A Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, February 10, 1856.

Being requested to speak to the people this morning, I cheerfully rise for that purpose, ever esteeming it a great privilege to address the Saints upon the important principles connected with our salvation.

I esteem the privilege of proclaiming salvation above any privilege that may be named. The subject of salvation is one of far greater importance than any other subject which can or does interest the human family; although, apparently, we might suppose that the accumulation of the comforts of this life was the one that most interests mankind, judging from the actions of men.

Why this is so I cannot tell, unless they think that they can thus lengthen out their lives, and by this means have the advantage of their neighbors.

It is very seldom that we ever hear of the people of this land perishing for want of the comforts of this life, and I doubt very much whether they would if they were not so much interested as they appear to be in respect to riches.

Not that I would discard the command given soon after the fall—for man to till the earth and earn his bread by the sweat of his brow; not that I discard the idea of being industrious, of laboring to procure food and raiment, of beautifying our habitations and inheritances, but these are only temporary considerations, items of a secondary moment.

To secure to ourselves eternal life and future salvation is a subject of so much more importance than all other subjects combined, that it certainly ought to be foremost in our minds and conversation.

If our hearts were supremely placed upon this subject we should converse most about those things that pertain to salvation, instead of being all the time fearful that we were going to perish so far as this mortal life is concerned.

Instead of being afraid that we were going to suffer a little inconvenience, we ought to consider the life of the body in the light that our Savior speaks of it in one of the new revelations, “Care not for the body, nor for the life of the body; but care for the soul, and for the life of the soul,” or in other words, care most for the future salvation and everlasting life that are in store for mankind.

Suppose we should be brought to such extremities that we should all perish with starvation, what of that? If we have done our work may we not as well perish in that way as in any other? Is there any great difference in the kind of death that we die? Does it matter much whether we perish for want of food, or whether we are martyred, or whether the great change which we must all undergo comes in a more common way?

In my opinion, it does not make much difference which way that change comes, but we ought to be in such a frame of mind that we can rejoice in all circumstances.

If we all knew that we must perish under our present scarcity of food, what of that? Ought we not to rejoice in the privilege of exchanging this present life for one which we hope to be more happy, for one where we shall receive greater blessings, greater privileges, where we shall have more solid enjoyment, and where our intellectual faculties will be far more expanded?

Instead of exercising so great an anxiety as to where we shall get a little flour, a little cornmeal, a few potatoes, or a little beef with which to nourish these bodies, our enquiries should be, are our hearts right before the Lord our God, are we keeping His commandments, are we living up to our privileges, do we esteem all the words of the Lord as we ought, or are we a little careless and indifferent?

Every person ought to have those ideas foremost in their minds, for the Lord has told us that it is His business to provide for His Saints. At the same time it is necessary that we should be diligent, and endeavor to do our best to do His will in all things, and to find out what His will is concerning us, that we may be able to do it.

I have from my observations last fall and this winter, and from observations previously made, been firmly convinced that we have all been a little unfaithful as a people. This is my opinion according to the light and knowledge I have upon the subject, and it has been more fully impressed upon my mind since last Conference than during any other period of our sojourn here, for I have traveled in most of the settlements to hold Conferences; in connection with my brethren of the home missions, and from the little observation I have made, I am convinced that we have not all fully lived up to our privileges as Saints of the Most High God.

For instance, at a place north of this City, and containing almost inhabitants enough to fill this house, a Conference was lately appointed. Several went from here, according to the missions given us, and when we got there, instead of finding a place suitable for the people to assemble in, we found a very small log building which, perhaps, by crowding, might contain a hundred persons; and it was also quite dilapidated, having scarcely a whole pane of glass in any of its windows.

We stopped near this log building and waited until half an hour after the time, as we did not see many passing to the meeting, and then we went in and found about twenty persons sitting in the cold room, which had scarcely one window but what was more or less destitute of glass.

After a while we opened our meeting, and those few individuals sat shivering while we addressed them. The remaining portion of the citizens were busily engaged with the care of their cattle, and in other occupations, and with them the Conference was only a secondary consideration.

The few who attended our first meeting went and persuaded a few of their neighbors to come, and after holding a few meetings we succeeded in getting this very small house pretty well filled; whereas, if the people had come out as they ought, the place would not have held a quarter of them. Ogden City is the place I have alluded to.

We found that instead of the people’s assembling at the proper time they came about an hour after, and instead of keeping sacred the Lord’s day they worked at almost every kind of labor.

I have also observed in other places that the Lord’s day is scarcely regarded at all. Perhaps the people would attend meeting at times, but often after it is over, “hurrah for the horses, mules, and carriages,” and directly six or eight young men and women are in each carriage riding out for pleasure. This does look as though they did not rightly value the Lord’s day, it looks as though they did not care whether they went strolling over fields and prairies, or how they spent their time.

I mention those things in order to show the recklessness and carelessness manifested by some of the young people who are growing up in these valleys of the mountains.

I will mention another practice that in my opinion is often carried to excess, though of no harm in itself; it is a pleasant exercise, but may be so indulged in as to bring condemnation. I have reference to dancing and dancing schools; I do think that these things, and occasionally our parties, are carried to excess.

I will include myself in these matters, and consider that my remarks also apply to myself. Some may ask why I deem these matters carried to excess; because often the minds of the young are not only thus unduly placed upon the follies and vanities of this life, but these things have a tendency to draw their minds away from the things of a hundred times more importance.

Suppose that a person should go to a dancing school for two or three years, and become the most expert dancer in the world, become so proficient that the toes and feet would at every step be placed in the proper position, the hands be held gracefully, and every motion, gesture, and figure be properly made, in short, become as perfect as anyone that ever exhibited on “the fantastic toe,” what of all that? How much is the mind improved by the operation?

“But” says one, “does it not have a tendency to make one nimble and graceful in appearance?” Yes, and so equally do other exercises that would be more useful, for they tend to make persons hardy and athletic.

Think of the time consumed in learning how to take every step properly, when it might be used to a hundred times more profit, for after all, “It is the mind that makes the man!”

These bodies are secondary when compared to the mind, for the body is only the shell, or the outward case. If our minds are neglected, I do not care how graceful the body may be, the usefulness is not there.

What particular advantage would it be to this generation, if you should spend twenty years in learning all the technicalities of gracefulness? It might be of some use, but of very little in comparison to a well informed and instructed mind. I do think that our minds are too much taken up by these things, but I would not have you to understand by my remarks that we should entirely deprive ourselves of these pleasures.

It is well enough to occasionally exercise ourselves in the dance, for it was not prohibited in ancient days, and it is predicted that the old and young should enjoy themselves in the dance in modern times; but I am not aware that this has reference to using all our time in dancing.

There is one thing I would like to encourage instead of that carelessness which is now manifested by many, and that is to store our minds with the arts and sciences; not with foolish conjectures, not with vain philosophy, not with something that will fly away with the beams of the sun, but with useful facts, those which have been sought out by men influenced by the inspiration of the Almighty and recorded in books.

Suppose that you and I were deprived of all books, and that we had no faith to get revelation, and no disposition to understand that which has been sought out, understood, and recorded in books, what would be our condition? Suppose that we had not sufficient faith and application to acquire information concerning mathematics, astronomy, geography, mechanism and their kindred branches, or a knowledge of the elements and materials of our globe with their various combinations for useful purposes and their application to machinery, and also of the laws by which machinery acts, and the laws governing motions; then suppose that the present knowledge was all shut out, it would, under these conditions and independent of the aid of the Almighty, require an indefinite period in which to make any great progress in the knowledge that is even now extant.

I am speaking upon the principle naturally, upon that which is revealed without the Holy Ghost to inspire us. Now suppose that we have books to enlighten us upon useful knowledge, how much more easy it is for us to get knowledge that has been systematized so that we can obtain in a few minutes, that which would otherwise take us years to acquire.

This is the benefit to be derived from the use of books; hence when we say that books are useful we have reference to books that contain useful sciences and knowledge; those facts that are demonstrated by experiment, and not to books filled with the wild theories of speculative men, for those books are laden with humbug in lieu of knowledge.

Who does not know that fifteen minutes’ study would acquaint persons with discovered and recorded laws which might otherwise take a series of years to become familiar with? By reasoning and trying to generalize our ideas we may gain much useful information, but shall we therefore consider books of no use? Is there no wisdom in availing ourselves of the labors of those who have developed truths?

It is still knowledge, notwithstanding it has been discovered by others. Truth is truth, and take it wherever you may find it, or from whatever source it comes, it was truth from all eternity, and it will be truth to all eternity. There is a great fund of useful information laid down in books.

Is not all truth good? Yes; and when we speak of true and useful knowledge we have reference to that which pertains to God, or to the workmanship of His hands; and when there are books that pertain to God, or to the things of His kingdom, or the workmanship of His hands, they must be of use, of some service to the human family.

Therefore we need not despair and think that we shall, by and by, come to the end, to a time when there will be no knowledge in books. When you have thoroughly learned botany and searched out all its laws, and perhaps all botanical creation, so as to perfectly understand the nature and uses of the great variety of roots, trees, barks, and herbs, you have become familiar with only one branch of the works or laws of our God.

When you are master of all the knowledge there is in books about chemistry, and have arranged the chemical affinity of the various gases, and their uses, what have you found out? You have only found out another branch of the great works of God.

We have mentioned only two branches of the great works of our God, pertaining to which we can acquire knowledge and understanding. We might refer to many others, viz., astronomy, geology, mineralogy and metallurgy, all of which would be useful in our works and discoveries.

Indeed, had it not been for the discoveries in those sciences, civilization would never have risen to its present state in the world, we should not have been blessed with many of the luxuries of life that we now enjoy. And these are only a few of the various branches of His works, out of the number of what are generally termed sciences.

We might go on and enumerate many arts and sciences by which mankind are benefited, especially in machinery and the laws of evolution, explaining and defining what machinery will do and what it will not do.

How many hundred years have been spent by numerous individuals, in order to discover perpetual motion, whereas fifteen minutes labor, with a knowledge of the science of mathematics, would enable a man to demonstrate that it is an impossibility for us to form a machine that when set in motion will supply its own motive power, and not stop until it is worn out. Mathematics would have shown those persons that they were in search of theories and principles which could not be found out.

Again, alchemists tried for generations to transmute the coarser materials into gold, and hundreds of individuals have spent all their time in the pursuit of that vain phantom, when with a knowledge of the chemical properties already sought out, no one would ever think of accomplishing transmutation.

We as a people, with the privileges that we have, the opportunity of being in these valleys where the world and the enemies of this people do not tyrannize over us, I do verily believe, have not lived as faithfully as we ought, have not lived in proportion to the knowledge we have in our possession. In this respect many of the youths in our Territory are not trying to improve their minds in a way that will render them the most useful to themselves and to others.

I will say to numbers of the youth, your time is spent in frivolity; year after year is spent in this manner by many of the young men in this Territory. If we were being driven from city to city, and had not the opportunity of getting good, competent schoolmasters, those circumstances would be a good excuse.

But having been here a sufficient length of time to build houses, to establish ourselves in peace in the midst of plenty, flourishing upon the mountains, in the valleys, and upon the hills, with all these blessings is it not a shame that we should let so much precious time pass away without being more wisely improved?

When I have had a good exercise in dancing, I take hold of my books and business, and think no more of dancing until I have a seasonable opportunity of going forth in the dance again.

I mention these things that parents may take hold of them, that they may be induced to lead their children in the right way, to set an example that those who are of a proper age may reform, that we may see the rising generation growing up armed with wisdom and knowledge, with the principles of salvation, with the principles of true science.

Have we had a high school here? Not in this Valley. “But,” says one, “we have had a parent school, and that is what we consider a high school.” Yes, we have had a great many things in name, but mere name is not what is wanted. We have had a University in name, and that is greater than a college, for it is expected that in a University all sciences will be taught, but as yet we have had no such University.

Have we colleges? I believe none, even in name. Have we had academies? I believe not. If we have, they have been very inferior to those in the Eastern States. Go to the schools in the New England States and see the order that is kept in them, see the improvement of the youth who are taught in them, and then come back to our high and common schools, and you will see that the common schools of the East will far surpass any that we have yet had in our Territory, for in those schools many of the higher branches of education are thoroughly taught.

I have spoken plainly on these points, and in accordance with my feelings.

What constitutes civilization? The acquirement and correct application of useful knowledge.

Do the world comply with the principles of civilization? They do in part; they have acquired knowledge in part, but they make a very bad use of it.

Have the Latter-day Saints made any better use of their knowledge? They have. After all I have said I must praise the Latter-day Saints a little, but I hope you will not get proud because of it.

You have qualities which I esteem very highly, and which but few in the world have, viz., principles of honesty, of integrity, and of union. You have a foundation laid, and if you will rightly build upon it, it will far outreach the present civilization of the world, and I have no doubt but that you will build upon it.

Build upon the great and glorious principles that commenced in the heart by receiving the principles of salvation. The Latter-day Saints have laid their foundation right, and when they take hold and rear the superstructure, it will be one of the greatest ever constructed by the inhabitants of this earth.

I do not despair when I see such a foundation, for if we are not now altogether what we should be, I believe that the Lord will whip us into it; I have no doubt of that.

Lay hold of the principles of knowledge, treasure up earthly knowledge and heavenly knowledge, a knowledge of things at home and of things abroad, of the laws of nations, of the principles of the most useful arts and sciences, of things past, present, and to come, that when we are abroad preaching the Gospel we may be armed with the full treasures of knowledge, and be able to easily circumscribe those who are of the world. Fancy the things that we have to do in this dispensation!

I am as convinced that the Lord will whip us into this diligent course, as I am that I am standing before you. Why? Because this is the kingdom, this is the people and the Church of the living God, and just as surely as He is our God, will He purify this people by famine, by war, by sickness, by death, by various judgments, and by the flame of devouring fire.

We cannot escape the course of purification. What is more visible to the eye than the dealings of God, our Father, with us for the past year? First came the innumerable swarms of insects by millions, sweeping off our crops, then the drought drying them up as does the sun the dew, consuming nearly all the insects had left. How was this? Because the snows were kept from the mountains during the previous winter.

What next? The drought continued month after month, preventing the grass from growing as it has done in falls of previous years, and thus leaving our ground destitute of feed.

Then what? A severe winter, deep snow, so deep as to cover the few spears of grass that were left. Thus one calamity after another, one punishment after another, is enough to convince us that all proceeded from the hand of the Lord our God.

Has He not a purpose in this? Is it not an affliction to us, to you and to me? Do you not feel it? Will it not learn us a lesson? Yes, it will.

I feel to say in my heart, O Lord, chasten me, let thy chastening hand be upon me, if thou seest there is no other way of escape. I would much rather be chastened than to heap up an abundance of this world’s goods, and neglect some of the most important duties of my religion. Hence, when I pray in relation to myself, my prayer is for the Lord to chasten me, and also in relation to this people my prayer is, O Lord, let thy chastening hand be upon this people, until they learn to obey those good and wholesome counsels that are poured out from this stand by those who preside over us.

They are clear, their garments are clear, and I am a witness, for I have been here, except on a few occasions, and have witnessed these things. And I have heard some of the most touching and forcible discourses and arguments from our Presidents, calling upon the people to be more economical, and faithful in keeping the commandments of God; and they have exhorted us to these things with all their energies and powers.

I have also seen that many, who have had those teachings drop into their ears, would go away, and say, “What a blessed sermon we have heard today,” and that be the last of it. Many of you who have heard the instructions I have alluded to are witnesses to this; many of you have heard that saying, and seen it followed by that conduct.

If those instructions be not observed, will not the good have to suffer with the careless and disobedient? Yes, they generally do; but a truly good man or woman will not be forgotten, neither will they be tormented.

If they have not a handful of flour, and no potatoes, yet they feel well, and if they die all is well; but the man whose heart is not right feels the smart.

How much better it would be for the Lord to chasten us, or even to send us down to our graves, than to suffer us to live in carelessness, with our minds given up to the vanities and foolishness of this life instead of attending to the things that are of real value and importance.

In ancient days the righteous had to suffer with the wicked, for we learn that Achan took the wedge of gold and hid it in the earth, contrary to the instructions given by the Lord, and in a day or two the Israelites were smitten and driven before their enemies, and no doubt many of those who perished were good men. There was sin in the camp, and when they found it out that it was with Achan, and he was punished, they prevailed against their enemies, because the sin was put away from their midst.

It was similar in the case of Korah, Dathan, Abiram and some 250 others who rose up to be Presidents, they were usurping authority which did not belong to them, and the fire of the Lord broke out and swept off upwards of 20,000 of the righteous and wicked.

Soon after, when Moses had separated the righteous from the wicked, the earth opened and swallowed up the leaders of the rebellion. In this case the righteous suffered with the wicked, and it was done in order to show that the righteous, or the people of God, could not have wickedness in their midst without suffering, and also to show how the Lord hated rebellion, wickedness, and that which was evil.

In another instance, when the fire of the Lord was kindled, the only thing that would stay the plague was for Moses and Aaron to run in between the living and the dead. But do you suppose that all on one side of them were wicked, and those on the other side righteous? No, this is not probable; but there was wickedness in the camp of Israel.

Are we all strictly righteous and obedient? No, for there are many, even in this community, who take the name of God in vain. How often have I heard the President of this Church speak against profanity in the strongest terms; and yet there are some who will continue to indulge in this evil practice.

In ancient times when a man took the name of the Lord in vain, he was not only cut off from the Church, but a severer punishment than merely cut– ting him from the Church was inflicted; those who were found guilty of that crime were taken without the camp and put to death.

I do not say that that would be wisdom now, but I mention this one practice on the part of some, to show that the Lord abhors wickedness.

Aside from the profane there are others who are guilty of other sins, and there is room for all of us, as brother Kimball has often said, to become a great deal better; room and opportunity for us to study the oracles of God and to regulate our lives by them, that we may become righteous men and women.

We should do this not only for our own sakes, but that our children may grow up an honor to humanity, and not as children who will be unfit to associate even with the world, to say nothing about associating with Saints and angels.

I have now spoken freely upon the subjects which I have touched upon, though when I arose I had no idea of speaking as I have. It was my intention to have spoken upon the spiritual gifts, upon tongues, visions, and revelations, and to have shown the necessity and importance of seeking earnestly after those gifts, as we are commanded, but I have been led in a course directly from that subject. Why it is I know not, unless the Lord wants us to overcome that we may be prepared for the things that are coming upon the earth, which may He grant for His Son’s sake. Amen.

Remarks by President Heber C. Kimball, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, January 27, 1856.

I do not feel as though I desired to take up much time, I merely wish to say a few words in regard to what we have heard today. I am aware that a great many in the world are pleased with fancies, they are gratified and edified with that which is artificial, but if people would be pleased and instructed with such remarks as we have heard today, it would be well, for they are the principles that will save you, that will lead you into the celestial world. Listen to that which you have heard today from brother Brigham; he is our leader, our Prophet, our Priest, and our Governor—the Governor of the Territory of Utah. In him is every power and key of celestial life and salvation, pertaining to every person there is on this earth, and that is a principle which but few persons realize. You take away the keys that are with him, and with those who sustain him, and I would not give a dime for you. Sin to such a degree that brother Brigham and his counselors, and those who are associated with him—the Apostles of Jesus Christ—withdraw from your midst, and I would not give a dime for all the salvation you have got; that is my faith. He holds the keys of the kingdom of heaven, just as much as Peter, James, and John did after Jesus committed the keys to them on the mount, and said, “I give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whomsoever you bless I will bless, and whomsoever you curse I will curse.”

Take away that power, take away those keys, and you cannot find your way into the celestial kingdom. The keys in his possession will unlock the door and let you through into another existence more excellent than this. He holds the keys. Can anybody pass without them? No, only as they get authority through him. Are they appreciated as they should be? Do this people listen to the counsel that proceeds from his mouth, as the words of the living oracles of God?

I would not care if there was not a Bible within ten thousand miles of this place, or any other book or script; here are the oracles living right in our midst, and we receive them from day to day, by word of mouth from a living man, an Apostle who is alive, and through a Priesthood which is living in our midst.

At the same time, a great many persons think more of the testimony of a dead Apostle than they do of a living one, and think more of dead Prophets than they do of living ones who are here in their midst. It is generally the case that men do not fully appreciate their blessings in life; often when their wives are dead they think more of them than they did when they were living, and it is just so with some wives in regard to their former husbands. We do not always appreciate the blessings we have in our possession until they are taken from us; then we begin to appreciate them; so when good men have left us we cease thinking of their faults, but begin to cherish the memory of their good deeds.

It is thus with a great many of our sisters when their husbands have gone to preach the Gospel; they now think they never had a fault in the world, but when they were at home they were full of failings.

I am not going to preach a discourse filled with high flown, exalted words, having no meaning to it, but I will come down to the capacity of every person that they may understand. Many times we do not appreciate our children, and take a right course with them when living, and when they are dead, we mourn and think of their lovely behavior, but never think of their misdeeds. Let us try to think as much of the living as of the dead. That which is dead will take care of itself, while that which is living wants somebody to care for it.

I consider that what we have heard today is of great worth to those who hear, but it is of far more worth to those who receive it, and more still to those who practice it, and bring forth the fruits thereof. Let us treasure up these things in our hearts and be faithful, and serve our God and keep His commandments.

In regard to our doings at Fillmore, all was peaceful and harmonious, so far as the Legislature was concerned; though the brief term of forty days, allotted by Congress for a session, is not long enough for the members to thoroughly withdraw their minds from the various other channels, in which their thoughts are constantly so busily occupied. This fact tends to postpone important and difficult subjects of legislation, until most of the time has elapsed, when it is too late to enter upon them with that care, reflection, and critical arrangement, and wording, which they demand. Aside from this, the Assembly of 1854-55, by their revision, and other acts, presented us with a volume of very good laws, and wisdom did not dictate any material alterations for the present, therefore most of the bills passed this winter have been grants to herd grounds.

It would be but just to our new Territory, and highly beneficial to her interests, if Congress would either lengthen the term of our sessions or sanction, by paying the commissioners, our wise policy in appointing a Code Commission to prepare and present laws of an important nature. The latter course is, by far, the most preferable; for by that method capable men can be selected, who have time and opportunity to give all necessary attention to any given subject, and to thoroughly prepare it for speedy and satisfactory action. Our position, surroundings, and characteristics, prohibit the ancient style of enacting very numerous, wordy, and voluminous laws, therefore the more necessity for a longer period, or the payment of Code Commissioners.

In our votes and feelings we were one, and did the best that the time and our judgments permitted; and may God grant that this people ever be one, and cheerfully obey His commandments and all good and wholesome laws. Amen.

A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, January 27, 1856.

I am thankful for the privilege of again appearing here before the brethren and sisters. A few of us have been absent for a short time, and, in our absence, I hope and trust you have been blessed with the Holy Spirit of the Lord. I pray for the continuance of the light of that Spirit to rest upon the Saints, this I crave continually for myself and for all who profess to be Saints of the Most High.

As I have frequently thought, and said, when duty requires I am happy in going from home, and I am happy in returning, for it is my greatest joy and comfort to do what the Lord requires of me, and what I know to be my duty, no matter what it is if the Lord requires it of me. This course gives joy and peace. When this principle becomes the acting principle of all the Saints, we shall find that Zion is here; we shall be in the midst of it; we shall enjoy it.

As individuals, we enjoy Zion at present, but not as a community; there is so much sin, darkness, and ignorance, and the veil of the covering which is over the nations of the earth is measurably over the Latter-day Saints. The same unrighteous principles, which becloud the minds of men universally, more or less becloud the minds of the Latter-day Saints. Though the veil is partially broken to the Saints, though it becomes thin, as it were, and the twilight appears like the dawning of the day, yet we may travel for many years before the sunshine appears. It does not yet appear to this people, they are merely in the twilight.

As one expressed it in ancient times, “We see through a glass, darkly”—through a smoked or dim glass—through which we cannot behold objects clearly with the natural eye.

We have not faith sufficient to have revelation, to have the visions of eternity opened unto us so clearly that we may see things as they are, consequently, we have to live by faith and not by sight. We have to live by the principles of the Gospel, which is faith in the heart and obedience to its requirements. It is our joy and salvation that we have this privilege.

If we could understand the nature of the Priesthood—could comprehend it fully, this people, as a community, the Elders, as Elders of Israel, quorums, as quorums, when they present themselves before the Lord, would possess keys to unlock the treasury of heaven, and we could receive as one person receives from another. To us, as a people, the keys of the rich storehouse of the Lord are committed, yet we do not fully know how to unlock and receive. We receive a little here and there, and the hearts of the people are comforted by the very Priesthood we are in possession of, which has been given to this people for the express purpose of their receiving that which God has given them, though not yet to possess it independently, but as means for trial.

This Priesthood is given to the people, and the keys thereof, and, when properly understood, they may actually unlock the treasury of the Lord, and receive to their fullest satisfaction. But through our own weaknesses, through the frailty of human nature, we are not yet capable of doing so.

We have to humble ourselves and become like little children in our feelings—to become humble and childlike in spirit, in order to receive the first illuminations of the spirit of the Gospel, then we have the privilege of growing, of increasing in knowledge, in wisdom, and in understanding. This is a great privilege, while the world, excepting this people who inhabit these valleys, and those that are associated with us in different parts of the earth, are destitute of this principle and privilege. Still, many of us, and I may say comparatively all of us, are upon the same ground, situated precisely like other professors of religion, in order that we may struggle, wrestle, and strive, until the Lord bursts the veil and suffers us to behold His glory, or a portion of it.

If we did fully understand the prin– ciples of the Gospel—the keys of the Priesthood, it would be familiar with us, and be easy to be understood and to act upon and perform, and be no more of a miracle to know how to receive the things of God by revelation, than it is now a miracle to cast seed into the ground, after it is prepared, and reap our crops.

An individual who holds a share in the Priesthood, and continues faithful to his calling, who delights himself continually in doing the things God requires at his hands, and continues through life in the performance of every duty, will secure to himself not only the privilege of receiving, but the knowledge how to receive the things of God, that he may know the mind of God continually; and he will be enabled to discern between right and wrong, between the things of God and the things that are not of God. And the Priesthood—the Spirit that is within him, will continue to increase until it becomes like a fountain of living water; until it is like the tree of life; until it is one continued source of intelligence and instruction to that individual.

This is one of the most glorious and happy principles that can be set before any people, or any individual who will be faithful to his God and to his religion. Upon whoever are bestowed the keys of the eternal Priesthood, by a faithful life, will secure to themselves power to see the things of God, and will understand them as plainly as they ever understood anything by gazing upon it with their natural eyes, or as clearly as they ever could distinguish one object from another by their sensations.

It is the privilege of every person who is faithful to the priesthood, who can overcome the enemy, thwart the design of death, or him that hath the power of it, to live upon the earth until their appointed time; and they may know, see, and understand, by revelation, the things of God just as naturally as we understand natural things that are around us.

We inquire, is this the character of the people called Latter-day Saints? We can say it is the character of many of them, but when we reflect, it is not the case with the whole of them. There are many who never fail to improve upon every means of grace given them, upon every particle of light imparted to them. They perform every duty that is made known to them, they cease to do evil wherever an evil is presented to them, they refrain, so far as is in their power, from every act and from every thought and disposition which is contrary to the holy Gospel.

Again, when we look around we see many, very many, men and women who profess to know the things of God, to belong to His family, to the Church of the Firstborn—the Church of Jesus Christ, who are ofttimes wrought upon by the Holy Spirit of the Gospel which has caused them to rejoice therein, who give thanks to their God, rejoice with joy unspeakable, and you would think they were very near the kingdom of heaven—near the threshold of the gate which opens into the presence of the Father and the Son, and yet, if anything crosses them, will give way to an evil temper; and if anything is presented to them which they do not understand, they condemn it at once; they are ready to pass judgment upon that which they do not understand. If they are crossed by their friends and families they are ready to speak by the spirit of evil, by the spirit of contention; they are ready to receive a little malice in their hearts. They do all this, they turn round and repent of it, they are sorry for it, and they say they will try to do better, will try to overcome their passions, or the temptations of the evil one in their natures. You see them again, have they kept themselves pure? No, they have not, but they have given way to evil, to a little dishonesty, falsifying, shading of sentiment, speeches, sayings, and doings of their neighbors. They have given way to anger, and will remark, “It is true I got angry, I was overcome, true I acted the fool, but I mean to refrain from so doing in the future.” And thus they live for a spell, but how long will it be before they are again overtaken in fault? Then if a delusive spirit, professedly a righteous one, is cast into a neighborhood, how easy such people are decoyed by it, led away by it.

At one time you see them as enthusiastic as mortals can be, in what they call righteous principles, and hear them saying, “I have more light now than I ever had before in my life, I am better now than I ever was, I am filled with the Holy Spirit.”

This is the way we often find them, they are rejoiced exceedingly and are upon Pisgah’s top—flaming Latter-day Saints, and, perhaps, when the next day or the next week has passed over they are angry, filled with malice and wrath. After a while they will say, “That was a delusive spirit, it is true I felt joyful and happy, I thought it was the best spirit and the most light I ever enjoyed in all the days of my life, but I now find I was deceived, I find that if I had continued in that spirit there was a trap laid to catch me, to decoy me away, and destroy my faith in the holy Gospel.” Is this the case with the Latter-day Saints? Yes, with many of them.

Our religion is a practical and progressive one. It will not prepare a thief, a liar, a sorcerer, a whoremonger, an adulterer, a murderer, or a false swearer, in one day, so that he can enter into the celestial kingdom of God. We ought to understand that when our lives have been filled with all manner of wickedness, to turn and repent of our sins, to be baptized for the remission of them, and have our names written upon the Church records, does not prepare us for the presence of our Father, and elder brother. What will? A continuation of faithfulness to the doctrines of Christ; nothing short of this will do it. The Latter-day Saints should understand this. Do they? Yes. Do they live to it? A great many of them do not. All ought to live their religion every day, and there are a great many who do. But there are a great many who do not, who are overcome with evil, get out of the true path of righteousness, and do those things which are wrong. They contend with each other, quarrel, have broils and difficulties in families, and in neighborhoods, law with each other touching property, one saying, “This is mine,” and another saying, “It is not yours, but it is mine.” One says, “You have wronged me,” the other says, “I have not.” Thus there are thousands of plans which the enemy of all righteousness employs to decoy the hearts of the people away from righteousness.

If this people would live their religion, and continue year after year to live their religion, it would not be many years before we would see eye to eye; there would be no difference of opinion, no difference of sentiment, and the veil that now hangs over our minds would become so thin that we should actually see and discern things as they are.

True we labor under many embarrassments with regard to our progress in Christian life, and it is right we should be situated just as we are. We wish to save the world of mankind, and difficulties, embarrassments, and obstacles are thrown in our way continually. If this congregation could live twenty years without communion and intercourse with any other people, if we did not preach any more to the world, and no more Saints were ga– thered from abroad, we might, perhaps, train ourselves so as to see eye to eye, and that too before we had lived as many years to come as this Church has been organized.

But no, if we are instructed now, and understand all it is our privilege to understand, another year we must have another batch of clay thrown in the mill, as brother Kimball calls it, and this new supply spoils more or less of the clay that is already well tempered, and it is right that it should be so. Though this is a good comparison—the making of vessels out of clay, and the grinding up of clay, still, is it in every respect correct? We might carry it out perhaps, but I argue, and believe with all my soul, that if there were 10,000 Saints to emigrate to this point yearly from England, or any other country, and though thousands of the wicked should gather with them, it would not prove, for one moment, that any Saint would be obliged to sin thereby; it would not prove, for one moment, that this congregation before me would be obliged to do wrong.

Though we may be mingled together, and our interchanges are as they are, still if a stranger should look upon us as a community, who have been here many years, and see but few of the newcomers do wrong, and then judge us off and say, we are all evil, that none of us are righteous, that there is no good fruit here, that would be an unrighteous judgment and decision.

It is our privilege, for you and me to live, from this day, so that our consciences will be void of offense towards God and man; it is in our power to do so, then why don’t we? What is the matter? I will tell you what the difficulties and troubles are, by relating brother John Young’s dream. He dreamed that he saw the devil with a looking glass in his hand, and the devil held it to the faces of the people, and it revealed to them everybody’s faults but their own.

The difficulty is, neglecting to watch over ourselves. Just as soon as our eyes are turned away from watching ourselves, to see whether we do right, we begin to see faults in our neighbors; this is the great difficulty, and our minds become more and more blinded until we become entirely darkened. So long as I do the thing the Lord requires of me, and do not stop to inquire what I shall tell to my neighbor as his duty, and pay very close attention to my individual person, that my words are right, that my actions are right before God, that my reflections are right, and that my desires are according to the holy Gospel, I have not much time to look at the faults of my neighbors. Is not this true?

This is our practical religion; it is our duty to stop and begin to look at ourselves. We may have trials to pass through, and when people come to me, and tell me that they are wonderfully tried and have a great many difficulties to encounter—have their troubles on the right and on the left, and what to do they are at a loss to know, I say, “I am glad of it.” I rejoice to think that they must have trials as well as other people. And when they say, “It seems as though the devil would overcome me,” it is a pretty good evidence that an individual is watching himself.

If people could always understand the manifestations of the Spirit upon themselves, they would learn that they can be tempted as well as other people, and that would make them careful to watch against temptation and overcome it. Consequently, I rejoice for them, inasmuch as every individual who is prepared for the celestial kingdom must go through the same things.

I am happy, brethren, for the privilege of having temptation. A great many people have thought that in my life I was not tempted like other men. I tell them if I am it is none of their business; it is nothing to them. Some say “Brother Brigham, you slide along and the devil lets you alone.” If I have battles with him, I can overcome him single-handed quicker than to call in my neighbors to help me. If I am tempted to speak an evil word, I will keep my lips locked together. Says one, “I do not know about that, that would be smothering up bad feelings, I am wonderfully tried about my neighbor, he has done wrong, he has abused me and I feel dreadful bad about it. Had I not better let it out than to keep it rankling within me?” No. I will keep bad feelings under and actually smother them to death, then they are gone. But as sure as I let them out they will live and afflict me. If I smother them in myself, if I actually choke them to death, destroy the life, the power, and vigor thereof, they will pass off and leave me clear of fault, and pure, so far as that is concerned; and no man or woman on earth knows that I have ever been tempted to indulge in wicked feelings. Keep them to yourselves.

If you feel evil, keep it to yourselves until you overcome that evil principle. This is what I call resisting the devil, and he flees from me. I strive to not speak evil, to not feel evil, and if I do, to keep it to myself until it is gone from me, and not let it pass my lips.

You should succeed in bringing your tongues into subjection, so as to never let them speak evil, so that they will perfectly obey your judgment and the discretion God has given you, and are perfectly obedient to the will of the holy Gospel. How long have we to live for that? I do not know, but I am strongly of the opinion that it is possible for a person to overcome their dispositions to evil, to such a de– gree that they will have no evil in the heart to slip out over the tongue; and if there is none in the heart, there is less danger of the tongue being used to the disadvantage of that individual, or to that of anybody else. If there is nothing in the heart which governs us, and controls to an evil effect, the tongue of itself will never produce evil.

Quite a number of us have returned from our southern mission, and as I have given you a few of my views with regard to some of the particular parts of our religion, I say for myself, and for the rest of my brethren who have been absent with me, we are happy to see you. I am, and I am sure that the rest are glad of the privilege of standing before you again in this house. I have nothing particular upon my mind, only to urge all the Latter-day Saints to live their religion.

I might say something with regard to the hard times. You know that I have told you that if anyone was afraid of starving to death, let him leave, and go where there is plenty. I do not apprehend the least danger of starving, for until we eat up the last mule, from the tip of the ear to the end of the fly whipper, I am not afraid of starving to death. There are many people who cannot now get employment, but the spring is going to open upon us soon, and we are not going to suffer any more than what is for our good. I am thankful for the hand of the Lord which is visible; I am as thankful for this providence of His as for any that I ever received. I have told you, years ago, my feelings with regard to their sympathies, their faith, gratitude, and thankfulness, and their acknowledgment of the hand of the Lord and of the dispensations of His providence. My soul has been grieved to bleeding, to see the waste, and the prodigal feeling of this people in the use of their bountiful blessings. Many have walked them underfoot, and have been ready to curse God who bestowed them. They wanted gold and silver, instead of wheat and corn, and fine flour, and the best vegetables that ever grew upon the earth. They walked them underfoot, and set at nought the choice blessings of the Lord their God. If I were to see those individuals, obliged to gnaw the ground in order to get out the thistle roots, and have no fingers to dig them with, it would not be a disagreeable sight to me, until they learn to know who it is that feeds them.

We never ought to be without three or five years provisions on hand. But when you see men run to hell to sell a bushel of wheat for sixty cents, instead of laying it up in their granaries for a day of scarcity, you are forced to conclude that they would trade with the very devil, to get his coat and shoes in exchange for their wheat. I hope they will learn wisdom in the future, and lay up wheat to feed the brethren when they come here from distant countries. If they will learn wisdom now, I will promise them, in the name of Israel’s God, that the earth will yield its abundance, as it has heretofore. Men in these valleys have reaped crop after crop which grew spontaneously, without putting a drag or a plow in the land, and yet they are ready to curse God for His blessings. How do you suppose the Lord feels? If He were no better than I am, He would chastise us far more severely than we have been. I will give way to others.

Remarks by President J. M. Grant, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, January 27, 1856.

I have been instructed while listening to the brethren, and am pleased with the practical observations that our President has given. They pertain to the business of every day, and will greatly benefit the Saints. We have had a great variety from this stand, and the scenes of life, as we pass through, are varied in their nature.

I am pleased with brother Kimball’s feelings, testimony, and views, in relation to our visit to the capital of the Territory of Utah.

I am aware that the general labor of the Legislature, perhaps, has been as great as that of any other legislature in the different Territories, in the same length of time.

Our laws, proceedings, grants, &c., are necessarily different from the usual routine of other legislative bodies, but our committees were doubtless as diligent as the committees in any other legislative body.

And when we were in session, we were in order, and in a situation to act as correctly, and with as much precision and consistency, as any other legislative body that can be found upon the face of the earth. Though we may not tie ourselves to all of those strict rules that others tie themselves to, yet we understand legislating, we understand the science as far as legislative science is understood by the present age, which is only in a measure.

I wish, therefore, under all the feelings and circumstances we may be placed in, that we may each act with an eye single to the welfare of the people, as much so as the Legislature has during the present session.

I hope the Saints will treasure up the remarks they have heard today, and profit by them. I am satisfied that we should bear with each other’s weaknesses, for we are ourselves subject to the same infirmities as our brethren; we are subject to the same temptations as those who are similar in their nature; we should, therefore, be willing to look with the same complacency on the weaknesses of others, as we would wish them to look upon ours.

I am aware of the feelings that exist in the community through darkness and unbelief; many neglect their duty as Saints, and they grow dark in their minds.

I have doubts of that man who neglects his prayers, and I have also doubts of some who attend to their prayers. I have great doubts of those who profess to be Saints, have all the privileges of Saints, and participate in the enjoyments of Saints, yet do not consider that the duty of prayer is obligatory on them.

They think they can have around them, their wives, and children, and friends, and engage in the duties of life and take great responsibility upon them, and yet slide along and lay aside their duty as a Saint of God in regard to praying.

If a person is in trouble, or in want, he should seek unto the Lord by prayer, and obtain from Him aid, assistance, and light, and by that Divine Spirit he may overcome his weakness, break through the cloud of darkness, and walk in the light of the Lord.

There are instructions in the Gospel, in the words of the men of God, though the language which they use may not, peradventure, be as beautiful as words can be arranged, or as that which others can use, but there is an influence attending the words of a man who speaks by the Spirit of God.

I relish greatly the instructions which you have received this morning; to me they are sweet, very wholesome, and good. I like them, they suit my disposition, they agree with my palate, and I am thankful for such instructions. I am thankful that we live in a day when the Almighty so blesses us.

We are gathered out from the land that gave us birth, and from former associations in life; we are blessed here with peace; the hand of the oppressor is not upon us, and the arm of the tyrant has ceased to afflict and fall upon our neck.

We are enjoying happiness, we can worship our God and keep His commandments, and listen to the voice of His servants without molestation, without being afraid or annoyed, without expecting a mob on the right hand and on the left. For these things I am very thankful.

I am also fully apprised of the truth of our President’s remarks, in reference to that lavish spirit which has existed in the minds of the Saints in relation to their grain. I am aware that all do not husband and take care of their grain as they should; they have counted it of little worth, as dross, as a thing of naught, and have been anxious to sell their wheat, corn, and such staple articles of food as might have been secured in granaries, and laid up for a hard time, or against a day of famine.

In regard to those who have been improvident and not careful, I am with the President, I cannot pity them if they have to suffer. I have seen the time, in this beautiful valley, when we first came here, when we had to bring enough of grain from the States to last eighteen months, that we were under the necessity of boiling and eating the hides of our cattle, and of going to the lowlands to dig thistle roots to subsist upon, that we might not die, but live on the earth.

We did not all have to do this; some of us were comfortable, and had as much to live upon as we have now, for we took care to save what we brought with us. Many of those, who are now destitute of grain, are among those who were lavish with the food that the Almighty caused the earth to produce.

I will here remark that I hope the Bishops in the different wards of the city will see that the poor do not go hungry, that they will keep themselves posted up as to the situation of the poor in their wards, and send round the Teachers and assistants to ascertain the condition of the people. I know that there is not grain enough to feed the people; some will have to suffer for the want of that article of food.

Take the city of Fillmore; they have old grain enough for that place; they have not raised grain the present season, yet there is one man in that city who has eleven hundred bushels of wheat. The price there is two dollars a bushel, and they are selling flour to each other at six dollars a hundred.

In Sanpete they have wheat, corn, and potatoes, sufficient to last them until harvest. The main suffering in the Territory of Utah, this season, will be in Great Salt Lake County. The masses of the people are here, and the grain is consumed where the masses are; consequently, you may look for more suffering in Great Salt Lake County than in any other.

It will necessarily be here that the Bishops and their assistants will look for the poor. Some will not go very hungry before they beg, but there are some who will actually suffer very much before they make their wants known; that class ought to be seen to and felt after, and ought to be administered to. We should feel for each other, and seek to relieve, as far as we can, the needy and distressed.

I do not look for much trouble myself; I do not look for the people to suffer as they did the first winter we came here. The winter is cold and the cattle are dying, but ere long the weather will break, the people will get employment, and feel better.

Do not be discouraged in a hard time, be patient until spring comes, when you will feel pleasant and happy, and then is the time to deny the faith, if you are inclined to do so; never deny the faith in a dark day.

I for one am glad that our crops failed. Why? Because it teaches the people a lesson, it keeps the corrupt at bay, for they know that they would have to starve, or import their rations, should they come to injure us in the Territory of Utah.

With the practical lessons we have learned, and their effects upon our enemies I am glad, and I consider it one of the greatest Godsends that ever happened to the people of the Saints, since their immigration to this land. I consider the grasshopper war one of the greatest blessings to those who see it in the light of the Lord, and who discern the hand of the Lord in it.

We found our brethren southward in a pretty good spirit, generally speaking; they needed a little com– forting and instruction on this point. We have some men among us who hold high and important offices which we respect, and we would be very glad to respect the men, and will actually respect them, if they will respect the people of the Territory, and the laws of the Territory. But when a man comes among us and will not respect us, nor our laws, will not respect our Governor nor our Legislature, he need not expect us to respect him.

Our brethren southward, I think, through the time of the Legislature, had the privilege of learning this practical lesson, to respect those who respect our laws, and not to respect men when they trample upon the laws of the country, and set at defiance the enactments of the Legislature.

I believe, on the whole, that the capital of this Territory will not be injured by the visit of the Members from the various counties. I believe that the people were benefited, and I believe that the community at large will be profited through the labors of the Legislature.

I hope then to see the Saints united more and more, and notwithstanding we have to be mixed with new clay, and ground over and over again, I say, come on you new recruits, I am not hide-bound in my feelings, I reach out my hands to the south, to the north, and to the universe, and say, come on, we want the new recruits here.

I want to see the Territory filled up in the north and in the south, in the east and in the west, and to see the valleys flourish and blossom as a rose. I like to see the hardy men come forth from the other side of the ocean; I like to see them pouring in by tens of thousands. The new recruits, as a general thing, have stood well.

Take the Yankees in Kirtland, have they all stood the test? No. One half, at least, of the Yankee members of this Church have apostatized. Take the first quorum of the Twelve, how many of them stood by the Prophet of the living God, and kept the faith? Six only.

Then we may expect that some of our new recruits back out, depart and deny the faith, and this has been the case from the commencement. I like to see the new recruits come on, they will get ground up with the old clay and be just as good. You are only in the morning of “Mormonism,” just in the commencement of it. We have no old recruits, in one sense, but we are all new recruits, enlisted under the same banner, worshipping the same God, and united under the same brotherhood of Latter-day Saints which always pertains to the Priesthood of God.

Then I like to see the English, the Scotch, Welsh, French, Danes, and men from every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, come forth and unite under the standard of truth, obey God and be one.

We had no difficulty, while at Fillmore, among the “Mormons,” they kept themselves right side up with care, and with them all was harmonious and satisfactory.

May the peace of God be with you; may the light of the Holy Ghost illuminate you; may the words of the Prophet be unto you as a sweet morsel; and may the leaven of the Gospel work in you; and may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ bless you forever, which may He grant, in the Redeemer’s name. Amen.

A Discourse by Elder Amasa M. Lyman, Delivered in Kaysville City, December 20, 1855.

Brethren and sisters, it gives me much gratification and joy to have the opportunity of meeting with you on this occasion. And probably there is no necessity for me to tell you why I am glad. You may be enabled to infer that, from what I may say.

I have come not to tell you of any new things, or of any strange things. And I shall not take a text this evening, for this simple fact—that I once had a text given me to preach from, to preach on, and to preach about or to explain to the people; and I have been at work for the last twenty years, and I have not done preaching yet.

We used to think that a man could preach the Gospel in one sermon, and explain all the prophecies, besides making a great many new ones. But I have learned better as I have grown older. I have found out to my astonishment, that instead of having preached all the Gospel, I have learned but very little of it yet; consequently I could not preach it all. I am a pupil in the school, but I have also been engaged by him who teaches me, to teach those of my fellow pupils, in the school, who have not advanced farther than I have.

Now, the accomplishment of the objects for which the Gospel is preached, is a matter that presents itself to our minds. It is of the greatest importance. For men might preach the Gospel till there is not a people under heaven who have not heard it; and they might return, and sit themselves down as having faithfully made this proclamation, and still there might be but very few saved; and there might have been but a very small work accomplished: for the extent of their salvation is in accordance with the amount of principle and truth which they have learned and obeyed.

We talk about men being saved from sin, and then we get a Scriptural definition of what sin is. It is Scripturally a transgression of the law. Well, now, this leaves us just as dark as if there had been no Scripture. Then sin is a transgression of the law; but in order for us to fully comprehend the matter, we should know what the law is, so that we might know when we transgress it.

Now, for our information, supposing we leave these things, and what we have read in books, and what was told us a great many years ago, and, in our own way of expressing what we do understand, let us reason together. We will reason together as if we were at the beginning, and said all that had been said, and done all that had been done.

Well, now, so that we can understand what salvation is, we shall be enabled to comprehend the way in which we shall have to be saved. Salvation, like everything else, is something that we cannot make or create. We are not going to do one particle towards making it.

Then we will lay down this, that we are not going to make anything, or destroy anything, in becoming saved. There will be no more truth in the world, after we are saved, than there is now. The sun will rise and set, and the works of Jehovah continue to be unchanged, and there will be no difference in things only in what will relate to ourselves. Jesus is said to be the author of our salvation, having learned certain things, and having clothed himself with his love of righteousness and obedience, he came to reveal that salvation to all the sons of earth, so that all might have an opportunity of deriving such advantages as it was calculated to bestow; therefore, he was the author and revealer of the Gospel.

He said, he came unto his own, and his own received him not; but unto as many as did receive him, unto them gave he power to become the sons and daughters of God. And he gathered his disciples and Apostles around him, and taught them the truth that he himself comprehended, and he sent them forth, even as his Father had sent him forth. He said that he had come to do the will of his Father, and bear record of the truth. This was his testimony, and the object of his mission to earth. He taught his disciples this.

Now, for the accomplishment of what purpose were these things to be taught? To bring salvation to the lost and fallen sons of earth, and to bestow upon them the gift of eternal life. Well, what is salvation? It is that which we learn in our every day life; it is what the schoolboy learns at school.

One of the old Apostles said, it is eternal life, to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.

Well, is this what it takes to become the sons and daughters of God? Yes. Then, how did the Apostles obtain this knowledge? I will tell you: Jesus said unto them, “Follow me;” and he took them up into the mountains, and there in secret he taught them the principles of truth. And as evidence that he thought they were learning, he enquired of Peter, and the other Apostles (when they came in; for ought I know, they had been out preaching, as the “Mormon” Elders do, and probably had baptized a thousand persons), who do men say that I am? Why, said they, “Some say that thou art John, others one of the prophets.”

But, said Jesus, “Who do you say that I am, ye disciples of mine who have been laboring in the vineyard?” Says Peter, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Then said he to Peter, “Thou art blessed, for flesh and blood has not revealed this unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven.”

The Apostles acquired knowledge as the result of their application to searching for it. Can you tell what change there was effected in these men? They were men just as we are now, subject to like passions; then this is just as interesting as anything we can look at; and we will not question for one moment in our minds, but that it all transpired just as the Bible relates it.

Then what was the change in the condition of these men, I ask? When our Savior called them they were fishing, and they had never made the acquaintance of the Son of God; they knew nothing of him, or of his father who had sent him.

It was his request that first attracted their attention, and we learn that subsequently they were sent forth as messengers to preach the Gospel to their fellowmen. And what of all that? “Why,” says one, “they had learned the things of God.” Well had they any more than learned them? What had happened to them? Was there any difference with them, more than they knew a little more than they did before?

The very first salvation that Peter was enabled to treasure up as his own property, was that he knew that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. It was the Spirit of God that revealed this unto him; and he continued to have the comprehension of truth, in addition to the truth which he had already learned; and that was all the difference there was with Peter or the rest of the Apostles.

“But,” says one, “did they not speak in tongues?” Yes, but they did not learn anything, unless there was an interpreter present. The Apostle Paul said, he had rather speak five words, with his understanding, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.

They also prophesied. And did they learn anything by that? Yes, because something was foretold, and they could understand what was said; and for this reason the Apostle Paul once said, “That he would to God that they were all prophets.” So he seems to have been a disciple to this doctrine—that the love and comprehension of truth was the principle that edified—that it was the principle that would fix and establish the palpable change in the condition of mankind.

We read of the Apostles being in prison, and we read of their getting out of prison; but we do not find them telling of anything that constitutes eternal life, but the comprehending of something.

“Well, but” says one, “is the truth that we comprehend anywhere, eternal life?” A man might comprehend a truth which would not effect a delineation of the Gospel; but this is eternal life—to know the only true God, and His Son Jesus Christ, whom He has sent. Then, according to this language, the knowing certain personages, or the comprehending certain truths, constitutes salvation. It is not simply to know that He exists; for a man might know that He exists, and still not be in a position to receive eternal life.

Perhaps some of my scholars will get impatient to know what brother Lyman is wanting to get at. Well, I will comfort you with a little explanation. I want to show you that it is not merely the labor that you can perform, that will give you eternal life; I want you to understand that if you have eternal life, it will be when you comprehend the truth, so that it becomes your property; so that you can apply it—the same as it is when you have got money in your pocket, you can buy bread with it or anything else you want.

You may sing, or pray, or just do what you please, but if you do not learn the truth, and fully comprehend it, you will fail to obtain salvation. I want you to understand this, that you may not waste yourselves away.

I know the Saints do a great deal of labor, and they suffer a great deal at times; but I want to get you posted up in such a manner that you will see that you need not work and slave yourselves so awfully hard, thinking that it will bring you salvation; if you do, you will find after you get through, that you will be as bad as a man who was endeavoring to become a State’s senator (if I mistake not, in California) in some of the recent political contests. The rival candidates, in connection with other friends, had used all their influence in order to gain the day. At length the election came off, and most of the returns were in, so that they thought the results were actually known; therefore, the one who imagined himself elected, made a great dinner, but just about the time the dinner was to come off, it was proved that his opponent was elected. How bad the poor man felt.

How will it be with us? For we do not expect to live here always. Why, we shall wake up to the comprehension of the fact, that we have not obtained the heaven or salvation we expected. Then, you see, we should have to wait like the Californian did, at least till another election.

I want to have you discriminate between that which is salvation, and that which is not salvation. There is such a thing in the world as means, and the object that the means effect. The object and the means are two different things. I want you to learn this, that it is a comprehension of truth, treasured up in the mind and soul of man, and a just application of the same, that will save him. Just as far as you comprehend and practice truth, you are saved.

“Well,” says one, “is this knowledge which you refer to, all that we have to gain and profit by in order to be saved?” I know of nothing else; I have nothing else to teach you.

“But,” says one, “I thought it was the doing of my duty that would save me; for instance, I am required to pay my tithing, whether ecclesiastical or municipal, or any other; besides this, I have to labor a considerable portion of my time; and I have to go and preach the Gospel, and call upon sinners to obey the truth; I verily thought that this had something to do with my salvation.” Well, this has something to do with your salvation, but I do not want you, because you have been preaching the Gospel, and have returned again, to think that you are saved.

Can we not understand that millions of men are laboring with all their powers, though they are not carrying out “Mormonism.” They labor as much, and suffer as much as we do, and then they go down into the earth by thousands and millions, still there is not a soul of them that has gained eternal life; not a soul of them has gained salvation for their self-martyrdom; for many of them have been martyred.

Well, now, what is the reason if suffering will exalt and save the Latter-day Saints, that it will not save and exalt the suffering millions who never knew anything about “Mormonism?” As I heard a Universal preacher say (the saying struck me when I heard it), that if we could find a plan that would save one man, we could find a plan that would save all men. Well, this is what we want; for if we can find a plan that has saved one, we can find the plan that has saved all that have been saved.

If there is not developed in us the comprehension and correct practice of the truth, we shall fail to be saved. Our baptism for the remission of sins, followed by the laying on of hands, and our washings and anointings will not avail anything, if they are not followed by this development.

If the lamp of eternal truth is not lighted in us—is not planted here—does not receive its strength here, all our efforts will be in vain. If the knowledge and light of eternal truth does not follow as the result of our toil, the ordinances that we receive, and all that is done to us will not save us. We may build cities with gold, adorned with splendor and magnificence, fit to receive the Son of God; it will be all the same.

Nebuchadnezzar built a magnificent city, but was it the principle of salvation with him, or among his people? Was there one soul of them saved who built that great city? No, and instead of Nebuchadnezzar’s going into heaven, he went into the pasture to feed with the cattle. And this is the way that it will be with you, if you do not toil right; instead of going into heaven, you will have to go into the pasture, as he did.

This is a truthful illustration. Nebuchadnezzar held the command of millions of men, and he built magnificent cities and palaces; and we go to work on the same principle, and build cities; but we build them with coarse materials; of one portion we make a wall and of another portion we make a house. We are progressing to the splendor of what Nebuchadnezzar did, but we cannot look up to heaven and say, here are a great many cities that we have made; but we can say, here are a great many cities that we have commenced; but we are far richer than the king; for we have got that which will make us wise unto salvation.

This is a part of my sermon, I have not preached to you about baptism for the remission of sins, and about the laying on of hands, and prophecy, and so forth.

You can read about these things at home; consequently, you have no need for me to come here, and wear myself out in talking about them. I want to teach you something that you cannot read. If I had you in a school, I would not take more liberty with you. You are not saved by the truth till you know and obey it. In “Mormonism” there is A and B. Well, then, you will have to learn A and B and so forth. Do any of you remember learning your letters at home which your mother taught you? She would get some old book or other and say, well, my son, what is the first letter in this book? Why, he could not name it; she might just as well have asked the boy about the sun, as to ask him about that.

The mother would say, well, that is A; then the little fellow would try to say so. After a little she would ask him to tell her again what A is, but the little fellow is just as dumb as before. Well, she tries him again, and after she has told him what it is, he says A; now he has learned something; he has learned to know the formation of the letter before him.

I suppose I was not born into the world with a knowledge of my letters; hence I have had to learn them like the rest of you. Well, I want you to know that this is the way that we shall have to get salvation.

The revelations tell us that intelligence was not created, neither can it be. Hence, what we have to do is to comprehend that which does exist. This explains the propriety and truth of the Lord’s prayer. Now, says the Lord; “When you pray, pray in this manner—Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is done in heaven.”

Well, what about this? Why, in the first place, we do not suppose that simply the using of these words would save anybody; for fathers and mothers very frequently teach their chil– dren this prayer, almost before they can talk, and they will repeat it till they are old enough to run away.

I want you to see that here is one of the guideboards of the Gospel. We say, our Father who art in heaven. Now, what does this language imply? Why, it tells us that we have a Father in heaven, and that we are His children. The next tells us that He is holy: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is done in heaven.” We pray this, simply because we want His will to be done here, as it is done there.

But we have only read one side of the guideboard yet. Well, then, we now come to the asking of the Father for a peculiar favor; and we now say to Him, “Father, forgive us of all our sins, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Now, do you want to know how much He will forgive you? If you curse your neighbor because he has trespassed against you, get down and pray for your Father to curse you.

Why, “But,” says one, “I would not like to pray for God to curse me.” I suppose you did not think that the Lord’s prayer meant so much as this. Well, now, as you would have God deal with you, so deal with your neighbor.

Now, we all would like the man on whom we trespass to forgive us, and then we suppose that God would forgive him, just as he has forgiven us. Our Savior said that we should forgive men when they trespass against us. And why? Because that is the way that God will do with us. We ought not to forget or neglect the first principles of the Gospel, but at the same time go on unto perfection.

But have you left off your practical sins? For theory will do you no good; you may have all the knowledge you please, but it will do you no good until it defines the divinity of its character, until it becomes indelibly fixed in your minds. I want that you should learn this.

Says one, “Is it not good for us to be baptized?” Yes. And it is also good to use the Lord’s prayer; and when you ask forgiveness, the example given tells you the very course that you should adopt towards God, and towards all with whom you have anything to do. There is nothing you ought to be more particular about than this; when you say, father, forgive me, just make yourselves certain that you have forgiven your brother; and, if you have not forgiven your brother, when the expression is just about to fall from your lips, shut your mouth—make it a prisoner.

Perhaps you will accuse me and say, “Why, we thought brother Lyman would tell us something new, that would entertain us.” Well, I think I have been good company anyhow.

When Jesus Christ came down here, he came as a character to be followed; he came in the character of a God; not as a simple boy, but to preach the Gospel. Well, then, what comes next? Did he tell the people to go to work and lay up bread for a year, or for ten years? Or, did he tell them to ask for bread for tomorrow? No, he did not. Why? Because that is a day we know nothing about. Supposing we had been without bread for eight or nine days, and were to ask him for bread for tomorrow; what would He think of us? Why, just what you would think of your children, if they were to ask you for bread, with their hands full, and their mouths full.

Then, if we have no bread, we ought to ask for this day our daily bread; for we do not know whether we shall want it tomorrow or not. Yesterday is past, and today is all that a man lives.

Well, then, what comes next? “Thine be the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.” We have now got through with the Lord’s prayer, but I do not want you always to get through with it so soon; I do not care if you are a week about it. Most of you teach your children this form of prayer, before they can appreciate it. You can appreciate it, but they cannot. You teach them to say, “Our Father who art in heaven,” without their having any rational supposition who He is, or whether He is anybody or nobody.

There are some other things I want you to take into consideration. The ordinance of baptism is abused by a great many. Some of you get baptized a great many times; and what do you get baptized for? As long as I see you getting baptized for the remission of sins, I shall conclude that you are not saved.

Well, now, you go down into the ordinance of baptism, and it is said that you are buried. Are you buried alive? A burial, of course, presupposes that somebody is dead. It is also said, that we are to put off the old man of sin—the old garment that we have worn; and from that grave we are to rise unto newness of life, as toucheth the former conversation. We are not to act as we once acted and do as we once did.

Well, then, we are to be dead; but we are not to die as people generally die; for when they are dead, do they come back, and build cities, and do as they did before? It formerly took butter and cheese, and these good things to keep them alive; but when they die, this expense stops.

Well, then, how shall it be with us in relation to our former existence? We were not Saints then; we said and did things which were wrong often, because we did not know that which was right. We should die unto sin and darkness, and learn the light, and live in it, and be dictated and governed by it.

This is what baptism should teach us. Have you so read the guideboard? Simply telling us that we should die unto darkness and corruption, that we might live to immortality and eternal life, will not save us. If you have not read the guideboard so, you have not read it right. Those who have not been buried with Christ in baptism, and risen unto newness of life, and put off the old man of sin, they are living without the light; they are those who have never left the sable shades of darkness; they think wrong, they act wrong, and they go wrong, because they have not the light. They do not know the difference between that which is pure, and that which is not pure.

Perfection is not at the guideboard, but we can read it there, that this is the way that leads to it. But supposing you were to stay there, what would you accomplish? You would be perfectly bewildered, without any possibility of ever getting right. How foolish it would be for us to stay there and say, why, I cannot leave this; it first pointed out to me the way of life; and can I leave it now? No, I will live by it, and die by it.

Is there any such a thing as this in “Mormonism?” No. “Mormonism” gives a man more than one wife. Ah! say some poor, half-hearted “Mormons,” talk about a man’s having more wives than one; now we know that the Church has all apostatized, and Brigham and the Twelve are all going wrong. Such poor wretches have got to the guideboard, and they want to stay there.

The Saints who have the Spirit of light and truth, would shame to own that they are of the same race. As brother Kimball sometimes says, “Such persons are all puckered up; there is not as much of them as there used to be.” All the difference there is between that kind of “Mormon” and us is, that we have passed beyond the first guideboard, and they have not.

I want you to realize that there is a time for everything; there is a time for you to be baptized, and there is a time for you to put away things of childhood, and become men and women. There is a great difference between the guideboard which leads to salvation, and salvation itself. Says one, “I guess we understand it pretty well.” I hope you do.

Some years ago a text was given me to preach from, but I have not learned it all yet; but I am learning it as fast as I can, and preaching it; this is my mission. Other men might have missions of another kind.

Says one, “Were you always an Apostle?” No. “Were you ordained an Apostle?” Yes. “What did that do for you?” It only connected me with twelve men; it did not give me any more knowledge, or make me any different.

I have come to preach you the Gospel; and if I had thought that there was no necessity for so doing, and that you understood all about it, I would have stayed at home, or up at brother Allred’s here, and enjoyed myself at the fireside.

It is my right to ordain people, but I shall not ordain you, but I will give you all a mission to teach this Gospel, that I have preached to you tonight, to your neighbors, and to yourselves; and examine yourselves, and see if you live the truth.

I will tell you how to know. Do you know how much you would give for the truth last year? Says one, “I would give a tenth last year.” Would you give any more now? “I do not really know. Why, I thought they only asked me for my tithing, and that that was all it was worth.”

Then you do not think it worth more now than you thought it worth last year. Well, now, what are you going to do? Are you going to swindle somebody out of nine-tenths of their salvation? You gave a tenth. What for? Why, you thought “Mormonism” worth that much; you considered it worth your tithing. Well, what are you going to get? You are going to get a tenth.

I came into this kingdom to identify myself with all that I have, and all that I expect to have. You have given a tenth, and you expect to get a dollar, do you? Now, is there any good hard sense about that? “Well,” says one, “what do you mean by treating the subject in this way?” Why, I want you to think of this, and not deceive yourselves by thinking that you will get a full salvation for paying a tenth; if you devote yourselves and all that you have for the cause of truth, you will merit the whole.

I want you to learn that “Mormonism” is worth everything; that it is all there is of life—that it is all there is of truth—that it is all there is of everything that is worth having; and you will then comprehend, as I do, that to merit it, you will have to throw in all that you have got.

You cannot do more for the truth than it is worth: then come forward and consecrate your property. Says one, “What will it do for me, if I do?” Do you not say, that “Mormonism” is worth everything? Yes; but you will only pay a tenth for it. Then here you have got the bars up.

May God bless you and me with His Holy Spirit, that we may be led into all truth, and fully comprehend and appreciate that salvation which we seek, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

A Discourse by Elder Amasa M. Lyman, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, December 9, 1855.

It seems, my brethren and sisters, that an occurrence of circumstances has brought us together again; and the occurrence of circumstances has taken away from you, for a time, those who have been more with you than I have myself. But there is one thing that has not changed, viz: our in– terests—the nature of the object to be gained by us as Saints.

The simple fact of the Presidency having left us for a brief period of time, has not effected, legitimately, any change in those things that should interest us, and engage our attention. If we are Saints at all we have the same interest to sustain, the same knowledge to gain, and the same fountain from which to draw that knowledge as those have who have gone from us for a season. It is our right, our privilege, and a duty that we owe to ourselves; to those with whom we stand connected by the ties of the Everlasting Covenant, as well as by all the relationship that binds us to each other as intelligent human beings, to continue our labor, and so labor that our efforts may be continually in the acquisition of that knowledge that is requisite to our salvation; for this comprises all that should interest us, by whatever name you may call it, or how many divisions or subdivisions you may make of it, and yet when all is considered in connection, the one part with the other constitutes but simply the salvation which we seek. That alone will render us happy; that alone is capable of accomplishing for us that, that is necessary to our peace and comfort here, and hereafter. We may perhaps think that there are many very nice distinctions which might be made between different things, as we may consider them, that may constitute in us, with us, or for us the means of happiness and comfort, and that one thing considered is one thing, and something else is salvation.

I do not know of anything that exists, as a means of happiness and comfort within our reach, or that can be made available, but that belongs to our salvation.

These things are so various and so numerous that we might fill up a short lifetime in recounting them, and still the sum of them would then lack much of being told; but the great business of our life should be to have them and enjoy them, and then, perchance, we should be able, to some small extent, to appreciate them, and our happiness, and comfort, and glory will be determined in its extent, and defined precisely by the extent to which we appreciate the great truths that exist around us, in the midst of which we have our being.

So that when we have gained the salvation we seek for, in all the vast infinitude to which it may extend, with the experience of untold ages—when the experience of almost numberless ages shall have added their contribution to its stores of wealth and enjoyment; when these shall be circumstances that surround us, we will find that it is all constituted of one thing, which is simply learning to comprehend the truth that exists around us, in the midst of which we live, move, and have our being.

To effect this is the object of the Gospel—the plan of salvation—that is good for us to reason upon and speak of often one to another; to reflect upon, that we may understand the object for which the Gospel is revealed to us, that we may be enabled to appropriate the things that are rendered available to us—those appliances that are thrown within our reach, in such a way as to conduce to the accomplishment of this object. Then, in order to the proper appropriation of those things, it is needful that we should understand what is to be affected by it; it is needful we should be correct on this point, lest we might be seeking after something that does not exist, and, consequently, we should never find the reality; lest we should be exploring some country to find jewels of our happiness where it is not.

All of us have experience enough to give us comprehension of the truth, sufficient to be satisfied, that our search for a thing where it does not exist, must ultimately prove a fruitless one, one that will not bring to us a reward for our labor and toil, that will not give us comfort for the anxiety we have cherished, while in search for something we should fail to find.

Well, then, what is it, my brethren and sisters, let us reason a little this morning, what is it the Gospel has to do for us? What have we calculated in our own minds it is? Has something that does not now exist to be created? Has our natural constitutional being to become changed by our becoming the recipients of salvation? Are we to be saved as we are, constituted as we are, or are we to be saved as some other kind of beings? What are we to be when we are saved? Do we suppose that we will be seen and known, that we will be recognized as the same individuals that we are now?

If we are not, I would like much to know what I would be, and who I might be, because there are somethings that, could I avoid it, I would not be. But, in fact, I do not know that there are any reasons that have ever commended themselves to my judgment, as being good ones, for me to entertain a wish to change my identity at all.

The enjoyment of salvation with me, this far, has been ever cherished and understood in connection with my own identity, that when I am saved I shall be, simply, brother Lyman saved, and nobody else; I should be, simply, brother Lyman in possession of all the knowledge requisite to salvation, and the consequent participant of all the blessings accruing from having that knowledge in possession. If I am not that, I shall be disappointed, I shall not be happy, or satisfied, unless I lose all my present expectations and faith.

Then it is, simply, we who are here today that are to be saved; and what is it all embraced in? Simply, in a change of our condition, and not of the condition of some other individual. In the place of ignorance, we will possess that principle of knowledge and comprehension that makes us free. What from? From ignorance. That is all.

Well, says one, “Are there not many other things besides ignorance?” If there are calculating men and women in this room, who can think and reflect, I wish that class particularly, if they never have done it, to make it their study, for a little time, to determine one thing for their own benefit, and for the benefit of others, as far as their influence may extend, to find out how much of the ill that afflicts mankind is not truly attributable to ignorance, to the existence of darkness that pervades the human mind, and in consequence of which they fail to comprehend the truth. By reason of it they know not God, nor understand the principles upon which He acts.

When you find out an evil that is not traceable, legitimately and truly, to this great cause—this great apparent fountain of evil and wrong that exists in the world, just mark it down, name it, and let me see it; if there is any other source for evil, I want to know it. Jesus, we understand, came into the world to save sinners; he came to save, as we say, lost and fallen man; he came to restore the sinful sons of earth to the enjoyment of the mercy, and the favor, and the blessing of heaven.

What did Jesus propose to do, any more than, simply, to save men? The Gospel that he sent into the world proposes to do no more than to save men; and it does just as much for the poorest man as for the richest, it saves them, and that is all it does do.

“But,” says one, “does it not damn men also?” Do you think it does? Did you ever find anything about the Gospel that would damn any of you? “But does not the Scriptures hold out such an idea?” I do not know whether they do or not; you ought to know your own experience better than the Scriptures, because it is nearer to you, it is your own property. I would rather have my own experience than to have the Bible thrown in my face, it is richer far to me.

What has the Gospel done for you, and for me? It has never done us anything but good. “But,” says one, “Here is a man that has embraced the truth and then has gone from it, left it, and is now damned.” What has damned him? Is it the Gospel? Nothing has damned him but his own mean conduct; his own misdeeds that have influenced him thus against his own interest. Does the Gospel require him to commit sin? Does it require him to utter falsehoods, and cherish a principle of hypocrisy and practice deceit with his neighbor? No. The Gospel requires of him practical virtue, righteousness and truth in all his conduct.

Then let us not charge the Gospel with damning anybody, until we find out it has actually done it. The Gospel was sent into the world, by the Savior of mankind, to place the means of salvation within the reach of mortals, to give to those who should believe, the power to become the sons of God. That was the object of this proclamation throughout the earth, and was the reason why it was taught in that simplicity that marked the teachings of the ministers of truth. The Scriptures promise salvation to those who believe; and those who do not, we are informed, shall be damned. What damns them that do not believe? The same thing that damned them before they heard the Gospel. They were in darkness, and what was their condition afterwards? They were in darkness.

Then the object of this Gospel being sent unto the world was, simply, to give men a knowledge of the truth, and open their eyes, it was to cause the light to shine in the midst of the darkness that surrounded them; that in that light they might discover things as they exist around, that they were before ignorant of, and entertain conceptions of things that before did not reach or occupy their minds at all; all this was to effect man’s salvation. From what? From the fall, or any other of the evils that surround him. I do not care whether you regard them as the consequences of the fall or not, I care not what you name the ills that afflict men, and keep them from the enjoyment of a fulness of happiness and glory; from them mankind have need to be saved; they constitute the chains with which men are bound—the clouds of darkness which obscure the light of truth, that prevents the sunlight of truth from rendering the whole sphere of man’s being, radiant, glorious, and resplendent. In what? In that which the great architect of nature has placed there, and made all creation rich with.

We live in the midst of it, and are insensible to the beauties around us, to the excellencies within our reach. We tread the blessings that cluster around our path, like the flowers of spring, under our feet, not appreciating their worth, instead of feasting upon the glory, power, skill, and judgment that are manifested in the combinations that have been associated together, to present this beauty to the eye.

Well, so it is with truth and its excellency in all the various departments of nature’s works and its glory. We live in the midst of it, and are starving; we are a poor, starving, miserable, wretched, beggarly set of creatures in the midst of plenty.

Now it is from these chains, that bind us in this condition, that the Gospel proposes to set us free—that the plan of salvation is to snap asunder, and give unto us an abundant deliverance, and a correspondingly abundant entrance into the kingdom of God, and to make our future as glorious, as luminous, and as broad, as the path in which we have walked has been dangerous, dark, and gloomy. This is what the Gospel proposes to do for us. How is it to be effected? Upon this simple principle—by learning us the truth, and this is the reason why, that to know the only living and true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent is eternal life. There is a reason for that as well as for every other truth that extends, as such, throughout the wide range of creation. It is eternal life, because it is freedom from the chains of darkness, from the dominion of error—an emancipation from that bondage that makes man, in his existence, wretched and miserable.

Then, if this is actually salvation, where should we seek to know its blessings? How shall we come to the enjoyment of them? Simply, in the acquisition of knowledge. Says one, “Is this all?” Yes, this comprises all. “But must we not do right; and is it not important that we should?” Yes; but how can you do right before you know what right is?

What do you Latter-day Saints do? I can see that miserable confusion among them that characterizes the men of the world; everything must give way to the pursuit of this world’s wealth and honor; in their eyes this seems to be the only thing that can make them happy. And there are as many ways in which men seek out happiness, as there are men to seek it; and there is as great a variety of interests to be served in the world of mankind, collectively, as there are men who embrace those interests, and labor to save them, and these will be constantly in contact with each other, and what one man labors to build up, another labors to pull down; that which is the wealth of one is the poverty of another; what is the filling of one man’s pocket is the draining of another’s pocket to the last dime—the last dollar leaves him, and gets into his neighbor’s purse. This is the way the world get rich, and imagine themselves happy, and this is the way many of the Latter-day Saints would find salvation—in undertaking to do right without first knowing what is right.

The Savior spoke sensibly and reasonably, when he said, “This is eternal life, to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent.” Without knowing Him, what can you know rightly? What do you understand and comprehend of truth, rightly? Like geologists and chemists in the world, they dig a well, and find a great many crusts, that is when you apply the term crust to something that is a riddle to them, they find many kinds of material that enter into the combination of the earth. The alchemist analyzes portions of the earth, that are thrown out, to discover the different proportions and kinds of matter of which it is composed. What do they learn? Some truth. But what is it like? They cannot tell. If it possesses the property of an acid or an alkali they know it. But do they know anything about who combined its various parts, do they know anything about the active mind shadowed forth in the combinations they find? They do not. So we may search for truth in the earth, on the earth, and above the earth, and we may find a great deal, but we do not comprehend anything of it, from the fact that we do not know God; we have not commenced at the beginning of our lesson.

Many men have become satisfied there is a God, but they do not know Him, where He lives, who He looks like, or whether He is like anybody or anything that is seen, heard, handled, or comprehended by us. Now the Gospel simply proposes to teach the world of mankind the truth in relation to the great fountain of truth, that is at the beginning of all things that we can see as a beginning; to lead them to a discovery of facts in relation to that truth which pervades universal creation—that exists as far as existence is known, or not known, where it actually is. There is a truth that is co-equal in extent with it. If there is light there, it is its light, if glory, it belongs to truth.

“Well,” says one, “is it great as God? Does it comprehend God, or is God comprehended of it?” You know the great principle of eternal life is to know the only true and living God, &c. In our childish speculations we talk about a great many Lords and Gods, and you can get the doctrine made holy by applying the Scriptural language to it.

But, supposing the Scriptures had said nothing about it, what man that has looked abroad upon the face of universal nature, as it is presented to us, who has lived in this being, and breathing world for only a few years, who has not learned and understood for himself, perfectly, that there is a principle of truth which pervades every thing which is in itself immutable, that is the same everywhere, in every land, country, and clime, whether we speak of a single atom, the crawling insect, or the clustering universe of worlds, all are moving, and existing, and are controlled by the same great law—the same great principle that causes them to have their existence in truth and harmony with each other.

Let us return from traveling abroad—from this wandering, and see if we can find the same applied here at home with us. Is there a principle that does control us, and that we can control, a principle which is in all things, in which we live, move, and have our being, that is greater than the greatest thing we can conceive of, and embraces all things? Yes, the simple principle revealed in this small thing—two multiplied by two makes four, is one that we cannot change, or conceive of a principle by which it could be changed.

We cannot entertain a conception of what it would be, if it was not what it is. It is all the time the same in every land, country or place. It is the same whether we apply the principle to determine the number of apples in the market basket, or whether we apply it in more extended calculations, in determining the magnitudes, times, and distances of the planets.

Here is a principle to which we must yield; to which we must bow. Why? Simply, because it is greater than we, it defies our efforts to change it; it controls our actions, influences our being; it determines things, and we with other things are determined by it. What can we say to it? Can we treat it with indignity? No; for it will rule us; it governs us. What is it? It is the light that is within us. The revelation says, “It is the light of our eyes that enlighteneth our understandings.” And what is this? It is the God we see in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, for He is the light thereof, and the power by which they were made. It is, simply, what the Apostle talked about anciently, as recorded in the Scriptures; he exclaims, “Great is the mystery of godliness: God manifest in the flesh.”

Some may have supposed that the revelation of God is confined to some few things only—some few specimens of what we look upon in the wide range of nature’s works, as they are called; I do not know as nature has any works. While we look upon these, we find that all we do see, read of, and can reach, by the means that we can render available for the acquisition of knowledge, and for the awakening of conceptions within the mind, in relation to the vast infinitude of the work of the Almighty, we find that it is simply the shadowing forth of—what? Of this great principle of truth, this God that we adore, that we seek to know, whom to know aright is life everlasting. Why? Because it bursts the chains of ignorance asunder that have held us in bondage; it dissipates the clouds of darkness that obstructs the sunlight of truth from shining around us, and then, in the light of truth, we begin to see and comprehend what exists around us, and the relationship we sustain to nature, to God, to one another, and the object for which we live, and for which we are constituted, and the end to which we are tending.

Until we begin to learn this, we are benighted and darkened; we are as effectually lost as is any man in a swamp without light, or without a guide, he is no worse off than we without the light of truth, for we know not which way to go, or in what direction to look for succor; we know not from whence deliverance is coming, or if it is coming at all.

Then what do we need to save us? Simply, a knowledge of the truth. Says one, “I do not know but that God will save me.” I know but little about Him, but I know more about Him than I do about any other God. Why? Because I have seen more of Him. Any of you that have gazed on the heavens, have seen the light of day, been cheered by the light of the sun, and comforted by its genial rays, have felt the exhilarating influences of it.

Here is a God that I see, a God that I have heard, whose voice is uttered by all time, and millions of earths, and suns, in the magnitude of the universe, and thousands of universes, associated together, shadow forth His greatness and glory. Then there is a God who is gentle and kind, easy to be entreated, full of compassion and tender mercy, whose storehouse of good is richly filled to make—who happy? Those that seek for happiness. Where does He live? Everywhere. Which of the Gods is it? It is that God that lives everywhere; that lives through all life, and extends through all extent; that spreads undivided, and operates unspent; that is the God I am talking about now.

What other God is there? You may talk about the Lord Jesus Christ, and about his Father; what did Jesus say of himself—that man who came into the world, and, as the Scriptures say, became the author of eternal salvation, to as many as would believe? What did he say that he came into the world to do? No other work but what he saw his Father do.

He came to do his Father’s will. What is said of him? “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom.” It was because he loved righteousness, and hated iniquity, that he was preferred before his fellows, and was anointed with the oil of gladness above them. What had been done with his Father? Did Jesus say of himself that he was in the sun, and in the moon, and that he was the principle that enlightened our understanding? No, he did not say so, but he said, that any man who had looked upon these, had seen God moving in majesty and power.

What does he say of himself? Says he, “Holiness is my name.” Suppose we change it a little, and say he was a holy man, does it change the facts in the case any? No he was, simply, a holy man. How came he to be holy? Just as you and I shall come to be holy, if we ever are. What constituted him a holy man? Simply, his being guided by holy influences, his being engaged continually in the perpetration of holy and righteous deeds; this made him a man of holiness.

Again he said, “Man of Counsel is my name;” because that he had been subject to counsel always. He came into this world to minister unto man, and laid down his life for him, because he was a man of counsel. He came to save man, because he was a man of counsel; and he preached the truth because he was a man of counsel. Were the perfections with which he was clothed inherent in him? I say no, because the Scriptures say no; he was made perfect through suffering, they inform us.

We might call it experience, for he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. Well, then, we are required to be perfect even as he is perfect, and he required his disciples that were with him to be perfect, even as their Father in heaven was perfect. It opens to us this view of the matter. Jesus had nothing but what he gained, as vast and extended as might be the power with which he was clothed. The ability that rendered him sufficient for the accomplishment of the great work he accomplished, was the result of his gathering around him from the great fountain of truth, that amount of comprehension of the vast infinitude of truth, that vested him with the ability he possessed.

This is the path in which we are to travel as Saints of God, in which we are to look for salvation, and gather from the same rich store the sum of our happiness, greatness, and glory. God was not too great to drink from the same fountain, and draw from it all He possessed of power, greatness, and glory. That which constitutes His glory, constitutes the greatness, power, might, and majesty of all who progress, and are clothed with the same principle. That the Father of Jesus Christ was in no way very different from himself is evident from what he said; he came to be nearly equal with his father, and is declared, by virtue of his obedience, heir of all his Father’s inheritance. He says he came to do the same things he saw his Father do.

Then if we wish to read the history of his Father, we have only to read the history of the son; for in reading the history of the son, we also read the history of the Father; and Jesus Christ has told us, his brethren, that this is eternal life to know the only living and true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. What does that lead to? Not only to know that they had the truth, but to understand and comprehend the principle upon which they possessed it; whether it was truth inherent—that dwells in them from all eternity, without beginning or end, in the history of their existence—when they commenced to acquire knowledge, and whether they acquired knowledge of this great truth as we are taught to acquire it.

Now that this was the highest object that was had in view in the proclamation of the Gospel—in its revelation to mankind—is obvious to me, it is as plain to me, as I can see anything else. Because, when man has learned the truth, in relation to all these things, is there anything more which he can learn? No. It is the vast infinitude of truth that has reflected light enough around us to open our minds, and enable us to entertain a conception of nothing higher, more noble, nothing possessing greater excellencies than simply the truth itself.

We talk about holiness, and glory, and power, and might, but there is no power, but what is of truth, no greatness, no uncontaminated bliss but what is of truth. It embraces the sum of all the excellencies combined in the wide range of universal existence; whether applied to a mote or a mountain; to a single planet, to a universe or to an association of universes.

To learn the truth is the best thing we can do, it is a pursuit fraught with the greatest good to us, for it will bring salvation to us, and bestow upon us the bliss, and blessedness of that state in full; and enable us to appreciate it, for we shall have the light of truth to discover things as they exist around us. And this is in fact our happiness, glory, and strength. What can we see more, than when we first heard the sound of the Gospel?

Let us consider—those of us who have had the privileges and blessings that a great many have not enjoyed; we who have had the experience of a score of years since we first heard the Gospel explained, talked about; since it was first suggested to us that the heavens have been propitious, in sending an invitation to the erring sons of earth, to return from their wandering, and place themselves under the tuition which heaven has instituted, to develop in them a perfect knowledge of the principles of truth. I say, what do we know more today than then? What capacity do we possess more? Says one, “I know a great deal more, and we are enabled to accomplish more now than we could then.” It is, simply, because we know more truth and in the application of it we can occupy a wider field, and are prepared to encounter a greater variety of circumstances, and under them all to be enabled to apply the truth, and create circumstances that are good and acceptable to God, to our increase in the truth, and to the increase of the kingdom of God upon the earth.

The kingdom of God is being developed under the influence of the Gospel. How fast? Just as fast as true principles are developed in the hearts of men and women. Just so fast, and just so far the kingdom of God is actually developed, possesses strength, and is built up with sound, substantial materials that will outlive the waste of time, continuing to grow in strength and might when sublunary things have passed away. Taking this view of salvation, we see its object is to put that in our possession without which it is impossible for us to be happy.

Well then, should we be subject to counsel, and be advised? Yes. Men here stick up their noses, and com– plain because they are required to be subject to counsel. Says one, “I know enough to attend to my own business; I don’t wish any man to manage for me, I cannot endure it; I am too independent.” Now you poor independent soul; you that are too independent to learn the truth; to be taught your duty; what independence have you got? “O, I have the privilege of moving round in this breathing world as I please; and I won’t be controlled?” You won’t; but I say you will, and you are controlled, and that is the very reason you say as you say, and do as you do, you are controlled every moment of your lives and still you say you are not. You are not independent, you never were, and you never will be. That being does not exist within the range of man’s history. The very principles upon which we exist make us the objects of dependence.

I know the history of that independent man. What is it? It is the history of every man that comes into the world. Man comes into the world a beggar, naked, destitute, and the veriest specimen of dependence and poverty that ever was laid out on the stage of human existence. Could he help himself, clothe his nakedness? No. The very first thing he needed, when he looked upon this earth, he had to borrow from the atmosphere that God had provided for him before he came here.

And had it not been for the provisions of his great benefactor, he would have been born only to perish in the morning of his days. Such is the man who tells us he is independent. He is too independent to be taught and instructed. I say what did he know, or what could he do in the days of his infancy? The veriest crawling insect that wiggles its way along through the dust of the earth was as independent as he, and had more help for itself. Talk about independence; he has forgot that he was born, and that is the difficulty. He is not only ignorant of the truth, but he has been shutting his eyes against it all the time, since he has been in the world.

He has forgot he was born naked and helpless. I suppose he thinks he was born in silken robes, when he does think about it, because he may, perchance, have worn them ever since. I don’t know but he thinks he was born in the jewelry that bedecks his body since he has been on the earth, or, as the old saying has it, with a silver spoon in his mouth.

He is independent, he says. What does he do in the first place? He had to be cradled in helplessness, and cared for. It is to a mother’s anxiety and tender care he is indebted for his life, for the perpetuity of his being on the earth. When he became of sufficient age to draw his nourishment, and means to sustain his being from other sources, he ate the bread that the earth produced—that was here before him—he had no hand in preparing it, he eats it, enjoys the blessing flowing from it, and still looks up to heaven, and like Nebuchadnezzar of old exclaims, “I have made all these things,” he is so independent.

Supposing there had been no earth to have produced bread for his nourishment, how could he have lived? Supposing there had been no hand that had tilled the earth, and produced bread as the result of labor. He was not able to travel abroad to find it, and could not manufacture it. He is dependent all the time. Here we find him clad in fine robes, enjoying the place his fellows occupied, and men on the right hand, and on the left that go at his bidding, and come at his call.

But what could he do, supposing they were not there, and he the only tenant of this wide world? How much could he accomplish in providing means for his enjoyment? Who would be his farmer, his gardener, or his mechanic? Who would build his palace, serve him, and administer to his wants? Nobody. He would be poor, destitute, naked, without a house in which to dwell, destitute of the blessings of association, and kind attention of friends.

Still he says, he is independent. If he is, let him live alone; and when he has lived alone six months, he will be apt to come to his senses, if he has bread enough to keep him until then.

At the end of that time he would be wishing for the society of the negro baboon, or anything at all like the human form. He would hunger and thirst for an association with his fellow being; he would find himself wretched without it, and he would exclaim like Nebuchadnezzar in the bitterness of his soul, “God is great and good.”

Jesus Christ never declared his independence at all. He said he came into the world—on his own business? No, but he came to do the will of his Father. In this we have an example of what we should seek for, and how we should value the principles we should cherish within us. The truth is before us, and it is for us to learn it. This is the great key to our happiness; and when we have learned all the truth, we shall get all our salvation. That which does not learn us the truth does not bestow salvation on us; it is that which learns us the truth, and enables us to comprehend it, which is salvation to us.

I do not care how it is gained, or where it is found, whether at our labor, or in our moments of rest, and hours of reflection, study, and contemplation. The voice of truth is everywhere. It is but the voice of that Holy Spirit that was to do—what? To lead you and me, and all others who have covenanted with God to keep His commandments, into all truth.

How much of a teacher is that Holy Spirit? What is its capacity? The capacity it is obliged to have; unless there is a falsehood connected with the declaration to do what it promises to do. What is that? Not to lead me into a portion of the truth, and then stop until it has learned the balance, but to lead me into all truth. That is what is promised, and what is declared to be the office of the Holy Spirit.

Can you think of a principle that is universal, and infinite in its extent; there being no space that is not filled with it; no creation that does not owe its existence to its power and influence? Think of that, and ask yourselves the question, who is it, and what is it that can lead you into all that vast infinitude of truth, but that principle.

Can you have any idea what the Holy Ghost is that is to perform this office for you and me, to lead us into all truth; or in other words the Holy Spirit? If it leads us into all truth, it must itself comprehend all truth, or it could not lead us there.

When we have this Spirit dwelling in us, to be our constant companion, and our instructor, we will grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the truth; because it will each day unfold to us new treasures of truth; our field of truth will become broader and broader, and consequently will embrace more of the facts in nature, as they exist today, than yesterday; and in this way we will add knowledge to knowledge, truth to truth, to make up that sum that will constitute us equal to the accomplishment of all that is requisite to our happiness, until it may extend to a vast illimitable infinitude.

Now I want you to cultivate and cherish within you a love and regard for His Spirit. You have been exhorted again and again, so to live, that the Spirit of truth—the Holy Ghost, may dwell within you, and be your constant companion. You should cultivate that condition of feeling that is congenial with the Holy Spirit.

You should banish all littleness of soul; and banish all scanty, meager conceptions; and learn that the infinitude of truth is boundless. And when you have cherished that conception, do not calculate there is something else bigger; for there can be nothing bigger, than that which is boundless—that fills the immensity of space. Why? Simply, because there is no room for anything bigger.

That is the reason why “Mormonism” is bigger than everything else. Now go to work and apostatize, will you, you poor, independent class of Latter-day Saints. But where will you go to, for you cannot get beyond the range of “Mormonism,” if you die and go to hell?

Old David was satisfied as to this, for he said, “If I take the wings of the morning, and fly to the uttermost parts of heaven, thou art there; if I go down to hell, to get out of sight, behold, thou art there.” You will apostatize, thinking to find something better than “Mormonism.” Where does that something hang? I would like to see the foundation upon which it is based.

“Mormonism” extends to a boundless infinitude; there is no place where it is not; no existence that does not exist by its influence and power. If it has life, it is enlivened by it. If it possesses light, it is enlightened by it. I will continue with “Mormonism;” though I know but little of it, I have learned enough to satisfy me that there is no room for anything else. All I have to do is to live, and extend my acquaintance with it; increase my explorations through its various ramifications.

I expect to range in them through the vast future of my being, gathering knowledge. I never expect to get outside “Mormonism;” I have given up the idea long ago of ever apostatizing to get out of the way of it.

I would advise you who have such thoughts to abandon the idea, for it is a long journey; you will never get to the end of it. After you have fought many hard battles against the rights of truth and its convictions, I shall meet you in your wanderings, and still find you inside of “Mormonism;” and you will live inside of it; I do not care where you go you cannot get rid of it.

I would advise you to give up all ideas of apostatizing. Suppose you wake up from your slumbers, and try my plan of getting a thorough knowledge of the truth. Suppose you try it for twenty years; be faithful to God, deal honestly with yourselves and your neighbor that long; love God that long, and cultivate a love of the truth that long, and it will effect quite a change in you. And probably you may be as much attached to the truth, by that time, as you are to your tea, coffee, and tobacco; not because they loved them when they were born, or had a natural taste for them, but because they have loved them ten, twenty, or thirty years.

They do not wake up and forget them, nor go into the field, and return home and forget them, because the recollection of them is fixed by long using them; they have become a principle of their life and being, as it were. Do you not wish the plan of salvation had become so fixed in you? Would you not be a great deal happier than you are now?

I suppose this is the case with some. I hope so at least. You want a love of the truth, which is the only thing that will ensure you success as Latter-day Saints, for if you have not the love of it in you, you cannot appreciate it; and if you do not appreciate it, you would give it away for a little sweet cake, or some trifling thing, because the love of it was never fixed in your affections.

When you appreciate the truth so—as it is worth everything you can give or exchange for it—then you are secure; and as long as you continue to love it, you will not apostatize. But if you begin to be discontented, look out or you will apostatize. You say, “I like “Mormonism” as well as ever I did, but I do not like this country.” You tell the truth, I believe, but you never believed it firm enough, if you had you would have loved this country where duty has called you; or any other country where the interest of the cause of truth calls you. Why? Because your interest is there; that which you love is there, and the reward you seek is there. You ought to have “Mormonism” get fast hold on your affections, so as to occupy the entire affections of the soul, until the love of the truth is disseminated throughout your whole being.

I want you to watch these things, and not apostatize. It is a bad business, and don’t do you any good. Stand firmly in the covenants you have made, and learn the truth day by day, and gain knowledge continually. If I thought there was anything more or better than “Mormonism,” anything that would do you more good, I would talk about it.

I have not addressed you precisely as I would another people, under other circumstances. A great many of you have been a long time in “Mormonism,” and have had considerable experience in it, and again some have had but a few years experience, in which to learn and be instructed.

Well, as Latter-day Saints, you should learn that you are not independent, but dependent all the time, that you have the truth to learn. You have merely adopted it, and said in your hearts that the testimony of the servants of God is true. You may have received the manifestations of the Holy Spirit that have borne record to you, and brought to your understanding things that were promised you. But this is just at the beginning of truth, it is yet all before you, you only comprehend but a little of it; you simply comprehend the fact, that there is a system of salvation.

Are you living today in the enjoyment of that freedom from darkness, doubt, and dubiety that is only the result of a perfect comprehension of truth, that satisfies the soul, and relieves it of all its anxieties and cares? Are you enjoying that today? Do you fully understand the principles of “Mormonism?” When you speak honestly, you will tell me you do not.

Seek to learn them. This is the duty which lies before you; your future labor consists in this. You have been baptized for the remission of sins, as a sign of the covenant you have made, that you would put off the old man and his deeds; that you would die according to the rudiments of the world which influenced your former life, and follow the rudiments of Christ.

Are you growing in grace, and in the knowledge of the truth? Are you becoming more and more intelligent? Do you live the truth more today than last year, last week, or five or ten years ago, when you first heard it? Do you comprehend more of it? If you do not, you are not growing in grace, and in the knowledge of God, and of the truth.

Obey the Word of Wisdom. “Do you mean I shall not drink tea, or coffee?” I do not care whether you do or not. I do not consider that you obey the Word of Wisdom, simply, because you do not drink tea and coffee. Maybe you cannot get it. I have seen the time that I drank it when it was hard to get, and when I did not use it, when I could have got it.

Do not work yourselves to death, but try to live a long time, and learn to run and not weary, walk and not faint. Do you think of leaving off tea and coffee, alone, will enable you to scale the mountains, and outstrip the mountain goat in fleetness. It is just as true that weariness is the consequence of excessive toil as that God lives and reigns. It is manifest in you and me, and in every other part of His work. Keep the Word of Wisdom; and if you want to run and not weary, walk and not faint, call upon me and I will tell you how—just stop before you get tired.

The Word of Wisdom was given for a principle, with promise; as a rule of conduct, that should enable the people so to economize their time, and manage and control themselves, as not to eat and drink to excess, or use that which is hurtful to them; that they should be temperate in all things, in the exercise of labor, as well as in eating and drinking. Clothe yourselves properly if you can. Exercise properly if you can, and do right in everything.

Do not stay the work of improvement and reform to pay attention to small things that are beneath your notice, but let it extend through the entire circle of your being, let it reach every relationship in life, and every avocation and duty embraced within your existence.

Let it affect your thinking, and the feelings which you cultivate, and let there be nothing pertaining to your being but what shall be influenced by it. The Word of Wisdom would itself save you, if you would only keep it, in the true sense and spirit of it, comprehending the purpose for which it was given.

It reaches everything that affects your happiness. Go on then and observe the Word of Wisdom. What does wisdom tell you? Let tea and coffee alone, and abstain from that which would overtax the strength of your system, and favor the innovations of disease, and shorten your lives, and thereby limit the extent of your usefulness.

Study to save yourselves. That which saves your life, and lengthens out your days is salvation. And that which fills out your days with the perpetration of good is salvation—it helps to make up the sum of your salvation.

I want you to look at it in this point of view, and be influenced by the spirit of truth, foster it within the fountains of your feelings, and it will give a good character to your conduct.

This will be living your religion every day, in everything you do; you will have nothing to do outside of your religion.

Now that you may have wisdom to adopt this course of life, and live to enjoy the blessings that will accrue from its adoption, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

A Discourse by Elder Amasa M. Lyman, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, December 2, 1855.

My brethren and sisters—By the changes which mark the history of our journey through life, I again have the privilege of meeting with you. With many of you, no doubt, I have had the same privilege before, and, for aught I know, this may be the first time I have met with others who are present today; whether I have met with you before or not, it is a source of gratification to me that we are here.

I am not here because I have fulfilled my mission, or because I have laid down the labor of my mission as having completed it; but I am simply here this afternoon because I have a mission, one that has engaged my time, filled up my time, and engaged all my powers; it is only in the discharge of the duties of that mission that I am here.

Though some may have thought that because I have been laboring in California for a few years, the labors of my mission are confined to California, but I do not so understand it; these are not the feelings that I cherish within me in relation to it. I never have felt, because I was appointed to labor for a time for the accomplishment of certain purposes in the State of California, that I was released from the obligations that rested upon me as a minister of righteousness every day, in every place, and under all circumstances.

I received a mission over twenty years ago to preach the Gospel, and have been engaged in it ever since; it has filled up the hours, days, weeks, months, and years of my life since I received it. It has enlisted my whole affections for that length of time, and I have only just commenced—I say I have just commenced because I have not completed it, and the extent of time that may be occupied in its completion I do not comprehend.

The only fact I fully comprehend in relation to it is that I have begun it—I have received it—entered upon the duties of it—and in the prosecution of it so far, I have done all I have done; I have traveled where I have traveled; I have labored as I have labored. It is in the discharge of the duties of this mission I leave Salt Lake, and in the discharge of the duties of it that I return. It is in the discharge of these duties that I do all that I do, so far as I am able to act, as I would wish to act, and as I design to act.

I may this evening address people with whom I have held conversation in relation to principles of the Gospel long years ago; and others, as I have remarked, perhaps see me for the first time, yet to both of these classes of persons I have but one thing to say, namely, that it is still my business to preach the Gospel. I have nothing else to preach. I know nothing else to preach. It is the subject that has engaged my attention, and still does engage it.

With the years of experience that have added the contributions to the store of knowledge, I have been able to gain in the short time I have lived in the world, the subject seems to increase in its dimensions and in its extent. That which I thought I knew when I was but a boy—that I thought I understood—that I supposed in the vanity and ignorance of childhood I comprehended—I find in the mature years of manhood that I knew nothing about it, so far as the comprehension of the great truths of the Gospel, in their extent, are concerned.

I learned that there was a Gospel, and became satisfied of its truth; and I commenced to labor in the Gospel as did those who taught me its principles, and from whose lips I first heard the testimony thereof; the first man I ever heard preach it is here with me today—brother Orson Pratt.

The Gospel is connected with everything I can think about. It is expanded to such an extent that I cannot see beyond it; I cannot rise above it, nor descend beneath it. There are no depths it does not reach; no heights it does not surmount; no extent which is not filled by it. So let me talk to you what I will, that is true, and calculated to do good to mankind, it must of necessity form a part of the Gospel.

I used to think twenty years ago that I had preached it over and over again; so I confess one thing to you, not as a sin—not as a wrong, that when I was a child I thought as a child, I believed the Gospel as a child, I speculated about it as a child, and I talked about it as a child would; but since I became a man I have learned different things; I have learned that there is a vast difference between receiving and endorsing a belief in the existence of a fact, and the full and perfect comprehension of it.

This was the relation in which I stood to the Gospel in the days of my childhood, it is the relation in which I stand to it, in a great extent, today. It is no more a fact today than it was a score of years ago—that I comprehend the Gospel only in part. That I com– prehend it fully now, I would not be so understood. I comprehend something of it; all the truth that I am able to comprehend is so much of it.

Now, is this the case with anybody besides myself? I have reason to think that if I have the Gospel to learn, others have it to learn, and that if a comprehension of the truth is requisite to my salvation it is to theirs. Then the important thing in relation to the Gospel is, that we should receive it in its true spirit, that we should duly appreciate the object of its institution, the reasons why it is revealed to us, and the necessity that called for its revelation. This will enlighten us as to the principle upon which we will be really saved, when we are saved.

If, after all, we do not comprehend the Gospel in its fulness, and in its widest extent, we may perhaps fall as far short of what may be called—according to our way of understanding—a perfect salvation, as we may lack understanding to comprehend the Gospel in its fulness.

The Gospel as I receive it, believe it, learned to be true, to be a system of truth, that circumscribes all things; that embraces all the good that exists, is a something that is designed to produce for the children of men such things as are requisite to their happiness; to their deliverance from the bondage of sin; from the bondage of error, ignorance, and darkness; or from ignorance, by whatever name it may be called, or whatever may be the particular agency by which it may exert its influence over the freedom of the soul.

This review of the matter has led me to conclude that it is not the heathen nations alone—as we denominate them in contradistinction to the Christian world—that are groveling in darkness, that are worshiping they know not what, and that are seeing they know not what, but that it is actually the case with thousands who have subscribed to the doctrine God has revealed in the last days, even the Gospel as a system of truth and salvation. Yet in looking forward to that emancipation from darkness, from error, and from all the concomitant train of consequences resulting from an ignorance of truth, they have failed to recognize, in examining the subject, that the comprehension of truth was actually necessary to constitute the salvation they sought for.

We have looked for heaven, or happiness, in a deliverance from every thing that is in reality a cause of annoyance to us; of sorrow, misery, and wretchedness. From this we expect to be saved, from it we expect the Gospel will redeem us.

Well now, how do we expect to arrive at so desirable a consummation of our wishes? How do we expect to gain the point where we shall realize a full and perfect deliverance from the evils that afflict us—with which we are surrounded in life—and from which we expect to be saved, when the Gospel has wrought out for us all we anticipate, shall have brought to us the realization of our highest hopes, and loftiest expectations? What then shall have been done with us? Where shall we be? What kind of men and women will we be? What country or locality of the great universe shall we occupy? Where can the bread of life be found, and the water of the fountain of life, from which we may fain quench our thirst?

One might calculate that all the good we expect to realize when we are saved, will be obtained, by doing, in all things, as we are told to do, by fulfilling every requisition that is imposed upon us, and thereby securing the fullness of this salvation.

What does this obedience lead people to? It leads them to go where they are required to go, and to stay where they may be required to stay; in fine, it leads them to perform every labor that is required at their hands in the building up of the kingdom of God, and the establishing of Zion, or the cause of truth on the earth. In the pursuance of this, what do we find? We find men crossing the desert, and the ocean, of their own free will; passing through all the contingencies of a journey of that kind; passing through privations, hardships, dangers, and evils that may hang around their path, because they have been commanded to do so. We see some fall off who have spent a score of years in traveling, preaching, laboring, toiling, and striving to gain salvation by being obedient to the requisitions that were laid upon them; they have gone, when, and where they were sent, and have come back when called for; they have made it their business to respond to the calls that were made, regardless of what they might be.

After a while we find those men who have traveled long and far, and suffered much; and what do they tell us? “Why, we have tried Mormonism for twenty years,” and now what conclusion do they come to? To the conclusion, that is sometimes vulgarly expressed in this way—“We have not found Mormonism what it is cracked up to be—it has been misrepresented to us.” This is simply because they have not realized all their expectations, and hopes, and have not been able to grasp the reward they were seeking after, and which they regarded as constituting the elements of happiness. So now, after twenty year’s hard service, they are ready, as we say, to apostatize and go somewhere else to seek happiness, and leave “Mormonism” to go as it may go, to sink or swim.

If toiling, and laboring, and suffering privations and hardships were sufficient to save men, and place within their possession the constituent prin– ciples of happiness to redeem them from evil, such men would have been redeemed very likely; such men would have been pure. But what does it prove? It simply proves, that if there is anything in a man’s experience, in his toiling and labor, it is simply the facts that we see, the outward result that may be calculated, that flows from his labors, such as the building of houses, and cities.

He may suffer toil in various ways: for instance, as in preaching the Gospel and trying with all his might to get the people to believe that which they ought to believe; to get them to serve God, and keep His commandments. If there is anything but this results from his labor and toil in the Gospel I am not aware of it. By and by he lays his body down in the dust, his work is not completed, and he is unhappy and wretched.

Why is it? Is it because the Gospel is untrue; because He is not faithful that has promised? No. But it is simply because he has been looking where it is not, for the constituent principles of happiness where they do not exist: and while he has been laboring and toiling he has failed to gather to himself a store of happiness as the reward of his toil. He supposed if he built this house, performed this mission, or discharged that duty, that this would give him salvation. Says one, “Is it not this which gives men salvation?” What does the Savior say? He once on a time defined what eternal life is; and that is what we all seek; that is the principle without which we as Latter-day Saints calculate that men cannot be happy, and be saved in the kingdom of God, which is to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.

Then traveling by sea and land, living in luxury or poverty, suffering hardships and toil does not constitute eternal life; because there are countless millions of earth’s sons that are seen today, suffering and toiling, and wasting themselves away, wearing themselves out, so far as their bodies are concerned, until they lay down in their mother earth, being as poor at the end of their toil as at the beginning of it, and as a general thing, more wretched.

Then there is something else that should be connected with all this labor; there is some other principle, something that should be developed in the history of every individual, besides the making of a house, the exploring of a new country, the preaching the word of God to others, that word which would save them, and direct them to the fountain of life and salvation. And what is that something? It is the important thing which we all want; whether it is large or small, little or much; whatever may be its name is a matter of no importance to us, only, so we possess it.

There should be developed that which will give life and assurance in the bosom of man, the thing that can constitute him happy; that can be a means of bliss to him. This cannot be found, as I have said, in building houses; there are millions of men that build houses and never know the truth, they never comprehend it; they began poor, and die poor, so far as this principle is concerned.

So it was with the Pharisees, after all the pains Jesus Christ had taken to instruct and teach them, and render his teachings so perfectly simple, that a person with but a child’s capacity could have understood them; when he was demanded of them when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”

We as Latter-day Saints have heard a great deal said to entertain us, and a great many speculations have been formed in our minds with regard to the kingdom of God, and we may have pursued our various ways to impart our ideas to satisfy those to whom we may have addressed our conversation, in the course of our lives, and in the course of our labors, as to what the kingdom of God is, so as to get our hearers to understand it.

Now we, as Latter-day Saints, who are in possession of that principle of salvation, need not say we know of a principle that will produce salvation, for whenever the principle is developed in man, he is already saved; he has no need to go around the bush to find something else—he has not to take another step to get something else in his possession before he is saved, but when the principle is in his possession he is saved, and he is saved to the extent to which the principle is developed in him.

Jesus Christ understood this when he took the mild way of admonishing certain of his disciples, and rebuking them perhaps for their dullness of apprehension, telling them they were slow of heart to believe things that had been spoken by the Prophets.

How often have we been told that it was requisite for us to live that the Spirit of God would come and dwell with us, live in us constantly, until it should be a living fountain of life, and light, and glory in our souls, until it should lead us into all truth.

What did we suppose, when we heard this, was to happen with us? What did we suppose we were to do? What kind of feelings were we to cultivate, if any at all, that we may have the Holy Spirit?

Says one, “that is one thing, and perhaps the thing you are talking about is something else.” What is the Holy Spirit? What will it do for you and me? What has it ever done for any man, or for any people who have been so happy as to enjoy the blessing of its presence with them, as to partake of its fruits, to live and enjoy the life which it imparts? What has it done for us?

I would like to ask every intelligent man this question, as Latter-day Saints, if they suppose it ever revealed anything more than the truth to any soul? Did it ever do anything beyond simply reflecting light around individuals, in which they were enabled to discover just the simple naked truth, which enabled them to comprehend it as well as be sensible to its existence? What did it ever do, whether you apply its power to revelation, to the principle of light that it would impart; or to the fact that there is a God who lives, rules, and reigns in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath; or whether you apply it to something that might be called a smaller matter—a matter of less magnitude; did it ever do anything but simply teach mankind the truth?

Then the truth is the highest point that can be gained, it is the richest gem that can be possessed; you cannot go beyond it, nor stop short of it without partaking of falsehood, and error. There is no alternative left. The principle that governs the dwelling of Jehovah is truth, simple truth, and that is all there is upon which a permanent foundation for happiness can be laid.

If we would learn the God of truth that imparts life, and freedom from darkness and error to us; it is simply that truth that enables us to comprehend the facts in relation to Him. If we learn ourselves it is the same; it would be the revelation of some principle applied to ourselves, to our own history, to the reason why we are here, and the same that brought us here. Then this is what the Holy Spirit will do.

We have been taught that we should so live that it should be with us continually. How is it that we are to live that it may dwell with us? Have we to live so as to possess this truth, this counselor, this adviser, this minister that will admonish us of God, and for our good, and tell us the truth always?

Have we got to depend upon the contingency of our being able, for instance, to go to meeting every Sabbath day to hear somebody inspired of God tell the truth that we may see it, and hear it, mark it, and define the exact ground we should occupy, the path in which we should walk, and the duties that should fill up the measure of days through the week.

If this was the way that we were to be saved, by living for the truth, and getting it in our possession, and this was to be the only principle upon which we were to possess ourselves of its advantages, if anything should happen that we could not go to church, we should be as hard off as a mariner in a fog without a compass or chart. We should, in every sense of the word, be lost, and be entirely unable to find ourselves.

Was this what was contemplated in the Gospel? Was it contemplated to make the condition and circumstances of those individuals that should embrace the Gospel better? I do not think that it was, I do not believe it was.

The Savior intimated that whoever should do the will of his Father, should fulfil his requirements, what should be their condition; he intimated that this principle should be in them like a well of water springing up to everlasting life. To the woman at the well of Samaria he said, “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.”

One of the ancient Apostles in admonishing his brethren who had been taught, probably as much as the Latter-day Saints have, and probably might have embraced the Gospel with similar views; says he, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.”

When a man is in darkness it is necessary he should have a candle, or some borrowed means of light to dissipate the darkness around him. How long? Until the day dawns, and the day star arises. Where? In this man’s heart—in your neighbor’s heart? No. But give heed unto the sure word of prophecy until the day dawns, and the day star arises in your heart.

When the day dawns, we dispense with the light of the candle; when the day star arises in the heart, to use the language of the Apostle, it reflects its light there. Does it wear away? No, it is there continually. The Apostle chose that as a figure, that was as near something immutable and without change, probably, as anything that could occur to his mind, in selecting the dawn of day and the rising of the day star.

The Apostle Peter spoke these words, a man inspired of God, who spoke thus to instruct the uninstructed, that they might be brought to the comprehension of some truths, be led to drink at some fountain of life; this was the object for which they were to attend to this instruction. Then you can discover, very readily, that it is the development in the soul of every individual, of this principle of light, or life, I care not which you call it; it is this comprehension of truth the Apostle refers to.

That the great object of the Gospel, and the object of its being preached was the development of its light in the soul of those individuals that are to become heirs of salvation, the sons and daughters of God, who are to be clothed upon with the principles of truth with which God is clothed, that in the comprehension of truth, they may receive capacity to will and do and accomplish those things which are requisite to their happiness and exaltation.

And so long as this objection fails to be accomplished—so long the preaching of the Gospel has failed to accomplish its object, as far as those individuals are concerned, and the object for which that labor was performed. Whether the lack is in the man who preaches, or in the people to whom he preaches, it is all the same.

This is a point that Latter-day Saints should duly appreciate and consider; because if we do not, the consequences are, discontent in the mind, and dissatisfaction; we shall quarrel with circumstances that are around us, we shall find fault, simply because we are not contented; and because the estimates we place upon truth, and the blessings conferred upon us, lead us to consider that they are not worth the labor we are required to bestow, the money or means we are required to give. The consequence is, we consider it a bad bargain, and we want to rue; and then as Latter-day Saints we apostatize—we quit it—we back out, saying, “we have not found Mormonism what it was cracked up to be.”

How have such people received it? What views have they entertained of it? There are those things which will actually tell the truth on a man, when his lips fail to speak it; his actions will tell it. What did they consider it worth? As much of their tithing as they could not avoid paying.

Some may think it is worth a tithing but not any more. Another man considers it worth everything; and more than everything of which he can entertain a perception. He would not refuse to pour out the last dollar; he will hunt the last corner of his pocket to get out the last farthing to give to it. And when it comes to his labor he would not stop to labor one day in ten, but ten whole days, and only wish there were more days to labor to accomplish more; because in so doing he is serving himself and enlarging his own interest, when he is seeking the interest of “Mormonism.”

Why so? Because he estimates it to be that that is universal in its extent, and intimately associated with every principle of the Gospel, in which the narrow conceptions of men are drowned, they are lost, submerged like a mote cast into the ocean.

On taking this view, he does not stop at anything he can do. Does he stand back from pouring out his life’s blood? No, but he pours it out as freely as water that glides down from the summit of the snow-clad hills to the valleys below.

In what consists the difference between these two classes of men? It is in the estimate they place upon the value of “Mormonism.” One class considers it worth what they gave for it, and the other considers it worth more than they can possibly give.

Then it is as men receive the Gospel, and endorse the truth; if they consider it excellent above everything else, so that they will manifest their love for it, and their zeal in promoting its interests, and the accomplishment of its object.

You can readily see, then, how the kingdom of God must be built up in the soul of every individual; Zion must be developed there. What is Zion? It is the pure in heart, so says the revelation. Do you suppose you are going to build up the kingdom of God until the perfection of purity and truth is developed in the hearts of the people of that kingdom? No. You may gather them together by thousands, and tens of thousands, until the concourse swell the congregation in Zion to millions, and what will it amount to until this principle is developed in them?

There will be a corresponding stream of apostasy flowing out, at the same time, at the back door. What is the reason? Simply because this principle is wanted, this important part of the Gospel is omitted, if it has ever been thought of; its harmonizing influences are not felt through the sphere of man’s being; his interests are at war with the interests of Zion; he runs after some fanciful notion that is at war with the kingdom of God. He cares not for it, he would exchange it for a piece of bread and cheese, for a farm, or for the glittering treasure of the world.

Why, because the principle is not in the heart, that causes him to estimate the real value of the gem which he rejects; he considers it worth but a trifle, consequently he will barter away his chance for it, for a trifle. That is the way men act for “Mormonism.” We are going to build up the kingdom of God, and compass sea and land to tell the erring sons of earth the Gospel, and testify that the Lord has set His hand again to build up the kingdom, and then get down by the fireside and say, “Mormonism has been preached so many years, and perhaps, in five years the Son of Man must come;” and in their feelings they say, “It cannot be put off; from what brother Joseph said, and from what brother Brigham has said, or somebody else, we calculate the Son of Man will be here in a few years at the farthest. And will he not have nice times when he comes, visiting among this people?”

When will he come? When will be the day of righteousness that we talk about, when peace and truth, and the kingdom of God shall cover the earth as the waters do the deep? It will be when the principle of truth and light and life are developed in the hearts of the people that dwell on the face of the earth, and never until then.

Knowledge is just as near the earth, so far as that is concerned, now as it will be then; but where is it? There is such a thing as truth, as a comprehension of it, but that does not prove that it exists within you or me; or that either of us have the advantage, or can secure to ourselves the advantage of having it in possession; although a seraph might stand by our side, whose being has been made radiant by the light of truth, we still will be in some ignorance, corresponding to the amount of knowledge we possess.

The light must be in the soul before its benefit can be realized. We have heard our teacher tell us that two and two make four; if we had never heard anything else, if this was all that had been connected with it, would we ever have comprehended the principle? No. The comprehension of it must exist in a man’s mind. It must be in the center of his being, a fountain of light, and consequently of life and glory, from which fountain should proceed life and truth until it is diffused throughout his whole being, until all his affections are sanctified, and his judgment corrected.

Then he would have no need to pile up and read the musty records of past ages, because the principles of light, and life, and truth are planted in him; and when he began to partake of their fruits, to drink of this fountain, would he thirst again? No. When a man learns the truth, he does not feel any more anxiety about it, he does not become hungry for the comprehension of that truth any more. So Jesus said, “They that drink of the water I will give them shall not thirst again.”

A man that receives the knowledge of the truth does not thirst for the same knowledge again. This is the principle that saves men. And if men, while they build houses and inhabit them; while they make cities, and preach the Gospel, and gather the Saints together; if they were enabled to succeed in developing this principle in themselves, and then to lead people to adopt the same course that should result in like development, then both the preacher, and the people influenced, by his preaching, would be saved, and they would be brought together, and associate together, and the kingdom of God would be built up in the beauty of holiness, and in spirit and truth; and it never can be until then.

The knowledge of God will never cover the earth until it is first in the hearts of the people. The principle must be developed there; then our building of houses, our suffering and toil will all find their reward. In what? In securing to us those blessings that cannot be destroyed; in laying up that treasure where moth and rust do not corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal.

Where is it? Some people talk as though they would have to go to heaven, to some distant locality to treasure up this indescribable something called wealth where the doors and gates are strong so as to defy the art of the robber and thief. The most secure thing I can think of and the nearest to an imperishable reality is the knowledge of the truth safely treasured in the memory of an intelligent human being. When treasured there, who can steal it or get it away? They may mar the body, and destroy it, or in other words, cause it to cease to live, but they cannot take away from that which constitutes the man; the treasure he holds, they cannot reach it.

If I was going to lay up an imperishable treasure, I would seek for the knowledge of the truth, and get as much as I could of it, and there would be my treasure, and my heart, and my soul affections. If it was in a cold and uninhabitable region, among snow-clad hills, where corn is hard to make, and wheat still harder, and wood a great way off, my affections would be there because my wealth was there, and the fountain from which this springs would be there. Then I would not hanker after another country, only in simple obedience to the requisition laid upon me—to serve the interests of the cause of the truth of God.

This would fix in the soul a principle of contentment that would wear out hardship and toil, and outlive them, and shed the light of peace and harmony throughout the whole field of a man’s being and operations in life. He would be contented all the time.

Would such a man ever apostatize? No. Was a contented man ever known to apostatize? No. I never saw an apostate yet, but could tell me of some dissatisfied desire that caused him to apostatize.

Then if you feel discontented you may know one thing, that you are not as you should be, that you have not within you the principle that should reign there, to influence, govern, and control you; that should dictate your course, and give shape to your actions.

I want you to remember this, and become philosophers, and examine yourselves, establish an inquisition at home, within the circle you should control, over that little empire over which each of you should rule, and learn whether the love of truth is reigning there, or gathering strength each day.

And if you do not, on examination, find your love of truth a little better today, and that you would do a little more for it today than twenty-five years ago, you had better get up and look around you, for you are certainly going downhill, and you will soon be like the man that found “Mormonism” to be not what it was cracked up to be; you will be going south to a warmer country, or to some other place.

I want you to become philosophers, as far as examining yourselves is concerned, and in seeing how that little kingdom is getting on, that should be built up within you. “O,” says one, “that is too spiritual.” I know it is very spiritual. It is said, “The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”

But I never thought the kingdom could be built up in a man’s heart. I wish you as Latter-day Saints, when you go home, would sit down and study rationally, and see what principle there is that will be developed in building up the kingdom of God, according to the light of inspiration; you can read in the good book, and according to all that has ever shone around you, or in your own heart; and if you can find a principle in building up that kingdom, you will find one that, in the first place, is to be developed in the circle of every human being that hopes to be associated in building it up.

There must be harmony in the kingdom of God in order to its peace, union, and strength. There must be a perfect subordination to those fixed and unchanging principles that characterize the operations of God. If this is not developed in you, what will you do, when associated with faithful brethren and sisters, in building up the kingdom of God?

You will feel yourselves literally crushed under the pressure of responsibility which will rest upon you; you will be broken up, as it were, and will apostatize, and will be cast out as salt that has lost its savor, and is good for nothing but to be trodden underfoot.

If we have counted on you as a Saint, as a substantial material, when we come to look for you, we do not find you, but we find the place you filled unoccupied, waiting to be filled with some better material, when it is on hand, how long will it take us to build up Zion, to emigrate people from the far off corners of the earth, and they apostatize and run away when they get here? What a Zion we should have!

What attraction would it create to the nations? How brilliant its light? The Zion and kingdom of God never was so built up; it is not so being built up now. What is it that marks the advance of the cause of truth on earth—tells it definitely and truly? If you want to find this out, read the people of the Saints of the Most High, and see if they love the truth, and give it their supreme regard, to the exclusion of everything else.

You may take this man or woman, and give them the appropriate place in the organization of the Church, and they are there every time you call for them, they will always answer. When you put your hand where you expect they are, you will not find a vacancy that is not filled. If you require a service done, you will always find the individual there to perform it, no odds whether it is duty at home or abroad, pleasant or grievous.

Then how is the cause of God advanced? Just as fast as those principles are being developed in the people. That tells her strength, power, and durability. If it is not the love of the truth that binds the people of God together, that holds them firmly round the great center from which they cannot be induced to take their departure, and for which there is no feeling of the soul but would exert its influence to the fullest extent to bind them to it, then what is it? Who is it? It is not Brigham Young and his associates.

It is no man or set of men that binds the Saints to the truth, that holds them together, and that maintains the rule and supremacy of the authority of God on the earth, but it is the principle of truth and the love of it developed in the hearts of the people, and the influence it exerts over them. Do the people appreciate it? I do not think they do fully, or to a very great extent.

Why do I think this? Because, forsooth, some who feel a great deal of human solicitude for the cause of God, would be very sorrowful because somebody is going to leave. “O, dear, I really do feel the cause of God will apostatize, if we lose our President for a little time, for a few months or a year, what will become of us?”

They suppose, with all the strength of the authorities of this kingdom, aided by the strength of God, they have as much as they can do to hold the people together. Such people make no calculation on the influence and strength of truth, but on the influence of frail man, or on the influence of a set of mortals like themselves, who enjoy more of the light of inspiration than they.

Does the Lord tell us this? We know He has said it is His business to provide for His Saints. What does He require of you and me? Simply, enough to save ourselves. Says one, “I supposed I had to save nearly half the world to become great in the kingdom of God.”

If you are able to save yourselves, you will do first-rate, because you will get all the reward you need—all that will make you happy, and an abundant entrance will be administered unto you into the everlasting kingdom of God, and to the enjoyment of everything that is requisite to your happiness.

They would not ask you in that state whether you have saved one, two, a hundred, or a hundred thousand souls besides yourself. “What, and I sent you to preach for them?” Why, to save yourself. And the reason why a great many of our Traveling Elders apostatize, and now mingle with that class of sinners, is simply because they fail to apply the principles to themselves which they recommend to others.

“What do you preach for?” To save yourselves. If I get myself saved I am not concerned about you. I am preaching these principles to you today, to discharge a duty that I owe to you, that I may be saved. It is the same when I am somewhere else. “But is buying a ranch embraced in your salvation. What did you buy that land for, did you do it to preach the Gospel? Do you go down to San Bernardino to preach the Gospel? Did President Young tell you to come here and preach?” No, he said he wanted to see me; so I came and looked at him, and he saw me; and then the brethren wanted me to preach, and I have preached some ideas that may be new, and if I should find out something else I did not before comprehend, I shall preach it. And I would preach just as quick anywhere else as here, because the Saints are all alike to me; their progression is one, their hopes and expectations are one, or should be; and their heaven and reward will be one when they obtain them; and it will all be in the same country. Will it be in San Bernardino? No. In Salt Lake Valley? No. Will it be in any one of the settlements of the Saints to the exclusion of the rest? No. Where will it be? In here. In your own hearts. When you get your heaven built up there so that it becomes a living organized creation, with all its parts and properties properly associated and developed, as the parts are in the physical being of man, you would not go to tom fooling over the earth to find a heaven, because you carry it with you continually.

If you go on a journey you take your heaven with you, or if you stay at home, it is there; if you go to meeting, you take it with you; and when you die and your spirit mingles with the spirits of just men made perfect, you take your heaven there. Says one, “How is the kingdom of God to be built up if that constitutes the great and important point?” Why, bring in the Saints from the four corners of the earth, by tens of millions, and associate them together, and what will they do? They will do what they are required to do. They will live in harmony one with another collectively, and with themselves individually, and with their God; consequently, the will of God will be done on earth, as in heaven. The principles of truth will be exemplified in the conduct of men on earth as it is with the spirits of the just in heaven, because men will know and appreciate the truth, and their conduct will be shaped according to it.

If this is not good Gospel, get something that is better. This Gospel fills up this little creation we live in. Where do we live? In the midst of space. Why? Because it is all around us. How far does it extend? To infinitude. The creation of man cannot reach it, his thoughts tire in the contemplation of it.

This little portion of the Gospel we commenced to tell the people years ago, this meager supply of truth, which fills up the narrow comprehension of us mortals, is a part of that great whole which occupies this space, and that constitutes all the glory, happiness, and bliss that is within that illimitable field.

You cannot name another heaven, you cannot find the material to make it of, you have no foundation upon which to build it. You cannot by your own reaching get away any portion of this Gospel, for it takes up all the material around us; you must go beyond this space where we occupy, so to operate. Do you esteem “Mormonism” as being worth all the wealth that is embraced in this vast infinitude of extent? Then what do you wish to exchange it for? Don’t go and fool it away for a little tea and coffee, for a little sugar, peaches, and grapes, or for a warmer climate; in so doing you would show yourselves but poor financiers; I would not wish you to operate for me; and the master will think as I do; if you go and fool away the treasure committed to your keeping, will he ever give you another penny to start upon again? I do not know whether he will or not. He will probably not do it until you have been poor, and ragged, and destitute, and a beggar for a long time.

Be faithful now, and learn this one thing—that we have not learned the Gospel, but learned of it, and are still learning of it, as much truth as we can gain. How fast do we learn? Just as fast as the condition of feeling we cultivate will allow us; just as much as the spirit of it is with us; just so much we learn.

Do you want to secure blessings? Says one, “I want to do a great deal for my dead friends, and to this end I want to get into the temple of the Lord.” The Gospel has to do with this; why? Because it is inside the elements of the Gospel—it comes within the scope of its principles, and extent, and application to man’s existence and happiness.

Then do not be in a hurry about getting into the temple before you are prepared to go there. Some act as though they had no other idea, but that they will be able to get in by stealth; they expect to storm heaven, and force blessings from the Almighty irrespective of their claim. This is not the spirit of the Gospel, it is not thus in the temple of God.

I shall secure to myself how much? That that my conduct has rendered me worthy of. “But suppose brothers Brigham, Heber, and Jedediah pronounce blessings upon me, shall I not get them?” If you are worthy of them you will. You are not to speculate in prospective on the blessings you expect to get; if you live here so as to be worthy of them, what need you fear about anything.

It is impossible in the nature of truth, for you to lose anything of which you are worthy; God cannot lie; He cannot forsake His faithful children, and disannul the promise He has made to them.

Do you want to hasten the building of the temple, or any other work, which will be to the interest of Zion on earth? Then commence at home; take a home mission, and attend strictly to the “Mormon” creed, which you know is, “Mind your own business.”

Suppose you all individually take a home mission, to examine yourselves, and institute that inquisition I have alluded to, into your own conduct and condition, day by day, week by week, month by month, and year by year. Is it not of importance that it should be set up?

To keep this perishable body from starving, you would work day and night; is not the soul of man, that can never die, that must be happy or miserable for eternity, worth your notice? Go to work and examine yourselves for a short time each day, and see how you are getting on.

You need not take it for granted that because you live in Great Salt Lake City, you will be saved; but if there are not thousands damned who live in this place, I shall be mistaken, and things will turn out better than I expect. “If that is the case in Salt Lake City, how are they doing in San Bernardino?” They are doing as you are here.

“Why, I did not suppose you had good people enough there to do as we are doing here.” What do you suppose is the difference between good men here and in San Bernardino? I feel that I am about the same sort of a man there as here, I do not feel any better here today than I should if I were there. I do not feel the weight of my responsibility any different, not a particle.

The good men down there, that love the truth, are working righteousness. Is there anymore done here? If any man is doing anything but serving God—that loves the truth—I would like to know his name.

“But have you not many bad people there?” Yes, a great many, I wish we had fewer. You may suppose we have them there, because they left here. However, we try to do as well as we can, and, if on the tide of human events, too great a preponderance of wickedness does not float in our midst, the truth will triumph; and if it does not, I do not care as concerns myself, so I am found a righteous man, acting according to the dictations of truth, that will save me.

That is the way we are getting along in San Bernardino. And here I may also observe, it is the way they are getting on in all the settlements of the Saints, and everywhere else.

We have not as many Saints down there as you have, but we have as many of one sort: and I feel as though I am interested down there as I am here, only not in the way I am here.

Having made these few scattering remarks, just as they came into my mind, without study or arrangement, I will forbear. If I have said anything wrong, I have no objections that you forget it; I hope you may; and what I have said that is right, I would like you to remember, because I am interested in having you remember it; and in having this people with the Saints everywhere, become a pure, a great and good people, because I am interested in the building up of the kingdom of God, and wherever that people and the interest of the kingdom is represented, there is my interest. And I hope when we have wound up the little routine of duties assigned us here, we shall have secured to ourselves that wealth that shall be to us worth all sublunary considerations, and remain when they have passed away. That we may all obtain this, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, October 8, 1855.

There are many things I wish to say before this Conference comes to a close, but I labor under the same difficulty as did one of the speakers yesterday, for I would like to touch upon so many subjects that I am at a loss to know where to begin.

And when this Conference is over, I presume that I shall think of many things omitted, which it would have pleased me to talk about. When a great number of people are together it affords an excellent opportunity for teaching them the principles of practical religion.

Our Conference has been well attended; there has been the greatest number of Saints assembled that I have ever seen at one time, and they will outnumber any meeting that the Latter-day Saints have had on this continent, or on any other. I doubt not but this is the largest congregation of Saints that has ever been assembled at one time and place on the face of the whole earth, since the days of the Jews in Jerusalem, or of the Nephites on this continent while they were in their glory and strength.

When all the male members of Israel were obliged to go up to Jerusalem twice a year to worship, pay tribute, &c., probably their congregations were larger than the one today, but no other denomination in all Christendom assembles so many people, at one meeting, as we now have in this Conference.

I can here teach a great many at once their duty to their God, to themselves, to their families, and to their neighbors, if you could spare the time to listen.

As I have observed to my brethren, and as I will now observe to you, neither in China, Siam, nor in any other country in Asia, nor in any part of Europe and Africa, nor in any other place on God’s earth, is there a people who now need preaching to more than do the Latter-day Saints in this Territory, and that too by faithful Elders, faithful ministers of the Gospel, messengers of life and salvation.

The inhabitants of this Territory have been taught the ways of life, they have been taught the principles of the Everlasting Gospel and have received them; they have forsaken their former homes, the countries in which they were born, their friends and family connections, for the Gospel’s sake; they are here in the midst of these mountains, and many of them will be damned, unless they awake out of their sleep, unless they refrain from their evil ways. Many are stupid, careless, and unconcerned, their eyes are like the fool’s eye, to the ends of the earth, searching for this, that, and the other, they have become greedy, are slow to fulfil their duty, are off their watch, neglect their prayers, forget their covenants and forsake their God, and the devil has power over them.

It is of necessity then that we appoint missionaries for this Territory, to preach to them the word of God which is quick and powerful. Some people say that they believe the Gospel who never live it, they did not embrace it for the love of it, but because they knew its truth. They will not give up their carnal, selfish, devilish dispositions and traits of character, and if you undertake to choke them off from these dispositions you will have to choke them to death before they will let them go; they will hang on to their evil feelings and evil deeds with greater tenacity than does the terrier dog to his prey, or antagonist; it is almost impossible to separate them from evil.

As for making Saints of those characters, we have no such anticipation; we wish to make Saints of those who sincerely desire to be Saints, who are willing to sacrifice their carnal, sinful, devilish feelings, to forsake them altogether, and to strive to become Saints and to establish the principles of honesty within them; we expect that such persons will be Saints, and we feel like doing all that we can to aid them in a righteous course.

As I observed at the commencement of our Conference, people must be chastened; we believe in this principle. We receive as correct doctrine what is said to have been written by one of the ancient Apostles, (why I make this peculiar remark is because this congregation heard brother O. Pratt scan the validity of the Bible, and I thought by the time he got through, that you would scarcely think a Bible worth picking up and carrying home, should you find one in the streets) viz.; For the Lord loveth whom he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth, and if you are not chastened you are “bastards, and not sons.”

I am quite inclined to believe this, and I do not care how many hands it has passed through. I will remark that brother Orson has clearly shown how the Bible has come into our hands, in order to convince the people of the necessity of positive proof for the validity of the Book of Mormon, the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and that Joseph Smith was a true Prophet of God, and to prove that our testimony, witnesses, evidence and knowledge of these facts are ten thousand times more than can be produced in favor of the Bible, unless a man has the power of God to testify to it, for there can be no proof in its favor short of revelation.

This we have known all the time, we have understood it from the beginning. That made us very anxious, in the days of Joseph, to get the new translation; but the Bible is good enough just as it is, it will answer my purpose, and it used to answer it very well when I was preaching in the world.

When brother Luddington was telling about the elephant walking through the cane, it made me think of our Elders going through the world, in past days, with the proclamation of the Gospel. They could take a host of priests, in fair argument, and pull them up by the roots and throw them aside, as easy as that elephant did the cane.

The Bible is good enough as it is, to point out the way we should walk, and to teach us how to come to the Lord of whom we can receive for ourselves.

It is good for this people to be chastened, and we may expect it, and I delight in the feelings and spirit just manifested by brother Luddington in his remarks, there was no crying, no whining upon his mission: if they expelled him from one house he went to another without crying or whining about it.

All that we have received as chastisement is from the hand of the Lord, and I do not consider that it has been necessary to shed one tear about it. It always takes something besides chastisement, or afflictions heaped upon us by our enemies, to bring tears from me. I can cry for joy, I can cry on beholding my friends after being separated from them.

The soft, loving, still, small voice of the Spirit will bring tears to my eyes, but all the sufferings that could be brought upon me by the malice of the wicked, and all that could be said or done against me by them, I think will not bring many tears from my eyes.

They might torture my body until it would cry, but all that we have hitherto met with, in the shape of affliction, I have received as from the hand of the Lord, and I think the chastisement has been light.

Let us reform, that we may be chastened no more; let us try to profit by the blessing we receive, instead of being made to profit by the tidings we suffer, for afflictions we shall be obliged to receive, if we do not profit by our blessings.

If we are chastened a little, do not worry about it. We think we are chastened, this season, in the failing of our crops, but I receive this as one of the greatest blessings that could be bestowed upon us.

I have felt like weeping, since I have been in this Territory, on beholding the ungrateful feelings of many of this people, their ingratitude towards their God, and at seeing them trample grain under their feet as a thing of naught.

Now I think what we have received this season is but a small portion of what we will receive, if we do not take care of the things the Lord bestows upon us, and be thankful for them. I look upon it as a prelude, forerunner, or testifier, that afflictions will come upon us, unless we humble ourselves before our God.

This, however, is but a very slight affliction. We have plenty here, no person is going to starve, or suffer, if there is an equal distribution of the necessaries of life which are in the country.

There are practices among this people which have injured my feelings. I see some men so greedy after the things of the world, that they will take their grain from the mouths of innocent, helpless women and children who are suffering for food, and sell it to Gentile merchants to speculate upon. I have learned, since this Conference commenced, a circumstance that took place a year ago; it may appear trifling to some, but to me it is grievous. Some of the brethren from San Pete and Fillmore came here last year, when they had plenty of wheat, and sold their flour to C. A. & E. H. Perry, for three, four, and four and a half dollars per hundred weight, and that firm sold all they could to the poor women and children, and made them pay a very high price. Those brethren afterwards learned that I bought nearly the whole of it for four dollars a hundred, and that I paid in cattle at a good, liberal price, and some have felt grieved about it. Why are they grieved? Because they had not the means to buy it themselves to speculate upon.

They have not raised any wheat this year, and now they are whining after me, “Will you let us have a little tithing wheat?” They ask what I have to say to them; I have this to say to every man in this congregation and throughout this Territory, and from this time henceforth, know my feelings, if you will sell grain to the Gentiles, or to your enemies, for the sake of their money when it is needed to be distributed among this people, I wish you would take your property and leave this Territory, for you are not worthy of belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you are unworthy a citizenship in the kingdom of God. If those who are going to sell their grain to speculators this year will rise up and tell us who they are, I will hold up my hands for them to be forthwith severed from this Church, to be delivered over to the buffetings of Satan.

Some who are unacquainted with me may say, “Brother Brigham, don’t you speculate?” Yes, I am the greatest speculator in the world, and one of the greatest misers, for I am seeking after eternal riches. “But, don’t you speculate on your flour? You have fine mills.” Ask those who recollect to a few years ago, when wheat was tramped under foot by man and beast. I then had a hired man who said he wanted to get a little money; I told him that I did not want to sell flour to the Gentiles in order to get it. He replied, “If you are willing, I would like to sell them a little, for they are from my country.” He did so, to the value of ninety-three dollars. I do not think that besides that amount, I have ever received fifty-cents in cash for flour sold from my mills, though I have had emigrants come, in a scarce time, and offer me fifty and seventy-five dollars for a hundred pounds. I said to them, you may plead until you are as gray as a rat, and you will not get flour from me for your money, but if you will stay and help us through harvest, and go to work like good men, we will pay you the same as we pay our brethren, and then you may go to California, or anywhere you please; but as to your getting one pound of flour from my bin for money, you cannot do it, and they never have so far as I recollect. It all goes to feed those men and women who work; those are the ones who eat my flour.

If I cannot get rich only upon the principle of oppressing my brethren, and depriving them of the comforts of life, I say, may God grant that I may never have another farthing upon earth. I do not want it upon such terms, and if I ever should, I hope the Lord will keep it from me.

I told you the other day what makes me rich, it is the labor of those whom I feed and clothe; still I do not feel that I have a dollar in the world that is my own, it is the Lord’s and he has made me a steward over it; and if I can know where the Lord is pleased to have it appropriated, there it shall go. The covetousness of some of this people has grieved me, and it has caused my spirit to weep and mourn to observe their greediness, their cheating and lying, their scheming in every possible way to wring a picayune out of this man, or that woman. I can put my finger upon owners of little shops in this city, who will lie to you for half an hour on a stretch, who will, if you send a child to their shops to buy a yard of ribbon that is worth ten cents, charge the child fifteen or twenty cents for it, but if I go to purchase the same article I can have it for ten cents. I know what goods are worth, but let an ignorant person go to those places and they will cheat him. I can put my hands upon traders now before me, who are guilty of such conduct.

It grieves me to see men who have believed the Gospel, forsaken the land of their nativity for the sake of life and salvation, endured all they have in coming here, and then, for a paltry sum of money, sacrifice their salvation. Such men cannot be saved in the celestial kingdom of God; they may receive their endowments, but they will do them no good; they may read over their Patriarchal blessings every day, but they will do them no good. No man or woman can receive life everlasting, only upon the principle of strict obedience to the requirements of the celestial law of heaven; no man can inherit such a blessing upon unholy principles.

Men must be honest, they must live faithfully before their God, and honor their calling and being on the earth. You ask if that is possible? Yes; the doctrine which we have embraced takes away the stony hearts.

We are naturally prone to wander from that which is good, and to receive every species of iniquity; we must get rid of this disposition, and the Gospel of salvation is expressly for the purpose of changing it, that we may receive the principles which prevail in heaven and are loved by the angels. It is possible for a man who loves the world to overcome that love, to get knowledge and understanding until he sees things as they really are, then he will not love the world but will see it as it is; he will see that it is in the hands of a Superior Being.

Man cannot control the heavens; he cannot control the earth, nor the elements; he can fertilize and prepare the ground for the reception of seed; he can plant, water, till, and reap from the ground the fruit of his toil, but, until his mind is opened by the Spirit of God, he cannot see that it is by a superior power that corn, wheat, and every kind of vegetation spring into life, and ripen for the sustenance of man and beast. Is it possible for him to arrive at this knowledge? It is, and that is what we have brought the doctrine of life and salvation to you for, that you may exchange your low, narrow, contracted, selfish dispositions for the ennobling Spirit of the Lord, for the Spirit of the Gospel, which gives joy and peace. If you enjoy that, your food will be sweet to you, your sleep will be refreshing, and your days will pass away in usefulness.

On the contrary, those who are covetous and greedy, anxious to grasp the whole world, are all the time uneasy, and are constantly laying their plans and contriving how to obtain this, that, and the other. Their minds are continually on the stretch to solve, “How can I obtain this farm, or that house and lot? How can I manage to get such and such teams? I want to get my lumber and adobies to build me a house, how can I manage and not pay much for them? I will deceive every man who comes nigh me; I will make him believe that my property is worth more than it is; I will sell ribbons for double their value, and I will ask forty cents a dozen for glass buttons that are worth only twenty, and in this way I will build a house for eighteen hundred dollars that will be worth four thousand.”

Their minds are so intent on cheating their brethren that they cannot sleep soundly, their nerves twitch and they have the jerks in their sleep, thinking, “How shall I manage with this man tomorrow? I want enough out of him to get my adobies.” And they lie and think, and think, and contrive, and plan, and the devil helps them all the time to manage to cheat the Saints. If such men should get a few bushels of wheat, would they let the Saints have it? No, they would sell it to our enemies and feed them, and let the Saints starve.

Again, it is known to all that a great many of the poor are as bad as those who have property; they are all the time in a sweat to know how to get their living without procuring it honestly. They are just as covetous and craving in their feelings as are the rich who hoard up their means and keep it from the honest poor; they are all the time scheming to get along without labor. There are many who live in this city without labor; I have neighbors near me that I do not believe get one cord of wood in the year, only as they steal it, and you have neighbors near you who steal your wood. If you want to keep your wood from the hands of these pilferers, you will have to put it in your houses, and if you want to keep your chickens, you will have to lock them up. I have often told you that we have all kinds of fish in the Gospel net; we have all kinds of poor, but after all the Lord’s poor outnumber the poor devils.

A few sinners mixed in a community make the whole appear dishonest and odious to the honest portion of the human family, because they have not the power to properly discriminate between them. I have to labor under the same disadvantage that you do, and if I know any of the infernal scoundrels I dare not tell of them, or point them out, unless I have a mind to. There are a great many guilty persons whom I wish to say nothing about; they are liars and thieves, and I know it; but I do not wish to expose their names, in hopes that they will repent and refrain from their bad practices.

A likely man is a likely man, and a good man is a good man, whether in this Church or out of it; and a poor, miserable, sinful creature who gathers as a Saint, is worse than one who gathers as a Gentile. A person who is a thief, a liar, and a murderer in his heart, but professes to be a Saint, is more odious in the sight of God, angels and good men, than a person who comes out and openly declares that he is our enemy. I know how to take such a man, but a devil with a Saint’s cloak on is one of the meanest characters you can imagine. I say, blessings on the head of a wicked Gentile who is my avowed enemy, far sooner than upon an enemy cloaked with a Saint’s profession.

There is one more difficulty in the minds of this community with regard to Saints and sinners, and that is in relation to the channel of our public trade. In the days of Joseph, men would come to me, men who are now in this Church, and some of whom are in this congregation, and say, “Brother Brigham, what do you think? I went down to brother Joseph’s store, and I wanted to get a gallon of molas– ses, eight yards of calico, a little crockery, &c., and I could not have the articles without paying the money down. Do you think that is right?” I always had but one feeling with regard to such matters, since I have been a Latter-day Saint. My reply to such questions was, should he not be paid for his goods as well as anybody else? But the reply is, “I can go to the store of an enemy, of a man who does not profess to be a Saint, much less a Prophet, and he will trust me, though I hate to go there and run into debt.”

So he goes with his money to the enemy’s store and buys a dress pattern, a piece of factory, some tea, a set of cups and saucers, a dozen knives and forks, boots and shoes for his wives and children, and then turns round and says, “God bless you,” and “well done.” But of Joseph’s store it was, “God Almighty curse you, because you would not allow me to carry off your goods without paying for them.”

Hundreds of instances of this kind I have witnessed in this kingdom, and it is a great fault with many of this people. That is the reason why men who are not in the Church prosper and fatten on the wealth of this people, and the reason why I do not bring goods in sufficient quantities to supply this market. There is not a trader in this community who is paid better than are the Gentile merchants. I could bring plenty of goods into this city and Territory every year, were it not for this fact. I am going to keep this subject before the minds of the Latter-day Saints and pursue it, until such a practice is driven from their midst. Good men, who would give away their shoes and go barefoot, if they saw anybody else going barefoot, were tried because brother Joseph would not trust them.

Brother Woolley was also a mercantile target for our shots in Nauvoo; I say “our,” because I class myself with the Saints. The pious brethren, who were professedly so good, and loving sisters who went to brother Joseph’s store, and could not get trusted, would go to the Gentiles and get trusted and pay them, and think that they had a right to neglect paying Joseph, because he was a Prophet, I presume.

This community would do just so here, if I had a store of goods. They would come to my store and say, “Brother Brigham, I am poor and needy, my wife is feeble and needs a little tea and sugar, and a little medicine; I also want some crockery and a little clothing, can’t you fill the bill?” Yes, if you will pay me for it. “Of course, I will pay you for all I get.” How? “O, never question me about that, am I not good for five or ten dollar’s worth?” Yes, but when are you good, and how? You are good to that Gentile store where you have run into debt, for you will sell your last cow, pawn the dress pattern you got there for your wife, and the teacups and saucers, to pay the money to that storekeeper; but if you trade ten dollars or fifty dollars on credit at brother Joseph’s or brother Brigham’s store, what next? There is no more about it, that is the end of it.

I have known persons that would have cursed brother Joseph to the lowest hell hundreds of times, because he would not trust out everything he had on the face of the earth, and let the people squander it to the four winds. When he had let many of the brethren and sisters have goods on trust, he could not meet his liabilities, and then they would turn round and say, “What is the matter brother Joseph, why don’t you pay your debts?” “It is quite a curiosity that you don’t pay your debts; you must be a bad financier; you don’t know how to handle the things of this world.” At the same time the coats, pants, dresses, boots and shoes that they and their families were wearing came out of Joseph’s store, and were not paid for when they were cursing him for not paying his debts.

But that is nothing, “O,” say they, “it is all in the family. Why, yes, brother Joseph, I will pay you just as quick as I can.” The proof of this is with you, ye rich and poor Saints. I will ask the men who have helped the poor to this place from different countries, when they get a house, a horse, an ox, or a cow, and have accumulated the things of this world, do they often express themselves able to pay you? You will all say “no.” I will hardly make one exception in this congregation, or in this kingdom. There is a sister from Wales, the wife of brother Dan Jones, who has expended thousands of pounds to help the poor to this place, and they have cursed her all the day long, and she has now to labor hard for the support of herself and children.

Can we refer to other instances of this kind? We can. That is the great fault among this people, and I wished to lay it before them that they may learn the truth, and their duty to each other. Let the Latter-day Saints be as punctual in paying the merchant who belongs to the Church of God, as they are in paying a miserable scoundrel, who would take all their money and then turn round and cut their throats, or ask a mob to do it, but thank God such characters are very scarce here. But no, a great many of this people will sustain their enemies, will feed, and clothe them, and trade off their wheat and cattle to them, and foster them in their wickedness, while those very persons would cut the throats of the Saints, if they could get along as well without trading with them. And at the same time that which they owe to their brethren in this kingdom who have helped them here, and who have blessed them all the time, never comes due, and they, perhaps, never think of it any more.

Have you the proof of all this before your eyes? You have. I have hundreds and thousands of dollars owing to me by this community and contracted upon a fair business principle. People will say, “O, brother Brigham, won’t you let me have a team? I must have a horse; won’t you let me have this wagon? I very much need a cow; won’t you help me in my building? And won’t you do this? And I wish you would do that; and could you not do the other?” And the pay never comes. But you will go to a Gentile and run into debt, and sell your last cow to pay that wicked man. You may say, “O, that is only in our business transactions.” Is not the upbuilding of the kingdom of God on earth a temporal labor all the time? It will be built up by physical force and means, by manual labor more than by any particular mental effort of the mind. Suppose that one Elder was left alone among the inhabitants of the earth, and that he should begin, with all the power of his mind, to imagine himself in England, Scotland, France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, or anywhere else and still sit in one place, saying, “Now I am laboring in the kingdom of God, it is a spiritual labor.” What real good would he accomplish? Not any.

You know the old theory is that the kingdom of God, and all pertaining to it, is spiritual and not temporal; that is the traditional notion of our brother Christians. But a person may merely think until he goes down to the grave, and he will never be the means of saving one soul, not even his own, unless he adds physical labor to his thinking. He must think, and pray, and preach, and toil and labor with mind and body, in order to build up Zion in the last days. You cannot build your house, nor gather up your substance and come to this place from different nations by mere thinking, it also requires physical labor. If we attend to the things of the kingdom of God, and nothing else in good weather, we can do everything else, that is necessary to be done, in rainy and bad weather.

If we talk to you and you sit and hear, that involves labor, and everything connected with building up Zion requires actual, severe labor. It is nonsense to talk about building up any kingdom except by labor; it requires the labor of every part of our organization, whether it be mental, physical, or spiritual, and that is the only way to build up the kingdom of God. Hence, what I have been laying before you is directly pertaining to the building up of that kingdom.

Will the people still take a course to feed strangers, and let their brethren starve? They will not. I say to every man who has wheat, set the poor to building your houses, to making fences, opening farms, or doing something, and hand out your grain to them. And if those who wish to speculate in grain, in consequence of the scarcity through drought and the ravages of the grasshoppers, come and offer you money for your grain, do not sell a bushel for five, ten, or twenty dollars, but tell them, “No, our wheat is to feed the poor Saints, and no one else.” If you do not do this, I am watching you. Do you know that I have my threads strung all through the Territory, that I may know what individuals do? If you do not pursue a righteous course, we will separate you from the Church. Is that all? No, if necessary we will take your grain from your bin and distribute it among the poor and needy, and they shall be fed and supplied with work, and you shall receive what your grain is worth.

There is plenty for all who are now in the Territory, and for all that will come in this fall. Talk about starving to death! How do you suppose you could? You could not enter a house in these mountains, where there is one potato left, and tell them that you were perishing for food, but what the inmates of that house would divide with you; I say, not one, whether belonging to Jew or Gentile, Saint or sinner. This is speaking to the praise of those who have the grain.

I do not believe that there is a grain owner in this Territory who does not feel just as liberal as he need to; at least, I know of no one but what wishes to do right. One man, who had a fine crop of grain, came to this city, and was offered three dollars a bushel for it; he said, “Shall I take that? Or what shall I do with it?” I replied, let us have it in the Tithing Store, and we will distribute it to the poor.

Flour is six dollars per hundred in that store. What was it last year? Six dollars. You cannot starve to death, because those who have got the grain are willing to divide with you. If you should happen to get hungry you could run to your neighbors for a pumpkin or a squash, and they would even jump out of bed to serve you, in case you chanced to call upon them late in the night. There is no law in this country against begging, therefore, if need be, we can beg from one another, and from Him who gave it all, so we cannot starve to death.

Go without eating two or three days! Bless your souls, I know not what it is to go without food since I have been a “Mormon.” I could travel over the earth without purse or scrip, and not be obliged to go hungry. Before I knew “Mormonism” I was acquainted with straitened circumstances, but it has clothed and fed me, and blessed me all the day long.

We have now held our meeting for three hours and a half, and after singing we will dismiss for one hour.

A Discourse by Elder P. P. Pratt, Delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, October 7, 1855.

We wish the entire attention of the congregation; the assembly being so vast, it will almost be impossible for the speaker to be heard unless there is great order and strict attention. We wish no disturbance on the outskirts of the assembly, as we wish all to hear.

I will read for the edification of the assembly, a portion of the 2lst chap. of Luke, contained in what is called King James’ translation of the New Testament, from the 5th to the 36th verse.

I will remind those who hear me this day of one fact which can be clearly demonstrated to the mind of every careful reader of the Scriptures, and which fact is a guarantee, as it were, to the rational mind, for the manner of the fulfillment of that which is future; it is this, that the prophecies contained in the Holy Bible, spoken by Moses and the Prophets, Jesus and the Apostles, have been fulfilled literally and naturally, so far as they have been fulfilled at all. Not in the sense, however, that modern blindness and priestcraft have tried to throw over them, but in a plain and common sense, as plain as if a man were to rise here and tell that the wall around this Temple Block would be overthrown, and not one stone left upon another, and then tell the circumstances that would transpire before it, and in connection with it, and after it, and then it afterwards be fulfilled and recorded in history; so plain, so clear, so full, and so exact have the predictions of the Prophets of God, and the Apostles of God, and of the Son of God been fulfilled, except such portions as remain to be fulfilled.

Keep that one fact in view, and then search the prophecies, and trace them out; search history for their fulfillment, and give diligent heed to the things that are written, for these are the commandments not only of the ancient Apostles and Prophets, but of the Apostles and Prophets of the last days.

Jesus himself, while he traveled upon the earth in his mortal tabernacle read the Scriptures to the people, “he opened the book and taught;” his manner was to do it in the synagogue every Sabbath day—he exhorted them to search into the things that were written.

And after he had risen from the dead, and received all power in heaven and on earth, he referred his disciples to that which was written.

On a certain occasion he said, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe that which the prophets have written.”

When he appeared to the Nephites, in his risen body, as you will find it written in the Book of Mormon, he took pains to refer them to the written prophecies of Isaiah and many others, and quoted many of them, and exhorted the people to search the things contained in the prophecies of Isaiah diligently, bearing testimony of their literal fulfillment; and said he, “A commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently,” for they have been fulfilled, and will be fulfilled according to that which is written, not in some other way.

Not only are we included in these general exhortations and commandments of the ancients, and of Jesus Christ himself, but the same commandments have been renewed to us by our great Prophet and founder, Joseph Smith, and by our Prophets and Apostles that still live.

How often have they told us to treasure up the words of God, those things that are written for our profit and learning, and to search diligently and treasure up in our hearts continually words of wisdom from the best books.

Says the word of God through Joseph Smith to this people, search the Scriptures, treasure them up in your hearts, put them in a good storehouse—the storehouse of your memory; then the Holy Spirit will be at liberty when you are called up to teach others to select from that well-stored treasure things new and old.

It is not to study up what you shall say particularly, but to treasure up truth in your hearts, to have them well filled with it, kept well stored, and then give free liberty to the Spirit of God to operate upon you, to collect out of that treasure that portion which will be best suited to the wants and condition of men who do not treasure up the words of life.

If the Holy Spirit should come upon a man of that description to select out of that storehouse, he would find it empty, and he would have the trouble of putting it there, or it would not be there; hence he would be barren and unfruitful.

Search the Scriptures, ye Saints of the Most High; among all your cares, and all your duties, search the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, of the Book of Mormon, and the revelations of God that have been written for our profit and learning.

And to the young people among us, a generation brought up amid the hurry, toil, and cares of a new country, I say do not neglect to treasure up in your hearts the history, and the prophecies, and their fulfillment, and the promises, and hopes shadowed forth therein, and the doctrines, and principles, and examples left on record.

You may say you have not time; take those portions of time you would otherwise devote to something less useful. We all have time to do it. I have been as hard working in my day as any other man, perhaps, and I always had time to do it, and always have done it, and it was by the light that shone in a dark place, diligently and prayerfully searched out, and the Holy Spirit that shone upon the understanding, through the prayer of faith, and through diligent search, that caused me to see, and understand, and lay hold on certain things that came in fulfillment of these prophecies.

If anyone asks how I came to be a Latter-day Saint, or what some people would call a “Mormon,” a follower of Joseph Smith, the modern Prophet, I answer, it was be– cause I had given heed to the sentiments of truth from my early youth, carefully and prayerfully searching and believing them; it was because the Holy Spirit rested upon me, and opened my understanding to the same through the prayer of faith, and diligent search. It was because that the Holy Spirit gave me clearly to understand that this modern Prophet, and the fulness of the Gospel restored by him, had come in fulfillment of certain promises made by the ancient Prophets and Apostles; that is the reason why I really embraced the fulness of the Gospel which the world calls “Mormonism.”

Let us review the things we have read, and make a few remarks upon them.

Some of the disciples, feeling proud of their great temple, or national house of God, and feeling to rejoice in its workmanship, beauty, grandeur, and probably flattering themselves it would endure forever as the great center of the Jewish worship for all nations, they called the attention of Jesus to it, saying, “Master, see what manner of stones and buildings are here.” “Why,” said Jesus, “the days will come when there will not be left one of these stones on the top of another.”

Does that need spiritualizing? Does it need some learned man from a college to tell you what that means, and give you the spiritual sense of it? It had but one sense, and that a child could understand.

“The days will come when there will not be one of those beautiful stones left upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” In the Indian phraseology they inquired how many moons first, or in other words, “Master, when shall these things be, and what sign will there be when these things transpire?” Jesus begins to tell them some of the things that would immediately happen in their day.

The first thing he calls their attention to, among the things that had been transpiring, was, that a great many deceivers should come and profess to be Christ, saying, “I am Christ, but do not go after them, take care and not be deceived by them.”

The reason of this was that the Jews were looking for a Messiah, and for a deliverance from the Roman yoke, and for their national independence to be restored to them; and for their city, and temple, and nation, to be the seat of government for all nations, a universal theocracy.

They were looking for this, and they had rejected the true Messiah, and were about to kill him, and were looking for another to fulfil what all men were in the expectation of; for the old Prophets had told them that such a day would come, in relation to that nation, and their city Jerusalem, and the temple; that the throne of God would be there; that the tabernacle of God would be there; that there would be one king and one Lord, and his name one; that all the nations of the earth would come up to worship—the nations they were acquainted with in that country.

They had reason to look for that day, because the old Prophets had foretold it, and John the Baptist came along as a special Prophet, and nearly all that people had received him as a Prophet, professedly, though in reality, some of them received him, and he told them some of those things were about to be fulfilled.

He had told them about their king, about the Lamb of God, about the Messiah, and that they must repent and be baptized for the remission of their sins, and make his paths strait.

With this double assurance, first the testimony of their old Prophets, and secondly the renewed testimony of a new Prophet, to immediately prepare for the fulfillment of some of the old prophecies; with this double assurance they were looking for some– body to do something, and that pretty largely too; and as they had rejected the true king—the true Messiah, of course they would be looking for somebody, that ambitious spirits would enter, and they would rise up and tell the people, “I am he you look for; set me up, and I will deliver you from the Roman yoke, I will break your fetters, and bring about the restoration of your national independence.”

“Don’t you be deceived,” says Jesus, “for many of those who would not hearken to me will come, saying, I am Christ, but do not go after them.” These very things happened in those days, for which you may read history.

“When you hear of wars and commotion, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not yet; Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom”—which had been a common thing, and was then—“great earthquakes, and famine, and pestilence, and great sights from heaven.”

Go and read Josephus, and read about these things being fulfilled in that same age.

“But before all these things shall take place, they shall lay their hands upon you.”

Some people have been in the habit of trying to apply every scripture to everybody in every age; they had need to give heed to the exhortation of Paul to Timothy, “Show thyself a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, giving to everyone their portion,” not everything that is written for everybody in every age.

Jesus was talking to Peter, James, and John, and to the rest of his immediate followers. “They will lay their hands on you, Peter, on you, James, and on you, John, and also upon others, and they will persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, and you shall be brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake.” And of which, I need not observe, was literally fulfilled in that age, the New Testament itself bearing record of it in part; “this shall turn to you for a testimony.” That is as much as to say, when this happens to you that I have foretold, it will be a witness and a testimony—it will be another proof; therefore, instead of mourning about it, and feeling downhearted, understand that I have before told you it must be. And when you are brought before rulers for my name’s sake, do not study up a speech beforehand to speak in self-defense, for I will give you a mouth, and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to gainsay nor resist.

Read the New Testament—the history of Peter and the Twelve, of Stephen and of Paul, and see if they had not a mouth and wisdom that confounded their enemies when they were afterwards summoned before the different authorities, and kings, and magistrates, in fulfillment of this promise.

“Ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death.” This was fulfilled in the circumstances of James, the brother of the Lord, whom they killed with the sword, according to the New Testament. It was fulfilled in the case of Peter, in the case of the stoning of Stephen to death; it was fulfilled literally in many instances in that age.

“And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake.” Nations were not singing the name of Jesus then as they are now by tradition, but the bare mention of his name gave a shock to the wicked, to kings and rulers.

Go to Illinois and Missouri, and mention Joseph Smith to the mob that tried to butcher and kill him and drive the Saints; go where they reside, and say, Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and it would not cause a greater shock, greater rage and hate, more bitter feelings than it would in those days to mention the name of that crucified Nazarene; “Ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake,” that is, because you will be running from place to place, making use of my name—making mention of what nearly everybody considers the name of an impostor and deceiver.

“That deceiver said, he would rise again from the dead on the third day,” said some of those pious Jews after they had killed him, applying the same terms they now apply to the modern martyrs.

To go about and preach his name then was not that pleasant thing it is now in Christendom; I assure you, it was a cross, and nothing but the Spirit of truth, inspired in the heart of man, would give him boldness enough to do it. “But there shall not a hair of your head perish. In your patience, possess ye your souls.”

Now, then, comes the thing the Apostles asked about, after he had told them the preliminary leading to it; filling up the interstices of time, he gets at length to the destruction of that temple—to the throwing down of those beautiful stones. “When ye see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know the desolation thereof is nigh.” Does that need any spiritualizing?

Go and read Josephus, read the history of the Roman army under Titus, the Roman general, who came up and laid siege against that city and surrounded it with the Roman legions; and then read the history of the war. It took place at the time when almost the whole nation had poured into that devoted city, just as you have poured into Salt Lake City, only we are a mere handful compared with that great nation; they had come into one of the great Conferences that happened about once a year; it was during the time that tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands that come into Jerusalem, from all the surrounding country, that they were laid siege to by the Roman army.

The city was blockaded—none could escape. Besides this there were several factions within the city; Jews were at war with Jews under different leaders. This made a desolating war within, while the enemy was encamped without; and besides all this, famine overtook them, and pestilence caused by want; and by being crowded and shut up in the city, and by the dead bodies with no place to bury them.

Hence with sword, famine, pestilence, &c., Jerusalem began to be desolated. “Now when you see this, understand that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.”

Some of our Sectarian friends tell us that Jesus Christ did not preach a gathering; he only preached the Gospel, and then let the people live right where they had a mind to. But here is a positive revelation from the Son of God, to those that would give heed to his warning voice, to actually remove to the mountains in order to escape the war, the troubles, and pestilence that awaited the Jews and Jerusalem.

Now if we had all the history of those times; if we only had what the Apostles have written, in full, instead of a little of it, we should have the particular place where they did go, and where they lived, you would have an account of the organization of a gathered people taking care of themselves, while war desolated the nation. We have not got this part of ancient history, but we will have it, for there is nothing secret but what will be re– vealed—hid but what will be brought to light.

When God sees fit we will have the record of the fulfillment of this gathering; of every man, woman, and child that heeded the warning of the blessed Jesus. About seventy years after the birth of Christ, which was about the date that the Roman army compassed Jerusalem, I warrant you they left Judea and Jerusalem, and gathered into the mountains to take care of themselves. This is the very period of Christian history I would very much like to read—how they conducted themselves when they were gathered together, and how they maintained themselves when their nation and temple were crumbling to the dust.

“Let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the country enter thereinto.” We are given to understand that there was a little time after the Roman army had laid siege to Jerusalem, in consequence of a certain movement of that army, that gave a chance to the people in the city that were wide awake, to gather. If they would give heed to the warning voice of Jesus, or to the words of his Apostles, not to come down from the housetop, or stop to get their bed, but run with all their might, they could escape. A little moment of relaxation, an advantageous position of the army, made escape possible to those who would not stop to take their clothes out of the house, their bed, or anything else, but flee at once.

“For these be the days of vengeance.” Vengeance on what? On the people of the Jews and on all the people of Jerusalem that had rejected the Gospel, that had rejected and killed the true Messiah, and persecuted and killed the Apostles, and his disciples.

“These be the days of vengeance.” What for? That all things that were written may he fulfilled, not spiritualized, nor transformed, nor done away, but absolutely fulfilled.

What did he mean by that saying? Go and read Moses; I shall not trouble myself to give chapter and verse; go and read Moses and the Prophets and see if they do not predict the horrors of war to that age, and desolation, even to the eating of their own children for mere want, because of the pressure of the famine; “even the tender and delicate women,” says Moses, “who would not venture to put the soles of their feet on the ground for tenderness and delicacy, should eat their own children in the siege and the straitness, whereby your enemies shall distress you in all your gates, if you will not hearken to my words.” He also predicted that the Lord God would raise up a Prophet like unto him, and the people should hear him in all things whatsoever he should say unto them, and every soul that would not hear him, should be cut off from among the people.

What do our enemies complain of us about? For believing we must hearken to the Prophet of the Lord which we profess to have among us—Joseph Smith, and Brigham Young, or whoever it may be. “They believe,” say our enemies, “that they must hearken to their Prophet in all things whatsoever he shall say unto them.” Just as though it was a new thing; that is what they are mad at us about; it is the main point that is found fault with from California to Maine, and throughout Europe, by editors and priests.

Everywhere the word is, “what is the matter with the Mormons in Utah? They hold to that abominable principle of hearkening to all things the Prophet of God says to them.” O dear, what hurt does that do? It gives them power—they will all vote one way.

We are not the only people that are troubled with that doctrine, and this is not the only, age that has had that kind of trouble to contend with.

Moses had laid it down, that they should not only give heed to his word, and if they did not they should be destroyed, and have to eat their own children while their enemies besieged them, but that they should give heed also to another Prophet that should arise, and that too in all things whatsoever he should say unto them; and if they did not, they should be cut off from among the people.

But that part of “Mormonism” is very ancient, and applied to Moses, and to Christ, and to every Prophet that has ever been sent to lead the people.

“These be the days of vengeance, that all things that are written may be fulfilled.” I have quoted a little of what has been written.

“But woe unto them that are with child, and to those that give suck, in those days!” What kind of a woe is this? “Eternal hell,” says one. That is not the meaning; but the language signifies that it will be hard on those who are in that situation in those days; they will have trouble because they will not be in circumstances to flee from their enemies; it will be very inconvenient indeed for them to escape; therefore sorrow to them; it will be hard on them; they are to be pitied.

I used to think, when I was a boy, that every time the Scriptures said woe, it meant eternal hell. I did not understand very much of the Scriptures then; in this instance Christ was simply speaking of the trouble and inconvenience it would be to those who had little children.

I have often thought how much more merciful God is to the Latter-day Saints, in telling them not to go in haste nor by flight, without stopping to get their coat, their garment, or their bed; he has not told them to escape empty-handed; I feel thankful for this mercy.

On the other hand, I have thought that we have had some burdens to bear, over and above what they had, which makes the thing about even.

“For there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.” That is, in the land of Judea, upon the Jews, and in that city.

“And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and they shall be led away captive among all nations: and Jerusalem”—what will become of it finally?—“shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until”—that is a big word, and means much in the position it occupies here—“UNTIL”—on that word is suspended that nation’s fate, and the fate of all the neighboring nations—“Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”

I tell you there is meaning in these words, contained in that single line. O ye nations of the earth, if I had the voice of an angel’s trump, that I could be heard to earth’s remotest bounds, by kings, rulers, captains, generals, armies, and nations, I would wish to read that one line in their ears, and tell them the things that are summed up in it.

“Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” What is meant by it? One thing we know certain, we have no need to conjecture, that is, that all these things happened literally. The Roman army on the outside, and the three factions on the inside of the city of Jerusalem, and the famine, and the pestilence helping it on, performed their work until finally it came to an end by the city being taken by the Romans, the temple set on fire, and burned, and the whole city desolated, and brought under Gentile rule, namely, Roman rule. And it is said, in the history written by Josephus, that one million and a half of Jews perished in that siege, that is, in that one city, in putting an end to a national polity; a national corrupted form of government, a national priesthood, a national house of worship.

One million and a half perished! They fell by the edge of the sword, by pestilence, and by famine, and the remnants of the Jews were carried captive among all nations. To remain how long? As I have said, we know this prophecy has been literally fulfilled, for we see them scattered among all nations to this day.

I have seen them in San Francisco, in Chile, in Scotland, in England, and in every part of the United States, and Canada; and wherever my brethren, the Elders of this Church, have been; I can assure them of one thing, if they have looked about them they have seen a Jew or Jews. Wherever there is a nation to be found, or a people of commerce, ships, camels, or any other means of conveyance, there will be found Jews; that we know.

But about one stone of the temple at Jerusalem not being left one upon another—the fire itself would not do this—but history has informed us that the Jews concealed their treasures under the stones of the temple, and the Roman army went to work, and tumbled them about, and did not leave one stone upon another, and finally they were removed.

In fulfillment of another scripture, they took a plough and ploughed the temple site—so completely was the scripture fulfilled.

Had I time I would quote the chapter and verse of this plowing, and the history which refers to it.

Now then this last line I have read has been fulfilling until now; that is certain. The Jews are among all nations, in captivity—without being organized and nationalized; without being restored; without having returned to the God of their fathers; to His matchless power; to the administration of His Holy Spirit; to the enjoyment of heavenly communica– tion, through Holy Prophets, by the revelations of God; to the administration of angels; to the enjoyment of the religion of their fathers, and to the power of God to defend them, and deliver them from their enemies.

They have been 1,800 years without these blessings. This is a fact foretold in this chapter, and literally fulfilled before the eyes of all men. All the nations know it that know anything about the Bible or about history.

Now there was a time allotted for the Gentile powers to reign, for their corruptions to bear rule, and during the time here designated as the times of the Gentiles, the times of their polity, of their nationality, their religion, and to prove them and to see what they would do with the power committed unto them—the times spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, in which the fourth monarchy, namely, the Roman, and all those divisions, and subdivisions that should grow out of it in modern times, the times when these divided powers should bear rule.

There is just as much a time for these to have their day and prove themselves, and bring forth the fruits of their rule, and a time for them to come to an end, as ever there was a time for Jerusalem to rule or for the Jewish polity to come to an end. Now when that time arrives, ye nations look out, for there is a prophecy gone forth about you; it is in these words, and recorded in the Old Testament: “Though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, yet will I not make a full end of you,” speaking of Israel.

Now, when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled there will be an uprooting of their governments and institutions, and of their civil, political, and religious polity. There will be a shaking of nations, a downfall of empires, an upturning of thrones and dominions, as Daniel has foretold, and the kingdom and power, and rule on the earth will return to another people, and exist under another polity, as Daniel has further foretold. But let me read it here, let Jesus speak in his own words, or the writer for him. Now understand that we have got down to the present time, that is sure with this prophecy, no man can mistake it. Jerusalem has been overthrown, and not one stone of that magnificent temple has been left upon another. A great portion of that nation fell by the edge of the sword, and the residue went captive among all nations, and their city has been trodden under foot of the Gentiles, and will be until their times are fulfilled, that is, until they have had their reign out. Then what will happen? We will read; “And there shall be signs in the sun.” Has anybody seen them?—not away back among those other things; there were signs in the air then; Josephus tells you about it, and this book tells you about it, as I have been reading today in this chapter, about the signs which happened as a forerunner of the destruction of Jerusalem, and the Jews as a nation. Now after the Jews have remained among the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, as a forerunner of this latter overturn, “there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon.” Have any of you seen them during the last 30 years? I have. “And in the stars.” Have you seen any signs in the stars? Think back for the last 30 years. “And upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And THEN”—not some other time. Are there any Millerites here who have been setting a time for the Son of Man to come? “Then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” Not you, my disciples, whom I told a little while ago should be delivered up to the synagogues, and to prisons, and be beheaded, and suffer many things; not you whom I have warned to take heed lest you are deceived by false Christs that shall come to you; and when you should hear of wars and commotions to be not terrified, &c.; but Jesus Christ now directs his attention to another age; this does not refer to you my followers, you will be dead, and in paradise when these things that I now refer to shall take place. But THEY. Who? The people who shall live when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled—when their reign is about to come to an end, the generation that will be alive when Jerusalem and the Jews are about to be restored, and the full end of all Gentile polity is about to usher in. “Then shall they see,” those that shall live in those days. And what shall they see? “The Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”

That is the proud sight that is to be seen in connection with the end of the Gentile rule, or the breaking up of the Gentile nations, when their times are completed; when Jerusalem is to be rebuilt, to be no more trodden down nor governed by them, when the Jews are to be restored; and when there are signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and upon the earth, men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after the things that are coming, then shall they see, not the crucified Jesus hanging upon the ignominious cross, mocked by the wicked Jews, not persecuted by a Herod, clothed in all the pomp and pride of Gentile authority, not a Roman army to overthrow and succeed the Jewish polity, but they shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud clothed with great power and great glory.

Do ye believe this, ye young people, ye boys and girls? Do ye believe this? All the prophetic sayings contained in this chapter have been fulfilled, down to this day. Do you believe that portion of it which is yet in the future, ye people of New York, of San Francisco, of China, of London, of France? Do the Gentile nations believe this? You see the Jew among you, and the Gentile bearing rule; do you believe that this is a true prophecy? You ought to believe it, for it is right before your eyes in its fulfillment, and if you do, do you expect to see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory? That is a sight some of you will see; you have only to live until the time comes, and you will see it.

Whether there has been signs in the sun, moon, and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations and perplexity, men’s hearts failing them for fear, in the last few years, I will leave each one to draw his own conclusion. If this has not already been sufficiently fulfilled, one thing is certain, it is being fulfilled, and when it is sufficiently completed the Son of Man will be seen in heaven with power and great glory, as sure as you ever saw a Jew, that is, it is a fact. “And when these things begin to come to pass,” for that is an important point, “then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” Does it not appear a little strange that Peter, and James, and John, and the Jewish nation have to wait until then for their redemption, and the dead and the living, as well as the Latter-day Saints? They have to wait until then, whether in this world or in the other, for the redemption of their bodies, unless they died before Christ, and rose from the dead when he did, and the Jews must wait until then for the redemption of their nation and national polity, and for their triumph over their enemies, and for the putting down of all other power, and for the establishment of the reign of righteousness on the earth, the redemption of their friends, and vengeance on all those who have shed the innocent blood, whether of Latter-day Saints or Former-day Saints. This is the day of their redemption, be in what world they may, they are preparing for it. “Lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” When? Not when Jerusalem is compassed with armies, not when they (the Jews) are destroyed by the edge of the sword, not while wandering among the nations of the earth from age to age, not while the Gentile powers bear rule, but when the sun, moon, and stars shall put forth their signs, the heavens shake, and men’s hearts failing them for fear, looking for the things that are coming upon the earth—then is the time to begin and look up, to lift up your heads and rejoice, ye spirits that are waiting for redemption, whether ye are in this world or in the other, straighten your backs in your hard toil, and look up, for your redemption draweth nigh.

“And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees.” We have not any fig trees here, but they had there. “And all the trees,” embraces trees we have here. “When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.” You do not need a Prophet to come along and prophesy that summer is nigh at hand, for even the children may know it. “So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.”

O ye Millerites, ye made a great mistake; you thought the first thing was the coming of the Lord in power and great glory; you were going to have him come immediately, without any kingdom to come to, without a forerunner in the shape of a Prophet, but just by men guessing, and predicting, and remarking, and commenting on the prophecies; but so far as the coming of the Lord being the first thing you knew, you will “begin to see these things come to pass, and then know that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand” and we have to be born again or we cannot see it.

People hear of “Joe Smith,” as he is called, of the Book of Mormon, of angels coming from heaven again; of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; of modern Prophets and Apostles, and martyrs, and they think, “what under heaven does all this mean, we have no reason to look for anything of the sort, but we expect the Lord here every minute.” They have no idea of a modern Prophet; of angels visiting the earth in the latter times; of modern inspiration; of a modern Church that will hearken to the voice of a Prophet in all things that he shall say unto them; it is all new to them, they are astonished, and say, “what does it mean, I wonder what is this Mormonism coming to?”

The Lord will never come until he has organized his kingdom on the earth, and prepared his people by sending a messenger to prepare the way before him; that messenger has come, and the man that delivered it has been slain, namely, Joseph Smith, and by the instrumentality of that messenger, here sit the Apostles and Prophets, ordained to hold the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

If the people had read the Scriptures they would have been looking for all this, if they had not listened to a set of blind guides, who have hired out for money to tell them the Scriptures mean something else.

When you see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Says one, “for my part I believe the kingdom of God was set up 1,800 years ago, and is not going to be set up again; he is not going to have it set up twice, or I do not know what you are going to do with the Scriptures, you had better burn them up as a thing of no account, because John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, the Twelve Apostles, and the Seventies all agreed in their former testimonies that the kingdom of God was then nigh at hand, it must therefore have been immediately set up, or they were all false witnesses; and if it was immediately setup, as an event following their predictions, namely, on the day of Pentecost, when the power of God was shed forth, and the Apostles that held the keys of it organized it upon the earth; if that event did really follow what John the Baptist, Jesus, and his Apostles had predicted, then of course it was set up in those days.”

We say there will be another time when it will be at hand; how do we prove it. By the words of Jesus himself in our text, for he did not only state that the kingdom was then at hand when he first began to preach, but he also said it would be at hand when we should see these modern signs here referred to. What did he say should come? False Christs, and the Apostles were to be betrayed, and hated of all nations, and some would be put to death; He told them they should be brought before kings and rulers; that the Roman army should compass Jerusalem, and there should not be left one stone upon another of their temple, and the Jews should go captive among all nations; that they should remain there for a certain time during which the Gentile power should rule; that after all this there should be signs in the sun, moon, and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations, and perplexity, men’s hearts failing them for fear; when these thing come to pass, then know that the kingdom of God is at hand.

What does this make out? That there were two distinct times, or ages, varying in circumstances, in which the kingdom of God would be introduced to the inhabitants of the earth; the one should immediately follow John the Baptist, and Jesus, and Peter, who held the keys of it, and the other should be looked for and ushered in, in connection with these modern signs; in short Jesus and Peter held the keys of the one, and his brother Joseph Smith, and his Apostles hold the keys of the other.

Now I think you can understand both predictions; one by John the Baptist, and all the holy Prophets, and by Jesus and his Apostles, and the other was predicted by Jesus Christ and all the Holy Prophets since the world began, and both of them fulfilled right here before your eyes this day. The one in the events recorded in the New Testament, the other in the history of Joseph Smith, and what follows.

I have already been lengthy; having got at the main review, I will close by reviewing one more sentence. “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”

Now I know the habit of praying always in Christendom, that is certain portions of them, they pray in their families and in secret, and have prayer meetings; they pray for this, that, and the other, and say the Lord’s prayer and a great many prayers, but the question is do they pray always? He did not tell them to pray the Lord’s prayer always, particularly, neither did he tell not to; but this one prayer he did tell them to pray always, and causes it to be written; do WE fulfil it, and do they; it is not to pray always nor to watch always, but it is to pray this particular prayer always—that we may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and stand before the Son of Man.

Whatever else they might pray in all the varying circumstances of their lives, all right, but this one thing they would be sure to need, to be accoun– ted worthy to escape all those things Christ foretold, and stand before him.

And why should they pray this always? Because it is not only the living generation that had to meet it, and had need to be prepared, but it was a chain of prophecy that would be gradually fulfilling from that time until he comes, and whether they passed through the veil or remained in the flesh, one thing was certain, they would all have to meet some part of it; if they lived in Jerusalem they would have some part of it to meet; or if they were scattered among all nations they would have some part of it to meet; and if they live until there should be signs in the sun, moon, and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations, they would have some part of it to meet; therefore whether they lived in modern or in former times, behind the veil or on this side of it; it was necessary to pray always to be accounted worthy to escape all these things and stand before the Son of Man.

This would have cautioned the drunkard a little, and the miser a little, the man who is engaged head, heart, and hand to accumulate all the riches of the world and heap them up to himself, and not use them to build up the kingdom of God; it would have told him not to have his heart overcharged with the cares of this earth, or with surfeiting and drunkenness, if these words do not say so exactly, another writer does, who writes on the same subject.

Take care how you get drunk, how you are a glutton, how you are wholly swallowed up in the cares of this world, in accumulating riches, and take care to pray that you may escape all these things, and stand before the Son of Man.

It would not do for me to talk always, but I want to tell you how to prepare; and I trust my brother Orson, or someone who will follow me in the course of the day, will enter upon that subject more fully, and illustrate the Gospel; the remission of sins; the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the ordinances pertaining thereto, as well as a good, moral, prayerful life, all of which would open up an extensive field for reflection, had we time to enter upon it.

If we had time, and it was expedient we could show you that in order to restore the kingdom of God, and prepare the way for the coming of the Son of Man, the Gospel would have to be restored in its fulness, baptism, and repentance for the remission of sins preached, and a messenger like John the Baptist sent of old to prepare the way; but we will leave the subject unfinished.

I expect to go where Jesus did and tell the spirits in prison the good news that their redemption draweth nigh, and the good news of the Gospel, my mouth never can be shut on that subject, in heaven, earth, or hell, if I am at liberty to tell it, and the Holy Spirit given to me to direct.

I leave the subject praying God to bless you all, and all those that watch and pray always to be accounted worthy to escape all these things that are coming to pass, and stand before the Son of Man. Amen.

A Sermon by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, October 6, 1855.

As we have assembled in the capacity of a Conference to attend to business, we should earnestly seek to enjoy the spirit of our calling. We are called to be Saints, and if we have the spirit of Saints we shall have the spirit of our calling, otherwise we certainly do not enjoy the privileges that the Lord designs we should. The Lord is ready and willing to give His Spirit to those who are honest before Him, and who seek earnestly to enjoy it.

If Saints, assembled to worship the Lord and transact business pertaining to His kingdom, should not have the aid of His Spirit they would be likely to commit errors, it would be strange indeed if they did not, and to do that which they ought not, even in business transactions; they would fall short of accomplishing their own wishes, and of course far short of fulfilling the designs of heaven. We see many led astray, because they have not retained the spirit of Christ to guide them.

When any of this people, who believe the Gospel, forsake the duty which they owe to God and His cause, they are at once surrounded by an influence which causes them to imbibe a dislike to Saints and to the conduct of Saints; they receive a false spirit, and then the Saints cannot do right in their eyes, the ministers of God cannot preach right nor act right, and soon they wish to leave the society of the Saints, and that too, as they sup– pose, with a sanctified heart and life. They wish to withdraw from this, as they believe, wicked people, fancying all to be wicked but themselves, and wish to separate themselves until the people are as holy as they flatter themselves that they are, when they calculate to return again. Others will lose the spirit of their calling, and realize that they have lost it; they are wicked, and know it, and will have more confidence in others than in themselves. But the self-righteous will go away and wait until we as a people are sanctified and able to endure their presence, and think that then they will, perhaps, gather among us again.

People are liable in many ways to be led astray by the power of the adversary, for they do not fully understand that it is a hard matter for them to always distinguish the things of God from the things of the devil. There is but one way by which they can know the difference, and that is by the light of the spirit of revelation, even the spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ. Without this we are all liable to be led astray and forsake our brethren, forsake our covenants and the Church and kingdom of God on earth.

Should the whole people neglect their duty and come short in performing the things required at their hands, lose the light of the Spirit of the Lord, the light of the spirit of revelation, they would not know the voice of the Good Shepherd from the voice of a stranger, they would not know the difference between a false teacher and a true one, for there are many spirits gone out into the world, and the false spirits are giving revelations as well as the Spirit of the Lord. This we are acquainted with; we know that there are many delusive spirits, and unless the Latter-day Saints live to their privileges, and enjoy the spirit of the holy Gospel, they cannot discern between those who serve God and those who serve Him not. Consequently, it becomes us, as Saints, to cleave to the Lord with all our hearts, and seek unto Him until we do enjoy the light of His Spirit, that we may discern between the righteous and the wicked, and understand the difference between false spirits and true. Then, when we see a presentation, we shall know whence it is, and understand whether it be of the Lord, or whether it is not of Him; but if the people are not endowed with the Holy Ghost they cannot tell, therefore it becomes us to have the Spirit of the Lord, not only in preaching and praying, but to enable us to reflect and judge, for the Saints are to judge in these matters. They are to judge not only men, they are to be judges not only in the capacity of a Conference to decide what shall be done, what course shall be pursued to further the kingdom of God, what business shall be transacted, and how it shall be transacted, and so on, but they will actually judge angels.

We sit here as judges, and suppose that business which would prove injurious to this people should now be presented for them to decide upon, or suppose that the leaders of this people had forsaken the Lord and should introduce, through selfishness, that which would militate against the kingdom of God on the earth, that which would in the issue actually destroy this people, how are you going to detect the wrong and know it from the right? You cannot do it, unless you have the Spirit of the Lord. Do the people enjoy that Spirit? Yes, many of them do. Do they enjoy it in as great a degree as it is their privilege? A few of them do, still I think that the people in general might enjoy more of the Holy Spirit, more of the nature and essence of the Deity, than they do. I know that they have their trials, I know they have the world to grapple with, and are tempted, and I know what they have to war against.

But let us ask ourselves individually whether we fight this warfare to such a degree that we do overcome in every instance? In every contest do we come off victorious? Here we have to do with our passions; here is fallen nature, that we can never get rid of until we lie down in the grave, it is sown in the flesh and will remain there, but it is our privilege to overcome that, and bring it under subjection in our reflections, in our meditations, and in all the labor that we perform, though we may be tried, tempted, and buffeted by Satan. It is our privilege to have power to rule, govern, and bring under subjection even our momentary passions; yes, it is our privilege so to live and overcome them that we never would have a temptation to think evil, or at least would never speak before we took time to think, but all would be in subjection to the law of Christ. Do we live up to this privilege?

People may ask, are we not good Saints? Yes, I can say that this people are a good people, and they wish to be Saints, and many of them strive to be Saints, and many of them are Saints. I realize the weaknesses of men; I am not ignorant of my own weaknesses, and this is where I learn everybody else, their dispositions and the opera– tions of the spirit upon the inhabitants of the earth; to learn mankind is to learn myself.

This is a good people, they are a righteous people; yet there are some who are filled with folly, there are some who are inclined to do wickedly and seem to love wickedness; there are some who are filled with idolatry, and it seems as though it were impossible for them to overcome the spirit of the world, to keep from loving it and from cleaving to it and to the things of the world. I will appeal to the people as judges—are you capable of judging in matters pertaining to the kingdom of God on earth, unless you have the Spirit of truth within you?

Some may say, “Brethren, you who lead the Church, we have all confidence in you, we are not in the least afraid but what everything will go right under your superintendence; all the business matters will be transacted right; and if brother Brigham is satisfied with it, I am.” I do not wish any Latter-day Saint in this world, nor in heaven, to be satisfied with anything I do, unless the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, the spirit of revelation, makes them satisfied. I wish them to know for themselves and understand for themselves, for this would strengthen the faith that is within them. Suppose that the people were heedless, that they manifested no concern with regard to the things of the kingdom of God, but threw the whole burden upon the leaders of the people, saying, “If the brethren who take charge of matters are satisfied, we are,” this is not pleasing in the sight of the Lord.

Every man and woman in this kingdom ought to be satisfied with what we do, but they never should be satisfied without asking the Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, whether what we do is right. When you are inspired by the Holy Ghost you can understandingly say, that you are satisfied; and that is the only power that should cause you to exclaim that you are satisfied, for without that you do not know whether you should be satisfied or not. You may say that you are satisfied and believe that all is right, and your confidence may be almost unbounded in the authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ, but if you asked God, in the name of Jesus, and received knowledge for yourself, through the Holy Spirit, would it not strengthen your faith? It would. A little faith will perform little works; that is good logic. Jesus says, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”

A grain of mustard seed is very small; nevertheless if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, and should say unto this mountain, “Remove hence to yonder place, it would be done; or to that sycamore tree, “Be thou planted in the sea;” or to the sick, “Be ye healed;” or to the devils, “Be ye cast out;” it would be done.”

Suppose that I had faith like a grain of mustard seed, and could do the things which Christ has said are possible to be done through that faith, and that another man on the continent of Asia had the same faith, we could not accomplish much because but two would have all the power of Satan to combat. Do you suppose that Jesus Christ healed every person that was sick, or that all the devils were cast out in the country where he sojourned? I do not. Working miracles, healing the sick, raising the dead, and the like, were almost as rare in his day as in this our day. Once in a while the people would have faith in his power, and what is called a miracle would be performed, but the sick, the blind, the deaf and dumb, the crazy, and those possessed with different kinds of devils were around him, and only now and then could his faith have power to take effect, on account of the want of faith in the individuals.

Many suppose that in the days of the Savior no person was sick, in the vicinity of his labors, but what was healed; this is a mistake, for it was only occasionally that a case of healing a sick person or casting out a devil occurred. But again, suppose that two-thirds of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the regions round about had actually possessed like faith in the Savior that a few did, then it is very probable that all the sick would have been healed and the devils cast out, for there would have been a predominance of a good power over the evil influences.

Let two persons be on the continent of America, having faith like a grain of mustard seed, and let one of them be situated on the Atlantic and the other on the Pacific coast, and most of the sick would remain sick around them, the dying would die, and those possessed of devils would continue to be tormented, though once in a while a sick person might be healed, or a blind person be made to see. Now let each one of those individuals have another person of like faith added to him, and they will do as much again work; then let there be four persons in the east and four in the west, all possessing faith like a grain of mustard seed, and there will be four times as much done as when there was but one in each place; and thus go on increasing their number in this ratio until, by and by, all the Latter-day Saints have faith like a grain of mustard seed, and where would there be place for devils? Not in these mountains, for they would all be cast out. Do you not perceive that that would be a great help to us?

If I had power of myself to heal the sick, which I do not profess to have, or to cast out devils, which power I have not got, though if the Lord sees fit to cast them out through my command it is all right—still if I had that power, and there was no other person to help me, the people would do as they do now, they would hunt me almost to death, saying, “Won’t you lay hands on this sick person? Won’t you go to my house over yonder?” and so on. I am sent for continually, though I only go occasionally, because it is the privilege of every father, who is an Elder in Israel, to have faith to heal his family, just as much so as it is my privilege to have faith to heal my family; and if he does not do it he is not living up to his privilege. It is just as reasonable for him to ask me to cut his wood and maintain his family, for if he had faith himself he would save me the trouble of leaving other duties to attend to his request.

Let this faith be distributed and it makes all things easy, but put one or two dozen men to hauling a wagon containing a hundred tons’ weight, and the labor is very heavy, whereas if the whole of the Latter-day Saints would put their shoulder to the load it would be moved easily. It is with the mental powers as it is with the physical, and that is why I wish you to consider the matter, and why I lay those things before you. Let the Latter-day Saints have faith and works, and let them forsake their covetousness and cleave unto righteousness.

I have given you a short discourse upon faith and practical religion, and now I say to the Elders of Israel, to the Bishops of the different wards, and to the Presidents of the different Branches, if there is any business you wish to bring before this Conference, pertaining to fellowship and the conduct of individuals, you can have the privilege. We were accustomed, some years ago, to attend to such business before our General Conference, and it is our privilege to do so again, if we choose, or if there is any occasion.

In all High Councils, in Bishops’ Courts, and in all other departments for transacting our business, the Church and kingdom of God, with the Lord Almighty at the head, will cause every man to exhibit the feelings of his heart, for you recollect it is written that in the last days the Lord will reveal the secrets of the hearts of the children of men.

Does not the Gospel do that? It does; it causes men and women to reveal that which would have slept in their dispositions until they dropped into their graves. The plan by which the Lord leads this people makes them reveal their thoughts and intents, and brings out every trait of disposition lurking in their organizations. Is this right? It is. How are you going to correct a man’s faults, by hiding them and never speaking of them, by covering up every fault you see in your brother, or by saying, “O, do not say a word about his faults, we know that he lies, but it will not do to say a word about it, for it would be awful to reveal such a fact to the people?” That is the policy of the world and of the devil, but is it the way that the Lord will do with the people in the latter days? It is not.

This is a matter that seems to be but little understood by some of the Latter-day Saints, it may be understood by a portion of them, but others do not understand it. Every fault that a person has will be made manifest, that it may be corrected by the Gospel of salvation, by the laws of the Holy Priesthood.

Suppose that a man lies, and you dare not tell of it; “Very well,” says the man, “I am secure, I can lie as much as I please.” He is inclined to lie, and if we dare not chastise him about it he takes shelter under that pavilion, cloaks himself with the charity of his brethren, and continues to lie. By and by he will steal a little, and perhaps one or two of his brethren know about it, but they say, “We must cover up this fault with the cloak of charity.” He continues to lie and to steal, and we continue to hide his faults; where will it lead that person to? Where will he end his career? Nowhere but in hell.

What shall we do with such men? Shall we reveal their faults? Yes, whenever we deem it right and proper. I know it is hard to receive chastisement, for no chastisement is joyous, but grievous at the time it is given; but if a person will receive chastisement and pray for the Holy Spirit to rest upon him, that he may have the Spirit of truth in his heart, and cleave to that which is pleasing to the Lord, the Lord will give him grace to bear the chastisement, and he will submit to and receive it, knowing that it is for his good. He will endure it patiently, and, by and by, he will get over it, and see that he has been chastised for his faults, and will banish the evil, and the chastisement will yield to him the peaceable fruits of righteousness, because he exercises himself profitably therein.

In this way chastisement is a benefit to any person. Grant that I have a fault, and wish it concealed, would I not be likely to hide it? And if the Lord would not reveal it I might cling to it, if I had not the spirit of revelation to discern my fault and its consequences. Without the influence of the Spirit of the Lord, I am just as liable to live and abide in false principles, false notions, and unrighteous actions as true ones. It is so with you.

If your faults are not made known to you, how can you refrain from them and overcome them? You cannot. But if your faults are made manifest, you have the privilege of forsaking them and cleaving unto that which is good. The design of the Gospel is to reveal the secrets of the hearts of the children of men.

When men intimate to me, whether in public or in private, that their faults must not be spoken of, I do not know how worldly-minded men feel in similar cases, but like Elijah, when he mocked the priests of Baal, I feel to laugh and make derision of such men.

Do you suppose that I will thus far bow down to any man in this Territory, or on the earth? Do you suppose that I will suffer myself to be so muzzled that I cannot reveal the faults of the people when wisdom dictates me to do it?

I fear not the wicked half so much as I would a mosquito in my bedroom at night, for he would keep me from sleeping, but for the unrighteous, those who will act the villain and conduct themselves worse than the devil, to insinuate that I have not the privilege of speaking of their faults makes me feel like laughing at their folly. I will speak of men’s faults when and where I please, and what are you going to do about it?

Do you know that that very principle caused the death of all the Prophets, from the days of Adam until now? Let a Prophet arise upon the earth, and never reveal the evils of men, and do you suppose that the wicked would desire to kill him? No, for he would cease to be a Prophet of the Lord, and they would invite him to their feasts, and hail him as a friend and brother. Why? Because it would be impossible for him to be anything but one of them. It is impossible for a Prophet of Christ to live in an adulterous generation without speaking of the wickedness of the people, without revealing their faults and their failings, and there is nothing short of death that will stay him from it, for a Prophet of God will do as he pleases.

I have been preached to, pleaded with, and written to, to be careful how I speak about men’s faults, more so than ever Joseph Smith was in his lifetime; every week or two I receive a letter of instruction, warning me to be careful of this or that man’s character. Did you ever have the Spirit of the Lord, so that you have felt full of joy, and like jumping up and shouting hallelujah? I feel in that way when such epistles come to me; I feel like saying, “I ask no odds of you, nor of all your clan this side of hell.”

I have wise brethren around me who will sometimes say, “Don’t speak so and so, be very careful, now do be cautious;” and I have been written to from the east; I have package after package of letters, yes, a wheelbarrow load of them, saying, “O, brother Brigham, I would beseech and pray and plead with you, if I only dare, to be careful how you speak. Would not this or that course be better than for you to get up in the stand, and tell the Gentiles what they are? Would it not be better to keep this to yourself?”

Do you know how I feel when I get such communications? I will tell you, I feel just like rubbing their noses with them. If I am not to have the privilege of speaking of Saint and sinner when I please, tie up my mouth and let me go to the grave, for my work would be done.

It was for this that they killed Joseph and Hyrum, it is for this that they wish to kill me and my brethren; we know their iniquity, and we will tell of it when the Spirit dictates, or talk about this, that, or the other person and conduct at the proper time.

There are people in our midst who grunt at this course, and at the same time have evils that I think are hardly worth notice, for I do not think that such persons will be good for anything even should they happen to get into the kingdom of heaven, though I suppose they are good in their place if we can find out where it is, but as yet I am ignorant of it; I presume that the Lord knows where it is, but I do not. I wish to say to the Elders of Israel, to all people, I shall tell you of your iniquity and talk about you just as I please, and when you feel like killing me for so doing, as some of the people did who called themselves brethren in the days of Joseph Smith, look out for yourselves, for false brethren were the cause of Joseph’s death, and I am not a very righteous man. I have told the Latter-day Saints from the beginning that I do not profess much righteousness, but I profess to know the will of God concerning you, and I have boldness enough to tell it to you, fearless of your wrath, and I expect that it is on this account that the Lord has called me to occupy the place I do; I feel as independent as an angel.

Some of you have been brought before the High Council, charged with this fault and with that, and you say it is too much for you, that you cannot bear it. But you have got to bear it, and if you will not, make up your minds to go to hell at once and have done with it. If you wish to be Saints you must have your evils taken away and your iniquities exposed, this must be done if you remain in the kingdom of God. If you do wrong, and it is made manifest before the High Council, don’t grunt about it, nor whine about your loving, precious character, but consider that you have none; that is the best way to get along with it. Myriads have scandalized me since I have been in this Church, and I have been asked, “Brother Brigham, are you going to bear this? Do you not know that such and such persons are scandalizing your character?” Said I, “I do not know that I have any character, I have never stopped to inquire whether I have one or not.” It is for me to pursue a course that will build up the kingdom of God on the earth, and you may take my character to be what you please, I care not what you do with it, so you but keep your hands off from me.

If you are brought before the High Council, or before a Bishop’s court, and it is proven before either of those tribunals that you are covetous, don’t fly in a passion and become so excited that you are ready to burst. I may see fit to expose some men who have not paid their tithing; now if you are going to get nervous about it and are afraid of bursting, let me know, and we will slip an eggshell over you and your precious characters. What precious characters some of you had in Wales, in England, in Scotland, and perhaps in Ireland.

Do not be scared if it is proven against some, before the Bishop’s court, that you did steal the poles from your neighbor’s garden fence. If you did, it would be far better for you to get right up and own it, for you have in reality lost your character before God, angels, and men, and then refrain from such evils and try to establish a good character. It would be better for you to do that, than to become angry when your faults are made manifest. If it is proven before the High Council that you did steal a beef creature, don’t get angry, but rise up and acknowledge that you did steal it.

If it is proven that you have been to some person’s woodpile and stolen wood, don’t be frightened, for if you will steal, it must be made manifest. Someone may say, “Why I did not think Saints were guilty of such deeds!” Nor I either. Such crimes are committed by people who gather with the Saints, to try them, to afflict and annoy them, and drive them to their duty. Do you not suppose that it is necessary to have devils mixed up with us, to make Saints of us? We are as yet obliged to have devils in our community, we could not build up the kingdom without them. Many of you know that you cannot get your endowment without the Devil being present; indeed we cannot make rapid progress without the devils. I know that it frightens the righteous sectarian world to think that we have so many devils with us, so many poor, miserable curses. Bless your souls, we could not prosper in the kingdom of God without them. We must have those amongst us who will steal our fence poles, who will go and steal hay from their neighbor’s haystack, or go into his cornfield to steal corn, and leave the fence down; nearly every ax that is dropped in the canyon must be picked up by them, and the scores of lost watches, gold rings, breast pins, &c., must get into their hands, though they will not wear them in your sight. It is essentially necessary to have such characters here.

After we had given the brethren such a scouring two or three months ago, about returning lost property when found, one or two men brought in two or three rusty nails of no value, which they had picked up; this was tantamount to saying to brother Sprague, “If we had found your purse, or if we had found Brigham’s purse, we would see you in hell before we would return it.” We wish to impress upon you the necessity of your bringing the ax you find, the hay fork, or any other lost property which you find, to the person who is appointed to take charge of such property, that the owners may again possess it. But if you should pick up a piece of rotten wood, and bring it to brother Brigham, or Dr. Sprague, with a show of honesty, and in derision of the counsel you have received, it would be like saying, “If we could find or steal your purses, you should never see them again. We are poor, miserable devils, and mean to live here by stealing from the Saints, and you cannot help yourselves.”

Live here then, you poor, miserable curses, until the time of retribution, when your heads will have to be severed from your bodies. Just let the Lord Almighty say, “Lay judgment to the line, and righteousness to the plummet,” and the time of thieves is short in this community. What do you suppose they would say in old Massachusetts, should they hear that the Latter-day Saints had received a revelation or commandment to lay “judgment to the line, and righteousness to the plummet?” What would they say in old Connecticut? They would raise a universal howl of, “How wicked those Mormons are; they are killing the evildoers who are among them; why I hear that they kill the wicked away up yonder in Utah.” They do not kill anybody down there, do they?

As for the inhabitants of the earth, who know anything about the “Mormons,” having power to utter worse epithets against us than they do, they have to get more knowledge in order to do it; and as for those enemies who have been in our midst, feeling any worse than they do, they have first to know more; they are as full of bad feeling now as they can hold without bursting. What do I care for the wrath of man? No more than I do for the chickens that run in my dooryard. I am here to teach the ways of the Lord, and lead men to life everlasting, but if they have not a mind to go there, I wish them to keep out of my path.

I want the Elders of Israel to understand that if they are exposed in their stealing, lying, deceiving, wickedness, and covetousness, which is idolatry, they must not fly in a passion about it, for we calculate to expose you, from time to time, as we please, when we can get time to notice you.

During this Conference, I do not want to think where the “Mormons” have been, and how they have been treated, but I want to think of matters that will make my heart light, like the roe on the mountains—to reflect that the Lord Almighty has given me my birth on the land where He raised up a Prophet, and revealed the everlasting Gospel through him, and that I had the privilege of hearing it—of knowing and understanding it—of embracing and enjoying it. I feel like shouting hallelujah, all the time, when I think that I ever knew Joseph Smith, the Prophet whom the Lord raised up and ordained, and to whom He gave keys and power to build up the kingdom of God on earth and sustain it. These keys are committed to this people, and we have power to continue the work that Joseph commenced, until everything is prepared for the coming of the Son of Man. This is the business of the Latter-day Saints, and it is all the business we have on hand. When we come to worldly affairs, as they are called, they can be done in stormy weather, if we attend to the kingdom of God in fair weather.

May God bless you. Amen.