A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, June 15, 1856.

I will read a revelation printed in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and given in Zion in August, 1831. It was given in Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, I think during the first time that Joseph was in that land. (The President read the revelation, section 18.)

I do not anticipate, in the few remarks that I shall make, throwing any particular light upon this revelation, especially to those who are ac– quainted with the circumstances under which it was given.

When revelations are given through an individual appointed to receive them, they are given to the understandings of the people. These revelations, after a lapse of years, become mystified to those who were not personally acquainted with the circumstances at the time they were given.

The revelation that I have been reading may be as mysterious to our children, in a thousand or fifteen hundred years from now, in case the world continues in the same degree of enlightenment that it has for a few ages past, as the revelations contained in the Old and New Testaments are to this generation, and it would be commented upon with the same scrutiny and accuracy; and men would study, year after year, and fret themselves almost to death to find out the mysterious meaning of the revelation given to us their forefathers.

This revelation is as plain and clear to the understandings of those who know the circumstances that called it forth, as it would be for you to understand me should I talk about making a canal to bring the waters of Big Cottonwood to this city for irrigating our gardens and the farming lands. It is plain and easy to be understood, it is familiar to us who were in that country at the time, we know all about it.

But a portion of this congregation have not been personally acquainted with the early experience and travels of this Church, and with the sayings and doings of the Prophet Joseph, and it may be that they do not fully understand what this revelation really does mean.

They do not actually know that there is such a place as Independence, in Jackson County, Missouri; they have heard of it, and may have an idea that it is situated in the regions where angels dwell.

The revelation which I have read was perfectly plain, and could readily be understood by all the brethren then in Jackson County, Missouri, and in Kirtland, Ohio, as easily as you can understand me when I talk about digging canals, building dwellings, tabernacles, temples, and storehouses, or when I talk about drawing sand and clay, burning lime, &c.

Is it strange, or is it not strange, to people endowed with wisdom, that the inhabitants of the earth, beclouded as they are, should have such revelations given to them? Is it strange, or is it not strange, that they should reject them?

Would this be a hard question for the congregation to answer? Looking at these things, after the manner of the wisdom of the world, we say that it would be very strange indeed, as a certain professor would say, “It would be passing strange.”

It would be strange indeed should people receive such ideas, upon such subjects, as revelations from God, from the Supreme of the Universe, the great Eloheim, the Creator and upholder of all things, who is enthroned in eternity in glory and in power, yet who condescends to talk about such matters as building storehouses, sending men to do this or that, to go to this or that land, to gather up money for this or that purpose. And very many would exclaim, “O, it is money, money, money!”

That has been the cry continually from the enemies of the kingdom of God. You know that was the cry in the days of Joseph; “O, he is after money, you can see this is in all his revelations; money, money, money; he wants to get your money! He pretends it is going into the hands of the Bishop to purchase lands, but when he gets hold of it you do not get it again. It is money, money, money, all the time.”

The commands to go and buy this or that farm, to build houses, sell out a farm here and rent one there, take a mission to preach the Gospel to the world, gather money to purchase lands, and divide with the poor brethren, are all familiar talk with us, easy to be understood, and without mystery.

When Joseph received this revelation, it was as plain to the understanding of the Saints, as are my instructions when telling you what to do.

The Lord said to the people through Joseph, “You must keep the law here, and be careful to repent of your sins.” Occasionally a man’s name would be mentioned, and he might be pointed out as a pattern for the rest.

Do you repent of your sins? If you do not, you will be overcome by the enemy. He said to the people, “Repent of your sins and keep the law, or you will have no inheritance in this region.”

Many who are here now, owned farms there, and some owned large tracts of land. Have you possession of them now? You have not. You may be rightful owners of those lands, but you are not the possessors. There are many in this congregation who own the right of the soil there, that is to say, if the government of the United States could or would give any right to it.

The Lord said, “Repent of your sins, or you cannot stay here and receive your inheritance; and this land will not be given to the Saints until they are scourged and driven from city to city.” This is plain, and every person can understand it.

As there are persons named in the revelation which I have read, to whom I wish to refer more particularly, I will again read a portion of it.

“Now, as I spake concerning my servant Edward Partridge, this land is the land of his residence, and those whom he has appointed for his counselors; and also the land of the residence of him whom I have appointed to keep my storehouse; Wherefore, let them bring their families to this land, as they shall counsel between themselves and me. For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.”

Here are two characters pointed out, brother Partridge and another whose name is not mentioned here, but whose name was Gilbert, and who was appointed keeper of the storehouse.

You can understand what this plain revelation meant, and it will come home to your comprehension. “For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant.” Those men whose names are mentioned were considered to be as holy, I may say, as any men in the world.

I am a witness, so far as this is concerned, that the persons whose names are mentioned, and many others of the first Elders of the Church, were looked upon almost as angels. They were looked upon by the young members as being so filled with the Spirit and power of God, that we were hardly worthy to converse with them. You hear the names of Bishop Partridge, of brother W. W. Phelps, who is now sitting in this stand, of Parley P. Pratt, of David Whitmer, of Oliver Cowdery, and the names of many others of the first Elders who had been up to Zion, and I declare to you that brethren in other parts of the land, those who had not seen the persons named, felt that should they come into their presence they would have to pull off their shoes, as the ground would be so holy upon which they trod.

Do you know what distance and age accomplish? They produce in people the most reverential awe that can be imagined.

When we reflect and rightly understand, we learn how easy of comprehension the Gospel is, how plain it is in its plan, in every part and principle fitted perfectly to the capacity of mankind, insomuch that when it is introduced among the lovers of truth it appears very easy and very plain, and how very ready the honest are to receive it.

But send it abroad and give it anti– quity, and it is at once clothed with mystery. This is the case with all the ancient revelations. Those which were received and understood by the ancients are shrouded in mystery and uncertainty to this generation, and men are employed to reveal the meaning of the ancient Scriptures.

The people on every hand are inquiring, “What does this scripture mean, and how shall we understand this or that passage?” Now I wish, my brethren and sisters, for us to understand things precisely as they are, and not as the flitting, changing imagination of the human mind may frame them.

The Bible is just as plain and easy of comprehension as the revelation which I have just read to you, if you understand the Spirit of God—the Spirit of revelation, and know how the Gospel of salvation is adapted to the capacity of weak man.

If you could see things as they are, you would know that the whole plan of salvation, and all the revelations ever given to man on the earth are as plain as would be the remarks of an Elder, were he to stand here and talk about our everyday business.

I want you to understand this, that you may know how to understandingly read the Bible and the revelations delivered to you in your own generation, and how to honor your religion and your God.

When you read the revelations, or when you hear the will of the Lord concerning you, for your own sakes never receive that with a doubtful heart. This is a matter that I have frequently impressed upon the people here; I have exhorted them from year to year upon this very point, and have asked, why do you receive the counsel of God with doubtful hearts when you are taught the way of life and salvation, when things are made so plain and easy to you that you cannot misunderstand them? Why do you admit of such unbelief in your hearts and feelings as to say—“This or that is beneath the notice of the Almighty, and say that He does not deal in such simple, small, and everyday affairs?”

Why say, “We want to hear from the stand concerning the mysteries—the eternal mysteries of the kingdom of God, that which we have never heard.” I might say to such, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken. Is it a mystery to you, sisters, how to knit a stocking? You all answer, “No, not at all.”

But bring an individual from a world where they never had stockings, and it is as much of a mystery to that person, as anything you have ever thought of could be to you, because he would be perfectly ignorant of all ideas pertaining to that art.

You may now be inclined to say, “O, this is too simple and childlike, we wish to hear the mysteries of the kingdoms of the Gods who have existed from eternity, and of all the kingdoms in which they will dwell; we desire to have these things portrayed to our understandings.”

Allow me to inform you that you are in the midst of it all now, that you are in just as good a kingdom as you will ever attain to, from now to all eternity, unless you make it yourselves by the grace of God, by the will of God, by the eternal Priesthood of God, which is a code of laws perfectly calculated to govern and control eternal matter. If you and I do not by this means make that better kingdom which we anticipate, we shall never enjoy it.

We can only enjoy the kingdom we have labored to make. If you say that you want mysteries, commandments, and revelations, I reply that scarcely a Sabbath passes over your heads, those of you who come here, without your having the revelations of Jesus Christ poured upon you like water on the ground.

“Why do you not write them, brother Brigham?” I will tell you one reason why—I expect that they will be one of these days, but I expect that you will have them written when God and His faithful servants, have suffered enough from the ignorance, foolishness, wickedness, and slothfulness of the people, from their slowness of heart to believe, and from their unrighteous dealing one with another.

Then I expect that there will be just revelation enough given and written to cut all the ungodly off from the Church, and send them to hell. The reason it is not given now, is because of the mercy the Lord still sees fit to extend towards them.

You recollect that last sabbath, and two weeks ago today, I told the people that it would be for their good to go and perform a certain piece of work, which was just as much revelation to you as would be teachings upon the subject of getting your endowment. It was life, and was upon the principles of eternal lives. I recollect telling you, when you lift your hands to heaven like that (raising his hand) and say that you will perform thus and so and do not, that such a course would damn you, as sure as you are now living. Men and women ought to fulfil all their covenants.

I exhorted the brethren not to say that they would do the work, unless they intended to go and do it, for if they did not, I said they would be cursed.

I am almost constrained by the power that is within me to draw the dividing line in the midst of this people, and to cut many from the Church, but I plead for mercy. I have mercy for the people, and I ask God to bear with the wickedness there is in their midst, which can hardly be borne with by the spirit and power of the Holy Ghost.

I said, two weeks ago today, that some of you would be cursed, but have you ever heard me curse the people? You have not, though I have to hang, as it were, on a slender thread of faith to plead with the Almighty to yet spare the wicked in our midst. What hinders them from observing the law of God? Do I or does any other person hinder them? Who hinders you from doing a good work? I am wearied with seeing the conduct of some of this people, their thieving, lying, tattling, deceiving, running after the Gentile spirit, after the spirits of this world, receiving delusive spirits, and adhering to all manner of principles that are not of God.

What hinders us in living as close to our religion as do the angels? Angels do not hinder us, God certainly does not, and we ought to say to devils, “You shall not.” But in the midst of this people there is a set of thieves, idolaters, drunkards, whoremongers, and vile persons. It may be asked, “Shall we not draw the dividing line soon?” Yes, some will in due time get line enough to send them to hell. Many are pleading for revelations; do you suppose that Saints lack revelations? They have plenty of them, and they are stored in the archives of those who have understanding of the principles of the Priesthood, ready to be brought forth as the people need. I will again read a portion of the revelation, “For he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward. Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shalt in no wise lose their reward.”

There is one principle that I do wish the people would observe, that is, do not ask God to give you knowledge, when you are confident that you will not keep and rightly improve upon that knowledge. It is a mercy in God that many are as ignorant as they are; for were it not so they would not be borne with as they are. Do not ask for revelations to dictate you in this, that, or the other, unless you are sure that you can obey them. Do not suffer yourselves to falter in your faith, and to say that the door of revelation is closed, for I tell you that there are now too many for your good, unless you hearken more diligently than you have hitherto, unless you apply more closely in your lives what is revealed, and live your religion more faithfully.

You are frequently told that the chastisements which come upon this people are for their good. We may ask, “Is pinching want for our good? Is the destruction of our crops for our good? Is the losing of our property for our good?” Who will lay it to heart? Who will realize it? There are a few who will. I can say with safety that I firmly believe that there are five wise virgins and five foolish ones; that there are five who are wise servants and handmaidens to five who are foolish. But in looking at the people in mass this may not appear, for you are frequently told that one evil person can corrupt many. It is an old saying, and a true one, that “a wicked king can corrupt a nation,” and a wicked father will corrupt a family, and a wicked ruler will corrupt those he rules over. We wish to be one, but “evil communications corrupt good manners.” Unrighteous dealings and doings appear to exert a wider influence than righteous ones, consequently in this community when you find one evil person in a family, or in a neighborhood, that person will actually make it appear to a stranger that the whole family, or neighborhood is evil. The good and evil are mixed together, the wheat and the tares are growing together, the wise and foolish virgins are traveling on together. Some of the people are actually foolish, and they think that the Lord looks upon sin with a great deal of compassion, and are thinking, “O, if I should do this or that I will be forgiven. Yes, I will go and tell it all to the heads of the Church and get their forgiveness, and pass on in my wickedness.” Do you wish your friends to stay here, and all to be Saints indeed? Now some children are wicked and their parents righteous, and again children may be Saints and their parents wicked. There are good people who have wicked brothers and sisters, and they say, “Let us be forgiving, let us hold onto them, if we have compassion, perhaps they will do better and repent of their sins, and yet be Saints.” Is this not the feeling of every heart? It is, more or less. Who is there entirely void of these compassionate feelings? Father, save your son if possible; save your daughter, parents, if it is possible; brothers, save your brethren, if it is possible; save your sisters, if it is possible; save this man, or that woman, and let us have mercy on them, we will be compassionate on them.

A great many come to me and say, “I wish to do exactly as the Lord shall direct through you, brother Brigham.” If I had the word of the Lord I would not dare give it to them, unless I knew it was an absolute duty. They never would obey it, because they are taught the word of the Lord here all the time, but do they hearken to it? Those who have wisdom within themselves, who have in possession the spirit of the Gospel, know what they hear from this stand. They know truth from error, they are satisfied, and never ask the Lord to give them more revelation, but to give them grace to observe and keep what they have received.

You can perceive what kind of characters they are who need to be commanded, they are slothful and not wise servants. Many of you may inquire why I am urging this point today; because it is necessary, it ought to be done. I wish those who are Saints to walk uprightly before their God, and to do everything they can for their brethren who are not Saints. I desire every man and woman to exercise themselves to the utmost, for they will, in all probability, be lost unless we save them. You come to me and want to know the will of God, what for? It would send you to hell, as likely as not, for you will not do it, and that would lay the foundation for your condemnation, as it is written, “Those that receive the commandments of God and do not do them are damned.” I feel to urge these things upon the people that they may save themselves, that they may be industrious, and go to with a ready heart and willing mind, with all their might, to do the things that are necessary to be done.

Suppose that the Lord should give you a written revelation through me, I am satisfied that it would not infringe upon your planting corn, sowing wheat, and watering in the season thereof. The very first thing would be to instruct the people to take care of their temporal lives, for if a people do not provide to live on the earth they cannot accomplish the work given them to do. The first thing to be written would be for people to prepare to live on the earth, until they could overcome the wickedness that is in the world.

This would be dictating you in your temporal affairs; I can dictate you in those matters, and if the Lord does not move me to the point of drawing the dividing line, though if He does I expect to be on hand, let us go to with all our might and do every good work we can, and be satisfied, and not be continually grumbling and complain– ing against the Lord, and teasing Him for more than you know what to do with.

I could not, nor could any other man, give a revelation that would be more plain to the comprehension of the people than the one I have read to you this morning. There is no mystery about it, nothing mysterious or in the dark, but every man may easily know precisely what it means; all the people may understand it to perfection. This revelation was given to the people in their ignorance; it was given, we may say, at the birth of the man-child, in the first days of the being of the Priesthood again upon the earth, and yet it was so calculated and so worded, that every person could understand it. Brother Partridge knew what to do; Gilbert, Rigdon, and Peterson knew what to do; and in returning to Kirtland the Elders were to lift up their voices by the way, and to build up Churches.

One man is told to do this, and another to do that. Edward, you go and get your family and move them up here, &c. Can you understand this? It is one of the revelations of God, given to this people in the first rise of the Church. I do not expect to give you any particular light upon it by the way of illustration, for it would be like my telling you that the sun shines, and that we are within the walls of this Temple Block, seated under a partial shade, constructed for screening us from the rays of the sun. You know all this, you understand it as well as I do; so did those to whom it was given understand this revelation. Would you understand what might be said to you, if I should command you to do this or that. Ask some man to command you, and never ask God to do it, until you are prepared to keep His commandments.

You are ready to say in your hearts, “We are always scolded.” Who hurts you? You will never be hurt, unless you hurt yourselves. If we live our religion we shall prosper, and if we live in the neglect of our duty, and continue to do so, as many do, there will be tribulation and anguish here, and the chastening hand of the Almighty will be on this people, more so than it has ever been. If I could stand here and talk to you without advancing these ideas, I would endeavor to do so, and would be very much pleased if there was no occasion for rebuke. It would delight me to be able to preach all the time upon the glories of Zion, that Zion prospers, that we are all in the straight and narrow way, that all feel fully engaged in building up the kingdom of God, and that every man, woman, and child is doing right, but such is not the case. If I could prevail upon the people to so lay instruction to heart, that they would repent of their sins and refrain from them, that they would forsake their hardheartedness and follies, I should be thankful indeed.

I need not go into particulars in explaining the feelings of this people, for they are too well known. We see them exhibited in our temporal management, and in our transactions one with another. Some you see walking uprightly, and again you may see the honest suffering, and but few ready to extend the hand of charity to relieve them, while the dishonest who have followed this people, we will say, for the loaves and fishes, are begging, and their children also, from morning until night and hoarding up more than they can possibly consume. We see these different dispositions, yet we all are known under the appellation of Saints, we are all brethren and sisters in the Church of Christ.

There is a disposition in many of the brethren like this, “I want to consecrate all I have to the Church, and I will not reserve anything to myself.” Very well, there are blank deeds in the Office, fill one out, if you wish, but do as you please about it. “I really feel as though it would be a great privilege to give everything I possess to the Church.” What have you got? “O, I have a five-acre lot.” What is it worth? “Well, I don’t know; it is full of saleratus and greasewood.” Such characters are so loving and kind, and will say, “Now, brother Brigham, I feel better than I ever felt in my life, I feel happy that I am in the kingdom of God with all that I have; I have dedicated everything I have. Brother Brigham, do you think I can have a house and lot?” They do not talk so loud as I am now talking, they whisper in my ear: “Could you let me have a yoke of oxen, or a span of horses and a wagon, or twenty bushels of wheat,” &c., &c.? If I were to hearken to one-third of such calls, these characters would drain our means to that degree, that the Church would never have the first sixpence, from this time forth to the day of judgment, with which to carry on this work. There is not one-third enough paid in tithing by this great people, to answer the calls of hypocrites and ungodly persons.

Are all hypocrites? No, but if you see honest persons, you see those who are ready to take hold and labor with their might, even though they have but one potato in a day; they will suffer rather than impoverish the Church.

I will relate a circumstance that transpired lately. I think it was last Tuesday or Wednesday night, as I was sitting in one of my houses, about nine o’clock in the evening, that a little boy, some nine or ten years of age, came along. As soon as he came to the door he began a story, but in such a manner that I could not understand him. I called him near to me, and desired him to relate his story again. He commenced by telling about his father’s dying with the cholera on the Plains, that his mother was sick and had several children to take care of, and wound up by saying, that his mother had not eaten anything since the morning of the day previous. I told my wife to give him some bread, remarking that if I could walk as I once could I would know the true situation of that family. Brother Wells was by and said, “I can walk,” I then asked the boy where he lived; he replied, “Over yonder.” In what Ward? He did not know. What is your name? “David Jones.” What was your father’s name? “Jones.” Who are your neighbors? He did not know. Brother Wells started off in an easterly direction with him. The boy began to limp and complained of sore feet, and ere long sat down and began to cry loudly and raise the neighborhood. Bishop Woolley hearing the crying came up, and, after trying to make him hush and start for his home, gave him a good spanking, and started him homeward. He at length mentioned the name of Bishop Perkins, and, from that Bishop, brother Wells learned that the name of the family was Meiklejohn, and that they lived in the Seventh Ward. After much inquiry the boy’s home was found, though he was determined not to go home, and it was soon discovered that he had a father (whose Christian name is David) and mother living, both of whom had gone to bed, and a little sister, who waited on the opposite side of a street while the boy who begged, was still out.

The parents of course said the boy did very wrong, and that they had no idea of his conducting himself so, when the fact is the boy has been trained to lie from his childhood by his father and mother, and so has the girl. Scores of times would not amount to the number that these very children have been to my house, and we have given them flour, meal, and bread which they have carried home.

On the same evening, persons were overheard talking beneath some trees. One said, “Sister, where did you get your flour today?” “I got it at brother Brigham’s.” “I have some money, and shall have to buy some.”

“Don’t buy one pound, but go to brother Brigham and tell him a good story, and you will get some flour. I have money, but I will not pay one cent for my flour.”

I mention these facts to illustrate the spirit that is in a portion of this community. If you go into England, or into any of the old countries, you will see the same class of poor, guilty, miserable wretches begging for a living, and they carry on that business to such a degree, and in such a manner, that the rich and those who are in comfortable circumstances, aware of the rascality of many, often refrain from given to any through fear of being imposed upon, and thereby the honest, innocent poor suffer. They would also suffer here if we were equally fearful of being imposed upon; but many who are unworthy are now aided, by those who are ever ready to assist the destitute, lest some honest poor should suffer; for this reason we withhold not from any.

If this loose course of begging is suffered to go on in this community, without a check being put to it, but a few years would elapse before the honest might be permitted to starve to death in the streets; for those who have would say, “We do not know but that you have your thousands at home, and we will not take the trouble to find out.”

We have our arrangements for learning the condition of the people, and I will here make a few remarks concerning the Bishops. If they magnify their office and calling, they will know the circumstances of every family in their Wards. But with all our experience in regard to Bishops, es– pecially those who have been in the Church so long, and who know so much about the kingdom of God, they ought to know a little more about the families residing in their Wards, and not quite so much about the kingdom, if they cannot understand both at the same time. I very well know that they have their own families to take care of, and that they are allowed nothing for their services. That is partly why we have been appointing some new Bishops. I want men to act as Bishops who are smart enough to take care of themselves, and at the same time magnify their calling; and if we do not find them to be honest we mean to appoint other persons, and to continue so doing until that Quorum is filled with honest men. I am sorry to say that we have proven a few Bishops dishonest. Perhaps some of the Bishops here, or of those who live in other parts of the Territory, will say, “It comes very hard, brother Brigham, for you to make such a statement as that, and not point out the dishonest person; the people may think that you mean me.” You are the very ones I mean, if your consciences accuse you, for if you are not guilty you care not for such a statement, as your consciences are clear and you are not accused, therefore I mean those who say, “This is hard.”

Do you wish me to explain myself? I have proof ready to show that Bishops have taken in thousands of pounds in weight of tithing which they have never reported to the General Tithing Office. We have documents to show that Bishops have taken in hundreds of bushels of wheat, and only a small portion of it has come into the General Tithing Office; they stole it to let their friends speculate upon. If anyone is doubtful about this, will you not call on me to produce my proof before a proper tribunal? I should take pleasure in doing so, but we pass over such things in mercy to the people.

Will you repent of your sins, and go to and do that which you know you ought to do, without being commanded of the Lord, and thus be compelled to do it, or be damned? Will you live so as to know the voice of the Good Shepherd when you hear it, or are you determined to live so as not to know the difference between that voice and the voice of a stranger? In this I fear for the people. I have explained and commented upon these seemingly small items, though in reality they are of much importance.

Chemists who are familiar with analyzing matter, inform you that the globe we inhabit is composed of small particles, so small that they cannot be seen with the unaided natural eye, and that one of these small particles may be divided into millions of parts, each part so minute as to be undiscernible by the aid of the finest microscopes. So the walk of man is made up of acts performed from day to day. It is the aggregate of the acts which I perform through life that makes up the conduct that will be exhibited in the day of judgment, and when the books are opened, there will be the life which I have lived for me to look upon, and there also will be the acts of your lives for you to look upon. Do you not know that the building up of the kingdom of God, the gathering of Israel, is to be done by little acts? You breathe one breath at a time; each moment is set apart to its act, and each act to its moment. It is the moments and the little acts that make the sum of the life of man. Let every second, minute, hour, and day we live be spent in doing that which we know to be right.

If you do not know what to do, in order to do right, come to me at any time and I will give you the word of the Lord on that point. But if you wish the word of the Lord on your nonsensical, foolish notions and traits, be pleased to keep away from me, for I know too much about such characters for them to pass before me unobserved. Mankind are weak and feeble, poor and needy; how destitute they are of true knowledge, how little they have when they have any at all. We have need to increase in knowledge and understanding, and to apply our hearts more to wisdom.

How necessary it is for us to live our religion so as to know ourselves better, and to know how to live better in accordance with the religion we have embraced. To know how to gather up the sons and daughters of Abraham, and to establish the kingdom of God on the earth, how necessary it is for you and I to live our religion, and not be slothful and negligent in fulfilling our duty.

The Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Old and New Testaments all corroborate the fact that when you receive the Spirit that gives you light, intelligence, peace, joy, and comfort, that it is from God. But when you, sisters, particularly in your family affairs, are tried and tempted, when parents and children have a spirit come upon them that irritates them, that causes them to have bad feelings, disagreeable, unhappy, and miserable sensations, causing them to say, “We wish it was someway else; we wish our circumstances were different; we are not happy; something or the other is always wrong; we wish to do just right, but we are very unhappy;” I desire to tell you that your own conduct is the cause of all this. “But,” says one, “I have done nothing wrong, nothing evil.” No matter whether you have or not, you have given way to a spirit of temptation. There is not that man or woman in this congregation, or on the face of the earth, that has the privilege of the holy Gospel, and lives strictly to it, whom all hell can make unhappy. You cannot make the man, woman, or child unhappy, who possesses the Spirit of the living God; unhappiness is caused by some other spirit.

The spirit of contention divides families as we see some divided. We can hardly associate with some persons, for we have to walk in their midst like walking upon eggs. What is the matter? You do not know the spirit they are led by. Treat them kindly, and, perhaps, by and by they will come to understanding. What would they do were they of one heart and mind? They would be like little children, would respect their superiors and honor their God and their religion. This they would do, if they understood things as they are. Be careful of them, and treat them kindly. Who is there that walks up to the line, and knows the will of God without being commanded? A great many do; but it is not all of this people who are doing as I have been counseling you. Still I will venture to say that there are as many wise ones as foolish. But many will have to separate from their own family connections, if they do not do better. Parents and children will have to separate, and husbands and wives, ere long. How long shall they live together? Until the Lord says, gather up the tares and prepare them for the burning. I am not going to undertake to separate the tares from the wheat, the sheep from the goat, but we will try to make you goats produce fleeces of wool instead of hair, and we will keep hammering at you with the word of God, which is quick and powerful, until you become sheep, if possible, that we may not have five foolish virgins in the company. Though in all this I do not expect to even desire to thwart the plans and sayings of Jesus Christ in the least.

Let us do all the good we can, extend the hand of benevolence to all, keep the commandments of God and live our religion, and after all there will be five foolish virgins, and if we are not careful, we shall all be on the list of the foolish ones.

I dedicate myself, this congregation, and the whole interest of the kingdom of God on the earth, to our Father, to His Son Jesus Christ, and to the Holy Ghost, that we may be saved; and I pray that this may be our happy lot. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, June 8, 1856.

I wish to say a few words before this meeting is dismissed, upon the subject of the Big Cottonwood Canal. I have been along the line of the canal, more or less, during nearly every day of the last week, and I will say, for the gratification of the Bishops and brethren present, that I think they have done extremely well. A great many men have labored on that canal during the past week, and had it not been for faith, or the Spirit of the Lord upon them, many might have sunk with fatigue, for they looked as though they would faint; but they have labored faithfully. What was absolutely necessary to be done a week ago today could have been done in one week, if all the labor could have been judiciously applied, and the portion we desired to finish this season would have now been completed. But such drawbacks will occur, when time cannot be previously taken to make the proper estimate and distribution of men and teams for different points of the work. With the circumstances under which we commenced last Monday morning, it could not be expected but what there would be more or less confusion and misapplication of labor; but even with these disadvantages the work has prospered extremely well.

If we can get the water of Big Cottonwood as far as Big Canyon, as ditches have already been opened from the last named point, we can water the five acre lots and about one-third of the city; but we expect to continue operations until we bring the water to the termination of the canal above the city, on the north side. The large reservoirs formed by the embankments across the deep ravines will hold an immense quantity of water, and we wish to have them speedily finished for containing water to be used when we need it.

In regard to irrigation, I will venture to say that one-half of the water is wasted; instead of being applied where and when it is needed, it runs here and there, and perhaps one-half reaches the drooping plants. If people would take a little more pains in preparing ditches, gates, and embankments for economically conducting water where it is most needed, it would be a very great advantage to them.

When water is brought to the termination of the canal, which we can accomplish in a few days, I presume that the reservoirs on the line of the work and those portions which are excavated in full will contain water enough to allow the people to irrigate when necessary, and thus do away with the practice of watering only two hours a week on a city lot, and much of that to be done in the night. And that is not all, for by the time the water is fairly on a lot it is taken by the next person whose right it is to use it. And lots which have had thousands of dollars expended on them, and which would yield more than a thousand dollars’ worth of fruit and vegetables, could they be properly irrigated, are only allowed a small stream of water for two hours once a week, and at the same time an adjoining lot planted with corn, the hills six feet apart and one stalk in a hill, comparatively speaking, the balance of the ground being covered with weeds, is allotted the same time and amount of water as the one on which the fruit trees and other choice vegetation are worth thousands of dollars.

There ought to be a reformation in the distribution of the water. The man who will not raise five dollars’ worth of produce on his lot, has the same water privilege as the man who could raise a thousand dollars’ worth. For instance, brother Staines gets the water for two hours in a week, and what are his fruit trees worth? He could make his thousand dollars a year from them, if he were disposed to sell the fruit instead of giving it away, could he have a fair portion of water. I have a lot just below him well-cultivated in fruit trees, a nursery, and choice vegetables, I also can only have the water on my lot for two hours in a week; when lots nearby, with but little on them except weeds, get the same water privilege, and that too in the daytime, while we have to use it in the night. Water masters ought to look to this matter, until they have arranged a more just distribution.

So soon as we can complete the canal and its reservoirs, the people will be enabled to water their gardens thoroughly, which will be scores of thousands of dollars advantage to this city yearly, besides the immense benefit to the farming lands. There is much grain growing in the city lots, and many persons have spaded their ground, not having teams to plow with, consequently their lots are bet– ter cultivated this year than heretofore, and we wish to water them that we may not lose our labor. If we can have your help for a few days more, we shall bring much more water to the city than we now have.

I have personally interested myself very diligently in the labors upon the canal, and have endeavored to follow the instructions of brother Kimball during last Sabbath. Who has been impoverished by our labor? Who has been injured by it? Not a single individual, old or young. Who is benefited by it? The whole community: every man, woman, and child. This canal will be a lasting benefit; without it we may be discouraged with regard to the farming interests of this portion of the valley. We expect to see this canal completed. I know that some have thought it would be almost impossible to complete such a work here, to secure the banks of the deep ravines, but we shall not leave it until it is completed.

Shall we stop making canals, when the one now in progress is finished? No, for as soon as that is completed from Big Cottonwood to this city, we expect to make a canal on the west side of Jordan, and take its water along the east base of the west mountains, as there is more farming land on the west side of that river than on the east. When that work is accomplished we shall continue our exertions, until the Provo River runs to this city. We intend to bring it around the point of the mountain to Little Cottonwood, from that to Big Cottonwood, and lead its waters upon all the land from Provo Canyon to this city, for there is more water runs in that stream alone than would be needed for that purpose.

If we had time we should build several reservoirs to save the waters of City Creek, each one to contain enough for once irrigating one-third of the city. If we had such reser– voirs the whole of this city might be irrigated with water that now runs to waste. Even then we do not intend to cease our improvements, for we expect that part of the Weber will be brought to the Hot Springs, there to meet the waters from the south and empty into Jordan. Then we contemplate that Bear River will be taken out at the gates to irrigate a rich and extensive region on its left bank, and also upon the other side to meet the waters of the Malad. We know not the end of our public labors and enterprises in this Territory, and we design performing them as fast as we can.

Our preaching to you from Sabbath to Sabbath, sending the Gospel to the nations, gathering the people, opening farms, making needed improvements, and building cities, all pertain to salvation. The Gospel is designed to gather a people that will be of one heart and of one mind. Let every individual in this city feel the same interest for the public good as he does for his own, and you will at once see this community still more prosperous, and still more rapidly increasing in wealth, influence, and power. But where each one seeks to benefit himself or herself alone, and does not cherish a feeling for the prosperity and benefit of the whole, that people will be disorderly, unhappy, and poverty-stricken, and distress, animosity, and strife will reign.

Efforts to accumulate property in the correct channel are far from being an injury to any community, on the contrary they are highly beneficial, provided individuals, with all that they have, always hold themselves in readiness to advance the interests of the kingdom of God on the earth. Let every man and woman be industrious, prudent, and economical in their acts and feelings, and while gathering to themselves, let each one strive to identify his or her interests with the interests of this community, with those of their neighbor and neighborhood, let them seek their happiness and welfare in that of all, and we will be blessed and prospered.

I do not wish to boast in the least, neither do I think much of myself, nor ever did, nor do I ever pause much to think, in all my labors, doings, travelings, toils, and preachings, whether I have friends or foes, but the care that I have for this community I do manifest in my works. Not that I think that I am extraordinarily praiseworthy, or that I am a very good man, for you know that I have never professed to be a very religious man; but what I wish you to do to your neighbor I do by you; but I will not ask my Father in heaven to deal any more kindly with me than I deal with my brethren.

My interest is the interest of this community; this has been characteristic of my course from the beginning. I have witnesses here to prove that, from the time I entered this kingdom until this day, this community and its welfare have been my interest.

I have proven this all the time, and I prove it still. I have proven it this year, in the scarce time we are passing through. Ask the poor brethren and sisters who have come to me for bread if they have been turned away empty. I have had a large amount of flour and means, for among other property I have two of the best mills in the Territory, and a large farm upon which I generally raise much wheat and other produce. I have always raised more grain than my family consumed, and in these scarce times find the man or woman that I have taken fifty cents from for flour.

I have had money offered to me, but I have told such persons to go and buy where flour is for sale; I have none to sell.

In all my transactions in this community I have acted in a similar man– ner. What do I get for taking such a course? When I came into this valley I owed for my outfit; I had but little; I do not think that one-third of my family had shoes to their feet, and I had no leather from which to make shoes.

We came with what we had, and I borrowed oxen from one man, and horses from another, which I have since paid for, besides paying thousands of dollars for my poor brethren who could not pay.

What the Lord has done for me, you all know. Have I wronged any man, or pinched any man in a time of trouble, or in any way taken an advantage of his necessities? Bring forward a man whom I have wronged, and I will restore to him not only four but tenfold. My hands are open; I have naturally an open hand, it does not contract on the needy like that. (Holding his hand with the fingers shut.)

Neither am I like the miller who striked the toll dish with a crowning hand, thus leaving the grain convex, but who, when he quit milling and opened a tavern, reversed his hand and left the grain concave.

I do not wish you to deal any better by me than I do by you, neither do I wish God my Father to deal any more kindly towards me than I do towards you. How came I by what I have? We may dig water ditches, make canals, sow wheat, build mills, and labor with our mights, but if God does not give the increase we remain poor. Though we bestow much labor upon our fields, if God does not give the increase we shall have no grain.

How few there are who fully understand this matter, who realize thoroughly that unless God blesses our exertions we shall have nothing. It is the Lord that gives the increase. He could send showers to water our fields, but I do not know that I have prayed for rain since I have been in these valleys until this year, during which I believe that I have prayed two or three times for rain, and then with a faint heart, for there is plenty of water flowing down these canyons in crystal streams as pure as the breezes of Zion, and it is our business to use them.

I do not feel disposed to ask the Lord to do for me what I can do for myself. I know when I sow the wheat and water it that I cannot give the increase, for that is in the hands of the Almighty; and when it is time to worship the Lord, I will leave all and worship Him. As I said yesterday to a Bishop who was mending a breach in the canal, and expressed a wish to continue his labor on the following Sabbath, as his wheat was burning up, let it burn, when the time comes that is set apart for worship, go up and worship the Lord.

When Bishops and the brethren can perceive and understand that it is the Lord that gives the increase, after all their exertions to sustain themselves, they will be satisfied that the glory belongs to Him, and not altogether to the exertions of man. You know Paul says that he considered himself an unprofitable servant, and so is every other man; that is, when we have done all we can to save ourselves, spiritually and temporally, it is the Lord who gave us the means.

He opened up the way of life and salvation, organized the elements to sustain our mortal bodies, and thus afforded all the means for increase. It is all through the wisdom of Him who has created all things, who rules over and sustains all things.

Have the Latter-day Saints got to learn this? Yes. And they have got to learn that the interest of their brethren is their own interest, or they never can be saved in the celestial kingdom of God.

While saying a few words here last Sabbath about the canal, I told you when you lifted your hands to heaven, in token of your willingness to do a certain things that you ought to do it. A great many of you have had your endowments, and you know what a vote with uplifted hands means.

It is a sign which you make in token of your covenant with God and with one another, and it is for you to perform your vows. When you raise your hands to heaven and let them fall and then pass on with your covenants unfulfilled, you will be cursed.

I feel sometimes like lecturing men and women severely, who enter into covenants without realizing the nature of the covenants they make, and who use little or no effort to fulfil them.

Some Elders go to the nations and preach the Gospel of life and salvation, and return without thoroughly understanding the nature of a covenant. It is written in the Bible that every man should perform his own vows, even if to his own hurt; in this way you will show to all creation and to God that you are full of integrity.

This people have got to entirely wake out of their sleep, they have got to be a strictly righteous people, or they will have to meet worse things than a scanty morsel of bread.

Do they believe this? Some think—“Well, perhaps it will be so, and perhaps not. I have little flour now, and I really want the money, and if I can get twelve or thirteen dollars a hundred for it I can spare it.”

This is the principle some persons operate upon, and it is sectarianism. It seems of the longfaced deacon style, who, when a poor man wants flour for his wife and children, in measured tone and with a long religious face, says, “No;” but who, after long importunity on the part of the hungry man, will at last, in a very soft, measured, pious, longfaced, sighing style, reply, “Well, brother, I have not any to spare, but I don’t know but that if you will come and work for me a couple of days in harvest, I will spare you a bushel to accommodate you. I shall have to hire labor at harvest, can you come and help me?”

The answer is, “Yes,” when at the same time he knows that he can have two bushels a day for work in harvest, but the longfaced deacon will make him agree to work two days for one bushel.

I have heard of a man in this City who was stopped from building a house. Why? Because he got first-rate mechanics to work for five pounds of flour a day, which is at the rate of thirty cents a day. His Bishop told him that he could not build a house in his Ward upon any such principle.

Do you suppose that such a man is fit to belong to any church? Yes, to Joe Bowers’ church, and his was a hell-fired church.

You who have surplus flour hoarded up, give it to the poor, and say that you will trust in God.

The first year that I came into this valley I had not flour enough to last my family until harvest, and that I had brought with me, and persons were coming to my house every day for bread. I had the blues about one day; I went down to the old fort, and by the time I got back to my house I was completely cured. I said to my wife, “Do not let a person come here for food and go away empty handed, for if you do we shall suffer before harvest; but if you give to every individual that comes we shall have enough to last us through.”

I have proven this many a time, and we have again proven it this year. I have plenty on hand, and shall have plenty, if I keep giving away. More than two hundred persons eat from my provisions every day, besides my own family and those who work for I intend to keep doing so, that my bread may hold out, for if I do not I shall come short.

Do you believe that principle? I know it is true, because I have proven it so many times.

I have formerly told this community of a circumstance that occurred to brother Heber and myself, when we were on our way to England. We paid our passage to Kirtland, and to my certain knowledge we had only $13.50, but we paid out $87.00; this is but one instance among many which I could name.

You who have flour and meat, deal it out, and do not be afraid that you will be too much straightened, for if you will give, you will have plenty, for it is God who sustains us and we have got to learn this lesson. All I ask of you is to apply your heart to wisdom and to watch the providences of God, until you prove for yourselves that I am telling the truth, even that which I do know and have experienced.

I have experienced much in my life, and I will not ask you to do any better by one another nor by me than I do by you, and I will bless you all the time. I feel to bless you continually; my life is here, my interest, my glory, my pride, my comfort, my all are here, and all I expect to have, to all eternity is wrapped up in the midst of this Church.

If I do not get it in this channel, I shall not have it at all. How do you suppose I feel? I feel as a father should feel towards his children. I have felt so for many years, even when I durst not say so; I have felt as a mother feels towards her tender offspring, and durst not express my feelings; but I have tried to carry out their expression in my life. May God bless you. Amen.

A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 20, 1856.

Sometimes I think it quite strange that the children of men are so constituted as to need to be taught one lesson all the time, and again it is not so marvelous to me, when I reflect upon and understand their organization, and the designed effect thereupon of this state of probation. Men are organized to be independent in their sphere, are organized for an independent being, yet they have, as soldiers term it, to run the gauntlet all the time. They are organized to be just as independent as any being in eternity, but that independence, in order for them to occupy a position in the sphere of an independent being having control over all things, must be proved and tried while in this state of existence, must be operated upon by the good and the evil.

It is not so strange to me that the people should continually need talking to, that they should continually need instructing, when I take this view of the matter. Mothers when bringing up their children, if they will observe and reflect, can see and understand the feelings of the whole human family. The mother says to the child, “Don’t do that; you must not handle those things;” but the little child thinks itself just as capable of handling a teacup, or a tumbler, as are father and mother. The little girl takes up a broom to sweep the hearth, but if mother is not watching her she may let the broom take fire and set it by the bed, and thereby the bed and then the building be set in a blaze. In the actions of their children parents can detect the course of all, from the king upon his throne to the humblest peasant, they are all performing their part on the theater of the earth.

People may be advanced far in life, and yet be surrounded by weaknesses comparatively like those of children. The man or woman of eighty, sixty, forty, twenty, or the child of two or five years of age, have something ahead of them to attain to, and which they are striving to accomplish. There is a principle in the feelings of people which is implanted in their organization expressly for them to become independent, to become Gods, and it is continually urging them to reach forward and to wish to do and perform that which they do not understand. These weaknesses are in the organization, irrespective of age. True, persons can do many things at twenty-five years of age which they could not do when but five years old, and men may know much more at fifty than at twenty, yet the same common weakness is apparent which you can see exhibited in the little child. There is one rule to adopt, one course to pursue, one lesson to be learned, and it is applicable alike to all ages, from the child of one or two years old to the greyhaired veteran, and which, if they would learn, would prove highly beneficial, and that is, to do those things which they know they can do, and when required by a superior to do a thing they never have done, to take the advice of those who have successfully performed the same act, and then with the best skill they can command, do as they are told, and thus further their education in life and be satisfied.

If the child could understand and be satisfied that the mother knows better than it does, when it is told to let the dishes alone, the broom, or the pincushion, or not to swing on the table lest it be turned over and break the dishes, or not to do this or that, and that such and such things it might do, it would be a great aid to it to take the course laid down by a judicious parent, and would save it much trouble while passing through its mortal career. I ask myself why it is that people do not learn to be satisfied and contented with what they do know, until they are instructed and learn more, and practice this principle in their lives. We are taught here all the time to be passive and contented, to do the things we know how to do. Still I have no question, but what, if I could unobserved and unknown to them listen to the remarks of many of the Elders, or of brethren and sisters, I should hear doctrines taught and suggestions made which God never designed to have His servants teach. At the same time remarks such as these might be dropped, “I am impressed and the Spirit leads me thus and so; true I believe all that is written and taught, but I tell you that brother Brigham does not tell us all of it; he says he does not, but that he tells us as fast as we can understand and practice what he does teach.” Now that is true; but all do not stop and reflect, neither do they fully understand the principles of the Gospel, the principles of the holy Priesthood; and from this cause many imbibe the idea that they are capable of leading out in teaching principles that never have been taught. They are not aware that the moment they give way to this hallucination the devil has power over them to lead them on to unholy ground; though this is a lesson which they ought to have learned long ago, yet it is one that was learned by but few in the days of Joseph.

I was speaking about this matter last night, about the feelings of the people towards the Prophet Joseph. The mass of the people never realized, to the day of his death, but what Joseph was made by them. They actually believed that he was amenable to the people, that he did not know it all, and that other men knew things which he did not know concerning the kingdom of God on the earth.

Here let me give you one lesson that may be profitable to many. If the Lord Almighty should reveal to a High Priest, or to any other than the head, things that are, or that have been and will be, and show to him the destiny of this people twenty-five years from now, or a new doctrine that will in five, ten, or twenty years hence become the doctrine of this Church and kingdom, but which has not yet been revealed to this people, and reveal it to him by the same Spirit, the same messenger, the same voice, and the same power that gave revelations to Joseph when he was living, it would be a blessing to that High Priest, or individual; but he must rarely divulge it to a second person on the face of the earth, until God reveals it through the proper source to become the property of the people at large. Therefore when you hear Elders, High Priests, Seventies, or the Twelve (though you cannot catch any of the Twelve there, but you may the High Priests, Seventies, and Elders), say that God does not reveal through the President of the Church that which they know, and tell wonderful things, you may generally set it down as God’s truth that the revelation they have had, is from the devil, and not from God. If they had received from the proper source, the same power that revealed to them would have shown them that they must keep the things revealed in their own bosoms, and they seldom would have a desire to disclose them to the second person. That is a general rule, but will it apply in every case, and to the people called the kingdom of God at all times? No, not in the strictest sense, but the Spirit which reveals will impart the proper discretion. All the people have not learned this lesson, they should have learned it long ago.

As I have already observed, comparatively few learned, in the days of Joseph, that he was placed between the people and God, that they had no more right to dictate him than they had to dictate the angel Gabriel, that they had no more business to interfere with him, or call him to an account, than we have to call to an account the angel Gabriel.

This we all ought to understand, and also how and when to teach and practice what we do know, and when we have done that much then stop until we learn more.

I know, and so do many others, by experience, by what we have seen and passed through, by what has passed before us and by what we have seen in others, that when the devil cannot overcome an individual through temptation to commit wickedness, when he sees that a person is determined to walk to the line and travel straight forward into the Celestial Kingdom, he will adopt a course of flattery, will strive to exercise a pleasing influence and move along smoothly with him, and when he sees an opportunity he will try to turn him out of the way, if it is only to the extent of a hair’s breadth. And if he cannot keep a person this side the Gospel line, he will walk with that individual on the line and strive to push him over.

That is so invariably the case that people need eyes to see, and understanding to know how to discriminate between the things of God and the things that are not of Him. Will this people learn? I am happy and joyful, I am thankful, and can say of a truth, brethren and sisters, that the manifestations of goodness from this people are not to be compared, in my opinion, with those from any other people upon the face of the whole earth since the days of Enoch.

Old Israel, in all their travels, wanderings, exercises, powers, and keys of the Priesthood, never came nigh enough to the path this people have walked in to see them in their obedience that was and is required by the Gospel. Yet there are thousands of weaknesses and overt acts in some of this people, which render us more or less obnoxious to each other.

Still, you may search all the history extant of the children of Israel, or that of any people that ever lived on the face of the earth since the days of Enoch, and I very much doubt, taking that people with their traditions, and comparing them with this mixed multitude from the different nations now in the world with our traditions, whether you would find a people from the days of Enoch until now that could favorably compare with this people in their willingness to obey the Gospel, and to go all lengths to build up the kingdom of God.

I have said a great many times, and repeat it now, and whether I am mistaken or not I will leave for the future to determine, and though, as I do, Joseph when living reproved the people, that I believe with all my heart that the people who gathered around Enoch, and lived with him and built up his City, when they had traveled the same length of time in their experience as this people have, were not as far advanced in the things of the kingdom of God.

Make your own comparisons between the two people, think of the traditions of the two. How many nations were there in the days of Enoch? The very men who were associated with him had been with Adam; they knew him and his children, and had the privilege of talking with God. Just think of it.

Though we have it in history that our father Adam was made of the dust of this earth, and that he knew nothing about his God previous to being made here, yet it is not so; and when we learn the truth we shall see and understand that he helped to make this world, and was the chief manager in that operation.

He was the person who brought the animals and the seeds from other planets to this world, and brought a wife with him and stayed here. You may read and believe what you please as to what is found written in the Bible. Adam was made from the dust of an earth, but not from the dust of this earth. He was made as you and I are made, and no person was ever made upon any other principle.

Do you not suppose that he was acquainted with his associates, who came and helped to make this earth? Yes, they were just as familiar with each other as we are with our children and parents.

Suppose a number of our sons were going to Carson Valley to build houses, open farms, and erect mills and workshops, and that we should say to them that we wish them to stay there five years, and that then we will come and visit them, when I go there will they be afraid of me? No, they would receive me as their father, just as Adam received his Father.

The very man who walked and talked with and knew the God of heaven, and knew and understood all about making this earth had associates who were associated with Enoch, and yet twenty-five years of the travel and experience of Enoch with his people had not advanced them so far, in my opinion, as this people have advanced in the same time, taking into account the difference of traditions and other advantages.

They had not a diversity of languages, but all spoke one language; they were not trained in the various traditions in which we have been, for they received only one from Adam; they were as intimately associated as we would be in living in this City two hundred years, with the gates shut down upon all egress and ingress, and under such circumstances do you not think that our traditions would be all alike?

Yet Enoch had to talk with and reach his people during a period of three hundred and sixty years, before he could get them prepared to enter into their rest, and then he obtained power to translate himself and his people, with the region they inhabited, their houses, gardens, fields, cattle, and all their possessions. He had learned enough from Adam and his associates, to know how to handle the elements, and those who would not listen to his teachings were so wicked that they were fit to be destroyed, and he obtained power to take his portion of the earth and move out a little while, where he remains to this day.

You know that I sometimes reprove you because you deserve it, yet there is a constant and rapid increase of willingness to build up this kingdom.

Where is there a woman that would say to her husband, or to her son, “I do not wish you to go on the mission you have been called to perform?” That would say, “It is true you were called, but I do not like to have you go, cannot you get excused and stay at home?” I do not believe you could find five such women in this Territory.

There may be a few who are going to California that would say, “Yes, you may go on your mission, but I will go with you.” All they desire is to get away. Can you find five such women?

I care not if they should be old ladies of seventy-five years of age and had not the first thing to subsist upon, and though their whole dependence was upon their sons or husbands, they would say, “Go John, my son; or, go husband, if you do not we shall suffer; but if you go and do your duty God will provide for us in your absence.” Are not these the feelings of every wife and mother?

In the midst of all this some talk about sacrifices, but upon that point I wish to be allowed to differ from the class who view the matter in that light.

There may be some few exceptions, but I have made no sacrifices. “Mormonism” has done everything for me that ever has been done for me on the earth; it has made me happy, it has made me wealthy and comfortable; it has filled me with good feelings, with joy and rejoicing. Whereas, before I possessed the spirit of the Gospel, I was troubled with that which I hear others complain of, that is, with, at times, feeling cast down, gloomy, and desponding; with everything wearing to me, at times, a dreary aspect.

But have the trees, the streams, the rocks, or any part of creation worn a gloomy aspect to me for one-half minute since I came in possession of the Spirit of this Gospel? No, though before that time I might view the most beautiful gardens, buildings, cities, plantations, or anything else in nature, yet to me they all wore at times a shade of death.

They appeared at times as though a veil was brooding over them, which cast a dark shade upon all things, like the shade of the valley of death, and I felt lonesome and bad. But since I have embraced the Gospel not for one-half minute, to the best of my recollection, has anything worn to me a gloomy aspect, under all circumstances I have felt pleasant and cheerful.

When surrounded by mobs, with death and destruction threatening on every hand, I am not aware but that I felt just as joyful, just as well in my spirit, as I do now. Prospects might appear dull and very dark, but I have never seen a time in this Gospel but what I knew that the result would be beneficial to the cause of truth and the lovers of righteousness, and I have always felt to joyfully acknowledge the hand of the Lord in all things.

When I was among the wicked, they looked to me as do the wicked, and when I saw devils possessing the bodies of the children of men I knew that God permitted it, and that He permitted them to be on the earth, and wherein would this be a state of probation, without those devils? We cannot even give endowments without representing a devil.

What would we know about heaven or happiness were it not for their opposite? Consequently we could not have got along so well and so rapidly without those mobocrats. And if mobbers should happen to come here do not look too sour at them, for we need them.

We could not build up the kingdom of God without the aid of devils, they must help to do it. They persecute and drive us from city to city, from place to place, until we learn the difference between the power of God and the power of the devil.

But does it then follow that we should say to them, “Come on here, we are good fellows well met?” By no means, care must be observed that we do not overrun the rule; we only need enough of them to help do up the work.

If we should get too many here they would overcome the good, and the Saints would have to flee.

Some of our Elders desire all the time to say, as I plainly phrase it, “How do you do brother Christ, and how do you do brother devil? Walk in and take breakfast with me.”

I consider such men useful in their places. This fact was very clearly exemplified to me in a dream which I had while so many were going to California, at a time when many of the brethren were under quite an excitement about the Saints going there to dig gold.

I thought considerably about the movement, and there had been a feeling abroad among the people that when the Saints got into the mountains “judgment would be laid to the line, and righteousness to the plummet,” that the axe would be laid at the root of the tree, and that every person who did not meet the measure would, in accordance with the iron bedstead rule, be chopped off if too long, and stretched out if too short.

Several supposed that this would be the case; and perhaps thought that they would be able to so sanctify themselves, that in one year they could take Great Salt Lake Valley and the regions round about up to Enoch, or have him come here. I did not so view the matter, and did not give any special instructions upon it.

At that time I dreamed that while I was a little below the road and just north of the Hot Springs, about four miles from here, I saw brother Joseph coming and walked up to the road to see him, and asked him where he was going? He replied, “I am going north.”

There were two or three horsemen along, and some men were riding with him upon a few boards placed loosely upon the running gears of a wagon, upon which were also a tent and camp utensils. I wished to talk with him, but he did not seem inclined to conversation, and it occurred to me that he was going to Captain James Brown’s to buy all his goats.

I had been promised ten or a dozen of them, but I thought that he was going to buy every one, and that I should not get a single goat to put with my sheep, and I laughed in my sleep.

Pretty soon he came back, with a large flock of sheep and goats following the wagon, and as I looked upon them I saw some sheep that were white, pure, and clean, and as large as a two-year-old cow, with wool from ten to twenty inches in length, as fine as silk and as white as the driven snow.

With them were all lesser sizes down to the smallest goat or sheep I ever saw, and all mixed up together. I saw some sheep with hair like that of goats, and goats of all colors, red, black, white, &c., mixed with the sheep; and their sizes, colors, and quality of fleeces, seemed to be almost innumerable.

I remarked to Joseph that he had got the strangest flock I ever saw, and looked at him slyly and laughed, and asked him what he was going to do with them. He looked at me in his usual shrewd manner and replied, “They are all good in their places.”

On awaking I at once understood the dream, and I then said, go to California, or where you please, for goats are as good in their places as sheep, until the time for them to mingle is over. And in striving to guide and improve the flock we sometimes have to cry out, shoo, and at other times to draw them nigh by calling, sheep, sheep.

We are trying to train the flock, and to turn the goats into sheep, and the spotted, ring-streaked and speckled into beautiful white, and how shall we succeed? Perhaps we shall see rather a curious flock at last, but we will do the best we can.

Sometimes I rise up here and really feel to storm at some who are in this community, for their conduct is awful, it is outrageous. I presume I could come here this afternoon and eat bread and drink of the cup, in the name of Israel’s God, with men who would go straight from the communion and steal my property.

Let us consider this point a little, for this matter has been through me, round me, over me, and under me; I have turned it inside out and round about and looked at it, and then I have turned it over again. Brother Fullmer has just alluded to the rails disappearing from fences. Are not your fences taken? Is not your clothing taken when it is hung out to dry? And is not wood taken from your woodpiles? How many have to lock up their wood, or lose it? Taking property without leave from the owner is what I call stealing, but many who practice that do not so understand it.

Even if I had to work by the day for bread, wood, clothing, and comforts for myself and family, and should then without authority go and take wood from brother Joseph’s woodpile, were he living here and President of the Church, my judgment, what I know of right and wrong, the traditions of my fathers, and the teachings of my parents and of the neighbors where I was brought up would all confirm me in the belief that I was stealing. Do all persons feel so? No, they do not.

During two or three of the past winters, except the last, I have no question but that women and children carried from one to three cords of wood per day from my woodyard, and when the wood was scarce they would take my fence poles. I have myself seen them take backloads of wood and then fill their bags with the chips and small sticks, but when they took my fence poles and posts I stopped them, and told them that if they were not satisfied with taking my wood without taking my fencing to leave my yard, and not to come there to steal any more.

But do I see some there yet? Yes, you may see women and children carrying away my wood every day. If my workmen ask them what they are doing, they reply, “Brother Brigham said I might have some wood, he will not say anything.” Do you suppose that those persons fully realize that they are stealing? No.

I will tell you a little that I know about the difference in traditions and customs, and will go no further than where I have traveled and preached. A large number of the inhabitants in the old countries are tenants, renting houses for longer or shorter periods, generally for from three to twelve months.

Now suppose that A, when vacating a house, accidentally leaves his pocketbook in a cupboard, and that B, who next occupies the same building, finds A’s pocketbook with, perhaps, twenty sovereigns in it; what does the custom of that country warrant in such a case? Their traditions are such that B claims that property as his own, and A cannot get it, unless B is honest enough to give it up.

B’s course in that case may not be in accordance with law, but it is according to custom, which in such instances is stronger than law.

An American would consider, if he was to find hand irons left in the fireplace, or a chair or sofa left in the sitting-room, that the former tenant had the right to call and take them away; and if he was to undertake to smug– gle any of those things he would consider himself stealing.

That difference of feeling and conduct arises from the difference there is in the traditions of different countries. In America a man would as soon venture to go into his neighbor’s house and steal a chair, as to retain one accidentally left there by a previous occupant. I will notice another difference in traditions.

Among various other occupations I have been a carpenter, painter and glazier, and when I learned my trades and worked, both as journeyman and master, if I took a job of painting and glazing, say to the amount of one pound sterling, or five dollars, and through my own carelessness in any manner injured the work or material, I considered it my duty to repair the injury at my own expense.

In Liverpool, Manchester, Preston, or anywhere else in England if you employ a glazier to work to the value of one pound, ten or fifty pounds, and he can manage in any way to put the windows in such a position that the wind will blow them over and break them, he will do it, in order to get the work to do over.

Do they think they do wrong? No. Why? Because their employers would make them do their work for nothing, and then compel them to live on roots and grass if their physical organization could endure it, therefore, says the mechanic, “If I can get anything out of you I will call it a godsend.”

Servants in the houses of the great ones, if they can get anything out of their masters besides their wages, call it a godsend. If they can take bread, meat, butter, and cheese, without the masters knowing it, to support their wives, mothers, fathers, children, brothers, and sisters who are not capable of taking care of themselves, they will put that provision in their possession, to keep them from starving to death, and call it a godsend.

Let me do that in this country, and I should consider myself a culprit, according to my judgment and traditions. No matter if I were suffering for bread, and at the same time working among millions of it, if I could not procure it by my labor, I must ask for it and have it given to me, for if I got it in any other way, I must consider myself a thief. Are the Americans altogether excusable? No, for if I wish to find the rough and ready ones, I can do it as quick in America as anywhere else.

Shall I tell you what are some of the traditions of a few of the Americans? Yes. If they have not all they need to eat, drink, or wear, and find an ox or cow on the range over Jordan, or anywhere else, that belongs to me or you, and can take that animal and kill it they will do so, and then sell the meat to you and me, and call that a godsend, and say, “O we are all of one family.” That is an American tradition among a few; but as a general thing, the customs of this country and the traditions of the nations across the great waters differ materially.

When I went to England the brethren and sisters would not have me to shave on the Sabbath, they would pay any price to have me shave on Saturday. Said I, “I will shave on Sunday morning, if I have no time to do so on Saturday.” I told them that I did not come there to learn their customs and traditions, but to teach the people the Gospel of salvation. That we had traditions in America with regard to blacking boots, shaving, &c., on Sunday, as well as they, but if I had no time to do that work on Saturday, I would do it on Sunday, if I deemed it necessary. And if I wished to go to meeting and worship God, it was just as acceptable to do so on Saturday as on Sunday.

Adam Clark is taken by many as a standard amongst the commentators, and it is said, if the clock struck twelve on Saturday night, and he happened to have but one shoe blacked, that he would drop the blacking and brushes, and go to meeting next day with one shoe blacked and the other unblacked. That might by some be esteemed a pious example, and by others a waymark to the kingdom of folly.

Such are a few of the traditions extant among different people. I have no question but that many in our community do things which are actually sinful if they did but know the right, but their traditions are such that they act with impunity, and pass on as unconcerned and unconscious of wrong as if they had just been on their knees praying. If we live long enough together, we shall have a tradition of our own, and that is, to be so trained in the law of the Celestial kingdom, to so learn the law of right, as to be able at all times to know right from wrong, and then always to do right. Is this the case now? No.

Suppose that several of the brethren were to go for fuel and timber in Red Bute Canyon, where we generally went when we first came to this Territory. Some go on up the canyon cutting a tree for timber in one place, and preparing fuel for loading in another, while others follow up with their teams, and you know that when they get a little brush-whipped they are apt to become angry, to forget themselves a little, and to say, “Damn it,” and directly one will begin to say to himself, “This canyon is as much mine as any persons; I think I shall take this tree and this wood that are already cut.”

Another comes across a wagon that is broken down, and takes one of the hounds from it and puts it into his own. Still another passes by where somebody has lost an axe; he finds it and takes it along, saying, “Well, it is lost here, we are away in the wilderness, these are as much my premises as anyone’s; I will take out this helve and put in another, and grind the axe over a little, and nobody will know it; thank the Lord, I have an axe now.”

Do you know that some people feel and act in that manner? I know they do. Some will find wood cut in the canyon and load it on their wagons, perhaps that which granddad, with his crippled limbs, had toiled hard to collect together; but that makes no difference, they pile it on, saying, “I believe I am blessed of the Lord, I am much favored of Him today,” and come out rejoicing, having found a load of wood already cut. But what have they done? They have found loads of wood cut to their hands, and apparently have not reflected but what an angel had cut it expressly for them. This is a tradition and custom of the Mountains. Some of you may inquire whether I believe what I am talking about. Let me tell you what I have observed; two or three years ago I went up City Creek Canyon to show a man where he might get wood on shares, which I was having cut. I came to where my men were cutting wood and brush to clear out the road, and I told them to pile it so that my teamster could drive up and load it handily. Soon afterwards an old gentleman came along and, without any privilege from me, drove off the man to whom I had just engaged the wood and began to load it on his wagon. That individual was an old Saint, one who had been twenty years in this Church.

What is the feeling with some of the Yankees, English, Scotch, Irish, French, Germans, &c.? “We have come to Zion where all things are common.” The devil has put this idea into the minds of some, and the devil, I was going to say, cannot take it away from them. They possess this feeling, and they are determined to have it so. With such the idea is, “We are all children of one parent, we all belong to the household of faith, we are one family, and we will have it so, and will not be beat out of it.”

This notion is partly right and partly wrong, and, as I have often said, people ought to know how to discern between the things that are of God and the things that are not of God. This is the spirit they receive in the first place—“Ye are one in Christ Jesus,” and that is right, but are we one out of Christ Jesus? Many would like to have it so. You have come here from all quarters to be one family, yet if some of you come across a wagon wheel, you will appropriate it to your own use, asking no leave; or if you have no axe, you will get one from some part of the great family, and thank God for an axe; and if you come across piles of wood, that you have not labored to cut, you shout, “Thank God, hallelujah, I have found some wood ready cut to my hand.” That is being one out of Christ.

Others will say, “Let us take down this fence, and turn our cattle into this meadow.” You can find plenty of earth and pole fences purposely thrown down, and might hear the trespassers exclaim, “O, this is Father’s land, let us enjoy it.” Others will say, “Damn it, it is mine as well as yours.” I will take some of the reputed best men now in this congregation, who, through carelessness and thoughtlessness, when they have done their forenoon’s work on their five acre lots, turn out their cattle to feed, but at the same time are sure to keep them off from their own lots; and you will find their cattle in other people’s oats, wheat, or grass, while they lay asleep. Yes, some of the would-be-thought best men in this congregation are sure to keep their cattle on their neighbor’s lots, and off from their own, and should you pass along and rouse them up, saying, “Why, brethren, your cattle are in my oats,” they would reply, “Really, brother, I did not know it, I turned them out a little while, and lay down to rest.”

All such people deserve whipping and scolding, and require much training. What for? Not for their goodness, their faith, obedience, honesty, and anxiety to build up the kingdom of God, but for their careless, indolent feelings, for their stupidity in laying down and permitting their animals to trespass upon their neighbor’s crops, for trying to train themselves into the belief that it is right to take this or that, or to do thus and so, when it is not strictly according to the law of God. You and I have got to learn better things.

Let this land come into market and the brethren buy sections, half sections, or quarter sections, and so on, and how soon you would hear, “Bless you, now we have law to defend us.” Can you not see that tradition makes the brethren, where there is a little difficulty, walk into the courtroom with all the confidence imaginable, feeling almost like little gods, and exclaiming, “Now things will be done as they should be, matters will go right now.” And what is done? Why, the lawyers and court take pretty much all the money; for a debt of five dollars taken into court they will expend one hundred dollars of your means in lawyers’ fees, jury fees, and other court expenses, when the question could have been settled in five minutes.

This is an American tradition, though there are fortunately many exceptions to the power of this general tradition. Some men will go into court and spend five hundred dollars and feel as nicely about it as possible, even when their case has not been adjudicated as justly as a sensible “Mormon” boy, ten years old, would do it. And yet, when they know this fact full well, they will spend their time, day after day, and their means with seeming contentment, saying to themselves, “Oh, if we can only go into the court, and address the court, and say, may it please the court, may it please your honor, may it please you, gentlemen of the jury, O, how joyous we shall be—we shall feel as though we were men of some importance, if we can only get up and strut and splutter before a court.” Even when merely a judge is sitting there, like a bean on the end of a pipe stem, who would be flipped off should a grain of good sense happen to strike him, how big he feels while sitting there for days to adjudicate a case that should not require five minutes.

We have got to learn better than to practice and follow after such nonsense, and learn the principle and law of right. That is the doctrine, the tradition which this people have got to come to. Will they come to it? Yes, or be damned, one or the other. I would not give the ashes of a rye straw for all the law that was ever made on this earth, outside of that which has come from heaven, to control a righteous man, neither would any man or woman that desires truth and righteousness. Cannot you observe the law of righteousness as easily as you can observe the poor, miserable, sunken laws devised by a set of wicked men? Some may reply, “My traditions will not let me.”

How do you suppose that the Lord looks upon litigation? It is just as mean and contemptible, in the eyes of angels and of the Almighty, to go to law, and thereby wrong a fellow being, as it is for you to go and steal my property, yet some of you justify yourselves in going to law, and in your other false and unholy traditions. Learn the law of Christ and let alone the traditions of the children of men; make the law of Christ your tradition, for we have got to come to this position.

I will now return to where I began, and again ask, why do you require to be talked to so much? You know right from wrong; there is hardly a person here, but what knows right from wrong, then why do you not all do right? Because of your filthy traditions and dispositions. I have often sincerely and absolutely thought that the doctrine and practice of a certain lawyer was in the end strictly worldly wise; he first studied divinity and preached to the people for the salvation of their souls, until he learned that they did not care so much for their spiritual as for their temporal salvation, when he studied and practiced medicine, but soon discovered that the poor miserable wills of men were more to them than the salvation of their bodies, and he finally studied law and indulged all his clients in the expensive gratification of their wills, which was dearer to them than the salvation of soul and body.

When we have an antipathy towards a person, the temptation is strong to be revenged, and one is inclined to say, “I will do this and that, and will let the passion of the moment control me.” But we have to learn the law of Christ, and to train ourselves to it until it will become the tradition of this people, and then you can bring up your children in the way they should go. In every nation, community, and family, there are peculiar traditions, and the child is trained in them. If the law of Christ becomes the tradition of this people, the children will be brought up according to the law of the celestial kingdom, else they are not brought up in the way they should go. Children will then be brought up, under the traditions of their fathers, to do just right, and to refrain from all evil, and when old they will not depart from a righteous course. Solomon could not carry out this principle in his life, because he was not thoroughly brought up in the way he should go. The old Indian adage is rather the most applicable to the present practice of many, viz., “Train up a child, and away it goes, as it pleases.”

If this people could be shut out from all communication with other people, and have no customs and traditions introduced foreign to the law of Christ, we should soon see eye to eye, and our traditions would be framed according to the celestial law; and we should then be prepared to bring up our children in the way they should go.

I have spoken with much plainness concerning several traditions and practices, in order that the Saints abroad may correctly understand that we are not all, as yet, fully sanctified by the truth, and that both they and the world may know that the Gospel net still gathereth fish of every kind, that the flock has some goats intermingled with sheep of various grades, and that the day of separation has not yet arrived. May God bless you. Amen.

A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, March 23, 1856.

I rise desiring that what I may say may be instructive, edifying, and beneficial to the people. At times, when I think of addressing you, it occurs to me that strict sermonizing upon topics pertaining to the distant future, or reviewing the history of the past, will doubtless please and highly interest a portion of my hearers; but my judgment and the spirit of intelligence that is in me teach that, by taking such a course, the people would not be instructed pertaining to their everyday duties. For this reason, I do not feel impressed to instruct you on duties to be performed a hundred years hence, but rather to give those instructions pertaining to the present, to our daily walk and conversation, that we may know how to benefit ourselves under the passing time, and present privileges, and be able to lay a foundation for future happiness.

Still, I love to hear historical narrations, to hear the Elders vividly portray the important events which transpired in the days of the Prophets, the Savior, and the Apostles, and it also cheers my heart to hear the Elders of Israel illustrate the beauties and glory of Zion, in the future. Yet, when I reduce it all to the duties of the religion we profess, I realize that it is of vital importance for us to know how to lay a present foundation for our future destiny, that we may attain that exaltation, happiness, and glory, which we anticipate, hence, I confine my remarks, more particularly, to the practical part of religion.

Again, we often have strangers in our midst, and, perhaps, some who never heard one of our Elders preach, until they came to this valley, and, no doubt, they would like to hear a systematic sermon upon the first principles of the Gospel, to have the speaker formally quote his text, divide it into four or five heads, and expatiate upon each part, and illustrate the beauties of Christianity in former days, and picture the scenes of suffering which the former-day Saints had to pass through, and then prescribe the duties that pertain to the people, but not the individual. Some might prefer to have the speaker dwell upon the general duties devolving upon the community, but not upon duties pertaining to the individual, preferring something or other to please the natural feelings of mankind.

This does not suit my disposition, for I am in favor of that instruction which will enable us, this day, to receive the blessings offered and teach us to appreciate them, that we may be prepared to enjoy the glory that has been revealed. That is my “Mormonism,” my reflections, my judgment, and the spirit in me dictates this course, not to speak merely to gratify those who prefer to hear pleasing, delightful discourses, which sound smoothly to the ear and lull the hearers to sleep.

What we have heard from brother Frost this morning is that which I am upon all the time, it was practical religion. Suppose we should actually enjoy the light of truth, to such a degree that we could always foreknow important events—that we had the spirit of prophecy insomuch that we could foresee our future destiny, would we not lay a foundation to secure our best interests? We most certainly would. It would be the constant aim of our daily conduct, to secure to ourselves and our families that happiness and comfort which we desire.

Is it possible for us to do this? It is. There are many who do not know and understand for themselves. Now let each person of that class ask himself this question—“Even though I do not know and understand for myself, is it reasonable that I should have confidence in those who do?” and, through the weakness and blindness of fallen nature, he would answer, “No.” Still it would be best could it be so, for those who are blinded to their own interest to have confidence in those who do know and understand what is for their good, to trust in them, take their counsel, and do in all things as they are told. But, no; the spirit of apostasy, the neglect of duty, tend to cast a veil over the minds of people, and when they cannot see and understand for themselves, they say, “I think I know as well how to dictate my own affairs as does brother Brigham, or any other brother.”

They have no confidence in anybody, and can have none in themselves, for they do not know themselves. They do not comprehend their existence, and were it not that they get tired, and wish to rest, they would scarcely realize that they had a body; and when their stomachs become empty and crave food, they are prompted, like the brutes, to seek for something to eat. This is the case with some in this congregation, they have but little more idea of what they are, who they are, and what will be their future destiny, than has the stall-fed bullock that is fatted for slaughter.

What is the matter with them? The god of this world has blinded their minds, they give way to selfishness, covetousness, and divers other kinds of wickedness, suffer the allurements of this world to decoy them from the paths of truth, forget their God, their religion, their covenants, and the blessings they have received, and become like beasts, made to be taken and destroyed at the will of the destroyer.

This is the situation, not only of the great majority of the world, but of many of the inhabitants of these valleys; they have no correct idea of the day of destruction, the day of calamity; they have no realization of the day of sorrow and retribution. They put these things far away and do not wish to think about them, but say, “Let us eat, drink, and lay down and sleep, and that is all we desire;” then like the brutes they are happy. It never enters the hearts of the mass of mankind that they are preparing for the day of calamity and slaughter.

This people have yet much to learn, even the best of them. For one, I am aware that I know enough to do right today, as also do very many who are now before me. If sin present itself to them they know what it is, and know better than to give way to it. I know that it is not right to do wrong, and so do the most of the people, and all may and should, as have all who have received the spirit of the Gospel, and if this knowledge has gone from them, it is because of transgression.

I have often referred to the wicked– ness of mankind, to how liable they are to step out of the way, how easy it is for them to sin and not know it, and how important it is that we should have compassion upon them; yet mercy is not always to be extended to the people, judgment must claim its right.

If we wish this Church and kingdom of God upon earth, to be like a fine, healthy, growing tree, we should be careful not to let the dead branches remain too long. You have seen limbs which you supposed completely dead, yet when the genial influences of spring operate upon them, only a twig or two of the branch proves to be winterkilled.

The entire limb is not dead but still draws sustenance from the trunk, and partly lives and is partly dead. It is so with some of the members of this Church and kingdom, they partly live and partly do not live. Sometimes they enjoy the spirit of the Gospel and feel quite happy, and speak in prayer meetings, and sometimes make confessions of their sins. Their hearts occasionally become a little warmed up, and at times they feel and act as though they wish to bear fruit, and perhaps among the twigs of the limb, you may find here and there a cluster of fruit. Sometimes such members of this kingdom will be found performing good acts and doing their duty, and again they are overcome and turn away, that is for a time, and seemingly enjoy none of the spirit of their religion.

In this manner they pass along, first to the right and then to the left. By and by they will either receive nourishment from the trunk of the tree, shooting forth into the various twigs of the sickly branches, filling them with life and vigor, and turning the diseased into thrifty growing limbs, or the twigs will continue to die until there are none left alive. Who can tell whether a limb is actually dead or not, without proper time to test the matter? This is a point which ought to be closely scrutinized by every Latter-day Saint. You see the failings of your neighbor, he has performed an act today which you know is dishonest and wicked, by and by he does something else which is wrong, and you begin to lose confidence in that person. When you saw no evil and many traits of good in him, then you had a foundation for reposing implicit confidence, but he commits a wrong act and your confidence begins to be shaken. You see him commit another evil and another, but can you yet tell whether that limb is alive or dead? I think that we, as a people, as individuals, have got to learn more and more of the mind of God than we now possess, before we are prepared to judge quickly, distinctly, and truly when limbs are dead and should be severed from the body of the tree.

When we have learned that they are really dead, then there is danger in suffering them to remain too long, for they will begin to decay and tend to destroy the tree. When we are satisfied that a limb is dead we clip it off close to the trunk, and cover up the wound that it may not cause any more injury. That is the principle which brother Frost has just been upon. But the nice point is, for us to be able to determine when a limb is entirely dead. Twig after twig may die, and you may often see half the limbs of a tree killed by the severity of winter, yet in the course of the summer the living portion begins to rapidly put forth young and tender branches, and the increase may be as great, perhaps, as though no part had died. That proves the soundness of the trunk, even though many twigs and branches have died. It requires great discrimination, to be able to rightly decide upon the condition of persons in their religious views, their honesty and integrity before God.

There are many in this kingdom who are as foolish as men and women can well be, so much so that it would seem as though they never had sensed moral instruction. They give way to wickedness, and outrage the feelings of those who are truly moral, yet in their hearts they go all lengths for the kingdom of God on the earth. They are willing to stand in the front of the battle, to go to the ends of the earth to preach the Gospel, or to do anything they are called upon to perform, yet, when you examine their morality, it highly outrages the feelings of those who are strictly moral and honest in all their ways. Do you believe this? Yes, and many of you know it.

Many of our boys who play in the streets, and use profane language, know not what they are doing, but there are old men, members of the High Priests’ Quorum, and of the High Council, who, when they get into a difficulty in the canyon and are perplexed, will get angry and swear at, and curse everything around them. I will insure that I can find High Priests who conduct in this manner. But on their way home their feelings become mollified, and they wish to plead with the Lord to forgive them. Could you place yourselves in some of our canyons, or in some other difficult places, out of sight but within hearing, and hear some of the brethren curse and swear at their cattle and horses, you would not have the least idea that they had ever known anything about “Mormonism,” but follow them home and you may find them pleading with the Lord for pardon. There are just such characters in our midst. Do you think they should be cut off from the Church? I think that if the Presidents of Quorums would chastise them it might be beneficial, at any rate it would not hurt them, and if that will not do, disfellowship them, and let them know that they must observe the laws of this kingdom, or eventually be cut off. If you do not wish to disfel– lowship them, you who are without sin, take such men into the canyon, where they may bellow and bellow in vain, and give them a good cowhiding, until they will remember, and be ashamed of themselves when they take the name of God in vain, or lie.

You may take this counsel spiritually or temporally, just as you please. Such characters ought to be whipped, so that they would remember it to the day of their death, and if they do not then stop their lying, swearing, cursing, and pilfering, I will tell them that sooner or later they will be cut off from the Church and go to hell.

No unrighteous person, no person who is filthy in their feelings will ever enter into the kingdom of God. I know that the inquiry is often made, “What shall we do with such men?” I say chastise them. I have reprimanded some of the brethren severely, and made them first-rate men; it brought them to their senses. You may chastise them or take any judicious course to bring them to their senses, that they may know whether they wish to be Saints or not.

If we continue to sin, if we continue to neglect our duty and disobey counsel, the light afflictions which have visited us in these mountains are but as a drop to a bucketful when compared with what awaits us.

What a pity it is that men who do not know how to govern themselves in the kingdom of God, do not know enough to observe the counsel of those who do know. A pity it is that men and women of mature age, but who have not got a fair stock of good sense, do not know how to control and apply what they do know. Such persons do not know enough to sit still and hear from others, but they must always be indulging in their own gabble; their tongues are like a flutter wheel in rapid motion, and their chatter flows in a continual stream. We have men here who will come into this stand, and preach you and I perfectly blind, figuratively speaking, and when they are through they do not know themselves from a side of sole leather, with regard to the things of God; they are all gab. What a pity it is!

I used to think, until I was forty-five years of age, that I had not knowledge, sense, or ability enough to enable me to associate with the men of the world, until I learned that the inhabitants of the earth were groveling in darkness and ignorance, and that their professed knowledge contained but few correct principles, that they were a set of automatons on the stage of life, following the maxim, “As the old cock crows, so crows the young.” All the learned crow one tune, say one prayer, and mainly act just alike. The learned world, so called, is a great mass of ignorance. I was once conversing with a worldly philosopher concerning the elements, and he told me how many there were. I informed him that we were both ignorant on that subject, but that I knew enough to know that there was a vast number of elements which philosophers had not yet been able to classify and determine. I asked him if he would clearly and fully define the nature and properties of the element called light, remarking, you can philosophize, you understand chemistry, astronomy, and many other sciences; now will you please inform me what puts the light in that candle? He replied, “I cannot.” He could not explain the nature and properties of the light produced by the burning of a cotton yarn in tallow. I said to him, do not talk to me any more about philosophy, and your great learning and knowledge, when you cannot give me the least idea of the properties of light.

So it is with the world’s philosophy. All the learning and knowledge upon the face of the earth cannot, of themselves, make or produce a spear of grass, or the smallest leaf upon a tree. Do you know where they come from and what produces them? I know their origin and mode of production, and so do you, though you may not, in your reflections, have fully carried out the ideas connected with that subject. I will give you one item which pertains to what I call natural, true philosophy; and if a philosopher of the day could understand it and explain it to the world, learned institutions would send him sheepskins conferring praise and titles.

I will bring to your minds what I have formerly stated with regard to the spirit’s entering the body. Our bodies are composed of visible, tangible matter, as you all understand, you also know that they are born into this world. They then begin to partake of the elements adapted to their organization and growth, increase to manhood, become old, decay, and pass again into the dust. Now in the first place, though I have explained this many times, what we call death is the operation of life, inherent in the matter of which the body is composed, and which causes the decomposition after the spirit has left the body. Were that not the fact, the body, from which has fled the spirit, would remain to all eternity just as it was when the spirit left it, and would not decay.

What is commonly called death does not destroy the body, it only causes a separation of spirit and body, but the principle of life, inherent in the native elements, of which the body is composed, still continues with the particles of that body and causes it to decay, to dissolve itself into the elements of which it was composed, and all of which continue to have life. When the spirit given to man leaves the body, the tabernacle begins to decompose, is that death? No, death only separates the spirit and body, and a principle of life still operates in the untenanted tabernacle, but in a differ– ent way, and producing different effects from those observed while it was tenanted by the spirit. There is not a particle of element which is not filled with life, and all space is filled with element; there is no such thing as empty space, though some philosophers contend that there is.

Life in various proportions, combinations, conditions, &c., fills all matter. Is there life in a tree when it ceases to put forth leaves? You see it standing upright, and when it ceases to bear leaves and fruit you say it is dead, but that is a mistake. It still has life, but that life operates upon the tree in another way, and continues to operate until it resolves it to the native elements. It is life in another condition that begins to operate upon man, upon animal, upon vegetation, and upon minerals when we see the change termed dissolution. There is life in the material of the fleshly tabernacle, independent of the spirit given of God to undergo this probation. There is life in all matter, throughout the vast extent of all the eternities; it is in the rock, the sand, the dust, in water, air, the gases, and, in short, in every description and organization of matter, whether it be solid, liquid, or gaseous, particle operating with particle.

I have heard some philosophers argue that because no body could move without displacing other matter, therefore there must be empty space. That reasoning is nonsense to me, because eternity is, was, and will continue to be full of matter and life. We put a ship in motion on the water, and have we created an empty space? No, we have only changed the position of matter. Men and animals move upon the earth, birds and fishes cleave the elements they are organized to operate in, but do they leave a track of empty space? No, for all eternity is full of matter and life. True, element is capable of contraction and expan– sion but that does not by any means imply empty space. You see life in human beings and in the growing vegetation, and when that spirit of life departs, another condition of life at once begins to operate upon the organization which remains. By way of illustration I will quote one passage from the book of Job, who in his afflictions was visited by several friends, and after he had concluded that they were all miserable comforters, he exclaimed, “Though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” To make this passage clearer to your comprehension, I will paraphrase it, though my spirit leave my body, and though worms destroy its present organization, yet in the morning of the resurrection I shall behold the face of my Savior, in this same tabernacle; that is my understanding of the idea so briefly expressed by Job. If you wish to know how the quoted passage reads, see Job, 19 chapter, 26 verse, King James’ translation.

I have formerly spoken about the spirits overcoming the flesh; the body or flesh, is what the devil has power over. God gave Lucifer power, influence, mastery, and rule, to a certain extent, to control the life pertaining to the elements composing the body, and the spirit which God places in the body becomes intimately connected with it, and is of course more or less affected by it.

Now let some of our philosophers tell us how much empty space there is, and where it is, in all the eternities that exist, or in other words, where life is not. The term death is often used to accommodate the understandings of the people, but they are in darkness upon this subject.

The spirit leaves a body, and then that body begins to pass away by another system of life. I might enlarge upon the death pertaining to this time, and the death that will be hereafter, but it is all upon the same principle, it is plain, simple, natural philosophy, and our religion is based upon it.

I will now leave that subject and ask, will you lay a foundation for your future happiness?

Quite a number of men came here the first season besides the pioneers. Brother Frost was one of the pioneers, and probably one of the first who hammered iron in this region, since the days of the Nephites. He has traveled through the Territory north, south, east, and west, wherever he has been sent. He has also crossed the Pacific Ocean, and is again right here on hand—not dead yet. There are many others who have held on in the same way, who have not turned aside but have remained here, or gone where they have been sent.

As I was observing last Sabbath, such persons are the characters who are not generally known, throughout our community, as are the drunkards, and men who go to law; those are the men of notoriety, but the others are men of sense, men who mind their own business. Still, do not go to cutting off twigs before they ought to be cut off, but if they prefer it, let them go to California and put their gold and silver into the hands of the devil, for I ask no odds of them, and expect I could buy the whole of them, so far as property is concerned. However, be merciful to them. I say to those men and women who cannot stay here because famine threatens the land, because we are threatened with being distressed, and through fear that we shall all die, just go, won’t you? For you are nothing but hindrances.

We have lifted you up, as we do poor horses that are down and cannot help themselves, and we have nursed you, year after year, and as soon as you could stand alone, you kick at your benefactors. As soon as you get a hundred dollars in money, and two or three yoke of cattle, you are ready to say, “I want to go to the devil now,” and say, go, but as the Lord Almighty lives, you will meet sore chastenings, and pass through much more sorrow than if you were to continue Saints, and remain with the Saints.

And after you are handled by the devil until you are willing to do as the Lord wishes you to, then you will be glad to come here and black the boots and shoes of such men as brother Frost, and will have to do the drudgery to all eternity, or as long as the faithful have a mind to keep you. The poor miserable curses—I call them so because they are cursed—will prowl around and serve the devil, will run back and forth, and go to California and to the States, and here and there, and at the same time pretend they wish to be Saints.

What will be done with such people? God Almighty will make them our servants. You had better stay here and die, if die it is. California is not the gathering place for the Saints; here is the gathering place, and here we will gather and stay until God says, “Go somewhere else.”

If that is back to Jackson County, do not be scared, for as the Lord lives this people will go back and build a great temple there. Do not be frightened, because a few rotten, corrupt scoundrels in our midst cry out, “O, the troops are coming, and that will be the end of ‘Mormonism,’” in order to deceive the weak-minded females.

Should you see little boys playing with pebbles and small sticks, and hear them say, “Get out of the way, we are going to build a great big structure, that we may climb to the sun, and pull it down,” their words and conduct would be just as sensible as it is for the world to tell us that “Mormonism” is going to be destroyed. If we do right we need care no more about them than we do about mosquitoes, for this people will surely go back to Jackson County. How soon that may be, or when it may be, I do not care; but that is not now the gathering place for this people.

You will find a great many “Mormons” who have lived in the States ever since they were driven from Missouri, and who still have a wish to be “Mormons,” but they mingle with the world, and some have joined the Methodists, some the Baptists, &c., so as to be on hand when this people go back to Jackson County. Then they expect to walk into Zion; but when that day comes they will be only far enough advanced to black the shoes of the faithful, dig trenches, hew wood, and draw water, and perform such other labors as may be required of them, while the Saints dictate the affairs of this kingdom. They think that they are going to slip in with the crowd, but they will find themselves mistaken, for if anyone presents them saying, “Let this or that man in,” I will reply, “He stayed in Missouri all the time that the Saints were in the wilderness.” I should want to baptize such characters, and then send them to preach to the spirits in prison. After they have been there a long time, we will then send them to make our farms, attend to our gardens, to our horses and stables, and to do all the drudgery. They may complain and say, “Really brother Joseph, we have been good Saints all the time,” and Joseph will reply, “Come here and let me anoint your eyes,” then he will touch their eyes, and they will turn round and exclaim, “Let us be doorkeepers, or do anything else, that we may stay with you. Now we have eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to understand; we see that we have been fools.”

They will labor under the guidance and dictation of the Elders who have been faithful. Joseph and his faithful brethren will be at the gate, and the unfaithful cannot pass. They think that Jesus will be there, and that if he is there they will have the privilege of seeing him, and that they may gain an entrance, but if they have the privilege of seeing Joseph Smith’s coat tail, they may think themselves well off. If the Father, the Son, and the holy angels are there, they will only attend to the general oversight of affairs, and the faithful of this people will have the privilege of determining who is worthy of admission.

This is my philosophy with regard to the duties of the Saints.

Now if philosophers will point out where empty space is, I will pay them for their trouble, because all the wicked will be running to me to know where it is, that they may be where God does not dwell, for they will want the rocks and mountains to fall on them to hide them from His presence. I could make money by directing poor devils where empty space is. May God bless you. Amen.

A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, March 16, 1856.

I do not now rise expressly for the purpose of giving additional instructions, for we have already heard much today; still, I have a few reflections which I will offer. Can you not remember hearing public speakers, both here and in other countries, use many words without clearly and distinctly conveying ideas?

The discourse by brother Vernon, in the forenoon, quite delighted me. I was extremely well pleased to hear him clothe his ideas with such beautiful language, and so easily understood. Hence, I exhort my brethren, the Elders, when they rise to teach, edify, or instruct the people, not to hamper themselves with efforts to merely select nice sounding words, but to deal out correct and useful ideas, even if you do not use one word in ten in a way that the learned would deem proper. If a speaker presents useful ideas to a congregation of the best scholars in existence, though not one word of his language is strictly proper, yet what he says will feed that congregation, far more than will a perfect volume of nice sounding words which convey few or no important ideas. I will leave the correctness of this remark to philosophers of every grade.

Still, when anyone rises to speak, if his mind is stored with valuable ideas, let him clothe his thoughts with the best language he can command—that which comes to him easily and naturally. I really wish to impress this idea upon the minds of the Elders.

If you will reflect upon what class of speakers have most edified you, no matter whether they are taught or untaught in the learning of the schools, you will readily discover that it has been those whose minds were stored with good ideas, and who spoke so that you could readily and easily understand them, whether their language was couched in the most approved style or not. When you hear individuals speak whose minds are stored with rich ideas, do they not benefit you the most? I care but little about your language, hand out the ideas, and let us know what you have stored in your minds.

I will now refer to a portion of the discourse delivered here this afternoon, and say to the Bishops, that it would be highly gratifying to me, and to all of us, if you would prove yourselves wise stewards. You have a good opportunity to exhibit your abilities, and I say to the Bishop who has just addressed us, won’t you do as I have formerly directed you, and appoint good, wise, judicious men to go through your Ward, to find out what is in that Ward, and the situation of every family, whether they have money, flour, or costly clothing, or whether they are destitute and suffering? This is your business and calling. But many of our Bishops are sleepy and good for nothing, and if I were going to cleanse the Church, knowing the character of individuals, I think I should commence with the Bishops. Theirs is one of the most laborious and responsible offices in the whole Church; it is an office which requires men of the best skill, judgment and talent, to fill, and is one of the greatest importance. Bishops, will you take hold and try to make men of yourselves? After all I have said now and heretofore, if you were going to search your Wards, you would be very apt to come to me to inquire what you should do. I will tell you, do not let there be one place, in the habitations of the Saints in your Wards, about which you are uninformed. Brother Woolley has reported the circumstance of a Bishop finding a woman who had been living upon the charity of her neighbors, and who, at the same time, had valuable property, and money hid up. I can refer you to scores of like circumstances, and what is more, to some of the Elders, those who are supposed to be among the best of our Elders, who have been preaching abroad and brought their hundreds into the Church, who come here with a lie in their hearts and on their tongues, with regard to their means, and declare, emphatically, that they have no means to help themselves with, neither money nor goods.

We have brought them here, and they are still owing the Perpetual Emigrating Fund for their passage, and they have gold, if they have no silver, and have the richest kind of clothing. This brings to my mind the circumstance, of a family in Nauvoo, who were in the habit of traveling from house to house, begging their living, and said, that they were poor and destitute. When the time came for us to leave that city, and that family was starting to St. Louis, the woman loosed her dress and showed one of the sisters her stays, and said, “I have my money sewed up in these stays, and the Church won’t get it.” This woman begged her living, and stayed in Nauvoo almost two years, and would rather be damned than to part with the sovereigns sewed up in her stays. Such people will be damned, and the sooner they leave us the better.

Were I a Bishop, I would know to a reasonable degree of accuracy, the value of the clothing owned by those in my Ward, who were calling upon me for assistance, and I would be familiar with every nook and habitation, and watch carefully that money was not secreted, and the owners begging from those poorer than themselves. I would know whether they had money hoarded, or hid away.

A score of years ago the Elders had to be very watchful, and I do not suppose that, for many years, I slept so soundly but what the slightest tap would wake me up. If any person should say, “Brigham!” I am ready at once to ask, “What is wanted?” I am ready to jump, at a moment’s warning. No person could stir about, without our knowing it.

The Bishops should be equally wide awake, and set those whom they have confidence in, those whom they know to be honest, to be watchmen on the tower, and let them find out who are suffering. Doubtless, there are many who are suffering through want of food, but there is no necessity of any family suffering in this City, and when this City is supplied, the remainder of the Territory may be considered independent.

I presume that we have one fourth less provisions in this City, to the number of the inhabitants, than has any other portion of the Territory, and yet we need not suffer. Here we need not be ashamed to beg, when stern necessity has closed around us. I do not expect to see the day when I am perfectly independent, until I am crowned in the celestial kingdom of my Father, and made as independent as my Father in heaven. I have not yet received my inheritance as my own, and I expect to be dependent until I do, for all that I have is lent to me.

If a man comes to me and says, he is out of food, what of that? He is out of food, that is all. If a man comes along and says, “My family is destitute of food and clothing,” what of that? Simply that they are destitute of food and clothing, and still they may be gentlemen and ladies, for all that, and be honoring their tabernacles and being on the earth.

The customs of the world have made it degrading to ask for food, but it is not, when a person cannot honestly procure it in any other way. The man who is hungry and destitute has as good a right to my food as any other person, and I should feel as happy in associating with him, if he had a good heart, as with those who have an abundance, or with the princes of the earth. They all are esteemed by me, not according to the wealth and position they hold, but according to the character they have.

Bishops, will you try to magnify your calling? I will give you a few words of consolation; at our next Conference we expect to drop a good many Bishops, and appoint others, and we intend to keep doing so, until we get men with good hearts and active brains, to fill that responsible station.

I will now speak upon another subject; one which I have touched upon many times, but which, to this day, is but little understood. I allude to the organization of the spirit and the body, the distinction between the two, and their operations. This subject is not well understood, and generally not much reflected upon, but is one which the Saints have got to learn, if they ever learn the real organization of man. Then they will know and understand the peculiarities of our present organization, and how liable mankind are to submit to its weaknesses, and to the influences of the powers that rule over them.

Were you in possession of this knowledge, you would be more compassionate. As severely as I sometimes talk to you, my soul is full of compassion. It has ever been my study to understand myself, for by so doing I can understand my neighbors.

If this people would apply their minds to wisdom, with regard to themselves, they would be more compassionate than they are now.

From what is at times said here, it might be inferred that everyone who did not walk to the line was at once going to be destroyed, but who has been hurt? Who is about to be killed? Who is about to be taken out of the way? When this people have lived long enough upon the earth, to have the principles of life and salvation disseminated among them, and to have their children taught in those principles, so that they fully know the principles of eternal salvation, then let us or our children turn away from the commandments of God, as some do now, and I could tell you what will be done with them.

Brother Wesley has said, the time is not far distant, but it will never come until the inhabitants of the earth, and especially those who have been gathered together, have a sufficient time to be educated in the celestial law, so that each person may understand for himself. Then if they transgress against the light and knowledge they possess, some will be stoned to death, and “judgment will be laid to the line, and righteousness to the plummet.” But people will never be taken and sacrificed for their ignorance, when they have had no opportunity to know and understand the truth. Such a proceeding would be contrary to the economy of heaven. But after we receive and understand things as they are, if we then disobey, we may look for the chastening hand of the Almighty.

If we could learn ourselves, we should see thousands and thousands of weaknesses in the people. They turn to the right and to the left, to this and that which is wrong; yet if we did know and see things as they are, we should understand that thousands of those acts are performed in ignorance.

I presume there are people hearing me talk, who would give the riches of the Indies, if they had them in their possession, to be able to obtain the mind and will of God concerning themselves. They would give all they possess on the earth, or expect to possess, were they in possession of keys by which they could know the path to walk in. What are we going to do with this class of persons? I will tell you what I am going to do with them, so far as I am concerned. I am going to give them my faith, confidence, prayers, and full fellowship. And when they get through with this probation, if they have done, all the time, according to the best they knew, God will not hold them responsible for what they did not know, and they will be received, through the merits of the Son, into the kingdom of our Father.

I mention this to inform the people, that they may understand what they should do with regard to the law of God, and the transgression thereof. The law is very strict; and in this congregation there are men and women who, with uplifted hands to heaven, before the Father, the Son, and all the holy angels, made solemn covenants that they never would do thus and so. For example, one obligation is, “I will never have anything to do with any of the daughters of Eve, unless they are given to me of the Lord.” Men will call God to witness that they never will transgress this law, and promise to live a virtuous life, so far as intercourse with females is concerned; but what can you see? A year will not pass away before some few of them are guilty of creeping into widows’ houses, and into bed with the wives of their brethren, debauching one woman here, and another there. Do we enforce upon them the strict penalty of the law? Not yet. I hope their conduct arises from their ignorance, but let me transgress my covenant, and the case would be different. I want to live as long as I can, on the earth, but I would not like to live to violate my covenants; I would rather go behind the veil before doing so.

A few of the men and women who go into the house of the Lord, and receive their endowments, and in the most sacred manner make covenants before the Almighty, go and violate those covenants. Do I have compassion on them? Yes, I do have mercy on them, for there is something in their organization which they do not understand; and there are but few in this congregation who do understand it.

You say, “That man ought to die for transgressing the law of God.” Let me suppose a case. Suppose you found your brother in bed with your wife, and put a javelin through both of them, you would be justified, and they would atone for their sins, and be received into the kingdom of God. I would at once do so in such a case; and under such circumstances, I have no wife whom I love so well that I would not put a javelin through her heart, and I would do it with clean hands. But you who trifle with your covenants, be careful lest in judging you will be judged.

Every man and woman has got to have clean hands and a pure heart, to execute judgment, else they had better let the matter alone.

Again, suppose the parties are not caught in their iniquity, and it passes along unnoticed, shall I have compassion on them? Yes, I will have compassion on them, for transgressions of the nature already named, or for those of any other description. If the Lord so orders it that they are not caught in the act of their iniquity, it is pretty good proof that He is willing for them to live; and I say let them live and suffer in the flesh for their sins, for they will have it to do.

There is not a man or woman, who violates the covenants made with their God, that will not be required to pay the debt. The blood of Christ will never wipe that out, your own blood must atone for it; and the judgments of the Almighty will come, sooner or later, and every man and woman will have to atone for breaking their covenants. To what degree? Will they have to go to hell? They are in hell enough now. I do not wish them in a greater hell, when their consciences condemn them all the time. Let compassion reign in our bosoms. Try to comprehend how weak we are, how we are organized, how the spirit and the flesh are continually at war.

I told you here, some time ago, that the devil who tempted Eve, got possession of the earth, and reigns triumphant, has nothing to do with influencing our spirits, only through the flesh; that is a true doctrine. Inasmuch as our spirits are inseparably connected with the flesh, and, inasmuch as the whole tabernacle is filled with the spirit which God gave, if the body is afflicted, the spirit also suffers, for there is a warfare between the flesh and the spirit, and if the flesh overcomes, the spirit is brought into bondage, and if the spirit overcomes, the body is made free, and then we are free indeed, for we are made free by the Son of God. Watch yourselves, and think. As I heard observed, on the evening of the 14th, at the Social Hall, “think, brethren, think,” but do not think so far that you cannot think back again. I then wanted to tell a little anecdote, but I will tell it now.

In the eastern country there was a man who used to go crazy, at times, and then come to his senses again. One of his neighbors asked him what made him go crazy; he replied, “I get to thinking, and thinking, until finally I think so far that I am not always able to think back again.” Can you think too much for the spirit which is put in the tabernacle? You can, and this is a subject which I wish the brethren instructed upon, and the people to understand. The spirit is the intelligent part of man, and is intimately connected with the tabernacle. Let this intelligent part labor to excess, and it will eventually overcome the tabernacle, the equilibrium will be destroyed, and the whole organization deranged. Many people have deranged themselves by thinking too much.

The thinking part is the immortal or invisible portion, and it is that which performs the mental labor; then the tabernacle, which is formed and organized for that express purpose; brings about or effects the result of that mental labor. Let the body work with the mind, and let them both labor fairly together, and, with but few exceptions, you will have a strong-minded, athletic individual, powerful both physically and mentally.

When you find the thinking faculty perfectly active, in a healthy person, it should put the physical organization into active operation, and the result of the reflection is carried out, and the object is accomplished. In such a person you will see mental and physical health and strength combined, in their perfection. We have the best opportunity afforded any people to cultivate these properties of man.

I do not know that I am trammeled by tradition, or that any of us need to be, hence we are in the best situation to exhibit, through the organization of the tabernacle, the labor and properties of the invisible part. When a person is thinking all the time he is little better than a machine; he perverts the purpose of his organization, and injures both mind and body. Why? Because the mental labor does not find vent through the organism of the tabernacle, and has not that scope—that field of labor which it desires, and which it was wisely designed that it should have. Think according to your labor, labor according to your thinking.

Some think too much, and should labor more, others labor too much, and should think more, and thus maintain an equilibrium between the mental and physical members of the individual; then you will enjoy health and vigor, will be active, and ready to discern truly, and judge quickly. Is it not your privilege to have discernment to circumscribe all things, no matter what subject comes before you, and to at once know the truth concerning any matter? When you see a person of this character, you see one with a healthy and vigorous mind, throughout the whole operations of organization. True, this is not the privilege of everyone; some have to do much thinking, and but little manual labor, while others do much manual labor with little, if any thinking. The latter class are as dull and stupid as the brutes, and when their labor is done, they lie down and sleep, like the brutes. They do not think enough, they should bring their minds into active operation, as well as their bodies. Men who do much thinking, philosophers for instance, should apply their bodies to more manual labor, in order to make their bodies more healthy and their minds more vigorous and active.

Let me take twenty years to come, in which to build cities, temples, tabernacles, halls, dwellings, &c., with my mental organization, and not put forth my hands, or use any manual labor, to perform any of this work, do you not perceive that my body would not have labored during all this period, and that my mind would have labored to excess, even to the overcoming of the tabernacle. Again, let me build house after house, hall after hall, temple after temple, &c., my mind would have something to rest upon, and my body being weary with labor, I could lie down, and both would rest together. When I wish to build a temple it costs me much thought, and when I see a temple finished on this block, as I have seen it in the vision of my mind, do you not perceive that the whole of the labor of the mind, on that matter, is at rest? This is my philosophy on thinking; and if I were obliged to think for ten years, and not erect a building, or help build up a city, or in any way put my thoughts into execution, it would materially injure my mental faculty, through want of results for it to rest upon. But let me engage in active operations, even though I do not personally perform one day’s manual labor, let me see the result of my thinking budding into existence, and my mind has something to rest upon. If I cannot carry out that which is in my mind—that which I wish to accomplish in all the improvements, in building up Zion in the latter days, as soon as I am deprived of the necessary physical labor I withdraw my mind from that object; I will not suffer my mind to rest upon it. For instance, we are going to suspend labor upon the Temple for a year, until we can prepare ourselves more fully for that work. We have abandoned the idea of using adobies in the walls of that building, and intend to use granite. Now, suppose I should begin to think, and think, and still think about it, are you not aware that it would be a worse than useless waste of time and mental labor? My body would become wearied and languid. I do not expect to think about it for one year; goodbye to it, for the present. I must carry out the labor of my mind, or I injure it. Can you go to sleep in one minute, after you have said your prayers and gone to bed? Can you cease reflection, bid goodbye to thought, and say to the body, compose yourself and let us go to sleep? How many now in this house can do that? Whether it is natural, or supernatural, mental or mechanical, it matters not, but I have trained myself to go to sleep when I get ready, and when I am in good health, as a general thing, in about one minute I can be fast asleep.

Until you can govern and control the mind and the body, and bring all into subjection to the law of Christ, you have a work to perform touching yourselves. I delight to talk upon the subject of our organization, but I must do so a little at a time, or I might weary your bodies and distract your thoughts. Short sermons fitly spoken, are better than long ones ill spoken. May God bless you, Amen.

A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, March 16, 1856.

I feel very thankful for the privilege that I have enjoyed this morning, and for the discourse that has been delivered to us, it is meat and drink to me—it is joy and peace. Truly if we are good men, and good women, we can make ourselves very comfortable and happy, otherwise we shall be very miserable.

I believe that it is a hell intolerable for a people, a family, or a single person, to strive to grasp truth with one hand, and error with the other, to profess to walk in obedience to the commandments of God, and, at the same time, mingle heart and hand with the wicked.

I believe that I should be one of the most miserable beings upon the earth, if I did not enjoy the spirit of the religion which I profess. I also believe that if every person, who professes to be a Latter-day Saint, was actually a Saint, our home would be a paradise, there would be nothing heard, nothing felt, nothing realized, but praise to the name of our God, doing our duty, and keeping His commandments.

There are thousands of individuals in these valleys, and I may say thousands within this City, men, women, and children, who are constantly minding their own business, living their religion, and are full of joy, from Monday morning until Saturday night.

On this account, they do not obtrude themselves and their acts upon the notice of the public, hence, they are known but by few. Probably my beloved brother Vernon, who has spoken to you this morning, is not known by many of this congregation, for since his arrival in our midst he has been quietly and industriously practicing the principles of our religion. For this reason a formal introduction of brother Vernon to the congregation might by some have been deemed necessary, but with me “Mormonism” is, “Out with the truth,” and that will answer our purposes, and is all we desire.

Brother Vernon came here with Elder Taylor, when he returned from Europe. He is not known except by a few of his associates, who have been laboring with him at the Sugar Works. But, suppose he had been guilty of swearing in the streets, of getting intoxicated, of fighting, and carousing, he would have been a noted character, and there would hardly have been a child but what would, by this time, have known brother Vernon; and the expressions would have been “O, he is the man we saw drunk the other day, the one whom we heard swear and saw fight; the one who was tried before the High Council for disorderly conduct, or reproved before a General Conference for his wickedness.”

But brother Vernon is almost entirely unknown, because he has lived his religion, kept the commandments of God, and minded his own business. So it is with many in this City, they are known but by few, they live here, year after year, and are scarcely known in the community, because they pay attention to their own business.

They live their religion, love the Lord, rejoice continually, are happy all the day long, and satisfied, without making an excitement among the people. This is “Mormonism.” I wish we were all so, I should then indeed be very much pleased.

I think such a state of society would answer my happiness, not particularly my spiritual enjoyment, for I know that in that particular I must be happy for myself. I must live my religion for myself, and enjoy the light of truth for myself, and when I do that all hell cannot deprive me of it, nor of its fruits.

My spiritual enjoyment must be obtained by my own life, but it would add much to the comfort of the community, and to my happiness, as one with them, if every man and woman would live their religion, and enjoy the light and glory of the Gospel for themselves, be passive, humble, and faithful; rejoice continually before the Lord, attend to the business they are called to do, and be sure never to do anything wrong.

All would then be peace, joy, and tranquility, in our streets and in our houses. Litigation would cease, there would be no difficulties before the High Council and Bishops’ Courts, and courts, turmoil, and strife would not be known.

Then we would have Zion, for all would be pure in heart. I should be pleased if we had a few more thousands of such men as brother Vernon. That class, I am happy to say, is increasing, this I can truly say, for the encouragement of this community.

When we reflect upon how many strangers we gather to these valleys, those who formerly believed some of the various creeds of the day, which did not fully inform them upon the principles of the Gospel, who come clothed upon with many of the diverse traditions and customs of different nations and neighborhoods, and how harmoniously they mingle, how few differences exist among them, how little strife and wickedness, it is a subject full of consolation.

Still there is much more strife than we should have, yet, with all, consider how easily, under these varied circumstances, we get along, how easily we pass the time, and with what little difficulty. I can say in truth, for the comfort and credit of this community, that the Latter-day Saints are indeed improving.

Do you hear of any difficulty among those long tried and proven, or among that portion of younger members who are thoroughly imbued with the principles of the Gospel? Rarely.

You seldom find persons who have been reared in this Church, or who were very young when their parents came into the Church, creating any difficulties. They grow into the truth; they understand those principles which are taught; they know the very foundation and essence of the Gospel, they are schooled in the first rudiments of the education of the Saints—in those principles which are designed for the people in their childhood, while learning the science of government.

These principles seem to be lost to the world, judging by their present operations. Bother Vernon beautifully portrayed this fact. The principle of correct government seems to be lost by the world, seems to be taken from the nations.

The very rudiments of the Gospel of our salvation teach the principles best adapted to control the child, and if so, of course, best designed to guide his steps when he has advanced further in life. And if best for instruction in the government of one, they must be for that of two, and if for that of two, then they must needs be for that of a family, of a neighborhood, of a nation, and of the whole earth.

No man ever did, or ever will rule judiciously on this earth, with honor to himself and glory to his God unless he first learn to rule and control himself. A man must first learn to rightly rule himself, before his knowledge can be fully brought to bear for the correct government of a family, a neighborhood, or nation, over which it is his lot to preside.

Is the spirit of the government and rule here despotic? In their use of the word, some may deem it so. It lays the ax at the root of the tree of sin and iniquity; judgment is dealt out against the transgression of the law of God.

If that is despotism, then the policy of this people may be deemed despotic. But does not the government of God, as administered here, give to every person his rights? Does it not sustain the Methodist as well as the “Mormon?” The Quaker equally as well as the Methodist, in his religious rights? The Jew as well as the Gentile? It does. It will sustain all the religions, sects, and parties on the earth in their religious rights, just as much as it will sustain the Latter-day Saints in theirs. Not that the diverse creeds are right, but the agency of the believers therein demands protection for them, as well as for us.

The law of God is pointed against sin and iniquity, and where they appear it is unbending in its nature and must, sooner or later, hold sovereign rule against them, or righteousness could never prevail.

Do we not see this exemplified in a portion of sacred history? When there was rebellion in heaven, judgment was laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet, and the evil were cast out. Yet there was a portion of grace allotted to those rebellious characters, or they would have been sent to their native element.

But they must go from heaven, they could not dwell there, they must be cast down to the earth to try the sons of men, and to perform their labor in producing an opposite in all things, that the inhabitants of the earth might have the privilege of improving upon the intelligence given to them, the opportunity for overcoming evil, and for learning the principles which govern eternity, that they may be exalted therein.

I know that this people are improving, notwithstanding we have trials and are called to pass through difficulties, and have to endure a season of scarcity.

I tell you honestly that I do not know when I have been more thankful, in all my life, than I have to see the pinching hand of want compel every man and woman to pray to God our Father, to give us day by day our daily bread.

It makes me happy, inasmuch as the people will not otherwise understand that the Lord does feed them. In years of plenty their understandings seemed closed to this fact, they did not appear to realize that the Lord made the earth fruitful, and caused it to yield its fruit bountifully.

And while our flocks and herds were increasing upon the mountains and plains, the eyes of the people seemed closed to the operations of the invisible hand of Providence, and they were prone to say, “It is our own handiwork, it is our labor that has performed this.”

The people are so blinded, when they are prospered, that they do not realize that it is all due to the direct providence of that God who is truly invisible to the world, but whose operations should not be unacknowledged by this people.

It seems to be so interwoven with our nature, while we are blessed and surrounded with all the comforts of the earth, to forget that the Lord furnishes these things to us. Then I say that I rejoice, when the Lord brings us into circumstances calculated to make us aware that if we are fed it is Him that feeds us, that if we are clothed it is Him that clothes us, for we cannot do it ourselves, that if we get bread to eat, from this until harvest, it must be the hand of the Lord that furnishes it, for of ourselves we cannot obtain it.

I am glad to see you brought into a state where you may begin to think and realize from whence your blessings flow. The Lord rules and reigns.

If we could see and understand things as they are, we would understand that there is not a king upon his throne, that there never has been from the forming of the earth to this time, without the Lord bringing about the circumstances which placed that king in that position. There never was one dethroned, without the Lord moving the circumstances to cause it.

There never was a nation built up and prospered, except by the hand of the Almighty, and there never was a nation crushed and brought to naught, without its being done by the generalship—the invisible workings of Providence.

The ancient proverb reads, “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad,” and it is written that the Lord will destroy the wicked, and He has done so by bringing about circumstances to cause them to destroy themselves.

Do you suppose that the Lord would have ever given a king to Israel, if they had not required one at His hands? No, He would have been their king and ruler, and there would have been a Prophet to guide them, had it not been for their rebellion. They made choice of a king, and God gave them one in His anger.

Their rebellion against the law, the agency given to them allowing their free choice, induced them to ask for a king, and God gave them one.

Was it the Lord’s choice that they should have an earthly king? No, it was not His mind and will, but it was the will of the people, consequently, He brought about circumstances to give them kings and rulers, according to their desire, and to bring judgments upon them.

The Prophet Joseph has been referred to, and his prophecy that this people would leave Nauvoo and be planted in the midst of the Rocky Mountains. We see it fulfilled. This prophecy is not a new thing, it has not been hid in the dark, nor locked up in a drawer, but it was declared to the people long before we left Nauvoo. We see the invisible hand of Providence in all this; we realize that His hand has wrought out our salvation.

Through His control of circumstances this people have been removed from civilization, and have been brought to inhabit these vales among the Rocky Mountains, to dwell in these desolate and barren plains where no other people, that we have any knowledge of, would live one year, if they could get away. The providence of God has brought us here.

Are we here in fulfillment of prophecy? The world say that the Prophet knew nothing about it, that the Lord had nothing to do with it, that the “Mormons” became obnoxious to them and had to leave, because they were the weakest party, and their enemies the strongest. “No, God knew nothing about all this, He had no hand in it, but we could not live with you Mormons.” They said, “We Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, &c, cannot live with you, one of us must leave, which shall it be? You Mormons must leave, if we can drive you.” They herald forth that, “It was us who drove you to the Rocky Mountains, as everyone knows who is acquainted with your history.”

“The Mormons must leave and go where no other people will go, and live where no other people can or will live.” The world cannot see the hand of the Lord in all our movements, they have not eyes to see, nor hearts to understand that the Lord showed the future to the Prophet Joseph, and brought it before him in vision. They cannot understand that the Lord produced all the circumstances which effected the removal of this people. They do not now understand that the Lord is building up His kingdom on the earth, is gathering His Israel, for the last time, to make a great and mighty nation of this people.

Circumstances have planted the Saints in the midst of the mountains, have given them a Territory and a Territorial Government, and will, ere long, give them a free and independent State, and justly make them a sovereign people. Circumstances will accomplish all this. Now, in the name of common sense, who rules these invisible circumstances? Is it you, or I? True, to a certain permitted degree, we rule, govern, and control circumstances, in a great many instances, but, on the other hand, do not circumstances control us? They do. Who has guided all these circumstances, which neither we nor the Prophet knew anything about? Was it in the power of a single man, or of any set of men, to create and control the circumstances which caused this people to be planted within these mountains? The moment that you say it was not, you acknowledge the workings of a Supreme Power.

The world, and those of us who are destitute of the spirit of the Gospel, will say, “Oh, it happened so.” Two years ago there was a hue and cry, from east to west, from north to south, and it was heralded forth in the papers throughout the States and all Europe, that “Governor Young says he is Governor of Utah and will be, and that President Franklin Pierce cannot remove him from the gubernatorial chair.” I ask, am I removed? Is not Brigham yet in the chair? God has ruled in all these things, though we may not know it. I said then, and I shall always say, that I shall be Governor as long as the Lord Almighty wishes me to govern this people.

Do you suppose that it is in the power of any man to thwart the doings of the Almighty? They may as well undertake to blot out the sun. I am in the hands of that God, so is the President of our nation, and so are kings, and emperors, and all rulers. He controls the destiny of all, and what are you and I going to do about it? Let us submit to Him, that we may share in this invisible, almighty, Godlike power, which is the everlasting Priesthood. We cannot thwart the plans and purposes of the Almighty. Do the world comprehend that if this people are faithful to God, they will become a mighty people? No. It has been leaked out, to a few individuals, that the government of the United States is going to send troops here to drive out the “Mormons.” I say to such threateners, cease your folly, for you can only do as God permits you.

When certain immaculate judges went from here, they were going to obliterate “Mormonism.” What did they accomplish? They did all they could, and, like an empty sound, their vaporings passed away and are known no more, neither are those judges known. Where is Mr. Brandenbury? Is he seated in the President’s chair, under the wings which shadow this nation? Does he control the strength and power of any part of the American Union? Where is he? The last we heard of him he was in Washington, doing a little writing for this, that, and the other lawyer, when he could get any to do, and attending to cases as a lawyer, when he could get a few dollars for transacting a little business of that kind, for this or that man; running from office to office, and from pillar to post, to obtain a living. He is a tolerably good man, after all; and, if he had done as I counseled him, he would have stayed here, and let that other judge go. Mr. Brandenbury was a good sort of a man, he never had any difficulty with me, and would have done well, if he had only had sense enough to know that he could not obliterate “Mormonism.” But he thought that his associate was going to blow the advocates of truth out of existence, when he might as well blow towards the sun to puff it out.

When men operate against this people, they may spend all they possess and all their ability, and it will pass away like an empty sound, and they will be forgotten. Such persons have always come to naught, and all who fight against the people of the Most High will continue to come to naught.

Who that has lifted his heel against Joseph has ever prospered, from the day he found the plates, from which the Book of Mormon was translated, until now? No man. So it will be with all others who leave this community thinking to injure them. Show me the priest, the church, the people, the state, or nation, that will prosper in lifting the heel against the kingdom of God, which is built up upon the earth. They cannot prosper in such a course. Do not be fearful, brethren, you and I will live here just as long as the Lord wishes us to. If I have fears about anything, it is that you and I will not live our religion; if we do this I am at the defiance of all the wicked. I sometimes become excited when I talk about them, and so do my brethren. Why? Because we are made of flesh, blood, and bones, like other men, and sometimes our feelings are warm, when we think about the conduct of our enemies. But what do the pure principles of the Gospel teach us? “Be still, and know that I am God, that I rule in the heavens above, and perform my pleasure on the earth, and that I turn the hearts of the children of men, as the rivers of water are turned.” He asks no odds of anybody. Who does He call upon to counsel Him, to dictate Him in the affairs of His rule on the earth? He is the Father, God, Savior, Maker, Preserver, and Redeemer of man. He holds in His hands the issue of all things, and will judge every man according to his works. I will be Governor so long as God permits, and we will live here, and have hard winters and unfruitful summers, and suffer the ravages of the destroying insects—what for? To bring us to our senses; I am thankful for it.

Those of you who have come here without breakfast this morning, do not go more than five days without eating. When you have gone that long without food, make your wants known to your neighbors and tell them that you need something to eat, and if you come to me I will feed you. I have sustained my family comfortably with eight ounces of breadstuff a day, to each individual. I have had my children come to me and ask, “Shall I give away my rations today?” We have plenty of potatoes, and I presume that my family does not consume, on an average, more than five ounces of breadstuff a day to each person. We have had plenty, ever since the first year we came here.

Be mindful, and do not go too long without eating. Notwithstanding the scarcity, I say to those who send their children to beg from house to house and who are lugging home a dozen loads a day—stop that. There are families now in this city, who profess to be out of provisions, sending their children out to beg, and selling flour and meat for money to carry them to the devil; now stop that. I say to you Bishops, appoint assistants to visit every house in your Wards, and instruct them to take the liberty of lifting up the chest lids, and of looking under the floors and under the beds, for I tell you that some will hide their provisions and lie to you, and tell you that they have nothing, while they are getting money for the flour, &c., which their children beg from this community, to carry them to hell, or back to the States, or to England. I say to such as are compelled to beg, when you have received a sufficiency to supply your wants, stop. When the month of June arrives, and the fields are teeming with their golden fruits, there will be plenty of wheat and flour for sale in these streets, for there is a reasonable supply of those articles of food. This is a word of encouragement, therefore do not go too long without eating, and if you are now brought to the pass which compels you to call upon the Lord, saying, “Lord, feed us, for unless thou feedest us we cannot be fed; my Father open the way that I may get a little bread to feed myself and children, or I shall not be able to get it,” I say, good, glory, hallelujah, that you are brought to your knees to confess His power, and to acknowledge His hand. That you may be faithful is my prayer, all the day long, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, March 2, 1856.

I have many subjects that I would like to speak upon for the benefit of the Saints, and one thing in particular I would like to do for them, which I believe would be the greatest blessing that could be bestowed upon them, and that is to give you eyes with which to see things as they are. If I had power to bestow that description of sight upon the Latter-day Saints, I do not believe that there is a man or woman but what would try to live their religion.

Some might suppose that it would be a great blessing to be taken and carried directly into heaven and there set down, but in reality that would be no blessing to such persons; they could not reap a full reward, could not enjoy the glory of the kingdom, and could not comprehend and abide the light thereof, but it would be to them a hell intolerable, and I suppose would consume them much quicker than would hell fire. It would be no blessing to you to be carried into the celestial kingdom, and obliged to stay therein, unless you were prepared to dwell there.

If people had eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to understand things as they are, it would prove a blessing to them, for they would then order their lives in a manner to secure the blessings which they anticipate. However, it is out of my power to thus bless this people, but the gift has been placed within the reach of every person by the purchase of the Son of God, and it is for them to obtain it, or to pass along without obtaining it, just as they may choose. But some facts are easily comprehended; take the Latter-day Saints and compare their feelings, lives, and doings with those of the world, and what will be readily discovered? Were any of you now to go forth into the world, if you had one spark of honesty or of virtue about you, you would desire to return as soon as duty would permit, and would exclaim, “I had no idea that the world was as I found it to be.” Many of our Elders exclaim, on their return from foreign missions, “How wicked the world has got to be! They are growing worse and worse, and go rapidly from bad to worse.” I have heard them exclaim, “It was astonishing to see how the people could so alter in the course of two or three years!”

On this point I will remark that the Elders rapidly alter one way, and the people of the world alter directly the other way, thus the space between them increases much faster than we are apt to be aware of. Elders who go forth to proclaim the Gospel, unless they do something to clip their faith, or cause them to apostatize from their religion, so that they are left in the dark, are generally on the increase in improvement, grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth, and gather to themselves more knowledge than they had before they went on their mission. They are advancing in the principles of truth, while the world are receding from the truth they once had; consequently, it appears to the Elders, and to those who go from the Saints into the world, that it is growing wicked faster than it really is, and the Elders do not always realize that their advancement in truth produces much of the appearance of the great distance between them and the world.

If many of this congregation knew, if they had eyes to see, and ears to hear, they would often be ashamed of their conduct, when contrasted with all the light that has been manifested in the Gospel of salvation revealed to us. We have heard Joseph the Prophet preach, have seen his face, and have the revelations given through him, and the manifestations of the Holy Spirit; we have knowledge, we have the living oracles in our midst, and with all this let me say to the Latter-day Saints that they stand upon slippery places. They do not all fully know the paths they walk in, they do not all perfectly understand their own ways and doings, many do not altogether realize their own weaknesses, do not understand the power of the devil and how liable they are to be decoyed one hair’s breadth, to begin with, from the line of truth. They are first drawn by a fine line, in a little time it becomes a cord, it soon increases to a strong rope, and from that to a cable; thus it grows from the size of a spider’s web, in comparison.

Let a Saint diverge from the path of truth and rectitude, in the least, no matter in what, it may be in a deal with his neighbor, in lusting after that which is not in his possession, in neglecting his duty, in having an overanxiety for something he should not be anxious about, in being a little distrustful with regard to the providences of God, in entertaining a misgiving in his heart and feeling with regard to the hand of the Lord towards him, and his mind will begin to be darkened.

Brother Amasa Lyman has just observed, that some say, “I suppose we must acknowledge the hand of God in all things.” There is no supposition with as me to that matter, we can do as we please about it; but we have to confess or be chastised until we know and understand how things are, and realize that the Lord God is with us, in our midst and around about us, by His angels, by His Spirit, and by His eye which searches and researches our hearts. If He is not here in person, He is conversant with our actions, and scans every thought of our hearts and every action of our lives. He is in our midst, and we might as well begin to think about it first as last.

If there is a misgiving in the heart with regard to confidence in our God, do you not see that there is a chance for one to slide a hair’s breadth from the truth? This gives power to the enemy, and if we are decoyed in the least from the path of duty, do you not perceive that it produces darkness? Do you not understand that, in your experience? Yes, every Saint does. If you become dark, do you not know that the enemy has still greater power to decoy you further from the path? Then how soon the people would go to destruction, how soon they would go to ruin!

I will tell you what this people need, with regard to preaching; you need, figuratively, to have it rain pitchforks, tines downwards, from this pulpit, Sunday after Sunday. Instead of the smooth, beautiful, sweet, still, silk-velvet-lipped preaching, you should have sermons like peals of thunder, and perhaps we then can get the scales from our eyes. This style is necessary in order to save many of this people. Give them smooth preaching, and let them glide along in their own desires and wishes, and they will follow after the traditions of their forefathers and the inclinations of their own wicked hearts, and give way to temptation, little by little, until, by and by, they are ripe for destruction.

If I could take away the veil, and let you see how things really are, you would then know just as well as I know, and I know them just as well as any man on the face of the earth need to. I would not ask for a particle more knowledge upon that subject than I now have in my possession, were I capable of imparting it to this people, until we improve upon what knowledge we already possess. I know the condition of this people, I know what induces them to do as they do, I know the secret springs to their actions, how they are beset, the temptations and evils that are around them, and how liable they are to be drawn away, consequently, I tell you, brethren, that you need to have the thunders of the Almighty and the forked lightnings of truth sent upon you, to wake you up out of your lethargy.

Some may say, “Brother Brigham always chastises us.” But what do I tell you? I say that if there are any Saints on earth they are here, if the kingdom of God is on the earth it is here, if Jesus is not known here, he is not known upon the earth, if his Father is not known here, He is not known upon the earth. What of all this? If we have this knowledge greater is the shame, unless we live to it, and greater will be our condemnation. The people should be preached to, but they need something besides smooth teaching. Comparatively speaking, they should have their ears cuffed and be roughly handled, be kicked outdoors, and then kicked in again. Most of the Elders who preach in this stand ought to be kicked out of it, and then kicked into it again, until they overhaul themselves and find out what is the matter with them.

The mass of the people are all asleep together, craving after the world, running after wickedness, desiring this, that, and the other, which is not for their good.

You hear many talk about having made sacrifices; if I had that word in my vocabulary I would blot it out. I have never yet made what I call sacrifices; in my experience I know nothing about making them. We are here in this wicked world, a world shrouded in darkness, principally led, directed, governed, and controlled, from first to last, by the power of our common foe—him who was opposed to Jesus Christ and to his kingdom—the son of the morning—the devil. Lucifer has almost the entire control over the whole earth, rules and governs the children of men and leads them on to destruction. He has millions and millions of agents; they are in every place, the air is full of them and the earth is full of them. You cannot go anywhere without finding some of them, unless it is among a few of the Saints who have faith to turn them out of their hearts and affections, out of their houses, and then out of their midst.

There are a few such places on the earth, but they are very few, compared with all the world beside. The world is drunk with its own folly, with its own wickedness.

I know that I spoke very harshly to you last Sabbath, but that does not hurt the oil and the wine; no, not one particle. There was not a Latter-day Saint then within hearing of my voice but that his soul shouted, “Amen, thank God, glory, hallelujah.” You need such preaching as was that, from day to day, until the rubbish cleaving to you is swept away, until your minds are upon something beside the follies and vanities of the world. You have much to learn. Do you think I was too rash last Sunday? (Voices, no.) Even then I told you only a small portion of the truths pertaining to the subjects touched upon.

I cannot tell you the whole truth, for you are not in a condition to receive it; my voice is not powerful enough to pierce your hearts; I alone am not able to remove the scales from your eyes that you may see things as they are. I can talk to you here, and diffuse my spirit among you, so far as you will receive it. If I have the Spirit of the Lord, and your hearts are soft, I can impart to you what the Lord has for you through me; that is all I can do. I have to cling to my Father, to my God, and to my religion every day, yes, every moment of my life; have to plead with Him and center all my confidence, hopes, and faith in Him, and so should you.

There is one thing I desire of this people more than everything else on this earth, more than gold, silver, houses, lands, and the riches of this world which are not to compare with it, and that is that this people would so live as to know the Father and the Son, to know the will of God concerning them, and to be filled with the Holy Ghost, and have the visions of eternity opened to them. Then my soul would be satisfied; that is all I could ask of them. I do not care whether we have half rations, or quarter rations, that is a matter I care but little about. I would rather that this people should starve to death in the mountains, than to have the Lord Almighty hand us over to a cursed, infernal mob. I would rather go down to the grave in peace than to fight a mob, unless the Lord would give me enough Saints to fight and kill the poor devils; in such case I wish to live and fight them. But I never want to see a mob again drive and tread under foot the Saints.

While brother Amasa was addressing the people, I admired the principles he taught, and I can apply them to myself, so far as they pertain to me; but I do not know how my little boys and girls, now growing up in our midst, could understand what is in the world, unless we sent them forth so that they could contrast one class with the other. For my part I do not need a mob to aid me to purify myself; I do not require to hear another man take the name of God in vain, in order to complete my experience concerning profanity. I have no occasion for the devil and his imps, nor to see the face of a wicked man while I live, in order to make me more acquainted with their power. I will be perfectly satisfied with the glory and crown I shall receive, if I have no further acquaintance or experience with the power of the devil, so far as I am concerned.

If I have to pass through scenes of trouble, sorrow, and affliction, if we have to fight the devil, and I have the power to live, I pray my Father in heaven, in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, to let me live to enjoy this privilege. If I, of necessity, must pass through war and bloodshed, toils and labors, let me live, for I love to fight the devils, but I love to overcome them. If I had the power I would doubtless use them up, perhaps to the injury of the Saints. Why? Because if you do not know wickedness you cannot enjoy the happiness God has in store for you.

Paul asks, “Shall we sin that righteousness may abound?” No, there is plenty of sin without your sinning. We can have all the experience we need, without sinning ourselves, therefore we will not sin that good may come, we will not transgress the law of God that we may know the opposite. There is no necessity for such a course, for the world is full of transgression, and this people need not mingle up with it.

Can you discern between the righteous and the wicked here? You know I have spoken of a certain class of men who frequent our law shops, and every other wicked hole they can get into; can they discern the difference between those who love the law of God and those who despise it? No. The vilest sinner on the earth who will come with a bland countenance, using the airs that belong to the etiquette of the day, you receive as a very fine man, a beautiful gentleman. Do you not know that you need the Spirit of the Almighty to look through a man and discern what is in his heart, while his face smiles upon you and his words flow as smoothly as oil? If you had the power of God upon you, you might see the sword lurking within him, and that, if he had the power, he would plunge it in your heart and destroy you from the earth. I meet many such men in these streets, and in the houses round about.

Do you not know that Jesus told the truth when he said, “They that are not for us are against us?“A great many have our patronage and influence, benefit by our forbearance, and enrich themselves with our cash, but when that is gone, what shall we hear next? “Wipe them from the earth, put them out of existence and let the earth not be infested with them any longer, for they have no money, no influence for us now; they cannot patronize and promote us, therefore destroy them from the earth.” That is the spirit of the devil which reigns in every man who is not a Saint at heart. This wicked principle may lay dormant, to all appearance, year after year, lurking in the flesh, until it increases to such a degree that the flesh has overcome the spirit of light which God implanted in them, when it exhibits itself, and then the cry is, “Destroy the Apostles of Jesus and every one of his true followers; root out that clan which will destroy us unless we destroy them; root them out, that we be no more pestered with them.”

Suppose one of my brethren had a large family connection, had many brothers and sisters near and dear to him, as near his feelings as a child is to its father’s or mother’s, and that this blood connection, embracing all the friends he had upon earth, should, on a night so dark that they could not see one inch before their eyes, mount their horses, put spurs to them, and start at the top of their speed, on a road that neither they nor their horses had ever traveled one inch upon, would he not cry at the top of his voice, “Where are you going?” Would he not say, “You are riding in the dark and on a road which you do not know?” They might put spurs in their horses and reply, “We will perform the journey.” You are the individuals I am referring to. Let anyone see people hastening to the brink of an awful precipice, hundreds of feet in depth, and before they are aware of it, about to leap into the abyss, what feelings would move the individual looking upon such a sight? Would he not wish to take them by the hair of their heads, if they would not stop, and save them if possible?

So I feel about you. I feel like taking men and women by the hair of their heads, figuratively speaking, and slinging them miles and miles, and like crying, stop, before you ruin yourselves! But I have not the power to do this; I can talk to you a little and can beseech you to stop your mad career, and can ask your Father in heaven to give you the light of His Spirit, and when you receive that you will find every word that I said last Sabbath to be true. There are men here, by the score, who do not know their right hands from their left, so far as the principle of justice is concerned. Does our High Council? No, for they will let men throw dust in their eyes, until you cannot find the hundredth millionth part of an ounce of common sense in them. You may go to the Bishops’ courts, and what are they? A set of old grannies. They cannot judge a case pending between two old women, to say nothing of a case between man and man. We have already dropped many of them, and we are picking up young men. We will train them, and tell them to serve God or apostatize.

The time is coming when justice will be laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet; when we shall take the old broad sword and ask, “Are you for God?” and if you are not heartily on the Lord’s side, you will be hewn down. I feel like reproving you; you are like a wild ass that rears and almost breaks his neck before he will be tamed. It is so with this people.

Have we not given you salt enough to season you? You have been sweetened with velvet lips, until you do not know salt from anything else. Will you hear now? If I have strength and continue to feel like it, I will come here and train you every Sabbath, and I wish my sermons to be like the raining of pitchforks point foremost, until you awake out of your sleep and find out whether you are Saints or not. We have a great many gars, sharks, sheepheads, lamper eels, and every other kind of fish that is to be found, in the pond; the Gospel net has gathered them up, and what may you expect from such a mess? You may expect the best and worst of all God’s creation mingled here together. The foolish will turn from correct principles, go over to the wicked, and cease to be righteous, so that they can go to hell with the fools. I wish to have every man who rises to speak from this stand, lay aside the smooth tongue and velvet lips and let his words be like melted lead, that they may sink into the hearts of the people.

Now do not think that I have cast you off; you are my brethren, if I have any. If there are any Saints on the face of the earth they are here. I am one with you, and if you turn round and say, “Brother Brigham ought to live according to his preaching,” I answer, I live so now that you cannot keep up with me. Do not fret yourselves, I am ready to be weighed in the balance in all my ways, with any of you. Learn to live your religion day by day, and do right all the time. Let us strive to get more light, more of the grace and power of God, that we may increase therein, which is my prayer continually. May God bless you: Amen.

A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, February 24, 1856.

So far as I am a judge of the true spirit of the Gospel, I think that we have had that spirit manifested this morning, by brother Joseph Hovey, in his expression of his feelings, and that too in his own natural way. He is a blacksmith, carpenter, stone cutter, wood chopper; or anything else within his power, the particular channel of his operations depending entirely upon counsel. Some of the brethren present are no doubt apprised of the mission which brother Hovey has been engaged in during this present winter; they may also be apprised that his course was found fault with when he was in the county of Utah, and more especially while in a place called Payson. While I was in Fillmore the brethren wrote to me concerning the doings and sayings of brother Hovey, and in searching to know the ground of the complaint against him, I learned that it amounted to simply this—“If brother Hovey is let alone, the people will confess their sins.”

I wrote back to them, inquiring whether they thought there was any danger of any persons confessing to more sin than he was guilty of; that if they could find out that any had confessed to more stealing, swearing, lying, and swindling, than they were really guilty of, it would be well to give brother Hovey a word of caution, and to tell him to hold up a little and not cause the innocent to belie themselves. At the same time I said, that I thought there was not much danger of that, and that they might go on in that course for sometime longer, and not then have made all the confessions that they ought to.

I asked brother Hovey to preach today, and to frankly express his feelings as they really existed, that I might have a chance to understand some of his “Mormonism.” I wish to see the Elders get up here and manifest their spirits, and speak as they feel when they are alone in their meditations. Let us know how you feel, and what you think. We can form some kind of an idea how a man feels by looking at him, but if you wish a man to portray himself faithfully you must get him to talk, and I will insure that the organs of speech will show out the true state of the mind, sooner or later, and reveal the fruit of his heart. No man can hide it if he is allowed to talk; he will be sure to manifest his true feelings.

Brother Hovey has referred to several incidents in his experience. I will refer to what I witnessed no longer ago than yesterday, in the courtroom. A lawyer rose to make his plea before the jury; he took up the laws of Utah, which are strict and pointed in reference to lawyers making pleas, binding them to fairly array the facts in the case, whether they are for or against their clients, and he was so serious, so religious, so pious, and so honest, that he appealed to high heaven to witness his honesty before the jury. When he had induced the jury to believe that he was honest, he stood there and misrepresented the merits of the case, for half an hour at a stretch, in regular lawyer style.

Men will portray what is in their hearts, when they talk freely, and they cannot keep from it. This is the way in which the Lord will exhibit the hearts of the children of men. Will He take out their hearts and show them to the people? No, for that would not exhibit the fruit of their hearts; but He will draw them into circumstances which will compel them to manifest what is in them. Let a man rise up here and talk, and freely express his thoughts, and you can judge of what spirit he is.

We have just heard the words which give a manifestation of the spirit of one of our missionaries, and I say now, as I have said before, I wish we had hundreds of such missionaries throughout this Territory, preaching to the people, and firing up their hearts with the spirit of honesty, so that they would entirely quit pilfering, lying, and deceiving, and deal honestly with one another, with themselves, and with their God, and be industrious and prudent, and pay attention to their business, instead of loafing about the streets. I wish we had one hundred such missionaries in this city to get up prayer meetings, preaching meetings, and evening meetings in every ward. What for? To draw away that filthy, nasty mess which assembles at the corner of this public square. For a week or two past, that courthouse has been thronged with men, and it is darker than the bowels of hell. If you ask me how I know, I answer, I have been there and seen for myself; I have understood how they felt and tried the spirits, and I saw who were there. It is a shame for men to be found loafing about in such places, where there is contention, and quarrelling, and every stratagem that can be used to deceive juries and witnesses, and lying before them with all the grace and sanctity of a Saint, pretending to be one. Such a place is darker to me than midnight darkness.

There is not a jury which has occupied seats in that courthouse that comprehends the full scope of truth; they are put there and then their minds are beclouded, dust is thrown into their eyes, and they do not fully know truth from error, light from darkness, what is of God from what is not of God.

As I have already said, a lawyer commenced his plea yesterday, by appealing to high heaven to witness his honesty before the jury, and this he did to decoy their feelings, to throw them off their guard, and in all this he was true to his client, in accordance with the approved mode of the Gentiles. He has been a Gentile lawyer for many years before he entered this Church, and therefore I do not think that he really merits such severe censure as he otherwise would for taking the Gentile shoot so faithfully, as the strong power of tradition and habit still enfolds him. Instead of setting before the jury the true merits of the case, and nothing else, he never touched upon them, but avoided them at every turn and threw dust in their eyes, that they might give an unrighteous decision.

Elders of Israel also throng such a place, and that too when no spirit reigns there but the devil’s spirit, and unless enough righteous Elders go in to purify the atmosphere and overbalance the power of evil, you can get nothing from that den but the principles of hell. There is not a righteous person, in this community, who will have difficulties that cannot be settled by arbitrators, the Bishop’s Court, the High Council, or by the 12 Referees (as provided in Resolution No. 4, page 390 of Utah Laws), far better and more satisfactorily than to contend with each other in law courts, which directly tends to destroy the best interests of the community, and to lead scores of men away from their duties, as good and industrious citizens. Take from one to two hundred men and detain them in a courtroom week after week, just look at it!! How many men have been detained at that courthouse during the past week? Will a hundred fill the number? No. Will the time of one hundred and fifty men, for the past six days, indemnify this community for the wasted time that has been spent there in trying to decide one case, that any boy 15 years old, possessed of good common sense, and having the spirit of truth within him, could have decided in one hour? I tell you that the time of one hundred and fifty men, for six days, will not supply the loss to this community which has been incurred to satisfy the lustful, wicked, cursed, hellish appetites of professed brethren, in striving to cheat their neighbors, by employing lawyers to deceive or lie for them, which are synonymous terms in the eyes of justice, and by bringing in witnesses to screen the guilty and deceive a jury, whereby they are liable to give a wrong verdict.

I am making these remarks for your benefit, if you will be benefited by them. I tell you that a cricket war, a grasshopper war, or an Indian war, would not begin to be so direful as what you would have to pass through, were it not for your ignorance. If you are willfully ignorant you will have to feel the lash, but if you are innocently ignorant, and do the best you know how, you may be excused.

Does the Lord love your conduct when you drag each other before the ungodly? When you run after difficulties, contentions, broils, and strifes? Do you think He has fellowship with your conduct in such things? No, you do not. Do you suppose that Jesus Christ has? No. Do you believe that angels and good men can fellowship your conduct? You do not, for one moment. There is not a man or woman in this house, whether Saint or sinner, Jew or Gentile, bond or free, black or white, that can so believe for a moment.

Do you believe that your consciences can be clear in the day of retribution, if you spend your time for naught, and run after the filthiness of the wicked? Do you believe that, in so doing, you can stand in the great day of account with a clear conscience? You cannot. Then why, in the name of common sense, do you tag after the devil and his imps?

Old greyheaded men, who ought to be fathers in Israel, were empanelled as a jury on the case I have alluded to, and what were they after? The fog, the froth, and spawn of hell, and they feast upon it, men who do not know their right hands from their left, with regard to the influences of the Spirit of God. Might they not have known better? Yes, if they had taken the course which Joseph Hovey has taken. If they would walk humbly before God and know His will, they would go to work and get stone and timber, and work at repairing their fences preparatory to raising grain, potatoes, and other articles of food, instead of following after courts and the nonsense, wickedness, and lying associated with them.

Do I say that lying is practiced in those places? Yes, often from beginning to end. Men will take a solemn oath that they will tell the truth, in the name of Israel’s God, and nothing but the truth, and then, if they have a prejudice against Mr. A or B, they will tell their story to suit themselves, and if possible crush an innocent person. The juries are liable to be deceived, where there is so much darkness, and the whole posse will go to hell, and I will say it in the name of Jesus Christ.

You men who follow after such a course of things as I refer to, I would not give the ashes of a rye straw for the whole of you, jurymen, witnesses, and every other person who countenances such a place. It is a cage of unclean birds, a den and kitchen of the devil, prepared for hell, and I am going to warn you of it. Some of you wondered why I sent Thomas Bullock to take your names; I wanted to know the men who were coaxing hell into our midst, for I wish to send them to China, to the East Indies, or to where they cannot get back, at least for five years. Who do we wish to stay at home? Such men as Joseph Hovey, men who will pay attention to making fences, tilling the soil, and providing for their families, those who will live their religion at home. But we will send off the poor curses on a mission, and then the devil may have them, and we do not care how soon they apostatize, after they get as far as California.

You may think my remarks are severe upon the lawyers here, but the most of them take a course which is highly censurable, and you may see greyheaded men running after them, and asking, “Can you call me up as a witness, or put me on the jury?”—in order that they may get a dollar or two. Would I go there for money? No. There is not an honest man in this community would go there merely for money, or would plead law unless it was demanded at his hands, by the principles of justice, to prevent the innocent from being wronged and abused. No principle would ever lead an honest man into a courtroom, only to preserve the innocent from being rode down and destroyed.

To see professed brethren, old and young, idling away their time in and around courtrooms, proves them to have little or no love for their religion, and that they care but little about their God. I would like to see a strictly honest community, if we can have one, and then there would be no differences of opinion brought before a Gentile court—never, never! Every difficulty would be settled amicably, without ever calling upon a court. I am ashamed of many of you; it is a disgrace for men who profess to be men of dignity and character—men who have been judges in the supreme court of their country, to condescend to the mean, low-lived calling of a pettifogger, and miserable tools at that. I am ashamed for such persons, their conduct is a disgrace to them, and to the name of “Mormon.”

I wish we had in our midst thousands and millions of such men as Joseph Hovey, I would then bid defiance to all the powers of darkness. But while we have hundreds and thousands of men, whom we hold in fellowship, who would rather take off their hats and scrape their shoes to a servant of the devil, and black his boots, I tell you we are in danger.

Men who love corruption, contention, and broils, and who seek to make them, I curse you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; I curse you, and the fruits of your lands shall be smitten with mildew, your children shall sicken and die, your cattle shall waste away, and I pray God to root you out from the society of the Saints. To observe such conduct as many lawyers are guilty of, stirring up strife among peaceable men, is an outrage upon the feelings of every honest, law-abiding man. To sit among them is like sitting in the depths of hell, for they are as corrupt as the bowels of hell, and their hearts are as black as the ace of spades. I have known them for years; I know where they were begotten and by whom, and how they were brought forth, and the history of their lives. They love sin, and roll it under their tongues as a sweet morsel, and will creep around like wolves in sheep’s clothing, and fill their pocket’s with the fair earnings of their neighbors, and devise every artifice in their power to reach the property of the honest, and that is what has caused these courts. I say, may God Almighty curse them from this time henceforth, and let all the Saints in this house say, Amen [a unanimous Amen from 3,000 persons resounded through the house], for they are a stink in the nostrils of God and angels, and in the nostrils of every Latter-day Saint in this Territory.

We have been driven from the face of man into the wilderness, and now the poor devils follow us to stir up strife, and to produce the spawn of hell, in which they delight to live and upon which they feed. And simple ones in this community will beg of them, “Cannot I be on the grand jury? Cannot I get a little to do in the court?” You are fools; God will never pay you; all the pay you will receive will be from the devil, and it will be miserable pay.

This I say to lawyers and to all who will run after strife, and I say it in honesty and soberness before high heaven, before my Father in heaven, before Jesus Christ His Son, and before the holy angels.

To see lawyers, as I saw them yesterday; strive to make the jury believe them honest, and then throw dust in their eyes, who will reward you for this? The devil, when he gets you in deep suffering and trouble, for there he will leave you; and say that he has no more use for you. You would do better to labor for the Lord, and you would get better pay. And the people of this Territory will make money by paying their honest debts, and gain property and be blessed in their basket and in their store, in their fields and in their crops, in their flocks and herds, in their wives and children, while the withering touch of the Almighty will be upon them if they practice wickedness.

Keep away from courthouses; no decent man will go there unless he goes as a witness, or is in some manner compelled to. I know that many are obliged to go, but those who creep around to see what is going on, let me tell you, the devil has possession of them. I wish such persons to go to California, if they wish to. I counsel you to keep away from courts, we have got the names of those who have attended that courtroom, and we will send those characters on long missions, for we want to get rid of them, and we do not care whether they apostatize or not.

If the world complain of this, say I, if you have not sense enough to know the difference between an honest man and a devil, you must run the risk of it. I could always discern the difference, and if you have not insight enough to know when they tell the truth and when they lie, you have to run the same chance that we have. People abroad may say, “Why don’t you send us all good men?” Do you believe them? No, you do not, when we send them. We wish them to stay here, only those whom it is necessary to have go, but we have no business here for those poor miserable devils. I call you miserable, because the Spirit of the Almighty has no fellowship for you; your names are written with ours here, and also in the Lamb’s book of life, as I have often told you, where they will remain until you sin against the Holy Ghost. Angels have no fellowship for you, neither have I. Now go and prove yourselves, and if you desire to be Saints you have an opportunity. Were it not for your ignorance, there would be a severing between the righteous and the wicked. I would not endure what I am obliged to endure, whether I am righteous or not. I would make a scattering among this people, and make the wicked leave forthwith.

I wanted to give you this brief exhortation. You may say that I have talked rather hard, but I do not care what you say about it, not one particle. I will tell you what I think about the matter, if you do not stop your wickedness we will lay judgment to the line and righteousness to the plummet, and I tell you that the hailstorm that will be around you will sweep away the refuge of lies and all liars.

I am not afraid of all hell nor of all the world, in laying judgment to the line, when the Lord says so. Now, then, behave yourselves, you old grayheaded know-nothings, you are doted; you are—shall I say hardshells? No, you are poor old softshell fogies, that a few pounds of tea and sugar will buy.

I feel as ready as any man to honor gray hairs, but I also believe in the old proverb which reads that “a wise child is better than an old and foolish king.” We do not want any such men to go to courts. When they want you to sit on a jury, tell them to judge the case themselves, and you keep away and mind your own business. Let me ask you, is there a man obliged to go into court and sit on a jury? No. Our law will not oblige him to do it, only on certain conditions. You can get rid of doing so, you are there because you love to be there. You suck down the drink that is there, eat the food that is there, and sup the broth that is there, because it is of hell and you like it better than you do the Saints, and the sustenance of the Saints. May God bless the honest in heart, and separate the wicked and unrighteous from them, and curse the latter class from this time henceforth. Amen.

A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, February 17, 1856.

We have just heard brother Morley’s testimony concerning the religion that we have embraced. The extent of knowledge, incorporated within the salvation extended to the children of men, will vastly exceed the researches of the human family, and when they have passed the veil, they will then understand that they have but just commenced to learn. Brother Morley says he never expects to be too old to learn; I believe that doctrine. That which is to be learned in the eternities of the Gods pertains to life, and that life is exhibited to the human family in the degree which they are capacitated to receive it, that they may be taught as we teach our children, that they may learn the first rudiments of eternal lives.

Could we live to the age of Methuselah, and eat the fruits which the earth would produce in her strength, as did Adam and Eve before the transgression, and spend our lives in searching after the principles of eternal life, we would find, when one eternity had passed to us, that we had been but children thus far, babies just commencing to learn the things which pertain to the eternities of the Gods.

We might ask, when shall we cease to learn? I will give you my opinion about it; never, never. If we continue to learn all that we can, pertaining to the salvation which is purchased and presented to us through the Son of God, is there a time when a person will cease to learn? Yes, when he has sinned against God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Ghost—God’s minister; when he has denied the Lord, defied Him and committed the sin that in the Bible is termed the unpardonable sin—the sin against the Holy Ghost. That is the time when a person will cease to learn, and from that time forth, will descend in ignorance, forgetting that which they formerly knew, and decreasing until they return to the native element, whether it be one thousand or in one million years, or during as many eternities as you can count. They will cease to increase, but must decrease, until they return to the native element. These are the only characters who will ever cease to learn, both in time and eternity.

A number of items occupy my mind pertaining to the Saints, I may say, a great many more than I could tell in one day, in one month, or in one year. Those who are well acquainted with me, know something of the action of my mind. To explain it, let me say to you, if you wish to tell me a long story, one that will take you two hours to get through with, a key word will at once give me an understanding of all you could say, in that long time. All who are acquainted with me know this. Bring any business matter before me, and the brethren with whom I am associated in business transactions, know that I need but a word to know the nature of it. So it is with regard to my preaching to the people. If I could put into them the same spirit and understanding which I have, they could see and understand things without a long detail of explanation. But this is not the case with all the people, therefore I am, in a manner, compelled to use the time I do in speaking to them upon the various subjects, at least so far as I can possibly spare it. If I were disposed to, I could train myself to get up here and take a text and explain it, and dwell upon one little item, just as long as any other man, but what is the use of it? Upon this principle it would take us more eternities than we shall ever see, to learn what we have to learn, consequently, when I speak to you I speak the few words I have to say, as I already have upon the subject of intelligence and learning.

We shall never cease to learn, unless we apostatize from the religion of Jesus Christ. Then we shall cease to increase, and will continue to decrease and decompose, until we return to our native element. Can you understand that? It is a subject worthy the attention of the eminent divines of Christendom, and they may search into it until they are tired, and still know comparatively little about it, while I preach it to you in a few words.

I will here introduce a subject that we all should be acquainted with, I allude to morality. Have you been taught morality? Yes, every one of you have been taught not to use profane language, to be honest in all your dealings, to be courteous to all at home and abroad, and to be strictly upright on all occasions. All this you have been taught from your youth.

Many think that all which was taught them by their fathers and mothers, schoolteachers and priests, ought to be removed, laid aside, dispensed with, and that they should begin anew to learn every principle of civilization. This is a great mistake. I make these remarks because I have heard Elders preach that there was not a sectarian priest—not a man living upon the earth, or that had lived upon it, neither a reformer nor a professed Christian, from the time the Priesthood was taken from the earth until Joseph Smith came, but what went straight to hell fire when he died. Yes, I have heard them preach just as absurdly as that. I have heard many say, I will dispense with this, and I will dispense with that; and many of our Elders actually dispense with praying, and say it is nothing but a sectarian notion. Were you taught by your fathers to pray? “Yes, but that is a sectarian notion.” Were you taught not to lie? “Yes, but that was a sectarian notion.” Were you taught not to pilfer? “Yes, but we think, we won’t say it aloud, it is nothing but a sectarian notion, and we have to learn everything over again.” This is a mistaken idea. There is only one thing which the people lack on this point, in order that their traditions and former education may do them good, and that is to know how to sever the good from the bad, how to assimilate to themselves every good trait of character they have seen in their fathers and mothers, teachers and neighbors, and every good thing that has been taught them from their youth, and how to gather to themselves every good principle they have been traditionated in, and store that up as their individual property, and then dispense with every erroneous idea and every inconsistency. Many things which have been taught us in our childhood, or in our early lives, are truly inconsistent; lay them aside and cleave to the traditions which actually tend to virtue, holiness, chastity, loveliness, kindness, honesty, and truthfulness in every respect, and gather all the good into our own storehouse, and let each one say, that belongs to me.

Some imagine that they must begin and unlearn the whole of their former education, but I say, cling to all the good that you have learned, and discard the bad. This leads me into a field, the gate to which I wish to have closed up, locked up, and passed by; I do not wish to say anything about it. I will say this much, however, if there are not all kinds of fish in this Gospel net, I should like to see the kind that is not in it, and I think that would be something new under the sun.

Treasure up in your hearts that which tends to virtue. You say, “I want an explanation upon virtue.” I wish I could so give it to you, that you could understand it when I am done talking; I will do my best to do so. Learn the will of God, keep His commandments and do His will, and you will be a virtuous person. Can you understand that? If you can know the will of God and do it, you will be a virtuous person. You say, “Perhaps I should be led to do that which is contrary to my former traditions, and to do that which is really wrong.” No matter anything about that; if you can know the will of God and do it, you will be a virtuous person, and will receive knowledge upon knowledge, and wisdom upon wisdom, and you will increase in understanding, in faith, and in the light of eternity, and know how to discriminate between the right and the wrong. I know the people say that they do not understand, that they do not know what the Lord requires of them. I say keep the commandments of the Lord. We were taught that the commandments of the Lord were this, that, and the other, in our former lives, but when we can know and understand, by the revelations of Jesus Christ, the will of our Father in heaven and do His will, He will make us pure and holy, and fit for the society of angels and Himself. Will we not be virtuous then? Yes, in the highest sense. Many say, “I don’t know the will of the Lord, I wish I did. I do really wish I knew what the Lord requires of me, but I do not know, and do not know how to find out.”

I will now refer you to the scripture where it reads that we shall be judged according to the deeds done in the body. If I do not know the will of my Father, and what He requires of me in a certain transaction, if I ask Him to give me wisdom concerning any requirement in life, or in regard to my own course, or that of my friends, my family, my children, or those that I preside over, and get no answer from Him, and then do the very best that my judgment will teach me, He is bound to own and honor that transaction, and He will do so to all intents and purposes. I have often reflected with regard to people knowing the mind and will of the Lord by revelation. My thoughts turn within me in a moment, in my reflections upon what has hitherto been, and that which actually now comes before me, concerning the Saints in the last days and in the former days. For instance, Jesus, when upon the earth, called twelve men to be witnesses that he was the Christ. Then, there were a great many others who believed that fact, but he showed to those twelve men things that he showed to none else; he convinced them in a degree that he convinced no other person, that is, in some instances.

My mind then reflects, in a moment, did Jesus have the power to make his disciples believe that he was the Son of God by raising the dead, by laying hands on the sick, by walking on water, by multiplying the particles of bread and fish set before the multitude, or by any other miracle? Did he convince, and prove to twelve men that he was the Christ, by the miracles he performed? He did not. He did not convince them by one or all of the acts, which were called miracles, that he performed upon the earth. I know that many think that they are a great proof, that it is astonishing that people will not believe, when they read over the history and miracles performed in the days of Jesus and his Apostles. Let me tell you that if his Apostles were here in this our day, traveling through the country, raising the dead, laying hands on the sick, casting out devils, walking upon the water, or doing whatever they might be able to perform, it would all be no proof to the people that they were sent of God. I know that some of you think this is strange, and if so, I have strange views upon these subjects. It is no proof to me, it is no proof to any person else, and often serves to throw persons, relying upon it, into temptation, and to cast them still further into darkness. “Have you any proof of this?” Yes, right here in our midst. Men who have professedly seen the most, known and understood the most, in this Church, and who have testified in the presence of large congregations, in the name of Israel’s God, that they have seen Jesus, &c., have been the very men who have left this kingdom, before others who had to live by faith. I have a witness right before me, and I am fearful every time that a man or woman comes to me and relates great visions, saying, “I have had a vision, an angel came and told me thus and so; the visions of eternity were opened, and I saw thus and so; I saw my destiny; I saw what the brethren would do with me; I foresaw this and that.” Look out for that man or woman going to the devil.

I ask, is there a reason for men and women being exposed more constantly and more powerfully, to the power of the enemy, by having visions than by not having them? There is and it is simply this—God never bestows upon His people, or upon an individual, superior blessings without a severe trial to prove them, to prove that individual, or that people, to see whether they will keep their covenants with Him, and keep in remembrance what He has shown them. Then the greater the vision, the greater the display of the power of the enemy. And when such individuals are off their guard they are left to themselves, as Jesus was. For this express purpose the Father withdrew His spirit from His Son, at the time he was to be crucified. Jesus had been with his Father, talked with Him, dwelt in His bosom, and knew all about heaven, about making the earth, about the transgression of man, and what would redeem the people, and that he was the character who was to redeem the sons of earth, and the earth itself from all sin that had come upon it. The light, knowledge, power, and glory with which he was clothed were far above, or exceeded that of all others who had been upon the earth after the fall, consequently at the very moment, at the hour when the crisis came for him to offer up his life, the Father withdrew Himself, withdrew His Spirit, and cast a veil over him. That is what made him sweat blood. If he had had the power of God upon him, he would not have sweat blood; but all was withdrawn from him, and a veil was cast over him, and he then plead with the Father not to forsake him. “No,” says the Father, “you must have your trials, as well as others.”

So when individuals are blessed with visions, revelations, and great manifestations, look out, then the devil is nigh you, and you will be tempted in proportion to the vision, revelation, or manifestation you have received. Hence thousands, when they are off their guard, give way to the severe temptations which come upon them, and behold they are gone.

You will recollect that I have often told you that miracles would not save a person, and I say that they never should. If I were to see a man come in here this day, and say, “I am the great one whom the Lord has sent,” and cause fire to come down in our sight, through the ceiling that is over our heads, I would not believe any more for that. It is no matter what he does, I cannot believe any more on that account. What will make me believe? What made the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ witnesses? What constituted them Apostles—special witnesses to the world? Was it seeing miracles? No. What was it? The visions of their minds were opened, and it was necessary that a few should receive light, knowledge, and intelligence, that all the powers of earth and hell could not gainsay or compete with. That witness was within them, and yet, after all that was done for them, after all that Jesus showed them, and after all the power of the spirit of revelation which they possessed, you find that one of them apostatized, turned away and sold his Lord and master for thirty pieces of silver, in consequence of his not being firm to his covenant in the hour of darkness and temptation. Another of them was ready to say, “I do not know anything about the Lord Jesus Christ,” and denied him with cursing and swearing.

Some are apt now to say, “I don’t know anything about this Mormonism, I don’t know about the Priesthood.” Did you not once know? “I thought I did.” Did you not once know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet? “I thought I did.” Did you not once know that this was the kingdom of God set up on the earth? “I thought I did, but now I find myself deceived.” What is the reason? Because they give way to temptation; they may have had great light, knowledge, and understanding, the vision of their minds may have been opened and eternity exhibited to their view, but when this is closed up, in proportion to the light given to them, so is the darkness that comes upon them to try them.

Are you going to apostatize when you are in darkness? That is the time to stand firm. I know there are some people right in our midst, only about on a par with good Quakers; say they, “I pray when I feel like it.” Have you prayers in your families? “Yes, sometimes, but I do not always feel like praying, and then I feel as though it would be a sin.”

Let me tell you how you should do. If you feel that you are tempted not to open your mouth to the Lord, and as though the heavens are brass over your heads and the earth iron beneath your feet, and that everything is closed up, and you feel that it would be a sin for you to pray, then walk up to the devil and say, Mr. Devil, get out of my way; and if you feel that you cannot get down upon your knees for fear you will swear, say, get down knees; and if they don’t feel right when they are down, put something under them, some sharp sticks, for instance, and say, knees come to it. “But I dare not open my mouth,” says one, “for fear that I shall swear.” Then say, open, mouth, and now tongue, begin. Cannot I say Father? Yes, I can: I learned that in the days of my youth. Suppose you say, “Father, look in mercy upon me,” do you think the devil is going to snap you up then? If he is still by, and you dare not open your eyes for fear you will see him, tell him to stand there until you have done praying, and bring the body to a state of submission.

I have taught you that the spirit is pure, when it comes into the tabernacle. The tabernacle is subject to sin, but the spirit is not. A great many think that the spirits of the children of men, when they enter the tabernacles, are totally depraved; this is a mistake. They are as holy as the angels; the devil has no power to contaminate them, he only contaminated the bodies. When your spirit wishes to worship the Father, and your body is so full of weakness or wickedness, that you feel as though you could not do it, go to and bring your body into subjection; bow the knee and confess that Jesus is the Christ, if it is darker than 10,000 midnights in your minds; say, “I am for the Lord anyhow.”

That makes me think of a great many Christians in the world; when they are sick and in trouble they will pray; if they are in fear of starving to death for want of food, of freezing through lack of raiment or fuel, then they will call upon the Lord. I know the old Prophet said, “In the day of trouble they draw nigh unto me.” Get out, say I, in my feelings, in regard to such a religion. When I am starving to death it is time for me to be diligent in getting something to eat; when the ship is in a storm, it is then time to look out for the rigging. One may say, “Are you not going down below to pray, in this dreadful storm?” “No, I have no time to pray now, I must take care of the ship.” So it should be with every Latter-day Saint. By and by the storm is over, then let us go down into the cabin and do up our praying in fair weather. That is what “Mormonism” teaches me; and when it is dark as midnight darkness, when there is not one particle of feeling in my heart to pray, shall I then say, I will not pray? No, but get down knees, bend yourselves upon the floor, and mouth, open; tongue, speak; and we will see what will come forth, and you shall worship the Lord God of Israel, even when you feel as though you could not say a word in His favor. That is the victory we have to gain; that is the warfare we have to wage. It is between the spirit and the body; they are inseparably connected. The spirit was not made here, it was organized in eternity, before the worlds were, with the Father and with angels before they came here.

When the devil got possession of the earth, his power extended to that which pertains to the earth. He obtained influence over the children of men in their present organization, because the spirits of men yielded to the temptations of the evil principle that the flesh or body is subjected to. This causes the warfare spoken of by Paul, when he says, “The spirit warreth against the flesh, and the flesh against the spirit.” Paul explained it as well as he could, and I am trying to explain it as well as I can. Often when the spirit would do good the body overcomes, then one does the evil that brings into subjection the spirit. When the spirits of men are subject to the body, and continue to be, and commit the amount of evil necessary to fill up their cup, they are cast out and their names will be blotted out from the Lamb’s Book of Life.

You know that it used to be a great saying, and I might say worthy of all acceptation, among the Methodists, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and my name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” Their names were always there, and never will be blotted out, though they may be up and down, warm, hot, and cool, and though they may sin today, and tomorrow repent of it, but their names will remain in the Lamb’s Book of Life until they sin the sin unto death. And when their names are once blotted out they will never be written there again; they will then be numbered with those who will cease to increase, cease to learn, to multiply, and spread abroad.

But again to the witness, that is on my mind. It was necessary for Jesus Christ to open the heavens to certain individuals that they might be witnesses of his personage, death, sufferings, and resurrection; those men were witnesses. But as Jesus appeared to the two brethren going out of Jerusalem, he was made known to them in the breaking of bread. Now suppose he had eaten that bread, and gone out without opening their eyes, how could they have known that he was the Savior who had been crucified on Mount Calvary? They could not; but in the breaking of bread the vision of their minds was opened. This was necessary in order to constitute safe witnesses, and they returned to Jerusalem and told the brethren what they had seen.

When Jesus came and ate fish broiled upon the coals, and told his disciples to cast the net on the other side of the ship, which they did and got it so full that they could hardly draw it to shore, would they have known that he was the Savior by the catching and hauling in a wonderful quantity of fish, or by anything else that they could have seen with their natural eyes? No, but when he came and ate the broiled fish and honeycomb, he opened their eyes and they saw that he was present with them. He had been back to his Father, had ascended to heaven and again descended, and opened their minds that they might be special witnesses. This is necessary. Did all the disciples, in the days of the Apostles, see the risen Jesus? No. Did all the disciples have visions? No, they did not. Do they now? No. I know the inquiry may arise, can a person be a real disciple without having visions? Yes, but that person cannot be a special witness to the doctrine he believes in.

What makes true disciples to a doctrine, to a religion, to a creed, or to a faith, no matter what it is which is subscribed to? To be faithful adherents to those articles of faith or doctrine taught, makes them true disciples to that religion or doctrine. Then if we have the religion of the Savior we are entitled to the blessings precisely as they were anciently. Not that all had visions, not that all had dreams, not that all had the gift of tongues or the interpretation of tongues, but every man received according to his capacity and the blessing of the Giver. “Well, brother Brigham, have you had visions?” Yes, I have. “Have you had revelations?” Yes, I have them all the time, I live constantly by the principle of revelation. I never received one iota of intelligence, from the letter A to what I now know, I mean that, from the very start of my life to this time, I have never received one particle of intelligence only by revelation, no matter whether father or mother revealed it, or my sister, or neighbor.

No person receives knowledge only upon the principle of revelation, that is, by having something revealed to them. “Do you have the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ?” I will leave that for others to judge. If the Lord requires anything of this people, and speaks through me, I will tell them of it; but if He does not, still we all live by the principle of revelation. Who reveals? Everybody around us; we learn of each other. I have something which you have not, and you have something which I have not; I reveal what I have to you, and you reveal what you have to me. I believe that we are revelators to each other. Are the heavens opened? Yes, to some at times, yet upon natural principles, upon the principle of natural philosophy. “Do you know the will and mind of the Lord?” Yes, concerning this people, and concerning myself. Do every one of my brethren and sisters know the will of the Lord? Let me say to the Latter-day Saints, if they will take up their cross and follow the Lord Jesus Christ in the regeneration, many of them will receive more, know more, and have more of the spirit of revelation than they are aware of; but the revelations which I receive are all upon natural principles. I will give you one revelation which I had in Far West, and it was upon the same principle that it would be for me to have a revelation now, while I am talking to you. It was in the spring of 1838, before there was any disturbance in Far West, or in Davis County.

This people, thought I, are obnoxious to these Missourians, our religion they hate, our Prophet they despise and would like to kill him; they are ignorant of the things of God; they have received the precepts of men and drank deep into them, and are so interwoven with their feelings that the true religion of heaven cannot abide in their minds. Therefore I saw, upon natural principles, that we would be driven from there, but when, I did not know; but still it was plain to me that we would have to leave the State, and that when we did leave it we would not go south, north or west, but east, back to the other States. That I saw upon natural principles, and I knew what those people were afraid of. I then saw that we would go north, as a Church and people, and then to the west, and that when they went to Jackson County, they would go from the west to the east. Mark my words, write them down, this people, as a Church and kingdom, will go from the west to the east. I can tell you more concerning what I saw upon natural principles; I saw that this people would have to gain a foothold, a strength, power, influence, and ability to walk by themselves and to take care of themselves, and power to contend with their enemies and overcome them, upon the same principle that the whites did when they first came to America and overcame the Indians. Many here do not know anything about the history of the early settling of America.

New Orleans was one of the first places settled by the Europeans, after North America was discovered. St. Louis was settled long before New York, and in that region you can find apple trees two feet through, standing among the oaks which are several feet in diameter. Did the first settlers stay there? No, they were either killed or had to leave lest they should be killed, with the exception of a few of the Spaniards who intermarried and lived with the Indians. The whites had to leave and go down the Mississippi River, and went round into Maine and Massachusetts, and when they reached there the Indians said, “You are welcome to this land;” a region where they have thirteen months of winter during each year. I use that extravagant expression in order to convey an idea of the rigor of the climate; but you talk about hard winters and snows here; in comparison many of you know but little about them.

I can pick up scores of Yankees here, who have lived in countries where they could have fine orchards, and live like nabobs, and yet, in the winter season often ride in their sleighs over fences five feet high. I have rode over snow in the eastern states when it was fifteen feet deep. To return to the subject; I said, upon natural principles, that this people had to go to a country that the Gentiles do not desire. I can tell you another thing, when you see any member of this community wishing to withdraw and go to where there is a beautiful country—where it is easy to live, let me tell you that that man will apostatize, or be driven from his favorite locality: write that down brother George as the word of the Almighty.

I have deed after deed of land for which I did not get a cent when I was obliged to leave it. I also built many houses in the States, they are there now, for ought I know; they will fall down some of these days, and I care not how quickly. This people can only gain strength upon the principle of fleeing to a country where the wicked will not live, and where they can gain strength enough to walk by themselves, and to go where they please. This is one of the truths of heaven.

Whenever you see persons from this place on their way to a milder climate, seeking a better home, they will apostatize or be driven from their loved asylum; you may set that down for a fact. I saw that this people would have to flee into the mountains, and into a climate and country that the Gentiles would not desire. If we are not in such a place, I do not know where we will find one more undesirable than this. Do the Saints delight in this locality? No, it is repugnant to their feelings, if they could have their choice. Did I come here by choice, or was it not because I had to come? I like this country, and if it is not bare enough, cold and disagreeable enough, to those who wish to live in ease, we will find another location a little farther off. When we came here we were one thousand miles from everybody. Are you afraid of the Gentiles coming here? Should we all move from this city and give the Gentiles liberty to occupy our houses, our farms, &c., in five years you would not find them here; they could not live here, for this is not a place that would suit them. If this is not the place for us to dwell, it is not to be found in Texas, in California, nor in old or new Mexico. Where is it then? That is not for me nor you to inquire about, but it will not be in any of those places. If we are not now in the right place, the Lord will lead us to where we can gather up our strength, and multiply and sanctify ourselves, so that we can go forth and serve the Lord with clean hands and pure hearts.

I will now tell you a little more about the witnesses; I have strayed some from that point, but I never bind myself while I am with the brethren. If I were preaching abroad in the world I should feel myself somewhat obliged, through custom, to adhere to the wishes and feelings of the people in regard to pursuing the thread of any given subject, but here I feel as free as air. You have gathered the idea from me that it is not the miracles that are performed before a person’s eyes that convince him that one is of God, or of the devil; yet, if the Lord designs that a person should heal the sick, that individual can do so; but is that to convince the wicked that the operator is sent of God? No, it is a blessing on the Saints, and the wicked have nothing to do with it, they have no business to hear of it; that is for the Saints, it is especially for their benefit, and theirs alone. What should the wicked hear? They should hear a man testify that Joseph Smith was and is a Prophet of God, that he was a good man, and that he did plant and establish the kingdom of God on the earth, and we know it. “How shall I know?” says one. By obeying the commandments given to you. The Lord has said, go into the waters of baptism and be baptized for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive a witness that I am telling you the truth. How? By baptism and the laying on of hands alone? No. By seeing the sick healed? No, but by the Spirit that shall come unto you through obedience, which will make you feel like little children, and cause you to delight in doing good, to love your father in heaven and the society of the righteous. Have you malice and wrath then? No, it is taken from you, and you feel like the child in its mother’s lap. You will feel kind to your children, to your brothers and sisters, to your parents and neighbors, and to all around you; you will feel a glow, as of fire, burning within you. And if you open your mouths to talk you will declare ideas which you did not formerly think of; they will flow into your mind, even such as you have not thought of for years. The Scriptures will be opened to you, and you will see how clear and reasonable everything is which this or that Elder teaches you. Your hearts will be comforted, you can lie down and sleep in peace, and wake up with feelings as pleasant as the breezes of summer. This is a witness to you. You ask the Lord to heal you, or your sick child, and if He is disposed to do it He will, and if not, it is all right. If He is disposed to open the heavens and give us a visit from an angel, it is all right. If He is disposed to reveal to us, by natural philosophy, what is going to take place, that is right. If He is disposed to show us by vision where this people are going, and when, all right, and it is right if He withholds that information.

If, by the whispering of a small, still voice, He dictates you to do this or that, showing you which is right and which is wrong, it is all right, and it is right to acknowledge the hand of the Lord in His so doing.

But if you had faith to go out to the graveyard and raise up scores of the dead, that alone would not make you Latter-day Saints, neither if the visions of your minds were opened so as to see the finger of God. What will? Keeping the commandments of the Lord, to walk humbly before your God, and before one another, to cease to do evil and learn to do well, and to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God; then you are a Latter-day Saint, whether you have visions or not.

You may be tried and cast down, and be inclined to say that the Lord has not revealed this or that to you, but that has nothing to do with me or you. I do not desire to dictate the Lord in that matter; all I have to do is to concern myself with the things He requires of me, for it is His right to pursue His own way, and take His own time and course in dealing with me. Can you gain a victory? You can.

As I have told you, your spirit is continually warring with the flesh; your spirit dictates one way, your flesh suggests another, and this brings on the combat. What are you to do? You must bring the hands, the elbows, the feet, the tongue, and all the organs of speech, and every power of the body into subjection.

You must say that you will not swear, nor say or do anything which is wrong. An Elder was cut off from the Church here last Sunday for swearing. What do I think of it? Time and time again have I requested the High Priests and Seventies to cut off such members of their several quorums as will break the Sabbath, and take the name of God in vain. I say sever them from the tree, for these loose and wicked characters hurt the tree. They are like dry limbs, and have become so decayed, that the moisture leaks through them, and seeks its way into the heart of the tree, and, by and by, if we do not cut away such branches, the tree itself will die.

I often think that the High Priests and Seventies dare not walk up strictly to this duty, and I am disposed, at times, to imagine that some of the presidents of those quorums are guilty of such things themselves.

Bring the names of such men to this stand and I will cut them off, if no other person will, and ask no odds of the quorum, and you will go in with me. Bring the names of men who take the name of God in vain and do wrong in any way, and I will not ask for a High Council or Bishop’s Court to deliberate on their case; I will sever them from the tree of life, and ask them what they are going to do about it. They will wither and die.

You may try to make dead limbs grow on the tree, but such a practice is a detriment to the bearing of good fruit.

I want to talk a little more about the witnesses. I am a witness—of what? I have told it here and in Nauvoo. I know what I am a witness of, and I know my Apostleship. I am a witness that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God. What an uproar it would make in the Christian world to say, I am an Apostle of Joseph. Write it down, and write it back to your friends in the east, that I am an Apostle of Joseph Smith. He was a man of God and had the revelations of Jesus Christ, and the words of Jesus Christ to the people. He did build and establish the kingdom of God on earth, and through him the Lord Almighty again restored the Priesthood to the children of men.

Brethren, I am a witness of that; not by my laying hands on the sick and they being healed, nor by the revelations which are given of him in the Bible, but by receiving the same Spirit and witness which the ancients received; by the visions of the heavens being opened to my mind; by my understanding that which is revealed in the Book of Mormon, and that which Joseph revealed as comprised in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants.

I am a witness that those are the revelations of the Lord through Joseph Smith, in this the last dispensation for the gathering of the people; and all who reject my testimony will go to hell, so sure as there is one, no matter whether it be hot or cold; they will incur the displeasure of the Father and of the Son.

I am a witness of this; and all who will hear the voice of the servants of God, pay attention to what they say, and obey the commandments given to the people, shall receive a testimony and know that we tell them the truth, that Joseph is a Prophet of God, and did actually finish the work which the Lord gave him to do, sealed his testimony with his blood, and has gone to dwell in the world of spirits, until he gets his body. All will have to acknowledge that this is true.

There are many other things that might be noticed, and much more might be said upon this subject. I have merely hinted at the witness, at the privileges, blessings, and duties of the Saints, and at what makes a Saint, but I feel as though I had talked long enough, or as much as I should today. I have a bad cold, and could cough as well as the rest of you, but I have been enabled to refrain from coughing since I have been here, and during the brief time I have occupied while addressing you this morning.

I hope and trust that we will order our lives so as to be worthy of the blessings promised to us, and live to the glory of God, that we may have a glorious resurrection, and enjoy each other’s society in the kingdom of our God. This is our constant prayer concerning you, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, January 27, 1856.

I am thankful for the privilege of again appearing here before the brethren and sisters. A few of us have been absent for a short time, and, in our absence, I hope and trust you have been blessed with the Holy Spirit of the Lord. I pray for the continuance of the light of that Spirit to rest upon the Saints, this I crave continually for myself and for all who profess to be Saints of the Most High.

As I have frequently thought, and said, when duty requires I am happy in going from home, and I am happy in returning, for it is my greatest joy and comfort to do what the Lord requires of me, and what I know to be my duty, no matter what it is if the Lord requires it of me. This course gives joy and peace. When this principle becomes the acting principle of all the Saints, we shall find that Zion is here; we shall be in the midst of it; we shall enjoy it.

As individuals, we enjoy Zion at present, but not as a community; there is so much sin, darkness, and ignorance, and the veil of the covering which is over the nations of the earth is measurably over the Latter-day Saints. The same unrighteous principles, which becloud the minds of men universally, more or less becloud the minds of the Latter-day Saints. Though the veil is partially broken to the Saints, though it becomes thin, as it were, and the twilight appears like the dawning of the day, yet we may travel for many years before the sunshine appears. It does not yet appear to this people, they are merely in the twilight.

As one expressed it in ancient times, “We see through a glass, darkly”—through a smoked or dim glass—through which we cannot behold objects clearly with the natural eye.

We have not faith sufficient to have revelation, to have the visions of eternity opened unto us so clearly that we may see things as they are, consequently, we have to live by faith and not by sight. We have to live by the principles of the Gospel, which is faith in the heart and obedience to its requirements. It is our joy and salvation that we have this privilege.

If we could understand the nature of the Priesthood—could comprehend it fully, this people, as a community, the Elders, as Elders of Israel, quorums, as quorums, when they present themselves before the Lord, would possess keys to unlock the treasury of heaven, and we could receive as one person receives from another. To us, as a people, the keys of the rich storehouse of the Lord are committed, yet we do not fully know how to unlock and receive. We receive a little here and there, and the hearts of the people are comforted by the very Priesthood we are in possession of, which has been given to this people for the express purpose of their receiving that which God has given them, though not yet to possess it independently, but as means for trial.

This Priesthood is given to the people, and the keys thereof, and, when properly understood, they may actually unlock the treasury of the Lord, and receive to their fullest satisfaction. But through our own weaknesses, through the frailty of human nature, we are not yet capable of doing so.

We have to humble ourselves and become like little children in our feelings—to become humble and childlike in spirit, in order to receive the first illuminations of the spirit of the Gospel, then we have the privilege of growing, of increasing in knowledge, in wisdom, and in understanding. This is a great privilege, while the world, excepting this people who inhabit these valleys, and those that are associated with us in different parts of the earth, are destitute of this principle and privilege. Still, many of us, and I may say comparatively all of us, are upon the same ground, situated precisely like other professors of religion, in order that we may struggle, wrestle, and strive, until the Lord bursts the veil and suffers us to behold His glory, or a portion of it.

If we did fully understand the prin– ciples of the Gospel—the keys of the Priesthood, it would be familiar with us, and be easy to be understood and to act upon and perform, and be no more of a miracle to know how to receive the things of God by revelation, than it is now a miracle to cast seed into the ground, after it is prepared, and reap our crops.

An individual who holds a share in the Priesthood, and continues faithful to his calling, who delights himself continually in doing the things God requires at his hands, and continues through life in the performance of every duty, will secure to himself not only the privilege of receiving, but the knowledge how to receive the things of God, that he may know the mind of God continually; and he will be enabled to discern between right and wrong, between the things of God and the things that are not of God. And the Priesthood—the Spirit that is within him, will continue to increase until it becomes like a fountain of living water; until it is like the tree of life; until it is one continued source of intelligence and instruction to that individual.

This is one of the most glorious and happy principles that can be set before any people, or any individual who will be faithful to his God and to his religion. Upon whoever are bestowed the keys of the eternal Priesthood, by a faithful life, will secure to themselves power to see the things of God, and will understand them as plainly as they ever understood anything by gazing upon it with their natural eyes, or as clearly as they ever could distinguish one object from another by their sensations.

It is the privilege of every person who is faithful to the priesthood, who can overcome the enemy, thwart the design of death, or him that hath the power of it, to live upon the earth until their appointed time; and they may know, see, and understand, by revelation, the things of God just as naturally as we understand natural things that are around us.

We inquire, is this the character of the people called Latter-day Saints? We can say it is the character of many of them, but when we reflect, it is not the case with the whole of them. There are many who never fail to improve upon every means of grace given them, upon every particle of light imparted to them. They perform every duty that is made known to them, they cease to do evil wherever an evil is presented to them, they refrain, so far as is in their power, from every act and from every thought and disposition which is contrary to the holy Gospel.

Again, when we look around we see many, very many, men and women who profess to know the things of God, to belong to His family, to the Church of the Firstborn—the Church of Jesus Christ, who are ofttimes wrought upon by the Holy Spirit of the Gospel which has caused them to rejoice therein, who give thanks to their God, rejoice with joy unspeakable, and you would think they were very near the kingdom of heaven—near the threshold of the gate which opens into the presence of the Father and the Son, and yet, if anything crosses them, will give way to an evil temper; and if anything is presented to them which they do not understand, they condemn it at once; they are ready to pass judgment upon that which they do not understand. If they are crossed by their friends and families they are ready to speak by the spirit of evil, by the spirit of contention; they are ready to receive a little malice in their hearts. They do all this, they turn round and repent of it, they are sorry for it, and they say they will try to do better, will try to overcome their passions, or the temptations of the evil one in their natures. You see them again, have they kept themselves pure? No, they have not, but they have given way to evil, to a little dishonesty, falsifying, shading of sentiment, speeches, sayings, and doings of their neighbors. They have given way to anger, and will remark, “It is true I got angry, I was overcome, true I acted the fool, but I mean to refrain from so doing in the future.” And thus they live for a spell, but how long will it be before they are again overtaken in fault? Then if a delusive spirit, professedly a righteous one, is cast into a neighborhood, how easy such people are decoyed by it, led away by it.

At one time you see them as enthusiastic as mortals can be, in what they call righteous principles, and hear them saying, “I have more light now than I ever had before in my life, I am better now than I ever was, I am filled with the Holy Spirit.”

This is the way we often find them, they are rejoiced exceedingly and are upon Pisgah’s top—flaming Latter-day Saints, and, perhaps, when the next day or the next week has passed over they are angry, filled with malice and wrath. After a while they will say, “That was a delusive spirit, it is true I felt joyful and happy, I thought it was the best spirit and the most light I ever enjoyed in all the days of my life, but I now find I was deceived, I find that if I had continued in that spirit there was a trap laid to catch me, to decoy me away, and destroy my faith in the holy Gospel.” Is this the case with the Latter-day Saints? Yes, with many of them.

Our religion is a practical and progressive one. It will not prepare a thief, a liar, a sorcerer, a whoremonger, an adulterer, a murderer, or a false swearer, in one day, so that he can enter into the celestial kingdom of God. We ought to understand that when our lives have been filled with all manner of wickedness, to turn and repent of our sins, to be baptized for the remission of them, and have our names written upon the Church records, does not prepare us for the presence of our Father, and elder brother. What will? A continuation of faithfulness to the doctrines of Christ; nothing short of this will do it. The Latter-day Saints should understand this. Do they? Yes. Do they live to it? A great many of them do not. All ought to live their religion every day, and there are a great many who do. But there are a great many who do not, who are overcome with evil, get out of the true path of righteousness, and do those things which are wrong. They contend with each other, quarrel, have broils and difficulties in families, and in neighborhoods, law with each other touching property, one saying, “This is mine,” and another saying, “It is not yours, but it is mine.” One says, “You have wronged me,” the other says, “I have not.” Thus there are thousands of plans which the enemy of all righteousness employs to decoy the hearts of the people away from righteousness.

If this people would live their religion, and continue year after year to live their religion, it would not be many years before we would see eye to eye; there would be no difference of opinion, no difference of sentiment, and the veil that now hangs over our minds would become so thin that we should actually see and discern things as they are.

True we labor under many embarrassments with regard to our progress in Christian life, and it is right we should be situated just as we are. We wish to save the world of mankind, and difficulties, embarrassments, and obstacles are thrown in our way continually. If this congregation could live twenty years without communion and intercourse with any other people, if we did not preach any more to the world, and no more Saints were ga– thered from abroad, we might, perhaps, train ourselves so as to see eye to eye, and that too before we had lived as many years to come as this Church has been organized.

But no, if we are instructed now, and understand all it is our privilege to understand, another year we must have another batch of clay thrown in the mill, as brother Kimball calls it, and this new supply spoils more or less of the clay that is already well tempered, and it is right that it should be so. Though this is a good comparison—the making of vessels out of clay, and the grinding up of clay, still, is it in every respect correct? We might carry it out perhaps, but I argue, and believe with all my soul, that if there were 10,000 Saints to emigrate to this point yearly from England, or any other country, and though thousands of the wicked should gather with them, it would not prove, for one moment, that any Saint would be obliged to sin thereby; it would not prove, for one moment, that this congregation before me would be obliged to do wrong.

Though we may be mingled together, and our interchanges are as they are, still if a stranger should look upon us as a community, who have been here many years, and see but few of the newcomers do wrong, and then judge us off and say, we are all evil, that none of us are righteous, that there is no good fruit here, that would be an unrighteous judgment and decision.

It is our privilege, for you and me to live, from this day, so that our consciences will be void of offense towards God and man; it is in our power to do so, then why don’t we? What is the matter? I will tell you what the difficulties and troubles are, by relating brother John Young’s dream. He dreamed that he saw the devil with a looking glass in his hand, and the devil held it to the faces of the people, and it revealed to them everybody’s faults but their own.

The difficulty is, neglecting to watch over ourselves. Just as soon as our eyes are turned away from watching ourselves, to see whether we do right, we begin to see faults in our neighbors; this is the great difficulty, and our minds become more and more blinded until we become entirely darkened. So long as I do the thing the Lord requires of me, and do not stop to inquire what I shall tell to my neighbor as his duty, and pay very close attention to my individual person, that my words are right, that my actions are right before God, that my reflections are right, and that my desires are according to the holy Gospel, I have not much time to look at the faults of my neighbors. Is not this true?

This is our practical religion; it is our duty to stop and begin to look at ourselves. We may have trials to pass through, and when people come to me, and tell me that they are wonderfully tried and have a great many difficulties to encounter—have their troubles on the right and on the left, and what to do they are at a loss to know, I say, “I am glad of it.” I rejoice to think that they must have trials as well as other people. And when they say, “It seems as though the devil would overcome me,” it is a pretty good evidence that an individual is watching himself.

If people could always understand the manifestations of the Spirit upon themselves, they would learn that they can be tempted as well as other people, and that would make them careful to watch against temptation and overcome it. Consequently, I rejoice for them, inasmuch as every individual who is prepared for the celestial kingdom must go through the same things.

I am happy, brethren, for the privilege of having temptation. A great many people have thought that in my life I was not tempted like other men. I tell them if I am it is none of their business; it is nothing to them. Some say “Brother Brigham, you slide along and the devil lets you alone.” If I have battles with him, I can overcome him single-handed quicker than to call in my neighbors to help me. If I am tempted to speak an evil word, I will keep my lips locked together. Says one, “I do not know about that, that would be smothering up bad feelings, I am wonderfully tried about my neighbor, he has done wrong, he has abused me and I feel dreadful bad about it. Had I not better let it out than to keep it rankling within me?” No. I will keep bad feelings under and actually smother them to death, then they are gone. But as sure as I let them out they will live and afflict me. If I smother them in myself, if I actually choke them to death, destroy the life, the power, and vigor thereof, they will pass off and leave me clear of fault, and pure, so far as that is concerned; and no man or woman on earth knows that I have ever been tempted to indulge in wicked feelings. Keep them to yourselves.

If you feel evil, keep it to yourselves until you overcome that evil principle. This is what I call resisting the devil, and he flees from me. I strive to not speak evil, to not feel evil, and if I do, to keep it to myself until it is gone from me, and not let it pass my lips.

You should succeed in bringing your tongues into subjection, so as to never let them speak evil, so that they will perfectly obey your judgment and the discretion God has given you, and are perfectly obedient to the will of the holy Gospel. How long have we to live for that? I do not know, but I am strongly of the opinion that it is possible for a person to overcome their dispositions to evil, to such a de– gree that they will have no evil in the heart to slip out over the tongue; and if there is none in the heart, there is less danger of the tongue being used to the disadvantage of that individual, or to that of anybody else. If there is nothing in the heart which governs us, and controls to an evil effect, the tongue of itself will never produce evil.

Quite a number of us have returned from our southern mission, and as I have given you a few of my views with regard to some of the particular parts of our religion, I say for myself, and for the rest of my brethren who have been absent with me, we are happy to see you. I am, and I am sure that the rest are glad of the privilege of standing before you again in this house. I have nothing particular upon my mind, only to urge all the Latter-day Saints to live their religion.

I might say something with regard to the hard times. You know that I have told you that if anyone was afraid of starving to death, let him leave, and go where there is plenty. I do not apprehend the least danger of starving, for until we eat up the last mule, from the tip of the ear to the end of the fly whipper, I am not afraid of starving to death. There are many people who cannot now get employment, but the spring is going to open upon us soon, and we are not going to suffer any more than what is for our good. I am thankful for the hand of the Lord which is visible; I am as thankful for this providence of His as for any that I ever received. I have told you, years ago, my feelings with regard to their sympathies, their faith, gratitude, and thankfulness, and their acknowledgment of the hand of the Lord and of the dispensations of His providence. My soul has been grieved to bleeding, to see the waste, and the prodigal feeling of this people in the use of their bountiful blessings. Many have walked them underfoot, and have been ready to curse God who bestowed them. They wanted gold and silver, instead of wheat and corn, and fine flour, and the best vegetables that ever grew upon the earth. They walked them underfoot, and set at nought the choice blessings of the Lord their God. If I were to see those individuals, obliged to gnaw the ground in order to get out the thistle roots, and have no fingers to dig them with, it would not be a disagreeable sight to me, until they learn to know who it is that feeds them.

We never ought to be without three or five years provisions on hand. But when you see men run to hell to sell a bushel of wheat for sixty cents, instead of laying it up in their granaries for a day of scarcity, you are forced to conclude that they would trade with the very devil, to get his coat and shoes in exchange for their wheat. I hope they will learn wisdom in the future, and lay up wheat to feed the brethren when they come here from distant countries. If they will learn wisdom now, I will promise them, in the name of Israel’s God, that the earth will yield its abundance, as it has heretofore. Men in these valleys have reaped crop after crop which grew spontaneously, without putting a drag or a plow in the land, and yet they are ready to curse God for His blessings. How do you suppose the Lord feels? If He were no better than I am, He would chastise us far more severely than we have been. I will give way to others.