A Sermon by Elder John Taylor, Delivered at the General Conference, in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 8, 1853.

It rejoices my heart to hear the principles that have been advanced this day by our President, because they have their foundation in truth, are based upon the principles of equity, and are calculated to promote the happiness, well-being, exaltation, and glory of man, in time, and throughout all eternity. They lead us back into eternity; they existed with us there, and in all the various stages of man’s existence they are calculated to elevate and ennoble him, and place him in a proper position before God, angels, and men. They will put him in possession of his legitimate right, save him from the grasp of the adversary, from every subtle stratagem of the powers of darkness, and place him in his proper station in time and in eternity.

I have been much pleased with and edified by the remarks that have been made upon this stand during the Conference. Wisdom has been displayed in them; from them the intelligence of heaven has beamed forth, the mysteries of eternity have been spread before our minds, and we have had a view of heavenly things, that has filled our hearts with joy and our mouths with praise. It has made us feel as though we were upon the threshold of eternity; as though we were eternal beings, and had to do with eternal things; as though the things of this world were short, fleeting, and evanescent, not worthy of a thought when compared with those things that are calculated to exalt and ennoble us in time and in eternity.

The principles of justice, righteousness, and truth, which have an endless duration, can alone satisfy the capacious desires of the immortal soul. We may amuse ourselves like children do at play, or engage in the frivolities of the dance. We may take our little enjoyments in our social assemblies, but when the man comes to reflect, when the Saint of God considers, and the visions of eternity are open to his view, and the unalterable purposes of God are developed to his mind—when he contemplates his true position before God, angels, and men, then he soars above the things of time and sense, and bursts the cords that bind him to earthly objects; he contemplates God and his own destiny in the economy of heaven, and rejoices in a blooming hope of an immortal glory.

Such have been some of our feelings, while our minds have been carried away from the things of earth to contemplate the things with which eternal beings are associated, and the glories that await us in the everlasting mansions of the Gods.

The principles that we have to do with, then, are eternal, and not simply to play a game upon the checker of mortality, on which people can win and lose for the time being. We have to do with that which shall continue, “While life, and thought, and being last,

Or immortality endures.” We seek not to build our hopes upon things that are evanescent, fleeting, and transitory.

It is not he that can play the best game at checkers, that can take the most advantage of his neighbor, that can grasp the most earthly good, or that can put himself in possession of anything his heart desires pertaining to time, that is the most happy; but it is he who does that which will last, live, and continue to abide with him while “immortality endures,” and still be on the increase worlds without end.

If we can possess principles of this kind, then we are safe, everything else amounts to an illusion or a delusion, which cannot satisfy the desires of the mind, but as the Prophet says, it is like a thirsty man who dreams he is drinking, but when he awakes, he is faint, and his soul is thirsty; he dreams that he is eating, and when he awakes his soul is empty. This is the true situation of all men who are without God in the world; and nothing but a knowledge of eternal principles, of eternal laws, of eternal governments, of eternal justice and equity, and of eternal truth, can put us right, and satiate the appetite of the immortal soul.

If we make not a just estimate of these things, it is in vain that we attempt to say, “Lord, Lord,” because we do not the things which He says. Everything associated with the Gospel of salvation is eternal, for it existed before the “morning stars sang together for joy,” or this world rolled into existence. It existed then, just as it now exists with us, and it will exist the same when time with us is no more. It is an eternal principle, and everything associated with it is everlasting. It is like the Priesthood of the Son of God, “without beginning of days or end of years.” It lives and abides forever. If there is any principle that is not eternal, it is not a principle of the Gospel of life and salvation.

There are many changes and shifting scenes that may influence the position of mankind, under different circumstances, in this state of mortality; but they cannot influence or change the Gospel of the Son of God, or the eternal truths of heaven; they remain unchangeable; as it is said very properly by the Church of England, in one of their homilies, “as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, worlds without end.” If nothing else they say is true, that is, and I can say amen to it, with all my heart. All true principles are right, and if properly understood and appreciated by the human family, to them they are a fountain of eternal good.

The principle of “heirship,” which President Young preached about today, is a principle that is founded on eternal justice, equity, and truth. It is a principle that emanated from God. As was said by some of our brethren this morning, there may be circumstances arise in this world to pervert for a season the order of God, to change the designs of the Most High, apparently, for the time being, yet they will ultimately roll back into their proper place—justice will have its place, and so will mercy, and every man and woman will yet stand in their true position before God. If we understand ourselves correctly, we must look upon ourselves as eternal beings, and upon God as our Father, for we have been taught when we prayed to say, “Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” We have fathers in the flesh, and we do them reverence, how much more shall we be in subjection to the Father of Spirits and live. I need not enter into any proof in relation to this; for it is well understood by the Saints that God is the Father of our spirits, and that when we go back into His presence, we shall know Him, as we have known our earthly parents. We are taught to approach Him as we would an earthly parent, to ask of Him such blessings as we need; and He has said, If a son ask bread of his father shall he give him a stone, or if he ask for fish, a scorpion. If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give His holy Spirit to them that ask Him.

We have a Father, then, who is in heaven. He has placed us on this earth for some purpose. We found ourselves in possession of bodies, mental faculties, and reasoning powers. In a word, we found ourselves intelligent beings, with minds capable of recalling the past and launching into the unborn future with lightning speed; and were it not for this earthly tabernacle, this tenement of clay, they would soar aloft and contemplate the unveiled purposes of Jehovah in the mansions of the redeemed. We found ourselves here with minds capable of all this and more. God, who has ordained all things from before the foundation of the world, is our Father. He placed us here to fulfil His wise and unerring counsels, that we might magnify our calling, honor our God, obtain an exaltation, and be placed in a more glorious, exalted, and dignified position than it would have been possible for us to enjoy if we had never taken upon us these bodies. This is my faith; it is the faith of this people.

I have no complaints to make about our father Adam eating the forbidden fruit, as some have, for I do not know but any of us would have done the same. I find myself here in the midst of the creations of God, and it is for me to make use of the intelligence God has given me, and not condescend to anything that is low, mean, groveling, and degrading—to anything that is calculated to debase the immortal mind of man, but to follow after things that are in their nature calculated to exalt, ennoble, and dignify, that I may stand in my true position before God, angels, and men, and rise to take my seat among the Gods of eternity.

We will now come to the principle of legitimacy, which was the text given out this morning—to our rights, privileges, Priesthoods, authorities, powers, dominions, &c., &c. And as some of us are Scriptorians, and all profess to believe the Bible, I feel inclined to quote a text from it. Paul, when speaking of Jesus Christ, gives us to understand that he is the firstborn of every creature, for by him were all things made that were made, and to him pertains all things; he is the head of all things, he created all things, whether visible or invisible, whether they be principalities, powers, thrones, or dominions; all things were created by him and for him, and without him was not anything made that was made. If all things were created by him and for him, this world on which we stand must have been created by him and for him; if so, he is its legitimate, its rightful owner and proprietor; its lawful sovereign and ruler. We will begin with him, then, in the first place, in treating on the subject of legitimacy.

But has he had the dominion over all nations, kindreds, peoples, and tongues? Have they bowed to his scepter, and acknowledged his sway? Have all people rendered obedience to his laws, and submitted to his guidance? Echo answers “no!” Has there ever been a kingdom, a government, a nation, a power, or a dominion in this world that has yielded obedience to him in all things? Can you point out one?

We read of the Jews who were a nation that submitted only in part to his authority, for they rebelled against his laws, and were placed under a schoolmaster until the Messiah should come. We read also, in the Book of Mormon, of some Nephites that dwelt upon this land, who kept the commandments of God, and perhaps were more pure than any other nation that history gives any account of. But, with these exceptions, the nations, kingdoms, powers, and dominions of the world have not been subject to the law, dominion, rule, or authority of God; but, as it is expressed by one of the ancients, the prince and power of the air, the god of this world has ruled in the hearts of the children of disobedience, and led them captive at his own will. Where is the historian, the man acquainted with ancient lore, who can point me out one government, nation, power, or dominion, that has been subject to the rule of God, to the dominion of Jesus Christ, with the exception of those Jews and Nephites which I have referred to? If there has been any such nation, the history of it has escaped my notice. I have never been able to obtain such information.

What then has been the position of the world for generations past? They have been governed by rulers not appointed of God; if they were appointed by Him, it was merely as a scourge to the people for their wickedness, or for temporary rulers in the absence of those whose right it was to govern. They had not the legitimate rule, Priesthood, and authority of God on the earth, to act as His representatives in regulating and presiding over the affairs of His kingdom.

Perhaps it may be well, at this stage of my remarks, to give you a short explanation of my ideas on government, legitimacy, or Priesthood, if you please. The question, “What is Priesthood?” has often been asked me. I answer, it is the rule and government of God, whether on earth or in the heavens; and it is the only legitimate power, the only authority that is acknowledged by Him to rule and regulate the affairs of His kingdom. When every wrong thing shall be put right, and all usurpers shall be put down, when he whose right it is to reign shall take the dominion, then nothing but the Priesthood will bear rule; it alone will sway the scepter of authority in heaven and on earth, for this is the legitimacy of God.

In the absence of this, what has been the position of the nations? You who have made yourselves acquainted with the political structure and the political intrigues of earthy kingdoms, I ask, from whence did they obtain their power? Did they get it from God? Go to the history of Europe, if you please, and examine how the rulers of those nations obtained their authority. Depending upon history for our information, we say those nations have been founded by the sword. If we trace the pages of history still further back to the first nation that existed, still we find that it was founded upon the same principle. Then follow the various revolutions and changes that took place among subsequent nations and powers, from the Babylonians through the Medo-Persians, Grecians, Romans, and from that power to all the other powers of Europe, Asia, and Africa, of which we have any knowledge: and if we look to America from the first discoveries by Columbus to the present time, where are now the original proprietors of the soil? Go to any power that has existed upon this earth, and you will find that earthly government, earthly rule and dominion, have been obtained by the sword. It was the sword of men that first put them in possession of this power. They have walked up to their thrones through rivers of blood, through the clotted gore and the groans of the dying, and through the tears and lamentations of bereaved widows and helpless orphans; and hence the common saying is, “Thrones won by blood, by blood must be maintained.” By the same principle that they have been put in possession of territory, have they sought to sustain themselves—the same vio– lence, the same fraud, and the same oppression have been made use of to sustain their illegitimacy.

Some of these powers, dominions, governments, and rulers, have had in their possession the laws of God, and the admonitions of Jesus Christ; and what have they done to his servants in different ages of the world, when he has sent them unto them? This question I need not stop to answer, for you are already made too familiar with it. This, then, is the position of the world. Authority, dominion, rule, government has been obtained by fraud, and consequently is not legitimate. They say much about the ordination of kings, and their being anointed by the grace of God, &c. What think you of a murderer slaying hundreds and thousands of his fellow creatures because he has the power, and while his sword is yet reeking with human blood, having a priest in sacerdotal robes to anoint him to the kingship? They have done it. What think you of the cries of the widows, the tears of the orphans, and the groans of the dying, mingling with the prayers and blessings of the priest upon the head of the murderer of their husbands and their fathers?

It is impossible that there can be any legitimate rule, government, power, or authority, under the face of the heavens, except that which is connected with the kingdom of God, which is established by new revelation from heaven.

In a conversation with some of our modern reformers in France, one of their leaders said, “I think you will not succeed very well in disseminating the principles of your religion in France.” I replied, “You have been seeking to accomplish something, for generations, with your philosophy, your philanthropic societies, and your ideas of moral reform, but have failed; while we have not been seeking to accomplish the thing that you have, par– ticularly, and yet have accomplished it.” We began with the power of God, with the government of heaven, and with acknowledging His hand in all things; and God has sustained us, blessed and upheld us to the present time; and it is the only government, rule, and dominion under the heavens that will acknowledge His authority.

Brethren, if any of you doubt it, go into some of those nations, and get yourselves introduced into the presence of their kings and rulers, and say, “Thus saith the Lord God.” They would at once denounce you as a madman, and straightway order you into prison. What is the matter? They do not acknowledge the legitimacy, the rule and government of God, nor will they inquire into them. They receive not their authority from Him. Nations honor their kings, but they do not honor the authority of their God in any instance, neither have they from the first man-made government to the present time. If there has been such a nation, or if there is at this time such a government, it is a thing of which I am ignorant.

The kings and potentates of the world profess to be anointed by the grace of God. But the priests who anoint them have no authority to do it. No person has authority to anoint a king or administer in one of the least of God’s ordinances, except he is legally called and ordained of God to that power; and how can a man be called of God to administer in His name, that does not acknowledge the gift of prophecy to be the right of the children of God in all ages? It is impossible. These men have been grasping after power, and for this they have laid waste nations and destroyed countries. Some of them possessed it for a while, and others were on the eve of getting it when they were cut off, and down they went. What became of them afterwards? Isaiah in vision saw the kings of the earth ga– thered together as prisoners in a pit, and after many days they were to be visited.

Having said so much in relation together governors and governments, we will now notice the difference between them and Abraham of old. Abraham was a man who contended for the true and legitimate authority. God promised to him, and to his seed after him, the land of Canaan for their possession, “The Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward; for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever.” What did Stephen say, generations afterwards? That God “gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on; yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.” Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones explains this seeming contradiction. The Lord said to him, “Son of man, can these bones live?” &c. Who are they? We are told, in the same chapter, they are the whole house of Israel, and that they shall come out of their graves, bone come to its bone and sinew to sinew, and flesh come upon them, and they shall become a living army before God, and they shall inherit the land which was given to them and their fathers before them. The measuring line shall again go forth upon those lands, and mark out the possessions belonging to the tribes of Israel.

Abraham was a man who dared fear God, and do honor to His authority, which was legitimate. God tried and proved him, the same as He has tried many of us, and felt after his heartstrings, and twisted them round. When He had tried him to the utmost, He swore by Himself, because He could swear by no greater, saying, “That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed.” “And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” Abraham obtained his dominion by legitimate authority; his Priesthood was obtained from God; his authority was that which is associated with the everlasting Gospel, which was, and is, and is to come, that liveth and abideth forever. And the promises made to him will rest upon him and his posterity, through every subsequent period of time, until the final winding up scene of all things. Will he ever obtain them? Yes. For we are eternal beings, and I am now talking as though we were in eternity. We shall wake up in the morning of the resurrection, attain to all the blessings which have been promised to us, and strike hands with Abraham, and see him inherit the promises. Abraham and all his children will then inherit the promises, through the principle of legitimacy. And there are many of the sons and daughters of Abraham among us at the present time; these will be baptized for their dead brethren and sisters, and by this means bring them unto Christ, beginning on the outside branches of the tree, and so progressing to the main stock, and from that to the root. And it shall come to pass that all Israel shall be saved. Why? Because it is their legitimate right. And they are Israel who do the works of Abraham.

Thus it is, then, with Abraham. The old man feels perfectly easy about the matter; and if he does see many of his descendants existing as a cursed race on account of their transgressions, many of them enjoying no higher avocation than crying “Old clothes,” still the time of their redemption will come, and by means of the eternal Gospel and Priesthood, they with us will be made perfect, and we with them. While the faithful are operating in heaven to bring this about, the Saints are operating on earth; and by faith and works we will accomplish all things, we will redeem the dead and the living, and all shall come forth, and Abraham will stand at the head of his seed as their ruler. This is his legitimate position.

We will now notice those men who are contending for it without any authority, and make a contrast between the two. We see them gathering their forces, and using their influence to destroy the poor among men. How long will the kings and rulers of the earth do this? Until they are dead and damned. And what then? They will be cast down into a pit. Isaiah saw them there, along with many other scoundrels, murderers, and scamps. After many days they will be visited, but they have got to lie in prison a long time for their transgressions. The one is legitimacy, and the other is illegitimacy; the one is the order of God, and the other is the order of the devil.

Such is the position of things in relation to the world, to legitimacy and illegitimacy, in regard to things that are right and things that are wrong. Jesus Christ created all things, and for him were they made, whether it be principalities, powers, thrones, or dominions. Now the question is, is he going to be dispossessed of his right because scoundrels exist in the world, and stand in power and dominion; because his subjects have rebelled against him from time to time, and usurpers have taken his place, and the dominion is given to another? Verily, no. But the time will come when the kingdom and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven will be given to the Saints of the Most High, and they will possess it forever and ever.

We will now notice some of the acts of God, and some of the acts of those who have been under the dominion of Satan, those who have had dominion over the world—the proud and haughty usurpers, and the shedders of innocent blood. These are they that have lived in the world, and possessed all the good things of it. And what has been the situation of the Saints in every age? All those who dared acknowledge that God lived, that this kingdom belonged to Him, that it was His right, and that He would without doubt possess it, have been trodden under foot, persecuted, cast out, hated, killed; “they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, and tormented.” As one of old says, in speaking of the Jews—Which of the prophets have not your fathers killed, who testified before of the coming of the Just One.

This was the case in ancient days, and has been carried on in modern times. I have, with my own eyes, seen holy Prophets expire, who were killed by the hands of a murderous gang of bloodthirsty assassins, because they bore the same testimony that the holy Prophets did in days of old. How many more of their brethren who dared acknowledge the truth, have fallen beneath the same influences—have been shot, whipped, imprisoned, and put to death in a variety of ways, while hundreds of others, driven from their homes in the winter, have found their last bed; they were worn out with suffering and fatigue, the weary wheels of life stood still; they were obliged to forsake the world, in which they could no longer remain, because of the persecution heaped upon them by the enemies of the truth.

The reason of all this vile outrage upon innocent men, women, and children, is because there is no legitimate rule upon the earth. God’s laws and government are not known, and His servants are despised and cast out.

Legitimacy and right, whether in heaven or on earth cannot mix with anything that is not true, just, and equitable; and truth is free from oppression and injustice, as is the bosom of Jehovah. Nothing but that will ultimately stand. What has been the position of the world generally, among themselves? You see men marshalling armies, and making war with one another to destroy each other, and take possession of their territory and wealth. One man who is in possession of wealth, power, and authority, sees oppression exercised by kings; so he follows the example, as do rulers who exercise authority under their sovereign; then others in a still lower degree do the same; thus oppression treads upon the heels of oppression, and distress follows distress. You will find this to exist in a great measure through every grade of society, from the king on his throne, down to the matchmaker, or the chimney sweep.

To ameliorate the condition of man, there are a great many institutions introduced into the world in the shape of Tract Societies, Bible Societies, and many more too numerous for me to name. Many of them are founded by sincere men, but commencing on the wrong foundation, they keep wrong all the time, and fail to accomplish the object desired. If any one of these different institutions were to carry out their own principles, they would not only fail in accomplishing the object they have in view, but ultimately destroy themselves.

There are Peace Societies among the rest; their object is to bring peace into the world, without the Spirit of God. They see plainly that peace is desirable, but they wish to graft it onto a rotten stock. In Europe they had a “Peace Congress,” and sent their representatives to all parts of the world; and of course this “Congress of Peace” wished to regulate the world, make an end of war, and bring in universal peace.

Talk about peace, when rancorous discord makes its nest in the councils and cabinets of all nations, and the hearts of their statesmen are steeped in hatred one to another. Jealousy, animosity, and strife, like the influence of a deadly contagion, may be found in almost every family; brother rising up against sister, sister against brother, the father against the mother, and the mother against the father, etc. We can find discord reigning even in the “Peace Society” itself.

Jesus Christ says, “My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you,” &c. Wherever this peace exists, it leaves an influence that is comforting and refreshing to the souls of those who partake of it. It is like the morning dew to the thirsty plant. This peace is alone the gift of God, and it can only be received from Him through obedience to His laws. If any man wishes to introduce peace into his family or among his friends, let him cultivate it in his own bosom; for sterling peace can only be had according to the legitimate rule and authority of heaven, and obedience to its laws.

Everything is disordered, and in confusion in the world. The reason is because no legitimate authority has been known or acknowledged on the earth. Others have been trying to build up and establish what they supposed to be the kingdom of God. The socialists of France call themselves religious people, and they also expect to bring about a reign of glory through a species of Robespierreism. I was told by a man well acquainted with matters of fact in relation to these things, that if they gained the ascendancy in France, their first object would be to erect a statue to Robespierre. They were going to cut off thousands of people, to accomplish their designs: and had not Napoleon taken active measures to head them, bands of men were ready on a moment’s warning to cut off the heads of thousands, and among these, I was informed, fifty thousand priests were doomed.

These are some of the principles and ideas that exist in the world, among the various nations and institutions of men, which are framed according to illegitimate principles. A change of government changes not the condition of the people, for all are wrong, and acting without God.

Our ideas are, that the time has come to favor God’s people; a time about which Prophets spoke in pathetic strains, and poets sung. These men of God looked through the dark vista of future ages, and being wrapped in prophetic vision, beheld the latter-day glory—the time of the dispensation of the fulness of times, spoken of by all the holy Prophets since the world began; for they all looked forward with joyful anticipations to the things which have commenced with us; they all had their eye upon the time when legitimacy would obtain its proper place upon the earth, in the shape of the kingdom of God established in the world, when all false rule and dominion would be put down, and the kingdoms of this world would become subject to God and His Christ. These are the ideas that they had, and these are the things we are seeking to carry out.

If we look at what illegitimacy has done in former times, we shall see the absolute necessity of the restitution spoken of by the Prophets, for it has filled the earth with evil, it has caused the world to groan in bondage, laid millions in the cold embrace of death, and caused disease to spread its pestiferous breath among the nations, leaving ruin, misery, and desolation in its path, and made this fair earth a howling wilderness. And nothing but the wisdom and intelligence of God can change it. The kingdom of God will establish truth and correct principles—the principles of truth, equity, and justice; in short, the principles that emanate from God, principles that are calculated to elevate man in time and through all eternity. How shall this be? It will be by a legitimate rule, authority, and dominion.

Who have we for our ruling power? Where and how did he obtain his authority? Or how did any in this Church and kingdom obtain it? It was first obtained by a revelation from the Lord of the Universe, by the opening of the heavens, by the voice of God, and by the ministering of holy angels. It is by the voice of God and the voice of the people, that our present President obtained his authority. Many people in the world are talking about misrule and misgovernment. If there is any form of government under the heavens where we can have legitimate rule and authority, it is among the Saints. In the first place, we have a man appointed by God, and, in the second place, by the people. This man is chosen by yourselves, and every person raises his hand to sanction the choice. Here is our President, Brigham Young, whom we made choice of yesterday, who is he? He is the legitimate ruler among this people. Can anybody dispossess him? They cannot, because it is his legitimate right, and he reigns in the hearts of the people. He obtains his authority first from God, and secondly from the people; and if a man possesses five grains of common sense, when he has a privilege of voting for or against a man, he will not vote for a man that oppresses the people; he will vote according to the dictates of his conscience, for this is the right and duty of this people in the choice of their President, and other leading officers of the kingdom of God. While this is being done here, it is being done in every part of the world, wherever the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a footing. Is there a monarch, potentate, or power under the heavens that under– goes a scrutiny as fine as this? No there is not; and yet this is done twice a year, before all the Saints in the world. Here are legitimacy and rule. You place the power in their hands to govern, dictate, regulate, and put in order the affairs of the kingdom of God. This is, Vox Dei vox populi. God appoints, the people sustain. You do this by your own act; very well, then, it is legitimate, and must stand, and every man is bound to abide it if it takes the hair off his head. I know there are things sometimes that are hard, tough, and pinching; but if a man is a man of God, he has his eyes upon eternal things, and is aiming to accomplish the purposes of God, and all will be well with him in the end.

What advantage is there, then, between this government and others? Why, we have peace, and as eternal beings we have a knowledge of eternal things. While listening to the remarks made on this stand, what have we not heard—what have we not known? The curtains of heaven have been withdrawn, and we have gazed as by vision upon eternal realities. While, in the professing world, doubt and uncertainty throw their dark mantle over every mind.

Let us now notice our political position in the world. What are we going to do? We are going to possess the earth. Why? Because it belongs to Jesus Christ, and he belongs to us, and we to him; we are all one, and will take the kingdom and possess it under the whole heavens, and reign over it forever and ever. Now, ye kings and emperors, help yourselves, if you can. This is the truth, and it may as well be told at this time as at any other.

”There’s a good time coming, Saints,

A good time coming,

There’s a good time coming, Saints,

Wait a little longer,“

Having said so much on this point, we will return to the principle of legitimacy. God is our legitimate Father, and we are His children, and have a claim upon Him, and He has a claim upon us. We have come into this world to accomplish a certain purpose, and we have come in the dispensation of the fulness of times, when God decreed to gather all things together into one, whether they be things in heaven or on earth; and everything that has been in existence in any age of the world, or that is, or will be, which is calculated to benefit and exalt man, we shall have; consequently it is for us to look after anything and everything that ever has been true, or that has ever been developed in any period of the history of man, for it all belongs to us, and has got to be restored, for restitution means bringing back that which is lost. If the Antediluvians enjoyed anything that was good, true, and eternal, which is not yet made known to us, it has to be restored; or if anything existed among the ancient Patriarchs and Prophets, that has been lost, it has to be restored. If there are any people of God upon any detached part of this world, they with it have got to be restored. God’s word will also be gathered into one, and His people and the Jews will hear the words of the Nephites, and the Ten Tribes must hear the words of the Jews and Nephites, and God’s people be gathered and be one. All things will be gathered in one, and Zion be redeemed, the glory of God be revealed, and all flesh see it together. God’s dominion will be established on the earth, the law go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and the kingdoms of this world will become subject to God and His Christ.

As eternal beings, then, we existed with our Father in the eternal worlds. We came on to this earth, and obtained tabernacles, that through taking possession of them, and passing through a scene of trial, and tribula– tion, and suffering, we might be exalted to more glory, dignity, and power, than would have been possible for us to obtain had we not been placed in our present position. If any of you do not believe this, let me refer you to a passage of Scripture or two. How was man created at first? We are told that God made man a little lower than the angels; then says Paul, “Know ye not that we shall judge angels.” What through? It is through the atonement of Jesus Christ, through the taking of our bodies, the powers of the holy Priesthood, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ that we shall obtain a higher exaltation than it would have been possible for us to enjoy, if we had not fallen. To do right in our present state, then, we must carry out the principle of legitimacy according to a correct rule, and, if we profess to be subjects of the kingdom of God, we must be subject to the dominion, rule, legitimacy, and authority of God. No person can escape from this, unless he apostatizes, and goes to the devil, like a fool. He must be a fool who would barter away eternal life, thrones, principalities, and powers in the eternal world, for the paltry trash which exists in the shape of wealth and worldly honor: to let go his chance of heaven and of God, of being a King and Priest unto Him, of living and reigning forever, and of standing among the chiefs of Israel. I cannot help calling such men fools, for they are damned now in making such a choice, and will be hereafter.

I will say a little more on legitimacy and right to rule. What would be the position of a man who would take a course to rob his neighbor, or take advantage of him in the case of his legitimacy, which you have heard of this morning? Such a man must be a greater fool than the other. For instance, a good man dies, who has served God in righteousness all his days; the weary wheels of life stand still, and he goes to the world of spirits. He believed in the principles of justice, equity, righteousness, and truth, and that his rights would be held sacred to him by his brethren after he was gone. But some professed man of God comes to his widow, and wants to steal her away from him; he would rob the dead with impunity, under the ostensible garb of justice to her and her dead husband; he will tell her he is doing it out of pure love to them both, and he is going to exalt them in the kingdom of God. We read of the kingdom of God suffering violence; if violence is ever attempted, it is in a case of this kind. It is bad enough to steal from a man his earthly property, his oxen, his cow, his horse, his harness, his wagon wheels, and other paraphernalia; but what think you of a man that would rob the dead of a treasure which he holds the most dear, and prized as the most precious thing he possessed on earth—his affectionate wife! Such a person will assuredly miss his figure.

You will find in the ancient laws of Israel, there were proper rules in relation to these matters; one was, that if a man died without a child, his brother or the nearest relation of the husband should take the widow; and raise up seed to her husband, that his name might be continued in Israel, and not be blotted out. Where did these laws come from? We are told they came from God. But instead of doing this, suppose he should try to steal this woman away, and rob his brother—how would he get along, I wonder, with such a case against him, at the bar of justice? The laws and ordinances that exist in the eternal world have their pattern in the things which are revealed to the children of men on earth. The Priesthood as it exists on the earth is a pattern of things in heaven. As I said in a former part of this discourse, Priesthood is legitimate rule, whether on earth or or in heaven. When we have the true Priesthood on earth, we take it with us into the heavens; it changes not, but continues the same in the eternal world.

There is another feature of that ancient law which I will mention. It was considered an act of injustice for the nearest relation not to take the wife of the deceased; if he refused to do it, he was obliged to go before the Elders of Israel, and his brother’s wife shall loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, “So shall it be done unto the man that will not build up his brother’s house; and his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him who hath his shoe loosed.” If the restitution of all things is to be brought to pass, there must be a restitution of these things; everything will be put right, and in its proper place.

There is another thing which is most grievous, afflicting, and distressing to contemplate. When a man takes to himself a woman that properly belongs to another, and defiles her, it interferes with the fountain of life, and corrupts the very source of existence. There is an offspring comes forth as the fruit of that union, and that offspring is an eternal being—how can it be looked upon? To reflect upon it, wounds the finest feelings of human nature in time, and will in eternity. For who can gaze upon the degradation of their wife, and the corruption of their seed, without peculiar sensations? How much more is this feeling enhanced when the wronged man considers that he has been robbed by one who professed to be his friend? This thing is not to be trifled with, but is of the greatest importance; hence the necessity of the sealing powers, that all things may be pure, chastity maintained, and lasciviousness be rooted out from among the Saints. Why so? That we may have a holy offspring, that shall be great, and clothed with the mighty power of God, to rule in His kingdom, and accomplish the work we propose they shall fulfil; and that when we go to sleep, we may sleep in peace, knowing that justice will be administered in righteousness. We shall know that we have a claim upon our own in the first resurrection; we shall know that our wives and our children will be there to join us, justice will be administered, and we shall have a claim upon them in the eternal world, and that no unprincipled scoundrel will be permitted to set his foot on another, or rob him of his just claims. Why is a woman sealed to a man for time and all eternity? Because there is legitimate power on earth to do it. This power will bind on earth and in heaven; it can loose on earth, and it is loosed in heaven; it can seal on earth, and it is sealed in heaven. There is a legitimate, authorized agent of God upon earth; this sealing power is regulated by him; hence what is done by that, is done right, and is recorded. When the books are opened, everyone will find his proper mate, and have those that belong to him, and everyone will be deprived of that which is surreptitiously obtained.

Let us do righteously, and you who would seek to injure another and take advantage of one who was just and faithful to his God in his day, how would you like, when you get a few years older and drop into eternity, for somebody to come and serve you the same? You could not expect anything else, you could not die without being menaced by this supposition, and your dying pillow would be made unhappy, you would know you had done wrong, and would expect somebody to measure to you the same measure pressed down, shook together, and running over.

We have been told to preach confidence—correct principles and just dealings alone will inspire it. If a man speaks that which is not true about another, can you have confidence in him? No. If a man defrauds another, can you have confidence in him? No, But if you would, through a principle of covetousness, seek to sap the foundation of another’s happiness, by trying to wrench from him those sacred rights which pertain to his interest in the eternal world, how much greater will be your condemnation? Nothing but truth, integrity, virtue, honor, and every pure principle, will stand in the great day of God Almighty. If such a person happens to get through this world, he will find barriers in the next, and probably miss a chance of obtaining a place in the first resurrection. Nothing contrary to the authority, rule, and government of heaven, will stand in time or in eternity; and if any man wants to be blessed and honored, and to obtain a high place in the eternal world, let him pursue a course of honor, righteousness, and virtue before his God; and if he wants to find himself amongst usurpers, defrauders, oppressors, and those in possession of illegitimate claims, let him take an opposite course. If time would permit, much more might be said about social, family, and individual legitimate rights; but as time hastens, I forbear for the present.

Well, brethren and sisters, may God bless you. Amen.

A sermon delivered by Elder P. P. Pratt, before the conference at Great Salt Lake City, April 7, 1853.

I was led to reflection on this subject, not only by my acquaintance with the present state of the world, and the movements and powers which seem new to many, but because this text, written by Isaiah so many centuries since, and copied by Nephi ages before the birth of Jesus Christ, seemed as appropriate, and as directly adapted to the present state of things, as if written but yesterday, or a year since.

“Should not a people seek unto their God, for the living to hear from the dead?” is a question by the Prophet, and at a time when they shall invite you to seek unto those familiar with spirits, and to wizards, &c., or in other words, to magnetizers, rappers, clairvoyants, writing mediums, &c. When they shall say these things unto you, then is the time to consider the question of that ancient Prophet—“Should not a people seek unto their God, for the living to hear from the dead?”

We hear much, of late, about visions, trances, clairvoyance, mediums of communication with the spirit world, writing mediums, &c., by which the world of spirits is said to have found means to communicate with spirits in the flesh. They are not working in a corner. The world is agitated on these subjects. Religious ministers are said to preach, editors to write and print, judges to judge, &c., by this kind of inspiration. It is brought into requisition to develop the sciences, to detect crime, and in short to mingle in all the interests of life.

In the first place, what are we talking about, when we touch the question of the living hearing from the dead? It is a saying, that “dead men tell no tales.” If this is not in the Bible, it is somewhere else; and if it be true, it is just as good as if it were in the Bible.

The Sadducees in the time of Jesus, believed there were no such things as angels or spirits, or existence in another sphere; that when an individual was dead, it was the final end of the workings of his intellectual being, that the elements were dissolved, and mingled with the great fountain from which they emanated, which was the end of individuality, or conscious existence.

Jesus, in reply to them, took up the argument from the Scriptures, or history of the ancient fathers, venerated by reason of antiquity, in hopes, by this means, to influence the Sadducees, or at least the Pharisees and others, by means so powerful and so well adapted to the end in view.

Said he, God has declared Himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living; as much as to say that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were not dead, but living; that they had never been dead at all, but had always been living; that they never did die, in the sense of the word that these Sadducees supposed, but were absolutely alive.

Now if intelligent beings, who once inhabited flesh, such as our fathers, mothers, wives, children, &c., have really died, and are now dead in the sense of the word, as understood by the ancient Sadducees, or modern Atheist, then it is in vain to talk of conversing with the dead. All controversy, in that case, is at an end on the subject of correspondence with the dead, because an intelligence must exist before it can communicate. If these individuals are dead, in the sense that the human body dies, then there is no communication from them. This we know, because of our own observation and experience. We have seen many dead bodies, but have never known of a single instance of any intelligence communicated therefrom.

Jesus, in his argument with the Sadducees, handled the subject according to the strictest principles of ancient and modern theology, and true philosophy. He conveyed the idea in the clearest terms, that an individual intelligence or identity could never die.

The outward tabernacle, inhabited by a spirit, returns to the element from which it emanated. But the thinking being, the individual, active agent or identity that inhabited that tabernacle, never ceased to exist, to think, act, live, move, or have a being; never ceased to exercise those sympathies, affections, hopes, and aspirations, which are founded in the very nature of intelligences, being the inherent and invaluable principles of their eternal existence.

No, they never cease. They live, move, think, act, converse, feel, love, hate, believe, doubt, hope, and desire.

But what are they, if they are not flesh and bones? What are they, if they are not tangible to our gross organs of sense? Of what are they composed, that we can neither see, hear, nor handle them, except we are quickened, or our organs touched by the principles of vision, clairvoyance, or spiritual sight? What are they? Why, they are organized intelligences. What are they made of? They are made of the element which we call spirit, which is as much an element of material existence, as earth, air, electricity, or any other tangible substance recognized by man; but so subtle, so refined is its nature, that it is not tangible to our gross organs. It is invisible to us, unless we are quickened by a portion of the same element; and, like electricity, and several other substances, it is only known or made manifest to our senses by its effects. For instance, electricity is not always visible to us, but its existence is made manifest by its operations upon the wire, or upon the nerves. We cannot see the air, but we feel its effects, and without it we cannot breathe.

If a wire were extended in connection with the equatorial line of our globe in one entire circle of 25,000 miles in extent, the electric fluid would convey a token from one intelligence to another, the length of the entire circle, in a very small portion of a second, or, we will say in the twinkling of an eye. This, then, proves that the spiritual fluid or element called electricity is an actual, physical, and tangible power, and is as much a real and tangible substance, as the ponderous rocks which were laid on yesterday in the foundation of our contemplated Temple.

It is true that this subtle fluid or spiritual element is endowed with the powers of locomotion in a far greater degree than the more gross or solid elements of nature; that its refined particles penetrate amid the other elements with greater ease, and meet with less resistance from the air or other substances, than would the more gross elements. Hence its speed, or superior powers of motion.

Now let us apply this philosophy to all the degrees of spiritual element from electricity, which may be as– sumed to be one of the lowest or more gross elements of spiritual matter, up through all the gradations of the invisible fluids, till we arrive at a substance so holy, so pure, so endowed with intellectual attributes and sympathetic affections, that it may be said to be on a par, or level, in its attributes, with man.

Let a given quantity of this element, thus endowed, or capacitated, be organized in the size and form of man, let every organ be developed, formed, and endowed, precisely after the pattern or model of man’s outward or fleshly tabernacle—what would we call this individual, organized portion of the spiritual element?

We would call it a spiritual body, an individual intelligence, an agent endowed with life, with a degree of independence, or inherent will, with the powers of motion, of thought, and with the attributes of moral, intellectual, and sympathetic affections and emotions.

We would conceive of it as possessing eyes to see, ears to hear, hands to handle; as in possession of the organ of taste, of smelling, and of speech.

Such beings are we, when we have laid off this outward tabernacle of flesh. We are in every way interested, in our relationships, kindred ties, sympathies, affections, and hopes, as if we had continued to live, but had stepped aside, and were experiencing the loneliness of absence for a season. Our ancestors, our posterity, to the remotest ages of antiquity, or of future time, are all brought within the circle of our sphere of joys, sorrows, interests, or expectations; each forms a link in the great chain of life, and in the science of mutual salvation, improvement, and exaltation through the blood of the Lamb.

Our prospects, hopes, faith, charity, enlightenment, improvement, in short, all our interests, are blended, and more or less influenced by the acts of each.

Is this the kind of being that departs from our sight when its earthly tabernacle is laid off, and the veil of eternity is lowered between us? Yes, verily. Where then does it go?

To heaven, says one; to the eternal world of glory, says another; to the celestial kingdom, to inherit thrones and crowns, in all the fullness of the presence of the Father, and of Jesus Christ, says a third.

Now, my dear hearers, these things are not so. Nothing of the kind. Thrones, kingdoms, crowns, principalities, and powers, in the celestial and eternal worlds, and the fullness of the presence of the Father, and of His Son Jesus Christ, are reserved for resurrected beings, who dwell in immortal flesh. The world of resurrected beings, and the world of spirits, are two distinct spheres, as much so as our own sphere is distinct from that of the spirit world.

Where then does the spirit go, on its departure from its earthly tabernacle? It passes to the next sphere of human existence, called the world of spirits, a veil being drawn between us in the flesh, and that world of spirits. Well, says one, is there no more than one place in the spirit world? Yes, there are many places and degrees in that world, as in this. Jesus Christ, when absent from his flesh, did not ascend to the Father, to be crowned, and enthroned in power. Why? Because he had not yet a resurrected body, and had therefore a mission to perform in another sphere. Where then did he go? To the world of spirits, to wicked, sinful spirits, who died in their sins, being swept off by the flood of Noah. The thief on the cross, who died at the same time, also went to the same world, and to the same particular place in the same world, for he was a sinner, and would of course go to the prison of the con– demned, there to await the ministry of that Gospel which had failed to reach his case while on the earth.

How many other places Jesus might have visited while in the spirit world is not for me to say, but there was a moment in which the poor, uncultivated, ignorant thief was with him in that world. And as he commenced, though late, to repent while on the earth, we have reason to hope that that moment was improved by our Savior, in ministering to him that Gospel which he had no opportunity to teach to him, while expiring on the cross. “This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise,” said Jesus, or, in other words, this day shalt thou be with me in the next sphere of existence—the world of spirits.

Now mark the difference. Jesus was there, as a preacher of righteousness, as one holding the keys of Apostleship, or Priesthood, anointed to preach glad tidings to the meek, to bind up the broken hearted, to preach liberty to the captive, and the opening of the prison to them that were bound. What did the thief go there for? He went there in a state of ignorance, and sin, being uncultivated, unimproved, and unprepared for salvation. He went there to be taught, and to complete that repentance, which in a dying moment he commenced on the earth.

He had beheld Jesus expire on the cross, and he had implored him to remember him when he should come into possession of his kingdom. The Savior under these extreme circumstances, did not then teach him the Gospel, but referred him to the next opportunity, when they should meet in the spirit world. If the thief thus favored continued to improve, he is no doubt waiting in hope for the signal to be given, at the sound of the next trump, for him to leave the spirit world, and to reenter the fleshly tabernacle, and to ascend to a higher degree of felicity. Jesus Christ, on the other hand, departed from the spirit world on the third day, and reentered his fleshly tabernacle, in which he ascended, and was crowned at the right hand of the Father. Jesus Christ then, and the thief on the cross, have not dwelt together in the same kingdom or place, for this eighteen hundred years, nor have we proof that they have seen each other during that time.

To say that Jesus Christ dwells in the world of spirits, with those whose bodies are dead, would not be the truth. He is not there. He only stayed there till the third day. He then returned to his tabernacle, and ministered among the sons of earth for forty days, where he ate, drank, talked, preached, reasoned out of the Scriptures, commissioned, commanded, blessed, &c. Why did he do this? Because he had ascended on high, and been crowned with all power in heaven and on earth, therefore he had authority to do all these things.

So much then for that wonderful question that has been asked by our Christian neighbors, so many thousand times, in the abundance of their charity for those who, like the thief on the cross, die in their sins, or without baptism, and the other Gospel ordinances.

The question naturally arises—Do all the people who die without the Gospel hear it as soon as they arrive in the world of spirits? To illustrate this, let us look at the dealings of God with the people of this world. “What can we reason but from what we know?” We know and understand the things of this world, in some degree, because they are visible, and we are daily conversant with them. Do all the people in this world hear the Gospel as soon as they are capable of understanding? No, indeed, but very few in comparison have heard it at all.

Ask the poor Lamanites who have, with their fathers before them, inhabited these mountains for a thousand years, whether they have ever heard the Gospel, and they will tell you nay. But why not? Is it not preached on the earth? Yea, verily, but the earth is wide, and circumstances differ very greatly among its different inhabitants. The Jews once had the Gospel, with its Apostleship, powers, and blessings offered unto them, but they rejected it as a people, and for this reason it was taken from them, and thus many generations of them have been born, and have lived and died without it. So with the Gentiles, and so with the Lamanites. God has seen proper to offer the Gospel, with its Priesthood and powers, in different ages and countries, but it has been as often rejected, and therefore withdrawn from the earth. The consequence is that the generations of men have, for many ages, come and gone in ignorance of its principles, and the glorious hopes they inspire.

Now these blessings would have continued on the earth, and would have been enjoyed in all the ages and nations of man, but for the agency of the people. They chose their own forms of government, laws, institutions, religions, rulers, and priests, instead of yielding to the influence and guidance of the chosen vessels of the Lord, who were appointed to instruct and govern them.

Now, how are they situated in the spirit world? If we reason from analogy, we should at once conclude that things exist there after the same pattern. I have not the least doubt but there are spirits there who have dwelt there a thousand years, who, if we could converse with them face to face, would be found as ignorant of the truths, the ordinances, powers, keys, Priesthood, resurrection, and eternal life of the body, in short, as ignorant of the fullness of the Gospel, with its hopes and consolations, as is the Pope of Rome, or the Bishop of Canterbury, or as are the Chiefs of the Indian tribes of Utah.

And why this ignorance in the spirit world? Because a portion of the inhabitants thereof are found unworthy of the consolations of the Gospel, until the fullness of time, until they have suffered in hell, in the dungeons of darkness, or the prisons of the condemned, amid the buffetings of fiends, and malicious and lying spirits.

As in earth, so in the spirit world. No person can enter into the privileges of the Gospel, until the keys are turned, and the Gospel opened by those in authority, for all which there is a time, according to the wise dispensations of justice and mercy.

It was many, many centuries before Christ lived in the flesh, that a whole generation, eight souls excepted, were cut off by the flood. What became of them? I do not know exactly all their history in the spirit world. But this much I know—they have heard the Gospel from the lips of a crucified Redeemer, and have the privilege of being judged according to men in the flesh. As these persons were ministered to by Jesus Christ, after he had been put to death, it is reasonable to suppose that they had waited all that time, without the knowledge or privileges of the Gospel.

How long did they wait? You may reckon for yourselves. The long ages, centuries, thousands of years which intervened between the flood of Noah and the death of Christ. Oh! the weariness, the tardy movement of time! The lingering ages for a people to dwell in condemnation, darkness, ignorance, and despondency, as a punishment for their sins. For they had been filled with violence while on the earth in the flesh, and had rejected the preaching of Noah, and the Prophets which were before him.

Between these two dispensations, so distant from each other in point of time, they were left to linger without hope, and without God, in the spirit world; and similar has been the fate of the poor Jew, the miserable Lamanite, and many others in the flesh. Between the commission and ministry of the Former and Latter-day Saints, and Apostles, there has been a long and dreary night of darkness. Some fifteen to seventeen centuries have passed away, in which the generations of man have lived without the keys of the Gospel.

Whether in the flesh, or in the spirit world, is this not hell enough? Who can imagine a greater hell than that before our eyes, in the circumstances of the poor, miserable, degraded Indian and his ancestors, since the keys of the Gospel were taken from them some fifteen hundred years ago? Those who had the Gospel in the former dispensations, and were made partakers of its spirit, its knowledge, and its powers, and then turned away, and became the enemies of God, and of His Saints, the malicious and willful opposers of that which they knew to be true, have no forgiveness in this world, neither in the spirit world, which is the world next to come.

Such apostates seek, in all dispensations, to bring destruction on the innocent, and to shed innocent blood, or consent thereto. For such, I again repeat, I know no forgiveness. Their children, who, by the conduct of such fathers, have been plunged into ignorance and misery for so many ages, and have lived without the privileges of the Gospel, will look down upon such a parentage with mingled feelings of horror, contempt, reproach, and pity, as the agents who plunged their posterity into the depths of misery and woe.

Think of those swept away by the flood in the days of Noah. Did they wait a long time in prison? Forty years! O what a time to be im– prisoned! What do you say to a hundred, a thousand, two thousand, three or four thousand years to wait? Without what? Without even a clear idea or hope of a resurrection from the dead, without the broken heart being bound up, the captive delivered, or the door of the prison opened. Did not they wait? Yes they did, until Christ was put to death in the flesh.

Now what would have been the result, if they had repented while in the flesh at the preaching of Noah? Why, they would have died in hope of a glorious resurrection, and would have enjoyed the society of the redeemed, and lived in happiness in the spirit world, till the resurrection of the Son of God. Then they would have received their bodies, and would have ascended with him, amid thrones, principalities, and powers in heavenly places.

I will suppose, in the spirit world, a grade of spirits of the lowest order, composed of murderers, robbers, thieves, adulterers, drunkards, and persons ignorant, uncultivated, &c., who are in prison, or in hell, without hope, without God, and unworthy as yet of Gospel instruction. Such spirits, if they could communicate, would not tell you of the resurrection or of any of the Gospel truths, for they know nothing about them. They would not tell you about heaven, or Priesthood, for in all their meanderings in the world of spirits, they have never been privileged with the ministry of a holy Priest. If they should tell all the truth they possess, they could not tell much.

Take another class of spirits—pious, well-disposed men; for instance, the honest Quaker, Presbyterian, or other sectarian, who, although honest, and well disposed, had not, while in the flesh, the privilege of the Priesthood and Gospel. They believed in Jesus Christ, but died in ignorance of his ordinances, and had not clear conceptions of his doctrine, and of the resurrection. They expected to go to that place called heaven, as soon as they were dead, and that their doom would then and there be fixed, without any further alteration or preparation. Suppose they should come back, with liberty to tell all they know? How much light could we get from them? They could only tell you about the nature of things in the world in which they live. And even that world you could not comprehend, by their description thereof, any more than you can describe colors to a man born blind, or sounds to those who have never heard.

What, then, could you get from them? Why, common chit chat, in which there would be a mixture of truth, and of error and mistakes, in mingled confusion: all their communications would betray the same want of clear and logical conceptions, and sound sense and philosophy, as would characterize the same class of spirits in the flesh.

Who, then, is prepared, among the spirits in the spirit world, to communicate the truth on the subject of salvation, to guide the people, to give advice, to confer consolation, to heal the sick, to administer joy, and gladness, and hope of immortality and eternal life, founded on manifest truth?

All that have been raised from the dead, and clothed with immortality, all that have ascended to yonder heavens, and been crowned as Kings and Priests, all such are our fellow servants, and of our brethren the Prophets, who have the testimony of Jesus; all such are waiting for the work of God among their posterity on the earth.

They could declare glad tidings if we were only prepared to commune with them. What else? Peter, James, Joseph, Hyrum, Father Smith, any, or all of those ancient or modern Saints, who have departed this life, who are clothed upon with the powers of the eternal Apostleship, or Priesthood, who have gone to the world of spirits, not to sorrow, but as joyful messengers, bearing glad tidings of eternal truth to the spirits in prison—could not these teach us good things? Yes, if they were permitted so to do.

But suppose all spirits were honest, and aimed at truth, yet each one could only converse of the things he is privileged to know, or comprehend, or which have been revealed to his understanding, or brought within the range of his intellect.

If this be the case, what then do we wish, in communicating with the eternal world, by visions, angels, or ministering spirits? Why, if a person is sick they would like to be visited, comforted, or healed by an angel or spirit! If a man is in prison, he would like an angel or spirit to visit him, and comfort or deliver him. A man shipwrecked would like to be instructed in the way of escape for himself and fellows from a watery grave. In case of extreme hunger a loaf of bread brought by an angel would not be unacceptable.

If a man were journeying, and murderers were lying in wait for him in a certain road, an angel would be useful to him in telling him of the circumstance, and to take another road.

If a man were journeying to preach the Gospel, an angel would be useful to tell the neighbors of his high and holy calling, as in case of Peter and Cornelius. Or would you not like to have angels all around you, to guard, guide, and advise you in every emergency?

The Saints would like to enter a holy temple, and have their President and his assistants administer for their dead. They love their fathers, although they had once almost for– gotten them. Our fathers have forgotten to hand down to us their genealogy. They have not felt sufficient interest to transmit to us their names, and the time and place of birth, and in many instances they have not taught us when and where ourselves were born, or who were our grandparents, and their ancestry. Why is all this? It is because of that veil of blindness which is cast over the earth, because there has been no true Church, Priesthood, or Patriarchal order, no holy place for the deposit or preservation of the sacred archives of antiquity, no knowledge of the eternal kindred ties, relationship, or mutual interests of eternity. The hearts of the children had become estranged from the fathers, and the hearts of the fathers from the children, until one came in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the keys of these things, to open communication between worlds, and to kindle in our bosoms that glow of eternal affection which lay dormant.

Suppose our temple was ready, and we should enter there to act for the dead, we could only act for those whose names are known to us. And these are few with the most of us Americans. And why is this? We have never had time to look to the heavens, or to the past or future, so busy have we been with the things of the earth. We have hardly had time to think of ourselves, to say nothing of our fathers.

It is time that all this stupidity and indifference should come to an end, and that our hearts were opened, and our charities extended, and that our bosoms expanded, to reach forth after whom? Those whom we consider dead! God has condescended so far to our capacity, as to speak of our fathers as if they were dead, although they are all living spirits, and will live forever. We have no dead! Only think of it! Our fathers are all living, thinking, active agents; we have only been taught that they are dead!

Shall I speak my feelings, that I had on yesterday, while we were laying those Corner Stones of the Temple? Yes, I will utter them, if I can.

It was not with my eyes, not with the power of actual vision, but by my intellect, by the natural faculties inherent in man, by the exercise of my reason, upon known principles, or by the power of the Spirit, that it appeared to me that Joseph Smith, and his associate spirits, the Latter-day Saints, hovered about us on the brink of that foundation, and with them all the angels and spirits from the other world, that might be permitted, or that were not too busy elsewhere.

Why should I think so? In the first place, what else on this earth have they to be interested about? Where would their eyes be turned, in the wide earth, if not centered here? Where would their hearts and affections be, if they cast a look or a thought towards the dark speck in the heavens which we inhabit, unless to the people of these valleys and mountains? Are there others who have the keys for the redemption of the dead? Is anyone else preparing a sanctuary for the holy conversation and ministrations pertaining to their exaltation? No, verily. No other people have opened their hearts to conceive ideas so grand. No other people have their sympathies drawn out to such an extent towards the fathers.

No. If you go from this people, to hear the doctrines of others, you will hear the doleful sayings—“As the tree falls, so it lyeth. As death leaves you, so judgment will find you. There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge in the grave, &c., &c. There is no change after death, but you are fixed, irretrievably fixed, for all eternity. The moment the breath leaves the body, you must go to an extreme of heaven or of hell, there to rejoice with Peter on thrones of power in the presence of Jesus Christ in the third heavens, or, on the other hand, to roll in the flames of hell with murderers and devils.” Such are the doctrines of our sectarian brethren, who profess to believe in Christ, but who know not the mysteries of godliness, and the boundless resources of eternal charity, and of that mercy which endureth forever.

It is here, that the spirit world would look with an intense interest, it is here that the nations of the dead, if I may so call them, would concentrate their hopes of ministration on the earth in their behalf. It is here that the countless millions of the spirit world would look for the ordinances of redemption, so far as they have been enlightened by the preaching of the Gospel, since the keys of the former dispensation were taken away from the earth.

Why? If they looked upon the earth at all, it would be upon those Corner Stones which we laid yesterday; if they listened at all, it would be to hear the sounds of voices and instruments, and the blending of sacred and martial music in honor of the commencement of a temple for the redemption of the dead. With what intensity of interest did they listen to the songs of Zion, and witness the feelings of their friends. They were glad to behold the glittering bayonets of the guards around the temple ground, and they longed for the day when there would be a thousand where there is now but one. They wish to see a strong people, gathered and united, in sufficient power to maintain a spot on earth where a baptismal font might be erected for the baptism for the dead.

It was here that all their expectations were centered. What cared they for all the golden palaces, marble pavements, or gilded halls of state on earth? What cared they for all the splendor, equipage, tides, and empty sounds of the self-styled great of this world, which all pass away as the dew of the morning before the rising sun? What cared they for the struggles, the battles, the victories, and numerous other worldly interests that vibrate the bosoms of men on either side? None of these things would interest them. Their interests were centered here, and thence extended to the work of God among the nations of the earth.

Did Joseph, in the spirit world, think of anything else, yesterday, but the doings of his brethren on the earth? He might have been necessarily employed, and so busy as to be obliged to think of other things. But if I were to judge from the acquaintance I had with him in his life, and from my knowledge of the spirit of Priesthood, I would suppose him to be so hurried as to have little or no time to cast an eye or a thought after his friends on the earth. He was always busy while here, and so are we. The spirit of our holy ordination and anointing will not let us rest. The spirit of his calling will never suffer him to rest, while Satan, sin, death, or darkness, possesses a foot of ground on this earth. While the spirit world contains the spirit of one of his friends or the grave holds captive one of their bodies, he will never rest, or slacken his labors.

You might as well talk of Saul, king of Israel, resting while Israel was oppressed by the Canaanites or Philistines, after Samuel had anointed him to be king. At first he was like another man, but when occasion called into action the energies of a king, the spirit of his anointing came upon him. He slew an ox, divided it into twelve parts, and sent a part to each of the tribes of Israel, with this proclamation—“So shall it be done to the ox of the man who will not come up to the help of the Lord of hosts.”

Ye Elders of Israel! You will find that there is a spirit upon you which will urge you to continued exertion, and will never suffer you to feel at ease in Zion while a work remains unfinished in the great plan of redemption of our race. It will inspire the Saints to build, plant, improve, cultivate, make the desert fruitful, in short, to use the elements, send missions abroad, build up states and kingdoms and temples at home, and send abroad the light of a never-ending day to every people and nation of the globe.

You have been baptized, you have had the laying on of hands, and some have been ordained, and some anointed with a holy anointing. A spirit has been given you. And you will find, if you undertake to rest, it will be the hardest work you ever performed. I came home here from a foreign mission. I presented myself to our President, and inquired what I should do next. “Rest,” said he.

If I had been set to turn the world over, to dig down a mountain, to go to the ends of the earth, or traverse the deserts of Arabia, it would have been easier than to have undertaken to rest, while the Priesthood was upon me. I have received the holy anointing, and I can never rest till the last enemy is conquered, death destroyed, and truth reigns triumphant.

May God bless you all. Amen.

A Sermon by President B. Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 6, 1853, at the General Conference.

We have assembled together this afternoon to continue the business of the Conference, a portion of which I feel should be devoted to instruction, teachings, traversing the experience of the Church, or in any way the Spirit of the Lord shall manifest.

The special business that has to be transacted in a Conference like this, can be done very quickly—perhaps we might do all that is necessary in half a day, or in a day at the furthest.

We came together for the purpose of worshipping the Lord, and many have come from a distance, who wished to come up here and join with their brethren in contemplating the work of the last days, and in speaking to each other comforting words, for it is a very agreeable exercise, on occasions like this, as well as in other meetings, to rehearse over to each other the scenes of life, the feelings of the heart, the tragedies that have passed among us, the difficulties we have surmounted, and the days, months, and years we have been brought through.

I will say, for one, so far as it concerns my own feelings, my brethren are at liberty to talk about that that is in their hearts. This is my privilege, and I wish it to be understood that it is the privilege of those who shall address this Conference. If they want to preach us a discourse on doctrine—on the gathering of Israel, for instance, they are at liberty so to do. If anyone wishes to preach the first principles of the Gospel—repentance and baptism, with the gifts, he is at liberty.

Were it not that our bodies have to be fed and clothed, I would propose that we tarry here a few months, to give all a chance to speak, to exhort, to pray, to prophesy, to sing, to speak in tongues, or to do whatsoever the Spirit should manifest unto them. But our work is a work of the present. The salvation we are seeking is for the present, and, sought correctly, it can be obtained, and be continually enjoyed. If it continues today, it is upon the same principle that it will continue tomorrow, the next day, the next week, or the next year, and, we might say, the next eternity.

If we are saved, we are happy, we are filled with light, glory, intelligence, and we pursue a course to enjoy the blessings that the Lord has in store for us. If we continue to pursue that course, it produces just the thing we want, that is, to be saved at this present moment. And this will lay the foundation to be saved forever and forever, which will amount to an eternal salvation.

Brethren, we have accomplished the design of our hearts, that we listed to accomplish. And really, this thought inadvertently rushes upon my mind—Wherein have we not accomplished all we have listed to do? Not only in excavating the earth, and laying down the Cornerstones in the center of the main body of the building we shall rear for the Temple, but wherein have we contemplated doing one thing we have not done, to build up the Kingdom of God? If there has been a failure, it does not occur to my mind at present. I cannot now recall to my mind one circumstance of that kind, with all the mobbing, driving, and afflictions that this people have passed through.

Though the enemy had power to kill our Prophet, that is, kill his body, did he not accomplish all that was in his heart to accomplish in his day? He did, to my certain knowledge, and I have many witnesses here that heard him declare that he had done everything he could do—he had revealed everything that could be revealed at present, he had prepared the way for the people to walk in, and no man or woman should be deprived of going into the presence of the Father and the Son, and enjoying an eternal exaltation, if they would walk in the path he had pointed out.

From the day that he fell, until this day, if there is one item of business, if there is one thing that should have been done by this people, that has not been done, I cannot call it to mind, though it looked gloomy for a month or six weeks past, the weather being so unfavorable with regard to being ready to lay those Cornerstones, today.

I am happy to say that there has been a great deal of faith manifested by the Saints, and, through that faith the Lord has granted unto us the desire of our hearts, or else the devil has been sent on an errand another way, and has forgotten himself. I do not think, however, he need trouble himself much about the world, for he has them secure enough. Perhaps he may have slept a little too long, as he has not been here on this notable day. I attribute it to our Father in heaven, for giving us this beautiful weather today.

The congregation was not accom– modated as we desired. We should have been pleased if they could have been so situated that all could have heard the orations, and prayers that were made upon those four stones; but they will be in print, so you can read them at your leisure.

I do not like to prophesy much, I never do, but I will venture to guess, that this day, and the work we have performed on it, will long be remembered by this people, and be sounded as with a trumpet’s voice throughout the world, as far, as loud, and as long as steam, wind, and the electric current can carry it. It is a day in which all the faithful will rejoice in all time to come.

Some will inquire, “Do you suppose we shall finish this Temple, brother Brigham?” I have had such questions put to me already. My answer is, I do not know, and I do not care anymore about it than I should if my body was dead and in the grave, and my spirit in Paradise. I never have cared but for one thing, and that is, simply to know that I am now right before my Father in Heaven. If I am this moment, this day, doing the things God requires of my hands, and precisely where my Father in Heaven wants me to be, I care no more about tomorrow than though it never would come. I do not know where I shall be tomorrow, nor when this Temple will be done—I know no more about it than you do. If God reveals anything for you, I will tell you of it as freely as to say, go to City Creek, and drink until you are satisfied.

This I do know—there should be a Temple built here. I do know it is the duty of this people to commence to build a Temple. Now, some will want to know what kind of a building it will be. Wait patiently, brethren, until it is done, and put forth your hands willingly to finish it. I know what it will be. I am not a visionary man, neither am I given much to prophesy– ing. When I want any of that done I call on brother Heber—he is my Prophet, he loves to prophesy, and I love to hear him. I scarcely ever say much about revelations, or visions, but suffice it to say, five years ago last July I was here, and saw in the Spirit the Temple not ten feet from where we have laid the Chief Cornerstone. I have not inquired what kind of a Temple we should build. Why? Because it was represented before me. I have never looked upon that ground, but the vision of it was there. I see it as plainly as if it was in reality before me. Wait until it is done. I will say, however, that it will have six towers, to begin with, instead of one. Now do not any of you apostatize because it will have six towers, and Joseph only built one. It is easier for us to build sixteen, than it was for him to build one. The time will come when there will be one in the center of Temples we shall build, and, on the top, groves and fish ponds. But we shall not see them here, at present.

The First Presidency proceeded to the southeast corner, to lay the first stone, though it is customary to commence at the northeast corner—that is the beginning point most generally, I believe, in the world. At this side of the equator we commence at the southeast corner. We sometimes look for light, you know, brethren. You old men that have been through the mill pretty well, have been inquiring after light—which way do you go? You will tell me you go to the east for light? So we commence by laying the stone on the south-east corner, because there is the most light.

Just as quick as the minutes of this day’s proceedings are out, there will be Elders, High Priests, and Seventies, inquiring whether the same order has been carried out today, as was observed in laying the Cornerstones of the other Temples. I want to give you a little history of it, that you may know.

When the cornerstones were laid in Kirtland, they had to pick up boys of fifteen and sixteen years of age, and ordain them Elders, to get officers enough to lay the Cornerstones. The Quorum of the Twelve, and the High Council, and many other authorities that now exist, were not then in existence. Joseph presided over the Church, by the voice of the Church.

Perhaps it may make some of you stumble, were I to ask you a question—Does a man’s being a Prophet in this Church prove that he shall be the President of it? I answer, no! A man may be a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, and it may have nothing to do with his being the President of the Church. Suffice it to say, that Joseph was the President of the Church, as long as he lived: the people chose to have it so. He always filled that responsible station, by the voice of the people. Can you find any revelation appointing him the President of the Church? The keys of the Priesthood were committed to Joseph, to build up the Kingdom of God on the earth, and were not to be taken from him in time or in eternity; but when he was called to preside over the Church, it was by the voice of the people; though he held the keys of the Priesthood, independent of their voice.

I want the Elders of Israel to reflect upon this subject. I would be glad to teach you something, that you may not get into such snarls as heretofore. You make me think of a child that is trying to make rope of a parcel of old thrums, until he gets the whole into snarls. It is so with the Elders of Israel as touching their ideas of the Priesthood.

Now hear me, and I will try to talk so that you can understand. I will presume to go a little further than I did, with regard to the President of the Church, and say to this people, a man might have visions, the angels of God might administer to him, he might have revelations, and see as many visions as you could count; he might have the heavens opened to him, and see the finger of the Lord, and all this would not make him the President of the Church, or an Elder, a High Priest, an Apostle; neither would it prove that he was even a Saint: something else is wanted to prove it. Why I mention this, is because of the frailty, weakness, and shortsightedness of the people. If a man should come and tell you he had had a vision, and could appear to substantiate his testimony that he had had the heavens opened to him, you would be ready to bow down and worship him; and he might be, at the same time, perfectly calculated to destroy the people—one of the biggest devils on earth. He would appear to be one of the finest of men, to be honest and unassuming, and come with all the grace and generalship of the devil, which is so well calculated to deceive the people. Admit this to be the case.

If you ask me what will prove a man or woman to be a Saint, I will answer the question. “If you love me,” says Jesus, “you will keep my sayings.” That is the touchstone. If you love the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Father, you will keep the commandments of the Son—you will do his will. If you neglect to do this, you may have all the visions and revelations that could be bestowed upon a mortal being, and yet be nothing but a devil. Why I use this expression is because when a man’s mind is enlightened, and he turns from that light to darkness, it prepares him to be a devil. A man never knew how to be wicked, until light and truth were first made manifest to him. Then is the time for men to make their decision, and if they turn away from the Lord, it prepares them to become devils.

Now, I want to go back, for I have wandered on a little with regard to laying the Cornerstones, and take up the Apostleship, in connection with this. Let me ask the High Priests’ Quorum a question, in order to bring out the thing I wish to lay before you. I ask the High Priests, from whence does the Apostleship grow? Does it grow out of the High Priesthood? I will venture to say, if I was not here today, and this question was proposed for debate, you would find the Elders in this congregation, perhaps, nearly equally divided on the point. There would be as many High Priests to say the Apostleship grows out of the High Priesthood, as there would to say it does not. Let me answer the question. Now recollect that the High Priesthood, and the Lesser Priesthood, and all the Priesthood there is, are combined, centered in, composed of, and circumscribed by, the Apostleship. Brethren, did you ever know that before? If you had read that book attentively [pointing to the Book of Covenants], it would have told you the story as I am now telling it to you, yet the High Priests did not know it.

I speak thus to show you the order of the Priesthood. We will now commence with the Apostleship, where Joseph commenced. Joseph was ordained an Apostle—that you can read and understand. After he was ordained to this office, then he had the right to organize and build up the kingdom of God, for he had committed unto him the keys of the Priesthood, which is after the order of Melchizedek—the High Priesthood, which is after the order of the Son of God. And this, remember, by being ordained an Apostle.

Could he have built up the Kingdom of God, without first being an Apostle? No, he never could. The keys of the eternal Priesthood, which is after the order of the Son of God, are comprehended by being an Apostle. All the Priesthood, all the keys, all the gifts, all the endowments, and everything preparatory to entering into the presence of the Father and of the Son, are in, composed of, circumscribed by, or I might say incorporated within the circumference of, the Apostleship.

Now who do we set, in the first place, to lay the Chief, the South East, Cornerstone—the corner from whence light emanates to illuminate the whole fabric that is to be lighted? We begin with the First Presidency, with the Apostleship, for Joseph commenced, always, with the keys of the Apostleship, and he, by the voice of the people, presiding over the whole community of Latter-day Saints, officiated in the Apostleship, as the first President.

What comes next in the Church? I will now refer you directly to the building up of the Kingdom of God in the last days. What do we see next? Joseph as an Apostle of the Lamb, with the keys of the eternal Priesthood committed unto him by Peter, James, and John. What for? To build up the Kingdom of God on the earth. Next grows out an office pertaining to the temporal affairs of this Kingdom, the keys of which are committed to man on the earth, preparatory to its establishment, preparatory to its spreading, growing, increasing, and prospering among the nations. The next step we see taken by the Lord, is to provide for the body, therefore some person must be appointed to fill this office, to stand side by side with this Apostle, this first President. Who was it? It was not brother Hunter. Who was it? It was brother Partridge. We see brother Partridge was called to fill that place before there was an Elders’ Quorum, or a High Priests’ Quorum, in existence, yea, before the thing was talked of, and also before the Twelve Apostles were chosen, not, however, before the revelation was given to signify there would be such a Quorum.

We see this Apostle with the keys of the Priesthood to build up the Kingdom, to give light to those who were in darkness, to succor those who were feeble, to sustain the trembling, to administer salvation to the penitent, and to be a stay and a staff to those who were ready to fall. We see this gigantic Apostle thus standing forth, clothed with the authority of heaven, to build up His cause on the earth. Him the Lord told to call a Bishop. So the Bishop was the next standing authority in the Kingdom of God; therefore we set the Bishop at the second corner of the building. The Melchizedek Priesthood, with the altar, fixtures, and furniture belonging thereunto, is situated on the East, and the Aaronic Priesthood belongs in the West; consequently the Presiding Bishop laid the second stone.

Do you ask, was it so in the other buildings? I do not know, neither do I care.

The High Priests’ Quorum—do they come next in order, do they next step into the field? No, not particularly, anymore than the Elders, nor the Elders anymore than the High Council, nor the High Council anymore than the Teachers, Deacons, or Priests. The High Priests’ Quorum is a standing Quorum, abiding at home. So is the Elders’ Quorum; but the place of the Bishop is in the temporal affairs in the Church; so then what shall we say? Why, out of due respect to the High Priesthood, which is nothing more than what is right and reasonable, that we should honor the Priesthood that God has bequeathed to us, we say to the High Priests; lay the third cornerstone.

We started at the South East Corner, with the Apostleship; then the Lesser Priesthood laid the second stone; we bring them in our ranks to the third stone, which the High Priests and Elders laid; we take them under our wing to the North East Cornerstone, which the Twelve and Seventies laid, and there again join the Apostleship. It circumscribes every other Priesthood, for it is the Priesthood of Melchizedek, which is after the order of the Son of God.

To say a man is an Apostle, is equal to saying that a man is ordained to build up the Kingdom of God from first to last; but it is not so by saying he is ordained a High Priest. The Bishopric by right belongs to the literal descendants of Aaron, but we shall have to ordain from the other tribes, men who hold the High Priesthood, to act in the Lesser, until we can find a literal descendant of Aaron, who is prepared to receive it.

The Lesser Priesthood then, you perceive, comes within the purview of the Apostleship, because a man that holds it has a right to act or officiate as a High Priest, as one of the High Council, as a Patriarch, as a Bishop, Elder, Priest, Teacher, and Deacon, and in every other office and calling that is in the Church, from first to last, when duty demands it.

This is the order of the Priesthood, brethren. I felt as though I wished to make some remarks upon this subject on the Temple ground; but dismissing the congregation hurt me much. I wanted to make some remarks at the same time, but I despaired of making you hear, so I thought I would omit speaking in the open air, and say what I had to say in the Tabernacle.

I know what was done at Nauvoo; it was all right. Everything is right with me. There the Twelve were called to lay the North West Cornerstone, if I mistake not. However, it is no matter, they were just as well there, as anywhere else. But to take up the Priesthood in its perfect order and form, you perceive that the Apos– tleship circumscribes everything in the Church of God on earth. This is the order, and I have endeavored to carry it out before you, that you all might know hereafter, what is the true order, as far as it can be exhibited in the laying of Cornerstones. So far as simply laying a cornerstone is concerned, one corner is just as good to me as another.

I will give you the explanation why we proceeded as we have. It was suggested to me, that perhaps the Twelve would feel better to lay the second stone. When I told them the fourth stone was the stone they should lay, it struck my mind that I was ordained an Apostle; and I still belong to the Apostleship; did you ever cut me off, brethren? [Voices in the stand, No.] It struck my mind if you wanted to lay the second stone, you did not feel that you had the Apostleship in you, or you did not feel like as I did; for it is the beginning and the end, the height, depth, length, and breadth of all that is, that was, and ever can be to all eternity. I have not heard that there were any feelings about the matter, only somebody suggested the thing. It was three of the Twelve, then, that laid the first stone, and then the Quorum of the Twelve laid the fourth.

Now will it cause some of you to marvel that I was not ordained a High Priest before I was ordained an Apostle? Brother Kimball and myself were never ordained High Priests. How wonderful! I was going to say how little some of the brethren understood the Priesthood, after the Twelve were called. In our early career in this Church, on one occasion, in one of our Councils, we were telling about some of the Twelve wanting to ordain us High Priests, and what I said to brother Patten when he wanted to ordain me in York State: said I, brother Patten, wait until I can lift my hand to heaven and say, I have magnified the office of an Elder. After our conversation was over in the Council, some of the brethren began to query, and said we ought to be ordained High Priests; at the same time I did not consider that an Apostle needed to be ordained a High Priest, an Elder, or a Teacher. I did not express my views on the subject, at that time, but thought I would hear what brother Joseph would say about it. It was William E. McLellin who told Joseph, that I and Heber were not ordained High Priests, and wanted to know if it should not be done. Said Joseph, “Will you insult the Priesthood? Is that all the knowledge you have of the office of an Apostle? Do you not know that the man who receives the Apostleship, receives all the keys that ever were, or that can be, conferred upon mortal man? What are you talking about? I am astonished!” Nothing more was said about it.

I know that Joseph received his Apostleship from Peter, James, and John, before a revelation on the subject was printed, and he never had a right to organize a Church before he was an Apostle.

I have tried to shew you, brethren, as briefly as possible, the order of the Priesthood. When a man is ordained to be an Apostle, his Priesthood is without beginning of days, or end of life, like the Priesthood of Melchizedek; for it was his Priesthood that was spoken of in this language, and not the man.

When I arose to address you, I wanted to talk to you a little of my experience in practical “Mormonism,” but I have not had time, and have talked long enough already. I have been round about it, you know, for it is all inside of what I have been telling you.

May the Lord bless you forever, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

An Address by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, March 27th, 1853.

I do not know that I can speak so that you can hear me, as you perceive something affects my throat; I wish, however, to say a few words to you this morning; I would like to say considerable—a good many words, but perhaps a few will answer.

There are a goodly number in the congregation, who have been acquainted with this Church and kingdom from its rise, and that knew Joseph in his first career in the Gospel. There are many here that have been in the Church for fifteen, sixteen, and some more than twenty years. I have been in the Church, wanting a few days of twenty-one years, and there are a considerable number that I know have been in it longer than I have. They knew Joseph—they knew him from week to week, and from year to year, they knew what he did, they knew how he spake, they knew the spirit he possessed, they were acquainted with it, it is the same spirit they possess to the present day—the spirit of “Mormonism,” the spirit of the Gospel. I will ask those brethren, and those sisters, if they believe Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God? If they believe that he magnified his calling? I will ask them if Joseph lived and died a Prophet of God, and what would they answer? All men and women know, by the power of the Holy Ghost, by the spirit they know it, by the light that is in them, for light cleaveth to light, and truth embraces truth. These pure attributes, as I told you here a few Sabbaths ago, stand upon their own basis—the fabric sustains itself, but falsehood, and that which is built upon it, will, sooner or later, fall.

How many witnesses could we bring, men that are upon the islands of the sea, in foreign lands, and people scattered through the United States, hundreds and thousands in their poverty, who are not able to gather with the Saints; I ask, what would they witness if they were here today? They would tell you; and they would sound it so that all the world might hear, if they could, that Joseph Smith was a man called of God to build up His kingdom in the last days, preparatory to the coming of the Son of Man.

There are many witnesses here, not only witnesses of Joseph and his career, but witnesses of the disaffected spirits that have come into this Church, and gone out again. Are there witnesses of men trying to rise up and usurp Joseph’s place in his day? Yes, there are many witnesses, that many men tried it. Are there witnesses here, of the rise and fall of men in this kingdom? Yes, plenty of them. I have witnessed more than has been pleasing to me. It delights me to see men come into the Church, and magnify the Holy Priesthood, but it is a grievous matter to see men turn away from the holy commandments delivered unto them, gather to themselves false spirits, follow after a phantom, and be duped by the devil—be ensnared by the power of the enemy, and give way to it until they fall. It is a source of regret, but we witness it, we could name many of this class.

Let me ask this congregation, that portion of it that was in Jackson County; and again that portion that was in Kirtland in the days of Joseph, and in leaving Kirtland; then those that were in Caldwell and Davis counties, Missouri; then ask these who were in Nauvoo in his day, and after he was slain; these portions of my congregation which I have mentioned I will ask, what has produced your persecutions and sorrow? What has been the starting point of all your afflictions? They began with apostates in your midst; these disaffected spirits caused others to come in, worse than they, who would run out and bring in all the devils they possibly could. That has been the starting point and grand cause of all our difficulties, every time we were driven. Are there not witnesses of this, here? Yes, a good portion of this congregation are witnesses of these things, although many of them never saw Joseph, and were not personally acquainted with him.

We have been persecuted—we have built houses, made farms, cultivated the land, broken up the wild prairie, and made it like the Garden of Eden; we have fenced, built, and gathered substance around us many times, and as many times have been driven from our possessions, until we came to this inheritance which we now enjoy in these valleys of the mountains.

Now think a moment, reflect, and ask yourselves what do we see here? I am coming nearer home, I am coming to this place; what do we see here? Do we see disaffected spirits here? We do. Do we see apostates? We do. Do we see men that are following after false and delusive spirits? Yes. When a man comes right out, as an independent devil, and says, “Damn Mormonism, and all the Mormons,” and is off with himself, not to Texas, but to California, (you know it used to be to Texas), I say he is a gentleman, by the side of a nasty sneaking apostate who is opposed to nothing but Christianity. I say to the former, Go in peace, sir, go and prosper if you can. But we have got a set of spirits here worse than such a character. When I went from meeting, last Sabbath, my ears were saluted with an apostate crying in the streets here.

I want to know if any one of you who has got the spirit of “Mormonism” in you, the spirit that Joseph and Hyrum had, or that we have here, would say, Let us hear both sides of the question, let us listen, and prove all things? What do you want to prove? Do you want to prove that an old apostate, who has been cut off from the Church thirteen times for lying, is anything worthy of notice?

I heard that a certain gentleman, a picture maker in this city, when the boys would have moved away the wagon in which this apostate was standing, became violent with them, saying, “Let this man alone, these are Saints that are persecuting (sneeringly).” We want such men to go to California, or anywhere they choose. I say to those persons, you must not court persecution here, lest you get so much of it you will not know what to do with it. Do not court persecution. We have known Gladden Bishop for more than twenty years, and know him to be a poor, dirty curse. Here is sister Vilate Kimball, brother Heber’s wife, has borne more from that man than any other woman on earth could bear; but she won’t bear it again. I say again, you Gladdenites, do not court persecution, or you will get more than you want, and it will come quicker than you want it. I say to you Bishops, do not allow them to preach in your wards. Who broke the roads to these valleys? Did this little nasty Smith, and his wife? No, they stayed in St. Louis while we did it, peddling ribbons, and kissing the Gentiles. I know what they have done here—they have asked exorbitant prices for their nasty stinking ribbons. [Voices, “that’s true.“] We broke the roads to this country. Now, you Gladdenites, keep your tongues still, lest sudden destruction come upon you.

I will tell you a dream that I had last night. I dreamed that I was in the midst of a people who were dressed in rags and tatters, they had turbans upon their heads, and these were also hanging in tatters. The rags were of many colors, and, when the people moved, they were all in motion. Their object in this appeared to be, to attract attention. Said they to me, “We are Mormons, brother Brigham.” “No, you are not,” I replied. “But we have been,” said they, and they began to jump, and caper about, and dance, and their rags of many colors were all in motion, to attract the attention of the people. I said, “You are no Saints, you are a disgrace to them.” Said they, “We have been Mormons.” By and by, along came some mobocrats, and they greeted them with, “How do you do, sir, I am happy to see you.” They kept on that way for an hour. I felt ashamed of them, for they were in my eyes a disgrace to “Mormonism.” Then I saw two ruffians, whom I knew to be mobbers and murderers, and they crept into a bed, where one of my wives and children were. I said, “You that call yourselves brethren, tell me, is this the fashion among you?” They said, “O, they are good men, they are gentlemen.” With that, I took my large bowie knife, that I used to wear as a bosom pin in Nauvoo, and cut one of their throats from ear to ear, saying, “Go to hell across lots.” The other one said, “You dare not serve me so.” I instantly sprang at him, seized him by the hair of the head, and, bringing him down, cut his throat, and sent him after his comrade; then told them both, if they would behave themselves they should yet live, but if they did not, I would unjoint their necks. At this I awoke.

I say, rather than that apostates should flourish here, I will unsheath my bowie knife, and conquer or die. [Great commotion in the congregation, and a simultaneous burst of feeling, assenting to the declaration.] Now, you nasty apostates, clear out, or judgment will be put to the line, and righteousness to the plummet. [Voices, generally, “go it, go it.“] If you say it is right, raise your hands. [All hands up.] Let us call upon the Lord to assist us in this, and every good work.

After Alfred Smith was called upon to go on a mission, he would not go, and I knew he would apostatize. Do you suppose that after a man has refused to fulfil his calling, he can retain the spirit of truth, and stand? He cannot. They say they believe that Joseph Smith was a Prophet raised up to establish the work of the last days, and bring forth the Book of Mormon; and thus they deceive. But if you will examine them you will not find anything but contradiction to every principle of truth.

I felt to say this that I have said, though my throat is very sore, but I think this exercise has done it good. I feel to say to Jew and to Gentile, Let this people alone in these valleys of the mountains, or you will find that which you are not looking for. We are on the Lord’s side, and we have the tools to work with. But shall this people sink? No. The time has come that Israel shall be redeemed, and they never shall be trampled under foot again. Now is the time; Joseph told us, before he was killed, the set time to favor Zion had come. I want you to hear, Bishops, what I am about to tell you. Kick these men out of your wards. If you want to apostatize, apostatize, and behave yourselves. You shall not disturb my peace, nor the peace of this people. If you want to go to California, go, and serve Gladden Bishop there, if you wish, but disturb not this community, or else you will find judgment is laid to the line. Do not court persecution, for, remember, you are not playing with shadows, but it is the voice and the hand of the Almighty you are trying to play with, and you will find yourselves mistaken if you think to the contrary.

May the Lord bless you, my brethren; and I pray, all the time, that we may be preserved in the truth, that when the Lord has anything for us, we may be ready to receive it, and thus serve Him all the day long. If we have not been driven far enough to enjoy peace, tell me where next we can be driven to, to find it; and if apostates follow, let them follow.

An Address by Elder P. P. Pratt, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, March 27th, 1853.

Brethren and Sisters—My feelings are with those who have spoken, decidedly and firmly so. You have heard with reference to the experience of the past. I have had an opportunity to obtain experience in the past, and to observe as much perhaps as any one individual now living, as it regards the Church of the Saints in this age.

And I bear testimony, not only by the Holy Spirit, but by personal observation, memory, experience, and knowledge, that what has been said is true, strictly speaking, in all its bearings, in regard to the result of apostasy, as it relates to persecutions, breaking up, robbing, plundering, suffering, and martyrdom in this world.

The subject that has been presented here by President Young, I have revolved over in my own mind, and reflected upon it in its order. I remember well several scenes, and the places, he referred to; and I do not know of one single persecution, of any magnitude, that brought trouble and general distress upon the people of God in this age, that was not brought about directly by means of those that went out from ourselves, who professed to be of us, if I may except the first trouble in Jackson County, Missouri. I lived there at that time, and I do not personally know that apostates, or unlawful conduct on the part of those professing to be Saints, was the particular agent of bringing about that persecution. I do not know, so far as my own acquaintance with the circumstances is concerned, but that may be an exception. I do not recollect but what the world there, without aid from apostates, arose up and did what they did.

[Mr. Pratt’s mind was refreshed by a person in the stand, that there was an apostate who wrote a book previous to that persecution.] I now recollect there were some writers, among which was a Mr. Booth, that had been ordained to the Priesthood in this Church. He published things well calculated to bring on persecution. There might have been others also.

But I was speaking of personal actors, there, in the county. It was not then, as generally is the case, or as it has been since, aided by those from among ourselves. In all the general persecutions, from that time to the present, I do not recollect of a single instance, that the general storm was not brought about by men from among ourselves, professing the name, membership, and Priesthood of the Latter-day Saints, traitors to the cause that they professed to believe. This was the direct means of the suffering, and the breaking up, of the community in Kirtland; of the breaking up of the community in, and the expulsion of them from, Missouri. It was the direct means of this last persecution which led to the martyrdom of the Prophet, and the destruction of many others; the plundering of millions, the burning of our Temple, and our migration to this country. We came here for peace. We are now in a place where the extended desert, and snow clad mountains, widely intervene on every side between us and our neighbors, that they may not tread on our toes, and that we may not tread on theirs.

We know who led us here. It was not only the Almighty God, by His matchless providence, but by His servant—he that stands at the head of this people, and those that were with him. These were they that led us here—that so counseled and arranged and organized our local matters, that we have been sustained here, and have been fed, clothed, sheltered, and preserved. We have obtained our local, political rights and privileges, and have been enabled to preserve them inviolate in the face of all the opposition, lies, and slanders, which have been so industriously circulated.

Many of us here, as well as many who sleep in the dust, have been worn out in industriously accumulating property, making homes, and being deprived of them by violence and robbery. We have spent our lives in making homesteads, fencing, improving, cultivating, &c., without enjoying the fruits of our labors.

Sooner than be subjected to a repetition of these wrongs, I, for one, would rather march out today and be shot down. These are my feelings, and have been for some time. Talk about liberty of conscience! Have not men liberty of conscience here? Yes. The Presbyterians, Methodists, Quakers, &c., have here the liberty to worship God in their own way, and so has every man in the world. People have the privilege of apostatizing from this Church, and of worshipping devils, snakes, toads, or geese, if they please, and only let their neighbors alone. But they have not the privilege to disturb the peace, nor to endanger life or liberty; that is the idea. If they will take that privilege, I need not repeat their doom, it has been told here today, they have been faithfully warned.

Why is it that these apostates wish to cram down people’s stomachs that which they loathe? That which they have no wish either to hear, think about, or digest? If the people of a neighborhood, ward, or city, wish to speak, hear, or worship, or to discuss any subject, they have public and private buildings, schoolhouses, churches, or assembly rooms in abundance. Why, then, are our streets disturbed by tumults, railings, slanderous, abusive, and treasonable language, under the name of preaching? If the city, or a large portion of its citizens, wish to discuss any general principle, here is the Tabernacle, and yonder is the State House, or the Theater—all owned by the people, and under their control. Where is the need, then, of preaching in the streets. But where is the city or community to be found, who wish to discuss that which they already know and understand? As to this man, or rather “thing,” called Gladden Bishop, and his pretended visions and revelations, I know him of old. I knew him in Ohio, some eighteen or twenty years ago. I remember his name. My memory is poor in names, many of you know; but when there is something associated with a name, that stamps it strongly on my mind, I am not apt to forget it. I scarcely ever heard that name in my life, that it was not associated with some imposition or falsehood in the name of the Lord. If he was tried before the Councils of the Church, he would confess that he had lied, in pretending to visions, angels, and revelations, and ask forgiveness. If he was excommunicated, he would join again, &c.

I never heard of him in any other light, but as a man or a “thing” that crept in from time to time among the Saints, with attempts to deceive the people with one imposition or another.

His difficulty all the time was, that the people would not be deceived by him. I will not put him on a level with other apostates. Where can we find one of them that has not had some influence? I know of no one that had not some followers for awhile, although none could keep them; but I never knew Gladden Bishop to gain a single follower among his personal acquaintance. He was disfellowshipped, and received on his professions of repentance, so often, that the Church at length refused to admit him any more as a member. These apostates talk of proof! Have we not proved Joseph Smith to be a Prophet—a restorer, standing at the head of this dispensation? Have we not proved the Priesthood which he placed upon others by the command of God?

I see no ground, then, to prove or to investigate the calling of an apostate, who has always been trying to impose upon this people. It is too late in the day for us to stop to inquire whether such an outcast has the truth.

We have truths already developed, unfulfilled by us—unacted upon. There are more truths poured out from the eternal fountain, already, than our minds can contain, or than we have places and preparations to carry out. And yet we are called upon to prove—what? Whether an egg that was known to be rotten fifteen years ago, has really improved by reason of age!!

“You are going to be destroyed,” say they, “destruction awaits this City!” Well! What if we are? We are as able to be destroyed as any people living. What care we whether we are destroyed or not? These old tabernacles will die of themselves, if let alone.

We have nothing to fear on that head, for we are as well prepared to die as to live. One thing we have heard today, and I am glad to hear it. We shall not be destroyed in the old way—as we have been heretofore. We shall have a change in the manner, at least. We shall probably be destroyed standing, this time, and not in a sitting or lying position. We can die as well as others who are not as well prepared! I am glad that while we do live we shall not submit to be yoked or saddled like a dumb ass. We shall not stand still to see men, women, and children murdered, robbed, plundered, and driven any more, as in the States heretofore. Nor does God require it at our hands. That is the best news we have heard today.

You may say, Wait till an enemy forms a league with others for your destruction. We would do this, if we did not know the spirit that actuates our enemies. Ignorant of this, we might sit down and wait till men did actually cut our throats, in order to prove them. But if you will manifest to me a spirit in any person, I will tell you where that spirit leads, and so can President Young and his Counselors, and every true-hearted Saint who has experience in the operations of spiritual powers. We will try to act in time, and not suffer the spirit of destruction to ripen in our midst.

It is not enough for people to have liberty to worship according to sectarianism, Judaism, heathenism, and everything else, but they wish the liberty to stab you to the heart.

It is policy not to wait till you are killed, but act on the defensive while you still live. I have said enough on this subject.

I rejoice in living with this people. As brother Kimball said, this was his heaven. It is mine. There might be a better people, but we can’t find them—they are not known upon the earth, in mortal flesh. If we find a better people we shall have to wait till people grow better.

If we should find a better people before ourselves are grown better, we could not live among them, and that would be the hell of it. We have found a people as good as we are, and we are agreed to live together. The light of truth has united us, and the spirit has baptized us into a degree of oneness. The world thinks we are one in the highest sense of the term; but God sees that there is much room for us to improve in oneness. Where shall we begin to improve? I don’t know of anything better calculated to improve our union than to have some wide meshes in the net, to let those slip through who don’t wish to be gathered, and to unite with the rest. There is an accumulation here of the good and the bad, the chaff and the wheat, the tares and the good grain, the good and bad fish which the Gospel net gathers. The only safe way is for the good and bad to be separated. I like to see the roads open, the snow disappear from the canyons, that spirits not congenial to the Gospel of peace may go as many roads as there are points of the compass. Such movements give opportunity for the Saints to draw the cords of union still closer. May God bless you all. Amen.

A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, February 27, 1853.

I arise to make a few remarks, upon the subject on which brother Hyde was speaking, concerning the privileges of the Saints. I think that he has plainly shown us, that privileges are, in a measure, disconnected with duties; and although we may not exercise ourselves in all of them that we might, still, we shall not fall under condemnation for this neglect.

The privileges of the Saints of God, and that are granted unto the inhabitants of the earth, are founded upon the principles of truth and righteousness; but many people use them to their own condemnation; yet, if they knew how to receive and act upon them, there would be no condemnation, but to the contrary, a blessing. This remark applies not only to the privilege of dancing (for such it is), that has been spoken of this morning, but to all other acts and privileges that exist, and still are not specifically pointed out by revelation as duties or requirements. All blessings of this nature are to be used as such, understandingly, by the Saints, and upon righteous principles.

What are the privileges of the Saints in these valleys? Are they abridged in the least? Can they not accumulate wealth by trading with each other with emigrants, by cultivating the soil, raising stock, going to the mines and digging for gold—in short, pursuing any and every avocation to increase in wealth, and accumulate unto themselves the things of this world? Still further, if they wish to act upon unrighteous principles, they can take advantage of their neighbor’s necessity, ask extortionate prices for rendering any little-assistance or service, and after thus dishonestly filling their purses, go to the gambling table, or grog shop, and spend it by getting drunk, and rolling in the streets. Almost numberless indeed are the privileges and blessings of the human family, and their abuses co-extensive therewith.

But when blessings and privileges are to be used by the Saints, it should be so as not to bring condemnation. Upon what principle, when, and where may we use them? I have the privilege of associating myself with my brethren and sisters in the dance. When can I do this without abusing this privilege, and thereby bringing condemnation upon myself? I answer, it is when I have performed every act, every duty that is incumbent upon me, when every necessary labor and requirement is accomplished, when I have served my God and my brethren, when I have performed every act required of me, until nothing remains to be done, but to lie down and rest, to seek recreation, then it becomes my lawful privilege, and not before. I fear this is quite different from the practice of many. I also, as well as others, could act upon unrighteous principles, if I would, and neglect my duties pertaining to life and salvation.

Suppose you go into some of the wards and say, “we have obtained some music, let us go into the schoolhouse and have a dance.” “O yes!” is the ready response, and they will immediately prepare, get ready their sons and their daughters, and, leaving all important duties pertaining to their welfare here and hereafter, unattended to, fill the house to overflowing. Brethren, you will use these privileges to your own destruction, if you are not careful. Yes, you could have a full house, dancing attendance to the sounds of revelry and music; but, on the other hand, suppose your invitation is to your neighbor, “Come, brethren, sisters, we are going to have a prayer meeting over at the schoolhouse. Will you go? Will you come? Not to dance, but to pray!” “Well, really, I do not see how I can; my work is not done; I have a few chores [trifling domestic affairs] to do yet; I have agreed to go to a neighbor’s on business; a neighbor promised to call on me tonight, and I cannot well leave. I should like very much to go, but I really do not see that I can tonight.” In short, excuses are not wanting. I say to you, my brethren, and to myself, if we take this course, condemnation is our doom, we will ruin, condemn ourselves, and the Lord Almighty will judge us out of our own mouths. This is the tale told as it is. It is not for any of us to enjoy the privilege of the dance, or any other recreation, until every duty that is enjoined upon us is performed.

I cannot, legally, have the privilege of exercising myself perfectly independent of my brethren, until I have performed every requirement that they have placed upon me; the same applies to you and all Saints.

I ask the brethren, do you pray before you go to these dances? When you return, are you not tired, fatigued, and is not your mind filled with nonsense, so that you do not want to pray; and finally, do you not conclude to wait, to put it off until morning? This abuse of this privilege, of this blessing, will bring condemnation to thousands; and not this alone, but all the privileges of this life, if they are not wisely used.

When you go to amuse, or recreate yourselves in any manner whatever, if you cannot enjoy the Spirit of the Lord then and there, as you would at a prayer meeting, leave that place; and return not to such amusements or recreation, until you have obtained the mastery over yourself, until you can command the influences around you, that you may have the Spirit of the Lord in any situation in which you may be placed. Then, and not until then, does it become the privilege of you, of me, or of any of the Saints, to join in the festivities designed by our Creator for our recreation. I wish that you would remember it; and that you may, I repeat that it is not your lawful privilege to yield to anything in the shape of amusement, until you have performed every duty, and obtained the power of God to enable you to withstand and resist all foul spirits that might attack you, and lead you astray; until you have command over them, and by your faith, obtained, through prayer and supplication, the blessings of the Holy Spirit, and it rests upon, and abides continually with you.

You can never obtain my consent to engage in amusements and recreations, until you are in this situation, until you are exercised and influenced by the Spirit of the Lord our God. Hear it, all ye Latter-day Saints! Will you spend the time of your probation for naught, and fool away your existence and being? You were organized, and brought into being, for the purpose of enduring forever, if you fulfil the measure of your creation, pursue the right path, observe the requirements of the Celestial law, and obey the commandments of our God. It is then, and then only, you may expect that the blessing of eternal lives will be conferred upon you. It can be obtained upon no other principle. Do you understand that you will cease to be, that you come to a full end, by pursuing the opposite course?

The privileges and blessings of the Saints of the Most High God are many. Yes! All there is in heaven, and on the earth—kingdoms, thrones, principalities, powers, heights, depths, things present, and things to come; with all you can see, hear, or think of, realize or contemplate; everything in heaven; earth, or hell, is for your glory, exaltation, and excellence, if by your lives you honor the Priesthood which has been conferred upon you; and, in the proper time, all will become subservient unto you, but not until then. But if you submit to serve your own feelings, and if you desire not to build up the kingdom of God, and sanctify your hearts, they will lead you down to be eternally subject thereunto—subject to the power that will afflict and torment you, and eventually bring you to destruction; whereas, if you pursue the opposite course, those feelings and passions will become subject unto you; you will be enabled to govern and control them, and cause them to serve you, and subserve the object and design for which they were planted in your bosoms.

Often have I looked at individuals passing to and fro through our Territory, and heard them say, “These are the jolly Mormons; these are the merry Mormons, I never saw such a society!” Why is this? Simply because they enjoy themselves, because they take so much comfort.

Is a man a Saint, who comes into the Church of God under such influences, merely because the Saints appear to be happy? No, he is not. No person can be a Saint, unless he receives the Holy Gospel, for the purity, justice, holiness, and eternal duration of it. Everything else tends to decay, separation, annihilation; no, not annihilation, as we use the English term, there is no such principle as this, but dissolution or decomposition.

Now, you Elders who understand the principles of the kingdom of God, what would you not give, do, or sacrifice, to assist in building up His kingdom upon the earth? Says one, “I would do anything in my power, anything that the Lord would help me to do, to build up His kingdom.” Says another, “I would sacrifice all my property.” Wonderful indeed! Do you not know that the possession of your property is like a shadow, or the dew of the morning before the noonday sun, that you cannot have any assurance of its control for a single moment! It is the unseen hand of Providence that controls it. In short, what would you not sacrifice? The Saints sacrifice everything; but, strictly speaking, there is no sacrifice about it. If you give a penny for a million of gold! A handful of earth for a planet! A temporary worn out tenement for one glorified, that will exist, abide, and continue to increase throughout a never ending eternity, what a sacrifice to be sure!

Many, no doubt, would consider it a great sacrifice to be called to go on a mission a few years; to leave wife, children, friends, comfortable homes, travel perhaps on foot, encounter storms on the sea, be in perils on land among mobs, and be hated of all men. It is true we might consider this a great sacrifice, and yet men do all this, and more—they risk their own lives upon their venture to get gold, to follow the allurements of pleasure. And should not the Saints of the Most High God be more willing, more anxious to promote the cause of their holy religion, devoting themselves, their influence, property, and, if necessary, their existence, than the votaries of fashion, the devotees of wealth and pleasure, and to merely sensual, temporary objects of worldly gain or aggrandizement? Verily I say unto you, if you are not, and if you have a spirit to seek after the giddy, vain, foolish vanities of the world, the things pertaining only to the gratification of present feelings, passions, and selfish desires, and have no spirit of prayer and supplication, cannot and do not feel to exercise an interest above all others, for the cause of truth, my advice and counsel is for all such, to go straightway to the gold mines of California, and seek for gold, for rest assured, as many as have this spirit, will run as their unrighteous feelings prompt or dictate. Yes! Go to the gold region, and do not come and seek my counsel about it, whether I am willing that you should go or not, for I am not only willing that you should leave, but anxious that you may as soon as possible.

If you do not love God, and His cause, better than everything else besides, and cannot with a good heart and willing hand, build it up upon the earth; if you will not repent of your follies, and get the Spirit of truth in you, so as to love it, and feel willing to sacrifice all for it, you cannot build up the kingdom of God.

Confidence, brethren, Confidence in our God, and in each other, is the text I gave the Twelve and all others who preached last sabbath, to preach from. The Twelve received missions to preach to the people in these valleys, in their various locations, last Conference; and I believe they have been tolerably faithful, under the direction of the President of their Quorum, brother Hyde. Let them now preach from this text, Confidence; and let the entire people act upon its principles, and notice when and where it will begin and end, and see if we do not establish such confidence in this community, among this people, as never did, nor ever will exist upon the earth, in any community of people but Saints. I may say, that we have it already; but I think that an increase of faith in our God, and confidence in each other, is desirable. If we could obtain that faith and confidence in each other, and in our God, that when we ask a favor, we could do so with a full assurance and knowledge that we should receive, do you not perceive that it would lead us directly to do as we would be done by, in every transaction and circumstance of life. It would prompt us to do, not only as much as requested, but more. If your brother should request you to go with him a mile, you would go two; if he should sue you for your coat, you would give him your cloak also. This principle prompts us to do all we can to promote the interest of each other, the cause of God on the earth, and whatever the Lord desires us to do; makes us ready and willing to perform it at once. It needs the language of angels to express our ideas, to converse with each other in a manner to be perfectly understood. When we see and comprehend things in the Spirit, we ofttimes realize an utter inability to simplify and tell them in our language, to others; though we may receive principles, and convey the same to others, to some extent. It would be a great consolation to me, inasmuch as faith comes by hearing the word of God, if I had language to express my feelings. No man can tell all that he can see in the Spirit, when the vision of the Spirit is upon him. He can see and understand in the Spirit only. He cannot tell it, yet many things may be given, in part, to others.

I thought, while brother Rich was speaking upon certain principles, how beautiful, how satisfactory it would be to the Saints, could they converse in a pure language; if they could have the language of angels with which to communicate with each other. I have contemplated the principles that per– tain to salvation—the principles which I have been trying to lay before you; the acts of men, and how they should be ordered before their God. I would simply say, we must attend to the duties which are laid upon us, before we enjoy our privileges.

What principle does this convey to your minds? None, unless your minds are open, and enlightened by the visions of the Holy Spirit. The principles of truth are eternal. The mind would ask at once, what is truth? It is any thing, principle, or fact that actually has an existence. If a falsehood, yet it is true that falsehood exists. It is as true that devils exist, as that Gods exist.

Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The devil also says, “I am, I exist;” and consequently, by the same rule, “I am Truth.” How far short is this of what the Lord reveals by His Holy Spirit! Jesus Christ, his Father before him, all the faithful, the Gods of eternity, and all organized elements, have been organized for the express purpose of being exalted to an eternal increase; or suppose I say to eternal truth. Would this convey to your minds that the devil, because it is a truth that he exists, could attain to the same power and exaltation? Suppose that we admit the idea that we shall see the time when we can combine and organize elements, bring worlds into existence, redeem, and bring them up to eternal glory, by merely saying—“I am Truth.” As before quoted, “Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.” We can turn round and say—Satan is the way, the truth, and the death; or the way, and the falsehood. Can you perceive the difference? But to say that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, is equivalent to saying that he is the only continued or eternal existence. The Lord Jesus Christ works upon a plan of eternal increase of wisdom, intelligence, honor, excel– lence, power, glory, might, and dominion, and the attributes that fill eternity. What principle does the devil work upon? It is to destroy, dissolve, decompose, and tear in pieces. The principle of separation, or disorganization, is as much an eternal principle, as much a truth, as that of organization. Both always did and will exist. Can I point out to you the difference in these principles, and show clearly and satisfactorily the benefit, the propriety, and necessity of acting upon one, anymore than the other? I will try in my own way, as briefly as I can. It is plain to me, but can you understand it?

In the first place, matter is eternal. The principle of annihilation, of striking out of existence anything that has existed, or had a being, so as to leave an empty space which that thing occupied, is false, there is no such principle in all the eternities. What does exist? Matter is eternal. We grow our wheat, our fruit, and our animals. There they are organized, they increase and grow; but, after awhile, they decay, dissolve, become disorganized, and return to their mother earth. No matter by what process, these are the revolutions which they undergo; but the elements of the particles of which they were composed, still do, always have, and always will exist, and through this principle of change, we have an eternal increase.

But Satan works upon the opposite principle; he seeks to destroy, would annihilate if he could, but only decomposes, disorganizes. Permit me to inquire what was his curse? It was, that he should not increase anymore, but come to an end.

When I came to the door of the tabernacle, this morning, I heard brother Rich telling about one-third part of the heavenly host revolting from the government of Jehovah. This was their curse—to never have tabernacles to dwell in. They now exist in Spirit, but shall never have a body, nor be exalted; they shall have no further addition to their existence; whilst those who did not rebel, could have tabernacles, and, through the resurrection, become personages of tabernacle in the eternal world. There it is, on the one hand, and on the other. You can now see the benefit, the propriety of obeying the principles which lead to eternal lives, exaltations, and increase; and why it is that Jesus Christ has so much more power than Satan. The power of the evil one is beyond the conception of man; his cunning craft, and winning ways to insinuate and introduce himself into a community, an individual. This is to obtain, if possible, a tabernacle, which, although a borrowed one, yet increases his power, so long as he can wield it to suit his purposes; and if he fails in this, and in enticing unto evil, then, his object is to decompose, to destroy, that the good power, the good influence, may, like himself, become bereft of the power pertaining to an embodied spirit.

The Lord operates upon the principles of continuing to organize, of adding to, gathering up, bringing forth, increasing and spreading abroad; while the opposite power does not. It shows the nature of his opposition to that peculiar trait of Christianity, based upon the principles of eternal duration, increase, power, glory, and exaltation; and points out the difference between the two adverse powers.

Again, what do you love truth for? Is it because you can discover a beauty in it, because it is congenial to you or because you think it will make you a ruler, or a Lord? If you conceive that you will attain to power upon such a motive, you are much mistaken. It is a trick of the unseen power, that is abroad amongst the inhabitants of the earth, that leads them astray, binds their minds, and subverts their understanding.

Suppose that our Father in heaven, our elder brother, the risen Redeemer, the Savior of the world, or any of the Gods of eternity should act upon this principle, to love truth, knowledge, and wisdom, because they are all powerful, and by the aid of this power they could send devils to hell, torment the people of the earth, exercise sovereignty over them, and make them miserable at their pleasure; they would cease to be Gods; and as fast as they adopted and acted upon such principles, they would become devils, and be thrust down in the twinkling of an eye; the extension of their kingdom would cease, and their Godhead come to an end.

Language, to convey all the truth, does not exist. Even in the Bible, and all books that have been revealed from heaven unto man, the language fails to convey all the truth as it is. Truth, wisdom, power, glory, light, and intelligence exist upon their own qualities; they do not, neither can they, exist upon any other principle. Truth is congenial with itself, and light cleaves unto light, it seeks after itself, and clings thereto. It is the same with knowledge, and virtue, and all the eternal attributes; they follow after and attract each other. Mercy cleaves to mercy, because it is mercy; light to light, because it is light, and there is no darkness, no deception, no falsehood in it. Truth cleaves unto truth, because it is truth; and it is to be adored, because it is an attribute of God, for its excellence, for itself. It is upon this principle, that these principles should be held, esteemed, practiced. Any persons, men or women, who do not receive these principles for the love which they bear towards them, because of their beauty, excellence, and glory; and because they are congenial to their feelings upon this principle, are not Saints! They exist upon their own basis, and rest upon their own foundation. Eternal justice, mercy, love, and truth, never can be moved; they are attributes that correspond, and are congenial with each other; they promote each other, fortify the heavens, the Gods, and that which the Gods possess.

Now look upon the opposite side of these principles. Suppose you say, “We will give up the pursuits of our holy religion. We are not Latter-day Saints. Let us go and seek after the things of the world, speculate, get unto ourselves riches, turn away from our duties, neglect the things pertaining to our salvation, go with the giddy, the frivolous, the seeker after gold, to California, Australia, or elsewhere, for the purpose of acquiring wealth.” I tell you the result of that course. You would cease to increase in all the attributes of excellence, glory, and eternal duration, from that very moment. So soon as you conceive such ideas, they find a soil within you prepared to nurture them, and it brings forth their direful effects; from that very moment you cease to increase. The opposite principle seizes you, fastens itself upon you, and you decrease, lessen, diminish, decay, and waste away in quality, excellence, and strength, until your organization becomes extinct, oblivion covers you, your name is blotted out from the Book of Life, from the heavens, from the earth, and from under the earth, and you will return, and sink into your natural element, which cannot be destroyed, though many read the Bible as conveying such an idea, but it does not.

The principle opposite to that of eternal increase from the beginning, leads down to hell; the person decreases, loses his knowledge, tact, talent, and ultimately, in a short period of time, is lost; he returns to his mother earth, his name is forgotten. But where, Oh! Where is his spirit? I will not now take the time to follow his destiny; but here, strong language could be used, for when the Lord Jesus Christ shall be revealed, after the termination of the thousand years’ rest, he will summon the armies of heaven for the conflict, he will come forth in flaming fire, he will descend to execute the mandates of an incensed God, and, amid the thunderings of the wrath of Omnipotence, roll up the heavens as a scroll, and destroy death, and him that has the power of it. The rebellious will be thrown back into their native element, there to remain myriads of years before their dust will again be revived, before they will be reorganized. Some might argue that this principle would lead to the reorganization of Satan, and all the devils. I say nothing about this, only what the Lord says—that when he comes, “he will destroy death, and him that has the power of it.” It cannot be annihilated; you cannot annihilate matter. If you could, it would prove there was empty space. If philosophers could annihilate the least conceivable amount of matter, they could then prove there was the minutest vacuum, or empty space; but there is not even that much, and it is beyond the power of man to prove that there is any.

Brethren, what is it that you love the truth for? Is it because it gives you the power, the authority of the Priesthood? Is it because it makes you rulers, kings, and priests unto our God, and gives you great power? There are men professing to be Saints, even in this congregation, within the sound of my voice, who feel how almighty they have become. They will curse you, if you do not see proper to comply with their wishes. Many men have feelings in their hearts towards their wives, that if they will not do precisely as they wish to perform this or that, they will curse them. What wonderful things they are going to do! “If you do not obey my voice, my counsel, I will send you to hell, and turn the keys upon you, that you may never! No Never! be released.” Sisters, you might as well heed the crackling of thorns under the pot, the passing idle bird, or the croaking of a crane, so far as their Priesthood is concerned. You are safe, if they will only keep their hands off from you; let them curse. It reminds me of a proverb which the Arabs have, that “cursings are like young chickens, they will still come home to roost.”

Is it for this—is it because it gives you such great power and authority, that you love the Truth? That it gives you power to curse your neighbors, your neighbor’s children, their cattle, and everything around you? Let all such go away to their own place, to California, by the northern route; not to San Bernardino, at brothers Lyman and Rich’s location, for they have devils enough there already; but go into the world entirely away from the Saints, and the sooner the better.

Men should act upon the principle of righteousness, because it is right, and is a principle which they love to cherish and see practiced by all men. They should love mercy, because of its benevolence, charity, love, clemency, and of all of its lovely attributes, and be inspired thereby to deal justly, fairly, honorably, meting out to others their just deservings.

If selfishness prompts you to embrace the truth, if it is merely to exalt yourself and your friends that you covenant to serve your God, and that is your only motive, you had better pass on the northern route, for we can do you no good if you wait, or remain with us; not but that God has regard for all His children; but He loves those who love all the principles of righteousness, because they are righteous, and have a delight in the exercise of pure principles, of virtue, of excellence and truth, of meekness, long-suffering, and self-denial, mercy, and charity.

I am aware that my language fails to convey my ideas to you as I could wish. But I will proceed a little further. A great promise was made to Abraham, which was—you shall have seed, and unto your increase there shall be no end. The same promise was made unto the Savior; and unto every true and faithful man who serves God with all his heart, and whose delight is in keeping the law of the Lord, obeying the behests of Jehovah, and building up His kingdom upon the earth.

The Elders of Israel frequently call upon me—“Brother Brigham, a word in private, if you please.” Bless me, this is no secret to me, I know what you want, it is to get a wife! “Yes, brother Brigham, if you are willing.”

I tell you here, now, in the presence of the Almighty God, it is not the privilege of any Elder to have even one wife, before he has honored his Priesthood, before he has magnified his calling. If you obtain one, it is by mere permission, to see what you will do, how you will act, whether you will conduct yourself in righteousness in that holy estate. Take care! Elders of Israel, be cautious! Or you will lose your wives and your children. If you abuse your wives, turn them out of doors, and treat them in a harsh and cruel manner, you will be left wifeless and childless; you will have no increase in eternity. You will have bartered this blessing, this privilege, away; you will have sold your birthright, as Esau did his blessing, and it can never come to you again, never, no never!

Look to it, ye Elders! You will awake from your dream, alas! But too soon, and then you will realize the truth of the remarks I am making today. Whose privilege is it to have women sealed to him? It is his who has stood the test, whose integrity is unswerving, who loves righteousness because it is right, and the truth be- cause there is no error therein, and virtue because it is a principle that dwells in the bosom of Him who sits enthroned in the highest heavens; for it is a principle which existed with God in all eternities, and is a cooperator, a coworker betwixt man and his Maker, to exalt man, and bring him into His presence, and make him like unto Himself! It is such a man’s privilege to have wives and children, and neighbors, and friends, who wish to be sealed to him. Who else? No one. I tell you nobody else. Do you hear it?

Many applications will unquestionably be made to me for wives, and, perhaps, by men too who will steal, or trespass upon me, their neighbors, kill their stock, do wickedly in various ways. Nothing would damn such men sooner than to give them this privilege. I answer the brethren, they have to go upon their own responsibility. I tell you the truth. If you are a first-rate good man, and honor your Priesthood, it is your privilege. The man who has proved himself before God, has been faithful, has gone through and performed everything the Lord has laid upon him to do, for the purpose of building up and sustaining His kingdom, has proved himself before men, angels, and his Father in heaven, he is the only character that will increase, and obtain a celestial glory. Others may seem to prosper, to increase for a season, but by and by they are left in the shade, their glory is clipped, and their house is left unto them desolate.

Pray the Lord to inspire your hearts. Ask for wisdom and knowledge. It is our duty to seek after it. Let us seek, and we shall find; knock, and it will be opened unto us. But as for His coming down here to pour His Spirit upon you, while you are aiming after the vain and frivolous things of the world; indulging in all the vanity, nonsense, and foolery which surrounds you; drinking in all the filthy abomination which should be spurned from every community on the earth—so long as you continue this course, rest assured He will not come near you.

I will not enter into particulars. You already know enough about them. I ask that you would leave it off; refrain, purify, and sanctify yourselves before your God, and get so much of the spirit of truth that you may become filled with it, so that you can shout aloud with all your might to the praise of God, and feel your hearts clear as the noonday sun. Then you can dance, and glorify God; and as you shall abide in the truth, God will raise you up, and add to your numbers, so that your train will fill the Holy Temple, as it was said of the Lord by one of old. May the Lord bless you. Amen.

A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered at the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, Feb. 20, 1853.

Truly happy is that man, or woman, or that people, who enjoys the privileges of the Gospel of the Son of God, and who know how to appreciate his blessings. Who is that person, or that people? We are ready to reply, “The Latter-day Saints are the only people on earth, that we have any knowledge of, to whom the everlasting Gospel has been given in these days; they are the only people who are the heirs to it, with all its blessings and privileges. Not to our knowledge is there any other people on the face of this globe, that enjoy this inestimable blessing.” True, all mankind enjoy to a certain degree its influence, the manifestations of the Author, Proprietor, and Giver of the Gospel of life and salvation to fallen man. All the offspring of Adam from his day to this, have enjoyed, to a greater or less degree, the light, the glory, and the manifestations of the countenance of their Lord. But they have not enjoyed in all ages the Gospel, with its ordinances, blessings, and privileges. This is the only people that now enjoys such signal favors. The Priesthood has been upon the earth from time to time, and the kingdom of God has been organized to certain degrees, but we can truly say, this is the time of times, we live in the day of days, we enjoy the blessings of the blessed, and have bestowed upon us, in the fulness of times, privileges that surpass all privileges hitherto bestowed upon mankind. In this dispensation all things will be gathered together in one, and, strange and marvelous as it may appear to the world, these are the people who are the instruments in the hand of God to bring it to pass. This is a truth that no arguments can successfully bear down. No matter how it is despised, persecuted, or neglected, as a frivolous, trifling, and childish work, it is true, and it will remain; it is the kingdom of heaven upon the earth. Here is the plan of salvation, here are the words of life, here is the light of eternity, here is the intelligence that will instruct kings, and impart judgment to rulers. It is em- bodied here in the midst of this people, and from them the rays of heavenly light, wisdom, and intelligence have spread upon the wide earth; and the Spirit of the Lord, that fills immensity, has been poured out upon its face, giving light to every man and woman that cometh into this world.

Brethren and sisters, can we realize its greatness? Arouse the reflecting and reasoning faculties with which you are endowed, reason upon your past experience in this Church, and then inquire if you are as happy as you anticipated you would be, if you have received that which you desired, if you enjoy that which was once in the future to you—and what will be your reasonable conclusions? What would an enlightened judgment tell you? What would the spirit of truth decide? That here are the pure rays of light, here is heaven on earth; and no argument, no intelligence, no influence of earth and hell combined could disprove it, or produce one good reason to the contrary. You may then ascend to the powers supreme, and consult the intelligence that fills the bosom of eternity; you may inquire of the Creator, Organizer, and Preserver of the Universe, our Father who is in heaven; you may associate with the glorious retinue of Saints, angels, martyrs, and the spirits of just men made perfect; and they will all, with one voice as it were, testify to the truth of this work in which we are engaged. On the other hand, nothing short of the power of the Almighty, nothing short of the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ, can prove to you that this is the work of God. Men uninspired of God cannot by their worldly wisdom disprove it, or prevail against it; neither can they by wisdom alone prove it to be true, either to themselves or to others. Their not being able to prevail against it does not prove it to be the kingdom of God, for there are many theories and systems on the earth, incontrovertible by the wisdom of the world, which are nevertheless false. Nothing less than the power of the Almighty, enlightening the understandings of men, can demonstrate this glorious truth to the human mind.

When you were in your native homes in the old countries and in the United States, before you gathered with the people of God, what were your thoughts and expectations, when you looked forward to the period of your being embodied with the Saints? What were the vision of your mind, and the operations of the Spirit upon your understanding? When you were gathered with the Saints of the Most High, and became associated as a brother, a sister, and a neighbor with that blessed society, you expected to enjoy the manifestations of the Lord Jesus Christ, to walk in the light of his countenance, and by the power of the Holy Ghost have the oracles of truth revealed to you continually, and that you would be in heaven, and in the Zion of the Lord. These were your expectations. You did not expect to hear the name of the God we serve blasphemed from morning until evening; you expected to be delivered from hearing the blasphemies of your wicked shopmates, from the tyranny of your ungodly employers, and from the persecutions of the bigoted religionists, who were all united to pick you to pieces, and destroy you both temporally and spiritually, if it were possible; on one side you were sheared, and on the other shaved. You were annoyed with the ungodly conversation and filthy deeds of your neighbors, your peace was destroyed, and you could not enjoy that happiness held out to you in the Gospel; yet you felt the influence of the spirit of truth burning in your heart, which kindled in you a longing desire to mingle with the Saints; you would exclaim, “Oh! that I could enjoy the society of the Saints, and make my escape from this ungodly place. Oh! that I had means to gather up my little family, and journey to the place of the gathering of the Saints of the Most High.” This was your feeling, and this your prayer. You anticipated deliverance from hell, to find a heaven with the Saints; you expected to exchange confusion for a Zion of order and beauty, misery for peace and happiness, blasphemy and tumult for quietness and reverence to the name of God, starvation for plenty; in short, you expected to find a place where all evil had ceased, and iniquity and sorrow were brought to an end, and where you would bask undisturbed in the smiles of the countenance of your Lord from day to day. I think I have drawn a faithful picture of what were the thoughts of the majority of this people, before they were gathered to the body of the Church.

Now, brethren and sisters, what hinders you from enjoying all you anticipated? The calm reflections of your own minds, and the conclusions of a well balanced judgment, enlightened by the Spirit of the Lord, will give you a correct answer to this question. I can answer it for myself, and perhaps for many of you. If I do not enjoy all I anticipated, if my happiness is not as complete as I anticipated, if the light of the Holy Spirit is not in my heart to that degree which I expected it would be, if I have not obtained all I anticipated when I was down in yonder world, mingled with the wicked, the cause is in myself, in my own heart, in my own disposition, in the weakness of human nature; it is my own will that prevents me from enjoying all I anticipated, and more. It is a mistaken idea to suppose that others can prevent me from enjoying the light of God in my soul; all hell cannot hinder me from enjoying Zion in my own heart, if my individual will yields obedience to the requirements and mandates of my heavenly Master. He has set me a pattern to copy, which, if I imitate faithfully, will yield to me all and more of heaven in my own heart than I can anticipate. This is my answer.

Brother Erastus Snow asked a question—“If my neighbor shall do wrong to me, am I thereby compelled to do wrong to my next neighbor?” I say, no. If a brother shall tread down my grain, that is ripening in the field, am I thereby compelled to run through and tread down yours? No. When a person steals my poles from the fence, am I compelled to steal yours? If my neighbor, or my brother in the Church, shall swear, and take the name of God in vain, does it necessarily follow that I must use the same language? If my brother shall do wrong in any way, it does not follow that I shall be justified in committing one single evil in all the acts of my life. Let each Latter-day Saint examine himself, and inquire, “Am I one of those persons who will do right in all things, though others may do wrong? Am I that person that will serve the Lord with my house, that will cease from every evil act, and from every evil word, though my neighbors, or my brethren and sisters, may do the opposite?” Let the spirit within you reply to these questions, and in every breast the response is, “Let me be that person, let me do right from this time henceforth and forever, without committing another evil.” Then what, have you got? You have got heaven in your own bosoms, you have got Zion in your hearts, you have obtained all the glory, all the peace, all the joy, all the comfort, and all the light you anticipated when you were mingling with the wicked world. If you are deceived, who will deceive you? If you are wronged, who wrongs you? If you are cheated out of your crown at last, who has cheated you? These questions may apply in different ways. They may apply to the business operations of the world, as well as to the grace of God in the heart, and the salvation of the soul. It is to the latter I wish them more particularly to apply. Who has influence over any one of you, to cause you to miss salvation in the celestial kingdom of God? I will answer these questions for myself. If brother Brigham and I shall take a wrong track, and be shut out of the kingdom of heaven, no person will be to blame but brother Brigham and I. I am the only being in heaven, earth, or hell, that can be blamed.

This will equally apply to every Latter-day Saint. Salvation is an individual operation. I am the only person that can possibly save myself. When salvation is sent to me, I can reject or receive it. In receiving it, I yield implicit obedience and submission to its great Author throughout my life, and to those whom He shall appoint to instruct me; in rejecting it, I follow the dictates of my own will in preference to the will of my Creator. There are those among this people who are influenced, controlled, and biased in their thoughts, actions, and feelings by some other individual or family, on whom they place their dependence for spiritual and temporal instruction, and for salvation in the end. These persons do not depend upon themselves for salvation, but upon another of their poor, weak, fellow mortals. “I do not depend upon any inherent goodness of my own,” say they, “to introduce me into the kingdom of glory, but I depend upon you, brother Joseph, upon you, brother Brigham, upon you, brother Heber, or upon you, brother James; I believe your judgment is superior to mine, and consequently I let you judge for me; your spirit is better than mine, therefore you can do good for me; I will submit myself wholly to you, and place in you all my confidence for life and salvation; where you go I will go, and where you tarry there I will stay; expecting that you will introduce me through the gates into the heavenly Jerusalem.”

I wish to notice this. We read in the Bible, that there is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars. In the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, these glories are called telestial, terrestrial, and celestial, which is the highest. These are worlds, different departments, or mansions, in our Father’s house. Now those men, or those women, who know no more about the power of God, and the influences of the Holy Spirit, than to be led entirely by another person, suspending their own understanding, and pinning their faith upon another’s sleeve, will never be capable of entering into the celestial glory, to be crowned as they anticipate; they will never be capable of becoming Gods. They cannot rule themselves, to say nothing of ruling others, but they must be dictated to in every trifle, like a child. They cannot control themselves in the least, but James, Peter, or somebody else must control them. They never can become Gods, nor be crowned as rulers with glory, immortality, and eternal lives. They never can hold scepters of glory, majesty, and power in the celestial kingdom. Who will? Those who are valiant and inspired with the true independence of heaven, who will go forth boldly in the service of their God, leaving others to do as they please, determined to do right, though all mankind besides should take the opposite course. Will this apply to any of you? Your own hearts can answer. Do you know what is right and just, as well as I do? In some things you do, and in some things you may not know as well; but I will explain what I mean, in the following words—I will do all the good I can, and all I know how to do, and I will shun every evil that I know to be an evil. You can all do that much. I will apply my heart to wisdom, and ask the Lord to impart it to me; and if I know but little, I will improve upon it, that tomorrow I may have more, and thus grow from day to day, in the knowledge of the truth, as Jesus Christ grew in stature and knowledge from a babe to manhood; and if I am not now capable of judging for myself, perhaps I shall be in another year. We are organized to progress in the scale of intelligence, and the least Saint by adhering strictly to the order of God, may attain to a full and complete salvation through the grace of God, by his own faithfulness.

I know how it was in Jackson County. There are families in this city that went to that county twenty-one or twenty-two years ago last fall, if I mistake not. I know what their feelings were. All their desire was to got into the town of Independence, Jackson County, where they expected to find all sin and iniquity dried up, heaven begun on earth, and an end to all their mortal griefs. That was the motive that prompted them to go there. Poor souls, how little they knew about salvation and its mode. I might have gone there too, but I wanted to thunder and roar out the Gospel to the nations. It burned in my bones like fire pent up, so I turned my back upon Jackson County to preach the Gospel of life to the people. Such were the feelings of those who went up to Jackson County, but I did not want to go there, nothing would satisfy me but to cry abroad in the world, what the Lord was doing in the latter days. After awhile this undercurrent began to work two ways; and they had more trouble in Independence than we had in York State; it came foaming, and bellowing, and pressing upon them until they had to fly.

I wish to ask those persons who were driven from Jackson County, if they suffered as much in the actual driving as they would have done in the anticipation of it a year before it took place? You will all reply that, if you had known it a year beforehand, you would not have endured the thought. I wish to apply this both ways. You that have not passed through the trials, and persecutions, and drivings, with this people from the beginning, but have only read of them, or heard some of them related may think how awful they were to endure, and wonder that the Saints survived them at all. The thought of it makes your hearts sink within you, your brains reel, and your bodies tremble, and you are ready to exclaim, “I could not have endured it.” I have been in the heat of it, and I never felt better in all my life; I never felt; the peace and power of the Almighty more copiously poured upon me than in the keenest part of our trials. They appeared nothing to me. I hear people talk about their troubles, their sore privations, and the great sacrifices they have made for the Gospel’s sake. It never was a sacrifice to me. Anything I can do or suffer in the cause of the Gospel, is only like dropping a pin into the sea; the blessings, gifts, powers, honor, joy, truth, salvation, glory, immortality, and eternal lives, as far outswell anything I can do in return for such precious gifts, as the great ocean exceeds in expansion, bulk, and weight, the pin that I drop into it. Had I had millions of wealth, and had I devoted it all to the building up of this people, and said, “Take it, and build temples, cities, and fortifications with it,” and left myself pennyless, would it have been a sacrifice? No, not to my feelings. Suppose I should be called to preach the Gospel until my head is white, and my limbs become weak with age, until I go down into my grave, and never see my family and friends again in the flesh, would it be a sacrifice? No, but one of the greatest blessings that could be conferred upon mortal man, to have the privilege of calling thousands, and perhaps millions, from darkness to light, from the power of Satan and unrighteousness to the principles of truth and righteousness in the living God.

I was as ready to pass through the scenes of mobbing and driving in Jackson County, as I was to pass through the troubles in Kirtland, Ohio; in Davis and Caldwell Counties, Missouri; in Illinois; and up to this place. And what of it? I have not known or seen a single sacrifice that this people have made. There has not been one such providence of the Almighty to this people, that was not calculated to sanctify the pure in heart, and enrich them with blessings instead of curses—enrich them not only with earthly blessings, but with crowns of glory, immortality, and eternal lives in the presence of God. Where, then, is the sacrifice this people have ever made? There is no such thing—they have only exchanged a worse condition for a better one, every time they have been moved—they have exchanged ignorance for knowledge, and inexperience for its opposite.

I want you to look at the Saints before they first gathered to be mobbed; they expected all sin to be at an end at the place of gathering. These were my own feelings, though I did not gather with them at that time. I had to go out and preach, lest my bones should consume within me. But I will tell you what I did do, I commenced to contract my business operations and dealings, and laid away my ledger, and notebooks, saying, “I shall never want you any more.” I believe that those who want– ed to be Saints indeed, should do everything to promote righteous principles and peace among men, and be perfectly of one heart and of one mind. I laid aside my old account books, because I expected we should be one family, each seeking to do his neighbor good, and all be engaged to do all the good possible. To carry out this principle faithfully, would crown the people of God with good to overflowing. It is easy for us to think how things should be, but the difficulty is, things are not always as we would like to have them. Though if the Saints at that time could have rightly judged of appearances, could have understood the aspect around them, it was clear that sorrow and trouble were impending. It was right they did not see the dark cloud that was ready to burst with violence upon their heads.

In the short speech of not more than five minutes, which I delivered in the old Bowery, when that judge publicly insulted this people, there were men and women in the congregation who suffered more in the anticipation of what might be the result of it in future, than the generality of this people have suffered in being actually mobbed. They could see, in imagination, all hell let loose upon us, themselves strung up, their ears cut off, their bowels torn out, and this whole people cut to pieces. After they had had time to think, they found themselves still alive and unhurt, to their great astonishment. They suffered as much as though they had been sent to the bottom of the bottomless pit. They suffered all this, because I told that corrupt man, that he ought to be kicked out of the territory for his insolence and barefaced presumption. I know this people have suffered more by the contemplation of trouble, than they have when actually passing through it.

As they have magnified future trouble almost infinitely beyond its real dimensions, so they have imagined to themselves a greater heaven than they can find in Zion, at its present stage of progression. You do not enjoy the Zion you anticipated. That mankind make mistakes in these two ways must be apparent to those who have felt the workings of hope and fear in their nature. People suffer more in the anticipation of death, than in death itself. There is more suffering in what I call borrowed trouble, than in the trouble itself. On the other hand, you have anticipated more Zion, more happiness, and more glory in the flesh than you will ever realize in this mortality. Those who are apt to go to one extreme, are almost sure to go to the other, which always causes disappointment, either agreeably, or disagreeably. These two extremes have caused the Saints much trouble; and some, for want of patience, and a little reasonable thought, have laid the blame of their disappointments in the wrong quarter, and have apostatized from the Church, never thinking the blame was in themselves. Upon these weaknesses of human nature the devil works sometimes very successfully. But brethren, we cannot escape from ourselves; and while we remain in this tabernacle, our onward course will be obstructed, more or less, by the weakness to which the mortal flesh is subject. By and by our bodies will go to their mother earth, and receive a resurrection, and become glorious; then we shall enjoy all, and more than the heart of man can conceive, unless it is inspired by the Holy Ghost. This will be the inheritance of the faithful.

There is much room for improvement in all. If we commence from this day, and do all the good we can, and never do another evil, we shall come to that which I want the brethren to preach about, and endeavor to establish. I wish it preached by the Bishops, by the Deacons, and by every officer in the Church; I wish fathers to teach it to their children; and I desire the subject to be taken up by all bodies of the Saints throughout the world, viz., establish confidence in each other. Take this for a text if you like, and preach upon it, both verbally and practically, until confidence in each other reigns universally among the Saints, and then will be accomplished what I wish to see. If we wish to establish a confidence such as the Gods enjoy, let us cease from every evil act, and from the contemplation of every evil design; never infringe upon another’s right, but let each one sustain his brother in the enjoyment of his privileges and rights, holding them as sacred as our own salvation. If confidence has been lost, this is the surest and only successful way to restore it. Hear it, ye preachers, ye Apostles, and Prophets; ye Elders, High Priests, and Seventies; ye Priests, Teachers, Deacons, and Bishops; every man and woman in the Church of God throughout the world; commence to preach this discourse at home, beginning with your own heart; then teach your wives and your children; then let it spread its warming and cheering influence, like the genial sunbeam, from family to family, until the whole Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is united as the heart of one man.

I will illustrate the method of establishing confidence in each other by taking, for example, the child of four or five years of age. The mother allows that child to own a small chest in which to keep his little trinkets, such as little bosom pins, ribbons, doll clothes, &c. This is considered by all the family the child’s chest. Now let none go into that chest and take anything from it, without the consent of the child. This is a very small matter, some may think; but begin at as small a point as this to create confidence, and let it grow up from little to much. Wives, let your husband’s stores alone, if they have not committed them to your charge. Husbands, commit that to your wives that belongs to them and never search their boxes without their consent. I can boast of this. I have lived in the marriage relation nearly thirty years, and I never was man to open my wife’s chest, without her consent, except once and that was to get out a likeness that I wanted on the instant, and she was not at home to get it for me. That was the first time I ever opened a trunk in my life, that belonged to my wife, or to my child. The child’s little chest, with its contents, is as sacred to him, as mine is to me. If this principle were strictly carried out by every man, woman, and child among the Saints, it would make them a blessed people indeed. We should seek to preserve our neighbor’s horse or ox from starving in the cold of winter, and if we see any of his property in jeopardy, we should be as careful of it as if it were our own; our object should be to save everything we can, both of our neighbor’s and our own.

Let every man pay his just debts. The editor of the News has published a piece in the paper about owing no man anything; read it, reflect upon and practice it. I can owe everybody everything; that is one side of the matter, and to pay everybody is the other. I mean to owe every man a debt of gratitude.

I have perhaps spoken too long I have given you all a text to preach upon, and to act upon in your lives; do it faithfully, and it will do you good.

May the Lord God of Israel bless you, and save you in His kingdom, is my prayer. Amen.

An Address by President Brigham Young, Delivered on the Temple Block, Great Salt Lake City, Feb. 14, 1853.

If the congregation will give me their attention, I will detain them but a short time. Our history is too well known to render it necessary for me to enter into particulars on the subject this morning. Suffice it to say, to this congregation, that we shall attempt to build a temple to the name of our God. This has been attempted several times, but we have never yet had the privilege of completing and enjoying one. Perhaps we may in this place, but if, in the providence of God, we should not, it is all the same. It is for us to do those things which the Lord requires at our hands, and leave the result with Him. It is for us to labor with a cheerful good will; and if we build a temple that is worth a million of money, and it requires all our time and means, we should leave it with cheerful hearts, if the Lord in His providence tells us so to do. If the Lord permits our enemies to drive us from it, why we should abandon it with as much cheerfulness of heart as we ever enjoy a blessing. It is no matter to us what the Lord does, or how He disposes of the labor of His servants. But when He commands, it is for His people to obey. We should be as cheerful in building this temple, if we knew beforehand that we should never enter into it when it was finished, as we would though we knew we were to live here a thousand years to enjoy it.

If the inquiry is in the hearts of the people—“Does the Lord require the building of a temple at our hands?“ I can say that He requires it just as much as ever He required one to be built elsewhere. If you should ask, “Brother Brigham, have you any knowledge concerning this? Have you ever had a revelation from heaven upon it?” I can answer truly, it is before me all the time, not only today, but it was almost five years ago, when we were on this ground, looking for locations, sending our scouting parties through the country, to the right and to the left, to the north and the south, to the east and the west; before we had any returns from any of them, I knew, just as well as I now know, that this was the ground on which to erect a temple—it was before me.

The Lord wished us to gather to this place, He wished us to cultivate the earth, and make these valleys like the Garden of Eden, and make all the improvements in our power, and build a temple as soon as circumstances would permit. And further, if the people and the Lord required it, I would give a written revelation, but let the people do the things they know to be right. Permit me to ask the question—do you not know that it is your duty to accumulate your daily bread, to cease your wickedness? Are not these duties required at your hands? Do you not know this of yourselves? There is not an individual in this assembly that does not understand this, that is not as well convinced of it as I am.

Concerning revelations pertaining to building temples, I will give you the words of our beloved Prophet while he was yet living upon the earth. Many of us that are here today, were with him from the commencement of the church. He was frequently speaking upon the building of temples in Kirtland, Missouri, and Illinois. When the people refused in Kirtland to build a temple, unless by a special revelation, it grieved his heart that they should be so penurious in their feelings as to require the Lord to command them to build a house to His name. It was not only grievous to him, but to the Holy Spirit also. He frequently said, that if it were not for the covetousness of the people, the Lord would not give revelations concerning the building of temples, for we already knew all about them; the revelations giving us the order of the Priesthood make known to us what is wanting in that respect at our hands. If you should go to work to build a dwelling house, you know you would want a kitchen, a buttery, sitting rooms, bedrooms, halls, passages, and alleys. He said, you might as well ask the Lord to give revelation upon the dimensions and construction of the various apartments of your dwelling houses, as upon the erection of temples, for we know before hand what is necessary.

Concerning this house, I wish to say, if we are prospered we will soon show you the likeness of it, at least upon paper, and then if any man can make any improvement in it, or if he has faith enough to bring one of the old Nephites along, or an angel from heaven, and he can introduce improvements, he is at liberty so to do. But wait until I dictate, and construct it to the best of my ability, and according to the knowledge I possess, with the wisdom God shall give me, and with the assistance of my brethren; when these are exhausted, if any improvement can be made, all good men upon the earth are at liberty to intro– duce their improvements. But I trust this people do not require commanding, every day of their lives, to pray, to do unto others as they would that others should do unto them: I trust they do not want a special command for this; if not, upon the same principle, they will not want any commandment upon the subject of building a temple, more than what is before them.

A few words to this people, upon the principles which were laid before them yesterday, in the tabernacle. One thing is required at the hands of this people, and to understand which there is no necessity for receiving a commandment every year, viz.—to pay their tithing. I do not suppose for a moment, that there is a person in this Church, who is unacquainted with the duty of paying tithing, neither is it necessary to have a revelation every year upon the subject. There is the law—pay one tenth. I wish to say to you, and I wish you to tell your neighbors, if there is any man or woman who do not want to pay their tithing, we do not want they should. It is for your particular benefit, and that of every individual upon the face of the earth. To me, as an individual, it is no matter whether you build a temple or not; I and my brethren have received our endowments, keys, blessings—all the tokens, signs, and every preparatory ordinance, that can be given to man, for his entrance into the celestial gate.

The Prophet’s feelings were often wounded because he was under the necessity of giving commandments concerning duties that were already before the people, until the temple was completed; but had he not done so, the temple would not have been built; had he waited until the minds of the people were opened, and they were led to see and do their duty, without commandment, he would have been slain before the keys of the Priesthood could have been committed to others, but the Lord put it into his heart to give this power to his brethren before his martyrdom.

If the people will pay their tithing, we have all the means we can ask or wish for. If the tithing is paid, we do not want the brethren and sisters to give up their surplus property, for there will be a great surplus in the storehouse of the Lord. This is what is required of this people, not to give all they have, though it should be constantly upon the altar, but to be ready, if required; but if the people will pay their tithing punctually, there will be an abundance, yes, and a surplus. For me to ask the people if they will give their surplus property, would be useless. I shall not ask any such question, but I shall now ask the people to pay their labor tithing, that we may excavate this foundation, and prepare for the stone work by the 1st of April. I expect to see a great turn out, no doubt we shall have all the help we can require.

While the brethren are before me, let me say, that we cannot commence to lay rock here without time, and we cannot get the stone for the foundation without the railroad from this place to the quarry is completed; these two items must be attended to. This is sufficient to say upon that matter.

Let us revert for a moment to the past, to the years we have spent in toil and labor, though very agreeably. Seven years ago tomorrow, about eleven o’clock, I crossed the Mississippi River, with my brethren, for this place, not knowing, at that time, whither we were going, but firmly believing that the Lord had in reserve for us a good place in the mountains, and that He would lead us directly to it. It is but seven years since we left Nauvoo, and we are now ready to build another temple. I look back upon our labors with pleasure. Here are hundreds and thousands of people that have not had the privileges that some of us have had. Do you ask, what privileges? Why, of running the gauntlet, of passing through the narrows. They have not had the privilege of being robbed and plundered of their property, of being in the midst of mobs and death, as many of us have.

Only be faithful, brethren and sisters, and I promise that you shall have all such privileges as shall be for your good. You need not be discouraged, or mourn, because you were not in Jackson County persecutions, or were not driven from Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois, and stripped, robbed, and plundered of all your property. Do not mourn and feel bad, because you were not in Nauvoo; have no fears, for if the word of the Lord is true, you shall yet be tried in all things, so rejoice, and pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks, even if it is in the spoiling of your goods, for it is the hand of God that leads us, and will continue so to do. Let every man and woman sanctify themselves before the Lord, and every providence of the Almighty shall be sanctified for good to them. I will now close my remarks.

A Discourse by Elder Parley P. Pratt, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, January 30, 1853.

Brethren and Friends—I am glad to see you once more, and for the privilege of meeting with you. I did not expect to address you this morning, not being well in health; but at the request of my brother, who pre– sides over me, and in the absence of many who might edify you, I rise to speak a short time, and give place to others.

I desire your prayers, that my body may be strengthened, and also for the Gift of the Holy Spirit, without which no man can edify his fellow man.

We are told, by the Prophet of old, in the good old Bible, and by that peculiar Prophet that the Christian world (that portion of them that esteem the Bible) consider more clear, and more eloquent than any other, whose prophecies are on record—the Prophet Isaiah; we are told by him, that the Lord would, some time, “lift up a standard for the people,” “an ensign for the nations,” and that He would not only do this, but do it as a manifestation which should result in the great restoration of all things spoken of by the Prophets, in the restoration of the twelve tribes of Israel from the four quarters of the earth, to their own country, nationality, institutions, and religion; that they might again be nationalized, established, and reinstated in their covenant renewed unto them, as in days of old, and have their own Priesthood, rulers, governors, and consequently their own blessings. I say, we are told, by one of the greatest Prophets, whose prophecies are on record, that a standard would be lifted up or manifested, in order to bring about that great restoration. What is that standard? Let us reason a little upon that subject, this morning. Some might say it is a book. It might be, in a certain sense. A dictionary of a language is sometimes called a standard, that is, something established, something that is a sufficient authority, something to which all can refer, as to a sample or doctrine, to decide a question or an uncertainty in the meaning of words.

In point of principle or doctrine, a book that we might call a “standard,“ might be considered to contain truths. But I do not understand the prediction to which I refer as exclusively pertaining to a book, but rather to a religion, to a set of principles developed, to a covenant established, or, to carry it out more fully, to a people organized, gathered together, and established in one, having one faith, one spirit, one baptism, one God, one eternal and everlasting covenant by which they are all united, and one set of principles by which they are governed. For where such a government might be subdivided by local circumstances, whether these principles were written in one book or in a thousand books, or whether they were taught and acted upon without any book, whether the people could read a book or could not, nothing short of the development of certain principles of religion, law, and government, embraced by a certain portion of people, by which they could see eye to eye, in which they were united, and by the spirit of which they were made one in light and truth and fellowship, and gathered, organized, planted, established—in short, a system containing a development of all the principles that constitute a heavenly government, nothing short of this, if I understand the prediction of Isaiah, would be considered by the Jews, and by the other tribes of Israel, wherever they were found, and finally by the whole of the Gentile world that might live to see it, as a “standard.” This would be something worthy to be called a standard, something to which they could look, and come to, and be organized, consolidated, nationalized, and governed by, politically and religiously; or more truly and consistently speaking, religiously, because that includes all the political governments that are worth naming or striving for in heaven or on earth.

A system of religion, or a people organized upon it, should include every branch of government that they could possibly need for their dwelling with each other, for their organization, peace, welfare, defense, order, happiness, and for their dwelling with neighboring nations. A system of religion that is from heaven never would stop short of including all these principles. Therefore it is inconsistent, it is because of the ignorance that is in the world that two terms—“political government” and “religious government,” are used.

Men have been in the habit of walking with, of being organized and identified with, religions more or less false, and not sufficient in themselves to carry out all the principles of government; they are a kind of Sunday convenience, separate and distinct from the everyday affairs of life; a kind of a big religious cloak, to be put on for that day, but not to be considered to have anything to do with everyday affairs. This kind of religion not being sufficient for the happiness and government, enlightenment and improvement, education and regulation of mankind, or of society in all its branches, of course men would get up something else separate from it, and call that “the policy of civil government.” I do not blame them, for a false religion, or one partly false and partly true, never was calculated to answer the purpose. A religion not wholly true could not possibly develop all the resources, principles, branches, departments, officers, and powers adapted to the government, organization, peace, order, happiness, and defense of society, and for its regulation while dwelling with foreign departments and powers.

Men require something more than these imperfect systems, which are a mixture of truth and error, that exist in the world (and they have no better, of course); they need something else besides their Sunday arrangements, besides this machinery of theories; they need something of everyday practical utility; and this they call civil government and politics, distinct from religion, though in some countries they blend one with the other, and both are in force. But I use the terms politics and religion to adapt myself to those obsolete ideas, that are about passing away with us, but under which a great majority of mankind still labor. In addressing the Saints, I make no distinction; when I say a religious system, I mean that which unites principles of political government and religions, which is perfectly sufficient for, and completely adapted to, all the wants of cities, boroughs, counties, states, kingdoms, empires, or the world, or a million of worlds; that system of religion or government, just which you please to call it, that regulates things in heaven, and for which all professing Christian men pray.

Whether men realize it or not, when they say, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” it is as much as to say, “O God, sweep away all the falsehood and abuses of power there are in the world, whether religious or political; down with the tyrants, down with the abuses, down with the false nobility, down with the pride, extravagance, and idleness of the one class, and down with the hard trials, want, oppression, and poverty that are heaped upon the other class; do away with all the kingcraft, priestcraft, and republic craft that are in the world. And in the place of all these false governments and religions, in political and social life, introduce that eternal government, that pure order of things, those eternal principles and institutions, which govern society in those better worlds, the worlds of immortality and eternal life.” That is what a man prays for, as well as I can tell it, when he says, “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” He says, “Sweep away all abuses, all corruption, all falsehood, all war, all ungodly and selfish ambition; and in its place introduce a new government for universal man, a system that will touch all his wants, religiously, politically, and every other way; which will organize and govern society upon the principles that society is governed upon in heaven.”

I pray for that day, understanding it in that light. And if anybody uses that prayer, and does not mean it in that light, it is for want of reflection. For instance—does any man in his senses, believe that the government of the eternal heavens in the presence of God, consists of a variety of kingdoms, empires, republics, and states, governed by various principles, ruled by aspirants, and sometimes by tyrants, that differ widely one from another in the principles by which they rule, one jarring with, and encroaching upon, the other, and frequently going to war with him, having a thousand different ways of worship, and of religious and political administration? I ask, again, does any sane person, who reflects, believe that heaven is governed in that way? No. Every reflecting person believes as well as I, that if there is a world of immortality at all, where righteousness rules, the same principles, as far as they go, are developed unto all, and adapted to all. Some may have more truth, ascend to greater degrees of perfection, and be able to receive higher and more glorious principles of government than others, even in heaven. Some may attain to a celestial glory, of which the sun is typical; others be as telestial beings, the glory of which is compared with the stars, as they appear to our sight; and these two classes may differ as widely from each other as the stars differ from the sun in glory, as seen by man. So far as heavenly beings have become enlightened by revelation in the laws of eternal government, a sameness exists in their possession of principles of truth, as far as it goes. Some may be in possession of the same portion of truth, but may not possess it in fulness, but it is true so far as it goes, by which all are in union, peace, and love, and by which they all do right, and all glorify God, and maintain an eternal peace and bond of happiness.

In viewing heaven thus, “I do not believe I differ, except in degree, from the expectations and views of all Christendom that believe in a hereafter.” They would not contend for a moment for the jargon and division that exist in this world, that produce—what? Envy, hatred, darkness, and ignorance. They do not believe for a moment that anything of this kind exists in heaven. They pray as well as we, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” They pray, whether they think of it or not, that all the jargon, errors, abuses, darkness, and ignorance that now exist in the world, under the name of religion, government, or anything else, may come to an end; that, so far as there is unrighteousness, or any error in principle, thrones may be cast down; that all the powers of earth, whether republic or monarchial, that are not in accordance with the law and government of heaven, may pass away, and those principles be introduced that govern the sanctified in heaven, so far as man in this life is capable of receiving these good things, and enjoying them in truth, union, and peace. Then with this view of the subject, such a system introduced, even among a few men they being organized upon it, and acting it out in a good measure, we should call this a “standard.” The Jews could look to it and call it a “standard.” The ten tribes, and the scattered remnants, and all that appertain to the lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, scattered through the world, waiting for the redemption, and the restoration of the kingdom to Israel, could look to such a “standard,” to the people or- ganized upon these principles developed from heaven, and carrying them out in all their points, for they are capable of governing a world, or a million of worlds; to this they could look and say, there is a “standard.”

If all the railroads, steamboats, and other swift means of conveyance, with all the gold and silver, were in the hands and under the control of the right lineage, and all the sea captains and railroad proprietors stood ready to serve them, as the Jew turned his attention to the brightening prospect, and to his own land the question would naturally arise in his mind—under what standard shall I go? You may say under the colors of Great Britain, but that is not sufficient. Upon what principles shall we be organized, religiously and politically? Which of all the churches in Christendom will present us with a just standard, constituted to our capacity? Which of all the nations will present a government standard, constituted to our position?

“Well, but,” you say, “let the Jews take their own standard.” Then they will neither have the Christian dispensation, nor that of Moses and the Prophets, because both of these had power in them that the Jews do not profess to have. The Christian religion had its inspired men, Apostles and Prophets. Those the Jews have not got. Moses and the Prophets had their miracles, gifts, powers, and oracles, men who were raised up by heaven, to direct, make laws and governments, and organize a kingdom among the Jews; they have not got these either. The most they pretend to have is a Book that gives the history of their fathers, and of Moses and the Prophets; showing that they lived under a dispensation of Priesthood, revealed from heaven, and handed down from the fathers, from generation to generation, which Priesthood held the Urim and Thummim, and the charge of the holy place, containing the holy things, and power to inquire of God, and to instruct the people in what was for their peace, defense, welfare, government, judgment, and law. The Jews cannot say they have these things now. Moses and the Prophets had the ministering of angels. The Jews at this day have not. Moses and the Prophets had living oracles from heaven. The Jews have not. Moses and the Prophets had power to control the elements, and work mighty wonders in the name of the Lord, some of them even rolled the earth back on its axis. Have the Jews this power? No. To restore them to Palestine, and let their own institutions be a standard, would be to put there what neither resemble Moses and the Prophets, nor Jesus and the Prophets.

“But suppose we try to convert them to the present Christian institutions,” says one. Well, where is the “standard?” Who has got it? The Christian institution consisted of Apostles and Prophets, ministers whose Priesthood was after the order of the Son of God, and ordained by himself, for he says, “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you;” “ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you.” Connected with the Apostleship are the keys and powers of government, the administration of ordinances, and the gifts and powers of the Holy Spirit. This is a “standard,” which the Jews, and the ten tribes would all acknowledge, and it is a Christian one, yet such a one all Christendom cannot present. They can present a book, like the Jews; the one is a book that testifies that Moses and the Prophets had this power, the other that Jesus and his Apostles had it, but neither of these books can be the “standard,” because the mere history that somebody had this power would not be a living “standard.” If the Christians pre– sent the Jews with the New Testament, the Jews will present the Christians with the Old Testament, and the writers of both of them had the power. The Jew would have to admit, that the power and “standard” that his book was the key of, had passed away; and the Christian, that the angels, gifts, and blessings that his book gave an account of, had also passed away.

If you take the despotic standard of Russia, or the standard of any other of the nations of Europe, some of them are unlimited in their provisions—the sovereign is the law; others are limited—the sovereign only being part of the law and power, frequent bloody wars arise between the monarch and the people; and those who come direct to the throne by hereditary right are beset by the same evils. Besides that, in Russia there is one kind of religion; in Greece, another; in Rome, a third; and in England, a fourth; all widely differing from each other.

To take the republican form of government, and set it up as a standard, would be to set the Jews and the Ten Tribes, when they get home, to creating their own government, religion, and officers. They would say, “This is not a restoration of all things to the order of the fathers. Whoever heard of a nation’s rising up, and making its own ministry of angels, its own Prophets, Apostles, and Priesthood to speak the word of God, and to inquire of Him?” The Lord would turn round and say, “I have not chosen this man, you have chosen him and ordained him.” Did the people elect and appoint Moses to receive all his powers, to hold communion with the burning bush, and divide the waters of the Red Sea? Did they elect Joshua to that faith by which he lived to lead Israel into Canaan, and divide Jordan by the word of God? Did they instruct him to lengthen out the day while Israel conquered their enemies? No. God Al– mighty chose Moses and ordained him; and Moses laid his hands upon Joshua and ordained him, and therefore the two were full of the Spirit of God to fill a similar calling.

The Jews and the Ten Tribes know better than to bow to such an order of things, for no rule, precedent, or example, can be found in the history of the fathers to substantiate such a course; they would either conclude that God had changed, or that such proceedings were an imposition, and pertained to no real government from heaven at all.

“Well, then,” says the Lord, “I will set up a standard for my people, and lift up my hand to the Gentiles. A system shall be developed from heaven, by which the people are to be planted in one, that is, those who embrace it; by which shall be developed among them all, one spirit, one doctrine, one order of Priesthood, worship, power, and government, to lead, direct, control, and say what religion they shall adopt, including every department of government, sufficient for all the affairs of state, both internal and external, and that would contribute to their enlightenment, improvement, defense, exaltation, and their relations with all the world.” Such a thing would be a “standard.” It would answer the purpose to plant and govern them. It would bring the Gentiles to it. In order for this, it would be a principle of government developed in all its parts, not differing so much from the old one either. “Do you mean the law of Moses?” Yes, but only so far as the same eternal principles existed in that law. There were many principles given in that law which pertained not to the eternal kingdom of God; they had to be fulfilled in Christ, and then have an end.

“Well, then, what do you mean? Do you mean to say that this modern standard must not differ from the in– stitutions revealed and carried out in the days of Christ and his Apostles?” No, this is not what I mean, because it must differ in some of its bearings from those institutions. “Wherein?” In this respect, if nothing more—Peter and the rest of the Apostles having done what we are doing now, that is, talked about that “standard,” and the restoration of the kingdom and government to Israel, said to Jesus, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” That is, “Wilt thou at this time raise a standard with all the powers of government, break down the Roman Empire, and give the kingdom and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven to thy Saints, that so all Israel may be saved?” So far from a satisfactory answer being given to Peter and the Apostles, the Savior said, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons” when this shall be done, letting alone doing it, for the knowledge of these times “the Father hath put in his own power.” Jesus did not turn round and answer them as the sectarians would—“You are entirely mistaken, my kingdom will always be a spiritual kingdom; and you will be very much disappointed if you look for anything else.” He virtually said—“Suffice it to say, it is not given to you Apostles to hold the keys of my kingdom in that day and age of the world, or even to know the time that I will do that work.” “Well, Lord, what will you have us to do? As the Scriptures are more full upon that subject than almost any other, for kings and Prophets spoke of little else, and you will not tell us of that, but reserve it for some other people, and to be known at some other time, which we are not to know, what is it you would have us to do?” “Simply be witnesses of me in Jerusalem, Samaria, and in the uttermost parts of the earth. Baptize the people, if they will repent, after you have taught them to believe in me, their eternal King and great High Priest, who rose from the dead, and ascended up on high in your presence, to reign in heaven, and eventually upon the earth. Go and tell the people that, and let them repent, and turn to me with full purpose of heart, and know that I am the law, and the way, and the truth; and if they shall keep my words, they shall have eternal life; and if they do not, they shall remain in condemnation. If they hear you, they hear me; and if they receive you, they receive me; and if they receive me, they receive him that sent me; and if they reject you, they reject me. And whatsoever they do to you, it is the same as though they did it to me. You are my ambassadors, my representatives, my ministers, and if they do good to you, it is the same as though they did it to me. If they discard you, and believe not your words, and withhold their hands from helping you to carry out the principles of truth, it is the same as though they did it unto me.” “But, master, how shall we establish a standard of government, and peace, so as to maintain these principles?” “You cannot do it.” Did Jesus Christ and his Apostles say these things in so many words? No. But in words that amounted to the same thing. Says he—“The time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.” And unto Peter, the head of the Apostles, Jesus said, speaking of the death Peter should die—“When thou shall be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.” Jesus told his servants they would be scourged from city to city, and from place to place, and from synagogue to synagogue, and be overcome, for another power would rise different from the kingdom of God, and it should make war with them, and overcome them, and be drunken with the blood of the Saints, and hold dominion over all the kings of the earth, over every tribe and tongue and people, until the words of God should be fulfilled; therefore they were not to think to gather the people, to establish a kingdom or government on the earth, for they could not do it. There was another power to rise, that would put their power down, and bear rule over all nations, and all nations would be deceived by it.

Now you take the instructions of the Apostles to the Saints in former days, and the manifestations of the Lord to the last of the Twelve while he was on the Isle of Patmos, and see if they do not amount to the above.

Well, then, give us a dispensation like the one they had, one fitted to the New Testament; and it is simply to run through the world, and witness of the manifestations of the Lord of life and glory in the flesh, and his resurrection from the dead; to call upon the people to repent and be baptized, and give them the first principles of the Gospel, and prepare them to reign in yonder world of glory, so far as they could by being faithful through the Gospel; and as fast as they were baptized, say to them, “You may expect to be killed, and if you are not willing to lay down your life, do not put your name among us, nor be baptized at all, for the wicked will make war with the Saints and overcome them.” To repent, and be baptized, and receive the Gospel for the remission of sins, be killed and go home to glory, was the Gospel the ancient Apostles preached. I say, if we had a dispensation precisely like that which Peter and the rest of the former-day Apostles had, that is just as far as we could carry it. Where is the place where we could build up the kingdom of God? Nowhere. If you lived in Rome (and Rome was the world), and submitted to its butcheries, until the words of God should be fulfilled, you would be slain and go into yonder world.

Hence the kingdom of God had to be set up twice, once in the days of Peter, wherein those who obeyed the Gospel ordinances had to submit to the Roman power and be killed. After they are killed, and the Priesthood is taken from the earth, and the keys of it are gone from the earth also, or hid up, so that nobody holds them, and all nations are deceived, as it was written by the Revelator John by this ruling power, which is nothing more nor less than Rome, for that was the world then known—after all this, when the time comes for the word of God to be fulfilled, and for a standard to be set up, what does this book, the Bible, say? What does Jesus Christ himself say? “There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear;” and he goes on to say that when you shall see these things come to pass, then know that the kingdom of God is at hand.

The Millerites mistook it, and thought it meant, then know that the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ is just at the door. A great many have been mistaken on this subject, among Christian communities, so called. But if they had searched diligently to know, they would not have taken the second advent of Messiah, and put it in the place of his kingdom, to be at hand when you see the signs begin to take place; then “know ye, that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.”

Now it is evident that the kingdom of God was to be set up twice—at two distinct times, or else the whole matter is a mistake from the beginning to the end, because John the Baptist said it was at hand in his day, Jesus Christ said the same, the Apostles and Seventies said, in their days, that it was right at the door. And then Jesus Christ predicted a whole string of events, including the destruction of Jerusalem, and the dispersion of the Jews. He then predicted signs that were to be seen in the sun, moon, and stars, and said, lo! “the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.” Just as sure as the sun shines, the kingdom had to be set up twice, or there is no meaning to the Book, and the last, too, at the time the Millerites and others have set for the personal appearance of the Savior.

The Lord, in speaking to his Apostles, said, “It is not given for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.” What would he say to the Apostles in the last days? He would say quite the reverse of this—“To you it is given to know the times and the seasons, because you are the very men to do that work, but my old Apostles were only to bear witness of me to the world. As the received traditions and religion of the world were at war with the principle of the resurrection presented in my body, I required my ancient Apostles to bear witness of it in Jerusalem and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth, wherever they could find followers. But I now will raise up you and other men, and ordain you, and cause keys of power to be committed to you, as in days of old, in the same Gospel ordinances and spirit; but when they come, you will not be required to fulfil any such thing as my servants did anciently, which was, to bear witness, preach repentance, baptize the people, and be killed. You will know the times and the seasons, which the Father put in His own power, and which my other Apostles could not know, and then go to work with your mights and fulfil it.”

Hence the gathering of the Saints; the organization of the kingdom of God, religiously and politically, if you will; the revelation of the law of God, and the new and everlasting covenant made to Abraham of old and his seed, which has never been altered by the Lord, only lost to the people. Paul said that the law given upon Mount Sinai, four hundred and thirty years after that covenant was made, might not disannul it. Jesus Christ was that man spoken of when God said, “In thee and in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed.” Thus, Paul and Jesus, in so many words, confirmed the covenant made with Abraham, that neither the law of Moses nor Jesus Christ ever disannulled. What was it? A great many things, but the principal thing was, “I will greatly multiply thy seed;” in short, a law was given him by which he and his posterity should be regulated and governed, with regard to matrimony and posterity.

Now, then, to restore the new and everlasting covenant made with Abraham, and not disannulled by Moses, the Prophets, Jesus Christ, and the Apostles; to restore an organization of principles, of law; a development that would make a standard to regulate families, households, and kingdoms in every respect; that would be to fulfil the words of Isaiah, where he says, I will “set up my standard to the people;” then I will gather you. Going to work to gather them to a standard set up by modern professors would be nonsense, for it would not chime in with the law that governed Abraham and his family matters, when he and a great many others should come together and sit down in the kingdom of God. Such a standard would be lame in some points.

If I were a Jew, you might cry to me and preach to me until doomsday, and then take a sword, and hold it over me to sever my head from my body, but I should say, “I will not move one step to the standard that is not Abraham’s, nor from the everlasting covenant in which my fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the holy Prophets will come and sit down in the presence of God, upon the same principles with their modern children. I am a Jew, and my hope is in the covenants of the fathers. If you nations who are not numbered in that covenant wish to be blessed, it must be in that covenant, and in no other way; and you cannot bring me any other standard that is a lawful one. You may teach me Christianity, as you call it; you may try to govern me by a republican government, as you call it; and ten thousand other things; but when you have taught them all to me, neither for your fire, your sword, your government, your religion, your threats, nor anything else will I ever embrace any other system but the standard, the covenant, in which all my nation, all the Ten Tribes and the scattered remnants can be blessed; a covenant that will look them up, with all the Gentile world; and raise all the ancients from the dead, and by which all can sit down together in the same kingdom, and be governed by the same principles, covenants, laws, and ordinances forever.” That is the stubbornness I should have in my nature, if I were a Jew. And the blood that flows quick through my veins tells me I am not one whit behind the Jew; it tells me I am of the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; therefore I am just about as hard as they are to believe in anything but a full and complete standard, a development of that system which will organize me and my house, and all the people, whether Jew or Gentile, that will embrace it, in all the world, if they will repent. I read it, in so many words of the good old Prophet, that “the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.” I would say to king Agrippa, if he were here today, “Believest thou the Prophets?” If the world would believe, then, the whole of their kingcraft, and priestcraft, and confused systems would soon pass away, and the covenant made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to which the Prophets, Jesus, and the Apostles looked forward, would be established.

“When ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.” Is it a system of government, to organize and gather the people? Yes, a people that will not have their heads cut off any more by that government that has deceived the whole world, and drunk the blood of the Saints of the Most High. It is a kingdom that the wicked will not be permitted again to possess or destroy. How shall we look for it? It will be one of the smallest of governments upon this earth, to which a grain of mustard seed is brought as a comparison. When we see the signs in the sun, moon, and stars, and among different nations, it proves that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand; we may then begin to look around for it. We must not look to Russia, or to England, to become this kingdom, but to the smallest of the governments in this world, one so small that it is compared to a grain of mustard seed. Where must we look for it? In the very spot where it has room to grow, and in its smallness be overshadowed with weeds and plants of other kinds; so we must look for its organization, establishment, and development in some country where that little few compose the majority, and should rule. Now with these great characteristics, and plain directions, which any man can gather from the Bible, we need not look to any other place where we may find this kingdom. Then among the Saints right here, where they compose the majority, where there is not another larger government, where they are hemmed in with mountains, and can establish peace, and a kingdom, and a government, and a law. “Well,” says one, “you are a republican government; how does that chime in with the word kingdom?” It matters not as to the outward name, whether it takes the name of republic or kingdom, or this, that, or the other; it is not the name that does the business. We call England a monarchy, because its Presidency perpetually comes from one line, it is hereditary. We call the United States a republican government, because they put in a man to rule, and put him out once in four years. I have been in both countries and lived and acted more or less under the two governments. I went to England with a good deal of prejudice; for I was brought up to believe that a republican government was the only good government in the world, and the British were made to be killed off. When my brother Orson began to speak at all, the first word which I can remember he ever said, was—“Why, dad’s gone to shoot the British.” So I must have gone there more or less prejudiced against that government. What is the fact, against all these prejudices of early life? It is, that government is tolerably good in both countries. The United States have the best institutions of the two, but I tell you, if they had carried them out better for us, we might have been here, not so poor as we are today. I like England the better of the two; not because her institutions are better, but because they are carried out better. A government well carried out is better than any other form of government not carried out. You may spread your forms on paper, but paper will lie a long time before it will take off a man’s head for breaking the law.

Here we are, and, thank God for it, a small government, you may call it a republican government, or what you please; but the spirit, and Gospel, and law, and principles of union are here, and nobody can help it. There is no law against unity, against being baptized, against receiving the administration of angels, or the keys of the Apostleship, against laying hands on others that men may be filled with the Holy Ghost. There is no law against these things, thank God. This makes us united, it makes us do our duty, and remain in the spirit of oneness and in faith, operating diligently upon the principles developed by revelation upon revelation, and precept upon precept, and law upon law, and truth upon truth. We find ourselves a government organized upon these great principles, and a government in peace. This government has to maintain its character, and become a standard, having developed in it every principle for the salvation of the living and the dead; to hold the keys of the Priesthood that bear rule in heaven, on earth, and in hell, and maintain a people built upon it, which is all necessary in order to become a standard. To this the Ten Tribes will look, to this will look the scattered remnants that are aware of the promise to Abraham, that in his seed, and not in some other Priesthood and lineage, shall all the nations and people of the earth be blessed. Where should they look, if we were to be scattered abroad, if we should come to a standstill, and stick our stakes, and say to the Almighty and to His servants—“We will do this, and that, and that is what we will not do, but we will go our own way?” Suppose now the spirit of prophecy should descend upon the Ten Tribes of Israel, and they smite the mountains of ice by the word of God, and the mountains flow down, and their Prophets travel abroad to search the world through, for they have seen the signs in the heavens, and they feel like the wise men of the east as they inquired for the Savior; suppose the Ten Tribes come and inquire—“Where is the Temple of God, for we have seen the signs in the heavens; where shall we find it?” And we were to scatter and divide, and lose the Spirit of God, and become sectarians, or something worse; the Ten Tribes Would then have to search with a lighted candle, and could not find the Temple here, and I defy them to find it anywhere else.

“Now, then, brother Pratt, we have embraced all this good Gospel, which you tell about. We have been baptized, we have come into the new and everlasting covenant, we are one, our sins are forgiven us, and we have received a portion of the Holy Ghost.” Having availed ourselves of all these things, what we are as individuals, we have gained together as number one and two, and all are justified together, and the common interests of the kingdom are carried out. Some may say, “There are warmer climates than this, why not go to them, and accommodate ourselves better than we can here? Besides that, there are places where men get more gold and silver, and can buy sugar, fruit, &c., where wood is plentiful, and where the country presents more beautiful scenery, and is more like Paradise than this place is; the whole earth is before us, why can we not go and possess it where we please? Why can we not go and serve ourselves awhile, and let the kingdom of God take care of itself, or let these good, pious Elders and Apostles that are so attached to it, take care of it?” If it is right for you to set your minds upon warmer climates, upon more convenient timber, and upon making money, then it is right for every one of us to do the same. If it is right for you, it is right for our President, and his Council, and the Twelve, and everybody else. If each person should get his own way, go to where the climate will suit him best, where there are a market and all other conveniences, I want to know, then, where the kingdom of God is? What worldly government could you live under, as the kingdom of God, when you had satisfied these desires? Just point your finger to the place, on this wide earth, where there is any better climate than this, any better market than this, where the staple necessaries and conveniences of life exist in greater abundance than they do here. Point your finger to such a place, and convince me by mathematical demonstration that this people can live there, and be a majority there, and reign there, and maintain the kingdom of God there, and I am not sure but I will go with you, and, I believe, the President will, and I think the Lord would be pleased with it. If we had such a place, and could go and enjoy it, who cares? The less time it will take to get a living, the more time we shall have to attend to the teaching of others, and the more convenience to gather them to it. I do not know that the Lord would have any objection to it, if you could name such a place.

What kind of a government is there out yonder, west of us? The very scum floods out of the United States into that goodly land, that golden country; there is a concentration of jargon, ignorance, folly, corruption, and abomination, all gathered together in one focus, and then corrupting itself after being made of corruption. A Saint of God might put all the advantages of climate, timber, soil, trade, and money together in the world, and he could not live under that government. Why did you not stop in Rome, and serve God there? You were in a fine country, a salubrious climate, the timber was handy, and you possessed a delightful situation. Why? Because the Apostles could not live under the Roman Government without being killed; and how could you do it without sharing the same fate? If you did live in Rome, you cannot say that the government is according to the covenant made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Why not stay in England? It is a fine climate, and, in many respects, it has a good soil, with trade, and plenty of coal for fuel. Why not stay in the United States, where you can get sugar for three cents per pound? Why did you ever leave your countries, your native homes, to come here? Look at these snow-clad mountains, and naked plains—look at the scarcity of timber, and the difficulty of traveling such a distance to get here, and so far from any market. Bless your soul, you will not find conveniences in the world, anywhere, handier than they are here! Why not stay where you were? “Why,” you say, “I thought I should get a little instruction here, that I could not get anywhere else; but, having got that instruction, I thought to enjoy it, and go where I pleased.” My view of the subject is this—to gather, and stay gathered, to be organized into the government of God, and call it what you please as to name. They used the word kingdom in ancient times, meaning nothing more nor less than government. We should stay gathered, and count one in schools, in meetings, in paying tithing, in paying taxes, in acting our part as members of the community; count one when men are needed, if necessary, to go against the savages; count one in influence, in beauty, in spirit, in faith, and in works; to build Temples, to attend to the ordinances, and administer to the living and the dead, and set an example worthy of imitation. What would a million of people do if they were all doing this, under one covenant, being actuated by the same spirit, baptized by one baptism? They would be a million of that faith, a million of that spirit, a million of that light and truth, a million possessing the very powers of peace, and heaven, and Zion in their bo– soms. What would they do? Why, the world itself would see their light. Like a lighted candle on a candlestick, it could not be hid. Do you want riches? This is gold, it is silver, it is clothing, it is bone, it is sinew, it is industry and power. It will come flowing to you like a flowing stream. Your Apostles and your First Presidency, instead of being perplexed with the cares of this world, as to how to plow their fields, or build their cabins, would not have time scarcely to go out of yonder temple to get their breakfast, if we had the temple built. To a people thus consolidated, nations of the earth would come. The kings and queens, and governors and rulers, and a great many of the house of Israel, and people of influence and power out of all nations, would come. They would say, “The Lord is there, the power of God is there;” and if they had any money they would make a deposit of it there, for the nations would be breaking up, and the people would want to escape with their life from war, and distress of nations. The people would say, “There is where we will go to find safety, for there the inhabitants live in union, they have the light of eternal truth, while other people are in darkness and ignorance without measure. Those happy people know how to unite and defend themselves: it is not their numbers that constitute their strength, but it is their union, and, of course, their numbers have an influence.”

If one man is mighty, there are more mighty. If a man wants the riches of time and eternity, let him have a good government, education, and the laws of heaven to bring up his children in the right way. He never will get rich as fast as he would if he cooperated with the kingdom of God. You know when anything is wanted of me, I am on hand all the time, though there would not be a man you could hire. Men will go to California, to the States, or anywhere else, but you could not get them to do it ordinarily without hiring them. But if you appoint them to take a mission without purse or scrip, the same as an angel, they will go to hell, if the Lord will give them a mission there, and be mighty glad to get back as soon as they have done it.

I have detained you too long. May the Lord bless you. Amen.

A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, January 16, 1853.

The plan of salvation, or, in other words, the redemption of fallen beings, is a subject that should occupy the attention of all intelligence that pertains to fallen beings. I do not like the term fallen beings, but I will say, subjected intelligence, which term suits me better—subjected to law, order, rule, and government. All intelligences are deeply engaged in this grand object; not, however, having a correct understanding of the true principle thereof, they wander to and fro, some to the right, and some to the left. There is not a person in this world, who is endowed with a common share of intellect, but is laboring with all his power for salvation. Men vary in their efforts to obtain that object, still their individual conclusions are, that they will ultimately secure it. The merchant, for instance, seeks with unwearied diligence, by night and by day, facing misfortunes with a determined and persevering resistance, enduring losses by sea and by land, with an unshaken patience, to amass a sufficient amount of wealth to enable him to settle calmly down in the midst of plenty in some opulent city, walk in the higher classes of society, and perchance receive a worldly title, or worldly honor, and enjoy a freedom from all anxiety of business, and constraint by poverty, throughout the remainder of his life. He then supposes he has obtained salvation.

Descend from the busy, wealth-seeking middle classes, to the humbler grade of society, and follow them in their various occupations and pursuits, and each one of them is seeking earnestly that which he imagines to be salvation. The poor, ragged, trembling mendicant, who is forced by hunger and cold to drag his feeble body from under some temporary shelter, to seek a bit of bread, or a coin from his more fortunate fellow mortal, if he can only obtain a few crusts of bread to satisfy the hunger-worm that gnaws his vitals, and a few coppers to pay his lodgings, he has attained to the summit of his expectations, to what he sought for salvation, and he is comparatively happy, but his happiness vanishes with the shades of night, and his misery comes with the morning light. From the matchmaker up to the tradesman, all have an end in view, which they suppose will bring to them salvation. King, courtier, commanders, officers, and common soldiers, the commodore, and sailor before the mast, the fair-skinned Christian, and the dark-skinned savage, all, in their respective grades and spheres of action, have a certain point in view, which, if they can obtain, they suppose will put them in possession of salvation.

The Latter-day Saint, who is far from the bosom of the Church, whose home is in distant climes, sighs, and earnestly prays each day of his life for the Lord to open his way, that he may mingle with his brethren in Zion, for he supposes that his happiness would then be complete, but in this his expectations will be in a measure vain, for happiness that is real and lasting in its nature cannot be enjoyed by mortals, for it is altogether out of keeping with this transitory state.

If a man’s capacity be limited to the things of this world, if he reach no further than he can see with his eyes, feel with his hands, and understand with the ability of the natural man, still he is as earnestly engaged in securing his salvation, as others are, who possess a superior intellect, and are also pursuing the path of salvation, in their estimation, though it result in nothing more than a good name, or the honors of this world. Each, according to his capacity—to the natural organization of the human system, which is liable to be operated upon by the circumstances and influences by which it is surrounded, is as eager to obtain that which he supposes is salvation, as I am to obtain salvation in the Eternal world.

The object of a true salvation, correctly and minutely understood, changes the course of mankind. Persons who are taught by their teachers, friends, and acquaintances, are traditionated, from their youth up, into the belief that there is no God, or intelligent beings, other than those that they see with the natural eye, or naturally comprehend; that there is no hereafter; that at death, all life and intelligence are annihilated. Such persons are as firm in their belief, and as strenuous in argument, in support of those doctrines, as others are in the belief of the existence of an Eternal God. The early customs and teachings of parents and friends, to a greater or less degree, influence the minds of children, but when they are disposed to inquire at the hands of Him who has eternal intelligence to impart to them, when their understandings are enlarged, when their minds are enlightened by the Spirit of truth, so that they can see things that are unseen by the natural eye, they may then be corrected in their doctrine and belief, and in their manner of life, but not until then.

How difficult it is to teach the natural man, who comprehends nothing more than that which he sees with the natural eye! How hard it is for him to believe! How difficult would be the task to make the philosopher, who, for many years, has argued himself into the belief that his spirit is no more after his body sleeps in the grave, believe that his intelligence came from eternity, and is as eternal, in its nature, as the elements, or as the Gods. Such doctrine by him would be considered vanity and foolishness, it would be entirely beyond his comprehension. It is difficult, indeed, to remove an opinion or belief into which he has argued himself from the mind of the natural man. Talk to him about angels, heavens, God, immortality, and eternal lives, and it is like sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal to his ears; it has no music to him; there is nothing in it that charms his senses, soothes his feelings, attracts his attention, or engages his affections, in the least; to him it is all vanity. To say that the human family are not seeking salvation, is contrary to my experience, and to the experience of every other person with whom I have any acquaintance. They are all for salvation, some in one way, and some in another; but all is darkness and confusion. If the Lord does not speak from heaven, and touch the eyes of their understanding by His Spirit, who can instruct or guide them to good? Who can give them words of eternal life? It is not in the power of man to do it; but when the Lord gives His Spirit to a person, or to a people, they can then hear, believe, and be instructed. An Elder of Israel may preach the principles of the Gospel, from first to last, as they were taught to him, to a congregation ignorant of them; but if he does not do it under the influence of the Spirit of the Lord, he cannot enlighten that congregation on those principles, it is impossible. Job said that, “There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” Unless we enjoy that understanding in this probation, we cannot grow or increase, we cannot be made acquainted with the principles of truth and righteousness so as to become exalted. Admit that the Spirit of the Lord should give us understanding, what would it prove to us? It would prove to me, at least, and what I may safely say to this congregation, that Zion is here. Whenever we are disposed to give ourselves perfectly to righteousness, to yield all the powers and faculties of the soul (which is the spirit and the body, and it is there where righteousness dwells); when we are swallowed up in the will of Him who has called us; when we enjoy the peace and the smiles of our Father in Heaven, the things of His Spirit, and all the blessings we are capacitated to receive and improve upon, then are we in Zion, that is Zion. What will produce the opposite? Hearkening and giving way to evil, nothing else will.

If a community of people are perfectly devoted to the cause of righteousness, truth, light, virtue, and every principle and attribute of the holy Gospel, we may say of that people, as the ancient Apostle said to his breth– ren, “Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates;” there is a throne for the Lord Almighty to sit and reign upon, there is a resting place for the Holy Ghost, there is a habitation of the Father and the Son. We are the temples of God, but when we are overcome of evil by yielding to temptation, we deprive ourselves of the privilege of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, taking up their abode and dwelling with us. We are the people, by our calling and profession, and ought to be by our daily works, of whom it should be truly said, “Ye are the temples of our God.” Let me ask, what is there to prevent any person in this congregation from being so blessed, and becoming a holy temple fit for the indwelling of the Holy Ghost? Has any being in heaven or on earth done aught to prevent you from becoming so blessed? No, but why the people are not so privileged I will leave you to judge. I would to God that every soul who professes to be a Latter-day Saint was of that character, a holy temple for the indwelling of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, but it is not so. Is there any individual within the sound of my voice today, that has received the Holy Ghost through the principles of the Gospel, and at the same time has not received a love for them? I will answer that question. Wait and see who it is that falls out by the way; who it is in whom the seed of truth has been sown, but has not taken root; and then you will know the individuals who have received the truth, but have never received a love of it—they do not love it for itself. What a delightful aspect would this community present if all men and women, old and young, were disposed to leave off their own sins and follies, and overlook those of their neighbors; if they would cease watching their neighbors for iniquity, and watch that they themselves might be free from it! If they were trying with all their powers to sanctify the Lord in their hearts, and would prove, by their actions, that they had received the truth and the love of it! If all individuals would watch themselves, that they do not speak against the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, nor in short against any being in heaven or on earth. Strange as this may appear, there have been men in this Church that have done it, and probably will be again! If this people would be careful not to do anything to displease the spirits of those who have lived on the earth, and have been justified, and have gone to rest, and would so conduct themselves, that no reasonable being upon the face of the earth could find fault with them, what kind of society should we have? Why every man’s mouth would be filled with blessings, every man’s hand would be put forth to do good, and every woman and child in all their intercourse would be praising God, and blessing each other. Would not Zion be here? It would. What hinders you from doing this? What is the Lord or the people doing to cause this one and that one to commit sin with a high hand, in secret and in the open streets?

If Elders of Israel use language which is not proper for the lips of a Saint, such Elders are under condemnation, and the wrath of God abides upon them, those who do it have not the love of truth in their hearts, they do not love and honor the truth because it is the truth, but because it is powerful, and they wish to join with the strongest party. Do they love light because it is light? Virtue because it is virtue? Righteousness because it is righteousness? No. But these principles are almighty in their influence, and like the tornado in the forest, they sweep all before them, no argument can weigh against them, all the philoso– phy, knowledge, and wisdom of men may be set in array against them, but they are like chaff before a mighty wind, or like the morning dew before the sun in its strength such Elders embrace truth because it is all-powerful. When a man of God preaches the principles of the Gospel, all things give way before it, and some embrace it because it is so mighty. But by and by those characters will fall out by the way, because the soil has not depth to nourish the seeds of truth. They receive it, but not the love of it; it dies, and they turn away. If every person who has embraced the Gospel would love it as he loves his life, would not society wear a different aspect from that of the present?

I do not intend to enter into a detailed account of the acts of the people, they are themselves acquainted with them; people know how they themselves talk, and how their neighbors talk; how husband and wife agree in their own houses, and with their neighbors; and how parents and children dwell together. I need not tell these things, but if every heart were set upon doing right, we then should have Zion here. I will give you my reason for thinking so. It is because I have had it with me ever since I was baptized into this kingdom. I have not been without it from that day to this. I have, therefore, a good reason for the assertion I have made. I live and walk in Zion every day, and so do thousands of others in this Church and kingdom, they carry Zion with them, they have one of their own, and it is increasing, growing, and spreading continually. Suppose it spreads from heart to heart, from neighborhood to neighborhood, from city to city, and from nation to nation, how long would it be before the earth would become revolutionized, and the wheat gathered from among the tares? The wheat and tares, however, must grow together until harvest. I am not, there– fore, disposed to separate them yet, for if we pluck up the tares before the harvest, we may destroy some of the good seed, therefore let them grow together, and by and by the harvest will come.

There is another thing, brethren, which I wish you to keep constantly before your minds, that is with regard to your travels in life. You have read, in the Scriptures, that the children of men will be judged according to their works, whether they be good or bad. If a man’s days be filled up with good works, he will be rewarded accordingly. On the other hand, if his days be filled up with evil actions, he will receive according to those acts. This proves that we are in a state of exaltation, it proves that we can add to our knowledge, wisdom, and strength, and that we can add power to every attribute that God has given us. When will the people realize that this is the period of time in which they should commence to lay the foundation of their exaltation for time and eternity, that this is the time to conceive, and bring forth from the heart fruit to the honor and glory of God, as Jesus did—grow as he did from the child, become perfect, and be prepared to be raised to salvation? You will find that this probation is the place to increase upon every little we receive, for the Lord gives line upon line to the children of men. When He reveals the plan of salvation, then is the time to fill up our days with good works.

Let us fill up our days with usefulness, do good to each other, and cease from all evil. Let every evil person forsake his wickedness. If he be wicked in his words, or in his dealings, let him forsake those practices, and pursue a course of righteousness. Let every man and woman do this, and peace and joy will be the result.

A few words more upon the subject of the eternal existence of the soul. It is hard for mankind to comprehend that principle. The philosophers of the world will concede that the elements of which you and I are composed are eternal, yet they believe that there was a time when there was no God. They cannot comprehend how it is that God can be eternal. Let me ask this congregation, Can you realize the eternity of your own existence? Can you realize that the intelligence which you receive is eternal? I can comprehend this, just as well as I can that I am now in possession of it. It is as easy for me to comprehend that it will exist eternally, as that anything else will. I wish to impress upon your minds the reality that when the body which is organized for intelligence to dwell in, dies, and returns to its mother earth, all the feelings, sensibilities, faculties, and powers of the spirit are still alive, they never die, but in the absence of the body are more acute. They are organized for an eternal existence. If this congregation could comprehend that the intelligence that is in them is eternal in its nature and existence; if they could realize that when Saints pass through the veil, they are not dead, but have been laying the foundation in these tabernacles for exaltation, laying the foundation to become Gods, even the sons of God, and for crowns which they will yet receive—they would receive the truth in the love of it, live by it, and continue in it, until they receive all knowledge and wisdom, until they grow into eternity, and have the veil taken from before their eyes, to behold the handiworks of God among all people, His goings forth among the nations of the earth, and to discover the rule and law by which He governs. Then could they say of a truth, We acknowledge the hand of God in all things, all is right, Zion is here, in our own possession.

I have thus summed up, in a broken manner, that which I desired to speak. We are not able to comprehend all things, but we can continue to learn and grow, until all will be perfectly clear to our minds, which is a great privilege to enjoy—the blessing of an eternal increase. And the man or woman who lives worthily is now in a state of salvation.

Now, brethren, love the truth, and put a stop to every species of folly. How many there are who come to me to find fault with, and enter complaints against, their brethren, for some trifling thing, when I can see, in a moment, that they have received no intentional injury! They have no compassion on their brethren, but, having passed their judgment, insist that the criminal shall be punished. And why? Because he does not exactly come up to their standard of right and wrong! They feel to measure him by the “Iron Bedstead principle”—“if you are too long, you must be cut off; if too short, you must be stretched.” Now this is the height of folly. I find that I have enough to do to watch myself. It is as much as I can do to get right, deal right, and act right. If we all should do this, there would be no difficulty, but in every man’s mouth would be “May the Lord bless you.” I feel happy, as I always told you. Brother Kimball has known me thirty years, twenty one of which I have been in this Church; others have known me twenty years; and there are some here who knew me in England; I had Zion with me then, and I brought it with me to America again, and I now appeal to every man and woman if I have not had Zion with me from first entering into the Church, to the present time! Light cleaves to light, and truth to truth. May God bless you. Amen.