Discourse by President John Taylor, delivered at Ogden, on Sunday, December 8, 1878.

I am pleased to have the opportunity to meet with the Saints here; and I have been quite interested in the remarks you have heard this morning from Bro. Joseph F. Smith. There are a great many principles associated with the Gospel of the Son of God; and Bro. Joseph has presented some things that are quite interesting and then there may be a few things said on the other side of the question that are equally true. Those doctrines he has taught are true; they are in accordance with the spirit of the Gospel. We ought always live with reference to eternity, feeling full of kindness, benevolence, charity and long suffering to all, respecting always the motives and circumstances of others. Then on the other hand while we do that, it is not right for others to take advantage of that benevolence because a man is a good man and an honorable man, a man that fears God and who is lenient, kind, merciful and forgiving, it is not right for others to take advantage of such goodness and praiseworthy actions; there are two sides to all these matters, the question of debtor and creditor is not all on one side. I will mention a thing here which has been alluded to before, and which will serve to make plain my meaning, I refer to the operations of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund. There has been a very large amount expended for the gathering of the poor Saints to this country. Have any been pressed by that Fund for the payment of what they owe it? No. Yet there are many of you who have gone with your teams—if you have not gone, you have sent them—to assist this people. What for? Because you felt it in your heart to do it, and because you were called upon to do it, and because you were doing it in obedience to a command of God. You not only furnished teams, but you furnished provisions for the emigrating Saints. Now they, on the other hand, covenanted and gave their notes for the payment of this indebtedness, which if paid according to promise, would have been used to emigrate other Saints similarly situated. Was it right for you to bring them here and to supply them with food, etc.? Yes. It is right for us to engage in such enterprises? Yes, because the Gospel requires it at our hands, and the love of God and the love of our brethren. This was done in good faith. Should not this be met? There are a million of dollars due today on this account. Is it right that it should be so? No. Have these debtors been pressed, or has anybody seized them by the throat, saying, Pay me what thou owest? Not that I am aware of. Have they been dragged before courts of justice? No. But still the debt remains unpaid; and there is a question that arises in my mind. Will it remain there, until it removes itself or not? This is a little on the other side of the question, and this is not a small thing either, and it is something we are all familiar with. If this matter has not been pressed, it makes the obligation none the less sacred. We are told to pay our debts, to meet our obligations, to deal justly and righteously one with another. And I wish we had no debts to pay; I wish we could so live as to keep out of debt and meet our obligations day by day. But then we do not do this; if we did we should be much better and more pleasantly situated and feel more comfortable in our feelings and dispositions. And if people do not do these things, what then? There is a way appointed by the Lord, and that is to adjust them before the bishops’ courts. We as Latter-day Saints ought to be governed by the laws of the church and not by the laws of the land, until the law of God is complied with. How far would you take them? Just as far as the law of God prescribes. If a man sin against another is it good and charitable and kind to forgive him? Yes. Now, I will speak of myself. I never sued a man either before our own courts or any other courts. Why? Because I never thought the thing worth enough; I never thought money and property worth enough to go to law about. I think so yet, I think it rather too small an affair to break up those fraternal relations that should exist between brother and brother. Then do you believe in owing people and not paying them? No, I do not. I believe in meeting engagements honorably and honestly before God. But will men be blessed for being forgiving? Well, I think so. And I think that, as Latter-day Saints, we will have a good chance of obtaining quite a blessing on account of our forbearance in relation to those having obligations before referred to; for there is, as I have said, a million of dollars owing among the people, and I do not think they have been pressed to pay it. But I wish people would do nearly right. I wish they would act honorably and uprightly and consistently and properly, and all meet their obligations and pursue an upright course. But there is again another question to be adjusted in this matter. It is not the value of the money alone nor how it will affect me; but how are others affected by it? A perpetual fund was established, which fund contemplated a continual help, a continual return of the money loaned and perpetual fund kept always on hand, for the assistance of those requiring aid. This fund was not designed as a gift, but as a loan; but now it happens that this fund is crippled, because men have not returned their loans. It is not therefore a matter as between ourselves, but one that affects hundreds that are very much worse off than those who owe these debts. The cry is continually coming to our ears for help. The poverty, distress, and trouble in Europe are on the increase, and we have continually to hear the wails of the poor; they look to us for help, but those debtors have got their means and are using it. There is another cry; it is not those debtors being oppressed by us; but the un– gathered poor being defrauded by those who have borrowed money and do not return it. It may become quite a question as to how far we are justified in permitting those who have been assisted, by this public fund by withholding what they justly owe, to block the wheels of the institution and deprive others, who may be more meritorious than themselves, of obtaining that relief which is justly their due. But do you believe in being grasping? No. Do you believe in covetousness? No, I do not. I think that as Latter-day Saints we ought to have our minds fixed on something else—something more elevating, more exalting, more honorable, and more in accordance with the position we occupy and the principles we profess to believe in.

As this subject has been broached, I wish now to speak a little in regard to our manner of doing business. We are mixed up a good deal at present—you, here in Ogden, are especially, and we in Salt Lake are too—with Gentile institutions, and their practice is strictly upon the ground referred to by brother Joseph, “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, pay me that thou owest,” etc., which in one sense is all very correct; but there is a better way to settle difficulties, which is by mixing up with it a little charity and benevolence, and then it does very well. But when we talk about “popping men through” the courts who do not do thus and so, as has been referred to, I tell you what you should do, whenever a man would attempt to “pop” you through the courts of the law of the land, you should “pop” him through the courts of our Church; you should bring him up for violating the laws of the Church, for going to law before the ungodly, instead of using the means that God has appointed. We think, as Latter-day Saints, that the laws of God are a little in advance of the laws of the land; and, in fact, it is not an infrequent thing for men not belonging to our Church to express themselves desirous to bring their cases for trial before our High Council, believing they could get better justice than they could before the courts of the world; I believe it with all my heart. Latter-day Saints, we ought to be controlled by correct principles; and if anybody is sinned against, we have our remedy. If the brother that Brother Joseph F. Smith has referred to, instead of cherishing and harboring those unpleasant feelings, had gone to his brother who had given him offense, and told him that his feelings were hurt at some word he had spoken, and he thought he would come and talk the matter squarely to him, that little affair would have been settled, and good feelings would have existed between them. But then, supposing after being so waited on, your brother would not hear you, it would then be proper to wait on him again, taking with you another brother; and if he still persisted to manifest hard feelings, it would then be proper to report him to the Church, and let the matter be brought to the notice of the Teachers or the Priests, as the case might be. If he refuse to hearken to their counsel, let a charge be preferred against him to his Bishop who, with his counselors, should hear and decide the case according to the evidence, with all long-suffering and humility and justice and prayer before God, to guide him in his decision. And when they operate together in this way, such things will be disposed of aright. And if either party should be dissatisfied with the decision, an appeal could he taken to a higher court—the High Council. And when that body of men sit upon the case and render their decision in the matter, and if the brother refuse to hear them, what then? He is cut off the Church. “But (a man may say) it is a matter of dollars and cents, and if a man owe me $5,000, I cannot afford to lose it, and what recourse have I?” Bring him up before the Church, and if he will not listen to the counsel of the Church authorities, let him be dealt with by this council. And what will be the result? He will be severed from the Church. “And am I to lose my money?” No, not necessarily so; he is outside of the Church, and now you can “pop him through” by the law, if that be the term you use. And this is why we take such pains in electing our representatives to our legislature. We try to select good men in order that we may have good laws enacted, and then we try to get good Probate Judges. Brother Richards here is a Probate Judge, and is he a good man? I think he is. Is he an Apostle? Yes. Well, would it be right to take your case to him as a Probate Judge? No; if you were to, we would deal with you for your fellowship. You say, “That’s a curious doctrine.” You have agreed to be governed by the laws of the Church, and I mention this to show you what would be right in regard to principles of that kind. And if after summoning the parties referred to before the Bishop’s Court, and from there the case be carried before the High Council, and then he would not do right, the consequence would be that he would be cut off from the Church, and then you would be at liberty to summon him before Brother Richards, as a Judge of Probate. But there possibly might be an appeal from the High Council, and Brother Richards, in a Church capacity, might be one to consider the case, then that would be all right.

I speak of these things to show what our duties are, and the position we occupy. Do you remember what the Apostle Paul said when talking to some of the former-day Saints on this subject? The people to whom he addressed himself were doubtless like some of our easy-going brethren, who are always in trouble a good deal, and are always wanting to “pop ’em through.” Says he, in the 6th chapter of Corinthians, “Dare any of you, having a matter against a brother, go to law before the unjust? Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? No, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren. But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers. Now, therefore, there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not, rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?” etc., and is it not said too, in speaking of the Twelve, that they shall sit upon twelve thrones, and shall judge the Twelve Tribes of Israel? And does not the Church today possess the same officers as it did anciently, and are they not set apart by the revelation of God, and ordained by the holy Priesthood to occupy this position? Are these men not competent to judge of the comparatively trivial things associated with this life? And yet you will take your brother before ungodly men to be judged of them. I tell you the hand of God will follow you if you do it. And we do not want any such thing done by any calling themselves Latter-day Saints; and Israel cannot do such things with the approbation of God, or the councils of his Church. And I will give you fair warning, and I call upon Brother Peery here, who is President of this Stake, to carry it out, that when he finds any Latter-day Saint under his jurisdiction going to law with his brother before the ungodly, to bring him up and deal with him for his fellowship. This is a correct principle before God; and as Saints of God we should be governed by his laws, and not by the laws of the world. But these laws are made and provided for our protection, and when it is proper and right we can make use of them in common with other citizens. But we have laws among ourselves, and all honorable men among us will submit to the decisions of our Church authorities, and those who are not honorable we do not want, and we will cut them off.

I attended your monthly priesthood meeting yesterday. I find there has been a little feeling about the districting of your city, which ought not to exist. We sometimes get a little zealous in those local matters, each has his own ideas, and is desirous of carrying them out. I do not know that I have any idea of my own about these matters. I am desirous to ascertain the will of God and if I know that, I want to do it regardless of my opinion, that does not amount to much. But if we can know the will of God and understand the principles of life, and then abide by them, all will be well. And as to what imaginary line or district you live in, I do not think it makes much difference. We want a little of this good feeling of brotherhood about which Brother Joseph has been speaking so pleasantly. Jesus says: “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” That is of more value a great deal than dollars and cents, if you could but understand it. It is worth ten thousand million times more, for they perish with their using. You brought nothing into the world; you can take nothing out. By and by, and a little space of ground six feet by two is all you will want, and your money and your property you will leave for others to handle. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” Blessed are whom? The liar, the hypocrite, the thief, the rogue, the debauchee? No; but “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” Let us hunt after these things, and seek to possess more of these principles which were taught and inculcated by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We have introduced among us the kingdom of God. What is meant by it? The law, the rule, the government of God. Now, the Lord has laid down a perfect law in relation to our temporal affairs and we would not see so much squabbling among us if we could carry it out. I refer to what we call the United Order. But we cannot bear it, it seems too much for us, as much as we talk and boast of our intelligence we cannot come to some of these little principles of the Gospel. Some of us can manage to pay our tithing, and some of us cannot. And then some of us can believe a little in cooperation, and we think that it is a terrible stride; to me that is one of the least things that God ever instituted among men and I sometimes think if we cannot do that we had better quit. Talk about being Gods and organizing worlds; why if we fail in such a comparatively small undertaking, I do not think we have faith enough to drag a sitting hen from her nest. If we cannot be united in some of these little things, how can we in greater things? We were talking about the principle of cooperation in our priesthood meeting; and I thought I would refer to it here. And we are getting up County or rather Stake organizations throughout Zion. And we want in all of our temporal affairs to deal justly one with another. We want to sustain cooperation, and then we want cooperation to sustain us. It is not all on one side; there are two sides. If we sustain cooperation, we will call upon cooperation to sustain us; and all the settlements throughout the Territory will be represented, just the same as the Saints today are represented in the Church through the Presidents of Stakes, and we will try to do right ourselves, and then we will try and see that they do right. We will sustain them with good, honest efforts, and we want square up and down operations on both sides, carrying out the principles of cooperation honestly and truthfully before God and man. This is what we expect and we expect it from your President, his Counselors and also from the Bishops and from all the people. And if you cannot do this never talk about making worlds.

The world is opposed to us. They say they are not. Well, would you injure them? No; I would not hurt a hair of their heads or deprive them of any right they enjoy, either religious or political. We want to treat all men kindly and with due respect; but we do not want to be governed by their religious views, nor put our children under their teachings. We want to look after the education of our children and see that they are placed under proper teachers and receive proper training, and not be placed in the hands of the enemies of the Church and kingdom of God.

Now brethren if we are Latter-day Saints, let us be consistent with our belief and profession. I profess to be a Latter-day Saint, and I, believe in the doctrines that the Lord has revealed to us with all my heart; and I do not care who knows it. Now I am told in the revelations to bring up my children in the fear of God. I believe that this kingdom which the Lord has set up will grow and increase until the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God and his Christ. And this you believe as well as I do. We believe in celestial glory; and we believe in terrestrial and telestial glory; or in other words, we believe there will be a separation finally of the good from the bad. Now we are engaged gathering together, or separating ourselves from the world and building our temples and administering in them for the living and the dead, and we spend millions of dollars in the accomplishment of this object, that we may become united and linked together by eternal covenants that shall exist in all time and throughout eternity. And then, when we have done all this go and deliberately turn our children over to whom? To men who do not believe the Gospel, to men who, according to your faith, are never going to the celestial kingdom of God. They will get as big a glory as they are prepared for, but they are not going there. And you will turn your children over to them. And you call yourselves Latter-day Saints, do you? I will suppose a case. You expect to be saved in the celestial kingdom of God. Well, supposing your expectations are realized, which I sometimes doubt, and you look down, down somewhere in a terrestrial or telestial kingdom, as the case may be, and you there see your children, the offspring that God had given you to train up in his fear, to honor him and keep his commandments, and perceive that between you and them there is a great gulf, as represented by the Savior in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. And supposing they could converse with you—which, however, they could not do—but if such were the case, what would be their feelings towards you? It would be, Father, mother, you are to blame for this. I would have been with you if you had not tampered with the principles of life and salvation in permitting me to be decoyed away by false teachers, who taught incorrect principles. And this is the result of it. But then I very much question men and women’s getting into the celestial kingdom of God who have no more knowledge about the principles of life and salvation than to go and tamper with the sacred offspring, the principle of life which God entrusted to your care, to thus shuffle it off to imbibe the spirit of unbelief, which leads to destruction and death. I very much doubt in my mind the capability of such people getting there. We had better look after ourselves a little. God has given us light and he expects us to be governed by it. In speaking of Abraham he says, “I know him.” What do you know of him? That he will fear me. What else? “That he will command his children after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord. To do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.”

Well, the time is passing, but before closing, I wish to say a word or two in regard to this cooperation in temporal things. They are very little things, but they form a kind of stepping stone towards other and more important events. A closer union which we shall expect to inaugurate by-and-by, but which we are not prepared to yet. But for the time being it is expected that as honorable men and women, we will honestly and truly carry out our covenants in regard to these little temporal things; and let us be one, for the Lord has plainly told us, if ye are not one, ye are not mine. If ye are not mine, whose are ye? You can figure that up just as you please. These are the facts in relation to this matter, we are desirous to bring about these things. What for? For the sake of making money? No. Money is of little importance where truth is concerned. I would not care if all the money was out of existence, but I do care about the principles, and the laws of God, about men being what they profess to be, and not hypocrites, belying their profession. We expect to see these things carried out in honesty and truth, because it is the order which God has introduced as a steppingstone to something in the future. We build temples and administer in them. How? Precisely according to the revelations which God has given to us; but when it comes to our temporal affairs, we would ride over and almost totally ignore the laws which he has given to us to govern them. Jesus says, “In vain you say to me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say.” And I say, In vain you will say, Lord, Lord, if you cannot attend to these little things; and those who will not, God will shake out from among his people. Now hear it, ye Latter-day Saints! and be not de– ceived: God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the spirit, shall of the spirit reap life everlasting.” We should be governed by correct principles in the fear of God; and should righteously, uprightly, and virtuously preserve our bodies and spirits pure, and keep all the laws of God and seek to comprehend his will in regard to all things, and feel that we are here to build up the kingdom of God and not ourselves, to establish the principles of righteousness and of truth and the laws of heaven, and not our ideas and theories; for through the ordinances of God and through obedience to his laws come the blessings of God to Israel in time and through all eternity.

God bless you and lead you in the paths of life, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by President John Taylor, delivered at Bountiful, Davis County, on Sunday Afternoon, December 1, 1878.

I am pleased to meet with the Saints in this place; and I have been very much interested in the remarks that have been made by the brethren who have spoken to us this morning as well as this afternoon. I think they have laid before us many good and precious principles which will result in our good, if we can only appreciate them and be governed by them.

We are living in a very eventful day, in a time that is pregnant with great events; and it is necessary that we prepare ourselves so that we may be able to conform ourselves to the circumstances with which we are surrounded, and to fulfil the various duties that devolve upon us individually and collectively.

The brethren who have addressed you have spoken more particularly upon temporal things—a subject which is very appropriate and important, because, although we may believe it is right, proper and profitable for us to be united in temporal matters, whatever our faith may be we do not quite carry it out. We make a stagger at it, but we do not seem to appreciate fully the position we occupy, and it is very difficult for men to comprehend these things. We have established organizations in the several Stakes, which are all very well so far as they go; they are the framework—the bones, and sinews and arteries and flesh (comparing them with the human body); they are very beautiful and symmetrical in all their parts. But they need the Spirit of God to breathe upon them to quicken them with its lifegiving vitality, energy and power, that they may fulfil their various functions as living, breathing and intelligent powers, that we may truly comprehend the position which we occupy in these various stakes, both officers and people, and we all of us may be active and alive and energetic in the pursuit of those principles which God has developed as necessary for our present and eternal happiness.

There is order in all the creations of God. The planetary system by which we are surrounded and with which we are associated is governed by the strictest principles of law; all those magnificent bodies move in their several orbits in the midst of the power of God, sustained and directed by his Almighty hand. And everything in nature is also governed by law.

Today we can talk of railroads and steamboats. I remember the time, and many of you old people also remember, when there were no such things in existence. Well, but did not steam possess the same properties five thousand years ago as it does today? Yes it did; the properties were precisely the same but we did not understand it, that’s all. The principles were the same, and there is an eternal law by which all these things are governed. The same thing applies to electricity. You remember very well when it took several months to send a message to Washington and receive an answer; now we can do it in as many minutes. But did not that principle always exist? Yes; but man did not know how to avail himself of it. I remember the time, too, very well when there was no such thing as gas, when whale oil was used, which produced a light that just about made darkness visible. We knew nothing about kerosene, or gasoline, or gas or any of these superior artificial lights; but then the principles existed then as they do now, but we did not understand them. We did not comprehend the position of things and it is only quite recently that some of these discoveries have been brought into operation. The art of photography has not been long known. When I was a boy people would have laughed at you if you had talked of taking a man’s likeness in a minute’s time; yet it is done. Did not light always possess the same properties? Yes, but man did not understand it. The same thing applies to the mineral world, the vegetable kingdom, the animal creation, and all the works of God. They are all governed by certain laws. The vegetables which you grow here, how were they organized? God organized them and placed them upon the earth, and gave them power to propagate their species; so also with regard to the animal creation, as well as birds, fishes, insects, &c.

We talk sometimes about our temporal things. If we could understand things as God does, we should not be much troubled about them. If for a moment we reflect upon all the creations that live upon this little globe—those that move in the air, the waters and on the land, we find there is a wisdom, an intelligence that provides for all. There is a prescient and an omnipotent power that governs, controls and shapes the affairs of this world according to the counsel of his will, and especially so in all matters pertaining to the human family. As one nation rises up and another falls, it is by his power that it is done. Nations and peoples may be in prosperity for a short time, but one touch of the finger of the Almighty and they wither, crumble and decay. Change succeeds change in human affairs, but the laws of God in everything are correct and true in every stage and phase of nature, everything on the earth, in the waters and in the atmosphere is governed by unchangeable, eternal laws. There are some bodies that will unite; there are others that will not unite. You cannot, for instance, mix oil and water; you may shake them up together, but soon each one adheres to his own element. The sisters sometimes say they have good or bad luck, as the case may be, in the making of soap; but in reality there is no luck about it, for you would find that if you have the same properties equal in strength and quantity, using the same process, that the same results would be reached ninety-nine times out of every hundred, and you would find that you could afford to throw the other one in too—the conditions being the same. And so it is with the various minerals in all their organizations and conditions. They assume certain forms and they are known by geologists by their shapes, etc., and they are always true to them. And so it is with all the elements with which we are surrounded in the atmosphere, in the earth and in the water. We think we have learned a great deal, but if we did but know it we are only at the foot of the hill; and when we are able to comprehend things as God does we shall comprehend a great many principles that have never entered into our hearts to conceive of, although we are surrounded with those materials and are even treading them under our feet. To speak of these laws, God himself is governed by law, and the Priesthood in the eternal world are governed by law, just as much as his works are. Our earth rolls upon its axis and we have day and night, summer and winter, seedtime and harvest. When men comprehend the laws by which the planets are governed they can tell you to a quarter of a second when an eclipse will take place, and when our earth will be in conjunction with other planets. Why? Because they are governed by eternal laws. There are a great many things by which we are governed of which we know very little and with which we have very little to do. For instance, I will mention the flowing of the blood; What has man to do with that? Nothing; still it flows and courses through the body. I have noticed an aged person, and seen his pulse begin to falter, as though the machinery of life were about to stand still, after having been in motion for perhaps sixty or one hundred years, during which time the pulse had continued to beat without any action on his part, day and night, asleep or awake. There is another principle that God has planted within us which we call breathing. We continue to breathe, and what effort of the will does it require? No more than it does to cause the blood to flow. We are machines; God has made us and he is our Father. He has planted within us the breath of life and we continue to inhale and breathe day after day, month after month, and year after year. And when that stops, what then? Just the same as when the blood ceases to circulate in our veins—we pass away. And yet these emanate from God, and they are planted within us and we have nothing much to do with them. We have organs, and it seems as if the Lord plays in them; in his hands is the breath of life, and in him we live and move from day to day and from year to year, because he suffers us to. He once said to his disciples: “Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat; neither for your body, what you shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?” He watches over all, he cares for all, he is interested in all; and in him we live, move and have our being.

What next? Are we mortal? Yes. Are we immortal? Yes. Have we to do with time? Yes. We have also to do with eternity. We are the offspring of God; and God in these last days has seen fit to place us in communication with himself. He has, through the revelations of himself and of his Son Jesus Christ, by the ministry of holy angels and by the restoration of the holy priesthood which emanates from God, and by which he himself is governed, placed us in a position whereby we can fulfil the object of our creation. The world generally are not situated as we are; they do not comprehend things as we do, and hence in many instances they feel very bitter and acrimonious towards us. What is the matter? They do not understand our position; and we did not understand these things until they were communicated to us by the Spirit of the living God, and we could not, nor can any man obtain a knowledge of these things only by the laws which God has laid down. There may be lightning in abundance, but it cannot be used for the conveying of intelligence from place to place only as it is governed by law. If you communicate to any part of the world through this means, you must have the wires laid and the instruments properly connected and adjusted, and then you must know how to operate them; if you don’t know how to do this your labor is in vain—the wire, the instruments, etc., are useless. You might possess a most magnificent steam engine, but unless charged with steam of what use could it be? But let the fire and water be put to it, and have a good engineer to manage it, and you may then travel from your settlement here to Salt Lake City or to Ogden quite rapidly. But without these things would the engine be of any use? None whatever.

There are certain eternal laws that have existed from before the foundation of the world. There has been a priesthood also in existence always, and hence it is called the everlasting priesthood, and it administers in time and in eternity. That priesthood has been conferred upon man together with the right of the Gospel; and we are told how man can get into possession of the Holy Spirit of God, and how he can be placed in communication with God, just the same as you would place one town in communication with another by means of the electric wire. We are told how to do that, and that is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; by repentance and baptism for the remission of sin, and by having hands laid upon our heads for the reception of the Holy Ghost. This is a way which God has appointed—an eternal law which man cannot gainsay nor depart from any more than they can from any other law of God. He has given us other views in relation to these matters. He has revealed things concerning the relationship that exists between husband and wife between children and parents and between the various quorum organizations of his church. He has placed in our power certain principles which are the offspring of God, which have emanated from him, in regard to endowments and anointings and other intelligence which it would not be proper to speak of at the present time. Where did all these originate? In the first place in the one great principle that God had revealed himself to the human family and had restored the everlasting Gospel, and that with it came all these other things—apostles and high priests and elders and patriarchs and bishops and high councilors and all the various organizations of the Church and kingdom of God as they now exist upon the earth, all occupying their own peculiar place and position. What for? For the building up of a something that is called Zion or the pure in heart. What for? For my aggrandizement? for yours? for my individual interests or for yours? No. But in the interest of God and of Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, of Adam and of all the ancient patriarchs and apostles and men of God who have lived before, both on the Asiatic and American continent, with the powers that exist in the heavens that may be revealed through the medium which He has appointed to men who dwell upon the earth; that we might stand in and occupy our true position before God, not acting and operating of ourselves or by ourselves or by anything inherent in us or by virtue of any intelligence with which we individually may be endowed, but by that alone which God communicates. To whom are we indebted for the light we have today? Some might say to Joseph Smith. Yes, as the instrument, but primarily to God and the Priesthood behind the veil. Could Joseph Smith have revealed anything if it had not been communicated to him? No. Could Brigham Young? No. Could anybody else? No; no man can reveal anything pertaining to these matters only as it is given to him, and he is permitted by the Lord, who is the Author of all light, intelligence and knowledge which we, his children, possess. And he has gathered us together for the purpose of instructing us that we may operate with him and by him and through the intelligence which he imparts, in building up his Zion of the last days. The world say we are exclusive. We cannot help that. Are we exclusive? To a certain extent, yes. For instance, I know there is a law which God has given. Can I ignore that law and expect, blessings from God? No. Can you? No, you cannot. Can men climb any other way into the favor of God than that which he has appointed? No, they cannot. What will you do? We will try and help the Lord to do the very best he can for them; and we will do the best we can for them. One thing we can do, and we are set apart many of us for that purpose, and that is to go and preach the Gospel to every creature. This the Lord requires at our hands, especially we Seventies, Elders and Apostles. We can do all that is in our power for the people in this way.

And what next? Can we make them believe? No. Can we make them obey the Gospel? No. We would not if we could, because if there was any force made use of for the accomplishment of that object, it would only result in evil instead of good. We are told by Joseph Smith that “No power or influence can, or ought to be maintained, by virtue of the Priesthood only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; by kindness and pure knowledge.” They are not to be exercised by force. This is the way I look at these things, and I take the same view of our temporal af– fairs of which we have heard so much today. Should I wish to control any man? No, I would show him the right way. Should I feel indignant at the follies of men and wish to destroy people? No. David, we are told, prayed to the Lord that his enemies might be sent to hell quickly; Jesus said, when suffering at the hands of cruel men all that human nature could endure, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” I like the latter better than the former. Who are the people of the world? They are the children of God. If they are not heirs with God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, they are all his offspring. And what is he going to do with them? The very best he can; and we will try and help him do it. We will set them good patterns; we will teach them by precept and example better ways, and seek to the Lord for wisdom to govern us, and then try and benefit them. But shall we allow them to destroy us? No. Shall we allow our children to be taught by them? No, never by them, for they know not the way of life, and are enemies to God and his laws. God has given unto us children, and he not only expects obedience from us, but expects us, as he did Abraham, to command our children after us to obey the Lord. Then do not let us give them over to the powers of darkness to he taught by the enemies of God and His people. But let us study their interests, both for time and eternity, and set them good examples, and keep them from the contamination of the world. I heard a statement of a circumstance said to have transpired in one of those schools in Salt Lake City, which was something like this; A teacher interrogating the children of a certain school asked—Who is the great false prophet of the 19th century? In answering, a child mentioned John Taylor. I was a little amused at it; although I suppose it was intended that they should have given the name of Joseph Smith, but the little one made a mistake. But what of the idea of our children attending the schools of people who teach and catechize them in this way? Don’t you think it rather humiliating? I think we are descending very low when we can submit to their tuition. We do not want to partake of their feelings nor contract their ways, nor to be degraded with either their social or religious principles, but at the same time we wish to do them all the good we can. If they lie about us, never mind that; we can stand all they can say about us. Would we want to injure them? I hope not. We ought to deal with and treat everybody aright, acting justly and honorably with all. But then we do not want them to be our teachers. They would think they were doing God’s service if they could by any influence lead us astray. What will the Lord do with them? He will put the more worthy of them in a terrestrial kingdom, and the other class will inherit a telestial kingdom, but they will never get into the celestial kingdom, unless it be through the medium of that priesthood conferred upon us by the Lord. Then do we wish our children to be taught by those who would seek to degrade and lead them to another and a lower place than that we hope to enjoy? Certainly not. What was said of Abraham, speaking of his children? the Lord says, “I know Abraham.” What do you know? “That he will fear me and command his children and his household after him, etc.” We want to be very careful about training our children, we should act, honestly before them; for if they see father or mother act dishonestly, the children will be likely to follow their example. We should be careful too not to be found speaking harshly or using hard words in their presence. But rather do as the old lady used to do when teaching school; when the children would come to a word they could not pronounce, she would tell them to skip it and call it “hard-word.” Let our lives and actions and conduct bespeak that we are men of God, that we are acting uprightly and righteously and performing the will of God upon the earth.

Well, now, a little further in relation to these things. Shall we benefit? Yes, we will do all the good we can. But if men lie and become fraudulent, and delight in abominations and are void of principle, then we will say, with him of old, “My soul enter thou not into their secret; and mine honor, with him be not thou united.” We are gathered here for the express purpose of carrying out the purposes of God; the world, however, do not understand it. But I tell you what they will do, by-and-by. You will see them flocking to Zion by thousands and tens of thousands; and they will say, “We don’t know anything about your religion, we don’t care much about religious matters, but you are honest and honorable, and upright and just, and you have a good, just and secure government, and we want to put ourselves under your protection, for we cannot feel safe anywhere else.” There is a scripture which says, the time will come “when he that will not take up his sword to fight against his neighbor must needs flee to Zion for safety.” And they will come. But we must prepare ourselves; we have got to have the invigorating influence of the Spirit of God to permeate all of our organizations, all feeling that we are under the guidance and protection of the Almighty, every man in his place, and every man according to the order of the priesthood in which God has placed him. Does a bishop expect the members of his ward to be subject to him? Yes. Should they be? Yes. And should not they themselves be subject to the President of the Stake? Yes. Then if the President of a Stake expects obedience from those under him he must be subject to those over him. The Priests, Teachers and Deacons in their place, the Bishops in theirs; the Presidents of Stakes in theirs; the High Priests, Seventies, and all others, magnifying their respective callings, filling the positions they occupy, holding themselves as minute men, clothed upon with the power of God and the holy priesthood which rests upon them. And when more of that spirit is in existence among the elders of Israel, they will feel the word of God like fire in their bones, and they will desire to go forth carrying the word of life and salvation to their fellow men who are scattered throughout the earth. A good many are beginning to feel like that now, the fire is beginning to burn a little more, and if we continue to fulfil our duties—and do not go and ask people to believe something we can hardly believe ourselves; but go full of faith, seeking all the while unto God for more intelligence, his Holy Spirit will beam upon the altar of our hearts; the revelations of God will be unfolded and we shall feel in our hearts to exclaim, O, God, let me go forth to lift up a warning voice for thy judgments are approaching, the nations are shaking, thrones are tottering and will be cast down, and wars and commotions are spreading abroad, and I want to go and snatch those who are honest “as brands from the burning;” so that when I have accomplished my work I can feel that my garments are spotless from the blood of all men. This is the kind of feeling we should have and be governed by. As for these other matters of a temporal nature before referred to, if we cannot cooperate together and do it honestly and in good faith, as this is one of the very best things that can be required of us, it is very little that we can do. We should cultivate the Spirit of God ourselves; we ought to drink freely of that water which the Savior told the woman of Samaria that he was able, to give to her, even that water that would, “be in her as a well springing up to everlasting life.” We have drank already at that well; it remains now for us to permit it to bubble and burst forth, to flow and spread its revivifying influence all around. We ought to have a heaven upon earth—to be really the Zion of our God, the pure in heart, each one seeking another’s welfare. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy might, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, and thy neighbor as thyself.” We have hardly got to that yet; but supposing Paul were to come along and say a little further—each one preferring his neighbor. That part of it we will let alone awhile. But if we could feel we are the children of God, all animated by that same Holy Spirit, producing peace and joy, and all welded together in one common brotherhood, in the bonds of the everlasting Gospel, all operating with God and the holy priesthood who have lived in other ages, to carry out his purposes upon the earth, and assisting to redeem the earth and establish his kingdom, never more to be thrown down. If we could feel like this, we should drop our individuality and self-esteem a little, we should seek to do not our own will, but the will of Him who sent us.

I find that the time is passing. In conclusion let me say, brethren, love one another, be kind to each other; if you have difficulties, settle them honorably. I do not know a man upon the earth that I have a solitary feeling against. I would not entertain such feelings, because they make one feel miserable. Forgive one another; bear with one another’s infirmities. We are not all alike. Our faces are different, our habits are different, although made of the same material and possessing the same kind of an organization. So dissi– milar are we that you can hardly find two people alike. I do not want everybody to think as I do. I am willing to grant every one a great amount of leeway in regard to these things; but I would like to see everybody do right and cleave to God. And as for a great many other little things I care very little about them. Let men treat their wives kindly; and then you wives can afford to treat your husbands the same, can’t you? Let all cultivate charity and forbearance, and how much better it will make you feel! Children, obey your parents; and parents treat your children kindly, and let us all seek to do the will of God upon the earth. May God bless you, brethren and sisters, and lead you in the paths of life; and may God help us all to do right, and may the fear and blessing of God rest upon all Israel and upon all that love the truth everywhere, and may our enemies be confounded in all their plottings against Zion, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Discourse by President John Taylor, delivered at Ogden on Sunday Afternoon, September 22, 1878.

As has been remarked, by others, I have been very much interested in the remarks which have been made. They are things in which we are all concerned. They are part of our religion, part of our faith, part of the principles of the Gospel which we have embraced; and as I stated at the priesthood meeting yesterday, so I repeat now, for my part I do not know how to get around them if I would. I cannot find any loophole whereby I can be excused. It is true, as remarked by brother Snow, we are not now called upon to enter into these things in their fullness and perfection, but we are called upon to make steps towards it. We have been partly in the United Order, many of us, but we have not known it. For instance, I remember the time, and many of you do, so far back as Far West, in Missouri, when we were surrounded with difficulties and had to leave the State in consequence of persecutions and the intolerant feeling and persecution that existed there. We agreed among ourselves to help one another, to use all the means, all the teams and all the pro– perty we had to help each other out of the State, until there should not be a person left there, that wished to come away. We fulfilled it; and yet, properly and technically speaking, we were not in the United Order, but we were stimulated by the principles of union, liberality and communion, if you please. We did the same thing, when in Nauvoo, after the Prophet Joseph was killed, and mob violence again prevailed, and prosecution, tyranny and persecution were rife. We had to leave that country. Was it because we had injured anyone? No. Because we had violated any law? No. Because we had interfered with anybody’s right’s? No. Because we were troublesome in the community? No; but because we were Latter-day Saints and because we chose to believe in a religion revealed to us by God, and which the people would not let us do and live in peace among them. What next? We met in the Temple of the Lord, and there, with uplifted hands before God, we entered into a covenant that we would help one another out with our means, as we had done in the State of Missouri; and as we were coming to this country we would not rest until there should not be a Latter-day Saint there who desired to come to this land. Did we fulfill that? We did; we carried it out to the very letter; we fulfilled our covenants and sent our teams back year after year, until there was not one left in that country that desired to come to Zion. Was not this a United Order? Yes it was, in part, and we have done a great deal of the same kind of thing since we came here. So soon as we fulfilled that covenant, we organized a Perpetual Emigration Fund Company, under the direction of President Young, having for its object the gathering of the poor from distant lands; and thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars were subscribed and used for that purpose. It was organized on a wise principle, not exactly what you would call the United Order; yet it was an order calculated to benefit our poor brethren to bring them from their distant homes to unite with us in Zion. Many of you present remember when we sent our boys with our teams, loaded with provisions to bring them from the frontiers. I am very sorry to say that a great many of them have not lived up to the principles of that order in making good their indebtedness, as it was calculated they would do in order to make the fund perpetual in its operations, using the same means to bring others here who were situated in a condition similar to that of themselves. I say again, I am very sorry to have to say that a great many have failed thus far to repay the amount used to emigrate them, although in very many cases they are abundantly able to do so. Brother Carrington, who is President of the Fund, informs me that there is now due the Perpetual Emi– gration Fund the sum of about one million dollars, without interest; and if the interest were added it would be about double that amount. That is one thing wherein we have failed in part to make good our agreement; but a great many have met their obligations promptly and honorably. I wish we could say the same of all those who have been assisted by this Fund. I hope that those who are still owing for their emigration will be led to reflect upon these things, and consider the situation of the brethren who are now in the same position as they themselves were some years ago.

This is a principle of union which has been abused; but it is right, and shall we cease our endeavors in this direction because it has been abused by thoughtless or dishonest men? No, we will try and do what we can, with the aid of the Lord, to deliver scattered Israel from the oppression and poverty under which many are suffering. I would remark that of this sum now due to the Fund, there is quite a large amount that has been advanced by the Church to help out the poor. And if you were to hear the letters that I receive, if you were addressed and supplicated and importuned as I am from time to time in relation to these things, describing the terrible condition and poverty under which the people are laboring, you would feel that if common honesty could not induce you to meet your obligations, that at least the sympathies of human nature would prompt you to extend to others that same kindness that has been extended to you. We should reflect upon these things, and at least try to make them right.

But to return to the United Order; when the Bishops in those days came around to you and informed you that so many men and teams, with the necessary provisions, were needed to go east to bring in the poor Saints, they were furnished. The Presidency and Twelve made the calculations and apportionment of those teams. They were then handed to the Bishops, and they called upon you, and you furnished from one to two hundred, and as many as five hundred started out in one season. I think this looked very much like the United Order. Many of you, perhaps, have gone yourselves, or else you have sent your boys to perform this labor; and you did not let praying for them suffice, but you sent them food, and you felt as we ought always to feel for one another. We have done a great many such things. Now we are called upon to build temples. Are we doing it? Yes. I suppose there are today upwards of 500 men engaged in building temples throughout the Territory. So taking the temple at Manti, in Sanpete Valley, the temple in Salt Lake City and the temple in Logan, Cache Valley, all these things are going on just about as well as we could reasonably expect, and the people are contributing of their means and their substance quite as liberally as we could expect. Is this the United Order? Why, yes. What are we doing it for? For ourselves? Yes. For anybody else? Yes; for our fathers and mothers, uncles and aunts, and for those we do not know anything about. We are building them because God has commanded it, and because the ordinances of God will be performed in these houses; and so far as this is concerned, we are in the United Order. Now, then, we have tried to introduce home manufactures, a combination of effort, not, as has been remarked, strictly according to the plan laid down in the Doctrine and Covenants; we have not got to that yet, we are not prepared for it, we are not edu– cated to that standard yet; but we are aiming at it, and in some places the people are entering into it, not exactly according to any particular law laid down in the Doctrine and Covenants, but approaching it as near as circumstances will admit of it, in the present state of society and with our present surroundings. The great majority of the people today who have gone into Arizona are approaching as near as they can to what we term the United Order. Brother Snow has been operating for quite a while in that way, and the result is that today in that little out-of-the-way settlement, Brigham City, notwithstanding the many difficulties it has had to cope with, having had its woolen factory burned down as well as quite a number of other damaging misfortunes, there is not a man, woman or child that wants labor there but what can get it. I wish we could say the same of all the settlements of this Territory, I think we should be in a better position than we are today. In Brigham City the people make their own cloth, their own boots and shoes, and almost everything they need to sustain themselves, having upwards of forty industrial departments all in running order. Well, but you say, “the prices they have to pay for their goods are altogether too high, and what a pity that is.” Shall I tell you why they fix their prices at a high rate? It is because the people are desirous to have big wages. If they all agree among themselves to fix the prices of their goods at certain rates, who is injured by it? I can tell you how it is with them. The carpenter says to the shoemaker, See here, you have charged me very high for those shoes, and the shoemaker says, Yes, but then you charged me very high for my doors and sash; while the farmer charges very high for his wheat and flour. It makes no material difference whether they charge fifty cents or ten dollars, so long as they agree among themselves. A man working there is asked how much he gets a day; Oh, three and a half and four dollars a day. That is pretty good wages for a common hand, especially for these times, you know. And he feels pretty well in telling you this part of it; but he does not tell you how much the other folks get. Can a man get a house built? Yes. Why? Because they have the masons and carpenters, etc., and the expense attending it is charged to his account. Then, if he wants to get butter, he does not put his hands in his pockets to feel for the money, for perhaps there would not be any there if he did; but he puts his hand in his pocket for an order, which procures him his butter. Then, if he wants a hat, he can get it; and the same may be said of furniture, and so on all through the chapter. I think this is a pretty good united order, and I think if we could have these things all over the Territory, we should be doing much better than we are. And I certainly cannot but praise the course that Brother Snow has pursued in relation to these matters. In a place called Orderville, too, they are doing very well; they have things pretty much in common, and there is a good, kind and a generous spirit prevailing among them. I remember talking to a sister, who was quite an accomplished lady, and on seeing an old man there, who was quite infirm tottering along, I said to her, What kind of employment do you put such people to. She answered, that she did not think it necessary to put such a man to any employment; he has seen a great many years of hard toil, and if we can feed him and clothe him and take care of him in his de– clining years, perhaps somebody with the same spirit will take care of us when we get old and infirm. Is not that a good spirit? I think it is; I think it a right kind of feeling, a feeling we should all have one towards another, all being bound together by the bonds of the everlasting gospel, which makes us love one another as God loves us; and feel for one another’s welfare, and pursue that course which will tend to bring about these results. In Cache County, in Davis County, in Tooele County, and other places, they are trying to establish the same order of things as fast as they can. Here is Brother Farr, he went to work, with others, and built a factory; he ought to be sustained by the Latter-day Saints. They should take their wool to him; and if he charges you a big price for his cloth, do with him as they do in Brigham City; you charge him a big price for your wool. But let us sustain one another, and place things on a proper basis, and not be governed by the rules of the Gentiles. Gentileism and Mormonism do not fit very well; the things of God and the things of the devil never did and never will fit well. Tanneries are being introduced in many places among us; and a very good article of leather is being manufactured, from which boots and shoes and harness are made. The first thing started in relation to these things was cooperation. President Young told us it was the will of God that we should enter into it; and we did, but we made awful bungling at it, the same as we have with a great many other things. But is it right to cooperate? Yes. But we find people beginning to pull off in their own interests. If we go on a little further in the way we are going, we shall take a retrograde path, instead of going forward. But the ship of Zion is onward; the “little stone” is hewn out of the mountain without hands, and will roll until it fills the whole earth; and under the direction of God we have a duty devolving upon us as his Priesthood, to carry out his will upon the earth. And shall we, because of individual interests and personalities draw off from things that God has ordained? I say no, never! No, never! But let us unite closer together, and harmonize our temporal interests, until we shall manufacture everything we need to make us independent of the world.

We took a vote at the Priesthood meeting, yesterday, and so far as I could discern, the brethren all voted to sustain cooperation, and that those in the merchandise business will purchase of the coop.

But some may say, have not the cooperative organizations made many blunders? Yes, they have, and in many instances acted very foolishly. But shall we give up the principle of cooperation because of the unwise acts of a few individuals? We do not act thus in regard to other matters. We baptize men into the Church, and lay our hands upon them that they may receive the Holy Ghost, and after they have thus been blessed with the light, spirit and power of God, many of them act very foolishly, violate their covenants, and transgress the laws of God. Shall we, therefore, repudiate baptism and the laying on of hands because of their folly and wickedness? Certainly not. The Lord has provided a way to purge the Church, and those men are dealt with according to the laws of the Church, and are rooted out. This is the way that we ought to manage in our temporal affairs. If the people do wrong, deal with them according to the laws of the Church, and if the cooperatives do wrong, professing to be governed by correct principle, deal with them in the same way, and let those wrongs be righted and evil eradicated.

But we do not want to find fault nor cast reflections on our brethren in the Coop., nor on those out of it; but merely to touch upon some important principles necessary for building up of the kingdom of God upon the earth. As I have said, we took a vote yesterday, and the brethren agreed to sustain cooperation, and I would like to know from this congregation, whether you will sustain cooperation as directed by the Priesthood or not. All that are in favor of doing so, hold up the right hand. [The congregation voted unanimously.] Let us stick to our covenants, and get as near to correct principles as we can, and God will help us. We want to be united in other things as well—in our elections, for instance, we should act as a unit. Other men are not ashamed to use their influence and operate in behalf of their party; why should we? As American citizens, have we not the same right? Yes, we have. Then let us be one and operate as one, for God and his kingdom. And let us, as we are told in the Doctrine and Covenants, select the wisest, the most prudent, intelligent men, and put them in office, and maintain them in it. That is the way for us to do; not be pulling apart, each one pursuing the devices and desires of his own heart. The members of the Church of England pray to the Lord every Sunday to forgive them for following the devices and desires of their own hearts. Are we in the Church and Kingdom of God? Are we instructed of God? If we are let us honor our calling, and show to God, to angels, and men, that we are true to our trust that he has conferred upon us; and go on in the good work and aim at more union. And while we have done a great deal of good, let us try to do more. And in regard to schools and the education of the young, I would endorse most emphatically what brother Cannon has said in relation to this matter. We have committed to our care pearls of great price; we have become the fathers and mothers of lives, and the Gods and the Holy Priesthood in the eternal worlds have been watching us and our movements in relation to these things. We do not want a posterity to grow up that will be ignorant, depraved, corrupt, and fallen, that will depart from every principle of right; but one that will be intelligent and wise, possessing literary and scientific attainments, and a knowledge of everything that is good, praiseworthy, intellectual and beneficial in the world, and become acquainted with the earth on which we stand, and the elements of which it is composed, and by which we are surrounded, and know how to control them and manage them, and how to put to the best use everything that comes within our reach. And above all other things, teach our children the fear of God. Let our teachers be men of God, imbued with the Spirit of God, that they may lead them forth in the paths of life, and warn them against the various evils and iniquities that prevail in the world, that they may bear off this kingdom when we get through, and be valiant in the truths of God. Teach them how to approach God, that they may call upon him and he will hear them, and by their means we will build up and establish Zion, and roll forth that kingdom which God has designed shall rule and reign over the nations of the earth. We want to prepare them for these things; and to study from the best books as well as by faith, and become acquainted with the laws of nations, and of kingdoms and governments, and with everything calculated to exalt, ennoble, and dignify the human family. We should build good commodious schoolhouses, and furnish them well; and then secure the services of the best teachers you can, and thus “Train up your children in the way they should go.” Solomon said, if you do, “when they are old, they will not depart from it.”

I am very pleased to find out that there is a great deal of interest manifested in regard to our youth. I see three of our brethren here—brothers Goddard, Evans and Willes; they have been out visiting some of the settlements in the interests of the Sunday Schools; I wish to encourage such men in their labors, for they fully realize that a great mission has been committed to them, to teach the youth of this people. And then, there is our Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations; they are very good institutions, and we have some very excellent young men, that are rising up and going among the youth, calling upon them to study and understand the laws of God. And all the Elders of Israel ought to sustain such men in their operations. And then the ladies associated with the Relief Societies have rendered themselves very efficient. Let them operate for the good of all, and as mothers in Israel, let them be united and lay aside every petty jealousy and little feelings that are wrong, and be one; and let the Bishops assist them, as well as the Young Ladies Mutual Improvement Associations, in their labors in the interest of the female portion of society, and all objects of mercy and charity, or anything that comes within their reach. And I say, God bless you, sisters, and lead you in the paths of life that you may prove yourselves worthy of the highest trust committed to your care. And throughout all of our institutions, let us sustain the right and put down the wrong and be valiant for the truth, asking no odds of this world, for God is on the side of Israel, and he will defend us if we obey his laws and keep his commandments. Are we going to be broken up? Will this plan of our enemies, spoken of by brother Cannon, be accomplished? No. Will this people fail of their mission? No, but many of them will, and many of them will be rooted out. But the work of God will go on, and Zion will progress; and if we can put ourselves in the harness to fulfill the various obligations devolving upon us, God will be with us and will lead us in the right path. We want everybody to perform their duties, in all the various branches of the Priesthood, every man to operate for God, and not in his individual interests. This is what we ought to strive for, and to be on the side of Zion and operate for the welfare of Israel and for the establishment of righteousness. We want our Seventies and High Priests to wake up, and our young Elders and middle-aged Elders to feel the responsibilities of the mission that rests upon them. The world has to be evangelized, the Gospel has to be proclaimed to all nations. God has laid it especially upon the Seventies, with the others to assist them. And we call upon the Seventies and High Priests to wake up, to assume the responsibilities that devolve upon them, and prepare themselves to do the work of God. For instead of being through and having finished our work we are only just beginning to prepare ourselves for the conflict. Wars and rumors of wars are beginning to sound in our ears; the terrible day is fast approaching, and God requires it at our hands that we pre– pare to go forth to the nations of the earth to proclaim to them the words of life. Never mind what people can do among us, we ask no odds of them. God is with Israel if Israel will only be with God. And if the world will only treat us fifty percent as well as we have treated them, it is all we ask of them; and if they won’t, we will still continue to do them good. And when the day comes that all men will be brought to justice, we want to feel conscientiously free from the blood of this generation. Do we want the aged and infirm to go and preach the Gospel. No. Had there been time yesterday, I would have very much liked to have heard the brethren of the priesthood express their feelings; but I would say to you, High Priests, get together and humble yourselves before God, seek unto Him for wisdom to guide you in all your operations, and prepare your-selves to magnify your offices in the various duties of your calling, which is really that of presiding, that when changes may take place in the present Stakes, or other Stakes may be organized, you may be prepared as President and council, as Bishops and council, as High Councils, or whatever office you may be called to fill. And I would say the same to the Seventies and also to the Elders, prepare to magnify your callings. Let us humble ourselves before God, and purify ourselves and walk in uprightness before him and live our religion and magnify our calling, and be quick and active and diligent; and energetic in the performance of our duties, and the power of God will rest upon the Priesthood, and they will be prepared to go to the nations to proclaim the Gospel message to all peoples.

I do not know how many we will want to call at our approaching conference; I have had applications for twenty to fill missions in the Southern States, besides a great many other places, but whether few or many be needed, we must be in readiness at all times and under all circumstances to magnify our Priesthood and to do everything required of us. We will build our Temples and be Saviors on Mount Zion, and the kingdom will be our Lord’s.

God bless you and lead you in the paths of life. Amen.

Discourse by President John Taylor, delivered at the Regular Priesthood Meeting of the Weber Stake of Zion, Held at Ogden, on the 21st of September, 1878.

I have been desirous to meet with the priesthood of this Stake, and I have invited a number of the presidents of Stakes within this district of country to be present at this meeting, for the consideration of certain questions that have been pressing themselves upon my mind for some time, that I want to lay before the people here.

We have met here in a capacity of the holy priesthood, and all of us profess to be elders in Israel, and to be disposed at least to walk according to the order of God, and to seek to establish the principles of righteousness as far as lies in our power, and to try to build up his kingdom on the earth. That, at least, is our profession, and I believe is the sentiment of the hearts of most of the brethren now assembled. At the same time we have different ideas about many things, particularly things of a temporal nature, so called. We go in a good deal for what is called “free trade and sailor’s rights”—we want to enjoy a large amount of liberty. All these things are very popular and very correct. But in our acts and doings it is necessary that we be governed by certain laws and principles which have been given unto us by the Lord. We all concede to this. But there are some things we seem to be very much confused about, in regard to our temporal matters. During the lifetime of President Young—several years ago, it seemed as though he was wrought upon to introduce cooperation and the United Order, to quite an extent. He told us at the time that it was the word and the will of God to us. I believed it then; and I believe it now. And yet, at the same time, every kind of idea, feeling and spirit has been manifested. In many places cooperation and the United Order have been started under various forms; in some they have succeeded very well, and in other places people have acted foolishly and covetously, seeking their own personal, individual interests under the pretense of serving God and carrying out his designs. Others have been visionary and have undertaken things which were impracticable, while others have not acted in good faith at all. There has been every kind of feeling among us as a people, that is possible to exist anywhere. And I have thought sometimes in regard to our cooperative institutions, that some of those who are engaged in them and sustained by them are as much opposed to cooperation and United Order as any other class of people we have. At least, I have noticed feelings of that kind. I do not say they are general. But there are certain reflections in relation to these matters that have been pressing upon my mind for some time. And let me here ask myself a question—a question not of a personal nature; I have not come here to talk about any personal matters at all, but upon principle and upon some of those principles that we as Latter-day Saints, and as elders in Israel, profess to believe in. The question would be and my text would be today, if I wanted to take a text: Shall we sustain cooperation and the United Order, and work with that end in view in all of our operations, or shall we give it up as a bad thing unworthy of our attention? That is where the thing comes to, in my mind. At any rate, we wish to act honestly and honorably in this matter. If we believe that these principles are true, let us be governed by them; if we do not, let us abandon them at once, conclude that we have made a mistake and have no more to do with them. For we, all of us, profess to be at least honest men, and to act conscientiously. If there is anything wrong in these things, let us know the wrong; and if it is not a command of God, and not binding upon us, let us quit it. And then the question naturally arises, Are we prepared to do this? And, on the other hand, if we believe that these are principles that are inculcated by the Lord, then let us be governed by them. In fact, whichever way we decide let us carry out our decisions in good faith, and not have our sign painted on one side in white and on the other black or some other color. But let us feel as the prophet Elijah did on a certain occasion, “If the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” There was a disposition in ancient Israel to have a part of God and a part of the devil or Baal—an idolatrous god which was worshipped by them. I sometimes think that in some respects we are a good deal like them. Do we believe our religion? Yes. Do we believe in the holy priesthood and that God has restored it to the earth? Yes. Do we believe that God has established his kingdom? Yes. And do we believe that the holy priesthood is under the guidance of the Lord? O, yes; but still we would like a good deal of our own way. If we must introduce something that the Lord has commanded, we would like to put it off just as far as we can, and if we cannot do it any other way we will fight against it, according to circumstances, and how things move and operate. We often wish the Lord would not exact certain things of us; we would rather have our own way. But let us look at things calmly and dispassionately. As I understand it, the Lord has gathered us together to do his will, to observe his laws and keep his commandments. And we have certain obligations devolving upon us in the holy priesthood which God requires at our hands. He requires, for instance, of the Twelve to go, when called upon, to the nations of the earth and preach the Gospel to those nations. If they were not to do it, would they be justified? No, they would not; God would require the blood of the people at their hands. That is the way I figure up these things. I do not know of any half-way house. As one of the Twelve, I do not want to dodge any of these questions, but meet them fairly and squarely. And I think I have done it; and I think the Twelve generally have. They have always been on hand to go anywhere when the Lord has re– quired them to go, whether in sickness or health, in poverty or abounding in means; no matter what their circumstances, or what individualism would have to be sacrificed, their object has ever been to do the will of God. And so it has been with a great many of the seventies, high priests and also with a great many of the elders. Their feelings have been: Let the Lord speak, and here am I, ready to do his will and carry out his designs. And this feeling exists today in the hearts of a great many; but there are also a great many who do not feel so, who want to dodge these questions. Here is Brother Eldredge, who is one of the presidents of the seventies; he knows how extremely difficult it is to get men, as we used in former years—“at the drop of the hat,” as it was termed, to go on missions. However, I do not wish to dwell upon that; I merely refer to it in passing along.

We are here, as I understand it, as Jesus was, “Not to do our own will, but the will of our Father who sent us.” If God had not felt after you, and his spirit operated upon you, you would not be here in these mountains today. What does Jesus say about these things in speaking of them? “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.” You have been in the same situation; you have seen the elect of God gathered together through the medium of the holy priesthood, by the opening of the heavens and the revelation of the will of God to man and the restoration of the holy Gospel. You have been gathered together in this way, and we all have. What to do? Is it, as they used to say in the Church of England, to follow the devices and desires of our own hearts? Is it to follow out some petty scheme of our own? I do not so understand it; I understand that it is to build up the Church and kingdom of God upon the earth, and to prepare the earth and the people of the earth for the things that are coming on the earth; and to prepare ourselves, as a people, to receive further intelligence, wisdom and knowledge from God, that he may have a people in whom he can place confidence, and whom he can bless, and through them confer blessings on mankind. He expects us to build up his kingdom, and that is the first consideration with us. And this is what he told his disciples in former days, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things”—referring to our temporal concerns, which comparatively are like so many chips and whetstones—“shall be added unto you.” But these things, too, enter into our daily life and our intercourse one with another, and into the purposes of God associated with the gathering of his people together, that they may be one, that through them he can communicate his will to the human family, that there may be a nucleus formed around which the honest in heart from all the world may rally; and be in possession of the word and will of the Lord, and the light, intelligence and revelations of God our Father; that the secret of the Lord might be with those who fear him, and that they might fear him and understand the things which are approaching, and prepare the earth for those things that are coming. We appear here, as it were, in a normal school, to prepare ourselves to carry out the purposes of God upon the earth. Can you find a people anywhere on the earth that will listen to the word of God? No, you cannot; neither can you find anybody to whom God could communicate his will. We talk a good deal, and often preach a good deal, about the judgments which are to come upon the earth: wars, pestilence, famine, and distress of nations, and testify that calamity will follow so continuously that by and by it will be a vexation to hear the report thereof. We have talked about these things for years. I have myself for upwards of forty years; and as I have said before, so I repeat, that these things which await the world, are forty years nearer than they were forty years ago. God did not mock us when he told us of these things; but all that he has said concerning them through ancient prophets and through Joseph Smith are true, and as sure as God lives they will take place. I will prophesy that they will take place as sure as God lives, and they are approaching very rapidly upon us. We are told that the day will come when he that will not take up his sword against his neighbor must needs flee to Zion for safety. And is that true? Yes, it is. If that should take place today, are we prepared for it? I think not. If we should go on for years as we are now going on shall we be prepared for it? We are not, today, all of us, preparing for these things. We can hardly manage a few miserable apostates and a few Gentiles, and we feel very creepy sometimes about anything that transpires, not knowing how or what may be the result; instead of being clothed upon with the spirit of God and being filled with the Holy Ghost, the light of revelation and the power of God. But we do not have this kind of feeling, and we are divided up in our interest, one man pulling against another, so much so, that we have today all kinds of Gentilism among us. Even our newspapers give circulation to certain classes of advertisements which are a living lie, and it is a shame and disgrace that such things should be seen in Zion. Some call it Gentile trickery, the tricks of trade, etc., but I call it chicanery and falsehood, and it is so in regard to many other things. Does this comport with the position we occupy as men holding the holy priesthood? I do not think it does. I think we ought to occupy a more elevated and honorable position; I think we ought to be governed by other influences, and be actuated by other motives. I think that our lives, our desires, our feelings and our acts ought to be to try to build up Zion and establish the kingdom of God upon the earth; that we should be united in our temporal as well as in our spiritual affairs, for God says: “If you are not one you are not mine.” Do you believe it? You elders of Israel, do you believe that saying? And if we are not the Lord’s then whose are we? We have our own plans, our own notions and our own theories; and as one of old expressed it, we are seeking for gain, every one from his own quarter. And we are governed to a very great extent by selfishness, and too much by our own personal feelings, and allow these things to influence us instead of being governed by those high, noble, dignified and glorious principles that dwell in the bosom of God, which emanated from him, and which dwell also in the bosoms of those who in sincerity fear God and keep his commandments.

Now, I know what many of you will say, in speaking of cooperation: “there has been a great many abuses.” Yes, I admit it—numbers of them. “What and under the name of the United Order also?” Yes, any quantity of them. Joseph Smith in his day said it was ex– tremely difficult to introduce these things because of the greed, covetousness, selfishness and wickedness of the people. I wish here to refer to one or two things connected with this subject. I spoke about the Twelve, the seventies, the elders and the high priests; and stated that a great many of them had been out preaching the Gospel, and that some of them felt as though it is hard work. It is, no doubt, very uphill business for a man to be a Saint if he is not one; and if he has not the principles of the Gospel in his heart, it must be very hard work, I may say an eternal struggle, for him to preach. But if a man has got the pure principles of the Gospel in his heart, it is quite easy for him to expound the truth. Well, now, I will take the words of Jesus: “Except a man can forsake father or mother, wife and children, houses and lands, for my sake, he cannot be my disciple.” And let me say to you, my brethren, that that Gospel is just as true today as it was then, that except a man is prepared to forsake his earthly interests for the sake of the Gospel of the Son of God, he is unworthy of it, and cannot be a true Saint. Now, this is where the hardship comes in and it also accounts for this eternal rubbing and bumping. “How much can’t I do, and how little can I do to retain fellowship with the Church; and how much can I act selfishly and yet be counted a disciple of Christ?” Did you never feel as Paul describes it—the spirit striving against the flesh? I guess you have, and you doubtless know all about it; for these are plain matters of fact. This is the position the Gospel has placed us in; and it is a very difficult thing to serve two masters, in fact it is useless for any man to attempt to do it, “for (as the Savior says) either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” And therefore Jesus said: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly of heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

But to return to the principles of cooperation and United Order. Supposing a man had come to you elders, when you were out on missions, requesting baptism at your hands, without having repented of his sins, would you have baptized him? No, you would not. But supposing he claimed to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but not in baptism; would you receive him into the Church? No, you dare not do such things. But supposing again that he believed in baptism and in the Lord Jesus Christ, and had repented of his sins, but did not believe in the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost; would you baptize him? No. And further supposing he had complied with all these requirements, and he had the opportunity to gather to Zion but did not improve the opportunity, would you consider him a very good Saint? No. Now, beside all these, the Lord has given us a law pertaining to tithing; and if he did not comply with that would you consider him a good Saint? No. And we are told to build temples, and the man who would refuse to do this work, you would consider a very poor specimen of a Latter-day Saint. Referring to the United Order, the Lord has given us to understand that whosoever refuses to comply with the requirements of that law, his name shall not be known in the records of the Church, but shall be blotted out; neither shall his children have an inheritance in Zion. Are these the words of the Lord to us? I suppose there are none here today but would say, Yes. How, then, can I or you treat lightly that which God has given us? It is the word of God to me; it is the word of God to you. And if we do not fulfil this requirement what is the result? We are told what the result will be. These things have not taken place now; but we have been wandering about from place to place, and the Lord has blessed us in a remarkable degree. And we are gathered together, as I have said, for the purpose of building up Zion, and we are supposed to be the servants of God having engaged to perform this work; and individually, I would say, I do not want to profess to be a Saint, if I am not one, nor if the work we are engaged in is not of the Lord; if the principles we believe in are false, I do not want anything to do with them; on the other hand, if they are true then I want to be governed by them, and so do you. We must carry out the word and will of God, for we cannot afford to ignore it nor any part of it. If faith, repentance and baptism and laying on of hands is right and true and demands our obedience, so does cooperation and the United Order. Some may say, here is such and such a man has been connected with the United Order, and how foolishly he has acted, and others have gone into cooperation and made a failure of it. Yes, that may be all very true, but who is to blame? Shall we stop baptizing people and make no further efforts to establish the kingdom of God upon the earth, because certain ones have acted foolishly and perhaps wickedly? Do the actions of such people render the principles of the Gospel without effect or the doctrines we teach untrue? I think you would not say so. What do we do with such cases? We purge them out, we cut them off according to the laws God has laid down; but we do not stop the operations of the Gospel, such a thought never enters our minds, for we know the work already commenced is onward and upward. Shall we then think of putting an end to these other principles because men have acted foolishly and selfishly and done wrong? No, I think not; I do not think we can choose one principle and reject another to suit ourselves. I think that all of these things, as we have received them, one after another are equally binding upon us. Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out from the mouth of God.” This is as true today as it was when spoken.

I have seen a disposition among many of the brethren to pull off in every kind of way, and this spirit and tendency is spreading and growing in every part of our Territory. We have cooperative stores started, and we have the eye of God painted over the doors, with the words “Holiness to the Lord” written overhead. Do we act according to that? In a great many instances I am afraid not. But what of that? Shall we depart from these principles? I think not. What was the principle of cooperation intended for? Simply as a stepping stone for the United Order, that is all, that we might be united and operate together in the interest of building up Zion. Well, having started, what do we see? One pulling one way, another pulling another way; every one taking his own course. One man says: Such a one takes his own course, and I will take mine. Using the same line of argument, because one man commits a wrong unworthy the calling of a Latter-day Saint, his doing so is to be an excuse for my doing the same thing. As I understand it, I am called to fear God, whether anybody else does it or not; and this is your calling just as much as it is mine. We may indeed shirk it and violate the covenants we have made. The Lord has blessed us with endowments and covenants of which the world know nothing, neither can they know anything about it. And he has given unto us these things that we might be brought into closer union with God, that we might know how to save ourselves, our wives and children, as well as our fathers and progenitors who have gone before us. Having done this, what next? God has revealed certain things to the children of men now as he formerly revealed the Gospel to the children of Israel. But could they stand it? No, they could not. Moses succeeded in leading seventy of the elders of Israel to the presence of God; he would have led all Israel into his presence, but they would not be led; they turned to idolatry, to evil and corruption, and hence they became disobedient and unmanageable. And when the Lord spake to them they became terrified and said, “Let not God speak unto us lest we die.” God wants to bring us near to him, for this purpose he has introduced the Gospel with all its ordinances. Has he been true to us? Yes. And when you elders have been out preaching and baptizing people for the remission of their sins, and when confirming them members of this Church, you have said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost, have they received it? They have, God bearing witness of the truth of your words and of his ministry conferred upon you.

Now then, he calls upon us to be one. What for? Because we are associated with his kingdom. With what? With his kingdom. What is his kingdom? It is his government, rule, authority, dominion, power, etc. God has introduced his kingdom after his order, and it is for him to guide that kingdom and direct it, and manage it, and manipulate it in the interest of the honest in heart, and of all nations. He has commenced it among us that he might have a little nucleus where he could communicate and reveal his will, composed of such as would carry that will out, and do his bidding and obey his behests. That is what we are here for, and not to do our own will, any more than Jesus came to do his will, but the will of his Father. What do we know about building up the kingdom of God? What do we know about the calamities that are to come? I can tell you that while we have peace today and everything runs smoothly and quietly on, the day is not far distant before the Lord will arise to shake terribly the earth, and it will be felt in this nation more keenly and more severely than any of you have seen it by a great deal, and I know it, and I bear testimony to it. We have no time to experiment in following our own notions and ideas; we have something else to do, we have got to build up the kingdom of God; and in order to do this we must of necessity unite ourselves together, and seek to know the mind of God to carry it out. And all that we do should be done with this object in view. We have all kinds of individual interests and enterprises among us; some men are operating quite considerably one way and another, and some are not. Brother Jennings, for instance, who is present with us today, besides owning stock to the extent of $90,000 in Z. C. M. I., is, with others, engaged with other pursuits of a manufacturing nature, which are very laudable. Such enterprises tend to give employment to the people, and this is what we want, and what we must have sooner or later. There is one thing, however, I would here say about forming unions and partnerships in any line of manufacture: Let them be formed with the understanding that when the proper time shall arrive they can merge into cooperation, or the United Order. It is very important that in all of our undertakings we should have at heart this feeling and work to this end, and then we may reasonably expect that it can be but a question of time to bring out a grand consolidation of all individual interests. I have been impressed in my feelings upon these subjects for some time, therefore I speak about them as I do. How many years is it since this was started, and how little we have done! I tell you if we go a little further in our drawing off, and each taking his own course, God will leave us to ourselves. But he will not leave us as long as we manifest a desire to do right; and I am pleased to say there is a feeling generally among the brethren to listen to counsel, yet at the same time we are apt to get confused, forgetting the object we have in view, amidst the variety of things that present themselves. Shall we, my brethren, give up cooperation or shall we consider men in good fellowship who are pulling off in either direction, or shall we not? What shall we do? Shall we be true to our religion, true to our faith, true to the principles that God has commanded; or shall we forsake them? We will not forsake them, and the brethren generally do not feel like doing it; but there are a few now and then who get off the track. We want to get together and unite our hearts and sympathies into one, placing ourselves under proper direction, holding ourselves in readiness to perform any work required by God at our hands. I will tell you in the name of Israel’s God that if you keep his commandments you will be the richest of all people, for God will pour wealth upon you; but if you do not, you will have to struggle a good deal more than you have done, for the Spirit and blessings of God will be withdrawn from us, just in proportion as we withdraw ourselves from God. We are living in an eventful age, an age in which many wonderful changes are to be wrought. We are told many other things of a similar nature, that he who will not take up his sword against his neighbor, must needs flee to Zion for safety. The Latter-day Saints will see the day when people will flock to Zion, and many of them will say, we do not know anything about your religion, but you are an honorable, just, industrious and virtuous people, you administer justice and equity, and the rights of man are protected and maintained. You maintain good government, extending protection to everybody, and we want to live with you and be one with you. We want to prepare ourselves for these things, for they are coming as sure as God lives. Amen.

Discourse by President John Taylor, delivered at Logan, Sunday Afternoon, August 4th, 1878.

I have been a good deal interested in the remarks made by my brethren; and in connection with them, I am very much pleased to see you meet in this beautiful house, and in possession of the privileges you enjoy; and you have a right to enjoy them, because you have made them yourselves. And then again, you did not make them yourselves, only as God assisted you. I think there is a modern Scripture which reads: “Against none is His wrath kindled, save those who do not acknowledge his hand in all things.” And there are some other principles connected with these matters that are of a good deal of importance to us. One of the old prophets, in speaking of the people and their relationship to God, says: “The Lord is our God, the Lord is our king, the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, and he shall rule over us.” If we could really place ourselves in this position, and feel that we live in God, that we move in God, and that from him we derive our being, and that he holds the issues of life, and every blessing we enjoy whether of a temporal or spiritual nature, either referring to this world or the world to come, proceeds from God. If we, as a community, could comprehend our position in regard to this grand, leading, and very important feature of our faith, we should be prepared to receive greater blessings at the hand of the Almighty, and be prepared also to magnify that great and holy priesthood which he has placed upon us. We should be prepared more understandingly to build temples, and to operate in them; we should be prepared to stand as saviors upon Mount Zion, and to operate with God and the holy angels, and with apostles and prophets who have lived before, and with the holy priesthood in the eternal worlds, as well as in this world, for the accomplishment of the purposes of God for the redemption and salvation of the living and the dead; for the salvation and exaltation of ourselves, our progenitors and our posterity. But we, need to realize and comprehend our position and relationship to the Almighty.

Some of the brethren who have addressed you have spoken upon our political rights, which is all very correct. It would be a poor thing indeed, if, after God has gathered us from among the nations of the earth to place His name upon us, and to establish and build up His kingdom upon the earth, we should be under the necessity of calling in the devil to help us to do the Lord’s work. It is one of those incongruities which the reasonably intelligent and reflective mind will necessarily disown. We are gathered here, not in the interests of any political party or any essential organization, other than that which God dictated and ordained. Why are we here today? It is because the heavens have been opened, because angels have appeared, because the revelations of God’s will have been made known to man, it is because God and the holy angels, with the eternal priesthood, have thought proper to manifest in these last days the fullness of the everlasting Gospel, which Gospel has been proclaimed to us in the different nations from whence we came. And having yielded obedience to its first principles we have gathered here. We did not come here as being associated particularly with any colonization scheme; we did not come here because of the richness or fertility of the soil; we did not come here because there was gold and silver in our mountains. We had no such idea. We came here because we believed that the Lord had restored the everlasting Gospel; because he had renewed the everlasting covenant; and because he had sent forth the proclamation, “Gather my people together, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice,” and because we had been baptized into Christ, and put on Christ. This is the reason of our being here; and, therefore, as Latter-day Saints, it becomes our first and most paramount duty to build up the church and kingdom of God upon the earth.

Now, we all believe this. And there is a number of duties that seem to devolve naturally upon us, such as to prepare buildings like this, that we may meet in to attend to the worship of God; and to build temples in which to administer the ordinances of God. Who for? The living and the dead: for ourselves, our progenitors, and our posterity. And that we might operate and cooperate with the priesthood behind the veil, in the accomplishment of his purposes toward the human family. This is the kind of labor we are engaged in. But I occasionally think we are something like the disciples who lived in the days of the apostles on the Asiatic Continent. It is said of them, that they saw in part, and prophesied in part, and of course comprehended in part. But they thought then, and we think now, that when that which is in part is done away, and that which is perfect is come—and which the Lord is trying to introduce as fast as he can—then shall we see as we are seen, and then we shall know as we are known; then we shall comprehend as God comprehends in relation to all of these subjects which we have been reflecting upon and praying about. But we only comprehend in part at the present time. We are something like our little children—when they begin to walk a little, they make awkward stumbles, often times falling down and scratching themselves. Our Father watches over us, the same as our mothers did when we were babies. You all know what watchful care a fond mother bestows upon her little child; how anxious she is about its safety and welfare. But our children frequently think they are much smarter than their parents. They would think nothing at all of taking hold of a razor and cutting their fingers with it, or running over rough and dangerous ground. We are, in many respects, a good deal like them. We see in part and comprehend in part; and some of us have been so long steeped in the superstitions and traditions of the age, and are imbued with false religions and political ideas and notions, and so inoculated by the world, that we hardly know what is right and what is wrong. We want a little of God in the kingdom of God, a little of man, and, I am sorry to say, a little of the devil in the kingdom of God, so that we might all mix up together and be hail fellows well met, God and all creation together. That is not the calculation of the Almighty. He has called us together; what to do? Let me tell you what the prophet said: “I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion.” And what will he do with those he gets there? “And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.” Who would give them pastors? The Lord. One of the prophets, in speaking of this time, when people should be very much better than we are today, says: “And they shall be all taught of God.” But some of us would like a little infidelity with it, a little of this world’s politics, a little of the theories of men, and a little false tradition with it; and it is difficult for us, with all our traditions and erroneous training which we have inherited from our forefathers, and which we have been brought up in from our early childhood, to divest ourselves from them, and listen to the pure word of God, and be governed by the laws of life.

We talk sometimes about the thing we call the kingdom of God. Now, if it is the kingdom of God, it is not the kingdom of man; it is not our kingdom only so far as we are subject to its laws, which are the laws of God. We have made attempts lately, under the direction of our venerable and respected President Young, who has left us and gone behind the veil, to organize the church of God, and this organization has spread, more or less, through the Territory. But it is a good deal with us as it was with the boy in Salt Lake City. A stranger, walking along, said, “Boy, are you a Mormon?” The boy answered: “No, sir, I am not, but dad is.” “Oh, he is?” “Yes, sir; but he does not potter much at it.” It is a good deal so with many of us. We have our individual affairs and our own operations, which occupy our attention, and we have little time to attend to the things of God. We have an organization of our priesthood; we have our stakes organized with President, with High Council, with Bishops and their Counselors, and Priests, Teachers and Deacons; and we have our Seventies’ quorums, our High Priests’ Quorums, and our Elders’ Quorums; all of which are in accordance with the order that exists in heaven. But how little many of us think of this. Yet we are doing pretty well, as has been remarked here. I have no feeling of complaint in my mind about the doings of the people generally. I think that you have manifested a zeal, liberality and generosity in the building of this house, that is praiseworthy and commendable; and I think you have manifested the same in the progress that is exhibited in the building of your temple here. But these are only very small parts of the duties of this priesthood which we have taken upon us; very little parts indeed. How many of our Bishops are there who do not comprehend really and truly that they hold their priesthood from God? that they administer in the cities of Zion, or ought to, by virtue of that priesthood; and therefore ought to be fathers over the people over whom they preside, having self and its interest in abeyance, laboring as good shepherds in the interests of their flocks, and thus operating in it according to their ability; but a great many do not comprehend the position of things in relation to these matters. If a man is appointed a Bishop, is it that he may aggrandize himself? No. Is it that through his position he may monopolize certain interests? No. It is expected of him that he will operate in the interest of the church of God, and more especially in the interests of the community over whom he presides. That is the way I understand this matter; and these are some leading features, by which a Bishop ought to be governed. And in our Bishop’s Courts, when cases are brought before them, they ought to be as free from partiality in their judgments as the Gods in the Eternal worlds are, and feel to administer justice and righteousness, and seek for the Spirit of God to actuate and govern them in all of their decisions. And the same spirit and feeling ought to actuate in the High Council. They are making a record of which there is a record kept in heaven; and so are the Bishops. And when you are administering in any of these offices, God will hold you to an account, and the priesthood on the earth will hold you to an account; and you are now writing a history in indelible characters that never can be erased. If for every word and secret act all men shall be brought to judgment, how much more will the public acts of public men be brought into account before God and before the holy priesthood.

Here, for instance, is the President and his Counselors, who preside over this Stake. They ought to feel interested in the welfare of every man, woman and child in the Stake, so far as they come under their observation; and these men, by virtue of their high calling, ought to be full of life and the Spirit and revelations of God, to comprehend things as they are presented to them and that, they may administer justice in righteousness, and rule over the people in that way and manner that will secure the favor and approbation of the Most High; always seeking first the interests of the kingdom of God and the flock that God has given them the oversight of.

Now I will mention some things here that my attention has been called to, in regard to union, and union of effort. We have had a great deal said about the United Order, and about our becoming one. And some people would wish—Oh, how they do wish, they could get around that principle, if they could! But you Latter-day Saints, you cannot get around it; you cannot dig around it; it will rise before you every step you take, for God is determined to carry out his purposes, and to build up his Zion; and those who will not walk into line he will move out of the way and no place will be found for them in Israel. Hear it, you Latter-day Saints for I say to you in the name of Israel’s God that it is a revelation from the Most High, and you cannot get around it. There seem to be difficulties in the way at present; but we shall surmount these. The only way for us to do now, in consideration of the weaknesses and infirmities with which we are surrounded, is to do the very best we can, and advance those interests as near as we can, practi– cally and in their spirit and essence, until we can bring about the thing that God designs, for men are not prepared for these things yet in full. But we are in part, as they of old prophesied in part, and understood in part; and by and by that which is perfect in relation to these matters will be introduced. Joseph Smith tried to introduce this order, but such was the corruption, covetousness, fraud and injustice of men, that he found it almost impossible to do it. This was the idea he conveyed, if not the precise words that he used in speaking upon this subject. We have made various attempts to do what the Prophet Joseph tried to do. In some places they are doing very well, and in other places very poorly; I can tell you this much about it, it is pretty hard work to make sheep out of goats. Did any of you ever try it? Let me quote you a passage of our Savior’s: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”—“A stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him; for they know not the voice of strangers.” And he prayed to the Father concerning them: “Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are.” “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” Or, in other words, God sent him and his people knew it and knew him, but the world believed it not; but when this oneness should be brought about, the world would know it. And when we become one in all things, our condition will be a spectacle for God, angels and men to gaze upon with delight: and the world then will know that God is with us, and that we are his Israel, and that he is our guide, our shield, our deliverer.

There are some things that Brother Lorenzo Snow is doing that are very creditable; but it is not the United Order. He is working with the people something after the same principle that our sisters teach the little ones how to walk; they stand them in a sort of chair which rolls along, and the babies appear delighted, they think they are walking. But we have not learned how to walk yet. And then there are other institutions scattered throughout the Territory, having the same laudable object in view, many of them have most excellent principles among them, and they manifest a most admirable spirit; but they only see in part, and know and comprehend in part. And you here are doing pretty well in some things; but some of you are like it was said by President Young of Brother Snow, that he had got the folks into the United Order without their knowing it. You have hardly got one foot in yet; but you are aiming at progress, and are making some little advancement. For instance, I hear you have a kind of commercial business here in connection with some other interests that you are trying to unite on. This is very proper, and it is proper that your president should dictate in such matters; it is his business to do it, and it is your duty to be governed by such principles and follow such instructions as may be given in regard to these things; and keep together, and let this individualism be held in abeyance, and let us feel that we are all holding the holy Priesthood, and that we should, as brethren, operate in the interests of the church and kingdom of God. I suppose these things could go on and increase, and everything in regard to your commercial relations could be operated with one common consent, under the proper authority and administration of the priesthood, and you all labor unitedly, with singleness of heart before God. And what would be the result? You could not be preyed upon by outsiders; you would have no middlemen living off you, and what speculations might be entered into would be in the interest of the community. And then you could operate in regard to your farming interests, and the disposing of your grain, and cattle, sheep, etc. And operating and cooperating together, you will be able to form a phalanx in this valley that will become a power in this part of the land. And then if you could go to work and manufacture your own leather and cloth, and make your own boots and shoes and harness, and your own wearing apparel, men’s and women’s wear, as they are doing in Brigham City, a great deal of remunerative employment could be furnished your own people, and it would be the means of putting trades in the hands of many of your boys; and by and by you could became a self-sustaining people. The people of the world comprehend this principle that we are striving to accomplish among ourselves. There has been quite a talk lately about something that has existed in France. You will remember that in the late war with Germany, the French nation was badly beaten, and an enormous debt was the result, which the French Government has since paid. And how? The first Napoleon, in his day, introduced what was called at that time the “Continental System,” which meant nothing more nor less than home manufacture. Every encouragement was extended to the people of that nation to raise and manufacture everything possible, that they might become independent of other nations for their sustenance. And this was the secret of their success in paying their indebtedness incurred by the late war. We have had enough talk about these things; the only thing left is to contrive in all our various settlements, to introduce such things, gradually and according to circumstances, as will subserve the interests of the people and make them self-sustaining. And then let the people throughout the Territory do the same thing, and we shall be progressing in the march of improvement, and get, by and by, to what is called the United Order. But I will tell you one thing you can never do—unless you can get the United Order in the hearts of the people, you can never plant it anywhere else; articles and constitutions amount to very little; we must have this law, which is the law of God, written in our hearts. Many men associated with these institutions do not act in good faith. I have seen men unite with them, thinking that they could get a very easy living by preying upon the people who were more confiding and honorable than themselves. Will such men be blessed? No, they will not but the curse of God will rest upon them for trying to pervert his purposes; and it would have been better for them never to have entered into such connections. These have been some of my reflections in relation to these matters.

We have here Seventies and Elders. I wish to talk a little upon some things associated with their callings, for there are a great many of them present today. I suppose the great majority of the brethren here are either Seventies, High Priests, or Elders—three prominent quorums in the church and kingdom of God. Now then, what are we called to do? What, for an instance, is the duty of an Apostle? We used to understand it to be our duty to go to the ends of the earth and preach the Gospel; and I may say we have traveled hundreds of thousands of miles to accomplish that object. But some of us are getting whiteheaded. As I was saying to one of my wives a little while ago, Your head is getting a little grey, but mine is not (it is white). And it is so with many of the Twelve; they have got past that some time ago. But the Twelve went out, and were always ready to go out, and are today if required. And I will say of my brethren who are around me, I do not know of a better set of men in existence, nor could I tell where they can be found. I will bear this testimony concerning my brethren of the Twelve. They are ready to do what God requires of them at any time. Now, we have had a great many honorable men among our Seventies, our High Priests and Elders, who have gone forth with alacrity, as have the Twelve, filled with the spirit and power of their calling, feeling to rejoice all the day long, and sing, hallelujah, the Lord is our God; they have been the means of gathering the House of Israel, as they are today in these mountains. Shall they have credit among Israel? Yes, and so will they have credit before God and the holy angels. But the Presidency or the Twelve, or the Seventies, or the High Priests, or the Elders, never could have done it, unless God had been with them. They went forth in the name of God, bearing precious seed; and they returned again rejoicing, bringing many sheaves with them. And God will hold all such men in honorable remembrance in time and through all eternity. But, a great many are getting like myself, they are getting old; and we cannot expect them always to be going. But then, they have a lot of boys growing up, and we expect the boys to step forward and take the place of their fathers, and try to do something in the interests of the church and kingdom of God upon the earth.

We have been passing through quite a scene for some time past, and the world generally has, especially the European nations, since about 1873. There was, as was termed, a financial panic, and it has grown worse and worse until the present time; and trouble seems to be spreading and growing among the nations, and is permeating the nation with which we are associated. It is now workmen against employer—labor versus capital, and vice versa, instead of union, harmony, fellowship, and sympathy, which ought always to exist between man and man. And we have felt a little of the effects of the monetary crisis here. Then the grasshoppers have paid us a visit now and then; and the codling moth is among us, and some parts of our valleys have suffered considerably from winter frosts. And I have thought sometimes that if the people did not understand that God ruled, they would find out by and by; for I believe that all these things are used by the Lord to bring the people to reflection. And if I read my Bible aright, judgments are first to begin at the house of God. And if judgments are to commence at the house of God, where are the wicked and ungodly to appear? There is a terrible time approaching the nations of the earth, and also this nation, worse than has ever entered into the heart of man to conceive of—war, bloodshed and desolation, mourning and misery, pestilence, famine, and earthquakes, and all those calamities spoken of by the prophets will most assuredly be fulfilled, and they are nearer by forty years than they were forty years ago. And it is for us, Latter-day Saints, to understand the position we occupy, Among the honorable men I have referred to, there are some things that make it extremely difficult for men sometimes to perform the kind of missions that they did formerly, owing to age, infirmities, and circumstances. Yet I have frequently felt ashamed when I have seen the acts of many in these quorums to which I refer, when they have been called upon to go on missions. One has one excuse, and another, another. It was easier some twenty years ago to raise two or three hundred men than it is now among all those thousands in Israel. How do you account for this? Partly in consequence of an apathy that exists in the different organisms of the priesthood; and partly from circumstances with which we have been surrounded. We have been grappling with these difficulties in common with others; and the Lord has placed us in this position to try us to see what material we are made of. Or, to use a common saying, to see who would be found at the rack, hay or no hay. But the general feeling seems to be—and I suppose it is so with us in Salt Lake and other places—that we would rather go to the rack when there was plenty of hay. But there is such a thing as having faith in God, I will tell you how I have viewed these things. A great many have been thrown into circumstances that without distressing their families it would be extremely difficult to pick themselves up and go on missions. We did not use to think about this; but there should be in this, as in other things, a cooperation, a united order if you please. We have found, in looking over some of our affairs, that these pinching times have reached to England. And lately when our Elders have returned home after having been absent two or three years, they themselves not having the means to pay their way home, have had to give their notes for the money; and the consequence was they would return with a load of debt upon their shoulders. The Council have considered this matter, and decided to cancel such indebtedness; it amounted to some $50,000; and then we contrived with Brother Statues and the Presidency in Liverpool, to try to make such arrangements that when our brethren returned home from missions, they shall come free. How do you feel? All who are in favor say aye. [The congregation said aye.] We do not want Elders to feel pressed down or embarrassed, but, if possible, to be relieved; and we are aiming to accomplish this. And when they are away, it is not proper that they should feel worried and concerned about their families at home; and therefore we will call upon our brethren here who preside, to see that the families of the missionaries are looked after, that they may not suffer. I hear men sometimes pray God to bless and provide for the families of those on missions, and in their prayers they are ever mindful of the poor. This is all very well so far as it goes, but it does not go very far. My feelings are, never to ask the Lord to do anything I would not do myself. If I were a woman—but then I am not, you know, and I do not know much about it; but if I were a woman, the wife of one of our missionaries abroad, I would much rather have a sack of flour; a little meat, some butter and cheese, a little firewood or coal, and a little cloth for myself and family, than all the prayers you could offer up for me. And if you want to see these folks taken care of, you must see to it yourselves. And you sisters of the Relief Society, do not give your husbands any rest until these families are all provided for. And do not spare the Bishop if they are not provided for but go after him and “ding” it into him; and perhaps by your continued teasing and worrying him, he may hearken to your prayers. And I will risk it, if the sisters get after him.

Now after making excuses of that kind, we cannot excuse everybody. There are lots of able-bodied men who, if they could only have a little more faith in God, and could realize the calamities that are coming upon the earth, and the responsibilities of that priesthood that God has conferred upon them, they would be ready to break all barriers and say, Here I am, send me; I wish to benefit the human family. If Jesus came to seek and save those who are lost, let me be possessed of the same spirit. And if the Twelve, the High Priests and the Seventies, who are now aged, have done these things, let me also do it; I am willing to enter into the harness and do all that God requires at my hands. I tell you, my brethren, in the name of God, that right among the nations of Europe, where many of you have come from, there will be some of the bloodiest scenes that you ever read of; and God expects you to assist in warning the nations, and in gathering out the honest in heart. Then when you come back, having accomplished a good mission, you can say, “My garments are clean from the blood of this generation.” Many of you cannot say that now, therefore I wish to remind you of these things, that you may reflect upon them, and prepare yourselves for the work that is before you.

Another thing that has been referred to here—about our schools and education. God expects Zion to become the praise and glory of the whole earth; so that kings, hearing of her fame, will come and gaze upon her glory. God is not niggardly in his feelings towards us. He would as soon we all lived in palaces as not; but he wants us to observe his laws and fear him, and standing as messengers to go forth to the nations; clothed upon with the power of the priesthood which has been conferred upon us: seeking “first the kingdom of God and his righteousness;” seeking first the welfare and happiness of our fellow men, and God will add unto us all the gold and silver and possessions and everything that may be good for us to receive. I was going to say, perhaps more than would be good for us. But all these things shall be added, for no man that forsakes father and mother, houses and lands, wives and children for God and his kingdom, but what shall receive in this world a hundred fold, and in the world to come life everlasting. This was true anciently, it is true today. This being the case, we ought to foster education and intelligence of every kind; cultivate literary tastes, and men of literary and scientific talent should improve that talent and all should magnify the gifts which God has given unto them. Educate your children, and seek for these to teach them who have faith in God and in his promises, as well as intelligence. I was talking with Bro. Maeser, who is principal of the Brigham Young Academy, in Provo. I saw the students go through their various exercises in the several classes, and I was congratulating him upon the success, when he remarked—“There is one thing, Pres. Taylor, I will guarantee, that is, that no infidels will go from my school.” He would teach them the Gospel, and inculcate its principles, which are so far advanced of infidelity, that it would have to hide its hoary head in shame before the light, glory, and intelligence that comes from God, and that exist in all his works, and that fools do not comprehend. I am pleased to know that Pres. Young made arrange– ments before his death for the endowment of a college in this neighborhood, and the brethren acting as trustees in the matter are feeling interested, and are taking steps for the accomplishment of that object. And that object is, as I understand it, to afford our own children greater facilities to become learned, and that they also have the privilege to learn trades, and agriculture, and horticulture, and become progressive, intellectual and informed in regard to all these things, and that they may comprehend the earth on which we stand, the materials of which it is composed, and the elements with which we are surrounded. And then, by having faith in God, we might stand as far above the nations in regard to the arts and sciences, politics, and every species of intelligence, as we now do in regard to religious matters. This is what we are aiming at; and if there is anything good and praiseworthy in morals, religion, science, or anything calculated to exalt and ennoble man, we are after it. But with all our getting, we want to get understanding, and that understanding which flows from God.

Bro. Smith said his time was up; mine is more than up.

Brethren and sisters, God bless you. Let us love one another; let us seek to promote one another’s welfare. And let the Bishop’s and the Relief Societies, and the Young Men’s and Young Women’s Associations, and our mechanics and manufacturers, and also our merchants, and all hands, operate in the interests of the whole for the welfare of Zion and the building up of the Kingdom of God upon the earth; and the blessings of God will begin to rest upon us, Zion will begin to arise, and the glory of God will rest upon her. Amen.

Discourse by Elder John Taylor, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday, July 7, 1878.

I have been very much interested, as no doubt all of you have who have attended this Conference, in the principles that have been taught here. It is true a very great many have not been present to hear the things that have been spoken of by the Elders of Israel, and the Apostles of the Lord, during this Conference. There has been a number of reflections, no doubt, in relation to principles advanced by the various speakers; a great many plain truths have been enumerated; but we need, as has been stated, continual awakening up to a sense of our duty, and to a realization of those great responsibilities which devolve upon us.

We are living in a very important age of the world, when great events are about to transpire, and the Lord has called upon us to perform a very great work in our day and generation. He has sent forth a revelation of his will; He has restored the ancient, the everlasting Gospel; He has restored the Holy Priesthood; He has manifested himself by the opening of the heavens and communicating his will, by the ministration of angels, by the organization of his Church and kingdom, by the continuous manifestation of his Holy Spirit, daily imparting faith to the human family who are humbly and diligently seeking to observe his laws and to keep his commandments.

The Lord has a work to perform upon the earth; and the ancient Priesthood who have lived upon the earth, and who now live in heaven, have also a work to perform. And this Gospel and this kingdom has been introduced that there might be a Priesthood upon the earth to operate with God and with the Priesthood in the heavens, for the accomplishment of his purposes, for the redemption of the living, even all who desire to love the truth and work righteousness, and for the salvation and redemption of the dead; that the purposes of God from before the foundation of the world may be carried out, and that the laws, principles, rules and government as they exist in heaven, may be taught to man upon the earth; and that through the operation and cooperation of the heavenly Priesthood and the earthly Priesthood, and God the Father, and Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, an organization may take place, a union be formed, truth developed, and a kingdom established that the will of God may be done upon the earth as it is done in heaven. And this is what Jesus taught his disciples to pray for. “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” But we cannot do the will of God as it is done in heaven, until he reveals it; we cannot know the will of God in heaven, until he reveals it to man on the earth. And then, as it requires the powers and the spirit and wisdom of God to manage and direct and control the affairs in the heavenly worlds, and to regulate his kingdom there, so it requires the same power, the same wisdom, the same light and intelligence to carry on his purposes here, and to establish his kingdom on the earth. And hence, for this very purpose, he has commenced to reveal himself to the human family, and also for the purpose of organizing the everlasting Priesthood. Do we know what that means? A Priesthood that administers in time and through all eternity; a Priesthood that is under the guidance, direction and control of the Almighty; a Priesthood to whom he will communicate his will, make known his designs, through whom he will accomplish his purposes, build up his Zion and establish the kingdom of God on the earth. And it is for this purpose that the kingdom of God is established; it is for this purpose that the various organizations of the Priesthood are put in order; it is for this purpose that men are ordained and set apart to fulfill the various duties and responsibilities devolving upon them, at home or abroad as the case may be. It is not to seek after our own gain, or interest, or emolument, or to satisfy the devices and desires of our hearts; we are here as Jesus was here, not to do our own will, but the will of him who sent us—not to speak our own words, but the words of life, under the inspiration of the Most High, so that Zion may be instructed in the principles of righteousness, and that she may comprehend the laws of life, and be able to fulfill her destiny on the earth.

Ye Latter-day Saints, this is why this Church was organized; this is why the Priesthood was organized; this is why messengers have been sent, and are now being sent, and will continue to be sent more abundantly to the nations of the earth. And it is proper and right, in our Conferences, to reflect upon these things, and upon the duties and responsibilities devolving upon us, and to ask ourselves, Are we fulfilling the requirements of the great Eloheim? It has been asked here by brother Brigham, who has just spoken, whether this kingdom will fail. I tell you in the name of Israel’s God it will not fail. I tell you in the name of Israel’s God it will roll forth, and that the things spoken of by the holy Prophets in relation to it will receive their fulfillment. But in connection with this I will tell you another thing: A great many of the Latter-day Saints will fail, a great many of them are not now and never have been living up to their privileges, and magnifying their callings and their Priesthood, and God will have a reckoning with such people, unless they speedily repent. There is a carelessness, a deadness, an apathy, a listlessness that exists to a great extent among the Latter-day Saints, and there never was a stronger proof of this than that which was exhibited here yesterday. I asked myself, as I looked over the empty benches, Where are all the Bishops? Have they not time to attend the Quarterly Conference? Oh, shame on such men! Are they worthy to hold a place in the Bishopric, and associate with the Holy Priesthood of God? They are desecrating the holy principles by which they ought to be governed. Where are their Counselors, I asked myself, and where are the Priests and Teachers and Deacons? Is there no interest manifested in the Church and kingdom of God, or in the Zion he is about to establish? Not much with many of them. Where were these thousands of Seventies and High Priests and Elders? The great majority of them were not here; but today they are, and I thought I would talk to them while here, and not when absent. Are the things of God of so small importance—are the issues of life, the destinies of the world, and the salvation of the living and the dead of so small importance, that we cannot afford time to spend a day once a quarter in attending to the duties of our office, in representing our different districts, and in fulfilling the duties of our priesthood and the obligations God has placed upon us? I tell you, ye Elders of Israel, who neglect these things and who shirk your duties, God will remove your candlestick out of its place, and that speedily, unless you repent. And I say so to the Bishops, and I say so to all Israel who hold the Priesthood. We are not here to do our own will, but the will of our Heavenly Father who sent us. God has placed an important mission upon us; he expects us to fulfill it. If we treat it lightly and neglect our duties, he will remove us and others will take our crown. But he is not going to allow His kingdom to be overthrown, for it will roll forth and spread and increase until the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and His Christ and he will rule forever and ever.

I was reminded, yesterday, of a parable made use of by the Savior in his day.

“Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.

“And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

“They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:

“But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

“While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.”

I thought that part of it was pretty nearly fulfilled; for very nearly all of the people belonging to this stake were caught napping. By and by, or to quote the words of the text:

“And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.

Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.

And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.

But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.

And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut;” and the others did not, and—that’s all. And there is another Scripture to which I will refer. Jesus says: “Many are called, but few are chosen.” And there are many other peculiar Scriptures in relation to this matter. I will refer to another one. “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

“And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Or in other words, Depart from me, I never approved of you. Who, my brethren and sisters, do you think these Scriptures refer to? Some will say to the Gentiles; but I have quite another opinion about it. There are men before me today who have prophesied in the name of God, who have cast out devils in the name of God, who have healed the sick in the name of God, and done many wonderful works in the name of God; but they are not keeping his commandments, nor magnifying their priesthood; they are tampering with sacred things, and God will hold them to an account for it; and if they expect they can serve mammon, the world and the devil, at the same time, they are making a grand mistake. God will say to them, “I never knew you.” Now I shall be there, and you will be there; and I warn you, in the name of Jesus, to repent of your sins, and humble yourselves, and from henceforth magnify your priesthood and honor your God.

How is it with our various quorums and authorities, and how is it with many of the Bishops? They do not care much about things whichever way they go. They have time to attend to their merchandising and trading and business operations and pleasures, but they have not time to attend to the cause of God nor the interests of the flock, over whom he has placed them. But if they cannot find time, God will find a people that will find time to attend to his affairs. We have been engaged for years, but more especially of late years, in organizing the church more perfectly. And we have been ordain– ing men in the various quorums for the last 40 years; and what for? Merely to give them a place and position and the priesthood? No, I tell you nay; but that holding the holy priesthood you may magnify it and become the saviors of men. But is it not the case with a great many of our Elders and Seventies, that they are trying how little they can do to save themselves and preserve a standing in the church; instead of how much they can do? Why, all the heavens are waiting for our operations; the Gods in the eternal worlds and the fathers of the departed spirits—the holy priesthood behind the veil, are all waiting for our operations, to see what we will do. And we are found slumbering and careless and indifferent, willing that anybody should perform the work of the Lord, if we will be left out. I tell you, in the name of God, that he will give you your wish; he will leave you out, unless you speedily repent. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” But what are the duties of these Seventies, so many of whom are before me today? As I read it, it is to be under the direction of the Twelve, and to be on hand to go to the nations of the earth, as messengers, and to prepare themselves for that purpose. We sometimes talk about the work we have done. A very few men, comparatively, have done this work, and the great majority have done next to nothing. How many nations are yet unwarned, and know nothing about the principles of salvation? Our fathers are anxious about them, looking to us to carry the word to them. O shame upon the Elders of Israel, especially upon the Seventies who are called specially to this work. I received a letter from one of our Elders a short time ago, who is out laboring in the ministry, faithfully and diligently, in which he writes something like this: “If you can send me two or three Elders here, I shall be very much obliged; if the Seventies or Elders would not consider it too much trouble to come here.” What? Too much trouble for the Elders of Israel to proclaim the words of life and salvation to their fellow men, and to magnify their calling and priesthood? O shame on such Elders and such Seventies and such High Priests; shame on them. God, I tell you in the name of God, will hold you responsible for these things. And yet that man’s statement was pretty nearly true. If a man goes on a mission, he thinks he is accomplishing a wonderful thing. We used, in former years, to think it our duty, regarding it as one of the things which God required at our hands. We held ourselves in readiness all the time. And some of us who have never been abroad will begin to talk of the great work we have performed. How we apples swim, don’t we? To tell what we have done, when perhaps hundreds and thousands of brethren who have never been abroad on a mission in their lifetime would consider it a great calamity to be called to go on a foreign mission.

I am talking plainly, but it is true before God, and you know it is true, and I know it is true. And I say to you Seventies and you Elders, Awaken up! God has placed the priesthood upon you, and he expects you to magnify it, and not be all the day long, and year after year, singing, “Lullaby baby on the tree top, When the wind blows the cradle will rock.” we want something else; we want some manhood, and some priesthood and power of God to be manifested in Israel, and the Spirit of God to be poured out upon Israel and upon the Elders thereof. And I pray God, the Eternal Father, to waken up these Elders, that the spirit of their mission may rest upon them, and that they may comprehend their true position before God.

Now, I would not have said these things before a public congregation, if I had not said them before you frequently in your priesthood meetings. But it is time we were waking up to a sense of the position we occupy before God; for the day is not far distant when we will hear of wars and rumors of wars; not only rumors of wars, but wars themselves—nation arrayed against nation and seizing one another by the throat, and blood will flow, and general carnage will spread through the lands, and if you do not magnify your callings, God will hold you responsible for those whom you might have saved had you done your duty. How many of you can say, My garments are clean from the blood of this generation? I speak in behalf of the nations and the people thereof, and the honest in heart who are ignorant of God and his laws. He has called upon us to enlighten them, and to spread forth the truth, and send forth the principles of the Gospel, and point out the way of life. And it is for us to attend to these things, that we may secure the smiles and approbation of God.

But we are careless and thoughtless; and, as has been already remarked, we pay very little attention to the Sabbath day. Some would rather go on these Sunday excursions, and take their families with them, leading them in the paths that lead to death, then they would bring them to the house of God. But let me say to all such, that as sure as you do these things you will have to feel, and that keenly too, the result of your acts, and they will follow you in time and all eternity. And I call upon you, ye Latter-day Saints, to repent of your iniquities, and keep the Sabbath day holy, set it aside as a day of rest, a day to meet together to perform your sacraments and listen to the words of life, and thus be found keeping the commandments, and setting a good example before your children. Let us do that which is right, honor our God and magnify our calling, and the Spirit and blessing of God will rest upon us. But if we do not these things, his Spirit will depart from us, and we be left to ourselves. God will not be mocked by his people, or by any other people; but we shall reap the reward of our doings.

We talk about being a good people. Well, we are when compared with the rest of the world; but we ought to be twenty times better than we are today. And if we, as Latter-day Saints, were to strictly observe the Sabbath day, and pay our tithes and offerings, and meet our engagements, and be less worldly minded, be united in temporal and spiritual things, Zion would arise and shine, and the glory of God would rest upon her. And it would not be long before all nations would call us blessed. But we are slothful and careless and indifferent, and we neglect our duty and the responsibilities that devolve upon us.

I pray that God may enlighten our minds, and lead us in the paths of life; and that we may honor our calling and our God; that we may be found worthy to be associated with the just on the earth, and with them obtain an inheritance in the kingdom of God, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder John Taylor, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, June 16, 1878.

As has been remarked by one of the speakers, a great deal might be said upon the principles of the gospel of the Son of God. The heavens and the earth are full of intelligence, and God rules over and directs the affairs of nations as well as those of individuals and people; and whatever may be our peculiar notions or ideas of other men and their profession, the time will come, and is not far distant when the secrets of all hearts will be revealed, and when all of us, Latter-day Saints and others, Jews and Gentiles, peoples who now live, those that shall live and those who have lived, will be judged, not according to their peculiar theories, ideas, or notions, but according to the principles of eternal truth as it exists in the bosom of God, or is manifested by his eternal laws.

He has from time to time revealed his will to mankind, and he has in these last days revealed himself to the human family and the men to whom he has revealed himself in the different ages, comprehend all the principle of truth and the laws of God alike, so far as they were understood by them, having been taught by the same Lord and instructed from the same source, and had intelligence from the same fountain, they have comprehended, according to the positions which they have occupied, and so far as revealed unto them, alike, whether they were things pertaining to the living, or the dead, or to the various kingdoms that exist in the eternal worlds, telestial, terrestrial or celestial as the case might be, and as it may have been revealed unto them; but no man in any age of the world has understood anything pertaining to God and godliness only as it has been revealed unto him by the Lord. “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save by the spirit of a man which is in him: Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but by the Spirit of God.” And hence it is impossible under certain circumstances, for mankind to judge correctly of these principles. For although the Lord has given unto every man a portion of his Spirit to profit withal, no matter who he may be, or what clime he may live in, yet at the same time, if he does not improve upon this manifestation of the Spirit of God, and cultivate correct principles, it would be impossible for him to comprehend the things of God.

Jesus, when upon the earth, said, “My sheep hear my voice and know me and follow me; but a stranger will they not follow, for they know not the voice of a stranger.” It may appear singular, and it does to the minds of many when they reflect upon the various dispensations of God to man, and the position that the various nations of the earth have occupied in the different ages of time. All men have knowledge, more or less, and feel a reverence for the Divine Being, which is manifested in various terms of worship. But there are few men, comparatively, who have understood correctly the relationship, that exists between God and man. Such has been the power of the adversary, and so profound has been the darkness of the human mind, and so great the disparity between God and his crea– tures here upon the earth, that the light, effulgence, glory and intelligence that exists with him and with those by whom he is surrounded, has been little understood by man upon the earth, groveling in the midst of darkness, weakness and imperfections. Combating continually with evil and with the powers of the adversary it seems almost impossible for man to foster and maintain these high aspirations and feelings which the gospel alone can inspire, placing man in his true position before God, and causing his anticipations and hopes to ascend to those high, magnificent and glorious principles that exist in the bosom of God, and in the bosom of those intelligences with whom he is surrounded. Nothing but light and revelation, nothing save the manifestations of the Spirit of God, nothing but communication from him can bring man into relationship with him. It is impossible. And hence the theories, wild notions, erratic views and peculiar feelings that prevail among men, yes, among the wisest of men—among statesmen, and kings, and emperors, and potentates, and governors, and rulers, as well as among divines, priests and people; and how different the sentiment! How widely apart are the religious beliefs, forms of worship and ordinances of all of them! What peculiar darkness is manifested in relation to these things, in comparison to many other things with which we are acquainted!

When we talk about practical matters of fact, the laws of nature and of matter, the motions of this and other planets; or when we reflect upon the various organizations of matter, and of man, and of the brute creation, we see and comprehend in part concerning the laws by which they are governed. And although we may speak in different languages, yet at the same time we arrive, in a great measure, at the same conclusions in regard to most of these prominent facts; we agree in regard to these matters. But when we come to Jesus and God, we are altogether dissimilar. What is the matter? We do not comprehend the law, we have not been taught by the same rules, the principles of instruction are not within our reach, we wander in the dark and act foolishly and ignorantly in relation to these matters. But if we were taught in these schools as we are taught in the schools of science, and art, and literature, we could comprehend things alike; and not until we have a teacher, not until we have those who are competent to teach, who understand the laws of life and the principles of salvation, can we, no matter what our intelligence otherwise may be. Until then we shall have to grope in the dark, live in the dark, and when we leave this world we must, according to the saying of an eminent philosopher, “take a leap in the dark.” We comprehend nothing of our origin, of the object of our existence, or of our destiny; neither can we comprehend it unless God reveals it.

He has, as before stated, in different ages of time manifested his will to certain individuals, and he has sent them forth to make known his will to the human family. And they declare certain principles, simple in themselves, yet emanating from God, which are calculated to enlighten, to impart intelligence; to bring him into relationship with the Almighty, to give him a knowledge of God, of the Savior, of his own being and the object of God in creating the earth and man upon it, and also of the destiny of the earth, the world in which we live, and all its inhabitants.

These things, however, are almost too simple for the human mind, mystified and befogged by false theo– ries and notions; they are almost too simple for them to bow unto. What is it? Jesus said to his disciples in former times, “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” He gave unto them power to lay their hands upon believers and impart to them the Holy Ghost, which placed them in communion with God, and whose faith, as we are told, “entered within the veil, whither Christ their forerunner had gone.” And still the words that these men preached, as Jesus himself expresses it in referring to the same thing, were not his own, but the Father that dwelt in him; he did the works. And we are told that when those ancient men of God preached, their words went with power and with much assurance, and the Spirit of God and with the Holy Ghost, to the convincing of those who desired to know the truth and be governed thereby. What was the result? This confusion heretofore existing among them departed; they were no longer split up into sects and parties, but, they had “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God, the Father; of whom are all things;” precisely the same as we have in all the works of nature, in all organized matter. There are certain eternal, unalterable, unchangeable laws by which it is governed; and no chemist or philosopher can change these laws; they are eternal, inexorable, and always produce the same results.

We think these things correct upon natural principles; why not in regard to these higher principles which God has revealed to the human family? We read of men in former times who said they gazed upon the Lord; they saw him, and his train filled the Temple. But says one, “I do not believe it.” Who cares whether you do or not? That does not invalidate the fact. Your ignorance in regard to these matters does not affect in the least, the great truths of God. And unless you yourselves have had some revelation to show you that this statement is incorrect, it is foolishness in any man to dispute these principles thus communicated. We understand these things, having obeyed the law. What do you understand? What does man know? Nothing, only some few principles pertaining to the laws of nature. Who organized these laws? That very being whom we affect to despise. Who organized the universe? Who makes this planet and other planets revolve in their several orbits, and by what influence and power are they governed? By a power far greater than we know anything about. What can we do? Where is there a philosopher that can organize a blade of grass, or a grain of sand producing the material to make it from? You cannot find them. The great Creator, who governs and regulates these and other systems, has given a law to man telling him how to approach him, and showing him the means whereby he can obtain intelligence from him; and he is able to carry out that law, for he comprehends it. And what is it? Why, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost.” And what shall that do for you? It shall take of the things of God and show them unto you. But you would learn it in some other way, would you? You cannot do it. That is the way God has appointed, and man may exert all his influences and bring into requisition all his talents and powers, but he never can obtain it only in the way which God has appointed. I have a watch. The man who made it tells me if I would keep it going, I must wind it up every day. But suppose I should want it to go in some other way, would it go? No. Should I blame the maker then? Certainly not; in fact, you might consider me a fool for not carrying out the maker’s instructions. And when God points out a path whereby we can obtain a knowledge of him and of his laws, that is the way to receive it, if we receive it at all.

The laws of matter and of mechanism are unchangeable, and so are the laws pertaining to life, and also the medium of communication between God and man. And hence Paul, after speaking some time to a congregation that he was addressing, said the words that we speak unto you, we speak by the power of God and by the Holy Ghost, and with much assurance. And then in speaking of these things, he says, Ye are my witnesses. Who? Those who received his word and obeyed it. You are my witnesses, as also is the Holy Ghost that bears witness of us. He had the living witness within him; and they among themselves had this evidence. And John, in speaking to some of his disciples said, “But ye have an unction from the holy one, and ye know all things.” “Ye need not that any man teach you; but the same anointing teacheth you all things, and is truth, and is no lie.” And in speaking to the people, Paul said, “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered.”

This, Latter-day Saints, is your privilege. You have embraced the same Gospel; you have been baptized into the same baptism, have partaken of the same hope, and are in possession of the same spirit. Do not allow your feelings to be overturned; do not give way to the follies and delusions of men, nor to the powers of darkness, but maintain your integrity before God in all fidelity; and live your religion, keeping the commandments of God, and your faith will be as the faith of the just, that shines brighter and brighter until the perfect day.

God bless you and lead you in the path of life, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by President John Taylor, delivered at the Conference, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, April 8th, 1878.

I shall feel very much obliged, while I attempt to address you; if you will keep as quiet as possible; because it is quite a labor to speak to so large a congregation, and unless quiet and order is preserved, it is impossible for all the people to hear.

I have been very much interested and edified in listening to the remarks made by the brethren since we have assembled together in this Confer– ence. And I have been very much pleased in witnessing the union and general feeling of interest manifested among the people to attend these meetings. It is evidence to me that the people feel interested in these great and eternal principles developed through our holy religion, and that they have a desire to yield obedience to the law of God and to keep his commandments. And in that alone is our safety, our happiness, our posterity, and our exaltation, as a people; for we derive every blessing we enjoy, whether of a temporal or of a spiritual nature from our heavenly Father; and without him we can do or perform no good work, for in him “we live and move and have our being,” and from him, and through him we receive all blessings pertaining to this life, and we shall hereafter, if we possess eternal lives, inherit them and obtain them through the goodness, mercy and long-suffering of God our Eternal Father, through the merits and redemption of Jesus Christ our Savior.

It is not in man to direct, to manage and control affairs of the Kingdom of God. No man ever did possess that power, nor will he, unaided by the power of the Almighty. All nations and all peoples are more or less under his direction and control, although many of them do not know it. He raises up one nation, and puts down another, he debases the proud and exalts the humble at his pleasure, and he pursues that course among all the peoples and nations of the earth, as seemeth best unto him; and all nations and all peoples are his offspring and he is the God and Father of the spirits of all flesh, and feels an interest in the welfare of all the human family. He has been in the ages that are past, and he is in the present age doing all that he can to promote the happiness and well-being of the human family. This does not always appear to men of superficial minds, the dealings of God with man are not always comprehended. But he nevertheless does control the destinies of all peoples; and if in many instances it does not seem for their present benefit, yet as mankind are eternal beings, having to do with eternity as well as time, when the secrets of all hearts shall be developed and the actions of gods shall be made known and fully com– prehended in the future destinies of the races of men, it will be found that the Judge of all the earth has done right.

The Lord has in these last days, for his own special purpose, and also in the interest of humanity, revealed himself from the heavens, made manifest his will to man, sent his holy angels to communicate and reveal unto us his children certain principles as they exist in the bosom of God, and he has pointed out the way whereby we may secure our happiness and an eternal exaltation in the celestial Kingdom of God. He has been pleased to restore again the everlasting Gospel in all its fullness, with all its riches, and blessings, and power, and glory. He has organized his Church and Kingdom upon the earth; he has chosen men as he did in former times to be the bearers of his message of life and salvation to the nations of the earth. He has, through these instruments, instructed us, and gathered us together, as we are found here today, from the different nations where the Gospel reached us. He has brought us here according to certain eternal principles which he had in his mind before the world was, and according to certain councils that existed in the heavens among the gods, who have been operating upon and with the human family from the commencement to the present, and will until the winding up scene.

The work that we are engaged in is not the work of man, it did not originate with man, it was not found out by him. It is the work that has been prophesied of by all the holy prophets that have lived on this continent, on the continent of Asia, and in the various portions of the earth. As the Apostle Paul describes it, it is “the dispensation of the fulness of times spoken of by all the holy prophets since the world was.” And anything that we may have received—any light, any intelligence, any knowledge of the things of God, have emanated and proceeded from him. He saw and comprehended the fitting time for this work to commence; he prepared the way by once more opening the heavens, by revealing himself and his Son Jesus, and by afterwards sending holy angels to communicate his will and his purposes and designs to the human family. It therefore did not originate with us, nor with any sect or party or people, for nobody, not even Joseph Smith, or Brigham Young, or any of the Twelve Apostles knew anything about the great principles that were stored up in the mind of God. It was the mind and will and revelations of God, made known to the human family, in the first place to Joseph Smith, and through him to others. And when the Elders of this Church went forth to the nations of the earth, as bearers of the gospel message, if they had gone upon their own responsibility they could have accomplished nothing. But having been chosen and set apart of the Lord, they went forth as his messengers, without purse or scrip, trusting in Him. And he opened up their way and prepared their path, as he said beforehand that he would. “Behold,” said he, “I send you forth to the nations of the earth, and my Spirit shall go with you, and my angels shall prepare the way for you.” I send you forth not to be taught, but to teach, not to be instructed by the world of mankind or the intelligence of the world, but by the wisdom and intelligence and power and spirit which I shall give you, and it is through and by this influence that we have been gathered together. And why are we gathered? These Elders could not have gathered you unless God had been with them; they could not have influenced you to come here unless the Spirit and power of their mission had been with them. But the Lord said in former years through his prophets, “I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion. And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.” And through the operation and influence of the Spirit of the living God, manifested through the priesthood, God’s ministers on the earth, you have been brought together as you are today. But why should we be thus gathered together? That there may be a body of people found to whom God can communicate his will, that there might be a people who should be prepared to listen to the word and will and voice of God: that there might be a people gathered together from the different nations who, under the influence of that spirit, should become saviors upon Mount Zion; that they might, under the inspiration of the Almighty, and through the power of the Holy Priesthood which they should receive, go forth to those nations and proclaim to the people the principles of life, that they might indeed become the saviors of men. And if we could fully comprehend our position, we should see things very differently from what we now do. If we could comprehend our relationship to God, to each other, to his church upon the earth, and also the greatness and magnitude of the work in which we are engaged, and the responsibilities that devolve upon us as Elders in Israel, as Saints of the Most High God, we should see things in a very different light from what we now do. We are not here, as they say in the Church of England, to “follow the devices and desires of our own hearts;” we are not here to pursue our own individual interests and emoluments, we are not here merely to attend to our own secular affairs, but to learn the laws of life, and then teach the people the way of salvation. There was an old saying among ancient Israel: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt worship the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and him only shalt thou worship.” And Jesus, in after time, added a little more to this: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” God is one, and they who dwell with him are one. Those who will inherit the celestial kingdom will be one when they get there; and we, as a people, ought to be one—one in faith, one in principle, one in practice, one in our interests, one in our associations, with each other and in our families, one with God, one with the holy angels, one in time, and one in eternity.

To bring about a union of this kind, the principle of baptism has been introduced that we all might be baptized into one baptism, by the laying on of hands, and through the various orders of his Priesthood, we all partake of the same spirit; and being brought into union and communion with God, that we all might feel after God, that the tens of thousands, and hundreds of thousands might be brought into connection with the Almighty, whose prayers could ascend into the ears of the Lord of Sabbaoth. And for the accomplishment of this purpose, he selected Joseph Smith to be the first Apostle in his Church: he was called “not by the will of man,” nor by the power of man, nor by the intelligence of man, but by God who revealed himself unto this young man, as also the Savior, committing unto him a mission to perform to the inhabitants of this earth. He was endowed with power and authority which was given him for that purpose, that he might be the legitimate representative of God upon the earth. He also taught him how to organize his Church, and put him in communication with many of the ancient Prophets who have long since passed away, who also communicated with him, and revealed unto him further the plan and design of the Almighty in relation to this earth, and the salvation of all who would listen to the principles of truth.

The nations of the earth have their representatives, their ministers, their plenipotentiaries, empowered and sent forth by the recognized authority of the several nations. He was the representative of God, his credentials came from God, and his mission extended not to one nation only, but to all nations; and he was authorized to establish and organize what was termed the Church and Kingdom of God upon the earth. And every step that he took, every principle that he inculcated, and every doctrine that he taught, came from God by the revelations of God to him, and through him to the people. He selected others by revelation—Apostles, High Priests, Seventies, Bishops, Elders, Priests, Teachers and Deacons, also High Councils, and Bishops’ Councils, and Patriarchs, and all the various authorities and organizations of this Church. Joseph Smith neither knew how to select men, whom to select, nor what their offices should be until it was communicated by the Lord. And yet we find that these principles revealed to him, agree with those that existed in former ages whenever God had a Church or people on the earth. And hence the ushering in of the Gospel simply means the revelation of the will of God to man; it simply means the placing of mankind in communication with the Lord that he may not be governed by his own follies or notions or theories, but by the will and word of God. And the examples that you heard referred to here, of our Stakes, with their Presidencies, together with the Bishops and their Council, etc., is a part of the system of heaven, as it exists in the eternal worlds; and the Priesthood that we hold is the everlasting Priesthood, and it administers in time, and it will administer in eternity; and a knowledge of the works that we are now engaged in, in regard to the building of Temples and administering therein, all came from God, and are a part of the eternal system. Who knew about them until God revealed it? Nobody. Who knows how to administer acceptably in these Temple without revelation? Nobody but those to whom it has been communicated, it came from God. And our preaching to the living, and our administering for the dead are all of them parts and parcels of the same concern. The fact is, we are in a state of probation; we have enlisted under the banner of the Almighty; we have dedicated ourselves to him for time and for eternity, and he expects it at our hands that we be true to the trust conferred upon us, that we be faithful to our obligations and fulfil them, that we honor our God, that we magnify our callings and Priesthood, and that we stand forth among the people and before the nations, as the representatives of God upon the earth. We have a similar view to that of the Apostle Paul, who said when addressing himself to the Corinthians: “Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” We have enlisted in a work, have engaged in a warfare that will last while time shall be, and if we live our religion, and keep his commandments, the principles that we are in possession of will bear us off triumphant over death, hell and the grave, and land us among the just, among the celestial host that dwell with our Father in heaven. We really have no time to attend to those trivial affairs, that some people seem to think ought to occupy so much of our time. I wish now, while we are together to talk upon some general principles associated with the Priesthood which has been conferred upon us.

It was said of ancient Israel, if they had kept the commandments, that he would have made out of them a kingdom of Priests. We are literally a kingdom of Priests today. Our business is not to follow our own will, our own desires and plans, but to seek to know and to do the will of God, to carry out these principles which he has revealed, and in this is our happiness and exaltation in time, and will be throughout the eternities that are to come.

We ought to be operating with God, and with the holy angels; we ought to be feeling after them, we ought to be operating with the ancient Priesthood that have lived before—the Patriarchs, the Prophets, the Apostles, and all those men of God who have lived and died in the faith who act with God our heavenly Father, and with Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant. We ought to be operating with them in establishing righteousness throughout the earth, not nominally, but really; we ought to be laboring in conjunction with them in saving the living, not to make it a hardship and a trouble and a toil; something that we can hardly endure to go through; but on the contrary, feeling it an honor to be associated with the interests of God and bearers of the message of life and salvation, and also seeking for wisdom, and intelligence, and power, and revelation from God to carry out his will and designs, and to accomplish his purposes upon the earth.

Will his purposes be accomplished? They will. Will the Gospel grow, spread and increase? I tell you, in the name of Israel’s God, it will. Will the time come when every fictitious thing will be removed, when light and truth shall prevail, and when the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God and his Christ? I tell you it will, and God will hasten it in his time. And this priesthood and this people are to be the instruments, in the hands of God, in connection with the priesthood who have gone before, who are now operating in their sphere, as we are in our’s. The Lord hath so ordained, says the Apostle, “that they (referring to the dead), without us should not be made perfect;” neither can we without them be made perfect. There needs to be a welding and uniting together, that in all of our doings as God’s servants and representatives, we may be influenced and directed from above, being united with the Gods in heaven we may become one in all things upon the earth, and afterwards one in the heavens. And says the Lord, “If ye are not one, ye are not mine.” Everything that tends to divide the people, as you heard this morning, proceeds from beneath, and those that are engaged in it are the emissaries of the devil; for as he is the father of lies, so he is the father of division, strife and discord. But union, peace, love, harmony, fellowship, brotherhood and everything honorable, noble and exalting, proceeds from God; these are the principles that we ought to seek after and to disseminate as far as we can everywhere and among all peoples. And then when we have done that work, turn our attention to the building of temples and minister in them for the dead, that we may operate with the fathers in the interest of their posterity, helping them to perform that for their posterity which they were not able to do.

And in regard to the world, what ought our feelings to be towards them? A feeling of generosity, a feeling of kindness, a feeling of sympathy, with our hearts full of charity, long-suffering and benevolence, as God our Father has, for he makes his sun to rise on the evil as well as the good; he sends his rain on the unjust as well as the just. And while we abjure the evils, the corruptions, the fraud and iniquity, the lasciviousness and the lyings and abominations that exist in the world, whenever we see an honorable principle, a desire to do right, whenever we see an opening to promote the happiness of any of these people, or to reclaim the wanderer, it is our duty to do it, as saviors on Mount Zion.

Will they have trouble? Yes. Will there be tribulation? Yes. Will nation be arrayed against nation? Yes. Will thrones be cast down and empires destroyed? Yes. Will there be war, and carnage, and bloodshed? Yes. But these things are with the people and with God. It is not for us; we have a mission to perform, and that is to preach the Gospel and introduce correct principles, to unfold the laws of God as men are prepared to receive them, to build up his Zion upon the earth, and to prepare a people for the time when the bursting heavens will reveal the Son of God, “and when every creature on the earth and under the earth will be heard to say, blessing and glory, and honor, and power, and might, and majesty, and dominion be ascribed to him that sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever.”

Will this people grow and increase? Yes. And the time will come—it is not now, we are not prepared for it—when calamity and trouble and bloodshed, confusion and strife will spread among all the nations of the earth. The time will come, and is not far distant, when those who will not take up the sword to fight against their neighbors, will have to flee to Zion for safety. That was true some time ago, and it is nearer its fulfillment by a great many years than at the time it was first uttered.

What are we here for? To build up or aggrandize ourselves? No, but to build up the Church and kingdom of God upon the earth, and to spread the light of truth among the nations. That is our duty, and also to pray for the revelations of God, that the Spirit and power of God may rest upon us, that we may comprehend correct principles and understand the laws of life, to guide and guard and protect the ship Zion from among the rocks and shoals and troubles that will sooner or later overcome this nation, and other nations, and prepare ourselves for the events that are to come. We ought to be men of honor, of honesty, of integrity, having our eyes single to the glory of God. That is the duty of these Apostles, and not to act with a view for their own aggrandizement, and for the obtainment of filthy lucre, or anything else pertaining to this world. We brought nothing into this world, we can take nothing out. It is for us to operate for God and in the interests of his Church and kingdom.

And what of these other brethren, the High Priests? They have a mission to perform, and that is to make themselves acquainted with the laws, doctrines, ordinances and gov– ernment of the Church of God upon the earth, that they may be prepared, when called upon, to fulfil the duties and responsibilities devolving upon them. I will here read part of a revelation which indicates the nature of these duties. “And again I give unto you, Don C. Smith, to be a President over a Quorum of High Priests, which ordinance is instituted for the purpose of qualifying those who shall be appointed standing Presidents over the different stakes scattered abroad.” Hear it, O ye High Priests! This is the prominent duty devolving upon you. The position you occupy is a sort of a normal school, if you please, to prepare those who are in it and are taught in it, that when they shall be called to hold official places in the various stakes of Zion, they may be prepared to magnify them. How was it when we were engaged organizing these stakes, were these brethren prepared? No, many of them were not by any means. One was engaged on his farm, another was tied up in his merchandising, another had bought five yoke of oxen and had to prove them, and another had married a wife and he could not come. And we, therefore, had to go outside of the High Priests, whose legitimate business it was to occupy these positions, and call other men and ordain them High Priests, and set them apart to preside in these stakes, as Presidents and Bishops and Councilors, having to take them from among the Seventies’ and Elder’s Quorums, because the High Priests were not prepared to magnify their legitimate calling; whereas, if they had been doing their duty, living their religion, and meeting together in prayer, and examining the doctrine of Christ, instead of being engaged almost exclusively in many of these other matters, they would have been prepared to step forward and magnify their calling. There are many other stakes to be organized. Prepare yourselves, you High Priests, for the duties and responsibilities that may devolve upon you, that the Church of God may be strengthened in all its parts, and every man in his place, all prepared to magnify their calling.

Then, again, there are Seventies; I think there are some seventy-six quorums of seventies. Does their duty consist merely in making their own plans and calculations, such as to go on a farm and live there all their lifetime, attending to their own individual affairs, or pursue any other avocation without considering the obligations they are under by virtue of their Priesthood, and calling? I tell you nay. We have something else to do. I read in the revelation touching this matter, when the seventies were ordained, “they were to ordain more seventies until there should be seven times seventy, if the labor in the vineyard required it.” They were to do this “if the labor in the vineyard required it.” In whose vineyard? Their orchards and farms? I do not read it so. Does this refer to their merchandising? It does not so read. In looking after their own affairs or emoluments? That is not what I read; but for the labor of the vineyard. Whose vineyard, then? The vineyard of the Lord. But it seems that a great many of the Seventies have no more idea of going into the vineyard of the Lord, than if they held no such Priesthood or calling; they do not seem to comprehend their duties, nor their responsibilities. Hear it, O ye Seventies! You are called and set apart by the Priesthood, to act under the direction of the Twelve, to go forth as His messengers to the nations of the earth. Do you believe it? This is your calling. Prepare yourselves for it. I do not want Elders coming to me, as some have been doing, after having been called upon missions saying, I pray thee have me excused. And I call upon the first President of the Seventies to instruct the various Presidents of Seventies, and they in turn the members of their several quorums, in regard to their duties; and to live themselves so that the spirit of the living God may rest down upon them, that they may indeed be qualified to teach their brethren what their duties are, that they may prepare themselves to magnify them. Instead, therefore, of everyone seeking his own individual gain from his own quarter, let every man feel that he is a servant of the living God, a messenger to the nations of the earth, and that when the Lord calls upon him, through the proper authority, to do a certain work, he must obey, and that readily and willingly! These are the duties and responsibilities that devolve upon you, my brethren of the Seventies.

And it is the duty of the Elders also to magnify their callings; to feel after God and to seek instruction from Him, and to magnify their calling and Priesthood at home or abroad, being governed by the Holy Priesthood, in regard to their duties, that they may be acceptable to the Lord, and magnify their callings with all diligence and fidelity, and then it is the duty of the Presidents of Stakes to look after the interest and welfare of their own people under their Presidency, not in a formal manner, but as interested in their welfare, having a lively desire to benefit and build them up, both spiritually and temporally, and perfect them in righteousness, purging out when necessary the ungodly, lifting up and exalting the poor, and blessing and benefiting everybody according to the principles of righteousness and truth, guarding their virtue and their honor, and see that men are honorable, that they regard their word of more value than their bond, that all people may rely on them; men who, in the language of the Prophet, will swerve to their own hurt and change not, and who will do that which is right and equitable before God. It is their duty, and the duty of the Bishops and also that of the High Priests and Seventies and Elders operating with them to look after the poor and see that they are provided for. Do not let us have anybody crying for bread, or suffering for the want of employment. Let us furnish employment for all, divide up our farms and plan and devise liberally that all who need work, and want to be employed, may find labor. And I now call upon the Presidents of Stakes throughout Zion to give this matter their serious and earnest attention. We have land in abundance, water in abundance, and means in abundance; let us utilize them for the common weal. Talk about financiering! Financier for the poor, for the working man, who requires labor and is willing to do it, and act in the interest of the community, for the welfare of Zion, and in the building up of the kingdom of God upon the earth. This is your calling; it is not to build up yourselves, but to build up the Church and kingdom of God; and see that there is no cause for complaining in all your villages and cities and neighborhoods. Let us take hold together for the accomplishment of this object, and pray God to give us wisdom to carry it out, and he will pour upon us blessings that there will not be room enough to contain.

Again, we have what is called a Perpetual Emigration Fund. I wish to draw the attention, not only of the Presidents of Stakes but of the Bishops of the various wards, and of the whole people, to the responsibilities that devolve upon us in relation to this matter. We seem to be dwindling down in some of these matters, and I am sorry to say that there is a great lack of that integrity and interest that we would like to see manifested among our brethren. There are those here who have assisted with their means to the amount of upwards of a million dollars, which is unpaid by those who received the benefit of it. It was the calculation that this means should be used to bring those of our brethren to this land, who needed and were worthy of this assistance, and when you who were thus assisted were in distant lands praying and wishing to be gathered to Zion, this help came to you and you were brought here; and instead of paying this your honest debt, you go to work and build up yourselves, without meeting your obligations, what is the result? Those of your brethren who still remain, who are just as worthy as you to be gathered to Zion, are left to cry for assistance. I am daily in receipt of letters from different parts of the earth, asking to be thus assisted pleading: “we want to gather with the Saints, can’t you help us?” Yes, we can if you who owe the Fund will pay your honest debts, we can then meet all these requirements. And I call upon the Presidents of Stakes and upon the Bishops to look after these things, and see that these obligations are met, that the poor from abroad may not cry in vain; but that we may help them, and then they return the amount advanced to them to assist others, and thus keep the work rolling in the same direction. And if this duty is not performed, how can we expect the blessing of God to rest upon us?

We are engaged quite extensively in the erection of Temples. We are building one here, and also one in Cache Valley, and another in Sanpete, and if we had time, and it was considered advisable, we could read the report read setting forth the receipts and disbursements of these places; and I presume we shall, before the Conference adjourns. Suffice it to say, with all our backwardness in some other things, there are a great many of the Latter-day Saints who are doing all they can in every laudable enterprise. I presume at the present time there is not less than 500 men engaged in rearing the walls of these Temples. And men are taking hold of it with energy, doing all they can in many instances, but not in all by a great deal.

Then in regard to our Tithing operations, Bishop Hunter informs me that many of the people are very negligent in regard to this matter. Now, I would say in behalf of the people, that perhaps there may be a partial excuse for some of these things. We have had a very stringent time for a number of years past, a financial crisis has prevailed in the eastern States for some years now, and almost every paper reports the failure of mercantile and business institutions—of the failure of one firm after another; and we have been subject, more or less, to these depressions. The fact also must be considered that great exertions have been made in the building of the St. George Temple, and also the three Temples now under way, which have already exhausted considerable means furnished chiefly by the people residing in those Temple districts. I must give the people credit for their zeal and energy in this direction, which we must all acknowledge is very commendable and praiseworthy. And, perhaps, in the performance of this labor many have done the best they could, and possibly circumstances have so overruled that they find themselves hardly able to meet their Tithing, for as a rule it is those who take delight in observing the law of Tithing that subscribe to these other calls. We do not wish to crowd or press upon the people; but rather let us take things easily and deliberately, seeking always to break off the yoke of him that is bound, letting the oppressor go free. And let our sympathies be extended towards the widow and the orphan; and while we are building Temples, paying our Tithes and offerings, and doing the best we can before God and man, we will let that go for the present, and when we get into more favorable circumstances we will do better. At any rate, we will keep doing with a long pull and a strong pull, and a pull altogether, as one in the interests of all Israel. But we must not forget our duties to the Lord.

I would say in this connection that there are three of the Twelve appointed to superintend the erection of these edifices in these outside districts, and then there are those residing here attending to home affairs. And we are seeking to act in concert and do the very best we can. Some people have an idea that these Temples ought to be built from the proceeds of the Tithing; I do not object to it in the least, providing you will only pay your Tithing. But we cannot build Temples with something that exists only in name. You deal honestly with the Lord, handing over in due season that which belongs to his storehouse, and then we will show you whether we cannot build Temples, as well as do everything else that may be required with it. In the mean time, we have got to do the best we can in these matters; and as we are personally interested in these things, as well as our brethren, the departed deed who have gone before us, and who depend upon this being done, we feel a strong desire to carry out these projects; and this feeling, I am happy to say, exists throughout all Israel.

We want also to be alive in the cause of education. We are commanded of the Lord to obtain knowledge, both by study and by faith, seeking it out of the best books. And it becomes us to teach our children, and afford them instruction in every branch of education calculated to promote their welfare, leaving those false acquirements which tend to infidelity, and to lead away the mind and affection from the things of God. We want to compile the intelligence and literacy of this people in book form, as well as in teaching and preaching; adopting all the good and useful books we can obtain; and what we need and cannot obtain make them. And instead of doing as many of the world do, take the works of God, to try to prove that there in no God; we want to prove by God’s works that he does exist, that he lives and rules and holds us, as it were, in the hollow of his hand. For it is very unfair for man to take the works of God to try to prove that there is no God. But then it is only the fool that has said in his heart, there is no God. I would like to talk upon this subject if time would permit.

I am pleased to see the exertions made by the young men’s and young women’s mutual improvement associations, to benefit and bless the rising generation of our people. And I am also pleased to witness the degree of intelligence and studiousness manifested by our young people; it is creditable and praiseworthy. We want to lead them on and encourage them in the study of correct principles, so that when the responsibility of bearing off the Church and Kingdom of God shall pass from us to them, they may be prepared for it, and carry on the work to a glorious and triumphant consummation. And that we may stand in regard to education and literacy, the sciences, the arts and intelligence of every kind, as high above the nations of the earth, as we do today in regard to religious matters.

And before closing I would refer briefly to the ladies’ relief society. We are told that, “the man is not without the woman, nor the woman without the man in the Lord.” She is spoken of as a helpmeet to her husband. I remember the organization of the first Relief Society in Nauvoo, by the Prophet Joseph Smith; today we find them spreading all over the land, and the benefits of their labors are widely realized. Our sisters are doing a noble and commendable work in writing and publishing, in visiting the sick and needy, and ministering to their wants, and showing kindness and benevolence towards the suffering and distressed, and also advocating principles that are honorable and praiseworthy before God and man, calculated to elevate and bless their sex. And I say to the sisters, God bless you in your labors of love, and in your enterprise, continue to press forward in your good work, and the Lord will bless you and your posterity after you; for you are mothers in Israel who are raising up kings and priests unto the Most High God. See that your children are taught aright, and that they grow up in virtue and purity before the Lord. Teach them good principles, never mind so much about the fashions; but let economy, industry, charity, kindness and virtue be early impressed upon their minds, and try to love your sons and daughters, and to lead them in the paths of life.

I should like to speak of our Sunday Schools and other institutions, but time will not permit. I have talked long enough. God bless you, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by President John Taylor, delivered in the Fourteenth Ward Assembly Rooms, Sunday Afternoon, Nov. 14, 1877.

There is something novel as well as interesting in the contemplation of the subject that has been referred to by brother Folsom. The ideas entertained by the Latter-day Saints are different from those believed in by any other people upon the face of the earth; and there is a feeling and spirit resting upon the Saints that is not known nor experienced among any other people. The way we have been led is very peculiar and differs entirely from anything else that exists anywhere in the world. Our gathering together, the kind of Gospel that is preached, the disposition and feeling to build Temples, a strong impression that seems to rest upon all the people, is something in itself very remarkable.

Now in relation to our gathering, who is there anywhere else in the world that feel as the Latter-day Saints do? You do not find it anywhere, and nothing but the Spirit of God operating upon the minds of the people could have induced them to gather together as they have done. This spirit was imparted, as the Holy Ghost is, by the laying on of hands, through the medium of the Priesthood. And this peculiarity seemed all the more striking at first, for as soon as the principle of the gathering was first preached, the people needed no convincing argument, for the Spirit of the Lord had revealed it to them, and they knew it was true. And it mattered not where people heard it, or in what language it was preached, they immediately had a strong, fervent desire to gather to Zion, to assemble with the Saints and worship with them. And however foolish many of us have acted since that time, yet these were the feelings that welled up in our bosoms; and they came because of certain principles having been developed through Joseph Smith. You that are acquainted with the history of Joseph Smith well know that in the Temple in Kirtland, among other visions, manifestations and administrations he received was one in which the Prophet Moses appeared to him, who committed to him the keys of the gathering dispensation. It was he who led the exodus of Israel in former times, and like all other men who have held the holy Priesthood and have been faithful in the discharge of their duties, he not only administered in time but continues to minister in eternity. And hold– ing the keys of this Priesthood, he was the proper person to confer them upon the Prophet Joseph; and on doing so, he told Joseph, that he had bestowed upon him “the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth and the leading of the Ten Tribes from the land of the north.” And this was in fulfillment of a significant scripture which says, “That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth; even in him.”

Hence, after men had been baptized for remission of sins, and had hands laid upon their heads for the reception of the Holy Ghost by those holding this Priesthood and authority, of which this was one of the principles, they began immediately to have the feeling to gather to Zion. This has been spoken of by ancient men of God as one of the events of the latter days. One of the Prophets referring to it says, “I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion. And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.” It was through this principle and this ordination, with the spirit attending it, first conferred upon Joseph Smith, and afterwards upon the believers of the Gospel by obedience thereunto, through the administration of baptism and of the laying on of hands by the Elders, that brought the people together as they are today. Wherever this Gospel has been preached, believed and obeyed, this desire to leave the lands of their nativity, to gather with the Saints, has been strongly manifested; and so strong has it been, that I have had men offer to bind themselves to my service for quite a length of time, or willing to do anything required of them, provided they could be assisted to the gathering place of the Saints. And it was to meet this universal want that the Perpetual Emigrating Fund was gotten up, which has been the means of bringing out to this country thousands of people, the majority of whom, perhaps, by their own exertions, never could have accumulated the necessary amount of means to have brought themselves here; and as each one was required, after being assisted, to refund the amount received for this purpose, others could realize its benefits in like manner, and thus the fund became perpetual.

Temple building is another characteristic associated with this Gospel that is in itself peculiar. We are here, as Jesus was, not to do our own will, but the will of Him who sent us; and, as he was, so we are expected to do and perform such things as may be required of us by the Almighty. This is really the position we occupy as Latter-day Saints, if we could fully comprehend the situation. There are certain powers and privileges, rights, immunities and blessings connected with this Gospel that do not exist anywhere else, and this is one of them. We are told that the Gospel brings life and immortality to light, and without it there is no correct knowledge of life and immortality. We did not understand either our own position, nor the position of the world; we could not comprehend anything of God, or the laws of God, or the laws of life, until we became acquainted with the Gospel. Every good and every perfect gift proceeds from God, in whom there is no variableness or shadow of turning. And the world generally are ignorant of God. Why? Because we are told that no man knows the things of God but by the Spirit of God. And if they cannot obtain a knowledge of God only by the Spirit of God, unless they receive that Spirit they must remain ignorant of these principles. And it matters not what the learning, what the intelligence, what the research, the philosophy, or religion of man may be, the things of God cannot be comprehended, except through and by the Spirit and revelations of God. And this can only be obtained through obedience to the principles which God has and shall ordain, sanction and acknowledge. And hence, in these last times, he first communicated a knowledge of himself to Joseph Smith, long ago, when he was quite young. Who in that day knew anything about God? Who had had any revelations from Him, or who knew anything in relation to the principles of life and salvation? If there were any persons I never heard of them, nor read of them, nor never met them. But when the Lord manifested himself to Joseph Smith, presenting to him his Son who was there also, saying, “This is my beloved Son, hear ye him;” he then knew that God lived; and he was not dependent upon anybody else for that knowledge. He saw him and heard his voice, and he knew for himself that there was a God, and of this he testified, sealing his testimony with his blood. The evidence of the existence of God that he received, none but God could impart. Well, what was the result? He told him how others might obtain the same knowledge of him and of his laws; and he made him acquainted with a medium through which he could obtain a knowledge of these things. And how did he do it? By communicating unto him a knowledge of the everlasting Priesthood, and send– ing that Priesthood to reveal unto him the laws and the ordinances thereof. Hence, as early as September 21st, 1823, an angel said to Joseph Smith, “Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood.” He was informed there had to be a certain ordinance attended to, viz., baptism. And as John the Baptist had held the keys of that Priesthood, in generations gone and past, he was sent to confer upon him and upon Oliver Cowdery what is known as the Aaronic Priesthood, which authorized them to baptize each other for the remission of sins. And this heavenly messenger did come and did so ordain them, on May 15th, 1829, saying—“Upon you, my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the Gospel of repentance, and of baptism for the remission of sins; and this shall never again be taken from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.” (D C., page 100.) And what next? It was necessary then that other institutions should be introduced and other principles developed; and consequently the Apostles Peter, James and John appeared, bringing, and conferring on their heads the Melchizedek Priesthood, which holds the keys of the mysteries and revelations of God, and by which they could lay their hands upon men for the reception of the Holy Ghost. And when they received this gift, it “brought things past to their remembrance, led them into all truth and showed them things to come;” it opened up communication between the heavens and the earth, whereby others, as well as Joseph Smith, could know that God lived, and obtain for themselves through the administration of the ordinances, a knowledge of their acceptance with him, and of their relationship to him, and also obtain a knowledge of heavenly as well as earthly things. So that first, Joseph Smith having received this knowledge that God lived, and others through the medium that God ordained were accorded the same privilege. Thus there was opened up a communication with the heavens; not only with Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, and those immediately associated with them, but with those also who received the Gospel; and as the Scriptures say, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” And they received that Spirit whereby they were able to comprehend the principles of truth; and as the Apostle John says, “But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but, as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.” How did they receive this anointing? By repenting of their sins, by being baptized by one having the authority of God for the remission of sins, and by having hands laid upon their heads for the reception of the Holy Ghost. They received this spirit precisely in this manner, and hence they had this knowledge for themselves; which knowledge all Latter-day Saints have who are living their religion, walking humbly and obediently before God. Hence, this is a part of what we term the Gospel; it is part of what we call the principles of life, or the laws of life, for it leads to life, it leads to God, it leads to a knowledge of the laws of God, and a knowledge of the principles of truth, and to an acquaintance with those principles which are calculated to exalt and ennoble mankind both in time and through all eternity. There is nothing new in it, and yet there is. It is called the new and everlasting Gospel. Singular, that an everlasting thing should be new. But it is a principle that has existed with God, or with the Gods, if you please, in the eternities, and it has been communicated from time to time to the children of men. And although we have a great amount of intelligence, learning and science, and everything else considered worthy among men, yet we have nothing in all of this that gives a knowledge of the laws of life. It needs a development from God to unravel these things, and make us acquainted with our true position. Hence although it is new to us, it is nevertheless an everlasting principle. We are mortal and immortal beings, we have to do with time and also with eternity. And as the things of the future are hidden from men and can only be known through the medium of the Gospel, this means was made use of by the Almighty for the introduction of the principles of truth and the placing of mankind in the position to acquire a knowledge of him and his laws. Having been put in this position, we, every one of us, men and women who are living our religion, preserving ourselves in the purity of the Gospel and acting honorably and honestly before God and man, have a right to know and understand for ourselves the principles of truth which we have embraced. I well remember a remark that Joseph Smith made to me up– wards of forty years ago. Said he, “Elder Taylor, you have been baptized, you have had hands laid upon your head for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and you have been ordained to the holy Priesthood. Now, it you will continue to follow the leadings of that spirit, it will always lead you right. Sometimes it might be contrary to your judgment; never mind that, follow its dictates; and if you be true to its whisperings it will in time become in you a principle of revelation, so that you will know all things.” That agrees precisely with some of the remarks of John in the passage I have quoted to you. “Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things, and need not that any man teach you; but the same anointing teacheth you all things.” Now, that which John taught was the everlasting Gospel, and that which Joseph Smith taught was the everlasting Gospel. That which John taught has been forgotten long ago by the people, they are not in possession of it and consequently they cannot comprehend it. And hence when Joseph Smith revealed it, he preached the new and everlasting Gospel; new to the generation that lives, and everlasting because it has existed in all ages and times when God has revealed himself to the human family.

But to return to this singular thing of Temple building, which I will refer to again. Why do we want to build these Temples? Some of us hardly know; but we do want to build it. What a most singular thing! Just consider the amount of labor that has already been performed throughout this Territory. Surely the people have some motive in view. The mechanic or the laborer does not go to work unless he gets a recompense of some kind. When men devote themselves to any kind of labor, whether mental, physical, mechanical or scientific, they have some particular object in view. So it is also in relation to these matters. I have already referred to it; but many of us can hardly realize why it is that we are engaged in these things.

I will go back again and refer to another manifestation. We find, among others that appeared to Joseph Smith was Elijah the Prophet; and what did he come for? His special mission was to “turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers.” And the same scripture informs us of his coming “before that great and terrible day of the Lord.” What is meant by this, say the world? It means that we are the offspring of God; it means, as the scriptures say, that God is the Father of the spirits of all flesh; it means that we have to do with eternity as well as time; it means that we have to do with things past, with things present and with things to come; it means that being the children of our Heavenly Father, we are or ought to be under his government, yielding obedience to him, and that we ought to operate with him in extending mercy and love and salvation to the living and the dead, according to certain laws unknown to men generally; but known unto God and now revealed again by him for the salvation of our race. It means that God is the Father of the human family and is interested in the whole of his progeny, these that now exist and those who have passed away. It means that there are certain laws in the heavens that all men have to do with that must be complied with, if not in time in eternity. It means that all men who have lived and died without a knowledge of the Gospel, shall be placed on the same plane as ourselves through the plan he has provided, giving all of his children, whether living or dead, an equal chance to avail themselves of the means of salvation; and that we are to operate in their behalf, working out certain ordinances for them which they are now incapable of doing for themselves. It means that as God feels interested in the welfare of all his family, men in the flesh who are in possession of his spirit and the light of eternity, having come to a knowledge of him and his eternal laws, should cooperate with him in the accomplishment of this object. And it means too that if he has conferred the Gospel and the power thereof and the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods, sending his messengers from the heavens for this purpose, that it is not for a phantom, it is not for a plaything to be trifled with at pleasure; but it is that we should operate with God and with the Priesthood who lived before us, in the accomplishment of the things of God on the earth. That is what it means. And hence, says he, when EliJah comes he will “turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,” etc. It is not for mankind to come and live and exist a little while to be blotted out and nothing more of them; but it is that they should be enlightened by the Spirit of God, that they should sympathize with and have regard for all the human family living and dead, feeling desirous to promote their happiness and welfare, as he himself does. How often when abroad preaching this Gospel have I heard men say, and you have heard the same sentiment expressed, “If this is true what has become of our fathers? Are they to be lost forever?” And then you know they have certain peculiar ideas about hell and damnation, the lake of fire and brimstone into which a certain portion of the human family are to be cast to be forever burning and never to be consumed. And if our doctrine be true they think it would be cruel that this state of things should exist. Why, God is more merciful than man is, he possesses more sympathies with human nature than man does or ever did, one with another. The Lord has been feeling after the welfare of mankind all the day long, from the first commencement of the world to the present time. But there are certain eternal laws among the Gods in the eternal worlds which render it necessary that mankind shall go through certain ordeals and observe certain ordinances and be governed by certain laws before they can be exalted in the kingdom of God. And as Satan has been operating in opposition to the Lord’s designs, and having so far succeeded in drawing men after him, it became necessary that these ordinances that God has instituted should be introduced and that man should be governed by them. Hence it was necessary that a Redeemer should be provided, which was perfectly understood by one of the Prophets who said, “Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.” Who was he? When Jesus appeared, says John, “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” He was the ransom.

What about the others, they who have died without a knowledge of the Gospel? They are amply provided for. The Lord has shown us that we must build Temples in which to officiate for them. We have commenced to do so, and our fathers have already commenced to feel after us, manifesting themselves by dreams and visions, and in various ways to those most interested in their welfare. And having inaugurated this state of things for our guidance that we have today, with Presidents, Apostles, Presidents of Stakes, High Councils, High Priests, Seventies, Bishops, Elders, Priests, Teachers and Deacons and the various organizations of the Church; it is for us each one to operate in our sphere under the direction of the Almighty; and feel not only for ourselves, but for others, as Abraham did, and as Isaac and Jacob did, we should have a desire to bless our posterity after us; and God has shown us how to do it, and has bestowed his Patriarchal authority with power to bless. He has appointed this through the Priesthood and sealing ordinances. That which is joined together no man can put asunder, and what is bound on earth is bound also in heaven; and also a great many other things of a similar nature in relation to ourselves. The moment a man gets enlightened by the Spirit of God and begins to comprehend himself, be begins to feel for the welfare of others. “I have a wife, what shall I do to save her? I have children, what can I do for them?” And by and by his comprehension expands, and he commences at once to reach after his father, and his grandfather, and friends and relatives who have passed away; and his feelings if they were expressed would be, What can I do for them to help them? Yes, he has revealed to us that we can render valuable aid to our dead friends and ancestors, and, as I have said, the Lord has shown us that in order for them to receive the benefit of our services, Temples must be built, and they must be dedicated to God and accepted of him; and through the medium of those sacred structures and the ordinances performed therein, there is to be a uniting and welding together of all principles and peoples, and without them this great work cannot be done.

Brother Folsom, who has just been speaking to you of his recent labors in the Manti Temple, says he never felt better in his life than when engaged there. What is the reason? He has been engaged in the service of God; and there is no happiness among men to be compared with the joy and satisfaction that the Gospel imparts; it lifts us up from the sublunary things of time and sense, and we feel that we are gods, even the sons of God, and that he is our Father; and we know that we have a hope that blooms with immortality and eternal lives, and we feel that we are in the hands of God, and that he will guide and direct us and sustain us and bear us off triumphant under all circumstances; and we feel joyous and happy in the contemplation of these things. And then it is necessary that the Lord should have introduced this Gospel, or shall I say he never could have saved the human family that have gone? Yes, I will say that; because there are certain laws in relation to these things which must be obeyed; the Lord himself is governed by them, and we must be governed by them. And hence when Elijah came and laid his hands upon Joseph Smith, conferring upon him that Gospel which was to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, he received it, and the spirit of it we have received; and that is why we want to build Temples. And in this regard we are associated with those in the heavens in carrying out the plan that was contemplated and designed by the gods before the world was, in relation to the formation of the earth, and in relation to peopling it, and then with regard to its redemption and the salvation of its inhabitants and everything pertaining to it, until it shall be celestialized and celestial beings inhabit it. And we are operating, or should do so, and we will when we know ourselves, operate with the holy angels and with the holy Priest– hood, that has existed before, doing our part on the earth while they are performing theirs in the heavens. Could we do anything unless God helped us? No, we could not. You might preach until the tongue cleaved to the roof of your mouth, urging the people to build Temples, but unless the spirit of Elijah rested upon them they never would do it. And sometimes people think now that it interferes with the dollars and dimes and their monetary calculations; but what of that? God is interested in these things, and he does not care much about the dollars, for the gold and the silver, and the cattle upon a thousand hills are his, the earth in its fullness belongs to him; the heavens are his throne and the earth his footstool, and he manages and directs according to the counsel of his own will. And as we send our ministers to the nations of the earth to perform certain missions designed by the Priesthood on the earth; so does God in the eternal heavens employ those of his servants around him in the accomplishment of the same grand object.

Do you think that this Gospel would have stood the opposition it has met with, and that this people could have lived under the calumny and reproach, the vituperation, hatred and persecution that has been raised against them by men, unless God had been with us? No; we should have been scattered like the chaff before the wind, long, long ago. But God has sustained us, and has said to all men and will continue to say, Thus far shalt thou go and no farther, and here shall thy power be stayed. Our strength is in God, and not in man. Many and many a time have I seen the wrath of man turned away, when it was thought its power would crush us, and that too by one principle. What was that? Jesus, when in the flesh, taught his disciples how to pray; and the Lord has also instructed us how to pray. And we have the consolation of knowing that our prayers have availed with him, for we have seen our enemies foiled, frustrated, discomfited and scattered, who sought our destruction, and their plans utterly fail, and that too when to all human appearances we were going to be submerged and overwhelmed by their fury. And so long as we continue to fear Him, observe his laws and keep his commandments, all their plans will fail from this time henceforth and forever [the congregation said, Amen], for God is on our side, and He will uphold us and never forsake us.

To return again to the subject of Temple building. I may talk about it from now until tomorrow, and then not get a quarter through, for there are so many things connected with it. But we feel now that we want to build Temples that we may administer in them. Brother Woodruff has been operating a long time in the Temple at St. George; and you have perhaps heard him testify of visits that he has had from the spirit world, the spirits of men who once lived on the earth, desiring him to officiate for them in the Temple ordinances. This feeling is planted in the hearts of the people; and the Priesthood in the heavens are watching over us; they are ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation, says the Apostle; and if we were not the recipients of their ministrations and watchful care, we should be in a poor condition. They are operating in the heavens, and we are on the earth; they without us cannot be made perfect, neither we without them; it requires the combined and united efforts of both parties, directed by God Himself to consummate the work we are engaged in.

I will here show you the difference between the operations of men and those of the Lord, in regard to the human family. Men make war one upon another, they kill and destroy and make waste. This work of killing and destruction is even now going on among the Russians and Turks. And it is only a short time since the Germans and French were doing the same thing; and it almost seems like the recollections of yesterday, when our own nation were imbruing their hands in each other’s blood, when the cries of widows and orphans, of bereaved fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters were heard throughout our land, and when want and misery, pain and sorrow were depicted on the faces of so many because of man’s inhumanity to his fellow man. What do the Scriptures say? “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” What right has any man to interfere with the life of another man?

Now I will go back to show you how the Lord operates. He destroyed a whole world at one time save a few, whom he preserved for his own special purpose. And why? He had more than one reason for doing so. This antediluvian people were not only very wicked themselves, but having the power to propagate their species, they transmitted their unrighteous natures and desires to their children, and brought them up to indulge in their own wicked practices. And the spirits that dwelt in the eternal worlds knew this, and they knew very well that to be born of such parentage would entail upon them– selves an infinite amount of trouble, misery and sin. And supposing ourselves to be of the number of unborn spirits, would it not be fair to presume that we would appeal to the Lord, crying, “Father, do you not behold the condition of this people, how corrupt and wicked they are?” Yes. “Is it then just that we who are now pure should take of such bodies and thus subject ourselves to most bitter experiences before we can be redeemed, according to the plan of salvation?” “No,” the Father would say, “it is not in keeping with my justice.” Well, what will you do in the matter; man has his free agency and cannot be coerced, and while he lives he has the power of perpetuating his species? “I will first send them my word, offering them deliverance from sin, and warning them of my justice, which shall certainly overtake them if they reject it, and I will destroy them from off the face of the earth, thus preventing their increase, and I will raise up another seed.” Well, they did reject the preaching of Noah, the servant of God, who was sent to them, and consequently the Lord caused the rains of heaven to descend incessantly for forty days and nights, which flooded the land, and there being no means of escape, save for the eight souls who were obedient to the message, all the others were drowned. But, says the caviller, is it right that a just God should sweep off so many people? Is that in accordance with mercy? Yes, it was just to those spirits that had not received their bodies, and it was just and merciful too to those people guilty of the iniquity. Why? Because by taking away their earthly existence he prevented them from entailing their sins upon their posterity and degenerating them, and also prevented them from committing further acts of wickedness. And was it just to send them to hell, to be eternally burning up in fire, never to be consumed? We do not know anything about that part of it, that is sectarianism, and is no part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Suffice it to say, they were put into prison and the doors were so securely locked that they could not be unfastened until the right time had arrived. The Prophets understood this, and spoke of it.

What next? God still felt after them; and he said, in speaking of the Savior, that he was to come. And what to do? “To bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives; and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” This was the nature of his mission to the earth. And what do the Scriptures tell us he did? “Being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit; by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah.” Were they redeemed? Yes, if Jesus preached the Gospel to them, and which he most assuredly did. If a man kill another, does he know how to redeem him afterwards? No, he does not; therefore men have no right to assume the prerogatives of God, and hence the Scriptures say that “no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.” You may get the priest or priests to pray for him and pack him off to heaven the moment he breathes his last here; but such prayers avail not; he will never get there, but will go to the place appointed unto him. Here then is the difference between the dealings of God with man, and the dealings of man one with another.

We are moved upon to build Temples. There is one now building in Logan, Cache Valley. I was up there two weeks ago, and was much gratified to find the work being pushed forward so energetically and so spiritedly. Since the early part of June, I think upwards of $30,000 has been expended by the people of that and two other Stakes in making the necessary arrangements for the building of this Temple. We find the same spirit existing among them as we found in St. George, and in Sanpete, and here, and, in fact, as we find everywhere among the Latter-day Saints; and I am much gratified to see the people thus moved and acted upon. In the Millennium, a duration of one thousand years, we shall be actively engaged administering for the dead, and assisting God to fix up accounts with the inhabitants of the earth.

Before closing I wish to add a few words in regard to matters associated with our position here, which is a very important one before angels and the people. We stand in an important position in this respect, we are the sons and daughters of God; if we obey his laws and keep his commandments, proving ourselves valiant and true to his cause, we shall be heirs, “heirs of God and joint heirs of Jesus Christ; and if we suffer with him we shall also reign with him, that all may be glorified together in the eternal worlds.” Now, then, if we can perform a work of this kind, and secure the approbation of God, and the cooperation of the holy Priesthood, then we will be doing something that will not only be acceptable to Him and to the holy angels, but to our name, and fame, our honor and happiness and glory, and to the increase of our dominion there will be no end. But if we give way to folly and to vanity, to covetousness and pride or to evil, to wickedness or corruption of any kind, the hand of God will be over us, our candlestick will be removed out of its place, the light within us will take its departure, and darkness will take its place; and oh, how great will be that darkness! How often have I seen men whom I have known in this Church, and whom I have respected as honorable, make shipwreck of their faith, lose the Spirit of God and go into darkness. When they turn aside, after having received certain light and intelligence, can you lead them back? No, you cannot. They have no desire for it, and you cannot implant that desire within them. What does Paul say? “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God.” We do not want to be in that fearful condition. Let us be careful, then, what we do and what we say, and how we act and live. Let us treat one another in a right and proper manner, not seek to oppress and defraud, or rob one another of property, or of honor, or of char– acter, or anything else; but let us all copy after the Son of God, walking in all humility and meekness, feeling rather to suffer wrong than do wrong, and ever be desirous to promote each other’s happiness and welfare. Do not let us be censorious, or oppressive, or tyrannical, or exacting; but cultivate the spirit of kindness and charity, and seek continually for the Spirit of God to lead and direct us. Every morning that we arise, dedicate ourselves to God, and ask his blessing upon us through the day, that we may be preserved from evil, folly and vanity. Let us be governed and influenced by the counsels we receive from our Bishops and presiding authorities; and let us pray for them, that they may be kept pure and holy; and fail not to supplicate the Father in behalf of the Twelve, for we are poor, weak creatures, and need the faith and prayers of the Saints, and the help and favor of the Almighty, and we ask an interest in your prayers, that we may be led in the paths of life; for none of us can do anything unless God be with us.

Brethren and sisters, God bless you, and lead you in the paths of life, that you may be prepared for an inheritance in the celestial kingdom of God, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by President John Taylor, delivered at the Quarterly Conference, Held in Ogden, Oct. 21, 1877.

[This report is from longhand notes, and though not verbatim, is as nearly so as possible.—ED.]

I am happy to meet my brethren and sisters at this Conference. Since I was last here, we have had to mourn the loss of our venerated President, Brigham Young. It has cast a gloom over the Saints throughout the Territory, and all feel sorrowful. He led Israel for a long time—the past 33 years, and in leaving us we have felt his loss. His demise was among the events necessarily associated with human affairs, for the Lord manages such things by his own will. I remember when Joseph was taken, but his death was not like that of Brigham Young, but by the hands of a ruthless mob. It was a matter of great importance to us relatively, but not great with the work in which we are all engaged. When the Lord revealed the gospel unto Joseph Smith, and unfolded His purposes and designs to the earth—when He gave us a knowledge of the laws, ordinances of the Gospel and doctrines, it was not for the object of elevating him as a man, but was done in the interest of society and the world in which we live—in the interest of the living and the dead, according to the decrees of Jehovah before the world was rolled into existence, or the morning stars sang together in joy. In the last days He saw it was proper to restore the new and everlasting Gospel—new to the world because of its traditions, follies, weaknesses, etc., but everlasting because it existed with God, with Him before the world was, and will continue when change shall succeed change, and when all things are made new the things of God will endure on and on forever. So it is an everlasting Gospel, though new to the world. It was introduced in the interest of humanity: our fathers, the Prophets and men of God who once administered on the earth and are now administering in the heavens, and who had a hand in introducing this work. Today they feel interested in rolling forth the work and purposes of God assigned to them before the foundation of the world. It is to them, to God, to Jesus, that we are indebted for the light, life and intelligence communicated, and we shall look to them throughout all time for instructions to sustain and direct us. We talk about the organization of the Church being better attended to lately than formerly; but from whom did we receive it? What did we know about the Apostles till God revealed it? Nothing. We talk about the Patriarchs, the First Presidency; who knew of them till God revealed it? No one. The High Priests, Seventies, Elders—who knew about them or their calling, duties and labors till God revealed it? No one. It is the case with the Bishops, Counselors, High Councilors, the Lesser Priesthood, and with all the organizations and Quorums; the light was all from God, and not from man. It came through revelations from God to Joseph Smith, the Prophet of God; hence we are indebted to the Lord for all these things, for all the knowledge we have in relation to those principles. Who taught the gathering principle and why are we here today? Under what influence did we come? Many Latter-day Saints themselves hardly realize it. We read in the history of the Church that, at a certain time there was a revelation given, in the Temple which was built at Kirtland, Ohio; when Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were seated in it, several important personages appeared and gave certain keys, powers and privileges; among them was Moses, who represented what is termed the Gathering Dispensation, which was to gather Israel from the four quarters of the earth; you will find it in the edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, and I refer you to that, where it is positively stated. Why did we gather? Because the keys of this dispensation were given to Joseph Smith, and conferred by him on the Twelve, the Seventies and others, and they received this as a part of their ministry, their endowments, if you please, and when they called upon the people to repent and be baptized, and they did so, they received the Holy Ghost, and among other things received was this principle of gathering, and I defy all Israel to have so gathered without these keys and been brought together as they are today. But we had no trouble in gathering because we had the keys. I have seen the time when the people were almost willing to sell themselves in order to get here, and you know this to be true; it is all from God.

Our Temple building is of the same nature; we are living in the dispensation of the fulness of times, embracing all the powers, principles, doctrines and covenants since the world was, and among the rest is Temple building. The speaker here read from the Doctrine and Covenants, concluding with, “Before the great and terrible day of the Lord shall come, I will turn the hearts of the children to the fathers, and of the fathers to the children, etc., lest I come and smite the children with a curse.” Did Elijah hold these keys.” He did. Did he give them to Joseph? He did. You will find it in the same revelation as that quoted; a feeling of that kind sprang up in the breasts of the Latter-day Saints, till we hardly know sometimes why we do so, but we do. We built our first Temple in Kirtland, then one at Nauvoo, and laid the foundation for one at Far West, Missouri; we have also built one here at St. George; it is a beautiful building, and we are performing the ordinances there for the living and the dead. Do any of us regret the part we have taken in it? I think not. Then we have been doing work on another in Salt Lake, another in Sanpete, and another in Cache Valley, all of which will be magnificent buildings when completed; not less than 500 men are at work on them. It looks odd to some people who don’t know what it means, but we know because God revealed it to us; we are always on hand.

The year past, 1876, feelings were stirred up in the mind of the President, and he called on the Twelve, the High Priests, the Seventies and Elders to subscribe to build the Temple at Salt Lake. Did they do it? Yes. You, here, did your share and gave means freely, as thousands did throughout the Territory. Why did he feel like this? Because the spirit of God prompted him. Why did the Seventies, Priests, Teachers, etc., respond so promptly? Because the spirit of God rested on them and all hands wanted to help build the Temples to the name of God, that we might administer the ordinances necessary to be performed for the living and the dead. If we turned our Temples over to the world today, they would not know what to do with them; they could not administer in the ordinances, and we should not know if God had not taught us; but the Gospel brings us light and places us in communion with the heavens through time and eternity; they tell us to build Temples and then instruct us how to administer in them for the living and the dead—that men who are placed here are for a certain work, and they are helping us to do our work and are operating with the Gods in the heavens in our behalf, and we for them—they without us are not made perfect, nor are we perfect without them. It requires union—union cemented by indissoluble ties; it unites us to each other and to them, and enables us to act intelligently, and when we get through with our affairs, to assist others in the accomplishment of theirs in the interest of God and humanity. This is not our work, nothing that we have done; God has done it, He wants us to help Him and He will help us. We can do nothing in and of ourselves, for we are weak and frail and need the guidance and revelation of God to uphold us.

We have had a Conference here today, and you are more perfectly organized than before. The Lord some time ago wrought on the mind of President Young to have a more complete organization in the Church, and the Twelve were called on to visit the settlements and explain the order of the Priesthood, etc.; to organize the Stakes with all the officers—President and Counsel, the High Council and Priests under the President and the Counsel over the Stake—Bishops, Elders, the Lesser Priesthood, and all those called local authorities in their several places, and have everything in order; the Twelve went through the Territory, and assisted by the Presidency, the work was accomplished, and has been for some time. The quorums before you today are the result of their work. What did he know of this only as God revealed it? Nothing. Did Brigham Young or Joseph Smith know it? No, only as God revealed it. But the necessary information has been given, and today the Church is more perfectly organized than ever before, perhaps with the exception of the general assembly at Kirtland, but in some things now we are more stable and complete than they were even then. It is proper at the present time to refer to such things for instruction, though brother Richards is well posted in respect to these matters, and has taught you much in relation to them.

In Kirtland, Ohio, we had many things revealed through the Prophet Joseph; we had the First Presidency over the High Council, and another in Missouri. Joseph Smith and his Counsel presided over that in Kirt– land; hence some things at times took place that were peculiar to some people; when they were at a loss to find out anything pertaining to the principles and doctrines, the Presidency inquired of the Lord, and would get the desired information. Now, I would make a remark in regard to these things here. All the High Councils and all those holding the Priesthood, the Presidents and all the Bishops and their Counsel, and all holding positions in the Church and kingdom of God that are faithful, honest, diligent and upright, if they seek unto God they will have wisdom imparted to them under all circumstances and on all occasions, as to what course they should pursue, and it is the order of God that all should have His Spirit in proportion to their integrity and faith; and if one does not have it is because he is not diligent in seeking after such things. As brother Joseph F. said this morning he could have revelation for himself, though not to regulate the Church; it would be the privilege of the President of the Twelve to regulate all things in relation to Zion; but the other principle extends to all grades and all men in the Church and kingdom of God, each in his place, if he lives his religion and is faithful and prepared to receive the truths from God so that he can instruct the children of men. There appears at times to be a discrepancy among all of us, for we are all weak and infirm; and God made it so on purpose, that man might not glory in himself but in the God of Israel.

I will say something in relation to High Priests, and what their place is in the Church. They came conspicuously before us in the late organizations. The speaker again read from the Doctrine and Covenants, “And, again, I give unto you John C. Smith,” etc. What are they organized for? The purpose is set forth in the Doctrine and Covenants. They are a sort of normal school to prepare the people to preside; they have hardly fulfilled this; perhaps if they had been more active, and become acquainted with principles for which they are organized, we should not have to ordain so many High Priests from the Elders’ Quorum to make Presidents of Stakes, Bishops, High Councils, etc.; but as it was we had to pick up the material where we could, and I hope we will have better material next time.

I hear a great deal said about which is the “biggest” man. The “biggest” man makes no difference whatever. I think that the man who can be most like a little child will be the greatest in the kingdom of God. Greatness does not consist of talking of things, but in doing them. We are now just beginning to move; Zion is stretching forth and lengthening out her cords; we want no more baby’s play, but let us have wisdom, light, revelation, and let the power of the Priesthood of God burn in the hearts of the people to waken them to a knowledge of truth; then when other Stakes are to be organized we can apply to this normal school and get men prepared. We have got a great number of Seventies, and the question has often arisen, Which is the biggest, they or the High Priests? I say I don’t think it makes much difference as to which is the greater or smaller. I think the body of Christ was not one member, but composed of many parts. Now which member of your body would you like to be without? An arm or a leg? No, you want both. So does the Church. But which is the most useful? If you can tell me which of those members is most useful to you, I will let you know which is the most useful to the Church, the High Priests or Seventies. We ought to magnify the Priesthood we hold, and be satisfied with the positions we hold. We have sent a number of Elders on missions, whose duty it is to preach to the people of the earth. They go when they are called, but it is often hard work; they make a great many excuses—they have debts to settle, families to support, etc. In meeting they will talk about who is the “biggest,” and when they are gone for a while they get homesick and want to return; they say “there is no place like home.” They meet difficulties among the people, who don’t believe much that is told them. Did they ever? Not much. We don’t expect to gather all, we will take one of a city and two of a family, and bring them to Zion; and if our Elders abroad would be more particular, and realize that they are messengers of the Lord—exhibit more of the Apostolic power, and have the light of the Spirit of God, they would realize that they are sent to teach, not to be taught; they would measurably control circumstances, not be controlled by them altogether. Here are the Lamanites to attend to; when we are through with them, then the Jews, then the Ten Tribes, and then the earth is to be redeemed and the power of God prevail, and we must take a part, for we are not here to look so much after our own affairs as to build up Zion. The Elders ought to reflect and say, “What can I do to help on the work? God inspire my heart and mind and soul, that I may help to build up the kingdom of God.” That is the way to feel. Then to the High Councils of Stakes and to the Presidents of Stakes I would say, you ought to feel that you are servants of the living God, that the eye of the great Jeho– vah is over you, and be working in the interest of the Gospel. We are not here to build up ourselves, but to build up Zion and the kingdom of God on the earth, that we may magnify our calling and honor our God. As brother Joseph F. said, we should not allow ourselves to be bartered or sold, but work for the interests of Israel.

The Bishops of the various Wards have their place; it is their duty to attend to the interests of their Wards, to look after the temporal affairs principally, not for their own benefit, but that of the people. They should set patterns of all that is good and praiseworthy; their duty is to do justice and adjudicate in all matters pertaining to a Bishop’s court, as a common court in Israel, and they ought to judge in all righteousness, fidelity, and truth. The Priests ought to be full of the Holy Ghost, and should be full of intelligence to act as watchmen over the people, trying to stop ill feelings, evil actions, etc. The Teachers ought to assist them, and visit from house to house, and see that no iniquity prevails. The Deacons should assist the Bishops in temporal affairs, and be faithful in their calling.

Let us act together as a family in the interest of the Church and kingdom of God, for thereby come the blessings promised. We are now operating for these things, and these organizations are for that purpose. The Deacon who honors his calling is more honorable than the Apostle who does not. Can we find High Priests, Seventies, and Elders who don’t pray? Yes, I am afraid so. And further, in relation to the Teachers, I will tell you my rule. When they come to me, I call in my family and ask them to instruct us and impart such information as is their duty. That is the way I feel to– wards the men who come in that capacity. They have a perfect right to do it, it is their duty, and they are always at liberty to visit my household.

We all have a great Priesthood if we magnify it, and there is no little Priesthood. In relation to the young men, I would say that in their associations a good spirit is growing—they are waking up. The Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations and other organizations of our young men are very praiseworthy. Young men, the burden of the kingdom will yet roll on your shoulders, and you must prepare for it. If you will go to God and ask for wisdom, he will give it to you. Get the best books, the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and read our own publications, you will find such intelligence as you never dreamed of. Ask God for faith. Get all the sciences, arts, and useful learning you can from schools; get nothing false, but the things pertaining to earth and the elements, and how to use them; when you meet let it be in the fear of God, and he will bless you.

A word to the sisters. They have their associations and societies—all of which are good and praiseworthy. They form a part of us, for the man is not without the woman, nor the woman without the man. It takes a man and a woman to make a man; without woman, man is not perfect; God so ordained it. We are aiming at celestial glory, and when we reach that exaltation, will we have our wives? Yes. The women have to manage household affairs; they must rear the children properly, and cultivate those principles which exalt and beautify, that all may move on pleasantly and harmoniously. In the Relief Societies they discharge their duties better than we could, because of their tender sympathies and gentler natures. Joseph Smith organized a Relief Society in Nauvoo as far back as that; Emma was president, sisters Whitney and Cleveland were her counselors, and Eliza R. Snow secretary, who has visited you often, and whom you well know. They allowed the society to sleep for a while, but they are now waking up. What should they teach? I can’t go into details, but they should teach dress, speak and act aright, diffuse correct principles, and let us have sisters growing up fit to associate with the angels of God. I want you to make home a heaven for your husbands, that when they come there they will feel happy, cheerful, and comfortable in their households. Do away with evil speaking—let love, kindness, and friendly feelings prevail; and if the sisters want the brethren to give them a few bushels of wheat to take care of, let them have it, it is not much, and we may some day be glad we did so. I have read of an extravagant man, whose wife proposed that he give her so much—ten or twenty dollars to keep house with, and instead of spending it she saved it in the Bible. Finally a financial crash came, and he went to his wife for consolation. She told him to read the Bible for comfort, and when he opened the leaves the money dropped out. What does this mean? he said. His wife said, you were careless, and I took care of the money you gave me; and this money saved him from ruin. Therefore let the sisters take care of the wheat.

The speaker here referred to the question of using the Tithing for Temple building, saying if it were all paid in that was owing, we need ask nothing further, but such was not the case. He then referred to the Perpetual Emigration Fund, saying there was over $1,000,000 due it from those who had been emigrated, and he hoped it would be paid without further delay. At present no radical changes would be made in the matter of Temple building. May God help Israel and prepare us for an inheritance in his kingdom, in the name of Jesus. Amen.