A Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 8, 1860.

Having been requested, this afternoon, to address the congregation, I cheerfully do so, praying with all my heart that the Lord may grant unto me his Holy Spirit, that whatever I may say, whether much or little, may be dictated by that Spirit that proceeds from heaven, and then it will be right.

We read in the New Testament that the Apostles and righteous men in days of old preached the Gospel by the power of the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. I do not know of any way by which the Gospel of Jesus Christ can be proclaimed with any beneficial effect, except in this manner.

We can arise before a congregation of the Saints and make use of the principles of the Gospel in our own words. We can say to the people, Repent. We can call upon them to believe. We can tell them concerning baptism, show them the nature of it, and the causes for which it was instituted. We may tell them concerning the Holy Ghost, and preach many things in the wisdom and language of man, and yet all this would not be acceptable in the sight of Heaven, unless we were dictated by the power and gift of the Holy Ghost. Our words would have no effect upon the hearts of the people; they would not be edified; the speaker would not be edified: no good, perhaps, would be accomplished.

The world, during the last seventeen centuries and upwards, have been engaged in preaching what they termed the Gospel; they have been engaged in preaching many principles that are true; they have preached many of the first principles, such as faith and repentance; they have preached the ordinances and institutions of heaven; they have reasoned with the people; they have portrayed many great and glorious truths before the people; they have called upon them to receive those truths, and yet they have taught without authority—without that Spirit that giveth utterance—taught without being called of God; and hence their teachings have not accomplished that which an inspired man’s would have accomplished, when sent of God. So it is in reading the revelations of heaven. We may take up the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Book of Covenants, and commit them to memory—at least the subject matter therein, and we may suppose that we understand the doctrine of salvation, and conclude from our diligent study that we have become altogether acquainted with the prophecies and revelations; and yet, after all these things, without the gift of revelation directly to ourselves, or the gift of the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven to rest upon us as speakers and hearers, we cannot expect to be materially benefited.

We may learn many things from the Book of Mormon. We may learn how this great western hemisphere was first peopled—how God brought the people from the Tower of Babel and established them upon North America. We may be informed of their history, of their numerous Prophets, concerning their wickedness and downfall. We may learn these things naturally as natural men, whether in or out of the Church, without the gift and power of the Holy Ghost and authority communicated from heaven resting upon us.

We cannot render ourselves any material service, or the world either, unless we have this power and authority: hence the propriety of that passage of Scripture recorded in the 2nd chapter of Paul’s 1st Epistle to the Corinthians—“For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of a man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.” All our exertions, our reading, our meditations, and our endeavors to obtain the truth, without we obtain it lawfully, and not as natural men and women, will prove, in a measure, unavailing, though it may serve in some degree to remove darkness, to manifest what has been done, or what is to be done.

I am well pleased with the remarks that have been made upon this stand, more especially in relation to some few of the testimonies that I have heard, particularly bearing upon this matter. We were told by individuals upon this stand that they knew this work to be true. We were told by brother Watt that he knew this to be the Gospel of Jesus Christ. How do you know it? Just the same as the congregation know it. If the congregation have the gift and power of God to unfold the revelations of heaven to themselves, then they can comprehend how it is that the speakers know it is true. Though we may not be masters of language to communicate to others, we can appeal to their senses upon this subject. Do you know the things of God? If this question were asked, the whole congregation, with few exceptions, would lift up their voices with one heart and one mind, and say, We know these things to be true. How do you know them? You know them by the manifestations of the Spirit to your own hearts. You don’t know them by having seen with the natural eye, or by having discerned them with the natural understanding. You don’t know them because you have seen the sick healed, or the blind receive their sight. You don’t know them because you have seen the lame made to walk, or laid your hands upon the sick and seen them raised to perfect soundness, but because God has made them manifest to your hearts. Light has shone from heaven upon your understandings. You have tasted of that light by the spiritual sensations, or the spiritual faculties of your mind. You have understood and feasted upon the light that has come from heaven; and by this you know that the principles you have received are true. Do we understand clearly and properly that which is contained in the various revelations that God has given through his ancient as well as through his modern Prophets? Do we understand them in their true light? If we do, it is because we have received manifestations to ourselves, by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost.

What are Prophets for? What are revelators for? They are to reveal the truths of heaven for the benefit of the people. They bear testimony to the inhabitants of the earth, as you have heard declared from this stand, that the Lord has spoken and opened communications with men upon the earth, through the legitimate channel of his Priesthood. They also declare that men have been called by revela– tion from God, and sent forth with authority to baptize for the remission of sins. You hear this testimony, which is calculated to increase your confidence and your faith in the principles of life.

The word of God which is planted in your hearts begins to grow, to produce joy, light, and happiness; your mind begins to understand; you begin to receive revelation, and to receive those communications from the heavens that cause you to enjoy those blessings that you have heard spoken of by the servants of God. This makes all the Latter-day Saints witnesses; and thus we have a cloud of witnesses—a great army that can witness the truths of heaven as they have been revealed in these last days. This Spirit of revelation gives the Latter-day Saints boldness in their testimony.

What would have been our progress, brethren and sisters, if we had gone forth to the nations to publish these truths without the power of the Holy Ghost accompanying us? Could we have borne up under the power of persecution that has been heaped upon us? Could we have stood forth before the people and borne testimony as natural men to the great truths revealed from heaven? No, we could not. We should have shrunk from the task. It would have appeared too great for us to perform. The powers of darkness would have been able to crush us before them, without the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Lord foreknew this, and consequently he never designed that the great principles of his Gospel should be published to the nations, only by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.

There are many revelations that were given to the ancient servants of God that we never can comprehend without further revelation, and perhaps some of them we shall never understand in this state of probation. One thing is certain—that we cannot comprehend them, unless God shall give more revelation and manifest many things in their fulness which have heretofore only been revealed in part.

Many things that were unveiled to the ancient Prophets have become very much corrupted by men who have formed systems to suit their own darkened minds. The revelations of John, now so obscure, so dark, and so intricate, that scarcely a person can comprehend the great things that are pointed out to take place in the last days, will be unfolded. Now there is scarcely a man living that can discern the meaning of the Apostle.

When this revelation was given to him, it was plain and simple, and easy to be understood of men; and all people possessed of the Spirit of the living God could understand it, so far as it was not sealed up. Some portions of it the Lord designed that they should not comprehend in that day. For instance, what the seven thunders uttered and several other things that are mentioned, no man understands, and will not until the proper time shall come. Since the days of John, it has been changed and altered by men who did not possess the Spirit of revelation, and from them it has been handed down to us in its present imperfect form, and we never shall understand it until God reveals it unto his servants the Prophets in the last days. Then the things written in that book will be plain, and we shall understand them.

So it is with regard to many revelations contained in the New Testament. The 24th chapter of Matthew, for instance, the sayings of Jesus to his disciples have undergone the same change in translation and in alterations by corrupt men. It is true, the Lord has given us information and bestowed upon us great favor by new revelation, and the Spirit bears witness that they are from heaven. We know them to be such. We comprehend them, we discern them, and say that God designed to reveal them to his servant Joseph. There are many who can comprehend those things and realize that they are from some superior source than the natural mind of man.

I might name some few things which may be found in the 24th chapter of Matthew, that are much plainer and much more simple as they were revealed to the Prophet Joseph in the new translation—so much so that it would almost satisfy even a natural-minded person that there has been a superior wisdom manifest in this new translation. In speaking of the signs of the coming of the Son of Man, and of the preaching of the Gospel to all the world, the new translation reads as follows—“Again, shall this Gospel of the Kingdom be preached in all the world, for a witness, and then shall the end come.” Now, the word “again” makes the thing all plain. It is as much as to say, You shall go forth, you shall preach to the people and declare my testimony among the nations of the earth; and after this there shall come a falling away, and there shall arise many false Christs and false prophets. Then shall follow many judgments and tribulations upon the face of the earth. And after the world has been in darkness for centuries, again shall this Gospel of the Kingdom be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. What end? I answer, the end of the wicked world—the destruction of the wicked from the face of our globe.

In another passage to be found in that same revelation, the 24th chapter of Matthew, Jesus says, in speaking of his second coming, “As the light of the morning cometh out of the east, andshineth unto the west, and covereth the whole earth, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.” Now, how much plainer is this to the natural understanding! And how much plainer is this than the old translation as rendered by the wisdom of man! How does the old translation read? It reads, “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”

The lightning is more visible and more frequent in some parts of the earth than others; and when it does appear, it is only visible for a few scores of miles at once, and is not visible in all parts; and consequently, this was not a proper figure to convey the idea. How much plainer is the rendering—“As the light of the morning cometh out of the east, and shineth unto the west, and covereth the whole earth, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.”

How did this Latter-day Work commence? It did not commence all at once. On the 6th day of April, 1830, as it was justly observed by one of the speakers, there were not enough members to form the Church; but it came forth like the dim twilight of the morning, the darkness beginning by slow degrees to flee away as the light slowly advanced. It has grown brighter and brighter from that time unto the present.

Like the light of the sun, the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ will cover the whole earth; it will speak from land to land and from kingdom to kingdom, until it deluges the whole earth with the brilliancy of its light and the glory of its power. The testimonies of the servants of God, as well as the testimonies of his power, exhibiting his wrath and his sore displeasure, will go forth as has been proclaimed from this stand. And instead of the testimonies of the servants of God being smothered up by the persecution of our enemies, and the light being hidden under a bushel in some obscure corner, the decree of Heaven is that the light shall go forth, shining more and more glorious in the midst of the nations; and it will penetrate the darkest corners of the earth—it will visit the islands of the sea, until it has searched out every creature under heaven. There is no ear but shall hear, and no heart but shall be penetrated by the truths that shall be sent forth in this last dispensation.

Missionaries have been called. If they go and magnify their callings, they will be filled with the testimony that has been so freely manifested during our Conference; they will be filled with the Holy Ghost, and be able to bear testimony of the truths of the Gospel. It may be apparently in weakness. They may consider it so themselves. Their language may be feeble, their words feebly uttered, their sentences broken; but, after all, it will be the power of God unto this generation.

If you Missionaries will seek for the testimony of the Holy Ghost to go with you—if you will seek diligently for the power of God to accompany you, you need not be afraid of the nations; for your testimony will condemn the people who reject it, and it will save all those who receive it.

I look forward to the progress of this work through the Saints that are abroad and the Elders that are ordained on Foreign Missions, as well as by those Missionaries that are sent forth to their assistance. I look for this work to progress, and I cannot get anything else into my heart. I do not look for this people to be eternally assailed by their enemies, nor do I look for the Elders to be continually asleep; but I expect that they will bear a faithful testimony among the people of every nation where they are sent. And this testimony will be increased: it cannot be otherwise. That prophecy of Nephi recorded in the Book of Mormon must be fulfilled; the servants of God must be armed with righteousness, and with the power of the Almighty, and with great glory among the nations, wherever the Church is organized. It will be such a display as will excite the people against the Saints, or they would not, according to prophecy, gather together the armies of the wicked from among all nations to fight the people of the Most High. This must take place. The wicked must be gathered against the Saints. It is as it was stated by brother Hyde this forenoon about the dream. That dream had reference to foreign persecutions.

One thing is certain—that every nation under the heavens will array itself against the kingdom of God. Inasmuch as some individuals among the nations receive it, they will muster their forces and try to destroy the saints of the living God. To prepare for this, we must increase in the Spirit of God as our enemies increase in the spirit of darkness against us, and by the power of God proclaim in their ears a testimony that will overcome the wicked. There is no possibility of the wicked triumphing over this Latter-day Kingdom. There may be many who will have to fall—many who will have to suffer materially; but when we get to the home of the Saints of the living God, the wicked will cease from troubling us.

I look forward to a day that is not far distant, with great rejoicing; and that is a day when we shall all be engaged, as we are this afternoon, in partaking of the sacrament—the symbols of bread and wine, or in other words, the symbols of the body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I look forward with joyful anticipation to that glorious time. I look around upon this assembly, and when I see them partaking of this holy ordinance, and consider what Jesus has done by his sufferings, then I look forward to the time when he shall be in our midst, and we partake of these symbols in his presence.

Will not this be a joyful time? Who can but rejoice in a scenery of this description! Suppose you were expecting that this was to take place next Sabbath day, who are pure in heart? Who are ready for such an event? What would be your feelings? Would you sorrow and mourn? Would it not be one of the most joyful messages to your ears that ever saluted them, to suppose that the time was so near at hand when you should partake of bread and wine with the ancient Apostles, and meet with the Savior and all the Saints of former days—those that lived before the flood and those that have lived since the flood—to think that all this is to be made manifest to man—that we are to look upon the face of our Redeemer and be crowned with glory as he is—would not this be joyful tidings?

Although this is not going to take place next Sabbath, yet we know one thing—that in many of the revelations given to this Church, the Lord has closed by saying—“Behold I come quickly; and my reward is with me to give unto every man according to his works.” There are many revelations of this kind, and these words are true and faithful, for the Lord does not speak in vain; but he has thrown this out as an encouragement to those that fear him and keep his law.

The day is at hand, the morning has broken, the sun of the Gospel has arisen in the eastern horizon, and is beginning to shine with a degree of splendor. The time is near—how near, no man knoweth: the day and the hour when the Son of Man shall come is a secret. In a revelation given to this Church, it is said that no man shall know until he comes; therefore we cannot expect to know the day nor the hour; but we know it is near at hand, and what a consolation it is. There may be men that will know within a year—that will have revelation to say within one or two years when the Lord shall appear. I do not know that there is anything against this.

But the great question is, brethren and sisters, Are we ready? Are we perfect enough for this day? Are we honest enough? And are we filled with integrity enough to be ready for the Savior and his holy angels? Is there a sufficiency of union? Have we that firmness in our minds that we can stand in their presence—that we can look them in the eye and say that all is right? If we are pure, when we see a pure and holy being, clothed with all the glory of the heavens, surrounded with light that far outshines the sun at noonday, so much so that his eye discerns all things and pierces the inmost recesses of the heart—when we can look him in the face, a thrill of joy will run through our bodies, and we shall be happy.

I tell you, brethren and sisters, this would be one of the most glorious periods that we could possibly imagine: it would be one of the most joyful there is in the future. We know that men upon the earth have been so clothed with the glory and power of God that the people could not look upon their countenances; and why was this? It was because the people were wicked. When Moses had been upon the mountain, standing in the presence of God, being in his presence forty days receiving the tables of stone, and came down to teach the people, they could not endure his presence. Why? Because that glory that was manifested could not be endured by the wicked. But in this instance, the Lord permitted it to be manifested for a while. And when the people looked upon the countenance of Moses, they perceived that there were rays of light emanating from him—that he looked different from what he formerly did—that he was clothed upon with something which they had not been accustomed to see, and they fled afar off. Moses, therefore, was under the necessity of taking a veil and putting it over his face, for they could not endure it. They fled from the presence of a mortal man when he was clothed upon with glory, or with a reflection of the glory of God; therefore the only way was for him to cover his face, and then converse with the children of Israel.

Now, if a mortal being is permitted to have this power, how much greater will be the terror to the wicked when immortal beings shall appear—beings who have not simply been with the Lord forty days, but who have been with him thousands of years, who were redeemed before the flood and after the flood, and who have been in the presence of God more or less ever since—who have beheld his countenance, who have been seated upon thrones, swaying a scepter of power (as Abraham), and reigning over millions of individuals—when they, as well as the redeemed of all nations and generations, shall make their appearance, and when they shall not attempt to put a veil over their faces as Moses did, but permit all the glory that they have accumulated for so many years to be visible to the human family! That will be a day of terror, astonishment, and dismay unto all the wicked.

At times when I reflect upon this subject, I try to portray before my mind the various revelations that God has given concerning this matter. There is one in particular which says, “Angels shall be sent forth to sound the trump of God, crying, Lo and behold! The bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.” That will be a great time, independent of that of which I have been speaking, when Jesus shall come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Before that time, angels are to be sent forth to sound the trumpet, so that all the ends of the earth are to hear it, and all people are to be forewarned that the time of the coming of the bridegroom is at hand—that the time of the coming of the great Being has arrived. Then, when those angels have sounded, another great and terrible thing is to take place.

I simply mention these things to show how one thing after another is to precede the coming of the Lord.

After the angels have sounded this in the ears of all living, we are informed that there will be a great sign in the heavens. It is not to be limited so that some few only of the human family can see it; but it is said, “All people shall see it together!” At least, it is to be like our sun seen over one entire side of the globe, and then passing immediately round to the other, or else it will encircle the whole earth at the same time. But the bridegroom does not come then. These are only the preceding events to let the Latter-day Saints and the pure in heart know that these are the times that they may trim up their lamps and prepare for the triumphant appearing of their Lord.

After those angels that I have alluded to have flown through the heavens, this sign is made manifest; and what next? Seven angels are appointed to give their signs and testimonies to the truth of this proclamation of the Gospel, the Latter-day Saints having previously given theirs. Thus we have the former angels sounding their trumpets, then the great sign, and then comes the seven angels. The first proclaims that great Babylon is about to fall, and her influence to be destroyed. He proclaims that all who remain in Babylon are bound in bundles and their bands made strong, so that no man can unloose them, and that they are therefore prepared for the burning.

After all nations have heard the proclamation, there will be silence in the heavens, and I do not know but on the earth too; for the people will doubtless be overpowered with astonishment to see an angel, the sound of whose trump shall pierce the ears of all living. After this, I say, there will be silence in heaven for half-an-hour.

Then, after the wicked begin to recover and get a little strength, behold and lo! The curtain of heaven will be unfolded as a scroll that is rolled up. You know how our great maps are rolled out to expose their contents to the people; and the Lord has said the heavens shall be unfolded as a scroll that is rolled up is unfolded. What will be seen when this takes place? Our Savior, our Redeemer, will unveil his face. That Being who was born in Bethlehem—that being who has saved the world by offering his own life, how will he appear? Will he come as a common man? Or how will he make his appearance? He will appear as a being whose splendor and glory will cause the sun to hide his face with shame.

The sun is a very glorious body; and when you look upon it, so great is the light, that you can scarcely see surrounding objects; but the light of the sun is nothing to be compared with the glory of that personage who shall appear when the heavens shall be unveiled, or unfolded like a scroll. The light of the sun will dwindle away, and he shall hide his face with shame. Who will be with Jesus when he appears? The decree has gone forth, saying, Mine Apostles who were with me in Jerusalem shall be clothed in glory and be with me. The brightness of their countenance will shine forth with all that refulgence and fulness of splendor that shall surround the Son of Man when he appears. There will be all those personages to whom he alludes. There will be all the former-day Saints, Enoch and his city, with all the greatness and splendor that surround them: there will be Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as they sit upon their thrones, together with all the persons that have been redeemed and brought near unto the presence of God. All will be unfolded and unveiled, and all this will be for the wicked to look upon, as well as the righteous; for the wicked will not as yet have been destroyed. When this takes place, there will be Latter-day Saints living upon the earth, and they will ascend and mingle themselves with that vast throng; for they will be filled with anxiety to go where the Saints of the Church of the Firstborn are, and the Church of the Firstborn will feel an anxiety to come and meet with the Saints on earth, and this will bring the general assembly of the redeemed into one; and thus will be fulfilled the saying of Paul, “That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.”

About the same time that the Latter-day Saints are quickened (not immortalized), there will be Saints that have slumbered and slept for ages, and they are to be quickened and taken up into the heavens. Now the wicked are to see all these things; and if power of language could be given to them, what would they say? They would turn to the rocks and the mountains, and say, O mountains and rocks, fall upon us and hide us from the presence of Him that sits upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. And I have no doubt but they will have the power to say it. But they must endure the sight. After which, they must be consumed according to that which is spoken, and the heathen nations must be redeemed, and the way be prepared for the Lord to dwell upon the earth. The mortal Saints will then be transfigured and sanctified, but not immortalized. They will be prepared for the millennial reign. The tables will then be spread, and the Latter-day and Former-day Saints will be together to partake of the sacrament just as it is this afternoon, only more perfectly prepared.

This is my object in thus portraying these things before you this afternoon, for as often as we do this we show forth the Lord’s death till he come. When that time comes, he will partake of the fruit of the vine with us; and with him will be Moroni, Mormon, and Lehi, and all the inhabitants of this vast American continent who have been saved through the Gospel. There will be Enoch’s city, the Former-day Saints, and the vast throng of resurrected Saints to sit down and partake of the supper of the great Bridegroom, and he will administer in the midst of his brethren.

I hope and pray that I may be prepared to be one of that joyful throng to be assembled there with a pure heart, and one that is upright before God. I also hope that my brethren will be with me, and that we shall have the privilege of celebrating the marriage supper of the Lamb, for that will be a happy day.

May God bless you! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 6, 1860.

Yesterday we had the pleasure of attending a meeting here, which, to me, was filled with riches—with treasures of good. Today we have met in the capacity of a General Conference—the Thirty-first Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Thirty years ago today, the Church was organized with six members. And we will occupy this day in serving the Lord by instructing and encouraging each other, and by testifying of the things the Lord has revealed to us.

Some may suppose that I have the business of the Conference prearranged, but such is not the case. I seldom take thought for tomorrow upon such subjects. When morning comes, I try and be prepared for the business the Lord manifests should be done. I came here in that mind this morning, and knew no more about the manner in which this Conference will be conducted, with regard to its details, than you do, until I came here. Since I came into the house, my feelings and the circumstances have prompted me to say that we will hear further testimony from the brethren. Yesterday, several in the body of the house had the privilege of speaking; and this forenoon I wish to have the Twelve, the Seventies, and the High Priests give us five or ten minutes’ sermons from the stand.

I can testify to you, as I have to many congregations of Saints and sinners, that the Lord has revealed his will from the heavens, bestowed the holy Priesthood upon the children of men, and made us the happy partakers thereof. Most, if not all, assembled here this morning have felt the Divine influence of the Holy Ghost shed forth in their hearts: it has awakened them out of their sleep and out of their ignorance, and begun to teach them eternal things. This work is true. The Lord has bestowed the holy Priesthood upon the children of men, by which alone they can be prepared to enter into the celestial kingdom of our God.

How many Gods there are, and how many places there are in their kingdoms, is not for me to say; but I can say this, which is a source of much comfort, consolation, and gratification to me: Behold the goodness, the long-suffering, the kindness, and the strong parental feeling of our Father and God in preparing the way and providing the means to save the children of men—not alone the Latter-day Saints—not those alone who have the privilege of the first principles of the celestial law, but to save all. It is a universal salvation—a universal redemption. Do not conclude that I am a Universalist, as the term is generally understood, although that doctrine is true in part, like the doctrines or professions of all professing Christians. As was stated yesterday by one of those who spoke, when he was a Methodist, he enjoyed a portion of the Spirit of the Lord. Hundreds of those now present have had a like experience in a greater or less degree, before they joined this Church. Then, when we inquire who will be saved, I answer, All will be saved, as Jesus said, when speaking to the Apostles, except the sons of perdition. They will be saved through the atonement and their own good works, according to the law that is given to them. Will the heathen be saved? Yes, so far as they have lived according to the best light and intelligence they had; but not in the celestial kingdom. Who will not be saved? Those who have received the truth, or had the privilege of receiving it, and then re– jected it. They are the only ones who will become the sons of perdition, go into everlasting punishment, and become angels to the Devil.

The Priesthood the Lord has again bestowed upon those who will receive it, is for the express purpose of preparing them to become proficient in the principles pertaining to the law of the celestial kingdom. If we obey this law, preserve it inviolate, live according to it, we shall be prepared to enjoy the blessings of a celestial kingdom. Will any others? Yes, thousands and millions of the inhabitants of the earth who would have received and obeyed the law that we preach, if they had had the privilege. When the Lord shall bring again Zion, and the watchmen shall see eye to eye, and Zion shall be established, saviors will come upon Mount Zion and save all the sons and daughters of Adam that are capable of being saved, by administering for them. Is not this pleasing? Is it not gratifying? Is it not a consoling feeling and influence upon the mind of every intelligent being? Our former views were that the majority of the inhabitants of the earth would not be saved in any kind of a kingdom of glory, but would inherit a kingdom of damnation. Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am ye may be also.” In other words, “I go to prepare a place for you who have received and obeyed the celestial law, which I have committed to you.” The celestial is the highest of all. The telestial and terrestrial are also spoken of; and how many more kingdoms of glory there are is not for me to say. I do not know that they are not innumerable. This is a source of great joy to me.

One of the brethren, yesterday, felt so rejoiced, under like reflections, that he said he could pray for the devils in hell, if it would do any good. It is not for us to pray for them, because they have become sons of perdition. You may pray for your persecutors—for those who hate you, and revile you, and speak all manner of evil of you, if they do it ignorantly; but if they do it understandingly, justice must take its course in regard to them; and except they repent, they will become sons of perdition. This is my testimony.

The vision given to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon is the greatest vision I ever knew given to the children of men, incorporating more in a few pages than any other revelation I have any knowledge of. “This is the gospel, the glad tidings, which the voice out of the heavens bore record unto us,” state Joseph and Sidney, “That he came into the world, even Jesus, to be crucified for the world, and to bear the sins of the world, and to sanctify the world, and to cleanse it from all unrighteousness; That through him all might be saved whom the Father had put into his power and made by him; Who glorifies the Father, and saves all the works of his hands, except those sons of perdition who deny the Son after the Father has revealed him. Wherefore he saves all except them—they shall go away into everlasting punishment.”

Will the Methodists be saved? Yes. Will other sects? Yes. I think you could not now find an Elder in this Church who would rise up in a congregation and tell you that John Wesley is weltering in hell. Have the Elders ever preached such a doctrine? Yes, some of them have preached that all the Reformers, from the days of Christ and the Apostles until Joseph Smith received the Priesthood, must be damned. I do not think that you could now hear such doctrine from any of them.

There is a chance for those who have lived and for those who now live. The Gospel has come. Truth and light and righteousness are sent forth into the world, and those who receive them will be saved in the celestial kingdom of God. And many of those who, through ignorance, through tradition, superstition, and the erroneous precepts of the fathers, do not receive them, will yet inherit a good and glorious kingdom, and will enjoy more and receive more than ever entered into the heart of man to conceive, unless he has had a revelation.

My heart is comforted. I behold the people of God, that they have been hunted, cast out, driven from the face of men. The powers of earth and hell have striven to destroy this kingdom from the earth. The wicked have succeeded in doing so in former ages; but this kingdom they cannot destroy, because it is the last dispensation—because it is the fulness of times. It is the dispensation of all dispensations, and will excel in magnificence and glory every dispensation that has ever been committed to the children of men upon this earth. The Lord will bring again Zion, redeem his Israel, plant his standard upon the earth, and establish the laws of his kingdom, and those laws will prevail. No law can issue from man or from any body of men to govern and control in eternal things; consequently, those laws must come from heaven to govern and control both Saint and sinner, believer and unbeliever, and every character upon the earth; and they will be issued according to the capacity, knowledge, and mode of life of the people to whom they are promulgated.

I will now call upon the brethren in the stand to speak, and let you have our testimony, strength, and faith, as we have received yours yesterday.

God bless you! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 6, 1860.

I feel very well satisfied with our thirty-first anniversary. The brethren testify to the goodness of our God, and we have had much excellent instruction.

There is one principle I wish to urge upon the Saints in a way that it may remain with them—that is, to understand men and women as they are, and not understand them as you are. You see the variety of mind, dispositions, judgment, and talent, and variety in explaining and communicating thoughts. There is an endless variety, and I wish you to understand men and women as they are, and not to judge your brother, your sister, your family, or anyone, only from the intention. When you know the intention of the act performed, you will then know how to judge the act.

Some may wish to know whether my religion is as good to me now as it was twenty-eight years ago. It is far better. Twenty-eight years ago last February I went to Canada after my brother Joseph. He was a very spiritual-minded man. You have heard him say today that he did not laugh for a period of two years. I did not know of his smiling during some four or five years. I well remember his calling upon me, after he had been away preaching more than two years. Would he sit and chat with me? No, because of his serious reflections. I knew that he was solemn and praying all the time. I had more confidence in his judgment and discretion, and in the manifestations of God to him, than I had in myself, though I then believed the Book of Mormon to be true. Previous to this I had thoroughly examined the Book of Mormon. In about eight days it will be twenty-eight years since I was baptized. I brought brother Joseph home from Canada, and told him what I had experienced of the power of God, and what I had observed of the folly and nonsense so prevalent in the Christian world.

You have heard the brethren state their experience before they received this Gospel. I was not disposed to attach myself to any Church, nor to make a profession of religion, though brought up from my youth amid those flaming, fiery revivals so customary with the Methodists, until I was twenty-three years of age, when I joined the Methodists. Priests had urged me to pray before I was eight years old. On this subject I had but one prevailing feeling in my mind—Lord, preserve me until I am old enough to have sound judgment and a discreet mind ripened upon a good solid foundation of common sense. I patiently waited until I was twenty-three years old. I do not know that I had ever committed any crime, except it were in giving way to anger, and that I had not done more than two or three times. I never stole, lied, gambled, got drunk, or disobeyed my parents. I used to go to meetings—was well acquainted with the Episcopalians, Presbyterians, New Lights, Baptists, Freewill Baptists, Wesleyan and Reformed Methodists—lived from my youth where I was acquainted with the Quakers as well as the other denominations, and was more or less acquainted with almost every other religious ism.

Upon the first opportunity I read the Book of Mormon, and then sought to become acquainted with the people who professed to believe it. Brother Pulsipher said that he watched to see if he could find fault with the Elder who preached the Gospel to him. I did not take that course, but I watched to see whether good common sense was manifest; and if they had that I wanted them to present it in accordance with the Scriptures.

When “Mormonism” came, I was not under the necessity of hunting Scripture arguments to contradict them, for I had all my life been more or less familiar with the Scriptures. And I do not remember that I ever saw a day when I attacked a sectarian priest with the Bible, for I was well satisfied that they were in water too deep for them to fathom. I understood the Scriptures tolerably well, and my whole mind and reflections were to seek for every particle of truth with regard to doctrine.

I always admired morality, and never saw a day in which I did not respect a good, moral, sensible man far more than I could respect a wicked man. I embraced the Gospel. I then had not the Priesthood, but my mind was susceptible of the Spirit of Truth, and that truth I imparted to my brother Joseph. He caught its influence, came home with me, and was baptized. I was not baptized on hearing the first sermon, nor the second, nor during the first year of my acquaintance with this work. I waited two years and a few days after this Church was organized before I embraced the Gospel by baptism.

Up to the time that “Mormonism” came to me, I did earnestly pray, if there was God (and I believed there was), “Lord God, thou who gavest the Scriptures, who spake to Abraham, and revealed thyself to Moses and the ancients, keep my feet that they may not be entangled in the snares of folly.” So far as the Spirit went, its application and enjoyment were all right with me; but with regard to doctrine, I did not then see any that altogether suited me. I said, Let me pray about this matter, the Gospel, and feel right about it before I embrace it. I could not more honestly and earnestly have prepared myself to go into eternity than I did to come into this Church; and when I had ripened everything in my mind, I drank it in, and not till then. From that day to this, it is all right with me. I am more and more encouraged, because I can see the hand of the Lord more clearly and distinctly than I did no longer than two years ago.

As I frequently tell you, we can rise up, sit down, go here or there, act in this or that way, trade here or there; but we cannot bring out the results of our acts. God does that. I can see the results which he brings to pass by his handiwork. I can discern his footsteps among the people, and his going forth among the nations. His footprints are clearly discovered by his faithful Saints.

Brother John Young says there are some complainers. Who cares for that? I have nothing to do with them at present. Some are afraid there will be a good many apostates. That we expect, for many receive the truth who do not receive the love of it. Do not be afraid, but take fresh courage and persevere.

Some inquire, “Is this community going to be destroyed by thieves?” No. But they have their agency, and their course affords us an excellent opportunity to see the operation of the benign influences of so-called “civilization.” Do you suppose that I am now looking upon thieves? No: they do not come to meeting.

Those who are for right are more than those who are against us. More will prove faithful than will apostatize. A certain class of this people will go into the celestial kingdom, while others cannot enter there, because they cannot abide a celestial law; but they will attain to as good a kingdom as they desire and live for.

Do not worry. All is right, for God reigns. Trust in him, keep your hearts clean, and faithfully observe your prayers, that should the angel Gabriel appear in this stand, you could calmly meet his gaze, and say “All is right with me, Gabriel.” That you may be able to look an angel in the eye and say, “All is right,” you require a clean heart. How many of this congregation could do this? How many could look at an angel and say, “What is wanting? I am ready.” If you can do this, you can enjoy the spirit of the Gospel and be Saints. This is the bread of eternal life.

I bless you all in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 5, 1860.

I have been happy in hearing the brethren bear their testimonies today, and I have a word of consolation and comfort for you.

I hope to live to see the day when the Lord will bring again Zion in its fulness, when the watchman will see eye to eye. This period of time is very desirable to every good and faithful person, and I hope to see it before I lay down this tabernacle to rest.

I can say to the brethren, I do not think that I have ever heard a more satisfactory testimony from them than I have today. An observation made by brother George Halliday is true—that if a person suffers his feelings to rise above the natural level of his capacity, they will sink in the same ratio. He wished us not to consider him an enthusiast. I do not know that I have heard a person today that I thought to be enthusiastic. A firm, unchangeable course of righteousness through life is what secures to a person true intelligence. The brethren today have advanced a great many ideas which are true, manifesting an interesting and instructive variety. I am highly gratified with the remarks I have heard.

We have very scanty ideas concerning the great plan called the plan of salvation—the system of doctrine, ideas, and practices that pertain to all the intelligence that exists in eternity. Very small, minute, and abstract ideas and principles are given to the children of men in relation to it, because they can bear but little—a little here and a little there, as it is written by the Prophet, “line upon line, and precept upon precept.” If you can receive one line today, it may prepare you to receive another tomorrow pertaining to the things of God. I am very happy and rejoice much, because I believe that I am now looking upon men and women who are steadily increasing in knowledge, firm in their integrity, truthful, and lovers of virtue in their hearts; though some, as has been observed, give way to temptation, are overcome by the enemy, and are led away. This we expect. As many as will be faithful to their calling, and manifest their faith by their good works, will find that they belong to the elect; and every one that forsakes his covenants and his God, and turns away from the holy commandments delivered to him, will find that he belongs to that class who are reprobates. God has given us ability to do good or evil. According to certain principles inherent in the organization of the people, they can believe the truth, or disbelieve it and believe a lie. They can falsify, or cling to the truth. They can continue to do good, or forsake it and commence to do evil. Every man is capable of doing either good or evil: he has his own choice, and will be judged by his works.

We will see the time when it will be said to us, as written in the New Testament, “Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee.” I partly judged a man who spoke here today from his own mouth. I have not much to say about him. Let God be his judge, and yours, and mine. If you wish to receive and enjoy the favor of our heavenly Father, do his will. If you wish the fellowship of his Saints, hurt not the wine and the oil, nor seek to destroy them, as many do. The man I have alluded to has sought diligently to destroy the oil and the wine—to destroy the virtue, truth, and holiness of this Gospel. He who lifts his heel against the Lord and against his anointed will find himself a poor, pusillanimous, weak instrument in the hands of the Devil to accomplish his designs.

It is thirty years tomorrow since Joseph Smith organized this Church with six members. What is it now? Almost every nation, kindred, tongue, and people that would receive the Gospel have had the privilege; it has been proffered to them, and thousands and hundreds of thousands have been baptized into the Church; and the Lord will call his own out of this people, and will prepare the Zion that is spoken of for them to dwell in. If we wish to enjoy the Spirit of Zion, we must live for it. Our religion is not merely theory; it is a practical religion, to bring present enjoyment to every heart.

A brother on my right told you his experience, that there is no necessity for taking any man’s word for the truth of your religion; for it is the privilege of all to have the testimony of Jesus—to have the Spirit of prophecy. I have no greater privilege to enjoy the Spirit of prophecy than you have. I have no better right to the Holy Ghost than you. If you will live as you are taught, you will walk in darkness no more, but will walk in the light of life. I pray that we may constantly do this: it is my continual prayer. I pray for all whom I ought to pray for, and as I ought to pray for them. Captain Gibson says that he would pray for everybody in heaven, earth, and hell. I love to see men manifest that good feeling; but I will insure that, if I was in heaven when Satan rebelled, I prayed that Satan might be cast out. Cast out the dogs and wolves that will feed on the sheep. Cast all bitterness out of your own hearts—all anger, wrath, strife, covetousness, and lust, and sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, that you may enjoy the Holy Ghost, and have that Spirit to be your constant companion day by day, to lead you into all truth, and then you will have good doctrine, good feelings, good wives, good children, a good community; and, finally, you will be Saints in the fullest sense of the word, but not yet. I believe we shall be Saints, through the grace of God.

I feel to bless you, to praise you, my brethren, although we are continually afflicted with more or less foul, mean, low, groveling, contemptible spirits in our midst. I do not mention names; but I know where some are now sitting in this house. The Latter-day Saints are improving. Tomorrow the Church is thirty years old. We have enjoyed ourselves today; tomorrow let us have much more enjoyment than we have had today. The constitution of man is such as to be liable to be driven to extremes. He may be compared to a bark on the ocean, tossed to and fro by the influences around. Keep your eye on the compass and steer straightforward, and you cannot sail too fast; but if you get among the breakers and rocks, your bark may upset. Keep your bark straight for the port, and there is no danger of your having too much of the Holy Ghost.

I have hardly heard an incorrect idea advanced today, and I consider myself a judge in these things. I judge Israel in their doctrines and conduct, and know whether they are right or wrong. I can say, to my joy and satisfaction, we are improving. I know that I am, when I compare my present power of mind to scope in truth and my power of discrimination with what I possessed twenty, ten, or five years ago. I am almost astonished at myself, and to see the im– provement there is in the people. But we are yet children, although we are almost as old as was Jesus when he began to preach. It is our privilege to continue to grow, and the Lord will protect his people and save Israel, and all hell cannot help it.

May the Lord God of Israel bless every one of you and his humble servant who is speaking to you. Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 1, 1860.

The Elders who have addressed you have imparted much excellent instruction, many great and glorious principles have been advanced, the audience have been put in possession of them, and there are a great many more in store for us.

We constantly behold an endless variety in the appearance of the human family, and in their dispositions. No two persons are exactly alike in form, appearance, expression, disposition, and quality of character. We have seen a talent exercised before us today that is new to many of us. I have been acquainted with brother Mace more than twenty years, and never heard him speak in a meeting until today. I am pleased with his discourse; his ideas are bright and active: yet he will learn more; and we shall learn many things that have not yet entered into our hearts to conceive, and know better how to correct one thing with another, and more clearly understand these seeming discrepancies in doctrine, &c., that so often cause persons to differ.

The subject presented to you this morning I explained two weeks ago in a manner to be satisfactory to persons of good understanding: it is the subject of faith and belief. Perfection in conveying ideas is not yet given to the children of men. Our language is altogether inadequate for always conveying our ideas with unmistakable precision, and the same ideas are generally advanced in different words by different persons. This pecu– liarity has been observable today. It has often been told you that all people, sects, and denominations have more or less truth. None of the religious sects have a perfect system of salvation, though all of them have a portion of true doctrine, and suppose they have a perfect plan. Elders in this Church—men who have been members for years—often speak of principles in the abstract, when they would be better understood if they spoke of them in connection with other kindred principles. Faith and belief, for instance, should not be separated.

Belief is inherent in the creature—implanted within him for his use and benefit—to believe or disbelieve. Your own experience may satisfy you that faith is not brought into requisition by the presentation of either facts or falsehoods to the external senses, or to the inward perceptions of the mind. If we speak of faith in the abstract, it is the power of God by which the worlds are and were made, and is a gift of God to those who believe and obey his commandments. On the other hand, no living, intelligent being, whether serving God or not, acts without belief. He might as well undertake to live without breathing as to live without the principle of belief. But he must believe the truth, obey the truth, and practice the truth, to obtain the power of God called faith. Belief and faith continue in the person who is in possession of faith. It is thought by some that the time will come when we shall no longer believe. So far as I now know, I shall have to live a few hundred thousand years before I come to that conclusion. I am satisfied that belief will eternally exist with me, whether it will with others or not. When I am in full possession of faith and the power of God, if I should say to that mountain, “Be plucked up and placed in the sea,” it would be done; or to a tree, “Be rooted up,” it would be done. I expect that objects will come within the scope of my belief to act upon before I have faith to act upon them; but I never expect to see the time when there will not be room and opportunity for belief, and to advance.

I am pleased with the remarks made by brother Mace and brother Pratt. Brother Mace is right and wrong in his ideas upon the birth of the water and the spirit, as he is with regard to faith in the abstract. There is such a thing as the birth of the spirit while we live in the flesh. And when we understand more perfectly our own independent organization which God has given us, and the spirit world, and the principles and powers that act on this organism, we shall learn that a person can be so fully and solely devoted to the spirit of truth and to God, and be so wrapped up in that spirit, that it may be called, with propriety, a new birth. I read in the Scripture that a man must be born of the spirit before he can see the kingdom of God. And yet I have seen hundreds of people, in my experience and travels, who, after hearing the Elders preach, and the spirit of truth has found way to their hearts, have yielded to it and testified that this is the kingdom of God, and, after all, have never come into it. The love of the truth was so far lacking in them, or they were so far wanting in moral courage, that they did not embrace the truth. The writers of the New Testament were disposed to call it a birth, and I have no objection to their use of the term.

Jesus is the first begotten from the dead, as you will understand. Neither Enoch, Elijah, Moses, nor any other man that ever lived on earth, no matter how strictly he lived, ever obtained a resurrection until after Jesus Christ’s body was called from the tomb by the angel. He was the first begotten from the dead. He is the Master of the resurrection—the first flesh that lived here after receiving the glory of the resurrection. The resurrection from the dead may also, with propriety, be called a birth. All we can do in these matters is to exclaim, O the poverty of our language!—the poverty of our ideas!—of the power of our conception! But we shall learn more, and come to a better understanding.

It is for brother Mace and all others to understand that, because we believe in the ordinance of baptism, the ordinance of the sacrament is not to be done away. To learn that, if you believe in the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost, you are not to deny the laying on of hands for the healing of the sick. It is not for people to take only part of the religion of Christ, and say, “It is all we require;” but take the whole truth wherever you find it. It is good; claim it, take it to yourself, and cleave to it, for it will do you good. Cease to separate truth from truth. Heaven is full of truth; earth is full of truth and falsehood. The power of God, the power of angels, and the power of the Devil are all more or less exhibited before the children of men. Let us yield ourselves to the Lord our Savior, that we may truly be his servants, and it will be well with us, and there will be no danger but that we shall be right. Let us learn to see the harmony of truth, and love and practice it, until we are made perfect and fully prepared to be received into the kingdom of our Father and God.

May the Lord God Almighty bless the Saints, and everyone who will permit his blessings to come upon them. I am under the same obligations to bless sinners as I am to bless Saints, if they will receive my blessings. I pray for the blessings of Heaven upon the work of his hands, for we are all his children—the sons and daughters of our Parent who dwells in the heavens. Let us do honor to his character and to our own being, and so live that we may have knowledge of the light of eternity, that we may be prepared to dwell eternally with him. This is the greatest gift that can be conferred on intelligent beings, to live forever and never be destroyed. May the Lord help us in so living as to enjoy his society, through the merits of his Son Jesus Christ. Amen.

A Discourse by Elder Orson Hyde, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, March 25, 1860.

Brethren and sisters, it has fallen to my lot to make a few remarks to you this morning. Were my own feelings gratified, I should be a hearer on this occasion, and not a speaker; but I am willing to contribute my mite to increase, if possible, the current of intelligence, and to increase the comfort and happiness of the Saints of God.

We, brethren and sisters, are occupying a very important position. Perhaps we do not all realize it; and I may also add that very likely I do not realize the importance of the position that I occupy as an individual identified with the body of the people.

There were some few reflections passing through my mind this morning, while contemplating the scenes that are before us. There are two things that are for us to consider—the truth and certainty that God has verily spoken to us from on high, or that he has not. One or the other of these statements is certainly true. We profess that he has spoken to us from heaven, and revealed unto us his mind and will touching our duties and the course of life that we should pursue in order to build up his kingdom and spread the light of truth throughout the world.

Now, if he really has spoken to us—if he really has given to us the holy Priesthood, which is the power that rules in heaven, and the prayers of all Christendom are, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven”—if these prayers be heard and answered, the same power that rules in the heavens must eventually rule on earth. Then, if the Priesthood has been given to us, as we claim it has, we are occupying a very important position in the world. What is this Priesthood? What is this power that is conferred upon us in the holy Priesthood? What particular power do you give when you send a man to some other land to transact business in your name? You give him a power of attorney, authorizing him to transact in your name the business that you wish to be performed; and in that letter of appointment would be conveyed all your power, your authority, and ability to transact that business, even as effectually as if you yourself were present to perform it with your own hand.

It is an agency, then, though it may be said that the Priesthood, which is authority from God to act in his name, differs from that authority which is given to man to transact business for his fellows. I am willing to admit that there is a difference so far as the business for which they are delegated is concerned; for one is temporal, the other is spiritual; the one is earthly, the other heavenly. But let me ask, Where is the man who is authorized to go forth and act in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? If I obey my own will—my inclination or burning desire to go and preach what I believe to be the Gospel, that does not authorize me to go in the name of the Lord. If I, by my own act and deed, have authorized my friend to go in my name, to give receipts and acquittances, to sign conveyances for me or in my behalf, and under my own signature he has received that authority, he then has authority in himself; that is, the authority in me is transferred to him to go and transact business in my name. Am I then bound by what he does? Yes, to all intents and purposes. Am I bound by the act of any individual authorized by another person, yet not authorized by me? No, I am not. Is the transaction of any other than my legally appointed attorney valid to me in law? No, it is not: it is worth nothing.

Well, then, if this people have the holy Priesthood—if it has been conferred upon us, and we actually do exercise under that Priesthood, and according to the instructions that are given us from on high, is or is not the Almighty bound to respond to and to own our deeds and acts? Is he not bound upon the principles of law, even that are common among men and well known to us? Most certainly he is. Did you ever know a gentleman or agent delegated by an individual to go forth to do business in the name of that person, and yet deny that he had any line of communication with the principal or party for whom he was agent? That would be a contradiction of the position he occupied. If he claims to have authority and power to transact business, the inference is legitimate and conclusive that he has had a correspondence with the principal by whom he is employed. But what do the world at large tell us? Why, that God has not spoken from the heavens—that he has given no revelation—that he has not made known his will to man for the last seventeen or eighteen centuries. Admitting the truth of this statement, where, then, is their authority to act in that name? Their denial of any correspondence—of any communication between the King of kings, is clear and conclusive that they themselves testify, by these statements, that they have no such authority as they pretend to exercise.

To act in the name of another, then, without having the requisite authority, what does it amount to in law? Does it amount to forgery to use a name without authority? Yes, even the name of any man in business transactions.

If it is not forgery, what else would you call it? What would you lawyers term it? And if it be forgery, what is the penalty? Is it not a fine? Is it not imprisonment? And does it not deprive a man of citizenship and liberty? Most assuredly it does. Well, then, to commit forgery against man is but a trifling offense to the committing of forgery against the King of kings and Lord of lords, by the use of his name when we are not authorized. Hence we are told that no man shall take the name of the Lord his God in vain, “for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.”

If I am not legally appointed to act as a minister of Jesus, am I not taking his name in vain? Judge ye what I say. It is my opinion that when the veil is rent, there will be a page disclosed that will astonish the world; for the holy Priesthood has been given unto us—that is, authority to act in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; and a voice from heaven has declared that at that name every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. If we are authorized by that personage, and he has given us a right to use his name, then our heavenly Father is bound to fulfil and to honor our acts and doings, when we proceed according to the letter of instructions that he has given to us. Judge ye. My declaration, however, may not be sufficient; therefore I will refer you to the declaration of the Son of God, which bears directly on the point at issue. What is it? “Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matt. xviii. 18.) Hear it, ye people! Hear it, ye that mock at the authority of God, and remember that I have declared and borne testimony that the kingdom of God has come nigh unto you.

Again: If this Priesthood has been committed unto us, and I will take the responsibility of saying, in the name that I have named before you that this authority has been conferred and placed upon us by messengers from the courts of glory; and this is as strong a testimony as I am capable of bearing on this point. I know it, and I am an eyewitness before you, and so are my brethren who surround me on this Stand; and it is written that the testimony of two or three is good, and by it shall every word be established. The testimony of two in a court of justice will hang a man, or take away his liberty.

Now, we, in the sacredness of that name, bear testimony unto you that the Priesthood has been given to man, and we do it with the assurance that God will respond to the deeds done in his name, and by the authority of that Priesthood which he has given; and remember that he has said unto his servants who are clothed with his power, as he said unto those whom he called when his Son ministered amongst men, “Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

The Priesthood that does not possess this power I would give no more for than I would for a power issued and given from any irresponsible source. There is no power in it to back it up or to respond to its petitions. We do not ask for such a Priesthood—one that would lead us to commit forgery and to use that name in vain of which I have been speaking; I say we do not ask for any information or power from such a source. Such a Priesthood would subject me to a penalty that I would not like to incur; neither would any man that has any knowledge, or that knows his right hand from his left. But, O the ignorance and blindness of this generation! They know not the right hand from the left in the things of God, with all their boasted wis– dom and skill, and all their inventions. They are wise in many things that pertain to this world, and they possess some knowledge of the sciences; but when they come to the policy of the King of kings and Lord of lords, they know little or nothing about it.

We say, again, that we are occupying an important position. Take it on the other hand, and let us see how we stand. If God has spoken to us and given to us the holy Priesthood, then this is the only door by which men and women can enter and be saved in the kingdom of God; this is the only door that enters into the celestial kingdom, that entitles us to dominions, principalities, and powers: it is the only door and key by which mankind can obtain an entrance into life everlasting.

The world is arrayed against us. They have long sought an action against the people of God, and what are they doing? Now, says the Almighty, I have given unto you power to save all mankind that believe and repent. Oh, but says the world, that is blasphemy! That is taking the laurels of the Savior and twining them around your own brow! Do you assume such responsibility as that? It is the very height of folly and wretchedness. This is what our accusers say: but let us look at this matter a little. Did not the Savior say, when speaking to the Jews, “If the salt has lost its savor, then it has no power to save, and is good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men?” and, says the Prophet—“Saviors shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.” Did not our Savior say, “He that heareth you heareth me?” Then if we have this authority, this Priesthood, this agency to act in that name—the name and power and Priesthood of the Savior, are we not entitled to a fulfillment of the promise—“Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world?” What more can you ask? What more can you desire?

This is the virtue of that Priesthood that the Savior has conferred upon us by the powers that are centered on high, and this I know to be true. Although it is bestowed upon a people that is everywhere spoken against, yet I feel to say in my heart, God be thanked that he has conferred this honor upon us! We ought to be willing to endure the hardness of the world as good soldiers.

Don’t you know that the world are seeking to ensnare and kill their only saviors? If they kill us, they are damned. Hear it! Ensnare us, and you shall be ensnared. Throw stumblingblocks in our way, and stumblingblocks shall be thrown in yours. I speak by authority. I know the source whence the authority came.

I am here reminded of a little anecdote—a little circumstance that will serve to illustrate what I would wish to say. I do not know that I shall get it exactly right, but I shall be able to get the principle. Once, in Nauvoo, brother Joseph Smith had a dream. It was about the time of his troubles, just before his martyrdom. He dreamed that certain characters had dug a pit and bound his arms with a view of pushing him into it. Well, there he was, with his hands bound fast and all ready for being pushed into the pit. But when his enemies made a stride at him, they happened to miss him and fell in themselves. Then, when they could not get out themselves, they cried to Joseph, saying, “Help us out of the pit!” But he said, “I cannot do it, for you have bound me.”

That is the position of the world. They desire to destroy their only real benefactors; and when they get into trouble, so that they cannot save themselves, they will cry to the servants of God for deliverance; but the reply will be—“You have bound us, you have crushed us, and have rendered it impossible for us to save you.” Then the cries of the wicked will ascend up to heaven; and finally, when they are brought before the judgment seat it will be said unto them, “Depart from me, ye cursed; for I was an hungered, and ye fed me not; I was naked, and ye clothed me not; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink.”

Well, then, inasmuch as the salvation of the world is to a great extent dependent upon our integrity and the faithful performance of our duties in this Priesthood, do you not see that we are required to work not only for our own salvation, but for the welfare and salvation of others? Now, if we respect mankind, we will not waste any of our valuable time, but go right forward; and although men may meet us with their rifles, with their cannon, and engines of death, yet the day will come when they will thank God that there was integrity in us and a disposition to save, because they will find that their salvation has depended upon us. And were we to turn back and fly from the track, they would curse us for having done so; for they will see that if they gain any favor at all, it will be owing to our faithful adherence to the cause with which we have been entrusted.

Brethren and sisters, there are many things that pass through my mind when I reflect upon the magnitude of the work in which we are engaged; but I feel as though I had said just about enough at this time.

[Blessed the sacrament cup.]

Brother Young says he wishes me to go ahead and speak as I feel led by the Spirit. But when I arose I did not anticipate speaking but a few minutes; and hence, I keyed my voice too high for a lengthy speech. Though willing to speak, I have to confess that I feel my voice giving way. In my remarks so far, I have not touched on the thing that was in my mind when I commenced to address you; therefore these are only preliminaries. Still I felt that I wanted to apprise the Saints and all concerned of the authority under which the servants of God act.

Among the Jews, the Scribes and Pharisees would teach the people in this way—“Now, if this is to be, then the inference is so-and-so; and if this proposition be true, then the conclusion is certain.” But when Jesus spoke to the people and taught them, he made no vain propositions and drew no milk-and-water conclusions: but he spoke and it was done; and the contrast was so great between the teachings of the Jewish Rabbis and the teachings of the Savior, that they could not but notice it. “Why,” said they, “he speaks as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” He, having this Priesthood, and having communion with God, our heavenly Father, manifested the wisdom of the heavens; and this difference is manifested and felt in this generation when the servants of God proclaim to the inhabitants of the earth that God has spoken, and that he again reveals his will to man.

I am not now speaking of those who may have this Priesthood in form only, and who go and get drunk, as some have done: I am not speaking of those who have committed whoredom in the land; for they will all go to hell together, if they repent not. I want to draw the line of distinction between them and those who call upon God day and night for instruction to mark out their course. They are the ones who have the favor of Heaven, who are filled with his Spirit, and whose words are quick and powerful, and whose testimony causes the wicked to fear and tremble.

We speak that which we do know, and testify to that which we have seen. “What do you know?” says the inquirer. I know that the Gospel which we have received is the truth of God, and I know that it will rule the world, and I know that every man, kingdom, and people that opposes it will be broken to shivers. I do not care whether the opposition arises in the Church or out of it, I know that he that raises his puny arm against this work will be broken of his power and finally destroyed, if he does not cease his hostilities. I care not whether it be the judge upon the bench, or commanders of armies, the consequence will be as I have told you.

God has spoken, and I know it, because I have heard his voice, and know the voice of the Good Shepherd, and am thankful that I have felt his power. Do I know that he has given this authority to use his name? Yes, gentlemen, I know it; and not only so, but I know that there are heavenly messengers that are now near me, as near as brothers Watt and Long, who are taking notes as faithfully as they are, and more so. The natural eye cannot see them, but they are here, and by our acts and our words shall we be judged. Yes, and these messengers transmit our words and our acts up on high, which are registered there in books; and by-and-by, when the dead, small and great, shall stand before God, these are the books that will be opened, and the dead will be judged out of the things that are written in the books. Then let us be careful what we do and what we say. The sacred writings on earth contain the law, but the records above contain the facts.

There is no corner so remote, no place so secret, none so secluded or dark that the angel of God is not there taking notes. What does the poet say? “Angels above us are silent notes taking.” And I suppose they are daily transcribed and posted; and when they get through with their labor pertaining to us, their notes will all appear in the great ledger, in which the accounts and balance sheet will be fully shown up; and by our keeping a faithful watch, it is hoped there may be a favorable record kept there.

There was a text of Scripture occurred to my mind after I came here this morning, but I do not know whether I can preach anything about it or not. When I arose to address you, my mind was led off in another direction. The text is this—“He that liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” This is a peculiar saying, especially when we take it in connection with the words used in the morn of creation—“Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return.” This is a pretty hard saying, especially for those who do not believe. Let us come at it by an approach more gentle and moderate, and not come abruptly all at once; for it appears too strong language for us to receive without modification.

It is said that all things are possible with God. Now, we will come down a little nearer to the point. The Scriptures say, “All things are possible to them that believe.” If all things are possible, don’t you see that there is a great deal depending upon our faith? Whether we can really get over the saying, “He that liveth and believeth in me shall never die,” without stretching it out and putting any other interpretation upon it, may be difficult; but I do not feel it safe to put any different interpretation upon the Scriptures than that which is manifest upon the face of them. Abraham and the Prophets are dead, or at least some of them: I cannot say that they all were when Jesus uttered this language; but now, said Jesus to the Jews, “Before Abraham was, I am.” “Why,” said they, “you are not yet fifty years old.” No; he was only about thirty-one or thirty-two. “How is this shown?” says one. If I could really discover the principle that I could escape death, that would carry me over the gulf without dying, I should rejoice, for I hate to die; I hate to be laid in the ground to wither and perish.

Well, there is a principle of life. The Gospel is life, and the Savior is life; for says he, “I am the light and the life of the world.” It is now as it was of old—the people keep putting off every good thing: they of old put them off just as we now put off things to the future. “Why,” said Martha, speaking of her brother, “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” But said Jesus unto her, “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”

Here is another thing with regard to the judgment. I know that a great many are postponing it, and thinking that the day of judgment is a long way off, and that it will not come in our day; but what says the Savior? “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.” Then you need not look away off through the dark vista of unborn generations; for whom the servants of God shall judge, or, in other words, what they shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Then the wicked are at once bound up, and the judgment is truly gone forth; but the secrets thereof shall not be known until the books are opened and a fair balance sheet is exhibited. “Yes,” said Martha, “I know he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” But, said Jesus, “Did I not tell you that if you would believe, you should see the glory of God, and that he that liveth and believeth in me shall never die?” This is an encouraging promise. “But,” says one, “Do you mean to say, by this, that this mortal tabernacle that is at present the tabernacle of the spirit shall not go to dust?” I do not say that. But I do not know that I can explain it any better than to say, I am clothed with my garments; but, suppose I should go into the other room and lay off some of them, should I not be the same creature that passed off into that room? Did I die in making the transition? No. And if you were to look into the other apartment, you would see Orson Hyde all alive, but his old clothes left and abandoned.

Brother Taylor said, the other day, that it was right to gather truth from every source. If the Devil has got truth, then it is right to secure it. [President Brigham Young: “What truth he has he has stolen.”] We have a right to gather up truth just on the same principle that the United States gather up property that is marked U. S. You know when they go through the land and find anything with U. S. on it, they take it. So likewise, when we find any truth with U, S, US on, we claim it as our own. It belongs to US. [Laughter.]

With regard to the operation of death, I do not know that I will exactly endorse the principle, but I will take up what Andrew Jackson Davis says. It is rather singular, and I don’t think it is very far from the truth. When the article I alluded to was first published, it took such hold upon me that I immediately published it in the Guardian. It was something like this: He stood by and saw a person depart this life; and as the spirit was leaving the body (you know death is nothing more than a separation of the body and spirit)—and while this was going on, Mr. Davis was in a state of clairvoyance, watching this individual depart. As the pulses became weakened and ceased to beat, he saw the spirit gradually emerging from the body; and as it drew itself out, the tabernacle became more deathly, until finally the perfect image of the man arose from the ashes of mortality, and there was nothing left but a lifeless corpse. But there was the living form born from that old body standing apparently free and untrammeled.

This is from a Spiritualist. I do not know that I have ever spoken of it before; but it came to my mind, and I thought I would present it; for I am in a good place now to be corrected, if wrong.

If that live image did come out as he represented, that is the part that shall never die; and whether it passes out in that particular form, matters not; we know that it does escape and lives forever. Here, then, you see it passes from a mortal tenement, from the carcass, or flesh and bones, something similar, perhaps, to the butterfly being born from its coarser tenement—not that I wished to advocate anything like transmigration; but as the butterfly sallies out of the cocoon, leaving it to be manufactured into fabrics, and free-and-easy she moves in another element, basking among the flowers of earth, so the spirit emerges from the body, to regale itself in a more congenial clime.

Many of you are accustomed to put corn into the earth, and perhaps those who do not plant corn, sow wheat; and you know there is a germ in every perfect kernel; and when it shoots out, or sprouts, we call that good, because it has the power of life. It continues to grow, and forms a new stock; but if you take one kernel that has not the living germ within it, it dries up and dies, just like that poor ungodly sinner that has not the germ of eternal life within him. He dies, body and spirit; but that man’s spirit, who has the principle of life abounding in him, passes out of the body at the time appointed, just as I would pass out of this room, leaving my old clothes behind me. I am not prepared to say that this is the perfection of the principle; but I know there is some way for the spirit to emerge from the body and enter into an advanced sphere of action.

I believe I have said enough. I only wish to add, Let us live our religion; and if we cannot comprehend all that we wish, and financier our way all through, let us trust in Christ. God bless you! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, March 25, 1860.

I will make a few remarks upon the portion of Scripture quoted by brother Hyde in the discourse he has just delivered as follows—“Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”

In all such sayings, and in every part and portion of the revelations of God as given to the children of men, or to any individual in heaven or on earth, to properly understand them, a man needs the Spirit by which they were given—the Spirit that reveals such matters to the understanding, and makes them familiar to the mind.

In the Scripture above quoted, the death spoken of is a death that the intelligent being undergoes, and never recovers from: it is an eternal death. For the body to decay, like a kernel of wheat that is cast into the ground, is not considered a death. Brother Hyde observed—“If the germ of corn is not good, it all dies.” That is true: but if it is good, the corn does not die; it is placed in the ground to yield an increase. It is commonly termed death to have the spirit and body separated; but literally that is not death only to those who are sons of perdition.

This earth is brought together and organized from native elements as we now behold it, our tabernacles in– cluded. The matter of which all animate and inanimate existence is formed is from all eternity, and it must remain to all eternity, without beginning and without end. There are certain portions of this native element that will be refined and prepared to enter into the celestial kingdom—into the celestial family of the celestial world. If the spirit honors the body and the body honors the spirit while they are here united, the particles of matter that compose the mortal tabernacle will be resurrected and brought forth to immortality and eternal life; but it cannot be brought forth and made immortal, except it undergoes a change, for “dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return.” What for? To prepare the body to be made immortal and fitted to dwell in the presence of the Gods.

The death that Jesus referred to had no reference to these bodies going into the grave. He is the life and the light. He is the resurrection; he is the power; and “if you believe in me,” says Jesus, “you shall live forever—you shall be prepared to dwell with me in my Father’s kingdom.” If the question had then been asked him, “Will not this body be placed in the grave and return to its mother earth?” his answer would have been, “Yes, for otherwise you cannot be prepared for that eternal life of which I have been speaking—to live forever.”

Had the question been asked the Savior, when he uttered those words, “Do you say that the decree that the Lord gave to Adam is now removed?” he would have told them, “No;” for they could not be quickened, made immortal, and prepared for life everlasting, without going through these ordeals.

What can you know, except by its opposite? Who could number the days, if there were no nights to divide the day from the night? Angels could not enjoy the blessings of light eternal, were there no darkness. All that are exalted and all that will be exalted, will be exalted upon this principle. If I do not taste the pangs of death in my mortal body, I never shall know the enjoyment of eternal life. If I do not know pain, I cannot enjoy ease. If I am not acquainted with the dark, the gloomy, the sorrowful, I cannot enjoy the light, the joyous, the felicitous that are ordained for man. No person, either in heaven or upon earth, can enjoy and understand these things upon any other principle.

“Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power.” The death that is spoken of here is the death that is opposite to the eternal life the Savior spoke of. If you dishonor that body—transgress the natural laws pertaining to it, you are not worthy, in your sphere, to possess this body in an immortal state. What will become of it? It will return to its native element. That is the death that never dies. That is endless death. In this Jesus had no allusion to the changing or putting off of this mortality.

The very particles that compose our bodies will be brought forth in the morning of the resurrection, and our spirits will then have tabernacles to be clothed with, as they have now, only they will be immortal tabernacles—spiritual tabernacles.

When death is spoken of as in the words quoted, it is spoken of as death in reality. In many places in the Scriptures, the separation of the body and spirit is called death; but that is not death in the strict sense of the term; that is only a change. We are naturally inclined to cling to our mother earth; our bodies love to live here, to see, to hear, to breathe, and to enjoy themselves, because we are of the earth, earthy. But probably, in most cases, the change from mortal to immortality is no greater, comparatively speaking, than when a child emerges into this world. We shall suffer no more in putting off this flesh and leaving the spirit houseless than the child, in its capacity, does in its first efforts to breathe the breath of this mortal life.

After the spirit leaves the body, it remains without a tabernacle in the spirit world until the Lord, by his law that he has ordained, brings to pass the resurrection of the dead. When the angel who holds the keys of the resurrection shall sound his trumpet, then the peculiar fundamental particles that organized our bodies here, if we do honor to them, though they be deposited in the depths of the sea, and though one particle is in the north, another in the south, another in the east, and another in the west, will be brought together again in the twinkling of an eye, and our spirits will take possession of them. We shall then be prepared to dwell with the Father and the Son, and we never can be prepared to dwell with them until then. Spirits, when they leave their bodies, do not dwell with the Father and the Son, but live in the spirit world, where there are places prepared for them. Those who do honor to their tabernacles, who love and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, must put off this mortality, or they cannot put on immortality. This body must be changed, else it cannot be prepared to dwell in the glory of the Father. To me all these things are plain and easy. All we want is to understand the very subject Jesus was talking about, the nature of our organizations, the world we occupy, the laws by which we are, and by which we continue to exist.

Brother Hyde says, “Take the world, and what do they know pertaining to the things of God?” Do they know their right hands from their left, figuratively speaking? No. All that brother Hyde has said concerning our important position is true. It is beyond the power of man to fully unfold it, though a portion has been beautifully portrayed, and it seems that the people should see things that are so plain. Were it possible for the nations to gain power to destroy this kingdom on the earth, by so doing they would seal their eternal damnation. That is as true as it is that Jesus died for the sins of the world; as true as it is that there is a heaven, a God, and that the world exists, and the children of men dwell upon it.

When the wicked seek to destroy this kingdom, I can endure it tolerably well; but when I see those who profess to be Latter-day Saints taking a course to destroy themselves, and to prove themselves children of folly, children of darkness, it is a great source of grief and regret to me.

All mankind have the principles of eternal life implanted within them. Much has been taught in regard to this and to the agency of the children of men. God has organized the spirit and placed it in a tabernacle—has given it certain capacity and certain laws, and it is as independent in its sphere of action as are the angels and the Gods in the heavenly worlds. It is for us to act upon that intelligence that is ours in every sense of the word; and if we do honor to our tabernacles and to the spirits God has given us, we have the promise of eternal life, which is the gift of God. This promise is made to every son and daughter of Adam, if they obey the conditions laid down; and their names have been written in the Lamb’s book of life from the beginning, before we came into the world, and they will remain there to all eternity, unless we blot them out through a wicked course.

Try to understand the position you occupy, and then you will understand the sayings of the Apostles and Prophets. Thanks be to the Lord our God for the understanding he has already given us, for the spirit of revelation he has bestowed upon us, and for the holy Priesthood and the keys thereof, by which the heavens are opened, and by which men are enabled to understand things as they are. God be thanked for the intelligence there is with this people.

A week from next Friday it will be thirty years since this Church was organized with six members. The kingdom of God has thirty years growth on the earth, and does it not seem that we should be far advanced in the things of God? It does. At a glance we should know and understand many things that some are still in more or less dubiety about. One Elder will say that he knows nothing about God. “I believe in the Father and the Son, and in the revelations given through Joseph Smith; but to really say that I positively know anything of the true character of God, our Father in heaven, I do not know that I can.” A few moments’ reflection and the Spirit upon the vision of the mind, and that same Elder would say that he does know. Such statements arise from a want of the vision of the mind being opened to see things as they are for a few minutes.

The whole Scriptures plainly teach us that we are the children of that God who framed the world. Let us look round and see whether we can find a father and son in this congregation. Do we see one an elephant, and the other a hen? No. Does a father that looks like a human being have a son like an ape, going on all fours? No; the son looks like his father. There is an endless variety of distinction in the few features that compose the human face, yet children have in their countenances and general expression of figure and temperament a greater or less likeness of their parents. You do not see brutes spring from human beings. Every species is true to its kind. The children of men are featured alike and walk erect.

The Bible clearly teaches us that we are the children of the very Being who framed this earth and peopled it. Such teachings may be found in hundreds of places in the Scriptures, and yet we do not know anything about our Father! Is it not astonishing? I frequently think that truly the things of God are spiritually discerned, when man, in his reflections, thoughts, words, and acts, as a finite being, knows nothing of God. But when he meditates and acts from the intelligence of the spirit God has placed within him, the visions of eternity are opened to him; heaven and eternity are before him.

Brother Hyde compared the departure of the spirit from the body to going into another room, and referred to a statement made by Andrew Jackson Davis. He placed himself in a clairvoyant state beside the bed of a sick person and observed the spirit of a lady leave her body. He saw the spirit ascend from the head of the mortal tenement—saw it walk out into the open air in company with another spirit that came to escort her away. They appeared to him to ascend an inclined plane, and continued to walk away until they were out of his sight. Do you not believe that your spirit will be in existence after it leaves the body? I care not whether it goes out from the head or from some other portion. Mr. Davis says that after the spirit was fully out of the body, he saw as it were an umbilical cord that yet retained the spirit to the body; and that when that was separated, the spirit was free, and the body was consigned to dissolution. Whether this be true or not, it is as certain that the spirit leaves the body as it is that it enters it. When it leaves the body, it dwells in the spirit world until the body is raised up by the power of God; and when it is raised up, do you not think that we shall look like our Father? If any of us could now see the God we are striving to serve—if we could see our Father who dwells in the heavens, we should learn that we are as well acquainted with him as we are with our earthly father; and he would be as familiar to us in the expression of his countenance, and we should be ready to embrace him and fall upon his neck and kiss him, if we had the privilege. And still we, unless the vision of the Spirit is opened to us, know nothing about God. You know much about him, if you did but realize it. And there is no other one item that will so much astound you, when your eyes are opened in eternity, as to think that you were so stupid in the body.

Be very careful that you do not so conduct yourselves that when your bodies die, you will not receive them in an immortal state. Be careful that your lives are such that you be not deprived entirely of these bodies which have borne so much affliction and pain. There is a great design in the formation of the body.

The people cannot comprehend the deep mystery of the design of the Almighty in bringing so many people into this human world, shall I say? This is a world of pain, of darkness, sorrow, affliction, and death. The Almighty has his objects and plans all laid, and we are to pass through all these afflictions and to endure all that he calls us to endure, to give us knowledge, wisdom, and experience; for we cannot receive them upon any other principle. His design is to exalt the human family, and to bring them back to the presence of the Father and the Son. The heir of the family died to take away our sins. He has suffered, that we may live. He has offered himself up for the sins of the world. Why? Because he is the heir of the family. The Father and the Son are now doing all they can to save his children, and all the heavenly hosts are exerting their powers to accomplish the same great end. “But,” says the Father, “do not infringe on the agency of mankind; for my children, to be brought into my presence to enjoy with me the fulness of my glory, must pass through the same ordeals I have passed through. They cannot inherit eternal life upon any other principle.”

How far does our agency extend? There are certain bounds to it. What we have witnessed in thirty years’ experience teaches us that man can appoint but God can disappoint. Man can load his gun to shoot his neighbor, but he cannot make the ball hit him, if the Lord Almighty sees fit to turn it away. He can draw the sword to hew down his fellow man; but instead of that, he may fall upon it himself. Paul says, “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.” You may plead with the people and beseech them to embrace the truth; but unless God touches the heart your labors are vain. The Lord will bring about the results, and mankind cannot pre– vent it. The wicked may design an evil against the righteous, and he causes it to result in good. That is making the wrath of man praise him. He has not granted to man to bring out the result of his works, but he has given him the ability to work as he pleases—to go here or there—to do this or that—to obey the Gospel or disobey it. He has not committed the keys of the results of the acts of the nations of the earth to any man on the earth; but that power he retains to himself.

I can discern the hand of the Lord in preserving and leading this people. A great many do not discern this, because they have not eyes to see, nor ears to hear; for, if they had, they would discern the footprints of the Almighty and hear his voice, and would understand that he leads this people by the right hand of his wisdom and power, and that no power can prevent it. Anoint your eyes and pour oil in your ears, and pray that your hearts may be softened and your minds quickened to understand.

God will overrule the acts of the children of men in this kingdom as well as among the nations. After the children of Israel had traveled thirty years in the wilderness, they thought that they had prospered tolerably well, though they were still traveling. In their travels they crossed their tracks many times, whereas we, in our travels, have done so but a few times. How many times we may have to do so, I do not know.

Strive to prepare your hearts as fully as possible to enjoy a great portion of the Spirit of the Lord at our Conference; strive to enjoy that Spirit above all things. Let us prepare our hearts to receive the Holy Ghost to be our constant companion.

May the Lord God of Israel bless you! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, March 10, 1860.

I wish to bring before your minds what brother Hyde began to state in a portion of his remarks, that he was sorry to see certain conduct, and yet he does see it; that if a person is overtaken in a fault, he is very much inclined to hide it, if he can. I think this trait to be very natural. Brother Hyde is sorry for the same things that I am. If I have injured any person, I ought to confess to that person and make right what I did wrong. But suppose that I have sinned against God, and no being on earth but myself knows anything about it, should I conceal that sin, or reveal it to the public?

It is just as natural for us to dissemble as it is for us to breathe. This is what brother Hyde had on his mind. Where brethren, though they be in high standing or low, are in fault and have injured their brethren, they should make full restitution. There are a few who will frankly acknowledge their faults, though only a few will do so. Is not this our experience? It is mine. If I am faulty towards my God, I will keep my faults from the people as long as I can. Is there any good reason for this? There is. Were I to relate here to you my private faults from day to day, it would not only do you no good, but it would injure you. If you were to relate your private faults to one another, it would tend to injure you; it would weaken and not strengthen either the speaker or the hearer, and would give the enemy more power. Thus far, I would say, we are justified in what some call dissembling. I will also say, so far as I am concerned, that I pray the Lord Almighty to so preserve me that you cannot find fault with me righteously. Do you not desire the same?

I have my weakness, and you have yours; but if I am inclined to do that which is wrong, I will not make my wrong a means of leading others astray. Many of the brethren chew tobacco, and I have advised them to be modest about it. Do not take out a whole plug of tobacco in meeting before the eyes of the congregation, and cut off a long slice and put it in your mouth, to the annoyance of everybody around. Do not glory in this disgraceful practice. If you must use tobacco, put a small portion in your mouth when no person sees you, and be careful that no one sees you chew it. I do not charge you with sin. You have the “Word of Wisdom.” Read it. Some say, “Oh, as I do in private, so I do in public, and I am not ashamed of it.” It is, at least, disgraceful to you to expose your absurdities. Some men will go into a clean and beautifully furnished parlor with tobacco in their mouths, and feel, “I ask no odds.” I would advise such men to be more modest, and not spit upon the carpets and furniture, but step to the door, and be careful not to let any person see you spit; or, what is better, omit chewing until you have an opportunity to do so without offending.

But if you have stolen your neighbor’s cattle, own it, and restore the property, with fourfold if it is requested. If you have taken your neighbor’s spade, own it, and return it, with fourfold if he requires it. I believe in coming out and being plain and honest with that which should be made public, and in keeping to yourselves that which should be kept. If you have your weaknesses, keep them hid from your brethren as much as you can. You never hear me ask the people to tell their follies. But when we ask the brethren, as we frequently do, to speak in sacrament meetings, we wish them, if they have injured their neighbors, to confess their wrongs; but do not tell about your nonsensical conduct that nobody knows of but yourselves. Tell to the public that which belongs to the public. If you have sinned against the people, confess to them. If you have sinned against a family or a neighborhood, go to them and confess. If you have sinned against your Ward, confess to your Ward. If you have sinned against one individual, take that person by yourselves and make your confession to him. And if you have sinned against your God, or against yourselves, confess to God, and keep the matter to yourselves, for I do not want to know anything about it.

It has been the doctrine of some Elders in this Church (whence they got it I do not know, without they got it from the Devil), that all the sin you can hide from your brethren and sisters, no matter what its nature and magnitude, will not be brought against you in the day of judgment. Such persons are greatly mistaken. For the sins you commit against yourselves and your God, unless repented of and forgiven, the Lord will hold his private council and judge you according to the degree of guilt that is upon you; and if you sin against others, he will make that public, and you will have to hear it. You need not think that you can hide your sins. Confess your secret sins to your God, and forsake them, and he will forgive them; confess to your brethren your sins against them, and make all right, and they will forgive, and all will be right. The doctrine of hiding sin is a false doctrine. If such doctrine be true, how will any be brought into judgment? And how is it that their secret words and thoughts and idle words will be brought into judgment? The Scripture saith—“But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” Be careful not to have evil words and evil thoughts, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

Keep your follies that do not concern others to yourselves, and keep your private wickedness as still as possible; hide it from the eyes of the public gaze as far as you can, and make the people believe that you are filled with the wisdom of God. I wish to say this upon this particular point in regard to people’s confessing. We wish to see people honestly confess as they should and what they should.

I can say, as far as my knowledge extends, that there is a decided improvement among this people. When the Elders go forth and preach to the world, they see the weaknesses of the people and the improvement that is required at their hands. Though we see many weaknesses in this people, yet we can see that the kingdom of God is rolling and increasing; and it is no matter what becomes of the world, if they will not repent of their wickedness.

Brother Hyde has remarked that State after State is leaving the Union, but there is no Union to leave; it is all disunion. Our Government is shivered to pieces—it is in fragments, as will still more be made manifest. But the kingdom of God will increase. Then let every person that desires truth and righteousness increase in all the wisdom and knowledge they can gather from every source in the heavens and on the earth, from one another, from the angels, and also from the wicked. Gather the wisdom they have, and treasure it up in good and honest hearts, and increase continually. And let us righteously guide our own minds and feelings, and guide the people in the ways of all righteousness. Take people in every capacity of life, and their wills are first and foremost. You can gain and lead the affections of the people, but you cannot scare them, nor whip them, nor burn them to do right against their wills. The human family will die to gratify their wills. Then learn to rightly direct those wills, and you can direct the influence and power of the people.

I have frequently thought, looking at the inhabitants of the earth, matters would be different, were it not fashionable to be sinful—were it, as it was in the beginning, a disgrace for a man to be sinful, and a credit to do good. I expect to see the time when the inhabitants of the earth will pride themselves in doing good. But now goodness, truth, and virtue are publicly frowned upon. The time will come when we shall be proud to have it said of us that we are good persons. Even now the wicked world, in their sober reflective moments, honor a just, righteous, and truthful person a great deal more than they do a person who falsifies his word; but they generally keep that secret. The time will come when the people will be proud to be Saints; it will be an honor to them. Will that be their feeling in regard to this Church? Yes. But the Lord will suffer this people to be afflicted until they are made pure and holy, so that when people feel a pride in being virtuous, truthful, and Godlike, it will be a holy pride, an angelic pride, a delightful, heavenly pride, to exalt and praise the name of our God and acknowledge him wherever they are.

Suppose the eyes of the inhabitants of the earth were opened to see the heavenly things and the earthly—to understand the evil that is attached to the earth and to the children of men—which do you think they would choose? Do you not think the whole world would choose the good? Yes, as readily as a hungry person would choose to go into a dining room and eat a good dinner. Would he not rather do this than go naked on the ice in the dark and wander hungry all night? Every person would delight in doing good, if his eyes were opened to see. This people are increasing in knowledge and heavenly wisdom; they are willing to do whatever we require of them. Only let them know what is required of them, and they will perform it with alacrity.

May the Lord bless you! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, March 5, 1860.

I rejoice in the privilege of speaking to you this morning, and hope I shall have your prayers and faith, in connection with my own, that my remarks may be beneficial to those who hear.

Brother Spencer, in his remarks, indicated that there are some faultfinders here—some who take exceptions to the acts and doings of the Saints, especially to those of their leaders. Some of these persons profess to be Saints, some have been cut off from the Church, and some have never been in the Church.

I have no part with such men, neither have I any contention or argument with them. I am sent to preach the Gospel of life and salvation. If men are not pleased with my ways, they have as good a right to dislike them as I have to dislike theirs. If they do not believe in my advice, teachings, and counsel, they are at perfect liberty to disbelieve them, and I will not find one word of fault with them for so doing. They have full liberty to think and say what they please with regard to my acts; but, as I have often said, they must keep their “hands off.” The slander and lying of tongues set in motion by wicked hearts I have always met, and they do not affect my character before my God, nor in the eyes of just men.

Take the evildoers, in this commu– nity, those who have once tasted of the good word of God, who have received the Spirit of truth, and then turned again to the allurements of the enemy, have forsaken their God in their feelings, and connected themselves with those who are not in the Church; they know my character, and have much more confidence in me than I have in them. They believe what I say to be the truth; but they deceive, and I know it. I tell the truth; and, so far as I have power, I always act the truth; but they are disposed to refuse and neglect the truth, and to prefer error and falsehood instead.

I have very little to say to men who are dissatisfied with my course, or with the course of my brethren. Some have wished me to explain why we built an adobe wall around this city. Are there any Saints who stumble at such things? Oh, slow of heart to understand and believe. I build walls, dig ditches, make bridges, and do a great amount and variety of labor that is of but little consequence only to provide ways and means for sustaining and preserving the destitute. I annually expend hundreds and thousands of dollars almost solely to furnish employment to those in want of labor. Why? I have potatoes, flour, beef, and other articles of food, which I wish my brethren to have; and it is better for them to labor for those articles, so far as they are able and have opportunity, than to have them given to them. They work, and I deal out provisions, often when the work does not profit me.

I say to all grunters, grumblers, whiners, hypocrites, and sycophants, who snivel, crouch, and crawl around the most contemptible of all creatures for a slight favor, Should it enter my mind to dig down the Twin Peaks, and I set men to work to do so, it is none of your business, neither is it the business of all earth and hell, provided I pay the laborers their wages. I am not to be called in question as to what I do with my funds, whether I build high walls or low walls, garden walls or city walls; and if I please, it is my right to pull down my walls tomorrow. If anyone wishes to apostatize upon such grounds, the quicker he does so the better; and if he wishes to leave the Territory, but is too poor to do so, I will assist him to go. We are much better off without such characters.

I preach to the people and reason with them with regard to the dealings of God with the children of men. Many have apostatized because we were driven by our enemies from Missouri, notwithstanding they were taught that we never should be driven, if the people would sanctify themselves and be prepared for the blessings in store for them. But no, they did not sanctify themselves, and all the subsequent schooling was necessary to prepare the Latter-day Saints to receive the blessings of the Almighty. We are not prepared to receive his choicest gifts, unless we also have experience to know what to do with them. How many years have the Saints been taught upon these principles, to give them an understanding of the dealings of the Lord with the children of men?

When a man begins to find fault, inquiring in regard to this, that, and the other, saying, “Does this or that look as though the Lord dictated it?” you may know that that person has more or less of the spirit of apostasy. Every man in this kingdom, or upon the face of the earth, who is seeking with all his heart to save himself, has as much to do as he can conveniently attend to, without calling in question that which does not belong to him. If he succeeds in saving himself, it has well occupied his time and attention. See to it that you are right yourselves; see that sins and folly do not manifest themselves with the rising sun. I repeat that it is as much as anyone can well do to take care of himself by performing every duty that pertains to his temporal and eternal welfare.

Suppose that in this community there are ten beggars who beg from door to door for something to eat, and that nine of them are impostors who beg to escape work, and with an evil heart practice imposition upon the generous and sympathetic, and that only one of the ten who visit your doors is worthy of your bounty; which is best, to give food to the ten, to make sure of helping the truly needy one, or to repulse the ten because you do not know which is the worthy one? You will all say, Administer charitable gifts to the ten, rather than turn away the only truly worthy and truly needy person among them. If you do this, it will make no difference in your blessings, whether you administer to worthy or unworthy persons, inasmuch as you give alms with a single eye to assist the truly needy.

Again: Suppose that you are required to do ten pieces of work, but of the ten only one is necessary for the promotion of the kingdom of God; which had you better do—perform the ten pieces of labor, to be sure of doing the right piece, or neglect the whole ten because you do not know which the right one is? Had you not better do the whole ten pieces, that you may be sure of performing that which the Lord does really require at your hands?

First, believe in the Lord God Almighty, in his Son Jesus Christ, and in his Prophets that he sent in days of old; then believe in Joseph Smith, and do the works of the Father, before you question what I dictate to this people.

The Lord says, by one of the ancient prophets, “Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their hearts far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precepts of men; Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.”

The sound of the Gospel of life and salvation, to gather the house of Israel and redeem the children of men, is a terror to all nations. The fulfillment of this prophecy is plainly manifest, as is also that of revelations given in our day in connection with the great latter-day work; and yet all modern Christian communities disbelieve in new revelation. Are they hunted and cast out? No: they are received in the first society of the land as gentlemen. They are associates for Presidents and governors—for the chief rulers of the nation, who receive them with all the courtesy and generous kindness of which they are capable. But let men come, as Peter, James, and John, with words of eternal truth in their mouths, and they are despised and looked upon with withering scorn, as I and others of my brethren have been, and as Joseph Smith was, who was slain by the hands of wicked men.

Why do men hate me? Why do they hate you? Why did they hate Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ, and his ancient Apostles? Jesus they nailed to a cross, and Peter they crucified with his head downwards. John the Evangelist they banished to one of the islands of the Mediterranean, to be a slave in the lead mines, and tried to destroy him by putting him into a cauldron of boiling oil. Had he declared that Jesus and Moses were impostors, and that revelations from heaven were a humbug, would they have treated him as they did? They would not, but would have hailed him as one of their bosom friends. Hatred and persecution have been the lot of every man that ever lived upon the earth holding the oracles of the kingdom of heaven to deliver to the children of men. Wicked men, Satan, and all the powers of hell hate and are at war with every holy principle that God wishes to place in the possession of his children. That is the true reason of the hatred and persecution meted out to us.

If people will believe the Gospel, and live by the principles thereof, they will be saved. They will not be faultfinders, they will not be discontented, they will not be workers of iniquity, they will not seek to falsify and change the truth into a lie, nor a lie into the truth; they will not seek to make white black, and black white. The Spirit of God has no place in persons who do such things. What have I to do with them? I am willing to preach the Gospel to all, and to seek the eternal good of all people. I have examined myself very closely; I have been trying to learn myself, to govern myself, and purify my own heart. The worst evil I can imagine or wish to come upon the enemies of truth is, that they be obliged to live by holy principles, and to deal by their fellow creatures as they would wish to be dealt by. This is the worst wish I can possibly wish upon my worst enemies who thirst for my life. There is no question but what this would be a great punishment to them. I would not wish them to be punished any more, nor to suffer any more. But I also could wish them to forsake the evil influence within them, which they constantly yield to, and partake of good and holy influences, that they may rejoice in the truth.

I shall see the day when every son and daughter of Adam will bow the knee, and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of the world—that to him we owe our lives, and that we are indebted to him, and through him to the Father, for every blessing we enjoy. They will acknowledge his right to rule and govern, King of nations, as he does King of Saints. This they must do, notwithstanding all their hatred. Can people receive this? Yes, every son and daughter of Adam can; though I once in a while meet with an individual who says that he cannot believe in religion of any kind. I will venture to say that there are men in this Church who would tell you so, were you to converse with them privately. They will tell you that they cannot in the least degree comprehend angels, spirits, God, and the kingdoms and thrones of the eternal worlds, nor anything of that character.

What do I say to such persons? Live that moral religion you believe in; for they believe in the same moral religion that you and I do. Let them deal justly with their fellow men, be truthful, honest, and charitable, full of good works to the day of their death, and I will insure them that the kingdom of God is theirs. And when their spirits leave their bodies, their eyes will be opened to see those heavenly and eternal realities which they could not comprehend while in the flesh. Now, I do not admit that good, active, bright, intelligent hearts and brains, or, in other words, good spirits put in mortal tabernacles are quite so ignorant as some imagine, although they may feel that they are, and may think that they cannot conceive of anything but what they hear with their ears, see with their eyes, &c. This is a mistake: they can see and understand more, but they do not know how to classify it. Let this be as it may, as I have said already, all who will correctly live an external religion are entitled to a degree of salvation.

Man is a mystery to himself. You see some who at once believe the truth when they hear the Gospel of salvation declared by the servants of God. Truth fastens upon their understandings, they yield to it at once and openly acknowledge it, and yet they live for years and years without receiving a love of that truth. Is not this a great mystery? It partially is. In their outward faith and lives they believe the Gospel of salvation as much as any person can; and, after all, darkness will come upon them; they will forget the love and communion they had with the Spirit of the Lord, and turn away from the holy commandments, and tell you that they never knew that the Gospel was true. How many are there of this class, year by year, who will say, “We never knew the truth of ‘Mormonism?’” I will relate an incident by way of illustration. A brother now here and working for us had a brother in Nauvoo, in the days of Joseph, who was sent to England on a mission. He went and preached to his brother that is now here, and bore testimony to him that he knew Joseph Smith to be a Prophet of God, that the New Testament is true, that the Book of Mormon is true, that the Book of Doctrine and Covenants contains true revelations from God, that God had sent an angel from heaven revealing the everlasting Priesthood, and had bestowed the Holy Ghost upon his servants, which he would give to all who believed in their words. Thus he preached to his brother and to the people, and returned to his house in Nauvoo. In a few years his brother came to Nauvoo, and the brother previously there began to tell him that “Mormonism” was not true, and that if Joseph Smith was ever a Prophet, he must have been a fallen Prophet. His brother then asked about the Book of Mormon. “Why,” said he, “I do not think it is true, though I do not really know.” “How about the Bible?” “I do not know much about it; but I think you had better stop here: here are houses and lands unoccupied, for the Mormons have gone west, and left their gardens, farms, and the furniture in their houses, and you can make money here.” “But is not ‘Mormonism’ true?” “I do not think it is, for the Mormons are now clearing out to go into the wilderness.” “But,” said his brother, “That has nothing to do with it. It is no matter where they go. Is the doctrine you preached to me in England true?” “Well, I do not hardly think it is.” Finally he said, “It is not true,” “Well,” said the young man, “I will ask you a single question: Did you tell the truth when you came to England to preach the Gospel? Or did you lie then, and now tell the truth? You either lied then or now, and I want you to tell me which time you lied.” He did not reply. “Now brother, I have a few words to say to you: You came to England and preached the Gospel, and told me not to trust in man, but to seek unto the Lord my God, in the name of Jesus Christ, and receive a witness for myself and know for myself that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God, that the Book of Mormon is true, and that God has set to his hand to gather the house of Israel and build up Zion. You said, Do not rely upon my word; for if you believe and embrace the Gospel, you have the promise of receiving the Holy Ghost. Now, I have to say to you that I did not merely take your word, for I did not consider I was under any obligation to believe and embrace what you called the Gospel, unless the Lord revealed it to me. You were to me a fingerboard to point the right way: I walked in it, and received a testimony that Joseph Smith is a true Prophet, that the Book of Mormon is true, and that this work is the work of the Almighty. You have apostatized. I am going to the camp of the Saints, and you may go where you please.” He left his brother, and is here in good standing with us. That illustrates a principle I wished to have you understand.

I recollect that while on my way to Ohio, to see brother Joseph the first time, I took dinner with a Mr. Gillmore—I think a Methodist priest. He began to tell me the character of Joseph Smith, what he had been guilty of, how long he had been a money digger, how long a horse jockey, and how many horses he had stolen; and his statement made Joseph to be some seventy or eighty years of age. I said to him, “Joseph Smith I never saw.” He says that he has received revelations from God, and declared that an angel visited him. He has declared that he found plates, and other witnesses have seen and handled them, from which the Book of Mormon was translated. I know nothing about these witnesses, neither do I care. I went to my Father in heaven and asked him with regard to the truth of the doctrines taught by Joseph Smith, and I know they will save all that will hearken to them, and that those who do not will miss salvation in the celestial kingdom of God; and though Joseph Smith should steal horses every day, or gamble every night, or deny his Savior from the crowing of the cock in the morning until sunset in the evening, I know that the doctrine he preaches is the power of God to my salvation, if I live it. I did not make him a revelator; I have no business to dictate him. I never called him in question, even in my feelings, for an act of his, except once. I did not like his policy in a matter, and a feeling came into my heart that would have led me to complain; but it was much shorter lived than Jonah’s gourd, for it did not last half a minute.

Much of Joseph’s policy in temporal things was different from my ideas of the way to manage them. He did the best he could, and I do the best I can. Joseph’s hands were continually tied. Who dared to trust him with their money? Very few. He had to defend lawsuit upon lawsuit. He passed through forty-seven lawsuits, and in the most of them I was with him. He was obliged to employ lawyers, and devise ways and means to shield himself from oppression. He had to struggle through poverty and distress, being driven from pillar to post. I wondered many a time that he could endure what he did. The Lord gave him strength in all these afflictions.

I do not employ lawyers, unless they are my brethren; and I seldom have occasion for employing them. Lawyers would come to Joseph, professing to have been his friends, and palaver around him, to get a fee. I could see through them and read their evil intentions.

The worst wish I have for such characters is that they had been obliged to tell Joseph Smith the truth when they came to him. Then they would have said, “Joseph, we have been laying our plans to get you into a lawsuit, and we want you to employ us, that we may receive a fat fee from you for defending your case.” Or, “there is an election coming off, and we take this course to turn your vote.” Bennett told the truth once when he said, “There is not much to be made in political traffic with the ‘Mormons.’” It never did any of them any good. We are not to be bought or sold.

I will now make a few more remarks upon belief and disbelief, understanding and not understanding. I am satisfied that persons are sometimes not so ignorant as they think they are. Faith is an eternal principle; belief is an admission of the fact. Faith, to us, is the gift of God; belief is inherent in the children of men, and is the foundation for the reception of faith. The principle of love within us is an attribute of the Deity, and it is placed within us to be dispensed independently according to our own will. Hatred is another attribute inherent in our organization. These and other inherent principles were planted in man when he was organized in the spirit, and when the spirit took the body they were not destroyed. Belief and unbelief are independent in man, the same as other attributes. Men can acknowledge or reject, turn to the right or to the left, rise up or remain seated: you can say that the Lord and his Gospel are not worthy of your notice, or you can bow to them. When the Elders went into your neighborhoods to preach the Gospel, you had the privilege of believing or disbelieving. You believed it; your neighbors disbelieve it. It is free and at your own option to dispose of at your pleasure. Could not your neighbors have believed the truth as well as you? Yes.

Now, follow out this idea to the last days in which we live, the time spoken of by the Prophets, and by the Savior, and his ancient Apostles, when the unbelief and hardness of the hearts of the children of men would cause them to be overcome by the power of Satan, to yield themselves to be servants to that wicked one. God has borne and foreborne with them, until he has begun to send them strong delusions, as he long foretold that he would, that they might believe a lie and be damned, for they have pleasure in unrighteousness, and have no pleasure in truthfulness, nor in the salvation of the Lord Jesus. They have pleasure in rioting, fighting, warring, killing, contentions, and every crime that can be enumerated. What will become of their belief? Will it not perish? Yes. When you believe the principles of the Gospel and attain unto faith, which is a gift of God, he adds more faith, adding faith to faith. He bestows faith upon his creatures as a gift; but his creatures inherently possess the privilege of believing the Gospel to be true or false. Is the belief they possess, to believe a lie expressly that they may be damned, faith? No. You may say it is a portion of faith. It is immaterial to me what you call it. It is the belief, the ability, the power that God has organized in the organization of man, and which he can do with as he pleases. If he uses it to believe a lie that he may be damned, both himself and his belief will perish and fall, to rise no more, while God will bestow faith on those who believe the truth.

Forsake the Spirit of the Lord—the Holy Ghost—the influence that comes from above, and partake of an earthly, dark, unbelieving influence or spirit, and your faith is gone; you have no faith. Is there a person who can possess faith without belief? No. Can men possess belief without faith? Yes, every son and daughter of Adam. Belief is an inherent principle in the organism of man to lay the foundation for faith.

I will sum it up again: Faith is an eternal principle—one of the attributes of the Deity by which the worlds are and were created. Belief is the admission of either truth or falsehood.

It has been stated that I teach the doctrine that the Gods continue to increase in all their attributes to all eternity. Have you ever heard me teach such a doctrine? I have taught doctrine; but have I called in question any of the Gods? It has been stated that God our Father comprehends eternity, from eternity to eternity, all there is, all there was, all there ever can be about eternity, in and through it. When a person undertakes to establish such a doctrine, what does he do? He gives bounds to that eternity which he at the same time admits to be boundless. Admit such doctrine, and eternity flees away like the shadow of morning; and that is as much as I ever teach about it. Do I say that heavenly beings improve? I am not yet there; I do not know.

Understand eternity? There is not and never was a man in finite flesh who understands it. Enoch has been referred to in this matter. How many of the Gods and kingdoms he saw when the vision of his mind was opened, matters not. If he had seen more than he could have enumerated throughout his long life, and more than all the men on earth could multiply from the time his vision opened until now, he would not have attained to the comprehension of eternity. How much Enoch saw, how many worlds he saw, has nothing to do with the case. This is a matter that wise men know nothing about. I do not know, though I know as much about it as any man in this house or in this generation. I can comprehend, by the words of eternal life, that there is an eternity before me. Has it bounds? Whether it has or not, neither we nor any other finite beings can comprehend it.

I will leave this subject, because I am not capable of understanding it. You leave it, and do not contend about things that are beyond our reach—that are too great for you to know at present. And when you go into the spirit world you will not understand it; and when you have lived in the spirit world until you again receive your bodies, you still cannot understand it; but you can continue to learn more and more about it, in the same manner as we learn here. I can teach many things about the future existence of man; but it is more directly our business to pay attention to those duties that more immediately concern us while we are here.

Brother Spencer says that we can tell a little about God the Father by his handiwork. It is very little. What does the world know? A wicked man may pray from this time to all eternity, and he will not be able to discern the print of his footsteps. It takes a spiritually-minded wise man to discern the hand of God in all things, and to be ready to acknowledge it, to discern that he rules among the armies of heaven, and that he is dictating, ruling, managing, and turning the hearts of the people on the earth to the right and to the left. He grants this and takes away that at his pleasure, but the people do not know it; they cannot discern it. One may here say, “What am I to do? If God dictates and guides the hearts of the people, they cease then to be responsible?” He gives to all men their agency to act, reserving to himself the right to control the results of their acts. The Lord does not dictate to do wrong; but when men are disposed to do wrong, he brings out the results in accordance with his own pleasure. You may plant and water, but can you make a kernel of grain or a spear of grass? This is not in the power of man to do; but God in his providences produces this. Let the Lord send an angel through this valley to cause certain properties in the air and water to depart, and your grain crops fall, or your fruit is cut off. He says to you, “Go and do a piece of work.” You do it, and by means of this he causes your enemies to stumble. Say that you are tilling the soil, and the Lord says to an angel, Do thus and so. What do you receive for your labor? Perhaps fifty, sixty, or a hundred bushels of wheat to an acre, when another year, perhaps, in the same place and with like labor, you do not receive more than five, ten, or fifteen bushels. Do you know the cause of this? No. No man can know, unless he enjoys the revelations of the Almighty. I make these remarks that you may understand that our Father controls the results of our acts at his own pleasure, and we cannot prevent it. Man can produce and control his own acts, but he has no control over their results. God causes even the wrath of man to praise him, to resound to his glory and the salvation of his children.

Israel were slaves in Egypt four hundred years; they were treated harshly and cruelly, and their children were slain. Then the Lord took them out from Egypt to wander in the wilderness forty years, traveling about as far as from here to Nauvoo—a distance that we can travel and back again in a season. This was to produce a result. They could not understand why they wandered thus in the wilderness; but God knew. They could not understand why he said to Jacob that they should wander in a strange land four hundred years; but the result was for the salvation of the children of men. God had promised to save that seed; but their wicked– ness would not let him save them without giving them the punishment they received. God took them into the spirit world and raised up their children to do a better work. If the Lord has promised to save a son of a man or woman that is full of faith—has promised that he shall come into his kingdom, though that son be froward and disposed to be wicked, yet he will receive his punishment in the flesh. Now, on the other hand, do not become Universalists and say that every man and woman receives punishment only in this world, for that is not true.

There are a number of other things that I might speak about; but I have spoken long enough.

God bless you! Amen.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, March 4, 1860.

In detailing the different grades of people, of which we have known but little, and in discoursing upon their character and habits, I think that Captain Gibson, in his lecture, has been both amusing, instructive, and interesting.

When Captain Gibson first came to this city, he proposed addressing the people, and wished to know whether the subject possessed sufficient interest to warrant an audience. I think he is now well satisfied that he can have all the hearers he wishes.

The religion embraced by the Latter-day Saints, if only slightly understood, prompts them to search dili– gently after knowledge. There is no other people in existence more eager to see, hear, learn, and understand truth.

In a quotation read by Captain Gibson I noticed the word civilization; and I wish to know whether there is a person present who understands the term as I do. What is meant by “civilization?” We readily answer, “the state of being civilized”—refinement of manners, in contradistinction to the grossness of savage life. According to my definition of the word, there is not a strictly and fully civilized community now upon the earth. Is there murder by wholesale to be found in a strictly civilized community? Will a community of civilized nations rise up one against another, nation against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, using against each other every destructive invention that can be brought to bear in their wars?

When will they be civilized? When the Lord shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither learn war any more. When the world is in a state of true civilization, man will have ceased to contend against his fellow man, either as individuals, parties, communities, sects, or nations. This state of civilization will be brought about by the holy Priesthood of the Son of God; and men, with full purpose of heart, will seek unto Him who is pure and holy, even our Great Creator—our Father and God; and he will give them a law that is pure—a government and plan of society possessed by holy beings in heaven. Then there will be no more war, no more bloodshed, no more evil speaking and evil doing; but all will be contented to follow in the path of truth, which alone is calculated to exalt and dignify the whole man, mentally and physically, in all his operations, labors, and purposes. Short of this, mankind cannot be said to be truly civilized.

God forbid that modern civilization should make that simple, unsophisticated people, whom Captain Gibson has portrayed tonight, as are the Christian nations of Europe and America! God forbid that such a civilization should ever be introduced among them! But bestow upon them the principles of eternal truth; teach them how to live so as to do honor to their existence; teach them how to preserve themselves—how to preserve their companions, their associates, friends, and relatives; teach them how to preserve themselves as communities and nations, and how to secure and preserve to every person his equal and legal rights, seeking to preserve them in the truth, in light, in intelligence, in honor, and in every principle and act calculated to make a happy, Godlike, heavenly, social community. These are my views of civilization.

I shall be very happy when I can know that the people of the East Indian Archipelago, and the people on every island and continent, both the high and the low, the ignorant and intelligent, have received the words of eternal life, and have had bestowed upon them the power of the eternal Priesthood of the Son of God, by which they may become truly civilized.

I am trying to civilize myself. Are you trying to do the same? If we have succeeded in this, then we have control over our words and over our actions, and also, so far as our influence goes, over our associates. If we are civilized ourselves, we shall be partially prepared to receive the things that our Father and God has in store for all such as prepare themselves to become recipients of his choice gifts—for enlightenment, for intelligence, for glory, for power, and for every qualification he wishes to bestow upon his children here upon the earth, to prepare them to dwell in mansions of eternal light.

It is written that the greatest gift God can bestow upon man is the gift of eternal life. The greatest attainment that we can reach is to preserve our identity to an eternal duration in the midst of the heavenly hosts. We have the words of eternal life given to us through the Gospel, which, if we obey, will secure unto us that precious gift. The greatest blessing that can be bestowed on the children of men is power to civilize themselves after the order of the civilization of the heavens—to prepare themselves to dwell with heavenly beings who are capable of enduring the presence of the Gods.

It has been supposed by many writers that there is a regular gradation from the vegetable kingdom to the highest intelligence that has been bestowed upon man, gradually rising from one degree of intelligence to another. We learn that great intelligence has been bestowed upon certain persons among the children of men. We discern degrees of intelligence in our own society. There are also degrees of intelligence in a national capacity. There are degrees of intelligence in one family: you see its variations in communities, and you may mark its gradations from the highest and most refined intelligence of man down to the brute creation.

God has given this great variety of intelligence. He has also given this great variety of forms—that eternal variety which we see upon this earth, not only among human beings, but in every class of all the creations of God; and they are all designed to be preserved to all eternity. None of them were made to be destroyed, except those that do not abide the law given them.

The earth will abide its creation, and will be counted worthy of receiving the blessings designed for it, and will ultimately roll back into the presence of God who formed it and established its mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms. These will all be retained upon the earth, come forth in the resurrection, and abide forever and forever.

Who will be destroyed? Those who have the words of eternal life offered to them and reject those words. They will remain uncivilized and in their heathenish darkness. There are others who will become civilized, purified, and prepared to dwell to all eternity in the kingdoms God has prepared for them.

The last time I spoke to you here I told you that I found my religion just as sweet to me in my private capacity, in my secret meditations upon my bed, and in my closet, in my office, or with my family, as it is when I am in this stand. I love it as well—esteem it as highly; it is as precious to my understanding, and it invigorates, buoys up, strengthens, and fills every power of my capacity with unspeakable joy, just as much at home as it does here. I hope this is the case with you all. If you live your religion, it is as dear to you when you are out of this Tabernacle as when you are here. Live your religion, walk humbly before your God, and secure to yourselves eternal life. That is what I desire; it is what I pray for.

The kingdom of God will roll, and no power can stop the work that the Almighty has commenced. Kings, rulers, governors, presidents, peoples, and all the armies of hell joined with them will never be able to impede the steady, onward, accelerated progress of this glorious latter-day work. If we should deny the faith of the holy Gospel, and go out of this Church, still it will roll on the same. This kingdom will stand forever. This religion will abide the day of the coming of the Lord Jesus, and will prepare us to meet him in peace.

Live your religion, walk uprightly, deal justly, love mercy, eschew evil of every kind, and sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and purify and sanctify your affections with the principles of eternal life, that Jesus may fulfil his own words—that he, by his Spirit, may be in you a well of water springing up to everlasting life.

The world is before us, eternity is before us, and an inexhaustible fountain of intelligence for us to obtain. Every man, and more particularly my immediate associates who are with me daily, know how I regret the ignorance of this people—how it floods my heart with sorrow to see so many Elders of Israel who wish everybody to come to their standard and be measured by their measure. Every man must be just so long, to fit their iron bedstead, or be cut off to the right length: if too short, he must be stretched, to fill the requirement.

If they see an erring brother or sister, whose course does not comport with their particular ideas of things, they conclude at once that he or she cannot be a Saint, and withdraw their fellowship, concluding that, if they are in the path of truth, others must have precisely their weight and dimensions.

The ignorance I see, in this particular, among this great people is lamentable. Let us not narrow ourselves up; for the world, with all its variety of useful information and its rich hoard of hidden treasure, is before us; and eternity, with all its sparkling intelligence, lofty aspirations, and unspeakable glories, is before us, and ready to aid us in the scale of advancement and every useful improvement.

See that your children are properly educated in the rudiments of their mother tongue, and then let them proceed to higher branches of learning; let them become more informed in every department of true and useful learning than their fathers are. When they have become well acquainted with their language, let them study other languages, and make themselves fully acquainted with the manners, customs, laws, governments, and literature of other nations, peoples, and tongues. Let them also learn all the truth pertaining to the arts and sciences, and how to apply the same to their temporal wants. Let them study things that are upon the earth, that are in the earth, and that are in the heavens.

There are hundreds in this community who are more eager to become rich in the perishable things of this world than to adorn their minds with the power of self-government, and with a knowledge of things as they were, as they are, and as they are to come. I will say to such, Get rich in gold and silver, in horses and lands, in goods and chattels, in flocks and herds, until you possess all you can possibly gain; but let me caution you not to get one cent, unless you get it honestly. And when you have amassed your millions, never allow yourselves to possess one dollar with the belief that you are capable of disposing of it judiciously without wisdom from our God. In all things inquire of the Lord, that you may wisely direct your earthly substance, as well as the energies of your minds, to the building up of his kingdom and the consummation of his purposes pertaining to this world and our salvation.

We are not yet half civilized, though we are more civilized than any nation upon the earth. Our neighbors say we are barbarians, sunk in heathenish ignorance. I will acknowledge my lack of memory to retain scientific phrases, and the names of places, and of men who have figured in the history of the world. With these exceptions, I am not a whit behind them as to a knowledge of things as they are, though I confess that my knowledge is limited. If they understand the Hebrew language, I understand its roots, and how it originated. If they understand the Greek tongue, I know whence it came, and how it was introduced among men.

I know the cause of the various languages and customs among the people, and the reason of the variation in our appearance, and the difference in the intelligence given to the children of men; and after all, I feel very ignorant, when I scan the wide field there is for improvement; and I know that this community are ignorant, and are not what they should be. I also know that if the enemies of truth will let us alone, as barbarous as we are, we will soon show them the most peaceable, right-loving, and law-abiding community in the wide world. We will show them the most civil community—a community farther advanced in the arts of refinement than any other upon the earth. We will show them men and women the most profound in learning, and mechanics the most expert and ingenious. We will show them men endowed with the most brilliant natural talent and the most wisdom that can be found in the world. We will do this, if they will cease driving us from our homes, and robbing us of our homesteads to the music of the rifle and cannon, and the horrible oaths and fiendish hilarity of civilized mobs who mock at our sufferings, and laugh to scorn our sorrows. If they will not let us alone, we will take the musket and the sword in one hand, the trowel and the hammer in the other, and build up the Zion of our God; and they cannot prevent it.

I am very thankful for the knowledge I have received from Captain Gibson’s book, from the little I have conversed with him, and from the lectures I have heard him deliver. I shall not cease learning while I live, nor when I arrive in the spirit world; but shall there learn with greater facility; and when I again receive my body, I shall learn a thousand times more in a thousand times less time; and then I do not mean to cease learning, but shall still continue my researches.

Let us be patient with one another. I do not altogether look at things as you do. My judgment is not in all things like yours; nor yours like mine. When you judge a man or woman, judge the intentions of the heart. It is not by words, particularly, nor by actions, that men will be judged in the great day of the Lord; but, in connection with words and actions, the sentiments and intentions of the heart will be taken, and by these will men be judged.

There are men in this community who make blunders; but they would not do an intentional wrong. They are weak; they do not fully understand themselves, and are sometimes overtaken in fault. Am I to condemn them? No; but to take them by the hand, and lift them up, and instruct them—give them a little intelligence as they can receive it. If they can receive but a little, give them only a little, exercising patience with them.

Ye mighty men of God, make sure the path for your own feet to walk to eternal life, and take as many with you as you can. Take them as they are, understand them as they are, and deal with them as they are; look at them as God looks at them, and then you can judge them as he would judge them.

May the Lord bless you! Amen.