Remarks by Elder George A. Smith, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 9th, 1867.

We are composed of persons from various nationalities. We speak a number of languages. The languages and dialects of the British empire, the Scandinavian, the French, Dutch, German, Swiss, and Italian are all represented here. It appears that God in His divine wisdom revealed the gospel in the English language, which is the native tongue of the majority of the Saints, probably more than half of them having acquired it in America, and a large portion of the remainder in the old world. It is very desirable that all of our brethren who are not ac– quainted with the English language should learn it. We do not wish to blot out the original languages that they may have spoken, but we want them all—men and woman, old and young—to learn the English language so perfectly that they will be able to thoroughly understand for themselves the teachings and instructions and the published works of the Church, as well as the laws of the country. And while we preach to all classes—all the boys and girls under ninety—to go to school and educate themselves in the various useful branches, we do not want our bre– thren who do not speak the English language to think that they are neglected or without the pale of this call. We hope the bishops and teachers will make every reasonable exertion to stir up the minds of the brethren and sisters who do not thoroughly understand English to the importance of this particular item of counsel. We, of course, wish them to stir up everybody on the subject of education, and to encourage, in every possible manner, our day and Sunday schools, for the cause of education should be popular in Israel now, as it was in the days of Joseph; and old and young should go to school together. I recollect a school that I attended in Kirtland under the direction of the prophet Joseph; the oldest scholar in my class was sixty-three years old. We shall have long winter evenings directly, and a good deal of time to spend in self-improvement, and it is our duty to become a cultivated people in all the useful branches of education known among mankind. There is a spirit among some of our young men in different settlements to appear rough and reckless; they indulge in rowdyism and cultivate the savage side of human nature. We ought to use all the influence and power we possess to suppress this, and to stir up in the minds of our young and old the necessity of cultivating simple, plain, innocent, and genteel manners. There is an idea out that a man who has to go to the canyon cannot do it without swearing, or that when he gets to the mouth of the canyon he must throw off his religion and swear all the way up and back again. Any man who entertains such a sentiment should dispense with it at once, for he needs his religion more there than anywhere else. The roads are rough, and there is danger of him being tipped over and breaking his neck, or mashing up his wagon or his team, and he needs the influence of his religion as much under such circumstances as under any others. The Elders of Israel should avoid indulging in rough language under all circumstances. Most men, if they thought there was a probability of them dying by some sudden accident, would begin to think about praying. When a man is more exposed to danger than at any other time I am sure he needs his religion, for if he should have a log roll over him, and be sent into eternity with a big oath in his mouth, he might not be recognized as a Saint on the other side of the veil. Hence I would like our brethren, and would recommend them to dispense with the idea, that on some occasions they can lay their religion to one side. It is said that an old Quaker, on a certain occasion when his family were grossly insulted and abused, felt very much like chastising the offender, but his religion forbade him fighting. He bore it tolerably well for a time, but at last his patience was exhausted, and, pulling off his broad-brimmed hat and his broad-tailed coat, said he—“Lie there religion until I lick this man.” He might just as well have kept his religion on while doing the flogging. He might have felt as an uncle of Joseph Smith—Rev. Mr. Mack—did on a certain occasion. He was a Baptist minister, and was celebrated for his great physical strength. A professional pugilist went to see him once, and told him that hearing he was one of the strongest men in the state he had come to test his strength. The old man was too pious to wrestle or scuffle. The stranger said he would fight him, but Mr. Mack was too religious to fight. The stranger told him he had no ill will towards him, but said he—“I must and will know which is the strongest.” Mr. Mack did his best to put him off, telling him that he was a minister and so forth, but the stranger would not be disappointed, and, as Mr. Mack turned round, he kicked him. The reverend gentleman’s religion could not stand this, and he set to and gave the stranger a good thrashing. He went before his congregation and made a confession, which was something like unto this—“I bore all this patiently, notwithstanding my own nature was to try the man’s strength, but after he kicked me I took off my coat and flogged him most properly.” I think that kind of a rule might work under some circumstances; but at the same time a man should never lay down his religion, and should never believe that it is necessary to swear, not even in the canyon. I tell you that every vile word we utter and every vile sentiment we entertain is a wrong for which we, someday, will have to atone. When I hear men—young or old—talking intemperately or improperly, I realize that they have that folly to overcome and repent of.

In speaking of the education of our children, I wish to draw the attention of the Saints particularly to the system of phonetics, or the Deseret alphabet, which has been referred to by President Young and some of the brethren. This is calculated to considerably abridge the labor of our foreign brethren in learning to read English. I think that in all our schools phonetics should form one branch of study, and as fast as works of phonotopy can be obtained they should be introduced, for there is no doubt that a general reformation will be effected in our English orthography. It is said that the Lord will restore to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon Him with one consent. While we urge our brethren to acquire the English lan– guage, and to make themselves proficient in the useful branches of education, we wish them to remember that the orthography which the English nation has adopted is by no means perfect, for our present mode of spelling might be materially improved. According to the present system, it is a very long and difficult job for a man to learn to spell. I commenced as soon as I was old enough to put three letters together, and I have been at it ever since, and I hardly dare write a letter now without consulting the dictionary to see how some word or other should be spelled. The spelling of the English language is very arbitrary. For several generations it has been undergoing improvements and modifications, and it will, no doubt, go on until English orthography will become so perfect that every letter will have but a single sound, instead of having, as now, in some cases, four or five sounds to the same letter. Now, when a child learns to spell, he learns first to give to the vowel a its long sound, as heard in the word male, supposing that to be its only sound. In another position he gives it the Italian or grave sound—as in the word father, and so on, until he finds it has four or five distinct sounds, and then he has to continually exercise his judgment, or has to depend upon the judgment of some other man, to know which of these sounds to use.

I wish our brethren to give this subject their serious and candid consideration, and do their best to introduce into our schools a system that will greatly abridge the time required to gain the various branches of a good education. No greater or more blessed mission can be given to an Elder in Israel than to teach the true principles of education to the rising generation of this Territory. I would advise our brethren, aside from the ordinary schools, to get up evening reading classes in all our settlements for the instruction of those who cannot attend at other times. The instruction of our wives and daughters is of the utmost importance. The disposition of some to neglect the education of girls is the extreme of folly. If we take pains to have the English language taught correctly to our wives and daughters, they will teach it to their children, and this will lay the foundation for the permanent improvement of the language of the state, of which we form the nucleus. Some of the ablest men in the Territory received the most of their education from their mothers, and it is said that the President of the United States was educated by his wife. I wish to call the attention of the Conference to the text of President Young in relation to storing our wheat. This is a question of vast importance. A few years ago President Young gave counsel to the people of the Territory—most of whom agreed to it—to lay by seven years provisions. We were to have commenced three years ago, and were to have laid up one year’s bread over and above the year’s supply. The following year we were to add another year’s supply, and so have continued until we had our seven years’ supply laid up. How faithful the people have been in keeping this counsel I am not prepared to say, but I am afraid that few men in Israel, even among those who have raised breadstuffs and have had the power to control considerable quantities of it, had three years’ bread laid aside when the grasshoppers made their descent this season and swept off half the grains, vegetables, and fruit raised in the Territory, and were prepared, if the whole had been swept off, to live for the next three years without laying in more bread. I am aware that some of our brethren thought this counsel extravagant; they considered that it could not be necessary to lay up such a quantity of bread; and some of them, instead of getting out lumber and making good substantial bins for the preservation of their wheat, turned out their means for teams, and freighted their bread to the north, to the east, and to the west; and not only so, but in many instances they gave it away, if they could only get half price for hauling it. Hundreds and thousands of sacks of flour have been hauled away, when it should have been stored up here against a day of want. I feel just as keenly on this matter now as when this counsel was given, and a little more so, for the army of the Lord—the grasshoppers—may have awakened my mind to the importance of the subject.

All nations have to take more or less precaution for their general preservation, and, as they are occasionally visited with years of scarcity, if they failed to do so the consequences might be disastrous. We are situated in the heart of a great desert, surrounded a portion of the year by impassable mountains. We have no railroads, no seaports, no great navigable rivers and canals by which we can bring provisions from abroad; and if there had been ten grasshoppers this year where there was but one every particle of food raised in the Territory would have been consumed; then where would our bread have been? Where could we have gained our subsistence?

In the empire of China provision is made for the general preservation, and one-fifth of the produce of the country is stored in the public granaries against a day of famine. A famine occurred not long since in one of the provinces of China containing thirty-three millions of people—a little more than the whole population of the United States—and they lost their entire crop. China, however, is favored with large navigable rivers, some capable of navigation for over two thousand miles. There are also many canals and seaport towns that are used in the coasting trade; the result is that when this famine came on this province the storehouses were opened, and the grain or rice was carried to its inhabitants, and they were kept from starvation. We are differently situated. We have no public storehouses, neither can we bring sufficient provisions from abroad without it costing more than we are able to pay. A good many of us claim our descent from Joseph, who was sold into Egypt. He was the instrument of the Almighty in saving the Egyptians, through the interpretation of the King’s dream of the seven fat and the seven lean kine, and the seven full and the seven blighted ears of corn. He prescribed the means by which the storehouses of Egypt were filled with corn, and when the seven years of famine came the whole people were actually saved from death through the wisdom of Joseph in laying up bread. We expect to be saviors on Mount Zion in the last days. We all exercise faith that God may give to our President wisdom and understanding to foresee the evils with which we may be threatened, and to take measures to avert them. Suppose that he comes forward and tells us how to prepare, and we neglect his counsel, then the watchman is clear, and we are liable to the dangers and difficulties resulting from disobedience. If the King of Egypt had not observed the counsels of Joseph almost the whole people would have been destroyed. As it was, those who did not obey Joseph’s counsel were under the ne– cessity of selling all their property, and ultimately themselves, for slaves to the king, in order to obtain that bread which they could have laid up during the seven years of plenty, if they had obeyed Joseph’s counsel.

Now, brethren, let us not treat this subject lightly. If we have been neglectful in times past, let us remember that we live in a high altitude, in a country subject to frost and to extreme drouth, that we have several times lost our crops, and that we have twice been reduced to famine or half rations through the crickets or grasshoppers. Let us heed the counsel given about storing up provisions, and, instead of freighting our food away to feed strangers, let us go to work and build good substantial granaries, and fill them with breadstuff, until every man and woman has enough on hand to last for seven years. Terrible destruction awaits the wicked. They will come to us by thousands by-and-by, saying—“Can you not feed us? Can you not do something for us?” It is said by the prophets they shall come bending, and shall say you are the priests of the Lord. What priest could administer greater earthly blessings than food to the hungry, who have fled from a country where the sword, famine, and pestilence were sweeping away their thousands? I look upon the subject of storing grain and other kinds of food as a very religious matter. How could a man who was half starved enjoy his religion? How on the face of the earth could a man enjoy his religion when he had been told by the Lord how to prepare for a day of famine, when, instead of doing so, he had fooled away that which would have sustained him and his family. I wish our brethren to lay this matter to heart, and not rest until they have obeyed this particular item of counsel.

I also advise them to live within their means, and avoid getting into debt. I suppose our nation at the present time owes about three thousand millions of dollars, and the several states owe one thousand five hundred million dollars more, and that the counties, cities, towns, and villages owe as much more, making a total of about six thousand million dollars. All this is the result of folly, corruption, and wickedness of men in authority. I do advise my brethren to avoid getting into debt. “Well,” say you, “how are we going to do it?” A few years ago, during the war, while money was plentiful and almost everybody had greenbacks, the President devised a plan. Said he—“You bishops, go to work and sow rye, and set our sisters and their children to work to make straw hats and bonnets and ornaments for the whole Territory.” What does a nice straw hat cost now? I have bought so few of such things that I am not very well posted as to the prices, but I suppose five or six dollars. What would have been the result if this counsel had been faithfully kept for the last few years? The result would have been a saving of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars that have been paid out of the Territory for straw hats and bonnets and trimmings. “But,” say some, “if we had not bought these things we should not have been in the fashion.” Why bless you, sisters, in my young days, in northern New York, I wore hats made in the neighborhood of lambs’ wool. Why not produce them here? Why not manufacture and wear the beaver and other furs collected in our mountains rather than send them to the States to be manufactured, and brought back to be sold to us at exorbitant profits. If ninety-nine out of every hundred of you present were wearing these home made articles at this Conference, she who was not wearing one would have been the only one out of the fashion. Why she would be as odd as Dick’s hat band, which was said to go half way round and tuck under. And if the brethren had all worn home made hats, the man wearing any other kind would have been an oddfellow among us. Why not make our own fashions, and keep the money in our pockets to do good with? It is a very simple matter to do, and the hats we can manufacture here are just as pretty and just as comfortable as the imported articles, most of which are made abroad out of materials that can be raised in abundance here! When any of the brethren start in the hat business here we cannot wear them, they are too heavy; we must buy hats that will not last more than a month. Why not go to work and manufacture our own, and have them suitable for either winter or summer? Why not plant the mulberry? President Young imported the seed, and he has on hand a half million of trees for sale. The silkworms are here, and our sisters and children have nimble fingers to handle them, and this is naturally as good a silk producing country as Italy or France. There is nothing on the face of the earth to hinder us, as a people, from making our own ribbons, silk handkerchiefs, and dresses; and it is believed, by those who are acquainted with the business, that we can actually produce silk here at a lower figure than other material for clothing, taking into account the time it will last.

I advise all the brethren to cultivate the mulberry, and raise silk, as well as flax and wool, and let us extend our efforts to the cotton region. There is no mission more important to the welfare and development of Israel than a mission to the cotton region. We have entered into the Church to build up the kingdom of God, and to labor where the master builder says we can labor to the best advantage. In that region we have a climate and a little land suitable for the production of cotton. What could we have done without what has been already raised there? When cotton rose to a dollar and a half a pound in the States, and it would actually pay to raise it in Santa Clara and send it to San Francisco and St. Louis for sale, what could we have done here but for our home grown article? Look at the thousands of pounds that have been grown and manufactured in this Territory. Where could we have got our clothing without the efforts that have been made in this direction by our brethren in Dixie? God bless them for their exertions. Every man who has done what has been required of him on the southern mission is entitled to the eternal gratitude of the Saints and will have the blessing of the Almighty.

In relation to the Word of Wisdom, I wish to impress upon the minds of the brethren the fact referred to by President Young yesterday—that it is perpetual.

When I was in the States I had a conversation with a professor of some pretensions to learning, who declared that, if we carried out the institutions we had commenced here in the mountains, including the Word of Wisdom and our system of marriage, in about seventy years we should produce a race of men who would be able to walk the rest of the human race under foot. This is just what we expect. Do not let us be negligent or careless on these subjects, but pay strict attention and be diligent. And let us inaugurate a system of fashions of our own. I do not care about the shape of our hats and bonnets so long as they are of our own manufacture. I would just as soon a man should wear a bellows hat or a stove pipe as anything else, if it please him; but I say, encourage home manufactures instead of paying ten dollars for a hat made in Paris, or in the United States, with the word “Paris” put in the inside. I do not care whether the ladies wear a bunch of flowers, a cabbage leaf, a squash, or a scoop, or a saucer on their heads, if it pleases them; but let it be made at home. I would recommend the brethren and sisters to establish societies for the promotion of home manufactures. With the money that has been spent and sent off for hats, bonnets, and trimmings since the President counseled the Bishops to raise rye to manufacture them, we could have built woollen and cotton factories in nearly every county in the Territory, with which we could have manufactured our own clothing, besides establishing other branches of business. These things are a great part of our holy religion. I tell you that the judgments of the Almighty are coming upon the earth, and the Saints will barely escape. God has gathered us here to these mountains to prepare for the storm. We were told in a revelation, given more than thirty years ago, to let the beauty of our garments be the workmanship of our own hands, and a great many have tried to carry it out. The old fashioned spinning wheel, hand loom, and cards have been brought into requisition; but the majority prefer to buy everything that is imported. Our young men are afraid to get married because they cannot afford to buy all these trimmings. Say they—“We cannot do it, it is impossible with our limited means.” Young men, when you get married take wives who will be a help to you. You do not want women who can only waste your means. Choose women who can spin, card, and make a mattress or comforter, if necessary, and, if she cannot do it, let her be willing to learn, and be zealous to make herself useful, for the woman who is really ornamental in society is the one who is useful as well. You go to New England, that is where a great many of us came from, regular old down east Yankeedom, and you will find many of the farms occupied by our grandfathers owned by Irishmen, and the girls who descended from that old Puritanic stock are above work now-a-days, and Irish girls are hired to do it. While the American ladies are living on the proceeds of their fathers’ estates, and making a great display in following the fashions—they deem it not fashionable to work or even to have children—the boys are marrying Irish girls. If asked why they do this, they will say they are compelled to do it, for they cannot afford to marry a woman and hire another to wait upon her. Our girls ought to adopt a different policy. Every man and woman in the world ought to be useful. No man is too rich to labor. All men and women, according to their health, strength, and ability, ought to labor to sustain themselves, and for the welfare of the community. “The idler shall not eat the bread of the laborer.” This is the law of Heaven. In connection with labor we should also take into consideration our manner of living. It is really probable that in many houses in this Territory full one-third of the provisions brought in for the support of the family is wasted, and what is cooked is not as palatable and healthful as it might be. Every female should study and become acquainted with the best modes of cooking, and introduce it into their families and wards. A great many of our sisters have come from districts of country in Europe where they have had to work in factories, and to follow other branches of business, and consequently have had but little opportunity to learn cookery and other household work; but I have known many of them, after arriving here, become very proficient housekeepers, and all may if they will try.

I feel to impress these sentiments on your minds that we may become a practical people, and learn to provide within ourselves the necessaries of life, that in all things we may be pleasing to the Lord. Let us live in accordance with the laws of life, avoiding excess, all vulgarity and unnecessary levity, and endeavor to conduct ourselves wisely, properly, and genteelly, and use our influence to promote that class of manners that will command respect everywhere. We shall thus lay the foundation of a great, polished, and highly civilized people, setting an example worthy of imitation in all things to all nations.

May God bless us, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Remarks by Elder George A. Smith, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 7th, 1867.

There are, at the present time, in Great Britain ten or twelve thousand Saints, some of whom have been members of the Church for twenty or twenty-five years. They have contributed of their scanty means to feed the Elders and to help to emigrate their brethren and sisters, and in many cases many of them have gone without their meals and beds to make the Elders comfortable, and now they are without the means to gather with the Saints here in the mountains.

There are a great many brethren, probably some are here today, who, in years past, have been assisted to this country by the Perpetual Emigration Fund, to which fund there is now due from individuals assisted about nine hundred thousand dollars. I wish to call the attention of this class of individuals to the condition of the poor Saints abroad. There are many Saints here who, before gathering home, have said to their brethren and sisters in the old world—“When we get to Zion, if God blesses us, we will remember you and do the best we can to aid you to emigrate.” A great many persons have failed to keep their promise, and their friends back feel that they are forgotten and neglected. In many instances, no doubt, Elders while on missions have promised to assist those who have treated them with kindness and divided their mor– sel with them. I want to bring these things to the consideration of all our brethren. They should remember that our brethren and sisters in the old countries labor under the disadvantage of the prejudice against Mormonism. Employers and business men, who are under the influence of the priests of the day, are unwilling to extend the same kindness and facilities for labor to the Latter-day Saints that they do to other persons. Besides these disadvantages, many of our brethren there have to work for a shilling, eighteen pence, or two shillings a day, as the case may be, and out of this have to pay house rent, buy fuel, clothing, and every necessary of life for their families, and in some cases, perhaps, they have a sick father or mother to sustain out of their mere pittance, which is barely enough to keep life in their bodies. Our brethren, who have had the benefit of the emigration fund, should remember that their first duty, to God and themselves, is to liquidate these liabilities with the very first means they acquire after their arrival here; and that if they go on accumulating cattle, horses, houses, and lands, and these debts remain unpaid, they are robbing the poor and the needy. This is a matter about which the brethren should not feel neglectful or careless. Those who will come forward and honorably discharge their liabilities to the Perpetual Emigration Fund will be blessed in their substance and in their efforts. And you must remember that while you are doing this you are acquiring experience and gaining information that will make you more successful hereafter.

My desire is that, when the Elders go from this Conference, that they should light a fire in the breast of every person who has liabilities of this kind. Let every man in Israel, whom God has blessed, be alive and awake to this matter, and respond to the call the President has made for contributions to the Perpetual Emigration Fund.

I understand that over there, there are hundreds of sisters who are determined to remain single until they reach Zion, and there are men in our midst, and some of them in debt to the Perpetual Emigration Fund, who are able to send for a dozen or two of these sisters; they ought to bring them to this country and place them where they can marry according to their wishes. May the blessings of heaven be upon us that we may be able to gather all our brethren and sisters from the old world.

I appeal to the sons and daughters of Zion to be awake to this subject. Amen.

Remarks by Elder George A. Smith, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, June 2nd, 1867.

It is certainly good to receive instructions from fathers in Israel, and the kind of instruction which is most desirable is that pertaining to our everyday life, for a great share of the unhappiness and misery of the world is the result of ignorance. Many people do not know how to enjoy the blessings they receive. When they have comforts around them they make themselves miserable longing for something in the distance and beyond their reach; something imaginary, and often not really necessary. It is the duty of every person to cultivate the spirit of contentment, and, no matter what our condition in life may be, we should be sure to do right, be contented, and trust in God to improve it. When we are placed in uncomfortable circumstances—for instance, when we lack the necessaries and comforts of life, we are apt to give way to a spirit of discontentment, when, peradventure, if we understood the providences of the Almighty we should find that they are to give us an experience we could not otherwise attain to, and which is necessary to prepare us for the performance of greater duties which may be required of us.

President Kimball’s remarks in relation to going with his boys, and teaching them how to work, were excellent; and one of the greatest blessings that a man has bestowed upon him on earth is that of being with his family. A great many do not appreciate it, but the privilege of being with one’s family, and teaching them the principles of truth and how to become useful in life, cannot be too highly prized. The Presidency and numbers of the elders have so many responsibilities of a public nature resting upon them, that they are deprived, to a great extent, of that association with their families which is necessary to enable them to instruct them personally, consequently they have to leave it to others. President Kimball told us that if he hired a man to work for him he had to show him which was the top end of a straw. My family, once during my absence, employed a man to work in the garden. They gave him a lot of cabbages, turnips, onions, and carrots to set out for the raising of seed. He set everyone of them into the ground with the roots up. When the ladies came to see what was done, they gave him a lecture on the subject that he remembered, and he learned to do such work properly. A great many of our people have been gathered from the various nations of Europe, and while there the majority of them were operatives in factories, or engaged in different mechanical pursuits, and never planted an onion, carrot, turnip, or parsnip in their lives, and have no idea of the process, consequently, when they gather here, where almost every man is under the necessity of raising his own food, they have to learn the method of doing so.

President Kimball has been urging us strongly to store our bins with wheat and flour. This may sound like strange counsel to those who, during most of their lives, have been in the habit of receiving their wages every Saturday, and, then, without further care, laying in their week’s provisions. But in this country, where we are liable to seasons of scarcity, it is requisite to prepare for such emergencies; hence the counsel to store up food is frequently given, and is absolutely necessary. Yet, as a people, we are apt to neglect it, for the sun rises and sets, the seasons come and go with unfailing regularity, and we expect that every year will bring plenty; yet we have had years of scarcity, and may have again, and we are not safe unless we provide against them, and be prepared for a day of hunger. Hence, in this respect and in many others, the Latter-day Saints have many things to learn.

Many men do not know how to be comfortable in their families; they are cross and crabbed with their wives, and think it is necessary to scold and find fault with almost everything they do. Now, you can do a good deal more with a person without finding fault than with; the man that is pleasant with, and never says a cross word to his family, governs them the best, as a general thing. Women, too, who talk pleasant and comforting words to their husbands, and never find fault, always have the most influence with them. And yet we find men and women who, in their family relations, seem to think that the rod and a disposition to be cross and crabbed, to scold, and find fault, and threaten, is the best policy, whereas the right policy is directly opposite. We should overcome with love and affection, guide with kindness, and teach and instruct by good example and self government, for the man who can govern his own temper, rule his own passions, and regulate his own conduct, will have more influence over others ten thousand times than he will who is feared and dreaded, and consequently hated. The question arises in the world—“How is it that Brigham Young can control so easily so many Latter-day Saints?” And “How was it that Joseph Smith could send his brethren all over the world, and bring so many people together, without ever seeing them?” It is by the power of that magic which wins hearts; by the power of those eternal principles of salvation which exist in God and in his faithful servants. Every man knows that in Brigham Young he has a friend and a father, and that when he counsels, instructs, corrects, or reproves, it is with the spirit of a father to his children—he corrects them for their own good; hence every person fears to do wrong and desires to do right, and, so far as this principle extends, Israel is governed by love and charity, by that strong bond of eternal truth which will make peace throughout the earth.

How are the nations of the earth governed? Generally through fear or self-interest. What is it that props the French Empire? A million of bayonets. What holds the autocrats of Europe on their thrones? The fear of death, for if any attempt be made to overthrow them death would be the inevitable doom of the conspirators. Is that the principle by which governments can stand? No; the only principles by which they can be permanently sustained is the love of truth, honor, and integrity, and these virtues should be honored and observed by the sovereign more than by anybody else, and that superior love of truth would enable him to control every person in his empire, for virtue reigning triumphant would frown down vice, and would thus lay the foundation for an empire that would be lasting.

When one sovereign gets more bayonets than the others, blood and slaughter result, and downfall follows. How will it be in the Kingdom of God? It will be governed by peace, truth, and order, and truth will eventually govern the world. Men will be taught correct principles, and they will then govern themselves. That is the secret of “Mormonism.” President Young teaches the Saints correct principles, and the Saints govern themselves.

I bear my testimony to the truth of the counsel and instruction that we have received this morning, and I trust they will be treasured up in good and honest hearts, and that men and women will consider these things and realize that we have one great interest, which is to build up Zion, sustain the principles of salvation, walk humbly before the Lord, remember our prayers, and deal honestly and justly with each other. If a man owes another let him discharge his obligations honorably; if circumstances beyond his control prevent him doing according to agreement, let him go to his creditor and show to him the real circum– stances of the case, and that it is absolutely out of his power, and not become a man’s enemy because he is your creditor. It frequently happens, I notice, that in the dealings of brethren one with another, when pay day comes men are not so pleasant and agreeable as when they are trying to obtain the credit. This is wrong. In all cases our word should be our bond, certain and sure, and nothing short of that which is beyond the ordinary course of events should prevent us fulfilling it.

By pursuing this course of events we shall increase confidence in our midst, build each other up, and build up Zion. Let us not build on borrowed capital, but learn to live within our means, and teach our children the beauties of industry, prudence, and frugality, that we may all be prepared and qualified to magnify our callings. Thus the rising generation will be prepared to bear the burden and carry off the kingdom; the work will increase, and truth will spread until it covers the whole earth.

I feel thankful for the privilege of bearing my testimony. I pray that the blessings of heaven may rest upon you, and that the peace of God may be upon all Israel. I heartily unite with br. Kimball in praying for the recovery of his son, and for prosperity and blessings upon all Israel; which may God grant, for Jesus sake. Amen.

Remarks by Elder George A. Smith, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, May 19th, 1867.

Unpropitious as the morning has been we are assembled here for the purpose of receiving instruction. It is a pleasure to me to meet with the Saints. I feel the spirit that prompts them in the discharge of their duties, and the response which comes from the congregation to the speaker, inspired by the Spirit of the Lord, is mutually calculated to instruct and encourage us in the discharge of our several duties.

Since Conference I have visited the settlements south to some extent, accompanying President Young on his journey. I have been much gratified that the Saints are progressing, and that the teachings given at Conference are being generally carried out, although the settlements were then but thinly represented, in consequence of the almost impassable state of the roads. The word, however, has gone forth, and the feeling is implanted in the breasts of the Saints to make new efforts and endeavors to fulfil the duties of their calling, and to cultivate that spirit of oneness which is necessary to enable us to overcome and to attain that position in the earth which God designs His Kingdom to occupy in the last days.

I must say that in traveling through the country, and looking at things as they naturally exist, I could but wonder that anybody on the earth could envy us the privilege of living in these mountain deserts. Our brethren in the cotton country have had to struggle against natural difficulties to a great extent, and have overcome them only by main strength, and a continued exercise of that strength is necessary to keep what they gain. It is true that some of the settlements or towns are located in positions where they can obtain their water for irrigation from springs; this, however, is in limited quantity. The city of St. George receives its water from a number of springs which seem to be increasing in quantity, but if the city should be enlarged, as anticipated, the water will have to be brought from a distance at a very great expense. The city lots in Washington and Toquerville are watered by means of springs, but the farming lands in Washington and St. George are watered from the Rio Virgin and Santa Clara rivers. These streams are subject to floods. The soil on their banks is so friable and uncertain that whenever a flood comes the dams that are placed in these streams, to aid in taking out the water, are easily washed away, and the cotton and grain fields can be irrigated only at a vast annual expense.

It seems a difficult task to contend with the elements, and to accomplish that which is required of us; and I am very well satisfied that no other people would attempt to improve these locations for a long time to come were we not occupying them. The settlements already made are like oases in the desert—they are made productive by irrigation and the industry of the Saints, and are kept flourishing by the constant application of labor. This rule applies with almost equal force to every settlement in the Territory, as well as those in the cotton country. All the irrigation that is carried on, whether it be from large or medium sized streams, is done at considerable expense, and when the floods come, through the melting of the snow, sudden rains, or waterspouts, the canals are filled up and the works torn away, which imposes constant and continued labor on the hands of the Saints; the result is that, whatever agricultural improvement is made is held by main strength.

Now, I regard this as peculiarly favorable to the Latter-day Saints, because they are possessing what nobody else in the world would have. You know when we lived on the rich fat lands of the Mississippi and Missouri valleys, our fields and improvements were coveted. Our enemies gathered around us and attempted to drive us away, and ultimately succeeded, and they robbed us of our inheritances, which were worth millions of dollars. When we located here we located on a spot that was not likely to be desirable to anybody else, any further than our labor made it so.

The country in the southern part of this Territory is singularly constructed, and embraces a variety of climates within a very few miles. For instance, when we reached Parowan it was cold, the season was backward, the bloom on the peach trees was scarcely visible; we went on to Cedar, eighteen miles farther, and there was a very slight change. We then went on to Kanarra, a settlement thirteen miles farther, there was a very slight change, but the season was not near so forward as at Salt Lake City. Between Kanarra and Toquerville, a distance of twenty-three miles, we pass over a series of low ridges, generally denominated the Black Ridges. About twelve miles of this road have been worked through rocks at a very great expense, and it is still very rough. The winds and rains together have so blown and washed the soil from among the rocks that it is a hard road to travel. There is nothing on it, however, but a few patches of sand to hinder a team from hauling considerable of a load. When we had crossed this road and reached Toquerville, it was astonishing to see change in vegetation. The town was perfectly green; the apricots were from one-third to one-half grown, the peaches were as large as bullets, and the grapes all set and the stems formed, and it looked like midsummer. This was in the short distance of some twenty-three miles. The little belt of land upon which the settlements along the southern border of the Territory blessed with this climate are located, was so narrow and small that it was really believed by those who first explored it that it was scarcely capable of supporting any population at all. Every year, however, develops more and more its capabilities, and the people are becoming more healthy and contented as prosperity smiles upon them and attends their labors.

I have passed through the region to the south of our settlements a great many times, and I have been thankful for the desert that I had to go over. As many of you know, it is many miles from one spring, or from one place where it is possible to obtain water, to another. There are water stations formed by springs or little mountain streams; but they sometimes go dry, and it is generally fifteen miles, and sometimes twenty or thirty between each. Nothing grows there except sage and a little grass, and when we get to the southern border of the Territory we find thorns and thistles, and the cactus, which grows to a tree seven or eight feet high, and so thorny that no one, seemingly, can get near it. I was struck with the good condition of the cattle as I passed through the country. I could not see what they got to eat; they would stand and watch the cactus, it looked so nice and green, but woe to the animals that touched it. The earth in this region is fortified with thistles sufficiently to justify the prediction to Adam, when, cast from the garden—“Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth.”

A great portion of the soil cultivated by the brethren is sand; cultivation, however, seems to change its nature considerably. In Washington and St. George they have been greatly inconvenienced in consequence of mineral being in the soil. Much of this mineral land is being reclaimed, and the prospects for abundance of fruit are very good. Grape vines planted three or four years ago now bear plentifully, and the extent and breadth of soil for the planting of vineyards, and for raising abundance of other fruit to which that climate is more particularly adapted than this upper region of the basin, are being greatly increased. To look at these little spots one would think that all the land susceptible of cultivation was now occupied, and that there was no room for more; but, by continued labor and expense, additional land may be reclaimed. The dam constructed four years ago for the irrigation of the farms near Washington, situated four miles above the town, has been washed out by the floods; the result will be to some extent disastrous to the cotton crop, and but little, probably, will be planted. The fact is, however, that as soon as the people are able to do it, they can dig canals on each side of the Narrows where this dam has been located, and thus procure a permanent supply of water.

The proposed canals will bring under range of irrigation several thousand more acres of land, which, by being carefully and properly cultivated, will make room for many more settlers. Notwithstanding the many difficulties with which the people have to contend, we found them progressing and feeling warm and warm-hearted. Most of them were sent there as missionaries, and sacrificed good homes and competence in this part of the country to go and assist in building up that mission, and we feel, in relation to them, that they are really the choice children of Israel. The town of St. George is being built up magnificently, many of the houses are of first-class character, their improvements are permanent, and their gardens and vineyards are being cultivated in a very tasteful manner, and its present appearance seems to indicate that at no distant day it will be one of the most delightful spots in creation.

The people who were sent on that mission, and who have remained in the country, are those who are willing to do what is required of them, and determined to fulfil the laws and commandments of God. There are many who thought the country could not be reclaimed, and abandoned it, who are scattered along the road between here and there, and some are now going back to make a beginning. The building of the cotton factory by President Young at Washington has also encouraged the Saints; it is a good building, has excellent machinery, is capable of making considerable yarn, and is calculated to promote the growth of cotton and to render the settlements permanent. We did not visit Kane County, but understood that the settlers there had suffered considerably from floods in the Rio Virgin destroying the dams and washing away fields and orchards. Many of the Saints from Kane County attended Conference at St. George, and rejoiced in the instructions that were given.

I will say that, so far as I am concerned, I was not annoyed during the whole journey by being compelled, or even required by gallantry or common courtesy, to take tea or coffee. The brethren of the party observed the Word of Wisdom in this respect, and wherever we went we found the feeling to do the same general among the people. Some of the brethren who had long been in the habit of chewing tobacco found it unpleasant, but as a general thing they were reflecting on the subject, and were disposed in good faith and with determination to do right. President Young and his brethren were received at every place with demonstrations of joy, gratitude, and pleasure. The meetings were crowded, and every building and bowery we assembled in seemed to be too small. It was astonishing where so many people came from. We realized that our settlements were increasing, and that our institutions were favorable to the increase of population. Still there is room for more, for all were busy and had more than they could do, and there are yet many ways in which labor can be advantageously employed in building towns, cities, schoolhouses, and in making other improvements.

With this view of the subject I can but express my thanks to God for all the drawbacks peculiar to our location here—the mountains, perpetual snows, the deserts, the barren sage plains, the sand hills, the noxious mineral in the soil, and the uncertainty of the climate, for they help to isolate and shelter us from our enemies; for, for some cause, from the time we commenced to preach the principles of the gospel of Christ it has been the fixed determination of our enemies to destroy us, and they have sought every occasion against us. Wherever we have lived we have been law-abiding, still we have been subjected to the power of mobocracy. Mobocrats have robbed us of our inheritances, and have driven us from place to place, but here, while we have to contend with the sand, rebuild our dams, and to irrigate every particle of vegetation that we raise for our sustenance, we are no longer subject to their molestation. Like the fabled fox in the brambles, I rejoice at these difficulties. The fox had been chased by the dogs, and he escaped to the brambles; he found himself in a rather thorny position, but consoled himself with the reflection that though the thorns tore his skin a little they kept off the dogs. So it is with us. These mountains and deserts, with their changeable climate and the great difficulty and immense labor necessary for us to endure and perform in order to sustain ourselves, keep off those who would rob and deprive us of the comforts of life; and every man of reflection who passes through this country is apt to say—“This country is just fit for the Mormons; nobody else wants to live in it.”

To be sure men might come into your garden and partake of your strawberries and other fruits, and seeing what a nice little spot you had made with twenty years of labor, they might say, “had we not better rob them of this,” or “cannot we lay some plan to rob them of this?” There was a person of this kind over in Nevada, who presented a bill to Congress to rob the Latter-day Saints of their inheritances unless they took certain oaths, which no Latter-day Saint could take conscientiously. What does this spirit of robbery amount to? It simply shows the corruption and wickedness of men, and makes us thankful that God has given us this country for an inheritance, that the Saints may attain strength, cultivate virtue, uprighteousness, honesty, and integrity, and maintain themselves as the servants of the Most High.

I have enjoyed myself very much on this tour; we have had very agreeable meetings. During twenty-three days the President preached about nine hours. We had altogether thirty-five meetings It was a very industrious trip. It was pleasant, but the pleasure was hard earned. So far as we learned, the natives were disposed to be friendly, all of them we saw were so, and those who were reported to us were in the same condition. We have hopes that the action of our brethren in gather– ing to stronger positions and living more compactly is calculated to promote peace. Carelessness on the part of the brethren in scattering beyond their settlements with their families and cattle, and thus tempting the wild men of the mountains to come out and rob, plunder, and murder, has been the chief cause of Indian difficulties heretofore. The observance of the counsel and instruction given will put a better face on these matters, and more peaceable times may be anticipated. So far as the hearts of the Saints are concerned, they seemed one. We found no divisions, jarrings, or contentions, but all were struggling to do a great and good work. They rejoiced to see the President and to hear his instructions, and were ready to carry them out.

The brethren and sisters are struggling with all their might to build up the Kingdom of God, enjoy its blessings, and partake of its glory. This is the feeling we found in traveling; we rejoiced in it, and we rejoice in the privilege of returning; and we pray the Father that His peace may be on the Saints, that they may eternally enjoy a fulness of the everlasting gospel, with all its glory, in the celestial kingdom, through Jesus our Redeemer, Amen.

Discourse by Elder George A. Smith, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 7, 1867.

The crowded condition of the Tabernacle this morning, and the reflection that there is a number of persons outside who are so unlucky as to be too late to obtain admittance, reminds us forcibly of the necessity there exists for a vigorous prosecution of the work upon the new Tabernacle, that we may be prepared to accommodate the brethren and sisters with seats, especially during Conference. I expect that by the time our great Tabernacle is finished we shall begin to complain that it is too small, for we have never yet had a building sufficiently large and convenient to accommodate our congregations at Conference times. In fact, “Mormonism” has seemed to flourish best out of doors, where there was more room. This circumstance has worn heavily upon the lungs of our Elders, and especially of the Presidency, who have been under the necessity of speaking to very large audiences in the open air, and it is very important that we should concentrate our efforts to render the new Tabernacle habitable as soon as possible. Should that portion of the inhabitants of this city that naturally ought to attend meeting be punctual on the Sabbath day we should find it too small, and should wish that we had half a dozen galleries capable of holding three or four thousand each, that the people might get somewhere within compass and hear the word of the Lord.

It is written by one of the prophets, that the time should come when there would be a famine in the land; not for bread, nor for water, but for the hearing of the word of the Lord. Hence it is necessary that we should prepare a suitable Tabernacle, that we may be supplied when that day of famine shall arrive. I think that it has existed in the world for a long period, but that very few of the human family have realized it.

There are many subjects which I would like to present before my brethren and sisters which bear with more or less weight upon my mind, and which are directly calculated to concentrate the minds of the people on the “mark” given us by the President to preach to. The Presidency, in their instructions yesterday, brought our minds very clearly to the points which it is proper for us to reflect upon and to exert ourselves to carry out: unity in our action, education, business relations, and in everything pertaining to this world or any other with which we ever will have anything to do.

It has often been reiterated that we are agreed in doctrine—in belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, eternal judgments, and the sacrament. We are agreed almost to a unit on these subjects. The Christian world, for many generations, has been split into atoms on the question of the sacrament. The blood of millions has been shed because some have believed that in consecrating the elements for the sacrament they became the actual flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, while others believed they were but symbols, and that it was simply done in remembrance of him. On these points we are agreed. We are the most remarkable people that ever existed on the earth. I might say that devout men and women out of every nation under heaven are gathered here. What did they come here for? To hear the word of the Lord, to walk in His paths, and to prepare to inherit His glory. Having done so much for our religion is an earnest that we are ready to labor all the rest of our days to obey the word of the Lord which goes forth from Zion. We come here with a great variety of prejudices and with abundance of tradition, but with a great deal of confidence in the principles of the gospel. We are, as it were, in a new world, a desert, a country that is only made fertile by actual labor, and its fertility is only retained by the main strength of its inhabitants. Cease to irrigate our fields, repair our dams, clean out our ditches, and our country becomes a desert again in a quarter of the time that it has taken us to make it. In some respects it is peculiarly fitted to us, for while many of us are interested in one dam, one water ditch, or one stream of water, we are compelled to cultivate a spirit of union and oneness, or the result is we go hungry, and that same spirit of oneness is actually necessary to enable us to fulfil our mission here and for our exaltation hereafter.

The God of Heaven has a mission for every man and woman that He calls into this work. We may hear some names read to the Conference of brethren who are called on a mission, but it is only to another part of the vineyard. We are all on a mission, and every man and woman in this church is under just as much obligation to perform that mission as either the Twelve Apostles or the Presidency—salvation and eternal glory are at stake in each case. If the Presidency or the Twelve fail to perform their mission the result is the same as it is with the least member in the church; it may be in a greater degree, from the fact that there is greater responsibility in one case than in the other.

My mind rolls back to the Spring of the year 1857. You recollect that about ten years ago, some time in July, we got information that the mails were all stopped. We had not had them very often up to that period, not above four or five times a year, but at that time we had got a monthly mail established, and it was running punctually. The news came that the Administration then in power at Washington had stopped the mails, and had determined to send a formidable army to Utah. It looked a rather serious affair, for almost every time of persecution against the Saints had been inaugurated by the stoppage of the mail. As messengers brought in the papers we found that preparations were making to send immense armies to Utah. What for? Why, some renegade of a judge had spread the information that the Utah library was burned, that the court records were all destroyed, and that the people here had declared themselves independent of the United States. In confirmation of this, the Legislature of Utah had sent a petition to the Federal Government asking them to send good men here for officers! That was considered to be very near treason or rebellion, and on that ground our country was to be invaded or occupied by an army. The plains were darkened with wagons, six thousand having been started for Utah by one company, besides several thousands by the Government. There were also swarms of soldiers, and immense numbers of those carrion birds—gamblers and blacklegs, that always follow an army. We well remember this, and we also remember that in the providence of God it was all overruled without the shedding of blood; and how, when they got here, or into the vicinity, they sent on their messenger to ask permission to come in, and to ask for quarters in the country; and how they found, on examination, that the library and records and everything were safe, and the whole thing had been based on falsehood. We remember, too, that when the bottom fell out, the Administration scattered themselves to the four winds of heaven as quick as possible, and got out of the scrape as best they could.

This is well known as a matter of history. But what I wish to dwell upon is, that previous to that time we had exerted ourselves to raise wool. Every man that could was determined to raise sheep, and every woman that could was ready to use a spindle, distaff, or loom, if she could get one, no matter how rude it might be, to manufacture the wool into cloth. Efforts were also made to tan leather and to raise flax. Hundreds of acres of flax, for aught I know, had been cultivated, and it was found to be a success. Since then I have heard men say, “What a blessing it was to the people of Utah when that army came, it made them so rich.” How did it make us rich? You got their old iron, and that put a stop to the manufacture of iron here; you got the rags they brought here to sell, and that put a stop to our home manufactures; hence I do not think that, financially, our condition was much improved. The Government is said to have expended forty millions in bringing that army to Utah and in establishing Camp Floyd; yet most of it went into the hands of speculators, and very little into the hands of the actual settlers of this country.

I do believe, however, that if the little means then accumulated by the people had been used with wisdom it would have resulted in permanent benefit to the community, but as it turned out it educated us into the idea that we must buy what we needed from abroad. In 1857, I could get the flax I raised worked up; folks would take care of it. In the spring of 1858, I put into the hands of a man four and a half bushels of flax seed, gave him a good piece of land, and told him there was a chance for him to raise a fine crop of flax. The first thing I knew about it was that the flax was gathered, but the man told he had not time to attend to it; he had been to Camp Floyd trading a little, he had let it all rot, but nobody would swingle, break, or work it out, because it was so much easier and cheaper to do some kind of trading and get a little of something out of the store. Now, had we, when means came into our hands, at that period or any other, taken the advice given, and invested it in machinery, we should not only have been able to supply our future wants at home, but should have kept plenty of money in our own country.

To show you the zeal with which the authorities of the church have endeavored to promote home manufactures, I have only to refer you to the establishment of the mission in Southern Utah. It was a barren desolate country, and possessed of but a small amount of soil adapted to raising cotton. When President Young sent brethren on that mission he said, “You will yet see cotton cloth sold in this city for a dollar a yard.” Who on the face of the earth believed him? Said the people, “You are a prophet, we guess, but you are mistaken this time.” But how long was it before his words were verified? Only a short time. He immediately started a cotton factory here and another at Parowan, and brother Houtz started one at Springville. These mills have been in operation almost from that day to this, and have turned out a great many thousand bunches of cotton yarn. Besides that, a great deal has been worked up by hand, and a good many machines called plantation spinners have been brought in for that purpose. All this cotton, besides a considerable quantity which has been sent to San Francisco and to the States, and sold at paying rates, has been raised in this Territory; and yet men will come along and tell you that the cotton mission was a failure. What could we have done if it had not been established? I tell, you, brethren and sisters, that thousands would have gone naked if God had not showered down clothing to us as He did manna to the children of Israel. Still, some say, “It cost a great deal to start the mission, and the brethren do not get rich, but many of them are still very poor.” Did we come into this church to make money and to get fine clothes, or to work out our salvation by establishing and building up the kingdom of God? As Elders of Israel and as Saints the latter is our mission; and our effort from the beginning to the present time has been to render the kingdom of God self-sustaining. The way to do so has been portrayed before us, and the question with each one of us ought to be—“What can I do for the greatest advancement of Israel?”

Some two years, or a year and a half ago, the President gave instructions to every one of the Bishops to sow a piece of rye in order to supply the sisters with rye straw to make hats for the men and bonnets for themselves. Had that been carried out by the Bishops and the sisters in good faith there would have been in this hall today two thousand ladies wearing homemade straw hats, the work of their own hands; and the ladies without them would most certainly have been out of the fashion, for fashion has much influence in this matter. I only use this as a figure, but had this counsel been carried out the result would have been a saving probably of ten thousand dollars that could have been used for the construction of machinery and for the purchase of actual necessaries, and the ladies would have learned a trade they could have worked at hereafter in case of necessity.

Talk to the people about raising sheep and manufacturing the wool, and they will tell you that it is cheaper to buy clothing. Yet, down street, the cry is “nothing doing,” “no trade;” and a good deal of the time the business portions of the city are almost as quiet as the tombs of Herculaneum. What is the cause of this? Why the people have no money; those who had no more brains than to do so have paid all they could afford to the merchants, and they cannot find money to make further purchases. What is to be done under these circumstances? Why, you must go to work and raise wheat and give it to them for their goods, at six bits or a dollar a bushel, and give them double measure, because it is too dear to keep sheep and encourage home manufactures.

Brethren, let us be one, henceforth, and go to work and make good pastures, stables, and sheepcotes, and feed and take care of our sheep instead of starving them to death on the hills or leaving them to be destroyed by the wolves; then we will have twelve or fifteen pounds of wool from each one, instead of the barebacked animals, so common now that we might suppose they never had any wool within a mile of them. Instead of having hundreds and thousands of heads of stock dying on the ranges let us try and realize that we live in a cold northern climate, at a high altitude, and that our stock need shelter and food in the winter, and that if we suffer them to perish through cold and hunger we are responsible to God for the cruelty we inflict upon those animals. The grand juries in any county ought to take these things into consideration, and indict such parties for cruelty to animals, provided a majority could be found on any grand jury who are not guilty of the same practices. You may go to almost any place in this county and find milk cows half starved and without shelter, freezing and shivering in the cold, and giving about a quart of milk that is not fit for the hogs; you may also find cows that are fed decently, with a nice, fine, full udder. Which pays the best? “We let our cattle perish, because it does not pay to feed them.” Such notions are ridiculous. If we take care of and feed them we will find it will pay, and if we do not keep so many we will not be guilty of murdering, starving, freezing, and torturing to death so much animal flesh that God has placed under our charge. I expect the people will want to know why I do not keep to the “mark,” but I have got after the cattle and sheep.

I travel about occasionally, and sometimes, when I want food or a night’s lodging, I call at the house of a brother, who is probably of long standing in the Church, and who is raising a family of fine children. Now, a part of that man’s mission is to educate those children, to form their tastes, to cultivate their talents, and make a kingdom of holy men and women of them—a kingdom of priests unto God. But what has he got there to do it with? If you ask for a Book of Mormon, he will probably hand you one that old age seems long since to have passed its final veto upon, and if you undertake to pick it up you would say, “it stinks so that I cannot.” I do not know that there are many such Elders, but if there should happen to be one here, it would be well for him to reflect that right here at the Deseret News printing office br. Kelly has the standard works of the Church for sale, and I would like every Elder in Israel to place a full set of them in the hands of his children; but especially, and above all others, the Bible, Book of Mormon, and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. I want to find them in every house. And when I go to a meetinghouse to preach I want the Bishop to have them on the stand, and the better they are bound and the nicer they look the more they please me. I do not wish to see these sacred books so dirty that you cannot read them, nor so shattered by time and bad usage that you cannot find a passage you wish to read because it is torn out. Where there are meetinghouses without them I recommend, if necessary, that collections be taken up to procure them. When stopping at the houses of the brethren, instead of the works of the Church I will probably find “Cresswell’s Eulogy on the Life of Henry Winter Davis.” “How did this get here?” I inquire. “Oh, why, br. Hooper sent it, and it is a very nice work,” is the reply. “Have you the Juvenile Instructor?” “No.” “Why, your children are big enough to read it, and it is one of the finest written things imaginable, and there is scarcely a syllable in it but what is useful. How do you manage to keep your children at home without something to interest them? Do you take the Deseret News?” “No, they stopped publishing the sermons, so I concluded that I would do without it.” “Do you take the Daily Tele-graph?” “I did take it, but I did not pay for it, and the editor got out of patience at having to furnish it for nothing, and he stopped it. I felt insulted, and would not take it any more.” “Do you send to the States for books?” “No.” So the children are learning nothing at all, and the only chance for them to have a little excitement is to get some corn and play at three men morris.

Brethren, make your homes attractive. Procure the Deseret News and the Juvenile Instructor, and let your children read the sermons and articles printed there, and read them yourselves, you are none of you too old to learn. If you want light reading do not send to the States for it, but support that which is got up here. “Well, really, br. Smith, I cannot afford it.” Cannot afford it? How much does your tobacco cost you a year? That nasty, filthy stuff, the use of which is in violation of the laws of God, reason, good sense, and decency, and which makes your wife an eternal amount of work, cleaning up after you. That alone costs you enough in the year to furnish your children schoolbooks and to pay their school bills.

I really believe there is enough money paid out among us for tobacco to support all the schools in the Territory. A good many of our brethren are like the man who was making up his outfit for the gold mines. Said he, “I will take fifty pounds of flour and ten gallons of whiskey.” What else? “I will take ten pounds of tobacco.” What more? “Some more whiskey.” I am sorry to say that some of our Elders, some of the very men whose school bills are unpaid, use this whiskey. I can have a great deal of patience with tea and coffee, because they do not kill a man outright, but whiskey makes a dog of him at once; and there are probably men in this room whose liquor costs them forty, fifty, or a hundred dollars a year. Madmen! Shame on such Elders in Israel! Tobacco is bad enough; its excessive use will shorten a man’s life about ten years, but whiskey degrades him far lower than the brutes. “O,” a man will say, “the Bishop drinks a little, and if it is good for him it must be good for me.” Says the little boy, “Dad chews tobacco, and if it is good for dad it is for me.” Suppose, brethren, that we make a general reformation in these things. Says one, “I drink only homemade liquor.” For my part I do not care what kind you drink, nor where it comes from, I want all men in Israel to let it alone.

I was proud the other day at a little notice of the “Mormons” that I was reading. It said that if you saw a man drunk in Salt Lake City, it was invariably a “Gentile.” It is a good deal so, but a great many of our brethren are on the road to ruin through drink, if not in this city in other places. Men think they need it, but they do not. There is something about whiskey like tobacco—it makes its own appetite. You drink one glass, and when the time for it comes around you want another, and by and by you cannot do without it. I have seen strong men in Israel nervous and trembling like children because their hour for drink had gone by. Such men die a shame and disgrace. Let us stamp it under our feet, and have nothing more to do with it. When a person is sick, weak, and feeble, spirits, probably, may be advantageously used to wash his body, but the practice now is to wash the inside of the body. Away with such nonsense, and shame on the Elders of Israel that are found patronizing it. The curse of the Almighty will rest on the men and the money that established this business in Israel, as sure as the God of Israel reigns. Of all the varied avocations in life, I should consider the superintendence of a liquor shop the most degrading.

But I want to come back to our oneness in wintering our stock and sheep. We will suppose that in Salt Lake City the practice of sending abroad for their goods, hats, caps, boots, shoes, and clothing becomes quite general among the people, while in the little county of Davis the Bishop and the people put their mites together and establish a woollen factory, attend to the cultivation of flax, and take care of the sheep, and do everything they can to live on home products, even to the wearing of straw hats and banners of their own manufacture. What would be the result? The result would be that while the people of Salt Lake City would be living from hand to mouth, the people of Davis County would, in a few years, be able to buy the Territory. If, as a Territory, we adopted this policy, we would soon have, not only money enough to buy our land, but anything on the face of the earth that is necessary for our enjoyment, and for the accomplishment of the great work in which we are engaged.

A few years ago, you know, the counsel given to Israel was to put our grain in our bins, and not to sell unless we could obtain a fair remunerative price for it. Had that counsel been adhered to what would have been the result? There would have been no scarcity of bread, and our grain would have commanded any price in reason that we might have asked for it. A great many kept the counsel given, but we were not united in the matter. One would undersell another, until large quantities of our grain have gone into the hands of merchants and speculators, at any price they had a mind to give, and the whole community have been in– jured thereby. May the Lord bless all Israel. Amen.

By Elder George A. Smith, delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, General Conference, Oct. 8, 1865.

It is somewhat of an undertaking to address so large an assembly. I bear my testimony to the truth of the restoration of the everlasting Gospel and this Work which God has commenced in these latter days.

It has been the earnest desire of my heart, from the time I received the ordinance of baptism in 1832, to be able to fulfil my duties as a Saint, and to perform those things which were required of me as an individual—to watch over myself and keep out of mischief; that I might be prepared, when my work is accomplished on the earth, to inherit the blessings and glory of that King in whose service I am enlisted. I presume that a large proportion of the Saints have kept these things in mind, though I am astonished when I reflect upon the great number with whom I have been acquainted that are not now to be found, and of whom we have no report only that they have gone off this, that, or the other way.

This reminds us of the parable of the sower that went forth to sow, as described by our Savior; some of the good seed fell among thorns, and they grew up and choked it; some fell by the way side, and the fowl, gathered it up; some fell upon stony ground where it had not much depth of earth, and it came up quickly, and when the sun was up it was scorched and withered away; and some fell upon good ground and brought forth thirty, sixty, and an hundredfold. This is the substance of the parable, and the kingdom of God in the last days is certainly very much like unto it.

Among the great number who have entered into the fold of Christ, by baptism, few have remained faithful to the present time. There were men among us whose hearts were faint—who felt that it would not do to gather here, because, peradventure, it was the greatest undertaking of any age. To attempt to settle a whole people, situated as we were, in the midst of a howling desert a thousand miles from supplies, was too great an undertaking in the eyes of many, and they dared not risk it. It required faith, courage, energy, daring, and perseverance, almost beyond description, to lead a people into the heart of the great American desert and establish settlements. We now see travelers arrive here by stage, who are proud of the achievement of having crossed the Rocky Mountains. It required a people full of faith, energy, and devotion to the cause of God, and a willingness to abide every counsel given by the servants of God, to come here; and also required a large amount of faith, patience, energy, self-denial, and long-suffering to stay when they got here.

I presume it was over three years after we came before a score of men in the valleys ever believed that an apple, peach, or plum could be grown here, and when the few men who had the faith and the determination to set an example began to produce their peaches, plums, and apples, and exhibit them, many opened their eyes with astonishment. Who on the face of the earth would think that at an altitude of four thousand four hundred feet above the level of the sea, and in latitude nearly forty-one, and near the southern limit of the isothermal line, such nicely flavored, delicate fruit could be raised!

We came to this land because it was so desert, desolate, and Godforsaken that no mortal upon earth ever would covet it; but as Colonel Fremont reported that at the mouth of Bear River, in the early part of August, his thermometer stood at 29 degrees Fah., three degrees below freezing point, which would kill grain, fruit, or vegetables, our enemies said, “You Mormons may go there and welcome,” chuckling to each other over what seemed to them our annihilation. We had been driven several times; our homes had been devastated both in Missouri and Illinois; we had been robbed of everything, and some came here with the little that they gathered up from the smoking ruins of their habitations. The priests sent compliments to each other rejoicing that those “Mormons” (who had been making the people acquainted with the principles of the Gospel by teaching them that the Bible meant what it said) had gone into the heart of a desert, never more to be heard of, for the Indians would destroy and grim want would consume them. The newspapers recorded the joy and gratification felt at the utter end of “Mormonism.” Governor Thomas Ford wrote as follows in the title page of his History of Illinois—“An account of the rise, pro– gress, and FALL of Mormonism.” Notwithstanding, however, the many drawbacks and difficulties encountered in the shape of drouth, crickets, grasshoppers, and the cold, sterile climate, the Spirit of the Lord was hovering over the Great Basin; as linguists tell us the Spirit of the Lord brooded over the face of the waters anciently, so it brooded over the Great Basin and the climate became genial and soft. I never was at the crossing of the Sevier River in summer, for seven years after our settlements in Iron County had been established, without experiencing frost; and now the Sevier valley produces luxuriant fields of grain and vegetables in the season thereof, in every place where the water has been taken out from the mouth of that river to the head of it, nearly nine thousand feet above the level of the sea. Who has done this? God and the Saints have done it! The Saints have had faith and walked over the land with the Holy Priesthood upon them and blessed and dedicated it to the Lord, and have labored according to the counsels of God, and the work has been accomplished.

To have told the Mountaineers ten years ago that grain could be raised in the upper valleys of the Weber, where they encountered heavy frosts every month in summer, would have incurred their ridicule; but the genial influence of the Spirit of the Almighty has softened the rigor of the climate, and the flourishing counties of Morgan and Summit are the result.

In 1853, an expedition went out from Provo City after some Indians that had stolen stock. They went up the Provo River and encamped near where the city of Heber now stands, in the middle of summer. On their return they reported to me that they were nearly frozen, and that much of the wild vegetation was killed by the severity of the weather, and that it would be useless ever to attempt to raise grain there. I suppose that Provo valley, this season, with all its losses, will raise not less than thirty thousand bushels of grain and vegetables. With a little reflection we can readily perceive that the Lord God of Israel has blessed these mountains and valleys, which have been dedicated and set apart by His servants for the gathering together of His people and the establishment of His latter-day work upon the earth.

Go to Pottawatomie, Iowa; Nauvoo, Illinois; or Kirtland, Ohio, and ask for apples and peaches, and you will find them few and far between. In February, 1857, I visited my former field of labor in Western Virginia, and inquired of an old friend for fruit; his reply was, “My peach trees are all killed, and I have not been able to raise any peaches for six years.” Have you any good apples? “Not an apple that is fit to eat; our trees are all diseased, and many of them have perished.” This condition of things was very general. It is so wherever the Saints have lived and been driven away—their glory has departed to return no more, until the land is dedicated and consecrated to God and occupied by the Saints.

We had to produce the necessaries of life from the ground, for we had not the means to send abroad eleven hundred miles to purchase. In a short time after the Pioneers settled this country, some twenty-five thousand pilgrims to the land of gold passed through this Great Basin; a large portion of them came here destitute, and they are indebted to the inhabitants of these settlements for the preservation of their lives.

California is indebted to the Latter-day Saints for its present greatness. We opened its gold mines, explored its country, explored and made the three principal roads leading there, and ran the first ship load of Ameri– can emigrants into the port of San Francisco, then called Yerba Buena. We are the men that developed the resources of the Pacific Coast, and then we fed those tens of thousands passing through to that land, who would have starved and perished on the deserts had we not provided them with bread while they traveled the roads we made, to go to the mines.

The passengers on board the ship Brooklyn not only brought to the Pacific Coast their valuable library, but a printing press, which they established at Yerba Buena—now San Francisco, and from which was issued the California Star in 1847-8. We are the Pioneers of the great West. The Latter-day Saints established the first printing press in Western Missouri, the Evening and Morning Star, published at Independence in 1832-3, and the Upper Missouri Advertiser, in 1833, by W. W. Phelps. After the destruction of the printing office by the mob, the press was removed to Liberty, and was for years used to print the only newspaper printed west of Booneville, Mo., excepting the Elder’s Journal, published for a short time in Far West.

We were the Pioneer settlers of Western Iowa, making the road and bridging the streams from the vicinity of Keeosaqua to the Missouri River, nearly three hundred miles. We established the first paper at Council Bluffs, published by Elder Orson Hyde, entitled the Frontier Guardian, in 1848-9 and 50.

The Omaha Arrow, published by Joseph E. Johnson, was the first paper published in Nebraska, who subsequently published the Huntsman’s Echo at Wood River.

We introduced the culture of wheat and fruit in Western Missouri and Iowa, improved agriculture in California, and developed the resources of these mountains, making the roads and showing men how to travel them safely.

While all this has been done for our country, and we have comparatively tamed the savage and held in check his wild and bloodthirsty nature, that the inhabitants of the world could travel across the deserts without being robbed and murdered, we have been the subject of vile scandal, simply because our religious views were different from those of the hireling clergy who occupy the pulpits of Christendom. We taught that men should preach the Gospel without purse or scrip—preach it freely; and a man who depended upon a congregation for a salary by which to obtain his black coat and fit-out, was ready to denounce preaching without purse and scrip as a heresy; why? Because it would reduce him to the necessity of going to some useful calling, instead of making merchandise of the Gospel, which God has made free. It endangered his bread and butter; and thus priestcraft has raised a constant howl that the Mormons were leagued with the Indians. Why? Because we crossed the plains and the Indians did not rob us. The reason the Latter-day Saints crossed the plains and the Indians did not rob them was, they organized their companies, camped in order, kept up guards, treated the Indians with kindness and respect, seeking no quarrel with them, and passed right along. When the Indians look down from the hills on one of our trains and see it camped, they know it is a “Mormon” train; they see a nice corral, and a guard out with the cattle who are carefully attending to their duty. When they come up they get a kind word. When night comes the “Mormons” kneel down to pray; they do not blaspheme the name of God. The Indians see all this and conclude not to interrupt that company, for they might get hurt—the “Mormons” having always provided their companies with sufficient arms for protection. That is the way the Latter-day Saints travel through these mountains uninterrupted. How is it with others? They would organize a company on the frontiers, travel a while in that condition, quarrel who should be captain, and divide into five or six squads; and by the time they got to the Sierra Nevada there would be only two families together, and they would divide their wagon and make it into two carts, and separate, if they were not afraid of the Indians. This way of scattering presents a temptation to the red men which is really very hard for them to resist, for these plains cannot boast of being safer than the streets of New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, where millions are expended to pay police to guard and protect the property and lives of white men from the depredations of white men.

We can but have a deep feeling of sympathy when we realize the grievous afflictions that have befallen our common country. We look at the cause. When the Latter-day Saints organized their first settlements in Missouri—when they undertook to lay the foundation of Zion, although there was no charge which could be brought against them for violating any law, constitutional or moral, yet, because they introduced a new system of religion, the hireling clergy, the priestcraft of the world, arose against them to destroy them. As Governor Dunklin, of Missouri, said, “There are ample provisions in the Constitution and laws of the State to protect you, but the prejudice is so great among the people against you, that it is impossible to enforce these laws.” There is a great deal said about the origin of the trouble between the North and the South; some said it was the almighty negro; but the fact is, the people did not respect the Constitution of our country; for the Latter-day Saints were driven in violation thereof from Jackson County to Clay, and from Clay to Caldwell and Davis counties, and then from the State of Missouri to Illinois, and from Illinois to the Rocky Mountains, robbed and plundered of their property, their women ravished, their leaders murdered, and there was not a solitary man arose to enforce the laws or the Constitution in our defense. When the President of the United States was applied to, all he would say was, “Your cause is just, but we can do nothing for you.” As soon as the Saints had found a shelter in the Rocky Mountains, this feeling of lawlessness went rampant throughout the Union. Men despised the statutes and the laws with which they were bound, and it was mob upon mob, army against army, until the whole country has been deluged in blood and creped in mourning. When will the nation repent of these follies and maintain those institutions God has introduced for the perfection of mankind? When will they hold the Constitution sacred and inviolable, and seek no longer to prostitute it for the destruction of the innocent? Until this is done they may expect to see sorrow and woe, which will increase upon their heads until they shall repent.

Brethren, we should consider these things within ourselves. We commenced to make our settlements here under these circumstances, and here we have found a shelter. It has been a home for the oppressed, and a shelter to everybody that desired rest. The weary traveler has had a chance here to refresh himself and enjoy the blessings that are to be enjoyed in these valleys, and no man’s rights have ever been trampled upon.

It is true we have had a species of animals pass through here that Alfred Cumming, in imitation of General Zachary Taylor, used to call “Camp poicks,” newspaper reporters, who, Cumming declared, prostituted not only the body but the soul, by selling themselves for a penny-a-line to lie; publishing their lies to the world as scandal upon the heads of the Saints. They come here and drink of the mountain water, partake of fine potatoes, and turnips, and luscious strawberries, and feast upon the fruits of the valleys—the products of our industry—and then go off and defame the people, and try to get armies sent here to destroy the Saints. We care very little about these things; but when that species of animals appear among us, we look upon them as we do upon a serpent; we calculate they intend to bite, and all we ask of them is, to do as they generally have done, tell such big lies that nobody in their right senses can believe them.

We have had another class of animals in the shape of Federal Officials. We have had fifty-eight of them, part of whom came here and conducted themselves like gentlemen; but we have had one thing always to consider, with one or two exceptions—very honorable ones—they have scarcely ever sent anybody here that could get a place anywhere else. If they could get an appointment in any other Territory, or a magistracy in the District of Columbia, or a clerkship in a Department, or the appointment of a weigher or gauger in the Custom House, they would never come to Utah. Coming to Utah was the last thing and the last place for a man perfectly desperate for the want of an office. As the Secretary of State said when he sent Perry E. Brochus here to be judge, he had to send him somewhere to get him “out of the way;” and when he would not stay here, he was immediately sent to New Mexico.

We have generally known what the qualification of men was, and un– derstood it precisely when they came. Their qualification generally was that they had performed some dirty work for some successful politician. A few that have come here have done as well as they knew how, with a mediocrity of talent—that is, if they had bright talents they seldom displayed them; and the majority of them come in here, open their eyes (putting one in mind of chickens just come through the eggshell, when they get a sight of the light for the first time), and exclaim, “There are awful things here! Tremendous things here!” and they begin to make reports, and print and publish them, go off to California and write for a year in succession there, drawing their salaries to report how things are in Utah. All these things we have had to encounter; but our industry, our economy and prudence, our loyalty, and our firm and determined adherence to the Constitution of the United States, have carried us through the whole of it.

The administration of President Buchanan brought the power of the Government to bear against us. The traitor, General A. S. Johnston, was sent with what was then called by Secretary Floyd the best appointed army that was ever fitted out by this Government since its formation. General Scott issued orders to keep the troops massed and in hand, the supply trains to be kept with the main body of the army. The newspaper press of the country asserted that this army was to cause the blood of the Elders and Saints to flow in the streets of Great Salt Lake City. The mails being stopped, and the ordinary sources of communication closed, it was supposed the “Mormons” would be ignorant of the movements until the army came upon them like a thunder cloud. The Governorship was tendered to a number who were unwilling to come out with a formidable army, but were willing to come without. Benjamin McCullough, of Texas, declined the honor on the ground that a confirmed old bachelor ought not to interfere with polygamy. Colonel Alfred Cumming accepted the office, and his appointment was hailed with general acclamation by the enemies of Utah, as he was considered a man of desperate character, who had on one occasion compelled even Jeff. Davis to apologize. When Governor Cumming arrived here and investigated the matter, he was satisfied that the Administration had been duped, and he made official reports to Washington that the charges against the Saints were totally unfounded, and the Administration let the whole matter fizzle out, and Uncle Sam, the generous old gentleman, had to submit to his pocket being picked to the tune of about forty millions of dollars—the cost of the Utah expedition.

The lies upon which the Administration had acted were, that we had driven the judges from the country, had burned the Utah Library and the records of the courts of the Territory. When the matter was investigated it was discovered that the judges had gone off to the gold mines, where they could get some feet, or on other speculations, where they stayed until their time was out, not forgetting, however, to draw their salaries. The Library and court records, never having been disturbed, were found all right.

I have been truly astonished at the character and conduct of a large portion of the Government officials we have been brought in contact with. One of them, Governor Harding, was presented by the grand jury of the 3rd Judicial District of the United States Court as a nuisance, and he was removed by Mr. Lincoln’s Administration immediately after.

Whenever a bill is presented before Congress to benefit the people of Utah in any way, it is generally referred to a committee, and there it dies. What is the reason? There is not a man in either House of Congress that dares to record a vote calculated to favor the people of Utah, for the mass of the inhabitants here are “Mormons.” It is admitted that we have established ourselves in the desert under the most trying circumstances, making a half-way house for travelers between the Mississippi and the Pacific, rendering it safe to establish mail and telegraph lines; but the member who would record a vote in favor of this people in any way, the first thing he would hear would be his denunciation in every pulpit of his district by the black-coated gentry, and that would make his political grave. I sympathize with that class of men, as many of them otherwise would be willing to extend the same privileges, donations of land to settlers, means to erect public buildings, open highways, and sustain schools, as to other Territories.

We have never had one dollar from any source to aid in the cause of edu– cation. We have built our schoolhouses, hired our school teachers, paid the school bills for our poor—have done everything that has been done in education, without one dollar of encouragement from the parent Government. I have been astonished at this. I suppose it is the policy of the Government to extend the facilities of education, but it has not been done here; not one solitary dime has been received by Utah, while millions upon millions have gone into the treasuries of other states and Territories for school purposes from the Federal Government.

This is the freest people on the face of the earth. By a faithful observance of the laws and Constitution of our country, and by obedience to the principles of our holy religion, we can enjoy the greatest amount of freedom.

The foundation has been laid, and the building will be erected upon it. God is at the helm, and no power can destroy his kingdom.

May God bless us, and enable us to fulfill our high destiny, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Remarks made by Elder George A. Smith, in the Bowery, General Conference, Great Salt Lake City, Oct. 7, 1865.

It is with very great pleasure that I have listened to the instructions and counsels of my brethren at this Conference. In fact, the season of Conference is a period of reflection with me. It is eighteen years ago yesterday when the first October Conference was held in this valley under the shade of a hay stack, and it served an abundant means of shading all that attended. As we are here assembled now, it would require an extensive hay stack to create a shade sufficient to accommodate the assembly, and there is but a very small representation here from the settlements of the Territory, though there are considerable numbers from some of them—trains of fifty or sixty wagons loaded with persons to attend Conference. Those of us who are in this city, and who have not had the privilege of traveling through the settlements, can form very little comprehension of the extent, strength, and population of the Territory, and of the amount of labor, toil, and the results of that toil and labor which are progressing throughout.

President Young has devoted a large portion of his time since last Conference, associated with a number of Elders, in traveling and visiting the Saints. He has visited, perhaps, one-half of them, after traveling about eighteen hundred miles. Our Territory is said to be sparsely set– tled, but our location renders it necessary that wherever a settlement exists it shall be of considerable size, in order to carry out the necessary arrangements for protection and cultivation. It is seldom that a small settlement can do this successfully. I have been pleased with the suggestions offered by President Hyde in relation to the better cultivation of the soil; for when we go to the expense of taking out water, of keeping up dams, making requisite canals, repairing tunnels and smaller ditches and water sects, it would seem really sound policy that every foot of land thus watered, in order to make it effective, should be cultivated in the best possible manner. If the Lord had seen proper to send rains from heaven to water our lands sufficiently and gratuitously as in other places, we might spread over the land and cultivate the soil without so much labor on our part. If the suggestions which have been made are duly considered and applied throughout the Territory, the result will be the production of from one to three times more of the necessaries of life on the same area.

So far as the unity of the people is concerned, I have felt to rejoice the past season; I have accompanied the President this summer, except when on his last trip to Cache Valley, during which I was on a journey to the South with Elder Amasa Lyman. We held twenty-four meetings. It is really an expressive and singular incident that we live to visit so many climates inhabited by Saints in so short a time. We passed near the snow region in July, went directly into a semi-torrid zone to see the effects of all the changes in this variety of climate, thermometer at Washington 110 degrees in the shade, all within our own borders. Our settlements may be compared to a thrifty tree, throwing out annually a new growth more extended and more vigorous. While President Young and company passed on south, Elders F. D. Richards and A. M. Musser took another direction through the new counties of Sevier, Piute, and Kane, through a chain of new settlements never before visited, only in part, by some of the Twelve, visiting on their route some 600 families. It is really astonishing to reflect that such an extent of settlements have been thrown out. We have been gratified very much with the efforts and exertions made by our brethren who were sent on missions to our cotton region in opening and enlarging the settlements there. They have met with many difficulties of which their northern brethren have very little conception. The soil along their streams in many places is composed of such loose material that it is almost impossible to carry a water ditch through it for irrigation, the soil of the banks dissolving in the water like sugar in coffee; dams are washed away by frequent bursting of clouds. You may take the best fields in the vicinity of St. George, and the annual expense of keeping up their canals and dams for irrigation has been 15 dollars per acre, and yet the courage, energy, perseverance, and diligence of the brethren have not failed, but they continue to construct dams, and contend with the natural obstacles that lie in their way to the permanent improvement of the country. This perseverance, which will eventually bring forth an abundant supply of the needful staples which can be successfully produced in that climate, is very commendable; to support themselves by producing their own breadstuff is true political economy. Notwithstanding the number of mechanics sent there, they have not sufficient to supply the wants of the people. There are many towns without a blacksmith, plasterer, mason, or carpenter. A considerable number of these could find employment and make themselves good homes in many of the southern settlements. We would direct the minds of the brethren to this item.

There is much land that can be cultivated in wheat with flood water that cannot be made to produce cotton, in consequence of drouth later in the season. The raising of bread this year has not interfered to any great extent with the culture of cotton, the supply of which has been greater than last year; and two-thirds of breadstuff necessary has been produced to supply the inhabitants, the other third must be brought from the north. Many vineyards have come into bearing, and extensive new vineyards have been planted, and the efforts at cultivating more breadstuffs have proven successful; and if the brethren continue their efforts, an ample supply will be produced for home consumption without materially lessening the breadth cultivated in cotton and vines. While my brethren are contending with these obstacles I sympathize with them, and rejoice when I see them victorious. As I passed through the mineral lots in St. George I saw their barren aspect, and saw the men working on them to conquer those combined chemical elements which eat up everything that grows, and though the rocks and fences of sandstones were dissolving before them, yet men are conquering this soil and making it produce. Nearly three-fourths of all the fruit trees planted in St. George have been unsuccessful, yet the place is looking like the Garden of Eden, showing that perseverance, faith, and energy will conquer everything. It is a delightful and pleasant locality. I name these things because we are interested in them, and wish the brethren to realize that those brethren on that mission have spent the accumulated property of many years, and many of them are successful; some are yet struggling to make a start, and it is with them as the old adage has it, while the grass grows the cow starves; but they are not discouraged; their eyes look bright, their spirit is determined, and I was pleased to hear Elder Snow speak of the good spirit they felt, and that they were determined to overcome. A people possessed of such great energy, aided by the ready cooperation of their brethren in the north, are bound to conquer that desert, and not only make it blossom as the rose, but make one of the most delightful regions of the earth. I would suggest to all persons who go there to fulfil what is required of them, and not forget that it is necessary to carry the staff of life with them, that those that are there, and those that are going, may be provided with ample supplies of bread; it is better to have a little over when the next harvest comes than to go two or three weeks without bread. May the blessings of God be upon Zion, and may her cords be lengthened and her stakes strengthened, that she may be blessed continually with that wisdom, knowledge, and intelligence that guide the head and inspire the body. We are improving in everything; we must continue to improve until the light of life shines throughout the whole earth; for our business is to be like a city set upon a hill, or a candle set upon a table, to illuminate the earth, and bring all to a knowledge of the truth, life, and peace. May God enable us to be so is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Remarks by Elder George A. Smith, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, Sunday, Jan. 22, 1865.

We have heard a very practical discourse this afternoon from Elder Woodruff, one which is calculated to cause all persons to consider for themselves whether they are pursuing such a course as is in accordance with the law of righteousness, instead of following the wickedness spoken of which exists in the world. Considerable has been said on various occasions to show us that great efforts have been made to teach the principles of religion, and to make known to the children of men what they should do to be saved; but professing Christians have unfortunately become very much divided in their opinions as to the proper way of obtaining this salvation. “And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things.” Such is the record of Luke of the last commandment given by the Savior of mankind to his Apostles when they went forth to preach the Gospel, and communicate to the human family a knowledge of the way by which they could be saved. He commanded that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name, among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. “And,” said he, “ye are witnesses of these things.” The witnesses were the Apostles sent forth to deliver the message entrusted to them, and to administer the ordinances by which salvation could be attained. “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.”

Now, when these Apostles—these witnesses—went forth, in obedience to the injunction of their Master, they preached repentance to the people; they called upon the human family to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, bearing testimony, as they were witnesses, that it behooved Christ to suffer and rise again from the dead, that the way might be opened for the human family to obtain a remission of their sins. Let us inquire what they taught. The very first lesson, as we find it recorded by the same writer, Luke, after the Apostles had borne testimony of the coming of the Savior, of his death and resurrection, to the representatives of the various nations assembled at Jerusalem on the feast of Pentecost—a testimony which excited so much interest as to cause an outcry among them of, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”—the very first lesson was, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” This, the first delivered message to the nations of the earth, after the ascension of the Savior, that we have any record of, was plain and simple—easily comprehended and easily obeyed. But in a few generations after, we find that those plain and simple doctrines—the doctrines of repentance and the remission of sins through the ordinance of baptism, and the doctrines which they continued to preach of the laying on of hands and the ministration and power of the Holy Ghost, which the Savior promised should be a comforter and should teach and instruct and lead those who received it into all truth—we find that those doctrines became unpopular. The Apostles foresaw this, in their warnings to the children of men, and cried out, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Look through the writings of these holy men, and you will find them replete with prophecies concerning the degeneracy of mankind in the last days. They declared that, “Men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of god– liness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away;” and furthermore, “The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” This is prophecy—history reversed. In the writings of the Apostle Peter, we find these prophetic warnings repeated, and if we search what is called Church History, we find the result in exact conformity with the declarations made. In the year 1830, such was the condition of the world. Take a Bible in your pocket, at that time, and go into any of the large cities in Christendom—the city of London for instance—and inquire, as you enter a large edifice devoted to religious worship, what church is this? “This is St. Paul’s;” and this? “This is St. Peter’s;” and this? “St. Jude’s;” and so on. Have you any apostles here? I find they were set in the Church, according to the Bible I have in my pocket. “Oh, no; they are all done away.” Have you any prophets? “No; they are all done away.” Have you any inspired men here? “No; they are all done away.” Do you baptize in water here for the remission of sins? “Oh dear, no; we sprinkle babies when they are brought here; but baptism for the remission of sins is no longer needed.”

If you had searched through Christendom, you would have found this to be the condition of affairs, religiously, among professing Christians, when God in his abundant mercy sent forth from the heavens an angel “having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.” When this angel delivered his message to Joseph Smith, to lay the foundation of the Church upon the original basis, it was as the prophet Isaiah describes it, in language which some would be inclined to say had been written quite recently, if they did not believe in prophecy. “Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word. The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.”

Here is set forth, in the utmost plainness, why this great destruction, this utter cleaning out of wickedness, should be; because mankind had “transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.” The storm of desolation and destruction has barely commenced; and all who would avoid it must come back to the original platform, beginning with faith, repentance, and baptism for the remission of sins, and live according to the principles of that Gospel that was revealed from heaven, with apostles and prophets, with powers and blessings, accompanied by the gifts of wisdom, of knowledge and understanding, to bless, and save, and exalt mankind, and which will spread among the honest in heart of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ. May God bless us, and enable us to live worthy the high honor of being associated with such a work and participants in its blessings, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Delivered by Elder George A. Smith, in the Tabernacle, Ogden City, on Tuesday, November 15, 1864.

When the Lord appeared to Joseph Smith and manifested unto him a knowledge pertaining to the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and the work of the last days, Satan came also with his power and tempted Joseph. It is written in the book of Job, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.” In the very commencement of this Work, the Prophet Joseph Smith was called upon to contend face to face with the powers of darkness by spiritual manifestations, and open visions, as well as with men in the flesh, stirred up by the same spirit of the adversary to edge up his way and destroy him from the earth, and annihilate the work which he was about to commence. He thus describes the incident:

“In the spring of 1820, after I had retired into the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction. But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who has such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”

It was also peculiar in the history of the age, that just at the time that God was revealing unto his servant Joseph to raise up men to bear testimony of the principles of the Gospel in its fulness and simplicity, Satan was at work stirring up the hearts of the children of men to a species of religious excitement. There were in many parts of the country strange manifestations, great camp and other protracted meetings were assembled together to worship under the various orders denominated Methodists, Campbellites, Presbyterians, Baptists, Unitarians, etc., among whom were manifested the development of a spirit which deprived men of their strength; they would faint away, or, they would manifest a variety of contortions of countenance. There was introduced into the Western States a phenomenon called the jerks; persons under the influence of religious fanaticism would jerk seemingly enough to tear them to pieces.

When the Church was organized, persons came into it bringing along some of these enthusiastic notions, individuals who professed to have revelations on every subject, and who were ready to banish every moral principle under the guidance of false spirits. Joseph the Prophet had also to learn by experience, and to teach the Elders and the early members of the Church, how they should judge of the manifestation of spirits. (Book of Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 17, Par. 7.)

“Wherefore, it shall come to pass, that if you behold a spirit manifested that you cannot understand, and you receive not that spirit, ye shall ask of the Father in the name of Jesus; and if he give not unto you that spirit, then you may know that it is not of God. And it shall be given unto you, power over that spirit; and you shall proclaim against that spirit with a loud voice that it is not of God—Not with railing accusation, that ye be not overcome, neither with boasting nor rejoicing, lest you be seized therewith,” and refers to Hiram Page who began to get revelations through the medium of a black stone, certain characters appearing on that stone which he wrote down.

Notes concerning false revelations, apostasies.

Joseph Smith in his history wrote thus:

“To our great grief, however, we soon found that Satan had been lying in wait to deceive, and seeking whom he might devour. Brother Hiram Page had got in his possession a certain stone, by which he had obtained revelations concerning the upbuilding of Zion, the order of the Church, &c., &c., all of which were entirely at variance with the order of God’s house, as laid down in the New Testament, as well as our late revelations. As a Conference had been appointed for the first day of September, I thought it wisdom not to do much more than to converse with the brethren on the subject, until the Conference should meet. Finding, however, that many, especially the Whitmer family and Oliver Cowdery, were believing much in the things set forth by this stone, we thought best to inquire of the Lord concerning so important a matter; and before Conference convened, we received the revelation to Oliver Cowdery given at Fayette, New York, September, 1830, in the 4th paragraph of which the Lord says: “And again, thou shalt take thy brother, Hyrum Page, between him and thee alone, and tell him that those things which he hath written from that stone are not of me and that Satan deceived him; For, behold, these things have not been appointed unto him, neither shall anything be appointed unto any of this church contrary to the church covenants. For all things must be done in order, and by common consent in the church, by the prayer of faith.”

Joseph’s history continues:

“At length our Conference assembled. The subject of the stone previously mentioned, was discussed, and after considerable investigation, brother Page, as well as the whole Church who were present, renounced the said stone, and all things connected therewith, much to our mutual satisfaction and happiness.”

Some of the Elders journeyed to the westward from the state of New York, and built up Branches in the State of Ohio. Elders Oliver Cowdery and P. P. Pratt visited Sidney Rigdon who resided in Mentor, Geauga County, and was famous in that country as a reformed Baptist minister, more familiarly known as Campbellites. He had preached the doctrine of baptism for the remission of sins, the regular Baptist church having a different view of the subject, for they considered “baptism as an outward sign of an inward grace,” and that in order to be a candidate for baptism he must have received a change of heart, changed from a heart of stone to one of flesh; he was required to go into the congregation and formally renounce the world, the flesh and the devil, having given evidence that he was a new creature and was prepared for baptism. But the Reformed Baptists held the doctrine which I believe was first preached in Ohio, by Sidney Rigdon, that a man must reform, that repentance was simply a reformation, and the moment that repentance was resolved upon, the candidate was ready for baptism; and so far their notion appeared to be an improvement upon the general idea entertained, and consonant with the Bible view of it, as it was laid down by the Savior and his Apostles. But here they stopped, and did not administer the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and what was further, they contended there was no need of it, that it was all done away, and that the written word was all the spirit there was.

When the Elders waited on Sidney Rigdon and presented to him the Book of Mormon, teaching him the principle of laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost, he received it, as did several hundred members of his church, and members of other churches in that vicinity, who were baptized in a few weeks. In a few days Elders Oliver Cowdery, P. P. Pratt, and Ziba Patterson, passed on westward, as their mission directed them to the western boundaries of the State of Missouri. Sidney Rigdon took a journey to the east, as did Edward Partridge for the purpose of visiting the Prophet, and these strange spirits of which we have already spoken, began to manifest themselves in the churches and Branches which had been built up.

There was at this time in Kirtland, a society that had undertaken to have a community of property; it has sometimes been denominated the Morley family, as there was a number of them located on a farm owned by Captain Isaac Morley. These persons had been baptized, but had not yet been instructed in relation to their duties. A false spirit entered into them, developing their singular, extravagant, and wild ideas. They had a meeting at the farm, and among them was a negro known generally as Black Pete, who became a revelator. Others also manifested wonderful developments; they could see angels, and letters would come down from heaven, they said, and they would be put through wonderful unnatural distortions. Finally on one occasion, Black Pete got sight of one of those revelations carried by a black angel, he started after it, and ran off a steep wash bank twenty-five feet high, passed through a tree top into the Chagrin River beneath. He came out with a few scratches, and his ardor somewhat cooled.

Joseph Smith came to Kirtland, and taught that people in relation to their error. He showed them that the Spirit of God did not bind men nor make them insane, and that the power of the adversary which had been manifested in many instances was visible even from that cause, for persons under its influence became helpless, and were bound hand and foot as in chains, being as immovable as a stick of timber. When Joseph came to instruct these Saints in relation to the true Spirit, and the manner of determining the one from the other, in a short time a number of those who had been influenced by those foul manifestations, apostatized. Among the number was Wycom Clark; he got a revelation that he was to be the prophet—that he was the true revelator; and himself, Northrop Sweet and four other individuals retired from the Church, and organized the “Pure Church of Christ,” as they called it, composed of six members, and commenced having meetings, and preaching, but that was the extent of the growth of this early schism. John Noah, another of this class, assumed to be a prophet, and in consequence thereof was expelled from the church.

Among the early baptisms in Northern Ohio, was a Methodist minister by the name of Ezra Booth. He was present when the Elders first received the ordination of the High Priesthood. They met together in June, 1831, in a log schoolhouse in Kirtland, a room about eighteen feet by twenty. While they were there, the manifestation of the power of God being on Joseph, he set apart some of the Elders to the High Priesthood. Ezra Booth was bound, and his countenance was distorted, and numbers of the brethren looked at him, and thought it was a wonderful manifestation of the power of God, but to their astonishment, Joseph came forward and rebuked the foul spirit, and commanded it to depart, in consequence of which Booth was relieved, and many of the brethren were greatly tried at such a singular treatment by the prophet of these wonderful manifestations of power.

Others had visions. Lyman Wight bore testimony that he saw the face of the Savior.

The Priesthood was conferred on a number of Elders, and thirty were selected to take a mission to the western boundaries of Missouri, and travel and preach two and two by the way, traveling without purse or scrip. They did so, building up churches. Joseph was required to travel by water, or at a more rapid rate to reach there, to meet the brethren and hold a Conference in the land of Zion. It was only a short time after the return from this mission, that Ezra Booth apostatized as did Jacob Scott, Symons Rider, Eli Johnson, and a number of others. The spirit of apostasy was little known, but when these men apostatized they became more violent, more cruel, and manifested a greater spirit of persecution than any other enemies. What seemed singular, Ezra Booth had been brought into the Church through the manifestation of a miracle. The wife of Father John Johnson had been afflicted with the rheumatism, so as to be unable to raise her arm and hand for two years. Her husband had believed the work, and she also was believing. She went to Joseph Smith the Prophet to have him administer to her, Booth accompanied them, for he was well acquainted with the family, and the condition of Mrs. Johnson. When the Elders laid their hands upon her, she was instantly healed, so that she could use her arm and hand as well as ever she could previously. Booth knew this to be an instantaneous cure, and soon after witnessing this miracle, he was baptized, and ordained an Elder. He having formerly been a Methodist minister, commenced preaching the Gospel without purse or scrip, and he did so until he found (using a common expression), it did not pay. Under these circumstances he apostatized. While he was in apostasy he searched his cranium for some means to justify himself and published a series of lying letters in the Ohio Star, a paper printed in Revenna. These nine letters had been republished several times as evidence against “Mormonism;” and his apostasy culminated in collecting a mob who tarred and feathered Joseph Smith, and inflicted upon his family the loss of one of its number at Hyrum, Portage County, Ohio. Joseph Smith was occupying the room of a house brother Johnson was living in, at the same time; it was a two story building, had steps in front. The mob surrounded the house, the twins being afflicted with measles, Joseph was lying upon a trundle bed with one of them. The mob rushed in, gathered up Joseph while in his bed, took him out in his night clothes, and carried him out on to the top of the steps. Joseph got a foot at liberty and kicked one of the men, and knocked him down off the steps, and the print of his head and shoulders were visible on the ground in the morning. Warren Waste, who was the strongest man in the western reserve considered himself perfectly able to handle Joseph alone, but when they got hold of him, Waste cried out, “do not let him touch the ground, or he will run over the whole of us.” Waste suggested in carrying him to cross his legs, for they said that would make it easier for the Prophet, but that was done in consequence of the severe pain it would give to the small of the back. He was daubed with tar, feathered, and choked, and aquafortis poured into his mouth. Dr. Dennison had been employed to perform a surgical operation, but he declined when the time came to operate. The liquid they poured into his mouth was so powerful, that it killed the grass where some of it had been scattered on the ground. Joseph is reported by the mob to have said, be merciful, when they told him to call upon his God for mercy. They immediately, as he began to pray, heard an alarm which made them think they were about to be surprised, and left suddenly. Sidney Rigdon, who resided nearby, had been dragged by the heels out of his bed at the same time, and his body stripped and a coat of tar and feathers applied. The next morning he was crazy, his head greatly inflamed and lacerated. Joseph found his way in from the light of the house, the mob having abandoned him. While he was engaged in getting off the tar by the application of grease, soap, and other materials, Philemon Duzette, the father of our celebrated drummer, came there, and seeing the Prophet in this condition, took it as an evidence of the truth of “Mormonism,” and was baptized. These circumstances exposed the life of the child, the measles struck in and caused its death, and the whole of this persecution was got up through the influence of those apostates; and it made it necessary to keep up a constant watch lest some violence should be repeated. Luke Johnson informed us that Warren Waste was afterwards a cripple, rendered so by weakness in the small of the back, and Dr. Dennison died in the Ohio Penitentiary where he was incarcerated for procuring an abortion, which caused death; Joseph soon after located in Kirtland. In Kirtland there were manifestations of evil spirits in high places, which might have been considered more dangerous than the manifestations in the early establishment of the Church. Sidney Rigdon, on one occasion got up to preach, and commenced by saying that the Church and kingdom was rent from them and given to another people. Joseph was absent, when he came home he found Sidney almost like a mad man. He labored with him and with the Church, and finally succeeded in convincing him that he was under the influence of a false spirit. A man from the State of New York by the name of Hawley, stated that while he was working in his field, barefoot, the word of the Lord came to him, saying that he should start on the instant, and not stop to put on his shoes. He came six hundred miles to Kirtland, and went to Joseph with the message that he had suffered John Noah, a prophet of God, to be cut off from the Church, and that consequently he had lost his office; and he had also suffered the women to wear caps, and the men he allowed to wear cushions on their shoulders, and for these heinous sins he was cut off, and this man had come six hundred miles barefooted to bear the terrible message. You might suppose such an adventurer coming among us would be regarded as a madman by all, but at that time several men were ready to listen to him; a Bishop’s Council was assembled and an investigation had. During the investigation, the subject of women wearing caps and veils and having their heads covered was canvassed, and the Bible ransacked by Oliver Cowdery and others. When the man was expelled from the Church for giving way to the power of false spirits, he rose up in a most solemn manner, and proclaimed to the Council that they had chosen darkness instead of light. This man went through the streets of Kirtland in the night crying in a most doleful voice, woe, woe to this people. I understand that brother Brigham, hearing this nonsense and noise in the street, jumped up out of his bed in the night, took with him a cow hide whip into the street, and told that noisy person if he did not stop his noise he would certainly cowhide him, which caused him to cease to annoy the inhabitants with his folly.

Another prophet arose by the name of Hoton, he had his headquarters at the forge in Kirtland. He was the president, and a man named Montague was appointed Bishop. They resolved to live precisely in accordance with the principles, as they understood them, spoken of soon after the day of Pentecost, for they had all things common. Their number increased to ten, and they called themselves “the Independent Church.” Persons who had apostatized from the Latter-day Saints could be admitted into their party upon the terms of entering the room, shaking hands with every member and consecrating their pro– perty. This church lasted some two or three months, when a difficulty occurred between the President and the Bishop. The Bishop accused the President of being too familiar with his meat barrel; the President, in turn, accused the Bishop of being too intimate with his sheets. The result was, a split took place between the two chief authorities, and the organization ceased to exist.

There was a prevalent spirit all through the early history of this Church, which prompted the Elders to suppose that they knew more than the Prophet. Elders would tell you that the prophet was going wrong, men who thought they knew all about this work thirty or forty years some of them before the Lord revealed it, tried “to steady the ark.” The Church was constantly afflicted with such a class of men.

I remember well in Zion’s Camp, Levi W. Hancock made a fife, from a joint of sweet elder, Sylvester Smith marched his company to the music of that fife. That fife may be considered almost the introduction of martial music among the “Mormons.” A dog came out and barked, when Sylvester Smith was going to kill the dog. Joseph said he was a good watch dog, Sylvester became wrathy and threatened; finally Joseph reproved him sharply, showing him that such a spirit would not conquer or control the human family, that he must get rid of it, and predicted that if he did not get rid of it, the day would come when a dog would gnaw his flesh, and he not have the power to resist it. Some months after the return to Kirtland, Sylvester Smith preferred a charge against Joseph the Prophet, for having prophesied lies in the name of the Lord, and undertook to substantiate that charge on the ground that the Prophet had said a dog should bite him, if he did not get rid of that spirit, when he had not power to resist. They were three days and parts of nights, with the High Council in Kirtland, in investigating this charge; one person spoke three hours in behalf of the Prophet. Sylvester published a confession which can be seen in the Church History, acknowledging his fault.

The Church in Kirtland were few in number compared with the inhabitants of the city of Ogden. We had High Council upon High Council, Bishop’s trial upon Bishop’s trial; and labor and toil constantly to settle difficulties and get our minds instructed in principle and doctrine, and in the power that we had to contend with. I remember very well the organization of the High Council at Kirtland as a permanent institution, there had been several Councils of twelve High Priests called for special cases, but they organized it permanently on 17th Feb. 1834. On the 19th, the first case that was brought up was that of Elder Curtis Hedge, sen., who while speaking in meeting had gone into a Methodist spasm, shouting and screaming in such a manner as caused one of the Elders to rebuke him. Brother Hedge was brought before the Council for so doing. A great deal of instruction was imparted to the people, who were assembled in a room sixteen feet by eighteen. The decision was, that the charges in the declaration had been fairly sustained by good witnesses, that Elder Hedge ought to have confessed when rebuked by Elder Ezra Thayer; also if he had the spirit of the Lord at the meetings where he halloed, he must have abused it and grieved it away, and all the Council agreed with the decision. The report of this case is in Millennial Star, Vol. 15, page 18, and well worthy of perusal.

In relation to the manifestation of the spirit and a man exercising it, he may be guilty of error of manner as well as error in matter, and these principles in this way were gradually introduced into the minds of the brethren, the Elders being instructed all the while now and then, when falling out by the wayside. The first Council I ever attended where the Prophet was present was at the trial of Doctor P. Hurlburt. This occurred in June, 1833. He had been cut off from the Church by the Bishop’s Council, and a Council of twelve High Priests, was organized to try the case on appeal. Hurlburt did not deny the charge, but begged to be forgiven, made every promise that a man could make that he would from that day live a virtuous life. Finally the Council accepted of his confession, and agreed that he might on public confession be restored to the Church again.

It was at the same Council that Daniel Copley, a timid young man, who had been ordained a Priest, and required to go and preach the Gospel, was called to an account for not going on his mission. The young man said he was too weak to attempt to preach, and the Council cut him off the Church. I wonder what our missionaries now would think of so rigid a discipline as was given at that time thirty one years ago, under the immediate supervision of the Prophet.

As soon as this Council had made this decision upon Hurlburt, Joseph arose, and said to the Council, he is not honest, and what he has promised he will not fulfil; what he has confessed are not the thoughts and intents of his heart, and time will prove it. Hurlburt stated to the Branch in Thompson, Ohio, that he had deceived Joseph Smith’s God or the spirit by which he is actuated, I have proved that Council has no wisdom, I told them I was sorry I confessed and they believed it to be an honest confession, I deceived the whole of them and made them restore me to the Church. Hurlburt was the author of that work known by the name of “Mormonism Unveiled.” Booth’s letters were reprinted by Hurlburt, who is the author of “The Spaulding Story,” a book which he intended to publish; and in delivering lectures he had said he would wash his hands in Joseph Smith’s blood. He was taken before the court and required to give bonds to keep the peace towards all men, and especially towards Joseph Smith. These circumstances had some influence, and his friends arranged that he should not publish the book, but put it into the hands of E. D. Howe, who resided in Painesville, Ohio. He agreed that he would give Hurlburt four hundred copies of the first printed and bound, for the manuscript. Hurlburt went round and got subscribers, to pay him when the book should be delivered, one dollar each for the four hundred. Howe got the books printed and refused to furnish Hurlburt with his share, until by a piece of legerdemain he got hold of his subscription list and got the four hundred dollars, and then he let him have the books. When Hurlburt went to supply his subscribers he found they had already been served. “The Spaulding Story” in that country was considered so ridiculous, that the books could with difficulty be sold at any price; but it has now found its way into the scientific journals of the great world as a true history of the origin of the Book of Mormon, when it is very well known that no statement on this earth could be more incorrect or more untrue. Let “Mormonism” be true or false, “The Spaulding Story” from beginning to end is an unmitigated falsehood. Solomon Spaulding was a Presbyterian minister; he entered into the iron trade in Conneaut, Ohio, but failing in business he took a notion to write a novel; he wrote a book called “The Manuscript Found,” he took his work to Pittsburgh, to a man by the name of Patterson to get it printed, but he failed and never printed it. It was pretended that it fell into the hands of Sidney Rigdon, and that he converted it into the Book of Mormon, and induced Joseph Smith to publish it; whereas it is very well known that there had no connection ever existed between these parties. In the first place, Spaulding never wrote any such work; in the next place, Spaulding never had anything to do with Patterson, and Sidney Rigdon and him were perfect strangers to each other. The first knowledge that Sidney Rigdon had of Joseph Smith was when Parley P. Pratt met him in Ohio, and presented him a printed copy of the Book of Mormon; yet all this has found its way into scientific literature, and you will find it even in the North British Review. Hurlburt’s failure to destroy “Mormonism” was so complete, understanding that he was backed by influential men in Mentor and vicinity, that it ended in their disgrace and discomfiture, and this was so complete, that the story in that country was hardly ever spoken of afterwards. Yet the Spaulding story lives among those who make lies their refuge, and under falsehood hide themselves.

The word of the Lord given in September 1831—see Book of Covenants, Sec. 21, Par. 4—to make Kirtland a strong hold for the space of five years, gave rise to a new development in the feelings and sentiments of the Saints. The Prophet said, purchase lands in the vicinity of Kirtland; men were induced to buy farms, and to go to work and build houses, to quarry rock, and haul them on the ground, to build a Temple. We were not then supplied with reporters and clerks as we are now, and many of the books that were kept have been wrested from the hands of the Church by apostates. The foundation of the Kirtland Temple was laid in 1833, and there is scarcely a scrap of history relating to it to be found, not even the names of the twenty-four Elders in their order who laid the foundation of it. When the Temple was completed there was a great manifestation of power. The brethren gathered together to its dedication. We considered it a very large building. Some nine hundred and sixty could be seated, and there would be room for a few to stand, the congregation was swelled to a little over a thousand persons at the time of the dedication. It was a trial of faith. The Elders from every part of the country had come together. The finishing of the Temple had involved a debt of many thousands, and we all came together to the dedication. The congregation was so large that we could not all get in; and when the house was full, then, of course, the doors were closed, and no more admitted. This caused Elder Frazier Eaton, who had paid seven hundred dollars towards building the house, to apostatize, because he did not get there early enough to the meeting. When the dedication prayer was read by Joseph, it was read from a printed copy. This was a great trial of faith to many. “How can it be that the prophet should read a prayer?” What an awful trial it was, for the Prophet to read a prayer! The service of the dedication being over, it was repeated again on the next day, to accommodate these who had not been able to get in on the first day, and all those who had been there on the first day, excepting the authorities, being required to remain outside, till these who could not get in the day before were seated; the result of this arrangement was two days dedication.

The question has often arisen among us, why it is that we do not see more angels, have more visions, that we do not see greater and more manifestations of power. Any of the brethren that were there could have heard testimonies of manifestations in abundance.

On the first day of the dedication, President Frederick G. Williams, one of the Council of the Prophet, and who occupied the upper pulpit, bore testimony that the Savior, dressed in his vesture without seam, came into the stand and accepted of the dedication of the house, that he saw him, and gave a description of his clothing and all things pertaining to it. That evening there was a collection of Elders, Priests, Teachers, and Deacons, etc., amounting to four hundred and sixteen, gathered in the house; there were great manifestations of power, such as speaking in tongues, seeing visions, administration of angels. Many individuals bore testimony that they saw angels, and David Whitmer bore testimony that, he saw three angels passing up the south aisle, and there came a shock on the house like the sound of a mighty rushing wind, and almost every man in the house arose, and hundreds of them were speaking in tongues, prophesying or declaring visions, almost with one voice.

The question arises, where are those men? A number of them who manifested the greatest gifts, and had the greatest manifestations have fallen out by the way side, you look around among us and they are not here. Many who received the knowledge of the things of God by the power of his spirit, and sought not after signs and wonders, and when the spirit rested upon them seemed to produce no visible demonstration, you look around among the Saints in the valleys of the mountains, and you find they are here with us bearing on high the standard of Zion, or have descended into honorable graves. But where you find men who have turned away, and have got terribly afflicted with self conceit, you will find those, who, on that occasion and similar occasions, received great and powerful manifestations, and when the spirit came on them it seemed to distort the countenance, and caused them to make tremendous efforts in some instances. Sylvester Smith bore testimony of seeing the hosts of heaven and the horsemen. In his exertion and excitement it seemed as though he would jump through the ceiling.

Brother Cannon in speaking on the subject this morning referred to the old adage, soon ripe, soon rotten. God has laid the foundation of his kingdom never to be destroyed, and it appears wisdom in him to develop gradually power and glory and strength. I have always heard it suggested that as the spirit of “Mormonism” gathered together the seed of Abraham—mostly the sons of Abraham that are mixed among the nations; that the Holy Spirit falling upon men, who are not of the pure blood, who had the predominance of other blood in their veins, that the manifestation is greater, and when great manifestations fall on men, great trials immediately follow.

I have been conversant with early Elders, and I am satisfied that a large number of them fell from their positions in the kingdom of God because they yielded to the spirit of adultery; this was the cause of their destruction. There was an Elder named John Smith who lived in Indiana, who was quite popular in that part of the country as a preacher. He apostatized, but he did not know it. In talking about his faith and how firm it was, he said, I have proven the revelation given to Joseph Smith untrue, which says if a man shall commit adultery he shall lose the spirit of God, and deny the faith. I have proven that not to be true, for I have violated that commandment and have not denied the faith. He was so blind that he could not see through the darkness that the spirit of adultery had placed upon his head, the great apostasy which seemed to shake the Church, and tried men’s souls.

Some time after the finishing of the Temple, the brethren under the direction of the Prophet had established a bank in Kirtland, the paper to be redeemed by specie, and secured by real estate. The directors of that bank were members of the Church, and they were determined to sustain the credit of that money. The question has some times been asked, how much has that bank failed for; it did not fail for a single dollar, and yet when it failed there was perhaps a hundred thousand dollars of the bank paper out in circulation. Warren Parrish was the teller of the bank, and a number of other men who apostatized were officers. They took out of its vault, unknown to the President or cashier, a hundred thousand dollars, and sent their agents around among the brethren to purchase their farms, wagons, cattle, horses, and everything they could get hold of. The brethren would gather up this money and put it into the bank, and those traitors would steal it and send it out to buy again, and they continued to do so until the plot was discovered and payment stopped. It was the cursed apostates—their stealing and robberies, and their infernal villainies that prevented that bank being conducted as the Prophet designed. If they had followed the counsel of Joseph, there is not a doubt but that it would have been the leading bank in Ohio, probably of the nation. It was founded upon safe principles, and would have been a safe and lasting institution. Parrish and his coadjutors professed to have discovered that Joseph was not a Prophet, and commenced making a noise about it, and went so far as to organize about thirty of the Elders, into a new church called the Parrish party, many of them had been a long time in the church. That may be considered the time that tried men’s souls; for a man that would stand up in the streets and say he was Joseph’s friend, could not get a greater compliment than being called a lick skillet. Joseph had few friends; but among the leading Elders of the Church, in Kirtland the High Council, one of the members of the first Presidency, some of the seven Presidents of the Seventies, and a great many others were so darkened that they went astray in every direction. They boasted of the talent at their command, and what they would do. Their plan was to take the doctrines of the Church, such as repentance, baptism for the remission of sins, throw aside the Book of Mormon, the Prophet, and Priesthood, and go and unite the whole Christian world under these doctrines. Where are they today? Like a rope of sand that has vanished to the four winds of heaven. Many of them have already in dust and ashes lamented their fate, they have never been able to prosper in any business, or take a leading part in any capacity. This is the result of that apostasy; and yet it was so great that Joseph himself and his friends had to flee from Kirtland. There was a council there when President Young, Brother Brigham as we called him, spoke in favor of Joseph, and Jacob Bump who had been a long time a Pugilist before he came into the Church, said “how on earth can I keep my hands off this man?” Brigham said, lay them on if it will do you any good. The voice seemingly of an individual, was absolutely necessary to say that Joseph had a single friend. You look at times of danger, moral and physical, and you will find that the spirit of determination and strong will in the breast of a single man may save a most terrible panic and disaster. By management it was proved that Joseph had friends, and when he had gone to the state of Missouri, having fled from Kirtland, he was met with coldness by men who were in authority there. All this was the result of apostasy. The public funds were held in their own name, and another battle had there to be fought, not perhaps as severe, but at the same time there was a constant pressure seemed to be necessary to give strength to the growing kingdom; yet the revelations were that the kingdom should continue to prevail. The very fact of the promise of its continuing to prevail, signifies that it should have something more or less severe to prevail against. God has been with this people and has guided them, and dictated them, and is continuing to do so up to the present moment, and will continue so to do until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ. May we be prepared to fulfil our share in this great work, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Discourse by President George A. Smith, delivered in the Old Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Nov. 15th, 1863.

The occasion of administering the Sacrament, the emblems of the death and sufferings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, is a suitable time for every Latter-day Saint to make the inquiry, why are we Latter-day Saints; and for making an examination of some of the reasons which have moved upon us to receive the doctrines of this Latter-day dispensation, thereby subjecting ourselves to the jeers, scoffs and ridicule of our former friends and acquaintances.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized on the 6th of April, 1830, with six members, who had received baptism through the administration of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, the first elders of the Church. The cause of that organization is something we should consider when we inquire, why we are Latter-day Saints. At that time, as at present, there existed in the world a great variety of religious denominations, which were divided under general heads, and sub– divided into smaller divisions. Those who worship idols comprise probably more than one-half of the inhabitants of the earth; the followers of Mahomet, a very large portion of the remainder, perhaps one hundred and fifty millions of people. They receive the doctrines of the Arabian prophet. They discard idols, and follow the rules, precepts and ceremonies laid down in the Koran. They are subdivided into numerous sects. The portion of the world who acknowledge the Christian religion probably embraces a population of two hundred and fifty millions, the three main divisions of which are the Holy Catholic Church, or Church of Rome, the Greek Church, and the Protestant Churches. There are a great many subdivisions of the Protestant Churches, such as the Lutheran, Baptist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Methodist, and others. I will not undertake to enumerate them. I have heard it said that the number corresponds with the number of the beast spoken of by John in Revelation, who declares the number of the name of the beast to be 666.

In a debate, some years ago, between Alexander Campbell, the founder of the Disciples or Reform Baptists, and Bishop Purcell, of Cincinnati, on the Catholic religion, Mr. Campbell undertook to prove that the numeral letters that composed the name of the beast would answer to the name of the Catholic Church. Bishop Purcell made a very facetious reply, saying that he could find the same numeral letters in the name of Alexander Campbell, and could find in these numerals, he thought, the beast with a hump on his back.

Now, though all these sects professing Christianity differ on various points, there is one peculiarity belonging to the whole of them—they all unite in declaring that God has ceased to give revelation and that He has ceased to inspire men with the spirit of prophecy. While they are all united on this point, they are divided on other points, such, for instance, as the doctrine of Transubstantiation, or the belief entertained by the Catholics, that the bread and wine consecrated for the Sacrament become the actual body and blood of Christ. I suppose that tens of thousands of men have died on the field of battle endeavoring to settle this question by the sword. Another point of difference is in relation to the form of baptism, some contending that to dip the finger into a cup of water and sprinkle an infant will answer as well as for an adult to go down into the water and be immersed as the Savior was. Thousands of learned men have exhausted their ingenuity trying to determine whether a certain Greek word, from which the word baptism is derived, means to immerse, to sprinkle or to pour.

In consequence of these differences of opinion societies and churches have been organized, not one of them having knowledge enough to inquire of the Lord and get a revelation to decide the matter. And if anyone tried to think of it and proposed such a thing he would subject himself to the ridicule of the whole, for they say, “all these things are done away with.”

When Joseph Smith was about fourteen or fifteen years old, living in the Western part of the State of New York, there was a revival of religion, and the different sects in that portion of the State—principally Presbyterians, Methodists and Baptists—preached the necessity of belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, and repentance in order to be saved, declaring that unless men and women did this, and obtained what they termed, “a hope for the future,” they would be cast into a lake of fire and brimstone, and there remain forever. I have heard men spend hours in endeavoring to explain how long this hell would last. It was frequently illustrated in this manner, “Suppose a bird could carry a drop of water from this planet to another, and be gone a year on the journey, and continue this until every drop of water on the earth was carried away, and then should take a particle of sand and go to another planet and be gone a thousand years, and carry one article of sand at a time until every particle of matter of which this globe is composed was carried away, that then this eternal punishment would have just commenced, and that the torture and pain there inflicted were so great that no mortal could conceive anything about it.” The general effort in their preaching was to scare men into the road to heaven by such descriptions of eternal punishment. When eloquent men deliver such discourses they produce, especially upon ignorant people, more or less agitation, and when this is pretty general it is called a revival of religion. But when the excitement subsides and the converts have obtained what is termed “a hope,” then the sects who may have united in bringing about such results begin to scramble to secure the converts. It was so at the time to which I have referred in western New York. The Baptists wanted their share, and the Methodists and Presbyterians theirs; and the scramble ended in a very unpleasant and unchristian state of feeling.

Joseph Smith had attended these meetings, and when this result was reached he saw clearly that something was wrong. He had read the Bible and had found that passage in James which says, “If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not,” and taking this literally, he went humbly before the Lord and inquired of Him, and the Lord answered his prayer, and revealed to Joseph, by the ministration of angels, the true condition of the religious world. When the holy angel appeared, Joseph inquired which of all these denominations was right and which he should join, and was told they were all wrong—they had all gone astray, transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances and broken the everlasting covenant, and that the Lord was about to restore the priesthood and establish His Church, which would be the only true and living Church on the face of the whole earth.

Joseph, feeling that to make known such a vision would be to subject himself to the ridicule of all around him, knew not what to do. But the vision was repeated several times, and in these repetitions he was instructed to communicate that which he had seen to his father. His father was not a member of any church, but was a man of exemplary life. His mother and bro. Hyrum were members of the Presbyterian church. Joseph communicated what he had seen to his father, who believed his testimony, and told him to observe the instructions that had been given him.

These visits led, in a short time, to the bringing forth of the record known as the Book of Mormon, which contained the fullness of the Gospel as it had been preached by the Savior and his apostles to the inhabitants of this land; also a history of the falling away of the people who dwelt on this continent and the dealings of God with them.

A great many of us can recollect that when we read the Bible in our young days it was like a sealed book; and we were taught, and the sentiment had been impressed upon us, that its contents had a two or threefold spiritual meaning, and that it required a man who had studied divinity to explain these hidden meanings. Yet we found in the New Testament that “no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” When we read the Book of Mormon it was a key to unlock the scriptures to our understandings; while perusing its pages, light burst upon our minds, and in this way the Book of Mormon revealed to us the light of the Gospel which before had seemed obscure.

The Gospel has connected with it certain ordinances, such for instance as the ordinance of baptism. Who has authority to administer this ordinance?

If we make the inquiry among the sects, the Baptists will say, “We have.” Where did you get it? “One Peter Waldo, a merchant, translated the four gospels and he established a church.” Where did he get his authority? “Why, some say he hired a monk to translate the gospels.” Where did the monk get his priesthood and authority to administer? “I think it must have come down through the church of Rome, if the church of Rome had authority.” When these reformers came out from it they were cut off and denounced as apostates, and if the priesthood they received came from the church of Rome, of course a stream cannot rise higher than its fountain, hence if the Romish church had the authority of the priesthood to give them she had the power to take it away. The question therefore answers itself. If there were any authority at all it was in the Romish church, yet these apostates from her united in denouncing her as the mother of harlots. It is clear enough, therefore, that they were all in darkness, and that none of them had revelations from God but were depending upon forms of godliness without the power for the support of their several religions, however holy they might call them. The result of this universal darkness and apostasy was that God had to reveal the priesthood anew, and through the administration of holy angels he gave authority to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, to baptize each other and to baptize, confirm and ordain others and to preach and administer the Gospel to this generation. This authority was not derived from the church of Rome or any other organization, but was given by special and direct revelation from Heaven.

It was no sooner noised abroad that Joseph Smith was preaching the Gospel in its purity and administering its ordinances than a howl went up from all the world that he was an impostor, an ignorant fellow, a man without education, and the Book of Mormon was denounced as ungrammatical. An argument was raised that if it had been translated by the gift and power of God it would have been strictly grammatical. Now so far as grammar is concerned we have King James’ Bible before us which was translated two hundred and fifty years ago, by a large number of the most learned men that could be found in Great Britain, and it was put into the best language of that time; but since that day the English language has undergone so many changes and improvements that societies have been formed in various countries for the express purpose of retranslating the Bible so as to make it in accordance with the modern usages of our language. When the Lord reveals anything to men He reveals it in language that accords with their own. If any or you were to converse with an angel, and you used strictly grammatical language he would do the same. But if you used two negatives in a sentence the heavenly messenger would use language to correspond with your understanding, and this very objection to the Book of Mormon is an evidence in its favor.

It has been claimed that a Presbyterian minister, named Solomon Spaulding, wrote the Book of Mormon; but the very language and style of the book are abundant evidence that it never was written by a learned man and that it never was written by a man who designed to make a romance or novel. It is very well known to hundreds and thousands that this statement in relation to Solomon Spaulding is entirely false, and that no such man ever had any acquaintance with Joseph Smith. It is also known to hundreds that the Book of Mormon was written by Oliver Cowdery, word for word as dictated by Joseph Smith, and that the original copy of that work was in Cowdery’s handwriting.

When Joseph Smith commenced to bear testimony to the things of the kingdom and to tell the people to repent of their sins and put away their hypocrisy and corruption, and to be baptized for the remission of their sins and receive the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost fell on them who obeyed, and bore testimony to them that they had received the truth. And thousands of the Elders have testified throughout the earth that they knew this was the work of God, for God had revealed it unto them; and they have declared that all who would humble themselves before the Lord and obey the principles of the Gospel, though they might subject themselves to the jeers and scoffs of those around them, and suffer persecution at the hands of mobs, would receive a testimony from God that this was His work.

The Elders, in bearing this testimony, have received anything but encouraging treatment. They have been mobbed, stoned, daubed with tar and feathers, driven from place to place and persecuted in every way. The pulpit and the press have teemed with abuse against them, and the whole Christian world has appeared to be anxious to destroy the “Mormons” as they are called. Elder Parley P. Pratt, before receiving the Gospel, was a minister of the Reformed Baptist, or Campbellite, Church in Ohio. This sect had a brick meetinghouse in Mentor, Geauga, now Lake Co. The people who owned this house had prided themselves on their great liberality, they would give everybody a chance to preach. Bro. Pratt, wishing to preach to them went there but found the door shut against him, and the congregation assembled outside. He preached on the door step. Quite a number of his former Christian brethren had gone to a neighboring grocery and qualified the inner man with something stimulating, and having supplied themselves with eggs, and procured a drum and fife they marched backwards and forwards in front of the speaker, throwing their eggs at him until their supply—five dozen—was exhausted. Elder Pratt kept on preaching and bearing testimony of the truth of the Gospel. Among those present who seemed to enjoy the scene was a Campbellite, a grave looking deacon, to whom a young man, a stranger, who happened to be present said, “Is this the way you worship God in this country?” “Oh, no Sir!” answered the deacon, “that man is a ‘Mormon.’” The stranger then remarked, “his talk is very reasonable.” “Yes,” said the old gentleman, “but he is a ‘Mormon,’ and we do not intend that he shall preach here.” “He appears very cool,” remarked the stranger. “Yes,” said the deacon, “he is used to it, he has been in such scrapes before.”

This circumstance illustrates the manner in which the Elders were received when they went forth to preach the Gospel, and it required the testimony of the Holy Spirit, a strong sense of duty and revelation from the Almighty to stir them up to go forth under such circumstances. Not only did this persecution extend to those who preached the Gospel, but to all believers, for, although the Saints were industrious, peaceable and virtuous, every kind of falsehood was told against them, their houses were torn down, their property destroyed and every species of injustice and cruelty was heaped upon them.

Our labors in these valleys will prove that we are an industrious people. When we came here we had to make the roads into the country and to bring all our supplies for 1200 or 1400 miles. We labored in this desert country, from which the Heavens withheld rain, and yet we had to cultivate the earth. Now, visitors exclaim, “what an industrious people you are!” We were always so. When we settled in the state of Missouri we made the prairie blossom like the rose. But our enemies lied about us and published scandal concerning us, although we were law-abiding. There was not a solitary man in the county of Jackson, who held office, who was a “Mormon,” yet there was never a lawsuit or complaint against the Latter-day Saints up to the time the mobs in Jackson County broke loose upon us and drove us away and robbed us of our homes; and when the mob published their manifesto, to which the whole of them placed their names, they declared that the civil law gave them no hold of “this people, who profess to heal their sick with holy oil.” The Apostle James says, “if any are sick, let them send for the Elders, who shall anoint them with oil, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick.” The Latter-day Saints believed and practiced this, and this was urged as a reason for driving us from our homes, tearing down our houses, tarring and feathering the bishops and leading men, whipping the Elders, destroying their property, and sending them forth, outcasts, into the world. This puts me in mind of the old Quaker, who was very particular about taking life. He was very much annoyed at a dog that came into his store, but not wishing to kill him, he said, “I’ll not kill thee, but I’ll give thee a bad name,” so he turned him out, at the same time crying, “bad dog, bad dog!” Somebody hearing this, thought the Quaker said, “mad dog,” and shot him. After they had turned us out they gave us a bad name.

These circumstances have a tendency to impress deeply upon the minds of the Latter-day Saints a determination to know why they are such. The God of heaven has revealed to us that this is His work. He has implanted in the hearts of the faithful a living, burning, eternal testimony that this is the only way of salvation, and that all things else are comparatively worthless.

Why have we penetrated these mountains? To establish ourselves here that we might enjoy religious liberty. We have sacrificed more for religious liberty than any set of men in this generation and we are here for this purpose. And in every act of our lives we should do our best to preserve unchanged, and unalloyed the pure faith of the everlasting Gospel which God has revealed to us for our salvation.

I bear testimony that these things are true, and that God did inspire His servant Joseph Smith and the Elders of Israel to lay the foundation of the only true Church upon the face of the earth, and did inspire His servant Brigham Young to lead forth the Saints to build up Zion in the chambers of the mountains in these last days—and this is the path to celestial glory. Oh, but, says one, “Are you going to send everybody who does not believe in ‘Mormonism’ to that burning lake you were talking about?” No, we are not, we expect that God will deal with every man according to his works, whether good or evil; but we testify that no man can ever attain to the fullness of the blessings of celestial glory without obeying the ordinances which God has revealed to the Latter-day Saints. But there is a glory of the sun, and of the moon and of the stars, and one star differeth from another star in glory; so it is in the eternal worlds; in the great diversity of glories there is a place for all in accordance with their works, knowledge and understanding. But when we have come to a knowledge of the truth, if we fall therefrom our position is worse than if we had never obeyed it, hence the necessity of continued zeal on our part to fulfil the great duties required of us that we may be prepared for exaltation in the kingdom of God, which may God grant us in the name of Jesus. Amen.