Remarks by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, August 2, 1857.

I rejoice in the privilege of hearing the servants of the Lord speak to the Saints. It is a feast to me, and to hear men speak by the Holy Ghost. I very much rejoice in seeing brother Elias Smith upon the stand this morning. I have been acquainted with him for many years, and yet I have never until now heard him address an assembly, except in the capacity of a Judge. I am thankful to hear his voice in public. He is a cousin of the Prophet Joseph and of George A. Smith.

I have reflected much concerning the family of the grandfather and father of Joseph the Prophet. Their family connections were very extensive; and it has been a subject of deep regret to me that there were so few in that large circle who have been valiant for the truth since the death of the Prophet. Still I do not know but that Joseph had quite as many of his connections valiant for the truth, in proportion to their number, as Jesus had; for Jesus had many brothers and sisters, and the most of them were opposed to him, and continued so during the greater part of their lives. I used to think, while Joseph was living, that his life compared well with the history of the Savior; though the most of father Joseph Smith’s family have believed and obeyed the Gospel, and have lived their religion in a good degree. Many of them are not here. Some of them I have known in the Eastern States that never have ga– thered with us. But the old stock are pretty much dead, and I do not know but what all of them are. Father John Smith was the last one, in this Church, of the brothers of father Joseph Smith; and he died, and is buried here. Grandmother Smith lived in Kirtland a short time after she gathered.

I trust in the good feelings and in the confidence that brother Elias has gained this morning in speaking as he has from this stand; for many times I have thought of it, and regretted that he was not on the stand a preacher with the rest. Some men rise here to tell about their feelings, and are so diffident, so bashful, and it is so hard for them to speak—men, too, who have had such privileges in their former lives as brother Elias has had, who is well schooled, and has had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the best of society—with men of influence. When he arrived to years of discretion, as he has told you, he marked out his own path. His advantages in his youth were far greater than were those of most of our public speakers.

And there is brother Carrington, when he rises here to address a congregation—though it is seldom that we can get him on this stand—will tell how he shrinks from speaking to the people, how bashful and delicate his feelings are in this matter. Men who understand language, who were taught it in their youth, who have had the privilege of schools and good education, to get up and tell how they shrink from addressing this people.

When I think of myself, I think just this—I have the grit in me, and I will do my duty anyhow. When I began to speak in public, I was about as destitute of language as a man could well be. But tell about being bashful, when a man has all the learning and words he can ask for! With scores and hundreds of thousands of words with which to convey one’s ideas, and then tell about being bashful before a people! How I have had the headache, when I had ideas to lay before the people, and not words to express them; but I was so gritty that I always tried my best.

I do not like to hear men make excuses, although it is natural, and I put up with it. I wish they could see and understand that they have had advantages above many of their brethren—that they have been greatly blessed, and should never complain, but should stand up here and exercise themselves according to the best of their ability, and do all the good possible for them to do.

Brother Elias Smith, I can say, is a man possessed of as much judgment and discretion in his feelings as any man I know. He is filled with wisdom. He is filled with judgment and with counsel, if he would dare to let it out. I would like to hear his voice and the voices of others, and I would like to have them not complain much about getting up to speak before the public.

Often, when I stand up here, I have the feelings of a person that is unable to convey his ideas, because I have not the advantage of language. However, I do not very frequently complain of that, but I rise to do the best I can and to give the people the best I have for them at the time; and if it don’t suit them they can go without it, for I am not responsible whether it suits them or not.

I rejoice in the words of brother Heber this day. He has spoken by the power of the Holy Ghost, and you are his witnesses. You may all witness to this; and his ideas are as rich, I may say, as the flowers of eternity, and his ideas and his words are congenial to my feelings and spirit. He told you here today that we never differ—that I say, “Go ahead, say what you please.”

I look at the spirits and the principles of men, and try to behold what is in them; and if I can discover that they are right, I do not care one particle how they express their ideas, so that I can but understand them. I can say furthermore that you cannot, the best of you, beat brother Kimball’s language. You may call up the college-bred man, and he cannot beat it.

Brother Heber and I never went to school until we got into “Mormonism:” that was the first of our schooling. We never had the opportunity of letters in our youth, but we had the privilege of picking up brush, chopping down trees, rolling logs, and working amongst the roots, and of getting our shins, feet, and toes bruised. The uncle of brother Merrell, who now sits in the congregation, made me the first hat that my father ever bought for me: and I was then about eleven years of age. I did not go bareheaded previous to that time, neither did I call on my father to buy me a five-dollar hat every few months, as some of my boys do. My sisters would make me what was called a Jo. Johnson cap for winter, and in summer I wore a straw hat which I frequently braided for myself. I learned to make bread, wash the dishes, milk the cows, and make butter; and can make butter, and can beat the most of the women in this community at housekeeping. Those are about all the advantages I gained in my youth. I know how to economize, for my father had to do it.

There are a great many little items pertaining to life that I do not very often speak about. Still they have to be borne with. They arise from traits in our characters, and we have to meet with them right in this community. The imported goods that we purchase are brought over a thousand miles in wagons, and yet probably I have not a young child that is three years old but what has cost me more to furnish with shoes than I ever cost my father to furnish me with shoes in my whole life. Brother Heber has been teaching you a little economy. I tell you that you have been warned and forewarned again, that the time would come when, if you had hats, you would have to make them; and if the ladies had bonnets, they would have to make them here.

Whether it is to your sorrow or joy, I will tell you what I discover; and I have been much surprised, and sometimes I have been overjoyed with the discovery. Sometimes my heart quakes a little, my nerves tremble in consequence of the great things that God is bringing forth. Do we realize that they are coming on us, I may say, faster than we are preparing ourselves to meet them? There is one sign after another, revelation after revelation. The Lord is hastening his work. He is bringing to pass the sayings of the Prophets faster than the people are prepared to receive them. You know that we have often exhorted you to be wide awake to your duties, to be watchful and prayerful, and to be full of the Holy Spirit, lest the Lord should roll on his work faster than you could understand it.

It would be hard for the people to explain away the idea that the Government of the United States is shutting down the gate upon us, for it is too visible; and this is what hastens the work of the Lord, which you are praying for every day. I do not believe that there is a man or woman here, who prays at all, but what prays every day for the Lord to hasten his work. Now take care, for if he does, maybe you will not be prepared to meet it.

The time must come when there will be a separation between this kingdom and the kingdoms of this world, even in every point of view. The time must come when this kingdom must be free and independent from all other kingdoms. Are you prepared to have the thread cut today?

I know the feelings of a great many, and I need not go out of my own family to hear, “O dear, are there no ribbons coming? I want that artificial quick; I want you to go and buy me that nice bonnet, for I am afraid there never will another one be brought here.” If I am tried in any point in this world, it is with regard to the bearings of my own conduct to my own family. I have told them, and tell them, and talk to them, and talk about it, and ask them, Am I in the line of my duty while I can feed women and children who do nothing but sit and fold their hands, and wear out their clothing, and dress them in finery, and pamper them, and they get so that good beef, pork, bread, butter, cheese, tea, coffee, and sugar, with fruit, and all kinds of garden sauce, are no rarity to them at all, and their appetites are poor and they cannot eat? This is the case with me in my family. If there is any trial upon me, it is to know whether I am in the line of my duty in this matter.

Should not I take my tea and coffee, my beef and pork, and every other good thing, and put it into the hands of the men who sweat over the rock for the Temple, instead of feeding men, women, and children, who do not strive to do all they are capable of doing? I am tried on that point, and I must say that if there is anything in the world that bothers me, it is the whining of women and children to prevent me from doing that which I know that I ought to do.

I will acknowledge with brother Kimball, and I know it is the case with him, that I am a great lover of women. In what particular? I love to see them happy, to see them well fed and well clothed, and I love to see them cheerful. I love to see their faces and talk with them, when they talk in righteousness; but as for anything more, I do not care. There are probably but few men in the world who care about the private society of women less than I do. I also love children, and I delight to make them happy.

I accumulate a large amount of means, but I would just as soon feed my neighbor as myself. And everyone who knows me knows whether or not a piece of johnnycake and butter and a potato satisfies Brigham. I can live on as cheap and as plain food as can any man in Israel. I have said to my family, a great many times, I want you to make me homemade clothing; but I would meet such a whizzing about my ears, if I were to have even a pair of homemade pantaloons made. I do not know that I have a wife in the world but what would say, “You are not going to wear them; you ought to wear something more respectable, for you deserve to as much as any man does.”

It is the man who works hard, who sweats over the rock, and goes to the canyons for lumber, that I count more worthy of good food and dress than I am. But do not I labor? Yes, with my mind. Can any man tell what labor there is upon me? No, not a man can begin to tell what I feel for the Latter-day Saints in this Territory, throughout the mountains and the world—what I feel for their salvation and preservation. They have to be looked after and cared for; and all this more particularly rests upon me. My brethren love to share with me all that the Lord puts upon them; but in the day of trouble they look to me to secure them and point out a way for their escape.

Now, let me tell you one thing—I shall take it as a witness that God designs to cut the thread between us and the world, when an army undertakes to make their appearance in this Territory to chastise me or to destroy my life from the earth. I lay it down that right is or at least should be might with Heaven, with its servants, and with all its people on the earth. As for the rest, we will wait a little while to see; but I shall take a hostile movement by our enemies as an evidence that it is time for the thread to be cut. I think we will find three hundred who will lap water, and we can whip out the Midianites. Brother Heber said that he could turn out his women, and they would whip them. I ask no odds of the wicked, the best way they can fix it.

Brother Heber says that the music is taken out of his sermons when brother Carrington clips out words here and there; and I have taken out the music from mine, for I know the traditions and false notions of the people. Our sermons are read by tens of thousands outside of Utah. Members of the British Parliament have those Journals of Discourses, published by brother Watt; they have them locked up, they secrete them, and go to their rooms to study them, and they know all about us. They may, perhaps, keep them from the Queen, for fear that she would believe and be converted.

I know that I have seen the day when, let men use language like brother Heber has today, and many would apostatize from the true faith. In printing my remarks, I often omit the sharp words, though they are perfectly understood and applicable here; for I do not wish to spoil the good I desire to do. Let my remarks go to the world in a way the prejudices of the people can bear, that they may read them, and ponder them, and ask God whether they are true.

I am thankful to hear the servants of God speak; and, as I have frequently said, I do not care what you say when you rise to speak here; for I want to know whether a man seeks with all his heart to know the mind of God concerning him. If he does, all is right with him.

Brother Heber alluded to counseling men and women who come to him after they had been to me, and said that they always received the same counsel I had given them. I never have known it to fail, that if they come to me and then go to brother Heber, they will get the same counsel all the time. And so they would from every one of the Twelve, from the High Council, from the Seventies, and High Priests and every officer in the Church, if every officer in the Church would take the course that brother Heber, and I, and a few others do. What is that? Never to give counsel, unless you have it to give. If you have counsel, give it, because you can have no correct counsel except by the Spirit of revelation: that is my standard. I have no counsel for a man, unless I have the testimony of Jesus on the subject. Then, when the same man asks counsel of me, and goes to brother Heber, do you not see that if he acts on the same principle and gives counsel, it must be by the Spirit of revelation; or he has no counsel to give, if it is not by that Spirit. Then let the same man go to brother Wells and ask his counsel on the same subject, without letting him know that he has been to Brigham or to Heber, and brother Daniel will give the same counsel by the same Spirit.

The difficulty with regard to giving counsel that conflicts consists in men’s giving counsel from their own judgment, without the Spirit of God. Every man in the kingdom of God would give the same counsel upon each subject, if he would wait until he had the mind of Christ upon it. Then all would have one word and mind, and each man would see eye to eye.

But there is a weakness in the brethren, and it is in mankind in general. You ask almost any person in the world a question, and he thinks it a disgrace to be unable to answer it. He feels chagrined, his mind flags, when he finds that he is not quite as knowing as his neighbors think him to be; and, to avoid this, he will often venture an answer without knowing the facts in the case, or the effects of his answer.

If you would always pause and say, I have no counsel for you, I have no answer for you on this subject, because I have no manifestation of the Spirit, and be willing to let everybody in the world know that you are ignorant when you are, you would become wise a great deal quicker than to give counsel on your own judgment, without the Spirit of revelation. If the Elders of Israel would observe this rule, never to give counsel unless they give it by the testimony of the truth, by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, and, if they cannot give counsel in that manner, not to give any, there would be no conflicting counsel in the kingdom. All would be one; counsel would be one: we would soon come to understanding and be of one heart and mind, and our blessings would be increased upon us faster than in taking any other course.

May God bless you and preserve us in the truth. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, July 26, 1857.

I will read a portion of the writings of the prophet Daniel, commencing at the 27th verse of the 2nd chapter of the book of Daniel. [The speaker read the verses alluded to, from verse 27 to verse 49 inclusive.]

These verses are of themselves a text and texts, a sermon and sermons.

We have a great deal of talking, preaching, exhorting, counseling, giving advice, &c., from this stand and in many other places where the Saints assemble; but perhaps it may be the case with many, as it is somewhat with me, that they in a measure neglect to read the Bible, and forget many things which are written therein. Perhaps there are many who have not read much in the Bible since they came into this Church, not having had much time to do so.

I was a Bible reader before I came into this Church; and, so far as the letter of the book was concerned, I understood it. I professed to be a believer in the Bible so far as I knew how; but as for understanding by the Spirit of the Lord, I never did until I became a Latter-day Saint. I had many a time read Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, but it was always a dark subject to me. I was well acquainted with many of the priests of the day, and I would frequently think to myself that I would get some knowledge from them. And as I became acquainted with smart, intelligent, literary priests and professors of religion, I thought, Now I can obtain some intelligence from this or from that man; and I would begin to ask questions on certain texts of Scripture; but they would always leave me as they found me, in the dark. They were there themselves; and I knew of a surety, before I heard the Gospel, that the priests were blind guides leading the blind, and that there was nothing left for them only to stumble here and there, and perhaps fall into a ditch. That much knowledge I had previous to my becoming acquainted with what is called “Mormonism.”

It would be very profitable to the inhabitants of the earth to learn one fact, which a very few in the world have learned, that they are ignorant—that they have not the wisdom, the knowledge, and the intelligence outside the circle of what is called the wisdom of man. For persons to know and understand their own talent, their own strength, their own ability, their own influence, would be very profitable to the inhabitants of the earth, though but very few learn it.

I do not know that I feel particularly thankful that I learned what I did with regard to the lack of intelligence and knowledge professed by Christians to be in their possession; but I have been thankful that my lot and fortune were such that my God gave me good, sound sense. I am thankful for that. When the Gospel came to me, surely within me and all around me I could see very plainly what the Apostle meant in the words, “When the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.”

I could see clearly where the inhabitants of the earth were, in their position before their God. The whole world—everything upon this globe—was veiled in darkness. There was a mist, a fog, a veil, or covering over the minds of the whole of the people on this earth; and what they understood was nothing more than a faint glimmering of light that would dazzle before their eyes for a minute, and they would see it no more. They were like a ship befogged on the ocean and depending for guidance upon a lighthouse whose glimmering rays could only be discerned at long intervals, when the ship could again be put upon a safe course. But the wind has shifted; and, without light or compass, they do not know whether it is blowing east, west, north, or south; and then how could they tell whether they were directing their course aright? The Christian world, I discovered, was like the captain and crew of a vessel on the ocean without a compass, and tossed to and fro whithersoever the wind listed to blow them. When the light came to me, I saw that all the so-called Christian world was groveling in darkness.

We profess to have the light, intelligence, and knowledge with which to understand the things of God. The dream of King Nebuchadnezzar and its interpretation by Daniel are as plain to the man and woman filled with the power of the Holy Ghost, as are the most common lessons to the school children: they most clearly understand the interpretation. Daniel saw that in the latter days the God of heaven was going to set up his kingdom upon this his earth. He has set that kingdom up, as you who are here this day are witnesses.

What brought you from the States and other regions to these mountains? What caused the men and women before me to leave their good farms, their good houses, their merchandise, and all the luxuries and comforts of life so dear to the natural man? What caused many women to leave their husbands, their children, their parents? What caused all this? What is the reason of such conduct? Can any man tell? The world are trying to; but they are even more ignorant about it than they are of the present movements and designs of the President of the United States. They know not the reason why the people are assembled here; for they cannot and will not see and understand anything only as they discern it by the powers of the natural man.

I have told them many times, and I can now tell them again, if the whole world could hear my voice, they are to be pitied; and I pray for them. We have traversed the earth to preach the Gospel to them. We have often started upon our missions almost destitute, without hats, nearly without shoes and any of the comforts of life, to travel thousands and thousands of miles to preach the Gospel to the people. If they will not be benefited, our skirts are clear of their blood, and they must bear the blame.

Can they tell the cause of this people’s being here today? Can they give the cause for the influence I have over the Latter-day Saints? They cannot. If this was not the kingdom of God upon the earth, do you suppose that the world would be arrayed against it? No. There is not a sound, well-informed mind in the world but what would decide at once that there is no cause of enmity against this people, and that all hostility towards us arises from the fact that we have the eternal Priest– hood and the influence thereof. The kingdom of heaven is here, and we are in it, and they are angry at us solely for that.

There is not a king, governor, or ruler, but what desires, and is endeavoring to obtain the influence that I and my brethren possess and are lawfully striving to obtain. Do you suppose that there was ever a President of the United States but what desired the confidence of his constituents? No, never. Was there ever a senator, a representative, a governor of a state, a politician, or a priest, but what desired the same power in his sphere that I have in mine? They cannot get it, because they do not know how. What is the reason? They have not got the kingdom of God, which binds the people together. They are ignorant of it, though we have traveled, barefooted and almost naked, to preach it to them; and I say that they are to be pitied.

How many times I have gone to preach to them, and, with all the kindness and calmness I was capable of, told them that I had something to cheer and comfort them, if they would hear it with good honest hearts. How often I have asked, “Can I have your meetinghouse or your schoolhouse to preach in? Can I have the privilege of preaching to the people?” “No, you cannot, if I can prevent it.” That is the spirit of the priests.

It is the priests and elders of Christendom who have the power of hell in them which causes the trouble that you see, and that you have seen and borne for many years. They are like that unruly member, the tongue, which sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire of hell.

The priests have this fire, and who fans the flame? Brother Smoot has told you who blows the bellows. It is the politician, the drunkard, and the filth and offscouring of the earth, who run at the beck and call of those who have a dollar or sixpence for them—of those who will treat them and give them an oyster supper and a good lodging.

There is another class, the speculators, who endeavor to get up some plan or other by which to make money. Brother Smoot has given you a few items concerning their present movements in the east. Through their whining, bickering, howling, groveling, squalling, and scratching, and in a political and speculative point of view, many are striving to most egregiously befool our Government and squander its revenue. And the priests are also at the bottom of this movement; for they have the power that is of hell, and others blow the flame and furnish the fuel to persecute the Latter-day Saints, because they are in the kingdom that the God of heaven has set up in the last days, and that shall never be destroyed.

It is a little more than twenty-seven years since I commenced reading the Book of Mormon and defending the cause we are engaged in. My mind was open to conviction, and I knew that the Christian world had not the religion that Jesus and his Apostles taught. I knew that there was not a Bible Christian on the earth within my knowledge. A few years previous to that time Joseph had obtained the plates and began translating the Book of Mormon; and from the time he found those plates in the hill Cumorah, there has been just that tirade of abuse, lying, slandering, defaming the name and character of the Prophet and his associates, that there is at this day. It is no hotter a time now than it was then; there is no more persecution now than there was then.

God has commenced to set up his kingdom on the earth, and all hell and its devils are moving against it. Hell is yawning and sending forth its devils and their imps. What for? To destroy the kingdom of God from the earth. But they cannot do it.

The God of heaven showed Nebuchadnezzar that this kingdom would never be destroyed; and that is my testimony. This is the kingdom of heaven—the kingdom of God which Daniel saw—the kingdom that was revealed to King Nebuchadnezzar and interpreted to him by the Prophet Daniel. This is the kingdom that was to be set up in the last days. It is like a stone taken from the mountain without hands, with all its roughness, with all its disfigured appearance—uncomely—even a stumblingblock and a stone of offense to the nations of the earth. This is the kingdom that is set up; and the history of the kingdoms of this world all understand, or can read and understand it.

Some may cry out, “Your saying that this is the kingdom of God, does that make it so?” No, not by any means. “Your testimony,” Mr. Young, “is, that this is the kingdom of God on the earth—that which was shown to Daniel the Prophet centuries ago.” Yes, that is my testimony. “Does this make it so?” No it does not; but let me tell you that it is true; consequently, I bear my testimony of its truth, though my testimony does not alter that truth in the least, one way or the other; neither does any other man’s. That is my testimony, and has been all the time.

Why I testify of these things is because they are revealed to me, and not to another for me. They were not revealed to Joseph Smith for me. He had the keys to get visions and revelations, dreams and manifestations, and the Holy Ghost for the people. Those keys were committed to him; and through that administration, blessed be the name of God, I have received the spirit of Christ Jesus which is the spirit of prophecy. Our testimony does not make this true, and the testimony of our enemies that it is not the kingdom of God does not make that true or false. The fact stands upon its own basis, and will continue so to stand, without any of the efforts of the children of men.

I have told you the cause of all the bustle and stir against us. The blind are leading the blind; and if their hearts were honest—if they would throw off the mask of prejudice and erroneous parental education, they could receive the truth as well as you and I. Once in a while one says goodbye to the traditions of the fathers. A few will cast off those prejudices that surround the people, and say, “We will read, pray, think, and meditate, and we will ask God for ourselves.” That is the reason why you and I are here today. We asked God for a testimony, and he witnesses to us from the heavens that this is the kingdom which Daniel saw, and we have embraced it, and it is dearer than everything else upon the face of this earth.

Do we expect that the devils will howl? Yes. When has this Church had the peace that we have had since we have been in the mountains? Never. Where is there peace now upon the face of the earth like the peace we enjoy here? Nowhere. Brother Smoot said that he had been in the lower regions. He could say that with propriety; for, in fact, we are all in the lower regions. Where do you think the devils live?

Do you suppose that there is any such thing as a devil? Yes, a great many believe that there is. Where does he live? The answer comes very readily. He lives in hell, of course. Then, if there are devils here, we must also be in hell. Do you not think that the devil is in pain? I should think he was, by the groanings that are uttered from the east. You see that with propriety brother Smoot could say that he has been to the lower regions; but when he arrives here, although the altitude is much greater, he still is in the same world. We are all here, and we are surrounded by the devils.

Men rage and boil with wrath and indignation, and they do not know the cause of it. If they think, “What injury have the ‘Mormons’ done to me?” the response from their own minds will be, “Not any.” What can the men truthfully say, who have civilly passed through here to the west to make their fortunes? That here is a place of peace and contentment; and, though a thousand miles from civilization and from all the luxuries and many of the comforts of life, yet here is a people satisfied, contented, and happy. Did they injure you? “No.” Did they treat you kindly? “Yes.” Ask the people in the east what is the matter? “We cannot tell you—only somebody has said something.” What have they said? “We do not know; we only heard a rumor—that is all.”

The people abroad are just as foolish, unwise, and shortsighted as they can possibly be represented by the best learned men in the world. What are they doing? What they have done all the time. Have they been trying to destroy “Mormonism?” Yes. Did they destroy it when they took the life of Joseph? No. “Mormonism” is here, the priesthood is here, the keys of the kingdom are here on the earth; and when Joseph went, they did not go. And if the wicked should succeed in taking my life, the keys of the kingdom will remain with the Church. But my faith is that they will not succeed in taking my life just yet. They have not as good a man to deal with as they had when they had Joseph Smith. I do not profess to be very good. I will try to take care of number one, and if it is wicked for me to try to preserve myself, I shall persist in it; for I am intending to take care of myself.

When they killed Joseph, they were talking about killing a great many others. Would you believe that the apostates say that I was the instigator of the death of Joseph and Hyrum? And William Smith has asserted that I was the cause of the death of his brother Samuel, when brother Woodruff, who is here today, knows that we were waiting at the depot in Boston to take passage east at the very time when Joseph and Hyrum were killed. Brother Taylor was nearly killed at the time, and Doctor Richards had his whiskers nearly singed off by the blaze from the guns. In a few weeks after, Samuel Smith died, and I am blamed as the cause of his death. We did not hear of the death of Joseph until some three or four weeks after he was basely martyred.

What is now the news circulated throughout the United States? That Captain Gunnison was killed by Brigham Young, and that Babbitt was killed on the Plains by Brigham Young and his Danite band. What more? That Brigham Young has killed all the men who have died between the Missouri River and California. I do not say that President Buchanan has any such idea, or the officers of the troops who are reported to be on their way here; but such are the newspaper stories. Such reports are in the bellows, and editors and politicians are blowing them out.

According to their version, I am guilty of the death of every man, woman, and child that has died between the Missouri River and the California gold mines; and they are coming here to chastise me. The idea makes me laugh; and when do you think they will get a chance? Catching is always before hanging. They understand, you know, that I had gone north and intended to leave this place with such as would follow me; and they are coming to declare a jubilee. It is their desire to say to the people, “You are free; you are not under the bondage of Brigham Young; you need wear his yoke no longer; now let us get drunk, fight, play at cards, and race horses; and every one of you women turn to be whores and become associated with the civilization of Christendom.” That is the freedom they are endeavoring to declare here.

I will make this proposition to Uncle Sam. I will furnish carriages, horses, the best of drivers, and the best food I have, to transport to the States every man, woman, and child that wishes to leave this place, if he will send on at his own expense all those who want to come to Utah; and we will gain a thousand to their one, as all who understand the matter very well know. It would have been much better to have loaded the wagons reported to be on the way here, with men, women, and children, than with provisions to sustain soldiers; for they will never get here without we help them; neither do I think that it is the design of President Buchanan that they should come here.

I am not going to interpret dreams; for I don’t profess to be such a Prophet as were Joseph Smith and Daniel; but I am a Yankee guesser; and I guess that James Buchanan has ordered this Expedition to appease the wrath of the angry hounds who are howling around him. He did not design to start men on the 15th of July to cross these Plains to this point on foot. Russell and Co. will probably make from eight to ten hundred thousand dollars by freighting the baggage of the Expedition. What would induce the Government to expend that amount of money for this Territory? Three years ago they appropriated $45,000 for the purpose of making treaties with the Utah Indians. Has even that diminutively small sum ever been sent here? It is in the coffers of the Government to this day, unless they have stolen it out, or improperly paid it out for some other purpose.

Have they ever paid their debts due to Utah? No. And now they have capped their meanness by taking the mail out of the hands of Hiram Kimball, simply because they knew that he was a member of this Church. If he had only have apostatized in season and written lies about us, it is not probable that his mail contract would have been taken from him without the least shadow of right, as has now been done. He was to have $23,000 for carrying the mail from Independence to this city once a month, which was the lowest bid; but because he is a “Mormon,” the contract must be disannulled, and that, too, after he had put by far the most faithful and efficient service on the route that there ever has been, as is most well known at Washington. If I thought that my prayer might be answered, I would pray that not another United States’ mail may come to this city; for until Mr. Kimball began his service it has been a constant source of annoyance, disappointment, and to us loss. We can carry our own mails, raise our own dust, and sustain ourselves.

But woe, woe to that man who comes here to unlawfully interfere with my affairs. Woe, woe to those men who come here to unlawfully meddle with me and this people. I swore in Nauvoo, when my enemies were looking me in the face, that I would send them to hell across lots, if they meddled with me; and I ask no more odds of all hell today. If they kill me, it is all right; but they will not until the time comes; and I think that I shall die a natural death; at least I expect to.

Would it not make any man or community angry to endure and reflect upon the abuse our enemies have heaped upon us, and are still striving to pour out upon God’s people? Brother Bernhisel says that McGraw’s mail contract was out in August last; but they demanded at his hands and would pay him to carry it two or three months longer. The Post Office Department knew, or should have known, that it had forwarded the acceptance of Mr. Kimball’s bid for the new contract in that mail which McGraw was not carrying; and then it took advantage of the failure of that mail and trumped up a false allegation of the unsettled state of Utah, and on those grounds disannulled the contract with Mr. Kimball. Our mail rights and other rights and privileges are most unjustly trampled under foot; but they can spend millions to raise a hubbub and make out that something wrong is being done in Utah.

Let me be the President of the United States a little while, and I would say to the Senators, Representatives, and other officers of Government, Gentlemen, you must act the part of men and statesmen, or I will reprove you. What are they angry at me for? Because I will reprove men for their iniquity, and because I have such influence here—the very thing they are all after. They think that they are going to obtain it with money; but they cannot do it.

There is no influence, truth, or righteousness in the world only what flows from God our Father in the heavens. We have that power, that influence; we also have such love and submission that we submit ourselves to our Father and God, as a child does to a kind parent.

May God bless you, brethren and sisters. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, July 19, 1857.

I am heartily delighted with what has been said here this morning, so far as I have heard—for I did not come in time to hear all the remarks.

It is my greatest joy to see this people engaged in their religion, faithful to their calling, true to their trust, and fervent in spirit. And when I see the brethren and sisters striving to add faith to faith, and good works to good works, and feeling to renew their obligations, and covenants, and labors day by day, it is satisfying to me—it is joy and peace.

This is a marvelous work and a wonder. Do not the people think it is? What a stir this people make in the world! The sound thereof has gone forth almost, if not entirely, to the uttermost parts of the earth. Our Elders have been round the world and round the world again. They have been to the most noted nations, and to a great many isolated tribes and islands. I do not know but what the sound of “Mormonism” has gone forth into all the earth, and it makes a great stir wherever it goes.

Brother Truman O. Angell said that it appeared as though this people and the work we are engaged in are of the greatest importance. I can say that this work is of the greatest importance to you, and me, and the people of the earth; for no person can get salvation without it. And the remark of brother Carrington, that the unbridled passions of people forge their fetters, is true. There is no freedom anywhere outside the Gospel of salvation. The inhabitants of the earth imagine that they are enjoying great freedom. It is not so. If they would stop and reflect, they would find that they only place each other in bondage. This is the case with all the nations of the earth. Do you see that equality among them that you see here? Where is there a people or nation that does not oppress each other? When our Elders go forth and preach the Gospel, if it was in their power to cast from the people the yoke of bondage, instead of our gathering into the Church, from the British Isles, for instance, two or three thousand or ten thousand a year, we would gain our million a year.

That is a free nation: in the common acceptation of the term they are a free people: they are very liberal. But how many can embrace the work there with impunity? But a few; for people have not moral courage enough to break through their iron fetters. The people are bound down and cannot embrace this work. Thousands and millions have heard this Gospel preached who would have been glad to receive the blessings of it, if they could have done so without endangering their own existence on the earth. Life is sweet, and the majority of men will do anything to preserve it. Jesus said that a man would give all that he had for his life; and in our day there are a great many who will do almost anything to preserve their natural lives. To accomplish this, they will bow down to the whims and sayings of designing men, of the priests of the day, and to the laws and customs of individuals. Were it not for this, you would find that there would be millions embracing this work where there are now but hundreds; for there is no freedom only in the Gospel of salvation.

There is not an individual upon the earth but what has within himself ability to save or to destroy himself; and such is the case with nations. Is there liberty or freedom in destruction? No. When you look at things naturally, which is as far as the natural man sees, a person who takes a course to destroy himself temporally would be considered very unwise. And to the natural man we are taking an unwise, an unnatural course, wherein our religion is obnoxious to the Christian world. Did not your friends say to many of you, before you left your homes, that you were foolish—that the world would despise you and hate you? Did they not ask you if you could not see that troubles were coming upon the Saints, and say that you were very unwise in going with them—that you had better stay where there was safety? They can see nothing more than natural things; they do not understand the ways of God; they are unacquainted with His doings, with His kingdom, and with the principles of eternity.

So far as the natural man is concerned, it appears that the Latter-day Saints are very unwise to embrace in their faith those obnoxious principles that render them so odious in the eyes of the political and Christian world—the popular world. The Latter-day Saints see further; they understand more than what pertains to this world. The Gospel of life and salvation reveals to each individual who receives it that this world is only a place of temporary duration, existence, trials, &c. Its present fashion and uses are but for a few days, while we were created to exist eternally. The wicked can see no further than this world is concerned. We understand that when we are unclothed in this present state, then we are prepared to be clothed upon with immortality—that when we put off these bodies we put on immortality. These bodies will return to dust, but our hope and faith are that we will receive these bodies again from the elements—that we will receive the very organization that we have here, and that, if we are faithful to the principles of freedom, we shall then be prepared to endure eternally.

Can the wicked be brought forth to endure? No; they will be destroyed. Which, then, are the wise, and which are the foolish? We all naturally know—we can naturally understand that man cannot stay here always. The inhabitants of the earth are continually coming and going. This is not our abiding place. All can see naturally, if they would but observe the facts before them, that this world is but of short duration to them. They appear here infants, pass through childhood and youth to middle age, and if they live to a good old age, it is but a short time, and then they must go. But where do they go to, and what will become of them? Will this intelligence cease to be? There are but very few, if any, who really believe this. And the thought of being annihilated—of being blotted out of existence—is most horrid, even to that class called infidels.

The intelligence that is in me to cease to exist is a horrid thought; it is past enduring. This intelligence must exist; it must dwell somewhere. If I take the right course and preserve it in its organization, I will preserve to myself eternal life. This is the greatest gift that ever was bestowed on mankind, to know how to preserve their identity. Shall we forge our own fetters through our ignorance? Shall we lay the foundation to build the bulwarks for our own destruction through our wickedness? No; the Latter-day Saints know better. We will lay the foundation to dwell eternally, and that, too, in the heavens, with beings superior to those with whom we associate in our present situation and circumstances.

We have the principle within us, and so has every being on this earth, to increase and to continue to increase, to enlarge, and receive and treasure up truth, until we become perfect. It is wisdom for us to be the friends of God; and unless we are filled with integrity and preserve ourselves in our integrity before our God, we actually lay the foundation for our destruction. The world think that we are going to be temporally destroyed. That is nonsense. All things are temporal, and all things are spiritual with the Lord; there is no difference with Him, neither is there with any person who has eyes to see things as they exist. To those who have their minds open to eternal things, spiritual and temporal things are all one.

This is only our place of temporary existence. We cannot live here always with our bodies full of pain and subject to decay. Deprive us of food and we die; deprive us of water, and after a short time we die; deprive us of air, and we live but a few moments. We all know that this is not the state for us to live in and endure to eternity. Our eyes are looking beyond this sphere of action, and I trust that we are laying the foundation to endure eternally. If we do, we must be the friends of God—the friends of the principles of life and salvation; and we must adhere to those principles and shape our lives according to them, or else we lay the foundation for our own destruction.

Talk about liberty anywhere else! What liberty is there in anything that will be dissolved and return to its native element? What liberty can any intelligence enjoy that is calculated to be destroyed? There is no liberty, no freedom there.

The principles of life and salvation are the only principles of freedom; for every principle that is opposed to God—that is opposed to the principles of eternal life, whether it is in heaven, on the earth, or in hell, the time will be when it will cease to exist, cease to preserve, manifest, and exhibit its identity; for it will be returned to its native element. I say, let us live our religion, serve our God, trust in Him; and when we are called to contend against the enemy within ourselves, contend against him manfully, just as we would against an open enemy—contend against those passions that rise in the heart, and overcome every one of them.

You will hear some of the brethren say, as brother Carrington has just said, that there are times when the blood courses like lightning, upon seeing men who are opposed to us—who are striving with all their powers to destroy this people. Can they destroy us? No, they cannot. There are a great many in this congregation who are witnesses that the Devil has been warring, with all his imps arrayed against this work, ever since the organization of this Church, and trying to obliterate it from the earth. Have they gained any ground? No; they have lost ground all the time. This people, with brother Joseph at their head, and with all the powers of Satan, earth, and hell for him to contend against, have built up the kingdom of God and spread the principles of the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth.

In regard to the battle in heaven, that brother Truman O. Angell referred to, how much of a battle it was I have forgotten. I cannot relate the principal circumstances, it is so long since it happened: but I do not think it lasted very long; for when Lucifer, the Son of the Morning, claimed the privilege of having the control of this earth and redeeming it, a contention rose; but I do not think it took long to cast down one-third of the hosts of heaven, as it is written in the Bible. But let me tell you that it was one-third part of the spirits who were prepared to take tabernacles upon this earth, and who rebelled against the other two-thirds of the heavenly host; and they were cast down to this world. It is written that they were cast down to the earth. They were cast down to this globe—to this terra firma that you and I walk upon, and whose atmosphere we breathe. One-third part of the spirits that were prepared for this earth rebelled against Jesus Christ, and were cast down to the earth, and they have been opposed to him from that day to this, with Lucifer at their head. He is their great General—Lucifer, the Son of the Morning. He was once a brilliant and influential character in heaven, and we will know more about him hereafter.

Do you not think that those spirits knew when Joseph Smith got the plates? Yes, just as well as you know that I am talking to you now. They were there at the time, and millions and millions of them opposed Joseph in getting the plates; and not only they opposed him, but also men in the flesh. I never heard such oaths fall from the lips of any man as I heard uttered by a man who was called a fortuneteller, and who knew where those plates were hid. He went three times in one summer to get them—the same summer in which Joseph did get them. Baptist, Presbyterian, and Methodist priests and deacons sent for him to tell where those plates were, and to get them out of the hill where they were deposited; and he had not returned to his home from the last trip he made for them more than a week or ten days before Joseph got them. Joseph was what we call an ignorant boy; but this fortuneteller, whose name I do not remember, was a man of profound learning.

He had put himself in possession of all the learning in the States—had been to France, Germany, Italy, and through the world—had been educated for a priest, and turned out to be a devil. I do not know but that he would have been a devil if he had followed the profession of a priest among what are termed the Christian denominations. He could preach as well as the best of them, and I never heard a man swear as he did. He could tell that those plates were there, and that they were a treasure whose value to the people could not be told; for that I myself heard him say. Those spirits driven from heaven were with him and with others who tried to prevent Joseph’s getting the plates; but he did get and secrete them, though he had to knock down two or three men, as he was going home, who were waylaying him to kill him. From that day to this, a part of the hosts of heaven made mention of in the Bible, with the cursed corrupt priests and the cursed scoundrelly Gentiles with them, have been trying to put down this work. But what have they gained? I should suppose that they would have stopped their operations long ere this, after uniformly meeting with such bad success.

When I commenced preaching, I told the people that if they would let us alone, and not raise any persecution, we would go peaceably along among the people and preach to them; but that just as sure as they fought us and opposed this work we would actually revolutionize the world a great deal quicker than if they let us alone. I have stuck to that faith ever since; for every time that there has been an opposition raised against this work, God has caused it to swell like seed in the ground; He has caused the seed to sprout and bring forth the little mustard trees, as brother Kimball has said.

The Gospel is certainly bringing forth a multitude of Saints. Has it not been so all the time? Yes, it has. A great deal could be said on this subject, but I have not time to say it now; for there are some other matters I wish to speak about.

We have issued almost 2,000 tickets inviting our brethren and sisters to pass the 24th of July at the Lake in Big Cottonwood Canyon; and no doubt a great many more would also like to receive tickets. Hence, I want to tell you my feelings on the subject. If I call upon my friends to join me in a short excursion, to form a social party at my residence, or to unite upon any festive or memorable occasion, I never know where to stop in my feelings until every Latter-day Saint is invited. I wish those who do not receive invitations to go into the canyon to understand that it is not because we have any feelings against your going there, nor is it because we wish you to tarry at home, nor because we not desire your society. But is it consistent for all the people to go? It is not. We will therefore gather up some that ought to go—some who can conveniently go, and leave the rest, with precisely the same good feelings towards those who tarry at home as those who go into the canyon.

Last season it was observed, “I would like to have gone into the mountains to celebrate the 24th; but I did not want to go without an invitation.” I did not want you to, and I will tell you why. If we had permitted such a course, a great many would have gone that were not wanted there, as there are persons who would like to put fire into the canyon and destroy the timber, or create a disturbance, if they could get a chance. We expect those who go to observe the instructions on the tickets they receive, and to go, tarry, and return in harmony and peace. Let all who go observe good order and try to make themselves happy. If I were to satisfy my feelings, I would invite the whole of you. I will do so by-and-by, and we will have a party right here in this Bowery on some Sabbath day, where we can all be together and enjoy each other’s society.

There is another item that I will touch upon. Two weeks ago today, I mentioned the course of some individuals in this place who are writing slanders concerning us, stating that a man cannot live here unless he is a “Mormon,” when at the same time they come here to meeting with perfect impunity. Some of them are in the meeting today, and are now preparing lies for their letters. A parcel of them clan together and fix up letters, and they write to the East how desperately wicked the “Mormons” are—how they are killing each other, killing the Gentiles, stealing and robbing, and what wicked, miserable creatures the “Mormons” are. And when any of them go from here, they report, “We have barely escaped with our lives: Oh! It was a very narrow escape that we made; but we did manage to get out of the place with our lives; yes, we did get away without being killed.” They all safely escape to tell their lies.

They say that it is with great difficulty that they can live with the Saints, when at the same time no one has molested them during all the time they have been writing lies to stir up the wicked to destroy us. They pass and repass in our streets with the same privileges that other citizens enjoy; and there are professedly of our faith those who sympathize for them. May God Almighty let His curse rest on all such sympathizers. [Many voices, “Amen.“]

Will troops come here and inquire into my just rebukes of such characters and conduct? “Oh!” says one, “I am afraid they will come; and what shall I do?” They have been with us many a time. We have been accustomed to seeing a hundred to our one, with their guns to shoot us, and their knives to cut our throats. Do people imagine that they can kill “Mormonism?” I may die for my religion, and who cares for that? Brother Carrington has told you that God can carry on his own work, and the spirit of Joseph which fell upon me is ready to fall upon somebody else when I am removed.

There are a few apostates here, and I have understood the whining and sympathy they manifested for our enemies. It makes me think of what I heard from a High Priest’s house, that he did not know a Saint’s face from the Devil’s. It is just so with a great many. They would not know the angel Gabriel, if he were to stand here to preach to them, from Lucifer, the Son of the Morning. If Lucifer were to hand out a dollar—“You are a gentleman; won’t you call at my house?” “Here is another dollar.” “Call over at my house; I have some daughters: perhaps you would like to be introduced to them. I have a fine family; call in, and get acquainted with my family.”

Do you know that there is no fellowship between Christ and Baal? Do you think that a union has taken place between them? Can you fellowship those who will serve the Devil? If you do, you are like them; and we wish you to go with them; for we do not want you. We wish that all such men and women would apostatize and come out boldly and say, “We are going to hell upon our own road;” and I will say, “Go ahead, and may the Devil speed you on your journey! Here is sixpence for you.” But do not be snooping round, pretending to be Saints, at the same time be receiving such men into your houses and such spirits into your hearts, as many do. Well, all that is necessary, and it will be so; but the time will come when “judgment will be laid to the line, and righteousness to the plummet;” and if it is not hailstones, it will be some other kind that will sweep away those who make lies and love them.

Brother Truman said that we are here, are we not? We are in the tops of the mountains, and all hell cannot remove us. What do you suppose Joseph and Hyrum would have said, if they could have been here with only one hundred such boys as they could have chosen? Their enemies might have hunted them to this day, and they would have wasted them away as fast as they could have come.

Brother Truman said that there are as many for us as against us. Yes; there are ten to one for us more than those against us; but the difficulty is that all have not eyes to see. The soldiers of the Lord are in the mountains, in the canyons, upon the plains, on the hills, along the mighty streams, and by the rivulets. Thousands and thousands more are for us than those who are against us, and you need not have any fears. They may be permitted to kill our bodies, but that is yet to be determined. They try to fire a pistol; the cap snaps, and they are in the lurch; for some would have a dagger into them before they would know it. Or, if they tried to shoot with a rifle, perhaps the person aimed at would be standing a little one side of the range of the bullet.

Brother Carrington’s testimony proves to you that men’s eyes are liable to be deceived. It may appear strange to some that he could not tell me from Joseph Smith, when I was speaking in the stand in Nauvoo during the October Conference of 1844. Somebody came along and passed a finger over his eyes and he could not see anyone but Joseph speaking, until I got through addressing the congregation.

They may shoot, and they will see Brigham a little to one side, and Heber in another place, and fire away—at what? At shadows. We shall live as long as the Lord wants us to. They may lie and write lies, and they may stay here, if they behave themselves; but if they do not stop their devilish conduct they will be over– taken; for we will make their words true in regard to their being in danger, if they persist in their efforts to bring destruction upon us. We do not ask any odds of them, nor of hell, nor of the world. We only ask favors of our God; and He is the Being we serve: to Him we go; and we do not pray to a God without body, parts, passions, or principles; for we do not serve such a personage. We serve the living and true God, who has body, and parts, and passions, and feelings for His children; and the wicked may help themselves the best they can. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, July 5, 1857.

It rejoices my heart to hear the brethren testify of their faith and good feelings, and of their confidence in God and in their religion. It is a matter of rejoicing to me to see those who profess to love and serve the Lord live up to their professions.

Brother Park very correctly observed that if this people will actually do the will of those who are placed to lead them, they will be owned, honored, and blest of their God who dwells in the heavens. I can say, for one, that I cannot be pleased, I cannot be satisfied, I cannot feel to fellowship this people as I wish to do, unless they live their religion and serve their God every day, every hour, and every minute of their lives. There is no time allotted to us to use outside of the limits of duty. But, in doing our duty, in serving our God, in living our religion, in using every possible means to send forth the Gospel of salvation to the inhabitants of the earth, to gather Israel, and establish Zion, and build up the kingdom of heaven upon the earth are incorporated all blessings, all comforts that men can desire.

It is a mistaken idea in the inhabitants of the earth to conclude that it will not do for them to yield obedience to the commandments of heaven, lest it should abridge them in their comforts and in their enjoyments; for there is no real peace, there is no real happiness in anything in heaven or on the earth, except to those who serve the Lord. In His service there is joy, there is happiness; but they are not to be found anywhere else. In it there are peace and comfort; but when the soul is filled with joy, with peace, and with glory, and is perfectly satisfied therewith a person even then has but little idea of that which is in store for all the faithful.

Thrust a man into prison and bind him with chains, and then let him be filled with the comfort and with the glory of eternity, and that prison is a palace to him. Again, let a man be seated upon a throne with power and dominion in this world, ruling his millions and millions, and without that peace which flows from the Lord of Hosts—without that contentment and joy that comes from heaven, his palace is a prison; his life is a burden to him; he lives in fear, in dread, and in sorrow. But when a person is filled with the peace and power of God, all is right with him.

I cannot be satisfied with myself, neither can I be satisfied with this people, unless they live in the enjoyment of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, having the testimony of Jesus within them. When they live in that manner, they are prepared to judge of all matters that come before them; they are then capable of discerning between truth and error, light and darkness. They can then readily discover the things that are not of God, and distinguish them from those that are. This is the only way for you to know that your leaders are leading you in the path that leads to heaven. Without taking this course, a people or nation is liable to be led astray by their leaders, and thereby be prepared to be destroyed; but when the people understand for themselves—when they know and understand the things of God by the Spirit of revelation, they are not only satisfied but safe. If this people will do as they are told—will please those who preside over them, they will do well for themselves. And if they will do this from morning to evening and from evening to morning, all will be right, and their acts will tend to promote the kingdom of God upon the earth.

As brother Wells lately observed here, it is very little difference what comes or goes. If the world are angry at us, that only fits and prepares them for their destruction. If they afflict the Saints of God, it prepares them for their reward; it prepares the righteous for bliss and immortality, and the wicked are the sooner ripened for their doom. It is very little difference whether men come here as soldiers or as civilians, all will promote the interest of the kingdom of God. It will promote the interests of the Saints, inasmuch as they are united; and though the wicked, in their eagerness to destroy the Saints of God, do not see this, yet God will make it all turn for the good of His people.

True, this people might have done better; but, considering all circumstances, they have done as well as could be expected. It might be shown to them, and perhaps this congregation will acknowledge it, that if this people had invariably been careful to observe counsel, they would have promoted the kingdom of heaven a great deal faster than they have. I will bring up a circumstance to illustrate this idea—one relating to us in these Valleys of the Mountains. It was just now observed by brother Feramorz Little that his feelings would be perfectly satisfied if he should never see another train of goods come in here for sale among this people. I would have been satisfied, if that could have been the case from the beginning.

At a time here when a person could go with a sackful of gold and say to a man, “Can I hire you to do some work for me? I have a sackful of gold;” and the man would say, “No; I cannot do it;” and every man would say, “No; I am too busy; I cannot do it;” and the person still saying, “I have hats full of gold;” but it was so plentiful, that men had such quantities of money that they were lugging it about until their backs ached—suppose that that money had been put into the hands of the Trustee-in-Trust, and used for the benefit of the kingdom of God, would it not have been much better than to pay it to the merchants to carry out of the Territory? One merchant, in a day-and-a-half, received for sales a large kettle-full of money, and in two days he took a great deal more. Suppose that that money had been put into the hands of the Trustee-in-Trust and those associated with him, they would have laid goods down at your doors for from thirty to forty percent cheaper than you got them. But could the people see that? No; their eyes were dim, and they could not see their own interest.

If the people had concentrated their means during the nine years past, they would now have been worth millions where they have only thousands. I know that now as well as I should have known it if the experiment had been tried, and that result proven. But no; the people would pay their money to others to carry out of the country.

I will tell an anecdote relating to the feelings of some in those days. I stepped into a store at the time when money was so plentiful, and the store was crowded. Every man, woman, and child, had their pockets full of gold. A woman stepped up and said, “Mr. So and So, have you any soap?” He replied, “I do not think there is any.” She then asked, “Have you any sugar, or coffee?” He answered, “I do not know whether there is or not: there was some this morning; but I think it has been sold.” It was not long before a woman reached over and touched the one enquiring, and said, “President Young has bought everything of that kind that has been brought in.” I reached over and tapped her on the shoulder and said, “What do you tell that infernal lie for? President Young has not bought a pound of tea, a pound of sugar, or a pound of coffee, since these goods came in.” The people were then in such a state of mind that they would rather have given all they had to the Gentiles than for me to have had a pound of tea or the handling of their money.

They were not all possessed of that feeling; but there were enough to influence the channel of trade and give it an unwise direction; and if there are not now too many of that class, I shall feel thankful, and we shall be able to hold the wheat and the cattle so that those who are passing through and temporarily sojourning in our midst will have to pay a fair price for those articles. But I presume, if the Gentiles come, some of you will run and sell your wheat and your cattle to them for a much less price than we would give you, and be perfectly satisfied with it. If there is not an influence and practice of that kind, I shall be glad of it; for it will prove to me that the people believe what they say.

I am careful about touching anything that is the object of people’s worship—the gold, the goods, and the things of this world, which please the eyes and entice the affections of the people. You who know me know that I have not been under the necessity of asking you to help me much. Instead of the Presidency’s living upon the people, it is well known that they have sustained the people. Suppose that I had not launched forth in business, and that brother Kimball and others had not, what would have been the result? This community would have been living in their log huts, whereas they now have good houses and comfortable homes.

I am decidedly in favor of practical religion—of everyday useful life. And if I today attend to what devolves upon me to do, and then do that which presents itself tomorrow, and so on, when eternity comes I will be prepared to enter on the things of eternity. But I would not be prepared for that sphere of action, unless I could manage the things that are now within my reach. You must all learn to do this.

If the people take a wise course and let a few have the handling of the wheat and other commodities that are for sale, and let those who wish to buy come to them to purchase, it would be much better for this people. By pursuing that course, our enemies would either be under the necessity of giving us a fair price, or have to purchase their supplies in the States, and haul them across the plains, through the hills, and over the mountains. How do you think they would prosper in that operation? I think they would soon become discouraged and want to leave these regions.

It is an ignorant excitement which causes some people in the States to feel and act as they do. Who is there, of all who are really acquainted with our proceedings and will let good reason and good sense operate, that has one word to say against us? No one. But the priests have hallooed so much about these Latter-day Saints—the “Mormons” as they term us, that they have become excited; and what is the reason of their outcry? It is simply this—we have the words of eternal life, and they have not; we serve the God of heaven and they serve somebody, they know not whom. We have the true religion that the Bible gives an account of, and they seem to be entirely ignorant of it and of the God of heaven. Only let us leave God out of our religion, and all would be right.

A great many have said to you and me, “Just leave out Joe Smith, the Book of Mormon, and modern revelations, and you will become popular.” Brother Clements said, last Sunday, that he told a priest that he could materially abridge that leaving out by saying, “Just leave God out of the question, and you will be ‘Hail fellows well met.’” We are not going to leave out Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, nor the gathering, nor the building up of Zion.

You hear brethren talk of coming to Zion to enjoy the blessings of this land; but do you not see that it is the shortsightedness of men which causes their disappointment when they arrive here? They read in the Bible, in the Book of Mormon, and Book of Doctrine and Covenants, about Zion, and what it is to be; but brother Park and others could not realize, before they came here, that they were the ones to help to build up Zion. They gather here with the spirit of Zion resting upon them, and expecting to find Zion in its glory, whereas their own doctrine should teach them that they are coming here to make Zion.

We can make Zion, or we can make Babylon, just as we please. We can make just what we please of this place. The people can make Zion: they can make a heaven within themselves. When people gather here, they should come with a determination to make Zion within themselves, with the resolution that, “I will carry myself full of the Spirit of Zion wherever I go; and this is the way in which I will control evil spirits; for I mean that my spirit shall have control over evil:” and do you not see that such a course will make Zion?

This American continent will be Zion; for it is so spoken of by the prophets. Jerusalem will be rebuilt and will be the place of gathering, and the tribe of Judah will gather there; but this continent of America is the land of Zion.

The priests are angry because they are afraid that their religion is nothing but a sandy-foundationed fabric; and whenever they meditate upon the subject and humble themselves, and the Spirit of the Lord finds its way to their hearts and convicts them, the truth then is made manifest before them, and they begin to learn the falsity of their systems; and when that spirit leaves them, they become angry. “Mormonism” is declared to be true by hosts of witnesses, and this makes the priests angry; for this Gospel bears its own weight and testimony, and they know not how to gainsay it. True, I have aimed to point out their errors; but it is not you or me that they are opposed to, although they throw their darts at us; but it is the spirit of conviction that goes with the report of this work; for wherever it goes it strikes conviction to the heart, and that is what disturbs the priests and the people.

The foolish, and those who are controlled by the hissings of the priests, rage against the work of God, and corrupt politicians urge them on. There is not an honest man in the United States or in the world but what, if he could hear this doctrine taught without knowing that it was a “Mormon” who was teaching it, would drink down these principles. They would swallow every word and say, “That is true; you have more light than I have.” But if you say “Mormon,” that sends the fat into the fire, and arrays their prejudices against you. Do you know this, you Elders? [Voices, “Yes.”]

As I have said before, I have often gone incognito, and taught persons the Gospel, and they would drink down its principles as eagerly as a thirsty ox would drink water; but an ignorant prejudice causes all the trouble. The excitement among the priests, and directed by politicians, raises this erroneous prejudice and hue-and-cry.

You know that I have said that, if it was now my calling to go and preach the Gospel, I could make as many converts as I ever did; for I would go in such a manner that the bitterly prejudiced would have to labor hard to find out that I was a “Mormon,” until I had induced them to love the truth. Then they would say, “If that is ‘Mormonism,’ I want it.”

Persons who are as ignorant as jackasses pass through this city, and they are so prejudiced that they cannot see and hear well enough to report things straight. But let persons of good understanding come here, and hear the Elders testify, and stop to investigate, and every honest heart among them will receive the Gospel. Do you not know that they would?

The “Mormons” are trying to take care of themselves. Our enemies may come to kill us, but we know that there is a God in the heavens. I care no more about the threats that are made than I do about the floating of a board on the waters. They have kicked us and cuffed us about so much that I have got used to it. I have been driven, and had to leave my home five times on account of my faith in the Gospel of our Savior; but I have never until now been a conspicuous character; and I say to my enemies and to the enemies of righteousness, you have now got to fire long shots, unless you come much nearer to us than you are.

I will say to all parties, If you come here and do not observe wholesome laws, we will introduce you to them. In regard to troops coming here, as has been rumored, should 1,500 or 2,000 come, what will you see? You will see that they will ask us to make their soldiers behave themselves, until they can get out of this place, which they will do as soon as possible. They are not coming here to fight us; though, if they were to, I should pray that the Lord would bring those here that mobbed us in days gone by, and just let us look at them. But no; the priests, and some editors and politicians wish to have innocent soldiers sent here to fight us. Let them bring those priests, editors, and politicians who have howled so long about us, and we will attend to their cases. But I pray that I may never witness such scenes as I have in the midst of this people. If they will let us alone, we will preach the Gospel; and if they do not, we will do it, and we will build up Zion, if all the devils in hell howl. Let us know that we have to build up Zion until the Spirit of peace shall overrule our country.

Do you ever reflect upon the matter? Look at St. Louis. More murders have been committed there in almost any few days than have been committed in this Territory since it was organized. It is customary there to have murders committed almost daily; but we, above all other people, ought never to have such a crime committed in our midst; and we never have had, so far as the Latter-day Saints are concerned.

I will now tell you something. It is a secret; and I wish you to keep it to yourselves. There have been men here who have had their plans arranged for robbing; and I will take the liberty to say that, when we find them, “judgment will be laid to the line, and righteousness to the plummet.” Those are my feelings, and I express them plainly, that the good and honest may be able to pass from the Eastern States to California, and back and forth, in peace. And when a “Mormon” unlawfully disturbs anybody, I say, let him be overtaken by a “Vigilance Committee.” And when mobocrats come here, they will find a “Vigilance Committee.” Now, listeners, send that to the States, if you wish. I want the people in the States to know that there are a few poor curses here, and also to know that we do not want a gang of highwaymen here. And I say to all such characters, if you come here and practice your iniquity, we will send you home quick, whenever we can catch and convict you. I wish such characters would let the boys have a chance to lay their hands on them.

If men come here and do not behave themselves, they will not only find the Danites, whom they talk so much about, biting the horses’ heels, but the scoundrels will find something biting their heels. In my plain remarks, I merely call things by their right names. Brother Kimball is noted in the States for calling things by their right names, and you will excuse me if I do the same.

We will build up Zion and establish the kingdom of God upon the earth, and the wicked cannot help themselves. I have not built up this kingdom, neither did Joseph Smith. What the Lord told brother Joseph to do, that he did. And what the Lord tells you and me to do we will do, by the help of God. May God bless us all. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, June 28, 1857.

I arise to express some of my feelings in relation to the brethren who may address the Saints from this stand from time to time. I wish you to understand that when you are called upon to speak to us here, we wish you to speak upon the same principle that brother Chislett has. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. Brother Chislett has spoken upon that principle. We do not expect the brethren to rise up here to instruct the people with regard to the special duties devolving upon them, or to give the revelations of Jesus Christ to lead the people.

Let me ask this congregation, what does strengthen your minds, your faith, and your confidence in your religion? Is it not the Spirit of the Lord? It is. Is not that what you require day by day? Do you not receive as much of the spirit of intel– ligence, of the spirit of knowledge, and the consoling influences of the Holy Ghost, to have people rise and testify of the things of God which they do know, of those things which they have experienced themselves? Does not that vividly bring to your minds the goodness of the Lord in revealing to you the truths of the Gospel? Does not that strengthen your faith, give you an increase of confidence, and witness to you that you are a child of God? Most assuredly it does. Therefore, when any testify of the things of God, it strengthens their brethren precisely as it did in days of old when they observed the counsel to “speak often one to another,” “strengthen the brethren,” and so on.

A mutual interchange of feelings one with the other, increases confidence in our own hearts, as well as in the hearts of our friends. We are made sensible by our own experience that in changing and interchanging our views, we reveal our hearts, feelings, sentiments, and confidence that we have in each other; consequently, it is a natural result that we increase confidence in each other by our mutual conversation. This is proved to us day by day. Perhaps all have not the opportunity to prove this in so public a manner; but some few have.

In my experience I have learned that the greatest difficulty that exists in the little bickerings and strifes of man with man, woman with woman, children with children, parents with children, brothers with sisters, and sisters with brothers arises from the want of rightly understanding each other. It is not that this man or that woman wishes to do wrong; but if they do wrong with their connections or with their neighbors, it is in consequence of a misunderstanding. Let us learn then to give each other our true sentiments.

It is a great fault in the Elders of Israel, when they talk to a congregation, that they speak a great while about something, but you cannot always easily tell what. It may be more or less natural for some to do this, but it is a habit which can be overcome. Persons can learn to express their feelings by their words. Do not hesitate to tell your feelings.

Many have a foreboding in their hearts; a restfulness, a tremor comes over them, when they arise to address a congregation. They think that it will not do to tell the people just what they understand, but talk about it and talk about it. In this way they darken counsel. Do not darken counsel by your words.

I do not now refer in the least to what has been said this morning; for I really believe that the feelings of brother Chislett were portrayed frankly, honestly, and childlike. That is the way I like to have the Elders talk; and I wish to have them testify to what they know. That will help and encourage others to get the same Spirit; for, in the midst of all that we hear from this stand with regard to counsel and implicit obedience to counsel, you and I must have the testimony of Jesus within us, or it is of but little use for us to pretend to be servants of God. We must have that living witness within us. We need the light of the Holy Spirit continually, day by day, as you have been told hundreds of times. How easy it would be for your leaders to lead you to destruction, unless you actually know the mind and will of the Spirit yourselves. That is your privilege. And when you testify in this public congregation, or in your prayer meetings, testifying of the things of God that you know and understand, you are at liberty to speak freely upon those things which you believe. Instead of getting up to instruct, to lead, guide, and direct the kingdom of God, we want the brethren to tell what they know, what they understand, the joy that they feel, and their experience day by day.

We do not expect the brethren to rise here to instruct pertaining to the leading of the Church. But do they instruct, when taking the course I have suggested? Yes; they instruct me; they cheer and comfort my heart; they increase confidence in me towards them. When they rise to speak here, they cannot hide their feelings, the sentiments of their hearts. And when they exhibit an honest, childlike spirit, it increases my confidence in them, and so it does the confidence of the people, and we are all encouraged and strengthened; we are edified and benefited, and we increase in our religion.

Allusions were made to our situation and the situation of the world. No tongue can fully portray that sub– ject to you. It is impossible for any man to rise here and exhibit the true state of this people—of the blessings of the favor of God towards them. That is not to be known or realized, except by the revelations of the Spirit of the Lord.

This is the kingdom of God; and no man can understand it, except by the Spirit of God. We are enjoying the blessings of our Father in heaven. No person can understand these blessings, except by the Spirit of revelation. When that Spirit has gone from the hearts of individuals, these valleys cease to be the valleys of peace to them, cease to be the valleys of comfort and joy to them, and they seek for other climes. They first wander from the Saints and from their religion in their feelings, and finally they wander in person.

This people are blessed, and are a blessed people. When I meditate upon our present circumstances, and view the situation of the people, I can feel nothing in my heart only to say, “God bless them.” They are a God-blessed people. They do manifest to God, angels, and men, that they are willing to sacrifice, if we may use the expression, all that they have, or expect to have in this world, in its present situation, that they may be the children of light, and walk in the favor of God, and secure their inheritance in the celestial kingdom of our God. All else is in the shade to them. They prove by their works that they are a blessed people, and you will be blessed. You need have no fear but the fear to offend God. If you have any tremblings in your hearts, or timid feelings with regard to our present situation, let me tell you one thing, which is as true as that the sun now shines, that whatever transpires with us, with our enemies, with the world here or there, will still more promote the kingdom of God on the earth, and bring to a final end the kingdoms of this world.

But the people of the Most High God must be tried. It is written that they will be tried in all things, even as Abraham was tried. If we are called to go upon Mount Moriah to sacrifice a few of our Isaacs, it is no matter; we may just as well do that as anything else. I think there is a prospect for the Saints to have all the trials they wish for, or can desire. Do not be discouraged when you hear of wars, and rumors of wars, and tumults, and contentions, and fighting, and bloodshed; for behold they are at the thresholds of our doors. Now, do not let your hearts faint; for all this will promote the kingdom of God, and it will increase upon the earth. Why? Because the world will decrease. We will be strengthened, while they will be weakened. Righteous principles will be multiplied and spread abroad, while wickedness will diminish and become limited in its power. The Saints of the Most High will increase. God’s kingdom will increase upon the earth. And all we have to do, in order to increase, is to be sure that we are the children of God, inheritors of the blessings, promises, and faith of Abraham of old: then, whatever transpires, it is no matter.

The world are determined to destroy the kingdom of God upon the earth: they wish to obliterate it. The kingdoms of darkness are determined to destroy this kingdom. In their feelings they are fighting you and me, and do not know that they are contending against Jehovah. They have not the least idea of that, but think they are contending against the “Mormons.” They are not contending against you and me—they are contending against the God of heaven. Do you think he can manage his own affairs? “Yes, if he only will,” you say. Do you think He can lead this people to victory and glory? “O yes,” every heart responds, “if He has a mind to.” Do you think we are safe in trusting in God? “Yes, if the Lord will actually preserve us.”

How are you going to be assured of all this, and a great many more things? There is but one way—live so that you have the abiding witness within you that, if all the rest go to the devil, I am a servant of God, and will go into His presence. Let every man and woman take that course, and then the Lord will take care of the whole of them.

There is a great deal said by our enemies with regard to destroying us. I will tell you how I feel about that. I have heretofore used a comparison, and it is a very plain one. When I see a number of little boys by the Tithing Office, where we shell the corn, building a cob house in order to pluck the sun from the heavens and bring it down to the earth, I believe that they will accomplish their design just as readily as I believe that the devil and all his imps will accomplish the destruction of this people.

There are very many here who have been brought into tight places—into what we used to call running the gauntlet; and I want to know whether there is a faithful heart in this congregation—one who has been in this church for twenty-five years, but what the Spirit of the Lord has witnessed to him in every difficulty that He enlarged His kingdom more and more, and weakened our enemies. Has not that been the testimony of every heart? [Many voices, “Yes.”] It has been so.

When the brethren were driven from Jackson County, Joseph gathered up 205 men, and went to Missouri to see whether he could not bring about a reconciliation, that the Saints might live then in peace. At that time hosts of Missourians were gathered in different places. True, there were a few in the camp who apostatized, because they could not have the privilege of fight– ing. So far as I was concerned, I did not wish to fight. Perhaps you will think that I was very enthusiastic, should I tell you the feelings that I had at that time; but they were true, and have remained so with me to this day. Inasmuch as we were called to go there by the prophet of the Lord, though I knew and had a witness of this fact, we were in the midst of our enemies, and surrounded by them on every side; yet my faith then was, and it has continued with me, that they might array their sharpshooters with their best rifles and cannon, and shoot at me, and every other man that felt as I did and do, and they would see me a little to one side, and could never make a ball take effect on me. That is the way I feel now. Unless the Lord wishes to deliver this people into the hands of their enemies, they may shoot at me or any other man—they may fight, and howl, and bark, until they wear out their lungs and exhaust all their means, and will sink down and rot in their own corruption, and we will live and spread abroad. That is my faith.

Brethren and sisters, my heart is all the time, God bless you, God bless you. You are blessed. No tongue can tell the blessings that this people enjoy, if they have the Spirit to understand their blessings. Where is there peace, besides in the valleys of these mountains? Where is the place that people can serve God, but in the valleys of these mountains? Brother Chislett just told you, “Nowhere.” Where is the continent, the people, nation, or kingdom, in which and among whom the Book of Mormon could have been translated, angels have visited the servants of God to restore the priesthood and establish the kingdom of God, and that have risen, grown, and spread abroad, but in the government of the United States? Nowhere else, as you were told here a few Sundays ago. How is it now, with the present feelings of the people? Could that work now be done in the United States? It could not. The very duties performed by Joseph, Oliver, David, Hyrum, and others, could not now be done in the United States; for the people would rise en masse and put them to death, or drive them from their borders.

The kingdom rises, increases, and spreads out to the right and left—it goes to the east, to the west, to the north, and to the south; and when the Gentiles are faithfully warned by the words of life freely given to them, and they utterly reject them, you will then find that the blood of Abraham that is scattered upon the islands of the sea and on this continent, will come like doves to the windows, and like clouds before a mighty torrent of wind. They will come and acknowledge the truth, though not at once, and they will greatly increase in the knowledge of their fathers. We can say to the praise of God’s name, and to the praise of the industry of the Saints, that this will commence, and hundreds and thousands of them begin to turn from their wickedness, forsake their folly and their loathsome degradation, wash themselves, and begin to live more as men and women should, and to learn at the hands of the servants of God. They will go into the waters of baptism, confessing their sins, and taking upon them the new and everlasting covenant, by thousands; and it will increase; and many generations will not pass away before they become a white and delightsome people.

The nation that gave me and many of you birth is very nigh to the hours of sorrow. Their cup is very nigh filled to the brim. They reject the servants of God; they reject the Gospel of salvation; they turn away from the principles of truth and righteousness; and they are sinking in their own sins and corruptions. I would that they would have mercy on themselves. I will pray the Lord to have mercy on them, but I pray them to have mercy on themselves to return to the Lord, forsake their wickedness and learn righteousness, and then God would have mercy on them, and bestow His blessing upon them, if they would receive them. But they harden their hearts, shut their ears, stop them up tight, close their eyes, and are determined to hear nothing that is true concerning this people, or the doctrines we preach. But every lie they can hear, imagine, or hatch up, they publish to the world, and it is drank down; they roll it under their tongue as a sweet morsel. They reject the truth and receive lies, until their cup is nearly full to the brim.

The Lord’s time is not for me to know; but He is kind, long-suffering, and patient, and His wrath endureth silently, and will until mercy is completely exhausted, and then judgment will take the reins. I do not know how, neither do I at present wish to know. It is enough for us to know how to serve our God and live our religion, and thus we will increase in the favor of God.

You often hear people desiring more of the knowledge of God, more of the wisdom of God, more of the power of God. They want more revelation, to know more about the kingdom of heaven, in heaven and on the earth, and they wish to learn and increase.

There is one principle that I wish the people would understand and lay to heart. Just as fast as you will prove before your God that you are worthy to receive the mysteries, if you please to call them so, of the kingdom of heaven—that you are full of confidence in God—that you will never betray a thing that God tells you—that you will never reveal to your neighbor that which ought not to be revealed, as quick as you prepare to be entrusted with the things of God, there is an eternity of them to bestow upon you. Instead of pleading with the Lord to bestow more upon you, plead with yourselves to have confidence in yourselves, to have integrity in yourselves, and know when to speak and what to speak, what to reveal, and how to carry yourselves and walk before the Lord. And just as fast as you prove to Him that you will preserve everything secret that ought to be—that you will deal out to your neighbors all which you ought, and no more, and learn how to dispense your knowledge to your families, friends, neighbors, and brethren, the Lord will bestow upon you, and give to you, and bestow upon you, until finally he will say to you, “You shall never fall; your salvation is sealed unto you; you are sealed up unto eternal life and salvation, through your integrity.”

Let every person be the friend of God, that whatever He reveals to you, you can wisely handle without asking Him whether you shall tell your wife of it or not. You can recollect the backhanded blow I gave to some of the brethren last winter. They were in pain, because they knew something which they could not tell to their wives. I would not trust such men out of sight with my dinner. God will not trust the least thing to such persons. Sisters, if you are in pain, because you cannot tell your husbands everything, you had better take a little catnip tea, and get over it, if you can. What will God reveal to such persons? Just enough to keep them from the gulf of despair, and lead them along until they get a little sense. I say this that you may learn to reveal that which you ought, and to keep the rest to yourselves. By so doing you prove to God that you are His friends, and will keep His secrets.

The world may howl around you and plead for the secrets of the Lord which he has given you, but they will not get them. When the Lord has proved His children true to what He has given into their charge, and that they will do His bidding, He will tell such persons anything that they should know. A great many desire just enough of knowledge to damn them, and it does damn a great many.

Giving endowments to a great many proves their overthrow, through revealing things to them which they cannot keep. They are not worthy to receive them. Brother Heber takes the lead in giving endowments, and you may ask, “Why do you give such folks their endowments?” To qualify them to be devils, if they wish to be. The plan of salvation is calculated to make devils as well as Saints; for by and by we shall need some to serve as devils; and it takes almost as much knowledge to make a complete devil as it does to fit a man to go into the celestial kingdom of God, and become an heir to His kingdom. We want to complete the education of a number of such fellows; they are running to the States, to California, and elsewhere, and are trying to reveal this, that, and the other; but I defy any one of them to give any idea of what is taught them in their endowments, except a garbled mass of trash. God takes that knowledge from their minds. We have to make devils, and we are preparing them. Everybody must have the same chance for accepting or rejecting the blessings of the Gospel, you know.

Suppose that we should meet a man at the judgment, and he should say, “Here is my friend Brigham; I was in Great Salt Lake Valley, or in Nauvoo, and I did everything that he told me; but he would not let me go in and obtain my endowment; and it offended me so that I actually did forsake the faith, when I verily believe that if I had have had the privilege, I would now have been numbered with the Saints; but, instead of that, I am found on the left hand.” Shall I give them occasion to make such an accusation? No. I wish to give everyone as good a chance for salvation as I have myself; then out of their own mouths they will be judged. If the Lord did not take this plan, we would not.

I will tell you a truth; it is God’s truth; it is eternal truth: neither you nor I would ever be prepared to be crowned in the celestial kingdom of our Father and our God, without devils in this world. Do you know that the Saints never could be prepared to receive the glory that is in reserve for them, without devils to help them to get it? Men and women never could be prepared to be judged and condemned out of their own mouths, and to be set upon the left hand, or to have it said to them, “Go away into everlasting darkness,” without the power both of God and the devil. We are obliged to know and understand them, one as well as the other, in order to prepare us for the day that is coming, and for our exaltation. Some of you may think that this is a curious principle, but it is true. Refer to the Book of Mormon, and you will find that Nephi and others taught that we actually need evil, in order to make this a state of probation. We must know the evil in order to know the good. There must needs be an opposition in all things. All facts are demonstrated by their opposites. You will learn this in the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and in the revelations given through Joseph. We must know and understand the opposition that is in all things, in order to discern, choose, and receive that which we do know will exalt us to the presence of God. You cannot know the one without knowing the other. This is a true principle.

Brethren and sisters, my heart rejoices exceedingly. I cannot talk all my feelings, I cannot tell you what I feel and what I see in the spirit; for, as I lately told you, if I should undertake to manifest my feelings before the people, I might display a style and manner which many would deem that of a perfect ranting Methodist, and halloo, and shout Glory! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! and this, that, and the other. The tongue of man cannot express the feelings I have in seeing this people returning unto the Lord, in seeing them faithful to their covenants, in seeing that there is no contention among them, in seeing the willingness and obedience of their feelings. They are willing at the call to go and do whatever is required of them. I contemplate these things; they are before me.

I will cite one instance of the freedom from contention. Brothers Lamb and Jolly came to me the other day with a difficulty that existed between them. Brother Lamb has seen the day in this Church when there would have to have been a High Council over such a case as he and brother Jolly came to me about; but in five minutes it was settled, and both parties felt perfectly satisfied. How did it used to be? They would argue and argue, and aggravate feelings in themselves and in others. Now brethren will come and settle a difficulty in two or three minutes, and say, “It is right; all is right; all I want is to know what right is, and 1 am ready to do it. I have no will of my own: give me the good Spirit, and I feel right; I bow down to it, and feel the power and blessing of my God.”

When I see the people willing and obedient, my heart is all the time full to overflowing. I almost sit up nights to say, God bless you. And I say further, let every man on the face of this earth that curses this people be cursed. [Many voices, “Amen.”] And every man that blesses them shall be blessed. [Many voices, “Amen.”] And those who oppose this religion, and feel to destroy it from the earth, shall go down to hell. [Many voices, “Amen.”] And their time is very short: they will find it plenty short enough.

Suppose that the wicked kill us, who cares? They never will kill any, but what it will swell the kingdom a little faster. And if my blood is required to enlarge this kingdom, and build it up, and increase the speed of it on the earth, I do not ask but one thing, and that is, that the grace of God may be sufficient for me at the moment and every moment. I do not care what I do, if God only be with me, and I be led in the path of honor and glory; for we all want to secure to ourselves eternal salvation.

I did not expect to speak more than a few minutes. I will return to the subject and say, brethren, do not get up here with a feeling to give a very interesting discourse—to lead out upon the mysteries of the kingdom of God, thinking thereby to tell something that will edify the people; for that will not edify them. What will? Come down to the simple, childlike spirit of the Gospel, and give us the testimony of Jesus, and all will be edified, and we will grow together. May God bless you. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, June 14, 1857.

I cannot express my feelings; I can imagine, but cannot give vent to my imaginations, when I realize the situation of the Saints in the valleys of these mountains. I expect, if I should give way to my feelings mingled with the weakness pertaining to mankind, that you would call me more foolish than a Methodist, or even more foolish than a right down shouting Ranter.

I think that I know how to prize the blessings I enjoy; and I also really think that there are a great many here who know how to prize theirs. My soul is full of gratitude. We are far from our oppressors, far from those who seek to destroy us solely on account of our faith, and are secured in the midst of these sterile, inhospitable mountains and valleys. They are so to every person, upon natural principles, but the Saints live here.

When I go abroad, when I visit a neighbor, when I meet a man or a woman in the street, when I assemble with the community in which I live, I am in the midst of Saints, or at least of those who profess to be Saints; and if they are not Saints, I think they are trying to become so with all their might. I know how to prize these blessings; and, if I was a right good old fashioned shouting Methodist, I should get up here and begin to talk, and it would not be long before I should be shouting “Glory!” “Hallelujah!” “Praise the Lord!” and you would hear the response, all over the meeting, “Amen!” “Glory!” and in a short time we should get into a real shout.

I am full all the time; and there are many here who know how to enjoy the society of the Saints. I am not obliged to mingle my voice with the wicked and the ungodly; I am not obliged to associate with them. Brother Rich knows what it is to be with the wicked, for he has been living in the nethermost corner of sin and iniquity for a long time; and he knows how to appreciate the society of the Saints here—how to mingle with them with a heart of gratitude.

I wish to say a few words to the Saints upon what we call our holy religion. If you and I are in the line of our duty when we talk, when we sing, when we preach, when we pray, when we rise up and when we lie down, when we go out and when we come in, in all the varied scenes and duties of this busy life, every iota that we perform is embraced in our holy religion. The one is inseparably connected with the other through the whole march of life, from the day that persons know the truth until they have completed their work on the earth preparatory to entering into a higher state of bliss. The religion that we have embraced is designed to correct people, to give them a true system, true laws, true ordinances, true customs, and to correct them in every point in all the social duties and enjoyments of life. It teaches us every principle that is necessary to prepare people here on the earth to become a perfect Zion—the pure in heart—a perfect heaven on earth.

When the law is revealed to us and the ordinances committed to our charge, if we exercise ourselves therein according to the best knowledge and wisdom that we have, and continue so to do, God will add to us, until we shall know how to establish Zion in perfection, and have the kingdom of God, in the fulness thereof, in our midst and within us, and enjoy the society of holy beings. All the real business we have on hand is to promote our religion.

When the brethren rise up here to exhort you, as brother Hyde has, to attend to a little temporal business, that is a portion of our religion. I told you, I think, last Sabbath, while speaking on that subject, to seek now to sustain this community—to seek to sustain ourselves. As brother Hyde has remarked, the first thing now to attend to is to prepare for a day of want and sorrow.

I told you, you will recollect, that we have the kingdom of God with us: we sought that first. There may be here and there, in this congregation, a person who has not done this; but almost every man and woman before me have sought the kingdom of God with all their hearts. Some may have done so in Missouri, in Illinois, in other parts of the United States, in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Germany, France, England, and in many other foreign lands. They have sought the kingdom of God with all their hearts, and have found it, and enjoy the principles, and spirit, and power of it. It is that which gives me the privilege of looking at you in these distant valleys.

We have got the kingdom: we sought it with all our hearts; though many of us have been robbed of our substance not less than five times. Yes, we have been robbed many times of all we possessed on earth, because we sought the kingdom of God and its principles. We have been driven from our homes time and time again. We have many times suffered the loss of all temporal possessions. I say we; though there are brethren and sisters here who have not been in the Church over a year, and some two, others three years; but you are numbered with the Saints, and the Saints have suffered the loss of all things, time and time again. What for? For the kingdom of heaven’s sake and its righteousness.

It is our privilege to be as wise in our generation as the children of this world; and not only so, but it is our duty to be as wise in our generation as the children of this world. We have the true light and knowledge, and we ought to know as much as the philosophical world, or as any other people on the earth. We ought at least to know as much about politics as do the political world, or as do any other people. I expect that we do; and if we only apply our minds in the proper time and channel, we know as much about the Christian world as do any other people, and we ought to know as much about the whole world as do any other people. In fact, we ought to know more upon all those matters than any other people; for we are privileged with far superior advantages, through faith and obedience to the Gospel.

There is one principle which we will acknowledge to be infallible; and I feel like illustrating it by a few circumstances pertaining to this people. We are under obligation to trust in our God; and this is the groundwork of all we can do ourselves. You know that we cannot actually make one hair white or black by exercising the power that we have. We cannot, as it is written, add to our stature one cubit. That proves that in and of ourselves alone we can do nothing. We have been trusting in God, you know, all the time, in order to accomplish what we have. We have trusted in the Lord, or we never would have received this Gospel. We have had confidence in him, and in His revealed will to the children of men. If we should lose this confidence, our faith, and our hope, we are then left without any strength; consequently we know better than to leave our God. In performing everything we can for our temporal salvation, do you not naturally understand that it is through a more or less implicit confidence in our God?

It is not by our works alone, but we are co-workers with the God of heaven—with our Father: we are helpers. We expect to be saved, and we have the work to perform to save ourselves. That is necessary to give us experience to know what to do with our salvation when we have obtained it. We do not intend to forsake our God, nor to say that we have done this or that; for we have not done it alone, and do not expect to. We must learn, and I may say that very many have learned in a great degree, that it is by implicit confidence in our God that we perform all that we do here pertaining to His kingdom on the earth.

We have heard much said, during six months past, to this congregation, with regard to our acts—with regard to our conduct one towards the other. There has been much said in regard to the spirit of reform. That spirit manifested itself in the case of our immigration last season. We did prove to God, angels, and good men and good women, also to wicked men and women, and to the devils in hell, that we had confidence in our God and in our religion.

Perhaps many of the congregation are ignorant with regard to the true situation of this community, in a temporal point of view, at the time assistance was sent to our late immigration and for the year past. You may take men that are keen observers, close calculators, and they can prove to themselves and to you this one fact, that last September—and I do not know but in August—this community had eaten up the small amount of produce that grew the previous year, so that there was not a bushel of grain to start upon, or that had been kept over. When the harvest came, and the grain and vegetables were all gathered, the declaration of close ob– servers was that you could not find enough provisions raised throughout the Territory to sustain this community nine months. It was not in the country; it did not grow here. It was not in the fields of wheat when the grain was threshed; the potatoes and the buckwheat were not gathered; the peas and the beans did not grow; and the amount necessary to sustain life was not on hand to sustain this community nine months, if a close calculation had been made.

I couple this with the faith and acts of the people in assisting the immigration last fall. We said to the brethren, Get the wheat ground, take the flour, and go and bring in the immigration. And I bear my testimony in the name of the Lord God of Israel, that if this community had not have done as they were requested pertaining to the immigration, we this day would not have had a bushel of wheat in the market in this Territory.

But this community took their teams, loaded up provisions and clothing, and went to the immigrants on the Plains; and some of them went almost naked and barefooted. I know of men who were in the City on business when the call was made, and they started off to assist those who were in the snow, and were gone two months without shoes to their feet or comfortable clothing to keep them warm; for they had not brought those articles from home with them, on account of expecting to return. They did not go back to get a new pair of shoes and clothing sufficient to keep them from freezing among the snows of these mountains, and then stay at home; but they promptly obeyed the call, saying, If I can borrow flour, I will take it to the brethren, and will pay it back when I come in.

Did the people prove that they had implicit confidence in their God? They did. They left their families with– out wood, and their grain lying in the field; their wheat not threshed, their potatoes not dug; no forage gathered for their cattle, and no preparations for sowing the fall wheat; and trusted in the Lord to provide for them, or to have an opportunity to sow in the winter, or the next spring, or never. What was the result of that highly praiseworthy conduct? Hundreds of lives were saved, and we have plenty.

Some go against the people selling wheat to anybody but those who build up the kingdom of God. Have I ever objected to it? I say, let the Saints have it, if you have got it. But what did we see here a year ago last winter? A merchant bought up a large amount of wheat at from a dollar to a dollar-and-a-half a bushel, and flour at from four to five dollars a hundred. What was the result? He could not take it to the States nor to California; and I bought it at a much less price than he paid for it in cash and goods, and paid him in cattle. I am now buying wheat for seventy-five cents a bushel that the merchants here have bought in at from $1.25 to $1.75 a bushel.

If this community had not hearkened to the wants of their brethren and sisters who came in last fall, this would not have been; but we would now have been in want. Who believes this? I reasonably know it; and it would almost be impossible for me to view the matter in any different light. I was careful to look for the welfare and salvation of this people.

I have always looked for their salvation, both spiritually and temporally. I looked well to it last year, and the year before that.

A year ago this spring was about as hard a time as has been in this Territory. There was not flour nor wheat for sale. I had not much, and I was feeding a great many. I told you then what I intended to do; I can tell you now what I did. When the pinching time came on, my knowledge with regard to the dealings of God with His people taught me to labor in accordance with my faith and His promises, and I said, “I will part with that which I have to sustain life, until the last four ounces are gone; for, if I undertake to keep enough to sustain my family and workmen, and deprive the destitute, I shall come to want with the community, and we shall not sustain ourselves. If I will not turn away any that are in need, I can induce the next brother to do the same, and this community will not suffer for the staff of life.” Still, I suppose that some did suffer; and what was the reason? If all persons had felt in their hearts to hand out just as long as they had anything to deal out, and not have been pinched up in their feelings, and bound up in their hearts and in their affections in the love of the things of this world, and one man on this side, and another on the other side had not have said in his heart, “True, I can spare five hundred pounds of flour; but now is my time to get fifty dollars a hundred for it, and now is my time to make the spoil,” there need not one have suffered. There was just enough such men in the community to affect the faith of the Saints, and to cause a few to suffer.

If there had been as many to act as they should, as there were to act as they should not, our bins would have been as full of flour as they are this year. All that saved us this year was renewing our covenants, keeping the commandments of God, and walking humbly before Him. That is what causes the wheat to be here, whether you believe it or not.

It is the liberal heart, the liberal feelings of men and women—of those who are full of faith in God that they will not suffer, because He will provide for His people in the last days. He has done so; but He will not provide for you and me, except we live our religion. If we will live our religion, walk in the light of the Lord’s countenance, day by day, so as to have fellowship with our Father and His Son Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Ghost, and with every good being in heaven and on earth, let me tell you that hell may spew and bellow, and the devils may howl, and they cannot scathe you and me any more than can a few crickets. But, to enjoy the protection of the Almighty, we have got to live our religion—to live so that we have the mind of Christ within us.

We have obtained the kingdom of heaven and the keys of it long ago, and now we have got to live so that they will not be taken from us, but that we will continue to increase in all the graces of His Spirit. Then, instead of backsliding, we shall become rich in heavenly things, and grow up into Christ our living head, until the things of this world are as plentiful with us in our days as they are with the children of the world.

We ought to have a little more wisdom; and I mean to have it, and mean that this people shall have it. They shall have more knowledge and understanding pertaining to heaven and heavenly beings, and to earth and everything pertaining to it, than any other people. I am determined that I will so lead this people, according to the best of my ability and skill, that they shall obtain it, with the help of God and the prayers of faith. If the people had been as liberal last year as they have been this, there would have been no crying for bread. This year our hearts are soft—they are a little more elastic, and our blessings are more. Another circumstance I will mention is this—

We were owing a debt of $12,000 to one of the merchants in this city, and have been disappointed in the East with regard to drafts and money matters. As I have frequently told you, and tell you now, when the business of this Church that belongs here to be conducted is conducted in other lands, we have as yet no men but what get in a muss and entangle our feet. They undertake to do that which should be done here, and God is not with them to dictate their doings as they should be dictated, and they fail in their calculations. Such transactions had somewhat straitened our financial condition. We were not ready to discharge this one debt. We had expected to pay the debt in cash, but had the opportunity of paying it with the cattle, when upon examination we had but a few scattering here and there—a few cows, and a few two-year-olds and yearlings. Last spring we raked the herd ground, and gathered up all the cattle that would answer any purpose for working, for sale, or for beef.

Said I, “Every cow that I own shall go to pay this debt; and if the brethren will come and buy my mules and horses, they shall go also.” The next man said the same—“We will turn out our whole stock, and pay this debt, and trust in God for the result.”

We stopped the teams which were hauling stone, expecting that we should have to go to drawing stone with our horses and mules. By that method we had one hundred head of cattle to turn into good feed, to rest a few days, and be fit for traveling. We had sent north and south to the Bishops of the various wards, and also hunted the ranges for our own cattle; and, said I, “I know that God has provided for me, and I am not afraid to trust Him;” and so said the next, and the next. We wanted to turn out four hundred head of cattle, in order to accomplish what was desired.

Yesterday we turned out the last of the cattle that we needed to pay that debt. We went to the herd ground, where brother Stringham had said there were none, and we got about one hundred and seventy head there. And the brethren began to bring in and bring in, and the cattle that we had drawn stone with are all still in the good feed, and the debt is paid, and we have now almost two hundred head of cattle on hand more than we had when we commenced. We are now better supplied with cattle for teams and beef, and with milk cows, and everything of the kind, than when we commenced; and we have not touched one of those animals that we needed to work on the Public Works.

But if I had puckered up to begin with, and if brother Kimball, and brother Wells, and Bishops Hunter, Hardy, and Little, and the rest of the brethren had done the same, and then sent out to see whether the brethren abroad would turn out stock to meet the liability, we never would have got those cattle into our hands. We would not even have seen them in the Territory; our eyes would have been so darkened that we could not so much as have seen them. I will venture that we can find more cattle now than we could six weeks ago, notwithstanding we have just turned out so many. These are stubborn facts; there is no dodging them. They cannot be philosophized away with me, for I know they are true.

If this people will continue in well doing, I warrant them that they will multiply. You know the figure that brother Kimball presents once in a while; but I am not for stripping the old cow to death. And I say to the brethren, If any of you have turned out a cow or cattle to your injury, come, and we will return them again. If you do not wish for them back, feel as I do, and let them go. I have given them, and I will not go and take them back again. A good many have turned out cattle on donation. When we wrote to the Bishops on the subject, we prepared the way so that we might receive them; for I felt then, by the Spirit, that a good many men and women would say, “Would you take anything as donations, for our tithing, &c., is paid? I have a cow or an ox, or a little money, that I can spare as well as not, and I will turn it out, if you will take it as a donation.” The brethren were not instructed upon that point, so I informed them by letter that, if they were disposed to donate, they might; but we would take cattle on tithing or on the P. E. Fund debts; for there is a great amount owing us. If these debts were paid, we should have an abundance; for there is nearly $200,000 dollars due to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund alone. We cannot now collect these debts, for the brethren are poor; hence we have to operate without those means.

If any have suffered by their donations, I will say to them, We have more cattle than we had in the commencement, and we are better able to give than we were before we paid those debts. Do you not see the hand of the Lord in this? I know it, and I want every man to live so that he may see the hand of the Lord in all things, like the sun shining before him, that he may see the dealings of the Lord among the people, as plain as to see the path home today. If we live so, all is right; we are safe; we know how to save ourselves spiritually and temporally. What do you think of such a people? Are they not blessed of the Lord? They are a God-blessed people; and I do bless you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, even so. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, a.m. of June 7, 1857.

I am thankful for the privilege of assembling with the congregation of the Saints on another day that is set apart to worship God. I delight in hearing the servants of the Lord speak of those things that pertain to life and salvation. Practical religion is what we all need, to prepare us to enjoy that which we have in our anticipations—that which we hold in our faith. Merely the theory of any religion does people but little good. This is the great failing of Bible Christians, as they are called. They have the theory of the religion of which the Bible testifies, but the practical part they spurn from them. This is why the Latter-day Saints have become so obnoxious to the Christian world. They believe in the practical part of the religion of which the Scriptures are a history. You may take the plan and details of former Christianity; But, unless it is reduced to practice, it will not benefit the people.

I delight extremely in plain simplicity. Brother Kimball desires to be plain and simple, even like a child. I delight in this. I believe, according to my feelings, that if I had all the mastery of language that has ever been obtained by the learned, my spirit would delight more in childlike conversation, and that, too, in a simple language, than in the most learned literary style that is used. A plain clear method of expressing ideas is the most pleasing to me. I always delight to hear brother Kimball speak, and I will take the liberty of saying to this congregation that brother Heber C. Kimball, in his spirit and in his faith, I do believe, is as true, as faithful, and correct, as any man that ever lived; but he has not that peculiar mastery of language that some have. He does not tell the people all that is in his mind: that would be impossible. He conveys a great deal in a few words.

There is no person that ever heard me complain of or disapprobate in the least anything that brother Kimball says. The reason is simply this: I do know his spirit, and what is in his mind. Whether he tells one fourth of it, or speaks it to the right or to the left, or whether he hits a particle of it, I know what he means, and know that his meaning is just right. If he was blessed with the talent to clearly convey and explain the ideas that are in his mind, I will venture to say that he would be one of the greatest speakers that ever spoke on this earth, for true knowledge, sentiment, and principle. We need the spirit by which he speaks and lives in order to understand all that he means by his expressions. I say this, not having any fear in my mind that brother Kimball will, in his feelings, cast any reflections upon me for thus expressing myself.

I know that I am a great many times placed under difficulty to bring before the people the truth in a manner plain and simple enough to reach their understandings; and I know that this is the case with others.

I have seen Joseph when it was impossible for him to give the people his views upon a subject that he designed to speak upon.

Such is the case with myself; such is the case with every man that I ever heard speak. It is so with brother Kimball and many others who arise to address you here. When some rise here to present a dish of mental food to the congregation, they will be two hours, perhaps, in bringing out a dozen kernels of corn; but brother Kimball produces a full dish of both corn and beans in one quarter of the time, or less; and we have a fine soup and sweetmeats mixed with it—a taste here and a taste there. If it could be comprehended by the people, they would generally find as much in one of his sermons as there is in forty or two hundred sermons delivered by those flowery speakers that sometimes address you.

Brother Kimball was afraid of tiring us. I said that I should never be afraid of being tired with eating sucketash so long as I had room for a single spoonful. I generally deal out the sucketash, and I do not care whether there are two beans to one grain of corn, or one bean to two grains of corn; for those who like the beans best can pick them out, and those who prefer the corn can select it out. I really like the sucketash that brother Kimball has just laid before you, for it contains ingredients that pertain to our salvation.

I told you last Sabbath, and I can tell you again today, what brother Heber has just told you, that the enemy of all righteousness never was more formidably arrayed against the Saints than at this very present time. There never was a greater hatred against pure, undefiled, practical religion; and it seems as though every person was our enemy. But if your eyes were opened, as were those of Elijah’s servant, you would see more that are for us than all that are against us.

When people falter in their path, and stumble, and fall, if they had eyes to see—if they would cling to the Lord, and sustain His cause here upon the earth, in preference to turning their backs upon it, they would see that there are infinitely more for His cause than there are against it.

Men and women must have eyes to see, or they cannot understand these things: they must be revealed by the Spirit of God; for that is the only way in which people can understand the things of God. This makes it our imperative duty to study and know the will of God, and then do it with all our might. It brings us under the deepest obligations, for our own safety and security, to live so that we can have the mind of Christ within us, and understand the mind of the Lord day by day. If we do this, we are a happy people. As brother Heber observed, we are the happiest people upon the face of the whole earth.

You cannot go into any other community on the earth, and find that peace and union and those principles of honor, of justice, and of right between man and man, that you find in this community. You cannot find the same amount of good works, faith, virtue, kindness, gentleness, and peace that you find here: there is hardly enough of these good qualities among the world to enable me to establish a comparison. The whole world is in a turmoil, in a terror, and every man’s hand seems to be against his neighbor, nation against nation, party against party, people against people. The world is in confusion, but this people are dwelling in peace.

As I told you last Sabbath, I have an experience with regard to the feelings of over one hundred brethren during our late travels. Perfect peace and union reigned. If there was a cross word, I did not hear it; if there was a cross look, I did not see it; if there was a cross feeling, I did not perceive it. Can any other community produce such a set of men and women? Is any other people blessed like this people? No. We have the privilege now of living in peace, of securing to ourselves our temporal salvation: we enjoy this right. And we will find those words of brother Kimball to be true with regard to the suffering of the children of men around us; and if we do not hearken to the counsel given us, we will see the day in which we will wish that we had. We will lament, if we do not go to and secure to ourselves means for our temporal existence.

It is true that the Savior says, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness;” but now we have the kingdom of heaven with us. We have sought it, and we have it in our possession. We enjoy the blessings of that kingdom; consequently, if we neglect everything else, we would be foolish, we would become extinct. But inasmuch as we have the kingdom of God within us, inasmuch as we have it here among us, inasmuch as we have the keys of it, the glory of it, the comfort of it, the power of it, and the laws of it, let us now go to and sustain our bodies, that we may live long on the earth to do good. And let us sustain our families—our wives and children—inasmuch as we have the necessary means and blessings preparatory to having all things added unto us.

Be wise: be as wise as the generations of this world. In the days of Jesus, those who received the kingdom and the spirit of the kingdom seemed to lose all sight of a temporal salvation; and Jesus said to his disciples, “The children of this world are wiser in their generations than the children of light.” The children of light did not know how to sustain themselves; they did not understand how to preserve themselves and the kingdom with them.

There is danger on the other hand with this people. We have witnessed it; we have an abundant proof of it, that when the people actually turn to the world and seek after the things of this world, in order to secure to themselves the comforts of life, their affections appear to be weaned from the kingdom of God, and they become attached to the things of the world. It would be better if you and I never should have anything pertaining to this world, than to lose the spirit of the Gospel and love the world.

But have we not learned enough? Do we not now understand enough to know that strict economy is required at our hands, in order to sustain ourselves and prepare for our friends, and also for our foes, and to be able to deal out the staff of life, not only to our friends, but also to our foes, and prove to them, what we have preached all the day long, that we are the friends of mankind? We are actually their friends, not only spiritually, but temporally. Let us go to, then, and lay up in our storehouses, and prepare for the day of famine, of sorrow, and of trouble; for all those things written in the prophecies, in ancient days and in this our day, will surely come upon the inhabitants of the earth.

I bless you and your substance, with all that pertains to you; and if I could, I would so bring the Spirit of God upon you that you might have eyes to see, and be able to know the mind and will of God for yourselves.

We are in the happiest situation of any people in the world. We inhabit the very land in which we can live in peace; and there is no other place on this earth that the Saints can now live in without being molested. Suppose, for instance, you should go to California. Brothers Amasa Lyman and Charles C. Rich went and made a settlement in South California, and many of the brethren were anxious that the whole Church should go there.

If we had gone there, this would have been about the last year in which any of the Saints could stay there. They would have been driven from their homes. It is about the last year that brother Amasa can stay there. Were he to tell you the true situation of that place, he would tell you that hell reigns there, and that it is just as much as any “Mormon” can do to live there, and that it is about time for him and every true Saint to leave that land.

Suppose that we should go south. A great many wanted to go to the Gila River: that was proposed when we first came to this Valley. It was said to be a lovely country, and that men could live there almost without labor. What if we had gone there? You see what has followed us here; but what would have been the result, if we had gone there? Long before this time we would have been outnumbered by our enemies: there would have been more against us than for us in our community. Suppose we had gone to Texas, where Lyman Wight went? He tried to make all the Saints believe that Joseph wanted to take the whole Church there. Long before this, we would have been killed, or compelled to leave that country. We could not have lived there; and it is as much as ever they can do to let us alone here.

As I have often said, I am thankful to a fulness that the Lord has brought us to these barren valleys, to these sterile mountains, to this desolate waste, where only Saints can or would live, to a region that is not desired by another class of people on the earth. When they come and have succeeded in getting our money, they will not stay any longer. When they have made all they can out of the Latter-day Saints, they wish to leave. And when you see a person who becomes tired of “Mormonism,” and falters in his path, backslides in his feelings, at once his eye is to the States, to California, or to some other place besides this. Though, previous to their departure, such persons will write to their friends, and to newspapers abroad, every conceivable misrepresentation; and even the majority of the officers that have been sent here are trying to make the Government believe that we are taking the country; that we are actually usurping power to ourselves with regard to the soil; that we are transgressing the laws of the United States; that we are treasoners in our feelings, alienated from our Government, and so on and so forth. They also declare that the “Mormons” are getting out what little timber there is in the canyons, and that if the timber is used up this land is not worth one penny an acre.

In playing the game that they do, they give us nine out of ten. A gentleman by the name of Morrill wished to deliver a speech in the House of Representatives, on the “Mormon” question; but his friends managed to prevent it; for they saw the light surface on which he rode while he was writing his speech. They saw that the delivery of his speech would do the “Mormons” more good than harm, and they managed to head off its delivery by a motion to adjourn, which prevailed. He felt chagrined at losing the opportunity to make his speech, which he thought was full of thunder, and which occupies six-and-a-half columns in a large newspaper, and much of it in nonpareil type. They did not want to hear it. Every man of sense said, “Mr. Morrill, this will destroy your influence with your constituents, and do the ‘Mormons’ more good than hurt, and ruin our cause.” No doubt his friends wished to steal it from him and let it have a stillbirth; but Mr. Morrill feels himself imposed upon, runs straightway to the Globe Office, and gets it stuck into the paper, much to our credit and advantage. That is the way all our enemies do; they overshoot the mark they are aiming at.

Another man has written and got published a long article; and I have really thought that I would like to have the speech, which was never delivered, the long article, and some other articles of like character read before the public congregation. William Smith, brother to the Prophet, is the one suspected of having dictated the writing of the long article mentioned. He defies the United States to send a Governor here that can do anything with the “Mormons,” except himself. He declares that no man can go to Utah but a man who is well acquainted with the “Mormons,” and one who has as much influence among them as Brigham Young; and presents himself as the man. He also tells about the Danites, and asserts that they are in every town and city throughout the whole of the United States, and that their object is not known by the people; that they are all over the world; that there are thousands of them; and that the life of every officer that comes here is in the hands of the Danites; that even the President of the United States is not safe; for, at one wink from Brigham, the Danites will be upon him and kill him. After all this, he says that no man can go there; and when he gets through with his story, sufficiently so to expose who he is, he says, in purport, “I can go there; and if you do not believe me, try me; and if you think I cannot, give me the right to go there with a good large army.

Judge Drummond comes out with death and thunder on the “Mormons,” and that no other man ought to govern the “Mormons” but Judge Drummond, the HORSE DEALER; and so it goes. And they publish that we have thousands and tens of thousands of men scattered over the world, full of fervor, integrity, and courage, and ready at a moment’s warning. Just one word from Brigham, and they are ready to slay all before them; and then they turn round and proclaim that the “Mormons” ought to be used up, and that you can do this and that with them. It is all a pack of nonsense, the whole of it.

“The devil is mad, and I am glad; And what can we do to please him?”

I know what I think, but I will not tell it now. It would please me better to have him kicked out of doors than anything else, and especially from this community.

If we would not say one word about people’s living their religion, and let this Temple alone, and the spirit of improvement in regard to our religion, and everything pertaining to the world, and bid the world welcome to our houses and firesides, and strike hands with them, and call them our friends, we should have no difficulty with them. They have nothing against us, only they cannot do as they please when they come here, but have to observe the laws of the United States and this Territory, and a certain degree of moral decorum. They cannot do as they please in their corruptions, and they raise a hue and cry against the “Mormons.”

If we would not say to the brethren and sisters, Try and live your religion according to the Spirit of the Gospel, grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the truth, and in all the graces and gifts of God’s Spirit, all would be peace between us and the wicked. If we were to say nothing about building a Temple to the name of Israel’s God, the Devil would not be mad, and the case would be like that of a priest. In his vision in the night, he came along to a pretty good-sized town, walled in fine and nice; and he thought that he came to one corner where there stood a post, and that the Devil sat asleep and nodding on the top of it. But he opened his eyes—and noticed the priest, and asked him, “Which way are you going?—to the city?” “Yes,” replied the priest, “but what are you doing here?” “O I am just overlooking the city.” “How many devils does it take, besides you, to take care of this people?” “There is no other here besides myself; the whole people are under my control, and I have trained them so well that I have nothing to do; and they are so well learned in the doctrine of the devils, that they can almost get along without me. I am merely here to see whether they continue to do as they have been doing. I was thinking that I should have to go to another city; but, as you have come, I shall have more work.” If we live so that the devil has need to look after us carefully, all is right.

The world would like to have us their friends, and to have us to do service to their father the Devil. We profess to be Saints of the Most High, and the people prove it by their actions. They are full of integrity and good works, and yet there are a few that ought to mend their ways; though I am happy to see that there are not many in this community, and that that number is growing less. And it is my constant prayer, all the day long, that God would multiply the righteous and righteous principles throughout the world, while he decreases the ungodly; and also that we may so live as to enjoy all the brethren have spoken of this morning, root out the devils, and bid all foul spirits to depart from our houses and community, that we may enjoy the peace of the Gospel in its fulness.

I pray both for my friends and for my enemies, that, if they will not repent, the earth may be speedily emptied of the ungodly. I have often told you how I love my enemies. I would do something for their salvation, if the Lord would permit me. And if the time was come, I would take a step to give them, not a superlative heaven, but a comparative place of peace. If it was in my power, I should perhaps be for doing this before the time.

Pray that our enemies may have no power over us; pray for the Spirit of the Gospel, that the Lord may strengthen the Elders, and keep them in the spirit of humility, while they are out preaching the Gospel; pray for the anointed of the Lord, for the house of Israel, those poor degraded Lamanites, that light and truth may spring up among them more and more. They begin to improve greatly; pray that it may continue, that they may come to a knowledge of the truth, and help to build up Zion, and they will be a shield to us in the day of trouble. All this, and a great deal more, I feel to say; but, for the present, I will give way. May God bless us all. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, p.m. June 7, 1857.

I can bear witness to the truth of what brother Hyde has said with regard to the principle of government; and I wish to add my testimony in these words. There is no people on this earth, in a national capacity, but what have been operated upon to return to what they themselves, in their own government, have prepared the way to accomplish. That is the overruling hand of God in the midst of the people, when they know it not.

Pertaining to the officers that brother Hyde has alluded to, there is no statute law in the United States, in neither the Constitution nor the statutes at large, but what allows the Latter-day Saints every prerogative they could ask for. There is no right or privilege that we could ask to enjoy—none that any other people could reasonably ask to enjoy, but what is guaranteed unto us by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Officials who feel to traduce the name and character of the Latter-day Saints, whether they be judges, marshals, Indian agents, or holding any other office under the United States’ Government in this Territory, have to violate and trample under their feet their oaths to be loyal to the Government and laws by which they profess to be governed, in order to intrude in the least on the rights of this or any other peaceful, law-abiding community. To the honor of a few of those officials that have come here, we can say that they have honored the law under which they came, while others have trampled it under their feet. And for officers to infringe upon any of our rights, they have got to transgress the law that they are sworn to maintain. These are facts. If men will only observe the laws of the United States—will only honor the laws they are sworn to honor, we are safe.

It would please me much if the congregation that assembles here from Sabbath to Sabbath could hear the details of the foul slanders of men that have been here, that they might know what they will spew out. The great majority of this people have no idea what rottenness those characters carry within them; and they did not find it here: they brought it from the places from whence they came. They come here as full of foul matter as any shell or skin can be stuffed; and yet I have heard some of the Saints say that such and such a one of the lot was a perfect gentleman. Speaking as the world view men and things, in the eyes of the vast majority of mankind, the Devil is the greatest gentleman that ever made his appearance on this earth. In accordance with their estimate, you cannot begin to produce a person who is so much of a gentleman as the Devil himself.

There are but few here that actually know the face of a Saint from that of a devil; and that is one reason why we are exhorting the people all the time to obtain the spirit of revelation, that they may know whether they are right themselves or not, and whether their neighbors are right or not; and that when truth is presented to them they can partake of it and receive it with a keen appetite, as food which their spirits rejoice in; and that when evil is presented they can detect it. But there are so many who profess to be Saints that live beneath their privileges, that it becomes a constant task on me and others to plead with the people to repent, to forsake their heart wanderings, and return to the Lord their God, and seek His face and favor, and never stop until they get the spirit of revelation within them, that they may know for themselves who are gentlemen and ladies, who are angels or devils; and know and understand the truth from error, light from darkness, and be able to detect every deception and every deceptive character. How long shall we labor? We will labor on until we are worn out.

I am exceedingly thankful that the excessive labors that have been upon me are not on me now as they have been. The spirit of reformation has taken hold on the people; it has kindled the fire of the Almighty in Mount Zion to burn out many of the ungodly that could not stand it, and they have fled. I feel happy; it is a rest to me. I feel as though I should endure yet for many years. But the labor that has been upon me in observing the groveling backwardness of many of the Latter-day Saints, to see where they were going, was indeed hard to be endured. It is not long since many of our Bishops and other leading men in this community could not tell a Saint from a devil. Do you not suppose that that danger is before me all the time? But within the last six months, comparatively a hundred tons of care and anxiety have been removed from my shoulders; and I hope that this fire will continue to burn among this people until those poor, miserable curses—those poor, miserable gentlemen, shall all leave us. I pray that the fire of God may burn them out. I pray for this continually.

There are few men who, like myself, feel the burden of this; but take the mass of the community, and it is, “How do you do, Mr. Devil?” And for a pound of tea, or a pint of whiskey, it seems that many might be bought. And when a “Mormon” undertakes to sell goods here, many of the people think that he ought to give them away, or sell to them upon credit, which they never try to cancel. And if the “Mormon” merchant deals upon a business principle, the people will flock to the Gentile stores, where they will trust them. Why will they trust them? Because they know that they will get their pay. I know of men bearing the character of Latter-day Saints, who, because a “Mormon” dealer would not let his goods go out of the store without pay, or a good prospect of pay, would go to the Gentile stores and get trusted, and then say, “O what a good man that Gentile is!” while, at the same time, he is as full of hell as an egg is full of meat, and all he wants is a chance to spew it out. They will meet you with bland expressions, with soft silky hands, and velvet lips, and will blarney around you; but let a mob come, and they are ready to point out their victims here and there, and be glad to see us destroyed.

Those whom the Government sends here are a most miserable set; and, as a general thing, they do know enough to tell a decent lie. But this is not altogether to be wondered at, for they are under the same difficulty as we are sometimes: it is hard for them to tell a man who has got brains in his head from one who is filled with pudding. The President and his Cabinet know nothing about the characters whom they send here: if they did, many who have come here never would have been sent. If we cannot always discern the children of men, it is no wonder that they are blind, and cannot send men here capable of making a decent lie. If they have not already told every falsehood about us that they can invent, they will be mighty sorry when they think of it; for, if they could have told any more, they would have done so. They have made and told every lie that they knew how to; and if there is any blame on them for not lying more, it must be attributed to their ignorance.

I would like to come here next Sunday morning, at about eight o’clock, and read to you those beautiful stories they have invented and published (Oh, they are lovely!), and let you understand how little sense they contain. They have us eaten up by crickets, then by grasshoppers (I suppose that the grasshoppers must have beaten the crickets); and when they found that the grasshoppers and crickets had not eaten us up, then the drouth came and destroyed us; and after all that, the cry from one end of the nation to the other now is to destroy the “Mormons.” They will have quite a job, for there is more than one that can work at that game.

What do you suppose the Government thinks about those furiosos and their lies? The Government feels about that matter somewhat as a friend felt towards Morrill, who was going to deliver that GREAT—(but I cannot hollow loud enough)—that GREAT speech, that he thought was so full of thunder; but behold, when the shell cracked, it made no noise. I have no doubt but what his friends were determined to have the speech hushed up; they saw its shallowness, and were satisfied that it would not accomplish one thing that he designed it should. Men who think, know that all such persons are devoid of the principal item, viz., good sense to discern that they do not rightly understand things themselves. They are like the chap who thought he knew it all, and a doctor said to him, “Between you and me, we know everything.” The young man thought it was first-rate, and calculated to find out what the doctor knew. Says the doctor, “I cannot think of but one thing that you do not know.” “O doctor, will you reveal that to me?” “If I thought it would do much good, or if you would profit by it, I would reveal it to you. Perhaps I may as well tell you; for there is one thing you do not know, though I believe that you know everything else, and that is, that you are a fool; which I have learned since I began to converse with you. And now, between you and me, we do know the whole of it.”

Government knows full well the miserable nonsense and the tirade of abuse that is heaped upon us; but what do they care about it? If they had the power of putting such characters on chips, as we do, and carrying them out, perhaps they would never give them office; but they have not that faculty as we have. We can look men out of our community, and they will run and howl, thinking that their lives are in danger.

I presume that there are still hundreds and thousands of communications daily sent to the President of the United States by applicants for office, whom, if he could take up on chips, as we can, and set them out at Washington, he would most gladly so dispose of. But what is to be done? Why, give the poor, miserable dog a crumb, or an old bone, and say, “Get out, now!” and that is the way they get here. To the praise of a few who have been here, be it said, they kept the law; but almost universally the Government officers that have come here have trampled the laws under their feet, and have spurned them to derision.

If officers of the law will keep the law, it is all we ask of them while they are here; but if they do not keep the law, we will make them suffer the penalty. They are afraid of “Mormonism,” like the Irishman who was arraigned before a court of justice for a misdemeanor. He lamented bitterly, and the judge told him not to mourn, for he would see that he had justice done to him. “And sure that is what I am afraid of,” replied Paddy. So it is with them; they are all the time afraid of justice. When they come here they are afraid that justice is going to overtake them, instead of the “Mormons” doing them harm; and they do not like justice.

I will now say a few words in regard to the brethren’s helping us on the Public Works. I think that scores of men have come to me and said, “Brother Brigham, don’t you want a team to work on the Public Works? I really want to let a team go on to the Public Works.” We have not needed them until now. We are going to sell our oxen to pay our debts, and we will now let the brethren work with their teams, as they have desired. We shall now prove them by their works, James said, “Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” We will apply that Scripture to you; if you will show your faith without your works, we will show you our faith by our works, and see how many will follow the example.

There are horse teams and mule teams in abundance, and the spring work is pretty nigh done. Horse teams and mule teams will haul rock as well as oxen, though it is generally supposed that they cannot. We will sell our cattle to pay our debts; for, if some poor, miserable people tell the truth, and we have to leave here, I do not want to go away in debt to our enemies; for the Lord has told us not to go in debt to our enemies. If I can get the brethren to do as we want them to do, in a short time we will not owe a Gentile one half dollar. We never would have been in debt to our enemies, if I could have had my plans carried out. Some others have had their way; and I, with a few others, have had to stand and lift the load. If I could be permitted to have my way, I would always have the dollar on hand to buy my enemy, instead of owing him a dollar and having to be sold for it. I would always have a purse ready to buy those who are for sale, instead of being out of means at the sale. I would make every thousand dollars return two, whereas I cannot do that while letting others have their way.

We want you to report yourselves forthwith, brethren. You can tell your neighbors, and the word will go through the city and county. But we do not want men to come here and say, “Here is a horse,” or “I will turn out an ox,” or, “Brother Wells, I will send a team, if you will support it and hire a man to drive it.” We do not want any such proffered blessings, but we want them proffered upon the principle that you hire your own board or bring it with you, and bring your horse feed and maintain yourselves, just as you do at home about your own work, and come and do the labor necessary to be done. We do not wish any man to say, “Here I am; I want you to board me, and I want some horse feed, stable room, reins, whippletrees and everything else.” We want men to stay at home, unless they come to do the clean work and provide for themselves and animals.

We have wagons rigged for transporting heavy blocks of stone, and we are going to try hauling them with horses. If you do not believe that horses and mules can haul heavy stones as well as oxen, come and see my horses and mules do it; they will do it better than oxen.

Would you like to assemble here next Sunday morning and hear those pretty stories read? They are delightful. If that is your wish, you will all signify it by being here by eight o’clock next Sunday morning, when you shall hear those beautiful stories, and learn how delightful you appear in the eyes of the world, according to their representations. In the absence of important news, I think the reading of those stories will cheer you so much!

There is but one fact that makes our enemies mad at us, and it is a principle visible and tangible to the natural senses, though I would not say that it is the internal working of the natural senses to the natural man. But one fact can be produced, that makes our enemies angry at us, and that is this—we actually will sustain our leaders; we will be of one heart and mind, which is the same thing. I do have that power and influence here that no other man on this earth has in the midst of his community, with the exception, perhaps, of some whom we call heathen, and the members of the Church of Rome. And I do not suppose that there can be a bishop or priest in the whole Roman Catholic kingdom who has a people around him that have that implicit confidence in him which this people have in their leaders.

If the President of the United States could have the influence that I have in the midst of this people—even over as many people in the United States as there are Latter-day Saints that I preside over, he would in a moment give $100,000, which is his salary for four years. They spend their scores of thousands and hun– dreds of thousands to get the name of having an influence—of being a man who can wield a certain amount of power. This is also the feeling with Cabinet officers, Senators, Representatives, and Governors of States; and even the clerks in the different departments at Washington will, if they have the money, give a large portion of their salary just to get a clerkship. Office hunters will throw a hundred dollars here, and fifty dollars there, to secure their election or appointment. Candidates for Congress will deal out a thousand dollars to a certain set of men to go to one district and electioneer, and five hundred to another, and two hundred to another, according to the influence of the people in the district. They buy their positions with money, and know that they have not the influence that they would like to have, and which they see that I have; and that mortifies them. And I presume that not many Presidents of the United States have been elected without its costing them a quarter or half of their salary.

What do you suppose that Fremont expended during the last presidential campaign? Probably not less than two million dollars. His California property was rated at eight million, and a company in England proffered five million for one half of that property which the Government had ceded to him. It is presumable that he expended twice ten hundred thousand dollars, and perhaps five hundred thousand on the top of that; but he did not succeed in being elected President. Had he succeeded, he would have been the most influential man in the Government, simply because he had become the President.

It has been the practice for years, in the United States, for each party to have what they call a Corruption Fund, to which the members contribute their fifty cents, five dollars, or fifty dollars. What for? To carry on an election. There is not an election for a President of the United States that probably costs less than one-half of the worth of the State of New York or Pennsylvania. Hundreds of millions are expended in the presidential election at each four years.

What do they do in Congress? Before the last presidential election, there was not as much business done by that army of men as would rightly occupy the time of any legislative body for a very few days. What were they doing? Log rolling. They also get fine ladies to electioneer with different influential gentlemen, and they exert their influence in the various States where they reside. The female portion of the community have elected the President for years and years. And the Corruption Fund is made use of by the different parties, one man throwing out five hundred dollars for one place, another a thousand, another two or three thousand. But I will now stop speaking on that subject, for there is no end to those matters.

Commotion and war are abroad among the nations, and they will continue to be troubled; and sore vexation, and mourning, and weeping, and desolation await the inhabitants of the earth.

While we enjoy the privilege of the holy Gospel, does it not become us, as men and women of God, to be sober, full of faith and good works, and to administer salvation to one another, and to every person that will receive the truth at our hands? It becomes us to be Saints indeed. We know that the world is angry at us, and that we cannot help. We mean to pursue our course, build up the kingdom of God on earth, and establish Zion. We have also got to assist in rebuilding Jerusalem; for, as brother Kimball has said, if it is built up, we have got to assist in doing it.

The house of Israel is scattered upon every island and among every nation: they have to be gathered by the Gospel’s being preached to them; and we expect to have the Devil to fight. Joseph said, years ago, that he had all hell on his back, and all the world. All the evil influences that knew anything about him were combined to crush him; but, said he, “I will rise above them all, and bear off the kingdom;” and so he did, until he was slain. God suffered him to be slain for His testimony, that it might become a law through being sealed by his blood, which was the case the moment his blood was spilled, the same as with the law of Jesus Christ when he spilled his blood. Then the testimony became in force. It must be so; God suffered it.

It now remains with us to bear off this kingdom, build up Zion, and establish the law thereof, until Christ shall reign King of nations as he now reigns King of Saints, which is nearer at hand than you and I may believe. May the Lord help us to be faithful in this, that we may rejoice in the perfect law of liberty, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, May 31, 1857.

We have accomplished our short and speedy journey to the North in safety and in peace, and again have the privilege of assembling with you in this Bowery for the purpose of worshipping the Lord our God, for which we are thankful. Every heart responds to these sentiments, and we give glory to our Father and to our God. His hand is over us for good; He has preserved us, He has marked out our path. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of the Patriarchs of old, of the ancient Prophets and Apostles, of Joseph and of this people, is our God—the only wise and true God, our Savior. It is him that we look to; in him we trust, and from him we receive all our blessings.

I believe that every heart is filled with thankfulness, and is also measurably filled with joy and peace. I can truly say to you, my brethren and sisters, that I am thankful to you, as well as to my Father in Heaven; for I have felt the strong cord of faith in my absence arising from this people to our Father and our God in our behalf. And I have no doubt but that our brethren who have just returned from their missions to the East can testify to the same. They have felt that the faith of the Saints has been in their behalf; they have been sustained and upheld, and brought through their trials by the arm of Jehovah, by the faith of the Saints.

The brethren have done me a kindness, and I am thankful to them for it. I am also thankful that I live in the midst of a people whose hearts and faith are measurably one, that what they rightly ask for is granted unto them; and that when they feel to bless an individual or a people, that individual or people is blessed; and when they feel it a duty that the Lord should stay the wicked in their progress, their faith accomplishes their desire. I am thankful that I am in the midst of such a people—that I am numbered with you, my brethren and sisters in the gospel of salvation.

I have sustained, I believe, a good character before our Father and our God. I believe that your faith has been united with ours to accomplish that which ought to be performed; and on this occasion I am thankful that I have had your prayers, and have accomplished the business proposed. I requested the people to have faith for us, and to willingly release us to visit the northern country. They voted that they would do so, and their acts have proved that their faith was and is in accordance with their votes.

On our journey, I can truly say that we had perfect peace. In my travels with the Saints, up to this day, I can truly say that I never had the pleasure of journeying with so peaceful and orderly a company as the one with which I traveled to Salmon River. They were schooled and instructed, and knew how to contribute to the comfort of each other, and performed every duty in peace, without noise, without strife, without contention. Every man was at his post, performing the duties assigned him, and that, too, in the faith of the Gospel, with a perfect resignation to the requirements upon him. I believe that I have never seen men together, to anywhere near the same number, who were so united as the company I have traveled with this spring.

We took up our line of march on the morning of the 24th of April, and were gone one month and two days, during which time we traveled 763 miles, and that, too, over a very rough country, 381 1/2 miles out. Only one accident occurred worthy of mention and that happened on the evening after we drove out of Fort Limhi. While chopping some firewood, brother Franklin Woolley had the misfortune to cut his foot, but the wound is already so far healed that he is walking about.

We did not lose an animal, though we left two at the Fort. Brother Woolley’s was the only accident that occurred in our camp; and I do not think that I heard one cross word from man or woman during the journey, unless it was from myself. I think if anybody was out of humor, or cross, or irritated, it must have been myself, for I did not see anybody else so; and I endeavored to keep my own temper as cool as possible.

I feel to bless the brethren who accompanied me and those we have visited, and I feel to bless the brethren, with all that pertains to them, who have tarried at home. Strict industry and quietness have marked well their doings in my absence, so far as I have seen or been informed. The improvements in the settlements we have passed through bespeak a contented, industrious spirit, and this place bespeaks faith and industry during our absence.

Our crops look well, and I find that the brethren have attended to making things comfortable about their houses so far as I have seen, though as yet I have not been much about the city. The Temple Block indicates hard labor; and I feel that the brethren are united in the great work that is upon us, and I am thankful for it.

I could give you a detailed account of our journey, and a description of the country through which we have passed; but perhaps it is unnecessary today, though I will say, that I had not received, from all the northern travelers with whom I had conversed, hardly one correct idea of that region of country. I have asked several who had been there to describe Salmon River Valley and the intermediate country, the quality of the soil, the nature of the climate, the positions of the mountains, &c.; but I must say that, when I came to travel through the country, I might readily suppose that I had never conversed about it with a man who had been there. I have frequently asked with regard to the location of Fort Hall, and the replies have been, “It is built near Snake River.” Is there anything of a valley? “Yes, something.” Is there any timber there? “I think there is pretty plenty of timber on the river, such as cottonwood, quaking asp, and willows.” Is it anything of a country for settling? “I should think likely it might be.” Is there any timber in the mountains? “I should presume there is.” How are the mountains situated? “Similar to other mountains in other countries.” That is about all I have ever been able to learn of the country, previous to my late journey.

When we began to approach Fort Hall, we learned that we could see over it and all around it to a great distance; and, if our eyes had been good enough, we might have seen the little Fort some 30 miles before we reached it. It is located on Shanghi Plains. From the Rocky Mountains, at the source of Snake River, this plain extends some 150 miles to 200 miles in a westerly and southwesterly direction: and from the mountains south of Snake River to those north is a distance of some 90 miles. I never had this idea before, nor could I get it from any man I had conversed with. It is a vast, desert plain, and we called it Shanghi Plain. I think it is as desert a country as ever was brought together to aid in holding the earth from parting asunder.

Upon the banks of Snake River, when it does not overflow, there is a lengthy, narrow strip of good soil, varying from a quarter of a mile to ten rods wide, and in some places not six inches wide. It is a sterile, barren, desert country, filled with belts of rock and sand. As we passed over some portions of Shanghi Plain, the brethren undertook to remove the stones, so that we might drive our wagons with a little more ease to ourselves and less danger to our vehi– cles. I begged of them not to take all the rock out of the road; for, if they did, there would be nothing to travel on.

Much of the track in that region was a perfect bed of rock covered with occasional strips of sand, which much retarded the progress of our teams. I wished the sand and the rock to lie there, for I was confident that, if they were taken away, California and Oregon would be separated from the States by a vast gulf.

Malad Valley, north of Bear River, has been considered a pretty desolate, cold, hard, sterile valley; it was so looked upon by us, as we passed through it on our way North. At the same time, we considered it a tolerably good grazing country, and thought that people could possibly live there. But after we had traveled over the Basin rim into Bannack Valley, descending a mountain, beside which the one we call the Big Mountain is a mole hill, down through the little Bannack Valley on to Shanghi Plain; and traveled northeasterly and northwesterly, almost in a semicircle, to Spring Creek; then up Spring Creek over to Salmon River; and wended our way down that stream, through swamps and willows, and climbed over points of bluffs to keep from being mired; and had paid our brethren a visit, and returned again to Malad Valley. It looked to us like one of the most beautiful valleys that any person had ever beheld; while, before this experience, we thought that nobody could live there; and I expect that, if we had gone a few hundred miles north, it would have looked still better to us; for the further we went north, the further we found ourselves in the northern country. And if the Malad is a good valley, we can go further north to those not quite so good; and the further we go north, the less good characteristics are connected with the valleys, except in the articles of fish, water, and, in some instances, timber; and when people are obliged to live in the north country, that will be high time for them to go there. That is about the amount of the geographical part of our journey that we shall now present, though I think that I am pretty correct in my observations, and could mark out the road, the mountains, the valleys, and streams, and could sketch a tolerably good map of the country.

I have accomplished what I designed to accomplish, and I believe the brethren will join with me, at least, on one point, viz., that we started from here to rest the mind and weary the body; and so far as the body is concerned, I believe all parties will agree with me in saying that we have done that most effectually. I see one man that went for his health—brother East. I expect that it will prove a benefit to him. Others also went for their health. It is a hard medicine to take, but the result will be beneficial.

I rested my mind. From the time I left this city until my return, I do not think that this valley, this Tabernacle, my own house, or any of my family scarcely ever came before me to reflect upon. We spent part of the first Sabbath at Box Elder, and on the next we were camping away up Snake River, where we held meeting in the forenoon.

A number of the brethren spoke, and I told them that I would say a few words, and relate some of my feelings, especially those pertaining to the journey and myself; but I could not have told, from my sensations, whether I had been from home a week, a month, or a year; and I could not fully realize whether I ever had a house or lived in it, or ever had any family, only those that were with me. This was a blessing to me. My mind was so taken from the cares that surround me here, that it was perfectly relaxed into an easy state of rest; and I had no anxiety, not in the least, about one care that had formerly been upon me; or whether I ever saw this valley, this congregation, or say family again; or ever saw any other country than the one where I was at the time. All my home reflections, desires, and cares were as far from me as the east is from the west.

Whether this was the case with others I cannot tell, but I believe they are all joined in saying that their bodies were most thoroughly tired. I feel that I am renewed, though my body has been very tired since I returned. But I am becoming rested, and I now feel just about right. I feel that I have renewed my strength, renewed the vigor of my body and mind; and I believe that I am as ready to act in any capacity now as ever I have been in my life, and a little more so; for I hope, as I grow old, to grow wise. As I advance in years, I hope to advance in the true knowledge of God and godliness. I hope to increase in the power of the Almighty, and in influence to establish peace and righteousness upon the earth, and to bring all the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, even all who will hearken to the principles of righteousness, to a true sense of the knowledge of God and godliness, of themselves, and the relation they sustain to heaven and heavenly beings. I hope to increase and advance, as I do in days and years, in the wisdom and the knowledge of God, and in the power of God; and I pray that this may be the case, not only with myself, but with all the Saints, that we may grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth, and be made perfect before Him.

There never has been a day for ages and ages, not since the true church was destroyed after the days of the Apostles, that required the faith and the energy of godly men and godly women, and the skill, wisdom, and power of the Almighty to be with them, so much as this people require it at the present time. There never was that necessity; there never has been a time on the face of the earth, from the time that the church went to destruction, and the Priesthood was taken from the earth, that the powers of darkness and the powers of earth and hell were so embittered, and enraged, and incensed against God and godliness on the earth, as they are at the present. And when the spirit of persecution, the spirit of hatred, of wrath, and malice ceases in the world against this people, it will be the time that this people have apostatized and joined hands with the wicked, and never until then; which I pray may never come.

I feel thankful for the privilege of lifting up my voice before you this day, my brethren; I feel that it is a great privilege. There is no other people on the earth that are blessed like this people, though some of them say they are not blessed, because they have trials—that they are not blessed as they wish to be, because they have cares upon them, because they are persecuted and hated. But I say that in all this you are blessed, if the words of the Savior are correct, which you and I believe. He said to his disciples formerly, which will also correctly apply to the Saints in our day, “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so perse– cuted they the prophets which were before you.” If this is not now done to perfection by the world, wait a little while, and it will be. The world will hate us to perfection; and if they have not spoken all manner of evil against us, falsely, it is because they have not knowledge enough to do it. At this time there is no falsehood which they can invent, but what they are active in their service to their father the devil against the Saints; consequently, according to the words of the Savior, “Blessed are ye.”

We know that we are blessed, and God knows it, if we love the Lord our God; and our works prove that we do. Blessed are the Latter-day Saints, if they love God and keep His commandments. And, let the world revile them, and do what they will, we are blessed, because we have the words of eternal life, and know how to perform, and are actually performing the works, to secure to ourselves an eternal salvation and an existence in the presence of our Father and God, while they will be wasted away, and be destroyed from the earth, and from every kingdom where there is peace and righteousness.

We are blessed, and we may never expect our happiness and heaven until we gain a perfect victory over the devil, hell, and the grave; and that we cannot do in this mortality; but we can conquer to a certain degree, and gain admission into the favor of our Father and God, and receive His promise to be received into His celestial kingdom, when we shall have a perfect victory and power over everything that is evil. I will give way for others. May God bless you. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, Delivered at the opening of the Conference, Great Salt Lake City, April 6, 1857.

If you will now give me your attention strictly, I will lay before you some items of business for the consideration and action of this Conference.

I trust that we have come here for the purpose of acceptably presenting ourselves before the Lord, to transact business for the building up of His kingdom in this our day, with pure hearts and fervent desires to magnify the name of our God, that we may be useful and have power to establish peace and righteousness upon the earth.

Our religion is first and foremost with us, it is of the greatest importance of all in this generation, for in it is incorporated the acts and doings of the Saints in the ordinances of the house of God, to promote His kingdom upon the earth, to sustain ourselves, gather Israel, redeem Zion, build up Jerusalem, and prepare for the coming of the Son of Man.

The items of business before this Conference may be considered texts for the Elders who may speak here to preach upon, though if they wish to exhort the brethren, to relate a portion of their experience, or tell a dream or a vision, they have the privilege. But our Conferences are more particularly for the transactions of business, for the furtherance of the kingdom of God on the earth.

I will first present the subject of prosecuting our labors and operations for building the Temple, under our present circumstances and future prospects. We have deemed it wise and expedient to prepare for bringing the rock for that building from quite a distance, in boats, which will be much cheaper than hauling it in wagons, and thus far facilitate the erection of the Temple.

I will next cite your memories to a mass meeting that was held in the Tabernacle upwards of a year ago, to take into consideration the propriety and expediency of establishing an Express and Carrying Company to operate between here and the States to the east, and California to the west. That Company has now commenced its business operations. Three companies have already left this city, and the particular object in view is to establish places where our brethren can stop and rest, recruit and refresh themselves until they can continue their journey and arrive in this valley. Our main object is to make settlements and raise grain at suitable points and convenient distances, where we can prepare resting places for the Saints. The last season’s immigration I think has prompted us materially to this action. If we had had settlements at Deer Creek, La Bonte, below Laramie, and on the Sweet Water, where people can raise grain, our last year’s belated immigration might have had habitations, food, and other conveniences for comfortably tarrying through the winter, and thus saved this community a vast expense. This Express Company will be laid before this Conference, so that you will have an understanding of it, that you may act knowingly, and give your faith, influence, and means to accomplish the object of its organization.

We are calling quite a number to go on missions, and are appointing a portion of them to visit the Canadas. We have a great many Elders laboring throughout Europe, but more especially in England, and the Canadas are mostly settled by the same classes of people. True there has formerly been much preaching in that region, and many churches raised up, especially in Upper or Canada West, but many have emigrated to the States and are now with us, and I do not know of an Elder in this Church now laboring in either of the Canadas. We wish to send a company to labor there, and gather out the honest in heart.

I would also propose sending missionaries to the States, if we could by accident, or by foreknowledge, or by revelation, or by any other means, select and spare from here the right kind of men; in that case we would like to send a good many there. My reasons are these; there are honest people by thousands, and scores of thousands in the States, those who have never yet heard the sound of the Gospel. There are also scores of places where branches have been raised up, but the inhabitants have so changed that they now hardly know what you mean when you say “Mormon” or “Mormonism,” and when you talk about the preaching of the everlasting Gospel, it is almost forgotten by the few that are still remaining in those places. Other people occupy the place of those who have left, of those who had been preached to, and children have grown up and taken the place of their parents; others have moved away, and strangers have moved in. There are honest people there, and if we could get Elders, to use a western phrase, of “The right stripe,” we could gather multitudes from the United States. For an example, we sent brother John Taylor to New York with a number of Elders to preach, labor, and assist him. Some of them tarried in New York with brother Taylor, visited their families, connections, friends, &c. for a time, and returned. They did not baptize any; with them, “There was no call for preaching, no place to sow the seed, or distribute the good word of God; they could not find any who wanted to hear them preach or who wished to know anything of the Gospel,” while at the same time others who felt for the interest of the kingdom and for the people, stepped forth, and labored like men, and found plenty of chances for preaching. Brother Jeter Clinton was one of the last named class. Brother Taylor sent him to Philadelphia, and when he got there, those who professed “Mormonism” were dead, dead, dead; they were withered and twice plucked up by the roots. Brother Clinton had not been there six months before the Church numbered a great many more than when he went there. The old members revived, and they began to baptize and to have calls from the country, and when he left he could probably have employed from ten to thirty Elders in his field of labor.

The secret of the difference is this, he felt for the kingdom, and when he went into his field of labor he did not say, “O, how lonesome I am, how I wish I had my family here; I really wish I was back in the valley; my spirits are cast down; how bad I do feel.” When such persons endeavor to preach, their preaching is as dry as an old, dead, dried up, three years old mullen stalk; there is no more juice in them than there is in that.

Brother Alexander Robbins is a man of that description, and although he is naturally a good, kind and feeling man, one that I think much of, yet when he spoke from this stand at the last fall’s Conference, he was as perfectly void of sap or juice as any one of those dry posts, and I reproved the spirit he seemed to manifest. He sat quietly down in New York with brother Taylor, until he became so dried up that he came home disbelieving in God, heaven, hell, angels, and religion. He has lost every particle of the knowledge and spirit that he formerly had.

When brother Clinton and others return, those who have laid aside self and labored, asking, “What can we do to win the souls of the children of men?” they are full of life, full of the good Spirit, full of animation; their countenances are bright and lively, and when you talk with them or hear them preach, you can glean and gather truth, life and salvation from their lips, while others are as lifeless as leached ashes.

If we could spare some one or two hundred Elders like brother Clinton and others to go to Canada and the United States, we could gather scores and hundreds of thousands of good people from those regions. But reflect for a moment upon the difference in the conduct of our missionaries and the treatment they receive. In Texas some have been mobbed, and some have had no place to preach in. Brother Benjamin L. Clapp, who has lately returned from a mission there, could scarcely find a place to preach in, although others at the same time traveled and preached there, and many wished to hear them.

For another instance I will refer to my own Quorum. When we had started the work in England, brothers Heber, George A. and Woodruff went to London. It cost much faith, care, money, and diligence to establish the work in that place, and after they had baptized about thirty persons, they came to Manchester to attend a Conference. As soon as the Conference was over, brothers Woodruff and George A. went to London, and brother Kimball and I took a tour through the country, and held Conferences; and when we arrived in London I preached in the first meeting we held after our arrival, and how many do you think there were present to hear me? Thirty had been baptized, but brothers Kimball, Woodruff, and Geo. A., the man who owned the small room that we had hired, and, I think, two other persons, comprised the congregation. I preached as well as I could, though it was pretty hard work to pump when there was no water in the well. Brother Kimball and I stayed there eleven days, and when I left, the little meetinghouse was crowded to overflowing. What was the reason of this?

I have spoken against brother Clapp’s course in Texas; it sprang from a want of knowledge. I have also spoken against the course taken by brothers Woodruff and George A. in London; it proceeded from a want of tact and turn in those individuals to know how to win the people. When we found them in London, brother Woodruff was busily engaged in writing his history from morning until evening; and, if a sister called on him, he would say, “How do you do? Take a chair,” and keep on writing and laboring to bring up the history of the Church and his own.

That was all right and well, in its place; but, if a sister asked a question, the answer would be, “Yes;” and if she asked another, “No;” and that was the sum of the conversation. If a brother came in, it would be the same. But brother Kimball would say, “Come, my friend, sit down; do not be in a hurry;” and he would begin and preach the Gospel in a plain, familiar manner, and make his hearers believe everything he said, and make them testify to its truth, whether they believed or not, asking them, “Now, ain’t that so?” and they would say, “Yes.” And he would make Scripture as he needed it, out of his own bible, and ask, “Now, ain’t that so?” and the reply would be “Yes.” He would say, “Now, you believe this? You see how plain the Gospel is? Come along now;” and he would lead them into the waters of baptism. The people would want to come to see him early in the morning, and stay with him until noon, and from that until night; and he would put his arm around their necks, and say, “Come, let us go down to the water.”

Thousands of Elders go upon missions, and conduct themselves like a man by the name of Glover. He was preaching in Herefordshire, and we sent him to Bristol, about thirty miles distant, telling him to go there and start the work. He would get up and preach a splendid discourse. He went to Bristol, and cried, “Mormonism,” or the Gospel, and no person would listen to him. On the next morning he was back at Ledbury, and said, “I came out of Bristol, washed my feet against them, and sealed them all up to damnation.” That is the way in which some of our Elders operate.

I know that when I have traveled with some of the Twelve, and one of them has asked for breakfast, dinner, supper, or lodging, we have been refused dozens of times. Now, you may think that I am going to boast a little; I will brag a little of my own tact and talent. When others would ask, we would often be refused a morsel of something to eat, and so we would go from house to house; but when I had the privilege of asking, I never was turned away—no, not a single time.

Would I go into the house and say to them, “I am a ‘Mormon’ Elder; will you feed me?” It was none of their business who I was. But when I asked, “Will you give me something to eat?” the reply was, invariably, “Yes.” And we would sit, and talk, and sing, and make ourselves familiar and agreeable; and before our departure, after they had learned who we were, they would frequently ask, “Will you not stay and preach for us?” and proffer to gather in the members of their family and their neighbors; and the feeling would be, “Well, if this is ‘Mormonism,’ I will feed all the ‘Mormon’ Elders that come.” Whereas, if I had said, “I am a ‘Mormon’ Elder; will you feed me?” the answer would often have been, “No: out of my house.”

Now, if we could find the “right stripe” that could be spared from important duties here, we would send a good many Elders to the States.

I will relate another circumstance—one concerning an Elder who went on a mission from Nauvoo; and, if I remember rightly, he went through Indiana. He lives in this place, and his name is James Carroll. He went into a neighborhood where there was a Baptist Society, which had recently built a meetinghouse. They had heard of the “Mormons,” but knew nothing of the doctrine. They wished him to tarry and preach, and the minister invited him into his pulpit. He rose, and began to preach “Mormonism,” as he called it; and about the first item that he presented to the people was nearly the last event that will take place on the earth concerning the Church. Instead of preaching the restoration and first principles of the Gospel, almost the first remark that he made was, “You have a pretty meetinghouse, and good buildings and farms; but do you know that the ‘Mormons’ are coming here to possess the whole of them?”

He never heard Joseph Smith, the Twelve, or any of the Elders that understood the Gospel, teach any such doctrine, but had probably gathered the idea from reading the Bible. By the time he had got through with so short a sermon, the congregation was ready to kick him out of the neighborhood, and he ought to have been kicked out of the pulpit at the first dash. This does not particularly militate against the character of that man; but many of the Elders do not seem to understand how to gain the attention and feelings of the people, and lead them in the pathway of truth.

We have received letters from the East, stating that “There is no place for preaching there,” whereas I really think that there might be hundreds of Elders selected here, if we could spare them, who could go to the States and find as good openings for preaching as there are in the world; at least I would run the risk of it. Had I the choice whether to go to the States and gather Saints, or to go where the Gospel was preached by the ancient Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, among the children of the people who have formerly had the Gospel preached to them, I would engage to go to the States and gather one hundred Saints to one that could be gathered from among the children of those who heard Peter, Paul, and others of the ancient Apostles preach the Gospel.

Reports of the business transactions and condition of the Church and Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company have been prepared, and will be read, so that you can understand the true situation of our general financial affairs. The P. E. Fund is founded upon the principle of everlasting increase, and if the people do right, or even half right, our means will increase.

The means arising from the sale of stray cattle, that some like so well to claim, all go towards swelling the amounts at the disposal of the P. E. Fund for gathering the poor. Still, when strays are driven into the general stray pound, you can see men come and swear to this ox and that cow; and they will bring two or three others to testify to an animal they claim; and another man will step up and say, “That is my animal;” and he will also bring three or four witnesses to prove it; and pretty soon still another comes and claims the same animal; and so on until there are, perhaps, four or five persons in the pound, each one with his witnesses, claiming the same animal, and all willing to swear on a stack of Bibles, as they hope for salvation, that such a creature is theirs, when they must know that they never saw it before. Such circumstances transpire every time that stray cattle are driven in. I want to tell you, so that you cannot fail to understand it, without you are consummate hypocrites and scoundrels, let stray cattle alone, unless you actually know them to be yours.

I could name a good many individuals in our own community that would steal all the cattle that we have, if they knew which were the ones that we owned. I thought that the reformation had stopped such proceedings; but as soon as the stray cattle were driven in, a few miserable sneaks were ready to own them all. Those animals are sold, and every cent of the means thus raised goes into the P. E. Fund, and the only ones benefited thereby are the poor Saints in foreign lands. You must stop intruding upon your neighbors.

If those who are heads of Quorums strictly attended to their duties, the man that does not live according to his late covenants, who violates the ordinances and laws of the house of God, would be severed from his Quorum and cut off from this Church; and if they will not do this, we will do it from this stand. Men must quit swearing and taking the name of God in vain; they must refrain from lying, stealing, cheating, and doing that which they know they ought not to do, or they must be severed from this Church and kingdom.

I will now present a subject which will be a text for the brethren to preach upon from this stand, viz., the necessity of building storehouses in which to preserve our grain. If we have a fruitful season this coming summer, we shall have a large amount of surplus grain which we cannot carry out of the country to market: it must tarry here. And if the people do their duty in this matter, they will continue to lay up grain for themselves and for this community throughout this Territory, and for fifty or a hundred times as many more, until they have enough to last them seven years. You can figure at that, and learn how much grain you ought to lay up. If we have, as I believe we shall, a few seasons fruitful in grain, the staple article that we can cure and preserve, it is our indispensable duty to safely store it for a time to come. This will be a text for some of the brethren.

I will say to the missionaries going west to the Sandwich Islands, California, and Oregon, that we expect to start a herd of cattle from here as early as they can be driven across the mountains; and if they will provide their own clothing, bedding, and weapons for defense, we will furnish them board and transportation to California.

I will now ask the people whether they will do me the favor of giving me one hundred and twenty-five dollars in money during this Conference. I will let the brethren and sisters throw in their dollars, or half or quarter dollars, just as they please, and I want to do what I please with the amount. And if you will not be satisfied with giving me $125, you can double the sum, and make it $250; and I wish to do with it as I please. If I have a mind to give it away immediately, that is nobody’s business.

A few of us contemplate going north this spring. You remember that I told you at the last fall’s Conference that I was going east to help in our immigration, and you voted I should not go. I did start, and went over the Big Mountain to East Canyon Creek, but the devil had ears so ready to hear the prayers of the people and help them, that he made me so sick that I could not go any further. I do not want any such influence exercised this spring, for I am going with some of my brethren to take a pleasure ride, see the country, enjoy ourselves, and recruit our health; and I wish you to pray for us, give us your faith, and be willing that we should go. I do not want to be stopped, as I was last fall.

Now comes another item of business. It so happens that this year the election of officers for this city falls upon today, as does also the election of the Lieutenant-General of the Nauvoo Legion, which has been ordered by proclamation by the Governor. Both elections will be held in the Council House, and we want the brethren to stop there and give in their votes. For the Lieutenant-General, those from abroad have as good a right to vote here as if they were at home in Iron County, Davis, Sanpete, or any other part of our Territory. We have nominated Daniel H. Wells for the office of Lieutenant-General of the Nauvoo Legion, the same person who has held that position since our settlement in Utah. The polls will be kept open until sundown.

I have now briefly presented the items which I have noted down. Other matters will come before this Conference, such as preaching, exhortation, &c., &c. I will now give way for others. God bless you. Amen.