

Study order and cleanliness in your various occupations. Adorn your city and neighborhood. Make your homes lovely, and adorn your hearts with the grace of God.

May the Lord bless you. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made at Logan, Cache Valley, June 10, 1860.

I contemplate the scenes before me with great satisfaction, and feel gratified with the privilege of seeing so many in this far-off land assembled to worship the King of kings and Lord of hosts.

Some of us first heard the Gospel in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, &c., &c.; and it is very interesting to see people gathered from so many of the nations of the earth, with their different customs and traditions, associating with a kind, filial feeling, nowhere else to be found. This is a people that begins to bring forth the fruits the Lord designed in the creation of man. This mixed people dwell together on the most friendly terms and with brotherly feelings; still we need and expect to have more of this brotherly feeling. The seed is sown, and the plant is growing. The kingdom the Lord has commenced will continue to increase, and no power on the earth can hinder it.

It is highly interesting to see people from so many nations joining hearts and hands to build cities, gather the poor, preach the Gospel, cultivate the earth, and do whatsoever is necessary to be done to accomplish what the Lord designed in the beginning of this creation. What is the cause of this? Is it because brother Joseph Smith, the Prophet, had influence superior to any other man to call the people together in his day, and unite their feelings and affections? He had no more power than any other man, only as it was given to him. Is there a man now living who has power over the feelings and affections of the nations of the earth, to call any portion of them together and make them of one heart and mind? No, only as he receives power from the same source from which the Prophet received it.

Into whatever neighborhood you go throughout these valleys in the mountains, amid the great variety of nationalities, with all their different habits and traditions, you find the warmest affection pervading the people to be found upon the earth. With all our weaknesses and imperfections, there is more brotherly kindness here than in any other country. What power produces this result? It is the work of the invisible hand of that Being we call our Father and God, who frames the worlds, holds them in existence, and places his intelligent beings upon them, giving those beings their agency, and placing good and evil, light and darkness, bitter and sweet, righteousness and sin before them, that they may have an opportunity to exhibit the intelligence he has bestowed upon them. He preserves them in existence, and governs and controls the planetary systems. His power fills the immensity of space, without bounds, without beginning, and without end. The principle of eternal life brought us here.

Many ideas are presented to my mind; among them, What are the wants of the people in this place? As yet you have no houses, no fences, and no saw- and gristmills; for which reason I will take the liberty of giving you a little information and instruction in regard to your temporal affairs. While at Franklin, we ordained brother Preston Thomas, agreeable to the wish of the people, Bishop of that place; and I think that each settlement in this valley now has a Bishop. You have brother Benson, one of the Twelve, residing here to encourage, dictate, counsel, and instruct you. You also have brother Peter Maughan, who is an experienced man for your presiding Bishop. We have been acquainted with Brother Maughan for many years, and I will say a few words about him. If he has enough vanity to cause my remarks to make any difference in his feelings or actions, I shall learn something about him that I have not yet learned. In 1840, we commenced our systematic emigration from England, in which brother Maughan assisted: that was my first acquaintance with him. He visited us in Liverpool for instructions, and from my first acquaintance with him till now I have found him as straight and correct in his business transactions as any man that I have ever known to assist in any branch of business in this Church. He is a man that I think much of in regard to his integrity, honesty, and judgment in counseling. He has always been as willing to receive counsel as any man I have ever known in this Church, and to obey that counsel with as few words. We wish to have him take the supervision of all the Bishops in this valley. Let them be under his dictation, and we will settle with him at the General Tithing Office.

Brother Maughan has brother Benson for one of his Counselors, and probably he will choose me for the other; and if we all do right, I think the brethren will be pretty well satisfied with their presiding officers.

I have not discovered in this valley any soil fit for making adobies. What are you going to build with? Log buildings do not make a sightly city. We should like to see buildings that are ornamental and pleasing to the eye, as well as convenient and commodious. We wish to see cities that are an ornament to the country. In Great Salt Lake City nearly all the buildings are made of adobies, and I do not fancy their appearance, unless they are neatly finished. They are the driest and healthiest houses that can be built, unless it is a frame house. I have an objection to frame houses in this country; and always have had, on account of our very dry weather’s rendering wood so very inflammable (I consider them dangerous), whereas an adobie, stone, or brick house may have a room or part of a room burnt, with far less danger of setting the whole house on fire.

I remember, when I was quite young, painting a commodious frame house built for a tavern. It was nearly completed when it took fire from a little oil a workman was boiling in the cellar kitchen to use in finishing the inside work. Two or three women rescued their bonnets and shawls, and an old clock was removed, which were all the articles that were saved. Had that been a properly-built adobie house, it would not have been burned. Still I am going to recommend that you use timber in building in this valley. It costs as much in Great Salt Lake City to make the foundation for a good adobie house as it would to build a comfortable house, of the same size, of lumber.

I recommend the brethren in this Valley to erect sawmills and prepare to build with lumber. They are the cheapest and best houses I can think of, under your circumstances. I do not wish the brethren to cut all the timber to put it into log houses. Erect sawmills and make lumber, which will be far better than building log houses. We have no timber to waste. We should save our timber, and make buildings that will look better than log houses, and at the same time be easier and quicker built.

You will be obliged to make pole fences for the present, which can be made to answer until you can make post and board fences. And, as soon as possible, if you can find good rock, build stone fences. When we get to making iron, we can have wire fences which are very durable and cheap.

As this is the county seat, complete, as soon as you can, a house that will answer, for the present, for a meetinghouse, schoolhouse, and for the transaction of county business.

We know that you labor diligently; and we only regret, in the working department, that you cannot make loafers and horse thieves work as hard as you do. Have you neighbors who harbor horse thieves—whose sons are horse thieves? You are here commencing anew? The soil, the air, the water are all pure and healthy. Do not suffer them to become polluted with wickedness. Strive to preserve the elements from being contaminated by the filthy, wicked conduct and sayings of those who pervert the intelligence God has bestowed upon the human family.

Does the Lord rule and reign on the earth? He controls the results of the acts of all the nations of the earth; but does he rule supreme in the hearts of all people? He does not. Where can he reign on the earth? If you can find a place where wicked men are not, there is a place where the Lord can reign. Man was appointed to rule and have dominion over the earth under his Creator; but where the wickedness of man is, the Lord does not reign by the power of his Spirit. He partially reigns in the hearts of his Saints. He brings forth the results of the acts of all nations, but does not dictate them in their acts.

Keep your valley pure, keep your towns as pure as you possibly can, keep your hearts pure, and labor what you can consistently, but not so as to injure yourselves. Be faithful in your religion. Be full of love and kindness towards each other.

Secure yourselves against depredations and attacks by Indians. Raise stock and take care of it, and keep it from being stolen either by Indians or whites, that you may do good with it. Be at all times prepared to successfully resist Indian hostility. Keep minutemen ready, that they can be in the saddle and off on short notice, enough to protect your settlement.

Hearken continually to the whispering of the Spirit of the Lord, and you will hearken to those who are appointed to guide and direct you in all your duties.

May God bless the Saints here and everywhere! Peace be with you! Amen.