Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Ogden, Sunday Afternoon, May 18, 1873.

The teaching of grown people is the same as teaching the children. We receive impressions when very young, and grow up to further knowledge; it is the same in receiving the Gospel. When we talk to persons who have not previously heard the Gospel, we have to reason with them on the propriety of receiving the truth. We also have to reason with and persuade the Latter-day Saints, and it is to them I wish principally to talk this afternoon. When the Gospel is preached to the honest in heart they receive it by faith, but when they obey it labor is required. To practice the Gospel requires time, faith, the heart’s affections and a great deal of labor. Here many stop. They hear and believe, but before they go on to practice they begin to think that they were mistaken, and unbelief enters into their hearts. There has been unbelief since the beginning of the world. Have you not read the sayings of Moses in regard to our mother Eve? She had heard the voice of the Lord and understood it, saying concerning the fruit of a certain tree, “in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” When her husband was in another part of the garden, a certain character came along and commenced to reason with her. “That is very fine fruit: I understand the Lord says you must not partake of it.” “Yes, for in the day we eat of it he says we shall die.” “Well,” says he, “that is not so. You must not believe all that is told you, but think for yourself. Now I will tell you something. If you eat of that fruit your eyes will be opened, and you will see as the Gods.” He hands her a little of the fruit, just to try—no matter whether it was an apple, a grape, or what it was—she tastes of it, and does not die, and likes it so well that when Adam comes along she says, “Husband, this fruit is delightful; I have tasted it, and it is desirable to make one wise; take some.” “No,” says he, “I shall not, the Lord has commanded us not to eat of it.” But just as it is with other husbands, she coaxes and persuades, and finally he gives way and partakes of the forbidden fruit. Now do you see how unbelief entered into the world in the beginning? We have to reason with mankind to persuade them to receive the truth of God. A declaratory statement is sufficient for those who are prepared to receive the spirit of revelation for themselves, but with the most of the human family we have to reason and explain. A really pure person is very scarce; but when the heart is truly pure, the Lord can write upon it, and the truth is received without argument, or doubt, or disputation. If we talk with the Latter-day Saints, we have to reason with them, particularly on temporal matters. Now I could show, by sound argument and logic, the necessity for the people to live and labor for the good of all. Anybody ought to be able to see that when one member of a family is pulling away from the others, and living for self alone, it injures himself or her– self as well as the whole family. The necessity and beauty of union cannot be better illustrated than by the example of the chief who called his sons together just previous to his death, and, taking a bundle of arrows, asked them each to break it. This they were unable to do. “Now,” said he, “unloose the bundle.” They did so, and could take the arrows singly, one by one, and break them with ease. This will give us as good a proof as we can desire, that when we are bound together as a unit, we are strong and powerful, but when we are divided we are weak, and our enemies can obtain power over us. Take our financial affairs, and they will show the same principle. But we are prone to unbelief, and have to learn by the childish principle—a little today and a little more tomorrow, and after a while perhaps we will become truly Latter-day Saints. We profess to be so now. But to be a Saint in the full sense of the word, is to be something very nearly perfect. If, however, we are striving to the utmost of the ability God has given us to prove that we are willing to serve him and perform our duties, we are justified. We have the kingdom of God to build up, Zion to redeem; we have to sanctify ourselves so that we may be prepared to be caught up with the Church of the Firstborn, and if we improve every day and hour, then if we die we shall be found justified. But if we continue to live, we must become Saints in very deed, or come short of the fullness of the glory of God that is to be revealed. To lead the Saints in this direction we have to reason with them, and show the necessity for their observing this precept and that law, this doctrine and that principle, that they may be persuaded to do the will of God.

When Joseph Smith first learned from God the principle of baptism for the remission of sins, he undoubtedly thought that he had learned something great and wonderful; so, also, when he received his ordination to the Aaronic Priesthood under the hands of John the Baptist. But he did not fly off at a tangent, and think he had it all, but was willing and anxious to be taught further. After receiving this authority, he baptized his friends. When he organized the Church, he received the higher Priesthood, after the order of Melchizedek, which gave him authority not only to baptize for the remission of sins, but to confirm by the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost. The Aaronic Priesthood holds power to baptize, but not to lay on hands to confer the Holy Ghost. When Joseph Smith received this higher power, he did not throw away the first, but received additions to it. He learned of and administered the Sacrament, then went to preaching a year or two, and received the High Priesthood, which he imparted to others, and then obtained other communications and powers, until he received the full pattern and authority to build up the kingdom of God, preparatory to the coming of the Son of Man, which also he imparted to others. There are men here who heard him say: “We have added to our faith and knowledge, and have received keys and authority, until I do not know of anything necessary to build up and establish the kingdom of God on the earth, but what I have received and bestowed upon you.” He received his knowledge of the things of God by degrees, until he obtained the last blessing needful to bestow on his brethren.

The Latter-day Saints need talking to a great deal—they need continual preaching and instruction upon almost everything. I am happy to say there is an improvement, still I hear of strife, brother going to law with brother, contention in families and in the community. This should not be. Have we not learned yet to be meek and lowly? Are we not willing to receive and abide the providences of God with patience? How many are willing to do this as they should? But very few. That disposition that came from the fall is planted in our hearts, and will occasionally arise in the bosom. Will we ever get experience enough so that we can overcome these temptations that arise in the heart, so that we can say goodbye to the fashions and follies of the world, and instead of them imbibe good and wholesome principles? Certainly we will; this is what we are after. The Latter-day Saints must learn to be one in Christ. We are one in the ordinances and doctrines; one in the ordinances of baptism, the laying on of hands, the administration of the sacrament, the blessing of children, the ordinations of the Priesthood, the endowment; also in the baptism for the dead, though this was a trial for some at the first. When God revealed to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon that there was a place prepared for all, according to the light they had received and their rejection of evil and practice of good, it was a great trial to many, and some apostatized because God was not going to send to everlasting punishment heathens and infants, but had a place of salvation, in due time, for all, and would bless the honest and virtuous and truthful, whether they ever belonged to any church or not. It was a new doctrine to this generation, and many stumbled at it, but Joseph continued to receive revelation upon revelation, ordinance upon ordinance, truth upon truth, until he obtained all that was necessary for the salvation of the human family. All the inhabitants of the earth are called of God; they are called to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins. When I first came into the church it was a subject of considerable thought to me why people whom I knew to be as good and moral as they could be, should have to repent. But I could see afterwards that if they had nothing else to repent of they could and ought to repent of their false religions, of their narrow, contracted creeds in which they were bound, of the ordinances of men, and get something better. These narrow, contracted religions have spread infidelity in the world. They should repent of these and take hold of the things of God and receive the truths of heaven. “Well,” say the ministers, “we have lived according to the light we have received.” We say, are you willing to receive more? If so, here is more for you. So far as your faith in Christ goes, and your morality, we say, amen. But here is something more. “Ah,” say they, “we have got enough, we don’t want any of your Mormonism.” Well, now they do, if they only knew it. I had a conversation recently with a prominent minister of a church in the East and he said, I do not agree with you in your peculiar views. I answered, are you not for the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? If you are, so am I. How is it possible to get up an argument? I will make a bargain. I will compare my religion with yours. We will start out with the Bible alone taking it as the standard. All that the Bible teaches for doctrine and practice we will take for our guide. If I have an error I will part with it. Will you do the same? If you can find that you have a truth that I have not, and that I have an error, I will trade ten errors if I have them for one truth. Take the religion of Christ from the foundation up, and it is all true and for the benefit of mankind. Take the whole world with their contentions and strife, the kings and potentates who make war and murder the people by thousands, those who shoot and kill, who rob the poor, who set at naught the counsel of God, bring them together, read to them the precepts of Jesus, the principles of the everlasting Gospel and see if there is one principle that would injure them or the world of mankind in the least. Will they injure a person, a family, a neighborhood? All would join, if they spoke the truth, in saying no, not one; but if we lived up to them, they would make the best condition of society possible. Let the whole world take the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the writings and counsels of this Church, and see if there is anything calculated in the least degree, in any of their requirements, to injure one individual on earth. I will say to these few Latter-day Saints, and if all were here I would say the same, you, brethren and sisters, take counsel of your Presidents, those who are set to give you counsel; and so far as your President is concerned as an individual, if you would say in your hearts, “we will take his counsel,”—and I can say before God he desires this people would live their religion—there would be no contentions, no stealing, no cheating, no drunkenness, no lying; wrongdoing would cease, the hand of mercy would be extended to the poor, kindness and love would be spread abroad, and you would never hear another jar in the land. I can say that I deserve more obedience to counsel than I get. Can any man, wo– man or child bring up one thing that I have counseled that would injure anybody or bring the least stain upon the kingdom of God upon the earth? No, they cannot. Why can’t we be of one heart and of one mind? Why is it that my brethren allow themselves to be stirred up to strife with their neighbors? Perhaps some neighbor has let down your bars, and the cattle have got in, and you are injured in your feelings and allow anger to enter into your hearts. Perhaps some neighbor has borrowed your plow and broken it, or done something else in which you are aggrieved; you set it down that that person is no Saint. Perhaps if your own faults were portrayed you would show as many as he has, but you set it down for a fact that he is no Saint, or he would not do thus and so. Now cease this. When you think your brother has injured you, go straight and learn the intention of his heart, and judge according to that, and not according to the outward appearances.

Do you say your prayers? How many houses of High Priests, if I crept into them like a mouse, could I find where they do not pray with their families, do not ask God to bless their labors, to bless their fields and farms, their brethren and the kingdom of God on the earth? How many Elders, Seventies and Bishops would I find in the same condition? The Bishops should be a perfect example to their wards in all things. How many are there who are strictly honest and fair in their deal? I have experienced so much on that subject that I had better say little upon it. But I say to you, deal justly, act mercifully and eschew evil. Do good to all men. We say sometimes, “I will not do any favor for that man, he is unworthy of assistance.” I will give you a piece of counsel. Do good to all. It is better to feed nine unworthy persons than to let one worthy person—the tenth, go hungry. Follow this rule and you will be apt to be found on the right side of doing good.

Suppose we look around here. How many of you sisters have donated fifty cents to help gather the poor this season? Don’t say you have no money. Have you not had fifty cents to buy a ribbon? How about that ten dollars to buy hair from somebody else’s head when you have plenty on your own? Take the brethren, too, who wear needless clothing, smoke cigars, &c. Take all the money that is spent for tea and coffee and squandered in waste and how much could we get? Why enough to send for the poor, who are begging and pleading to come, by the scores of thousands. We got a purse of some four thousand dollars at the late Conference. I put in one thousand dollars, brother Hooper put in one thousand dollars. That makes about half the amount I spoke when I was here, about two years ago, about Elders who had borrowed money of poor Saints in the old country and never paid them. I said then such men should be cut off from the Church.

How much tithing do you pay? The professing Christians, apostates and others have a great deal to say about the Saints paying tithing. Now let us compare notes. The Elders of this Church travel and preach without purse or scrip, and labor at home as Bishops, Presidents, High Counselors, and Ministers, free of charge. Now take the Christians, how many of their Ministers preach without pay? Go to their meetings, in their churches, halls, schoolhouses, or any of their public gatherings, and you have a box, a plate, or a hat put under your face, and it is, ‘Give me a sixpence, give me a sixpence, give me a sixpence!” Show me the Elder of this Church that does this? We preach the Gospel without purse or scrip and work for our own bread and butter. Yet the Christian world whine about our paying tithing. The Saints should pay the tenth of their income with glad and thankful hearts, and help to bring home the poor. We have supported and helped the poor to the amount of millions. We have picked up those who were poor and brought them here and taught them how to work and take care of themselves, and some of them ride in their carriages as proud as the lords of the old world from whence they came.

In regard to this whining of the world about Brigham’s handling the tithing, I can say that he has put in ten dollars where he has taken one out of the treasury, and he has paid more tithing than any other man in the Church. Everybody should pay their tenth. A poor woman ought to pay her tenth chicken, if she has to draw out ten times its value for her support. It is all the Lord’s and we are only his stewards.

The Latter-day Saints want persuading. What for? Their own good. Some people talk of how long they have served the Lord, and now they want to do something for themselves. The moment they begin to feel and act like this, they commence to serve the devil. There are two powers on earth, God and Satan, and we must serve one or the other. God requires obedience to his laws. If I do this I do nothing more than I do to the United States. We have enlisted to serve the King of Kings. He has laws, rules, regulations, &c. Why should we not be as willing to pay taxes to Him as to the United States. We believe in obeying the laws of the land, we should also obey the laws of God.

People have found out that we believe in a plurality of wives. The people of this Government say we shall not have a plurality of wives. Why not say: “a plurality of women,” and we shan’t have any objection to it. Because this would strike at men in high places. Their idea is, “If you want women, illegally, and then thrust them into the street when you have done with them, we care nothing about it; but if God has revealed anything about plurality of wives, to marry and provide for them, as he did in the days of the Patriarchs, we don’t want any of it.” If I have wives given to me of the Lord, I do not break any constitutional law of the land. But enough of that.

I want to persuade the Latter-day Saints to be Latter-day Saints. Bro. Woodruff was talking about the necessity of making our own clothing. I say if we go on as we have been doing, and calculate to continue to purchase from abroad most of what we wear, and a great deal of what we eat, we shall be left without. Do you know that Babylon is going to fall? Her merchants will cry out, “there is no one to buy our merchandise.” And if you and I do not learn how to take care of ourselves, and raise and manufacture what we consume, we shall have to go without. If you do not know how, go to work and learn how to knit, sew, weave, make ribbons, raise silk and make up and manufacture your own wearing apparel and all you need.

Now, on another subject. There is a God who lives, and who framed and fashioned this earth, and who brought forth that which is on the face thereof. He has laws. Everything is controlled by law. The actions of men, however, are left free; they are agents to themselves and must act freely on that agency, or else how could they be judged for their actions? But God reserves the right to himself to control the results of their acts, and this no man can hinder. Who of the Christian divines know anything about the God we serve? I never saw anyone, until I met Joseph Smith, who could tell me anything about the character, personality and dwelling place of God, or anything satisfactory about angels, or the relationship of man to his Maker. Yet I was as diligent as any man need to be to try and find out these things. We know more about God and the heavens than we care to tell. And if we introduce a principle and try to reduce it to the comprehension of the people, there will be some even among the Latter-day Saints who would be hard to understand. Where is the divine who knows the least thing about that Being who is the Father of our Spirits and the author of our bodies? If we know something about him is there any harm in it? Not a bit. The world of mankind are infidels. We should all be infidel to every false principle. I am infidel in regard to many things, but to the truth, wherever found, I am no infidel. The Christian world is infidel to the truth in a great degree. Why? Because they know so little of the mind and will of God. Step outside of this kingdom, and who can tell us the first process towards covering the earth with the knowledge of God? Who is there that can tell us anything about that angel whom John saw coming with the everlasting Gospel as recorded in John’s Revelation? I never found anyone who could till I saw Joseph Smith. He could tell me what I had so much desired to learn. What do the Christian divines know about it even at the present day? If they do know any– thing about it I wish they would tell us. But if they do not know, and will not receive the things of God from those who do know, does not this make them infidels to the truth?

My testimony is the positive. I know that there are such cities as London, Paris, and New York—from my own experience or from that of others; I know that the sun shines, I know that I exist and have a being, and I testify that there is a God, and that Jesus Christ lives, and that he is the Savior of the world. Have you been to heaven and learned to the contrary? I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, and that he had many revelations. Who can disprove this testimony? Anyone may dispute it, but there is no one in the world who can disprove it. I have had many revelations; I have seen and heard for myself, and know these things are true, and nobody on earth can disprove them. The eye, the ear, the hand, all the senses may be deceived, but the Spirit of God cannot be deceived; and when inspired with that Spirit, the whole man is filled with knowledge, he can see with a spiritual eye, and he knows that which is beyond the power of man to controvert. What I know concerning God, concerning the earth, concerning government, I have received from the heavens, not alone through my natural ability, and I give God the glory and the praise. Men talk about what has been accomplished under my direction, and attribute it to my wisdom and ability; but it is all by the power of God, and by intelligence received from him. I say to the whole world, receive the truth, no matter who presents it to you.

Take up the Bible, compare the religion of the Latter-day Saints with it, and see if it will stand the test. We preach the Gospel, gather the people of God from all nations, tongues and people, and build up the kingdom of God on the earth, and this calls for manual labor, the affec– tions of the heart, and the devotion of all our powers. God bless you. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered at the General Conference, in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Monday Morning, April 7, 1873.

There are a few minutes to spare, and I wish to lay some matters before you. I will say, first, that the Lord Almighty has not the least objection in the world to our entering into the Order of Enoch. I will stand between the people and all harm in this. He has not the least objection to any man, every man, all mankind on the face of the earth turning from evil and loving and serving him with all their hearts. With regard to all those orders that the Lord has re– vealed, it depends upon the will and doings of the people, and we are at liberty, from this Conference, to go and build up a settlement, or we can join ourselves together in this city, do it legally—according to the laws of the land—and enter into covenant with each other by a firm agreement that we will live as a family, that we will put our property into the hands of a committee of trustees, who shall dictate the affairs of this society. If any man can bring up anything to prove to the contrary I am willing to hear it. But no man can do it.

Brother Pratt has told you, in his explanations this morning, what the Lord has revealed and how he has been merciful to the people; and when we have not been willing to be Latter-day Saints altogether, but only in part, he has said, “Well, you are the best there is, and I will accept of you. I cannot get anybody else who is willing to be part Saints, and I will lead you, my people, as long as you will let me, and I will forgive you your sins this time, and I will accept part of your property if you will not give it all,” etc., all showing the kindness and forbearance of our Father in heaven; but he has not the least objection in the world to our being perfect Saints.

I have a few things to lay before the Conference, one of which is—and I think my brethren will agree with me that this is wise and practicable—for from one to five thousand of our young and middle-aged men to turn their attention to the study of law. I would not speak lightly in the least of law, we are sustained by it; but what is called the practice of law is not always the administration of justice, and would not be so considered in many courts. How many lawyers are there who spend their time from morning till night in thinking and planning how they can get up a lawsuit against this or that man, and get his property into their possession? Men of this class are land sharks, and they are no better than highway robbers, for their practice is to deceive and take advantage of all they can. I do not say that this is the law, but this is the practice of some of its professors. The effort of such lawyers, if they are paid well, is to clear and turn loose on society the thief, perjurer and murderer. They say to the dis– honest and those who are disposed to do evil, “Go and lay claim to your neighbor’s property, or to that which is not your own, or commit some other act of injustice, and pay us, and we will clear you and make your claim appear just in the eye of the law;” and officers and judges too often join in the unrighteous crusades for the lawyers to wrong the just. I have been in courts and have heard lawyers quote laws that had been repealed for years, and the judge was so ignorant that he did not know it, and the lawyer would make him give a decision according to laws which no longer existed. Now, I request our brethren to go and study law, so that when they meet any of this kind of lawyers they will be able to thwart their vile plans. I do not by any means say these things of all lawyers for we have good and just men who are lawyers, and we would like to have a great many more. You go to one of the pettifogging class of lawyers, and get him to write a deed for you, and he will do it so that it can be picked to pieces by other lawyers. Employ such a man to write a deed, bond, mortgage or any instrument of writing, and his study will be to do it so that it will confound itself. This is the way that such men make business for their class. We want from one to five thousand of our brethren to go and study law.

If I could get my own feelings answered I would have law in our school books, and have our youth study law at school. Then lead their minds to study the decisions and counsels of the just and the wise, and not forever be studying how to get the advantage of their neighbor. This is wisdom.

My mind is so led upon the subject brother Pratt has been speaking upon with regard to the orders that God has revealed that I can hardly let it alone when I am talking to the people. He said there are many rich men who are willing to do anything that the Lord requires of them. I believe this, and there is quite a number of poor men, likewise, who would like to do anything if they could only know that it was the will of the Lord. I am about to make an application of my remarks with regard to the willingness of men. But in this I shall except brother Pratt, for the simple reason that I do not know a man who is more willing to do what he is told than he is. If he is told to teach mathematics, he is willing to do it; if he is told to make books, preach the Gospel, work in a garden or tend cattle, he is willing to do it, and I know of no man more willing to do anything and everything required of him than he is. But I want to say to our willing, kind, good brethren that, so far as obeying the orders which God has revealed, I can bring the rich into line quicker than I can get many poor men who are not worth a dollar, and who do not know how to raise a breakfast tomorrow morning. I have tried both, and know. Who is there among us who came here rich? It was alluded to by brother Pratt. Look over our rich men, where are they? Who is there among the Latter-day Saints that is wealthy? When I came to this valley I was a thousand dollars in debt. I left everything. I think I got about three hundred dollars, a span of horses, and a little carriage, for all my property I left in Nauvoo. But I bought cattle, horses and wagons, and traded and borrowed and got the poor here by scores myself; and I have paid for these teams since I have been here.

When I got here I was in debt only about a thousand dollars for myself and family to a merchant in Winter Quarters, but I was in debt for others, and I have paid the last dime that I know anything about. When I reached here I could not pay one-tenth—I could not pay my surplus—I could not give my all—for I had nothing.

Here is Horace S. Eldredge, he is one of our wealthy men. What did he have when he came here? Nothing that I know of, except just enough to get here with his family. William Jennings has been called a millionaire. What was he worth when be came here? He had comparatively little. Now he is one of our wealthy men. William H. Hooper is another of our wealthy men. He is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. How much had he to pay as surplus when he came here. He could pay no surplus, for he was worth nothing; but he is now wealthy. If he had gone to California I believe he would have been poor today.

There is any amount of property, and gold and silver in the earth and on the earth, and the Lord gives to this one and that one—the wicked as well as the righteous—to see what they will do with it, but it all belongs to him. He has handed over a goodly portion to this people, and, through our faith, patience and industry, we have made us good, comfortable homes here, and there are many who are tolerably well off, and if they were in many parts of the world they would be called wealthy. But it is not ours, and all we have to do is to try and find out what the Lord wants us to do with what we have in our possession, and then go and do it. If we step beyond this, or to the right or to the left, we step into an illegitimate train of business. Our legitimate business is to do what the Lord wants us to do with that which he bestows upon us, and dispose of it just as he dictates, whether it is to give all, one-tenth, or the surplus. I was present at the time the revelation came for the brethren to give their surplus property into the hands of the Bishops for the building up of Zion, but I never knew a man yet who had a dollar of surplus property. No matter how much one might have he wanted all he had for himself, for his children, his grandchildren, and so forth.

If we are disposed to enter into covenant one with another, and have an agreement made according to the laws of our land, and we are disposed to put our property into the hands of trustees, and work as we are directed—eat, drink, sleep, ride, walk, talk, study, school our children, our middle-aged and our aged, and learn the arts and sciences, the laws of the Priesthood, the laws of life, anatomy, physic and anything and everything useful upon the earth, the Lord has not the least objection in the world, and would be perfectly willing for us to do it, and I should like, right well, for us to try it. I know how to start such a society, right in this city, and how to make its members rich. I would go to now, and buy out the poorest ward in this city, and then commence with men and women who have not a dollar in the world. Bring them here from England, or any part of the earth, set them down in this ward and put them to work, and in five years we would begin to enter other wards, and we would buy this house and that house, and the next house, and we would add ward to ward until we owned the whole city, every dollar’s worth of property there is in it. We could do this, and let the rich go to California to get gold, and we would buy their property. Would you like to know how to do this? I can tell you in a very few words—never want a thing you cannot get, live within your means, manufacture that which you wear, and raise that which you eat. Raise every calf and lamb; raise the chickens, and have your eggs, make your butter and cheese, and always have a little to spare. The first year we raise a crop, and we have more than we want. We buy nothing, we sell a little. The next year we raise more; we buy nothing, and we sell more. In this way we could pile up the gold and silver and in twenty years a hundred families working like this could buy out their neighbors. I see men who earn four, five, ten or fifteen dollars a day and spend every dime of it. Such men spend their means foolishly, they waste it instead of taking care of it. They do not know what to do with it, and they seem to fear that it will burn their pockets, and they get rid of it. If you get a dollar, sovereign, half-eagle or eagle, and are afraid it will burn your pockets, put it into a safe. It will not burn anything there, and you will not be forced to spend, spend, spend as you do now. See our boys here, why if my boys, by the time they are twenty, have not a horse and carriage to drive of their own, they think they are very badly used, and say, “Well, I do not think father thinks much of me.” A great many things might be said on this subject that I do not want to say.

Brethren, we want you to turn in and study the laws of the Territory of Utah, of this city and other cities, and then the statutes of the United States, and the Constitution of the United States. Then read the decisions of the Supreme Court. I do not mean the self-styled “United States Supreme Court for the Ter– ritory of Utah;” but the United States Supreme Court that sits at Washington—the seat of government. Read up their decisions, and the decisions of the English judges and the laws of England and of other countries, and learn what they know, and then if you draw up a will, deed, mortgage or contract, do not study to deceive the man who pays you for this, but make out a writing or instrument as strong and firm as the hills, that no man can tear to pieces, and do your business honestly and uprightly, in the fear of God and with the love of truth in your heart. The lawyer that will take this course will live and swim, while the poor, miserable, dishonest schemers will sink and go down. We live by law, and I only condemn those among the lawyers who are eternally seeking to take advantage of their neighbors.

Now we will close, and adjourn until 2 o’clock this afternoon.

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered at the General Conference, in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Monday Afternoon, April 7, 1873.

I will make a few remarks to the ladies of the Relief Societies. First of all I can say of a truth that, in sustaining the poor and ministering to the sick and afflicted, much credit is due to them for the good they have done; but I wish to add a little to their labors. If these societies will take into consideration the further duties and obligations that we are under to each other, and the importance of becoming self-sustaining, we wish to enlist their interest to aid us in making paper, by taking steps to collect the rags. We have an excellent paper mill here, and can make our own paper, as well as to send abroad and pay out our money for it, and then bring it here. We should cease importing paper, for paper-making is a branch of manufacture for which we have all the necessary facilities, and if we carry it on it will benefit us. We want the ladies of the Relief Societies to enlist the sympathies of the children, in their respective Wards throughout the Territory, to save the pager rags; we want mothers to do this, and also to show their children how to do it. When you see them throwing them out of doors, say, “Stop, my child, put that into the basket,” or other place designated. “We will wash these rags, and when we get enough of them we will sell them and buy some books for you to read.” If we can only enlist the feelings of the sisters on behalf of this great interest, it will lay the foundation for printing the books that we need in our own community, and then we can save this expense also. This is the first step. We want these cart loads of cloth saved that we now see kicked around the streets and lying around the yards. Go to the poorest family in this community, and I will venture to say that they waste rags enough every year to buy the schoolbooks that are needed for their children, and do even more. This is slothfulness and neglect, and produces wickedness. To be prudent and saving, and to use the elements in our possession for our benefit and the benefit of our fellow beings is wise and righteous; but to be slothful, wasteful, lazy and indolent, to spend our time and means for naught, is un– righteous; and we might think of this, and contemplate the facts in the case until our feelings and interests are so far enlisted that we will save our paper rags, and take them to the paper mill.

When this is done I want the sisters to so far use the abilities which God has given them as to learn to set type, and have your printing office and carry it on. It looks very unbecoming to me to see a great, big six-footer stand and pick up little type and put it in its place to make a word or a sentence, a book or a paper; and when he has got his stick full, taking the type out of the stick and setting it on the galley. To see a great six-footer doing this, and measuring off tape, which is about the same, has always appeared to me, according to that which I understand, as if men were out of their place. I have thought so all my days. I have occasionally seen women in the harvest field, ploughing, raking and making hay, and sometimes, though very seldom, I have seen them pitch and load hay. I think this is very unbecoming, this hard, laborious work belongs to men. But when you come to picking up type, and making a book of it, that belongs to the women. I know that many arguments are used against this, and we are told that a woman cannot make a coat, vest or a pair of pantaloons. I dispute this. It is said that a man is stronger and that he pulls his thread stronger than a woman does. I will take any of these ladies to a tailor’s shop, and they will snap every thread a tailor sews with. Tell me they cannot pull a thread tight enough, and that they cannot press hard enough to press a coat, it is all folly and nonsense. The difficulty is the tailors do not want them to do it, and they try to shame them out of it or to make them believe they cannot sew a seam, press a collar, wristband, sleeve or body of a coat, and if women do it ever so nice the tailors will say it is good for nothing, and so the great, big six-footer sits there crosslegged sewing. This is not the order of prudence and economy; neither is it according to the nature of the calling and the ability that God has given us as men and women, to see a man measuring tape, and such light work, it is far more suitable for women. “Well but,” say some, “a woman cannot do press work.” I recollect what was said to me in my youth by a journeyman printer. We were working off Ball’s Arithmetic together and we boarded together. I did not eat meat at that time, and he was very fond of it. We went into the office one day from dinner and he said to the workmen, “Young never eats any meat;” and said he, “I can just throw any man that don’t eat meat.” I said to him, “Mr. Pratt, if you will step here into the middle of the floor I will show you how to dirty coats.” But he dared not try it. They say ladies do not eat enough to make them strong—why I have seen scores and scores of them that could pull a hand press, and we do not use them now; they would have nothing in the world to do only to take the paper and lay it down. “But don’t you let a woman know she can do this, don’t say to a woman that she is capable of setting type, or of setting a stick of type on a galley, and making up a form and locking it up with a little mallet that weighs eight or ten ounces. Do not tell a woman she can do this—no, no, it would spoil our trade.”

Suffice it to say we want to enlist the real understanding and good sense of these women, and to tell them what their duty is. We want to make our own schoolbooks. We are paying now from thirty thousand to sixty thousand dollars a year for schoolbooks that can be made here just as well as to send and buy them abroad. This is carrying out the plan and principles of building up Zion, whether you know it or not. We may preach until Doomsday, and tell how Zion will look, how wide her streets will be, what kind of dwellings her people will have, what kind of carriages and what fine horses they will have, and what a beautiful looking set of people they will be, but it is all nonsense to talk about that we will never reach if we do not stop our folly and wickedness. We have the privilege of building up and enjoying Zion, and I am telling you how to do it. We want the women, from this time forth, to go to work and save the paper rags, and we will make the paper for them. And they can learn to make type. I can pick hundreds and hundreds of women out of this congregation that could go into a shop and make type just as well as men, it is a trifling thing. And they can learn to set type, and they can learn how to write for our schoolbooks. We have plenty of men and women that know how to write books, and how to teach too. We have just as good schoolteachers here as any in the world.

While on this subject I will say that I am ashamed of our Bishops, who cannot have anybody but a stranger for a schoolteacher. Let a “Mormon” come along, who can read all around and over and under him, and who, as far as learning is concerned, is his superior in every way, but because he, the “Mormon,” does not come in the guise of a stranger, the Bishop will not hear him. Bishops, I wish you would just resign your offices if you cannot learn any better than to get such characters into your schoolhouses. Not but what there is once in a while a good man comes along as a schoolteacher who is not a “Mormon;” but, as a general thing, what have these men done? They have planted the seeds of infidelity in the hearts of the children, decoyed the hearts of their female pupils and led them to ruin, and they have turned round and cursed us. That is the character of some of the men our Bishops get into their schoolhouses. There are many of our Bishops not fit to set type, measure tape or to teach a scholar. That is saying a good deal for the Bishops, is it not? But it is a fact. In many instances they have not wisdom enough to guide themselves one day without getting into error. They do not know truth from error, they do not know a Saint from a sinner, or righteousness from unrighteousness.

Will you, Relief Societies, devote your time and talents and take hold of this business? We want you to commence forthwith. Say we take thirty thousand dollars, and that is only a portion of what we will pay out for schoolbooks in 1873, and devote that to making paper and for paying brethren and sisters for making books, and then distribute them among our own people. If this work is done by us there is so much saved. Will my sisters enlist themselves and endeavor to make this movement successful?

We have no societies or persons to assist us in our efforts to school ourselves and our children; we never have had, and the feeling that is now exhibited, and which has always been shown towards us since the organization of the kingdom of God upon the earth, is that those who are our enemies would rather spend ten, yea, a hundred dollars to deprive us of the least privilege in the world, than give us one cent towards schooling our children. When we were leaving Nauvoo, in our poverty, we sent our Elders hither and thither to the principal cities of the United States, to ask the people if they would assist the Saints. Our brethren told them that we were leaving the confines of the United States, having been driven by the violence of mobs from our homes, and how much do you think we got in the cities of New York, Boston, Philadelphia and a few smaller towns? Their hearts and hands were closed against us. From the whole people of the United States, after making an appeal to them in our deep distress and poverty, we got but a few dollars, and we were then starting into the wilderness, and how we were going to live God only knew. Well, we have got to help ourselves, we have to school ourselves. Has Government given us the privilege of one acre of land to educate our children here? No. The school land is kept from us, and we get no benefit therefrom.

I want to say a word or two here with regard to our schools. There are many of our people who believe that the whole Territory ought to be taxed for our schools. When we have means, that come in the proper way, we can make a fund to help the poor to school their children, and I would say amen to it. But where are our poor? Where is the man or the woman in this community who has children and wishes to send them to school, that cannot do it? There is not one. When the poor complain and say, “My children ought to be schooled and clothed and fed,” I say, no sir, not so, you ought to yield your time and talents to the kind providences of our Father in the heavens according to the dictation of his servants, and he will tell each and every one of you what to do to earn your bread, meat, clothing, schooling, and how to be self-sustaining in the fullest sense of the word. To give to the idler is as wicked as anything else. Never give anything to the idler. “The idler in Zion shall not eat the bread of the laborer.” Well, they do eat it; but it is a commandment and a revelation as much as any other, that the idler shall not eat the bread of the laborer in Zion. No, let every one spend every hour, day, week and month in some useful and profitable employment, and then all will have their meat and clothing, and means to pay teachers, and pay them well. Not that they should receive more pay than others. If men have learning, and they have the faculty of imparting it to others, and can teach children to read and write, and grammar and arithmetic, and all the ordinary branches of a common school education, what better are they than the man that plows, hoes, shoves the plane, handles the trowel and the axe, and hews the stone? Are they any better? I do not know that they are. What better is the man that can dress himself nicely and labor in a schoolhouse six hours a day, than the man who works ten or twelve hours a day hewing rock? Is he any better? No, he is not. Are you going to pay him for his good looks? That is what some of our Bishops want to do. If they can get a man, no matter what his moral qualities may be, whose shirt front is well starched and ironed, they will say—“Bless me, you are a delightful little man! What a smooth shirt you have got, and you have a ring on your finger—you are going to teach our school for us.” And along comes a stalwart man, axe in hand, going to chop wood, and, if he asks, “Do you want a school teacher?” Though he may know five times more than the dandy, he is told, “No, no, we have one engaged.” I want to cuff you Bishops back and forth until you get your brains turned right side up.

Here I am talking to thousands of men and women who know that if we are ever helped we have to help ourselves, with what God does for us. We have heard considerable from some parties in this city about what they call free schools, which they say they have established here. I say, now, come out, and be as liberal as you say you are, and teach our children for nothing. If they knew the “Mormons” were willing to accept of their charity and send their children to these so-called free schools, their charity would not weigh much. Their charity is to decoy away the innocent. Send your children to their schools and see how far their charity would extend. We sent to them when we were in the wilderness without bread, without shoes, without coats, and ploughing our way through to get away from our murderers, and asked them for help. No, they would not give us anything to save the lives of women and children in the wilderness. When we were right in the midst of Indians, who were said to be hostile, five hundred men were called to go to Mexico to fight the Mexicans, and said Mr. Benton—“If you do not send them we will cover you up, and there will be no more of you.” I do not want to think of these things, their authors belong to the class I referred to yesterday—the enemies of mankind, those who would destroy innocence, truth, righteousness and the kingdom of God from the earth. We sent these five hundred men to fight the Mexicans, and those of us who remained behind labored and raised all that we needed to feed our– selves in the wilderness. We had to pay our own schoolteachers, raise our own bread and earn our own clothing, or go without, there was no other choice. We did it then, and we are able to do the same today. I want to enlist the sympathies of the ladies among the Latter-day Saints, to see what we can do for ourselves with regard to schooling our children. Do not say you cannot school them, for you can. There is not a family in this community but what we will take and school their children if they are not able to do it themselves; and we do not do it through begging in the East and telling what others have told there about this people, and about their own efforts to establish free schools here. I understand that the other night there was a school meeting in one of the wards of this city, and a party there—a poor miserable apostate—said, “We want a free school, and we want to have the name of establishing the first free school in Utah.” To call a person a poor miserable apostate may seem like a harsh word; but what shall we call a man who talks about free schools and who would have all the people taxed to support them, and yet would take his rifle and threaten to shoot the man who had the collection of the ordinary light taxes levied in this Territory—taxes which are lighter than any levied in any other portion of the country? We have no other schools but free schools here—our schools are all free. Our meetings are free, our teachings are free. We labor for ourselves and the kingdom of God. But how is it with others? Have they a meeting without a plate, basket, box or hat passed round? And, “Have you got a sixpence for us? Put in your sixpences, your half dollars, your dollars, or your five dollars.” No, it is beg, beg, beg from one year’s end to another. Ever see this in a “Mormon” meeting? I don’t think you have in this city, if you ever did anywhere else. Are the “Mormons” eternally begging and sending round the hat and the plate, and asking every stranger, “Have you a sixpence for me?” No, we do not want your money, we have enough of our own, and we earned it and got it honestly, we have not stolen it nor lied for it either. Now that I am upon free schools I say, put a community in possession of knowledge by means of which they can obtain what they need by the labor of their bodies and their brains, then, instead of being paupers they will be free, independent and happy, and these distinctions of classes will cease, and there will be but one class, one grade, one great family.

Now, sisters, what do you say? Will you give your attention to this? We want to erect a house for you to do printing in. Some one, perhaps, will use some little argument against women doing anything of this kind. But the truth is women can set type, and read and correct proof as well as any man in the world, if they learn how. Men have to learn it before they can do it, and when they tell you that that is not a woman’s business, you tell them they do not know what they were born for. They were not born to wash dishes, to dress the babies, nor to have babies, they were born to go into the field and do the work that the women cannot do, and should not do for fear of exposing themselves. Keep the ladies in their proper places, selling tape and calico, setting type, working the telegraph, keeping books, &c.

See a great big six-footer working the telegraph. One of them will eat as much as three or four women, and they stuff themselves until they are almost too lazy to touch the wire. There they sit. What work is there about that that a woman cannot do? She can write as well as a man, and spell as well as a man, and better, and I leave it to every man and woman of learning if the girls are not quicker and more apt at learning in school than the boys. It is only occasionally that a boy is met with who will keep up with the girls in learning reading, writing, spelling and grammar; as a general thing the girls will go ahead of the boys in these branches, and yet we are told they are not capable of doing these light kinds of work, such as I have mentioned. Shame on the boys, and shame on the great big, fat lazy men! Let these women go to work; and let those who have children teach them to handle the needle and sew, to make lace, to raise silkworms and the mulberry tree, to pick the leaves and feed the worms, and then to wind and weave the silk, that they may make themselves good, nice silk dresses. I saw a very pretty piece of silk made into a garment in St. George, that a woman had made from the silkworms. She tended them, reeled their silk, wove it and made some beautiful cloth. This is far better than teasing the husband or father to get you fine dresses and then drag them after you in the street. Learn some good, solid sense. Learn how to raise silk, how to make the silk into dresses, and make it as neat and beautiful as you possibly can. Then another thing—may I say it? Girls, learn to comb your hair in the morning, and fix up your head dress. “Well, but, pa will not buy me a chignon.” Well, then, fix your own hair, that is all you ought to have. Wash your face nice and clean, and your neck, and comb your hair neat and nice; put on your dress comely, and make it look neat and nice. I do not mean protruding out behind like a two-bushel basket. And when you come down stairs look as if you were wide awake, and not as if your eyes needed a dish of water to wash them clear and clean. Young ladies, learn to be neat and nice. Do not dress after the fashions of Babylon, but after the fashions of the Saints. Suppose that a female angel were to come into your house and you had the privilege of seeing her, how would she be dressed? Do you think she would have a great, big peck measure of flax done up like hair on the back of the head? Nothing of the kind. Would she have a dress dragging two or three yards behind? Nothing of the kind. Would she have on a great, big—what is it you call it? A Grecian or Dutch—Well, no matter what you call it, you know what I mean. Do you think she would have on anything of that kind? Not at all. No person in the world would expect to see an angel dressed in such a giddy, frivolous, nonsensical style. She would be neat and nice, her countenance full of glory, brilliant, bright, and perfectly beautiful, and in every act her gracefulness would charm the heart of every beholder. There is nothing needless about her. None of my sisters believe that these useless, foolish fashions are followed in heaven. Well, then, pattern after good and heavenly things, and let the beauty of your garments be the workmanship of your own hands, that which adorns your bodies.

Now, sisters, will you go to work and help us to get up our school books? Whether you do or do not belong to the Relief Societies, we want you to join in and help us, and save your rags to make paper, and then go and set type and make the books. You who feel like doing this, hold up your hands. (Hands up.) There is a pretty good showing, enough to carry an influence—the day is ours. If you will only carry this out we will make our own schoolbooks, and keep the money in the Territory that we now send out for them.

Elders of Israel, I want to tell you how to save a little. You want to get rich. Go to the mines and you will be so poor that you never can pay any tithing. This is proved. I want to tell you now, how you can pay your tithing. You trade off your horses and mules and harness, just as quick as circumstances will let you. Raise the calves that will make oxen, break them and work with them; and let this community take this course, using oxen instead of horses, and mules for all their farming and teaming, and in one year they will save one million dollars, and this will increase year by year, and that will enable you to give a little to emigrate the poor Saints from the old country. I want you to swell this Perpetual Emigrating Fund so that we can send for a good many of the poor this year. What have you to give? Some will say, “I have not anything, brother Brigham.” “What have you been doing?” “Oh, I have been mining, and it takes all my time and labor to support my family. I have a splendid claim—I am just going to have a hundred thousand dollars for it.” We have plenty of this class around, and whenever I see a man going along with an old mule that can hardly stand up, and a frying pan and an old quilt, I say, There goes a millionaire in prospect! He is after a million, he calculates to find a mine that he can get a million for next summer. These millionaires are all over our country; they are in the mountains, on our highways and in our streets. But ask them, “Can you give me a sixpence to buy me a morsel of meat?” “No, I have not got it, I am just going to have plenty of money, but I have not got it now. Cannot you lend me a little to keep me from need, I have no bread for my family, but I am going to have a fortune in a little while.” There are numbers of the Elders of Israel in this position. Ask them if they can pay a little tithing? “No, not a dollar.” “Give anything to help the poor?” “No, I have not any, will you lend me a little to buy some flour for my family?” And so they go on year after year. Why? Because they will not take the counsel of the wise. When you hear a man, outside or inside of the kingdom of God, finding fault, complaining or casting reflections, that President Young has got so much influence over the people called Latter-day Saints that they (the grumblers) are afraid of him, you just tell them that he has not a hundredth part of the influence he ought to have. He ought to have all the influence imaginable with them, he is deserving of it, he earns it, and he knows what to do with it, and he directs and guides for the advancement of the kingdom of God on the earth. Just think of these men, trailing through these canyons, running after shadows—jack-o’lanterns—all over creation for something in prospect! They are just like some business men I have seen in my life—they have got their eye on a picayune, away off yonder in the distance, and they start after that and stub their toe against a twenty dollar gold piece; but they kick that out of the way, they do not see it. By and by they start again, and they pass fifty dollars in their path, and so they keep on, passing right by ten, twenty or fifty dollars. “Oh, that picayune does so dazzle my eye, for God’s sake let me get it!” They are fools, they know nothing about life, nor sustaining themselves, they are worse than children. Well, now, brother Brigham ought to have influence enough over these Elders of Israel to keep them from deceiving themselves as much as they do; and when they run after this shadow and tire themselves out and fall in the mud, they lose the spirit of their religion, find out that “Mormonism” is not true and away they go to the devil.

I am going to stop talking to the sisters, and will conclude by asking them, Will you be printers or clerks in stores? The brethren will keep every one of you out if they can, and I do not know but I shall have to go and keep store myself independent of every other institution, and hire ladies to tend it. I want them also to telegraph for us, set our type, write our books, and save the rags to make the paper.

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, April 6, 1873.

In my remarks to you I want your eyes, ears, attention and faith. This is the Forty-third Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and we have assembled together for the purpose of being benefited. We like to see and hear each other, we like to give and receive counsel, and we like, above all things, to enjoy the Spirit of the Lord. In singing, praying, speaking and hearing, and in all duties devolving upon us upon such occasions as this, the Spirit of the Lord is the best of all.

I have a great many reflections with regard to the Latter-day Saints and the work in which they are engaged. I have many reflections in regard to the world of mankind. We all enjoy the power of sight, but how differently we look at and comprehend things! And we are very much like the people who have lived before us. We are a strange and curious composition—no two alike. Of all the faces before me this afternoon there are no two alike. We might possibly find those whose judgment would be pretty much alike on various subjects, still there are no two whose judgments are precisely the same. Human life is a great stage, and it contains a very great variety of scenes and scenery, of thought and of action. Some are not very beautiful, others are, and they are painted with fine colors. We see all this before us, and each and every person has the privilege of judging for himself, and upon each different impressions are produced.

I see a large congregation before me this afternoon of people called Latter-day Saints. If the world of mankind were to give their opinion concerning us they would use terms I heard frequently this morning—“enemy,” “enemies,” “our enemies.” These expressions would be frequently heard from the inhabitants of the earth about the Latter-day Saints, for the impression has existed and has been growing stronger for years past, that this strange people—the Latter-day Saints—are the enemies of mankind. I do not wish to convey the idea that all the inhabitants of the earth consider this people their enemies, but there are those who wish to have this impression or belief prevail. I hear many of the Elders of Israel refer to the outside world as enemies. I do it myself at certain times and on certain occasions, for certain deeds wrought by those who wish to destroy the truth from the earth, for every person who would uproot the truth of God is mine enemy, he would destroy me if he had the power. What shall we say of those who desire peace and whose hearts are filled with good will towards their fellow men? We say peace to such persons, and give them ours and God’s blessing.

Who is the enemy of mankind? He who wishes to change truth for error and light for darkness; he who wishes to take peace from a family, city, state or nation and give the sword in return. He is my enemy, he is your enemy and the enemy of mankind. Who is the friend of mankind? He who makes peace between those who are at enmity, who brings together those who, perhaps, through some misunderstanding, have been at variance with and lost friendship and fellowship for each other, and shows them that their ill-will is without foundation and existed simply because they did not understand each other. To illustrate, we will suppose that two men come in the same car to this city. One of them is full of deception and carries false colors. If he speaks a word that would become a gentleman, it is not because he feels it, for in his heart he is cursing and damning, and his purpose is to sow discord and enmity among the people in a neighborhood. He delights to set the members of one family jarring with each other. He will teach the youth to believe that such or such persons are their enemies and it is no harm to burn their houses down, to take their horses, cut their carriages to pieces, to open the gate of their garden or field and let somebody’s cattle in. Such a person is an enemy of mankind. But the other one is a friend. If he sees his neighbor’s gate open, he shuts it; if cattle are in a neighbor’s field, he tells him of the mischief that is being done. If he sees a fence down, and there is none of the family to come and put it up, he gets out of his carriage, or off his horse, or if he is afoot, he steps to the fence, turns the cattle out, puts up the fence or shuts the gate and prevents further mischief on his neighbor’s premises. Who is your enemy and mine? He that teaches language that is unbecoming, that presents falsehood for truth, that furnishes false premises to build upon instead of true, or that is full of anger and mischief to his fellow beings. I call no others enemies, except such characters as I have named. There is no question that many have done much mischief while in ignorance of what they were doing. I have no doubt that the soldiers who were commanded to nail the Savior to the cross did not realize what they were doing. They treated him as they did the thieves, whom they knew to be worthy of death; but through prejudice, over-persuasion and much talk by the priests, Scribes, Pharisees and people, they perhaps supposed they were doing God’s service when they crucified Jesus. But it was an enemy that did it, it was a bad act, a very heinous crime, it—but I pause. The question may be asked, What would have been the consequence suppose the Savior had not been crucified? I can only answer by saying that he was. The Scriptures say that offenses must needs come, but woe to him by whom they come. But we will resume our subject. Who is the man that is an enemy to his nation? The one that breeds mischief, prompts strife, and brings sorrow among the people.

Now to the Latter-day Saints—What are you here for? Can you answer this question? Many of you can. One brother says, “Why, I came here to join the Saints.” “Where did you come from?” “I lived in Scotland. I worked in the mines, or in the factory, or in iron works.” “What did you come here for?” “When I heard the Gospel preached I believed it, and I received a desire to leave my neighbors. I believed the Bible and the Book of Mormon; I believed that Joseph Smith was a Prophet. My neighbors said, ‘Oh folly, oh fool. There goes a Mormon,’ and they pointed the finger of scorn at me.” This is the spirit of the world, but if there had been no persecution whatever in the feelings of his neighbors, he would have had a desire to leave his home and old associates to join the Saints, for the Spirit he received prompted him to do this. Ask a sister, “What are you here for?” “Why, I came here so that I could live my religion a little better than I could in Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales, France, Scandinavia,” or wherever it might be that she came from. Ask another man, “What did you gather to these mountains for?” “Well, I think I came here because of my religion. I used to think I wanted to gather up with the Saints. I liked their society, and when I came up here I really delighted to be with them.” “What are you doing now, brother?” “Well, I am trying to do about the best I possibly can. Here are a few dollars I want to pay on Tithing.” “Have you paid your Tithing this year?” “No.” “Did you pay it last year?” “No.” “Have you not paid Tithing lately?” “No.” “What is the reason?” “Why, I am after gold and silver, and the riches in these mountains, in this trade, I am after the world, I am after Babylon.” This is the conduct. I do not ask for words, I do not ask anybody to get up and declare that their affections are turned away from the holy Gospel of life and salvation, and turned to the world. Let me see their daily walk and know their life, and I know what their thoughts and feelings are. And the sister that comes here for the Gospel’s sake, her mind is so frivolous and easily wrought upon that she is led by every wind and breeze of fashion that blows through the streets here. “Oh, don’t you see that lady’s dress?” “Here, look here, did you see that lady walking down the street?” “Yes.” “What a beautiful dress she has got on! Oh dear, how I want such a dress!” Go down the street and you can see it; go up the street and you can see it; go into the workshops, and even into the canyons, and you can see it. What of it? Latter-day Saints, what of it? “Oh, I do love Babylon so well.” “I do want a new dress.” “I do want to go into the mines and dig.” “I have a claim, and I am just going into the mountains to dig,” says a brother. Another one says, “I have served the Lord about long enough, and I am going to serve myself now.” This is the way with one here and another there, and if they have not got Babylon they want to get it. And here comes along a man who professes to be a Latter-day Saint, and the first you know he is using the name of the Deity in vain, and it is “curse” this, and “curse” that, with the name of our Father in heaven attached to it. Is that according to the faith that we have embraced? Mingle with the Latter-day Saints, and see them playing on the stage of life, and watch how some of them will change their colors and their coats, and some come out in one fashion and some in another, according to the circumstances in which they are placed.

Here we are assembled in the capacity of a general Conference. Babylon is in the hearts of the people, that is to say, there is too much of it. What did you come here for? “Why,” says one, “I understood they were getting rich in Utah, and I thought I would gather up with the Latter-day Saints and get rich also.” Without making many remarks on this subject, I want to say to every one of those who come up here, their minds filled with Babylon, and longing for the fashions and wealth of the world, you may heap up gold and silver, but it will leave you, or you will leave it, you cannot take it with you, and you will go down to hell.

Perhaps I may be considered their enemy by some of those called Latter-day Saints, and by outsiders, for telling them these things. That is no matter, it is for their life and salvation that I tell them. If I should see men and women going blindfolded to an awful precipice, and not hail them and warn them of their danger, I should be guilty, and perhaps their blood would be found on my skirts. I will say, at once, not prolonging my remarks or multiplying words, that if my brethren and sisters do not walk up to the principles of the holy Gospel of life and salvation, they will be removed out of their places, and others will be called to occupy them. Elders of Israel, High Priests, Seventies, High Councilors, Presidents, brethren and sisters, no matter who, if you have an idea that you are going to take Babylon—I use this term, because it is well understood that Babylon means confusion, discord, strife, folly and all the vanities the world possesses—if you have the idea that you are going to take Babylon in one hand, and with the other cling to the Savior and drag yourselves into his presence, you will find yourselves mistaken, for he will drop you, and you will sink. You may just as well believe this today, and shape your lives accordingly, as to betray yourselves.

There are a great many who say, “Why, yes, I say my prayers, I do not use the name of the Lord in vain, I do not injure my neighbor.” That is true. How many of the Latter-day Saints live like this? I am pretty well acquainted with them. I see and understand their feelings by their works, and I can say that a large majority of the Latter-day Saints are a good, obedi– ent, faithful, Godfearing, God-loving people, and yet we fellowship those who are full of iniquity and evil, individuals who are full of the spirit of anti-Christ. I talk and tell the truth to the good and to the evil, and I wish to comprehend the whole; and I tell you today that if our minds are not made up to serve God, if we are not for Christ, and for his kingdom upon the earth; if we are not willing to devote our time, talents, means, influence and everything that he has given into our possession, we are not in the way we should walk. I know that it may be said, and with great propriety, “Why, my brother, we cannot be sanctified in one day, we cannot overcome every evil and every passion in one day.” That is true, but this holy desire can dwell in the heart of every individual from the time that he or she is convinced that God reigns, that he is establishing his kingdom on the earth, that Jesus is our Savior, that the holy Gospel has presented to us the way of life and salvation, and we believe it and can receive it with our whole hearts—I say we can have that holy and pure desire from that moment to the end of our lives, and in possessing this we have faith and favor before the Lord, and his grace is with us by the power of his Holy Spirit, and by this we can overcome temptations as we meet them. This is my experience, that is pretty good proof, is it not? And I have more evidence than this—this is the experience and testimony of every Latter-day Saint who has lived his or her religion since obeying the Gospel. Their testimony will corroborate mine, and strengthen the faith of all.

I have not preached much to you this winter, and I pause and think. I was in the stone quarry the other day, and saw the men breaking a large granite rock. They first drilled the holes so as to break the rock in a direct line. I saw one man take up his hammer and give a blow. It was too hard. Said I, “My father taught me in my youth that light knocks would split great blocks. Tap light next time.” The quarryman did this and pretty soon the rock divided almost as evenly as though it had been jointed. I wish to make an application of this to this people assembled here. If I and my brethren had strength, we would meet together here about one week, to begin with, then go to our work for a few weeks, and then we would come together again. By continuing this course, I expect that in about three months we could get the feelings of this people warmed up like wax before the flame, so that we could get at their judgment and affections and we could actually mold them over, and make them realize the work that they are engaged in. But to do it in one day would be like driving the wedges so fast that you would split the rock where you would not want it split. Still, many who want to receive the word can, and I say to all, you and I must be Latter-day Saints or we are not walking in the path that God has marked out for us. “What do you mean by that, brother Brigham? I want to know what you mean by that, I cannot understand it.” This is the difficulty, but thank kind heaven, I have found out in my experience, that learning a, b, c, d, does not hinder me learning e, f, g. I thank my Creator that the principle is implanted within us, that we can learn, if it takes a long time, and by a close application of the ability that God has given us, we can improve and in time become Saints in very deed. Were it not for this I should have been discouraged long ago. But, know that we can learn to be Saints if we are disposed to. Practice your religion today, and say your prayers faithfully.

Says a brother, “I pray in my family sometimes, and sometimes I do not feel like it, and I do not pray in my family. Sometimes I am in a hurry, my work is driving me, my cattle are in mischief, and I do not feel like praying.”

If I did not feel like praying, and asking my Father in heaven to give me a morning blessing, and to preserve me and my family and the good upon the earth through the day, I should say, “Brigham, get down here, on your knees, bow your body down before the throne of Him who rules in the heavens, and stay there until you can feel to supplicate at that throne of grace erected for sinners.”

“Well, but I am in a hurry, and my cattle, perhaps, are in mischief and my work is driving me.” I should say, if the cattle are in the corn, “Eat away;” if they are in the wheat, “Eat away, eat the wheat, we have more than we can use any how;” and if the children are in mischief and this wants seeing to, and that wants seeing to, I say, “Kneel down before the Lord and there stay until this body learns obedience, until my tongue learns to praise his name, and to ask for the blessings I need.”

“Well, but are you not afraid you will come to want?” Bless me, if I had all the gold and silver on the earth and no prayers, I should be in greater want than I should be with the prayers and without the gold and silver. I will make an application of this with regard to the feelings of the people. It is true that you and I cannot learn everything at once, but we can learn one thing at once and the one thing above all others that we should make it our business to learn is to yield strict obedience to the requirements of heaven, and we can learn that today just as well as any other time, and just as well as to spend a lifetime in doing it.

Now, Latter-day Saints, do you know what you are here for? You know there is a field opens before us in talking about what we are here for, why the Lord suffers what we now behold, and why he permits this and permits that. It is all perfectly reasonable and rational, all according to his providences and his dealings with the children of men. I can say to all that you have got to learn this one fact—the Lord will have a tried people, and if my wife or my daughter cannot see and pass by, as things of naught, the follies of fashion, she has not learned her duty, she has not learned the spirit of her religion, and is not in the full enjoyment of the Spirit of God. Fashions are nothing to me, one way or the other. How long is it since ladies wore bonnets into which you would have to look with a spyglass if you wished to see their faces, and then from their faces to the crown of the head. From this fashion they got to one in which one flower or leaf and five yards of ribbon made a complete head dress. What of these fashions? They are nothing here nor there, and by trying we can learn to pass by every needless fashion, and to stop the use of every needless word, and to carry ourselves correctly before the Lord.

Now let us consider, are we for the kingdom of heaven? “Oh yes,” “Oh yes,” everybody says, “certainly we are.” Are we for happiness? Yes, certainly, the whole world is with us there. There is no person but what would say, Give me power, give me influence, give me wealth, give me gold and silver, houses and lands, goods and chattels, tenements, horses, carriages, friends, families, associations, &c. The whole world will join in saying, Give us heaven and happiness; but talk to them about “Mormonism,” and they will say, “your doctrine is a speculation.” The cry with regard to brother Joseph was, “He is a money digger, he is a speculator.” Well, how long was it before the whole world was on his track digging money? It was no disgrace just as soon as the world commenced digging money, but when there were only a few accused of it, it was a disgrace. How things are changed! How differently we look upon our bonnets now! If a lady were to enter this building wearing an old-fashioned headdress everybody would be looking at her. If a lady were to come into this assembly with sixteen yards of cloth—I am talking extravagantly now to illustrate—in her two sleeves, and only four in the waist and skirt of her dress, how ridiculous it would appear, would it not? And yet something very much like that was once the fashion.

I look at this and make the application. The world would say, “Yes, if you are going to have happiness, we want some; if you are going to have gold and silver, look here, we shall come in for a share.” Very good, all right. I used to tell the people—bless your heart, you accuse me of being in a speculation, and so I am. You cry out that the “Mormon” leaders are for speculation, for money making. We go in for wealth. I used to tell the people, and I tell them the same now, I do not go in for a few millions, I go in for the pile, and I calculate to have it. “How are you going to get it?” By serving God with all my heart and being a Saint indeed, and when the earth and its fullness are given into the hands of the Saints, I shall go in for my share—the whole pile. I used to say, “Why, brother Joseph is the greatest speculator I have heard of in modern times—he is going to have the whole earth. Jesus is coming to earth to reign King of nations, and he is going to share the gold and silver with his brethren. That is not all—all things are yours for time and eternity—the heights and depths, the lengths and breadths, crowns of glory and immortality and eternal lives are yours.” Well, I go in for the pile.

I want to ask, Am I an enemy of mankind? Is a Latter-day Saint an enemy of mankind? No. I say to the intelligent world, if they did but know it, we in connection with God, Jesus the Mediator, angels, the good that are on the earth and the good that have been, are the only friends of mankind upon the face of the earth. That is a great word to say, and some may think it is extravagant. They say, “See what our benevolent societies, our ministers, our kings and our rich people are doing for the poor, and then say that the Latter-day Saints are the only friends of mankind.” I want to say to all the world that no good or benevolent act, no act that sustains innocence, virtue and truth and does good to the human family will go unrewarded of the Creator. Do not be discouraged. Have they done any good? Yes, a great deal of it. The Christian world have sent forth their missionaries and they have done a great deal of good, but they could do a great deal more if they had a mind to. They hedge up the way and try to destroy the little good they have done by instilling into the hearts of the people the necessity of dwelling in darkness and remaining in ignorance, and preventing them from receiving the Gospel. This is their practice, and in this they are doing injury, but they have done a great deal of good.

What are we hated for? What do men lie about us for, and send forth their lies to the world right from this place? Are they who do this the friends of mankind? No, they are their enemies. They plant falsehood in the hearts of thousands of people. One liar is like a bad king. A corrupt and wicked king can corrupt a whole nation. One liar can deceive thousands. They are not the friends of mankind. Why are we hated? Is our religion obnoxious? Why?

“Because of this one man power, because of the great influence there is in the midst of the people to unite them together.”

Do you not read in your Bibles that except ye are one ye are not the Lord’s? Do you not read in the Bible, that you have had all your lives, that you must love God with all your hearts, that you must be united, that you must receive the Gospel of Christ? Do you not read that there is but one faith, one Lord, one baptism, one God and Father of all, &c.? Certainly you do. Well, we believe these things, but does that prove that we are the enemies of mankind? No, it proves that we are their friends. Why do we differ from them, and why do they differ from us? I can tell it in a few words—it is simply because we are disposed to believe the truth, and they are disposed to reject it. They are disposed to live and drink water, if they can get it, from cisterns that will hold no water. Is there anybody, do you think, who has transgressed the laws of God? Has anybody ever changed the ordinances of the house of God? Was there ever any such thing done as to destroy the principles pertaining to the ordinances of the house of God? Why, yes, in ancient days.

Well, we know the reason why, we know why they did it—they hewed to themselves cisterns that would hold no water. Do we, as Christians, teach the Gospel according to Saint Mark, St. John, St. Luke, Matthew, Paul, Peter and James and the rest of the apostles and the disciples of the Lord? Do we teach the same doctrine as the Christian world? No, we do not. Do we teach the same doctrine as Jesus and his Apostles? Yes, we preach the same Gospel. How many modes of baptism have the so-called Christian world? I do not know how many. One is by immersion, or being buried in the water. Another is to get down on your knees and have water poured on the head; another is to stand up and have water poured on the head; another is to have somebody dip his fingers in water and touch the forehead with it; another is to plunge face foremost, and how many more modes of baptism there are I do not know. How many there are who say that all these are outward ordinances and that they are nonessential? Did God ever say this? No. Jesus? No. Any of the Apostles ever say anything of the kind? No, they did not. Has any man in modern times received a revelation from heaven, doing away with the ordinances of the house of God? No, only false revelations; and we ask the simple question, If our doctrine is not true, and if there is no necessity for the ordinances of the house of God, will you not be pleased to tell us the name of the man who received, and the place where he received a revelation from God doing away with his own ordinances, and declaring that all miracles were to cease? &c. It is true that we differ from the Christian world in our faith in regard to these things. Does this prove that we are their enemies? No, it proves that we are their friends. We believe in doctrines that they do not believe in, and we disbelieve in some fanciful ideas that they profess to hold as doctrine. For instance they hold that God is an imaginary being. They cannot tell where nor how he lives, nor anything concerning his character, whether he is material or immaterial; but, like many of the most eminent divines, who have spread it through their pages for the people to read, they have come to the conclusion that the center of God is everywhere and his circumference nowhere—one of the most vain ideas that could be conceived by any intelligent being. Then what is their idea of the soul of man? That it is an immaterial substance. Who ever heard of such a thing? Ask any true philosopher if he can explain the meaning of an “immaterial substance.” It is like the center of a being everywhere and his circumference nowhere, or like being seated on the top of a topless throne. These are self-confounding expressions, and there is no meaning to any of them. We differ from them in our ideas of God. We know that he is a Being—a man—with all the component parts of an intelligent being—head, hair, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, cheek bones, forehead, chin, body, lower limbs; that he eats, drinks, talks, lives and has a being, and has a residence, and his presence fills immensity as far as you and I know. We differ with them, for we know that the Lord has sent forth his laws, commandments and ordinances to the children of men, and requires them to be strictly obeyed, and we do not wish to transgress those laws, but to keep them. We do not wish to change his ordinances, but to observe them; we do not wish to break the everlasting covenant, but to keep that with our fathers, with Jesus, with our Father in heaven, with holy angels, and to live according to them. We differ with them in the tenets of our religion, we cannot help it. We would not believe “Mormonism,” as it is called, if it were not for one thing. I never would have believed it if it had not been for one simple thing. What do you think that is? It is true. I believed it because of that. What a strange idea! If it had not been true I would not have believed it, but being true I happened to believe it.

Now there is quite a difference between me and the man who stands up to teach the people what he says is the way of life and salvation, and who has transgressed every law that God ever gave, who has changed every one of the ordinances of his house, and broken every covenant that he has made with the children of men. What do you know, Mr. Divine, about glory, exaltation, happiness and eternal lives? I will answer for him, and say, nothing at all. What do you know about God? Nothing at all. What do you know about his dwelling place? Nothing at all. What about his person? Nothing at all. Pardon me for making these expressions, but look on this stage which I brought before the congregation—the human family acting and bringing out what they have behind the scenes. What a spectacle it presents!

Are we the enemies of mankind? No, we are their only friends, and we calculate to hang on until we save the last son and daughter of Adam and Eve that can receive salvation. We calculate to be co-workers with Jesus, our Savior, until the last man and woman that can be saved is placed in the kingdom or mansion prepared for them, and none will be lost or turned away except those who sin against the Holy Ghost. What do you think of it? An enemy of mankind! Shame on the expression! And shame on those who give utterance to it when speaking of the Latter-day Saints. We have the oracles, the law and the commandments; we have all the laws or ordinances necessary to reach and take hold of our fathers, mothers, grandfathers and those who have lived before us, and to bring them up to eternal life. What divine teaches this doctrine? If there is no resurrection, says Paul, why then are ye baptized for the dead? It is the only expression that alludes to the doctrine of baptism for the dead in the New Testament, but it is true. We have this law, we have the ordi– nances. We have a knowledge of the covenants necessary to reach and pick up the last man and woman that has lived on the earth, and we calculate to preach the Gospel to the living until the line is drawn and Jesus comes to reign King of nations as he does King of Saints, and the separation is made. But until then the wheat and the tares will grow together. We are together now, the wheat and the tares are here.

Now let us see your wheat heads bow down as though you were fully ripe or preparing to be so, your whole hearts and labors for the kingdom of God. The wicked may flourish for awhile like a green bay tree, but by and by they will be cut down, and the righteous will go forth and inherit the kingdom, which may God grant to be our happy lot for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered at the 42nd Semi-Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, October 9, 1872.

I want to express my feelings to the Latter-day Saints upon certain points of business which pertain to our welfare, and I wish to do it without being obliged to raise my voice so high and so loud as to infringe upon the organs of speech to that degree that I shall have to stop. If the people will be still, they can hear me in my common voice perfectly easy. I will not go into all the details with regard to the duties of the Latter-day Saints, and their desires, as they have manifested them by gathering out from the world, and assembling themselves together. They generally understand them, and they can read for themselves the doctrines of the Church, and the reasons why we are gathered together. But I wish now to impress on the minds of the people the necessity of our taking a course to be able to exist and to sustain ourselves—to have something to eat and wear—hats to put on our heads, and coats, mantles, blankets, vests, shirts, garments and other things suitable to wear and to make our bodies comfortable, provided that the Lord should knock the underpinning from under Babylon. The time will come when Babylon will fall. If it should fall now, it would leave us pretty destitute. We would soon wear out our head dresses and fine clothing, and what should we do? Why, we should be as badly off as the Saints were when they came into this valley, twenty-five years ago. They picked up a few buckskins, antelope skins, sheepskins, buffalo skins, and made leggings and moccasins of them, and wrapped the buffalo robes around them. Some had blankets and some had not; some had shirts, and I guess some had not. One man told me that he had not a shirt for himself or family. If Babylon should happen to tip over, so that we could not reach out and gather the necessaries of life, we should be in a bad condition. I want to put you in mind of these things, and it is my duty to say to the Latter-day Saints that they should take measures to sustain themselves—they should lay a foundation for feeding and clothing themselves.

You are well aware that there has been a great deal of money spent in this Territory to get machinery for the purpose of working up the wool and cotton, and I think you are pretty well aware that there have been a great many thousand words spoken to the Latter-day Saints in these valleys, upon the necessity of raising sheep, though we have had a tide of opposition against this. Still, wool raising is now proven to be a success in these mountains, any and all of the Bishops to the contrary notwithstanding. This is a fine wool growing country, no better in the world. We have proved this; and we have got a great deal of machinery here to work up the wool, most of which is now standing still for the want of wool. Many of those who have been prevailed upon to raise sheep, have got so covetous and love money so well that they must sell their wool for money, and send it out of the country, in consequence of which the factories are now standing still. I think there are a few who will recollect that, in the excitement of purchasing wool here last May, June and July, in many instances I refused to buy their wool. If I would have paid a little more than agents from the east, I could have got it; in some instances I got it for a little less. I bought some and let a good deal go, and told the people with whom I conversed upon the subject, that I would let the buying of wool alone until Fall, then I thought I could send east, buy my wool and ship it back here, and I believe I could get it cheaper than I could get it then. And it is now verily so, for I can send to Philadelphia, New York, Boston, or anywhere in the eastern country, and buy wool and ship it back here from 10 to 30 percent cheaper than I could buy it here last spring. I can send west and buy wool and ship it here and save a still higher percentage. This is the difference in the price of wool last spring and the fore part of the summer, and now what our friends and brethren who own factories will do with regard to purchasing wool, I am not able to say. Some of them, probably, are able to buy wool, and quite a number are not, and they who are not will, in all probability, let their factories stand still.

I want the brethren and sisters to take an interest in sustaining ourselves here in these mountains. It is the duty of the Bishops to see that the members of their Wards take a course that will build up the kingdom of God, not only in providing food and raiment, but see that the people do their duty with regard to the law of God in preserving themselves in purity. My mind is now upon those things which some people call temporal, and I wish to urge them upon the Latter-day Saints. I want them to save their wool and to keep it in this Territory. If we have not factories sufficient to work up all the wool that grows in this Territory, and in these mountains, we will send and get more machinery, and build more factories, and work up the wool for the people. It is the duty of those who grow wool to keep it here. It is the duty of the wife of the man who owns sheep to look to it, and see that that wool is not sold and carried out of the country. It is the duty of the Bishops to see these men, and urge upon them the necessity of keeping the wool in the mountains where it can be worked up; and the Bishops should set the example themselves. We expect they do; if they do not, they are not fit for Bishops. It is the duty of the Bishops to see the wives of these men and their children, that they may prevail on their greedy, covetous fathers or husbands, who would sacrifice the prosperity of the kingdom of God for a little worldly wealth, and see that they do not run distracted or go crazy over a little money. I say the Bishops should see to it, that these men who have sheep act like rational, reasonable men. What are you here for? What did you come for? Virtually you all say you left Babylon and came here to build up the kingdom of God; but our acts speak as loud, and a little louder than our words can. We witness to one another and to the Heavens, and to all people, that we believe in building up the kingdom of God on the earth. There is an item that ought to be before the Latter-day Saints with regard to the kingdom as it will be built up. They ought to teach themselves—read the Scriptures, the Old and New Testament, the prophecies, what the Savior and his Apostles have said, and what has been delivered to us in the latter days, and compare them, and then draw their own conclusions, and see if they are under the necessity of working temporally, literally, manually, physically for the building up of the kingdom of heaven. I say that we are or it never will be built up. With regard to the fundamental facts of our doctrines, we cannot show to any person that we have faith therein, except by our works. If I were now in the world, and an Elder was to come along and preach, and I were to go and hear him, the act of walking to the meetinghouse or to the private dwelling house, would be manual labor. I might believe every word such an Elder said in preaching the Gospel, but if I never took any steps towards fulfilling his requirements who would know anything about it? Nobody on the face of the earth. Would there be any manifestation that I had faith? Not the least in the world, and if it started to grow in my heart while listening to the Elder, without works on my part it would soon die out and cease to exist. If I do believe, it is a manual labor to get up and say to the people, “I believe that what this man has said is true.” That is an exercise of the body, and a temporal labor. Well, this Elder says, we should repent of our sins. I do repent. He says we should obey the Gospel, and the first thing after having faith or believing it, is to go down into the waters of baptism, and to do that is a temporal act, physical labor; and the act of baptism by him is also a temporal act or labor. And so in everything else with regard to the Gospel and the building up of the kingdom of God on the earth—we must have works or we cannot have faith. I cannot divide between the two. The Elder is preaching, I believe, I confess and obey, and I cannot, for my soul, divide the temporal, the manual, the physical labor from the internal faith and hope and joy which the spirit gives, and which cause obedience in my acts.

I wish to make this application right here to the Latter-day Saints. If we believe that God is about to establish his kingdom upon the earth, we believe firmly that we have got to perform a manual, temporal labor to bring this about. If the kingdoms of this world ever become the kingdoms of our God and his Christ, it will be by his people conforming to the plans instituted for the establishment of a kingdom here on the earth. You may call it temporal, no matter what it is called, it is territory, it is dominion. In the first place we must have territory, then we must have people; and in order to organize this kingdom, we must have officers and laws to govern or control the subjects. To make the organization of a kingdom perfect, we must have every appendage necessary and proper, so that the Savior can come and reign king of nations as he does king of Saints. We shall be under the necessity of raising breadstuff, and then we shall want to eat it. We shall have to raise our fruit as well as eat it; we shall have to raise our vegetables as well as eat them. We shall be under the necessity then of making hats, or of going without them; we shall be under the necessity of making clothing—coats, vests, pants, shirts and so on, or else go without them. We shall be under the necessity of having courts organized, unless all are in the Lord and all walk in his way; if that were the case, I do not know that we should want any sheriff, marshals, constables, magistrates, jurors, judges or governors, because the word of the Lord would govern and control every person; but until that time arrives we shall want officers, so that we will be prepared to reckon with the transgressor, and we shall have transgressors in building this kingdom, for it will be some time yet before all are in the Lord. The law is for the transgressor, consequently we must have officers, and we already have in this kingdom as now organized all the officers necessary, every quorum, every organization, every court and authority necessary to rule all the nations that ever were or ever will be upon the earth, if they serve God, or try to do so. But if we must have an organization after the order and wishes of those who are ignorant of the things of God, we must have political and municipal organizations. Kingdoms are organized to suit the conditions of the people, whether the government is that of the people, in the hands of a few individuals, or centered in one. But the kingdom of heaven, when organized upon the earth, will have every officer, law and ordinance necessary for the managing of those who are unruly, or who transgress its laws, and to govern those who desire to do right, but cannot quite walk to the line; and all these powers and authorities are in existence in the midst of this people.

Now, we have this kingdom organized here upon the earth, and we shall be under the necessity, by and by, of understanding this, or we will be left in a very destitute condition. It is my duty to say to the people that it is their duty to make their clothing; and permit me to say, still further, upon the subject of the fashion of cutting cloth and putting it together again, that it is most useless, unbecoming and ridiculous. The present custom of many is such that I would as soon see a squaw go through the streets with a very little on, as to see clothing piled up until it reaches, perhaps, the top of the hedge or fence its wearer is passing. If I do not say much about such customs and fashions, I shall probably skip over some naughty words. In my feelings they are positively ridiculous, they are so useless and unbecoming. Do you recollect a fashion there was a few years ago, that has now nearly ceased, when a woman could not walk through the streets without holding her clothes two feet in front of her if her arm was long enough? I shall not say what I thought of those who followed this fashion. Now it is on the other side, and I do not know but they will get two humps on their backs, they have one now, and if they get to be dromedaries it will be no wonder, not the least in the world. I recollect a fashion of cutting up cloth some forty years ago, that was very peculiar. A lady would go into a store and say to a merchant, “I would like to get a dress pattern this morning.” “Very well, what will you have?” “Oh, bring down your goods and show them. This suits pretty well! I think I will take this.” “Madame,” says the merchant, “If you will buy the sleeves, I will give you the dress.” This, of course, is jocosely said. I refer now to what was called the “mutton-legged” sleeve—by comparison it took seven yards for the sleeves, and three for the dress. That was the way they dressed then. How unbecoming! How unbecoming it is to see ladies dress as they do in some places at the present day. Then another fashion is to wear their dresses short in front, walking through the streets, and a long train dragging in the dirt behind. How unbecoming! This is not modesty, gentility, or good taste; it does not belong to a lady at all, but to an ignorant, extravagant, or vain-minded person, who knows not true principle. I take the liberty of saying that these fashions are displeasing in the sight of truth, mercy and justice. It is displeasing to the Spirit of the Lord for persons to array themselves in any way whatever that is disgusting to the eye of the pure and the prudent. There is not a Latter-day Saint nor a Former-day Saint that ever did, or ever will expect to see any such customs or fashions when they get into heaven. If they were to see an angel, they would see a being beautifully but modestly dressed, white, comely and nice to look upon.

I would like to advise the Latter-day Saints to avoid these foolish customs and habits. Let them pass by and not follow them; they do not belong to us. I would like to repeat to the ladies what we have said hundreds and thousands of times—they should make their own headdresses and fashions, independent of all the rest of the inhabitants of the earth. Pay no attention to what others do, it is no matter what they do, or how they dress. Latter-day Saints should dress in that plain, neat, comely manner that will be pleasing and prudent, in every sense of the word, before the Lord, and try and please him that we serve, the Being that we acknowledge as our God. Not flaunting, flirting and gossiping, as a great many are, and thinking continually of their dresses, and of this, that and the other that will minister to and gratify their vanity. Such women seldom think of their prayers.

I am extending my remarks much longer than I intended. But how is it about the Word of Wisdom? Do we observe it? We should do, and preserve ourselves in all things holy before the Lord. How is it about keeping the Sabbath day? We have some articles that we would like to read here, but the people have them to read at their leisure. We should observe the Ten Commandments, for instance, that were given to Moses. If we do that, we shall be a pretty good people. But there is nothing in those commandments about building factories and raising wool, for the children of Israel, at the time they were given, were in a condition that they did not need factories, they did not need to raise wool. If they had goats and sheep with them, they made mutton, and tanned the skins probably, but I do not know what they did with them. It appears that their clothing did not wax old, and they probably had no need to spin or weave. But we have need to, we have got to make our own clothing, or to get it some other way—buy it or else go without it; and we ought to keep the Word of Wisdom, and keep the Sabbath day holy, and preserve ourselves in the integrity of our hearts before God.

I want to ask if the people pay their tithing? Bishops, do the people of your wards pay their tithing? I will answer the question for you and say, No, they do not. Some people in modern times shudder at the word tithing—it is a term they are not used to. They are used to sustaining Priests, to donating for building meetinghouses, and administering to those who wait at the table of the Lord, or that do their preaching and praying for them. And this is done by subscription, donation, and passing the plate, hat or basket, but the word “tithing” is frightful to them. I like the term, because it is scriptural, and I would rather use it than any other. The Lord instituted tithing, it was practiced in the days of Abraham, and Enoch and Adam and his children did not forget their tithes and offerings. You can read for yourselves with regard to what the Lord requires. Now do the Latter-day Saints pay their tithing? They do not. I want to say this much to those who profess to be Latter-day Saints—If we neglect our tithes and offerings we will receive the chastening hand of the Lord. We may just as well count on this first as last. If we neglect to pay our tithes and offerings we will neglect other things, and this will grow upon us until the Spirit of the Gospel is entirely gone from us, and we are in the dark, and know not whither we are going.

It is the duty of the Bishops to see that their wards pay tithing. But we have Bishops who are not reliable—men, for instance, who will take tithing grain when it brings a good price in cash, and when good beef is bringing cash they are so kind to their wards, and especially to their sons, that if a son has got a parcel of wild horses on the prairies that are not worth a yearling calf a head, they will say to him, “Drive up your wild horses, my boy, I will trade with you, and let you have neat stock, yearlings, or two years or three years old, or wheat that is in the tithing bin, I will take your horses. I will send down word to the General Tithing office, that there are so many horses here belonging to the tithing office.” Such horses are a curse to us, or I can say they have been to me as an individual. I have raised stock enough to supply this whole Territory, if they had been taken care of. But they were like the Indian’s boy. The missionary had been telling him that if he brought up a child in the way he should go, when he was old he would not depart from it. But the old chief has got it, just about as it is, and said he, “Yes, bring up a child, and away he goes;” and this is the way the horses go. And as for the neat stock, if any of it ever gets out of my sight that I do not know where it is, and cannot send and get it, I always calculate that a thief will have it. I never trouble myself to look after it, there are too many men riding on the prairies with their blankets behind them, and their dinner in their blanket, and their lassoes with them to hunt up all the stock there is. This wild stock that is turned in on tithing is a curse to us. And where does the wheat go to? I am not disposed to, but I could tell names of Bishops who have taken our tithing wheat out of the bins and it has been sold by them or their families. And they have taken our stock that we wanted here for beef to feed the public lands, and traded it off for wild horses. This is a pretty hard saying, but it is true, and I could tell their names if I were obliged to.

If the people will pay their tithing, we will go and do the work that is required of us. It is very true that the poor pay their tithing better than the rich do. If the rich would pay their tithing we should have plenty. The poor are faithful and prompt in paying their tithing, but the rich can hardly afford to pay theirs—they have too much. If a man is worth enough that he would have a thousand dollars to pay, it pinches him. If he has only ten dollars he can pay one; if he has only one dollar he can pay ten cents; it does not hurt him at all. If he has a hundred dollars he can possibly pay ten. If he has a thousand dollars he looks over it a little and says, “I guess I will pay it; it ought to be paid anyhow;” and he manages to pay his ten dollars or his hundred dollars. But suppose a man is wealthy enough to pay ten thousand, he looks that over a good many times, and says, “I guess I will wait until I get a little more, and then I will pay a good deal.” And they wait and wait, like an old gentleman in the east; he waited and waited and waited to pay his tithing until he went down, I guess, to hell, I do not know exactly; but he went to Hades, which we call hell. He went out of the world, and this is the way with a great many. They wait and continue waiting, until, finally, the character comes along who is called Death, and he slips up to them and takes away their breath, then they are gone and cannot pay their tithing, they are too late, and so it goes.

Now this is finding fault with the rich, and I am going to find fault with the poor by and by. But if we will pay our tithing we will be blessed; if we refuse to do so the chastening hand of the Lord will be upon this people, just as sure as we are here. You may say I am threatening you. Take it just as you please. I do not care. You may grease it and swallow it, or swallow it without greasing, just as you have a mind to. It is true, and we will find it so.

Will the Latter-day Saints pay their tithing? Will they keep the Sabbath day holy? Will they deal justly with their neighbors? In my own feelings I excuse a great many naughty things that are done in our midst. I know that men and women brought up in different countries come here with their prejudices, and with the instincts which they have had bred in and born with them, and which have grown up with them; and many of these traits of character are obnoxious to others brought up under other circumstances. These traditions cling to the people, and cause them to do many things which they would not do if they had been differently taught. Their morals have not been looked after in their youth and as prudently preserved as they should have been. Children should be taught honesty, and they should grow up with the feeling within them that they should never take a pin that is not their own; never displace anything, but always put everything in its place. If they find anything seek for the owner. If there is anything of their neighbor’s going to waste, put it where it will not waste, and be perfectly honest one with another. Take the world of mankind and they are not overstocked with honesty. I have proved that. In my youth I have seen men, who were considered good, clever, honest men, who would take the advantage of their neighbors or workmen if they could. I have seen deacons, Baptists, Presbyterians, members of the Methodist church, with long, solid, sturdy faces and a poor brother would come along and say to one of them, “Brother, such-a-one, I have come to see if I could get a bushel of wheat, rye or corn of you. I have no money, but I will come and work for you in harvest,” and their faces would be drawn down so mournful, and they would say, “I have none to spare.” “Well, deacon, if you can let me have one bushel, I understand you have considerable, I will come and work for you just as long as you say, until you are satisfied, in your harvest field, or haying or anything you want done.”

After much talk this longfaced character would get it out, “If you will come and work for me two days in harvest, I do not know but I will spare you a bushel of rye.”

When the harvest time comes the man could have got two bushels of rye for one day’s work; but the deacon sticks him to his bargain, and makes him work two days for a bushel of wheat or rye. I used to think a good deal, but seldom spoke about any such thing, for I was brought up to treat everybody with that respect and courtesy that I could hardly allow myself to think aloud, and consequently very seldom did so. I thought enough of such religion, at any rate, that such Christians called me an infidel, because I could not swallow such things, but I could not if they had been greased over with fresh butter. I did not read the Bible as they read it; and as for there being Bible Christians, I knew there were none; and if their religion was the religion they liked, said I, “Just go your own way, I want none of it.” I wanted no religion that produced such morals.

If we pay our tithing, and begin to live a little stricter than we have heretofore, in our faith, cease to break the Sabbath, cease to spend our time in idleness, cease to be dishonest and to meddle with that which is not our own, cease to deceive and to speak evil of one another, and learn the commandments of the Lord, and do them, we shall be blessed.

Suppose we should say to a few of the Latter-day Saints, if we could find those who would answer the purpose, “How would you like to build up a stake of Zion, a little city of Enoch? How would you like this? Would you like to enter into a covenant, and into bonds, according to the law of our land, and let us bind ourselves together to go into a systematic cooperative system, not only in merchandising, but in farming and in all mechanical work, and in every trade and business there is; and we will classify the business throughout, and we will gather together a few hundred families, and commence and keep the law of God, and preserve ourselves in purity. How would the Latter-day Saints like it? Do you think there could any be found who would be willing to do this?” Let me say to you, my brethren, I have a very fine place to start such a society as this that would probably sustain from five to ten thousand persons. I would like to make a deed of this property to such a society, and enter into a covenant with men of God and women of God that we would go to and show the world and show the Latter-day Saints how to build up a city of Zion, and how to increase intelligence among the people, how to walk circumspectly before our God and before one another, and classify every branch of labor, taking advantage of every improvement, and of all the learning in the world, and direct the labor of men and women, and see what it would produce; follow it out for ten years, and then look at the result. Our friends who visit us here say that we have done a good work, and we bear testimony that we have been greatly prospered. It is true that most of the people in this house came here like myself comparatively naked and barefoot. I left all I had in the States. I say all—no. I had some wives and children whom I brought along with me. Some of them had shoes to their feet, some had not; some had bonnets, some had none. Some of my children had clothing, and some had very little; and we took up our line of march and left all. I believe for some four pretty nice brick houses, and a nice large farm, timber land and so on, I got one span of little horses and a carriage worth about a hundred dollars, the horses were worth about sixty dollars apiece, the harness about twenty. I think that was everything I got for my property. We came here and we have been prospered and blessed. If I had the privilege of living with a community that would do as I say for ten years, I would show them that our blessings now, in a temporal point of view, have been but as a drop to the bucketful. But would we bear this? Would our feelings submit to this? Would we not want to go and serve the devil if the Lord were to heap riches upon us? We see that what he does now makes men covetous, they cannot even pay their tithing. Well, do we get all that we want? No, each man wants it all, and as long as this is the case with us, I think the saying common among the boys in my youth will be good—“Every man for himself, the devil for us all.” Just as long as every man works for himself we are not the Lord’s; we are not Christ’s, we are not his disciples in this point of view, at any rate. If we had faith to be baptized, we do not carry out the principles of the salvation that he has wrought out for us. He is going to set up his kingdom—a literal, temporal kingdom. It will be a kingdom of priests by and by. If we had been willing to fully carry out the rules of the kingdom, followed counsel, and worked together for twenty-five years past, the blessings we have received are not a drop in the bucket to what we would have received.

Some twelve or fifteen years I labored faithfully with our merchants here, before I could get them to break through that everlasting covet– ous crust that was over them, and consent to operate together in merchandising so as to give the people a chance with us. And it was the design and the feeling of men here, belonging to the Church, to aggrandize themselves and to monopolize to themselves the wealth of the community. And if another one sprang up and had good luck they would take him into the corps, into their fellowship, and he would belong to the order, and that was to make a few rich, and grind down and make every other man poor. That was the design, no question of it. But I determined with God and the good to help me that I would break that everlasting covetous crust and I succeeded at last. Are we making enough in our mercantile business here now? Yes, we are making all we should make. I suppose a great many would like to know how we are doing. It would be no harm for me to tell you perhaps that, the last six months, the Board of Directors of Zion’s Cooperative Mercantile Institution are able to declare a dividend of ten percent, with five percent in reserve, which is added to the capital stock, and is as good as money. That is good enough for me, it yields some thirty per cent per annum.

If we would work together in our farming, in our mechanism, be obedient and work as a family for the good of all, it would be almost impossible for anybody to guess the success we would have. But we have got to do it in the Lord. We must not do it with a covetous heart. Always be ready and willing that the Lord should have it all, and do what he pleases with it. I have asked a favor of the Lord in this thing, and that is not to place me in such circumstances that what he has given me shall go into the hands of our enemies. God forbid that! But let it go for the preaching of the Gospel, to sustain and to gather the poor, to build factories, make farms, and set the poor to work, as I have hundreds and thousands that had not anything to do. I have fed and clothed them and taken care of them until they have become comparatively independent. I have made no man poor, but thousands and thousands rich, that is, the Lord has, through your humble servant.

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered at the 42nd Semi-Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, October 9, 1872.

Suppose we should examine a city in a stake of Zion conducted after the order of Enoch! We would like to look, for a few moments, upon the facts as they would exist. If a people were gathered together, were they many or few, who would follow out the instructions given them in the Bible and in the other revelations that we have, they would have to be very obedient, and probably many would feel to say, “I wish to manage my own affairs, I wish to dictate myself, I wish to govern and control my labor, I cannot submit to have anybody else dictate me. This is servitude, and is nothing more nor less than slavery!” I suppose there are some who would feel thus. When I look at the Latter-day Saints I think how independent they are. They have been very independent, there is no question of it. When they have heard the Gospel, though, perhaps, in the flood of persecution, and the finger of scorn pointed towards them, they have said, “The Gospel is true, and if my friends will not believe it, it makes no difference to me, I am independent enough to embrace the truth, and to gather out from the midst of Babylon and to make my home with the Saints.” There are plenty of such people here in this house—men and women, old and young. There are young people here who have left their parents and everything they had on the face of the earth for the sake of the Gospel. Middle-aged men have left their wives and their children, saying, “I am going to live according to the plan that has been laid down in the Scriptures for the salvation of the human family.” This certainly exhibits as much independence as mortal beings can manifest, and yet we have said we will yield strict obedience to these requirements, preparatory to enjoying the glory that the Lord has for the Saints. I will ask, Is there liberty in this obedience? Yes, and the only plan on the face of the earth for the people to gain real liberty is to yield obedience to these simple principles. Not but that we should find a great many who do not exactly understand how to yield obedience, strictly, to the requirements of heaven for their own salvation and exaltation; but no person can be exalted in the kingdom of heaven without first submitting himself to the rules, regulations, laws and ordinances of that kingdom, and being perfectly subject to them in every respect. Is this the fact? It is even so. Consequently, no person is fit to be a ruler until he can be ruled; no one is fit to be the Lord of all until he has submitted himself to be servant of all. Does this give the people liber– ty? It is the only thing in the heavens or on the earth that can do so. Where is the liberty in subjecting ourselves strictly to the requirements of heaven and becoming one in all our operations to build up the kingdom of God upon the earth? By strict obedience to these requirements, we prove ourselves faithful to our God; and when we have passed through all the ordeals necessary, and have proved perfectly submissive to all the rules and regulations which give life eternal, he then sets us free and crowns us with glory, immortality and eternal lives; and there is no other path that we can walk in, no other system, no other laws or ordinances by which we can gain exaltation, only by submitting ourselves perfectly to the requirements of heaven.

Now suppose we had a little society organized on the plan I mentioned at the commencement of my remarks—after the Order of Enoch—would we build our houses all alike? No. How should we live? I will tell you how I would arrange for a little family, say about a thousand persons. I would build houses expressly for their convenience in cooking, washing and every department of their domestic arrangements. Instead of having every woman getting up in the morning and fussing around a cookstove or over the fire, cooking a little food for two or three or half a dozen persons, or a dozen, as the case may be, she would have nothing to do but to go to her work. Let me have my arrangement here, a hall in which I can seat five hundred persons to eat; and I have my cooking apparatus—ranges and ovens—all prepared. And suppose we had a hall a hundred feet long with our cooking room attached to this hall; and there is a person at the farther end of the table and he should telegraph that he wanted a warm beefsteak; and this is conveyed to him by a little railway, perhaps under the table, and he or she may take her beefsteak. “What do you want to take with it?” “A cup of tea, a cup of coffee, a cup of milk, piece of toast,” or something or other, no matter what they call for, it is conveyed to them and they take it, and we can seat five hundred at once, and serve them all in a very few minutes. And when they have all eaten, the dishes are piled together, slipped under the table, and run back to the ones who wash them. We could have a few Chinamen to do that if we did not want to do it ourselves. Under such a system the women could go to work making their bonnets, hats, and clothing, or in the factories. I have not time to map it out before you as I wish to. But here is our dining room, and adjoining this is our prayer room, where we would assemble perhaps five hundred persons at one time, and have our prayers in the evening and in the morning. When we had our prayers and our breakfast, then each and every one to his business. But the inquiry is, in a moment, How are you going to get them together? Build your houses just the size you want them, whether a hundred feet, fifty feet or five, and have them so arranged that you can walk directly from work to dinner. “Would you build the houses all alike?” Oh no, if there is any one person who has better taste in building than others, and can get up more tasteful houses, make your plans and we will put them up, and have the greatest variety we can imagine.

What will we do through the day? Each one go to his work. Here are the herdsmen—here are those who look after the sheep—here are those who make the butter and the cheese, all at their work by themselves. Some for the canyon, perhaps, or for the plow or harvest, no difference what, each and every class is organized, and all labor and perform their part.

Will we have the cows in the city? No. Will we have the pig pens in the city? No. Will we have any of our outhouses in the city? No. We will have our railways to convey the food to the pig pens, and somebody to take care of them. Somebody to gather up the scraps at the table, and take them away. Somebody to take the feed and feed the cows, and take care of them out of the city. Allow any nuisance in the city? No, not any, but everything kept as clean and as nice as it is in this tabernacle. Gravel our streets, pave our walks, water them, keep them clean and nicely swept, and everything neat, nice and sweet. Our houses built high, sleep upstairs, have large lodging rooms, keep everybody in fresh air, pure and healthy. Work through the day, and when it comes evening, instead of going to a theater, walking the streets, riding, or reading novels—these falsehoods got up expressly to excite the minds of youth, repair to our room, and have our historians, and our different teachers to teach classes of old and young, to read the Scriptures to them; to teach them history, arithmetic, reading, writing and painting; and have the best teachers that can be got to teach our day schools. Half the labor necessary to make a people moderately comfortable now, would make them independently rich under such a system. Now we toil and work and labor, and some of us are so anxious that we are sure to start after a load of wood on Saturday so as to occupy Sunday in getting home. This would be stopped in our community, and when Sunday morning came every child would be required to go to the school room, and parents to go to meeting or Sunday school; and not get into their wagons or carriages, or on the railroads, or lounge around reading novels; they would be required to go to meeting, to read the Scriptures, to pray and cultivate their minds. The youth would have a good education, they would receive all the learning that could be given to mortal beings; and after they had studied the best books that could be got hold of, they would still have the advantage of the rest of the world, for they would be taught in and have a knowledge of the things of God.

Bring up our children in this way and they would be trained to love the truth. Teach them honesty, virtue and prudence, and we should not see the waste around that now is witnessed. The Latter-day Saints waste enough to make a poor people comfortable. Shall I mention one or two instances? I will mention this one thing anyway, with regard to our paper mill. Can you get the Latter-day Saints to save their rags? No, they will make them and throw them out of doors. Is there a family in this community but what are too well off in their own estimation to take care of paper rags? I think a good many of them would rather steal their beef and what they want than stoop to pick up paper rags to make paper to print our paper on. Not all would do this, but a few; and the majority are so well off that they have not that prudence which belongs to Saints; and I feel sometimes a little irritated, and inclined to scold about it, when I see women who were brought up without a shoe to their foot, or a second frock to their back perhaps, and who lived until they were young women in this style, without ever stepping on to an inch of carpet in their lives, and they know no more how to treat a carpet than pigs do. Do they know how to treat fine furniture? No, they do not; but they will waste, waste—their clothing, their carpets and their furniture. I hear them say sometimes, “Why, I have had this three years, or five years.” If my grandmother could have got an article such as you wear, she would have kept it for her daughters from generation to generation, and it would have been good. But now, our young women waste, waste.

This is finding fault, and I wish I could hurt your feelings enough to make you think of it when you get home. If I could make you a little mad, when you get home if you see a pretty good piece of carpet, thrown out of doors you will go, perhaps, and shake it and lay it up, thinking that it may be serviceable to somebody or other; and if you cannot do anything else with it, give it to somebody who has not a bed to lie upon, to put under them to help to make a bed.

If we could see such a society organized as I have mentioned, you would see none of this waste. You would see a people all attending to their business, having the most improved machinery for making cloth, and doing every kind of housework, farming, all mechanical operations, in our factories, dairies, orchards and vineyards; and possessing every comfort and convenience of life. A society like this would never have to buy anything; they would make and raise all they would eat, drink and wear, and always have something to sell and bring money, to help to increase their comfort and independence.

“Well, but,” one would say, “I shall never have the privilege of riding again in a carriage in my life.” Oh what a pity! Did you ever ride in one when you had your own way? No, you never thought of such a thing. Thousands and thousands of Latter-day Saints never expect to own a carriage or to ride in one. Would we ride in carriages? Yes, we would; we would have them suitable for the community, and give them their proper exercise; and if I were with you, I would be willing to give others just as much as I have myself. And if we have sick, would they want a carriage to ride in? Yes, and they would have it too, we would have nice ones to carry out the sick, aged and infirm, and give them exercise, and give them a good place to sleep in, good food to eat, good company to be with them and take care of them.

Would not this be hard? Yes, I should hope so. If I had the privilege and the power, I would not introduce a system for my brethren and myself to live under unless it would try our faith. I do not want to live without having my faith and patience tried. They are pretty well tried. I do not know how many there are who would endure what I endure with regard to faith and patience, and then be persevering in the midst of it all. But I would not form a society, nor ask an individual to go to heaven by breaking all the bones in his body, and putting him in a silver basket, and then, hitching him to a kite, send him up there. I would not do it if I had the power, for if his bones were not broken he would jump out of the basket, that is the idea. I see a great many who profess to be Latter-day Saints, who would not be contented in heaven unless their feelings undergo a great change, and if they were there and you wanted to keep them there, you would have to break their backs, or they would get out. But we want to see nothing of this in this little society.

If I had charge of such a society as this to which I refer, I would not allow novel reading; yet it is in my house, in the houses of my counselors, in the houses of these Apostles, these Seventies and High Priests, in the houses of the High Council in this city, and in other cities, and in the houses of the Bishops, and we permit it; yet it is ten thousand times worse than it is for men to come here and teach our children the a b c’s, good morals, and how to behave themselves, ten thousand times worse! You let your children read novels until they run away, until they get so that they do not care—they are reckless, and their mothers are reckless, and some of their fathers are reckless, and if you do not break their backs and tie them up they will go to hell. That is rough, is it not? Well, it is a comparison. You have got to check them some way or other, or they will go to destruction. They are perfectly crazy. Their actions say, “I want Babylon stuck on to me; I want to revel in Babylon; I want everything I can think of or desire.” If I had the power to do so, I would not take such people to heaven. God will not take them there, that I am sure of. He will try the faith and patience of this people. I would not like to get into a society where there were no trials; but I would like to see a society organized to show the Latter-day Saints how to build up the kingdom of God.

Do you think we shall want any lawyers in our society? No, I think not. Do you not think they will howl around? Yes, you will hear their howls going up morning and evening, bewailing one another. They will howl, “We can get no lawsuits here; we cannot find anybody that will quarrel with his neighbor. What shall we do?” I feel about them as Peter of Russia is said to have felt when he was in England. He saw and heard the lawyers pleading at a great trial there, and he was asked his opinion concerning them. He replied that he had two lawyers in his empire, and when he got home he intended to hang one of them. That is about the love I have for some lawyers who are always stirring up strife. Not but that lawyers are good in their place; but where is their place? I cannot find it. It makes me think of what Bissell said to Paine in Kirtland. In a lawsuit that had been got up, Bissell was pleading for Joseph, and Paine was pleading for an apostate. Paine had blackguarded Bissell a good deal. In his plea Bissell stopped all at once, and, turning to Mr. Paine, said he: “Mr. Paine, do you believe in a devil?” “Yes,” said Mr. Paine, who was a keen, smart lawyer. Said Bissell, “Where do you think he is?” “I do not know.” “Do you not think he is in hell?” said Bissell. “I suppose he is.” “Well,” said Bissell, “do you not think he is in pain [Paine]?” They almost act to me as if they were in pain. They must excuse me if there are any of them here today. I cannot see the least use on the face of the earth for these wicked lawyers who stir up strife. If they would turn merchants, cattle breeders, farmers or mechanics, or would build factories, they would be useful; but to stir up strife and quarrels, to alienate the feelings of neighbors, and to destroy the peace of communities, seems to be their only business. For a man to understand the law is very excellent, but who is there that understands it? They that do and are peacemakers, they are legitimate lawyers. There are many lawyers who are very excellent men. What is the advice of an honorable gentlemen in the profession of the law? “Do not go to law with your neighbor; do not be coaxed into a lawsuit, for you will not be benefited by it. If you do go to law, you will hate your neighbor, and you will finally have to pick some of your neighbors who hoe potatoes and corn, who work in the cabinet shop, at the carpenter’s bench, or at the blacksmith’s forge, to settle it for you. You will have to pick ten, twelve, eighteen or twenty-four of them, as the case may be, to act as a jury, and your case goes before them to decide. They are not lawyers, but they understand truth and justice, and they have got to judge the case at last.” Why not do this at first, and say we will arbitrate this case, and we will have no lawsuit, and no difficulty with our neighbor, to alienate our feelings one from another? This is the way we should do as a community.

Would you want doctors? Yes, to set bones. We should want a good surgeon for that, or to cut off a limb. But do you want doctors? For not much of anything else, let me tell you, only the traditions of the people lead them to think so; and here is a growing evil in our midst. It will be so in a little time that not a woman in all Israel will dare to have a baby unless she can have a doctor by her. I will tell you what to do, you ladies, when you find you are going to have an increase, go off into some country where you cannot call for a doctor, and see if you can keep it. I guess you will have it, and I guess it will be all right, too. Now the cry is, “Send for a doctor.” If you have a pain in the head, “Send for a doctor;” if your heel aches, “I want a doctor;” “my back aches, and I want a doctor.” The study and practice of anatomy and surgery are very good; they are mechanical, and are frequently needed. Do you not think it is necessary to give medicine sometimes? Yes, but I would rather have a wife of mine that knows what medicine to give me when I am sick, than all the professional doctors in the world. Now let me tell you about doctoring, because I am acquainted with it, and know just exactly what constitutes a good doctor in physic. It is that man or woman who, by revelation, or we may call it intuitive inspiration, is capable of administering medicine to assist the human system when it is besieged by the enemy called Disease; but if they have not that manifestation, they had better let the sick person alone. I will tell you why: I can see the faces of this congregation, but I do not see two alike; and if I could look into your nervous systems and behold the operations of disease, from the crowns of your heads to the soles of your feet, I should behold the same difference that I see in your physiognomy —there would be no two precisely alike. Doctors make experiments, and if they find a medicine that will have the desired effect on one person, they set it down that it is good for everybody, but it is not so, for upon the second person that medicine is administered to, seemingly with the same disease, it might produce death. If you do not know this, you have not had the experience that I have. I say that unless a man or woman who administers medicine to assist the human system to overcome disease, understands, and has that intuitive knowledge, by the Spirit, that such an article is good for that individual at that very time, they had better let him alone. Let the sick do without eating, take a little of something to cleanse the stomach, bowels and blood, and wait patiently, and let Nature have time to gain the advantage over the disease. Suppose, for illustration, we draw a line through this congregation, and place those on this side where they cannot get a doctor, without it is a surgeon, for thirty or fifty years to come; and put the other side in a country full of doctors, and they think they ought to have them, and this side of the house that has no doctor will be able to buy the inheritance of those who have doctors, and overrun them, outreach them, and buy them up, and finally obliterate them, and they will be lost in the masses of those who have no doctors. I know what some say when they look at such things, but that is the fact. Ladies and gentlemen, you may take any country in the world, I do not care where you go, and if they do not employ doctors, you will find they will beat communities that employ them, all the time. Who is the real doctor? That man who knows by the Spirit of revelation what ails an individual, and by the same Spirit knows what medicine to administer. That is the real doctor, the others are quacks.

But to the text. We want to see a community organized in which every person will be industrious, faithful and prudent. What will you do with the children? We will bring them up until they are of legal age, then say, “Go where you please. We have given you a splendid education, the advantage of all the learning of the day, and if you do not wish to stay with the Saints, go where you please.” What will you do with those who apostatize after having entered into covenant and agreement with others that their property shall be one, and be in the hands of trustees, and shall never be taken out? If any of these parties apostatize, and say we wish to withdraw from this community, what will you do with them? We will say to them, “Go, and welcome,” and if we are disposed to give them anything, it is all right.

Where are we going to find the greatest difficulty and obstruction with regard to this organization? In the purse of the rich? No, not by any means. I have got some brethren who are just as close, tight and penurious as I am myself, but I would rather take any moneyed man in this community, and undertake to manage him, than some men who are not worth a dollar in the world. Some of this class are too independent. They would say, “I’ll go a fishing,” or “I guess I’ll go a riding, where I please.” Well, if I were to give out word, and say to the community, Send in your names, I want to see who are willing to go into an organization of this kind, who do you suppose would write to me first? The biggest thieves in the community. Do not be shocked at that, any of you, whether you are strangers or not, for we have some of the meanest men that ever disgraced God’s footstool right in the midst of the Latter-day Saints. Do not be startled at that, because it is true. I have told the people many a time, if they want anything done, no matter how mean, they can find men here who can do it, if they are to be found on the earth. I cannot help this. You recollect that Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to a net which gathered all kinds. If our net has not gathered all kinds, I wonder where the kinds are that we have not got. I say that some of the worst men in the community would be the first ones to proffer their names to go into such an association. I do not want them there. Is this the fact? Yes it is. I understand it exactly. But if such a community could be organized, to show the Latter-day Saints how to build up the kingdom of heaven on the earth, I would be glad to see it—would not you?

If this could be done I want to say to the Latter-day Saints, that I have a splendid place, large enough for about five hundred or a thousand persons to settle upon, and I would like to be the one to make a donation of it, with a good deal more, to start the business, to see if we can actually accomplish the affair, and show the Latter-day Saints how to build up Zion. Not to make a mock of it. Not go and preach the Gospel without purse and scrip, and gather up the poor and needy, and have them bring Babylon with them. Leave Babylon out of the question. Make our own clothing, but do not put seventeen or twenty-one yards in a single dress, neither be attired so as to look like a camel. It is not comely, it does not belong to sensible people, nor to any people who wish to carry themselves justly and correctly, before the heavens and intelligent men.

If the ladies want silks, we have the mulberry here of all kinds; we have the silkworm eggs here, and we have made the silk. Go to work now and raise worms, and wind the silk, and weave it and make all the satin ribbons you wish for. We have men and women here, who did nothing in their lives before they came here but weave satin ribbons and satin cloth. This is their business, they know how to get it up. If you will raise the silk, dress yourselves just as beautifully as you please.

By and by when this people learn the value of the mulberry and the silkworm, you will see the women with their few trees in their yards and around their lots, and for shade trees in the streets; and the children will be picking the leaves and feeding the worms, and they will get up silk dresses here like those in the East Indies. The silk dresses they make there you can put them on and wear them until you are tired of them, and almost from generation to generation. We can make them here just as good. And we can have coats and vests and pants made of our homegrown material, which a man would wear for his best suit, and hand down to his posterity. When we have learned the worth of silk we will make it and use it instead of linen. We have a splendid country for raising silk, but not a good country to raise flax in; splendid for raising wool, grain, fruit, vegetables, cattle, milk, butter and cheese, and here we are importing our cheese. We ought to be making cheese by the hundreds of tons. We ought to export it in quantities; but instead of that we are sending to the States for it.

Where are your cows? Have you taken care of them? If you see a community organized as they should be, they will take care of their calves; they will have something to feed them on in the winter, and they will take care of their stock and not let it perish. What a sin it is to the Latter-day Saints, if they did but know it, to abuse their stock—their cattle, milk cows and horses! Through the summer they will work and use them, and in the winter turn them out to live or die as they can, taking no care of that which God has given them. Were it not for the ignorance of the people, the Lord would curse them for such things.

We ought to learn some of these facts, and try to shape our lives so as to be useful. Let the men make their lives useful. Let the women make their lives useful. Mothers, teach your daughters how to keep house, and not how to spend everything they can get hold of. I will just say a few words on this subject. We have hundreds of young men here who dare not take girls for wives. Why? Because the very first thing, they want a horse and buggy, and a piano; they want somebody to come every day to give them lessons on the piano; they want two hired girls and a mansion, so that they can entertain company, and the boys are afraid to marry them. Now mothers, teach your girls better things than these. What are the facts in the case? If you had been brought up to know what property—fine furniture, carpets, and so on, was worth, you would take care of it, and be prudent in the use of it, and teach your girls to take care, instead of wasting it. Do you believe it? This does not hit all, but too many. I wish you would hearken to these things. I am taking up the time, and not giving to others an opportunity to address you. We have not said what we want to say to the Latter-day Saints. We ought to have a house four times as large as this, and we ought to fill it; and we ought to sit together not only four days, but a week and perhaps two weeks, and leave home at home, leave Babylon in Babylon—leave everything and come here to worship the living God, and learn of his ways, that we may walk in his paths. This is our duty, and what we should do. But there are so many who can hardly spend time to go to meeting on the Sabbath day; and they can hardly spend time to go to Conference. They have so much business on hand, so many cattle to take care of; they have money to let out, or money to borrow; they have men to see to, or something or other, and it seems as if the affections of the people are hankering after the things of this world too much, too much! Stop, Latter-day Saints, and reckon with yourselves, and find whether you are actually in the path of obedience to the requirements of heaven or not. Some suppose that they are serving God and are on the road to eternal life, but many will find they are mistaken if they are not careful. We had better reckon with ourselves and look over our accounts, and see how we stand before the Lord. See if we are doing good, if we are bestowing our substance on the poor, that they may have food to eat and habitations to dwell in, and be made comfortable: see if we are sending our means for the poor in foreign lands, and aiding to send the Elders to preach to the nations and gather up the people and make them happy and comfortable. Instead of doing this I fear that many are wandering away from the commandments of the Lord. “O fools, and slow of heart to believe!” We can get rich a great deal quicker by serving God than by serving ourselves, do a great deal better, and do a great deal more good. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. He is anxious, and is waiting with extended arms and hands, comparatively, to pour the wealth of the world into the laps of the Latter-day Saints, if they will not give it away to their enemies. But now, just as soon as anything is given to the Latter-day Saints they are looking from east to west, and from north to south, to see where they can strew that that God gives them among their enemies—those who spurn the things of God, and would destroy his kingdom from the earth. I say, let the Lord keep us poor rather than forsake our religion and turn away from it! Why cannot a man serve God with his pockets full of greenbacks, and not lust after them one particle? If he cannot do it, he is lacking in wisdom, faith, and knowledge, and does not understand God and his ways. The heavens and the earth are full of blessings for the people. To whom do they belong? To our Father in heaven, and he wishes to bestow them upon his children when they can receive and dispose of them to his name’s glory.

We shall have to stop here. We are going to adjourn our Conference, though we have not said half what we wish to say to you and to ourselves, for we want to be co-workers together. Now let me say to the First Presidency, to the Apostles, to all the Bishops in Israel, and to every quorum, and especially to those who are presiding officers, Set that example before your wives and your children, before your neighbors and this people, that you can say: “Follow me, as I follow Christ.” When we do this, all is right, and our consciences are clear.

God bless you.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered at Farmington, Saturday Afternoon, Aug. 24, 1872.

There are a few minutes to spare before we dismiss, and there are quite a number of items that could be talked about that would be very interesting to the people, especially in regard to the first experience of the Church. When I hear brethren relate their experience of those days it brings to my mind many things pertaining to the establishment of the kingdom in the beginning. Not that I was a member of the Church at its organization, but I was nearby and knew something of the doings of the Saints. I recollect very well the night that Joseph found the plates: the recollection of that event is as vividly impressed on my mind as though it were last night. But, to change my remarks to another subject referred to, let me ask you, brethren and sisters, How many do you suppose there are in the Church now who were in twenty-eight years ago? Some are disposed to imagine that the people we now call Latter-day Saints have been brought into the Church through the labors of the Prophet Joseph Smith. If we were to ask this congregation how many of them were in the Church twenty-eight years ago, we should find only a small portion of them. I will say that, probably, two-thirds, yes, three-fourths, and even more than that, have come into the Church through the administration of what is called the First Presidency at the present time; consequently our work shows for itself. We need not ask persons to give their opinion about the theory that we have placed before them, but what do you think of the work itself? What do you think of this great kingdom, this little empire, we might say, as it now appears to the world? It is twenty-eight years since Brother Joseph was killed, and the work has gone forth steadily and rapidly, and through the providences of God we have apparently advanced faster since then, than in the fourteen years before, so far as bringing the people into note, and giving them a name and fame in the eyes of the world. The work is still onward and it is upward.

I simply ask the question about what the people think of these things, I do not wish to dwell on the principle of parties denying the faith, or remaining in the faith, they can do just as they please about that; but while Brother Levi Hancock was talking about sticking to the Church, and declaring that he meant to hang on to it, I thought, and say now, what in the name of common sense is there to hang on to, if he does not hang on to the Church? I do not know of anything. You might as well take a lone straw in the midst of the ocean to save yourselves as to think of doing so by the knowledge, power, authority, faith and priesthood of the Christian world, and the heathen world into the bargain. There is nothing but the Gospel to hang on to! Those who leave the Church are like a feather blown to and fro in the air. They know not whither they are going; they do not understand anything about their own existence; their faith, judgment and the operations of their minds are as unstable as the movements of the feather floating in the air. We have not anything to cling to, only faith in the Gospel.

As for the doctrine that is promulgated by the sons of Joseph, it is nothing more than any other false religion. We would be very glad to have the privilege of saying that the children of Joseph Smith, Junior, the Prophet of God, were firm in the faith of the Gospel, and following in the footsteps of their father. But what are they doing? Trying to blot out every vestige of the work their father performed on the earth. Their mission is to endeavor to obliterate every particle of his doctrine, his faith and doings. These boys are not following Joseph Smith, but Emma Bideman. Every person who hearkens to what they say, hearkens to the will and wishes of Emma Bideman. The boys, themselves, have no will, no mind, no judgment independent of their mother. I do not want to talk about them. I am sorry for them, and I have my own faith in regard to them. I think the Lord will find them by and by—not Joseph, I have told the people times enough, they never may depend on Joseph Smith who is now living; but David, who was born after the death of his father, I still look for the day to come when the Lord will touch his eyes. But I do not look for it while his mother lives. The Lord would do it now if David were willing; but he is not, he places his mother first and foremost, and would take her counsel sooner than he would the counsel of the Almighty, consequently he can do nothing, he knows nothing, he has no faith, and we have to let the matter rest in the hands of God for the present.

Now a few words to the brethren and sisters upon the doctrine and ordinances of the house of God. All who have lived on the earth according to the best light they had, and would have received the fullness of the Gospel had it been preached to them, are worthy of a glorious resurrection, and will attain to this by being administered for in the flesh by those who have the authority. All others will have a resurrection, and receive a glory, except those who have sinned against the Holy Ghost. It is supposed by this people that we have all the ordinances in our possession for life and salvation, and exaltation, and that we are administering in these ordinances. This is not the case. We are in possession of all the ordinances that can be administered in the flesh; but there are other ordinances and administrations that must be administered beyond this world. I know you would ask what they are. I will mention one. We have not, neither can we receive here, the ordinance and the keys of the resurrection. They will be given to those who have passed off this stage of action and have received their bodies again, as many have already done and many more will. They will be ordained, by those who hold the keys of the resurrection, to go forth and resurrect the Saints, just as we receive the ordinance of baptism, then the keys of authority to baptize others for the remission of their sins. This is one of the ordinances we cannot receive here, and there are many more. We hold the authority to dispose of, alter and change the elements; but we have not received authority to organize native element to even make a spear of grass grow. We have no such ordinance here. We organize according to men in the flesh. By combining the elements and planting the seed, we cause vegetables, trees, grains, &c., to come forth. We are organizing a kingdom here according to the pattern that the Lord has given for people in the flesh, but not for those who have received the re– surrection, although it is a similitude. Another item: We have not the power in the flesh to create and bring forth or produce a spirit; but we have the power to produce a temporal body. The germ of this, God has placed within us. And when our spirits receive our bodies, and through our faithfulness we are worthy to be crowned, we will then receive authority to produce both spirit and body. But these keys we cannot receive in the flesh. Herein, brethren, you can perceive that we have not finished, and cannot finish our work, while we live here, no more than Jesus did while he was in the flesh.

We cannot receive, while in the flesh, the keys to form and fashion kingdoms and to organize matter, for they are beyond our capacity and calling, beyond this world. In the resurrection, men who have been faithful and diligent in all things in the flesh, have kept their first and second estate, and worthy to be crowned Gods, even the sons of God, will be ordained to organize matter. How much matter do you suppose there is between here and some of the fixed stars which we can see? Enough to frame many, very many millions of such earths as this, yet it is now so diffused, clear and pure, that we look through it and behold the stars. Yet the matter is there. Can you form any conception of this? Can you form any idea of the minuteness of matter? Let me give you a comparison, for instance, with regard to mathematics. You take a child that is born today, say at twelve o’clock, precisely at high noon. One year from today there is another child born. The one born today will be just one year older than the other. The second one is perhaps not a minute old, it has just commenced to breathe the vital air. Now the one born first is a great many times older than the second, we would have to get some of these mathematicians to tell how many times. It would be over 31 millions of seconds, a great many minutes, many hours, three hundred and sixty-five days, and one year. When these two children have lived just one year longer the elder of the two is two years old, the other one, the former, being just as old again as the latter. In one year more the first one will be only one-third older, the fourth year be will be one-fourth older, and so on. Now then, how long must these two children live to be exactly of an age? They never will be; never, no never, through all the eternities there are, and that is forever and ever. They will always differ in age, and when countless millions and myriads of ages have passed away there is still, do you not see, a difference, these children are not yet of the same age. It is just so with matter. Take, for instance, a grain of sand. You cannot divide it so small that it cannot be divided again—it is capable of infinite division. We know nothing about how many times it can be divided, and it is just so with regard to the lives in us, in animals, in vegetation, in shrubbery. They are countless. To illustrate, you take a perfectly ripe kernel of corn—you will have some here perhaps in a few days—and if you get a glass, it does not require a very powerful one, and you take the chit of this corn and open it, you behold distinctly a stalk of corn, in that chit, a perfectly grown stalk of corn, with ears and leaves on it, matured, out in blossom—there is the tassel, there are the ears and there is the corn! Well, you get a stronger glass and divide again, and you can see that this very chit is the grandfather of corn! We take the scien– tific world for this. Well, how many lives are there in this grain of corn? They are innumerable, and this same infinity is manifest through all the creations of God.

We will operate here, in all the ordinances of the house of God which pertain to this side the veil, and those who pass beyond and secure to themselves a resurrection pertaining to the lives will go on and receive more and more, more and more, and will receive one after another until they are crowned Gods, even the sons of God. This idea is very consoling. We are now baptizing for the dead, and we are sealing for the dead, and if we had a temple prepared we should be giving endowments for the dead—for our fathers, mothers, grandfathers, grandmothers, uncles, aunts, relatives, friends and old associates, the history of whom we are now getting from our friends in the east. The Lord is stirring up the hearts of many there, and there is a perfect mania with some to trace their genealogies and to get up printed records of their ancestors. They do not know what they are doing it for, but the Lord is prompting them; and it will continue and run on from father to father, father to father, until they get the genealogy of their forefathers as far as they possibly can.

I am going to stop my talking by saying that, in the millennium, when the kingdom of God is established on the earth in power, glory and perfection, and the reign of wickedness that has so long prevailed is subdued, the Saints of God will have the privilege of building their temples, and of entering into them, becoming, as it were, pillars in the temples of God, and they will officiate for their dead. Then we will see our friends come up, and perhaps some that we have been acquainted with here. If we ask who will stand at the head of the resurrection in this last dispensation, the answer is—Joseph Smith, Junior, the Prophet of God. He is the man who will be resurrected and receive the keys of the resurrection, and he will seal this authority upon others, and they will hunt up their friends and resurrect them when they shall have been officiated for, and bring them up. And we will have revelations to know our forefathers clear back to Father Adam and Mother Eve, and we will enter into the tem– ples of God and officiate for them. Then man will be sealed to man until the chain is made perfect back to Adam, so that there will be a perfect chain of priesthood from Adam to the winding-up scene.

This will be the work of the Latter-day Saints in the millennium. How much time do you suppose we have to attend to and foster Babylon? I leave this question for you to answer at your pleasure. I have no time at all for that, I say, and stop my sayings.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Bowery, Logan City, Sunday Morning, August 18, 1872.

There is just about time for a ten minutes’ sermon. I have several little sermons for the people, and I will begin by taking up the case of brother Samuel Roskelly, Bishop up here in Smithfield. I have been hearing for a year or two about brother Roskelly being wonderfully dishonest, oppressing the people, overbearing with his brethren, treating them with contempt and abusing them, taking their means and so on. Last Friday, about five o’clock, we assembled in this hall, that is, all who were disposed to come together, to have these matters brought before us. We sat and heard them as pa– tiently as we could. We had not time to hear all speak and say all they wanted to. We found, as we generally find these complaints—they have their origin in selfishness, in greediness, in a complaining heart, destitute of the Spirit of the Lord, imagining to themselves that they know just what is right, and they want to get everybody in the world to feel as they feel. But we find that almost all complaints that arise are sown by the enemy; they grow in this soil, they take root, spring up and bear seed, and when the stalk is shaken then the seed makes its appearance. We examined these mat– ters far enough. I think there were eight complaints against Bishop Roskelly, and when we had got through I did not stop to ask the brethren how they felt, for I did not see anything to talk about. I did not learn that there was anything of sufficient importance to spend time about, or to ask my counselor, or to ask any of the Twelve, any of the Bishops, or any of the brethren present, to give their opinion on the subject. I did not see that there was any opinion to be formed. I learned nothing, only that these little roots—this seed of bitterness—had grown up and borne fruit.

Just about the same complaints came to me year after year against brother Maughan and brother Benson, and of other Bishops in this valley, very few have been excused. If we were to hear them all and trace them to their origin, we would find they all are the fruits of jealousy, covetousness—which is idolatry, discontent and greediness. Those with whom they originate are very anxious to have everybody look through the glasses they look through, to feel as they feel, and to be dictated by them. I want to say this to the brethren and to the sisters, that they may know how we feel about this matter. We did not chasten Bishop Roskelly nor any of the brethren of his ward, but we talked to them a little, and gave them some good counsel; and we do not feel like chastening them, but just say to them, Try and live so that the Spirit of the Lord will live within you, and you will do well enough.

I gave brother Roskelly some counsel with regard to keeping accounts. I learned, years and years ago, the benefit of having my business transactions well written out in black and white, and when I have any dealings with a man, put that down. If I have paid him, say I have paid him, how much and what for, which makes a proper account and history. I learned this by experience, and I got this little item when I first started in business in my youth. We were building up a little town. A few merchants, a few mechanics, and a few others had come in, and we were together one evening talking about keeping account books, and bringing up the different authors. One gentleman in the company, named David Smith, said—“Gentlemen, I have studied every author in America on bookkeeping, and some of the European issues, and I have learned that there is no rule or method so good as to write down facts just as they occur. That is the best bookkeeping I have learned yet.” This I have observed in my life; I adopted this principle as soon as I heard it. I say, then, to brother Roskelly, instead of keeping his own books, have somebody or other that will know his accounts and understand his dealings to keep a faithful record of the same; and I say this to all the Bishops and to men of business, not only to those in the tithing department, but merchants, mechanics and farmers. Most of our farmers that I have been acquainted with never keep any books at all; they depend on memory, and I have known some men to do quite a business in this way. We have a considerable number of tradesmen in our community, some of whom never keep any books or accounts. This class are liable at any time to be imposed upon. A person comes up, and, says he, “You owe me, and I want my pay.” The man knows he has paid him, but he forgets when, where and how, but it is settled in his feelings that he does not owe him anything. This brings contention, discord and strife, even among pretty good Elders; but, if we keep a strict account of everything, we can tell a man then whether we have paid him or not, or whether we owe him or not. This is the way for brother Samuel Roskelly and all the Bishops to do. I wanted to say this, and also that there is no particular fault to be found with brother Roskelly, and no particular fault to be found with the people, only they do not live their religion quite as they should, and the spirit of contention creeps in instead of the spirit of prayer. My counsel, brethren and sisters, is to pray, keep the law of God, observe the Sabbath day, partake of the Sacrament, observe your tithes and offerings, and fill up your lives with doing good. This accomplishes my ten minutes, and now I leave the ground. We will close our meeting until 2 o’clock, then I have a few other discourses to deliver.

[When the congregation re-assembled, after singing and prayer, President Young again took the stand, and spoke as follows—]

Now for my second lecture. This is upon financial affairs entirely. It is merely a question I am going to propound to the people, and I desire an answer from them. Suppose that the Wholesale Cooperative Store in Salt Lake City should be pleased to extend its operations to this valley and establish a wholesale store here, I want to know what the disposition and action of the people would be with regard to sustaining it? I see there is a necessity for it, for there are a good many settlements in this valley and Bear Lake Valley that now go to Salt Lake City to do their trading. We have proposed placing a wholesale store here, and whatever is kept in Salt Lake City in the wholesale department, duplicate the same for this place, and keep a perfect assortment here the same as is done in the city—farming implements, wagons, carriages and everything necessary to supply the wants of the people. This will be a short lecture. Suppose that we undertake this, what will be the action of the people? I expect every settlement is represented here today, probably by the Bishops and leading men, who know the feelings of the people and who, more or less, control the business portions of their settlements. Perhaps a good many have not thought of it, then again a good many have, and they have matured this pretty well in their feelings and understandings. If we do this, our plan will be to supply the people with everything they want, and all their products that can be disposed of to buy them. We will take the products of the country that we can sell, ship them off and dispose of them, and in return supply you with goods. Will the Bishops, High Priests, Seventies, Elders, Priests, Teachers, Deacons, and their fathers, mothers, sons, daughters and the brothers sustain this institution if we place one here? We shall give you the goods just about as cheap as we can sell them in Salt Lake City, very little difference, so little you would not know; for the additional expense in bringing them from Ogden to this place, over conveying them from there to Salt Lake City, would be very trifling. If this would be the feelings of the different settlements, I would like to have you manifest it by showing your right hands. (Hands up.) Now let us have the opposition vote. (No opposition.)

While I am on this subject let me say a few words with regard to dress, though I have not as much reason to do so here as I have in Salt Lake City and Ogden. You know that we are creatures subject to all the vanities of the world, and very subject to admiring its fashions. We have left Babylon, and instead of introducing it here we want it to stay yonder, and just as much as we can, no, that is the wrong word—just as much as we will, we want to make our own head dresses here, especially for the ladies, and for the gentlemen through the summer season. We would like to see all through our country what we see here in a measure—a decent dress on a lady. Instead of having four, five or six yards of cloth drawing through the street to raise dust on the people, that she can go along decently and you would not think there was a six horse team traveling there, with a dozen dogs under the wagon. This is what we would like, but when we come to the ornaments, I feel like blackguarding. I am going to speak about a little ornament they get up, I believe it is called a “bender,” and I do not know but there is a Grecian or a Greek to it—a “Grecian bend.” You have seen this ridiculed enough without my doing it. I want to say to you, ladies, just take off this ornament. If my sisters will take the hint, they will leave off these little articles. Some of them, after they have got half a dozen yards on it are not satisfied until they go and get a dozen yards of ribbon several inches wide to make bows to put on the top of that. It is ridiculous! I do not see much of it in this place, to what I do in some others. I would really like to see the ladies dress decent and comely. This will do on this subject, for a hint to the wise is sufficient, and enough has been said if the sisters will take counsel.

I will now say a little with regard to our young people—a subject introduced here yesterday, very modestly and very nicely. Suppose the Latter-day Saints and the world at large were to carry out the principles that are received in the faith of a society called the Shaking Quakers, how long do you suppose it would be before there would not be a human being left on the earth, unless there was some necromancy or stealthful conduct going on? About one hundred and twenty years would take the last man and woman from the earth. But this is not what is required of us, it was not required of Adam and Eve. They were required to multiply and replenish the earth, and I will here say a word to the ladies—Do not marvel, do not wonder at it, do not complain at Providence, do not find fault with mother Eve because your desire is to your husbands. Bear this with patience and fortitude! Be reconciled to it, meet your afflictions and these little—well, we might say, not very trifling, but still they are wants, for if we desire only that that is necessary, and can govern and control ourselves to be satisfied with that, it is a great deal better than to want a thousand things that are unnecessary, and especially to the female portion of the inhabitants of the earth. But there is a curse upon them, and I cannot take it off, can you? No, you cannot—it never will be taken from the human family until the mission is fulfilled, and our Master and our Lord is perfectly satisfied with our work. It will then be taken from this portion of the community, and will afflict them no more; but for the present it will afflict them. And almost every lady I ever saw in my life is just as bad as a certain lady lecturer who, after lecturing and extolling her sex, and trying to impress upon them the idea that it would have been much better for the world if there had never been a man upon the earth, said, “Yet you know our weakness is such that we turn round and grab the first man we come to.” How natural it is! Well, ladies, just be reconciled to your condition, and if there is a principle here or elsewhere that wishes to override the principle of celestial marriage, take heed to yourselves, for I can promise you one thing—If you ever had any faith in the Gospel and in celestial marriage, and you renounce or disbelieve and deny this doctrine, you will be damned. I promise you that, no matter who it is. Now take heed to yourselves! Look at the world. We might show up this matter here, but we do not wish to do so. Those who travel through the world can understand these things, and see the millions of the human family who are trodden under foot. I will refer you to the great cities of the world. Get their statistics and see how many young females perish in them yearly. Why? Because some good men have taken them and made second wives of them? No. It is because wicked men have seduced and ruined them, and have made them so reckless in their feelings that rather than see father, mother, brother, sister or friends again, they would die in a ditch. Those who are acquainted with the world know these things are true, and they are trying to introduce this practice into Salt Lake City. I will say no more on this subject, but let this little lecture or sermon suffice.

I will now ask a question of the Latter-day Saints, and I can ask it of the aged, middle-aged and the youth, for it is a matter that comes within the range of the understanding of the entire community, even the children—How long will it take us to establish Zion, the way we are going on now? You can answer this question, as the girl did the schoolmaster, I suppose, and say, “If forty years has brought a large percentage of Babylon into the midst of this people, how long will it take to get Babylon out and actually to establish Zion?” The schoolmaster boasted of his aptness at figures and told the girl that no question in mathematics could be asked him that he could not readily answer. Said the girl, “I think I can ask you a question you cannot answer?” “Well,” said he, “let’s have it.” “Well,” said she, “if by eating one apple Mother Eve ruined the whole human family, what would an orchard full of apples do?” You will be as puzzled to answer my question as the schoolmaster was his pupil’s question. You can say, “I do not know,” and it is true, you do not know; but I can inform you on that subject—Until the father, the mother, the son and the daughter take the counsel that is given them by those who lead and direct them in building up the kingdom of God, they will never establish Zion, no never, worlds without end. When they learn to do this, I do not think there will be much complaining or grumbling, or much of what we have heard about today—improper language to man or beast. I do not think there will be much pilfering, purloining, bad dealing, covetousness or anything of the kind; not much of this unruly spirit that wants everybody to sustain its possessor and let him get rich, whether anybody else does or not. I think when we have learned that lesson, we will be willing to take the counsel of those who are set to direct us, the officers who are over us; and if they are not just, true, holy, upright and men of God in every respect, just have faith enough so that the Lord Almighty will remove them out of the way and do not undertake to remove them yourselves. This is the way we should live. There should be faith enough in the midst of this people that if your humble servants were to attempt to guide them in the ways of error, false doctrine, wickedness or corruption of any kind, he would be stopped in his career in twenty-four hours so that he would not be able to speak to them, and if he were not laid in the grave, he would have no power nor influence whatever. There ought to faith enough in a Ward, if the Bishop is wicked, if he is doing wrong and serving himself and the enemy instead of the Lord and his kingdom, to stop him in his career, so that the Lord would remove him out of the way. This has been the case in some few instances, and it ought to be every time and in every place.

When shall we establish the principles of Zion? You can say, “I do not know.” If we had power to do it, we should do it; but we are just in the position and condition, and upon precisely the same ground that God our Father is—He cannot force his children to do this, that or the other against their will—the eternal laws by which he and all others exist in the eternities of the Gods, decree that the consent of the creature must be obtained before the Creator can rule perfectly. It is just as impossible for the principles of heaven to rule in the hearts of the wicked and ungodly as anything you can well imagine; you might as well throw powder into a flaming fire and say it should not burn, or burst a cask of water in the air and say it should not fall to the ground. The consent of the creature must be had in these things, and until you and I do consent in our feelings and understand that it is a necessity that we establish Zion, we shall have Babylon mixed with us.

I know the faith of the people, in a great measure, is, “We would like to see Zion.” “Would you?” “Yes, but I would like to see it enjoyed by others. I do not want to be there myself, I want to see how it looks.” This is the feeling, these are the ideas that pass through the minds of many. “We would just like to see the people live according to the principles of heaven, to see how they would look and act, to learn their ways; but we would not be bound to live there until we had seen enough to be able to judge whether we would like it or not. Maybe we would like it, maybe not; it might deprive us of some little privileges we have now. We might not be permitted to wear what we wear now, or to act, think and feel as we do now. We might be crippled or curtailed in our views or operations, consequently we do not want to enter into this order ourselves, but we would like some others to do so that we may see how it looks.” This is the way they feel about Zion.

Well, brethren, I have talked all I ought to, and perhaps more. I say, as I always do, God bless you! Peace be with you, and love be multiplied upon the people. I pray for the good all over the earth. My desire is to see the kingdom of God prosper. We are prospering in many things, but we are not prospering in the grace of God and in the spirit of our holy religion as much as we should. Herein we come short. But if we will try and improve our minds, school and train ourselves to overcome every evil within us, every passion, every unruly thought, I do know by experience, by a close application of any individual to himself in schooling and training his mind, he can cease to think evil thoughts and he will be able to think good, that is, his mind will be filled with pleasant reflections. This I know by experience. I heard Brother Taylor preach a sermon once on the principle of revelation, which con– tained the most pleasant ideas. Still it is in the Bible—all this is taught there—but he illustrated the principle of living for God perfectly day by day, showing that we could do so until God lived within us, and until we, ourselves, became a fountain of revelation; instead of having to ask, plead and pray the Lord to give us a vision and to open our minds, we could live for God until a fountain of light and intelligence was within us, from morning until evening, and from evening until morning, week after week, month after month and year after year. This is the fact. Then let us live so that the spirit of our religion will live within us, then we have peace, joy, happiness and contentment, which makes such pleasant fathers, pleasant mothers, pleasant children, pleasant households, neighbors, communities and cities. That is worth living for, and I do think that the Latter-day Saints ought to strive for this.

May God help us!

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, August 11, 1872.

I have an anxiety to bear testimony to the truth, though it is well known to many of my friends and acquaintances that it is not prudent for me to exercise myself in this large hall, as I have in days past. But I feel very anxious to speak to my brethren and sisters and to their families, to my friends and neighbors, and the inhabitants of the earth, concerning the Christian religion. I feel thus many times when I am not able to do so, but I desire at this time to bear testimony to the Gospel—the plan of salvation, to the holy Priesthood, that the Lord has revealed in the latter days. I admit at once, without any argument at all, that the whole human family are possessed more or less of truth; they have a great many very excellent and pure ideas, beliefs, faiths and sentiments, the adoption of which in their lives would promote truth and overcome error, sin and iniquity in their midst, and cause joy and peace to fill the hearts of individuals, families, neighborhoods, cities and nations.

Sometimes we take the liberty of defining the religions of the day, known under the general name of Christianity. We have heard something of this, this afternoon; and with regard to the philosophy of that religion, we admit the truth of it. All have truth, all have good desires—that is to say, as people and as communities. There may be individuals who do not possess these principles, but there are many in all communities of the earth professing Christianity who wish, in reality, to know the truth, and to embrace it in their creeds, and most of them desire most fervently that the professors of this Christianity should live according to pure and holy principles. This we admit, and a few of this number have received the Gospel.

When I speak of the Gospel in this sense, I mean the fullness of the Gospel of the Son of God as it has been revealed in our day. I do not refer to the Gospel as a mere historical knowledge of the Savior and his Apostles, and their doings upon the earth, but of the power of God unto salvation. And when I contemplate the human family in their present condition, and especially Christendom, I think what a pity it is that we Christians cannot see far enough and understand enough to be willing that every truth should take effect on the minds of the people, for every truth that is taught, believed and practiced, is good for mankind. It is good for the living, good for the dying, good for the dead; and if we Christians would accept and embrace all truth in our lives, instead of contending so much about what are called “nonessentials,” it would be much more to our advantage, and would vastly increase peace and union in our midst.

When we take up the religion that has been revealed—the Gospel in its fullness, we find that it is simply a code of laws, ordinances, gifts and graces which are the power of God unto salvation. The laws and ordinances which the Lord has revealed in these latter days, are calculated to save all the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve who have not sinned against the Holy Ghost, for all will be saved in a kingdom of glory, though it may not be in the celestial kingdom, for there are many mansions. These ordinances reach after every one of the children of our Father in heaven, and not only them, but after all the earth, the fullness of the earth, all things that dwell upon it, to bring them back into the presence of God, or into some kingdom or place prepared for them, that they may be exalted to a higher state of intelligence than they now dwell in.

This may seem strange to many, but these are the ordinances and laws that the Lord has instituted for the salvation of the children of men; and when we compare the doctrines that we have preached to the Christian world, with the doctrines of the Christian world, we find that ours incorporate every truth, no matter what it is. If it belong to the arts and sciences of the day, all the same, for every truth in existence is embraced in that system of laws and ordinances taught by the Latter-day Saints—the Gospel that God has re– vealed for the salvation of the human family.

We want a little proof, a little evidence, a little testimony. This is the testimony that we are in possession of this Gospel. Our witness is upon the stand, before God and the people, testifying that the Latter-day Saints have got something that no other people on earth have. What is it? The oneness which we possess, according to the prayer of the Savior.

We send an Elder from here to the East Indies; we send one or two to Africa, and to the Asiatic continent, and distribute them to the different nations, to Japan, to China, and so on. They preach the Gospel to the Pagans, say to the Chinese. We will suppose that these Elders learn the Chinese language so far as to be able to make themselves understood by the people, and they preach to them the same doctrines as are believed in by the Latter-day Saints, and they are received into the hearts of honest Chinese—God reveals and manifests to them that these doctrines and principles, this plan of salvation, is true, and these Chinese would not differ with us on any point of doctrine. They would say, “The proper mode of baptism is by immersion, the Scriptures are plain upon this point.” Here let me take the liberty of saying, that if the whole Christian world were to adopt the method of baptism by immersion, you would never hear a person raise an argument about sprinkling or pouring. But leaving my witness, I say these latter ideas are the cisterns which men hew out to themselves, which will hold no water, for somebody or other is eternally scuttling their vessels, and they are sinking. If every Christian denomination would come to the house of worship on the Sabbath, and break bread and partake of the bread and wine in testimony of their faith in Jesus Christ, there would be no differences, contentions or arguments, and no person could sink their vessel; but now, comparatively speaking, they are sinking each other’s vessels continually. But again to my testimony, to my witness.

When the Chinese receives the Gospel he is one with us. He does not want six months’ teaching or trial; he does not need to go to an academy or a seminary five or seven years to learn that this mode of baptism is correct; but taking the Bible he reads it, and, says he, “The Holy Ghost bears witness to me that baptism by immersion is the correct mode, and that it is right to break bread and drink wine in remembrance of, and to testify our faith in him whose body was broken and whose blood was shed for the salvation of the human family.” There is no contention, and though only one Elder may have gone there, and he has baptized but one, or ten, a hundred, a thousand, or thousands, they are all of one heart and one mind; and if we were to charge this Elder not to tell these Chinese that they must gather to America, for that was the land of Zion—and America is the land of Zion—the first this Elder would know, somebody or other would be up in a meeting and telling that Zion was in America, and they had got to emigrate there. The Elder might inquire why, and he would be told, “It is revealed to me, and I do know by the manifestations of the Spirit within me, through your preaching, that we are to assemble on the continent of America, for that is the land of Zion.” And if they come here, they will not ask how many methods of baptism we have, or how many of administering the Sacrament, or of dispensing the ordinances of the house of God, for the Spirit makes them of one heart and one mind with those on this continent, and from whatever nation they come, they all see alike in reference to the ordinances of the house of God.

From China let us go directly to the Cape of Good Hope, and there an Elder is preaching and baptizing people into the kingdom of God, and when they get into this kingdom they begin to read and understand, and to prophesy, and if they are not checked in the gifts, you will hear them speak in tongues. Let me say here, to the Latter-day Saints, it is frequently asked by our brethren, “Why do not the people speak with tongues?” We do, and we speak with tongues that you can understand, and Paul says he would rather speak five or ten words in a language that can be understood, than many in a language that cannot be. This is what he conveyed. We speak with tongues that can be understood; but the reason that we do not encourage this little, particular, peculiar gift, which is for the edifying of some few in the Church, I have not time to explain. But to my witness again, who is on the stand.

You take men, women and families from the Cape of Good Hope, from the northern seas, China, the East Indies, or the islands of the sea, and let them receive the Gospel and come here, and, just as long as they live so as to enjoy the Spirit of the holy Gospel they have obeyed, there are no questions asked with regard to doctrine. We will now go a step further.

Here is a great bone of contention with regard to political affairs. The world say, “Why do not these Latter-day Saints get up their mass meetings, and sustain this, that or the other one, and be like other peo– ple in a political point of view?” Why do we not sustain these advocates who are now in the field, and join, and be one with, some one or other of the political parties of the country? We have no desire to do so, that is the reason. If we had the privilege of voting in, independent of all other people on this land of America, or in the United States, the man who should serve as president, we should cast about to find the most suitable man, and he would be the nominee, and when his name came before the people, every man and woman who had the privilege of putting their vote in the ballot box would vote for that man, asking no questions. Our friends in the political world say, “We do not like this oneness.” The ministers in the pulpit, the politicians in the bar room, on the steamboat, in the rail cars, in the halls of Congress or in the legislatures, say, “We do not like this oneness,” and still the priest and the deacon are praying continually, according to the Scripture testimony, that the Saints may be one. Well, where will you have them one? Just name those particular points wherein and how this people who profess to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be one. How far shall we go? If we had the privilege of voting for the presidential nominees today, General Grant would solicit the vote of every “Mormon” man and woman, and the cry would be, “Vote for me. Be one and vote unitedly. Do not be divided in your votes, but vote for me.” Mr. Greeley would preach the same doctrine—“Do not vote for Grant, vote for me.” And when a governor, member of Congress, or any other officer was in the field they would all contend for this oneness, but each one would say, “I want you should be one with me.” “Well, but your neighbor, your com– petitor, is perhaps quite as good a man as you are.” “That is no difference, he is my enemy, my opponent, and I wish to beat him if I possibly can, I want this place.” But when you come to the Latter-day Saints, if they can get the right man, the best man they can find, they unitedly cast their ballots into the ballot box to make that man president, governor, representative, or any other officer; and if we learn that he is not as talented as some other man, perhaps not so capable of filling the office as his neighbor, better be united on and with him, and give him your faith and your prayers, and he will answer every purpose, and will fulfil his mission to your satisfaction, and far better than if you were to quarrel, contend and argue over the matter, for where they do this the inhabitants of the earth, if they did but know it, have an internal influence to contend against. Take for instance, the financial circles, the commerce of the world, those businessmen, where they have their opponents they have an internal influence to contend against, whether they know it or not; and that power, with all the secrecy of the grave, I might say, will seek to carry out their schemes unknown to their opponents, in order that they may win. Like the man at the table with the cards in his hands, unseen by any but himself, he will take the advantage as far as he can. So says the politician. So say the world of Christendom, so say the world of the heathens, and it is party upon party, sect after sect, division upon division, and we are all for ourselves, and each one is willing that we should be one in our faith, feelings and actions, if we will be one with him.

Well, this witness that is on the stand cannot be set aside or overcome; it is a witness that the world of mankind cannot impeach, neither the testimony which it imparts. Take people from China, India, Africa, Europe, the North Pole or the South Pole, give them the Gospel and they are one. It was not Joseph Smith, neither is it Brigham Young that makes them one; it is neither the high council nor the First Presidency that makes them one, but it is the power of God unto salvation that makes the Latter-day Saints one in heart, in spirit, in action, in their religious faith and ordinances, and in their dealings, where they are honest and live their religion. That makes them one, no matter who they are, where they are, or upon what subject, if it be a subject worthy the attention of the people. Our religion descends to the whole life of man, although some, sometimes, say, there is divine law, there is human law, and there are principles which pertain to our religion and there are principles which pertain to the philosophy of the world. But let me here say to you, that the philosophy of the religion of heaven incorporates every truth that there is in heaven, on earth, or in hell.

Now, we wish to be one and to understand the Gospel. Receive the Gospel and the spirit of it and we will be one. All Christendom would say, “Come go with us, come go with us and we will do you good.” We can say the same—“Come go with us, and we will do you good.” We will tell you how to be saved. How far does the Christian religion go? Let every man look at it, read, pray, meditate, call upon the Lord, and judge for himself. I say that that which is commonly called the Christian religion is far from civilizing the world, and far from making the Christian world one, far from bringing the disciples to be of one heart and one mind. They say that there are a great many of these nonessentials that we differ about. Very true, they are nonessentials, and they are pretty much all of them nonessentials. Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ is very essential; believing in God, his Father, and our Father, is very essential; having faith in the name of Jesus is very essential. On these points they all agree, and we agree with them, and they with us; but it is very different when we come to the laws and ordinances of the kingdom of God.

It has been read to you here what Jesus said to his disciples—“I will drink no more with you of this wine—the juice of the vine—until I drink with you anew in my Father’s kingdom.” Jesus undertook to establish the kingdom of God upon the earth. He introduced the laws and ordinances of the kingdom. What was the result? After killing the Son of God, they could not even let the Apostles live; they could not let Paul live, who was not a believer in the days of Jesus, but an opposer, and who, after the death of the Savior, hunted and sought all who believed on him, for the purpose of imprisoning and punishing them, and he was the very man who held the clothes of the young men who stoned Stephen to death.

What did they do with the rest of them? Crucified them, stoned them, mangled them, and so on, with the exception, I suppose, of John. As long as any of the disciples of the Savior was on the earth they were hunted and persecuted, and the cry of their enemies was, “Do not leave their track until they are exterminated,” just as it is now with regard to the Latter-day Saints—“Do not leave their track, go where they go, introduce every iniquity you can, and do as they did in ancient days.” How did they do then? You can read the account given of our first parents. Along came a certain character and said to Eve—you know women are of tender heart, and he could operate on this tender heart—“The Lord knows that in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt not surely die, but if thou wilt take of this fruit and eat thereof thine eyes will be opened and thou wilt see as the Gods see;” and he worked upon the tender heart of mother Eve until she partook of the fruit, and her eyes were opened. He told the truth. And they say now, “Do this that your eyes may be opened, that you may see; do this that you may know thus and so.” In the days of Jesus and his Apostles the same power was operating, and, actuated by that, men hunted them until the last one was banished from human society, and until the Christian religion was so perverted that the people received it with open hands, arms, mouth and heart. It was adulterated until it was congenial to the wicked heart, and they received the Gospel as they supposed. But that was the time they commenced little by little to transgress the laws, change the ordinances, and break the everlasting covenant, and the Gospel of the kingdom that Jesus undertook to establish in his day and the priesthood were taken from the earth. But the Lord has again set his hand to gather Israel, to redeem his people and to establish his kingdom on the earth, and the enemy of all righteousness says, “We have got plenty of religion, we have got plenty of followers, we have plenty of money, we have plenty of influence, never leave the track of the Latter-day Saints until they are used up.” Well, it is God and them for it, as far as that is concerned; that is not for me to say anything about. We are here, and the Gospel we have got makes us of one heart and mind in all the affairs of life; and the philosophy of our religion embraces all the true philosophy, every art and every science there is on the face of the whole earth, and when they step outside the pale of the Christian religion, the power of God and the priesthood of the Son of God, they step out of the kingdom of heaven, and they then have cisterns that will hold no water, systems that will not bear scrutinizing. I know that a great many of the scientific men of the world philosophize upon this, that and the other thing. Geologists will tell us the earth has stood so many millions of years. Why? Because the Valley of the Mississippi could not have washed out under about so many years, or so long a time. The Valley of Western Colorado, here, could not have washed out without taking such a length of time. What do they know about it? Nothing in comparison. They also reason about the age of the world by the marvelous specimens of petrifaction that are sometimes discovered. Now we can show them plenty of places where there are trees, perfect stone, running into the solid rock, and perhaps the rock is forty, fifty, or a hundred feet above the tree. Yet it is a perfect tree. There is the bark, there is the heart, and there is the outer-coating between the heart and the bark, all perfect rock. How long did it take to make this tree into rock? We do not know. I can tell them, simply this—when the Lord Almighty brings forth the power of his chemistry, he can combine the elements and make a tree into rock in one night or one day, if he chooses, or he can let it lie until it pulverizes and blows to the four winds, without petrifying, just as he pleases. He brings together these elements as he sees proper, for he is the greatest chemist there is. He knows more about chemistry and about the formation of the earth and about dividing the earth, and more about the mountains, valleys, rocks, hills, plains, and the sands than all the scientific men that we have. This we can say of a truth. Well, if it takes a million years to make a perfect rock of one kind of a tree, say a cedar tree, how long would it take to make a perfect rock of a cottonwood tree? Let the chemists tell this, if they can, but they cannot tell it.

Our religion embraces chemistry; it embraces all the knowledge of the geologist, and then it goes a little further than their systems of argument, for the Lord Almighty, its author, is the greatest chemist there is. Will any of the chemists tell us what the Lord did with the elements in Wisconsin, and in Chicago, Illinois, last Fall? They made a flaming fire of the heavens, the elements were melted with fervent heat. This was a chemical process, but can any of our chemists tell how it was brought about? I think not. But there were certain elements which lost their cohesive properties, and a change occurred, and the result was this terrible fire. So it will be when, as the Scriptures foretell, “the elements shall melt with fervent heat.” The Lord Almighty will send forth his angels, who are well instructed in chemistry, and they will separate the elements and make new combinations thereof, and the whole heavens will be a sheet of fire. Well, our religion embraces this; and we know of no laws, no ordinances, no gifts, no principles, no arts, no sciences that are true, but what are embraced in the religion of Jesus Christ, in this Priesthood, which is a perfect system of government.

If anybody wants to know what the priesthood of the Son of God is, it is the law by which the worlds are, were, and will continue forever and ever. It is that system which brings worlds into existence and peoples them, gives them their revolutions—their days, weeks, months, years, their seasons and times and by which they are rolled up as a scroll, as it were, and go into a higher state of existence; and they who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ—the maker, framer, governor, dictator and controller of this earth—they who live according to his law and priesthood will be prepared to dwell on this earth when it is brought into the presence of the Father and the Son. This is the habitation of the Saints; this is the earth that will be given to the Saints, when they and it are sanctified and glorified, and brought back into the presence of the Father and the Son. This is our religion, and I bear testimony to it; and this oneness which the Latter-day Saints possess, which is now so much contended against and hated by the Christian world, in a political, financial, philosophical, and every other respect and capacity, is the power of God unto salvation, and is not produced by the influence or power of man, and this witness cannot be impeached—it is impossible to impeach it. This is our testimony, and this is one witness, one testimony that the Gospel which we preach is the Gospel that God has revealed for the salvation of the children of men, and it will bring all the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve into a state of glory and happiness that is far beyond their conception, or any ideas that they have ever received while in this wicked world; and this glory the Lord has prepared in his mansion for his children.

“Well,” says one, if I am pretty sure to get a state of glory better than this, I guess I will not take the trouble to inherit anything more.” Well, run the risk of it, every man on the earth has that privilege. The Gospel is preached, sin revives, some die and some contend against it—some receive it and some do not; but this is the sin of the people—truth is told them and they reject it. This is the sin of the world, “Light has come into the world, but men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.” So said Jesus in his day. We say, Here is the Gospel of life and salvation, and everyone that will receive it, glory, honor, immortality and eternal life are theirs; if they reject it, they take their chance. I hope and pray that we may all be wise and receive the good part, that we may have the benefit thereof.

I say to the Latter-day Saints, Will you live your religion? You can see people apostatizing from the Church, but what is the result? Ask every apostate who ever received the spirit of this work, “Can you go and enjoy any other religion?” Not one of them. Have you never known persons leave the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and join any other church? Certainly I have, and pretty good people. I recollect one old lady that we left in the States. She said she was too old to gather up with the Saints. Her friends were Baptists, she lived in the midst of them and joined their church. Sit down and talk with her—“Sister, how do you feel?” “Just as I have always felt.” “Are you satisfied with this religion you have joined?” “I believe in the work I embraced years ago. ‘Mormonism’ is true, and I believe it just as I always have. But here are my home and my friends, and I fellowship them as far as they do right—as far as they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. They want I should be a member of their church and I do not know that it hurts me to be so.” “Are you satisfied to accept their religion and none else?” Says she, “I care no more about it than I did while in the midst of the Latter-day Saints; but here are my friends and home. By and by I shall sleep in the grave;” and there she is today, sleeping with those who have laid their bodies down to rest. This is one instance. But you take men and women with youth and vigor, who apostatize from the truth, and are they satisfied with anything else? No, and they are not satisfied with themselves. They are not beloved by God nor by Angels, nor by their families. Are they beloved by the enemy of all righteousness and his fellow associates? No. They say to the apostate, “You are a hypocrite, a traitor, a deceiver, and if you are not a false witness we ask who is, for you have testified hundreds and thousands of times, that, by the power of God and the revelations of Jesus Christ, you knew Joseph Smith was a Prophet, and that this latter-day work was true, and now you say it is not true.” “When did you tell the truth?” says Mr. Devil, “then or now?” Says he, “I despise you;” and they hate themselves and everybody else. They have no fellowship for their neighbors, for the Latter-day Saints nor for any Christian denomination, and I do not know where in the world they can be placed. This is the condition of an apostate. But while this is the condition of those who apostatize from our Church, how is it with those who leave any of the sectarian churches, after having been a Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, or Congregationalist? Why they go from church to church, and feel just the same as before. Is not this true? Yes, I know it is; not that I have passed from one to another myself, but I have been acquainted with those who have. Did I fellowship them? I fellowshipped them no more than I do now. I fellowship everything that is good and virtuous, everything that is truthful and good; but sin I do not fellowship in them, nor in a Latter-day Saint, or one who professes to be so. I fellowship all good, and we have it. It is all right, and if we have error, it is because we do not live according to the Gospel that we have embraced. If we have embraced error in our faith, it is because we do not understand our own doctrine; if we have error in our lives, it is because we deviate from the path of rectitude that God has marked out for us to walk in.

May the Lord help us to do right. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Bowery, Brigham City, June 9, 1872.

If I can speak so as to be heard, I will talk to the brethren and sisters a few minutes. It requires stillness and close attention to hear those who speak in this bowery. A great deal has been said with regard to the salvation of the human family. I might say that more should be done, then we could talk less. Of necessity, through the weakness of human nature, a great deal has to be said; but if the people could understand the principles of life and salvation, and would act accordingly, it would require a great deal less talking. Words are wind, they go into the ear and are forgotten; still there is a certain portion that will be retained by a few, and they will be profited thereby. The work in which we are engaged is not magnified in the least by talking about it; it is only in the weak capacity of man that these principles become exalted through the hearing of the ear. The principles we preach are the gospel of life and salvation; and we have entered into covenant with God to observe the rules, ordinances and laws pertaining to this life and salvation. The question arises, Do we perform this labor, in keeping the sayings of the Lord as strictly as we should? No, we do not.

Suppose that we name a few of the rules and regulations by which we are to live. If I attempt to classify them, perhaps I shall get them imperfectly in the science of the law of God. But first, to me, after hearing and believing that there is such a character as the Savior of mankind, who has acted his part well and performed his duty in purchasing redemption for the human family, and is now pleading for his brethren, I at once inquired what he requires of me. This is the inquiry of my reflections, and I learn that faith is the starting point. If I believe sincerely and honestly, I must obey, and the next step in the plan of salvation, as laid down by Jesus and his disciples, is for me to be baptized for the remission of my sins. To the Christian world, to the heathen world and the infidel world, we can say that all things are spiritual, all things are temporal, all things are natural; all things are natural, all things are temporal, all things are spiritual; and there is not that being on the earth, and never was, that I have any knowledge of, that can divide them. But in the act, and in the performance of the duty of those who believe in this plan of salvation, we can define our faith in our secret closet by exercising faith in the name of Jesus, and seeking unto the Father secretly in our hearts. Here we find a difference and a distinc– tion between this and the actual performance of rising up from my seat, going down into the water and being baptized for the remission of my sins. Still the work is the same, consequently it is spiritual, it is temporal, it is natural; it is natural, it is temporal, it is spiritual.

Well, now, this is the work that we have before us; not that I am going to have time to preach on these points, or delineate them to any length; but these are the facts. If we believe, we obey, we are baptized for the remission of our sins, which is the commencement of the labor, the outward performance and manifestation of obedience to God, through faith in the name of his son Jesus Christ. Then comes the blessing by the imposition of hands upon the head of the individual who has received baptism for the remission of sins, and he receives the Holy Ghost. This is the blessing and the consolation of believing in the truth; and this stimulates the individual to still exercise faith and to continue in obedience to the commandments of the Lord, to pray always, without ceasing, and in everything to give thanks; his heart uplifted to God, day by day, from morning until evening, and from evening until morning, for the blessings of heaven to be with him, for his feet to be guided in the path of rectitude, and that he may be preserved from speaking, thinking, and doing in anywise, that which is wrong. This is simple and plain, and can be understood by all classes of the children of men who are endowed with the common sense and ability that are given to man.

The duty of the Latter-day Saints is to pray without ceasing, and in everything to give thanks, to acknowledge the hand of the Lord in all things, and to be subject to his requirements. We, as Latter-day Saints, can say that our duty is laid before us. We can read it, not only in the faith and feelings of the individuals of the community; but it is actually printed, it lies upon the pages of our history, and we can read at our pleasure. We meet together for the express purpose of having somebody or other tell us that which we know and have known all the time. We have read it over and over; we have thought of it and meditated upon it, yet we meet together and hear our brethren speak to force these things into the affections of the people; and if we can persuade them to hearken to every requirement of heaven, then we are not under the necessity of talking so much. We are freed from this task and toil.

What is our duty? To pray. Pray always? Yes. To pray in our families? Yes. Let no man be in a hurry, but what he can get up in a morning and pray with his family before he permits himself to partake of refreshment. Let every man and every woman call upon the name of the Lord, and that too, from a pure heart, while they are at work as well as in their closet; while they are in public as well as while they are in private, asking the Father in the name of Jesus, to bless them, and to preserve and guide in, and to teach them, the way of life and salvation, and to enable them so to live that they will obtain this eternal salvation that we are after.

Now, besides being our duty to pray, it is our duty to live in peace one with another. It is also our duty to love the Gospel and the spirit of the Gospel, so that we can become one in the Lord, not out of him, that our faith, our affections for the truth, the kingdom of heaven, our acts, all our labor will be concentrated in the salvation of the children of men, and the establishment of the kingdom of God on the earth. This is cooperation on a very large scale. This is the work of redemption that is entered into by the Latter-day Saints. Unitedly we perform these duties, we stand, we endure, we increase and multiply, we strengthen and spread abroad, and shall continue so to do until the kingdoms of this world are the kingdoms of our God and his Christ.

We can read that these are our duties in the Bible, Book of Mormon, Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and many other sayings that we have from the Elders, which are just as true as any in these three books; and all combined are a way-mark pointing us to life and salvation, and we can read for ourselves.

We might say, if one man has a difficulty with another, let him, in the first place, go to him privately and talk with him, and see if he will be reconciled, or take another, and so on. We can say of a truth, that if there be hard feelings in the midst of the Saints, they should be eradicated from our bosoms by taking the proper course to enjoy the Spirit of the Lord instead of the spirit of animosity and strife. All these things you can define and enlarge upon at your leisure. It is our duty to observe our sacraments, to observe our fast days and offerings; it is our duty to observe our tithings and to pay them. There is a great deal said by our enemies with regard to the members of this Church paying tithing. We are as free from taxation as any other church on the earth, right or wrong, true or untrue, and we pay as little as any other people, and if my tithing is required let it be paid. That is the way to get rich. We have entered upon a great system of cooperation for the building up of the kingdom of God, and, when it is built up, it is ours, we own it. If we are Saints of God, and sanctify ourselves through his Gospel, then we shall be worthy to possess all things. The kingdoms of this world will be ours, all will be ours, the heavens and the earth, and the fulness thereof will be ours, and we are the Lord’s, we are his servants, and we possess all things in common with him. That word “all,” perhaps, conveys too much to the minds of some; but that is no matter. With regard to the Latter-day Saints, in the performance of their duties, we could tell them what to do to be saved. The path is as clear and plain as this highway is here for the travel of teams and the people. But when we inquire about the character of our Father, there are some things connected therewith that men do not understand, neither should they understand them. It is not in accordance with the mind and will of him we worship as our God, that the inhabitants of the earth, in their weak and wicked capacity, and in ignorance, should understand them. It was mentioned here yesterday, and is frequently mentioned by myself and others, that those who profess Christianity are in the dark, and why? They mystify everything; they read the Bible as a sealed book, and they believe it when it is closed and laid upon the shelf. They do not know how to read it any other way, they do not know how to believe it any other way, and it is right and reasonable that they should not; but as for detailing the reasons why this is so, we have not time. Suffice it to say, all things are done in the wisdom of him who knows all things. It is not right, I will say, for people to know the truth and live in disobedience to it; it is not right for them to understand the ways and providences of God as they are dealt out to the people on the earth, when they live and are determined to live in violation of every commandment and law of God; and because they do so live, ignorance covers them as with a mantle, shuts out the light of truth from them, and keeps them in darkness; and if the light were to shine upon them, as it does now and as it did in the days of the Apostles, would they receive it? No, they would not. Light has come into the world, but the wicked choose darkness rather than light? Why? It was told in days of old that their deeds were evil. That is the fact today—“they choose darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil,” and their hearts are fully set in them to do evil; and here I might venture to say to all the inhabitants of the earth, high and low, rich and poor, to the king upon his throne and to the beggar in the street, if they had the truth and loved it they would rejoice in it. But they will not receive it. Is not this lamentable? It is; but we cannot help it. We can declare the truth to the people, but we cannot force them to receive it. If the inhabitants of the earth were honest, they would receive the truth; and there is not a man or woman now living on the earth, or ever did live on it, who would speak, write, think or act against the Gospel of life and salvation as they do, were they not in darkness; but they are kept in ignorance through their own wickedness and unbelief, and they nourish and cherish the spirit of evil, and that prompts them to reject the words of life. We can say this to all the human family; but to the Latter-day Saints, you believe, now obey; and if we obey, all will be right, and we shall gain the salvation that we are after.

I am happy, brethren, for the privilege of being in your midst. I frequently shake hands with my brethren and sisters, and they rejoice, they congratulate me on my freedom. I have been free. I do not feel, and have not felt, that I was bound in the least. The question can be asked, Were you not a prisoner for some five months through the indiscreet, unmanly, inhuman, disloyal and rebellious decision and doings of our officials? It seemed so; it had the appearance that I was confined, and had not my liberty, through the ill-treatment, mistaken ideas, selfishness and prejudice of the ungodly. But I did not feel that I was in prison, or that I was confined. I will say to the Latter-day Saints, my heart has rejoiced for the privilege of resting. I have rejoiced for the privilege, as it was observed here, by Elder Hyde, yesterday, of entering into my closet, that is, I entered into my closet just as he did into his. He kept himself where he had a mind to, and I did the same. He entered his closet, and I into mine, or into my house, and there I abode, and continued to abide, for a time, and was thankful for the privilege. Now I have the privilege of going here and there without having anyone to accompany me, only those I invite. I was very happy for the privilege of being quiet, still and retired in my own house last winter. My companion, not my sleeping companion, but my companion in tribulation and confinement, for the gentleman who was with me, I really think was, in his feelings, confined more than I, a great deal, and felt so, would urge me to ride, or to go to this party or that, or to the theater. I kindly declined and thanked him for his kindness in offering to accompany me; and I would say, “You go and enjoy yourself, and I will stay here,” and I got him to go occasionally.

I say this with regard to myself, that you may know my own feelings. But I can say still more—the Lord Almighty has guided and directed the ship of state in our behalf and for the deliverance and protection of the innocent and the honest. Victory has perched on Zion’s banner. We have obtained that that we could not have obtained had it not been for the persecuting spirit that has followed on the heels of the Latter-day Saints within the two years that are past. How could we, without this very conduct of our enemies, have ever approached the highest tribunal in this government to have it give its decision with regard to right and wrong, law, legality, that that is equitable and according to the spirit of our government, and that which is contrary thereto? How could we have approached that body? How could we have had our cause before it, had it not been for the acts of our enemies, with which they designed to bring us to death? For there is no question that, in their own feelings, the knot was tied around the neck of your humble servant, and he hung dangling in the air. But God designed this for good, for the deliverance of the humble and the meek. What have we to say? We acknowledge his hand in these things as well as everything else, and say, God be praised!

I will not occupy more time, I want others to talk. I will close by saying a few things to you with regard to your duties. Attend to your meetings, attend to your prayers; attend to your daily labor. Be honest and upright with one another; be punctual, keep your word, preserve yourselves inviolate in all things. Be chaste, preserve your faith before God, do not demoralize or prostitute yourselves, and all will be right. I can say that when a man comes along and turns his cattle into his neighbor’s field without liberty, he prostitutes his own feelings—his virtue, truthfulness, honesty and uprightness before God and angels. If we will preserve ourselves in purity, in the integrity of our hearts, it will be well with us.

We have quite a number of the people present from the settlements of this county generally, and from Cache Valley. I see you have a little railroad here, and the people are building it. I am thankful to see this enterprise. Go ahead, brethren, build this road and own it, and do what you please with it. It will be a fine piece of improvement; it will open up this northern country, and give you facilities that you could not otherwise enjoy here. How beautiful that is! How comfortable, yes, that is the word—how comfortable and easy it is for me to get into a coach, or a good carriage, and run over this railroad, from Salt Lake City to this place in less than three hours, as we did yesterday morning. In less than three hours from the time we left the depot of the Utah Central in Salt Lake City, we were in this bowery; and, this evening, we expect, in less than three hours from the time we leave this bowery, to be in Salt Lake City—a distance of over sixty miles. It is very comfortable, very consoling! And if we can see these things as they are, they open up a field for the contemplation of the wise to improve upon, that we may shape our lives for the benefit of ourselves and the human family and to promote truth and righteousness upon the earth.

God bless you. Amen.