Remarks by President Heber C. Kimball, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, May 4, 1862.

I feel continually in my heart desirous to do good. Our religion is a practical religion. We administer the sacrament, for instance, in remembrance of Jesus Christ, which ordinance he has established to imitate the things he has suffered. We break bread as an imitation of his body, which has been broken; and we pour out wine (which should be of our own make) and drink of it in imitation of his blood, which was poured out that our sins might be remitted. Our sins are forgiven, on condition that we observe these ordinances before all people, before the Father, before the Son, before the Holy Ghost and before all the holy angels that God sends to take charge of us. To repent is to forsake our sins and sin no more. When we thus repent, it is a repentance that needeth not to be repented of. True repentance requires restitution to the injured, and such satisfaction as the wrong demands. For by this you may know that a man truly repents of his sins, and that the Father has forgiven them in the name of his Son Jesus Christ. There are people out of the Church and in it, who are stubborn and will not make satisfaction to those they have injured, disobeyed or neglected, and will welter under it for weeks and months before they will make an humble acknowledgement to give satisfaction to the injured party. Remission of sins is given by going down into the water with an authorized servant of God, who, after saying, “Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in water for the remission of your sins, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,” immerses him in the water. After this ordinance has been administered, remission of sins is as sure as that repentance and restitution have been truly made. This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth and practiceth it; which will be in them and round about them, until they are full of the living oracles and attributes of the Father and the Son. Paul says that baptism is not the washing away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience before God.

How can a man’s conscience be good, if, after the truth is made known to him, he shall willfully neglect to comply with it? Then, after baptism, the servant of God, having authority given to him through the holy Priesthood, lays his hand on the baptized persons for the gift of the Holy Ghost. When an authorized servant of God lays his hands on a person, he receives the gift and power of the Holy Ghost as surely as though God had administered the ordinance himself. This authority the Father has given us, and we should honor it. It is impossible to honor God and his authority except we honor his ordinances; neither can you honor him, and, at the same time, dishonor his delegates and authorities he has sent.

In all these ordinances of the Gospel, we imitate Christ—we go forth in his authority, and administer as he administered. He received his authority from his Father and gave it to his Apostles, they gave it to Joseph Smith, Joseph gave it to us and we place it upon you Elders of Israel. The authority is one—the same as the roots and branches of a tree are one; and the power of the Holy Ghost will dwell with you the same as it does with us, showing us things to come and bringing things to our remembrance that we may have a foreknowledge of future things, and all this in proportion to our faith, confidence, and integrity in God and in his authority.

Baptism is an imitation—the candidate is buried in water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, in likeness of the death of Christ, and then he is raised up out of the water in likeness of his resurrection. The Holy Ghost descended on the Savior in the form of a dove after he was baptized; in imitation of this, we receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. Even in the endowments, there is not a solitary thing but what is an imitation of the Son or the Father in some way or other; and all this is done to keep us in remembrance of him. When we sit down to eat food, we ask God to bless it and sanctify it to our benefit, that we may partake of it in remembrance of his kindness, generosity and blessings unto us. We ask the Father to bless our wheat, to bless all the seeds we sow in the ground, to bless the earth and to give us power and wisdom to nurse and take care of the tender plants, which are an imitation of his bountiful goodness to us. Our religion is not artificial—it is a reality; it is natural. It teaches us how to keep ourselves pure, that we may not become tainted with the world, the flesh and the Devil, but hold ourselves sacred and pure as the children of God.

Let my brethren who are going on foreign missions remember these things, holding them in view; all of which are comprehended in the imitation of Christ and the sufferings he passed through; and I will promise them, in the name and by the authority of Jesus Christ that is in me and my brethren, they shall be blessed as they never were blessed; they shall win souls unto Christ, and when they come home they shall bring some of them with them. I do not know how I could get along upon any other principle, as a preacher of righteousness among nations, than by the dictation of the Holy Ghost and doing as we have been told, which is to teach nothing but repentance to this generation and baptism for the remission of sins, administering the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper to believers, that they may have Jesus in remembrance. It is the business of the Elders of this Church, when they go abroad, to gather the lost sheep of the house of Israel, carrying the salt with them, or the power and the authority of the holy Priesthood; let them go with their hearts full of the power of God and their mouths full of the good words of life, suffering themselves to be used by the Almighty as a musician would use an instrument of music, letting God speak through them as the trumpeter would speak through a trumpet.

Let the sheep lick a little salt through your fingers; do not give them a handful at once, or it may blind them, but give them a mere trifle, and that will make them hungry for more. If you wish, in the soonest and most effectual manner, to destroy a flock of sheep, overfeed them. Under such a circumstance, you may call “Nan, nan, nan,” until you are tired, and they will not take any heed to the voice of the shepherd, for they are surfeited with too much food. Let the Elders gather the lost sheep of the house of Israel, bring them home, and put them into the fold; then go to the Good Shepherd and ask him if you may have one, and if you receive one upon the principles of honor and righteousness you will be blessed in the gift.

Preach the Gospel by the power of the Holy Ghost, and it will melt the people into humility, and God will be with you to bless your labors to that degree that they have never been blessed. You receive light and knowledge here, and your minds begin to expand; yet some imagine that they had more religion when they were first baptized than now. This, however, is not so; your experience now is much greater than then, according to your age in the Church and your integrity and submission to the will of God and his authority. Your information is increasing, and your power to ask of God, in the name of Jesus, and receive, is greater now than when you first received the Gospel: “Ask, and you shall receive; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” Learning is good, but learning does not give the power of God to man. An unlearned man with the power of God upon him, can build up churches and gather the sheep of Israel into the fold; and it has been the case that learned men—men who trusted in their learning and not in the power of the Holy Ghost—have stepped forward and taken charge of the sheep that the unlearned man had gathered, trying to supersede him in their affections by preaching some great and learned sermon, seeking to destroy the influence of the true shepherd. Such men were not after the sheep, but the fleece; and they have gone over the dam. Instead of commencing at the root, where that poor, unlearned man commenced, they go to the top of the tree he has planted, and jump from limb to limb, knocking off the precious fruit. I have had an experience in the vineyard labor, having traveled and preached near twenty years of my life not only in America but in England, and I know the nature of men and things pretty well. When I was on my mission abroad I lived humbly before God. I did not know much—I know but little now—but I knew that God worked and spake mightily through weak instruments. A poor speaker may suppose his language is nothing, that it is very small, yet God can make it pierce, like a javelin to the hearts of Saints and sinners, and the honest will conceive the truth and bring forth fruit, while others will hear and will not receive the truth—they will see but do not perceive.

The same cause will produce the same effect now as thirty years ago. God is the same, the Gospel is the same, baptism is the same, repentance is the same; none of these principles have changed in the least. Then why should we leave the doctrine of Christ to go on to perfection? For no man can become perfect in God without a constant faith in, and observance of, those first principles of the doctrine of Christ, any more than we can progress in learning and leave out of the question the alphabet of our language and the first rudiments of education. After people are baptized and confirmed into the Church, the first ordinance that is attended to is the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, that they may think of Jesus and what he suffered to bring to pass the remission of sin; that they may think of his Father and our Father and God, who has organized this earth and placed everything in it that is in it. And when he came into the world we came with him; the earth is his and the fulness thereof, and he has handed over to his Son the work of redeeming it, of making it perfect, when he will deliver it up to the Father. Not a single soul of us will be lost if we will do as well as we know how, keeping these things in view and practicing them. When we practice them we honor them; and we honor the Father by honoring his words and the words of his Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost takes up his abode with us to comfort and cheer our hearts. There are thousands of good and wholesome principles that people do not see, because they have no spirit of comprehension nor understanding of the works of God. The South and the North are at war with each other—are slaying each other—and if they were not doing that they would be trying to slay us; this they do already in their hearts, and the sin is the same upon the nation as though they did it in reality. I am a martyr in the sight of God, and so is brother Brigham and other men of God whose lives they have hunted. God will chastise them and all those who had a hand in seeking our destruction. There is great blessing to be placed upon faithful men in the latter days—they are to be sealed up unto eternal life, and against all sins and blasphemies, except the shedding of innocent blood, or consenting thereunto, which is the same in the eyes of God. The wicked are slaying the wicked, and the North calculates to use up the South in a few days; in this they will be mistaken. They will whip each other, first one and then the other. Let the Saints acknowledge the hand of God in it all. War and bloodshed will follow the Gospel of the Son of God, until it has spread over every nation, tongue and people who reject the Gospel after it is proffered to them, and have spilled innocent blood or consented to it. If you see these principles as I do, you will see them clearly, though, in my weakness, I may not have been able to make them plain to your understandings.

Ye Elders of Israel, never try to circumscribe each other, but build each other up. God does not look with the same eyes that we do. He looks at the hearts and intentions of men, and he will honor those he can work with. When I worked at my business, and the clay was rebellious and stiff, I would throw a little water upon it, and soften and mollify it, and then put it into the mill where it is ground up. When it is passive, it is again brought upon the wheel after it has been well cleared of all foreign matter, and it is turned into pitchers, into jugs, into churns, milkpans, bowls and cups, and every kind of vessel to adorn the kitchen and the palace, and to make the Church and kingdom of God interesting, and more magnificent than all the glory of the kingdom of the world. All these vessels are made at the dictation of the master potter.

When the brethren arrive at their fields of labor, brothers Brigham, Heber, and Daniel, and the Twelve Apostles will not be there to dictate you. When I was sent to England twenty-five years ago, I felt myself one of the very weakest of God’s servants. I asked Joseph what I should say when I got there; he told me to go to the Lord and he would guide me, and speak through me by the same Spirit that dictated him. He also told brother Brigham when he got there he would know all about it. My experience is, the more I preach upon the first principles of the Gospel, the more I discovered limbs and branches of the subject I had never seen, leading to the foun– tain of life. The Holy Ghost led me all the time, and God spake through me when I would let him. I have related a little of my experience for the benefit of my brethren who are going out on missions. When you get to England, the Saints will rejoice to see you, expecting you will tell them all about it. Here is brother John Smith, the Patriarch, at the head of the Church, he knows everything they will say, and he will tell us all about wives we had in heaven or earth or in hell. Now, brethren, go in the name of Jesus Christ and preach the first principles of the Gospel, and tell the brethren and sisters to gather to the fold of Christ, where all things shall be told them. Amen.

Remarks by President Heber C. Kimball, made on Sunday Morning, April 27, 1862.

Every true Saint that has got the light of Heaven in him can realize and comprehend in a degree the importance of what President Young has said to us. Men frequently speak of good sense, but the question may be asked, what is good sense? I consider that that man or woman who has the light of Heaven in him or her, whether it is by the natural or the spiritual eyes, that is the light of Christ and that is good sense. Now, it is impossible to have the light of Christ, except you are alive in Christ.

We are like a limb that is alive in a tree; yes, everyone that are Latter-day Saints; we are united or should be as the heart of one man, and no man will be saved and gathered with Christ except they are grafted into him, for they must receive the life that flows from him in order to be exalted with him. It is upon the same principle that the graft that is put into a tree receives life from the tree into which it is engrafted. It is necessary that we should all be alive in Christ, and we ought to partake of his attributes and also of the attributes of his Father; then we become one with Christ as he is one with the Father. We never can enjoy the lifegiving influences of the Spirit of God except we live and practice our religion, always abiding in the vine, for as the branch cannot bring forth or produce except it remain connected with the tree, so we cannot increase in light and knowledge unless we keep alive in Christ. This people are a good people and they are full of life, they are alive in Christ, and they live their religion and God blesses them.

I am aware that we are protected and shielded by the Almighty; he baffles the world, wards off the storms and tempests for the sake of the righteousness that dwells in the midst of this people. It is not done for the sake of the liar, the thief, and other abominable characters, but his protecting arm is extended for the sake of the righteous; they are the means of preserving this people, and there is enough of them to save the rest from destruction, and through that medium we as a people are protected.

It is a common thing for us to send to the States for choice fruit, and the pomologist who receives our orders cuts off scions from the best fruit trees, and sends to us the summer, the fall, and the winter apples, and we also get the pear, the plum, the cherry, and the peach. We graft those various kinds of good fruit into our seedlings, and then the tree produces fruit according to the kind that was grafted into it, and in this way we procure good fruit. It is just so with you, unless you abide in Christ after being grafted in, you will not bear any good fruit. There are men and women here who have come from the States, who seem to have a little good feeling in them, but were they ever properly grafted into the true vine? No, they simply got under the good influence, but they have not borne any fruit. Where have you seen an individual that has come here to speculate or do business that has ever been truly favorable to this people? There have been very few, and most of them have died, but there are quite as many that are favorable as I expect to see. Men come here and get good impressions, the Spirit of the Lord resting with them, but they do not embrace the truth, and consequently the good influence leaves them and they turn against the cause of Christ, the Devil gets power over them and they begin to operate against the kingdom of our God and to seek the lives of his servants and anointed ones. Let such men go their own way; I have got now so that I cannot have confidence in any that come here until they prove themselves, and therefore I have quit the practice of reposing confidence in strangers, and I place my confidence in God, in his kingdom, in his servants and in the earth that is made for our use.

Brother Brigham was speaking of the earth and telling us that we should be cautious how we use it, for it is our mother, and the man that will disgrace his mother is unworthy of her fostering care. I have been a child upon this earth for 61 years, and there is not anything but what it produces. Are you not required to be just as faithful as I am? Why—of course; we shall have to give an account of the deeds done in the body, and so will all mankind. Look at the animal creation, they were all created by law, and will fulfill that law by which they were created. But see the feeling and disposition that we have in our hearts to be cruel towards animals, and that same passion that we cultivate towards the brute creation, mankind by-and-by will have towards one another. Reflect upon the experience of the past and you will find it so. I perceive that the older I grow the more com– passion I have upon the brute, but young and unthoughtful men and careless, cruel boys will drive a horse at the rate of sixteen miles an hour, and then whip him all the way up every hill on the journey. Is this the spirit of Christ and of our holy religion to be cruel to animals and beat them in this way? I say no; our religion and the spirit of Christ would teach us to be kind to them, to encourage them by bating and nourishing them. It is a good deal so with this kingdom, there are some who are all the time blocking the wheels of the kingdom in place of helping to roll it forward. If these brethren who are so wild and inconsiderate would but learn enough to block the wheels of their team instead of being so severe upon their animals they would act more like wise men and Saints of God.

When President Young says to the Bishops go and get up three hundred teams and send to the States to gather the poor Saints, they should go at it with spirit and with energy as men of God. In fact we should all take a course to comply with the counsel that is given. We should cultivate the earth that it may yield of its increase, that we may have an abundance of wheat, corn, potatoes, apples, peaches, and every other variety of grain, fruit and vegetable. We should always look forward to a future increase, striving to make everything multiply in its sphere and thus fulfil the measure of its creation. If we sow a kernel of wheat it will produce, probably a thousand fold, then you sow that which has been produced from the one kernel and it will increase in proportion to the first. This is the principle of increase in nature, and each of us should endeavor to carry out nature’s laws. In the beginning God commanded Adam, and also his sons and daughters to fill up the measure of their creation, to multiply and replenish the earth, and he also commanded the earth to multiply and to increase her productions, vegetation, fowls, animals and all manner of creeping things. How do you think it looks for man to lie down and be an idle speculator, while he makes his neighbor a slave? I believe in all of us being industrious from day to day and from year to year, and also to improve and teach others to improve in all that is good. I have never undertaken to do anything of an important nature, but I have called upon the Almighty to assist me, realizing that I required his aid and favor and he has invariably prospered me in what I have commenced. When we store up grain for the purpose of feeding the poor Saints we may naturally expect to have to feed a great many goats while we are feeding sheep.

Brethren let us go to work and accumulate means; let us go more extensively into home manufactures, let us get up some of those homemade spinning jennys, we are told that they are capable of spinning two hundred pounds a day, but supposing we could spin twenty-five pounds a day should we not think we were doing a good business? We should feel proud of such a business. We shall have to go into this kind of business, for we have every prospect of being shut out from trading with the east. Let us then go to work, men, women, and children and make ourselves independent of the world and especially of our enemies. Can we do it? Yes, we can, because we can raise everything that we require. Now we have not cultivated many things here but what we have got a good return. When speaking upon this subject the other day, I heard President Young say that he would not send to the States for any of those rotten goods this year. I am not going to send for any, for I am going to send for a carding machine instead, and if that does not clothe my family I do not know what move I shall make next, but I intend that whatever I do shall be a step in the right direction.

Brethren and sisters, I feel to bless you and also all the Presidency of this Church, and all the Quorums of the Priesthood; I likewise feel to bless every man that puts forth his hand to help to bless Israel, for all such shall be blessed by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their blessings shall multiply tenfold more than they ever did before. Then, do not stop, but go ahead, and all our blessings will multiply. The Lord says, do my will and let the world alone, and I will defend you, for it is my business to defend you and all my people in these latter days, and he will do it to the extent that is requisite for the accomplishment of his purposes. I know it just as well as I know that I am standing here. Well, do not be discouraged, but lay aside your scolding and fretting, and abide in the religion of Jesus Christ, for you must remember that no branch can bring forth except it be in the vine; no more can we except we abide in Christ.

Peace be upon you all, brethren and sisters, wives and children, you all that are good, and that love the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ more than they love this wicked world in which we live. These are some of my feelings, and they are some of the feelings of my heart. We are laboring for eternal life and exaltation in the kingdom of our God; we are learning to live forever; and I am going to stick and hang to the good old ship Zion, forever and ever, God helping me.

The Lord has put a spirit in me that is inclined to righteousness, and I always love to do right. My faith and confidence are in God and in his servants whom he has chosen.

You all know that you have my blessing, and I say may the peace and blessing of my Heavenly Father be with this people, forever, with all that pertains unto them; their habi– tations, these mountains and valleys, their flocks and herds, and fields and gardens, for I pray these peculiar and Heaven’s choicest blessings may attend the Latter-day Saints henceforth and forever, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Amen.

Remarks by President Heber C. Kimball, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 7, 1862.

I am constantly exercised in my desires for the welfare of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in all the world. My whole interest is in this Church and for this people. I am proud of this people when they do right, I am proud of my wives and children when they honor their God and his Priesthood, and set a good example before all people. I am proud to see all the officers of this Church and kingdom lively members in the body of Christ. Brother Brigham has said that the living oracles or the revelations of the Holy Ghost should dwell in every man, and in every woman. We are a branch of the house of Israel, and the Priesthood we hold came from the Father, and we should be alive like a lively branch of a thrifty tree; for every branch that bringeth forth fruit the Father purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit; and every branch that bringeth not forth fruit he taketh away. It is necessary that every person should possess the Spirit of revelation, in order to understand and properly appreciate the teachings and instructions given to them by the living oracles of God on earth. Those who are not thus inspired need again to be taught the first principles of the doctrine of Christ. Were we all thus inspired we should become one in Christ Jesus; and Jesus says, “Except ye are one ye are not mine.” As long as we are one, and every man doing his duty before God, we have no cause to fear anything the world can do against us; but if we are divided, it will be with us as it was with the people of God of old, he suffered their enemies to come upon them and overthrow them because of their sins. But there are good men and good women enough among this community to preserve it, and all the powers of hell combined cannot overthrow it. The power of God will preserve us, through our righteousness against any power that may come against us. It is easy for us to do right. Let us do right and stop doing anything wrong, cease tattling and lying, and trying to injure one another by bearing false witness against our neighbor. Let us guard ourselves against becoming prejudiced against an honest person, and strive to become honest, upright, and generous, doing as we would wish to be done by, for we are sons of God and heirs to his fulness. He has said to his children ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto you. But we may ask as much as we please if our works do not correspond with our petitions. Let us be guided by the conclusions of one mind in all our great movements, operating constantly together on the square of righteousness and God will bless us forever. Amen.

Remarks by President Heber C. Kimball, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, February 9, 1862.

We have had a few remarks from brother Joseph Fielding, and I can say, with the best of feelings, that they are good and true. I am witness that this is the road that brother Fielding has traveled in this Church and kingdom, striving to do right all the time. It was in the spring of 1838 that he was ordained a High Priest, and it will be twenty-four years next April since we left England, after performing the first mission that was ever sent out to England. He was ordained a Priest, I think, in Canada, and he traveled with me on that mission to England. His life has been an upright one, and I know that he has made a statement of facts, and he has told the things that are in him, and his determinations are good, and they are dictated by the right spirit. I take pleasure in making these statements, and I would say in my heart, and my prayer is, that every man here may live in the manner that he has done and be as good a man as he is. His salvation is sure, if he continues in welldoing, and everything that he is capable of presiding over will be given to him, and this will be the portion of every other good man. It is goodness that makes about all the difference between one man and another. You find one man a little better than another, and one woman a little better than her neighbor. What is it that makes us better? It is the righteous acts that we perform, and that we work out before God. Jesus says, “Work out your salvation as it is my will to work within you.” Then, again, we are commanded to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. All that hinders us and prevents us progressing faster, and going on from one step to another even as it was with our Father, even the Father and God pertaining to this earth, is our lack of confidence in the Almighty, and our slothfulness in the things of God. Joseph the Prophet said that our heavenly Father went on from one degree of knowledge to another until he obtained the knowledge that made him God. So also will it be with us, we shall have to advance from one degree of faith to another until we get that knowledge that will prepare us for exaltation in our Father’s kingdom. But we must first prove ourselves in this state of probation, then we rise from step to step till we reach that position that is promised to the people of God.

Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and light; and I and my Father are one.” On one occasion the widow came and begged that her two sons who were with Jesus might sit one at his right hand and the other at his left, and Jesus asked her if they could walk with him in the regeneration, for said he, “Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with.” Those who can walk with Jesus in the regeneration now, will receive the great blessings that are promised to all the faithful children of God. What is regeneration? It is a cleansing, purifying process, by which persons are enabled to advance in the knowledge of God and grow stronger in the principles of eternal life, to become better, more truthful, more worthy of a benefactor’s blessing. Then, we may ask, what is degeneration? It is departing from the good old way, imbibing evil, becoming impregnated with falsehood and all other evils that are calculated to produce a deterioration in both the body and spirit of man.

This is a wicked and adulterous generation in which we live, and but few of them know what they are doing for themselves. To me it appears that they are taking every possible step to degenerate themselves and those around them. I know what the world is; I understood it to a great extent before I came into this Church. It was a common saying among the good people where I lived, that it was impossible for a man to be honest and get a living. How did they get a living, think you, where they did not believe in being honest? By living in deceitfulness, by lying, by pilfering from their neighbors. That was the way they managed, and it is so managed at the present time. There are but few things but it is possible to adulterate in this age of the world. Our tea is adulterated, our ginger and pepper, and almost everything that we have to purchase is treated in the same manner, and I think we may safely conclude that this is an adulterous generation, and by their evil practices they are bringing upon themselves swift destruction. They have commenced the work of their own extermination, and who can help it? No one, except the Almighty. They are now doing that upon each other which they had in their hearts to do to us; they have got the same hatred towards each other which they formerly had towards us, and the Lord will let them have their full share.

I noticed the other day when reading about the war, that one man said the war could be completed and wound up in thirty days, everything settled and the South entirely subdued. They think that the great number of men which they have in the field are going to wind it up quick. But I can tell you that they do not take the right course to accomplish that; they let the Devil lead them, that is what I mean. If you are looking forward for peace and thinking that peace will soon be made, you are mistaken. The Lord is permitting things to be prolonged as they are, for the purpose of getting his people out from Babylon, just as he did with Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plains that were round about them; for he kept back the destruction till he got Lot out, and so it is now in these days.

Well, now, what course shall we take as Saints? It is for us to do our duty in all things; to do our best for the spread of truth, for the gathering of the poor. If we were to do our best we could send a thousand teams this season to gather the poor; but I can say that we shall do all that is required of us, and that will be satisfactory and pleasing to our heavenly Father.

Some say it is rather discouraging to gather this people, because so many of them apostatize and deny the faith, but we should remember that Jesus says—“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”—Matthew xiii., 47-50.

Now, supposing I should be at the expense of gathering ten persons and bringing them home to Zion, and by so doing I save one righteous man, will not that secure me a reward hereafter? I say it will. What did the Lord say to Oliver Cowdery about laboring all the days of his life in preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a dark and benighted world? The following is from a revelation given in June 1829, to Joseph Smith, Jun., Oliver Cowdery, and David Whitmer—

“And now, Oliver Cowdery, I speak unto you, and also unto David Whitmer, by the way of commandment; for, behold, I command all men everywhere to repent, and I speak unto you, even as unto Paul mine apostle, for you are called even with that same calling with which he was called. Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God; For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him. And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of repentance. And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth! Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto this people. And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

“And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me! Behold, you have my gospel before you, and my rock, and my salvation. Ask the Father in my name, in faith believing that you shall receive, and you shall have the Holy Ghost, which manifesteth all things which are expedient unto the children of men. And if you have not faith, hope, and charity, you can do nothing.” [Doc. & Cov., s., xliii, p. 3, 4.]

These are my feelings and always have been since I became acquainted with the principles of eternal life; and I know that this is the spirit that rests upon President Young, and also upon all faithful men and women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is our duty to feel for those that are scattered abroad in the world, and that are poor, but who desire to gather to the promised land. We used to pray, O Lord, put it into the hearts of thy people to do unto us as we want to have them do. Now it is our turn; we are gathered home to Zion, and we are able to assist our poor brethren that are poor and unable to bring themselves. Where is there a people upon the face of the earth that are blessed like unto us; and then, again, I may say that a great many do not realize nor appreciate the blessings they enjoy, but they consider this a hard country to live in. There are very few people in this country but are much better off than they were in the country where they came from. There are hundreds and thousands, and I think I may say tens of thousands that were poor and penniless, and that were dependent upon their everyday labor for their living, and if they did not labor six days in each week they had to go without something that was actually necessary to make them comfortable, and unless they were at their work every day they could not get enough to eat. Scarcely any of them ever owned a cow, a horse, a sheep, pig, or chicken in their lives. Brother George D. Watt here knows this to be true, for he has seen enough of the poverty of his native country to understand exactly how it is. Is it any crime to be poor? No, it is not; I have seen the day when I was just as poor as I could possibly be as regards the comforts of this life, and I honestly consider that it would be a pretty hard case for a man to be poorer than I have been. Some people when they come here think it rather shameful to speak of how poor the people are over in the old country. Bless you if you had not been poor and oppressed—down in the depths of poverty, you would not have heard us at all when we went to proclaim the Gospel. That is the case with those who are well-off as a general thing. But if you were not all poor when the Gospel found you, I will guarantee that you have been since. I never knew a man who came into this Church rich but who had to become poor, that he might rise up with the rich and be exalted in the kingdom of God.

We have been led here by the hand of the Almighty, and settled in a barren wilderness a thousand miles from everybody that are called civilized. We came here because we were driven from our homes; hence, we came to these mountains because we were compelled to, for we could not live in the United States any longer, and you that have been driven from the days of Kirtland to the present time know that we could not live any longer among the enlightened and civilized of the United States. After Joseph and Hyrum were mobbed and slain by their enemies, there was no longer any home for the Saints in the States. We could not stay in Kirtland to make a permanent home there, although we succeeded in building a Temple, and in it received our blessings from the Almighty. Here is President Young, myself, and others that used to lie upon Joseph’s floor every night to preserve his life from his enemies, and that too among the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and devils, and there are a great many men and women who know it. We had to flee and leave all we had behind; brother Joseph, brother Brigham, and many others, father Smith among the number; and some of us had to watch while Luke Johnson helped the old man out of the window. Then how much safety was there in Missouri, Illinois, or anywhere else in the Eastern States? Could we stay there, gentlemen? No, no better than we could be in a smelting furnace without burning. Was there any revelation that we should come to the mountains? Yes, and there were predictions in the old Bible that we should come here, and now we are here we are comfortable and blessed above all other people upon the face of the earth, I do not care where you look. You may look to the east, to the west, to the north, and to the south, and in all nations you will find them ready to go to war with each other. And you may calculate that there will be war upon war, and that things will gradually grow worse; therefore we should always endeavor to do right.

When I reflect upon the instructions of President Young, who is our leader, I see the importance of our sustaining him in all his plans and designs, for he is God’s delegate, and he represents the authority of Heaven; and we Elders and Apostles are his associates, called to represent Heaven, to preach the righteousness of Christ, and to strive to do here on the earth as it is done in the heavens, and, hence, we should so live as to be the true representatives of Heaven, of happiness, glory, immortality, and eternal lives, for we have those principles to teach. All these things are before us, and one man can go forward and attain these things just as well as another, and one man can obtain these blessings of life, of peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost just as well as another.

Some may think that they are kings and priests, others that they are queens and priestesses, and put others down as servants, and thus make themselves judges of their brethren. But I am now speaking more particularly of men that are unrighteous, of those who will tread the poor man under their feet; and what will be the consequence of oppressing the poor? I would rather be in the place of the oppressed a hundred times than in that of the oppressor, “For with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” These are the words of Jesus, and although uttered many years ago they are still in full force, and I know it; and that saying will be fulfilled to the very letter, I have seen it in a thousand instances, and I know it will always be fulfilled. I never knew a man get a prejudice against his brother unrighteously but went the downward road, and the other against whom the prejudice existed invariably rises up above his enemies, for there is no other way to carry out the principles of righteousness, than to do unto others as we want others to do unto us, and thus fulfil the law of Christ.

Now, in the doctrine and practice of plurality, one woman will sometimes think that she is queen, and that the others have no right to speak or to do anything without her consent. If I had a case of that kind to adjudicate, I should be very apt to say to the woman, “Serve her faithfully, bear with her patiently, and the day will come when you will sit above her, no matter where she is now.” And so it is with the Elders of Israel, he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. The Lord will rule that which is righteous, and if he does not give you your rights in all things in time he will in eternity.

If you will look in the revelations, you will find the principle taught just as I teach, and I can say further, that there is not a hymn composed by the Saints but teaches some principle of truth just as clearly as the Bible teaches truth. Therefore, let us be alive to these things, and remember that we are exhorted to be one. Jesus prayed that his disciples might all be one, as he and his Father were one. Then, let us step forward and do this without waiting to be commanded, without any compulsion, otherwise we shall be considered slothful servants.

Well, now, this is the course for us to take. Let us be one in all things, that the blessings of the heavens and of the earth may be upon us continually.

If you want to know my views in reference to merchants and their goods coming here, I will tell you that I wish there could not any more goods be brought here. Why, can you get along without them, brother Kimball? I can, by the help of God; I want but little to be independent of every merchant that comes into this city. Why, this last year my family have made over eight hundred yards of cloth, and that will clothe a great many people; and dresses made of that kind of cloth are as far ahead of those you buy in the store as your silks are of the Indian blanket. Then consider what a blessing it is to the poor of this community to be able to sleep in nice, comfortable, warm woolen blankets; how much better than either the cotton or linen that is brought from the States. Then there are the coverlids, the bonnets, and many other necessary articles that can be made at home just as well as not. You can see ladies with the nearest kind of bonnets on of their own make; and if they want a new bonnet for the baby, they know how to make it. There are their undergarments, worn by the people here generally; they are made of wool, and that is produced here. What a blessing it is to be able to supply ourselves with so many of the necessaries and comforts of life here in these mountains! Some of you have got an idea that wool will not do; but let me inform you that when Peter came and sat in the Temple in Kirtland, he had on a neat woolen garment, nicely adjusted round the neck. What do sheep wear next the skin? Wool, of course. What do goats wear? Hair, for that is their nature. These are facts that are apparent to all who will look.

To return to the subject of the garments of the Holy Priesthood, I will say that the one which Jesus had on when he appeared to the Prophet Joseph was neat and clean, and Peter had on the same kind, and he also had a key in his hand. John also came and administered unto Joseph Smith, and remember that Peter, James, and John hold the keys pertaining to their dispensation and pertaining to this, and they came and conferred their Priesthood and authority upon Joseph the Seer, which is for the gathering together of all who seek the way of life. What is there that we cannot make within ourselves? There are but few things. If we have a desire to be released from bondage and oppression, we shall labor to produce what we need. I intend to have cloth, that has been made here, from head to foot. What are we going to do? A great many may say that they always wish to have their carding, spinning, and weaving done so as to be ready for the winter, and be at liberty to go to the parties. That is very good. But there is one other matter I wish to speak of in this connection, and that is that President Young wants this people to bring up some carding machines from the States, so that we can go forward and be in a short time perfectly independent of the world. This is the course for you and I to take; and, also, to lay aside our vanity and foolishness, and that which destroys the body. I have observed a great deal of the follies of people in my experience. If we will do right, our children will be a great deal stronger than we are in body, limb, joint, and muscles, for many of us have been weakened by folly, just as the present generation of young people are ruining themselves with their foolish fashions.

I have often had my feelings hurt when I have seen men grunt and grumble at every little trial, and then to see their wives, and many in fact that are not wives, murmur and find fault with their circumstances. It is true that some are doing all they can for the good of the community, but it is not so with all. Let us all labor and strive the best we can to build up the kingdom of our God here on the earth.

May God Almighty bless you, my brethren and sisters, may the blessing of peace be with you that you may enjoy the good Spirit, a spirit of integrity and faithfulness, and may that Spirit rest upon all the Saints in the mountains and throughout the world, is my prayer. Amen.

Remarks by President Heber C. Kimball, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, Feb. 6, 1862.

The spirit and the body are the soul of man, and one is not perfect without the other, any more than we can be perfect in the immortal state without those who have gone before us, or they without us. There will be a restitution of all things in heaven and on earth to make things perfect. That which we call this present life, in reality, has no end; that which we call time is in reality eternity. We say the dead have departed this life as though they had departed to some other life. This, however, is not so; dying is like going from one room to another, or from one part of the earth to another, the life still exists though the body decays, but the life which dwelt in it is indestructible.

We read of men who have been translated, but they must pass through a change which is equal to death, for it is appointed that all men shall die, and after that cometh the judgment. These things are not new to you, but it is well to speak of them that we may constantly be reminded that we shall live forever in some state. If this were not so, then immortality would be as an idle tale, and utter annihilation must follow the dissolution of this body. By observing strictly the precepts of the Gospel, we can learn how to live forever, and how to receive our tabernacles again in the morning of the first resurrection, to dwell on this earth forever. To attain the possession of these blessings, we must live worthy of them.

There is no sin more heinous in the sight of God than the sin of ingratitude. All beings that pertain to this earth, whether visible or invisible, draw their sustenance from it. The heavens and the earth associate together and minister one to the other. If the earthly is separated from the heavenly, or the temporal from the spiritual, then is the earthly or the temporal dead; the one is necessary to the other for a fulness of joy and an endless duration. The earth abideth the law by which it was made; if it could break that law it would have to receive damnation. If we violate the law by which we were made, then we forfeit our title to exaltation and eternal lives. The earth is the mother of us all, and from its bosom we are fed, and receive our growth and strength as an infant receives its nourishment from the maternal breast. I want us to obtain power to dedicate and consecrate the earth unto God, that his Spirit may continue upon it forever; that by this means the earthly may partake of the attributes of the heavenly, and become sanctified and prepared to enter the presence of God.

It is often said here that this people are blessed above all other people; this is truly so. We are in the mountains; we did not come here of our own accord, but we came by the will of the Father. We are in the tops of the mountains where the prophet said the people of God would be in the last days. “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the tops of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.” The ancient prophets have joy in seeing the fulfilment of the words they spoke when they were upon the earth. Jesus spake a parable to the Pharisees and Scribes, saying—“What man of you having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine and goeth into the mountains and seeketh that which is gone astray? And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.” We are here at home in the tops of the mountains; and there was joy in heaven when we embraced the truth and were gathered into this safe fold. The sheep that are still scattered need our aid and pity. Those that are at home, many of them, think they ought to be pitied now more than anybody else, when there are thousands still wandering from the true fold. We shall be the saviors of men sooner or later if we are faithful, and shall have power to redeem and save mankind through the atonement made by Jesus Christ.

Why should those who are in the house, well fed and clad, be jealous and envious of a poor sheep I may seek and save? If we cannot save a person temporally, it is a very hard case to save him spiritually, “Save yourselves from this untoward generation.” That is, let every man save himself as far as he can. The Saints that are yet scattered among the nations are as good people as we are, but they cannot get away from their present bondage; they have not the means necessary to work out their temporal deliverance. This year we will probably give you a chance to help to gather in the sheep that are still wandering in the desert, seeking the friendly shelter of this fold which we so happily enjoy. I understand President Young intends to call for five hundred teams this season to send to the frontiers for the Saints. Some have supposed that so many teams could not be loaded. The teams we sent down last year were loaded to the brim, and those this year will be to their utmost capacity. It is a true saying that “God helps them that help themselves;” and the Savior says, “Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you.” If we send down teams and say to the poor Saints among all nations, Come—shall we be frustrated in our noble design? We shall not, for that would not be in keeping with the character of God, nor with the character of his angels.

Who are his angels? They are men who stood fast through tribulation; they are prophets and apostles and patriarchs who once lived upon the earth, and bore testimony of the truth of the Gospel of the Son of God, the same Gospel that we preach. If we try to gather the poor, the Lord and his angels will help us and open the way before us, and as we return with the poor Saints to this land he will shut up the way behind us. It is our privilege to step forth and show ourselves approved, and if it is not the mind of the Lord we should prosper in the way and at the time we wish, let us be contented, knowing that we have shown our good will. If the Lord tells us to do anything and our enemies hinder us, the Lord will require it at their hands and they must pay that debt, and fully satisfy the demands of justice. One half of the people we gather may not be true Saints, but that makes no difference, for if there is not more than one Saint to ten who profess to be Saints, the Almighty will preserve the ten unworthy persons for the sake of the one good Saint. For the sake of a few true-hearted Saints traveling in a large company, the Lord will preserve their ships, the cars they travel on, and their teams; this I know from actual experience from the first day I entered into this Church to this day. God is the same today as he was in the days of the great flood, he loves and respects his friends, and so should we love and respect the faithful and true, and nourish and cherish them. We have not proved the Saints that are scattered abroad, nor they us; they may have proved themselves with their brethren in their own country and kept the commandments; but out of a thousand persons whom we emigrate, if we get only one hundred Saints how great will be our joy with them in the kingdom of our Father.

Let the brethren be ready when the call is made upon them to supply teams, and if the call is not made, then they are prepared to go to plowing and cultivating the ground and filling the earth with seed.

We are now partaking of the sacrament of the Lord’s supper; when we partake of the bread, let us pray the Father that strength may be given to our bodies that they may not wither, but be strengthened to reach a good old age; when we partake of the wine—or water, which is emble– matic of his blood, let us ask the Father that our blood may never be spilled unless it is necessary for the advancement of his Kingdom and the glory of God. We are in the true fold and are fed with the bread of life, the Word of God, which, if we receive faithfully and truly, will create within us that which will be as a well of water, springing up to everlasting life, and we shall never be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of God, for we shall partake of the attributes of our Heavenly Father. My prayer is that our hearts may become pregnant with the word of God and with the power of God, showing our connection with God, with Jesus Christ, and with the Holy Ghost, with the angels, and with the prophets and apostles that dwell in heaven.

I will make another remark regarding angels. God sent an angel to John on the Isle of Patmos, and John says, concerning it, “And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God.” Men are made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, but when men are clothed with the holy priesthood and sent forth to minister the word of life, the comparison between them and the angels is somewhat different. “And of his angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.” While in the act of ministering the Gospel, the servants of God may be considered angels. “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for some have entertained angels unawares.” The servants of God are angels in one sense, sent forth to gather the house of Israel from the four corners of the earth; and the Elders of this Church in their labors have fulfilled, partly, the sayings of the Savior, when they have found two working in the field, one has received the Gospel and been gathered, and the other left; two working in a mill, one has been taken and the other left; two lying in a bed, the one has been taken and the other left. But no doubt these sayings will have their final and complete fulfilment about the time of the second coming of the Savior. “For as in the days of Noah that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Again, there are hundreds who profess to receive the Gospel from our hands, and the sacrament, but they do not receive the power of God, and do not gather with the true sheep into the sheepfold. There are scores of people in England that I baptized twenty-six years ago, who are there yet, firm and steadfast, so I hear—they will be gathered to the fold in due time. The angels of this Church travel without purse and scrip, they are destitute of the means necessary to bring them along; but we are watching for an opportunity to deliver them, before universal destruction shall come upon the wicked nations.

The Lord sent three angels to watch over Abraham and Lot anciently. They stayed with Abraham, and Sarah baked a cake apiece for them; Abraham killed a calf, and supplied butter and milk to refresh them, after they had washed their feet. Jacob, on one occasion, wrestled with an angel all night long, but could not throw him. Jacob had hold of a being full of spring and power like unto a man, and he did not know the difference; he was a man and an angel. We are exhorted daily to conduct ourselves like the angels of God, to try and be like them: we are ex– horted to be godlike; and to be godlike is to do as God wishes us to do. God feeds the wicked and the good, clothes the righteous and the unrighteous, and is merciful to all the workmanship of his hands. I see the necessity of being more pure, more merciful, more faithful, and more true. If we pursue this course, my brethren and sisters, how great will be our blessings. No blessing will be withheld from the truly faithful. When a man is placed to preside over us, let us nourish and sustain that man as though he were an angel direct from the presence of God. I wish you to understand and appreciate what I say, and treasure it up.

A man who raises up his puny arm against the priesthood of God on the earth, is measuring arms with the Almighty. If an unfaithful wife shall raise the standard of war against her husband who is faithful to God, she is making war against the Almighty, and she will be wasted away, and she will ultimately curse God and die.

May God bless his people from the rivers to the ends of the earth, in all their settlements and abiding places. Amen.

Remarks by President Heber C. Kimball, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, October 7, 1861.

The matter has been plainly presented before us in regard to the Temple, and the question for us to consider is, “Does this people, or this Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with all its authorities that are present here today, want to build the Temple?” (The congregation responded, “Yes.”) “Is it your feeling and desire as a people that we shall go to work and build a Temple?” (All the Conference with one united voice responded in the affirmative.) I now want to put another question, for I do not understand or know of anything that lives but what has got a spirit and a body, and I know that to separate them here on the earth is death, so it is with us without our works, our faith is dead. Now, then, I am coming to the point; “Will you pay your Tithing?” (All answered, “Yes.”) “Will you attend to the calls of the First Presidency of this Church?” (One simultaneous “Yes” burst forth in answer to this question.)

What is the use of talking about things; let us go to work and do them. We as a people must go to work, beginning at the head or root of this branch of the house of Israel. We must go to work and build a Temple, and everything that pertains to it that is necessary for this day and time that we have to stay in these mountains. Is there any lack of means? No, not a particle. (President Brigham Young: All the lack is the will, brother Heber.) If we say we will do it, God will help us to do. There is no other way for this people to prosper, except for every leading man holding the Priesthood in this Church and kingdom to go to work unitedly, and except we are one in purpose, and all of us become like clay in the hands of the potter, we can do nothing. Every vessel has to be turned and become pliable in the hands of the potter. Do you know this, brethren? I have worked at the potting business, and I have made twenty dozen milk pans in a day, and I could not make one stand for the other; but I had to take each for itself, every bowl had to stand for itself. It is so with us in the kingdom of God; if we are saved at all, it must be by subjecting ourselves to the principles of salvation and eternal life, by observing strictly the law of Christ; and it is precisely so with regard to this people and the building of that Temple. It is one of the easiest things for us to do, if we will only go to work and do it in the way that we are commanded. When we start to do it in good earnest, our means will increase in proportion to what we do. Some will turn round and say, if by building that Temple we shall be prospered, we are ready; but if I tell you that by going at it, you will be able to send four hundred teams next year, if required, you will think this is extravagant; but I see it just as it is, and that by the Spirit of the living God, even by the Spirit of revelation. I am of opinion that if President Young had not started that theater, there would not have been half so many improvements here as we now see. Men increase their efforts frequently because of the examples of others. When boys lay down a snow ball, if it is not rolled it does not increase in size; but when it is rolled then it is the time that it increases. It is so with this Church and kingdom, the progress of the work of God is in proportion to the labor performed and the diligence of the people in the Church. We are all required to be diligent and to labor faithfully for the upbuilding of the kingdom of God; we have all got an interest alike in the triumph of righteousness, and it should be our meat and drink to assist all we can in this great work of human redemption.

But to return to the subject of the building of the Temple, which is closely connected with the salvation of both the living and the dead. There is quite a quantity of rock on the ground now, about enough to make one tier all round about sixteen inches high. Now, if you will go and look at the quantity of rock there is on the Temple Block, you will think there is far more than enough to build one tier, for it looks a tremendous pile. We have to carry the walls a little over eighty feet high from the basement. The theater is forty feet high from the water table, so you can readily form an idea of the height of the Temple when completed, and you can also imagine the immense mass of stone that will be required to rear it ready for the roof, when you consider that all the stone we have got on hand will but raise the building sixteen inches. Shall Great Salt Lake City do it all? No, all the people from north to south, and from east to west, have got to take a hand in the work, and by exerting ourselves we shall be enriched tenfold in our property and in our righteousness.

By-and-by President Young will call upon us to build a Tabernacle that will hold from 15,000 to 20,000 people, and it will be so constructed that the congregation will be able to sit and hear full as well as they can in the Tabernacle behind us, and it gives us a good idea of erecting another one, for the people can hear him when he speaks at a very moderate tone of voice; he does not have to speak one third as loud in the Tabernacle as he does here. Speaking here feels as if it would destroy a man’s lungs, for the voice is scattered or wasted through the bushes, while a tight room will hold the sound. We shall commence that large Tabernacle when President Young says so. Can we build that Temple by building that Tabernacle, of which I have been speaking? Yes, I say we can, and that too much quicker than if we do not build it.

I know these things. For years I heard Joseph tell the people to put in their means to help, and he, under the direction of the Almighty, would push forward the work and make the people rich. But Joseph could not do it, for the people were not filled with the Spirit of revelation, but if the people would partake of the same attributes as the man who stands at their head, which they can do by living the religion of Jesus Christ, they will prosper abundantly. Brother Brigham may talk all the day long, expecting that we have got the same spirit, and that we are blessed with the same sap and nourishment as he is, which comes from God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. You must be alive in Christ in order to partake of his Spirit, power, and authority. The principle is true and the rule is good; just let us hand over twice as many teams to go east next year as we sent this, and then we shall be able to do more work than we have ever done in the mountains before, and we will be better off.

Now, remember, we shall want you to come on with your teams, hauling rock, and take an active part in the good work. The people in the country must remember that the workmen will require butter, eggs, meat, cheese, and lots of strong clothing.

Brethren and sisters, remember all your duties and perform them, and the Lord Almighty will bless you and prosper you in all things which you set your hands to do.

May the choicest of our Heavenly Father’s blessings attend you, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Remarks by President Heber C. Kimball, made in the Bowery, July 7, 1861.

The ideas that have been advanced by President Young are strictly true, and they will so appear to everyone who has a knowledge of the condition of this world, and they will especially appear so to those who have a knowledge of the kingdom of God as it has been established in these last days. In regard to the United States, Great Britain, and European nations generally, they have a knowledge or a history of this people.

I was in England and commenced preaching the Gospel twenty-four years ago last June, and of course there were only a few Saints in that land; but the Gospel has spread among most of the nations of Europe. It has also been sounded in Asia, Africa, Australia, and in hundreds of the islands of the sea. The people generally look upon us as a set of fanatics, and they do not consider us worthy of their attention; still there are some who occasionally become convinced and embrace the truth. When the Church was first organized in Manchester, in the State of New York, the people rose up against us, and were determined that we should not stay there, and consequently we went to Kirtland, in the State of Ohio, where we had peace for a little season. And then we went to Jackson County, Missouri; but the brethren found we could not stay there, and hence we had to move over into Clay County. We stayed there a short time, and afterwards went into Caldwell County. We re– mained in those counties but a short time before the spirit of mobocracy raged to such a degree that the people considered we were not fit to live upon the earth. Fourteen thousand troops were called out, and took a few of us prisoners, and made us sign a deed transferring all our property to our persecutors in the State of Missouri, to pay the expense of our persecutors. They commenced their cruelties, and perpetrated the most diabolical outrages upon our people that were ever known among civilized nations: men, women, and children were indiscriminately despoiled of all they possessed; they were mobbed and whipped; some were tarred and feathered, and those who could not readily escape, were massacred, irrespective of age or sex; and if the Almighty had not interfered, they would have killed us all. We then went into Illinois, and had not been there long before they began to serve us in like manner. They gave us a city charter, and then took it from us again, and that too without any just cause. They gave us a charter for a Masonic Lodge, and then went to work and killed some of the men to whom the charter was given. The rage and ferocity of our enemies did not cease there, but it soon manifested itself in mobs assembling by thousands, who finally succeeded in driving us out of that State also, leaving us in the wilderness to perish. But the Lord assisted us; his protecting hand was over us for good, and by his power we were preserved.

After all these hardships and trials we started for this country, and what did the Government then require of us? Five hundred men were called to go and take part in the Mexican war, and that too at a time when we were all living in our wagons: many were sick, and some were dying; and in fact hundreds and thousands have died in consequence of the hardships and privations brought upon them by our ruthless persecutors. Joseph Smith lost his life by the hands of assassins, and he was one of the best men that ever trod the footstool of the Almighty. He was the man called to open up this last dispensation, but the world at large would not receive him.

We have passed through many grievous trials; but I do not feel that I want to say much about our sufferings this morning, but simply to remind you of some of the prominent acts of our enemies, that you may know that we have nothing to expect from them in the future but persecution and misrepresentation. Many of you are strangers to these things, both members and Elders, because you were not baptized into the Church until afterwards; but still you can see what the world have done to us; and everything in the shape of persecution or affliction which the world have brought upon us, will come back upon their own heads tenfold, and this nation in particular will reap what they have sown, and their troubles have already commenced; but I shall live to see them broken to pieces a great deal worse than they are now, and so will thousands of you. Our sons and daughters will live to see the complete overthrow of the nation, and they will avenge our wrongs. Many of them were born while we were undergoing those afflictions, and the blood of retributive justice is in them, and I know this as well as I know that I live and dwell upon this earth.

Our enemies know not what they are doing when they persecute and mob this people. It is true they are doing no more than was done by the wicked Lamanites who once lived upon this continent, and who were a flourishing and prosperous people. They persecuted the people composing the Church of Christ, the Nephites departed from the faith, and the two parties wasted each other away until only a remnant was left, and as such we now see them wandering about in filth, darkness, and the very lowest state of degradation. The Jaredites, who preceded the Israelites upon this continent, did the same things. They fought and contended with each other until the whole people were destroyed, and we are going to live to see similar things befall this nation. Although many may fall away from the truth, and others may embrace it, yet the destruction of this nation is sealed, except they repent, which is not very probable. Notwithstanding this nation has been favored with the revelations of heaven, yet they never knew God, they never knew that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of the Most High, and they do not now know that the leaders of this people are inspired from on high.

Now, I will say one thing that is in this good old book, the book that they won’t have in the Congress of the United States, for you remember it is only a short time ago that they would neither have a priest to pray for them, nor receive the Bible as evidence. This book, the Bible, says: “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” The nation of the United States have got to reap that which they have sown, and to receive that measure which they meted out to us, pressed down and running over; and as they designed to wipe us out of existence “with the flower of the army” which they sent here, that destruction shall come upon themselves. I am perfectly willing that they should know what I think of them. That army was sent here by James Buchanan to wipe us out, but they might as well try to move the sun out of his place; still we know that that was their design, and brother Brigham declared it at the time. Yet, although you know that those poor creatures came here for the purpose of cutting our throats, you will feed them at their own price, instead of making them pay handsomely for all they get. If the brethren had acted wisely, they might have helped themselves a great deal, and have got together means for the building up of the kingdom of God upon the earth; but some were determined not to take counsel. Now, as feeble and poor a creature as I am, I would like to know where there is a man who could bring up one circumstance to show that I have ever violated the law of the land. I know that I have been true to my country, to my Masonic brethren, and also to my brethren in this Church. Are there any of my countrymen who would injure me? Yes, scores, hundreds and thousands of them.

They have now got Masonic institutions against Masonic institutions, and Presbyterians operate against Presbyterians, and Episcopalians against Episcopalians, and, finally, it will be every man against his neighbor. But while they are being divided one against another, this people are raising the standard of King Emmanuel, and we will sustain the Constitution of the United States, and also all good and wholesome laws. You may tell it to the nations, for as God lives this people will do it, and I say, Amen.

Remarks by President Heber C. Kimball, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, May 12, 1861.

I feel today, as I do a great many times, as though it was considerable of a task for me to attempt to speak. There are thousands of things to speak about for the edification of this people, and every truth is like the root of a tree; it has many branches. Many of you have probably observed that the top of a tree is much like the root in this particular; it has many branches, and from those spring thousands of twigs and leaves; and it is just so with the truth. Then, again, it is a good deal so with the English language. Words have their roots, and some of our linguists can give us the etymology of almost all the words used in the English language.

In regard to the ideas that were advanced by President Young this forenoon, they are just as true as it is that you are all here. I was thinking what a blessing it would be if this people would keep these things in view, treasure them up in their minds, and live so that their conduct will correspond with the religion they profess. Then they would honor that Priesthood which is conferred upon them. When I reflect upon this, I pray that we may all so live that God our Father may endow us with every necessary qualification to prepare us to honor our calling. What powerful, what mighty men the Elders would be, if they would live in that way! The Almighty is willing to bestow upon us every necessary gift to enable us to honor our high callings in an acceptable manner, and to qualify us to magnify the holy Apostleship that is conferred upon us.

Although you do not consider yourselves Apostles, yet there is not a soul of you that holds the Priesthood but has received a portion of the Apostleship, for you all sprang out of the Apostleship. This Priesthood comes from the Father to the Son, from Jesus to Peter, James, and John, and from them to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and from Joseph to us; and it still continues in one unbroken chain through all the members of the body of Christ. Now, is not that directly from our Father? Does it not originate in the heavens? It certainly does. Then is it not necessary that we should all be like one man or one tree? Every one of us is most assuredly connected to the Gospel tree, and we are branches and members thereof. I merely bring up this figure so as to bring the principle more forcibly to your minds. I wish you to understand that we should be like a family connected to their head or benefactor. We also should be one, as our Father and his Son are one—all that have received the Priesthood from the beginning of creation down to the present day.

Now, the Lord has said that all old covenants have I caused to be done away in this thing, and this is the new and everlasting covenant, even that which was in the beginning. Where did he begin this covenant? Why, he placed it upon Adam in the Garden of Eden. Is it not so? This is the new covenant that is ordained and sealed upon man in the beginning of this creation, and we are here imitating it, or should.

We believe with all our hearts that Jesus is the Son of God, and we imitate him by going into the waters of baptism and being buried in the likeness of his death, and then being entitled to come forth in the likeness of his resurrection. Then, when we have complied with this, the Holy Ghost is bestowed upon us by the laying on of hands by one having authority.

These things have come to my mind, and I consider that they are very good. And it is for you and me, when we rise from the water, to lead a new life—to go forth walking in the newness of life. It is a birth—a baptism for the remission of sins—a preparatory work to the receiving of the gift of the Holy Ghost, that it may bring all things to our remembrance that are past, and show us things to come; yea, that those things that we have forgotten may be brought to our remembrance. Now, I know that, when the Holy Ghost is upon me, all things look natural to me, and as if I had been familiar with them before.

By the Spirit of prophecy you can become acquainted with things to come, and declare them to the Saints by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. When men prophesy with this Spirit upon them, they will come to pass, for the Holy Ghost cannot lie. Brethren, let us take a course to live that we need not commence again to repent from dead works; but let us continue in the new covenant, and be faithful in all our duties, and increase in integrity one towards another and towards our God. This should be uppermost in our minds continually.

You all remember what was said this morning. Strive and improve upon it. The world hate us, and hated Jesus before us; and wicked men have killed almost every Prophet that has been upon the earth. Have not the United States done their best to make a final end of us? They have tried all in their power to destroy this people from the earth. The only reason they did not do it was because they had not the power: the Lord was on our side.

Brethren, it is for us now to be industrious, live our religion, lay up our grain, and prepare for the times that are coming upon the earth. Do any of you think that this war is going to be over in a few days? If you do, you are greatly mistaken; but when it is over, they will be ten times more fierce and wicked towards this people than ever they were before.

By fighting, they become angry, they lose the Spirit of God, and they then take pleasure in killing and slaying each other; and when they become hot in this way, they will combine to serve us the same way.

Do not dally or trifle with President Young’s words, nor with the words of his brethren; for those who do, trifle with the Almighty. After all that has been said about selling wheat, flour, and grain in general to our enemies, does it stop it? No: they are still at it. And in what condition does it place them that do it? Why, they become like a barren tree—they bring forth nothing; whereas it is their duty to strive to bring forth fruits of righteousness. I know that some will be ready to say that brother Heber is on his old strain again, but I do not mind that. If you trifle with brother Brigham and with his words, or with the words of the Apostles, the Seventies, or the Bishops, by-and-by you will feel it, and learn the effects of it in due time. You may not feel that today, but you will ere long suffer for slighting the words of the servants of God. I know this people are advancing in knowledge; they have got more light and intelligence than they ever before enjoyed. They are a blessed people, and ought to appreciate their privileges as Saints of the Most High. And as we are growing in light and knowledge, the wicked are growing more wicked every day: they are becoming ferocious; they are full of death and destruction; they are becoming just as the Nephites of old. They got so desperate that they would sing and howl all night for the blood of their brethren; and it will be just as bad in the United States. When our enemies seek to kill us, they seek the destruction of their saviors.

If this people will do as they are told, we shall soon be independent of all importations from foreign markets. To do this effectually, we must set ourselves to work to make everything we need ourselves; then we shall not need to bring goods from the States, from Great Britain, or any other nation upon the earth, excepting perhaps a few articles. But so long as we allow ourselves to sustain a foreign market instead of our own, we shall be poor indeed. I desire with all my heart that the way may be shut up, so that we may be taught by experience the necessity of clothing ourselves. See how dependent we are, when we have got no bread, clothing, sugar, tea, or coffee; and those who possess these articles hold us in servitude. It is the duty of every man to go to work and raise or make what he needs for his own consumption. This is one thing that causes President Young to go down south, so that he may ascertain if that country is capable of producing our cotton, sugar, coffee, and grapes. I know that we can make the sugar as well in this country as they can in the Southern States. The reason it is not done is because we have got men here who are so anxious to get a large quantity of molasses from their crops of sugar cane. I am satisfied that we can make good sugar here, if we will only take a little time to do it. I design to do it myself, if nothing happens to prevent. We make our flour, we saw our lumber, card our wool, we spin a great deal of yarn, and make a great deal of cloth; but still there are but very few of this people who dress in homemade cloth. We are dependent upon the States and the various nations of Europe for our clothing.

Now, you all see these things just as I do, and I have an anxiety for you as a people. I want you to take this course, for I know it to be necessary for our salvation.

When I go to my Father and God, and to Joseph, he will say, Come in here, sit down with us, and enjoy yourself. Would not this be a happy time? Yes. And what would you not give to be in the society of Joseph and Hyrum and his brethren? You would all give everything you possess in the world. Then see that you live for this day by day.

Not a man, woman, or child need to suffer in this Territory, if they will do just as they are told. The Lord will provide for his people, and bring them off victoriously. Industry and perseverance will enable us to manufacture the most of what we want. At present we have but just commenced in home manufactures; but if we are faithful and diligent, we shall increase rapidly in our ability.

One of the most grievous things we have to endure is the evil practices of some who profess to be Saints; but I feel to rejoice that these are only the few. Brethren, I rejoice in spirit and in speaking to you this day. Although I am feeble in body, I am buoyant and strong in spirit, and I feel that I am going to live a great many years yet. But if I am called to pass behind the veil, all will be right with me. If we are faithful and humble, the Lord will bring us off conquerors.

I feel to bless this people, that their hearts may be comforted in the things of God. I rejoice in the performance of all my duties, and I never feel weary in doing good, in blessing and comforting my brethren. Some seem to take pleasure in finding fault with everything around them; but they would not do this if they had done right. When men neglect their prayers and other duties, they lose the Spirit of the Lord and get into the dark.

You have the privilege of saving men temporally and spiritually. Into your hands is committed the power to become saviors of men. We have to save ourselves and others temporally, and then spiritually.

I feel to say, God bless you! Peace be with you, and peace be multiplied to the righteous, and to their seed after them forever! This is my blessing upon you, brethren and sisters, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Discourse by President Heber C. Kimball, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 14, 1861.

There is scarcely a subject in regard to myself or this people that is of any importance but I have thought of it, for I reflect much. I wish to speak by the dictation of the Holy Ghost, and I know that will be in proportion to the faith that dwells in you. It is a pretty hard case for a man to speak to this congregation, except he makes up his mind to speak according to the light that is in the people.

Many of the people have ears to hear, but they hear not, neither do they conceive the things of the kingdom of God. For instance, when the people come together on a Sunday morning and hear a discourse, go home to dinner and come together in the afternoon, and they can scarcely remember a word that has been said in the forenoon; therefore you perceive the necessity of our being instructed from day to day, and of our having our ears cultivated to hear the things of the kingdom. Then we shall have hearts to understand, and minds to comprehend the principles of eternal life. And if the word of life be in us, it will be like a well of water springing up into everlasting life, and we shall have our minds stored with that knowledge which is promised to the faithful. It is necessary, and it is the imperative duty of the Elders in Israel to strive to increase in knowledge, in wisdom, in virtue, and in good works; for if we have good works we are bound to have good faith: then again good faith produces good works.

Ever since I embraced the Gospel twenty-nine years ago, I have felt determined to draw near unto the Lord our God, knowing that he had promised on that condition to draw near unto his children. In doing this I have been blessed and comforted in all my labors. It is our duty to learn to be men of truth in all our acts, our works, our thoughts, and to cultivate the spirit of truth.

I have frequently thought of the saying that some men are so clever that they can turn the truth into a lie, and vice versa. Now, I would like to know how it is possible to turn a lie into truth. I contend that there is no such thing; but men may so mystify the truth as to make it appear an error or a falsehood; but the truth still remains firm and unshaken, for it is of that character that the Scriptures speak of: it is like a two-edged sword; yes, it will cut both ways. We should always be filled with the truth, and not only filled with truth, but ever be ready to administer it, whether we are moving backward or forward. We should ever be ready to administer the words of life and salvation, and let the error alone. Let us listen to the counsel that we have heard today from brother Wells and the other brethren. I did not hear brother Wells, but I heard Brother George A. and President Young. What they said was truth, and I also know that what brother Wells said was truth, for he cannot speak anything else. There are men of whom I could not say that; but brother Wells’ mind is stored with knowledge and wisdom, and it would be hard for a man like him to talk anything else than the truth. We often say that we wish to speak the truth to the people, which is right and good; but is it any more necessary that I should be a man of truth here than I am in my garden or with my family? No. It is necessary that I should be a man of truth wherever I am, whatever my employment may be. It is not wisdom for us to be as the old Quaker, who, when he was insulted, pulled off his coat and said, “Lay there, religion, till I flog this man!” Now my doctrine is, that if I cannot flog a man and be just as religious as I am in this pulpit, I had better let him alone. But, unlike the old Quaker, I never had an occasion to put my religion to the test in this way; in fact, I never had much difficulty with any man in my life. I have had more difficulty with myself than with anybody else. I will not do as some have done, whip a man because I have the power and the strength. Let men act unjustly with me, and I will endure it until that spirit which I enjoy says, You have borne enough; and then if I have to administer chastisement unto that man, I will do it by the power of God. Then such a man had better be out of my way and out of my hands.

Do not, brethren, follow in the track of those who came against Jesus. He had no friends, but he had the power of God with him, and his enemies were struck dumb before him. This is the position we should be in; and then what are the nations of the wicked, or the armies of the United States, or of all the world? If we attend to our business and let other things alone, the Lord will sustain us in all circumstances of life. Supposing I had a dozen men employed—men who were devoted to the truth and to my interest, I would say, Boys, attend to your business; do what I have told you, and I will attend to our enemies; I will see to these chaps and flog them to it; I will teach them to attend to their duties, or stand aside. This is the character of our Father: he will defend his own, he will defend his people, he will defend our wives and children, these mountains, and all that cleave unto righteousness. This is the way I view the subject, and I presume that all Israel will say Amen.

It is our duty to pursue that course that will lead and guide us unto eternal life. This land is blessed above all other lands: it was foreordained to be the gathering place of the Saints, where the Lord would hide up his people until his indignation should pass over the nations of the earth. You have heard us say that all the world and hell combined cannot get us out from these mountains, and I say the same today.

It is by our faith and works, by our integrity and righteousness, by doing to others as we would wish them to do unto us. Jesus says—“With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” (Matt. vii. 2.) This is and will be the case with every man in this Church and kingdom, from first to last. All will have that reward which their works merit, whether they be good or evil.

I realize that I am a feeble man—that I am nothing more than a worm that crawls upon the earth, except when God is with me. The more I see of myself, the more I am satisfied that I am a poor, weak, frail man. We are all poor creatures without God. If you do not believe it, look back into the world and see the condition of things. They have no regard for honesty among them, speaking of them as a community; but of course there are persons among them that are honest—individuals who are the elect of God: they will eventually be gathered.

Those who have been sent among us by the Federal Government as officers were men who did not care for the people. They have always manifested a great anxiety for the gold and silver, but none for the interest through this community. Now, this should not be so with us; our desire and labor should be to learn the principles of integrity—to live up to our covenants made in the house of God. If we do this, no power can overcome us, but we shall prevail.

I have passed through a great many trying scenes. I have been driven and rooted up every time that this Church has been removed from its gathering place by its enemies. I have also had the experience of seeing armies come up against us in Caldwell county, Missouri, when we could not raise above five hundred half-armed men to defend the county, and the Governor, L. W. Boggs, ordered out as many as fourteen thousand troops against us. At that time, it looked as though we should be destroyed from the earth; but the Almighty was on our side. When I saw the condition that we were in, I concluded that it would be hot times; so I put a heavy charge in my United States musket, only expecting to get one chance to fire, and felt determined that it should be a dead shot to somebody. We all felt very queer, for there was no other prospect before us than that of immediate assassination; but of a sudden, as by a shock from all heaven, our enemies were panic-stricken, and retreated in confusion. Brother Wells can tell you about the Battle of Nauvoo, for he was there and took an active part in it.

When the Church was thus broken up, we used to go forth from State to State preaching the Gospel to all who would hear. We did not preach the gathering at those times, because there was no place to gather to: the Prophets and Apostles themselves had to flee for their lives. In all these trying scenes the Lord sustained us, and he gave us favor in another county and also in another nation. These things have existed from the organization of the Church; but in the midst of all, I never felt discouraged, neither did I feel to shrink from any duty that was imposed upon me. I knew that God was with us, that he was with his Prophet, and with all good men. We were faithful at that time, and those that continued faithful through those trials still remain with us; and my Heavenly Father knows that I respect them, and I ever shall respect them while I remain in the body and continue in the spirit of my calling.

Now, you all know pretty well how the Lord worked it with that army which the United States Government sent here to scatter this people to the four winds of heaven. They sent their minions to make war with the house of God, and he took the battle into his own hands and kept our enemies at bay. Some of you make remarks about our having no temple; but what of that? Was it not so in the days of Moses? Yes, it was. The Israelites were left with a Tabernacle and Ark of the Covenant, but still the Lord fought their battles, he defended them against their enemies, he brought them off victoriously, he severely scourged their oppressors; and he will do the same in the present dispensation, if we are faith– ful to the covenants we have made. Have not the ungodly made war with the people of God? And was not that equivalent to declaring war with our Father in heaven, and with Jesus Christ his Son, and with his kingdom, with a design to overthrow it, kill his Prophets and Apostles, and put to death his anointed ones, and also every Saint that would not submit to their lasciviousness, to their vices, and corrupting and damning practices? Yes, brethren, the United States have done all this, and much more that would be painful to recite.

Some of them talk sometimes about brother Brigham crooking his little finger, and have told that if he were to do that, no Gentile would be permitted to live any longer among us. When the enemies of righteousness came here, they became so afraid of the Saints that they dared not let a man out of their ranks; they were almost terrified to death; they went down among the cedars, and there they have been ever since, and there they will remain until they go away, which won’t be long. How awfully they were disappointed, as well as those who came here to rule us! They have not any of them accomplished what they designed, for the man or the woman that falls in with such spirits is not our brother or our sister. Who is our brother? He that doeth the will of our Father who is in heaven, and none else.

Now think of these things, reflect upon them; and so sure as you have seen a few things, so surely will you, in the Lord’s own due time, see many more, and you will see that our Father will deliver his people every time their enemies come upon them. Yes, it will be so from this time forth and forever. Then, in addition to this, you will find that this Priesthood, through those who hold it in righteousness, will rule the nations of the earth forever and forever. Will those who hold the Priesthood govern with a rod of tyranny? No; but it will be done by the power of the Priesthood of the Almighty, which is compared to an iron rod. The nations will eventually have to come and bow down before this Priesthood and to this people, and they will be willing to lick the very dust off their feet; yes, and they will be perfectly willing to lick the dust from the feet of those men whom they slew in Carthage, if they can be permitted to be in their presence.

Brethren and sisters, I feel very comfortable, generous, and kind today, and I feel that there is a good Spirit here. You will all feel better when you get rid of your contractedness. Let the womb of your mind be expanded to receive the words of life, and then the Spirit of the living God will be in you as a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

To you, sisters, especially the young ladies, I want to say, Away with your folly. Put away far from you all pride and all lightmindedness, and trust in the Lord your God, and let the petition of your heart and the supplication of your soul be life, life—eternal life!

There are many good books for you to read, and that are full of good instruction. Here are the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and Book of Doctrine and Covenants. You will see many revelations in the last named book that are already fulfilled, and there are others that are still in the future. The Almighty through his Prophets foretold that the nation would make war upon this people, and that he would come out of his hiding place, and pour out his judgments upon those that rebel against him, and who persecuted his people, and set themselves against his house. Then it shall go forth like a mighty whirlwind upon the face of the whole earth.

In this country the North and the South will exert themselves against each other, and ere long the whole face of the United States will be in commotion, fighting one against another, and they will destroy their nationality. They have never done anything for this people, and I don’t believe they ever will. I have never prayed for the destruction of this Government, but I know that dissolution, sorrow, weeping, and distress are in store for the inhabitants of the United States, because of their conduct towards the people of God. Then the judgments will go forth to the nations of the earth. I have an understanding of these things, and I sincerely hope that you comprehend as clearly as I do. If you do, you will strive to prepare for those things that are coming upon the earth in these last days.

I would like you all to become like a vine, or like unto a tree, every limb, branch, twig, fiber, and leaf to be connected one with the other.

Now, in regard to the Spirit of prophecy, I will say that we may all prophesy, if we will wait till we are sure we are right. Brethren, God bless you with the gifts of the Spirit, and may peace be with you all, and may the blessings of heaven rest upon these mountains and valleys for the benefit of the faithful Saints.

When I look around, I see many things that I do not like; I do not like to think of circumstances that have taken place within the last few days. I do not like the idea of having thieves in our midst, but we certainly have them, and I pray God Almighty to root them out of the earth, and to let them go into forgetfulness, and let all Israel say Amen. (The congregation responded Amen.)

Brethren and sisters, I pray our Father in heaven to give you liberally of his Spirit, that you may be led and guided thereby in the way of righteousness and truth, and in the end of your probation be claimed in the presence of the Father and the Son, which I ask for you and all the faithful, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Remarks by President Heber C. Kimball, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 7, 1861.

The remarks of brother Snow are all very good and brilliant to every intelligent mind. We have to increase the same as a child that goes to school and commences with his A, B, C. When that child obtains a knowledge of the letters of the English language, he can then put them together, and make words and sentences. He then wants a second reader, and by-and-by he will call for a third, and a fourth. Upon the same principle, you and I can improve by degrees; and there is no other way by which any man can improve, except by experience. There is no man in this Church who has lived his religion and walked in the light of truth these twenty-eight years past, but who knows a hundred times more now than he did at the beginning of his career; and that knowledge comes by experience.

We should appreciate our blessings and the gifts that God has conferred upon us, and our affections should be stronger for the Giver of the gifts than they are for the gift. Is it my duty to think more of Jesus, the Son of the living God, than of his Father who gave him as a sacrifice for the sins of the world? Which is the greatest—the Giver of that gift, or the gift? Where people would think more of the gift than the Giver, I have known hundreds of times of those gifts being taken from them because they did not appreciate the Giver. Remember the Father, in the name of Jesus, and then appreciate those men God has given you to be your servants, and you will prosper from this time forth and forever, and all your enemies cannot move you.

Everyone that is not for God is bound for destruction; and if all our enemies combine and come against us with all their armies and munitions of war, they cannot hurt us, for God our Father will fight our battles, as he has done up to this day. He will sustain those who remember the originator of the great work of God in the last days. I am now telling what I know; I am telling what I have experienced. Sometime this month, it will be twenty-nine years since President Young and myself were baptized.

I have been all the time in the midst of this people with the Prophet, and with the Apostles, with Patriarchs, and with sinners; and I know all about the persecutions we have passed through as a people. All this has given me an experience that has proved to a demonstration that the world and all hell combined cannot budge this people one hair, only as they please to go. God dictates them, and that you have seen more particularly within a few years past.

Did that army hurt us? No, not as a people; but there are some persons who are injured, and will be eternally. Who injured them, the army? No: they did it themselves; they fostered the enemy that would have destroyed this whole people and laid the knife to President Young’s throat, and to the throats of his friends, and all the friends of God. But the Lord Almighty will make them pay for it. You will feel the rod for this. If it is not in fifty years, it will surely come, and you need not think you will escape it. You may do good works enough to overbalance it, and then perhaps you will not be found wanting.

Those in the days of Joseph who were traitors to him and tampered with the mob are guilty of his death, and they will have to pay the debt some day. You that have not done wrong, happy are ye. Do not do any wrong in the future. You that have done right, continue to do right. You that have not betrayed your brethren, see you do not do it; and you that have not turned away from the Lord and from your covenants, do not do it, but hold them sacred the few more days you have to live in the flesh, and the Lord will let you live many days, and you shall be the ones the Scriptures speak of, to whom the Lord will grant long life, even that child that shall be subject to his father and to his mother. That is the blessing promised to them.

I will say to you, young men, you children of the Saints, and you, young women, Repent of your sins, and turn to your fathers and mothers, and listen to their counsel, if they are good and teach you good principles; and if they are not good, but teach you good principles, cleave unto those principles. When my son turns away from me, he turns away from God; and if he does not turn away from God, he will not turn away from me. I am a son of God; I came from him. I belong to the family of Christ, and I am an heir to all the promises with my Savior Jesus. If I am faithful, and do not do anything worse than I have done, I shall come off victoriously.

A great many may condemn me, and say, I am not as affable and kind as I should be; I do not kiss you and pet you enough, and you condemn me for it, and you would condemn me if I did.

I am a branch of the vine that came out of the root that Jesus dwells in; and when my son or my daughter turns away from me, they turn away from God; and if they do not turn away from God, they will not turn away from me; and when my wife turns away from me, if I am a righteous man, she turns from the tree she is connected to; and if she has done it unrighteously, she turns from God—she transcends her bounds, and the Spirit of the Almighty will not dwell with her; and all you sympathetic persons will fall in with that spirit and condemn me. Let me turn away from President Young and this Church, should I not turn away from God? Of course I should.

It should be with a family as it is with this Church. As this Church is compared to a vine or tree, so a family should be like a tree; they should be one, concentrating their feelings in their head from whence they spring; and if they cannot respect the father they came, from, how can they respect grandfather? I am alluding to fathers and mothers—to the Elders of Israel—to men of God that have been anointed with a holy anointing, to be what? To be Priests of God. Live for it, and honor your present calling, and keep your election sure. If you were not elected in eternity, here is the place to be elected, and to enlist under the banner of Christ; and finally we will all be elected, if we will only take a course that is proper. It is going to be a difficult thing for the elect to be saved, according to the Scriptures, and there will not any of them be saved only by taking a course to do right and by honoring their calling and Priesthood. No man will become a king, only by honoring his calling, and by obtaining a crown by expe– rience, and continuing in welldoing. There is no woman that will ever be a queen except she is a good woman and well attached to a good king.

Now honor that calling and Priesthood, and that sacred endowment that will bring you into the presence of God, if you will observe it. How unrighteously many act that have received a holy and sacred endowment! They will many of them violate those sacred and solemn obligations. They have gone to the nations, and there committed adultery; and those who have been led astray by them think that the First Presidency of this Church and the Twelve Apostles do the same things, and they go down to the pit; but the Lord God Almighty will raise those persons yet, and he will make those men do it, and they will have to pay the debt. They are not going to get through with it in this time any more than those men who fostered that army. They have committed sin; they have kept men and women out of this Church that probably would have been in it. We generally conclude that those who are kept out ought to be out. I tell you that a great many that are out are better than many that are in. And then look at your covenants, ladies! Ye mothers in Israel, cleave unto your husbands; love them more than your lives. If you have a kind, benevolent feeling, bestow it on them; and then, if the brethren have any kind, benevolent, sweet, compassionate feelings, confer them upon your wives, and appreciate your Father and God, who gave you both, more than all the rest.

I can recollect a circumstance of seeing a man and woman who had a very fine son: the father took the son in his arms and wanted to embrace him and carry him around and show him, he delighted so much in his son, and thought everybody else delighted in him. Because he did this, the mother stepped forward and pulled the child out of the arms of his father. I said, God my Father will take that child from your arms quicker than you took him from mine, and not more than ten days afterwards it was in its grave.

Let us put everything in its proper place and nourish it properly. And a good man that is inspired of the Almighty, a good calculator and financier, knows how to govern and minister better than the person who never knew anything, and never will, only to waste and destroy all a man has got. You see things, and I do; but you say in your hearts you do not care for anything, only my dear little self.

Father says, in this book, what joy has a man in bestowing a gift upon a person, when the receiver of the gift has no joy in the giver? The joy should be in the giver as well as in the gift. Take the gift and use it for the purpose for which it was designed, and do not worship it, but worship the giver and the proper authority. Now, we will say, here is an Elder; we will say he is a Teacher, and he says, I respect brother Heber above all other men on the earth, and I will not submit to anybody else but to him; and here are scores of men between him and me that he ought to submit to; but he runs over everyone of these choice gifts to get to me—what will become of him? He will go down to the pit, as sure as he came out of it. When a man is attached to a tree, he should appreciate, honor, and respect every branch pertaining to that tree that is honoring its calling, living its religion, and receiving the true nourishment from the root.

If you can draw any good conclusions from these few hints, receive them and reflect upon them, if they do come from brother Heber. He is just as capable of teaching the truth, when he has the Spirit of truth as any man in the world. Supposing I communicate truth to you by a figure, an illustration, or a representation, is it not the more easily understood?

Drs. Sprague, Dunyan, and Hovey are Thomsonians, and I like them the best. I ask them why they put Greek names on their medicines which I am familiar with? Does it change the nature of those herbs by coming here to the mountains? No. Then what do you do it for? They reply, People will appreciate a false name better than a true name; hence we give to one man, at one time, powder-falbin; at another, May-apple; and then mandrake. Why do they not call May-apple ‘mandrake’ at once? The doctor gave it to me every way. It is mandrake, May-apple, and then it is powder-falbin. This is done because people have an itching for something new all the time.

I may be detaining you too long; but, brethren, I feel kind to you. As for blessing you, there is not a day of my life but what I bow before my Father alone and before my family, and I pray, Father, bless all Israel, from the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the last member connected with it, and that tells the whole story. Let us do right, and God will lead us off victoriously.

We are richer now for moving to the south than we should have been if we had not moved. What did we save by it? It saved that difficulty that would have brought you into sorrow, probably, all the days of your life, if you had withstood that army and shed blood. But by that move you saved your blood and the blood of your enemies, and in this you did a good deed. It cost considerable, but Father booked it against them, and he will make them pay the debt. We might have to do such a thing again. I do not know anything about it, but I am pretty sure of one thing—we shall go to Jackson County, Missouri; that is, those who do right and honor their calling, doing what they have been told to do. You will be blessed, and you will see the day when Presidents Young, Kimball, and Wells, and the Twelve Apostles will be in Jackson County, Missouri, laying out your inheritances. In the flesh? Of course. We should look well without being in the flesh! We shall be there in the flesh, and all our enemies cannot prevent it. Brother Wells, you may write that. You will be there, and Willard will be there, and also Jedediah, and Joseph and Hyrum Smith, and David, and Parley; and the day will be when I will see those men in the general assembly of the Church of the Firstborn, in the great council of God in Jerusalem, too. Will we want you to be along?

I heard Joseph say twice that brother Brigham and I should be in that council in Jerusalem, when there should be a uniting of the two divisions of God’s government. Now, you have got to live for it. What would you not do to attain to those blessings? You would give all you have in the world. You may give all you have got, and then keep it; and if you keep the commandments of God and live faithful, you shall everyone see it, and that is what will bring you to it.

When you are called upon to do a thing, do it with all your heart, and God will add a hundredfold to your glory and exaltation. When seed-wheat is sown, if it is not too thick, one seed will produce thirty stalks, and a head on every stalk. Like the mite that the woman gave, it will increase to you thousands, and much more to them that have more in proportion to the kernel.

You Elders of Israel are the very men that will have to bring the sons and daughters of Israel from afar, and nurse them at your side; and you mothers will have to be those very queens that will have to take care of them when they are gathered, if you will honor your calling. It is the pride of my heart to see this people do right, and to do right myself.

There was a man came into the mill the other day—he is a painter, carpenter, joiner, and everything almost. He said I can tell you how to reduce that oil and mix water with it, and no man can detect it; and, says he, you must do it by adding lye to it. I said I would rather have a clear conscience than all the lies in hell. Said I, You and my brethren shall have the pure oil from the flaxseed, and it shall be as pure and as holy as brother Brigham’s gold. You need to be a pure man to cry holiness to the Lord God Almighty. Have our gold pure, without adulteration, have our silver and brass pure, and you shall have the linseed oil pure from me, as pure as it is in the seed; and I will undersell our merchants. I will do it, if I come down to a dollar a gallon. We will stop that leaching out of our gold, and let all Israel say Amen.

Some said there was not any oil in the flaxseed, because the country is dry; but I can get over a gallon of oil from a bushel of seed. If you have money, I want it, and you shall have the oil. I will supply the Public Works and let brother Brigham have what he wants; and if the Gentiles bring oil here and sell it at three dollars per gallon, I will undersell them. If you pay me money for oil, I will pay you money for seed. If you do not pay me money, I cannot return the compliment, but I will give you oil for your seed. I am going to send back and get something I cannot make. I will tell you what I am going to sell the oil at—five dollars per gallon, and pay two dollars and a half per bushel for seed, or two quarts of oil. That is fair and honorable—as fair for you as for me. If I make a gallon, I get two quarts, and you two. And that is three dollars per gallon cheaper than that which comes from the States.

I believe brother Clements is selling linseed oil at six dollars; but he cannot sell long, for he has not got it.

Brother Wells has established a nail machinery, and God has blessed him in the operation. He has introduced the nails into market, and he is now making them by the ton, and has put them at twenty-five dollars per hundred; and at the same time, instead of paying their money and good things to him, some men are carrying their money to the States to buy the nails. Why do you not patronize brother Wells? Those I am speaking of are men in authority. I am using the hydraulic presses brother Taylor brought into this country, and they are performing wonders. They will each press equal to a hundred and twelve tons weight.

Now, you go to work, brethren and sisters, and get out something of home manufacture, and be as faithful as President Young and his counsel have been in this matter, and then you shall be blessed more than you are. We admit you are a good people, but you can be more useful; and the more useful you are the better you are. If you can feed ten men, you are better than the man that can only feed himself. Would you not rather have him for a husband, sisters, than the man that could not feed himself?