Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, May 6, 1870.

If I can have the ears and attention of the people, I want to preach to them a short sermon on our present condition and on some particulars with regard to our customs. We, the Latter-day Saints, as a people, received a command many years ago to gather out from the wicked world and to gather ourselves together to stand in holy places, preparatory to the coming of the Son of Man. We have been gathered together promiscuously from the nations of the earth, and in many respects we are like the rest of the world. But I wish to make a few remarks on some points wherein we differ. We differ from the infidel world in our belief, and from the vulgar world in regard to the language we use. It is not common for the Latter-day Saints to take the name of the Deity in vain, while it is common and quite fashionable to do so in Christendom. Herein we disagree with the outside world, or we may call it the vulgar world, for no matter how high or how low their position may be, or how poor or how wealthy, when people use language which is unbecoming they descend to a very low level, and in this respect I am happy to say that the Latter-day Saints differ from the wicked or vulgar world. I will also put in the political world. It is a very common practice throughout the fashionable, political world to gamble; we differ also in this respect, for the Latter-day Saints are not in the habit of gambling at any game whatever; neither are they in the habit of drinking intoxicating liquors, which, throughout the world at large, and especially the Christian world, is such a prolific source of wretchedness and misery. In a great degree, I may also say that, as a people, we are not in the habit of lying and deceiving; but there is one thing that we are too much guilty of, and that is, evil speaking of our neighbors—bearing false witness against them. As a people we are too lavish in our conversation in this respect, our words come too easy and cheap, and we use them too freely in many instances. This is one thing in which we do not differ so much from the world as I should wish. There is another point on which the same remark is true, and that is fashion in dress. Look over this congregation and we see this demonstrated before us, and on this particular item I wish to lay my views before the minds of the people.

To me a desire to follow the ever-varying fashions of the world manifests a great weakness of mind in either gentleman or lady. We are too apt to follow the foolish fashions of the world; and if means were plentiful, I do not think that there are many families among the Latter-day Saints but what would be up to the highest and latest fashions of the day. Perhaps there are a great many that would not follow these fashions had they ever so much means. But too many of this people follow after the foolish, giddy, vain fashions of the world. If any persons want proof of this they need only look over this congregation, and view the bonnets, hats or headdresses of our fashionable ladies. Do they wear bonnets that will screen their faces from the sun, or shelter their heads from the rain? Oh, no, it is not fashionable. Well what do they wear? Just such as the wicked would wear.

My discourse will have to be brief, and I am going to ask my sisters in particular to stop following these foolish fashions, and to introduce fashions of their own. This is the place, and this the time to make known the word of the Lord to the people.

It is vain and foolish, it does not evince godliness, and is inconsistent with the spirit of a saint to follow after the fashions of the world. I wish to impress these remarks especially on the minds of my young sisters—the daughters of the Elders of Israel. Not but what our wives as well as daughters follow many fashions that are uncomely, foolish and vain. What do you say? “Shall we introduce a fashion of our own, and what shall it be?” Do you want us to answer and tell you how to make your bonnets? Let me say to you that, in the works of God, you see an eternal variety, consequently we do not ask the people to become Quakers, and all the men wear wide-brimmed hats, and the ladies wear drab or cream-colored silk bonnets projecting in the front, perhaps six or seven inches, rounded on the corners, with a cape behind. This is Quakerism, that is, so far as headdresses are concerned for ladies and gentlemen. But while we do not ask this, we do ask the sisters to make their bonnets so as to shelter themselves from the storm and from the rays of the sun. I have heard a saying that three straws and a ribbon would make a headdress for a fashionable lady. This was a year or two ago; and the same varying, fantastic, foolish notions prevail with regard to other portions of a lady’s habiliments as much as with her headdress. A few years ago it took about sixteen yards of common-width cloth to make a dress for a lady, for she wanted two or three yards to drag in the streets, to be smeared by every nuisance she walked over. Now I suppose they make their dresses out of five yards and a half, and then have abundance left for an apron. They put me now strongly in mind of the ladies I used to see in Canada some years ago, who made their dresses out of two breadths of tow and linen, and when they were in meeting they were all the time busy pulling them down, for they would draw up. The young ladies look now as if they needed somebody to walk after them to keep pulling down their dresses.

How foolish and unwise this is, and how contrary to the spirit of the Gospel that we have embraced! This Gospel is full of good sense, judgment, discretion and intelligence. Does this look intelligent? Suppose the ladies continue the fashion of shortening their dresses, how long will it be before three-quarters of a yard will be enough for them? You may say that such extravagant comparisons are ridiculous. I say, no more than your dresses and many of your habits and fashions now, only they may be a little exaggerated, that is all. Anything is ridiculous, more or less, that is not comely. I do beseech my sisters to stop their foolishness and to go to work and make their own headdresses. If they will they will be blessed. Do you say, “How shall we be blessed?” I will tell you—by introducing a spirit of industry into your families, and a spirit of contentment into your hearts, which will give you an interest in your domestic cares and affairs that you have not hitherto enjoyed. Doctor Young says that “Life’s cares are comforts,” and they who take an interest in and try to promote their individual welfare, that of their neighbors or of the human family, will find a pleasure such as is derived from few other sources. They derive delight and pleasure from it, and are filled with peace. But when the eyes of people are like the fool’s eyes—wandering to the ends of the earth, continually wishing, longing for and desiring that which they have not got, they are never happy. If we will take the course I have indicated, we shall be benefited in our spirits, and shall have more of the Spirit of the Lord.

I wish to say to you, and you may read it in the Bible if you wish, that he who has the love of the world within him hath not the love of the Father. They who love the things of this world are destitute of the love of the Gospel of the Son of God. This is my Scripture: They who long and lust after the fashions of the world are destitute of the Spirit of God. Every person of experience will testify that this is the truth. Now, my sisters, let me urge you to make your own headdresses. You have the material here, and if you wish to make your hat with a brim six, twelve, twenty, or three inches wide, we will not quarrel with you; but make your own headdresses, and do not hunt after the fashions of the wicked world. If you wish to make a cottage, or a corn-fan bonnet, or a hat, make it to suit yourselves, but do not run after the fashions of the world. I expect, by and by, if this taste for fashion be not checked, to see this house alive, more or less, with what are termed “shoo fly” hats, bonnets and headdresses, and what else you’ll get I do not know. But no matter what the name nor what the fashion if we do not lust after the wicked world. And when you buy yourselves dresses do not purchase one for six or eight dollars, and then want about twenty more for trimmings. What is the use of it? I asked some of my wives the other evening, “What is the use of all this velvet ribbon—perhaps ten, fifteen, twenty, or thirty yards, on a linsey dress?” Said I, “What is the use of it? Does it do any good?” I was asked, very spiritedly and promptly, in return, “What good do those buttons do on the back of your coat?” Said I, “How many have I got?” and turning round I showed that there were none there.

This reform in fashion and extravagance in dress is needed. God has a purpose in it, and so have his servants. What is it? If the Lord has given me means and I spend it needlessly, in rings for my fingers, and jewelry for adornment, I deprive the Priesthood of that which they ought to have to gather the poor, to preach the Gospel, to build temples and to feed the hungry in our midst. I deprive a people, who will by and by inherit the earth, of so many blessings. Every yard of ribbon that I buy that is needless, every flounce, and every gewgaw that is purchased for my family needlessly, robs the Church of God of just so much. But it seems as though the people do not think of these things; they do not lay them to heart. Our wives and daughters seem to forget that they have responsibilities resting upon them in these respects. The conduct of a great many of them indicates a care for nothing but, “How much can I get? Can I get everything I want? I wish I could see something new, I want to pattern after it!” This manifests the spirit of the world, and a foolish, vain disposition. Not but that I am guilty myself, perhaps, of using means for my individual person that is not necessary; but if I do, will some of you kindly tell me? I recollect once, when preaching in England, that I passed through Smithfield Market, in Manchester, and I saw some very fine grapes just arrived from France. I spent a penny for some of them, but I had not taken half a dozen steps from the stand where I purchased them, before I saw an old lady passing along who, I could tell by her appearance, was starving to death. Said I, “I have done wrong in spending that penny, I should have given it to that old lady.” I made it a practice, before leaving my office, of going to a drawer, taking out a handful of pence, in order to give to the numerous beggars which everywhere meet the eye in walking the streets in the large towns in that country, and in this instance I felt guilty at having spent a penny on grapes, and I thought of it many times after. What else did I spend needlessly? Not much. “Well,” but say some, “Brother Brigham do not you have good horses?” Yes, I do. Do you know where I got them? But some of them were given to me, and I thank God and those who bestowed them, and I use them prudently. But I would as lief my poor brethren and sisters would ride in my carriage as to ride in it myself. Yet in many things I may be to blame, and do wrong, but in many things I know that we as a people do wrong.

“Well, Brother Brigham, what shall we do?” I say make your own headdresses; here is abundance of material to do it with, and it is not right for me to pay out hundreds and perhaps thousands of dollars annually for needless articles of dress for my family. The same is true of my brethren. If that means were to go to gather the poor this season, it would bring many from the old countries. About this, however, I will say that it is rather discouraging to bring people here and to put them in situations to live and accumulate, and then they, as soon as they make a little means, lift their heel against God and his anointed. Nevertheless it is our duty to feed nine persons who are unworthy rather than to turn away the tenth, if he be worthy. It is better to bring ninety-nine persons here who are unworthy than to leave one that is worthy to perish there, consequently we say we will do all we can. They, whom we bring here, are agents for themselves before God, and they act for themselves.

But now, brethren and sisters, let us stop and again consider and think. Can we not sustain ourselves more than we do? I do not ask my sisters to make themselves sunbonnets and wear them and nothing else. I do not say, all of you adopt some particular fashion and stick to that alone. This is not the question; the question is, will we stop wearing that that is so useless and needless? If we will, we can have scores of thousands annually to bestow upon the poor, to rear temples, to build tabernacles and schoolhouses, to endow schools, to educate our children, and to aid every charitable institution and every other purpose that will advance the kingdom of God on the earth.

This would be wisdom in us. What do we think about it? What do you say, young ladies—I mean all of you this side of a hundred years old—will you stop following the foolish fashions of the world, and begin to act like people possessing moral courage and good natural sense? If this is your mind, brethren and sisters, I ask you, young and old, to make it manifest, as I do, by raising your right hand. (A sea of hands was immediately raised.) Some, no doubt, feel ready to say, “Why, Brother Brigham, do not you know that your family is the most fashionable in the city?” No, I do not; but I am sure that my wives and children, in their fashions and gewgaws, cannot beat some of my neighbors. I will tell you what I have said to my wives and children; shall I? Shall I expose what I say to them on these points? Yes, I will. I have said to my wives, “If you will not stop these foolish fashions and customs I will give you a bill if you want it.” That is what I have said, and that is what I think. “Well, but you would not part with your wives?” Yes, indeed I would. I am not bound to wife or child, to house or farm, or anything else on the face of the earth, but the Gospel of the Son of God. I have enlisted all in this cause, and in it is my heart, and here is my treasure. Some may say, “Why, really, Brother Brigham, you almost worship your family; you think a great deal of your wives.” Yes, I do, but, from my youth up, I never had but one object in taking a wife, and that was to do her good. The first one I had was the poorest girl I could find in the town; and my object with the second, and third, and so on to the last one was to save them. You say,” Do I humor them?” Yes I do, and perhaps too much.

Now, my brethren and sisters, a few words more. We have been striving for some time to get the people to observe the Word of Wisdom. But why do they not observe it? Why will they cling to those habits that are inimical to life and health? “Well,” says a sister, “I cannot leave off my tea, I must have a cup of tea every morning, I feel so sick.” I say then, go to bed, and there lie until you are better. “Oh, but it will kill me if I quit it.” Then die, and die in the faith, instead of living and breaking the requests of Heaven. That is my mind about the sisters dying for the want of tea. With regard to drinking liquor, I am happy to say that we are improving. But there are some of our Elders who still drink a little liquor occasionally, I think, and use a little tobacco. They feel as though they would die without it, but I say they will die with it, and they will die transgressing the revelations and commands of Heaven, and the wishes of our heavenly Father, who has said hot drinks are not good.

Now let us observe the Word of Wisdom. Shall I take a vote on it? Everybody would vote, but who would observe it? A good many, but not all. I can say that a good many do observe their covenants in this thing. But who is it that understands wisdom before God? In some respects we have to define it for ourselves—each for himself—according to our own views, judgment and faith, and the observance of the Word of Wisdom, or the interpretation of God’s requirements on this subject, must be left, partially, with the people. We cannot make laws like the Medes and Persians. We cannot say you shall never drink a cup of tea, or you shall never taste of this, or you shall never taste of that; but we can say that Wisdom is justified of her children. Brethren and sisters, hearken to these things. I do not know that we shall have much time to talk about them; but take the little counsel given, and observe it. This is the place to give counsel to the people. Go home, Bishops and Elders, when the Conference is over, and observe what has been told you here. If we commence making our own bonnets, we shall find that we shall increase in other directions besides making leather for our boots and shoes, and cloth for coats and pantaloons.

It is very pleasant in passing through the Territory to have brethren in the various settlements say, “Bro. Brigham, Brother Geo. A., or Brother Daniel, come and see our store, or our shop; here are boots and shoes made from leather of our own manufacture;” and some are as fine looking as you can see anywhere. They are doing a good deal in this city, and also in other places. Some are making straw hats and bonnets, and others are endeavoring to promote other branches of home manufacture. This is very pleasant, but we want to see it more general in this great community. If it were so this season in the one branch of straw hat and bonnet manufacture we should not see the scores and hundreds of five-dollar hats brought here and sold, that are good for nothing in the world. They have no strength about them. The manufacturers of these hats pick up old cloth that is rotten and good for nothing, and make hats of it, and the result is that the hats brought here have very little wear in them. They may look decent to begin with, but after being worn a few times they are shapeless and worthless. Let us go to work and make them for ourselves and save this expense. If we do this, we are wise; if we do it not, we are foolish.

We heard Brother Taylor’s exposition of what is called Socialism this morning. What can they do? Live on each other and beg. It is a poor, unwise and very imbecile people who cannot take care of themselves. Well, we, in the providences of God, are forced to do a great many things that are very advantageous to us. Let us observe the Word of Wisdom, and also begin and manufacture our clothing. We are doing a good deal now, but let us do more. I have learned one fact that is very gratifying: A few years ago when we commenced our little factories here we could obtain no wool—the sheep were not taken care of. As soon as we commenced to manufacture cloth and to distribute it among the people, taking their wool in exchange, we found that the wool increased; and this season, if we had had the factory, in course of construction at Provo, finished, the supply of wool would have been so great that the factory would have been overstocked. Some idea may be formed of the great increase in the supply of wool when I state that the Provo factory, when running, will be capable of making perhaps ten or twelve hundred yards of cloth per day. This is pleasing. Let us get factories built. I find they are building South, and they are preparing to build North; and pretty soon you will see the brethren, as a general thing, dressed in homemade.

Some here are thinking, probably: “Brigham, why don’t you dress in homemade?” I do. “Well, have you got it on today?” No, but I want to wear out, if I can, what I have on hand. I give away a suit every little while, and I would like to give some more away if I could find anybody my clothes would fit. I travel in homemade and wear it at home. As for fashion, it does not trouble me, my fashion is convenience and comfort. The most comfortable coat that a man can wear in my opinion is what the old Yankees and Eastern and Southern people call a “warmus.” Some of the people here know what I mean; it is something between an overshirt and a blouse, buttons round the neck and wrists. I have worked in one many a day. If I introduce the fashion of wearing them here who will follow it? I expect a good many would. I recollect that I wore one when Colonel Kane was here. Said he, “I am gratified to see that you do not ask any odds about the fashions, you have one of your own.” My feelings then, as now, were, whatever in Brother Brigham’s judgment is comfortable and comely is the fashion with him, and he cares nothing about the fashions of the world. There is a style of pantaloons very generally worn, about which I would say something if there were no ladies here. When I first saw them I gave them a name. I never wore them; I consider them uncomely and indecent. But why is it that they are worn so generally by others? Because they are fashionable. If it were the fashion to go with them unbuttoned I expect you would see plenty of our Elders wearing them unbuttoned. This shows the power that fashion exerts over the majority of minds. You may see it in the theater; if you had attended ours recently you might have seen that that was not comely; you might have seen Mazeppa ride, with but a very small amount of clothing on. In New York I am told it is much worse. I heard a gentleman say that a full dress for Mazeppa there was one Government stamp. I do not know whether it is so or not. Fashion has great influence everywhere, Salt Lake not excepted. No matter how ridiculous, the fashions must be followed. If it be for the ladies to have their dresses to drag along the streets, or so short that they show their garters, we see it here; the same is true if they are sixteen or twenty-four feet round, or so tight that they can hardly walk. A great many seem to regard and follow fashion, with all its follies and vagaries, far more fervently than duty. How foolish is such a course. I have talked long enough. God bless you.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, May 5, 1870.

During our Conference we shall require the people to pay attention and to preserve good order, and perhaps we shall require that that will not be altogether pleasing in some respects. One thing which strikes me here this morning, and which is a source of considerable annoyance to the congregation, appears to me might be avoided, and that is bringing children here who are not capable of understanding the preaching. If we were to set them on the stand, where they could hear every word, it would convey to them no knowledge or instruction, and would not be the least benefit to them. I will ask my sisters: Cannot we avoid this? Have you not daughters, sisters, or friends, or some one who can take care of these children while you attend meeting? When meetings are over, the mothers can go home and bestow all the care and attention upon their children which may be necessary. I cannot understand the utility of bringing children into such a congregation as we shall have here through the Conference, just for the sake of pleasing the mothers, when the noise made by them disturbs all around them. I therefore request that the sisters will leave their babies at home in the care of good nurses. And when you come here, sisters and brethren, sit still and make no noise by shuffling your feet or whispering. Wait till meeting is dismissed, then you may go out and talk and walk as much as you please; but while you are in this house it is necessary to keep perfectly still.

I hope our doorkeepers are instructed and understand, so that they will keep order, and also be still themselves. I have noticed sometimes that our doorkeepers and policemen will make more disturbance in a congregation than the people do. This is very unbecoming, and it certainly exhibits a great lack of understanding. If a look or motion will not answer, do not holloa; we, on the Stand, will do all the talking necessary. But if a doorkeeper holloas to this one and that one, he makes more confusion than the people will make. Now, doorkeepers, be sure that you are perfectly still; and if you are obliged to walk around here much, I would recommend that you wear india-rubber overshoes, so that you may be able to walk without making a noise.

There is another subject I wish to refer to. Last Sabbath this front gallery, the gentleman’s gallery, was very full. After meeting was dismissed I took a walk through it, and to see the floor that had been occupied by those professing to be gentlemen, and I do not know but brethren, you might have supposed that cattle had been there rolling and standing around, for here and there were great quids of tobacco, and places one or two feet square smeared with tobacco juice. I want to say to the doorkeepers that when you see gentlemen who cannot omit chewing and spitting while in this house, request them to leave; and if such persons refuse to leave, and continue their spitting, just take them and lead them out carefully and kindly. We do not want to have the house thus defiled. It is an imposition for gentlemen to spit tobacco juice around, or to leave their quids of tobacco on the floor; they dirty the house, and if a lady happen to besmear the bottom of her dress, which can hardly be avoided, it is highly offensive. We therefore request all gentlemen attending Conference to omit tobacco chewing while here. To the Elders of Israel who cannot and will not keep the Word of Wisdom, I say, omit tobacco chewing while here.

In all probability our congregations will be large, and we shall be under the necessity of being a little stringent and exacting in regard to leaving the children at home and in preserving quietness and order while in the house. You may think it a little unreasonable, sisters, to make such a request, but it is not so, for you who are here this morning have seen the great amount of confusion and annoyance the crying of children has caused; and if you cannot, for the space of two or three hours, forego the pleasure of gazing upon the faces of your little darlings, just stay at home with them. This we earnestly request while we are here in Conference. We have all the brethren of the Twelve here, except Brother Carrington, who is in Liverpool, and we shall have speeches, exhortations and advice from them, which, if followed and observed by the people, will lead them in the path of truth, light, intelligence, virtue, soberness and godliness, and we want such good order preserved and maintained that all attending Conference can hear the instructions given.

We have many things to say to the people. They need a great amount of talking to and instruction. They are a good deal like children and need to have words of counsel and advice constantly reiterated. The mother says to the child, “My darling little Johnny, don’t you get that knife,” or “Can’t you let your father’s razor alone,” or “Let the crockery alone, you will break it.” And the “little darling Johnny” lets it alone for a minute or two, but soon he makes another stretch after the knife, razor, tumbler, pitcher, or something that his mother does not want him to have, and again her voice is heard, “Johnny, let that alone, it is not good for you to have;” or, “You will break that pitcher.” Johnny sets down the pitcher, and pretty soon it is gone from his mind, but he runs around a little, and then he wants a drink, and while getting the pitcher, or perhaps the knife, the mother coaxingly says, “My darling dear, will you let that alone,” and finally, wearied with talking to “Johnny,” she probably boxes his ears. It is precisely so with the people, or many of them. We exhort them to observe the Word of Wisdom, to be faithful, truthful and prayerful, and so on, but many of them forget, and we have to ask and beseech them again and again.

We shall now dismiss our morning’s meeting, and shall assemble again at two o’clock this afternoon, and I trust that strict attention will be paid to what is said. I am of the opinion that what is said will be instructive and good for the people. We do not want the teachings of the Elders to drop upon senseless, careless, indolent ears; but let every ear be open, and every heart receive understanding, that good may result from our labors. We are teaching the people how to be saved—how to walk and talk so as to secure eternal salvation, and I do hope and pray my brethren and sisters to pay attention, that the Spirit of the Lord may be in your hearts, that you may see and understand things as they are. I would say, still further, if there be error advanced here, do not receive it, pass it by, and live so that you will know truth from error, light from darkness, the things that are of God from those not of God; and if an error should drop from the lips of one of our Elders, do not receive, believe, or practice it. Truth is what we want, and we ought to live so that we can understand and know it for ourselves. This is our privilege and duty; and we request of the Latter-day Saints, and of all people, to live so that they may know and understand the things of God, and receive and embrace them in their faith, and practice them in their lives.

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday, April 24, 1870.

We delight in the spirit manifested by our young friend who has just spoken. He advocates the use of the sword of the Spirit, or the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, backed by the spirit of that Gospel, to convince people of the error of their ways. We, as a people, or the Elders of this Church, have carried that over the face of the earth; we have offered it to the people in nearly all parts of the earth, without money and without price.

We delight to meet together to worship God; we delight to have our brethren and sisters come together for this purpose, and we also esteem it a pleasure to have strangers of age and experience, who have the spirit to discern, meet with and preach to us. In our community we have very few from the heathen world; but from the Christian world thousands have gathered here. They understand and know the effects of what is called Christianity. But it is otherwise with our children. They have been brought up here; and, except in a few instances, they have heard nothing but the Gospel as taught by the Latter-day Saints. They are not capable of judging what the outside world is until they have had it exhibited before them, which has been their privilege occasionally; and I always feel to urge our youth to attend meetings when strangers preach, that they may be able to understand that which is and that which is not of God, and learn the difference between the doctrine taught by us and others. We believe a great many things that the Christian world cannot believe. If their eyes were open and they had the spirit to see things as they are, they could understand them. There is not a man or woman on the earth but what, if they understood God and the things of God, would yield obedience to His requirements. Those who set themselves up against the truth do it in consequence of not seeing things as they are—in consequence of ignorance, and were it not for this ignorance with regard to God and His Gospel they would be able to believe in the Gospel. The Latter-day Saints believe in the Gospel of the Son of God, simply because it is true. They believe in baptism for the remission of sins, personal and by proxy; they believe that Jesus is the Savior of the world; they believe that all who attain to any glory whatever, in any kingdom, will do so because Jesus has purchased it by his atonement.

The Christian world says, “We are going to the kingdom of Heaven;” but what is to become of those who have died, not believing as they do, or who have died without hearing the Gospel? Millions of them have passed away, both in the Christian and in the heathen worlds, just as honest, virtuous and upright as any now living. The Christian world say they are lost; but the Lord will save them, or, at least, all who will receive the Gospel. The plan of salvation which Jesus has revealed, and which we preach, reaches to the lowest and most degraded of Adam’s lost race. Is He going to save all in the same glory and bring all to the same state of felicity? Will they who refuse to obey the Gospel of the Son of God be saved and exalted in the same kingdom and glory as they who have obeyed? No, never, never! It is impossible. Do you suppose that a person can see the kingdom of heaven without being born of the Spirit? Jesus said not. Shall we say to the contrary, and maintain that we can see the kingdom of God without being born of the Spirit, and say that Jesus is a liar? Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Except a man is born of the spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Shall we admit that Jesus spoke the truth, or shall man say that his doctrine is true and Jesus spoke that which is not true? Which shall we do? There is no alternative but to admit that Jesus is true, and will save on no other condition than that laid down in the Scriptures, and that all who preach any other doctrine take the testimony of men instead of the testimony of Jesus, or that the Christian world with their varied opinions and creeds are true and that Jesus is untrue.

This is plain talk, my friends. Can you mistake it? Can you gain any idea from what I say except what I mean—let God be true, if it makes every man a liar. I think my words are so pointed and emphatic that no person can mistake them. Did Jesus say, “Except a man is born of the water and of the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God?” Yes, all Christians will admit that. Then do you think there was one plan of salvation for Nicodemus and another for you and me? It is all folly for any person to expect any such thing! Come with the sword of the Spirit! Let the whole world of Christendom come with their arguments and Scriptures, and let us argue these things together! Let us lay them before the people and see who is right and who is wrong.

Let me say to you, if it is true that no man can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of the water and of the Spirit, God must provide a plan by which those who have died ignorant of the Gospel may have the privilege of doing so, or he would appear to be a partial being. Has He provided that way? He has. The Christian world have taught, preached, contemplated, meditated, sung about and prayed for the Millennium. What are you going to do during that period, Christians? Do you know what the Millennium is for, and what work will have to be done during that period? Suppose the Christian world were now one in heart, faith, sentiment and works, so that the Lord could commence the Millennium in power and glory, do you know what would be done? Would you sit and sing yourselves away to everlasting bliss? No, I reckon not. I think there is a work to be done then which the whole world seems determined we shall not do. What is it? To build temples. We never yet commenced to lay the foundation of a temple but what all hell was in arms against us. That is the difficulty now: we have commenced the foundation of this temple. What are we going to do in these temples? Anything to be done there? Yes, and we will not wait for the Millennium and the fullness of the glory of God on the earth; we will commence, as soon as we have a temple, and work for the salvation of our forefathers; we will get their genealogies as far as we can. By and by, we shall get them perfect. In these temples we will officiate in the ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for our friends, for no man can enter the kingdom of God without being born of the water and of the Spirit. We will officiate for them who are in the spirit world, where Jesus went to preach to the spirits, as Peter has written in the third chapter, verses 18, 19, and 20, of his first epistle:

“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing,” etc.

In the next chapter, Peter, alluding to this same subject, says—

“For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.”

What will we do for and in behalf of the dead? We will be baptized for the remission of sins, as Paul has said, in his first epistle to the Corinthians, 15th chapter and 29th verse:

“Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?”

We will also have hands laid on us for the reception of the Holy Ghost; and then we will receive the washings and anointings for and in their behalf, preparatory to their becoming heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Are you going to do this, Latter-day Saints? Yes. What will the Christian world do with their dead? Let them sleep an eternal sleep, for there are no provisions made for them in the gospel they believe in and have taught to them.

This is one item of doctrine believed in by the Latter-day Saints that the inhabitants of the earth are opposed to. Why? Because they are governed and controlled by the spirit of darkness. This may seem harsh, but it is true. They are opposed to Jesus, to God, and to the salvation of the children of men, and are controlled by this evil spirit, and they know it not. They say:

“Latter-day Saints, let your dead and ordinances for their benefit alone, we will pass laws forbidding you the observance and practice of the ordinances of the house of God.”

We trust in God. I reckon He will fight our battles and we will be baptized for and in behalf of the human family during a thousand years; and we will have hundreds of temples and thousands of men and women officiating therein for those who have fallen asleep, without having had the privilege of hearing and obeying the Gospel, that they may be brought forth and have a glorious resurrection, and enjoy the kingdom which God has prepared for them. The devil will fight hard to hinder us, and we shall not take an inch of ground except by obedience to the power of, and faith in, the Gospel of the Son of God. The whole world is opposed to this doctrine. But is there any harm in it? If they could only see it as it is in the Lord, they would rejoice in it, and instead of fighting it, they would praise God for having revealed so glorious a doctrine. Suppose that the notion entertained by some is true, that after the death of our bodies our spirits sleep an eternal sleep, and I am baptized for my father, grandfather, and so on, does it injure them? Answer, all ye intelligences on the face of the earth, above, beneath, or around about the earth! All will admit that no harm would be done in practicing these ordinances. Then let us alone if our practices will do no harm, why oppose us in their observance? The result might possibly affect beneficially our progenitors, and then you who oppose would be found fighting against God. Better let the Gospel have its course.

We have had a nice discourse this morning from the Rev. Mr. Andrews, exhorting all to believe in Jesus. His text was as good a one as ever a man quoted, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation unto all them that believe; to the Jew first, and then to the Greek,” or to the rest of the world. Jesus says, pointedly, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” This is the test? Are there any commandments? Yes, plenty of them, and the only way to prove our belief in and love for the Lord Jesus is by observing the sayings that he has left on record.

They are coming from the East and from the West, from the North and from the South to sit down in our Father’s kingdom; but no man can sit down there unless he gain admittance through the faithful observance of the commands of God, and obedience to the ordinances of His house. Then why not repent and obey the ordinances and commandments? Why not be believers in the Lord Jesus Christ? Is there any harm in it? I say to every being on the face of the earth, Christian, Pagan, or Jew, supposing my doctrine is not true, and that there is no necessity for believing in Jesus, being baptized for the remission of sins and having hands laid upon you for the Holy Ghost, will it do you any harm? Pagan, will it do you any harm? Believers or unbelievers, will it do you any harm? Universalian, will it do you any harm? Apostates, will it do you any harm? Wise man, will it do you any harm? Fools, will it do you any harm? What is your answer? ‘”No; it will not.” Well, then, let me alone. I may be right, and you wrong; and if I should be right, you are cut off, and I have the advantage of you; but if you are right, and I am wrong, I am with you and will share in all the blessings that you can get.

This Gospel will save the whole human family; the blood of Jesus will atone for our sins, if we accept the terms he has laid down; but we must accept those terms or else it will avail nothing in our behalf.

I have talked long enough. I bid you all welcome to the Gospel. Jesus Christ has commissioned me to say to the whole human family, “You can have this Gospel without money and without price.” We have traversed the world over and offered it to the human family and asked them to receive it. We are still saying to them, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, keep his commandments, and obey his ordinances, that it may be well with you. God bless you. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, April 24, 1870.

I am sure that, to strangers, such a meeting as this must be very novel. I might say to those who have been here today that our meetings are conducted very much like the meetings of the Presbyterians, the Baptists and Methodists in England and in the United States. It is true that we continue our discourses longer than they usually do, and sometimes two or three speak; but such a meeting as this is today is a novel thing to me. I might almost say it is equal to a theater; but there is good here, and I would not permit evil in my theater. If I were to learn of any unbecoming conduct there, in looks, words or actions, those guilty of it would have to leave that stage. I would not allow them to remain there.

I want to say to my friends that we believe in all good. If you can find a truth in heaven, earth or hell, it belongs to our doctrine. We believe it; it is ours; we claim it. Is that right? If you find an error here, I ask you to leave it, pass it by, let it alone; do not embrace it in your faith, do not practice it in your lives. I say to all, to my brethren and sisters and to strangers, if we teach anything that is good, receive it, I beseech you. If we have any good in our doctrine, believe it and embrace it, it will do you good. If we have errors, do not embrace them. I have been trying, for almost forty years, to tell the people how to be saved. I have always made this proposition to every man I have conversed with on the subject of truth and error, “If I have errors, I will give ten errors for a truth. Do you want to trade?”

Do not embrace error! Christians, search the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they that testify of the doctrine that we preach; and if we can get you to believe what is written there concerning God the Father and Jesus the Mediator, and to render obedience to what is required there of the children of men, we ask no more.

Here is the Book of Mormon. We believe it contains the history of the Aborigines of our continent, just as the Old Testament contains the history of the Jewish nation. In that book we learn that Jesus visited this continent, delivered his Gospel and ordained Twelve Apostles. We believe all this, but we do not ask you to believe it. What we do ask is that you will believe what is recorded in the Holy Bible concerning God and His revelations to the children of men. Do this in all honesty and sincerity, then you will know that the Book of Mormon is true. Your minds will be opened and you will know by the visions of the Spirit of God that we teach the truth. For this we are persecuted; for this we have been driven; for this we have left our homes and all many times; for this we came to these mountains, comparatively naked and barefoot, and here you can see what we have done. And now they are seeking again to break up this people. God will hold them in derision. (Amen, from the congregation.)

Now, I say, honestly, if the inhabitants of the earth will read this book called the Old and New Testament (though it contains the words of God and the words of men; the words of Jesus and the words of the devil), and believe the truth that is there, just as it is portrayed and written and given to us without any new translation, it will be good for them in time and eternity. The Bible, or part of it, has been retranslated by Joseph Smith. Many precious parts were taken out by men in former days. But believe it as it is and we are one—if we practice it. I will put that in. But if we believe the truth, we will practice it. We may say we believe it, and practice it not. But this is no proof to God, angels, or to one another. “By their fruits ye shall know them,” is a scriptural saying, and is as true now as when it was spoken.

I have a little item which, if I had time, I would like to read, portraying our feelings towards the inhabitants of the earth. It is called the “Vision”—a vision Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon had while they were translating the New Testament. I would like to read this because it is our faith. But we also believe the Bible. Do you, my friends? I would to God you did. I am like Moses when a messenger came to him saying, “The people are prophesying in their tents.” Said Moses, Well, what of that? I would to God that the Lord’s people were all prophets! I would to God that they all had revelation! When they receive revelation from heaven the story is told, they know for themselves.

Now, my friends, brethren and sisters, ladies and gentlemen, how do you know anything? Can you be deceived by the eye? You can; you have proved this; you all know that there are men who can deceive the sight of the eye, no matter how closely you observe their movements. Can you be deceived in hearing? Yes; you may hear sounds but not understand their import or whence they come. Can you be deceived by the touch of the finger? You can. The nervous system will not detect everything. What will? The revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ, the spirit of truth will detect everything, and enable all who possess it to understand truth from error, light from darkness, the things of God from the things not of God. It is the only thing that will enable us to understand the Gospel of the Son of God, the will of God, and how we can be saved. Follow it, and it will lead to God, the fountain of light, where the gate will be open, and the mind will be enlightened so that we shall see, know and understand things as they are.

God bless you, and help us all to do what He requires of us. Amen.

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday, April 17, 1870.

I would like the attention of the congregation. First, to my brethren and sisters, How do you do? I hope you are well. My health is very excellent. I am happy to greet you again. It gives me pleasure to see the people, but greater pleasure to see them striving to do the will of God.

I understand that this morning the congregation were treated to a discourse giving the details of our travels for fifty-two days. I have no doubt they were very satisfactory. Those who heard the remarks of Brother George A. Smith this morning must be aware that we are somewhat fatigued in body and want a little rest. We went from here to rest; but traveling every day for nearly two months, and holding sometimes two or three meetings a day, does not afford much chance for rest. However, it was a change—a change of climate, scenery, congregations and friends; and we have had great pleasure in visiting the Saints. It is delightful to see those who profess to be Saints living together in unity and peace, which I am happy to say is the case to a great degree with the people among whom we have been traveling.

When we talk to and instruct the people we have to chasten and correct them sometimes, so as to lead their minds to principles more advanced than they are in the habit of practicing. The Latter-day Saints are an excellent good people; but when we contemplate the perfection of the inhabitants of Zion we see that there is an opportunity for a great deal of improvement. Of the time that is allotted to man here on the earth there is none to lose or to run to waste. After suitable rest and relaxation there is not a day, hour or minute that we should spend in idleness, but every minute of every day of our lives we should strive to improve our minds and to increase in the faith of the holy Gospel, in charity, patience, and good works, that we may grow in the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus Christ. If we are not Saints I do not think I ever saw any; but still there is a lack in the faith and works of this people, preparatory to the inhabiting of the Zion that is spoken and prophesied of and written about.

There are a great many texts which might be used, very comprehensive and full of meaning, but I know of none, either in the Old or New Testament, more so than that saying, said to have been made by the Savior, and I have no doubt it was, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” You recollect that, after the resurrection, when Jesus came to Peter and others who had been fishing all night, but had caught nothing, he said to them, “Cast your net to the right side of the ship.” They did so, and we read that they drew a multitude to shore, and then they beheld their Savior. After broiling and eating of their fish, Jesus, knowing their feelings, and how apt men are to forget that which they once knew, said to Peter, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more them these?” pointing to the fish. They had professed to love him; they had followed him, and had suffered persecution for his sake; they had delighted in his words, rejoiced in his labors, and had seen the wonderful works which he performed, and some which, in his name, they had performed themselves; yet, after all this, they seemed inclined to turn away and go a fishing; and when they had caught fish and drawn them to the shore, Jesus said, “Do you love me more than you love these?” He had previously told them: “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

How long? For a day? Keep the commandments of the Lord for a week? Observe and do his will for a month or a year? There is no promise to any individual, that I have any knowledge of, that he shall receive the reward of the just, unless he is faithful to the end. If we fully understand and faithfully carry out in our lives the saying of Jesus, “If ye love me, keep my commandments,” we shall be prepared to go back and dwell in the presence of the Father and the Son.

What are his commandments? Did he ever teach the people anything that is wrong? If we read the requirements made by Jesus, by the Father, or by any messenger sent from the Heavens to the children of men we shall find nothing that will injure any human being or that will destroy the soul of one of the sons or daughters of Adam and Eve. Many think that the sayings and doings of some of the prophets and servants of God, in ancient and modern times, said and done in obedience to the commands of the Lord Almighty, tend to evil; but it is not so. All God’s requirements tend to good to His children. Any notion to the contrary is the result of ignorance. The human family are enveloped in ignorance, so far as the origin and object of their existence here is concerned. Their ignorance, superstition, darkness and blindness are very apparent to all who are in the least enlightened by the spirit of truth. They seek to hide themselves in ignorance and blindness rather than learn who they are and the object of their being here. What do the human family know of God or Jesus, or of the words which I have quoted, “If ye love me, keep my commandments?” “Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life,” says Jesus, “and they are they which testify of me.” They testify of the Savior, of his doctrines and requirements, and of the ordinances of his house; the plan of salvation is there portrayed, and any person who follows its dictation may redeem himself from the thralldom of sin, and know, by the Spirit, that Jesus is the Christ. All who will take this course will know by revelation that God is our Father; they will understand the relationship they hold to him and to their fellow beings. The world may in vain ask the question, “Who are we?” But the Gospel tells us that we are the sons and daughters of that God whom we serve. Some say, “We are the children of Adam and Eve.” So we are, and they are the children of our Heavenly Father. We are all the children of Adam and Eve, and they and we are the offspring of Him who dwells in the heavens, the highest Intelligence that dwells anywhere that we have any knowledge of. Here we find ourselves, and when infants, the most helpless, and need– ing the most care and attention of any creatures that come into being on the face of the earth. Here we find in ourselves the germ and the foundation, the embryo of exaltation, glory, immortality and eternal lives. As we grow up we receive strength, knowledge and wisdom, some more and some less; but only by keeping the commands of the Lord Jesus can we have the privilege of knowing the things pertaining to eternity and our relationship to the heavens.

When I contemplate the effects of keeping the commands of the Lord, and look at the Christian world, I cannot help being struck with the difference of the results which flow from serving God and Satan. I have dwelt, for many years, in the Christian world. I have tried to learn all that they know. But what does it amount to? Nothing. How many chapters, pamphlets, and volumes have been written upon the Holy Ghost, the birth of the Savior, and concerning the being of that God whom we serve? But who knows the truth pertaining to these subjects or to any one of them? Not one. But all who keep the commandments of Jesus have the privilege of gaining a correct understanding of these things. If we draw near to him, he will draw near to us; if we seek him early, we shall find him; if we apply our minds faithfully and diligently, day by day, to know and understand the mind and will of God, it is as easy as, yes, I will say easier than, it is to know the minds of each other, for to know and understand ourselves and our own being is to know and understand God and His being. It is true there is a great deal of speculation in the world; and it becomes more apparent every year; and it will continue so until the people believe in the Gospel of the Son of God, or are given over to infidelity. See the sects and parties springing up here and springing up there, from this and that, and embracing this and the other phantom; or following after this and that dream or fantasy of their imagination. They are dividing and subdividing, and drifting, as fast as time can roll, into infidelity.

Who will know the Son of God? Who will know that Jesus is the Christ? Who, in this our day, can say as Peter did, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” How many will come to this? Very few. How often I have contemplated the condition of the Christian world! I have preached the Gospel to hundreds of thousands of them. Did they believe? If they did, they did not yield obedience. They would contend and argue against the truth, but only one here and another there, or as it is written, “one of a city, and two of a family;” or, to reverse it, one of a family and two of a city, would obey it, and gather with the Saints. Many of those who have gathered, when they have been blessed with a few of the good things of this life, have lifted their heels against Jesus and in opposition to his commands and revelations, and have turned away to fables. I have often asked this question, “Has one-half of those who have obeyed the Gospel and been baptized into the Church ever gathered with the Saints?” No, they have not; and to many who have gathered the Gospel soon became like a dream. They have had their minds opened and seen things correctly; they have had the manifestations of the Spirit of the Lord and have rejoiced in the truth; but by and by, through the lusts of the flesh, they have become sordid, have turned again to the world, and have forgot the Gospel and its blessings.

Is this the case with the Saints? It is the case with many who have been called Saints, and yet we say that the Latter-day Saints, as a body, are the best people that can be found. Who would have done as they have? Who, in the world, are willing to manifest that they are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the prophets and Apostles, and in Joseph Smith? One of the Apostles, writing of confessing the Savior, says, “Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus is the Christ is of God; and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus is the Christ is not of God.” I say that every spirit that confesseth Jesus to be the Savior of the world, the Old and New Testament and the Book of Mormon to be true, and Joseph Smith to be a prophet, is of God; but every spirit that does not confess these things is not of God.

I can say to my brethren and sisters who profess to believe in the Gospel of the Son of God, as it has been revealed to us in these latter days, that we need to pay attention to our faith, and to observe the principles of our religion inviolate, and to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, or we shall not be prepared to inherit that glory that we anticipate. Is this so? It is, most assuredly. I know that many Latter-day Saints think when they have obeyed the Gospel, made a sacrifice in forsaking their homes, perhaps their parents, husbands, wives, children, farms, native lands, or other things held dear, that the work is done; but it is only just commenced. The work of purifying ourselves and preparing to build up the Zion of God on this continent has only just begun with us when we have got as far as that. Are we prepared now to establish the Zion that the Lord designs to build up? I have many times asked the questions, “Where is the man that knows how to lay the first rock for the wall that is to surround the New Jerusalem or the Zion of God on the earth? Where is the man who knows how to construct the first gate of the city? Where is the man who understands how to build up the kingdom of God in its purity and to prepare for Zion to come down to meet it?” “Well,” says one, “I thought the Lord was going to do this.” So He is if we will let Him. That is what we want: we want the people to be willing for the Lord to do it. But He will do it by means. He will not send His angels to gather up the rock to build up the New Jerusalem. He will not send His angels from the heavens to go to the mountains to cut the timber and make it into lumber to adorn the city of Zion. He has called upon us to do this work; and if we will let Him work by, through, and with us, He can accomplish it; otherwise we shall fall short, and shall never have the honor of building up Zion on the earth. Is this so? Certainly. Well, then, let us keep the commandments.

What are His commandments to us? Has He commanded us to build an ark? No. He told Noah to do that for the salvation of those who would go into it; and after he had built it, and had preached righteousness for a long space of time, warning the people of the coming judgments of the Almighty, how many believed his testimony? Only eight souls, and they were members of his own family. All the rest were swept from the face of the earth. This is according to the account given to us in the Old Testament which we believe. I know that there are a great many in the world who are so wise in their own eyes that they are not disposed to believe the account contained in the Bible of the Creation, of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the antediluvian world and other things, but we profess to believe, and we do or should believe these things.

The Lord has said that He will never again destroy the world by a flood. What will the next great catastrophe be? It will be fire: He will cleanse the earth as by fire, and will purify and make it holy, and prepare it for the habitation of His Saints. But in doing this, which will be accomplished by the united labors of His Saints under His direction, He has not told us to build an ark; He has not told us to go out of Sodom, as He did Lot and his family; neither has He told us to go down into Egypt or to come out of Egypt. What has He told us? He has told us, and it is recorded in the revelations contained in the New Testament, that in the latter days He would send His angel flying through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth. That angel has flown, the Gospel is delivered, the kingdom is established, and Zion has to be built up. Are the Latter-day Saints going to do this? Yes, we say so; we think the Latter-day Saints are going to do it. But are these my brethren and sisters now before me going to do it? Am I going to help to do it? I know that I have labored nearly forty years to get the people to believe and to embrace, in their faith and practice, what the Lord has told us to do. The Lord wants to build up His Zion, and He wants to build it up through you and me. We are the ones He has called upon. Will we consent to do this? I firmly believe that, before we make any very effectual progress in the accomplishment of that work, we must become more united and more fervent in our faith and practice than we have ever yet been at any time. We have to become more like a single family, and be one, that we may be the Lord’s; and not every one have his own individual interest. This is destructive, this disconnects the feelings of the people one from another, and causes divisions and disunion. But when we make the general cause of Zion our individual cause it brings us closer together.

We must observe all the words of the Lord. The commandments contained in the New Testament with regard to the ordinances of the house of God are obligatory upon us. But we are not called upon to build an ark to save ourselves; we are called to build up Zion. God has spoken from the heavens, and given us revelations, and it is for you and me to obey. The command has been given, it is recorded, and you can all read for yourselves.

In partaking of this Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper we are all agreed. When Jesus broke the bread and poured out and blessed the wine, said he, “Do this till I come.” We do it every Sabbath in remembrance of him, and we all agree in doing this. When the word is, “Be baptized for the remission of sins,” we also agree on this: no dissenting voice. When we say we must have hands laid on for the reception of the Holy Ghost, we all consent to it, all feel alike in this. When we say that the Lord is pouring out the gifts of prophecy, revelation, tongues, visions, faith, healings, and so forth, we all agree in these things. They are all right, all correct, we believe in them all, and we yield obedience to them. But when He speaks from the heavens and says, “Now, my children, gather out from the wicked,” some consent to this, and actually go so far as to gather, and that is why we are here in these mountains. But our labor is not done: we must still progress until we become one. The Lord says, “Be one, except ye are one, ye are not mine, be united.” But do we take a course to become so? I will ask, have we, as a general thing, obeyed the first revelations, to gather to Zion, and when there, to consecrate our property and devote all our substance, time and talents for the building up the kingdom? Have we obeyed the commandments and requirements of Heaven in yielding up everything to the will of God, and being dictated, as we should be, by the spirit of revelation? No, we have not. Herein we come short of that that we might do and perform for our own benefit, and for the salvation of others, for it is not only for the glory of God, but for our own benefit that we each of us labor. The Lord is perfectly independent: He has received His glory, He reigns supreme and omnipotent. He is not dependent upon you and me. If every one of us should apostatize and go down to hell, it would neither add to nor diminish from His glory. He would mourn at our folly in turning away from the holy commandments and suffering the wrath of the Almighty to come upon us; the Heavens would weep over us, but still the Lord has His glory, and you and I are not laboring for His benefit. For whose benefit are we laboring? For our own. All my preaching, laboring, and toils in this kingdom have been for myself, to get into the Celestial Kingdom of God. I have been laboring for that and nothing else.

The Latter-day Saints require considerable preaching to; they ought to pray a little more; they are doing pretty well, but if we try to draw them a little closer together, how quickly we see the selfishness of the children of men in our own midst. If we ask them to devote their time, talents and powers more completely to the building up of the Kingdom of God, one says, “This is mine, I am not going to have anybody control me;” another one says, “I am not going to submit to this.” Why, bless me! What have they? Nothing but what the Lord gave them, even to their own lives. Everything they have is what the Lord has given, and He can take it away at His pleasure. He can bestow millions upon them if He pleases, or take away at His pleasure. Yet, while men will acknowledge this, one will say, “I am not going to be controlled;” and another, “I am going to draw out of this.” You have heard and seen through this city a great deal of talking, writing, and sophistry on this subject. No matter how many pretty words are strung together into sentences and made to appear beautiful on paper, it amounts to nothing. It is the truth; it is the love and the power of the Lord Almighty, and it is the Gospel of the Son of God that you and I have embraced. Should we be controlled by that? Yes, in everything. Well, get the people united together and they will be controlled by it; but as it is now, the purchasing of a little merchandise sends a parcel of them to the devil. It is folly in the extreme! By and by such characters will go to their own place. There will be no carriages there; no horses, fine houses, silks and satins there. Oh, the foolishness of the children of men!

Who are we, I ask again? We are the children of the Almighty, of Him who framed this earth and brought it into existence and placed His children upon it, to see what they would do. He gave them their agency and said, “Now, act for yourselves;” and every one does act for himself, for good or evil, for blessings or curses. We all act for ourselves. I am laboring expressly to get back again into the presence of my Father and of my elder brother. What are you laboring for? Gold? Just see how some are running to the gold mines! “Oh,” says one, “there is silver found yonder.” Says another, “There is gold or there is copper found yonder.” See the greediness of the hearts of the children of men, and that too right in the midst of this people. We can praise the people, generally a great deal; we give them credit for considerable good they have done; but we cannot give our brethren and sisters credit for any particular good while following the foolish fashions of the world. The Lord cannot credit them for running after gold and silver and the riches of this world. If they do good, they shall receive credit; if they give alms to the poor, they shall receive credit for it. If they are disposed to do anything for the benefit of the kingdom of God on the earth, they will be blessed and credited for it. But when their hearts are turned from the holy commandments of the Lord Jesus, and to seeking after the things of this life, which perish, they will find that they will perish as well as the things they are using. What a pity! How lamentable it is.

Now I ask the Latter-day Saints, have you anything to fear? Yes, you have. Have I anything to fear? Yes. What is it? I fear lest I may slacken in my faith and obedience in living as the Spirit of the Lord Almighty has required me to live, and is urging this people to live, so that we may be worthy to build up Zion. Have you or I anything else to be afraid of? No; not at all. I have no fear of heavenly beings, for they are my friends. I want to go to their society and to be associated with them. I like some of God’s messengers, who travel about, to visit me. I am fond of their society. I like the spirits that dwell there. I want to go home; I want to go back again and live there forever. Why, the thought that the intelligence that is brought into existence here, may be annihilated, is enough to make one shudder! There are some who go so far in their unbelief that they deny the resurrection of the body; and even to say that the soul sleeps eternally. What is the use of your intelligence, what is it good for if this be true? There is no such thing as destroying element! There is no such philosophy as annihilation. If the spirit should return to native element the element would not be destroyed; the particles of matter will remain forever. There are some now getting so lofty in their imaginations, and so wise and intelligent in their own estimation that they pretend to explain all the mysteries of the past, present and future. They are like some called Latter-day Saints; they can talk very glibly about the principles of what they term the Gospel; but the practical workings of the religion of the Savior they know or care little about. You come to the Latter-day Saints, and you may find plenty who talk their religion a great deal; you may find a hundred willing even to die for it to one who is willing to live it. If all were willing to live it we would risk the dying; we care nothing about that. We shall all go sooner or later. We shall not stay in this world in our present condition forever. Something or other will divide this intelligence or spirit from the body which it inhabits; and the tabernacle will go down to dust. Our spirits will not sleep an eternal sleep, but our bodies will be resurrected, and our spirits and our bodies will be reunited; and all who believe to the contrary are in a state of darkness, wretchedness and unbelief.

Brethren and sisters, be faithful to your religion. There is not the least reason for fear from any other source in the world. Keep as calm as a summer’s evening; no harm can come to him who serves God with all his heart and trusts in Him for future results. “But” some say, “cannot they kill us?” Yes, they can kill you and me, if the Lord permits; but if He does not, I reckon they cannot. And suppose they do kill us! Do we want to stay in this world in our present condition for ever? O, no. If Joseph and Hyrum Smith had not been killed in Carthage jail, do you think they would have lived forever? No, they could not; the fiat has gone forth that our bodies must all return to mother earth.

There is no danger for the Latter-day Saints. The Lord reigns. He has said that he would fight our battles. Has He done so? Look back, ye Saints, for forty years, from the sixth of this month, when this Church was organized. Brother George A. Smith and a few of us were away on the anniversary of the day; but you, here, had a little Conference and adjourned over. Did you realize that forty years had elapsed since this Church was organized? Yes, and there is no question that you talked of it. Look back, members of this Church, for thirty-nine years! Has the Lord fought our battles? He has. Has He protected and fed and clothed us? Certainly He has. When we came here no man knew that we could raise an ear of corn, and a great many believed that we could not. How many contended against our setting out fruit trees? Said they, “You never can raise an apple, plum, or pear, and you certainly can never raise a peach or an apricot. We told them we should set out trees and trust in the Lord; and although when we came here everything was freezing to death, yet now, through the Lord blessing the elements and tempering the soil, water and atmosphere, the Saints in every settlement are raising beautiful grains and fruits; and the people are increasing and multiplying. Wherever we have been on our recent journey they flocked out by hundreds to welcome us; and there were swarms of healthy, bright intelligent children everywhere.

Talk about polygamy! There is no true philosopher on the face of the earth but what will admit that such a system, properly carried out according to the order of heaven, is far superior to monogamy for the raising of healthy, robust children! A person possessing a moderate knowledge of physiology, or who has paid attention to his own nature and the nature of the gentler sex, can readily understand this.

“But,” says one, “are we not all to be killed for our belief in this principle?” I reckon not. “Are we not going to be driven from our homes?” I don’t know. This is a good place; I would like to stay here; I would rather not go; I have considerable to leave if we should go from here. I do not know how to do without the liberty that my father fought for. He went into the Revolutionary army when he was fourteen years old, and stayed until the close of the war; and I do not know how to do without that liberty anyway in the world. I guess I can think as I please, and I guess I can live happy, I shall try to, at any rate, until I finish my work, and I rather think you will, brethren and sisters, if you love Jesus, and prove it by keeping his commandments. If you do this, there is no danger in the world. But when I look round and see the foolish habits of the people, it is a little mortifying, and I wish it were otherwise. Still we put up with it, and do the best we can; and talk and preach and set you examples, and teach you how to be Saints in very deed, so that by and by you may be prepared to go and build up the Center Stake of Zion. If I have to go from here, if I live to do so, I want to go to Jackson County. May I? (Yes, from the congregation.) That is the place I want to go to. It is not healthy like this; but the Lord will make it so, and He will bless the soil, the water, and the atmosphere, and they will become healthy if the Saints will live their religion. Let us do the will of God and there is no fear from any quarter. I never felt calmer since I have been in this Church, and I have been in the wars. I have left my home five times, and a good handsome property each time; but I do not feel a bit like it now, and I cannot get the spirit of it.

To the Latter-day Saints I say, live your religion, sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, and we shall be prospered.

God bless you. Amen.

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Feb. 20, 1870.

It is some time since I have spoken to the people in this capacity, and I have a few words to say to Saints and sinners. That is a common expression, but as we are all sinners, I might say a few words to sinners exclusively.

The Gospel of the Son of God that has been revealed is a plan or system of laws and ordinances, by strict obedience to which the people who inhabit this earth are assured that they may return again into the presence of the Father and the Son.

I frequently contemplate the con– dition of this so-called strange people, the Latter-day Saints. “A strange people” is a peculiar expression, as though we were different from others! I know that we are so considered, but in my opinion we are the most rational, common sense people that live on the face of the earth. We are trying to become natural in our habits, and are striving to fulfil the end and design of our creation. When we read of and contemplate the manners, morals and customs that prevail in the world and compare them with those of the Latter-day Saints, we may justly come to the conclusion that we are “a strange people,” for, in these respects, we are very different to the rest of the world. How strange it is that we should do differently from the rest of mankind! How strange it is that we should believe differently from our neighbors! It is very strange indeed that we cannot embrace the so-called Christian religion and be satisfied therewith. If we were to ask the infidel world some few questions, they might talk, philosophize and bring up their sophistry, but they could not prove a truth to be an untruth. The whole infidel world cannot prove that we are not here on this earth, that the sun does not shine, that we do not speak and hear, that we do not see with our eyes and handle with our hands, that we have not the power of tasting and smelling and have not the use of our natural senses. You all know that I have got eyes, for you can see them; you know I can speak, for you can hear my voice; you know that you are here in a building, rude as it may be, and you know that you walk on the ground; you know that you breathe the air, and you also know that when you are thirsty you desire water to drink, and that when you are hungry you want something palatable to eat. We all know these things by the exercise of our natural senses, but there are many things of which we are ignorant. We may look at ourselves and the people generally, and the earth upon which we walk, and without the revelations of God we know not who we are, whence we came, nor who formed the earth on which we live, move and have our being. Did I bring the particles of matter together and form the earth? No. Did you, Mr. Philosopher? Did you, Mr. Infidel, or you, Mr. Christian, Pagan, or Jew? No, not any of us. We know that we are here, but who brought us here or how we came are questions the solution of which depends upon a power superior to ours. The ideas of the inhabitants of the earth with regard to their own creation and destiny, and with regard to the destiny of the earth, are very crude and vague. But we must all acknowledge that some individual, being, power or influence superior to ourselves produced us and the earth and brought us forth and holds us in existence, and causes the revolutions of the earth and of the planetary system. These are facts that neither we nor all mankind can controvert; the whole Christian and even the heathen world will acknowledge all this; but what do they know about it? Who understands the modus operandi by which all this was brought about and continued? Who is able to leap forth into the immensity of thought, space, contemplation and research, and search out the principles by which we are here and by which we are sustained? The strangest phenomenon to the inhabitants of the earth today is that God, the maker and preserver of the earth and all it contains, should speak from heaven to His creatures, the works of His hands here. What would there be strange in the mechanician, after constructing the most beautiful and ingenious piece of mechanism it is possible to conceive of, speaking to it and admiring the beauty, regularity and order of its motions? Nothing whatever. Well, to me it is not at all strange that He who framed and fashioned this beautiful world and all the myriads and varieties of organizations it contains, should come and visit them; to me this is perfectly natural, and when we remember and compare the belief of this people with that of the rest of the world we need not be surprised at being considered “a strange people.”

Brother George A. Smith has been relating to us something about the history and belief of some of his forefathers, and others; one believed one thing and another. It was with them, as it was in the days of the Apostles—some were for Paul, some for Apollos, some for Cephas and some for Christ. To me it is more rational for an intelligent being to embrace truth, than it is to mix up a little truth with a great deal of error, or to embrace all error and undertake to follow a phantom. Have you embraced truth, Latter-day Saints? Have you anything different from other Christians? Yes. What have you got? You have got a Father in heaven, a system of religion, a plan of salvation, with doctrines and ordinances. What are they? We read them in the Bible, and the same things again in the Book of Mormon, both of which are precisely the same as the principles contained in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, each one corroborating the other. It is written that out of the mouths of two or three witnesses every word shall be established, and here, in the New Testament, we have the words of the evangelists; in the Old Testament the words of the prophets and patriarchs; and again, the testimony of others in the Book of Mormon; and last of all, given in our own day, the testimony of Joseph Smith in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants; all coinciding, and the two latter corroborating, the fact that the Bible, as far as it is correctly translated, is the word of God. The Bible contains the word of God, the word of Jesus, of angels, of good men, of those tolerably good, of wicked men, and the words of the devil, the enemy of all righteousness, the enemy of Jesus, and the enemy of this world, who is determined that he will possess the earth and its inhabitants; and in the main it is true; and every item of doctrine taught by the Latter-day Saints is to be found in this book. Then, why should the Latter-day Saints appear so obnoxious and disagreeable to the world—fairly a hiss and a by-word? What is the reason of this? Is it because we can swear more and better than others? No. Because we can lie more and better than others? Well, can you steal better than others? No; I will defy you to do that. Are you better gamblers? No. Do you intrude more on your neighbors’ rights than others? No. Do you bear false witness more than others? No. Can you revile the name of the Savior more than others? No. Well then, why are we considered so strange a people? Simply because we believe in the reality of the principles contained in the word of God, and maintain that man, in this day, needs and obtains direct revelation from his Creator for his guidance.

Let us look now for a moment at what is termed the “moral code,” the ten commandments revealed by the Lord to the Jews, the House of Israel, for a law to control their everyday walk and conduct. Do the Latter-day Saints keep this? Yes. Does that make them so very strange? Why should it? Does that fact make them a speckled bird in the communities of the world? It should not. Then why is it that we are so considered? We have a Father; He is in heaven; He has told us to call Him Father; He says that we are His children. Now, excuse me everybody that does not believe in the Bible, or who is inclined not to believe in it, we are so unwise, so shortsighted, so foolish in our imagination that we believe the Bible, we actually believe that God the Father is our heavenly Father, that we are His children; and we believe that Jesus Christ is our elder brother—that he is actually the Son of our Father and that he is the Savior of the world, and was appointed to this before the foundations of this earth were laid. We are just so foolish and shortsighted as to believe all this.

We know that this age, by the outside world, is considered a fast age; we think it is very fast, so far as unbelief goes. The people now-a-days profess to be very enlightened and they say, “Don’t be so superstitious as to believe the Bible;” and the idea of Jesus being sacrificed for the sins of the world is ridiculed by many. They say, “Oh, don’t have any such ideas, be more liberal, be as we are;” and I heard of one man who said he would not believe in, worship, nor acknowledge a God who would command a man to sacrifice his only son, as Abraham was called to sacrifice Isaac. We Latter-day Saints are just so unwise and foolish as to believe that the Lord Almighty required this at the hands of Abraham; and He did not tell Abraham that he would have that ram ready in the bushes. He said, “Have you confidence in me, my son Abraham?” “Yes,” said Abraham. “Well, I will prove you. Bring up your son Isaac to Mount Moriah, build an altar there, place the wood on the altar and bind your son and place him on the altar and sacrifice him to me, and this will prove whether you have faith in me or not.” The sacrifice was offered and accepted, and the Lord provided a way whereby Isaac could live. We are just so foolish, unwise and shortsighted, and so wanting in philosophy that we actually believe God told Abraham to do this very thing.

Who is that God? He is my Father, He is your Father; we are His offspring. He has planted within each of us the germ of the same intelligence, power, glory and exaltation that He enjoys Himself. This proves that we are a peculiar race. We belong to the highest order of intelligence; and though we, as yet, are very ignorant, we have the privilege of increasing in intelligence, growing, expanding, spreading abroad, gathering in, enlarging and gaining, and the more we learn today, the better for us, for it does not destroy the knowledge we had yesterday; and when we learn more tomorrow it does not destroy the knowledge of today. We are creatures susceptible of continual education and improvement. And we take this book, the Bible, which I expect to see voted out of the so-called Christian world very soon, they are coming to it as fast as possible, I say we take this book for our guide, for our rule of action; we take it as the foundation of our faith. It points the way to salvation like a fingerboard pointing to a city, or a map which designates the locality of mountains, rivers, or the latitude and longitude of any place on the surface of the earth that we desire to find, and we have no better sense than to believe it; hence, I say that the Latter-day Saints have the most natural faith and belief of any people on the face of the earth.

We believe in God the Father, in Jesus the Mediator; we believe in the ordinances that He has placed in His house, we believe in keeping the laws that He has left on record by which His Saints are required to square their lives, and to direct their steps. We do all this and we keep the moral code. Others do this, and when we reflect upon the righteous course of many of those who have lived before us, who have observed this moral code, we can see that great good has been done. But why should we be considered so strange by those who profess to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?

One says, “You believe in baptism by immersion, and we do not believe in it; you Latter-day Saints believe that a person should come to the years of accountability before he is baptized, but we believe in taking our infants and dipping our fingers, or in the priest dipping his fingers in the water and touching the children’s foreheads and that they then become members of the living church and heirs of salvation.” But where do you find this in the Bible?

The method of administering the ordinance of baptism is a much disputed point among the different sects of the religious world, the Baptists alone maintaining that immersion is absolutely necessary. Some are so liberal in their views on this subject that they will either sprinkle or immerse at the option of the candidate. None, however, regard it as necessary or efficacious for the remission of sins, but simply as a profession of faith. We, the Latter-day Saints, believe in being baptized by immersion for the remission of sins, according to the testimony of the disciples of Jesus and the revelations of the Lord given in these last days. Infants are pure, they have neither sorrow of heart nor sins to repent of and forsake and consequently are incapable of being baptized for the remission of sin. If we have sinned, we must know good from evil; an infant does not know this, it cannot know it; it has not grown into the idea of contemplation of good and evil; it has not the capacity to listen to the parent or teacher or to the priest when they tell what is right or wrong or what is injurious; and until these things are understood a person cannot be held accountable and consequently cannot be baptized for the remission of sin.

“Well,” says the Christian, “If you really believe in being baptized by immersion, I expect it is correct for you, and it will answer every purpose; but we think sprinkling will answer for us.” If, however, sprinkling infants be the correct method of administering the ordinance of baptism, we are safe even on Christian grounds, for all Christians will acknowledge that immersion is as good. If, on the other hand, immersion, or being buried with Christ by baptism, be the only correct method of administering the ordinance, and it is, according to the testimony of more than one of his disciples, our system will not avail those who have been sprinkled. But we are safe anyhow.

Again, with regard to faith in Jesus. Along comes a man and says, “It is all folly to have faith in the name of Jesus. It is true that Christ died for all, but it is folly for you to fret yourselves about keeping his commandments and observing the ordinances left on record in the Scriptures; Jesus will save all. He did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, and if he came to save sinners do you not think he will accomplish the task?”

We, the Latter-day Saints, certainly believe that Christ will accomplish all that he undertook to do, but he never yet said he would save a sinner in his sins, but that he would save him from his sins. He has instituted laws and ordinances whereby this can be effected. But this gentleman says, “Christ will save all.” The Mormon Elder says that he will save all who come to him, all who hearken to his word and keep his commandments, and Jesus has said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” Now this character to which I have referred says he loves Jesus, but it is nonsense to keep his commandments; but the “Mormon” says, “I love Jesus, and in proof of it I keep his commandments.” Now, suppose the former is correct and Christ will save all, whether they do or do not keep his commandments, in that case the “Mormons” are right again, for they will all be saved; but suppose that Jesus requires strict obedience to his laws and ordinances and commandments, those who merely believe without rendering obedience to his laws are slightly incorrect, and, in the end, the disadvantage will again be with them.

Now the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes every word of truth believed in by the holy Catholic Church—the mother church of the Christian world; and then every truth believed in by every Protestant reformer and revivalist that has ever come out from the mother church or from any of her children; and having all this, we wish to frame, fashion and build after the pattern that God has revealed; and in doing so we take all the laws, rules, ordinances and regulations contained in the Scriptures and practice them as far as possible, and then keep learning and improving until we can live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

You may take the mother church of the Christian world, the reformers, universalists, deists, atheists, spiritualists and everybody else, and if any or all of them are right, we are sure that we are, for every particle of truth believed in by any one of them, and all the truth possessed by the whole of them combined is believed in by the Latter-day Saints; but if we are right, they will fail. Now, who is on the safe ground? Who is most likely to be deluded and to be found wanting? Let the people decide.

There is not a word in these three books, Bible, Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, that I have ever found yet, that has been delivered by the Lord to His servants, but what, if it is lived up to, or practiced in the life of an individual, it makes him or her better in every sense of the word. There is no code ever got up by the children of men that would direct them so purely in their lives as that contained in these three books, and if the people of the Christian world, or any portion of them, were to throw away or set aside faith in God and in Jesus Christ, and the various ordinances of the Gospel as contained in the Scriptures, and were to observe only the moral code, and observe it strictly, it would make them a better people than any who now live on the face of the earth, the Latter-day Saints excepted.

But what is the use of forsaking any portion of the law of the Lord? It is true that some portions of it, through disuse or neglect, are now looked upon as obsolete, just as it is with some laws still remaining on the statute books of the nations of the earth; but a law possesses neither more nor less intrinsic merit on this account. The law once passed in England inflicting a penalty upon all who ate bread until it was three days old, possesses no less merit or virtue now that it is obsolete than in the day when it was enacted. It was gotten up many years ago because fresh bread was considered injurious to the stomach; but, although it is not enforced now, I believe it has never been repealed. Did my English brethren and sisters observe this law while they lived in England? I think not; perhaps they did not know anything about it. If, however, that law was good when it was made, it is good now, and there is no person in that country who uses bread under that age but is liable to be prosecuted. So it is with regard to many laws under our own and other governments. They are found to be inapplicable to the situation and condition of the people, and hence they become obsolete. We may take the laws contained in the Old and New Testaments, and if they were good in the days of the Apostles, Prophets and Patriarchs, why are they not good today? It is not because they are not good that they are passed over, but in some respects they are not as applicable to the feelings of the Christian world now as when they were given, because of the traditions of the fathers.

I know that the outside world say, “Oh, you Mormons, what a poor degraded people you are!” You know, one public lecturer says there is not a public school in all Utah. I can say that if there are no public schools there are plenty of private schools, and there are no people on the face of the earth that support as many children in private schools as the people of Utah, according to their numbers. Still the world declare that we are degraded, miserable and ignorant; and, “Oh, that horrid principle! Oh dear, it makes me blush!” Yes, it makes one think of a little circumstance that transpired with one of our Elders who went after machinery to Massachusetts. He went to inquire about machinery for a cotton factory, and the gentleman to whom he applied said, “Where are you from?” “Utah.” “O, you are out among the Mormons?” “Yes.” “Are you a Mormon?” “Yes.” “Well, I believe,” said the interrogator, “you, out there, believe in having more wives than one?” “Yes, that is true,” said the Elder. “Well,” said the gentleman, “I want you to come up and see my partner.” So our brother was invited up to see the partner of the gentleman who had questioned him so closely, in order to talk a little about the number of people here, and the improvements, etc. The first thing, on meeting the partner, was to pitch into the “Mormon” about how many wives he had, and he replied that “he had just enough to enable him to keep from troubling his neighbors’ wives.” The gentleman that took our Elder to this place had a family, but the gentleman whom they visited had not, and he was considered a great libertine; and the one who had a family was delighted with the answer made by the Elder, and said he to his partner, “I guess you are satisfied now, I wish you could say as much.” This is the way with the world—“How many wives have you got?” and, “Oh, it is so wicked, it is so degrading!”

Well, I need not talk about this; but I will say that the principle of patriarchal marriage is one of the highest and purest ever revealed to the children of men. I do not say that it will not injure a great many. I heard brother Joseph Smith say a number of times, “There is no question but it will be the means of damning many of the Elders of Israel; it is nevertheless true and must be revealed; and the Lord designs that it shall be revealed and go forth, and that this people must receive the oracles of truth, and they must receive this holy ordinance, and that pertains to the celestial world; and they will retrograde if they do not embrace more of the celestial law than they have yet.”

I say, with regard to this principle, if it was good in the days of Abraham and of the Patriarchs and Prophets, or at any other period of the world’s history, and the fact that the Lord commanded His servants anciently to observe it, is conclusive proof that it was so considered by Him, why is it not good now? It certainly does not go as far as some of our lecturers in the East, who advocate the abolition of the marriage ceremony by Government. We do not go quite as far as this; we can’t receive all that they do or would receive. We can’t believe a great many things the so-called Christian world believe, because they are neither Scriptural nor true.

Now, with regard to this moral code, of which I have been speaking, I will leave it to the greatest infidel, or to the smallest infidel on the earth, or to the wickedest and most riotous person that can be found, and I am satisfied that he will say that lives squared according to its precepts, whether of individuals or communities, are the very best that can be led. I say to the world, do not blame us for believing it. Do not blame the Latter-day Saints for believing the Bible. “We will not,” says the Christian world, “if you will not practice it.” Aye, there’s the rub! Now, I ask the question, who manifest true wisdom, they who possess the principles of truth and practice them or they who possess and profess to believe them and yet refuse to practice them? I leave it to the world to say which is the wiser course. I think that if I did not believe in baptism enough to be baptized for the remission of my sins, I would say I do not believe and consequently I will not be baptized. And if I did not believe in the Lord’s Supper, I would say so, and would set that aside in my practice. If I did not believe in the atonement of the Son of God, or in the virtue and efficacy of his blood, I would say I do not believe in them. If I could not believe enough to practice what he has told me, I think I would be honest enough to say so, and I would live as fast and as close as my feeble capacity would permit me to what I did believe in.

When I look at universalism, deism, atheism, and at the various sects of the day, I feel that if we fail they are ready to catch us; but if we are right, they are wrong, and we must officiate for them and bring them up or they are forever lost. Who is right and who is wrong, who are on sure ground and who are not? This is an important question. It brings to mind a little anecdote that I have heard my brother Joseph tell. A certain king came along by a house where there resided a poor family of children, little girls, who were out at play. He stopped his carriage and spoke to them, saying, “Children, I am going a little further; I shall be back presently. I wish you to wash yourselves and get on your best clothing, for I want to take you home with me to a feast.” The children, all but one, kept on playing and paid no attention; this one stepped into the house and washed herself. When asked what she was doing, she said she was washing and was going to put on her best clothing, for the king had promised to take her in his carriage if she would do so. She was laughed at for believing that he would do any such thing, and told to go on with her play. But she washed and dressed and sat until the king’s carriage returned; and she being the only one ready, the king took her up, carried her home, gave her presents and blessed her; but the rest of the children, not having heeded the words of the king, received no blessing at his hands. So it is with the whole world of mankind. They say it is folly in the extreme to believe as we Latter-day Saints believe; it is all nonsense. They say, “Jesus will never call us to judgment; he will never come to receive his own; he will never come to reign on the earth;” but they will find their mistake out when the king comes along; and I am thankful that I am looking at some who, like the little girl, are preparing for his coming.

Let me ask again, who is on safe ground? Is the apostate on safe ground? What has he got? If he has found truth, it is here. We have embraced all truth in the heavens, on the earth, under the earth, on other planets, and in every kingdom there is in all the eternities. Every truth in every kingdom that exists is embraced in our faith, and the Lord reveals a little here and a little there, line upon line, and He will continue to do so until we can reach into eternity and embrace a fullness of His glory, excellency and power. Who are on safe ground, then? These poor despised “Mormons” are the only people who live on the face of the earth that we know anything of who are on safe ground. Whether the Bible is true or not, no matter.

Now then, for a few words on the opposite side. Leaving the difference between the good and the evil, between light and darkness, and between right and wrong, truth and error, as marked out by the dividing line, let us glance at the effects of the two principles. Light, intelligence, good, that which is of God, creates, fashions, forms, builds up, brings into existence, beautifies, makes excellent, glorifies, extends and increases; while on the other hand that which is not of God burns, destroys, cuts down, ruins and produces darkness and unbelief in the minds of the people. Light and intelligence lead people to the fountain of truth; while the opposite principle says, “Don’t believe a word, don’t do a thing; burn up and destroy.” Well now, when you leave the truth you have nothing but unbelief. And this latter is precisely the condition of the ungodly world, and, as fast as the wheels of time can roll they are going downward, downward to confusion, distress, anarchy and ruin. Their much boasted liberal feelings and extended views will not bring peace or truth to them; but they are bringing contention and darkness, hatred and malice. That system that brings present security and peace is the best to live by, and the best to die by; it is the best for doing business; it is the best for making farms, for building cities and temples, and that system is the law of God. But it requires strict obedience. The rule of right and the line which God has drawn for the people to walk by insures peace, comfort, and happiness now and eternal glory and exaltation; but nothing short of strict obedience to God’s law will do this.

Brethren and sisters, I can bear my testimony that the Gospel is true. But what will this do for a person who has no eyes to see it and its beauties, no mind or heart to understand the excellency of this code of laws and ordinances that God has revealed? I say the Gospel is true, but what does this amount to, to such a person? Nothing. What does? Draw the contrast between the rule of heaven and the rule of wickedness that now prevails on the earth, and see which will make the people the most happy and place them in the best circumstances; show which will give them the most peace, the greatest enjoyment, the greatest amount of intelligence, light and happiness. That which leads to the fountain of life and happiness will produce the most. Let the people judge between the two by the contrast. All live so as to produce intelligence, light and happiness, or misery, confusion and destruction. A person before he can understand the law and government of God, must see and understand the propriety of it and see its beauties. So it is with the whole system of salvation. Not that I would say we are machines, for we have our agency; but God has placed us here, and He exacts strict obedience to His laws before we can derive the benefit and blessings their observance will yield. You may take a beautiful machine of any kind you please, and when the machinist has finished his work and set it in perfect order, how could it be expected to operate satisfactorily if a hook here or a journal yonder were to say, I am not going to stay here, or I am going to jump out of this place and am going somewhere else; and then another piece of the machinery would jump out of its place into another part of the machine? What would be the state of such a machine? Confusion and disorganization would soon result and the machinist might very properly say, what a pity that I bestowed so much labor on such unruly members of my machine.

The Priesthood of the Son of God, which we have in our midst, is a perfect order and system of government, and this alone can deliver the human family from all the evils which now afflict its members, and insure them happiness and felicity hereafter. Brethren and sisters, God bless you. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, January 2, 1870.

After contemplating what you have been hearing, I want to say, for the consolation of these my sisters before me, I give you my word for it, if your children were counted and their number compared with that of the children born in the healthy city of Boston, that you do not lose three where they lose five; and I think the ratio would not vary much from three to six. I want to say this for the consolation of those sisters who live in Utah and bear children.

As for what has been said here of our children and their state of health and general appearance, and how they present themselves to strangers and to friends, I am perfectly willing to compare ours with any in the world; and if the result is not favorable to us, I would be willing to part with them; but if the contrary be the case, let us have theirs.

This revelation about our children came through Anna Dickinson. When she came here I was not at home. She stayed here one day and one night; I understood she was riding a good part of the night with a stranger, for the benefit of her health I suppose. These great statements about the children of Utah have come through the great wisdom and experience of Anna Dickinson. How much does she know about family affairs here? She stayed here at the Townsend House, I suppose, nearly twelve hours. Did sister Townsend make the statement which Anna Dickinson gives to the world? Anna may say so, but I do not believe it. I will give you one specimen of her knowledge with regard to the ladies of this city. In one of her statements she says that Brigham Young will look after the young ladies, and on becoming acquainted with them will find some of them are his own daughters. Her researches in this community were immense. But let me tell you she is hired by some lackeys to lecture against “Mormonism” and the “Mormons.” I say go ahead, lecture away until you get into—; and then continue your lectures, and afterwards hire men to lecture. They may hire lecturers to say this, that and the other about this people; I do not know that it makes the least difference to you and me. It matters not to us what the press says, or what that judge or this officer, or what Congress says. We are here in these mountains; the Lord has called and led us here and sustained us and given us strength.

I know more about the rising generation than most of the people who live in this city. I travel a great deal, and as I go into a small town and see the children strung out a quarter of a mile, I often say: “Have you borrowed these children? Where did you borrow them from?” I am answered: “I guess we own them here.” I go to the next settlement and see another group, stretching perhaps half a mile in length, ready to receive us with their banners and flags and their merry greetings. I go to another and see them by hundreds and thousands. Go through this Territory and what do you see? That which you cannot find elsewhere on the face of the earth with regard to children; not only in numbers, but in intelligence, strength, power of mind and general scholastic ability. Suppose someone says it is not so; does that make any difference to us? No; not the least.

I have never feared but one thing in regard to the Latter-day Saints in the persecutions they have received or that are in prospect: and that is, that we shall come short of doing our duty. It is only when we live short of our privileges, when we neglect to serve our God and to do as we should do, and as the Lord our God requires of us, that I have any apprehensions for this people, and I have certainly seen just about as much with regard to persecutions as any other man that lives in this Church. Still, I never had but this one fear: Are the people doing their duty? Are they neglecting their privileges or are they living so as to have the Spirit of the Lord constantly in their hearts? If we are right before the Lord, it is no matter how we appear before the wicked. We are just as obnoxious now as we can be. Why are we so? Is it because we have drunkenness in our midst? No. Is it because we have houses of ill fame? No. Is it because we are a gambling people? No. Do we horserace, bet, drink, quarrel and go to law with one another from Monday morning to Saturday night? No; nothing of this kind is claimed against us. Then what is the matter with the Latter-day Saints? Our enemies cry out, “Polygamy.” It is a false idea. Very many of them believe in polygamy down yonder East; I won’t even except the leaders of our country, only they believe it on the sly, while we have our wives and acknowledge them. Anything that is unlawful is swallowed by them. Anything that is in opposition to the law of God goes down with them. Anything that tramples under foot the ordinances of God is all right with them.

But we love our God, we honor His laws, we obey His precepts, and we honor our father Abraham and perform his works. We should live to the best of our ability in accordance with the revelations God has given to us.

But why need the wisdom of the nation trouble itself about the “Mormons?” The whole cry, according to the newspapers, is about this people. Religious teachers, scribblers, public speakers and everybody join in this murmur against the Latter-day Saints. Let us keep the law of God and the laws of our country and preserve ourselves in these mountains without much quarreling and contention, and where is the great fault that can be found with the Latter-day Saints? We observe the law of God and it makes us one. It is the Priesthood they are opposed to. The wickedness of the whole world is opposed to the Priesthood of the Son of God. It was opposed to Jesus when he was here on the earth in the flesh. It appears that the whole world of mankind was opposed to the Gospel in the days of Noah. Who believed the sayings of Noah? His family. Who else. Nobody. What was the result? Why, Noah kept crying to the people for a hundred years that the Lord certainly would avenge Himself upon the nations unless they repented. Who believed the Gospel in the days of Enoch? A few, who gathered together and built a city to the Lord. Who believes in the Gospel now? Just a few. This Gospel is the Gospel of order and rule; it is the law of God brought forth to the children of men, by which they can save themselves by hearkening to its counsels. Who love it? The righteous. Who hate it? The wicked.

We have been hearing about the Latter-day Saints preaching. I think if our Elders were to go without purse or scrip and had nothing to fall back upon, and could not write here for means, but were obliged to take their valise in their hands and preach the Gospel as we used to do, they would be much more successful than they are and would find many more who would be willing to listen to their testimonies. I used to travel without purse or scrip, and many times I have walked till my feet were sore and the blood would run in my shoes and out of them, and fill my appointments—go into houses, ask for something to eat, sing and talk to them, and when they would commence questioning, answer them. Converse with them until they have given you what you want, bless them, and, if they wish, pray with them, and then leave, unless they wish you to stay longer. If you have an appointment, and are obliged to go here and there on your mission, go like Saints—humble before the Lord, full of faith and the power of God, and you will find the honest in heart, for the Lord is going to save a great many.

It is near twenty-five years since we left the confines of the United States. Go back there and you will find hundreds, and perhaps thousands, who are ready to receive the Gospel. Only carry it to them as they are prepared to receive it. But while we go and ride in our silver carriages, many never inquire into our principles; they are looking for something else. The meek and lowly Jesus sent his disciples without purse or scrip; and when the honest in heart see our Elders go in the same manner that Jesus’ disciples did, with the doctrine that he delivered to his disciples, and preach without purse or scrip, our Elders will find plenty of honest-hearted persons who will receive their testimony. But when the Elders go into the great cities, hire large halls and hire carriages to ride to their pulpit in, the people say it is a speculation, and such Elders do not have much of the Spirit of the Lord to preach to the people.

Our Elders who are in the States will do us good; there is no question about it. But they will do themselves and the people good if they will go without purse or scrip. If they travel without purse or scrip, when they land in the midst of a community, or wherever they want to preach, and go into the peoples’ houses and talk with them, pray with them and sing with them, teaching them the way of life and salvation, they will find there are plenty who are willing to receive them. Many of the Latter-day Saints go and say, “I am a ‘Mormon’ Elder, will you take me in and give me shelter and feed me?” “No,” says the owner of the house, “get out of my house, I do not want any ‘Mormons’ here.” If you go and say, “I am a servant of God and want to tarry over night,” and sing and pray, you will find many honest in heart ready and willing to receive you.

But here is the place to sanctify the people. They come here as ig– norant as babes; they do not know their first lesson. They believed the sound of the Gospel. They have been baptized for the remission of sins and have had hands laid upon them for the gift of the Holy Ghost. But what do they know about the kingdom of God? They are mere babes; they know nothing, and they come up here to be instructed and to be taught how to live and walk before the Lord and each other. When they come here they need this teaching, and we are here to teach them; and the people are improving.

Let any of you sisters get out into the world, where you used to live, and what you used to see there will have quite another aspect to you. It will appear quite different to your minds and feelings. Learn how they feel towards His people; learn what is the state of the world; and then look back upon the people of God in these mountains, and you will see them lifted up and perceive that they are pure in heart in comparison with the world, and are striving with all their might and main to build up the kingdom of God on the earth. You who are here do not understand it and cannot see it, because all things are proved by their opposites. Were it not for darkness, could you give any description of light? Ask the individual who never saw light, and see if he can give you any description of it. He cannot do so from actual knowledge.

Those who come here find a pretty good people, but in their estimation we should be just as holy as angels. We are pretty good, and we are trying to be better; trying to devote ourselves more and more to the building up of the kingdom of God; trying to overcome our passions, subdue our tempers within us; trying to sanctify ourselves, our children, our friends and families, and seeking to become Saints in deed. The people are pretty good, and if they were gathered together so that we could see the difference between those who have been here for years and those who have just come, you would understand the comparison brother Kimball used to make of the clay that is thrown into the mill and has been grinding for years and prepared to make vessels of honor of; but in comes a batch of new clay, and you must grind again; and when it is taken out of the mill it is cut to pieces to see if there is anything in it that should not be. The impurities that are in the clay may destroy the vessel. You will therefore gather all out that should not be in it and throw it away. So it is with the Saints. Some keep leaving and this renders the clay purer and purer.

We talk a good deal about building up the kingdom of God upon the earth, according to the knowledge and understanding we have in regard to the kingdom of God; it requires several things to constitute a kingdom. If there is a kingdom, there needs a king, ruler or dictator; someone to govern and control the kingdom. What else does it signify? It says, in language that cannot be misunderstood, you must have subjects; if there is a kingdom there must be a king and subjects; and there must be territory for the subjects to live upon. Well, now, if we are in a kingdom, do you think we are in a kingdom without law? No; the strictest law ever given to mankind is the law of God. If we transgress the law of God, we cannot be sent to the penitentiary, to stay a few years in there; it is before the Lord, and He will judge according to our works, and judge righteous judgment. We cannot pay a fine of one dollar, five or five hundred and then be forgiven; if persons neglect to obey the law of God and to walk humbly before Him, darkness will come into their minds and they will be left to believe that which is false and erroneous; their minds will become dim, their eyes will be beclouded and they will be unable to see things as they are. Why? Because they know not the laws of God. There are a thousand ways by which persons can lose the Spirit of God. They neglect their duties, fall away into temptation and are overcome by Satan, the wicked one.

Among the sayings of Jesus there is a parable about a man who went out to sow. He had good seed to sow in the field. Some of it, however, fell upon stony ground and some among thorns. That which was sown on stony ground came up very quickly, but it was so tender that the rays of the sun were too powerful for it and it dwindled away and died. It was so with this people; they are not prepared for all that comes to them. In some instances the word of God seems to be like seed cast upon stony ground. Some of the seed was sown among thorns; but the cares of the world choked it; and same was sown upon good ground where it took root firmly and brought forth fruit, yielding “some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred fold.” These are the ideas which Jesus brought forth to show the people wherein they might fail, and the danger of receiving the word unless they did so into good and honest hearts. Look upon the inhabitants of the earth. Whenever any of you go and preach the Gospel to them, they must acknowledge that every iota of it is true. Truth, reason, judgment, teach them so. The revelations the Lord has given teach it. Do they believe it? Some will say they believe it. They receive the truth, but do they receive the love of the truth? If persons receive the love of the truth and are faithful to the laws God gives to them, they will make themselves the elect through their faithfulness; and they will be the elect of God.

It was observed here this morning, in relation to the building up of the kingdom of God, that many think they have the privilege of doing just as they please. We have only the privilege to do right. There is not an iota in the revelations, from Adam down to the present day, but what requires strict obedience. They who cannot abide a celestial law—the law that God has revealed for the sanctification of His people to prepare them to enter into the presence of the Father and the Son, should try and abide a lesser law, but they must expect a lower glory, a secondary glory. If they cannot abide the celestial law, and can abide a lesser law, then they will receive the blessings of that law, and whatever law they abide they will receive the blessings thereof. The Lord has been pleased to reveal unto the people His law by which they can be sanctified and return into His presence. Latter-day Saints observe this law. What shall we say to them? Teach them the law of God. How easy it is? Is it easy to be understood! Yes, very easy; it can be summed up in these words: Do right, love God and keep His commandments. Take the moral code that the Lord has revealed and let it be strictly followed out; and what man or woman would ever infringe upon the rights of his or her neighbor? They would never do it; they would do good to their neighbor all the day long. If we would observe the moral law which God has given us, we would be honest with our neighbors and ourselves; and every man and woman belonging to the kingdom of God would speak truly and honestly. Would they be honest with regard to their dealings? Yes. If we give our word, it should be just as good as a bond that can be ensured and be made strong and powerful by securities. Our word should be just as good as all the words that can be spoken, or all the names that can be written. If we write what we say, we will keep that word. Will we oppress the widow and the fatherless? No. The hireling in his wages? No; we will give them all that they can do or earn and then a little more; and if anyone comes to us that is poor, in distress and in want, turn him not away empty handed. “Give to him that asketh, and from him that would borrow turn thou not away.”

This people do this pretty well. There is not much complaint on this score. I do not think there is a house in these mountains where a Latter-day Saint lives, that a person can go to and ask for a meal of victuals, where he would not get it if the people living in the house had it in their possession. I do not think he or she could ask to stay overnight and be refused the privilege. That is saying a good deal for a community. Would we be honest in returning that which we have found to the owner? We would. Would we ever take that which is not our own? We would not. Would we be honest in our labor? We would. Would we be honest in our merchandising? We would. Would we be honest in every respect? We would. Would we take usury? I hope to see the day when there will be no such thing as one man taking usury from another. But it is not so now; people do not come to this; we do not expect them to do so while they follow the spirit of the world. But these are things they have to learn when they gather together. Will there be any extortion, any selling our goods for a hundred to five hundred percent in advance of cost? No. The time will come when this cooperative system which we have now partially adopted in merchandising will be carried out by the whole people, and it will be said, “Here are the Saints.” The time will come when we can give all into the storehouse of the Lord and have our inheritances given out by those who will be appointed; and when we have had sufficient for the support of our families, the surplus will be given into the storehouse of the Lord. Will there be any rich or poor then? No. How was it in the time of Enoch? Had they some rich and some poor? Did some ride in their silver carriages, as I do? No. If I had my way, we would foot or ride together, and we shall see the day when we shall do it. Do you think we will relinquish our claims pertaining to oneness in action? No. I do not calculate, as far as I am concerned, to yield one particle. I have asked the Latter-day Saints to go to and become one in all things; the Lord requires this, but until they do, I do not expect to yield, not the least. Let us hold on to all that we can. The enemy of all righteousness is determined to own and possess this world and govern and control it as far as he possibly can; and he will do it until Jesus and his Saints drive him out.

Whatever the Latter-day Saints have gained has been obtained by sheer wrestling and unconquerable resolution. We would never have been permitted to own a foot of land on this earth if the devil had had his own way. But we have the land and can build our temples and endowment houses and then sanctify our inheritances, sanctify ourselves, our families, and sanctify the Lord our God in our hearts, that we may be prepared to build up His kingdom.

I wonder what the Latter-day Saints would say, today, in this matter. Do you think we had better hold on to the ground we have already gained from the enemy? We have gained a little in this cooperative system. We feel for each other and try to assist each other. But let me tell you what I am going to do. I do not expect to merchandise with our enemies to any great extent, but to cut it off just as fast as we can. I expect us to raise our own silk here. I would have had plenty for hundreds of silk dresses this year if I could have been blessed with some person who would have taken care of my silkworms and done justly by me. Raise your own silk, I will raise mine. Raise your own wool, work it and then wear it, and stop going anywhere to purchase goods. Let us sustain ourselves, for by and by Babylon will fall. What will be the result? The merchants will stand and look at one another worse than they do in this city. No man will buy their merchandise; and they will look here and there for a customer; but there will be no one to buy their merchandise, and the cry will be, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen!” Is this day coming? Yes; just as sure as we are now living. We are hastening it with all possible speed, as fast as time and circumstances will admit, when it will be said, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen!”

Are you going to prepare for it? We say we are the people of God and are building up the kingdom of God. We say we are gathered out of the nations to establish Zion. Let us prove it by our works, and we will then manufacture that which we wear. Do we make clothing enough for me and you to wear? Yes; plenty.

Let us live so that we can say we are the Saints of God; and when the finger of scorn is pointed at us and we are held in derision and the nations talk about us, let us show an example before them that is worthy of imitation, that they cannot but blush before all sensible and intelligent persons when they say, “There is a people that sin; there is a people that are corrupt;” and with shamefacedness they will look upon each other and condemn themselves. Let them howl and bark against us as much as they please, but let us live so that they will have no reason to say a word. Some people say, “Why don’t you contradict this and that? I have been proclaiming the Gospel almost forty years, and a few have come forth and received and obeyed it. What do you think the leading men among our Christian neighbors said about us? They lied about us until we thought they ought to be satisfied and we were tired of hearing them and we found it was no use contradicting them. Yet these professed to be good, pious Methodists and Baptists. There is a world of liars. It is said that a lie will pass out of the key-hole and travel a thousand miles before truth can get out of doors. The whole tribe of scribblers and everybody else, almost, are ready to contradict every truth and make a lie of it; ready to ridicule every just and holy truth; and the individuals that say children born in polygamy are feeble, have no knowledge of the human race or else they belie themselves. Let them study physiology and human nature. Let them study their own bodies. What do you see among them? You see children that are born into the world sickly, weak and unable to walk for years; they are poor, emaciated little things, almost without flesh on their bones. It is from such that the cry comes about the “Mormon” children. Why, one of our children at three months old has much more flesh on its bones than theirs have at ten; and, on an average, they have more marrow in their bones and energy in them than theirs do. They do not know anything about human nature or the organization of human beings, nor of the beasts. To make any such declarations proves they are ignorant, or they belie themselves. These are harsh expressions; I need not have used such harsh words; I might have said they tell that which is not true, they slightly diverge from the truth. How soft it would be! But I say they will be destroyed; and all the nations that follow their corrupt practices will go down to hell; and we will go onward and upward. All we have to do is to perform our duty and keep the law of God, and our course is onward and upward. God overrules the acts of the wicked and the righteous.

I recollect when the army of ’57 was coming here, a young man named Thomas Williams wrote to his father, saying, “God favors great guns and great armies!” What did those great guns and great armies do? They took two “Mormon” elders into their camp—brother McDonald, at Provo, and brother Kearns, who now lives at Gunnison. What a howl they raised! The whole camp howled to think they had two “Mormon” elders. But there was too much faith; the Saints were praying for those elders and they came out unscathed, unhurt and all right. What power there was! What a magnanimous camp it was! “The flower of the army,” sent to destroy the “Mormons!” When they blow out the sun and stop the moon from shining and the earth from revolving on its axis, they may talk about “wiping out” the “Mormons” or the Gospel, but not until then. This is the way I feel. I am as unconcerned and just as happy as a man can be. It is no matter if the whole world is against us, God is for us. Could not they kill you? Yes, if it be the Lord’s will. If it be the will of the Lord for the people to live, they will live. If it had been the will of the Lord that Joseph and Hyrum should have lived, they would have lived. It was necessary for Joseph to seal his testimony with his blood. Had he been destined to live he would have lived. The Lord suffered his death to bring justice on the nation. The debt is contracted and they have it to pay. The nations of the earth are in the Lord’s hands; and if we serve Him we shall reap the reward of so doing. If we neglect to obey His laws and ordinances, we shall have to suffer the consequences.

Well, brethren and sisters, try and be Saints. I will try; I have tried many years to live according to the law which the Lord reveals unto me. I know just as well what to teach this people and just what to say to them and what to do in order to bring them into the celestial kingdom, as I know the road to my office. It is just as plain and easy. The Lord is in our midst. He teaches the people continually. I have never yet preached a sermon and sent it out to the children of men, that they may not call Scripture. Let me have the privilege of correcting a sermon, and it is as good Scripture as they deserve. The people have the oracles of God continually. In the days of Joseph, revelation was given and written, and the people were driven from city to city and place to place, until we were led into these mountains. Let this go to the people with “Thus saith the Lord,” and if they do not obey it, you will see the chastening hand of the Lord upon them. But if they are plead with, and led along like children, we may come to understand the will of the Lord and He may preserve us as we desire.

Let us, then, you and me and all who profess to be Latter-day Saints, try to be Saints indeed. God bless you, Amen.

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, November 14, 1869.

If the brethren and sisters will give their attention, I will try to talk a few minutes. I preach a great deal to the people; but the exertion of addressing such large congregations as assemble here in the city bears a little too much on my stomach and lungs, especially when laboring under a severe cold as I am at present.

A few of us have recently been on a visit South. We visited twenty settlements, and, in eleven days, held twenty-seven meetings; and universally there was a good turnout, the largest meetinghouses being always filled to overflowing. It is a tolerably easy matter to speak to the people in a small house, much more so than to address a congregation like this.

We found the people very much engaged in their religion, and striving, apparently, to put in practice the faith that they profess. Still, it is a difficult matter to establish the principles of the kingdom of God in the hearts of the people. This is for the want of understanding. Our traditions are strong upon us. We have been taught that, if we will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, repent of our sins and exercise faith in his name, all will be well with us and we shall be brought into the presence of our Father and God. This was our former tradition. But there are Latter-day Saints who have almost come to the conclusion that if they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, repent of their sins, and are baptized for the remission of them and have hands laid upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and partake of the Sacrament or Lord’s Supper, they have accomplished just about all that is required of them in order to establish the kingdom of God on the earth. Herein lies the difficulty which the servants of God have to encounter. The people come short of understanding precisely the order of the establishment of the kingdom of heaven; consequently it is a labor that needs a great deal of attention, and one that requires the influence of the Priesthood over the minds of the people to get them to draw nigh unto God and His cause.

As we have just heard remarked, in relation to the love of the world, a great many Latter-day Saints, after receiving the Gospel, seem to run well for a time and then turn again to the love of the world in its awful, fallen state, lusting after the things that are perishable. Still, if they could but understand true doctrine and correct principles, they would find that there is nothing pertaining to the elements of this earth, but what, in and of itself, is good and of God. Some may exclaim, “Sin excepted.” To this I would say that God permits sin, or it could not be here. All the creations are His work and they are for His glory and for the benefit of the children of men; and all things are put into the possession of man for his comfort, im– provement and consolation, and for his health, wealth, beauty and excellency.

We should also understand what to do with the things which God has placed in our possession. We should also desire to understand and should seek to know the object for which the earth was framed; and then we wish to comprehend His object and design in placing His children on it. We should also desire to understand how our Heavenly Father wishes us to act now we are here; how we should devote our time and talents, our daily labor and whatever means He puts into our hands, for the building up of His kingdom on the earth. We want to get the Saints to think of these things. If we could only get to the affections of the people and could plant within them the principles of the kingdom of heaven, it would be an easy matter to bring their hands to join in the establishment of the Zion of God upon the earth. But, herein lies our labor. The weakness and shortsightedness of man are such, and he is so prone to wander and give himself up to the groveling things of the world, having had so little knowledge with regard to God and godliness for hundreds of years, that it is literally a breaking up of the fallow ground of his heart to prepare him to see the holy city that the Lord will establish.

The Latter-day Saints gather together for the express purpose, they say, to establish Zion. Where is Zion? On the American continent. Where is the gathering place? For the present, in the mountains. What are you going there for? To help to build up Zion.

We find a great many trying to be Saints and endeavoring to understand how they may be of the most benefit in building up the kingdom of God on the earth. My brother Joseph says it is an easy matter to be a Saint. So I say. And taking another view of it, again, it is a hard matter. This is true. It is not an easy thing to serve God and mammon. If the Saints comprehend what they have to do in order to establish Zion, and go to work with ready hands and willing hearts to accomplish the labor, they will find it a comparatively easy matter; but unless there is a unity of action on the part of those who are engaged in the work it is not very easily performed. When there is a great work to be accomplished, and there are but few hands to perform it, the burden weighs very heavily on those who are engaged in it. If we have a farm of six hundred acres to fence, and there is only one man engaged in getting the poles and lumber from the canyon, we find it a slow and tardy work; but if we have a hundred men engaged it is much easier and pleasanter; if a thousand, still more so. So it is in regard to establishing the kingdom of God in the hearts of the children of men. It is not a very hard matter to prevail on a person to put his treasure where his heart is. Our difficulty is in not understanding the principles of the kingdom of heaven sufficiently to enter into it with our whole hearts.

Many of our brethren who have come here when in their own land worked underground, and probably seldom saw the light of day, but spent year after year of their lives digging out coal. If you chanced to ask them, “Are you ever going to America?” the answer would invariably be, “Yes, I am going to Zion.” If you asked the wife and children would they like to go to Zion, the reply would be, “Yes, with all our hearts. We would do anything to get there; if necessary we would be the slaves of those of our brethren who have gone there if we could only go.” Yet these same persons when they reach here are not satisfied. If you ask them if this is Zion, they will say, “I do not see much that looks like Zion.” When they received the work perhaps their minds were open to see Zion in its beauty and glory; but when they come here and call this Zion they feel disappointed. They have not the least idea in relation to establishing this kingdom. They thought they were going to a Zion whose towers would reach the clouds, with streets paved with gold and the Tree of Life growing on every block. They say, “I do not like this place; I am not exactly suited with it.” What do you want? “I do not know exactly what I want; I want something else; I do not like this place.” The disposition of some of these murmurers reminds me of the children of some families I have seen while traveling in the world. It is something like this: “Darling, will you have a piece of bread and butter?” “No, ma’am, I don’t want it.” “But, my dear, shall I put some honey upon it?” “No, I don’t like it.” “Well, then, will you have a little mince pie, love?” “No, I can’t eat it.” This is about how the matter stands.

The Saints are full to overflowing with the words of eternal life, yet they do not know what to do with them; and when we come to preach, it seems as though the people were surfeited with much doctrine, persuasion and counsel, and they do not like it very well. This was evident by the many vacant seats this morning. There ought to be ten thousand persons at these meetings, both in the morning and afternoon. But how many do you see? The tabernacle not half filled. Why not come to meeting and fill all the seats. I do not like to see this lack of interest in attending meetings. Those professing to be Latter-day Saints have the words of life and do not know it; the brethren read from the Book of Life and they do not know it, and the words of God are given them in great abundance and they trifle with them. Is this the fact? It is. If the people would live their religion, there would be no apostasy and we would hear no complaining or faultfinding. If the people were hungry for the words of eternal life, and their whole souls even centered on the building up of the kingdom of God, every heart and hand would be ready and willing and the work would move forward mightily and we would advance as we should do.

It is frequently remarked that there is too much of a sameness in this community. True, we do not have the variety they do in the world, drinking, carousing, quarreling, litigation, etc. But if you want a change of this kind, you can get up a dog fight. I think that would be about the extent of the quarreling you want to see. It would be as much as I would desire to witness. I have seen enough of the world, without even desiring to behold another drunken man. I never wish to see another lawsuit. I feel perfectly satisfied without it.

If the people would like something by way of a change, I will propose something to them, as I did to sister Horne, the President of the Female Relief Society in the 14th Ward, who was at Gunnison, about one hundred and thirty miles south of this place, when we were there. I invited her, when she returned, to call the sisters of the Relief Society together, and ask them to begin a reform in eating and housekeeping. I told her I wished to get up a society whose members would agree to have a light, nice breakfast in the morning, for themselves and children, without cooking something less than forty different kinds of food, making slaves of themselves and requiring three or four hired girls to wash dishes. Prepare your breakfast something like they do in England, bread and butter, a little cheese, a few eggs, food that is light and nutritious, and which does not require so much labor in cooking; and instead of tea, if you cannot drink cold water, make a bowl of water gruel or meal porridge and you will save dirtying three or four dishes, knives and forks, or spoons, to each individual that sits at the table.

This would be something to change your feelings and the fashions of society. Will you do it? If you want something new, try this; and when dinner time comes, don’t pile the table full of roast meat, boiled meat and baked meat, fat mutton, beef and pork; and in addition to this two or three kinds of pies and cakes; neither urge the children, the father and everyone at the table to eat and gorge themselves till they are so full that when night comes they will want a doctor. This will do for a change.

When we go on a trip to the settlements and stop at the brethren’s houses, it is, “Brother Brigham, let us manifest our feelings towards you and your company. I tell them to do so, but give me a piece of johnnycake; I would rather have it than their pies and tarts and sweetmeats. Let me have something that will sustain nature and leave my stomach and whole system clear to receive the Spirit of the Lord and be free from headache and pains of every kind. If I can experience this, it will suit me. What do you say to it, sisters? Do you want a revolution? They want one in France; but you need not go to France to have a revolution of this kind. Yet in that country there are about twenty-four millions who never eat any flesh meat at all.

The Americans, as a nation, are killing themselves with their vices and high living. As much as a man ought to eat in half an hour they swallow in three minutes, gulping down their food like the canine quadruped under the table, which, when a chunk of meat is thrown down to it, swallows it before you can say “twice.” If you want a reform, carry out the advice I have just given you. Dispense with your multitudinous dishes, and, depend upon it, you will do much towards preserving your families from sickness, disease and death.

If this method were adopted in this community, I will venture to say that it would add ten years to the lives of our children. That is worth a great deal.

If you want a little of something more—if you want another revolution, let us go to and say we will wear nothing but what we make; and that which we do not make we will not have.

If the people are inclined to complain about cooperation, let them do so. I have a constitutional right to eat sweetmeats if I choose, so long as I raise them and they belong to no one else; or a piece of johnnycake or wheat bread. This is my legal right and yours also. I have a right to wear a hat that my wife or daughters or my sister has made, and I need not be called in question for doing so. I have a legal and constitutional right, and so have my sisters, to set their table out in a morning with a little plain food on it if they choose so to do. Let the people eat as I used to eat when I was a child. If meat were cooked at all, it was on one plate; and if I had any it was off that plate. I can go to thousands of houses that are making the knives and forks and clothing for you and me that will not have a knife on their table at meal time. Have you ever seen any such thing? Yes, plenty of you have!

I have frequently related a circumstance that transpired while I was in England. After I recovered from the sickness which distressed me during the voyage across the ocean, my appetite became unusually good. I was invited to what is known in that country as a tea party. Fourteen of us sat down at the table, which was about two and a half feet across; but not a knife, fork, plate or spoon could be seen, with the exception of the plate in the middle of the table, with some beautiful ham upon it, swimming in the gravy. I said to myself, “I would like a piece of that ham if I had any way to eat it; but I have no plate nor knife and fork.” By and by a native elder set down his cup on one knee, his bread and butter on the other; and putting his hand in his pocket, pulled out his knife, opened it, and reaching over his bread and butter, took a piece of ham and slipped it onto his bread. I said to myself, “I can do that as well as you;” but I took out my knife before I put down my cup, reached over to the plate and took a fine piece of ham; although I was afraid I would get a little gravy on my clothes in doing so. If I had had a plate it would certainly have been much better; but I got along very well without even greasing my clothes. “Now,” said I, “that is worth money to me; I have learned something.” In about five minutes after the tea table was deserted by the guests, everything was cleared away and the sister was ready to visit with us. It did not take her two hours to fuss around to wash plates and see that the servants did not break them, fixing furniture and so forth as we do here.

If you want a revolution go to work to improve yourselves and give your minds something to act upon instead of looking at the faults of others. We are a poor, feeble set and have hardly eyes to see; and many of those who have eyes see not, but are constantly watching the weaknesses and follies of each other. Endeavor with all your mind and strength to improve yourselves and ask your sisters and brethren to improve their lives. I am preaching to you practical religion. Learn to take proper care of your children. If any of them are sick, the cry now, instead of “Go and fetch the Elders to lay hands on my child!” is, “Run for a doctor.” Why do you not live so as to rebuke disease? It is your privilege to do so without sending for the Elders. You should go to work to study and see what you can do for the recovery of your children. If a child is taken sick with fever give it something to stay that fever or relieve the stomach and bowels, so that mortification may not set in. Treat the child with prudence and care, with faith and patience, and be careful in not overcharging it with medicine. If you take too much medicine into the system, it is worse than too much food. But you will always find that an ounce of preventive is worth a pound of cure. Study and learn something for yourselves. It is the privilege of a mother to have faith and to administer to her child; this she can do herself, as well as sending for the Elders to have the benefit of their faith.

We have come here to build up Zion. How shall we do it? I could tell you how if I had time. I have told you a great many times. There is one thing I will say in regard to it. We have got to be united in our efforts. We should go to work with a united faith like the heart of one man; and whatever we do should be performed in the name of the Lord, and we will then be blessed and prospered in all we do. We have a work on hand whose magnitude can hardly be told. We have now to go to and save ourselves according to the plan provided for our salvation, the Savior having done for us all that he can, except to impart unto us grace to aid us in our lives, and to save our families, friends, ancestors, and the nations that have lived before us and those that may come after us, that all may be brought unto God and be saved, except the sons of perdition. This is the labor we have before us.

Brother Joseph was speaking about prayer. I will say a word with regard to prayer. It matters not whether you or I feel like praying, when the time comes to pray, pray. If we do not feel like it, we should pray till we do. And if there is a heavy storm coming on and our hay is likely to be wet, let it come. You will find that those who wait till the Spirit bids them pray will never pray much on this earth; for they always find a little something else to do, and become like some who wait for the Spirit to bid them pray, consequently they never pray. Such people would come to meeting and look at each other and then, when they had stayed as long as they felt inclined, address their brethren with—“Good bye, I am going home,” and then leave. But when the time comes to have prayers, let them be made, and there will be no danger.

Let us be humble, fervent, submissive, yielding ourselves to the will of the Lord, and there is no danger but that we shall have His Spirit to guide us. If we will open our lips and call upon our Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, we will have the spirit of prayer. I have proved this to be the best way. If we do everything in the season thereof, attending to our prayers and daily labors in their proper order and all at the right time, all will go well.

In regard to the things of this world, we should learn what they are for, and then use them wisely. To be proud and lifted up is the height of folly. It is beneath the intelligence and understanding of the man of God ever to be filled with foolish and vain desires. If we wish to exult, let us exult in our God; if we desire to be proud, let our pride be in our Heavenly Father; if we desire happiness, let us be humble and faithful in obeying the commandments of the Almighty and He will dispense every blessing to us. This is my constant prayer. I desire to live so that His Spirit may be with me continually; and I ask you to do so in the name of Jesus, and he will bless you. Amen.

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, August 8, 1869.

This is a very singular world that we live in; yet were it not for the spirit of error and confusion that everywhere prevails I think we should call it a very fine, excellent world. The annoyances, difficulties, errors, perplexities, sorrows, and troubles of this life, from first to last, are in consequence of sin being in the world. For me to say it is not right for sin to be in the world, or if we, as intelligent beings, come to the conclusion that sin entered the world by chance, through some mistake, and it was contrary to the design of him who created us, we should err.

This people called Latter-day Saints are looked upon as a very singular people; in fact, we are regarded as an anomaly in the world. Why is this so? Are we different to others who are born into the world? Are we not of the same blood as the people of the other nations and tongues of the earth? We certainly are, for we are gathered from among them. Like them, we have eyes to see with, ears to hear with; we have lips and organs of speech, and we use them as others do; we eat, drink, sleep, plant, sow, reap, mow, build houses and inhabit them, just as they do. Then what is the difference between us and them, and why are we looked upon by the world as though we are entirely different from them, and why have we from the beginning met with vituperation and abuse from the hands of many, and, been deprived of our civil and religious rights and treated as outlaws? If we search the Old and New Testaments, and then the corroborative evidence contained in the Book of Mormon, and find therein how the kingdom of God was organized, and compare our present organization with it, we shall find that one is a perfect facsimile of the other. This constitutes the difference between us and the world, and this is why we have been treated as we have been, and why we are looked upon as we are. We believe the Bible and practice it, as far as our weaknesses will permit. Not that we do it perfectly; as it has been stated this morning, we have darkness, unbelief, ignorance, superstition, and our traditions to contend with and overcome; and they cling to us to that degree that we can hardly overcome them.

The traditions that we have imbibed in the several countries in which we have been born, and under the various circumstances under which we have been raised, offer a wide field for reflection, and in passing judgment upon each other’s acts a great deal of charity is necessary. The people of one nation will do a thousand things, and, according to their traditions, feel themselves perfectly justified, which those of another nation, with their traditions, would not consider it right to do. How would it look here in the United States of America to enter a large meetinghouse like this, move out the benches, and then for a congregation to enter the house, kneel down and say a few words of prayer, get up and begin to waltz around to the music of the organ? This would be considered a very strange proceeding among the people of America; yet in other countries it is done and is considered most sacred; and it is in accordance with their traditions. People’s notions of honesty as well as of worship differ very widely, and this difference of opinion is the result of the traditions they have imbibed; and for any persons to say we will bring a motley mass together from various countries, and we will judge all of them by our standard, would be diverging somewhat from the path of truth and justice. Still, notwithstanding the various traditions we have severally imbibed, we are all capable of coming to a perfect understanding of truth and justice, and of what we should do to be perfectly right before God. This is a subject I have reflected upon a great deal, and I have come to the conclusion that we shall be judged according to the deeds done in the body and according to the thoughts and intents of the heart.

In viewing the traditions of the Christian world, so far as I have been acquainted with them, before I knew anything of the Gospel, and before it was revealed from heaven, I have seen men who thought they were as full of grace, faith, and sanctity as possible, in fact, full of self-righteousness, which they considered the righteousness of God; and yet what would they do? I have known such men, in time of harvest, or when they had a press of work, say to the poor man who was hardly able to procure the bread necessary for his wife and children, “I will give you fifty cents a day if you will come and help me harvest, and pay you in Indian meal.” Such men feel justified, for to oppress the poor is in accordance with their traditions.

A similar course is pursued with the female sex. A young woman, compelled to labor for her daily bread, applies for work to some lady in comfortable circumstances. The lady perhaps says, “What wages do you want?” “I do not know. What will you give me?” The reply is, probably, “Well, I will give you fifty cents a week and your board, but I shall want you to do my washing, ironing, milking, scrubbing, and cooking,” the whole of it, most likely, keeping the poor girl at work from five o’clock in the morning until ten at night. Yet her poverty leaves her no choice, and she is compelled to become a slave in order to procure, day by day, her breakfast, dinner, and supper. It is probable that if her father be alive he is too poor to help her; and if she has a mother she may be a widow and unable to rescue her from a life of toil and slavery. A lady, whom I knew in my youth, the wife of a minister, where I used to attend meeting, said once to some of her sisters in the church, “Do you suppose that we shall be under the necessity of eating with our hired help when we get into heaven? We do not do it here, and I have an idea that there will be two tables in heaven.” Yet she was a lady of refinement and education, still the traditions that had been woven into her very being proved the folly she possessed to ask such a question.

Do these and similar traditions exist in the world? Yes; I know of countries in which if a poor person—or perhaps I should say any person, and not confine it to the poor—where if any person, man or woman, were passing along the street, and were to pick up a pocket book containing one, ten, a hundred, or a thousand pounds, he or she would feel to thank God for the blessing, and would never think of trying to find the owners of this property, or of letting them know anything about it, even if they were known. Such parties would feel justified in the act, and would rejoice because they were able to make themselves comfortable. Are any of you acquainted with such traditions? Yes, many of you have been brought up in the midst of them.

What would you do, who have lived in England, if you had rented a place, and in that place you had found some old secret cupboard or hole in the wall containing a fortune in treasure which had belonged to some one who had formerly resided in those premises, and whose children or relatives might be living in the neighborhood even then? Would you divulge such a circumstance, and do your best to discover those to whom it rightfully belonged, in order to restore it to them? No; you would put it in your pocket, considering it a god– send, and never say a word about it.

I see these and numberless other traits of character among, the people here, all of which are the results of their traditions. Now, what can we expect of them? We expect to treat them as children until we can teach them to become men and women. Seeing, then, that these differences in sentiment exist among the people, and knowing that they are the natural result of the traditions and circumstances by which they have been surrounded, it will not do to judge according to the outward appearance, but according to the sincerity and honesty of the heart.

I look at the Latter-day Saints, and I sometimes take the liberty to preach to them; and this principle, of being judged according to our works, is as applicable to communities as individuals. I, therefore, wish to apply it to those amongst us who are not as diligent as they might be in the duties of every day life, as they present themselves before them, whether they be of a spiritual or temporal nature. Whatever you do, you have been taught sufficient to know that all our duties are in the Lord and are circumscribed in the faith and practice of the kingdom of God. “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.” The gold and the silver the earth contains are his; the wheat and fine flour, the wine and the oil are his; the cattle that roam over the plains and mountains belong to him we serve, and whom we acknowledge as the God of the universe. And whether we are raising cattle, planting, gathering, building or inhabiting, we are in the Lord, and all we do is within the pale of his kingdom upon the earth, consequently it is all spiritual and all temporal, no matter what we are laboring to accomplish.

We frequently call the brethren to go on missions to preach the Gospel, and they will go and labor as faithfully as men can do, fervent in spirit, in prayer, in laying on hands, in preaching to and teaching the people how to be saved. In a few years they come home, and throwing off their coats and hats, they will say, “Religion, stand aside, I am going to work now to get something for myself and my family.” This is folly in the extreme! When a man returns from a mission where he has been preaching the Gospel he ought to be just as ready to come to this pulpit to preach as if he were in England, France, Germany, or on the islands of the sea. And when he has been at home a week, a month, a year, or ten years, the spirit of preaching and the spirit of the Gospel ought to be within him like a river flowing forth to the people in good words, teachings, precepts, and examples. If this is not the case he does not fill his mission.

Men may think, and some of them do, that we have a right to work for ourselves; but I say we have no time to do that in the narrow, selfish sense generally entertained when speaking about working for self. We have no time allotted to us here on the earth to work for ourselves in that sense; and yet when laboring in the most disinterested and fervent manner for the cause and kingdom of God, it is all for ourselves. When I say we do not labor for ourselves, I reflect in a moment that I do nothing but what is for myself and then for my friends. It is equally true with all of us; and though our time be entirely occupied in laboring for the advancement of the kingdom of God on the earth we are in reality laboring most effectually for self, for all our interest and welfare both in time and eternity are circumscribed and bound up in that kingdom.

How often, when I was engaged in traveling and preaching the Gospel, have the people said to me, “O, this must be all a speculation! You differ so much from other people that we cannot believe all you teach.” “We have heard a great deal about Mr. Smith, or ‘Joe Smith,’ they would often say, and he must be a speculator, and these doctrines you preach were gotten up by him expressly for a speculation.” I have acknowledged a great many times, and I am as free to acknowledge it today, that it is the greatest speculation ever entered into by God, men, or angels, for it is a speculation involving eternal lives in the celestial kingdom of God. It is the grandest investment on the face of the earth, and one in which you may invest all and everything you possess for the present and eternal benefit of yourself, your wives, your children, parents, relatives and friends; and all who are wise will enter into it, for they can make more by it, and be exalted higher by its means than by any other speculation ever introduced among the children of men. When I labor in the kingdom of God, I labor for my own dear self, I have self continually before me; the object of my pursuit is to benefit my individual person; and this is the case with every person who ever was or ever will be exalted. Happiness and glory are the pursuit of every person that lives on the face of the earth, who is thoroughly endowed with wisdom and the spirit of enterprise, whether immorality is brought in or not. Such are after honor, ease, comfort; such want to wield power, and would like to have influence and dominion. Now, if they will enter this great speculation—the kingdom of God on the earth, the plan of redemption and exaltation devised before the foundation of the world was laid, it will lead to greater happiness, power, influence, and dominion than ever man possessed or thought of.

I believe it is generally allowed that “self-preservation is the first law of nature.” If it is, let us save ourselves and enter into covenant with God, who holds the issues of life and death, and who can give and no one can dispute his right; who can withhold and no one can hinder it. Let us enter into covenant with him by enlisting in this great, good cause, and thus take ourselves back into his presence. We can do this through his grace and Gospel, through the atonement of his Son, by faith in the Father and the Son and by our obedience to their requirements.

Now, if we are to be judged according to our works I want to proceed a little further. You will permit me to be plain in making my remarks; in so doing, however, I may interfere with individual ears and feelings. I have a word to say to my sisters. When I reflect upon the duties and responsibilities devolving upon our mothers and sisters, and the influence they wield, I look upon them as the mainspring and soul of our being here. It is true that man is first. Father Adam was placed here as king of the earth, to bring it into subjection. But when Mother Eve came she had a splendid influence over him. A great many have thought it was not very good; I think it was excellent. After she had partaken of the fruit she carried it to her husband, saying, “Husband, a certain character came to me and said if you will eat of this fruit you will find it excellent, and it will make you as Gods, knowing good from evil; and I have tasted it, and I assure you it is excellent.” Her influence was so great with Adam that he also partook of it, and his eyes were opened. You know the result—they were both driven from the garden. Before this, however, they were commanded to multiply and replenish the earth and thus fill the measure of their creation.

Now, I say the women have great influence. Look at the nations of the earth. Any nation you like, no matter which, and you enlist the sympathies of the female portion of it and what is there you cannot perform? If the government wants soldiers, they are on hand; if means, it is forthcoming. If you want influence and power, and have the ladies on your side, they will give it you. You take a nation that is going to war, whether our nation or any other; in the late struggle, for instance, between the Northern and Southern States, suppose all the mothers, sisters and daughters of the Republic had set their will and determination that no soldiers should go to the field, how many do you suppose would have been obtained? A few Irishmen and Germans might have been hired, but that is all. This is the influence the ladies hold in the nations of the earth. It is true that they are not allowed to go to the ballot-box, but let the females in any district be united and say that such a man shall not go to Congress, and I reckon he cannot go. He may make up his mind to stay at home and make shingles, raise potatoes, or do something else. If he is a lawyer, he may try to get a living by pleading law, but he cannot go to Congress. And when the ladies say send such a man, he is pretty sure to go if they are united and determined that it shall be so. The ladies may not know that they wield so much influence as this, and they would probably want some outward sign before they could be convinced, but it is nevertheless true that their influence is as powerful as I have stated.

Now, a few words directly to my sisters here in the kingdom of God. We want your influence and power in helping to build up that kingdom, and what I wish to say to you is simply this, if you will govern and control yourselves in all things in accordance with good, sound, common sense and the principles of truth and righteousness, there is not the least fear but what father, uncle, grandfather, brothers, and sons will follow in the wake.

It is the ladies who introduce the fashions here. I will take the liberty of speaking with regard to some of them. If you take up some of the fashion magazines sent here you will find the ladies very beautifully portrayed with those “Grecian bends.” They are being introduced here, but they are of very moderate dimensions yet. By and by, in about another year perhaps, they will be as large again as they are now; and in two years from the present time they will be three or four times as large, and if this ridiculous fashion should continue they may keep on increasing in size until on a hazy day, or in the dusk of the evening, you will not be able, for the life of you, to tell a lady, at a distance, from a camel. Now, the ladies can do just as they please about adopting or changing this fashion. If it is adopted there is one thing I am afraid of. In the world, you know, it is no uncommon thing to see children born deformed; every such instance might have been avoided with proper care, for all such deformities are the result of natural causes. I hope we shall never see such things in Zion, but if our ladies continue the fashion of the “Grecian bend,” I am afraid some of their children will be born with humps on their backs.

There is another item in relation to fashions to which I wish to call the attention of the sisters, being satisfied that ladies, of naturally good taste, need only to have their attention directed to anything showing a want of it, to discontinue it. I refer now to the trails or trains that it is fashionable for ladies to wear at the bottom of their dresses. You know it is the custom of some here to have a long trail of cloth dragging after them through the dirt; others, again, will have their dresses so short that one must shut his eyes, or he cannot help seeing their garters. Excuse me for the expression; but this is true, and it is not right. The ladies of Israel should consider these things, and as they will be judged according to their works just as much as the men, they should seek to have good works, and be governed by good sense instead of foolish fashions in their modes of adorning and dressing themselves.

It is true that we have not the etiquette here, as a general thing, that is in the world; and this is not at all strange when the circumstances in which most of the people have been reared are considered. When I meet ladies and gentlemen of high rank, as I sometimes do, they must not expect from me the same formal ceremony and etiquette that are observed among the great in the courts of kings. In my youthful days, instead of going to school, I had to chop logs, to sow and plant, to plow in the midst of roots barefooted, and if I had on a pair of pants that would cover me I did pretty well. Seeing that this was the way I was brought up they cannot expect from me the same etiquette and ceremony as if I had been brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. The most of the people called Latter-day Saints have been taken from the rural and manufacturing districts of this and the old countries, and they belonged to the poorest of the poor. Many of them, I may say the great majority, never had anything around them to make life very desirable; they have been acquainted with poverty and wretchedness, hence it cannot be expected that they should manifest that refinement and culture prevalent among the rich. Many and many a man here, who is now able to ride in his wagon and perhaps in his carriage, for years and years before he started for Zion never saw daylight. His days were spent in the coal mines, and his daily toil would commence before light in the morning and continue until after dark at night. Now what can be expected from a community so many of whose members have been brought up like this, or if not just like this, still under circumstances of poverty and privation? Certainly not what we might expect from those reared under more favorable circumstances. But I will tell you what we have in our mind’s eye with regard to these very people, and what we are trying to make of them. We take the poorest we can find on earth who will receive the truth, and we are trying to make ladies and gentlemen of them. We are trying to educate them, to school their children, and to so train them that they may be able to gather around them the comforts of life, that they may pass their lives as the human family should do—that their days, weeks, and months may be pleasant to them. We prove that this is our design, for the result, to some extent is already before us.

I will now return to the influence of the female portion of our community. The ladies have power and influence to suppress the “Grecian bend” and other fashionable follies, if they will. I want them to consider well their standing, condition, and influence. Suppose that our wives and daughters should say to us, “Husband,” or “Father, will you wear a straw hat of our make?” or, “We had some flax got out last season and we have made some tow or linen cloth, and we have some that would make a nice coat, will you wear it if we make it up for you?” What do you suppose we should say? The reply would be, “Wives,” or “Daughters, yes, and we thank you; we see your good works and we will wear the hat or the coat you may make for us.” And we should do this without ever having a thought about anybody else being pleased with them or not; if we looked well in the eyes of our wives and daughters, we should care very little for others. Then suppose, after they had made these garments for us, they go to the boys and say, “Here, boys, will you wear what father wears?” There would be no fear but the boys would say, “Yes, if it is good enough for father it is good enough for us.” We sometimes see a few homemade hats in our congregations, and without a close examination they might be taken for foreign goods, they are so excellent and possess such a delicacy of appearance and finish, which is praiseworthy.

What is there in these respects that the members of the Female Relief Societies cannot accomplish? They can abolish the “Grecian bend,” if they wish to do so, and so far as my taste is concerned I would much rather see a “Mormon bend” than a “Grecian bend;” and besides this they can control the fashions, and if they are so disposed, make home-manufactured articles of all kinds the fashion throughout the Territory. Is there any necessity for this? Certainly there is. Just for want of a few hundred thousand dollars, owing to this people by the railway companies, almost every business man in our community is oppressed. Suppose the amount due were paid, in a few months it would be spent and the people would be in about the same condition they are in today. Where then could you procure money to buy foreign goods? Our merchants are complaining of dull times and no sales. Ask them what are their dividends, and they will tell you “a mere nothing.” Why not relieve this portion of the community, and keep them from the necessity of straining their brains until they become insane to know how to pay their debts? Say to them, “Pay your debts, we will help you to do so but do not run into debt any more. We are going to make our own bonnets and hats.” Will you make the ribbons? No; you are not prepared to do so now, but you soon will be. If any of you want to do so now I have silk I can furnish you, and we have plenty of silk weavers amongst us. But if you are not prepared for this just say, “We will do without ribbons,” or “We will do with as few as possible,” and make the ornaments you wear on your heads of the straw that grows in our fields.

Ladies, can you do this? You can and we require you to do it. If you are the means of plunging this whole people into debt so as to distress them will there be anything required of you? I think there will, for you will be judged according to your works. Are not the men as extravagant as the women? Yes, certainly they are, and just as foolish. I could point out instances by the score and by the hundred of men who are just as unwise, shortsighted, and foolish as the women can be; but a condemnation of the male portion of the community will not justify the female portion of it.

There is a great deal said in these days with regard to woman’s rights. I wish our women understood their rights, and would then assume them. They have a great many rights they are not aware of. As I pass around from house to house, occasionally, I sometimes think, “I wish the lady who lives here understood her rights; if she did I think her house and children would look a little different.” It is your right, wives, to ask your husbands to set out beautiful shade and fruit trees, and to get you some vine and flowers with which to adorn the outside of your dwellings; and if your husbands have not time, get them yourselves and plant them out. Some, perhaps, will say, “O, I have nothing but a log house, and it is not worth that.” Yes; it is worth it. Whitewash and plaster it up, and get vines to run over the door, so that everybody who passes will say, “What a lovely little cottage!” This is your privilege and I wish you to exercise yourselves in your own rights.

It is your right and privilege, too, to stop all folly in your conversation, and how necessary this is! I have often thought and said, “How necessary it is for mothers, who are the first teachers of their children and who make the first impressions on their young minds, to be strict.” How careful they should be never to impress a false idea on the mind of a child! They should never teach them anything unless they know it is correct in every respect. They should never say a word, especially in the hearing of a child, that is improper. How natural it is for women to talk baby-talk to their children; and it seems just as natural for the men to do so. It is just as natural for me as to draw my breath to talk nonsense to a child on my lap, and yet I have been trying to break myself of it ever since I began to have a family.

These duties and responsibilities devolve upon mothers far more than upon fathers, for you know the latter are often in the field or canyon, and are frequently away from home, sometimes for several days together, attending to labors which compel them to be absent from home. But the mother is at home with the children con– tinually; and if they are taught lessons of usefulness it depends upon her. How foolish it is—and some mothers do it, to dress a child in the most gaudy apparel you can get hold of, when you know that, unless under your own eye, that very child, in five minutes after being dressed, will be playing in the mud! Why not rather dress the child in something useful and appropriate, for play, sunshine, and fresh air are as necessary to children as food. Do I see any of this nonsensical shortsightedness on the part of mothers? Yes, but it is for the want of thought and through mistaken kindness that they do this and many other foolish things to their children.

One thing is very true and we believe it, and that is that a woman is the glory of the man; but she was not made to be worshipped by him. As the Scriptures say, Man is not without the woman, neither is woman without the man in the Lord. Yet woman was not made to be worshipped any more than man was. A man is not made to be worshipped by his family; but he is to be their head, and to be good and upright before them, and to be respected by them. It is his privilege to walk erect, to converse the same as God, in fact he is made in the express image of his Heavenly Father, and he should honor this position. Yet he is not made to be worshipped, but to be the head and superior, and to be obeyed in all love and kindness, and the woman is to be his helpmeet. Woman has her influence, and she should use that in training her children in the way they should go; if she fails to do this she assumes fearful responsibilities.

We have instances in this Church of mothers full of faith and good works, and if you mark their children you cannot find one that is froward in his ways; I do not remember an instance among the children of such mothers but what believed in and delighted in the Gospel. We have also here the children of mothers of an opposite character—mothers who have been careless and indifferent about the Gospel or the kingdom of God, and, if you mark their children, they are the same, and they stray away from the kingdom of God and from the ordinances of life and salvation. This is the result of the influence of the mother; I am an eyewitness of it.

If our sisters comprehended the power they bear and the influence they wield in the midst of the people it does appear to me that they would consider their condition a little more than they do. It is true that I sometimes chasten them pretty severely and talk to them harshly, and tell them precisely how they look and act, and the path they are walking in and point out the dangers to which they are exposed; and sometimes it hurts their feelings, but I cannot help this. I take the liberty of doing this and I do it for their good, for it is seldom that a man will say anything to his wife or daughters about their everyday labor and conduct. It is true that there is occasionally a man who will find fault with everything, and a woman who will do the same; and there is a certain few on this earth who are never happy unless they are miserable, and who are never easy until they are in pain; but such people are not commonly to be met with. Let the husband train himself to be submissive to the Lord and his requirements in every respect, and teach his wife or wives and children the doctrine of life and salvation and set before them an example worthy of imitation, and there are few families but what will follow such a husband and father. Occasionally you may meet with a family who will be re– bellious under such circumstances, and you may once in a while find a man who will be rebellious when his wife and children are full of faith and good works. But such individuals are of Gentile blood, which is the rebellious blood, and will show it out.

Now, sisters, hearken! Look to yourselves in your capacity as Relief Societies in this city and throughout the mountains. Look at your condition. Consider it for yourselves, and decide whether you will go to and learn the influence which you possess, and then wield that influence for doing good and to relieve the poor among the people. When I have been out in the nations I have frequently been pained to see the scenes of distress there to be met with. I recollect one circumstance, while in England. I have related it often, but will do so now. When standing in Smithfield Market, in the City of Manchester, once, I spent a penny for a bunch of grapes that had just come from France. Immediately after I felt as guilty as I could feel, for I saw a woman passing by who, I knew by her appearance, was starving to death. She dare not steal nor beg, for if she had done either she would have been instantly arrested and taken to prison or the workhouse. I say I felt guilty for spending that in luxury which, if it had been given to that woman, might have procured her a morsel of bread, and so have helped to relieve her misery.

Sisters, do you see any children around your neighborhoods poorly clad and without shoes? If you do, I say to you Female Relief Societies pick up these children and relieve their necessities, and send them to school. And if you see any young, middle-aged or old ladies in need find them something to do that will enable them to sustain themselves; but don’t relieve the idle, for relieving those who are able but unwilling to work is ruinous to any community. The time we spend here is our life, our substance, our capital, our fortune, and that time should be used profitably. Take these old ladies, there are a great many of them around rather poor, and give them something to do; that is their delight. You will hardly find an old lady in the community who has not been brought up to work; and they would rather knit stockings or do some other useful labor than eat the bread of charity. Relieve the wants of every individual in need in your neighborhoods. This is in the capacity and in the power of the Female Relief Societies when it is not in the power of the Bishops. Do you know it? I do, whether you do or not; and you are learning it. Find out what your influence is and how far it extends, and use it to do good; and live every day so that when you lie down at night you can look back on the day and say, in all honesty before God, “I do not know that I have done a wrong action, said an improper word, indulged in a bad thought, or neglected to perform any duty that I ought to have attended to this day, and I can lie down in peace, and submit myself to the Lord, and if I never wake again in this world, all right, I am just as ready to go now as I ever shall be. This is the way we all should live, but I know we come short of it, and then plead ignorance as an excuse, as has been stated here today.

We are here in these mountains. How often do I think of it? Bro. George A. says we are here because we are obliged to go somewhere. This is true, we are absolutely under the necessity of going somewhere or of fighting the whole world. The Lord did not desire this. It was necessary for the people to be scourged, it was necessary for us to learn whether we loved our property better than the truth. Five times I have left a good handsome property; but no matter, the earth is the Lord’s, and he can give and take away what he pleases. Every time I have been driven I have improved in my circumstances. Every time this work has been removed it has become taller, wider, and longer; and if in the reign of King James Buchanan, they had succeeded in removing us we should have been still better off, because the Lord would have prepared everything for the people to have been better off; but this was not his mind. Here is our home, right here in these mountains. What you have heard today from the previous speaker I acknowledge may grate on the ears of some; nevertheless it is true. I acknowledge another thing—truth should not at all times be spoken. But we are here, and the statement you have heard with regard to the President of this people saying, “If they let us alone ten years we would ask no odds of them,” is true; and the only thing in which we have never failed in obtaining satisfaction has been to ask no odds of them, for the most of things that we have asked for have been denied us. In that we can have satisfaction; we cannot help it. We would not have things as they are if we could help it. We should not have left the States if we could have stayed there. If we could have all the people believe the truth we would not have them unbelievers. There is hardly a civilized nation on earth to which we have not carried the Gospel without purse and scrip. He who had money left it at home. We have offered life and salvation to the inhabitants of the earth without money and without price, so you see we do not believe in a hireling priesthood. We preach here without pay. Do our Bishops labor for pay? No, if they are not capable of getting a living and sustaining themselves and families, and of filling the office of Bishop without pay, they are hardly worthy of the Bishopric. If a High Priest is called to be a president or to travel and preach the Gospel to the nations of the earth, he must do it without pay; and we think that any man who is not able to keep himself and family and travel and preach one-half or two-thirds of his time without being paid, is not so good a financier as he ought to be, still we find many who do not possess this qualification. When we have all learned this we shall find that we can have all we can ask for or desire; everything to make us happy and comfortable, no matter whether we are called to go abroad and preach or whether we stay and labor at home.

Brethren and sisters, and especially the sisters, I hope you will listen to what has been said this morning. I have been preaching to the sisters of the Church this morning, not to outsiders. If I had preached to outsiders I should have told them what the Gospel is; how they can come to God, not to an “anxious bench.” I should have told them to repent of their sins, and to be baptized for the remission of them, and to have hands laid upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost, which would bring to their remembrance things past, present, and to come; that would make prophets and prophetesses of them; give to them those gifts that God has set in his Church—the gift of healing, the gift of discerning of spirits, of tongues, of the interpretation of tongues, of prophecy, etc., etc. Are they here? Yes, right here in abundance, to overflowing. If the Saints would be faithful in cultivating these gifts every doctor might be removed from our midst. Let the mothers, say nothing about the Elders in Israel, exercise the faith that it is their right to exercise, and I am satisfied that nine out of every ten children that now die might be saved. Doctors and their medicines I regard as a deadly bane to any community. Give your children, when sick, a little simple herb drink; and if they have eaten too much let them go without food until their stomachs are cleansed and purified, and have faith in the name of Jesus and in the ordinances of his Church, and they will live. That is my faith with regard to this thing. I am not very partial to doctors and lawyers. I can see no use for them unless it is to raise grain or go to mechanical work. But I need not go into this subject at the present.

We say forgive us of our errors, accept the truth and love and serve God that you may be saved in his kingdom, which I ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, July 18, 1869.

I will say to my friends—those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ—“I beseech you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” Treasure up every truth that you hear, practice it in your lives, for this will lead you to Jesus. The words that we have heard this afternoon, with regard to the character of the Son of God and the plan of salvation, are true so far as they have gone. We, the Latter-day Saints, take the liberty of believing more than our Christian brethren: we not only believe part of the Bible, but the whole of it, and the whole of the plan of salvation that Jesus has given to us. Do we differ from others who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? No, only in believing more; we are one with them as far as they believe in him. Do we differ with regard to the practice of the Gospel that he has delivered to us? No, not as far as they really believe in and practice the doctrines taught by him. We believe all that any good man on the earth need believe. We believe in God the Father, in Jesus Christ His Son, our Savior. We believe all that Moses spoke and wrote of him, all that the apostles said of him, and all that Jesus himself has said, which was penned and has been left on record by his apostles and servants.

Our Lord and Savior has been beautifully described and set before us, by the gentleman who has ad– dressed us this afternoon, but I will take the liberty of saying to every man and woman who wishes to obtain salvation through him (the Savior) that looking to him, only, is not enough: they must have faith in his name, character and atonement; and they must have faith in his father and in the plan of salvation devised and wrought out by the Father and the Son. What will this faith lead to? It will lead to obedience to the requirements of the Gospel; and the few words that I may deliver to my brethren and sisters and friends this afternoon will be with the direct view of leading them to God.

How am I to know whether I have passed from death unto life? The apostle says by loving the brethren. How shall I know the brethren? They are my brethren who have received and obeyed the Gospel of the Son of God. This is just as easy to test as it is to test a man who says he is a citizen of the United States. A man may declare that he is so, but upon inquiry we find that he has never taken the oath of allegiance nor even declared his intention of becoming a citizen; but his sole claim to be considered a citizen rests on the fact that he lives in this country and has property, perhaps a farm or a store. This will not entitle any foreigner to the rights and privileges enjoyed by the humblest citizen. He must first declare his intention, take the oath of allegiance to this Government and renounce it to his former one, and then receive his papers of citizenship. It is just the same in the kingdom of God. However much we may profess attachment to God and His cause we are not entitled to the blessings and privileges of His kingdom until we become citizens therein. How can we do this? By repenting of our sins, and obeying the requirements of the Gospel of the Son of God which has been delivered to us. Hundreds and thousands of people have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and repented of their sins, and have had the Holy Spirit to witness unto them that God is love, that they loved Him and that He loved them, and yet they are not in His kingdom. They have not complied with the necessary requirements, they have not entered in at the door, and Jesus says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.” He says also, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in he shall be saved.” Jesus has taught us how we may enter this door and become citizens of his kingdom, and there is no excuse for our neglecting to do so. Herein we exceed and go further than our former brethren. We read in this book (the Bible) of a certain man who came to Jesus by night and asked him what he should do to be saved. This man, in his own estimation, had been a strict observer of the law, but Jesus said to him, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” My firm belief is that thousands have been born of the Spirit and have seen the kingdom, but not having been born of the water they have never been permitted to enter that kingdom, for Jesus says, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” This is why we say it is necessary to obey, fully, the Gospel which Jesus has left on record for us; and to do that we must repent of our sins, be baptized for the remission of them, and then receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands.

Do we believe in the Holy Ghost? Yes. Do our former brethren in the Christian world? They say they do. They should believe in it, they preach and teach it. What will the Holy Ghost do for those who possess it? It will bring to their remembrance things past, present and to come, and will teach them all things necessary for them to understand, in order to secure salvation. Is this the office and ministry of the Holy Ghost? Jesus says:

“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

“Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that he shall speak: and he will shew you things to come.”

Then if we receive the Holy Ghost we shall know and understand things as they are, we shall be able to read the Scriptures by the Spirit, with which they were written, and if we continue faithful we shall be led to a knowledge of God and Jesus whom He has sent, which the apostle says “is eternal life.”

Some believe or conceive the idea that to know God would lessen Him in our estimation; but I can say that for me to understand any principle or being, on earth or in Heaven, it does not lessen its true value to me, but, on the contrary, it increases it; and the more I can know of God, the dearer and more precious He is to me, and the more exalted are my feelings towards Him. Therein I may be different to some others.

If we embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ, rendering obedience thereunto as he has directed, it will lead us into the kingdom of God here on the earth. We have started to build up this kingdom. The Lord has revealed His will from the heavens, and we have faith in Him. Is there any proof of this? Certainly, there is every proof that is necessary. I recollect reading in the New Testament that Jesus gave a mission to his apostles in these words, “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.”

This Gospel is for all the children of men, and it will save all who will believe and obey it. Do this people believe in this Gospel? Yes. Is there any proof of this? Yes. Here before me I see men who have left their homes and families; women who have left their homes and families; parents who have left their children, and children their parents; husbands who have left their wives, and wives their husbands, and all to gather with the Saints of the Most High. Is this any testimony that they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Yes; and this is not all. They speak with new tongues, they lay hands on the sick and they do recover. In these particulars we differ from those with whom we formerly fellowshipped in the Christian world, who say they tell the people how to come to God and be saved. But if they ever have done that, I have never heard them. In my young days I have been called an infidel for talking thus, for there was no man who could tell me anything about the plan of salvation; but I never saw the day but what I would have walked on my knees across this continent to have seen a man who could have told me the first thing about God and Heaven. It is true that the feelings and attention of the people may be moved and attracted by beautiful descriptions of Him and Heaven and with beautiful illustrations of His power and goodness, such as we have heard today; but where is God? Who is He? Who is Jesus Christ? Where do they live? What is their power and character, and their connection with the people of the earth? In my scanty experience with the divines of the day I never yet found the first that could describe the character of God, locate His dwelling place, or give the first correct idea with regard to the Father and the Son; but to them they are hidden in impenetrable mystery, and their cry is, “Great is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh.” To us it is simple, plain, glorious and divine, and it is worthy the attention of every intelligent being that dwells on the face of the earth, for it is eternal life to know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.

In these respects we differ from our Christian brethren. We are the very men and women that have come out from the Mother Church and her daughters, Methodists, Calvinists and almost every other persuasion on the face of the earth, the Pagans not excepted. We never learned from them, however, how to be saved; but we know how to save ourselves, for the Lord has revealed to us a plan by which we may be saved both here and hereafter. God has done everything we could ask, and more than we could ask. The errand of Jesus to earth was to bring his brethren and sisters back into the presence of the Father; he has done his part of the work, and it remains for us to do ours. There is not one thing that the Lord could do for the salvation of the human family that He has neglected to do; and it remains for the children of men to receive the truth or reject it; all that can be accomplished for their salvation, independent of them, has been accomplished in and by the Savior. It has been justly remarked this afternoon that “Jesus paid the debt; he atoned for the original sin; he came and suffered and died on the cross.” He is now King of kings and Lord of lords, and the time will come when every knee will bow and every tongue confess, to the glory of God the Father, that Jesus is the Christ. That very character that was looked upon, not as the Savior, but as an outcast, who was crucified between two thieves and treated with scorn and derision, will be greeted by all men as the only Being through whom they can obtain salvation.

We differ from our Christian brethren, and have long been separated from them; but we are here in these mountains through necessity—because we were not permitted to live with them. But we were never hated, despised and derided as Christ was; we have never been crucified and been such outcasts as Jesus, though our prophet and patriarch were slain; but not in such an ignominious manner as Jesus. Who will believe our testimony? “If our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.” Who will believe our testimony? Who will believe the testimony that has been delivered here this afternoon? I believe and know it is true; and that, too, by the revelations of that very character who was lifted up on the cross. How are we to blame for believing so much? Why, the Scriptures say we are to “prove all things and hold fast that which is good.” I frequently think that the only way for a man to prove any fact in the world is by experience. We go, for instance, into an orchard and someone says there is a sweet apple tree, and he may say the same of other trees, but without tasting how shall I know they are sweet? Unless I taste of them I cannot know it. I may take the testimony of others who have tasted them, as to whether they are sweet, sour or bitter, but without tasting it cannot be proved to my senses that they are so. Now, as I understand it, it is the same with all facts that have come to the knowledge of all beings in Heaven, or on earth—all facts are proved and made manifest by their opposite. Sin has come into the world, and death by sin. I frequently ask myself the question: Was there any necessity for sin to enter the world? Most assuredly there was, according to my understanding and reasoning powers. Did I not know the evil I could never know the good; had I not seen the light I should never be able to comprehend what darkness is. Had I never tried to see and behold a thing in darkness I could not understand the beauty and glory of the light. If I had never tasted the bitter or the sour how could I define or describe the sweet? Consequently, I let all these things pass, being according to the wisdom of Him who has done all things for the benefit and salvation of His children here on the earth. And when we contem– plate and realize that He is our Father and that Jesus is our elder brother, and that we have the privilege of overcoming sin and death, by faith in Jesus and obedience to His Gospel, and of being exalted into the presence of the Father and the Son, the thought should fill our hearts with gratitude, praise and humility.

I extend my religion further than a great many do. I say it is far beyond the religions of the day; they consists mainly, of forms and ceremonies, never revealing to their votaries the object of their creation and existence, or preparing them to fulfil their high calling and destiny; but ours incorporates the whole life of man. Our religion incorporates and includes all the duties devolving upon us every day of our lives, and enables us, if we live according to the spirit of it, to discharge those several duties more honorably and efficiently. I do not think there is as good a financier on the earth as my Father in Heaven is; I do not think there is a being among the whole human family who understands the principles of finance as well as He does. And I believe the same with regard to any other branch of human knowledge, or of anything which affects the peace, happiness, comfort, wealth, health and strength of body, and in fact the entire welfare, whether political, social or physical, of the children of men, consequently I would like to have Him dictate my affairs. Why? That I might become the possessor of power, wealth, and influence, for all the influence the children of men ever possessed they have received from the Father. Every kingdom that has been set up on the face of the earth has been set up by the will of the Father. He sets up a kingdom here and pulls down another there at His pleasure. He gives influence and power to this one and takes them from another; and so we see nations come and go. Some individuals live on the earth rich, noble, powerful and influential; while others are in the depths of poverty. All this is permitted by the Father, and is according to His decree. Every act of the children of men is the result of their own will and pleasure, but the results of these acts God overrules.

Our religion incorporates every act and word of man. No man should go to merchandising unless he does it in God; no man should go to farming or any other business unless he does it in the Lord. No lawyer, no, hold on, I will leave the lawyers out; we do not want them, we have no use for them. No man of council should sit to judge the people but what should judge in the Lord, that he may righteously and impartially discern between right and wrong, truth and error, light and darkness, justice and injustice. Should any legislature sit without the Lord? If it does, sooner or later it will fall to pieces. No nation ever did live that counseled and transacted its national affairs without the Lord, but what sooner or later went to pieces and came to naught. The same is true of all the nations that now live or ever will live.

Our work, our everyday labor, our whole lives are within the scope of our religion. This is what we believe and what we try to practice. Yet the Lord permits a great many things that He never commands. I have frequently heard my old brethren in the Christian world make remarks about the impropriety of indulging in pastimes and amusements. The Lord never commanded me to dance, yet I have danced; you all know it, for my life is before the world. Yet while the Lord has never commanded me to do it, He has permitted it. I do not know that He ever commanded the boys to go and play at ball, yet He permits it. I am not aware that He ever commanded us to build a theater, but He has permitted it, and I can give the reason why. Recreation and diversion are as necessary to our well-being as the more serious pursuits of life. There is not a man in the world but what, if kept at any one branch of business or study, will become like a machine. Our pursuits should be so diversified as to develop every trait of character and diversity of talent. If you would develop every power and faculty possessed by your children, they must have the privilege of engaging in and enjoying a diversity of amusements and studies; to attain great excellence, however, they cannot all be kept to any one individual branch of study. I recollect once while in England, in the district of country called the “Potteries,” seeing a man pass along the street, his head, perhaps, within sixteen or eighteen inches of the ground. I inquired what occupation he had followed for a living, and learned that he had never done anything in his life but turned a tea cup, and he was then seventy-four years of age. How do we know, but what, if he had had the privilege, he would have made a statesman or a fine physician, an excellent mechanic or a good judge? We cannot tell. This shows the necessity of the mind being kept active and having the opportunity of indulging in every exercise it can enjoy in order to attain to a full development of its powers.

We wish, in our Sunday and day schools, that they who are inclined to any particular branch of study may have the privilege to study it. As I have often told my sisters in the Female Relief societies, we have sisters here who, if they had the privilege of studying, would make just as good mathematicians or accountants as any man; and we think they ought to have the privilege to study these branches of knowledge that they may develop the powers with which they are endowed. We believe that women are useful, not only to sweep houses, wash dishes, make beds, and raise babies, but that they should stand behind the counter, study law or physic, or become good bookkeepers and be able to do the business in any counting house, and all this to enlarge their sphere of usefulness for the benefit of society at large. In following these things they but answer the design of their creation. These, and many more things of equal utility are incorporated in our religion, and we believe in and try to practice them.

I will say, now, to the Latter-day Saints, sometimes you know, if a word be dropped unguardedly, we are threatened with an army; if we speak a word out of the wrong side of the mouth we are threatened with a legalized mob just as we were in the States. Hence, we must be careful of what we say, for our enemies are ready to “make a man an offender for a word, and to lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate.” I will say, however, that if you, Latter-day Saints, will live your religion there will be no necessity whatever to fear all the powers of earth and hell, for God will sustain you. Jesus is king of this earth and he will sustain those who walk humbly before him, loving and serving him and keeping his commandments. I pray the Latter-day Saints to be faithful; love and serve the Lord, keep His commandments, refrain from evil and walk humbly before him. When we were in the Christian world, and were without the Priesthood, we believed in every good word and work, in every moral principle, in everything that tended to promote peace, happiness, morality and virtue, in fact in every good principle that man could teach. Let us live as consistently now as we did then; let us live so that God will bless us and enable us to overcome and be saved in His kingdom, which may He grant for Christ’s sake. Amen.