Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Ogden City, July 10, 1870.

I am disposed to ask a few questions of this congregation, though not expecting them to give audible answers. Judging from what I know and understand of the Latter-day Saints, I can answer these questions satisfactorily to myself, and probably to the satisfaction of most of the people.

Do we believe in the Scriptures of Divine truth? Those which are contained in the Old and New Testaments, in the Book of Mormon, the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and other revelations that have been given to this people? I can answer this in the affirmative, by saying that we certainly do. This leads my mind to the reflection that if we believe the Scriptures and the revelations I have referred to, we also believe that Jesus is the Christ; and believing the Scriptures and that Jesus is the Christ, we must believe other things also. If the Scriptures are true, it proves that sin is in the world, and the question arises, Is it necessary that sin should be here? What will the Latter-day Saints say? Is it necessary that we should know good from evil? I can answer this to suit myself by saying it is absolutely necessary, for the simple reason that if we had never realized darkness we never could have comprehended the light; if we never tasted anything bitter, but were to eat sweets, the honey and the honeycomb, from the time we come into this world until the time we go out of it, what knowledge could we have of the bitter? This leads me to the decision that every fact that exists in this world is demonstrated by its opposite. If this is the fact—and all true philosophy proves it—it leads me to the conclusion that the transgression of our first parents was absolutely necessary, that we might be brought in contact with sin and have the opportunity of knowing good and evil. It may be deemed strange and singular by the Christian world that we should believe such a thing; but the Scriptures inform us, in Genesis iii., 22, that the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become as one of us, to know good and evil.” Are we the sons and daughters of that God whom we serve? We answer we are. Do we expect to be exalted with our Father in heaven? We do. How are we to be exalted? We have sinned and transgressed the law of God. The Christian world and the world of mankind have not only transgressed the laws of God, but they have changed the ordinances and broken every covenant that God has given them. Then I ask, Is there a debt contracted between the Father and his children? There is. Our first parents transgressed the law that was given them in the garden; their eyes were opened. This created the debt. What is the nature of this debt? It is a divine debt. What will pay it? I ask, Is there anything short of a divine sacrifice that can pay this debt? No; there is not.

I say this to gratify myself, and to gratify my brethren and sisters. A divine debt has been contracted by the children, and the Father demands recompense. He says to his children on this earth, who are in sin and transgression, it is impossible for you to pay this debt; I have prepared a sacrifice; I will send my Only Begotten Son to pay this divine debt. Was it necessary then that Jesus should die? Do we understand why he should sacrifice his life? The idea that the Son of God, who never committed sin, should sacrifice his life, is unquestionably preposterous to the minds of many in the Christian world. But the fact exists that the Father, the Divine Father, whom we serve, the God of the Universe, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Father of our spirits, provided this sacrifice and sent his Son to die for us; and it is also a great fact that the Son came to do the will of the Father, and that he has paid the debt, in fulfillment of the Scripture which says, “He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Is it so on any other earth? On every earth. How many earths are there? I observed this morning that you may take the particles of matter composing this earth, and if they could be enumerated they would only be a beginning to the number of the creations of God; and they are continually coming into existence, and undergoing changes and passing through the same experience that we are passing through. Sin is upon every earth that ever was created, and if it was not so, I would like some philosophers to let us know how people can be exalted to become sons of God, and enjoy a fulness of glory with the Redeemer. Consequently every earth has its redeemer, and every earth has its tempter; and every earth, and the people thereof, in their turn and time, receive all that we receive, and pass through all the ordeals that we are passing through.

Is this easy to understand? It is perfectly easy to me; and my advice to those who have queries and doubts on this subject is, when they reason and philosophize upon it, not to plant their position in falsehood or argue hypothetically, but upon the facts as they exist, and they will come to the conclusion that unless God provides a Savior to pay this debt it can never be paid. Can all the wisdom of the world devise means by which we can be redeemed, and return to the presence of our Father and elder brother, and dwell with holy angels and celestial beings? No; it is beyond the power and wisdom of the inhabitants of the earth that now live, or that ever did or ever will live, to prepare or create a sacrifice that will pay this divine debt. But God provided it, and his Son has paid it, and we, each and every one, can now receive the truth and be saved in the kingdom of God. Is it clear and plain? It is to me, and if you have the Spirit of God, it is as plain to you as anything else in the world. Why are you baptized for the remission of sins? Is there virtue in it? There is. Why do we lay hands on the sick? Is there virtue in doing so? There is, and the wicked world as well as the Saints prove this. Since Joseph Smith received revelations from God, Spiritualism has taken its rise, and has spread with unprecedented rapidity; and they will lay hands on each other—one system proving another—spiritualism demonstrating the reality of animal magnetism? Is there virtue in one person more than another? Power in one more than another? Spirit in one more than another? Yes, there is. I will tell you how much I have. You may assemble together every spiritualist on the face of the earth, and I will defy them to make a table move or get a communication from hell or any other place while I am present. Yes, there is more spirit in some than in others; and this power—called by the world animal magnetism—enables those possessing it to put others into the mesmeric sleep. When I lay hands on the sick, I expect the healing power and influence of God to pass through me to the patient, and the disease to give way. I do not say that I heal everybody I lay hands on; but many have been healed under my administration. Jesus said, on one occasion, “Who has touched me?” A woman had crept up behind him in the crowd, and touched the hem of his garment, and he knew it, because virtue had gone from him. Do you see the reason and propriety of laying hands on each other? When we are prepared, when we are holy vessels before the Lord, a stream of power from the Almighty can pass through the tabernacle of the administrator to the system of the patient, and the sick are made whole; the headache, fever or other disease has to give way. My brethren and sisters, there is virtue in us if we will do right; if we live our religion we are the temples of God wherein he will dwell; if we defile ourselves, these temples God will destroy.

We shall now sing and dismiss the meeting. We do hope and pray you Latter-day Saints to live according to your best knowledge; and we pray God, our Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, to give you faith, grace and fortitude to do so; and his Spirit, that you may be able to see the glory of his kingdom, and then compare it with the kingdoms of this world. What is the glory of this world? Just gather it all together, and it is nothing but a shadow! All the kings and potentates on the earth, with all their power, pomp, greatness and grandeur, will pass into oblivion—they will pass completely from the remembrance of the children of men; they were, but are not. This is the glory of the world; but the glory of the kingdom of God was, is, and forever will be!

The Lord bless you. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, July 3, 1870.

I have a few words to say to the Latter-day Saints with regard to borrowing money and not repaying it. The individual referred to by Brother Carrington is not the only one who has done this. If we were to do justice by them I think we should deprive them of the fellowship of the Saints until they learned to keep their word and to deal honorably with their brethren. It is bad enough, quite bad enough, to borrow from an enemy and not to repay him; to do this is beneath the character of any human being; but all who will borrow from a friend, and especially from the poor, are undeserving the fellowship of the Saints if they do not repay. If anybody in the congregation is disposed to make a motion to that effect I certainly should put it to the vote. Then again, I will pause. There are circumstances that are discouraging, and which naturally weaken the faith and confidence of the Saints, and few things more so than to send money to bring the poor home to Zion, and, after teaching them how to take care of themselves, to accumulate the necessaries of life around them, and when they become comfortable and have a little to spare, for them to lift their heels against God and his Anointed. And this is not infrequently done.

I look over the congregations of the Saints as I travel through the Territory and I see quite a large percentage of people who, I know, never in their lives owned a house, a foot of land, a horse, a wagon, a carriage, an ox, a cow, a sheep, or even a fowl. But gather them here, make them comfortable and put them in happy circumstances and they often forget their God, their covenants and their benefactors. I do not know of anyone, excepting the unpardonable sin, that is greater than the sin of ingratitude; and I do think that many of this people are guilty of it. I will say, however, that if there be those in this congregation who have held out to the poor Saints any prospects of helping them to gather, keep your word with them.

A very serious question frequently arises in my mind with regard to the character of men and women. It is this; “Are our characters our own?” We may say “yes, we form these characters.” Suppose that we are fortunate enough to form a good, honest character in the minds and in the faith of those who are acquainted with us, do not those characters belong to our neighbors, although we may be the framers of them? And I would like to ask: Have we the right to destroy them? It is a serious question with me. If we have confidence in each other, and our conduct has been such that we have created confidence in the feelings of our neighbors towards us, have we a right to destroy that confidence? Is it not sacrilege? I will simply reply by giving my views with regard to myself. According to the knowledge which I possess it is a great deal easier for an individual to preserve a good character than to frame and make one if it is lost. It is much easier to keep a fort when it is well armed and defended than to give it into the hands of the enemy and then regain it. Consequently we had better keep our characters, if they are good, than to suffer the enemy to rob us of them.

Now, to the Latter-day Saints, I will say that when you received the Gospel in foreign lands you received no more, in comparison, than a child receives at school when he learns his first lesson. If he masters the alphabet he thinks he is progressing finely. If the Saints receive the alphabet abroad they are doing well. When they come here they have more to learn. The school we are in will never cease; the lessons we have to learn will never be less than those which we have received: they will never end; consequently it is important that we school and train ourselves until we are in subjection to the mind and will of heaven.

In passing through the world I see that the most of parents are very anxious to govern and control their children. As far as my observations have gone I have seen more parents who were unable to control themselves than I ever saw who were unable to control their children. If a mother wishes to control her child, in the first place let her learn to control herself, then she may be successful in bringing the child into perfect subjection to her will. But if she does not control herself how can she expect a child—an infant in understanding—to be more wise, prudent and better than one of grown age and matured? I think it would be asking too much. If we will school ourselves and bring our own tempers and dispositions into subjection we shall then have influence to do good, over the minds of our acquaintances; but if we do not control ourselves how can we have influence over others? You let two men meet, for instance, say two neighbors, between whom there is a difficulty, and one is full of anger and wrath and he is ready to settle the matter on the spot; but the other one, calm and quiet in feeling, says: “Neighbor, stop a moment, let us look at and reason on this subject; I perceive that you are angry this morning, you are not in a good temper, and are not in a situation now to consider this matter justly. Wait a few moments and see if this evil influence will depart from you. We will then endeavor to revise this matter thoroughly and learn who is to blame.” Now the one who is calm and full of judgment, discretion and patience pretty soon overcomes the opposite influence. Which of the two has the mastery? The one who is angry or the one who is full of patience? Why, the one who is angry at once submits in his own feelings to his superior. Who is the superior? The one who has possessed his soul. If we take this course we will gain influence.

But we do know, the Christian knows, the heathen knows, and the whole world of mankind knows, and it is acknowledged by all, that confidence is lost; the members of the human family have not confidence in each other, as nations, individuals, kings, potentates, statesmen, or as officers of governments; and I am sorry to say that people have not confidence in each other as Christians. Confidence is lost. The work in which you and I have enlisted is to restore confidence in the minds of the people; and when I hear of circumstances transpiring in which brethren forfeit their word I regard it as a blot upon the character of this people. We should keep our word with each other. And if we have difficulty of misunderstanding with each other, talk it over, canvass the subject thoroughly, seriously and discreetly, and we shall find that all difficulties will be remedied in this way easier than any other; and we shall also find that nearly every difficulty that arises in the midst of the inhabitants of the earth, is through misunderstanding; and if a wrong in intent and design really exists, if the matter is canvassed over in the manner I have advised, the wrongdoer is generally willing to come to terms.

This restoration of confidence devolves upon us, then let us do what we can in our humble sphere to do so among ourselves in the first place, and by-and-by it will reach to others. I am happy to say that those who are not of us have a great deal more confidence in us, in many respects, I mean as businessmen and traders, than in any other community on this continent; and I do not believe that there is a community in the whole of Christendom, the members of which pay their debts as well as the Latter-day Saints. But they are not up to the mark, and are defaulters in many respects; yet they may not be nearly so much to blame as outward appearances seem to indicate, for there are so many men who will deal on prospect, really believing that their business matters are so propitious and promising that they will be able to make both ends meet and accomplish all their designs. Such persons have more confidence in themselves and in future fortune than they should have; and through this the Latter-day Saints oftentimes fail in their business transactions and engagements with one another. How desirable it is that we should be prompt with each other in every respect! Failure in this is often the source of ill feeling and of a bad reputation. How often I have heard the saying, from my youth up, “There is a bad neighbor,” or “such a one is a bad neighbor!” But in most of such cases which have come under my notice, I have learned that the “bad neighbor,” wants that re– turned which others have borrowed, and at the time they have promised; and if they were not prompt and true to their word he speaks uncomfortable words and gets angry. And, as a general thing, I have found that “bad neighbors” in a country are, in nearly every case, men who are very prompt, and because others are not so, difficulties arise; for instance, Mr. A. goes to Mr. B. and says, “Can I borrow your hoe, plow or wagon of you today?” Says Mr. B., “Yes sir, you can have it, if you will return it in the evening, for I shall want it early tomorrow morning.” But tomorrow morning comes and the plow is not brought home, and here stands the team and the hired man and boy waiting for it, and thus anger is created. These little bars should be put up. It is hard for us to enjoy that spirit of peace that we should enjoy unless we are very prompt in our dealings with each other. We sometimes say to the brethren, “We do not see nor understand how in the world you can enjoy your religion unless you have a good fence around your garden; you have a fine garden with good vegetables and fruits growing, but no fence around it.” “Well, it is the law here for people to take care of their cattle.” “Yes, but they don’t do it.” In this garden there may be a patch of beans coming on finely, or some young fruit trees growing thriftily. The owner of the garden gets down on his knees for morning prayer, and presently he hears a rush round the house. “What is the matter?” “Why cattle are in the garden.” I think he cannot pray much. It destroys the spirit of prayer and takes peace from him. But let him put a good fence around his garden, orchard or field and he can kneel down and pray in peace, and ask his heavenly Father for the blessings he wants, and not be interrupted, and the devil is fenced out. Well, in all these things guard against temptation, against this loose life, and be prompt in everything, and especially to pay your debts.

The Perpetual Emigrating Fund is not doing anything this season.

But it is painful to hear the cries, wishes, wants and importunities of the poor Saints. If we will do right we shall have abundance to gather the poor. They must all have a chance, although many of them forsake their God, deny their Savior, forsake their brethren and turn away and become traitors, yet they must have their chance. Gather them, give them all the chance possible for life and salvation, and if they receive it right, blessed are they; if they reject it, their blood be upon their own garments.

I want to say a few words with regard to our religion, our spiritual faith and belief, to my friends who are here. I am accosted frequently with the expression, “I think you have done wonders here, but I do not believe anything of your religion.” Now, you certainly do. There is not an infidel in the world but who believes in our religion more or less; and the same is true of the heathen and also of professing Christians and their ministers; but they do not know how to define it. They believe in a God, but they do not know how to define that God. If they turn to the Bible and read, it will tell what God is; it will describe the character and form of the very God that the Christians serve. He has a body, parts and passions; he has feelings, sensibility, principle, attributes, and powers and this Bible proves it definitely to every person who really believes the Bible is true.

Do the Christian world believe in the Son of God—the Savior of the world? They say they do, and we certainly do; and we also believe that he came and died for sinners—died to save the world. Do the Christian world believe it? Yes, they say they do. Do not we believe alike? Yes. They do not know how to define it, but we do. Do they believe in the gifts and graces of God? They certainly do. I have heard ministers begin to preach and read from the scriptures and give their interpretations of what the Lord meant. I have said to them “there must be more revelation in the world than ever before, for how can you tell what the Lord means, if you do not read it, unless he tells you?” Here is the word of inspired men, but you say it does not mean what it says. I believe it means what it says, where it is translated correctly. I believe that inspired men said what they meant, and meant what they said. I believe that Jesus said precisely what he meant, and meant precisely what he said. Do Christians believe this? They say they do, and I have heard ministers of the gospel declare that they believed every word in the Bible was the word of God. I have said to them “you believe more than I do.” I believe the words of God are there; I believe the words of the devil are there; I believe that the words of men and the words of angels are there; and that is not all—I believe that the words of a dumb brute are there. I recollect one of the prophets riding, and prophesying against Israel, and the animal he rode rebuked his madness.

Do you believe all this is the word of God? If you do you certainly believe more than I do. The words of the Lord are the words of the Lord, and the revelations God has given concerning himself are true. When Moses wrote and said that man was formed precisely in the image of God he wrote the truth. We are the children of our father—his offspring, of the same family; we belong to him by birthright, and we are his children and Jesus is our brother. Does the Bible tell all this? Just as plain as words can tell anything. The Christian world do believe “Mormonism,” and “Mormonism” is the truth.

“Where is your code, your particular creed,” says one. It fills eternity; it is all truth in heaven, on earth or in hell. This is “Mormonism.” It embraces every true science and all true philosophy. Is this so? Certainly it is; but, vain philosophy is the result of vain conjurations of the brains of men. How often we hear men philosophize about what would have been suppose we had not been here, and suppose the earth had not been made, and suppose Adam had not come into the garden of Eden, and suppose he had not sinned, what would have been the condition of the world! Always arguing from false premises, and on a false foundation. Facts are facts, and we might as well argue that there is not a railway across this continent to carry the people and goods as to argue that Adam was not in the garden of Eden, that he did not fall, that sin is not in the world or that Jesus is not the Christ. The negative of these propositions is hard to prove, but the affirmative is easy to prove and comprehend, and easy to understand and live by.

Well, I will say that our religion is nothing more nor less than the true order of heaven—the system of laws by which the Gods and the angels are governed. Are they governed by law? Certainly. There is no being in all the eternities but what is governed by law. Who is it who desires to have liberty and no law? They who are from beneath. This is what Lucifer, the Son of the Morning, wanted. He wanted to save the world without law, to redeem the world without order. There must be law, order, rules and regulations; there must be a system of government; and, to have a kingdom of God on the earth, there must be a king, and subjects to rule, and territory for those subjects to dwell upon. These things comprise the kingdom of God, the embryo of which is now being formed by the Latter-day Saints, by the will of the Father, by the power of God; and they will endure and truth will prevail, and we need not be afraid as to the result.

True science, true art and true knowledge comprehend all that are in heaven or on the earth, or in all the eternities. By these all beings exist, whether they be celestial, terrestrial or telestial; or whether they are from beneath and dwell with the devils among the damned. All truth is ours. Now, if anybody wants to make a trade, come on! If you have truths, and I have errors, I will give ten errors for one truth. I have said a great many times to my friends, “if I have errors bring on your truth.” I have embraced the Gospel of the Son of God, by the world termed “Mormonism,” simply because it is true; and there is no power, no argument, no true philosophy, no principle of science, there is no truth from heaven, no word of God or of angels that says to the contrary; but all agree that this is the word of God, this is the power of God, this is life everlasting; and we can say, as it was said in old times, “This is eternal life to know the only wise and true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent,” and thanks be to God we are tolerably well acquainted with him, and with the principles which he has revealed for the guidance and salvation of the children of men. He extends life and salvation to all, and says, “Come to me all ye ends of the earth and be ye saved.” Is there any person excused, any left out of doors, to whom no invitation is sent? Not one. It was a marvel to me, when I first believed, how it was that professing Christians in the world need to repent. But I took this ground in my own mind, and I carried it out. Said I, “If I have no sins to repent of let me repent of that religion that I have embraced that is not true.” So we say to all others. If you have been righteous from your birth up, and have never committed known sins and transgressions, be baptized to fulfil all righteousness, as Jesus was. If you can say you have no sins to repent of, forsake your false theories, and love and serve God with an undivided heart.

God bless you. Amen.

Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, May 8, 1870.

We have now been together in a Conference capacity for four days. It seems a very short time; we would like to stay a little longer, if it were prudent. This is the place to give general instruction to the Latter-day Saints. It is good when the Saints meet together to look at each other, to hear the brethren bear testimony of the truth and to feel the fellowship of the Holy Ghost. This makes our hearts joyful and glad. It will be prudent for us now to bring our Conference to a close, and, after I have spent a few minutes in speaking, we shall adjourn until the 6th of next October, at ten o’clock in the morning, at this place.

There are many things which we would like to talk about; I would like to do a great deal of talking if I had the opportunity and were able to do so. There are many little items pertaining to what are called temporal matters, which it would be well for the people to understand in order to promote their happiness here on the earth and to aid them in securing eternal salvation. It is not those who are hearers of the word only who are blessed and who secure to themselves the blessings of eternal life; they who secure eternal life are doers of the word as well as hearers. If we hear the word and do not perform the labors indicated by it, it will profit us nothing. To hear the word, as the Latter-day Saints do, and then to perform the labor devolving upon them, requires a great deal of wisdom; and to bring the people up to this standard much labor and instruction from the Elders is necessary.

If we can remember what we have heard at this Conference, and carry it out in our lives, it will profit us. I hope and trust that we may. Let us apply our hearts to the wisdom that has been exhibited before the Conference, and observe the little duties of everyday life, that we may be prepared to receive more. It is not possible for a person to learn all the will of God in an hour, a day, or a week; it requires much time and attention to do this. The Lord gives a little here and a little there, a precept now and a precept again, and by close observance of these things in our lives we grow in grace and in a knowledge of the truth.

We are thankful for the privilege of talking a little. We ought all to be very thankful that we have the privilege of the Gospel and of the ordinances of the house of God, for by applying them to the duties of life we can increase in knowledge, wisdom and understanding. We are thankful to see the increase that there is in the midst of the people.

You very well know that it is said by many of those who wish to traduce the character of the Latter-day Saints that we are a poor, miserable, ignorant people. If we are, there is a great chance for improvement. We will acknowledge that we are very ignorant, and that the Lord has taken the weak things of the world to confound the wisdom of the wise. He has picked up the poor of the earth and brought them together, because they seek after him; while the hearts of the rich and the proud, the high and the noble, are lifted up, and they cannot hearken to the principles of the Gospel and receive them and obey them. They feel themselves too good; they know too much; while the poor and needy, those who suffer from hunger and nakedness, and from hard labor and taskmasters, are the ones who naturally seek after the Lord. The Lord is just as willing to bless and to pour out his Spirit upon the king on the throne as upon the beggar in the street; but the king has sufficient—he does not feel after the Lord; but the beggar cries unto the Lord for his daily bread. Hence the Lord gathers the poor. When we are gathered together, if we will improve ourselves by and by we will be filled with wisdom.

When we look at the Latter-day Saints and remember that they have been taken from the coal pits, from the ironworks, from the streets, from the kitchens and from the barns and factories and from hard service in the countries where they formerly lived, we cannot wonder at their ignorance. But when they are brought together they soon become scholars. Many of them become farmers and merchants, and they soon learn to procure a sustenance for themselves and families, and gather around them the necessaries and comforts of life. They also learn the object of their being, of the creation of the earth, and how to organize the elements so as to subserve their own wants and necessities. This is a blessing, and we are proud to see the industry of the Latter-day Saints, and also their improvements and faithfulness. If we are ignorant, let us become wise; if we are poor, let us gather around us the comforts of life. I look around among my brethren and I see scholars. The world say we are ignorant; we acknowledge it, but we are not as ignorant as they are, although they have had opportunities of education perhaps that many of our brethren have not had. We study from the great book of nature. We are driven to this of necessity. Where is there another people who have done what this people have done in these mountains, by way of making improvements in their own midst—upon the soil and in their cities and towns. They are not to be found on the face of the earth. If this is not intelligence—if this is not good, hard, sound sense, I wish somebody would come and teach us a little. If we are taken from the poor, ignorant, low and degraded, and make ourselves wise and happy, it is a credit to us.

There are causes for this which some may not have thought about. I often think of them. You take, for instance, a father, who has, say, four, ten or twelve sons. He may have abundance to dispose of to each and every one; but he dislikes some particular one, and perhaps feeds and clothes eleven, but the twelfth, whom he hates and despises, he turns out of doors to provide for himself. This one son goes forth weeping, and says, “I am forsaken of my father and his house; now I have to look after myself. I have the earth before me; I have to live; I do not want to kill myself, and as I have life before me I certainly must make my own future. I will go to work and accumulate a little of something, so that I can purchase me a piece of land. When it is purchased I will put improvements upon it. I will build me a house; I will fence my farm; I will set off my orchard and plant out my garden; and I will gather around me my horses, my cattle, my wagons and carriages, and I will get me a family.” Pretty soon here is a boy who knows how to live as well as his father does. How is it with the rest of the family? They are led and clothed by their father; they know not where it comes from nor how it is obtained, and they scarcely know their right hand from their left with regard to the things of the world.

This illustrates the history of this people. We have been under the necessity of learning every art—to cultivate the soil and how to provide for our own wants under the most adverse circumstances. We have been compelled to do this or go without, for none would do it for us. We have been forced to study mechanism, all kinds of machinery, how to build, and how to provide and take care of ourselves in every respect. I thank the parent and the boys for turning us out of doors. Why? Because it has thrown us on our own resources, and taught us to provide for ourselves. We have a future before us, and God will take care of us. In my meditations I say, “Shall I complain of father? No. I will not complain at all, he has done the best he could for me, though he knew it not. If he had made my house, opened my farm, planted my orchard, seen to my planting and ploughing as well as the gathering; and then had brought my food to my chamber and appointed a servant to feed me, what should I have known about getting my living? How could I have known anything about raising fruit or anything else? I could not have known. I might read books until Doomsday, and unless I apply the knowledge thus obtained I should know but little.” Without the application of knowledge acquired by reading, it makes mere machines of us; we can tell what others have done, but we know nothing ourselves. Then speak evil of no man, and acknowledge that it has been a blessing to us to be cast aside and compelled to take care of ourselves.

When we left our homes in the East and started for the Rocky Mountains the feeling in regard to us was, “There is starvation before you Mormons; but if you do not die of starvation the Indians will kill you.” We knew that they would do no such thing; we knew that we could live when we got here, and we also knew that we could travel twelve or fourteen hundred miles with our cows, calves, colts, lame cattle, our seed grain and provisions and farming utensils on wagons, carts and handcarts, without an ounce of iron on some of them. It was said that we could raise nothing when we got here; but I said, “We will wait and see; we know that God has led us out here, and we will wait and see what he will do for us.” You can see what he has done, and thank his name and be humble. Shall we speak evil of others? No. Why? Because the result of their treatment towards us has made us better and greater than we could have been otherwise. It has brought us closer together than we could possibly have come without a great deal more revelation than we have had. Our enemies have pushed us together; and it is excellent to be surrounded by circumstances that will bring us close together. We learn then whether we have fellowship one for another. Let us thank God, and speak evil of none; and instead of finding fault with father, let us thank him for turning us out of doors, for we have learned a great many useful lessons in life that we could not have learned without. We can read just as much as the inhabitants of the earth, and after reading we can practice a thousand times more than many of them.

I wish now to say a few words in relation to a subject which is attracting the attention of thousands of people in the world. I refer to what is termed infidelity. We are very well aware that a statement made in reference to this matter in this Conference is true—namely, that the inhabitants of the earth are drifting, as fast as time can roll, to infidelity. I do not profess to know a great deal; but some things I do know. Shall I take the liberty of telling you the story of the boy who went to the mill? He was looking at the miller’s hogs, which were very fat, clean and fine. The miller came out, and, seeing the boy attentively observing the pigs, said to him, “What are you thinking about?” Said the boy, “I was thinking that millers have fat hogs.” “Were you thinking of anything else?” said the miller. “Yes.” “What was it?” “I do not know whose grain they are fed on,” said the boy. I take the liberty of telling this story for illustration. Some things I do know and some I do not know; if I do not know whose grain the pigs eat, I do know that there are some fat hogs.

What shall I say with regard to infidelity? I do not know a great deal, but I say that a man has not good common sense who denies his Maker; such a man is not endowed with reasoning powers. I hold this book in my hand, and I say that for its production from the crude element it required a type founder, paper maker, printer and a book binder, and by their united exertions the book was made. But the infidel bases his argument on the principle that the book is here without a producer—that no type founder, paper maker, printer, nor bookbinder was necessary. Is not a man who argues on this principle a fool? If he is not he comes pretty near it.

There are a great many who say that there is no embodiment of the Deity. Our Christian brethren almost deny the existence of a God; but it is in word only; they do not feel it in their hearts, they do not mean any such thing. They are like the people of whom Paul speaks, who had temples reared to the unknown God. The Christians do not know anything about God, neither does the infidel. The Christian world say, “We believe in a God who has no body.” You do not believe in anything of the sort, Christian world! You think you believe it, but it is only tradition with you. Your fathers told you that God has no body; the priests told them; the schoolmasters have joined in the endorsement of the same ridiculous idea; it is also written in your church creeds; but, when you let common sense have place in your hearts, you do not believe in any such nonentity or nondescript as a God without body, parts or passions.

But foolish and absurd as is such an idea, it is not so ridiculous as that of the infidel. The Christian world, while virtually declaring that God is nothing, also declare that the world was created by him; but the infidel says the world had no creator, it is the result of chance. Now I defy any infidel, or any other person on the face of the earth, to prove that anything can be made or exist without a maker. The world and all its various grades of organized denizens, from the lowest forms of vegetable or animal life, up to man, the lord of creation, were framed and made, or they would not have been here.

I just want to say with regard to infidelity, it means nothing more nor less than to disbelieve anything we have a mind to. If we disbelieve in the existence of the Eternal, as an embodiment or personage, we are infidel on that point. If we disbelieve in the efficacy of the blood of the Savior and his atonement, we are infidels on that subject. I wish to say, however, to the Christian world, that the moment the atonement of the Savior is done away, that moment, at one sweep, the hopes of salvation entertained by the Christian world are destroyed, the foundation of their faith is taken away, and there is nothing left for them to stand upon. When this is gone all the revelations God ever gave to the Jewish nation, to the Gentiles and to us are rendered valueless, and all hope is taken from us at one sweep.

What proof have you, Infidels, that Jesus is not the Christ? What proof have you of the negative of the existence of God the Father, or of Jesus as the Mediator, or of the Holy Ghost as God’s minister, or of the gifts and graces that God has bestowed upon his people? None at all, not the least thing in the world. Is there anybody living on the earth that has the proof of the affirmative? Yes; we have. We have proof that God lives and that he has a body; that he has eyes, and ears to hear; that he has arms, hands and feet; that he can walk and does walk. He has declared himself to be a man of war—Jehovah, the great I Am, the Lord Almighty, and many other titles of a like import are used in reference to him in the Scriptures. But take away the atonement of the Son of God and the Scriptures fall useless to the ground.

How is it, Infidel, have you any proof that Jesus did not die for the sins of the world? No; not the least, any more than you have proof that there was no need to go to the mountains to cut the timber used in building this house, or to quarry the rock of which the pillars of this house are composed. How is it, Mr. Infidel, have you any proof of the nonexistence of Him who rules and reigns in heaven, and who controls the destinies of the earth? No; not the least. But you say, “I do not believe it.” That is your affair only, nobody cares about that.

Infidelity extends to other subjects besides the existence of God and the atonement of the Savior. Some are infidel on one point and some on another. I want to say that so far as a God without a body, parts and passions is concerned, I am a complete infidel. The God whom I serve has got eyes, ears, nose and mouth. He has hands to handle; his footsteps are seen in the midst of his people, and his goings forth among the nations; and he who has the Spirit of the Almighty can see the providences of God and behold his ways. I ask the infidel if he has any proof that I do not enjoy that Spirit? I have proof that I do. What is that proof. The peace, light and intelligence that I enjoy, which I have not obtained from the infidel, from reading books, from going to school, nor from studying the wisdom of any man that ever lived on the face of the earth. “Where did you obtain it?” says the infidel. From heaven, from the fountain of light and intelligence. “Where is your wisdom?” again says the infidel. Here, right before me, teaching the people how to be saved, how to live, and to live with each other; how to improve their minds; how to govern and control themselves. It was so with Joseph Smith, in his day. So it is today; how else could it be done? Who can gather the people from the nations in their poverty and ignorance and fill them with light and intelligence, teach them how to live, what the earth is and what it is for, make them understand that God is our father, Jesus the Mediator, and that we belong to the highest intelligence that there is in existence, and that we are the natural offspring of God the Father? God only can do this. Yet the infidel will say there is no God, that we are creatures of today, that we had no existence before this, and that when this is over there is nothing after. And following down the chain of his reasoning, he will say there was a time when there was no earth, no stars, no worlds, no anything. Well, I know there never was such a time. That is faith against faith, declaration against declaration. What a pitiful condition it would be for all space to contain nothing! To suppose that element, worlds, men, the grass of the fields, or the trees of the forest were created, is all folly! They are from eternity. It is equally vain to imagine space empty! There is no space without a kingdom, neither is there any kingdom without space, and they are from everlasting to everlasting. “How do you know it?” asks the unbeliever. By the revelations of God, by the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ. “How do you know how to teach the people to control themselves and make them of one heart and one mind?” By the revelations of the Lord. Well, then, I guess we will sing and pray and serve our God and keep his commandments; and I rather think that Zion will prosper. That is my opinion.

While the chapter from the prophecies of Daniel was being read, showing the plans and schemes of those who sought to entrap Daniel, and their miserable end, I was thinking how wise (!) men were in those days. How wise were those great captains, counselors and presidents! Could they not foresee that they could not overthrow Daniel? No, they could see no further than to believe that if the King would sign the decree that no petition should be presented to any potentate, on, above, or around about the earth, but to himself, for the space of thirty days, they would entrap and destroy Daniel. What was the result? Just as quick as they commenced their special legislation against Daniel the Lord commenced special legislation for him and against those who got him into the lion’s den. The final result was that Daniel lodged with the lions over night and came out unscathed, not injured in the least; the lions lay there peaceable when the stone was rolled away, and those who had caused him to be thrust there were condemned to take the place he left, and the lions devoured them. They could not foresee what Daniel could; he could have foretold their destiny, and that the legislation of the Lord Almighty would be a little above the special legislation of which they were the authors against him.

Brethren and sisters, will you keep the Word of Wisdom, say your prayers, observe the Sabbath, speak evil of no man, and strive to be humble and faithful in all things? If you will, we shall be one by and by; we are not yet. We must overcome the love of the world. He that hath the love of the world hath not the love of the Father. He that loves the things of the world loves not the kingdom of heaven on the earth. Whosoever serves mammon cannot serve God. We must let these things go out of our affections, then lay hold of the principles of eternal life and sustain the kingdom of God on the earth, or else we shall go by the board. If we jump over, we shall certainly sink, and if we stay aboard Zion’s ship, we can do no more than sink, and it will be just as well if Zion’s ship sink to be aboard as to jump overboard and sink. We had better stay aboard, she may go into harbor; and I can promise you in the name of Israel’s God that she will go there safe and carry every one of her passengers. Will we be humble and faithful? I trust we will. I hope—I pray you, brethren and sisters, let us be humble, be faithful to our God, our religion, and each other.

I will say a few words on a subject which has been mentioned here—that is, celestial marriage. God has given a revelation to seal for time and for eternity, just as he did in days of old. In our own days he has commanded his people to receive the New and Everlasting Covenant, and he has said, “If ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned.” We have received it. What is the result of it? I look at the world, or that small portion of it which believes in monogamy. It is only a small portion of the human family who do believe in it, for from nine to ten of the twelve hundred millions that live on the earth believe in and practice polygamy. Well, what is the result? Right in our land the doctrine and practice of plurality of wives tend to the preservation of life. Do you know it? Do you see it? What is our duty? To preserve life or destroy it? Can any of you answer? Why yes, it is to perpetuate and preserve life. But what principle do we see prevailing in our own land? What is that of which, in the East, West, North and South, ministers in their pulpits complain, and against which both gentlemen and ladies lecture? It is against taking life. They say, “Cease the destruction of prenatal life!” Our doctrine and practice make and preserve life; theirs destroy it. Which is the best, saying nothing about revelation, which is the best in a moral point of view, to preserve or to destroy the life which God designs to bring upon the earth. Just look at it and decide for yourselves.

This house is very large, but as a general thing the people have been very attentive, and they have tried to keep as still as possible. Still, I believe they can improve a little. I think that many of our sisters who have children can stay nearer the doors, and then, if they cannot prevent their children crying, they can step out. I do believe they can stop their whispering. When there is anything said from this Stand that pleases or displeases you, you turn to your neighbor and whisper, and the next one does the same, and directly there are a few thousand whispering, creating a noise like the rushing of many waters. Then you scrape your feet a little, and the many little noises are like the dust that composes the mountains and the whole earth. Every person should be silent when we meet here to worship God. Remember and try to keep perfectly quiet, and do not whisper, talk, nor scrape your feet; and do not let your children cry if you can help it. Twenty years ago I used to tell you that you might pinch your children to make them cry as loud as they could if you wished, and I could preach louder than they could cry. I could do it then, but now I want all to keep still.

I trust we shall long have the privilege of enjoying this shade which we have built; it is a cover from the burning sun in summer; and when the storm of rain comes this umbrella will shelter us. I perceive that, in the gallery, there is a little more heat now than before; we shall open the ventilators and put in some skylights, then I think it will be as cool as in the past.

Brethren and sisters, I feel to bless you. I ask my Father in heaven to bless the Saints, to bless every quorum and organization of his kingdom, from the First Presidency down to the last organization to promote good in the midst of his people. I pray continually for the Bishops, presiding Elders, High Councilors, and the Female Relief Societies. I will bless you, my sisters, if you will hearken to the counsel which has been given you with regard to these fashions. Then, to my brethren, I say, I will bless you, if you will seek a little closer to sustain yourselves, by preserving and wisely using that which the Lord gives you, and not suffer your cattle and sheep to die on the prairies, but preserve them, that we may have the wherewithal to supply ourselves with the necessaries of life, by raising sheep, building factories, raising flax, the mulberry and silk and other things useful. I do not care how beautifully you are adorned, ladies, if you will only raise the silk and adorn yourselves with your own hands. That is the requirement of heaven. It was so almost forty years ago. The word of the Lord to his Saints then was, “Let the beauty of your apparel be the beauty of the work of your own hands.” If you will observe this, adorn yourselves as much as you please. Make your hats and bonnets, and also make hats for your brothers and sons. It is your duty to do it. Preserve that that the Lord has given you, and waste nothing. I can say to the Latter-day Saints that there is no man nor woman, person or persons, but what I would rather feed, clothe, and sustain than to see a particle wasted in the midst of my family or this people. God does not like it, his Spirit is grieved with it. Idleness and wastefulness are not according to the rules of heaven. Preserve all you can, that you may have abundance to bless your friends and your enemies, as we did in ’49, ’50 and ’51. In those years we fed thousands and thousands of poor, starving emigrants, who had gold so big in their eyes that, when they started for the Plains, they did not know whether they had anything to eat or not. By our instrumentality they were fed and sent on their way rejoicing. If we take the counsel now given we shall have abundance to bless our enemies if it be necessary. Shall we say that we have any? Yes, there are those who would delight to be our enemies if they knew how; but they do not know how. I do not suppose that there was a greater enemy to the Savior, when he was on the earth, than the devil. How he did plead with the Savior to worship him! Said he, “I will give you all you can see, if you will fall down and worship me.” But Jesus rebuked him. Yet the devil hunted and followed up Jews and Gentiles, that is, the Romans, until they betrayed the Redeemer into the hands of his enemies, who crucified him, and in doing that they consummated the great act for the salvation of the human family, which will cheat the devil out of pretty much all of them, one way or the other. If he had had any good sense about him—but he was as short of that as the infidels in our day—he would have said, “I am with you, I will go with you, pay your taxes, and will make you welcome to my house.” But no, the devil and his followers did not know enough to do this, neither do our enemies, and thank God for it!

Again I say, I feel to bless my brethren and sisters—every quorum, every authority; our brethren and sisters who have sung for us, or played on the organ. I thank you, doorkeepers, and you who have waited on the congregation, and I say God bless you, and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I bless the whole house of Israel. I pray for the redemption of the Center Stake of Zion, and the upbuilding thereof. It is before us continually in our faith, and I hope that we shall live to see it. Amen.

Remarks by President George A. Smith, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, May 6, 1870.

In February, 1831, just after the organization of the Church, we received a revelation through Joseph Smith, commanding the members of the Church to let the beauty of their garments be the workmanship of their own hands. It reads as follows: “And again, thou shalt not be proud in thy heart; let all thy garments be plain, and their beauty the beauty of the work of thine own hands; and let all things be done in cleanliness before me. Thou shalt not be idle; for he that is idle shall not eat the bread nor wear the garments of the laborer.” This revelation was given almost forty years ago, but slowly, very slowly, have we advanced in fulfilling it; and it really seems that some of the first commandments given to the Church are amongst the last obeyed. I realize the reason of this, when reflecting upon the great work to be done in molding the children of God, gathered from the various nations and denominations, with all their prejudices, traditions, and varied habits of living. They come here filled with ideas averse to those of God and differing from each other; and under these circumstances it is difficult for them to arrive at a oneness in their associations—to use an expression common amongst us at the present—it is difficult for them to cooperate to build up Zion in the last days. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, was three hundred and sixty-five years preparing the people, before the saying went forth: “Zion has fled.” “Enoch was 25 years old when he was ordained under the hand of Adam, and he was 65 and Adam blessed him, and he saw the Lord, and he walked with him, and was before his face continually; and he walked with God 365 years, making him 430 years old when he was translated.” Doc. and Cov., sec. 3, par. 24. Three hundred and sixty-five years teaching and instructing the people, and setting examples before them, and forming a city that should be a model city of Zion. It was in an age when men lived longer, and when, peradventure, they had not become so full of tradition as at the present day; yet when we consider the time that it took Enoch to accomplish this work, we have every reason to rejoice at the progress of Zion at the present time. Most of the efforts we have made to advance the cause of Zion we have been able to carry through successfully. For instance, when in the temple of the Lord at Nauvoo, we entered into a covenant that we would, to the extent of our influence and property, do all in our power to help our poor brethren and sisters in emancipating themselves from tyranny and oppression, that they might come to the mountains, where they could enjoy religious liberty. Just as soon as food was raised in this Valley this work continued, and every effort and energy was used to fulfil this covenant. It required unity of effort, but it has been a success. Roads had to be constructed, bridges built, ways sought out, mountains, as it were, torn down, deserts turned into fruitful fields, and savages more wild than the mountain gorges they inhabit conciliated and controlled, and all this to effect a purpose. But it has been done by unity of effort, and hundreds and thousands of Latter-day Saints rejoice in the fact.

We extended our work of gathering the Saints across the mighty deep, and aided the poor brethren in Europe, continuing our donations in money, and, in addition to this, we went with our hundred, two hundred, three hundred or five hundred teams annually across the great desert plains, to bring home to Zion those who desired to be gathered. This was done by cooperation, by unity and a determined purpose.

It appears that we have gathered many to Zion who do not fully appreciate the great work of these days—namely, to place the people of God in a condition that they can sustain themselves, against the time that Babylon the Great shall fall. Some will say that it is ridiculous to suppose that Babylon, the “Mother of Harlots,” is going to fall. Ridiculous as it may seem, the time will come when no man will buy her merchandise, and when the Latter-day Saints will be under the necessity of providing for themselves, or going without. “This may be a wild idea,” but it is no more wild or wonderful than what has already transpired, and that before our eyes. When we are counseled to “provide for your wants within yourselves,” we are only told to prepare for that day. When we are told, “Unite your interests and establish every variety of business that may be necessary to supply your wants,” we are only told to lay a plan to enjoy liberty, peace and plenty.

Many years ago efforts were made on the part of the Presidency to extend the settlements into the warm valleys south of the rim of the Basin. The country was very forbidding and sterile. Many were invited and called upon to go and settle there. Numbers went, but many of them returned disheartened; but the mass of those who went, confident that the blessings of God would be upon their labors, pushed forth their exertions and built up towns, cities and villages; they established cotton fields and erected factories, and supplied many wants which could not be supplied within the rim of the Basin.

It has been my lot to visit these regions recently, and I have felt to rejoice to see the kind spirit, genial dispositions and warm hearts that were manifested in all those settlements, where men and women had taken hold with all their hearts to obey the commandments of God, and to lay a foundation for Zion to become self-sustaining. I feel that those who have turned away from that country and swerved from the mission assigned them there have lost a great and glorious blessing, which it will be exceedingly difficult for them ever to regain. I am exceedingly gratified at the progress which has been made in that country, and I realize that our brethren, from year to year, are becoming more and more united.

Some tell us that we want capital, and that we should send abroad and get men to come here with money to build factories. This is not what we need. If the cotton lord and the millionaire come here and hire you to build factories and pay you their money for their work, when the factory is erected they own it, and they set their price upon your labor and your wool or cotton—they have dominion over you. But if, by your own efforts and exertions, you cooperate together and build a factory it is your own. You are the lords of the land, and if fortunes are made the means is yours and it is used to oppress no one. The profits are divided among those whose labor produced it, and will be used to build up the country. Hence it is not capital, that is, it is not so much money that is needed. It is unity of effort on the part of the bone, sinew, skill and ingenuity which we have in our midst, and which, in whatever enterprise has been attempted hitherto, under the direction of the servants of the Lord, with whole-souled unity on the part of the people, has proved successful. Let us be diligent in these things. Why send abroad for our cloth when we have the necessary means and skill to manufacture it for ourselves? Why not let these mountains produce the fine wool? And why not let the low valleys produce the silk, flax, and all other articles that are necessary which it is possible to produce within the range of our climate, and thus secure to ourselves independence? I am very well aware that this has looked, and to many still looks, a wild undertaking; but that which has been accomplished gives abundant evidence of what may be. If we continue to import our hats, bonnets, boots, shoes and clothing, and send away all the gold, silver and currency that we can command to pay for them, we shall ever remain dependent upon the labor of others for many of the actual necessaries of life. If, on the other hand, we devise means to produce them from the elements by our own labor we keep our money at home, and it can be used for other and more noble purposes, and we become independent.

Some may say, “We are willing that you should preach faith and repentance, and baptism for the remission of sins, but we do not want you to have anything to say about business matters.” No idea could be more delusive; this oversight in temporal matters being indispensably necessary; for the Latter-day Saints have been gathered from the old settled nations of the earth and are unacquainted with the manner of life in new and sparsely settled countries. An intelligent citizen of Provo, on his arrival in this country, came to my garden to work; he undertook to set out some vegetables—onions, carrots, and parsnips, and he set every one of them wrongside up. My wife went out, and, seeing what he was doing, she said, “You are foolish.” “Why so?” said he, “I thought I was pretty smart.” “Why you have planted these things all wrong end up.” “Have I, I did not know any better. I never saw such things planted before.” That man became a wealthy farmer. But he had to learn; he had never seen a carrot planted to produce seed in his life, and did not realize which end up to put it in the ground. We have tens of thousands of men, women and children who have had to learn how to get a living in this country, who perhaps had spent their days in painting a tea cup, turning a bowl, weaving a ribbon or spinning a thread, and knew nothing else. Here they have had to work at several kinds of work at once, and had to learn how, and it required all the power, energy and influence of the Elders of Israel to instruct them and tell them how to live. I have been astonished at the patience, perseverance, determination and incessant labor of President Young in giving these instructions—telling men how to build mills and houses, so that they would not fall over their own heads; telling them how to yoke cattle, harness horses, how to make fences, and, in fact, how to do almost every kind of business.

There are very few in our midst now who know how to make good bread. I advise the ladies’ relief societies to teach all the sisters to make first-class bread. Many of them do not know how; and let every sister in Israel be thankful for instruction in relation to cooking or any other useful information that can be imparted unto her. Do not let pride and independence make you feel that you know how to do everything. There are a great many things that the smartest among us do not know how to do; then we should be anxious and willing to be taught, and go to work and learn.

Much of the sickness which is amongst our children is the result of improperly prepared food. We raise choice wheat; our millers make good flour, yet in many instances bread is so prepared that it is heavy and unpalatable, causing disease of the stomach and bowels, with which many of our little ones are afflicted, and find rest in premature graves. Give the children good light bread that they may be healthy.

Brethren and sisters, may the blessings of Israel’s God be upon you and may you continue to improve in everything useful and good. Seek after the Lord with all your hearts. Cooperate in building factories, importing merchandise and machinery, taking care of your cattle, and in every kind of business. Remember that, “United we stand, divided we fall.”

May God bless you forever. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Wilford Woodruff, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, May 6, 1870.

I believe this is the largest assembly of Saints or sinners, Jew or Gentile, that ever I saw together under one roof. There are very few of us capable of making such an assembly hear, unless it is very still; and when persons have come from twenty to two hundred and fifty miles to attend Conference, it certainly is important that we give them a chance to hear what is said.

It is true that God has set his hand in these latter days to bring to pass his act, his strange act, and to accomplish his work, his strange work—that truth should spring out of the earth, and righteousness look down from heaven; and it certainly would be strange if these things were not performed. The Supreme Ruler would not be like a God who had created a world like this and peopled it if he let it go at random, without any purpose or plan for the benefit and salvation of the children of men.

I want to say a few words on this subject. I consider that the work we now see taking place in these mountains, and which has been going on from the time this Church was organized, is but carrying out the great plan of our Father in heaven—that plan which was ordained from before the foundation of the world. In fact there is no dispensation that has been looked upon with as much interest by all the prophets of God and inspired men, from the day of Joseph Smith, as that in which we live, in which the Zion of God is being built up, and the earth is being prepared for the coming of the Son of Man.

Isaiah, in looking by prophetic vision to this day, makes use of very strong language in endeavoring to express his feelings in relation to it. In one instance he says, “Sing, O heavens; and rejoice, O earth! Break forth into singing, O ye mountains, for the Lord has comforted his people, and will have mercy on his afflicted yet.” Zion says, “The Lord has forsaken me, my God has forgotten me.” “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?” “Yea,” the Lord says, “a woman may do that,” but he will not forget Zion. Says he, “Zion is engraven on the palms of my hands, her walls are continually before me.”

Now this Zion of God has been before his face from before the foundation of the world, and it is no more going to fail in the latter days than any of the purposes of God are going to fail, hence I look upon this work as the work of God, and it makes no difference to the Lord Almighty, nor to his Saints, what the world may think or do about it, or what course they may pursue with regard to it; they cannot stop its progress, because it is the work of God. If it were the work of man it would not exist as it does today. If God had no hand in this work, we should not have seen this assembly here today in this Tabernacle, nor this Territory filled with cities and towns. But being the work of God, he asks no odds of any nation, kindred, tongue or people under the whole heavens, any further than they are willing to keep his commandments and do his will; for as the Lord God Almighty lives, so true will the work, the foundation of which has been laid in these latter days, increase and continue until its consummation is effected, and the great Zion of God is established in beauty, power and glory, and the dominion of the kingdom of our God extends over the whole earth.

Joseph Smith laid the foundation of this work; he was chosen by the Lord for that purpose, and was ordained by prophets and inspired men who formerly held the keys of the kingdom of God upon the earth. They laid their hands upon his head and ordained him to the Priesthood, and gave him power to unlock the heavens and to administer the ordinances of the house of God upon the earth. This work he performed in the face of difficulty, persecution, opposition and oppression; but the hand of God sustained him. He knew what few men or people on the whole face of the earth know—that God lives, and he also knew that the work whose foundations he laid was the work of God.

This is what has sustained President Young through all his labors. Many men have looked upon him, and, in consequence of outside pressure, have expected him to say this, that, and the other; but all the time he has taken a straightforward course, walking in the path pointed out by the God of heaven; and that same hand has sustained him and you and me and every good and virtuous man and woman on the face of the earth who has listened to the commandments of God.

Isaiah and other prophets saw in vision much concerning the building up and establishment of the latter-day Zion of God upon the earth. They saw the people gathering from the nations of the earth to the mountains of Israel; they speak of a great company coming up to Zion, the women with child and her that travailed with child together; and a great many other things in relation to the internal workings of the inhabitants of Zion in building up the kingdom of God they do not mention, whether they ever saw them or not. Isaiah has not written concerning many of these things, neither has anybody yet that we know of. Perhaps when the remainder of the plates, which were delivered to the Prophet Joseph, and which he was commanded not to translate, come forth, we may learn many more things pertaining to our labor on the earth which we do not know now. But be this as it may, all this internal work is left for the Holy Ghost to reveal to the living oracles, as they guide, lead, dictate and direct the people day by day. This is one thing I want to say to my friends and to the Saints of God, that without the Holy Ghost, without direct revelation and the inspiration of God continually, Brigham Young could not lead this people twenty-four hours. He could not lead them at all. Joseph could not have done it, neither could any man. This power is in the bosom of Almighty God, and he imparts it to his servants the prophets as they stand in need of it day by day to build up Zion.

I want to say to my brethren and sisters that President Young is our leader; he is our lawgiver in the Church and kingdom of God. He is called to this office; it is his prerogative to tell this people what to do, and it is our duty to obey the counsel that he has given today to the sisters and the brethren. We, as a people, should not treat lightly this counsel, for I will tell you in the name of the Lord—and I have watched it from the time I became a member of this Church—there is no man who undertakes to run counter to the counsel of the legally authorized leader of this people that ever prospers, and no such man ever will prosper. Many things I might name, if it were wisdom to do so, to prove the truth of this statement, but you may watch for yourselves, and you will find that all persons who take a stand against this counsel will never prosper.

A great deal has been said with regard to guiding this people in temporal matters. I ask you in the name of the Lord, who is called to guide the temporal affairs of this Church and kingdom, for its advantage, redemption and exaltation, as pure as a bride adorned for her husband, if it be not that man who is placed as the lawgiver and leader of Israel? There is no man on the footstool of God who has this authority but him who stands at the head; and his Counselors and the Apostles, Bishops and Elders ought to be coworkers with him, and they should work together in carrying out his counsel. And when counsel comes we should not treat it lightly, no matter to what subject it pertains, for if we do it will work evil unto us. Cooperation, it is well known to every Saint who has his eyes and ears open, has brought much good to Israel, yet from the very commencement of it there has been more or less discontent and dissatisfaction felt and manifested towards it; but there is not an individual who has attempted to work against it but who has lost the Spirit of God unless he has repented. It is so in all things, as every one of us who has had experience in this kingdom has seen over and over again. No man has ever prospered by this course, but if he has continued it he, by and by, has gone downward instead of upward; no such man ever received and gained to himself honor by taking such a course, and no man ever will. They may try it as often as they wish; no matter whether they are insiders or outsiders, every man who undertakes to fight against this work and people will, in God’s own time, receive chastisement at his hand. Many who have done so, have been cut off, and others will follow. This is true, whether it is in regard to following counsel or not. We cannot treat lightly the counsel of God without incurring his displeasure.

Does any man or woman wonder that President Young leads out, and calls upon us to follow, in directing temporal affairs? What would become of us and Zion if there were no one to give counsel in temporal matters? We could not advance if such were the case; but we have been guided so far by the servants of God and the Spirit of God. We have been dull scholars perhaps in a great many things, but I thank God that it is as well as it is with us today. The organization of this Church took place forty years ago with six members, and here is a congregation that would make two thousand branches of the Church as large as the first branch that was established, and this is only one congregation, while we have 600 miles of towns, villages and settlements in this Territory. It is progress all the time. Why? Because it is the work of God. No one can stand in the way of the work of God in safety. The Lord is not dependent upon any man on his footstool; if one man will not do his bidding, another will. He gives his law to all men, and inasmuch as they reject it they are under condemnation.

I fear not the world. We are the only people under heaven who are one, and we are not half as much one as we ought to be; we have to im– prove. We are the only people in the whole Christian world who make any pretensions to oneness in building up the Zion of God on the earth. We profess to be one in the Gospel, and we have to become so in temporal matters. We have to become of one heart and mind in giving attention and obedience to the counsel of God in all things, both spiritual and temporal. Zion has got to advance; she has got to rise and shine and put on her beautiful garments. She is advancing and has been from the time of the organization of this Church, and she will continue to do so until the winding up scene.

When I look at the blessing of the Gospel of Christ, and at the blessings which we as a people enjoy; when I look at the glorious principles which God has revealed for the exaltation and glory of man, I rejoice in them, and ask who will obey them? I feel that we ought to be thankful to God day and night; we should be humble and always ready to listen to counsel. Let us go to and carry out these principles. “If ye love me, keep my commandments,” says the Lord Jesus. President Young preached on that subject a few Sabbaths ago, showing that however great our professions as Saints may be, they are vain unless we keep the commandments and counsels of the Lord given unto us. What are they? We have the moral law and we have the Gospel in the Scriptures; but there are commandments and ordinances, and there is counsel which we have to observe which are not contained in the Bible, in the Book of Mormon, or in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. In fact there is very little there in regard to our work and labors here as a people.

The Lord has put into our hands the power to build up this great Zion, which all the ancient prophets re– joiced in and prophesied about. What manner of people ought we to be who are called to carry out this work? We ought to be the Saints and children of God in very deed. Our hearts ought to be open and prepared to receive instruction, light and truth, and to carry out all principles which may be communicated unto us by the servants of the Lord. The counsels we have had today are of great value to the Latter-day Saints. By and by Babylon will fall; in a little while “no man will buy her merchandise,” and the sooner we are prepared for the changes which are about to take place in our nation and in the nations of the earth the better for us. We are all interested in the welfare of Zion. Our wives, daughters and sons are interested in the welfare of the husbands and fathers, and the children in that of the parents; and we all should be interested in each other’s temporal and spiritual labors, and there should not be a selfish feeling on the part of any portion of a family—“I do not care what becomes of this, that or the other, if I can only get what I want myself.” This is selfishness, it produces disunion and is inconsistent with the profession of a Saint of God. We should labor, each and every one of us to put such feelings from our hearts, and then we, in our family organizations, should strive to promote the general interest of the members thereof; but the interest of Zion and the kingdom of God should be first with us all the time, for we are all members of that kingdom and its welfare is ours.

I consider that we are in a position in which we have every chance to do a great deal of good in our day and generation, we have every chance to work with the Lord, every chance to fulfil our mission and calling here on the earth. We have every chance to build up the Zion of God. I rejoice in the faith that has been manifested by those who have charge of the affairs of the kingdom of God, in the revelations of God. By their works they have manifested their determination continually to carry out the commands of God. “Who am I,” saith the Lord, “that I command and am not obeyed?” “Who am I,” saith the Lord, “that I promise and do not fulfil?” The Lord has never made a promise to the children of men but what he has fulfilled it; and all the promises that the Lord has made and all the revelations that have been given by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, will have their fulfillment, and we have nothing to fear. As President Young said a few Sabbaths ago, the only thing we need fear is that we shall not keep the commandments of the Lord. Let us keep the commandments of God and then we shall have power with him; the word of the Lord will sustain us and he will fight our battles. “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” saith the Lord. We need have no fears with regard to the future. The Zion of God is before his face continually. He has laid a foundation and He will build upon it, and his Saints will build upon it; and thousands and tens of thousands of the meek of the earth will yet take hold and become co-workers in the great work of God. I feel, myself, as though we should lay these counsels that we receive to heart; we should not treat them lightly. We have been called upon by the Lord and his servants to keep the Word of Wisdom; it is time we did it. Wherein we have failed in these things in the past we should try to improve.

I rejoice in this work, I rejoice in the Gospel of Christ. I rejoice that we live in a day when we have inspiration, when we have prophets, Apostles and inspired men to lead us, and when we are made partakers of the blessings of the kingdom of God upon the earth. It is safe for us to pursue that course wherein we can walk in the light, and we need not find fault with the principles of the Gospel because any brother does that which we cannot endorse. It is for us, each of us, individually, to see to our own conduct, and never follow the errors of others. It is not difficult to find them in our own conduct. We should all bring this home to ourselves.

I do hope that the sisters, generally, and the Female Relief Societies in particular, will listen to the counsel that has been given today, and that they will go to and establish braiding schools in all their societies, where the young ladies may be taught to braid straw. President Young has called upon them to do it from time to time. It is true that he has not always commanded them, in the name of the Lord, to do thus and so, and this has been a great blessing to Israel. We have been governed by counsel instead of commandment in many things, which has been a blessing to the Saints, for “he that is commanded in all things” and obeyeth it with slothfulness and not a willing mind, is not qualified before the Lord as that man is who, having the power within him, bringeth to pass much righteousness without being commanded in all that he does.

I feel thankful for the blessings that we enjoy. The Prophet Joseph was called an idler and a gold digger. We have been called a great many things—such as lazy, indolent, and many other things discreditable. Why, every man possessing reason and judgment, who knows anything about the Territory of Utah, will at once pronounce such assertions nonsensical, for this city and every portion of the Territory bear witness to the untiring labor and industry of the Latter-day Saints, and the people, as a general thing outside, are beginning to give up the idea that we are an idle people. They formerly found a great deal of fault with Joseph Smith, because they said he was a gold digger; but since then nearly all the Christian world have turned gold diggers. Hundreds of thousands of them have run into this western country to dig gold; and, while they formerly found fault with us for digging gold they have lately found fault because we do not dig it. I hope and trust that all the accusations of wrong brought against us in the future will be as groundless as those of the past. Let us show our faith by our works, let us show to the Lord our God that we have faith and confidence in his word and works.

We have to become united as a people in all our labors—in our agriculture, manufactures, and every branch of our temporal labors. It is of great importance to the Latter-day Saints that they should unite together on the principle of cooperation. Where this is not done we still ought to try individually to manufacture all we can. I was pleased, a few days ago, while paying a visit to Jenning’s shoe factory, to see the large number of homemade boots and shoes, many of which were made with machinery which had been imported for the purpose. This should be done wherever it is possible; the people should cooperate and import labor-saving machinery, so as to be able to compete with foreign manufacturers of goods of all kinds. President Young has set an example in introducing carding machines and in establishing factories here. He has done all he could in this direction, and we should follow in the wake as far as we can. I know that God will bless the people by doing this.

I do not wish to occupy any more time. I feel to say God bless you. Lay these things to heart. Let us lay hold and build up Zion. Let us realize that we are the children of God, that he is at work with us and that we are at work with him. It has been said that the Lord and a good man are a great majority. He has got a great many good men on the earth, and he is gathering them together to build up Zion, to carry out his work and to do his will. He will also control the course of human events so as to forward his purposes. He holds the destinies of the nations in his hands. He holds Zion in his hands and he will carry out his work and do all he has promised. Those who fight against Zion fight against God, and he will break every weapon formed against his kingdom, and will bring his people triumphant over every obstacle, and finally give them eternal life, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God. May God grant that it may be bestowed upon us by our faith, works, and labors, through his mercy and goodness, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Discourse by Elder John Taylor, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, March 20, 1870.

When we meet together on an occasion like the present, our thoughts and reflections vary as much as our countenances. We meet for the avowed purpose of worshipping the Lord and we expect to receive instructions from those who address us. I always consider it a very great privilege to assemble with the Saints of God. We have met to partake of the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, and we should endeavor to draw away our feelings and affections from things of time and sense; for in partaking of the Sacrament we not only commemorate the death and sufferings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but we also shadow forth the time when he will come again and when we shall meet and eat bread with him in the kingdom of God. When we are thus assembled together we may expect to receive guidance and blessings from God, from whom, the Scriptures inform us, “every good and perfect gift pro– ceeds;” and in him, we are also informed, “there is no variableness nor shadow of turning.” In our assemblies they who speak and they who hear ought to be under the guidance and direction of the Lord, the Fountain of Light. Of all people under the heavens we, Latter-day Saints, do continually realize the necessity of leaning upon God; for I look upon it that, no matter what intelligence may be communicated, no matter how brilliant the speech and edifying the ideas communicated may be, they will not benefit those who hear unless they are under the guidance and inspiration of the Spirit of God, for the Scriptures say, “The light shineth in the darkness, but the darkness comprehendeth it not.” This is precisely the case in our preaching in the world. We go among the wicked, but they do not understand us; they understand not the truth, the light of revelation, nor the power of God. The Elders now going forth into the world are pretty much in the same position as those who went forth in former times on the same mission. It is said of Jesus that “He came to his own, but his own received him not; but as many as did receive him to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to as many as believed on his name, which were born not of the flesh, nor of the word of man, nor of man, but of God;” born of the Spirit of God, and hence they became new creatures in Christ Jesus. Having partaken of the Holy Spirit and received the forgiveness of their sins, they were brought into relationship with him, they became the offspring of Heaven and members of the family of God. This was the position that the Saints of God enjoyed in former times; and this is the position that we occupy today. The Apostle says the Saints were heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ; and he says further, that if we suffer with him we shall also reign with him that both may be glorified together.

It is very difficult for men of the world to understand these principles, and only by the light of revelation can they be comprehended. We are told that a portion of the Spirit of God is given to every man to profit withal; and if men improve upon that, and are honest and full of integrity, when they hear the truth they realize and understand it; it is to them life and health and salvation. Hence Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice and know me and follow me; but a stranger will they not follow, because they know not the voice of a stranger.”

It is very pleasant for those who comprehend it to reflect upon the relationship they sustain to God and his kingdom and to each other; but these things have no charms for men of the world, whose minds are not enlightened by the Spirit of truth, and who, consequently, do not comprehend the Gospel or the power of God. The principles of the Gospel, to the unbeliever, have neither worth nor efficacy; but with us, who believe them, they comprehend everything pertaining to the well-being of man in time and eternity; with us the Gospel is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end; it is interwoven with all our interests, happiness and enjoyment, whether in this life or that which is to come. We consider that, when we enter into this Church and embrace the new and everlasting covenant, it is a lifelong service and affects us in all the relationships of time and eternity; and as we progress, these ideas which, at first, were a little dim and obscure, become more vivid, real, lifelike, tangible and clear to our comprehensions, and we realize that we stand upon the earth as the sons and daughters of God, the representatives of heaven. We feel that God has revealed to us an everlasting Gospel, and that associated with that are everlasting covenants and relationships. The Gospel, in the incipient stages of its operations, begins, as the Prophet said it should, to “turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers.” We no longer have to ask, as in former times, “Who am I?” “Where did I come from?” “What am I doing here?” or “What is the object of my existence?” for we have a certainty in relation to these things. It is made plain to us by the fruits of the Gospel—by the truths which God has revealed through the medium of revelation by the inspiration of the Almighty, that we are “saviors on Mount Zion and that the kingdom is the Lord’s.” We know that this is not merely a nominal matter, but that it is what the French sometimes call an Actua ite—a thing that positively exists. We know that God our Father lives, we know that Jesus Christ our Savior lives, and that he is our Great High Priest; and that, “though dead, he ever lives to make intercession for us.” We know that God has revealed unto us the everlasting Gospel in all its fullness, richness, glory and power. We know something about the world we live in, and the relation that we sustain to it, and it to us. We know something about our progenitors, and God has taught us how to be saviors for them by being baptized for them in the flesh, that they may live according to God in the spirit. We know that when our wives are sealed to us for eternity we shall have a claim upon them. This is no phantom, but a reality; it is not only a principle of our faith, but it is a principle of knowledge, and we expect to renew our associations in the eternal worlds, just as much as we expect, when we lay ourselves down to rest at night, to rise in the morning refreshed and invigorated. We know that while we are mortal beings, and subject to decay, we are also immortal beings and shall live forever. We know that the priesthood with which we are associated in this world is also an everlasting priesthood and will administer in this world and the world to come—in time and in eternity. As rational beings we are seeking to act, in all our operations in life, with reference not only to time but to eternity; and we know, as others have known, that after the “earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens; which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to us, and not to us only, but to all who love the appearing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” It is the knowledge of these things and of many more of a similar nature that leads us to pursue the course that we do. It is this which prevents us from bowing to the notions, caprices, ideas and follies of men. Having been enlightened by the spirit of eternal truth, having partaken of the Holy Ghost, and our hope having entered within the veil, whither Christ, our forerunner, has gone, and knowing that we are the children of God and that we are acting in all things with reference to eternity, we pursue the even tenor of our way independent of the smiles and careless of the frowns of men. There is nothing associated with our religion that we can barter away, no principle that we have to dispose of—there is nothing in this world that can purchase it; its price is above rubies, it is more valuable than fine gold. It contains principles that lay hold of eternal life; and being in this position, we, as rational, intelligent beings, fear God and know no other fear. There is nothing in this world that can be brought into competition with the principles of eternal truth, and he who barters away the least particle of that truth is a fool, though he may not comprehend it.

We stand, then, really in an important position before God and before the world. God has called us from the world. He has told us that we are not of the world. We have all been baptized into one baptism, and have all partaken of the same Spirit, even the Spirit communicated through the ordinances of the Gospel. We have been called from the world for the express purpose of being the representatives of heaven, that the Lord might have a people to whom he could communicate his will, purposes and designs, and through whom he might spread forth the principles that dwell in his bosom; that we might partake of the same Spirit that dwells in Christ and among the angelic throng; that it might permeate our bodies and be exhibited in our acts and lives before our families and the world, that the spirit and mind that dwell in Christ should grow, spread and expand until all that come under its influence might be leavened with the same leaven until they become one lump of righteousness, virtue, truth and intelligence.

In entering this sacred relationship with God we have assumed the duty of carrying out in our midst the order of things that exists in heaven, that when we shall be transplanted from the earth to the heavens we may be prepared for the associations that we shall meet in the celestial kingdom of our God. We have entered into eternal covenants with God that we will be his people and that he shall be our God, and that, for us and ours, we will serve the Lord; that as a people, as a Territory, as a Church, we will yield obedience to the laws of God, bow to his scepter, acknowledge his authority, and do the things which he requires at our hands, so that, as God exists eternal in the heavens, the same principles of eternal life may dwell in us, that we may become gods, even the sons and daughters of God.

These are some of the ideas that we have in reference to God and our relationship to him. God is our Father, we his children, and we all ought to be brethren; we ought to feel and act like brethren, and while we are striving to serve the Lord our God with all our hearts, minds, souls and strength, we ought, at the same time, to seek to love our neighbor as ourselves; we ought to feel interested in his welfare, happiness and prosperity, and in anything and everything that will tend to promote his temporal and eternal good. Our feelings towards the world of mankind, generally, ought to be the same as Jesus manifested to them. He sought to promote their welfare, and our motto ought ever to be the same as his was—“Peace on earth and good will to men;” no matter who they are or what they are, we should seek to promote the happiness and welfare of all Adam’s race.

Perhaps there has never been a greater exemplification of this feeling, however little it may have been understood, than by the works of our Elders. They have not been governed by sordid feelings in any of their operations or ministrations. Believing in God, they have put their trust in him. They have trusted him for their food and for their raiment in traveling to the ends of the earth without purse of scrip, to proclaim to a fallen world the great principles that have been revealed from heaven for the salvation of the human family. There is not, today, on this wide world, an example of disinterestedness and self-abnegation equal to that which has been exhibited by the Elders of this Church for the last thirty-five years, and not only by the Elders, but by their wives. I see men around me in every direction who have traveled thousands and thousands of miles without purse or scrip, to preach the Gospel to the nations of the earth. They have traversed plains, mountains, deserts, seas, oceans and rivers; they have gone forth trusting in the living God, bearing the precious seed of eternal life. It is true they have not been comprehended or understood by the nations, but that does not alter the fact. Many who went forth in their weakness have returned rejoicing, bringing their sheaves with them, as trophies of the victory of the principles of eternal life that they themselves had communicated. I say there is not another instance on record today of like disinterested, affectionate regard for the welfare of the human family as has been manifested by the Elders of this Church. I have traveled thousands and hundreds of thousands of miles to preach the Gospel among the nations of the earth, and my brethren around me have done the same thing. Did we ever lack anything necessary to eat, drink and wear? I never did. God went with his Elders, and they have gathered together his people as they are here today. They have been seeking to carry out the desire of the Lord and the wish of the Almighty in regard to the human family. They were told to go trusting in the name of the Lord, and he would take care of them and go before them, and that his Spirit should go with them and his angels accompany them. This is all true; and these Elders have preached to you, in your various homes and tongues, those principles which God revealed from heaven, and you were influenced by dreams and visions and by the Spirit of the Lord to give heed to their words, for, like the words of the Apostle of old, they came to you, “not in word only, but in power, in rich assurance and in demonstration of the Spirit of the Lord,” and you realized it and rejoiced in it, and you were led to cry, “Hallelujah! for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Thanks be to the God of Israel who has counted us worthy to receive the principles of truth.” These were the feelings you had and enjoyed in your far distant homes. And your obedience to those principles tore you from your homes, firesides and associations and brought you here, for you felt like one of old, when she said, “Whither thou goest I will go; thy God shall be my God, thy people shall be my people, and where thou diest there will I be buried.” And you have gathered to Zion that you might be taught and instructed in the laws of life and listen to the words which emanate from God, become one people and one nation, partake of one spirit, and prepare yourselves, your progenitors and posterity for an everlasting inheritance in the celestial kingdom of God.

It is no dream or phantom that has brought us here; we have had to do with realities all the way through. And then you who have been brought in have partaken of the spirit of Zion and have helped to teach others the way of life and to lead them in the paths of righteousness; and now we are not only trying to teach the world, but our children, our youth, our young men and women in the same principles, that when we leave this stage of action they, inspired by the Spirit of revelation which flows from God, may bear off his kingdom triumphant.

This is the feeling that permeates this people. With all our weaknesses, and we are weak; with all our follies, and we are very foolish; with all our infirmities, and we are very infirm, we are trying to do the will of God, and to prepare ourselves for an inheritance in his kingdom, to save our progenitors and to pour blessings on our posterity. These are the feelings by which we are actuated; and it is not only in one, but it is in all, more or less, according to the proportion of the Holy Spirit they enjoy. Witness now the First Presidency of this Church. Who could labor more arduously than they? Where is there a man in existence today, of the years of President Young, that takes upon himself the amount of care, anxiety, and travel that he does? There are very few of our young men who would have liked to undertake such a trip as he is now engaged in. Right in the worst possible season of the year, with bad roads and bad weather and all kinds of unfavorable circumstances, to travel a journey of five or six hundred miles and back! What for? To look after the welfare of Zion, to promote the interests of Israel, to help to build up and establish the Church and kingdom of God on the earth, to fulfill the behests of his Lord and Master, and try to carry out the things which God requires at his hands. He feels the importance of those things that Jesus spoke to Peter about after Peter had denied his Lord. Said Jesus—

“Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He said unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith unto him again, the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He said unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, lovest thou me, and he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.”

Well, we have a shepherd who, together with his associates, is feeding the sheep of God, and they, unitedly, are watching after their interests, well-being and happiness, and trying to carry out the will of our Heavenly Father; and while God is operating in the heavens, the Holy Priesthood is operating here to build up and establish his kingdom and introduce righteousness upon the earth.

As I said before, the Elders are engaged in the same thing, and have been all the time. How many have been to the United States this last season visiting among their friends, associations and acquaintances, and preaching the Gospel wherever they had an opening? How are they looked upon? Hear their statements when they return. They are looked upon, by the people generally, as impostors or deceivers. The people do not seem, any more than the Jews in former times, to understand the day of their visitation, nor to comprehend the laws of life nor the relation that they sustain to God; and if ten thousand Elders were sent throughout the United States and Europe, the people would treat them and the principles they bear with contempt and utter carelessness; they do not understand the rich gems of eternal truth when they are laid before them, and they call our good evil, and their evil good. They do not know the difference, neither do they understand the day of their visitation. They possess not the Spirit of God; they are wallowing in the mire of sin and groping in the darkness of unbelief and death.

Is this speaking harshly? Some perhaps will say it is. I cannot help that, it is true. Are there men among them who seek to do good? Many. Are there philanthropists among them? Yes, scores and hundreds of them. Are there high-minded, honorable, intelligent men in their midst? Yes, thousands of them. But do they know the truth? No, they do not, and there are very few of them that have the hardihood to stand up for what they consider to be right, for they fear that by so doing they would be compromised in some worldly point of view; it would not be populist, so they say, “Better let it alone.” Do we understand their position? Yes. Do we hate them? No, we wish to do them good, and would teach them every good principle that we possess; we would lead them in the path of life and show them the way to God; we would introduce them into the kingdom of God, but they cannot see it, and unless a man is born again, the Scriptures tell us that he cannot see the kingdom of God. Sometimes I hear people talk and see them write about the kingdom of God; but all they talk and all they write proves to me that they are not born again, and consequently they cannot see the kingdom of God any more than a blind man could see the faces before me if he were standing where I am. Jesus told Nicodemus that “except a man be born of water he cannot see the kingdom of God; and except he be born of the water and of the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” People unenlightened by the spirit of truth can see the kingdoms of the world, and they can reason upon their organization, their power and weakness, and upon the justice or injustice of the policy they pursue; but when it comes to the kingdom of God there is a current associated with that which they are not acquainted with, and principles which they cannot comprehend; they see depths which they cannot fathom, and they grope in the dark and are entirely ignorant concerning the purposes of Jehovah.

Well, we who comprehend these things, look at them in another light; we are acquainted with their philosophy; we are acquainted with their status and position. We know ours, they know theirs, but they cannot comprehend us, for we are told, emphatically, in the Scriptures, that the world by its wisdom knows not God. And as it was in former times, so it is today, and the world by its understanding cannot find out God. Man, by philosophy and the exercise of his natural intelligence, may gain an understanding, to some extent, of the laws of Nature; but to comprehend God, heavenly wisdom and intelligence are necessary. Earthly and heavenly philosophy are two different things, and it is folly for men to base their arguments upon earthly philosophy in trying to unravel the mysteries of the kingdom of God.

Standing, then, in the position that we do, it is for us to try to obtain a closer connection and union with our Heavenly Father and with the Holy Priesthood, and to comprehend more and more the laws of life and the things pertaining to the work of God. We are here to save ourselves, to learn the laws of heaven, and to save our progenitors, that they may participate with us in the rich blessings of the Gospel. If we answer the ends of our creation in these respects we shall not live and die as the tool lives and dies; but, while the world is overwhelmed with crime, wickedness and malign influences, we may help to introduce and establish principles which God will approve, which all the good and virtuous will love and admire and which will be approbated by the holy angels; and may organize ourselves so that we may be prepared to associate with the intelligences around the throne of God. Let us, then, keep the commandments of God, live our religion, be humble and faithful, cleave to the Lord our God, cultivate his Holy Spirit, that it may dwell and abound within us, that it may be as a well of water springing up to eternal life; and that its refreshing, invigorating streams may spread around us wherever we go, that we may be prepared for glory, salvation and an eternal inheritance in the celestial kingdom. May God help us to attain to this, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, August 15, 1869.

“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,

“With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;

“Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

“There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;

“One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

“One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

“But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

“Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

“(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?

“He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)

“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

“For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

“Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

“That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.”

These words are found in the 4th chapter of the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians.

Probably at no time in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has there been more interest felt in relation to the doctrines in which we believe and the nature of the organization with which we are connected and the bonds by which we are united together than at the present time. The completion of the railroad has brought us immediately in contact with the outside world, and it has also brought us prominently before the nations—not only our own nation, but other nations; and many people who have heretofore felt little or no interest in regard to the people called Latter-day Saints are now, through travel, being brought in contact with them, and are disposed to investigate and to inquire concerning their faith and the nature of their organization.

It is very agreeable to us to have our principles investigated, for the first Elders of the Church have endeavored for nearly forty years to disseminate a knowledge of them among all people unto whom they could get access. They have traveled throughout the length and breadth of the nation, having visited every State and nearly every township in the Union. They have also traveled in Canada, and have proclaimed the Gospel in Europe and Asia, and some have even gone to Africa and to the islands of the sea. What we have done we have endeavored to do openly, and have striven to make plain the principles we have advocated. The greatest difficulty we have had to contend with has been the indisposition of the people to listen. The idea that has seemed to possess the minds of many was that they understood our principles perfectly well, and that it was unnecessary to say another word about them.

Probably there is no people in the world concerning whom so much has been said, and there is probably no people on the face of the earth who are so little understood and concerning whom there are so many misrepresentations in circulation. The prevalent idea concerning us in a great many circles is that we have thrown aside the Bible and have substituted in its stead a book of our own, the Book of Mormon, and other works, of modern origin, or works which they consider of modern origin. It is only a few weeks since that a gentleman from the Eastern States was invited to preach in the New Tabernacle. He did so, and preached a very eloquent discourse. He was followed by President Young, and after the latter had finished and the meeting was dismissed this clergyman said he had not the least idea that we had so large a Christian element in our faith until he heard that discourse from President Young. He had supposed that we had set aside the Bible and had taken the Book of Mormon and the doctrines and revelations contained in that and in the book of Doctrine and Covenants as our rule of faith.

He was not singular in that idea; it is the general belief in many circles, and among people who, on other subjects, are well informed. They have an idea that we are a very peculiar people, and that our peculiarities have their origin in those books. Of course among people who have read the Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants these ideas do not prevail, because such persons are aware that those books corroborate the Bible, and are witness of the truth of the great principles contained in the Old and New Testaments, and teach precisely the same.

The peculiarities, if such they may be called, which distinguish us from other people, have their origin in our implicit faith in the Scriptures. There is no principle nor doctrine of our faith that we are not willing to have tested by the revelations and teachings contained in King James’ translation of the Bible; and our Elders have gone forth taking that as their textbook, preaching from it the principles which those now called Latter-day Saints have embraced, and which caused them to gather together from the nations of the earth, to the State of Ohio, then to Missouri, then to Illinois, and then to these valleys.

This statement may sound strangely to the ears of many. I have heard people express considerable surprise upon hearing it. I recollect in my early experience as an Elder meeting and having considerable conversation upon our principles with a clergyman. I left with him the work called “The Voice of Warning;” and when I called upon him again after a lapse of a few days, he expressed his surprise at there being any diversity between the Latter-day Saints and the orthodox sects, “for,” said he, “I see that you base your faith upon and draw your arguments from the New Testament.” I admitted that it was strange, but remarked to him that it was because we received the New Testament literally, and believed that the teachings contained in that book were intended to be understood as they were written, and that when God made a declaration, or his authorized servants preached the Gospel, or made certain plain and positive promises, the design was that the children of men should rely upon those promises and believe the principles of that Gospel with the most unwavering faith and expect their fulfillment to the very letter, if they would only comply with the conditions connected therewith.

This is the great difficulty today; this is the cause of the diversity of beliefs in the Christian world. Instead of taking the word of the Lord as it is, they wish to place their own construction on that word so as to suit their own peculiar ideas and views; and having thus interpreted it, they frame their belief in accordance with that interpretation. But it is very plain, from words contained in the New Testament, that the Lord expected his children to believe the Gospel and to carry it out in their practice, as it was delivered anciently. For instance: Paul, on one occasion, when writing to the Galatians, said—

“Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”

And, as if to make this so positive that it could not be misunderstood, he repeated the language. Here an anathema is pronounced upon the head of any individual who should attempt to preach any other Gospel than that which the Apostle Paul and the other Apostles had declared; even if an angel from heaven were to declare anything opposed to or differing from it he was to be accursed.

It is highly important that mankind should understand what was the nature of that Gospel, and whether the creeds to which they have rendered obedience in these days agree with the principles preached by the Apostles; if they do not, they who preach them are exposed to the anathema pronounced by Paul, or his words are not to be relied upon. It is a very easy matter to find out what the Apostles did preach; there need be no difficulty about this if people will receive the teachings contained in the New Testament, for there we have a record of their labors and an epitome of the doctrines they taught and administered to the people.

If we refer to the first discourse that was preached after the ascension of Jesus into heaven we shall find what the Apostles taught on that occasion, when inspired by the Holy Ghost, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The people were excited over the strange event that had taken place in their midst; for men of various nations had gathered together to the Holy City and the Apostles stood up in the power and demonstration of the Holy Ghost and declared to the people there assembled the startling intelligence that Jesus, whom they had so recently crucified as an impostor, was indeed the Lord of life and glory and was the veritable Son of God, the Messiah, of which the prophets had spoken, and for whose coming they had so long and anxiously looked. This was unexpected intelligence to them; but the arguments of the Apostles on this matter were so convincing and the power of God so apparent—each man hearing the Gospel in his own tongue, that they were pricked to the heart and were convinced that Jesus was the Son of God and the Savior of the world, and they cried out, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” It is very reasonable to suppose that when the Apostles answered this question, made under such extraordinary circumstances, they would declare the doctrines and requirements which would be binding on all the inhabitants of the earth under similar circumstances. To imagine anything else would be to suppose that which would be contrary to reason and common sense. To think that they would tell something that was not necessary and essential to salvation on such an important occasion, when so many were pricked to their hearts, is to suppose something that is not consistent with the character of the Apostles and the nature of their mission to the children of men. Peter said unto them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” Thus, he set before them in simplicity and in the greatest plainness, the requirements with which they must comply in order to receive that which they desired.

It was not necessary for him to say unto them, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, for they did already believe, having been convinced through the testimony of the Apostles. Peter, therefore, said unto them, “Repent”— that being the next principle they had to obey—“repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins, and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost.” He did not say unto them, “Here is an ‘anxious bench,’” or, “Come and throw yourselves at the foot of the cross, and seek with prayer before the Lord until he remits your sins.” He did not tell them to do any such thing, but he told them to repent of their sins, that is, to forsake them, and to be baptized for the remission of them, promising them that they should receive the Holy Ghost, “For,” said he, “the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”

How many did the Lord call? Why he has called all. He commanded the Apostles to go and preach the Gospel to every creature, therefore every human being on the face of the earth was called by the Lord; and the promise was unto the multitude there assembled and to all afar off; hence, it is quite clear that all the inhabitants of the earth had a claim on this promise on complying with the conditions prescribed—namely, faith in Jesus Christ, repentance of their sins, being baptized for their remission, and having hands laid upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost.

This was the Gospel which Peter preached unto the people on the Day of Pentecost, and several thousands of them went forth and were baptized on that occasion. We find, by examining the “Acts of the Apostles,” that this was the nature of their teaching on every occasion when preaching to the people, and we also find that when the people did comply with these requirements the Holy Ghost did rest upon them.

A great many have had the idea that the Holy Ghost was only bestowed upon those who were called to act as officers in the churches; but an investigation of the labors of the Apostles will prove that this was not the case, and will establish the fact that every individual, whether male or female, who was baptized by the servants of God for the remission of sins, received the laying on of hands, and also the Holy Ghost. You recollect, doubtless, the record contained in the 8th chapter of Acts, which contains an account of Philip preaching the Gospel in Samaria and baptizing some believers. Philip, it seems, had only the authority that John the Baptist had, holding the same Priesthood as he did. It is written of John that he said, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.” John never presumed to lay on hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost: he had not the authority. He was a priest after the order of Aaron; he held the Aaronic Priesthood, to which Priesthood belongs not the authority to lay on hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost. To do this it requires a priest after the Order of Melchizedek, which Jesus and his Apostles held. Philip, after leaving Samaria, baptized the Eunuch, but we do not read that he laid his hands upon him, evidently proving that he held only the Priesthood of Aaron. When the Apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, through Philip, they sent unto them Peter and John, two of the Apostles, who, when they came unto them, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost, and they laid their hands upon them, and they received the Holy Ghost. It did not rest upon them previous to this ordinance being attended to; for the Testament says the Holy Ghost had not as yet fallen upon any of them, although they had been baptized. This shows that, not only is it necessary for men to believe in Jesus Christ, repent of their sins, and be baptized for the remission of them, but that they must receive the laying on of hands of those who have authority, or they could neither claim nor enjoy the Holy Ghost; but when they did have hands laid upon them, wonderful to relate in this age of unbelief, the Holy Ghost rested down upon them and they were filled therewith, and they were bound and united together, and they knew the things of God and enjoyed the gifts of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

On one occasion Paul met with a number of disciples at Ephesus and he inquired of them if they had received the Holy Ghost since they believed. They told him they had not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. He then inquired unto what then were they baptized. They replied they were baptized unto John’s baptism. Paul baptized them anew, and laid hands upon them, and, we are told, they received the Holy Ghost and spake with tongues and prophesied. Paul had authority; he held the Melchizedek Priesthood, in which was included the authority to lay on hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost.

This is the manner in which the Apostles preached the Gospel; there is no record of their doing it in any other way. We do not read of their teaching the people the plan of salvation in any other way.

A great many, to prove that baptism and laying on of hands are not necessary, have cited the case of Cornelius, who, though he was not baptized, received the Holy Ghost. The case of Cornelius is the only case of the kind on record, and there were strong reasons why it should be as it was with him. The Gospel and its ordinances were administered only to the Jews; Cornelius was a Gentile, and between the two races strong prejudices existed, the Jews looking upon the Gentiles as far inferior to them. Cornelius and his household were the first Gentiles to whom the Gospel was preached, they received it, and the Lord, to show to the Apostles that the Gentiles were entitled to the ordinances of salvation as well as the Jews, if they were willing to comply with the requirements of the Gospel, conferred the Holy Ghost upon Cornelius and his family. When Peter saw this family he said, “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him.” And when afterwards, he heard them speak with tongues and magnify God, he said, “Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord.” Peter did not say, Cornelius, you have received the Holy Ghost as well as we have, and there is no necessity for you to obey any further ordinances, which, under the circumstances, if he had considered baptism or the laying on of hands nonessential, he would have been very likely to do; but instead of that he commanded them to be baptized. Peter took this, as the Lord intended it, as an evidence that the Gentiles as well as the House of Israel were entitled to the Gospel. And he had them baptized, and without doubt laid his hands upon them to confirm upon them the gift they had received. Had Cornelius, at that hour, stood upon his dignity and said, “There is no necessity for me to be baptized for the remission of my sins, God having given me the Holy Ghost without obeying that ordinance, and having already received the Holy Ghost, I have no need to have hands laid upon me,” there is not a doubt in my mind but what that precious and inestimable gift would have been withdrawn from him, and he would not have enjoyed it after. It could only be continued to him on condition of his obeying the ordinances which God had placed in his Church and which he required all the inhabitants of the earth to submit to without hesitation; and without doubt, Cornelius wisely went forward and obeyed those ordinances.

This was the manner in which the Apostles preached the Gospel to the inhabitants of the earth in those days. They did not say to the people, “You must seek the Holy Ghost and probably the Lord will give it to you if you will only exercise faith enough;” but they told the people plainly and positively, without the least hesitation, that if they would comply with certain requirements they should receive the Holy Ghost. The only condition was their sincerity and faithfulness in obeying the requirements.

What were the fruits of this preaching? Wherever the Apostles went and the people received their testimony the Spirit of God rested upon them and their hearts were united, and they enjoyed the gifts of prophecy, healing, tongues, interpretation of tongues, discerning of spirits, wisdom, knowledge and all the varied gifts of the Gospel necessary for their growth and development in the things of God. This was not the case at Jerusalem alone, but in far off Ephesus and in the various cities of Asia Minor where Paul preached; and throughout the length and breadth of the earth wherever the Apostles traveled these peculiar gifts and manifestations were enjoyed.

Paul, who had been separated from the rest of the Apostles for a number of years, found when he came to Jerusalem and was united with them, that he had precisely the same knowledge concerning the Gospel of Christ that they had; the Holy Ghost had taught it to him the same as it had to Peter, James, John, Andrew and the rest of the Apostles. And had they been permitted to continue their labors the inhabitants of the earth, if they had received the Gospel, would have been united together as one in the things of God.

Does anybody wonder that there is division now in Christendom? Does anybody wonder that, instead of there being “One Lord, one faith and one baptism,” as recorded in the words I have read in your hearing, there are, it may be said, many lords, many faiths and many baptisms? Does anybody wonder at this? I cannot when I see how men have strayed from the path that Jesus marked out; when I hear men say that baptism is nonessential. What a wide difference between such persons and the Lord Jesus Christ! You will remember that when John came baptizing in the wilderness Jesus applied to him for baptism, and, in answer to the remonstrance of John, who seemed to think that he had more need to be baptized by the Savior than for the Savior to be baptized by him, Jesus said, “Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.” The wonder is that there is a remnant of faith in Jesus left in the world when we see how widely men have diverged from the paths in which the Apostles walked, and from the doctrines which they taught.

We must always bear in mind that which Paul said—“Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” We must bear this in mind when we investigate the nature of the Apostles’ teachings and the ordinances and doctrines which they administered and taught. If they who profess to be preachers of the Gospel diverge in the least from the doctrines and principles taught by the Apostles they place themselves in a position to receive the condemnation which Paul invoked.

I have endeavored in these remarks to bring your minds to the faith the Saints once enjoyed, and to the teachings which the Apostles, in their day, laid before the people, and called upon them in all earnestness to obey. I have done this in order that you may be prepared for that which we teach, for we teach precisely the same principles that they did. Men wonder and say, “How is it that you Latter-day Saints can live together as you do? How is it that you are so united?” The secret lies in the fact that we have the same principles to teach to the people that were taught by the ancient Apostles, and the same results follow in our case as in theirs.

It has been frequently remarked to the Elders, when abroad, “What necessity was there for an angel to come from heaven to earth to bring, as you say he did, the everlasting Gospel when we have the Bible and Christian organizations and Christian churches all through the land?” This is a very important question, and one to which I will try and give a satisfactory answer. There would have been no necessity of any such thing if the churches, at the time Joseph Smith sought for knowledge, had taught the same principles the Apostles declared, and if believers in these days had enjoyed the same gifts and blessings that they did in theirs. But if there was such a church at that time history has failed to record the fact. There was no man on the face of the earth, of whom we have heard, who declared to the people that if they would believe in Jesus and repent of their sins and be baptized for the remission of them, they should receive the Holy Ghost. On the contrary, the bestowal of the Holy Ghost, as anciently, with its gifts and powers, was denied by the whole Christian world. They declared that these gifts were not for this generation, but were bestowed upon the primitive church for the whole and sole purpose of establishing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and that when that was accomplished there was no longer any need for them. That was the belief in Christendom then, and that is the belief there now; you may hear it expressed on every hand when conversing on these subjects. They will declare that there is no necessity for these gifts in this age, as if the Holy Ghost could be enjoyed by man and these gifts not manifested! Such a thing is impossible! There would have been no necessity for the restoration of the Gospel to the earth by an angel if the keys and priesthood by which the ancient Apostles officiated had not been taken from the earth. It is true that the Catholic Church claims direct succession from the Apostles; other churches claim the same; and all, claiming any authority whatever, endeavor to trace it back to them. They all base their claims to authority on the fact that the Apostles received it. The Catholic Church, especially, claim uninterrupted descent from Peter and the last of the Apostles. But, while so doing, they ignore the fact that as long as there was a man on the earth who laid claim to authority direct from God the inhabitants warred against him, until they had succeeded in killing him, as they had all others. This fact, though as familiar as any fact to the student of history, is lost sight of by the Catholic Church. So long as the Apostles lived, and so long as any man lived who had been associated with them in their labors, there was an incessant persecution carried on against them. And it is recorded that every one of them, except John, died a violent death. They tried to kill John; they immersed him in a cauldron of boiling oil and sent him to the Isle of Patmos to work in the lead mines, and persecuted him in various ways; but, owing to the promise of God, they could not kill him. Peter was crucified at Rome with his head downwards, not considering himself worthy to be crucified as his Lord had been. Paul was beheaded in Rome; the other Apostles were killed in various ways, every one of them suffering an ignominious death because of their belief in Jesus; because they believed God was a God of revelation, and because they laid claim to authority from Jesus to administer the ordinances of his church. This was the course pursued by the inhabitants of the earth until the Apostles and every man having authority had been killed, and the gifts and blessings had entirely disappeared from the earth. After this men took to themselves doctrines to accommodate themselves, the rites and many of the doctrines of Paganism and portions of existing institutions were incorporated into the Christian Church, until almost every vestige of the pure doctrines had disappeared, and nothing was left but mere forms.

Is it any wonder that the Latter-day Saints claim that it was necessary for an angel to fly through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach to the nations of the earth? If authority to administer in the ordinances of the Gospel had existed among men there would have been no such necessity; but that authority had been taken back to God who gave it, and it had to be restored by him or it could not be exercised on the earth again.

Where were Apostles to be found? Why they were unpopular; every man that had held the Apostleship had been killed, yet in the words which I have read in your hearing it is said—

“He gave to some Apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.”

And yet men tell us today that Apostles are not necessary! Is it surprising that the results which we see have followed such unbelief in Apostles? It was very dangerous to be called Apostles! It sounded better to be called Bishops or some other title; it suited the popular ear better and did not excite the persecution which the name of Apostle did. Yet in the words of Paul we are told that Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers were placed in the Church, for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, the edifying of the body of Christ. If there is any man on the earth who can prove from the Scriptures that Apostles are not necessary in the Church of Christ, then he can prove that the words of Paul and the rest of the Apostles are not trustworthy, for Paul tells us that they were placed in the Church for the work of the ministry, the perfecting of the Saints, and they were to continue there.

“Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.”

Is there room for wonder that men are carried about by every wind of doctrine, and that they are deceived by the cunning craft of men, when they no longer believe in Apostles and prophets, and have taken in their stead self-constituted ministers, men who never received authority to administer in the things of God? Can any be surprised that Christendom is split up as it is today, and that men are so confused in relation to the doctrines of Christ? Or that infidelity rears its head so defiantly in the midst of Christendom? No, it cannot be wondered at, when men have so widely departed from and so flagrantly disobeyed the plain teachings of Scripture as we find them recorded in the New Testament. The condition of Christendom alone is, of itself, sufficient to prove to every reasoning mind that if there is a God in heaven, as we know there is; that if there is such a principle as divine revelation, which we declare to be true; if there are such beings surrounding the throne of God as angels, of which we bear testimony, there never was a greater necessity for angels to be sent to earth, or for revelation to be given to man, than in the day in which we live. Some may say that we have the Bible and its divine teachings to peruse at our leisure; but it has frequently been remarked by those who scoff at it that it is like a fiddle, every kind of a tune can be played upon it. It requires something more than the Bible to guide man to eternal life. It requires divine inspiration, it requires the Holy Ghost, it requires the Priesthood, as it existed in ancient days, to be restored; and I thank God with all my heart, this morning, that I do know it has been restored. I thank God from the bottom of my heart that I have this knowledge.

Before me, in this Territory, I see the fruits of this restoration—precisely the same fruits that followed the Priesthood anciently. I see, here, people gathered from various nations, of various creeds, speaking various languages, and having been reared and educated in a very dissimilar manner, from limited monarchies, from despotic monarchies and from republics; and yet they dwell together in unity, worship God alike, live lives of good order, truth and holiness, and love one another, which is an evidence, as the Apostle says, that they have passed from death unto life. This unity is one of the greatest evidences that can be given that we are the disciples of Christ, for he has said

“If ye are not one, ye are not mine.”

And it is also one of the strongest evidences that can be given that Jesus is the Christ, for, on one occasion, when praying to the Father that his disciples might be one, he said—

“Neither pray I for these alone; but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”

As a people the unity of the Latter-day Saints is proverbial, and furnishes a powerful testimony that we have walked with Christ, and have received the blessings following the bestowal of the Holy Ghost.

These are some of the doctrines that the Latter-day Saints believe in; time would fail to tell all. We believe that God is the same yesterday, today and forever; that he is a God of revelation, and that the reason he has not revealed himself for centuries is because the people so cruelly persecuted his anointed ones when he sent them into their midst. Their blood has cried for vengeance on the inhabitants of the earth, and he has closed the heavens, as it were, for centuries, our forefathers having been left only with such light as they could obtain without the Priesthood. But has he not bestowed his Holy Spirit upon men? Yes, millions of people have received the Holy Spirit to a certain extent, although not in its fulness. Luther had it, when he was inspired to war against the iniquities that existed in the Romish Church. He was raised up especially to prepare the way for the manifestation of the work of God in the last days. Calvin and Melancthon had a portion of the Holy Spirit, and so had all the Reformers who followed them; and though they had not the authority to build up the Church of God in its ancient purity, they still had a work to do and they have come in their days and generations and have labored zealously, indefatigably and fearlessly, regardless of death, inspired of God to do the work which they performed in the various lands in which they labored—Germany, France, England, Scotland, and various parts of Europe, and also in our own land—America. John Wesley, also, was raised up and inspired of God to do a work, and he did it.

Not only have these religious reformers been inspired to do a work in preparing for the advent of the kingdom of God upon the earth; but others have been raised for the same purpose. Columbus was inspired to penetrate the ocean and discover this Western continent, for the set time for its discovery had come; and the consequences which God desired to follow its discovery have taken place—a free government has been established on it. The men who established that Government were inspired of God—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and all the fathers of the Republic were inspired to do the work which they did. We believe it was a preparatory work for the establishment of the kingdom of God. This Church and kingdom could not have been established on the earth if their work had not been performed, or a work of a similar character. The kingdom of God could not have been established in Asia amid the despotisms there; nor in Africa, amid the darkness there; it could not have been built up in Europe amid the monarchies which crowd every inch of its surface. It had to be built up on this land, hence this land had to be discovered. It was not discovered too soon; if it had been it would have been overran by the nations of the earth, and no place would have been found, even here, for the kingdom of God. It was discovered at the right time and by the right man, inspired of God not to waver or shrink; but, undaunted by the difficulties with which he was surrounded, and contending with a mutinous crew, he persevered, and continued his journey westward until he discovered this land, the existence of which God had inspired him to demonstrate.

It was necessary that George Washington should be raised up, that the battles of the Republic should be fought, that the Colonies should be emancipated from the fetters of the mother country, and declared free and independent States. Why? Because God had in view the restoration of the everlasting Gospel to the earth again, and in addition to this the set time had come for him to build up his kingdom and to accomplish the fulfillment of his long deferred purposes.

Jesus said unto Jerusalem, “How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” But the prophets tell us that in the last days the people of God shall be gathered together from the different parts of the earth and be united together in one people. It was necessary, therefore, that a land should be prepared and a form of government be established within its borders without conflicting with it. Therefore, religious liberty and toleration have been proclaimed throughout the length and breadth of this land. Men fought, bled and died in vindication of these principles, and they were incorporated into the Constitution, and we, today, are reaping the blessed results of their labors. Shall they not have glory in the sight of God for those labors? Yes, glory and honor and blessings and immortality will rest upon men who have been instruments in the hands of God in bringing to pass his great and marvelous purposes. We have the greatest charity for them; we know that God will save and bless them. We know, further, that their sins were sins of ignorance. Where there is no law, it is said, there is no transgression. They had not the fulness of the Gospel declared unto them; but the generation in which we live hear the law and the testimony, and they will be held accountable for this knowledge. God will hold you, my brethren, sisters and friends, strictly accountable for that which you hear. You live in a day and age when the purposes of God are transpiring before your eyes, and when you see the mighty going forth of his great work. Men, generally, however, will not look at it, and yet they are ready to declare that if they knew the work of God was progressing they would be willing to help it forward. They are the same as the Jews were with the Lord Jesus Christ. When he was with them he was despised and put to death; now men think they honor him, but if he lived upon the earth today do you think he would be honored? He would be treated today as he was then. God sent his only Son, the Prince of life and glory; he came to the earth in humble mien, in the garb of poverty, speaking ungrammatically, yet he was heaven’s Prince, the Lord of all things. He was born in a stable and cradled in a manger. But God’s noble sons are not always born to thrones; some of the noblest men who have lived on earth have not been found in the courts of kings. Where shall we look for them? Frequently among the humble and lowly. I thank God it is so. I have found among the humble and lowly, men with minds which were like rich jewels; men who loved the truth, and who have been willing to die for principle. I have also found many of the rich and noble who have

“Crooked the pregnant hinges of the knee, That thrift might follow fawning.”

And who have been willing to do anything to curry favor, who worshipped popularity, and were ready to bow at its shrine in humble, abject reverence. While among the poor, the meek, and the lowly, I have known men, and we all doubtless have, who would die rather than step aside from principle. Among such God has placed his nobles in this generation, in order to be pioneers in this work and lay its foundations. They could sacrifice, and endure poverty for the sake of truth, and they have done so, and have risked all, braving the world fearlessly, establishing principle after principle, and declaring truth, in all its simplicity and purity, to the nations of the earth. Thus far God has vindicated their course and upheld them and has borne them off triumphantly, and he will continue to do so until the victory is achieved and the desired consummation of his purposes is reached.

This work will stand and spread abroad, because it is the work of God. After awhile it will gather within its fold men who, at the present time, consider it beneath their notice. It will accomplish the destiny that has been assigned to it. It will gather every honest man and woman on the face of the earth; all who will acknowledge truth will receive and rejoice in this work. I thank God that it is restored to the earth. It is more precious than the good will of men to know God. To have the spirit of truth, and the union and fellowship which exist among the Latter-day Saints, is worth more than the riches of California, more than all the mines of the earth, or all the jewels in the crown of every monarch on the earth, or their entire treasures, because they will fade away, but these will endure forever. And the man who obeys the Gospel of Jesus need not feel that he is bound or enslaved, or deprived of the exercise of any of the faculties, as many suppose. He is emancipated from thralldom; he can rejoice in the light of truth, and go forward and embrace every principle of truth. Not religious truth alone; it is a wrong idea that people who are religious must confine themselves to what are termed religious truths only. The Gospel of Jesus Christ embraces within its scope every truth known to man; every truth pertaining to astronomy, geology and every other science belongs to and is incorporated in that Gospel.

I have spoken thus far and have not said a single word about that much-mooted doctrine—plurality of wives. I expect there are gentlemen and ladies here who would rather hear that spoken of than all that could be said besides; who would rather hear an Elder tell how many wives and children he has got than all that could be said about Jesus, his Apostles, the Holy Ghost or its gifts. There is a prurient curiosity on the part of a great many people in relation to this subject, and were it not transcending the bounds of politeness, about the first question they would ask after being introduced to an Elder would be, “How many wives and children have you got?” That is about the extent of their desires. Here is a great phenomenon before their eyes in this Territory, of intense interest and of immense importance, yet their souls cannot rise high enough to comprehend the first feature of it, and no higher than to ask about the number of a man’s wives! When I hear such inquiries I pity the person who makes them. I think if a person cannot allow his or her mind to rise any higher than that, he or she is in a most deplorable condition.

I am satisfied that there is an immense amount of misunderstanding among the people of the world with respect to the Latter-day Saints and their belief in this peculiar doctrine. It is generally believed that we have embraced it for sensual purposes, and that we are a sensual people. We see these ideas frequently advanced in newspapers, and it is stated by them that we gather the people from the nations because of this doctrine. What a silly idea! Why, any man with a grain of common sense might know better if he would give a little reflection to the matter! How much easier it would be, if we were licentious, to practice licentiousness according to the popular method! Why go to the trouble and expense and incur the odium of sustaining wives and children merely to gratify licentiousness, when we could do it to the fullest extent, on the popular plan, without incurring odium or assuming responsibility and care? Read the records of New York, Washington, Chicago, and the records of all the cities east and west on our continent, and then go to the old world, and you may find that men can gratify their lustful desire without incurring odium. They can even destroy females by the thousands in the gratification of their sensual appetites, but because the Latter-day Saints choose to marry them, to make women and their children respected and honorable, all hell is moved against them. The devil does not like it. I will tell you a rule, brethren, sisters and friends, that I have observed through my intercourse with men, in my travels, and that is, that they who have opposed this principle most bitterly when they understood it, have been the most corrupt men, the very men who have practiced adultery and whoredom in secret; while openly, to hear them speak of our system of patriarchal marriage, one might think them immaculate; but I never found pure-minded men or women, honest and true to their God, and to their partners if they had them, but what, when they heard it explained as the Saints in this Terri– tory understand, preach and practice it, let them believe what they might on other points, they would acknowledge that there was something godlike in that doctrine, if we carried it out as we believed it. That has been my experience.

We are solving the problem that is before the world today, over which they are pretending to rack their brains. I mean the “Social Problem.” We close the door on one side, and say that whoredoms, seductions and adulteries must not be committed amongst us, and we say to those who are determined to carry on such things we will kill you; at the same time we open the door in the other direction and make plural marriage honorable. What is the result? Why, a healthy, pure and virtuous community, a community which, in these respects, has no equal on the earth.

I say these few words by way of explanation; they are very inadequate to convey the ideas that we entertain, and that I would like to convey to my hearers, in relation to celestial marriage. That God may bless and sustain you in the practice of truth, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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