April 1871
FORTY-FIRST ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS
The Forty-First Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints convened on this the sixth day of April 1871, at 10 o’clock a.m., in the New Tabernacle.
On the stand were:
Of the First Presidency:
Brigham Young, Geo. A. Smith and Daniel H. Wells.
Of the Twelve Apostles:
Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Charles C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow, Franklin D. Richards, George Q. Cannon, Brigham Young, Jr., Joseph F. Smith and Albert Carrington.
Patriarch:
John Smith.
Of the First Seven Presidents of Seventies
Joseph Young, Albert P. Rockwood and John Van Cott.
Of the Presidency of the High Priests’ Quorum:
Elias Smith, Edward Snelgrove and Elias Morris.
Of the Presidency of this Stake of Zion:
George B. Wallace and John T. Caine.
Of the Presidency of the Bishopric:
Edward Hunter, Leonard W. Hardy and Jesse C. Little.
There were also Bishops, Elders and leading men from every settlement in the Territory.
Conference was called to order by President Brigham Young.
The choir sang: “The towers of Zion soon shall rise.”
Prayer by Elder John Taylor.
The choir sang: “Mortals awake! let angels join.”
The Forty-First Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints convened on this the sixth day of April 1871, at 10 o’clock a.m., in the New Tabernacle.
On the stand were:
Of the First Presidency:
Brigham Young, Geo. A. Smith and Daniel H. Wells.
Of the Twelve Apostles:
Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Charles C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow, Franklin D. Richards, George Q. Cannon, Brigham Young, Jr., Joseph F. Smith and Albert Carrington.
Patriarch:
John Smith.
Of the First Seven Presidents of Seventies
Joseph Young, Albert P. Rockwood and John Van Cott.
Of the Presidency of the High Priests’ Quorum:
Elias Smith, Edward Snelgrove and Elias Morris.
Of the Presidency of this Stake of Zion:
George B. Wallace and John T. Caine.
Of the Presidency of the Bishopric:
Edward Hunter, Leonard W. Hardy and Jesse C. Little.
There were also Bishops, Elders and leading men from every settlement in the Territory.
Conference was called to order by President Brigham Young.
The choir sang: “The towers of Zion soon shall rise.”
Prayer by Elder John Taylor.
The choir sang: “Mortals awake! let angels join.”
President Geo. A. Smith
made a few preliminary remarks. He said it was a source of joy that we could assemble here on the occasion of the Forty-first Annual Conference of the Church. He alluded to the changes and persecutions through which the church had passed since its organization. Our coming here, building cities, towns, &c., has constituted us the pioneers of civilization in the great West. These things are now matters of history. During the Conference, instructive addresses will be delivered by the Apostles and Elders. Also, a number of matters of business will be laid before the people; among which will be the building of the Temple, the payment of tithes. The construction of a railroad south will be considered. This road would greatly facilitate the transportation of the necessary material to build the house of God. Measures will probably be taken to build a Temple at St. George. The time will come when each stake of Zion will have its Temple. On account of President Eldredge’s health failing, it will be necessary to appoint someone to fill his place as President of the European mission, and, as Elder W. W. Cluff will probably return this season, also someone to fill his present position in the Scandinavian mission. The foreign mission, however, may not be very much extended at this Conference. We would be glad if the people of this city would understand that there is plenty of room in this tabernacle for them. He hoped they would tell this to their friends. He continued to speak on the present condition of the nations of the earth and bore testimony to the truth of the great latter-day work.
made a few preliminary remarks. He said it was a source of joy that we could assemble here on the occasion of the Forty-first Annual Conference of the Church. He alluded to the changes and persecutions through which the church had passed since its organization. Our coming here, building cities, towns, &c., has constituted us the pioneers of civilization in the great West. These things are now matters of history. During the Conference, instructive addresses will be delivered by the Apostles and Elders. Also, a number of matters of business will be laid before the people; among which will be the building of the Temple, the payment of tithes. The construction of a railroad south will be considered. This road would greatly facilitate the transportation of the necessary material to build the house of God. Measures will probably be taken to build a Temple at St. George. The time will come when each stake of Zion will have its Temple. On account of President Eldredge’s health failing, it will be necessary to appoint someone to fill his place as President of the European mission, and, as Elder W. W. Cluff will probably return this season, also someone to fill his present position in the Scandinavian mission. The foreign mission, however, may not be very much extended at this Conference. We would be glad if the people of this city would understand that there is plenty of room in this tabernacle for them. He hoped they would tell this to their friends. He continued to speak on the present condition of the nations of the earth and bore testimony to the truth of the great latter-day work.
Elder Orson Hyde
next spoke. He said that the weather having been for some time unpropitious for farming and the farmers in consequence being very busy, this conference may probably not be quite so well attended as some previous ones. Whether there be few or many, if the spirit of God is poured out on us, we can enjoy ourselves. He read a passage from the 18th Psalms, beginning at the 25th verse, and then spoke for some time on the attribute of mercy as shown by the Almighty and how it should be exercised by all men and women in every department of life. In the course of his remarks, he alluded to the eternal nature of man and all the ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ, speaking more particularly of the law of marriage. He also made some remarks with regard to the opposition manifested against the work of God, stating that he was inclined to believe that many who thus array themselves against the Latter-day Saints are imbued with a degree of sincerity, as all have their peculiar standpoint from which they view the Kingdom of God. Such sincerity, however, does its possessor more injury than good. In speaking of polygamy, he said, how many of those who oppose the practice of that principle by the Saints, if they should be arraigned before the bar of God with the polygamist, could say, “here are my wives and children whom I have honored, acknowledged and sustained?” They would be compelled rather to tell a tale of sin and shame, in giving their account. He exhorted the Saints to increased diligence in keeping the commandments of God. If the Saints will do right, they will live to see their enemies humbled in the dust. He hoped there would be an abundant harvest, that tithes and offerings may flow into the storehouse of the Lord.
The choir sang: “Great is Jehovah.”
Prayer by Elder Franklin D. Richards.
Conference adjourned till 2 p. m.
next spoke. He said that the weather having been for some time unpropitious for farming and the farmers in consequence being very busy, this conference may probably not be quite so well attended as some previous ones. Whether there be few or many, if the spirit of God is poured out on us, we can enjoy ourselves. He read a passage from the 18th Psalms, beginning at the 25th verse, and then spoke for some time on the attribute of mercy as shown by the Almighty and how it should be exercised by all men and women in every department of life. In the course of his remarks, he alluded to the eternal nature of man and all the ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ, speaking more particularly of the law of marriage. He also made some remarks with regard to the opposition manifested against the work of God, stating that he was inclined to believe that many who thus array themselves against the Latter-day Saints are imbued with a degree of sincerity, as all have their peculiar standpoint from which they view the Kingdom of God. Such sincerity, however, does its possessor more injury than good. In speaking of polygamy, he said, how many of those who oppose the practice of that principle by the Saints, if they should be arraigned before the bar of God with the polygamist, could say, “here are my wives and children whom I have honored, acknowledged and sustained?” They would be compelled rather to tell a tale of sin and shame, in giving their account. He exhorted the Saints to increased diligence in keeping the commandments of God. If the Saints will do right, they will live to see their enemies humbled in the dust. He hoped there would be an abundant harvest, that tithes and offerings may flow into the storehouse of the Lord.
The choir sang: “Great is Jehovah.”
Prayer by Elder Franklin D. Richards.
Conference adjourned till 2 p. m.
2 p. m.
The choir sang: “Let every mortal ear attend.”
Prayer by Elder Wilford Woodruff.
The choir sang: “Arise, O glorious Zion.”
The choir sang: “Let every mortal ear attend.”
Prayer by Elder Wilford Woodruff.
The choir sang: “Arise, O glorious Zion.”
Elder Lorenzo Snow
addressed the Conference. He said, although the church has passed through many checkered and trying scenes since its organization, and notwithstanding the circumstances of the Saints have undergone many changes temporally, their faith and the principles of the gospel remain unchanged. He spoke of the various dispensations in which God had revealed his will to man, showing the opposition with which such dispensations had been met by the great bulk of the human family. He showed the absolute necessity of mankind being guided by revelation and alluded to the gift and power of the Holy Ghost and the only way by which that great gift could be obtained. There need be no dubiety in the minds of any respecting the truth of the gospel we preach, for the servants of God declare they have authority to administer the ordinances of the House of God and that if people will repent of their sins and be baptized for the remission of them, they shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and they will thus have the truth revealed to themselves. This has been tested and proved by tens of thousands in various parts of the earth, who are living examples of the fulfillment of those promises. Many who see the good effects of gathering the poor to these valleys, thus enabling them to better their circumstances, say President Young is a very smart man. But those good effects are not particularly because he is a smart man, but because the Lord continually inspires him with the necessary wisdom to direct the work we are engaged in.
addressed the Conference. He said, although the church has passed through many checkered and trying scenes since its organization, and notwithstanding the circumstances of the Saints have undergone many changes temporally, their faith and the principles of the gospel remain unchanged. He spoke of the various dispensations in which God had revealed his will to man, showing the opposition with which such dispensations had been met by the great bulk of the human family. He showed the absolute necessity of mankind being guided by revelation and alluded to the gift and power of the Holy Ghost and the only way by which that great gift could be obtained. There need be no dubiety in the minds of any respecting the truth of the gospel we preach, for the servants of God declare they have authority to administer the ordinances of the House of God and that if people will repent of their sins and be baptized for the remission of them, they shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and they will thus have the truth revealed to themselves. This has been tested and proved by tens of thousands in various parts of the earth, who are living examples of the fulfillment of those promises. Many who see the good effects of gathering the poor to these valleys, thus enabling them to better their circumstances, say President Young is a very smart man. But those good effects are not particularly because he is a smart man, but because the Lord continually inspires him with the necessary wisdom to direct the work we are engaged in.
Bishop John Sharp
said he was fortunate enough to be one of those to whom the servants of God brought the plan of salvation. When he heard the glad message he received it readily. The spirit of the Lord bore testimony to him that what he heard was the truth. The gospel found him in a coal pit and had brought him from darkness to light. He was not an enemy to mankind and he never would quarrel with his neighbor if he could not see as he did. He claimed the same right of religious freedom he was willing to accord to others, and in exercising that right, he took pleasure in bearing testimony that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God raised to introduce the fullness of the gospel of truth. It takes but little education to tell of the testimony he has received and the peace he alluded to the comprehensive nature of the gospel, as illustrated in the design of the Almighty to save not only those being in the flesh, but the dead who have gone before who will listen to His voice.
said he was fortunate enough to be one of those to whom the servants of God brought the plan of salvation. When he heard the glad message he received it readily. The spirit of the Lord bore testimony to him that what he heard was the truth. The gospel found him in a coal pit and had brought him from darkness to light. He was not an enemy to mankind and he never would quarrel with his neighbor if he could not see as he did. He claimed the same right of religious freedom he was willing to accord to others, and in exercising that right, he took pleasure in bearing testimony that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God raised to introduce the fullness of the gospel of truth. It takes but little education to tell of the testimony he has received and the peace he alluded to the comprehensive nature of the gospel, as illustrated in the design of the Almighty to save not only those being in the flesh, but the dead who have gone before who will listen to His voice.
President George A. Smith
addressed the Conference for a short time. He gave a graphic description of some of the persecutions endured by the Saints in the early rise of the church. He showed the great obstacles to be overcome in the first bringing so many people, nearly all of whom were very poor, to these valleys. He also alluded to the help that had been extended in gathering the poor from the nations of the earth. The contributions for carrying on this important work have been limited for some time, on account of the destruction of crops by grasshoppers, &c. Let the brethren consider, during this Conference, what they will donate for this purpose and, when they become liberal, say what they will do. This is one of the items of this Conference. Those who owe the P. E. fund should immediately pay up. Let all the Elders who have been on missions remember their brethren in the old countries. May God bless us in doing this and every good thing.
addressed the Conference for a short time. He gave a graphic description of some of the persecutions endured by the Saints in the early rise of the church. He showed the great obstacles to be overcome in the first bringing so many people, nearly all of whom were very poor, to these valleys. He also alluded to the help that had been extended in gathering the poor from the nations of the earth. The contributions for carrying on this important work have been limited for some time, on account of the destruction of crops by grasshoppers, &c. Let the brethren consider, during this Conference, what they will donate for this purpose and, when they become liberal, say what they will do. This is one of the items of this Conference. Those who owe the P. E. fund should immediately pay up. Let all the Elders who have been on missions remember their brethren in the old countries. May God bless us in doing this and every good thing.
President Brigham Young
briefly addressed the Conference. He said it would be gratifying if those who spoke would take the course that had been pursued this afternoon, viz., not to speak too long. He bore his testimony to the truth of the gospel, and stated that a great many evil spirits were seeking to overthrow every good Saint. The Saints should be on their guard against such influences. He showed that there was not a science in existence but substantiated the truth of the gospel we have received, for it embraces all truth. He requested that, to avoid confusion, the people should remain quietly until meeting be dismissed, and that the doorkeepers see that the doors be kept closed.
It was announced that a Priesthood meeting would be held to-morrow evening, at 7 o’clock.
The choir sang: “Make a joyful noise.”
Prayer by Elder George Q. Cannon.
Adjourned till to-morrow, 7th, at 10 a.m.
briefly addressed the Conference. He said it would be gratifying if those who spoke would take the course that had been pursued this afternoon, viz., not to speak too long. He bore his testimony to the truth of the gospel, and stated that a great many evil spirits were seeking to overthrow every good Saint. The Saints should be on their guard against such influences. He showed that there was not a science in existence but substantiated the truth of the gospel we have received, for it embraces all truth. He requested that, to avoid confusion, the people should remain quietly until meeting be dismissed, and that the doorkeepers see that the doors be kept closed.
It was announced that a Priesthood meeting would be held to-morrow evening, at 7 o’clock.
The choir sang: “Make a joyful noise.”
Prayer by Elder George Q. Cannon.
Adjourned till to-morrow, 7th, at 10 a.m.
7th, 10 a.m.
The choir sang: “See! all creation joins To praise th’ eternal God.”
Prayer by Elder Orson Hyde.
The choir sang: “Hosannah to the great Messiah.”
The choir sang: “See! all creation joins To praise th’ eternal God.”
Prayer by Elder Orson Hyde.
The choir sang: “Hosannah to the great Messiah.”
Elder William C. Staines
addressed the conference. He said he had no subject but life and salvation, which he had studied for many years. It was thirty years since he heard the gospel. The first prayer he heard offered up by an Elder of Israel was commenced thus: “O thou God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, unto Thee I lift up my voice this morning.” He felt convinced that he indeed addressed the true and living God, and by his discourse he felt he was a servant of the Almighty.
Previous to this he had been a Methodist. He was baptized for the remission of sins and received the Holy Ghost. After this he sought for the gifts of the spirit. Once while alone, the Spirit of prophesy came upon him. He was tempted to think that his having that gift and exercising it while alone, was useless. On consulting Elder Lorenzo Snow upon the subject, he told him that he would yet exercise that gift publicly and repeat the same prophesy he had uttered when alone. This was fulfilled afterward, just as Brother Snow had said.
Elder Staines bore a powerful testimony to the truth of the work of God, saying he knew by revelation that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and also that the Spirit and power of God had rested upon President Young from the death of Joseph to the present time. He spoke of the great difficulties that had to be encountered and overcome by the Saints since their settlement here, and through which they had been safely led by the servants of God. He exhorted the Saints to increased faithfulness and especially the young brethren and sisters to be obedient to their parents. He said he knew that when the prophet Joseph was martyred, his mantle fell upon Brigham and had remained with him from that day to the present. He desired that the blessings of God should be upon the people.
addressed the conference. He said he had no subject but life and salvation, which he had studied for many years. It was thirty years since he heard the gospel. The first prayer he heard offered up by an Elder of Israel was commenced thus: “O thou God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, unto Thee I lift up my voice this morning.” He felt convinced that he indeed addressed the true and living God, and by his discourse he felt he was a servant of the Almighty.
Previous to this he had been a Methodist. He was baptized for the remission of sins and received the Holy Ghost. After this he sought for the gifts of the spirit. Once while alone, the Spirit of prophesy came upon him. He was tempted to think that his having that gift and exercising it while alone, was useless. On consulting Elder Lorenzo Snow upon the subject, he told him that he would yet exercise that gift publicly and repeat the same prophesy he had uttered when alone. This was fulfilled afterward, just as Brother Snow had said.
Elder Staines bore a powerful testimony to the truth of the work of God, saying he knew by revelation that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and also that the Spirit and power of God had rested upon President Young from the death of Joseph to the present time. He spoke of the great difficulties that had to be encountered and overcome by the Saints since their settlement here, and through which they had been safely led by the servants of God. He exhorted the Saints to increased faithfulness and especially the young brethren and sisters to be obedient to their parents. He said he knew that when the prophet Joseph was martyred, his mantle fell upon Brigham and had remained with him from that day to the present. He desired that the blessings of God should be upon the people.
Elder Franklin D. Richards
spoke. He said that he first heard the gospel preached by President Young in Massachusetts. It was over thirty years since he embraced that gospel. He had not long obeyed its principles until it was revealed to him, by the Holy Ghost, that he had received the truth. He had never doubted the truth from that time until now. His only object in life was to assist in building up the Kingdom of God. He alluded to the probable great influx of strangers that the opening of our mineral resources would bring here, and the mistaken notions of many with regard to the way in which we look upon such an advent. We do not look upon strangers with hostility, but otherwise. We have been expecting strangers to come here. No gentleman or lady has ever come here who has been uncourteously treated. There are, however, many who come with their minds filled with prejudice and with a determination to find fault with everything and, when they leave, they speak evil falsely against the people. The honorable, however, will tell the truth concerning us. He alluded to the war and contention in some parts of the world, showing that peace was being taken from the earth; that the spirit of peace is with the Saints and that President Young is the greatest living benefactor of the human family. He spoke of the allurements that would probably be placed before the people by the introduction of so-called civilization, and warned them against being led astray by them. We are greatly blessed in having the privilege of rearing two Temples at the present time. The Prophet Joseph said there was no greater responsibility resting upon the Saints than looking after the interests of their dead. It is time we looked after our progenitors, to whom we are indebted for our existence. It is to be hoped that tithes and offerings will flow in to help carry on this work. He spoke of those who are indebted to the P. E. fund and the necessity of their paying up and of the brethren donating of their means to gather the poor. He bore a strong testimony to the restoration of the gospel in these days.
spoke. He said that he first heard the gospel preached by President Young in Massachusetts. It was over thirty years since he embraced that gospel. He had not long obeyed its principles until it was revealed to him, by the Holy Ghost, that he had received the truth. He had never doubted the truth from that time until now. His only object in life was to assist in building up the Kingdom of God. He alluded to the probable great influx of strangers that the opening of our mineral resources would bring here, and the mistaken notions of many with regard to the way in which we look upon such an advent. We do not look upon strangers with hostility, but otherwise. We have been expecting strangers to come here. No gentleman or lady has ever come here who has been uncourteously treated. There are, however, many who come with their minds filled with prejudice and with a determination to find fault with everything and, when they leave, they speak evil falsely against the people. The honorable, however, will tell the truth concerning us. He alluded to the war and contention in some parts of the world, showing that peace was being taken from the earth; that the spirit of peace is with the Saints and that President Young is the greatest living benefactor of the human family. He spoke of the allurements that would probably be placed before the people by the introduction of so-called civilization, and warned them against being led astray by them. We are greatly blessed in having the privilege of rearing two Temples at the present time. The Prophet Joseph said there was no greater responsibility resting upon the Saints than looking after the interests of their dead. It is time we looked after our progenitors, to whom we are indebted for our existence. It is to be hoped that tithes and offerings will flow in to help carry on this work. He spoke of those who are indebted to the P. E. fund and the necessity of their paying up and of the brethren donating of their means to gather the poor. He bore a strong testimony to the restoration of the gospel in these days.
President Geo. A. Smith
addressed the conference. He said the hard labors of the Saints, such as moving the people to these valleys with insufficient outfits, building cities and settlements, &c., have hitherto operated against the extension and introduction of facilities for education. Yet, whenever a settlement has been established, a schoolhouse has been the first building erected and the means of education have spread as rapidly as circumstances will permit. In this city and at Provo, graded schools have been instituted. Government has rendered us no assistance in this direction. Let the brethren and sisters sustain these institutions by sending their children to attend them and furnish means to carry them on. It has been a great misfortune to us, he continued, that some of our school trustees have engaged teachers of irresponsible character. The greatest and best foundation for a good teacher is a sound moral character, that his or her influence with pupils may be on the side of righteousness and purity.
The choir sang: “Glory to God.”
Prayer by Elder Geo. Q. Cannon.
Adjourned till 2 p.m.
addressed the conference. He said the hard labors of the Saints, such as moving the people to these valleys with insufficient outfits, building cities and settlements, &c., have hitherto operated against the extension and introduction of facilities for education. Yet, whenever a settlement has been established, a schoolhouse has been the first building erected and the means of education have spread as rapidly as circumstances will permit. In this city and at Provo, graded schools have been instituted. Government has rendered us no assistance in this direction. Let the brethren and sisters sustain these institutions by sending their children to attend them and furnish means to carry them on. It has been a great misfortune to us, he continued, that some of our school trustees have engaged teachers of irresponsible character. The greatest and best foundation for a good teacher is a sound moral character, that his or her influence with pupils may be on the side of righteousness and purity.
The choir sang: “Glory to God.”
Prayer by Elder Geo. Q. Cannon.
Adjourned till 2 p.m.
7th, 2 p.m.
The choir sang: “The great and glorious gospel light.”
Prayer was offered by Joseph F. Smith.
The choir sang; “Author of faith, Eternal Word.”
The choir sang: “The great and glorious gospel light.”
Prayer was offered by Joseph F. Smith.
The choir sang; “Author of faith, Eternal Word.”
Elder John Taylor
addressed the assembly. He said he would take a text from the Church of England prayer Book: “As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, worlds without end.” He thought, as great improvements had taken place in literature, science, &c., that there ought to be a corresponding improvement among men in religious matters. The rapid progress in science, art, and mechanism, however, affect us only temporally. Discoveries are but the development of latent principles which have existed eternally in nature. Man, he said, was formed in the image of God; had come from and would, in due time, return to him. Elder Taylor discoursed, at considerable length on the nature and constitution of man; his relationship to the Deity; what should be his present hopes and aspirations, and what shall be his ultimate destiny. He also alluded to the eternal nature of the plans and purposes of the Almighty. This discourse was reported in full.
addressed the assembly. He said he would take a text from the Church of England prayer Book: “As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, worlds without end.” He thought, as great improvements had taken place in literature, science, &c., that there ought to be a corresponding improvement among men in religious matters. The rapid progress in science, art, and mechanism, however, affect us only temporally. Discoveries are but the development of latent principles which have existed eternally in nature. Man, he said, was formed in the image of God; had come from and would, in due time, return to him. Elder Taylor discoursed, at considerable length on the nature and constitution of man; his relationship to the Deity; what should be his present hopes and aspirations, and what shall be his ultimate destiny. He also alluded to the eternal nature of the plans and purposes of the Almighty. This discourse was reported in full.
Elder Joseph F. Smith
briefly addressed the Conference. He said that all Latter-day Saints should devote themselves exclusively to building up the kingdom of God. However assiduously we may work to that end, the fruits of our labors are with the Lord. We have, he said, been able to accomplish what has already been done by His blessings. Our enemies, have, at various times, endeavored to overthrow us. Their operations against us have invariably been overruled for our benefit. As this has been the case in the past, so will it ever be in the future. He alluded to the sending of the army here in 1857-8; the object of those who were instrumental in having it sent, and the benefits to the Saints accruing therefrom. He referred to the magnitude of the work that lies before the people of God, and exhorted the Saints to cast aside every evil habit, and practice the holy and ennobling principles of life and salvation.
The choir sang: “Praise Him.”
Prayer by Elder Orson Pratt.
Adjourned till 10 a. m., to-morrow.
briefly addressed the Conference. He said that all Latter-day Saints should devote themselves exclusively to building up the kingdom of God. However assiduously we may work to that end, the fruits of our labors are with the Lord. We have, he said, been able to accomplish what has already been done by His blessings. Our enemies, have, at various times, endeavored to overthrow us. Their operations against us have invariably been overruled for our benefit. As this has been the case in the past, so will it ever be in the future. He alluded to the sending of the army here in 1857-8; the object of those who were instrumental in having it sent, and the benefits to the Saints accruing therefrom. He referred to the magnitude of the work that lies before the people of God, and exhorted the Saints to cast aside every evil habit, and practice the holy and ennobling principles of life and salvation.
The choir sang: “Praise Him.”
Prayer by Elder Orson Pratt.
Adjourned till 10 a. m., to-morrow.
According to appointment,
a meeting of the priesthood was held in the old Tabernacle, last night, commencing at 7 o’clock, at which many valuable instructions were given, principally with regard to the necessity and best method of carrying on the work of building the Temple in this city. Elders Geo. Q. Cannon, and Orson Hyde, and Presidents Daniel H. Wells and Brigham Young were the speakers.
a meeting of the priesthood was held in the old Tabernacle, last night, commencing at 7 o’clock, at which many valuable instructions were given, principally with regard to the necessity and best method of carrying on the work of building the Temple in this city. Elders Geo. Q. Cannon, and Orson Hyde, and Presidents Daniel H. Wells and Brigham Young were the speakers.
Saturday, 8th, 10 a. m.
The choir sang: “An angel from on high.”
Prayer by Elder Orson Pratt.
The choir sang: “Ye wondering nations, now give ear.”
The choir sang: “An angel from on high.”
Prayer by Elder Orson Pratt.
The choir sang: “Ye wondering nations, now give ear.”
Elder George Q. Cannon
addressed the assembly. He read a portion of the 17th chapter of the first book of Chronicles, commencing at the third verse. After which he delivered a highly instructive discourse upon the subject of rearing Temples to God. He alluded to the desire which David of old had to erect such an edifice and the reason the Lord had not permitted him to do so, and why that important labor was transferred to Solomon. No people, he said, excepting the Latter-day Saints, now design to build an house unto the Most High God, upon which His glory might rest and in which His power could be manifested and the ordinances of the everlasting gospel attended to. He spoke of the Temples that were built in the places from which the Saints had been driven by persecution, and the blessings and endowments that were received therein, and which can only be bestowed and conferred in a house built and dedicated for the purpose.
The servants of God, he said, are very desirous that the Temple in this city should be pushed to completion. If the people would faithfully pay their tithes, there would be no difficulty in accomplishing this. There has been much negligence on the part of many in this matter. There was, however, a chance now to make up for past negligence. He showed that additional power would be bestowed on the Elders of Israel if the Temple were finished. This has been illustrated in the past by the power received through the ministrations in the Temples already built by the Saints.
To the keys, powers, &c., thus received could be attributed the miraculous intervention of God’s power in our behalf when we were hemmed in by dangers on every side, and there seemed to be no means of escape. If it must be fulfilled that “the tabernacle of God shall be with men,” and that God will suddenly come to His Temple, we must build that Temple, that He may visit it.
He showed the eternal nature of the ordinances of the House of God and their absolute necessity in binding the human family together in all the relationships of life and in joining the connecting link between the living and the dead. He gave numerous and conclusive reasons why the Saints should prosecute with energy the work of completing the Temple.
addressed the assembly. He read a portion of the 17th chapter of the first book of Chronicles, commencing at the third verse. After which he delivered a highly instructive discourse upon the subject of rearing Temples to God. He alluded to the desire which David of old had to erect such an edifice and the reason the Lord had not permitted him to do so, and why that important labor was transferred to Solomon. No people, he said, excepting the Latter-day Saints, now design to build an house unto the Most High God, upon which His glory might rest and in which His power could be manifested and the ordinances of the everlasting gospel attended to. He spoke of the Temples that were built in the places from which the Saints had been driven by persecution, and the blessings and endowments that were received therein, and which can only be bestowed and conferred in a house built and dedicated for the purpose.
The servants of God, he said, are very desirous that the Temple in this city should be pushed to completion. If the people would faithfully pay their tithes, there would be no difficulty in accomplishing this. There has been much negligence on the part of many in this matter. There was, however, a chance now to make up for past negligence. He showed that additional power would be bestowed on the Elders of Israel if the Temple were finished. This has been illustrated in the past by the power received through the ministrations in the Temples already built by the Saints.
To the keys, powers, &c., thus received could be attributed the miraculous intervention of God’s power in our behalf when we were hemmed in by dangers on every side, and there seemed to be no means of escape. If it must be fulfilled that “the tabernacle of God shall be with men,” and that God will suddenly come to His Temple, we must build that Temple, that He may visit it.
He showed the eternal nature of the ordinances of the House of God and their absolute necessity in binding the human family together in all the relationships of life and in joining the connecting link between the living and the dead. He gave numerous and conclusive reasons why the Saints should prosecute with energy the work of completing the Temple.
The Building of Temples—The Keys of the Apostleship
Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 8, 1871.
Reported by David W. Evans.
I will read a portion of Scripture which is found in the 17th chapter of the First Book of Chronicles, commencing at the 3rd verse--
“And it came to pass the same night, that the word of God came to Nathan, saying,
“Go and tell David my servant, Thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in:
“For I have not dwelt in an house since the day that I brought up Israel until this day; but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another.
“Wheresoever I have walked with all Israel, spake I a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people, saying, Why have ye not built me an house of cedars?
“Now therefore thus shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, even from following the sheep, that thou shouldest be ruler over my people Israel:
“And I have been with thee whithersoever thou hast walked, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee, and have made thee a name like the name of the great men that are in the earth.
“Also I will ordain a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place, and shall be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the beginning,
“And since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. Moreover I will subdue all thine enemies. Furthermore I tell thee that the Lord will build thee an house.
“And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will stablish his kingdom.
“He shall build me an house, and I will stablish his throne forever.
“I will be his father, and he shall be my son: and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee:
“But I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom forever: and his throne shall be established for evermore.
“According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.”
There is one point, brethren and sisters, in the passages I have just read in your hearing, to which I wish to call your attention—namely, the pleasure that was evinced by the Lord at the disposition which David manifested—a disposition which none of his predecessors, apparently, had exhibited, to build unto the Lord of hosts a house, a temple, a place upon and within which his glory could rest. So pleased appeared the Lord to be with this disposition of David that he promised him that he would establish his dynasty, that his son should reign after him, and that this son should be the instrument in his hands of building a glorious temple unto his name. The reasons are given in other portions of Scripture why the Lord did not accept this offering on the part of David. The Lord, in one place, alludes to his life, saying that he had been a man of war and blood; that he had gone forth and fought his enemies, and because of this the Lord was not disposed to accept his offer, but he promised David that he would raise up a son after him who should be a man of peace—a man free from war and blood, and that during his lifetime his temple should be reared; and, according to the prediction of the Lord God, through Nathan the Prophet, Solomon was raised up and did accomplish the work which his father David had desired to do, and he did rear a temple unto the name of the Lord upon and within which his glory rested and was manifested; and the blessing of God rested upon Solomon so long as he continued to serve with a perfect heart the Lord God of his fathers. Israel was also greatly blessed and prospered in rearing that house; and though Solomon, in his prayer, when dedicating it, said how was it possible that God could take up his residence upon earth, when the heavens, and the heaven of heavens could not contain him, still God did condescend to manifest his glory in that house to such an extent that the priests could not endure it; and the blessings of God rested visibly, in the presence of the people, upon that house, and they knew that he had accepted their labors and the dedication of their means for the erection of a house to his name.
This labor appeals to us in a very peculiar manner. There is no people or community on the face of the earth today, except the Latter-day Saints, who think of rearing unto the Lord of Hosts a temple upon the same principle and for the same objects and ends that the temple was reared in Jerusalem. Already we have completed two temples, and laid the foundation of five. The Saints are all familiar with the history of the building of the temple of Kirtland, whether they were there personally or not; they are also familiar with the blessed results which followed its erection. They know that God did manifest himself to his servants and people in a very peculiar manner, and poured out upon them great and precious blessings; many ordinances which had been lost to man, or of which he scarcely knew anything, and for the administration of which there had been no authority upon the earth for generations, were restored, and men and women received ordinances, promises and blessings which comforted their hearts and encouraged them in the work of God. And not only were these ordinances administered, but additional authority was bestowed upon the prophet of God who stood at the head of this dispensation. And so also the completion of the temple at Nauvoo brought many blessings; that is, so far as it was completed, for the enemies of God's kingdom did not permit us to complete it entirely; but so far as it was completed God accepted the labor of the hands of his servants and people, and great and precious blessings were bestowed upon the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the faithfulness and diligence of its members in rearing that house.
I have often thought of the shortness of the period, after the death of Joseph, which was continued in building that house. He died, as you well know, or was murdered, on the 27th of June, 1844. Before 1845 had passed away, the Saints were receiving their endowments in that house. The walls were completed, it was roofed, the spire finished, and the upper story so far completed that the Elders could go in and administer in the ordinances of God's house—the sealings, washings and anointings, and in the performance of those ceremonies and ordinances which were necessary for our growth, increase and perfection as a people; and when it is recollected that all this was done in a very short period over one year, it bears testimony to the zeal of the Saints and the mighty exertions they made to fulfil the word of God and the requirements He made of us as a people, that we and our dead might not be rejected. But we were not permitted to enjoy that house, we were not permitted to continue receiving blessings there; the enemies of God's kingdom were upon us, and we were compelled to abandon it and our homes, and it fell a sacrifice to the wickedness of the wicked and it was burned with fire—probably a better fate than to have it stand and be defiled by the wicked.
We have now to commence again the erection of another temple. For many years the foundation of one on this block has been laid, and the Saints have labored upon it to some extent; but it has not been pushed forward with very great rapidity. There have been reasons for this—good and weighty reasons. It is desirable when we build another temple that it should not fall into the hands of the wicked, as those we have already built have done; but that it should stand as an enduring monument of the faith, zeal and perseverance of the Latter-day Saints, in which the ordinances of God's house and kingdom may be administered through all coming time. There seems to be a spirit now resting upon the servants of God to push this house forward to its completion; and I doubt not that this spirit will be received and cherished by the Saints throughout Utah Territory, and throughout the world. Judging by my own feelings on this subject and by the expressions of those who have alluded to it, I confidently believe that a spirit is resting upon the people to receive the counsel that is given concerning it, and to carry forward the work to a speedy completion.
There are many reasons why we should do it. It is true that God, in his mercy, has permitted us to build another house, which we call the Endowment House, and in which we have received many ordinances and blessings; but there are several which cannot be attended to in the Endowment House; they must be postponed until a temple is completed, in which the Elders and men of God who bear the Holy Priesthood, can go and administer the things of God, and have them accepted by him. This, of itself, is sufficient to stir us up, as a people, to exceeding great diligence in pushing forward this work.
When David announced his intention to prepare the means for the building of the house that should be erected by his son Solomon, he accumulated everything that could be prepared beforehand, so that when Solomon should come to the throne after his decease, he might be full-handed and have abundance wherewith to commence the labor of building. To accomplish this, David called upon Israel to come forward and exert themselves, and they did so, so we are told, and had exceeding great joy in contributing of their means for the erection of that building. Of course there is no objection to the Latter-day Saints doing the same; still, that requirement is not made of us at the present time. All that we are required to do is to obey the law that God has given unto us, that is, to pay our tithing. It has been said, and I do not doubt the correctness of the statement, in fact, I may say I am fully aware and conscious of it, that if this people would pay one-tenth of their tithing this temple could be pushed forward to completion very speedily. As a people we have been very negligent in paying our tithing; there are doubtless many exceptions, but as a rule we have not complied with that law with the strictness which we should have done. Now, however, there is an opportunity for us to compensate for our shortcomings in the past, and to go to with zeal and energy to rear this house, so that there may be a temple of God in our midst in which ordinances can be administered for the living and for the dead. I fully believe that when that temple is once finished, there will be a power and manifestations of the goodness of God unto this people such as they have never before experienced. Every work of this kind that we have accomplished has been attended with increased and wonderful results unto us as a people—an increase of power and of God's blessings upon us. It was so in Kirtland and at Nauvoo; at both places the Elders had an increase of power, and the Saints, since the completion of, and the administration of ordinances in, those buildings have had a power they never possessed previously.
If any proof of this is needed let us reflect upon the wonderful deliverances that God has wrought out for us since we left Illinois. Up to that period or up to the time that the temple was partly finished and the blessings of God bestowed within its walls, our enemies to a very great extent had triumphed over us. We had been driven from place to place; compelled to flee from one town, county and State to another; but how great the change since then! We started out a poor, friendless people, with nothing but God's blessing upon us, his power overshadowing us and his guidance to lead us in the wilderness; and from the day that we crossed the Mississippi River until this day—the 8th of April, 1871—we have had continued success and triumphs. God has signally delivered us from the hands of our enemies, and when it has seemed as though we would be overwhelmed, as though no earthly power could succor or deliver us from the hands of those who sought our overthrow, God has done for us as he did for his ancient covenant people, when he caused the waters of the Red Sea to separate, that they might pass through and escape the destruction their enemies threatened. So have we been in as remarkable a manner delivered from, apparently, overwhelming difficulty and danger.
Whence, I ask, my brethren and sisters, has this power come? Whence has it been derived? I attribute it to the blessings and the power and the authority and the keys which God gave unto his Saints, and which he commenced to give in the Temple at Nauvoo. The Elders of Israel there received keys, endowments and authority which they have not failed to exercise in times of extremity and danger; and clouds have been scattered and storms blown over, and peace and guidance, and all the blessings which have been desired have been bestowed upon the people, according to the faith that has been exercised. Others may attribute these things to other causes; but I attribute them to this, and I feel to give God the glory; and I trace these deliverances to the power that the Elders received in that temple and previously. I fully believe also, as I have said, that when this and other temples are completed, there will be an increase of power bestowed upon the people of God, and that they will, thereby, be better fitted to go forth and cope with the powers of darkness and with the evils that exist in the world and to establish the Zion of God never more to be thrown down.
I know that there is a feeling in the breasts of many people that this sort of thing is fanaticism. This is characteristic of the age of unbelief in which we live. God, in the minds of this generation, is removed far from them. He dwells at an illimitable distance from man, and is not supposed to interfere with his affairs. Man, they think, is left to work out deliverance and salvation according to his own wisdom; and there are a great many people, and it may be said, a great many nations, who do not believe that God interferes at all with matters on the earth. They think of and speak about him; but it is mere form and tradition with them; very few believe that he interferes directly with the affairs of men. Of course when such a belief is prevalent, or rather when such unbelief prevails, the idea of building a temple or temples to the Most High God, in which ordinances shall be performed for the living and the dead, strikes the people as something strange and fanatical. But, let me ask, what was the object of building a temple in the days of Solomon? What was the object of rebuilding it after its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar? Why was it that Ezra and the Jews who were with him in Babylonish captivity were strengthened to go forth to rebuild the temple of God at Jerusalem? We read in the Scriptures that God's blessing rested upon them. Their enemies, it is true, harassed them and did all in their power to check their labors, but nevertheless they were exceedingly blessed, and God accepted their work and bestowed choice and peculiar blessings upon them.
When Jesus came the temple still stood in Jerusalem, but it had become defiled. He was so angered on one occasion on this account that he took a scourge of cords and beat out the money changers and others who had defiled it, and upset their tables, and in this visible manner showed his anger at the defilement of his Father's house.
We read in the revelations that the time will come when the tabernacle of God will be with men on the earth. How shall we, as men and women, prepare for this? One of the prophets says, “And the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple,” showing that there will be, at some period or other, a temple or temples built on the earth to which God will come.
I have often thought, in reflecting on this subject, how careless mankind are in relation to the future. We are born on the earth, where family relationships that are most desirable are formed. Parents have their children whom they love beyond expression. These children grow up and form associations in life and raise families, and these relationships are the most tender known to the human heart. There is nothing so much calculated to make life desirable as the relation of parents to children and children to parents, husbands to wives and wives to husbands; and many a man when he loses his partner, loses all the hope that he has; his heart sinks within him, and he feels as if life was undesirable; and instances are not rare of men, through grief on this account, having their lives shortened. And so with the other sex; sometimes through the loss of a husband, a woman's heart will break and she goes down to an early grave. And yet, in the midst of the world where all these tender ties and emotions exist there is no preparation for their perpetuation. The people do not believe that they exist beyond the grave. Imagine, if you can, a state of things where all these relationships are utterly destroyed and all mingle in one common herd! This is the kind of heaven that many people believe they are going to. I have heard ministers say, “O, I will not know any relationship between myself and my wife hereafter; she, then, will be no nearer to me than any other woman, nor I to her than any other man; our children will be no nearer to us than any other children, and we will live in this condition throughout the endless ages of eternity.” This is a dreary prospect for any human being who has the affection of a husband, wife, parent, or child—a dreary prospect for that endless eternity to which we are all hastening.
But God, in ancient days, gave certain authority unto one of his Apostles—namely, Peter. He gave to him authority to bind on earth, and it should be bound in heaven; to loose on earth and it should be loosed in heaven. Where is this authority now? Shall we go to the Roman Catholic Church to find it? If it be there, it is not exercised. Shall we go to the Episcopal Church to find it? If it be there, they fail to proclaim it. Where shall we go to find a man who has authority to bind on earth and it is bound in heaven, as Jesus told Peter? Where shall we find a man whose acts will be thus recognized of God, and whose performances or solemnizations are confirmed by the heavens themselves? You travel throughout all the earth and mingle with the various sects who claim to be the descendants of the Apostles, and you will look in vain for any claims to such authority. But come among the Latter-day Saints, who claim to be the original Church restored to the earth again, who claim to have the authority of the Apostleship—the same Apostleship that was exercised by Peter, James, John and the other Apostles, and you will find the authority to bind and loose on earth and it will be bound or loosed in heaven, claimed and exercised in their midst. It is claimed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that God has restored the keys of the Apostleship; that he has restored the authority by which the ordinances shall be performed on the earth that will bind man to woman, woman to man, children to parents and parents to children, so that these relationships which are so acceptable in the sight of God may not only exist for time, but may be perpetuated throughout the endless ages of eternity.
This is the claim the Latter-day Saints make, and it is the authority they exercise. To claim the Apostleship and authority without claiming and exercising its functions would be altogether contrary to the spirit and power of that office and authority when it was upon the earth in ancient days; therefore we wish to rear temples and administer ordinances, looking, as we do, upon this life as a state of probation in which we may gain experience and prepare ourselves for higher exaltation and a greater degree of felicity in the world to come.
We build temples and we administer and submit to ordinances and perform those things within them which will prepare us to dwell eternally with our God, with Jesus and the Apostles in the heavens. There each man will have his family and kingdom. It is said that God is Lord of lords and King of kings; but how can he be King of kings unless there be kings under him to give him homage and pay respect unto him and acknowledge him as their Lord and their King? When God led forth Abraham and told him that as the stars of the firmament were innumerable so should his seed be, he proclaimed to him the greatness of his kingdom in eternity. He told Abraham that he should be a king over this innumerable host; for if Abraham were not to be king over them, of what use or glory would his posterity be to him? When God pointed Abraham to the sand on the seashore and told him that as it was countless so should his seed be, he told him in accents that could not be mistaken of the future glory of his eternal kingdom. And if all mankind attained to the same promises as Abraham, they also would have an innumerable posterity to reign over. As the prophet says concerning our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, “To the increase of his kingdom there shall be no end.” It shall go on increasing with every cycle of eternity, as long as time endures. There shall be no end to the increase of his kingdom. His glory consisted of this; and the glory of God consists in the number of his posterity; and as generation succeeds generation, until the earth is filled and glorified, other worlds will be rolled into existence, upon which the posterity of God, our heavenly Father, shall increase throughout the endless ages of eternity.
As it was said to Abraham and Jesus, so it will be said to the faithful sons and daughters of God; hence the Latter-day Saints believe in the eternal nature of the marriage relation. When we marry, there is a power here to bind on earth and it is bound in heaven. Men and women are married to each other for time and for all eternity; not as it is in the world, “until death shall them part;” but that tie shall be as enduring as eternity itself, and there shall never be a time when it shall be dissolved; and to their increase there shall be no end, for this is the glory of God, and this is the blessing of God upon his faithful children. The godlike power has been given us here on the earth to bear and perpetuate our own species; and shall this power, which brings so much joy, peace and happiness, be confined and limited to this short life? It is folly to talk about such a thing; common sense teaches us better. It teaches that we have been organized, not for time alone; that we have been endowed as we are, in the image of God, not for thirty, forty, fifty, seventy or a hundred years, but as eternal beings, exercising our endowments and functions for all eternity, if we live faithful or take a course that God approves. Therefore, there is great sense, beauty and godliness in the idea that God taught Abraham with respect to his posterity becoming as numerous as the stars of the firmament.
The Latter-day Saints live for this. We look upon this life as a very short period of time. We have suffered and are likely to suffer as the Saints of God did anciently; and this life is a state of probation—a short period filled with sorrow. Difficulties, thorns, briars, brambles, and obstacles of various kinds beset our pathway; but, as was said yesterday, we look forward to a heavenly city, whose builder and maker is God. We look forward to the time when this earth will be redeemed from corruption and cleansed by fire; when there shall be a new heaven and a new earth, and when the Saints shall possess their native inheritance purified from sin, redeemed from corruption, with the power of Satan curtailed, and when we shall be able to increase and multiply and fill this earth, go to other earths and carry on the work of emigration through the endless ages of eternity.
This is a little of the heaven that the Latter-day Saints look forward to. It is not a heaven where all distinctions are abolished—where parents and children are mingled with the common mass, where wives and husbands are undistinguishable; but where all these ties exist and are preserved and perpetuated, and man goes forward on that heavenly career which God, his Heavenly Father, has assigned to him, and which he designs that all his faithful children shall walk in. These are some of the reasons why we want a temple built. There are innumerable reasons why we should go to with our might and rush forward this work. Let us push it to its completion as speedily as may be required, and God will bless us; he will make our feet fast in these valleys; he will give us increase and make of us a mighty nation. Already he has set his seal upon us; already he has given us the glorious privilege of bearing his name. Let us rear a house upon which his glory shall rest, and that shall be called by his name. This is required at our hands; and that God may help us to accomplish it, and keep us faithful to the end, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Discourse by Elder George Q. Cannon, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 8, 1871.
Reported by David W. Evans.
I will read a portion of Scripture which is found in the 17th chapter of the First Book of Chronicles, commencing at the 3rd verse--
“And it came to pass the same night, that the word of God came to Nathan, saying,
“Go and tell David my servant, Thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in:
“For I have not dwelt in an house since the day that I brought up Israel until this day; but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another.
“Wheresoever I have walked with all Israel, spake I a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people, saying, Why have ye not built me an house of cedars?
“Now therefore thus shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, even from following the sheep, that thou shouldest be ruler over my people Israel:
“And I have been with thee whithersoever thou hast walked, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee, and have made thee a name like the name of the great men that are in the earth.
“Also I will ordain a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place, and shall be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the beginning,
“And since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. Moreover I will subdue all thine enemies. Furthermore I tell thee that the Lord will build thee an house.
“And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will stablish his kingdom.
“He shall build me an house, and I will stablish his throne forever.
“I will be his father, and he shall be my son: and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee:
“But I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom forever: and his throne shall be established for evermore.
“According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.”
There is one point, brethren and sisters, in the passages I have just read in your hearing, to which I wish to call your attention—namely, the pleasure that was evinced by the Lord at the disposition which David manifested—a disposition which none of his predecessors, apparently, had exhibited, to build unto the Lord of hosts a house, a temple, a place upon and within which his glory could rest. So pleased appeared the Lord to be with this disposition of David that he promised him that he would establish his dynasty, that his son should reign after him, and that this son should be the instrument in his hands of building a glorious temple unto his name. The reasons are given in other portions of Scripture why the Lord did not accept this offering on the part of David. The Lord, in one place, alludes to his life, saying that he had been a man of war and blood; that he had gone forth and fought his enemies, and because of this the Lord was not disposed to accept his offer, but he promised David that he would raise up a son after him who should be a man of peace—a man free from war and blood, and that during his lifetime his temple should be reared; and, according to the prediction of the Lord God, through Nathan the Prophet, Solomon was raised up and did accomplish the work which his father David had desired to do, and he did rear a temple unto the name of the Lord upon and within which his glory rested and was manifested; and the blessing of God rested upon Solomon so long as he continued to serve with a perfect heart the Lord God of his fathers. Israel was also greatly blessed and prospered in rearing that house; and though Solomon, in his prayer, when dedicating it, said how was it possible that God could take up his residence upon earth, when the heavens, and the heaven of heavens could not contain him, still God did condescend to manifest his glory in that house to such an extent that the priests could not endure it; and the blessings of God rested visibly, in the presence of the people, upon that house, and they knew that he had accepted their labors and the dedication of their means for the erection of a house to his name.
This labor appeals to us in a very peculiar manner. There is no people or community on the face of the earth today, except the Latter-day Saints, who think of rearing unto the Lord of Hosts a temple upon the same principle and for the same objects and ends that the temple was reared in Jerusalem. Already we have completed two temples, and laid the foundation of five. The Saints are all familiar with the history of the building of the temple of Kirtland, whether they were there personally or not; they are also familiar with the blessed results which followed its erection. They know that God did manifest himself to his servants and people in a very peculiar manner, and poured out upon them great and precious blessings; many ordinances which had been lost to man, or of which he scarcely knew anything, and for the administration of which there had been no authority upon the earth for generations, were restored, and men and women received ordinances, promises and blessings which comforted their hearts and encouraged them in the work of God. And not only were these ordinances administered, but additional authority was bestowed upon the prophet of God who stood at the head of this dispensation. And so also the completion of the temple at Nauvoo brought many blessings; that is, so far as it was completed, for the enemies of God's kingdom did not permit us to complete it entirely; but so far as it was completed God accepted the labor of the hands of his servants and people, and great and precious blessings were bestowed upon the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the faithfulness and diligence of its members in rearing that house.
I have often thought of the shortness of the period, after the death of Joseph, which was continued in building that house. He died, as you well know, or was murdered, on the 27th of June, 1844. Before 1845 had passed away, the Saints were receiving their endowments in that house. The walls were completed, it was roofed, the spire finished, and the upper story so far completed that the Elders could go in and administer in the ordinances of God's house—the sealings, washings and anointings, and in the performance of those ceremonies and ordinances which were necessary for our growth, increase and perfection as a people; and when it is recollected that all this was done in a very short period over one year, it bears testimony to the zeal of the Saints and the mighty exertions they made to fulfil the word of God and the requirements He made of us as a people, that we and our dead might not be rejected. But we were not permitted to enjoy that house, we were not permitted to continue receiving blessings there; the enemies of God's kingdom were upon us, and we were compelled to abandon it and our homes, and it fell a sacrifice to the wickedness of the wicked and it was burned with fire—probably a better fate than to have it stand and be defiled by the wicked.
We have now to commence again the erection of another temple. For many years the foundation of one on this block has been laid, and the Saints have labored upon it to some extent; but it has not been pushed forward with very great rapidity. There have been reasons for this—good and weighty reasons. It is desirable when we build another temple that it should not fall into the hands of the wicked, as those we have already built have done; but that it should stand as an enduring monument of the faith, zeal and perseverance of the Latter-day Saints, in which the ordinances of God's house and kingdom may be administered through all coming time. There seems to be a spirit now resting upon the servants of God to push this house forward to its completion; and I doubt not that this spirit will be received and cherished by the Saints throughout Utah Territory, and throughout the world. Judging by my own feelings on this subject and by the expressions of those who have alluded to it, I confidently believe that a spirit is resting upon the people to receive the counsel that is given concerning it, and to carry forward the work to a speedy completion.
There are many reasons why we should do it. It is true that God, in his mercy, has permitted us to build another house, which we call the Endowment House, and in which we have received many ordinances and blessings; but there are several which cannot be attended to in the Endowment House; they must be postponed until a temple is completed, in which the Elders and men of God who bear the Holy Priesthood, can go and administer the things of God, and have them accepted by him. This, of itself, is sufficient to stir us up, as a people, to exceeding great diligence in pushing forward this work.
When David announced his intention to prepare the means for the building of the house that should be erected by his son Solomon, he accumulated everything that could be prepared beforehand, so that when Solomon should come to the throne after his decease, he might be full-handed and have abundance wherewith to commence the labor of building. To accomplish this, David called upon Israel to come forward and exert themselves, and they did so, so we are told, and had exceeding great joy in contributing of their means for the erection of that building. Of course there is no objection to the Latter-day Saints doing the same; still, that requirement is not made of us at the present time. All that we are required to do is to obey the law that God has given unto us, that is, to pay our tithing. It has been said, and I do not doubt the correctness of the statement, in fact, I may say I am fully aware and conscious of it, that if this people would pay one-tenth of their tithing this temple could be pushed forward to completion very speedily. As a people we have been very negligent in paying our tithing; there are doubtless many exceptions, but as a rule we have not complied with that law with the strictness which we should have done. Now, however, there is an opportunity for us to compensate for our shortcomings in the past, and to go to with zeal and energy to rear this house, so that there may be a temple of God in our midst in which ordinances can be administered for the living and for the dead. I fully believe that when that temple is once finished, there will be a power and manifestations of the goodness of God unto this people such as they have never before experienced. Every work of this kind that we have accomplished has been attended with increased and wonderful results unto us as a people—an increase of power and of God's blessings upon us. It was so in Kirtland and at Nauvoo; at both places the Elders had an increase of power, and the Saints, since the completion of, and the administration of ordinances in, those buildings have had a power they never possessed previously.
If any proof of this is needed let us reflect upon the wonderful deliverances that God has wrought out for us since we left Illinois. Up to that period or up to the time that the temple was partly finished and the blessings of God bestowed within its walls, our enemies to a very great extent had triumphed over us. We had been driven from place to place; compelled to flee from one town, county and State to another; but how great the change since then! We started out a poor, friendless people, with nothing but God's blessing upon us, his power overshadowing us and his guidance to lead us in the wilderness; and from the day that we crossed the Mississippi River until this day—the 8th of April, 1871—we have had continued success and triumphs. God has signally delivered us from the hands of our enemies, and when it has seemed as though we would be overwhelmed, as though no earthly power could succor or deliver us from the hands of those who sought our overthrow, God has done for us as he did for his ancient covenant people, when he caused the waters of the Red Sea to separate, that they might pass through and escape the destruction their enemies threatened. So have we been in as remarkable a manner delivered from, apparently, overwhelming difficulty and danger.
Whence, I ask, my brethren and sisters, has this power come? Whence has it been derived? I attribute it to the blessings and the power and the authority and the keys which God gave unto his Saints, and which he commenced to give in the Temple at Nauvoo. The Elders of Israel there received keys, endowments and authority which they have not failed to exercise in times of extremity and danger; and clouds have been scattered and storms blown over, and peace and guidance, and all the blessings which have been desired have been bestowed upon the people, according to the faith that has been exercised. Others may attribute these things to other causes; but I attribute them to this, and I feel to give God the glory; and I trace these deliverances to the power that the Elders received in that temple and previously. I fully believe also, as I have said, that when this and other temples are completed, there will be an increase of power bestowed upon the people of God, and that they will, thereby, be better fitted to go forth and cope with the powers of darkness and with the evils that exist in the world and to establish the Zion of God never more to be thrown down.
I know that there is a feeling in the breasts of many people that this sort of thing is fanaticism. This is characteristic of the age of unbelief in which we live. God, in the minds of this generation, is removed far from them. He dwells at an illimitable distance from man, and is not supposed to interfere with his affairs. Man, they think, is left to work out deliverance and salvation according to his own wisdom; and there are a great many people, and it may be said, a great many nations, who do not believe that God interferes at all with matters on the earth. They think of and speak about him; but it is mere form and tradition with them; very few believe that he interferes directly with the affairs of men. Of course when such a belief is prevalent, or rather when such unbelief prevails, the idea of building a temple or temples to the Most High God, in which ordinances shall be performed for the living and the dead, strikes the people as something strange and fanatical. But, let me ask, what was the object of building a temple in the days of Solomon? What was the object of rebuilding it after its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar? Why was it that Ezra and the Jews who were with him in Babylonish captivity were strengthened to go forth to rebuild the temple of God at Jerusalem? We read in the Scriptures that God's blessing rested upon them. Their enemies, it is true, harassed them and did all in their power to check their labors, but nevertheless they were exceedingly blessed, and God accepted their work and bestowed choice and peculiar blessings upon them.
When Jesus came the temple still stood in Jerusalem, but it had become defiled. He was so angered on one occasion on this account that he took a scourge of cords and beat out the money changers and others who had defiled it, and upset their tables, and in this visible manner showed his anger at the defilement of his Father's house.
We read in the revelations that the time will come when the tabernacle of God will be with men on the earth. How shall we, as men and women, prepare for this? One of the prophets says, “And the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple,” showing that there will be, at some period or other, a temple or temples built on the earth to which God will come.
I have often thought, in reflecting on this subject, how careless mankind are in relation to the future. We are born on the earth, where family relationships that are most desirable are formed. Parents have their children whom they love beyond expression. These children grow up and form associations in life and raise families, and these relationships are the most tender known to the human heart. There is nothing so much calculated to make life desirable as the relation of parents to children and children to parents, husbands to wives and wives to husbands; and many a man when he loses his partner, loses all the hope that he has; his heart sinks within him, and he feels as if life was undesirable; and instances are not rare of men, through grief on this account, having their lives shortened. And so with the other sex; sometimes through the loss of a husband, a woman's heart will break and she goes down to an early grave. And yet, in the midst of the world where all these tender ties and emotions exist there is no preparation for their perpetuation. The people do not believe that they exist beyond the grave. Imagine, if you can, a state of things where all these relationships are utterly destroyed and all mingle in one common herd! This is the kind of heaven that many people believe they are going to. I have heard ministers say, “O, I will not know any relationship between myself and my wife hereafter; she, then, will be no nearer to me than any other woman, nor I to her than any other man; our children will be no nearer to us than any other children, and we will live in this condition throughout the endless ages of eternity.” This is a dreary prospect for any human being who has the affection of a husband, wife, parent, or child—a dreary prospect for that endless eternity to which we are all hastening.
But God, in ancient days, gave certain authority unto one of his Apostles—namely, Peter. He gave to him authority to bind on earth, and it should be bound in heaven; to loose on earth and it should be loosed in heaven. Where is this authority now? Shall we go to the Roman Catholic Church to find it? If it be there, it is not exercised. Shall we go to the Episcopal Church to find it? If it be there, they fail to proclaim it. Where shall we go to find a man who has authority to bind on earth and it is bound in heaven, as Jesus told Peter? Where shall we find a man whose acts will be thus recognized of God, and whose performances or solemnizations are confirmed by the heavens themselves? You travel throughout all the earth and mingle with the various sects who claim to be the descendants of the Apostles, and you will look in vain for any claims to such authority. But come among the Latter-day Saints, who claim to be the original Church restored to the earth again, who claim to have the authority of the Apostleship—the same Apostleship that was exercised by Peter, James, John and the other Apostles, and you will find the authority to bind and loose on earth and it will be bound or loosed in heaven, claimed and exercised in their midst. It is claimed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that God has restored the keys of the Apostleship; that he has restored the authority by which the ordinances shall be performed on the earth that will bind man to woman, woman to man, children to parents and parents to children, so that these relationships which are so acceptable in the sight of God may not only exist for time, but may be perpetuated throughout the endless ages of eternity.
This is the claim the Latter-day Saints make, and it is the authority they exercise. To claim the Apostleship and authority without claiming and exercising its functions would be altogether contrary to the spirit and power of that office and authority when it was upon the earth in ancient days; therefore we wish to rear temples and administer ordinances, looking, as we do, upon this life as a state of probation in which we may gain experience and prepare ourselves for higher exaltation and a greater degree of felicity in the world to come.
We build temples and we administer and submit to ordinances and perform those things within them which will prepare us to dwell eternally with our God, with Jesus and the Apostles in the heavens. There each man will have his family and kingdom. It is said that God is Lord of lords and King of kings; but how can he be King of kings unless there be kings under him to give him homage and pay respect unto him and acknowledge him as their Lord and their King? When God led forth Abraham and told him that as the stars of the firmament were innumerable so should his seed be, he proclaimed to him the greatness of his kingdom in eternity. He told Abraham that he should be a king over this innumerable host; for if Abraham were not to be king over them, of what use or glory would his posterity be to him? When God pointed Abraham to the sand on the seashore and told him that as it was countless so should his seed be, he told him in accents that could not be mistaken of the future glory of his eternal kingdom. And if all mankind attained to the same promises as Abraham, they also would have an innumerable posterity to reign over. As the prophet says concerning our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, “To the increase of his kingdom there shall be no end.” It shall go on increasing with every cycle of eternity, as long as time endures. There shall be no end to the increase of his kingdom. His glory consisted of this; and the glory of God consists in the number of his posterity; and as generation succeeds generation, until the earth is filled and glorified, other worlds will be rolled into existence, upon which the posterity of God, our heavenly Father, shall increase throughout the endless ages of eternity.
As it was said to Abraham and Jesus, so it will be said to the faithful sons and daughters of God; hence the Latter-day Saints believe in the eternal nature of the marriage relation. When we marry, there is a power here to bind on earth and it is bound in heaven. Men and women are married to each other for time and for all eternity; not as it is in the world, “until death shall them part;” but that tie shall be as enduring as eternity itself, and there shall never be a time when it shall be dissolved; and to their increase there shall be no end, for this is the glory of God, and this is the blessing of God upon his faithful children. The godlike power has been given us here on the earth to bear and perpetuate our own species; and shall this power, which brings so much joy, peace and happiness, be confined and limited to this short life? It is folly to talk about such a thing; common sense teaches us better. It teaches that we have been organized, not for time alone; that we have been endowed as we are, in the image of God, not for thirty, forty, fifty, seventy or a hundred years, but as eternal beings, exercising our endowments and functions for all eternity, if we live faithful or take a course that God approves. Therefore, there is great sense, beauty and godliness in the idea that God taught Abraham with respect to his posterity becoming as numerous as the stars of the firmament.
The Latter-day Saints live for this. We look upon this life as a very short period of time. We have suffered and are likely to suffer as the Saints of God did anciently; and this life is a state of probation—a short period filled with sorrow. Difficulties, thorns, briars, brambles, and obstacles of various kinds beset our pathway; but, as was said yesterday, we look forward to a heavenly city, whose builder and maker is God. We look forward to the time when this earth will be redeemed from corruption and cleansed by fire; when there shall be a new heaven and a new earth, and when the Saints shall possess their native inheritance purified from sin, redeemed from corruption, with the power of Satan curtailed, and when we shall be able to increase and multiply and fill this earth, go to other earths and carry on the work of emigration through the endless ages of eternity.
This is a little of the heaven that the Latter-day Saints look forward to. It is not a heaven where all distinctions are abolished—where parents and children are mingled with the common mass, where wives and husbands are undistinguishable; but where all these ties exist and are preserved and perpetuated, and man goes forward on that heavenly career which God, his Heavenly Father, has assigned to him, and which he designs that all his faithful children shall walk in. These are some of the reasons why we want a temple built. There are innumerable reasons why we should go to with our might and rush forward this work. Let us push it to its completion as speedily as may be required, and God will bless us; he will make our feet fast in these valleys; he will give us increase and make of us a mighty nation. Already he has set his seal upon us; already he has given us the glorious privilege of bearing his name. Let us rear a house upon which his glory shall rest, and that shall be called by his name. This is required at our hands; and that God may help us to accomplish it, and keep us faithful to the end, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Elder Charles W. Penrose
addressed the Conference. He spoke of the joy that had animated the breasts of all the Saints, in every part of the world, when it was announced to them that they would have the privilege of building a Temple to the name of God. He alluded to the prophecies of the ancients in relation to the establishment and building of the House of the Lord in the last days. Our gathering here has so far fulfilled those prophecies, but there is an immense amount of labor yet remaining, one of the initiatory parts of which is to build Temples to the Most High. The Lord now requires that we should go to and build a House to His name, not for His benefit, but for our own. He thought that when this announcement was made to all of the Saints it would be received with gladness and acted upon, and explained the necessity for this important matter being attended to. After showing that the living Priesthood was the only channel through which heavenly intelligence can be received and by which life and exaltation can be obtained, he bore testimony to the restoration of the gospel in these days and that the power of God was with President Young and his associates, and predicted the final triumph of the cause of God on the earth.
The choir sang: “Seraph’s Anthem.”
Benedictory prayer by Elder Brigham Young, Jun.
Adjourned till 2 p. m.
addressed the Conference. He spoke of the joy that had animated the breasts of all the Saints, in every part of the world, when it was announced to them that they would have the privilege of building a Temple to the name of God. He alluded to the prophecies of the ancients in relation to the establishment and building of the House of the Lord in the last days. Our gathering here has so far fulfilled those prophecies, but there is an immense amount of labor yet remaining, one of the initiatory parts of which is to build Temples to the Most High. The Lord now requires that we should go to and build a House to His name, not for His benefit, but for our own. He thought that when this announcement was made to all of the Saints it would be received with gladness and acted upon, and explained the necessity for this important matter being attended to. After showing that the living Priesthood was the only channel through which heavenly intelligence can be received and by which life and exaltation can be obtained, he bore testimony to the restoration of the gospel in these days and that the power of God was with President Young and his associates, and predicted the final triumph of the cause of God on the earth.
The choir sang: “Seraph’s Anthem.”
Benedictory prayer by Elder Brigham Young, Jun.
Adjourned till 2 p. m.
2 p.m.
The Choir sang: “Great God, indulge my humble claim.”
Prayer by Elder Joseph W. Young.
The choir sang: “Hark! ye mortals, hist! be still.”
The Choir sang: “Great God, indulge my humble claim.”
Prayer by Elder Joseph W. Young.
The choir sang: “Hark! ye mortals, hist! be still.”
Elder Geo. Q. Cannon
presented the Authorities of the Church to the Conference. The votes to sustain them in the following order were unanimous:
Brigham Young, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; George A. Smith, his first, and Daniel H. Wells his second councilor.
Orson Hyde, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and Orson Pratt, Sen., John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Charles C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, George Q. Cannon, Brigham Young, Jun., Joseph F. Smith, and Albert Carrington, members of said Quorum.
John Smith, Patriarch of the Church.
John W. Young, President of this Stake of Zion, and George B. Wallace and John T. Caine his councilors.
William Eddington, John L. Blythe, Howard O. Spencer, John Squires, Wm. H. Folsom, Emanuel M. Murphy, Thos. E. Jeremy, Joseph L. Barfoot, Samuel W. Richards, John H. Rumell, Miner G. Atwood, Wm. Thorn, Dimick B. Huntington, Theodore McKean and Hosea Stout, members of the High Council.
Elias Smith, President of the High Priests’ Quorum, and Edward Snelgrove and Elias Morris as his councilors.
Joseph Young, President of the first seven Presidents of the Seventies and Levi W. Hancock, Henry Harriman, Albert P. Rockwood, Horace S. Eldredge, Jacob Gates and John Van Cott, members of the first seven Presidents of the Seventies.
Benjamin L. Peart, President of the Elders’ Quorum; Edward Davis and Abinadi Pratt, his councilors.
Edward Hunter, Presiding Bishop: Leonard W. Hardy and Jesse C. Little his councilors.
Samuel G. Ladd, President of the Priests’ Quorum; Wm. McLachlan and James Latham, his councilors.
Adam Spiers, President of the Teachers’ Quorum; Martin Lenzi and Henry I. Doremus, his councilors.
James Leach, President of the Deacon’s Quorum; Peter Johnson and Chas. S. Cram his counselors.
Brigham Young, Trustee-in-Trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Truman O. Angell, Architect for the Church.
Horace S. Eldredge, President of the Perpetual Emigration Fund to gather the poor.
Albert Carrington, Historian and General Church Recorder, and Wilford Woodruff, his assistant.
presented the Authorities of the Church to the Conference. The votes to sustain them in the following order were unanimous:
Brigham Young, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; George A. Smith, his first, and Daniel H. Wells his second councilor.
Orson Hyde, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and Orson Pratt, Sen., John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Charles C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, George Q. Cannon, Brigham Young, Jun., Joseph F. Smith, and Albert Carrington, members of said Quorum.
John Smith, Patriarch of the Church.
John W. Young, President of this Stake of Zion, and George B. Wallace and John T. Caine his councilors.
William Eddington, John L. Blythe, Howard O. Spencer, John Squires, Wm. H. Folsom, Emanuel M. Murphy, Thos. E. Jeremy, Joseph L. Barfoot, Samuel W. Richards, John H. Rumell, Miner G. Atwood, Wm. Thorn, Dimick B. Huntington, Theodore McKean and Hosea Stout, members of the High Council.
Elias Smith, President of the High Priests’ Quorum, and Edward Snelgrove and Elias Morris as his councilors.
Joseph Young, President of the first seven Presidents of the Seventies and Levi W. Hancock, Henry Harriman, Albert P. Rockwood, Horace S. Eldredge, Jacob Gates and John Van Cott, members of the first seven Presidents of the Seventies.
Benjamin L. Peart, President of the Elders’ Quorum; Edward Davis and Abinadi Pratt, his councilors.
Edward Hunter, Presiding Bishop: Leonard W. Hardy and Jesse C. Little his councilors.
Samuel G. Ladd, President of the Priests’ Quorum; Wm. McLachlan and James Latham, his councilors.
Adam Spiers, President of the Teachers’ Quorum; Martin Lenzi and Henry I. Doremus, his councilors.
James Leach, President of the Deacon’s Quorum; Peter Johnson and Chas. S. Cram his counselors.
Brigham Young, Trustee-in-Trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Truman O. Angell, Architect for the Church.
Horace S. Eldredge, President of the Perpetual Emigration Fund to gather the poor.
Albert Carrington, Historian and General Church Recorder, and Wilford Woodruff, his assistant.
He then presented the names of the following brethren as having been called to go on missions to Europe, which were unanimously sustained:
Albert Carrington to succeed Horace S. Eldredge as President of the European mission; Canute Peterson to succeed W. W. Cluff as President of the Scandinavian mission.
Antoine H. Lund, of Ephraim;
Christian Willardsen, of Ephraim;
Jens C. A. Weibye, Manti;
Christian Madsen, Gunnison;
Paul Dehlen, Mount Pleasant;
Paul Paulsen, Fountain Green;
Philip Lenba;
Ferdinand Oberhaensh, of Payson;
Johannes Huber, Midway, Provo Valley.
To the Eastern States:
Jezreel Shoemaker.
Albert Carrington to succeed Horace S. Eldredge as President of the European mission; Canute Peterson to succeed W. W. Cluff as President of the Scandinavian mission.
Antoine H. Lund, of Ephraim;
Christian Willardsen, of Ephraim;
Jens C. A. Weibye, Manti;
Christian Madsen, Gunnison;
Paul Dehlen, Mount Pleasant;
Paul Paulsen, Fountain Green;
Philip Lenba;
Ferdinand Oberhaensh, of Payson;
Johannes Huber, Midway, Provo Valley.
To the Eastern States:
Jezreel Shoemaker.
Elder Albert Carrington
addressed the congregation. He delivered a discourse on the object of the existence of man on the earth, showing the foolishness of men who take credit to themselves for the discovery and development of principles which had been in existence throughout all eternity. He alluded to the instability of human governments and the eternal nature of a government founded upon the rock of revelation, explaining that such was the nature of the kingdom of God, which the Latter-day Saints are seeking to establish. He alluded to the desire manifested by a large portion of the human family to apply the principle of force to compel their fellows to think as they do. He continued at some length, touching upon many important points. He remarks were reported in full.
addressed the congregation. He delivered a discourse on the object of the existence of man on the earth, showing the foolishness of men who take credit to themselves for the discovery and development of principles which had been in existence throughout all eternity. He alluded to the instability of human governments and the eternal nature of a government founded upon the rock of revelation, explaining that such was the nature of the kingdom of God, which the Latter-day Saints are seeking to establish. He alluded to the desire manifested by a large portion of the human family to apply the principle of force to compel their fellows to think as they do. He continued at some length, touching upon many important points. He remarks were reported in full.
President Brigham Young
addressed the assemblage. He showed that the objectionable point in Mormonism, to those opposed to it, was the unity manifested by the Latter-day Saints. He said that there was no iniquity in a people being united. Our doctrine is true and we like it, our object is one, and we pursue it. This is the cause of our unity. He explained that there was no confusion in the House of God. There are no two sides to the question. He continued at some length, giving much valuable instruction and dwelling upon many important points, showing the broad, free and comprehensive nature of the plan of salvation. An adequate idea of his remarks could not be conveyed in a synopsis. They were reported in full and will shortly be published.
addressed the assemblage. He showed that the objectionable point in Mormonism, to those opposed to it, was the unity manifested by the Latter-day Saints. He said that there was no iniquity in a people being united. Our doctrine is true and we like it, our object is one, and we pursue it. This is the cause of our unity. He explained that there was no confusion in the House of God. There are no two sides to the question. He continued at some length, giving much valuable instruction and dwelling upon many important points, showing the broad, free and comprehensive nature of the plan of salvation. An adequate idea of his remarks could not be conveyed in a synopsis. They were reported in full and will shortly be published.
The One-Man Power—Unity—Free Agency—Priesthood and Government, Etc.
Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 8, 1871.
Reported by David W. Evans.
I have a few words to say to the congregation and I wish perfect silence. This is a very large room, and for any person to fill the space within these walls with his voice, he needs strength of lungs and stomach and the attention of the congregation.
We have been witnessing, this afternoon, the world's great objection to “Mormonism,” for we have had the privilege of beholding the unanimous vote of the people when the names of the officers of the Church were presented for election or rejection. We have seen the same oneness and unanimity this afternoon which characterize the Latter-day Saints on all occasions, and this is objectionable to the world. They say it is anti-democratic, though we think not. I looked over the congregation pretty diligently to discover a contrary vote; but I could not see such a thing. When the vote was called all hands were up. I thought, while witnessing this spectacle, “What harm is there in a people being of one heart and one mind?” but, to use a common phrase, I could not see the point. I cannot discover any iniquity in a people's being one. If they are disposed to chose evil instead of good, sin instead of righteousness, darkness instead of light, falsehood instead of truth, where is the utility in being divided and quarrelling about it? And if they have embraced, believe in and love the truth; or if they desire and are seeking for it, I ask, where can be the harm in being one in this? This is the “one-man power” that there is so much said about.
Now, ask yourselves, and let me ask you, who has been to you, individually, and told you to vote just as you have voted here today? Has any man visited your habitations to tell you that when you came to this house you must all vote precisely alike? I will pause right here and will request that, if any person present has been so instructed, he or she will let us know it. I do not see any person rise, and I need not look for anyone to do so, from the simple fact that not a word on this subject has been said to the Latter-day Saints. Our doctrine is true and we like it; our faith is one and we are one in it, our object is one and we unitedly pursue the straight and narrow path that leads to it.
This is for those who have only one ear, half an ear, or no ear at all for the truth; or for those who wish to leave the truth. Though I do not suppose there are any here this afternoon that wish to leave the truth for error, that wish to forsake righteousness, holiness and truth for unrighteousness, corruption, disorder, confusion and death. People do, however, leave this Church, but they leave it because they get into darkness, and the very day they conclude that there should be a democratic vote, or in other words, that we should have two candidates for the presiding Priesthood in the midst of the Latter-day Saints, they conclude to be apostates. There is no such thing as confusion, division, strife, animosity, hatred, malice, or two sides to the question in the house of God; there is but one side to the question there.
You ask the kingdoms of the world if they have such an organization as the kingdom of God, and they will tell you they have not. They have no organization amongst them so perfect and complete. Well, is it right for the people of the world to elect their presidents and rulers? Yes, if they wish to. For four years? Yes, or for one year, or for six months or one month, if they wish to; but when the Lord appoints presidents, he does not change them every month or year, or every four years. Should they be changed? No, they should not. Should they be changed in human governments? No, they should not; and the nation that would delight in a good government, the best possible for its preservation and strength, should pattern, in its organization, after the kingdom of God on the earth. Here are our tribunals and courts; and our courts are courts of error, to judge every matter and cause according to its merits and demerits.
Well, where is the harm in this? I wish the world, or any scientific men in it, would detail the error in a people being one; and I will go still further, and say, being one in the Lord, as we are commanded and recommended to be. Even in the wicked world, where there is so much confusion, where is the good that arises from contention and opposition? I have not seen it, and, as I have said, I cannot see the point. But here in Utah that “one-man power” is such a terrible thing. I would ask: Who is that man, and where is the power, and what is the power? It is the power of him who brought us into existence, and he is the MAN who wields it, and he is the Father of us all, and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Maker and Possessor of this earth that we inhabit, and is the Producer of all things upon it. Is he one? Yes. Is his trinity one? Yes. Is his organization one? Are the heavens one? Yes. Although we have a short account, in what are called the Scriptures of truth, that on a certain occasion there was a little confusion in heaven. The Lord has revealed something of this in these latter days. What was the result? One-third part of the hosts of heaven walked out. I do not think the election lasted a great while, if they had two candidates, and it appears they had; and I do not think they stopped very long at the polls, or were very long counting the votes to find out who would be president or who would not, for they turned them out. Was there any reason for this? Would it be democratic to get up an election in heaven and have opposition? Why, yes, according to the feelings and understandings of the political world, it would be very democratic; but I would say to the political world, if they were before me, that the opposition they are so anxious to promote contains the seeds of the destruction of the government that we live in. This is the plant or tree from which schism springs; and every government lays the foundation of its own downfall when it permits what are called democratic elections. If a party spirit is developed, the formation of one party will be speedily followed by another; and furthermore, the very moment that we admit this, we admit the existence of error and corruption somewhere. Where is it? Right points out its hiding place, and says that truth, and truth only, will endure, and that falsehood and corruption and error of every description are from beneath—are of the enemy; and the Lord Almighty suffered this schism in heaven to see what his subjects would do preparatory to their coming to this earth, which we need not talk about today. But the division did not take place in those who were redeemed from the earth and exalted and brought up into the presence of the Father and the Son, to live in their presence and in their glory, and be partakers of their power. But it was among another class, and we are now in the midst of them. There is but one thread that can be followed that can endure forever, but one path that we can walk in that is eternal—and that path is the path of perfection, purity and holiness. By this, and this only, have the Gods been exalted, the angels live and the heavenly hosts bask in purity. We are trying to prepare for it.
Can error live? No, it is the very plant of destruction, it destroys itself; it withers, it fades, it falls and decays and returns to its native element. Every untruth, all error, everything that is unholy, unlike God, will, in its time, perish. Every government not ordained of God, as we have just been hearing, will, in its time, crumble to the dust and be lost in the fog of forgetfulness, and will leave no history of its doings. Why, with all the knowledge and learning now in the world we have the history of only a very scanty portion of those who have peopled our earth from the days of Adam until now. And we, in our turn, should go into the land of forgetfulness were it not for our organization and the oneness which prevail in our midst. Says Jesus, “Unless ye are one, ye are not mine.” The counsel contained in this saying is the best that could be given. Who could have given better advice to his friends than Jesus gave to his disciples? Be one, for union is strength, is it not? Yes. Go into the political world, and you will find that union is strength; it is the same in the mechanical world; and if we take every art and science, and all the pursuits of the human family, in oneness there is strength. Said Jesus, “Be ye one, as I and my Father are one, he in me and I in him; I in you,” &c. Now, I finish this by saying if there is a person on the face of this earth that can give a true and philosophical reason why we should not be one, I wish he would bring it forth, for the Latter-day Saints want to have the best organization that can be formed, and they want the best of everything that can be got. We want the truth, and the whole truth; and we look forward with gladness to the time when we can say we have nothing but the truth. We cannot say that now; we have an immense amount of error, and we are very far from being perfect; but we hope to see the time that we can say that we have truth only, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
I want to say a few words for the benefit of my brethren the Elders, and of all the Latter-day Saints, male and female, old and young; and then for the benefit of strangers, Christians and ministers of the different religious sects, if they could all hear me today. I can tell you the difference in one grand principle, between your religion and ours. It is this: we would not make everybody bow down to our religion, if we had the power; for this would not be Godlike; but other religionists would. It is not discovered by the world, and it is not perceived enough by the Elders of Israel. The reasons why we do not prosper and travel faster and further than we do, we have not time to talk about, perhaps, today; but I will say this: our religion, the religion of heaven, differs very much from man's religion. It has just been told us that the divines are in the habit of taking a text from the Scriptures, but when they do so they almost invariably preach from it. I hardly ever heard a man in my life, when in the Christian world, preach to his text, but directly from it. This makes confusion.
Now, suppose that we were to issue our edicts to the whole world of mankind for them to obey the Gospel we preach, and had the power to compel them to obey, could we do it according to the dictates of our religion? We could not. We could invite them, and could tell them how, but we could not say, and maintain the faith that we have embraced, you must bow down and profess our religion and submit to the ordinances of the kingdom of God. I will give you a reason for this. If this were our duty, and it were legitimate, if we had the power, for us to make every person on the earth submit to the code of laws and ordinances that we have submitted to, it would prove that God is in fault in not making them do so. But if we become Godlike we will be just as full of charity as he is. We would let pagans worship as they please, and to the Christians and Mahommedans, and all sects and parties in the world we would say, “Do just as you please, for your volition is free, and you must act upon it for yourselves before the heavens.” Our religion will not permit us to command or force any man or woman to obey the Gospel we have embraced. And we are under no obligation to do this, for every creature has as good a right, according to his organization, to choose for himself as the Gods. To use a comparison, all have a right to eat bread or let it alone; they may make and eat unleavened cakes as the people did anciently, if they choose; and no person has a right to say to another, “Why do you eat wheat bread, corn bread, or no bread at all? Why do you eat potatoes, or why do you not eat them? Why do you walk, or why do you sit down? Why do you read this or that book? Or why do you go to the right or the left?” For everyone has a right to do as he likes in these respects, all being independent in their capacity and choice. Here is life for you, here is salvation for you, choose ye this day whom ye will serve. If the Lord be God, serve him, or you may serve Baal, just at your pleasure. If the Elders of Israel could understand this a little better, we would like it, for the simple reason that if they had power given them now they manifest the same weaknesses in the exercise thereof as any other people. They have not an eye to discern between the spirit, power, and principles by which the Gods live, and those which govern and control the children of men; and yet between the two there is an infinite difference.
Can you find a Christian denomination which would not make us bow down to their creeds if they had the power? Not one. We have plenty of evidence to prove this. We have history enough to prove that when they have the power their motto is, “You shall.” But there is no such thing in the economy of heaven. Life is before us, death is before us, we can choose for ourselves; and this is one of the differences between the religion of heaven and the religions of men. Do we profess to say that the various religious systems of the world are the religions of men? If they are not, what are they? If the sects and parties have not been formed by man and the wisdom of man, what power did form them?
I will now say a few words with regard to our faith. Our religion, in common with everything of which God is the Author, is a system of law and order. The earth on which we live hangs and floats in its own element, rotates upon its axis and moves at an immense velocity without our perceiving it either asleep or awake, it performs its revolutions, the atmosphere moving with it, so as not to injure, disturb, or molest any being on its face. But how long would it retain its position and move unwaveringly in the orbit assigned it without law? Can you tell us, you astronomers? How long would the moon and the members of our planetary system retain their positions, were it not for strict law? Who gave that law? He who had the right. The world do not know him, but he will call around one of these days and let them know that he is in being. I will say to Saint and sinner, that if we do not know him, he will call by and by, and let us know that he lives, and will bring us to judgment. If we do know him, happy are we if we obey his laws. He is not a phantom; he does not exist without law, order, rule, and strict regulation. And the laws by which he is governed are the laws of purity. He has instituted laws and ordinances for the government and benefit of the children of men, to see if they would obey them and prove themselves worthy of eternal life by the law of the celestial worlds; and it is of these laws that our religion is composed. This holy Priesthood that we talk about is a perfect system of government. The best way I can think of to express my idea of Priesthood of the Son of God is to call it a perfect system of laws and government. By obedience to these laws, we expect to enter the celestial kingdom and be exalted.
We have had a few words with regard to temples. We are going to build temples. This law is given to the children of men. I will carry this a little further, and say to my brethren and sisters and all present, that the law of the celestial kingdom that is introduced here upon the earth in our day is for the salvation and exaltation of the human family. Previous to the coming forth of this Priesthood and code of laws, there was no law on the earth that we have any knowledge of whereby a man or woman could be sanctified and prepared to enter the presence of the Father and the Son. This may sound in the ears of many like strange doctrine. But pause a moment; do not let any of your hearts flutter, not for a moment. If you and the world generally knew all that we know, I do not believe that there is a wicked man on the earth, unless he be past the day of grace, but would say, “Thank you, Latter-day Saints, God bless you! I will help you to carry on your work, for you have the keys of life and salvation committed to you for this last dispensation.” We could enumerate a few of the laws that we have embraced in our faith pertaining to the building up of the kingdom of God on the earth. How is it with regard to the authority to proclaim the words of salvation to the children of men? According to the Scriptures of divine truth, and the revelations that God has given, “no man taketh this honor unto himself, except he be called of God, as was Aaron.” These are the words of the Apostle. Did Joseph Smith ever arrogate to himself this right? Never, never, never; and if God had not sent a messenger to ordain him to the Aaronic Priesthood and then other messengers to ordain him to the Apostleship, and told him to build up his kingdom on the earth, it would have remained in chaos to this day. There is no objection to people having the spirit of their calling, and having it even before they are called; but if they have the spirit of wisdom given to them they wait until a servant of God says, “My Brother John,” or, “My Brother William, the Lord Almighty has called thee to be a minister of salvation to the inhabitants of the earth, and I ordain thee to this office." This is the law of heaven. Is it observed in the Christian world? No, it is not; there man's authority and notions prevail entirely, and this is the cause of their confusion and variety in their methods of expounding the Gospel as contained in the Scriptures; but when a man who is called and ordained of God goes forth he preaches the ordinances, faith in Christ and obedience to him as our Savior. He declares that the first step to be taken, after believing in the Father and the Son, is to go down into the waters of baptism and there be immersed in the water, and come up out of the water as Jesus did. Some may inquire why the Latter-day Saints are so strenuous on this point? We do it for the remission of sins; Jesus did this to fulfill all righteousness. John said to him, when he went and demanded baptism at his hands, “I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me!” Jesus answered: I do this to fulfill all righteousness; I do this to set a pattern for my brethren, and for all who come after me and believe on my name; and this is why the Latter-day Saints are so strenuous with regard to baptism by immersion. What was the result of obedience to the ordinance of baptism in the case of the Savior? The Holy Ghost, in the form of a dove, it is said, rested upon him. This is not exactly the fact, though a natural dove descended and rested on the head of the Lord Jesus, in witness that God had accepted the offering of his Son. But the dove was not the Holy Ghost, but the sign that the Holy Ghost was given to him. And after that, Jesus went forth and was tempted, as you read.
Obedience to the ordinance of baptism is required that people may receive the remission of their sins. After that, hands are laid upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost; and this Holy Ghost teaches you and me to vote exactly alike; it teaches us to believe alike and to receive the ordinances of the house of God. No man or woman ever received the faith of this Gospel but what desired to be baptized by immersion for the remission of sins and to have hands laid upon them for the Holy Ghost. Then come the blessings of healing, faith, prophecy, tongues, and so forth.
I recollect when Brothers Kimball and Hyde went to England the first man they baptized was George D. Watt. In the second or third meeting after his baptism, Brother Watt got up and said: “I have the spirit of prophecy upon me;” and said he, “We are all going to leave England, and are going to America, for America is the land of Zion.” Not a word had been said to Brother Watt about the gathering. Is not this so, Brother Hyde? (Brother O. Hyde: Yes, sir.) I wanted to say these few words on this subject.
And now, my brethren, the Elders of Israel, have compassion on all the inhabitants of the earth, for we shall never have the keys of authority committed to us to be rulers until we will rule just as God would rule if he were here himself. We have been persecuted, driven, smitten, cast out, robbed and hated; and I may say it was for our coldness and neglect of duty; and if we did not exactly deserve it, there have been times when we did deserve it. If we did not deserve it at the time, it was good for and gave us an experience, though I must say that one of the hardest lessons for me to learn on earth is to love a man who hates me and would put me to death if he had the power. I do not think I have got this lesson by heart, and I do not know how long I shall have to live to learn it. I am trying. I believe that if the reins of power were in my hands today, I never would ask a man to be a Saint if he did not want to be; and I do not think I would persecute him if he worshiped a white dog, the sun, moon, or a graven image. But let us alone; let the kingdom of God alone, that is all we want. If the principles of eternal life are not sufficient to win the hearts of the children of men, just take your course—the downward road. I will say if there be any here who were once Latter-day Saints, but have apostatized, do not persecute us; do not try to hinder the work we are engaged in. We are trying to save the living and the dead. The living can have their choice, the dead have not. Millions of them died without the Gospel, without the Priesthood, without the opportunities that we enjoy. We shall go forth in the name of Israel's God and attend to the ordinances for them. And through the Millennium, the thousand years that the people will love and serve God, we will build temples and officiate therein for these who have slept for hundreds and thousands of years—those who would have received the truth if they had had the opportunity; and we will bring them up, and form the chain entire, back to Adam.
I will say that there is not a man on the face of the earth but, if he knew the objects the Saints have in view, and the work they are engaged in, would rather say, “I have a sixpence to help you,” sooner than he would persecute and slander this Priesthood or people. No, he would say, “I have a sixpence or thousands to help on this good work.” We will bring up all the inhabitants of the earth, except those who have sinned against the Holy Ghost, and save them in some kingdom where they will receive more glory and honor than ever the Methodist contemplated. This should be a comfort and a consolation to all the inhabitants of the earth. They will not save themselves, millions have not had a chance, and millions now living, through the strength of their traditions, will not do it; their consciences and feelings are bound up in their systems and creeds, whereas, if they felt as independent as they should feel, they would break loose and receive the truth; but they will live and die in bondage, and we calculate to officiate for them. Many a man I know of, who has fallen asleep, we have been baptized for since the Church was organized—good, honest, honorable men, charitable to all, living good, virtuous lives. We will not let them go down to hell; God will not. The plan of salvation is ample to bring them all up and to place them where they may enjoy all they could anticipate. Is there any harm in this? No. God bless you. Amen.
The choir sang: “Star of Bethlehem.”
Benedictory prayer by President George A. Smith.
Adjourned till Sunday 9th, at 10 a.m.
Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 8, 1871.
Reported by David W. Evans.
I have a few words to say to the congregation and I wish perfect silence. This is a very large room, and for any person to fill the space within these walls with his voice, he needs strength of lungs and stomach and the attention of the congregation.
We have been witnessing, this afternoon, the world's great objection to “Mormonism,” for we have had the privilege of beholding the unanimous vote of the people when the names of the officers of the Church were presented for election or rejection. We have seen the same oneness and unanimity this afternoon which characterize the Latter-day Saints on all occasions, and this is objectionable to the world. They say it is anti-democratic, though we think not. I looked over the congregation pretty diligently to discover a contrary vote; but I could not see such a thing. When the vote was called all hands were up. I thought, while witnessing this spectacle, “What harm is there in a people being of one heart and one mind?” but, to use a common phrase, I could not see the point. I cannot discover any iniquity in a people's being one. If they are disposed to chose evil instead of good, sin instead of righteousness, darkness instead of light, falsehood instead of truth, where is the utility in being divided and quarrelling about it? And if they have embraced, believe in and love the truth; or if they desire and are seeking for it, I ask, where can be the harm in being one in this? This is the “one-man power” that there is so much said about.
Now, ask yourselves, and let me ask you, who has been to you, individually, and told you to vote just as you have voted here today? Has any man visited your habitations to tell you that when you came to this house you must all vote precisely alike? I will pause right here and will request that, if any person present has been so instructed, he or she will let us know it. I do not see any person rise, and I need not look for anyone to do so, from the simple fact that not a word on this subject has been said to the Latter-day Saints. Our doctrine is true and we like it; our faith is one and we are one in it, our object is one and we unitedly pursue the straight and narrow path that leads to it.
This is for those who have only one ear, half an ear, or no ear at all for the truth; or for those who wish to leave the truth. Though I do not suppose there are any here this afternoon that wish to leave the truth for error, that wish to forsake righteousness, holiness and truth for unrighteousness, corruption, disorder, confusion and death. People do, however, leave this Church, but they leave it because they get into darkness, and the very day they conclude that there should be a democratic vote, or in other words, that we should have two candidates for the presiding Priesthood in the midst of the Latter-day Saints, they conclude to be apostates. There is no such thing as confusion, division, strife, animosity, hatred, malice, or two sides to the question in the house of God; there is but one side to the question there.
You ask the kingdoms of the world if they have such an organization as the kingdom of God, and they will tell you they have not. They have no organization amongst them so perfect and complete. Well, is it right for the people of the world to elect their presidents and rulers? Yes, if they wish to. For four years? Yes, or for one year, or for six months or one month, if they wish to; but when the Lord appoints presidents, he does not change them every month or year, or every four years. Should they be changed? No, they should not. Should they be changed in human governments? No, they should not; and the nation that would delight in a good government, the best possible for its preservation and strength, should pattern, in its organization, after the kingdom of God on the earth. Here are our tribunals and courts; and our courts are courts of error, to judge every matter and cause according to its merits and demerits.
Well, where is the harm in this? I wish the world, or any scientific men in it, would detail the error in a people being one; and I will go still further, and say, being one in the Lord, as we are commanded and recommended to be. Even in the wicked world, where there is so much confusion, where is the good that arises from contention and opposition? I have not seen it, and, as I have said, I cannot see the point. But here in Utah that “one-man power” is such a terrible thing. I would ask: Who is that man, and where is the power, and what is the power? It is the power of him who brought us into existence, and he is the MAN who wields it, and he is the Father of us all, and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Maker and Possessor of this earth that we inhabit, and is the Producer of all things upon it. Is he one? Yes. Is his trinity one? Yes. Is his organization one? Are the heavens one? Yes. Although we have a short account, in what are called the Scriptures of truth, that on a certain occasion there was a little confusion in heaven. The Lord has revealed something of this in these latter days. What was the result? One-third part of the hosts of heaven walked out. I do not think the election lasted a great while, if they had two candidates, and it appears they had; and I do not think they stopped very long at the polls, or were very long counting the votes to find out who would be president or who would not, for they turned them out. Was there any reason for this? Would it be democratic to get up an election in heaven and have opposition? Why, yes, according to the feelings and understandings of the political world, it would be very democratic; but I would say to the political world, if they were before me, that the opposition they are so anxious to promote contains the seeds of the destruction of the government that we live in. This is the plant or tree from which schism springs; and every government lays the foundation of its own downfall when it permits what are called democratic elections. If a party spirit is developed, the formation of one party will be speedily followed by another; and furthermore, the very moment that we admit this, we admit the existence of error and corruption somewhere. Where is it? Right points out its hiding place, and says that truth, and truth only, will endure, and that falsehood and corruption and error of every description are from beneath—are of the enemy; and the Lord Almighty suffered this schism in heaven to see what his subjects would do preparatory to their coming to this earth, which we need not talk about today. But the division did not take place in those who were redeemed from the earth and exalted and brought up into the presence of the Father and the Son, to live in their presence and in their glory, and be partakers of their power. But it was among another class, and we are now in the midst of them. There is but one thread that can be followed that can endure forever, but one path that we can walk in that is eternal—and that path is the path of perfection, purity and holiness. By this, and this only, have the Gods been exalted, the angels live and the heavenly hosts bask in purity. We are trying to prepare for it.
Can error live? No, it is the very plant of destruction, it destroys itself; it withers, it fades, it falls and decays and returns to its native element. Every untruth, all error, everything that is unholy, unlike God, will, in its time, perish. Every government not ordained of God, as we have just been hearing, will, in its time, crumble to the dust and be lost in the fog of forgetfulness, and will leave no history of its doings. Why, with all the knowledge and learning now in the world we have the history of only a very scanty portion of those who have peopled our earth from the days of Adam until now. And we, in our turn, should go into the land of forgetfulness were it not for our organization and the oneness which prevail in our midst. Says Jesus, “Unless ye are one, ye are not mine.” The counsel contained in this saying is the best that could be given. Who could have given better advice to his friends than Jesus gave to his disciples? Be one, for union is strength, is it not? Yes. Go into the political world, and you will find that union is strength; it is the same in the mechanical world; and if we take every art and science, and all the pursuits of the human family, in oneness there is strength. Said Jesus, “Be ye one, as I and my Father are one, he in me and I in him; I in you,” &c. Now, I finish this by saying if there is a person on the face of this earth that can give a true and philosophical reason why we should not be one, I wish he would bring it forth, for the Latter-day Saints want to have the best organization that can be formed, and they want the best of everything that can be got. We want the truth, and the whole truth; and we look forward with gladness to the time when we can say we have nothing but the truth. We cannot say that now; we have an immense amount of error, and we are very far from being perfect; but we hope to see the time that we can say that we have truth only, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
I want to say a few words for the benefit of my brethren the Elders, and of all the Latter-day Saints, male and female, old and young; and then for the benefit of strangers, Christians and ministers of the different religious sects, if they could all hear me today. I can tell you the difference in one grand principle, between your religion and ours. It is this: we would not make everybody bow down to our religion, if we had the power; for this would not be Godlike; but other religionists would. It is not discovered by the world, and it is not perceived enough by the Elders of Israel. The reasons why we do not prosper and travel faster and further than we do, we have not time to talk about, perhaps, today; but I will say this: our religion, the religion of heaven, differs very much from man's religion. It has just been told us that the divines are in the habit of taking a text from the Scriptures, but when they do so they almost invariably preach from it. I hardly ever heard a man in my life, when in the Christian world, preach to his text, but directly from it. This makes confusion.
Now, suppose that we were to issue our edicts to the whole world of mankind for them to obey the Gospel we preach, and had the power to compel them to obey, could we do it according to the dictates of our religion? We could not. We could invite them, and could tell them how, but we could not say, and maintain the faith that we have embraced, you must bow down and profess our religion and submit to the ordinances of the kingdom of God. I will give you a reason for this. If this were our duty, and it were legitimate, if we had the power, for us to make every person on the earth submit to the code of laws and ordinances that we have submitted to, it would prove that God is in fault in not making them do so. But if we become Godlike we will be just as full of charity as he is. We would let pagans worship as they please, and to the Christians and Mahommedans, and all sects and parties in the world we would say, “Do just as you please, for your volition is free, and you must act upon it for yourselves before the heavens.” Our religion will not permit us to command or force any man or woman to obey the Gospel we have embraced. And we are under no obligation to do this, for every creature has as good a right, according to his organization, to choose for himself as the Gods. To use a comparison, all have a right to eat bread or let it alone; they may make and eat unleavened cakes as the people did anciently, if they choose; and no person has a right to say to another, “Why do you eat wheat bread, corn bread, or no bread at all? Why do you eat potatoes, or why do you not eat them? Why do you walk, or why do you sit down? Why do you read this or that book? Or why do you go to the right or the left?” For everyone has a right to do as he likes in these respects, all being independent in their capacity and choice. Here is life for you, here is salvation for you, choose ye this day whom ye will serve. If the Lord be God, serve him, or you may serve Baal, just at your pleasure. If the Elders of Israel could understand this a little better, we would like it, for the simple reason that if they had power given them now they manifest the same weaknesses in the exercise thereof as any other people. They have not an eye to discern between the spirit, power, and principles by which the Gods live, and those which govern and control the children of men; and yet between the two there is an infinite difference.
Can you find a Christian denomination which would not make us bow down to their creeds if they had the power? Not one. We have plenty of evidence to prove this. We have history enough to prove that when they have the power their motto is, “You shall.” But there is no such thing in the economy of heaven. Life is before us, death is before us, we can choose for ourselves; and this is one of the differences between the religion of heaven and the religions of men. Do we profess to say that the various religious systems of the world are the religions of men? If they are not, what are they? If the sects and parties have not been formed by man and the wisdom of man, what power did form them?
I will now say a few words with regard to our faith. Our religion, in common with everything of which God is the Author, is a system of law and order. The earth on which we live hangs and floats in its own element, rotates upon its axis and moves at an immense velocity without our perceiving it either asleep or awake, it performs its revolutions, the atmosphere moving with it, so as not to injure, disturb, or molest any being on its face. But how long would it retain its position and move unwaveringly in the orbit assigned it without law? Can you tell us, you astronomers? How long would the moon and the members of our planetary system retain their positions, were it not for strict law? Who gave that law? He who had the right. The world do not know him, but he will call around one of these days and let them know that he is in being. I will say to Saint and sinner, that if we do not know him, he will call by and by, and let us know that he lives, and will bring us to judgment. If we do know him, happy are we if we obey his laws. He is not a phantom; he does not exist without law, order, rule, and strict regulation. And the laws by which he is governed are the laws of purity. He has instituted laws and ordinances for the government and benefit of the children of men, to see if they would obey them and prove themselves worthy of eternal life by the law of the celestial worlds; and it is of these laws that our religion is composed. This holy Priesthood that we talk about is a perfect system of government. The best way I can think of to express my idea of Priesthood of the Son of God is to call it a perfect system of laws and government. By obedience to these laws, we expect to enter the celestial kingdom and be exalted.
We have had a few words with regard to temples. We are going to build temples. This law is given to the children of men. I will carry this a little further, and say to my brethren and sisters and all present, that the law of the celestial kingdom that is introduced here upon the earth in our day is for the salvation and exaltation of the human family. Previous to the coming forth of this Priesthood and code of laws, there was no law on the earth that we have any knowledge of whereby a man or woman could be sanctified and prepared to enter the presence of the Father and the Son. This may sound in the ears of many like strange doctrine. But pause a moment; do not let any of your hearts flutter, not for a moment. If you and the world generally knew all that we know, I do not believe that there is a wicked man on the earth, unless he be past the day of grace, but would say, “Thank you, Latter-day Saints, God bless you! I will help you to carry on your work, for you have the keys of life and salvation committed to you for this last dispensation.” We could enumerate a few of the laws that we have embraced in our faith pertaining to the building up of the kingdom of God on the earth. How is it with regard to the authority to proclaim the words of salvation to the children of men? According to the Scriptures of divine truth, and the revelations that God has given, “no man taketh this honor unto himself, except he be called of God, as was Aaron.” These are the words of the Apostle. Did Joseph Smith ever arrogate to himself this right? Never, never, never; and if God had not sent a messenger to ordain him to the Aaronic Priesthood and then other messengers to ordain him to the Apostleship, and told him to build up his kingdom on the earth, it would have remained in chaos to this day. There is no objection to people having the spirit of their calling, and having it even before they are called; but if they have the spirit of wisdom given to them they wait until a servant of God says, “My Brother John,” or, “My Brother William, the Lord Almighty has called thee to be a minister of salvation to the inhabitants of the earth, and I ordain thee to this office." This is the law of heaven. Is it observed in the Christian world? No, it is not; there man's authority and notions prevail entirely, and this is the cause of their confusion and variety in their methods of expounding the Gospel as contained in the Scriptures; but when a man who is called and ordained of God goes forth he preaches the ordinances, faith in Christ and obedience to him as our Savior. He declares that the first step to be taken, after believing in the Father and the Son, is to go down into the waters of baptism and there be immersed in the water, and come up out of the water as Jesus did. Some may inquire why the Latter-day Saints are so strenuous on this point? We do it for the remission of sins; Jesus did this to fulfill all righteousness. John said to him, when he went and demanded baptism at his hands, “I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me!” Jesus answered: I do this to fulfill all righteousness; I do this to set a pattern for my brethren, and for all who come after me and believe on my name; and this is why the Latter-day Saints are so strenuous with regard to baptism by immersion. What was the result of obedience to the ordinance of baptism in the case of the Savior? The Holy Ghost, in the form of a dove, it is said, rested upon him. This is not exactly the fact, though a natural dove descended and rested on the head of the Lord Jesus, in witness that God had accepted the offering of his Son. But the dove was not the Holy Ghost, but the sign that the Holy Ghost was given to him. And after that, Jesus went forth and was tempted, as you read.
Obedience to the ordinance of baptism is required that people may receive the remission of their sins. After that, hands are laid upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost; and this Holy Ghost teaches you and me to vote exactly alike; it teaches us to believe alike and to receive the ordinances of the house of God. No man or woman ever received the faith of this Gospel but what desired to be baptized by immersion for the remission of sins and to have hands laid upon them for the Holy Ghost. Then come the blessings of healing, faith, prophecy, tongues, and so forth.
I recollect when Brothers Kimball and Hyde went to England the first man they baptized was George D. Watt. In the second or third meeting after his baptism, Brother Watt got up and said: “I have the spirit of prophecy upon me;” and said he, “We are all going to leave England, and are going to America, for America is the land of Zion.” Not a word had been said to Brother Watt about the gathering. Is not this so, Brother Hyde? (Brother O. Hyde: Yes, sir.) I wanted to say these few words on this subject.
And now, my brethren, the Elders of Israel, have compassion on all the inhabitants of the earth, for we shall never have the keys of authority committed to us to be rulers until we will rule just as God would rule if he were here himself. We have been persecuted, driven, smitten, cast out, robbed and hated; and I may say it was for our coldness and neglect of duty; and if we did not exactly deserve it, there have been times when we did deserve it. If we did not deserve it at the time, it was good for and gave us an experience, though I must say that one of the hardest lessons for me to learn on earth is to love a man who hates me and would put me to death if he had the power. I do not think I have got this lesson by heart, and I do not know how long I shall have to live to learn it. I am trying. I believe that if the reins of power were in my hands today, I never would ask a man to be a Saint if he did not want to be; and I do not think I would persecute him if he worshiped a white dog, the sun, moon, or a graven image. But let us alone; let the kingdom of God alone, that is all we want. If the principles of eternal life are not sufficient to win the hearts of the children of men, just take your course—the downward road. I will say if there be any here who were once Latter-day Saints, but have apostatized, do not persecute us; do not try to hinder the work we are engaged in. We are trying to save the living and the dead. The living can have their choice, the dead have not. Millions of them died without the Gospel, without the Priesthood, without the opportunities that we enjoy. We shall go forth in the name of Israel's God and attend to the ordinances for them. And through the Millennium, the thousand years that the people will love and serve God, we will build temples and officiate therein for these who have slept for hundreds and thousands of years—those who would have received the truth if they had had the opportunity; and we will bring them up, and form the chain entire, back to Adam.
I will say that there is not a man on the face of the earth but, if he knew the objects the Saints have in view, and the work they are engaged in, would rather say, “I have a sixpence to help you,” sooner than he would persecute and slander this Priesthood or people. No, he would say, “I have a sixpence or thousands to help on this good work.” We will bring up all the inhabitants of the earth, except those who have sinned against the Holy Ghost, and save them in some kingdom where they will receive more glory and honor than ever the Methodist contemplated. This should be a comfort and a consolation to all the inhabitants of the earth. They will not save themselves, millions have not had a chance, and millions now living, through the strength of their traditions, will not do it; their consciences and feelings are bound up in their systems and creeds, whereas, if they felt as independent as they should feel, they would break loose and receive the truth; but they will live and die in bondage, and we calculate to officiate for them. Many a man I know of, who has fallen asleep, we have been baptized for since the Church was organized—good, honest, honorable men, charitable to all, living good, virtuous lives. We will not let them go down to hell; God will not. The plan of salvation is ample to bring them all up and to place them where they may enjoy all they could anticipate. Is there any harm in this? No. God bless you. Amen.
The choir sang: “Star of Bethlehem.”
Benedictory prayer by President George A. Smith.
Adjourned till Sunday 9th, at 10 a.m.
Sunday 10 a.m.
The choir sang: “Though nations rise, and men conspire, Their efforts will be vain;”
Prayer by Elder John W. Young.
The choir sang: “Oh God, our help in ages past.”
The choir sang: “Though nations rise, and men conspire, Their efforts will be vain;”
Prayer by Elder John W. Young.
The choir sang: “Oh God, our help in ages past.”
Elder Joseph Young, Sen.
addressed the congregation. He stated that he was glad that he was numbered among the Latter-day Saints that their God was his God, and that, with them, he had been permitted to enjoy the spirit of the gospel of Jesus, through which he had been enabled to learn something about the Creator. He impressed upon the Saints the necessity of being humble, submissive and forgiving. He bore testimony that the gospel preached by the Elders of Israel was the same as that taught by Jesus and His Apostles, and declared that he knew Joseph Smith was a true prophet on the same principle as Peter knew that Jesus was the Christ; by revelation from the Almighty. He reviewed some of the trying circumstances through which the Saints passed in coming to these vallies and at various times after their settlement here, and alluded to his late mission to Europe and the peculiar feelings he experienced in being so far from his brethren, kindred and friends. He drew a picture of the extremes of wealth and squalid penury which characterize England, in which country he had labored. He described the wretched condition of many of the poor Saints there and strongly advised those who had means to send assistance to enable them to come here.
addressed the congregation. He stated that he was glad that he was numbered among the Latter-day Saints that their God was his God, and that, with them, he had been permitted to enjoy the spirit of the gospel of Jesus, through which he had been enabled to learn something about the Creator. He impressed upon the Saints the necessity of being humble, submissive and forgiving. He bore testimony that the gospel preached by the Elders of Israel was the same as that taught by Jesus and His Apostles, and declared that he knew Joseph Smith was a true prophet on the same principle as Peter knew that Jesus was the Christ; by revelation from the Almighty. He reviewed some of the trying circumstances through which the Saints passed in coming to these vallies and at various times after their settlement here, and alluded to his late mission to Europe and the peculiar feelings he experienced in being so far from his brethren, kindred and friends. He drew a picture of the extremes of wealth and squalid penury which characterize England, in which country he had labored. He described the wretched condition of many of the poor Saints there and strongly advised those who had means to send assistance to enable them to come here.
Elder Orson Pratt
addressed the assemblage. He showed that no blessing pertaining to life and salvation can accrue to any of the children of men otherwise than through strict obedience to law. The blessing of the remission of sins could be obtained in no other way than through obedience to the laws of faith, repentance and baptism, and the Holy Ghost could only be received through the laying on of hands. Those ordinances could only be administered by those holding authority from God, for the House of God is a house of order. He spoke of the glorious promise given to the pure in heart, that they should see the face of God, and of the promise of the Almighty that when a house should be built to His name, providing it should not be defiled, His power should rest upon and be manifested in it, and that He should visit it. He referred to the blessings that were received in the Temple at Kirtland, and said that the time would come when all that were pure in heart who should enter the Temple of the Almighty, which should be built in the “tops of the mountains,” would see the face of God. He continued to speak for a considerable time with regard to the building of temples in these days, upon which the glory of God shall rest, quoting several prophecies, ancient and modern, bearing upon those things. He showed clearly through his entire discourse that all things must be done in order; in accordance with law, to be acceptable to heaven.
addressed the assemblage. He showed that no blessing pertaining to life and salvation can accrue to any of the children of men otherwise than through strict obedience to law. The blessing of the remission of sins could be obtained in no other way than through obedience to the laws of faith, repentance and baptism, and the Holy Ghost could only be received through the laying on of hands. Those ordinances could only be administered by those holding authority from God, for the House of God is a house of order. He spoke of the glorious promise given to the pure in heart, that they should see the face of God, and of the promise of the Almighty that when a house should be built to His name, providing it should not be defiled, His power should rest upon and be manifested in it, and that He should visit it. He referred to the blessings that were received in the Temple at Kirtland, and said that the time would come when all that were pure in heart who should enter the Temple of the Almighty, which should be built in the “tops of the mountains,” would see the face of God. He continued to speak for a considerable time with regard to the building of temples in these days, upon which the glory of God shall rest, quoting several prophecies, ancient and modern, bearing upon those things. He showed clearly through his entire discourse that all things must be done in order; in accordance with law, to be acceptable to heaven.
Order—Spiritual Gifts—Temples—The New Jerusalem
Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 9, 1871.
Reported by David W. Evans, Transcribed by Masters Feramorz Young and John Q. Cannon.
Brethren, sisters, and strangers, I wish to address you for a few moments this forenoon, and to speak upon those things that may be put into my mind. We, all of us, believe that our God is a God of order, that all things that are conducted by him are conducted in the most perfect order, according to law. Hence it is written somewhere in the New Testament, I think in the 14th chapter of Paul's 1st epistle to the Corinthians that: “My house is a house of order and not a house of confusion.” What we mean by this is, that everything pertaining to the salvation of men, which is acceptable in the sight of heaven, must be in accordance with strict law. In other words, that the Lord designed a work among the human family according to those laws that were ordained by him from before the foundation of the world. If he desires them to be baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, he has ordained a law through and by which mankind may be made partakers of the blessing. If he is willing to extend mercy and pardon to the children of men he has ordained a law, namely, faith in his Son Jesus Christ, in the atonement that he wrought out in the ordinances and institutions of the Gospel that he established, requiring the human family to repent, and reform their lives, to put away their sins, break off from every manner of evil and enter into a covenant with him to serve him faithfully, and to manifest their repentance by obeying a certain ordinance, then comes forgiveness. That ordinance is baptism, which must be performed according to the pattern and law of heaven; it must not be varied from. Sprinkling will not do; pouring water on the head will not do; baptism administered by a man having no authority from heaven will not be accepted; it must be administered according to law, order and authority, by one who is commissioned, to whom the Lord has spoken and to whom he has given revelation and called to perform that work, then it will be acceptable, and will be acknowledged in heaven, and be recorded in the archives of eternity; and when the books are opened, it will be found in those books that that man or that woman has complied with the order of God's house, given heed to the institutions and ordinances of his kingdom, and having continued to do so to the end, he or she can be saved.
God has also ordained that when he bestows upon the children of men spiritual gifts, that they must be received in order; they must be given according to the laws and institutions of the church, through the administration of that authority and power that he has established here on the earth. Hence, Paul, in writing to the saints in his day, said to them on a certain occasion that he greatly desired to visit certain branches of the church in order that he might impart to them some spiritual gifts. Why not receive these spiritual gifts in some other way? Why not receive these great and choice heavenly blessings according to our own will? Because God is a God of order and his house is not a house of confusion. If he desires to bestow any great, choice, heavenly gift upon his servants and handmaidens he has ordained an authority and set that authority in his church, and through the administration of the ordinances that pertain to that heavenly gift they may be made partakers thereof.
God has promised in the sermon on the mount a very great blessing to the pure in heart—“Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” How great is the blessing that is here pronounced! They shall see God. God is a being who is willing to reveal himself, even to his children here on the earth. If they will abide by law, give heed to the ordinances that he has ordained, and walk in consistency with the principles that are revealed, they may come up to that high privilege here, in time, that the veil will be taken away and their eyes can look on the face of the Lord, for they are pure in heart. I know it is written in other places that no man hath seen God at any time. In the book of Exodus it is written that “no man shall see my face;” and then again, the same book says that Jacob saw God face to face and talked with him. Again it is written that Moses talked with the Lord face to face as a man talks with his friend. How shall we reconcile these passages of scripture? If we take the scriptures in their true import, and according to the general tenor of their reading, they are easily reconciled. No natural man hath seen God at any time. A natural man could not behold the face of the Lord in his glory, for he could not endure it; but when a mortal man or woman here on the earth has put away the natural or carnal mind; when he or she has put away all sin and iniquity, and has complied with the laws and commandments of God, then, like Jacob of old, he or she may see God face to face, and, like Moses, talk with the Lord as one man talks with another. It is written here in this book which you and I have received as a part and portion of our rule of faith and practice, “The Book of Covenants,” as follows: “Verily thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul that forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face, and know that I am; And that I am the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world; And that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one.” Again it is written in another revelation: “And inasmuch as my people shall build up a house unto me in the name of the Lord, and do not suffer any unclean thing to come into it, that it be not defiled, my glory shall rest upon it; Yea, my presence shall be there, for I will come into it, and all the pure in heart that shall come into it shall see God. But if it be defiled I will not come into it, and my glory shall not be there; for I will not come into unholy temples, etc.”
I have read these sayings, in order that the Latter-day Saints may perceive that God is willing that you and I and the least of those that are called Latter-day Saints, if they will purify themselves before him and call upon his name, keep his commandments, obey his institutions, comply with the order of his house, regulating their lives and conduct by every word that proceeds forth out of his mouth—may rend the veil, and be permitted to gaze upon the face of our Redeemer and Creator. This was the privilege of the Saints of God in times of old. Paul, in addressing the Saints who lived in his day, writes thus:
“Ye are come unto Mount Zion, unto the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, unto God the judge of all, and Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant.”
What high privileges and great blessings were conferred upon those former-day Saints! They had been enabled by their faith to come up before God and claim, not only those common spiritual gifts that are imparted to the church for the mutual edification of its members, but they were also permitted to rise still higher, by virtue of their faith, and gaze upon the heavenly Jerusalem, to come unto mount Zion, to the city of the living God. They could behold the face of God, the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the faces of an innumerable company of angels—the Church of the Firstborn, and mingle themselves, as it were, in their society. All these things were obtained through obedience to the laws and institutions that God had made manifest in the midst of his house.
When the Lord commanded this people to build a house in the land of Kirtland, in the early rise of this church, he gave them the pattern by vision from heaven, and commanded them to build that house according to that pattern and order; to have the architecture, not in accordance with architecture devised by men, but to have everything constructed in that house according to the heavenly pattern that he by his voice had inspired to his servants. When this was complied with did the Lord accept that house? Yes! They having complied with the order and built the house according to the pattern, the Lord condescended to grace that house with his presence. In that house, the veil was taken away from the eyes of many of the servants of God and they beheld his glory. In that house, the Lord Jesus Christ was seen by some of the Elders of the Church in heavenly vision standing upon the threshold of the pulpit, proclaiming himself to be Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the Great I Am, &c. And he gave keys of instruction and counsel and authority to his servants, declaring unto them that he accepted that house at their hands, and inasmuch as they had been faithful in the performance of their duty in building a temple to his name, he blessed them therein. He also proclaimed unto them that from that house, his servants should go forth armed with the power of his priesthood, and proclaim the Gospel among the various nations, and that many people should come from the uttermost parts of the earth and praise the name of the Lord in Zion, and in the midst of his house. Thus did the Lord, when we fulfilled on our part, fulfil his promises on his part. So, in the latter days, when the Lord our God shall permit us to build that house of which he has spoken in the paragraph just quoted from the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, it shall come to pass in that day that all who are pure in heart that enter into that house shall see God. Thus we perceive that the Lord chooses to have a house built unto his holy name, wherein he shall manifest his glory and power.
When Moses reared a tabernacle in the wilderness of the land of Egypt according to the pattern that God gave unto him, did the Lord acknowledge it? He did. Did he show forth his power and glory in that house? He did. Did a cloud rest upon it by day and a pillar of flaming fire hover over it by night? Yes! It was done according to the pattern and according to the heavenly order and commandment of the Great Jehovah. So, when the servants of God in the last days shall build a house in the tops of the mountains, he will acknowledge it if they build it according to the pattern which shall be revealed from heaven, on the spot that the Lord shall designate by his own voice, and in the time and in the season, proclaimed by the Almighty. It shall come to pass in that day, also, that the Lord will show forth his glory in that house, and the fame thereof shall go forth to the uttermost parts of the earth: all people, nations, languages and tongues, kings upon their thrones, and many nations will say, “come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us of his ways.” That is, that he may inform our minds concerning the order and laws that pertain to his house and kingdom, that everything may be done by law and authority, that what is done here on the earth may be acknowledged and recorded in the heavens, for the benefit of those who believe.
I have about five minutes more. We read in the scriptures of divine truth that the Lord our God is to come to his temple in the last days, as was quoted yesterday by Elder Penrose. It is recorded in the 3rd chapter of Malachi that “the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple.” This had no reference to the first coming of the Messiah, to the day when he appeared in the flesh; but it has reference to that glorious period termed the last days, when the Lord will again have a house, or a temple reared up on the earth to his holy name. “The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, but who shall abide the day of his coming? Who shall stand when he appears? For he is like the refiner's fire and like fuller's soap. He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver upon the sons of Levi; that they may offer an offering unto the Lord in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord as in days of old and as in former years.” The Lord intends to have a temple not only in Zion, but, according to this, in old Jerusalem; and he intends that the sons of Levi shall receive their blessings—the blessings of their priesthood that were conferred upon them in that temple; and he is determined that the ministers in that temple shall be purified as gold and silver is purified, and he is determined to sit as a refiner's fire in the midst of that temple. So it will be in the temple in Zion, for behold in the last days the Lord will rear up Zion upon the American continent, and he will also rear up Jerusalem on the eastern hemisphere. Zion on the western continent will be the place where the Lord will also purify and cleanse these two priesthoods—the priesthood of Levi and the priesthood of Melchizedek—the lower and the higher priesthood—and they will be filled with the glory of God upon Mount Zion in the Lord's house.
Let me read a few passages in the Book of Covenants. Thirty-nine years ago, a revelation was given, a passage or two of which I will now read; “A revelation of Jesus Christ unto his servant Joseph Smith and six elders, as they united their hearts and lifted up their voices on high. Yea, the word of the Lord concerning his church, established in the last days for the restoration of his people, as he has spoken by the mouth of his prophets, and for the gathering of his saints to stand on Mount Zion, which shall be the city of the New Jerusalem. Which city shall be built, beginning at the temple lot, which is appointed by the finger of the Lord, in the western boundaries of the State of Missouri, and dedicated by the hand of Joseph Smith, Jun., and others with whom the Lord was well pleased.”
I now notice another prediction: “Verily this is the word of the Lord, that the city of the New Jerusalem shall be built up by the gathering of the saints, beginning at this place, even the place of the temple, which temple shall be reared in this generation. For verily this generation shall not all pass away until an house shall be built unto the Lord, and a cloud shall rest upon it, which cloud shall be even the glory of the Lord, which shall fill the house.”
We will now read an item from the sixth paragraph: “The sons of Moses,” that is, those that pertain to the two priesthoods, “the sons of Moses and the sons of Aaron shall offer an acceptable offering and sacrifice in the house of the Lord, which house shall be established in this generation, upon the consecrated spot as I have appointed—And the sons of Moses and of Aaron,” that is, those who receive the two priesthoods, “shall be filled with the glory of the Lord upon Mount Zion in the Lord's house, whose sons are ye; and also many whom I have called and sent forth to build up my church. For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining of these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies. They become the sons of Moses and of Aaron and the seed of Abraham, and the church and kingdom, and the elect of God,” etc.
Here then we see a prediction, and we believe it. Yes! The Latter-day Saints have as firm faith and rely upon this promise as much as they rely upon the promise of forgiveness of sins when they comply with the first principles of the Gospel. We just as much expect that a city will be built, called Zion, in the place and on the land which has been appointed by the Lord our God, and that a temple will be reared on the spot that has been selected, and the cornerstone of which has been laid, in the generation when this revelation was given; we just as much expect this as we expect the sun to rise in the morning and set in the evening; or as much as we expect to see the fulfillment of any of the purposes of the Lord our God, pertaining to the works of his hands. But says the objector, “thirty-nine years have passed away.” What of that? The generation has not passed away; all the people that were living thirty-nine years ago have not passed away; but before they do pass away this will be fulfilled. What is the object of this Temple? The object is that the Lord may, according to the order that he has instituted, unveil his face to his servants, that those that are pure in heart and enter into that temple may be filled with the glory of God upon Mount Zion in the Lord's house; and, finally, whatever we may be called upon to do, whether it be building temples, cultivating the earth, organizing ourselves into cooperative companies to carry out the purposes and designs of Jehovah; whether we are sent abroad on missions or remain at home, it matters not, all things must be done in order, all things must be performed according to law, so that they will be acceptable in the sight of heaven, and be recorded there for the benefit of the people of God here on the earth. Why? Because God is a God of order; he is a God of law. God is that being that sways his scepter over universal nature and controls the suns and systems of suns and worlds and planets and keeps them moving in their spheres and orbits by law; and all his subjects must comply with law here on the earth, that they may be prepared to do his will on the earth as his will is done by the angelic hosts and those higher order of intelligences that reign in his own presence. Amen.
The choir sang: “How beautiful upon the mountains.”
Prayer by Elder George Q. Cannon.
Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 9, 1871.
Reported by David W. Evans, Transcribed by Masters Feramorz Young and John Q. Cannon.
Brethren, sisters, and strangers, I wish to address you for a few moments this forenoon, and to speak upon those things that may be put into my mind. We, all of us, believe that our God is a God of order, that all things that are conducted by him are conducted in the most perfect order, according to law. Hence it is written somewhere in the New Testament, I think in the 14th chapter of Paul's 1st epistle to the Corinthians that: “My house is a house of order and not a house of confusion.” What we mean by this is, that everything pertaining to the salvation of men, which is acceptable in the sight of heaven, must be in accordance with strict law. In other words, that the Lord designed a work among the human family according to those laws that were ordained by him from before the foundation of the world. If he desires them to be baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, he has ordained a law through and by which mankind may be made partakers of the blessing. If he is willing to extend mercy and pardon to the children of men he has ordained a law, namely, faith in his Son Jesus Christ, in the atonement that he wrought out in the ordinances and institutions of the Gospel that he established, requiring the human family to repent, and reform their lives, to put away their sins, break off from every manner of evil and enter into a covenant with him to serve him faithfully, and to manifest their repentance by obeying a certain ordinance, then comes forgiveness. That ordinance is baptism, which must be performed according to the pattern and law of heaven; it must not be varied from. Sprinkling will not do; pouring water on the head will not do; baptism administered by a man having no authority from heaven will not be accepted; it must be administered according to law, order and authority, by one who is commissioned, to whom the Lord has spoken and to whom he has given revelation and called to perform that work, then it will be acceptable, and will be acknowledged in heaven, and be recorded in the archives of eternity; and when the books are opened, it will be found in those books that that man or that woman has complied with the order of God's house, given heed to the institutions and ordinances of his kingdom, and having continued to do so to the end, he or she can be saved.
God has also ordained that when he bestows upon the children of men spiritual gifts, that they must be received in order; they must be given according to the laws and institutions of the church, through the administration of that authority and power that he has established here on the earth. Hence, Paul, in writing to the saints in his day, said to them on a certain occasion that he greatly desired to visit certain branches of the church in order that he might impart to them some spiritual gifts. Why not receive these spiritual gifts in some other way? Why not receive these great and choice heavenly blessings according to our own will? Because God is a God of order and his house is not a house of confusion. If he desires to bestow any great, choice, heavenly gift upon his servants and handmaidens he has ordained an authority and set that authority in his church, and through the administration of the ordinances that pertain to that heavenly gift they may be made partakers thereof.
God has promised in the sermon on the mount a very great blessing to the pure in heart—“Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” How great is the blessing that is here pronounced! They shall see God. God is a being who is willing to reveal himself, even to his children here on the earth. If they will abide by law, give heed to the ordinances that he has ordained, and walk in consistency with the principles that are revealed, they may come up to that high privilege here, in time, that the veil will be taken away and their eyes can look on the face of the Lord, for they are pure in heart. I know it is written in other places that no man hath seen God at any time. In the book of Exodus it is written that “no man shall see my face;” and then again, the same book says that Jacob saw God face to face and talked with him. Again it is written that Moses talked with the Lord face to face as a man talks with his friend. How shall we reconcile these passages of scripture? If we take the scriptures in their true import, and according to the general tenor of their reading, they are easily reconciled. No natural man hath seen God at any time. A natural man could not behold the face of the Lord in his glory, for he could not endure it; but when a mortal man or woman here on the earth has put away the natural or carnal mind; when he or she has put away all sin and iniquity, and has complied with the laws and commandments of God, then, like Jacob of old, he or she may see God face to face, and, like Moses, talk with the Lord as one man talks with another. It is written here in this book which you and I have received as a part and portion of our rule of faith and practice, “The Book of Covenants,” as follows: “Verily thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul that forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face, and know that I am; And that I am the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world; And that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one.” Again it is written in another revelation: “And inasmuch as my people shall build up a house unto me in the name of the Lord, and do not suffer any unclean thing to come into it, that it be not defiled, my glory shall rest upon it; Yea, my presence shall be there, for I will come into it, and all the pure in heart that shall come into it shall see God. But if it be defiled I will not come into it, and my glory shall not be there; for I will not come into unholy temples, etc.”
I have read these sayings, in order that the Latter-day Saints may perceive that God is willing that you and I and the least of those that are called Latter-day Saints, if they will purify themselves before him and call upon his name, keep his commandments, obey his institutions, comply with the order of his house, regulating their lives and conduct by every word that proceeds forth out of his mouth—may rend the veil, and be permitted to gaze upon the face of our Redeemer and Creator. This was the privilege of the Saints of God in times of old. Paul, in addressing the Saints who lived in his day, writes thus:
“Ye are come unto Mount Zion, unto the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, unto God the judge of all, and Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant.”
What high privileges and great blessings were conferred upon those former-day Saints! They had been enabled by their faith to come up before God and claim, not only those common spiritual gifts that are imparted to the church for the mutual edification of its members, but they were also permitted to rise still higher, by virtue of their faith, and gaze upon the heavenly Jerusalem, to come unto mount Zion, to the city of the living God. They could behold the face of God, the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the faces of an innumerable company of angels—the Church of the Firstborn, and mingle themselves, as it were, in their society. All these things were obtained through obedience to the laws and institutions that God had made manifest in the midst of his house.
When the Lord commanded this people to build a house in the land of Kirtland, in the early rise of this church, he gave them the pattern by vision from heaven, and commanded them to build that house according to that pattern and order; to have the architecture, not in accordance with architecture devised by men, but to have everything constructed in that house according to the heavenly pattern that he by his voice had inspired to his servants. When this was complied with did the Lord accept that house? Yes! They having complied with the order and built the house according to the pattern, the Lord condescended to grace that house with his presence. In that house, the veil was taken away from the eyes of many of the servants of God and they beheld his glory. In that house, the Lord Jesus Christ was seen by some of the Elders of the Church in heavenly vision standing upon the threshold of the pulpit, proclaiming himself to be Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the Great I Am, &c. And he gave keys of instruction and counsel and authority to his servants, declaring unto them that he accepted that house at their hands, and inasmuch as they had been faithful in the performance of their duty in building a temple to his name, he blessed them therein. He also proclaimed unto them that from that house, his servants should go forth armed with the power of his priesthood, and proclaim the Gospel among the various nations, and that many people should come from the uttermost parts of the earth and praise the name of the Lord in Zion, and in the midst of his house. Thus did the Lord, when we fulfilled on our part, fulfil his promises on his part. So, in the latter days, when the Lord our God shall permit us to build that house of which he has spoken in the paragraph just quoted from the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, it shall come to pass in that day that all who are pure in heart that enter into that house shall see God. Thus we perceive that the Lord chooses to have a house built unto his holy name, wherein he shall manifest his glory and power.
When Moses reared a tabernacle in the wilderness of the land of Egypt according to the pattern that God gave unto him, did the Lord acknowledge it? He did. Did he show forth his power and glory in that house? He did. Did a cloud rest upon it by day and a pillar of flaming fire hover over it by night? Yes! It was done according to the pattern and according to the heavenly order and commandment of the Great Jehovah. So, when the servants of God in the last days shall build a house in the tops of the mountains, he will acknowledge it if they build it according to the pattern which shall be revealed from heaven, on the spot that the Lord shall designate by his own voice, and in the time and in the season, proclaimed by the Almighty. It shall come to pass in that day, also, that the Lord will show forth his glory in that house, and the fame thereof shall go forth to the uttermost parts of the earth: all people, nations, languages and tongues, kings upon their thrones, and many nations will say, “come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us of his ways.” That is, that he may inform our minds concerning the order and laws that pertain to his house and kingdom, that everything may be done by law and authority, that what is done here on the earth may be acknowledged and recorded in the heavens, for the benefit of those who believe.
I have about five minutes more. We read in the scriptures of divine truth that the Lord our God is to come to his temple in the last days, as was quoted yesterday by Elder Penrose. It is recorded in the 3rd chapter of Malachi that “the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple.” This had no reference to the first coming of the Messiah, to the day when he appeared in the flesh; but it has reference to that glorious period termed the last days, when the Lord will again have a house, or a temple reared up on the earth to his holy name. “The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, but who shall abide the day of his coming? Who shall stand when he appears? For he is like the refiner's fire and like fuller's soap. He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver upon the sons of Levi; that they may offer an offering unto the Lord in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord as in days of old and as in former years.” The Lord intends to have a temple not only in Zion, but, according to this, in old Jerusalem; and he intends that the sons of Levi shall receive their blessings—the blessings of their priesthood that were conferred upon them in that temple; and he is determined that the ministers in that temple shall be purified as gold and silver is purified, and he is determined to sit as a refiner's fire in the midst of that temple. So it will be in the temple in Zion, for behold in the last days the Lord will rear up Zion upon the American continent, and he will also rear up Jerusalem on the eastern hemisphere. Zion on the western continent will be the place where the Lord will also purify and cleanse these two priesthoods—the priesthood of Levi and the priesthood of Melchizedek—the lower and the higher priesthood—and they will be filled with the glory of God upon Mount Zion in the Lord's house.
Let me read a few passages in the Book of Covenants. Thirty-nine years ago, a revelation was given, a passage or two of which I will now read; “A revelation of Jesus Christ unto his servant Joseph Smith and six elders, as they united their hearts and lifted up their voices on high. Yea, the word of the Lord concerning his church, established in the last days for the restoration of his people, as he has spoken by the mouth of his prophets, and for the gathering of his saints to stand on Mount Zion, which shall be the city of the New Jerusalem. Which city shall be built, beginning at the temple lot, which is appointed by the finger of the Lord, in the western boundaries of the State of Missouri, and dedicated by the hand of Joseph Smith, Jun., and others with whom the Lord was well pleased.”
I now notice another prediction: “Verily this is the word of the Lord, that the city of the New Jerusalem shall be built up by the gathering of the saints, beginning at this place, even the place of the temple, which temple shall be reared in this generation. For verily this generation shall not all pass away until an house shall be built unto the Lord, and a cloud shall rest upon it, which cloud shall be even the glory of the Lord, which shall fill the house.”
We will now read an item from the sixth paragraph: “The sons of Moses,” that is, those that pertain to the two priesthoods, “the sons of Moses and the sons of Aaron shall offer an acceptable offering and sacrifice in the house of the Lord, which house shall be established in this generation, upon the consecrated spot as I have appointed—And the sons of Moses and of Aaron,” that is, those who receive the two priesthoods, “shall be filled with the glory of the Lord upon Mount Zion in the Lord's house, whose sons are ye; and also many whom I have called and sent forth to build up my church. For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining of these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies. They become the sons of Moses and of Aaron and the seed of Abraham, and the church and kingdom, and the elect of God,” etc.
Here then we see a prediction, and we believe it. Yes! The Latter-day Saints have as firm faith and rely upon this promise as much as they rely upon the promise of forgiveness of sins when they comply with the first principles of the Gospel. We just as much expect that a city will be built, called Zion, in the place and on the land which has been appointed by the Lord our God, and that a temple will be reared on the spot that has been selected, and the cornerstone of which has been laid, in the generation when this revelation was given; we just as much expect this as we expect the sun to rise in the morning and set in the evening; or as much as we expect to see the fulfillment of any of the purposes of the Lord our God, pertaining to the works of his hands. But says the objector, “thirty-nine years have passed away.” What of that? The generation has not passed away; all the people that were living thirty-nine years ago have not passed away; but before they do pass away this will be fulfilled. What is the object of this Temple? The object is that the Lord may, according to the order that he has instituted, unveil his face to his servants, that those that are pure in heart and enter into that temple may be filled with the glory of God upon Mount Zion in the Lord's house; and, finally, whatever we may be called upon to do, whether it be building temples, cultivating the earth, organizing ourselves into cooperative companies to carry out the purposes and designs of Jehovah; whether we are sent abroad on missions or remain at home, it matters not, all things must be done in order, all things must be performed according to law, so that they will be acceptable in the sight of heaven, and be recorded there for the benefit of the people of God here on the earth. Why? Because God is a God of order; he is a God of law. God is that being that sways his scepter over universal nature and controls the suns and systems of suns and worlds and planets and keeps them moving in their spheres and orbits by law; and all his subjects must comply with law here on the earth, that they may be prepared to do his will on the earth as his will is done by the angelic hosts and those higher order of intelligences that reign in his own presence. Amen.
The choir sang: “How beautiful upon the mountains.”
Prayer by Elder George Q. Cannon.
2 p.m.
The choir sang: “Behold the mountain of the Lord.”
Prayer was offered by Elder Orson Pratt.
“Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire,” was sung by the choir.
The choir sang: “Behold the mountain of the Lord.”
Prayer was offered by Elder Orson Pratt.
“Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire,” was sung by the choir.
Elder Albert Carrington
expressed his gratitude that, after a short sojourn at home since his return from Europe, he should again be called to go forth to assist in spreading the gospel and gathering Israel. He had no desire but to go where he was sent and where he could do the most good. There were many saints in Europe who would like and who deserve to be gathered. A great deal of care should, however, be exercised in assisting the poor. The last financial report from Liverpool showed that that office was not in possession of any means; therefore he wished it to be understood that all letters sent from here to that office asking the mission to help out their relatives and promising that they would pay when they could, would receive no attention whatever: unless means was supplied from some other source no help could be rendered. There were many saints in England who had saved considerable towards their emigration and who could therefore be brought out with but a little assistance. He spoke of some Elders who had been sent from here, and, after having been sustained by the saints, had borrowed means from poor people, under solemn promises that it should be refunded, which promises had never been fulfilled. Such conduct could not be too strongly reprobated. He spoke for some time on the gathering of Israel from the nations.
expressed his gratitude that, after a short sojourn at home since his return from Europe, he should again be called to go forth to assist in spreading the gospel and gathering Israel. He had no desire but to go where he was sent and where he could do the most good. There were many saints in Europe who would like and who deserve to be gathered. A great deal of care should, however, be exercised in assisting the poor. The last financial report from Liverpool showed that that office was not in possession of any means; therefore he wished it to be understood that all letters sent from here to that office asking the mission to help out their relatives and promising that they would pay when they could, would receive no attention whatever: unless means was supplied from some other source no help could be rendered. There were many saints in England who had saved considerable towards their emigration and who could therefore be brought out with but a little assistance. He spoke of some Elders who had been sent from here, and, after having been sustained by the saints, had borrowed means from poor people, under solemn promises that it should be refunded, which promises had never been fulfilled. Such conduct could not be too strongly reprobated. He spoke for some time on the gathering of Israel from the nations.
Elder George Q. Cannon read over the following additional names of Elders who were called to go on missions, the vote that they should go being unanimous:
William C. Staines, Emigration Agent at New York;
Warren N. Dusenburry, to assist Elder Staines;
Benjamin Hulse.
The following brethren were called to go to Europe:
George Reynolds, Salt Lake City;
Ralph Harrison, Providence, Cache Co.;
William M. Bromley, Springville;
George Wilkins, Spanish Fork;
John Roberts, Lehi;
Solomon Chase, Springville;
John Pyper, Nephi;
John B. Fairbanks, Bishop of Payson;
Jacob Miller, Farmington;
Benjamin W. Driggs, Pleasant Grove;
Elijah Box, Brigham City;
David John, Provo;
Caleb Hawes, Provo;
Joseph V. Robinson, Fillmore;
William C. Anderson, Salt Lake City;
Thomas Dobson, Coalville;
James A. Leishman, Wellsville;
George P. Ward, Hyrum;
B. W. Carrington, Salt Lake City;
George W. Thatcher, Logan.
William C. Staines, Emigration Agent at New York;
Warren N. Dusenburry, to assist Elder Staines;
Benjamin Hulse.
The following brethren were called to go to Europe:
George Reynolds, Salt Lake City;
Ralph Harrison, Providence, Cache Co.;
William M. Bromley, Springville;
George Wilkins, Spanish Fork;
John Roberts, Lehi;
Solomon Chase, Springville;
John Pyper, Nephi;
John B. Fairbanks, Bishop of Payson;
Jacob Miller, Farmington;
Benjamin W. Driggs, Pleasant Grove;
Elijah Box, Brigham City;
David John, Provo;
Caleb Hawes, Provo;
Joseph V. Robinson, Fillmore;
William C. Anderson, Salt Lake City;
Thomas Dobson, Coalville;
James A. Leishman, Wellsville;
George P. Ward, Hyrum;
B. W. Carrington, Salt Lake City;
George W. Thatcher, Logan.
President Brigham Young
said he had a few sermons to preach, and that they would be short. He had to say to the Elders who would go to preach the gospel, when people who might even be unworthy applied to them for baptism, to forbid them not, and they would thus clear their skirts. He explained that many embrace the gospel because they know it to be true, but many such have not the love of the truth in their hearts. He expressed the pleasure he experienced in laboring for the building up of the Kingdom of God, because he took care to keep his conscience clear and leave all results with the Lord, and advised the Elders to take the same course. There was no such thing as a miracle only to those who are ignorant of the principle upon which such results are produced, and related many instances of the scanty supplies of the Saints being increased by invisible powers, in times of scarcity. He commented severely on the conduct of Elders who, while on missions, had borrowed money and had not repaid it. We must, he said, carry on the work of gathering the good, bad and indifferent for the net catches all kinds of fish. It does not matter whether they come here and apostatize or not. He made a powerful appeal to the Saints to contribute freely of their means to help gather the poor. He alluded to the mining excitement here and advised those who came to open mines, and all others, not to go to law, for by doing so they would but waste their substance.
There is a certain class who, instead of directing their energies in legitimate labor, try to live by their wits; such characters are useless. He defined the difference between true and false education, and showed how men of wealth, intelligence and education could direct their resources and ability so as to be benefactors to the human family. He advised the Latter-day Saints to work for capitalists who come here to open mines, and they would pay them honestly. Many of them are here to make money and they wish to make it honorably. There has been a great deal of negligence in regard to the payment of tithes. A few have been strict in this matter but they were the exceptions, and those exceptions were among the poor and not the rich. His discourse was eloquent, powerful and highly instructive, comprehending many matters of vital importance. It was reported in full and will soon appear in the News.
said he had a few sermons to preach, and that they would be short. He had to say to the Elders who would go to preach the gospel, when people who might even be unworthy applied to them for baptism, to forbid them not, and they would thus clear their skirts. He explained that many embrace the gospel because they know it to be true, but many such have not the love of the truth in their hearts. He expressed the pleasure he experienced in laboring for the building up of the Kingdom of God, because he took care to keep his conscience clear and leave all results with the Lord, and advised the Elders to take the same course. There was no such thing as a miracle only to those who are ignorant of the principle upon which such results are produced, and related many instances of the scanty supplies of the Saints being increased by invisible powers, in times of scarcity. He commented severely on the conduct of Elders who, while on missions, had borrowed money and had not repaid it. We must, he said, carry on the work of gathering the good, bad and indifferent for the net catches all kinds of fish. It does not matter whether they come here and apostatize or not. He made a powerful appeal to the Saints to contribute freely of their means to help gather the poor. He alluded to the mining excitement here and advised those who came to open mines, and all others, not to go to law, for by doing so they would but waste their substance.
There is a certain class who, instead of directing their energies in legitimate labor, try to live by their wits; such characters are useless. He defined the difference between true and false education, and showed how men of wealth, intelligence and education could direct their resources and ability so as to be benefactors to the human family. He advised the Latter-day Saints to work for capitalists who come here to open mines, and they would pay them honestly. Many of them are here to make money and they wish to make it honorably. There has been a great deal of negligence in regard to the payment of tithes. A few have been strict in this matter but they were the exceptions, and those exceptions were among the poor and not the rich. His discourse was eloquent, powerful and highly instructive, comprehending many matters of vital importance. It was reported in full and will soon appear in the News.
Gathering the Saints—The Providences of the Lord—Uselessness of Non-Producers—Arbitration Better Than Courts—Feed, not Fight the Indians—Paying Tithing
Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 9, 1871.
Reported by David W. Evans.
I have a few sermons to preach, and as the time is short I do not know that I shall be able to deliver as many as I wish to. I want your attention, and you will have to be quiet. I find that my voice is a little broken, and it will be pretty hard for me to speak so that you can hear me. I shall not try to talk down the crying of children, the whispering of the congregation, or the shuffling of feet, as I have often done. I want your attention to the various subjects I wish to lay before you; for I shall have but a few minutes to speak on each one.
In the first place, I want to say to the Elders who go forth to preach the Gospel—no matter who may apply to you for baptism, even if you have good reason to believe they are unworthy, if they require, it forbid them not, but perform that duty and administer the ordinance for them; it clears the skirts of your garments, and the responsibility is upon them.
A few words now with regard to gathering. I will say that if unworthy people are gathered in the future, it is nothing new or strange, nothing more than we expect. If this net does not gather the good and the bad we should have no idea that it is the net that Jesus spoke about when he said that it should gather of all kinds. Furthermore, there are a great many who come into the Church because they know the work is true. Their judgment, and every reasoning faculty and power of their minds tells them it is true; consequently they embrace the truth. But do they receive the love of it? That is the question. I will tell you that very few of those who receive the love of the truth, but many of those who fall away, though they know the Gospel is true, do not possess the love of the truth, and they will not apostatize while scattered. We try to get them to do so in the old country, but they will not. Bring them over to New York and they will not apostatize.
They will labor there year after year, and struggle and toil until they can get to the gathering place, they must come to headquarters, then they can apostatize, forsake the faith, and turn away from the holy commandments of the Lord Jesus. This is not our business. Our duty is to preach the Gospel and to receive all that wish to have the ordinances administered to them, and leave the result in the hands of God. This is his work, not ours. He has called us to be co-laborers with him.
I want to say for the consolation of the Elders of Israel and those who go forth to preside, you need have no trouble with regard to the building up of this kingdom, only do your duty in the sphere to which you are assigned. I think there is more responsibility on myself than any other one man on this earth pertaining to the salvation of the human family; yet my path is a pleasant path to walk in, my labors are very agreeable, for I take no thought what I shall say; I trouble not myself with regard to my duties. All I have to do is to live, as I have often made the comparison, and keep my spirit, feelings and conscience like a sheet of blank paper, and let the Spirit and power of God write upon it what he pleases. When he writes I will read; but if I read before he writes, I am very likely to be wrong. If you will take the same course, you will not have the least trouble.
Brother Carrington was telling us about the way in which money turned up to clear the ship after sending off more Saints than he had means to pay for. Was this a miracle any more than many other things in our lives and in the work of God? No, the providences of God are all a miracle to the human family until they understand them. There are no miracles only to those who are ignorant. A miracle is supposed to be a result without a cause, but there is no such thing. There is a cause for every result we see; and if we see a result without understanding the cause, we call it a miracle. This is what we have been taught; but there is no miracle to those who understand.
While Brother Carrington was speaking about getting twenty pounds, I thought of a few circumstances which have transpired here. I will refer to one that came along in 1856. In that year, our agents in England loaded up the Saints, brought them over the ocean, up the rivers and railroads, and fitted them out with ox teams, wagons, and provisions, and then sent on their drafts to me, and within thirty days I had piled upon me $78,000 that I had to pay. I never was apprized of any draft being drawn upon me, or one word sent from the Liverpool office, until I saw the drafts as they commenced to come in for five, ten, or fifteen thousand dollars. I did not know where I was going to get the first dollar; but I did just as I always do—my duty and trusted in God. I had not a draft protested, and I do not think that any man went without his pay. But let me have done the business, I should have done it differently. When I have the privilege of acting, I act a little more by works than altogether by faith. I dare not trust my faith quite so far, but others dare, and they have not swamped me yet; they have not fettered my feet so that I cannot walk, nor tied my hands so that I cannot handle; nor my tongue so that I cannot speak; and the Lord has delivered me every time with the help of my brethren.
We do not care anything about these things, they are but trifles. We could stand here and talk until tomorrow morning, telling remarkable instances of the providences of God towards his servants and people, and then only have just commenced. Who put flour into the barrels here when we were destitute and had nothing to eat? The women would go and scrape the precious barrel and take out the last half ounce of meal and make up a little cake to divide among the children; and perhaps the next time they would go to the barrel they would find it half full of flour. Who put it in? Their neighbors? No, they had none to put in. Was it from the States? If it was, they who brought it must have flown through the air, for they could not have brought it with ox teams quite so quickly. But without stopping to inquire further about how this replenishing of the flour barrels was effected, I know now, and knew then, that these elements that we live in are full of all that we produce from the earth, air, and water. I told the people when we settled here that we had all the facilities here that we could ask for, all we had to do was to go to work and organize the elements. How far Jesus went to get the wine that was put into the pots which we read about in the account of the marriage at Cana of Galilee I do not know; but I know that he had power to call the elements that enter into the grape into those pots of water, unperceived by anybody in the room. He had power to pass through a congregation unseen by them; he had power to step through a wall and no person be able to see him; he had power to walk on the water, and none of those with whom he associated could tell how; he had power to call the elements together and they were made into bread, but it was done by invisible hands.
Well, I will change the subject a little, and I say to the brethren, do not be discouraged; bring on all who wish to obey the Gospel, that they may apostatize. We want them to apostatize as quickly as possible. How long will the people continue to apostatize? Until the Master comes. When he comes, the word will go forth, “Gather my wheat into my garner, and bind the tares in bundles, that they may be burned.” The wheat and the tares will grow together until harvest, and we cannot help it, and we need not worry about it neither.
We want the brethren and sisters to feel around and see if they can find a sixpence, a dollar or five dollars to help out the poor. Talk about the people over yonder being hungry, why I have known them eat not more than a third of a meal for a whole week in order to save enough to feed two or three of us Elders. I was always ashamed to take it; and I will tell you what else I am ashamed of. I am ashamed that any man calling himself an Elder of Israel should go to any country to preach the Gospel and then commence begging. Such a course is disgraceful. I have no fellowship for those who do it; and those who will borrow and not repay, ought to be cut off the Church. I will give you a little of my experience when on my English mission. When I landed in Liverpool, I had six bits, and with that I bought me a hat. I had worn, on my journey to England, a little cap that my wife had made me out of a pair of pantaloons that I could not wear any longer. We stayed in Liverpool one year and sixteen days, and during that time we baptized between eight and nine thousand persons, printed five thousand Books of Mormon, three thousand hymn books, over sixty thousand tracts that we gave to the people, and the Millennial Star; established a mission in London, Edinburgh, and I do not know but in a hundred other places, and we sustained ourselves.
Who was there on that mission, I mean among the missionaries, that had a coat or cloak that I didn't pay for? I transacted the business myself, and we paid every dime. We got money from the brethren and sisters and paid them up. Besides doing this, we fed family after family; and I never allowed myself to go down to the printing office without putting my hand in the drawer and taking out as many coppers as I could hold, so that I might throw them to beggars without being stopped by them on the road. Did we borrow that which we did not pay? No. Did we beg? No. The brethren and sisters, and especially the sisters, would urge us to come and eat with them. I would try to beg off; but that would not do, it would hurt their feelings, we must go and eat their food, while they would starve to procure it. I was always ashamed of this; but I invariably had a sixpence to give them. How much had I given to me? One sister, who now lives in Payson, gave me a sovereign and a pair of stockings; and when I came away a hatter, by the name of Miller, sent two hats by me to my little boys. The sisters, when I first went to Liverpool, made a little contribution and got me a pair of pantaloons. I was not in the habit of begging, but I said to them, “When my trousers are a little ridiculous, I guess you will know it, won't you?” and they gave me a pair of pantaloons, otherwise I do not think I received one farthing. I might have received a shilling or two from others, but I do not recollect. When we left, we sent over a shipload of the brethren and sisters, a good many of whose fares we paid. When I went into Liverpool, I do not think I could have got trusted a sixpence if I had gone into every store and shop in the place. When we came away a certain Captain wanted to bring us over, and said he, “Are you ready?” “No.” “How long must I wait for you? “Eight days;” and they tied up one of the finest vessels in the harbor of Liverpool in order to bring us over. I thought, this was a miracle, don't you? I am sure there are some sisters now here who came with us in that vessel. I received that as a miracle. It was the hand of God. Was it our ability? No. Is it our ability that has accomplished what we see here in building up a colony in the wilderness? Is it the doings of man? No. To be sure we assist in it, and we do as we are directed. But God is our Captain; he is our master. He is the “ONE MAN” that we serve. In him is our light, in him is our life; in him is our hope, and we serve him with an undivided heart, or we should do so.
What do you suppose I think when I hear people say, “O, see what the Mormons have done in the mountains. It is Brigham Young. What a head he has got! What power he has got! How well he controls the people!” The people are ignorant of our true character. It is the Lord that has done this. It is not any one man or set of men; only as we are led and guided by the spirit of truth. It is the oneness, wisdom, power, knowledge and providences of God; and all that we can say is, we are his servants and handmaids, and let us serve him with an undivided heart.
Let us gather the poor. Look up your sixpences, dimes, and dollars. Just think what your feelings would be, if your children had to go to bed tonight crying for bread and you had none to give them! Think of it, families, you who profess to be Saints! Fathers, think of getting up in the morning and not a mouthful to feed your families with. I have seen them totter along, although it was good times when I was there to what it is now, so they say; but I have seen them totter along the streets when they could hardly stand up, for want. But I never failed to give such persons sixpence, a shilling, or a penny, when I realized that such was their position before they passed me. The Lord gave it to me and I dealt it out freely, and am doing so still, and I calculate to do so.
Now, let us help the poor, bring them here, place them in good, comfortable circumstances, so that they can strut up and say, “I guess I am somebody, and I ask no odds of the Lord.” O, fools! When I hear such expressions, or see such a disposition manifested, I think, “O, foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you? Who has turned your brain and made you believe that you are independent of that Being who brought you and all the human family on the earth? Who has instructed you to believe that God has nothing to do with us, that everything that is is by the providence of chance, or no providence at all, and that man is all there is?” Who has taught the people this? Not the wise, not the true philosopher. Find a true philosopher and you find one who has the true principles of Christianity. He delights in them; and sees and understands the hand of Providence guiding and directing in all the affairs of this life. Though men are severed far from God, and though they have hewn out to themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that will hold no water, the true philosopher recognizes the hand of the Supreme, guiding and controlling the affairs of the children of men.
I have a short discourse to preach now to my friends who may be here today, who are engaged in, or who may contemplate commencing operations in, the mining business. It is the general belief now, that there is a great deal of mineral wealth in these mountains. The reports that have gone abroad concerning this are causing great excitement; and I will preach a short discourse now to miners, merchants, lawyers, doctors, priests, people, everybody. I want to talk to you a little and give you some counsel; and I want the Saints to take this counsel. But they take it all the time, and I expect they will continue to do so. This counsel is with regard to lawing with one another. I want to say to you miners: Do not go to law at all; it does you no good, and only wastes your substance. It causes idleness, waste, wickedness, vice, and immorality. Do not go to law. You cannot find a courtroom without a great number of spectators in it; what are they doing? Idling away their time to no profit whatever. As for lawyers, if they will put their brains to work and learn how to raise potatoes, wheat, cattle, build factories, be merchants or tradesmen, it will be a great deal better for them than trying to take the property of others from them through litigation.
We have got to a state in our nation when there is quite a portion of the young and middle-aged men who calculate to live, as the saying is, by their wits. I would like to have a man look philosophically into his own heart, by the spirit of truth, and examine himself, and see what he is, what he was made for, and what use he is on the earth if he never did a thing to produce a morsel of bread. Such a man eats the bread of the laborer, he wears the clothing of the laborer; every time he lies down on his bed he lies on that which the labor of another produced; he never took the pains to raise a goose, duck, lamb, or sheep. He never sheared a sheep or tried to make cloth of the wool; he never took the pains to plough the ground and sow a little wheat, to plant a few potatoes, to raise a calf, a pig, or a chicken. No, he never did anything useful; but still he eats, drinks, and wears, and lives in luxury. In the name of common sense, what use is such a man on this earth? The question may arise, “Must we not have law?” We have plenty of it, and sometimes we have a little too much. Legislators make too many laws; they make so many that the people do not know anything about them. Wise legislators will never make more laws than the people can understand. But by reason of the wealth of our country, young men are sent to schools and colleges, and after receiving their education they calculate to live by it. Will education feed and clothe you, keep you warm on a cold day, or enable you to build a house? Not at all. Should we cry down education on this account? No. What is it for? The improvement of the mind; to instruct us in all arts and sciences, in the history of the world, in the laws of nations; to enable us to understand the laws and principles of life, and how to be useful while we live. But the idler is of no use to himself or to the world in which he dwells.
In all nations, or at least in all civilized nations, there are distinctions among the people created by rank, titles, and property. How does God look upon these distinctions? How do Truth, Justice, and Mercy look upon them? They are all alike in their eyes. The king upon the throne and the beggar in the street are the same before the Heavens—the same in the eyes of Truth, Justice, Love, and Mercy. Find a true philosopher and he will look at the children of men as they are. I do not care whether he says so or not, he regards the poorest of the poor as human beings—men and women, and the kings and great ones, no matter how they are clothed, if they wear crowns, diadems, and diamonds, and ride in gilded coaches, are but human beings.
Our education should be such as to improve our minds and fit us for increased usefulness; to make us of greater service to the human family; to enable us to stop our rude methods of living, speaking, and thinking. But you take those who bear the sway among men, those who hold the affairs of the nations in their hands, catch them in the dark, and they are the lowest of the creations of God. Many of them descend to the lowest gutters they can find, and there, in darkness and in private, wallow in filth and wickedness. This is a waste of their lives, a prostitution of their knowledge and of the blessings Providence has bestowed upon them. Many of them will sit and gamble all night, to see who shall have the pile; and such men are called gentlemen! And in the day time they seem the most perfect gentlemen imaginable. They are accomplished to the highest degree; they understand languages, and amongst them are to be found lawyers, doctors, statesmen and members of the highest classes of society. I heard of one in New York. A young man went there from Boston, and a gentleman wished to show him around, and initiate him into the mysteries of high life in New York. He took him to one of the finest houses on Fifth Avenue, I think it was. The young man supposed it was the residence of a private family. He was led into a long hall, so richly adorned and ornamented that his eyes were dazzled. There was table after table, table after table, surrounded by gentlemen who were gambling, and the furniture and the room throughout were gorgeous in the extreme. Here was hall after hall, side rooms, refreshment rooms, etc., and the young man found out that he was in a fashionable gambling hell. He had not believed in such things before; but he sat there all night watching, for he wanted to find out something pertaining to fashionable life in the metropolis. About 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning there was a gentleman sat back from one of the tables. He had played, played, played at one of the tables until he had played himself perfectly out, his money and estate all gone. He entered the place the night before a wealthy man, and by 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning he was not worth a penny in the world. He threw himself back from the table, and saying, “Gentlemen, I am played out,” he took a derringer pistol from his pocket, put it to his ear, and put a ball through his brains. He was one of the wisest of that class of men I ever heard of. If each and every one of them would do like this one, before commencing to game, and leave their substance to men and women who would labor, they would prove themselves wise, for their wealth would benefit the earth. “O,” say they, “we have plenty.” If you have, go and build up another city or town; go into the wilderness, take the poor with you, teach them how to farm, how to raise cattle, how to gather around them the comforts of life, and prove yourselves worthy of an existence. If you have money to gamble with, you have money to buy a farm and set the poor to work. In doing this, you are helping to elevate the human family; but in gambling and otherwise abusing the blessings, power and influence you possess, you do no good to anybody, and work out your own destruction. When you have bought a farm and set the poor to work, get a school on your farm, and begin and teach those who never had the privilege of going to school. There are hundreds and thousands in the City of New York who never went to school a day in their lives; they are wallowing in the gutter, ragged, dirty, and filthy. They learn sharpness, it is true; but where do they sleep? By the wayside, or crawl into some old building—girls and boys, and live there by the thousand. They have not a shelter to place their heads under, but when night comes their only refuge is old buildings, hovels, and corners of streets forsaken by the police, and there they must spend the night. Why not take such characters and bring them out to this country, or take them to California, Oregon, or to the plains of Illinois, Wisconsin, &c., and make a town, settle up the country, and make these poor, miserable creatures better off? You would prove yourselves worthy of existence on the earth if you would. But no, “We will gamble.” Now gamblers, stop your gambling here and go to work; that is my advice. “Well, but,” say some, “we are not going to be instructed by Brigham Young.” Who cares for that? If you will not receive my instructions, instruct yourselves. I want you to see, in and of yourselves, that your life is a poor miserable life of waste, a disgrace to the human family. Go to work, improve the country, build towns and cities, set out shade trees, build schoolhouses and meetinghouses and worship what you please, we do not care what. Be civil, honest in your deal, be upright, do not take that which belongs to your neighbor; and miners do not go to law, and lawyers go to work. If you have difficulties that you cannot settle among yourselves, have recourse to arbitration. Select your men, three, five, seven, nine, eleven, thirteen, or what number you please, men without prejudice for this or that side, place them in possession of the facts of the case; and when they say, “Mr. James Munroe, you do so much;” or, “Mr. John Jones, you do so and so, this is our decision,” abide by it. This course will cost you nothing, you go about your business, the country is quiet, and the community is not running after these infernal courts. Excuse me for the expression; but the whole nation think we must have courts, and the courts adjudicate; and some courts take the liberty of legislating as well as adjudicating, when, the fact is, if all difficulties now taken into courts were submitted to men's honor, honesty, brains, and hearts, they could be adjudicated without the least trouble in the world. What would we do with our judges in such a state of society? Let them go to farming, get a factory, or go into business and improve the country.
I cannot say that this counsel is especially for the Latter-day Saints. Why? For this simple reason—you take out of these mountains the whole of the community except the Latter-day Saints, and I might include a good many who do not belong to the Church, and we would not have a lawsuit in our midst from one year's end to another for five hundred miles square. And if the counsel I have just given be adopted, we shall have the most stable mining districts through our settlements that have ever been found in the western country. You will never see the excitement that you have seen in other mining localities. Of course there may be some who will crawl up into the mountains, build up little towns, and have their games and a little rowdyism, but not much; you will see a steadfast community.
We say to the Latter-day Saints, work for these capitalists, and work honestly and faithfully, and they will pay you faithfully. I am acquainted with a good many of them, and as far as I know them, I do not know but every one is an honorable man. They are capitalists, they want to make money, and they want to make it honestly and according to the principles of honest dealing. If they have means and are determined to risk it in opening mines, you work for them by the day. Haul their ores, build their furnaces, and take your pay for it, and enter your lands, build houses, improve your farms, buy your stock, and make yourselves better off; but, no lawing in the case. I have had an experience in this. I never lawed it much in my life; but from my youth, my study has been to avoid law, and to take a course that no man could get the advantage of me.
The esteem in which I hold law prompts me to keep out of it. You recollect the story of the lawyer and the two farmers. The farmers had quarreled about a cow, and they went to law, and the result was the farmers held the cow and the lawyer milked her. I never see law going on much without the lawyer getting the milk and the cream, while those who go to law hold the cow for him to milk. I know you think my esteem is not very high for lawyers. I will say it is not for their evil practices; but as men and gentlemen I have known many who never dabbled in dishonesty. I have marveled many times at the oath that is required of a lawyer with regard to his client; it gives him license to make white black, and black white. If I were to fix up an oath for a lawyer to take when he entered upon business, I would make him swear to tell the truth, and to show the right of the case, for or against, every time, that is what I would do. But they are licensed from the very oath they take to justify their client, let him be ever so wrong; this, however, does not compel them to be dishonest. Now, I do beseech you, I pray you, for your own sakes, you capitalists, to have no law. I have heard it said that a mine is good for nothing until there has been two or three lawsuits over it, but I say that will make your claims no better whatever.
I will say still further with regard to our rich country here. Suppose there was no railroad across this continent, could you do anything with these mines? Not the least in the world. All this galena would not bear transportation were it not for that; and, take the mines from first to last, there is not enough silver and gold in the galena ore to pay for shipping were it not for the railroad. And then, were it not for this little railroad from Ogden to this city these Cottonwood mines would not pay, for you could not cart the ore. Well, they want a little more help, and we want to build them a railroad direct to Cottonwood, so that they can make money. We want them to do it and to do it on business principles, so that they can keep it, and when you get it, make good use of it and we will help you. There is enough for all. We do not want any quarreling or contention; and I believe that, if dishonest capitalists were to come here and commence a dishonest course with our citizens in hiring them, there are men of honor sufficient to say, “You had better get out of this place; we are an honest and industrious community, and we wish to deal on honest principles and make this community substantial. We will furnish you with all your supplies that we can produce here, and take our pay for it; you take your capital and add to it, and then when you leave you will feel well about us and yourselves.”
I do not want you to think that I have ever counseled this. Do it, in and of yourselves, for you know it would be ridiculous in the eyes of some to take counsel of Brigham Young; it would be preposterous to suppose he can give good counsel. I leave that, however, to every man or woman to decide whether or not it is good counsel. There has been but little of this contention and lawing here, and I do hope and pray there will be less; it only creates bad feelings and distress in any society in the world.
We are here as a human family. Bless your hearts, there is not one of us but what is a son or daughter of Adam and Eve, not any but what are just as much brothers and sisters as we should be if born of the same parents, right in the same family, with only ten children in the family. It is the same blood precisely. I do not care where we come from, we are all of this family, and the blood has not been changed. It is true that a curse came upon certain portions of the human family—those who turned away from the holy commandments of the Lord our God. What did they do? In ancient days, old Israel was the chosen people in whom the Lord delighted, and whom he blessed and did so much for. Yet they transgressed every law that he gave them, changed every ordinance that he delivered to them, broke every covenant made with the fathers, and turned away entirely from his holy commandments, and the Lord cursed them. Cain was cursed for this, with this black skin that there is so much said about. Do you think that we could make laws to change the color of the skin of Cain's descendants? If we can, we can change the leopard's spots; but we cannot do this, neither can we change their blood.
There is a curse on these aborigines of our country who roam the plains, and are so wild that you cannot tame them. They are of the house of Israel; they once had the Gospel delivered to them, they had the oracles of truth; Jesus came and administered to them after his resurrection, and they received and delighted in the Gospel until the fourth generation, when they turned away and became so wicked that God cursed them with this dark and benighted and loathsome condition; and they want to sit on the ground in the dirt, and to live by hunting, and they cannot be civilized. And right upon this, I will say to our government if they could hear me, “You need never fight the Indians, but if you want to get rid of them try to civilize them.” How many were here when we came? At the Warm Springs, at this little grove where they would pitch their tents, we found perhaps three hundred Indians; but I do not suppose that there are three of that band left alive now. There was another band a little south, another north, another further east; but I do not suppose there is one in ten, perhaps not one in a hundred, now alive of those who were here when we came. Did we kill them? No, we fed them. They would say, “We want just as fine flour as you have.” To Walker, the chief, whom all California and New Mexico dreaded, I said, “It will just as sure kill as the world, if you live as we live.” Said he, “I want as good as Brigham, I want to eat as he does.” Said I, “Eat then, but it will kill you.” I told the same to Arapeen, Walker's brother; but they must eat and drink as the whites did, and I do not suppose that one in a hundred of those bands are alive. We brought their children into our families, and nursed and did everything for them it was possible to do for human beings, but die they would. Do not fight them, but treat them kindly. There will then be no stain on the Government, and it will get rid of them much quicker than by fighting them. They have got to be civilized, and there will be a remnant of them saved. I have said enough on this subject.
I want to say a little now with regard to tithing. Some of this people think they pay their tithing. I expect they do; but I can make the same comparison that Jesus did when in Jerusalem. Here came the Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, &c., and put their substance in the Lord's storehouse; and there came along a poor widow with nothing, to all appearance. She had not clothing to make her comfortable, but she had two mites, which she had saved probably by her labor, and she placed them in the storehouse of the Lord. Jesus lifted himself up, and, seeing what they were doing, said, “Of a truth I say unto you that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all; for all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God; but she of her penny hath cast in all her living that she had.” Now there are a few of just this same kind of characters here who do pay their tithing. But do we rich men pay ours? Not by considerable. I can inform the Elders of Israel and everybody else that since we have been raising grain in these valleys the deposits paid in on tithing have not amounted to one-hundredth part of all that has been raised, whereas one-tenth was due the storehouse of the Lord. You may say, “Brother Brigham, have you paid in yours?” No, I have not. There is a number of the brethren who have paid in considerable, but I expect I have paid more tithing than any other man in this Church. I expect I have done more for the poor than any other man in the Church; yet I have hardly commenced to pay my tithing. How is it with you? I know how it is. There are a few poor who pay their tithing, and who are pretty strict; but take the masses of the people, and they have not paid one-twentieth of their tithing. Do you believe it? I know it. If I were to reason over this and attempt to show the Latter-day Saints the inconsistency of their course in the matter, I would plant my feet on this ground: We are not our own, we are bought with a price, we are the Lord's; our time, our talents, our gold and silver, our wheat and fine flour, our wine and our oil, our cattle, and all there is on this earth that we have in our possession is the Lord's and he requires one-tenth of this for the building up of his kingdom. Whether we have much or little, one-tenth should be paid in for tithing. What for? I can tell you what for in a hundred instances, but I will only tell you just a few, and will commence with the poor. You count me out fifty, a hundred, five hundred, or a thousand of the poorest men and women you can find in this community; with the means that I have in my possession, I will take these ten, fifty, hundred, five hundred, or a thousand people, and put them to labor; but only enough to benefit their health and to make their food and sleep sweet unto them, and in ten years I will make that community wealthy. In ten years I will put six, a hundred, or a thousand individuals, whom we have to support now by donations, in a position not only to support themselves, but they shall be wealthy, shall ride in their carriages, have fine houses to live in, orchards to go to, flocks and herds and everything to make them comfortable. But it is not every man that can do this. The Bishops cannot do it; not that I would speak lightly of the wisdom of our Bishops, but we have hardly a Bishop in the Church who knows A with regard to the duties of his office. Still we have good men, but our hearts are somewhere else, and we are not studying the kingdom, the welfare of the human family, nor what our office calls upon us to perform. We do not seek after the poor and have every man and woman put to usury. This ought to be, for our time is the Lord's. All we want is to direct this time and use it profitably. There is abundance of labor before us. We have the earth to subdue, and to make it like the Garden to Eden. Do you believe it? I know it. But how do we live? Very much like the rest of the world. We are ready to run over all creation. Just as I have said to some of the brethren, and to some that I have known in the world; they get their eye on a dime; they see it roll away and they go after it. By and by they stub their toe against an eagle; soon they come to another one, a doubloon or a slug, and they will stub their toe against it, and down they go; but they are up again, for their eye is on that dime, and, in their eagerness to obtain it, they stumble over the eagles they might pick up if they had wisdom to do it. Is this so? O yes, they who have eyes to see can see. Take things calm and easy, pick up everything, let nothing go to waste.
You, sisters, know I have sometimes told you what my office is. Does it make you ashamed of me when you hear some of the brethren say, “Well, I do not believe that Brother Brigham has anything to do with my farm or household matters, or with temporal things; I do not think the First Presidency has anything to do with my temporal affairs.” O, yes, we have; and to come right down to the point, it is my privilege, if I were capable, to teach every woman in this Church and kingdom how to keep house, and how to sweep house, cook meat, wash dishes, make bread without any waste, &c. I may go to a house and what do I see? Perhaps the bottom or top of the bread is burnt to a coal. Why did you not do different? “O, these are accidents.” Yes, because we never think of the business on our hands. Mother gets up and it is: “O, Sally, where is the dishcloth, I want it in a minute?” “Susan, where in the world have you put that broom?” or, “Where is the iron holder?” and Susan knows nothing about either dishcloth or broom, and says, “We have no iron holder except some waste paper.” If I had nothing but a piece of an old newspaper folded for a holder I would have it where I could put my hand on it in a moment, in the dark if I wanted it. And so with the dishcloth, the broom, the chairs, tables, sofas, and everything about the house, so that if you had to get up in the night you could lay your hand on whatever you wanted instantly. Have a place for everything and everything in its place.
If I only had time I would teach you how to knit stockings, for there are very few women now-a-days who know how many stitches to set on to knit stockings for their husbands or for themselves; or what size yarn or needles they require; and when their stockings are finished they are like some of these knitted by machinery—a leg six inches long while the foot is a foot or a foot and a half long; or the leg only big enough for a boy ten years old, while the foot is big enough for any miner in the country. You know this is extravagant, but it is a fact that the art of knitting stockings is not near so generally understood among the ladies as it should be. I could tell you how it should be done had I time and knew how myself.
I will ask the whole human family is there any harm in teaching people how to be mechanics and artists, and what their life is for? Is there any harm in teaching them the laws of life and how to live, so that when they go down to the grave they can say, “There is my life, and it has been one of honor; look at it and do as much better than I have as God will give you ability to do. This is the duty of the human family, instead of wasting their lives and the lives of their fellow beings, and the precious time God has given us to improve our minds and bodies by observing the laws of life, so that the longevity of the human family may begin to return. By and by, according to the Scriptures, the days of a man shall be like the days of a tree. But in those days people will not eat and drink as they do now; if they do their days will not be like a tree, unless it be a very short-lived tree. This is our business.
Then pay your tithing, just because you like to, not unless you want to. They say we cut people off the Church for not paying tithing; we never have yet, but they ought to be. God does not fellowship them. The law of tithing is an eternal law. The Lord Almighty never had his kingdom on the earth without the law of tithing being in the midst of his people, and he never will. It is an eternal law that God has instituted for the benefit of the human family, for their salvation and exaltation. This law is in the Priesthood, but we do not want any to observe it unless they are willing to do so. If I ask my brethren, “Are you willing to pay tithing?” Many of them would say, “Yes, we are not only willing to pay tithing, but all that we have, for we are the Lord's, and all that he has given us is his.” That would be the reply of thousands here today. If the law of the land would permit us, we would show whether we are willing to deed our property to the kingdom of God or not. Mine has been deeded; and now I will tell you that the insurance company that I have taken stock in is up yonder, and the Lord of Hosts is President of that company. I do not want to insure my life in any other; and if we want to insure property, let us insure each others' and our own. I say, my brethren and sisters, that if we had the privilege, we would show to the world whether we would deed everything to the kingdom of God or not. But can we do it here? The Government has passed a law to the effect:
“That it shall not be lawful for any corporation or association for religious or charitable purposes to acquire or hold real estate in any Territory of the United States during the existence of the territorial government of a greater value than fifty thousand dollars; and all real estate acquired or held by any such corporation or association contrary to the provisions of this act shall be forfeited and escheat to the United States: Provided, that existing vested rights in real estate shall not be impaired by the provisions of this section.”
That is how the Government binds us up. Never mind, we can build temples, pay our tithing and our freewill offerings; we can raise our bread, hire our school teachers and teach our children without help. We came here stripped of everything, and men in high places sat and laughed at us, and said we should perish; but we have not perished. Many of them have gone down to their graves and their spirits have gone into the spirit world, where they will not have the comforting influences of the angels of God as the Saints will. Hades, the grave and the world of spirits are called hell in the original language. Now I don't expect them to go down, down, down to the bottom of the bottomless pit, where they will be pitched over with pitchforks. I do not have reference to anything of this kind when I speak of hell, or the world of spirits. I do not wish to frighten people to the anxious seat, and then say, “O, my beloved sister, how did you feel when your dear little infant died?” and, “O, my beloved brother, did not your heart bleed for your dear companion when you laid her in the silent bourne from whence no traveler returns.” This is not our religion; our religion does not consist of sensation or animal magnetism, as that of the sectarian world does. I have seen it from my youth up, working on the passions of the people, making them crazy. About what? Nothing at all. I have seen them lie, when under their religious excitement, from ten minutes to probably an hour without the least sign of life in their systems; not a pulse about them, and lay the slightest feather in the world to their nose and not the least sign of breathing could be discerned there, any more than anywhere else. After lying awhile they would get up all right. “What have you seen, sister or brother? What have you learned more than before you had this fit?” I do not know what kind of a fit it would be, whether a falling sickness or fainting fit, or a fit of animal magnetism. “What do you know, sister?” “Nothing.” “What have you seen, brother?” “Nothing nor nobody.” “What have you to tell us that you have learned while in this vision?” “Nothing at all.” It always wound up like the old song, “All about nothing at all.”
That is not the faith of the Latter-day Saints. Their religion consists of the knowledge that comes from God; a knowledge of the law of heaven, the power of the eternal Priesthood of the Son of God; and by obeying this law and these ordinances we, in a business manner, philosophically, in a manner that can be demonstrated as clearly as a mathematical problem, gain the right to eternal life; and though we do not see the Lord in the flesh we can see him in vision, and we have a right to visions, administration of angels, the power of the eternal Priesthood with the keys and blessings thereof. And by and through the labors of his faithful servants the Lord offers salvation to the human family; and though they will not save themselves we calculate to do all we can for them.
God bless you. Amen.
The choir sang: “Rejoice in the Lord.”
The benediction was pronounced by President Brigham Young.
Conference adjourned till the 6th of October, at 10 a.m.
John Nicholson,
Clerk of Conference.
Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 9, 1871.
Reported by David W. Evans.
I have a few sermons to preach, and as the time is short I do not know that I shall be able to deliver as many as I wish to. I want your attention, and you will have to be quiet. I find that my voice is a little broken, and it will be pretty hard for me to speak so that you can hear me. I shall not try to talk down the crying of children, the whispering of the congregation, or the shuffling of feet, as I have often done. I want your attention to the various subjects I wish to lay before you; for I shall have but a few minutes to speak on each one.
In the first place, I want to say to the Elders who go forth to preach the Gospel—no matter who may apply to you for baptism, even if you have good reason to believe they are unworthy, if they require, it forbid them not, but perform that duty and administer the ordinance for them; it clears the skirts of your garments, and the responsibility is upon them.
A few words now with regard to gathering. I will say that if unworthy people are gathered in the future, it is nothing new or strange, nothing more than we expect. If this net does not gather the good and the bad we should have no idea that it is the net that Jesus spoke about when he said that it should gather of all kinds. Furthermore, there are a great many who come into the Church because they know the work is true. Their judgment, and every reasoning faculty and power of their minds tells them it is true; consequently they embrace the truth. But do they receive the love of it? That is the question. I will tell you that very few of those who receive the love of the truth, but many of those who fall away, though they know the Gospel is true, do not possess the love of the truth, and they will not apostatize while scattered. We try to get them to do so in the old country, but they will not. Bring them over to New York and they will not apostatize.
They will labor there year after year, and struggle and toil until they can get to the gathering place, they must come to headquarters, then they can apostatize, forsake the faith, and turn away from the holy commandments of the Lord Jesus. This is not our business. Our duty is to preach the Gospel and to receive all that wish to have the ordinances administered to them, and leave the result in the hands of God. This is his work, not ours. He has called us to be co-laborers with him.
I want to say for the consolation of the Elders of Israel and those who go forth to preside, you need have no trouble with regard to the building up of this kingdom, only do your duty in the sphere to which you are assigned. I think there is more responsibility on myself than any other one man on this earth pertaining to the salvation of the human family; yet my path is a pleasant path to walk in, my labors are very agreeable, for I take no thought what I shall say; I trouble not myself with regard to my duties. All I have to do is to live, as I have often made the comparison, and keep my spirit, feelings and conscience like a sheet of blank paper, and let the Spirit and power of God write upon it what he pleases. When he writes I will read; but if I read before he writes, I am very likely to be wrong. If you will take the same course, you will not have the least trouble.
Brother Carrington was telling us about the way in which money turned up to clear the ship after sending off more Saints than he had means to pay for. Was this a miracle any more than many other things in our lives and in the work of God? No, the providences of God are all a miracle to the human family until they understand them. There are no miracles only to those who are ignorant. A miracle is supposed to be a result without a cause, but there is no such thing. There is a cause for every result we see; and if we see a result without understanding the cause, we call it a miracle. This is what we have been taught; but there is no miracle to those who understand.
While Brother Carrington was speaking about getting twenty pounds, I thought of a few circumstances which have transpired here. I will refer to one that came along in 1856. In that year, our agents in England loaded up the Saints, brought them over the ocean, up the rivers and railroads, and fitted them out with ox teams, wagons, and provisions, and then sent on their drafts to me, and within thirty days I had piled upon me $78,000 that I had to pay. I never was apprized of any draft being drawn upon me, or one word sent from the Liverpool office, until I saw the drafts as they commenced to come in for five, ten, or fifteen thousand dollars. I did not know where I was going to get the first dollar; but I did just as I always do—my duty and trusted in God. I had not a draft protested, and I do not think that any man went without his pay. But let me have done the business, I should have done it differently. When I have the privilege of acting, I act a little more by works than altogether by faith. I dare not trust my faith quite so far, but others dare, and they have not swamped me yet; they have not fettered my feet so that I cannot walk, nor tied my hands so that I cannot handle; nor my tongue so that I cannot speak; and the Lord has delivered me every time with the help of my brethren.
We do not care anything about these things, they are but trifles. We could stand here and talk until tomorrow morning, telling remarkable instances of the providences of God towards his servants and people, and then only have just commenced. Who put flour into the barrels here when we were destitute and had nothing to eat? The women would go and scrape the precious barrel and take out the last half ounce of meal and make up a little cake to divide among the children; and perhaps the next time they would go to the barrel they would find it half full of flour. Who put it in? Their neighbors? No, they had none to put in. Was it from the States? If it was, they who brought it must have flown through the air, for they could not have brought it with ox teams quite so quickly. But without stopping to inquire further about how this replenishing of the flour barrels was effected, I know now, and knew then, that these elements that we live in are full of all that we produce from the earth, air, and water. I told the people when we settled here that we had all the facilities here that we could ask for, all we had to do was to go to work and organize the elements. How far Jesus went to get the wine that was put into the pots which we read about in the account of the marriage at Cana of Galilee I do not know; but I know that he had power to call the elements that enter into the grape into those pots of water, unperceived by anybody in the room. He had power to pass through a congregation unseen by them; he had power to step through a wall and no person be able to see him; he had power to walk on the water, and none of those with whom he associated could tell how; he had power to call the elements together and they were made into bread, but it was done by invisible hands.
Well, I will change the subject a little, and I say to the brethren, do not be discouraged; bring on all who wish to obey the Gospel, that they may apostatize. We want them to apostatize as quickly as possible. How long will the people continue to apostatize? Until the Master comes. When he comes, the word will go forth, “Gather my wheat into my garner, and bind the tares in bundles, that they may be burned.” The wheat and the tares will grow together until harvest, and we cannot help it, and we need not worry about it neither.
We want the brethren and sisters to feel around and see if they can find a sixpence, a dollar or five dollars to help out the poor. Talk about the people over yonder being hungry, why I have known them eat not more than a third of a meal for a whole week in order to save enough to feed two or three of us Elders. I was always ashamed to take it; and I will tell you what else I am ashamed of. I am ashamed that any man calling himself an Elder of Israel should go to any country to preach the Gospel and then commence begging. Such a course is disgraceful. I have no fellowship for those who do it; and those who will borrow and not repay, ought to be cut off the Church. I will give you a little of my experience when on my English mission. When I landed in Liverpool, I had six bits, and with that I bought me a hat. I had worn, on my journey to England, a little cap that my wife had made me out of a pair of pantaloons that I could not wear any longer. We stayed in Liverpool one year and sixteen days, and during that time we baptized between eight and nine thousand persons, printed five thousand Books of Mormon, three thousand hymn books, over sixty thousand tracts that we gave to the people, and the Millennial Star; established a mission in London, Edinburgh, and I do not know but in a hundred other places, and we sustained ourselves.
Who was there on that mission, I mean among the missionaries, that had a coat or cloak that I didn't pay for? I transacted the business myself, and we paid every dime. We got money from the brethren and sisters and paid them up. Besides doing this, we fed family after family; and I never allowed myself to go down to the printing office without putting my hand in the drawer and taking out as many coppers as I could hold, so that I might throw them to beggars without being stopped by them on the road. Did we borrow that which we did not pay? No. Did we beg? No. The brethren and sisters, and especially the sisters, would urge us to come and eat with them. I would try to beg off; but that would not do, it would hurt their feelings, we must go and eat their food, while they would starve to procure it. I was always ashamed of this; but I invariably had a sixpence to give them. How much had I given to me? One sister, who now lives in Payson, gave me a sovereign and a pair of stockings; and when I came away a hatter, by the name of Miller, sent two hats by me to my little boys. The sisters, when I first went to Liverpool, made a little contribution and got me a pair of pantaloons. I was not in the habit of begging, but I said to them, “When my trousers are a little ridiculous, I guess you will know it, won't you?” and they gave me a pair of pantaloons, otherwise I do not think I received one farthing. I might have received a shilling or two from others, but I do not recollect. When we left, we sent over a shipload of the brethren and sisters, a good many of whose fares we paid. When I went into Liverpool, I do not think I could have got trusted a sixpence if I had gone into every store and shop in the place. When we came away a certain Captain wanted to bring us over, and said he, “Are you ready?” “No.” “How long must I wait for you? “Eight days;” and they tied up one of the finest vessels in the harbor of Liverpool in order to bring us over. I thought, this was a miracle, don't you? I am sure there are some sisters now here who came with us in that vessel. I received that as a miracle. It was the hand of God. Was it our ability? No. Is it our ability that has accomplished what we see here in building up a colony in the wilderness? Is it the doings of man? No. To be sure we assist in it, and we do as we are directed. But God is our Captain; he is our master. He is the “ONE MAN” that we serve. In him is our light, in him is our life; in him is our hope, and we serve him with an undivided heart, or we should do so.
What do you suppose I think when I hear people say, “O, see what the Mormons have done in the mountains. It is Brigham Young. What a head he has got! What power he has got! How well he controls the people!” The people are ignorant of our true character. It is the Lord that has done this. It is not any one man or set of men; only as we are led and guided by the spirit of truth. It is the oneness, wisdom, power, knowledge and providences of God; and all that we can say is, we are his servants and handmaids, and let us serve him with an undivided heart.
Let us gather the poor. Look up your sixpences, dimes, and dollars. Just think what your feelings would be, if your children had to go to bed tonight crying for bread and you had none to give them! Think of it, families, you who profess to be Saints! Fathers, think of getting up in the morning and not a mouthful to feed your families with. I have seen them totter along, although it was good times when I was there to what it is now, so they say; but I have seen them totter along the streets when they could hardly stand up, for want. But I never failed to give such persons sixpence, a shilling, or a penny, when I realized that such was their position before they passed me. The Lord gave it to me and I dealt it out freely, and am doing so still, and I calculate to do so.
Now, let us help the poor, bring them here, place them in good, comfortable circumstances, so that they can strut up and say, “I guess I am somebody, and I ask no odds of the Lord.” O, fools! When I hear such expressions, or see such a disposition manifested, I think, “O, foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you? Who has turned your brain and made you believe that you are independent of that Being who brought you and all the human family on the earth? Who has instructed you to believe that God has nothing to do with us, that everything that is is by the providence of chance, or no providence at all, and that man is all there is?” Who has taught the people this? Not the wise, not the true philosopher. Find a true philosopher and you find one who has the true principles of Christianity. He delights in them; and sees and understands the hand of Providence guiding and directing in all the affairs of this life. Though men are severed far from God, and though they have hewn out to themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that will hold no water, the true philosopher recognizes the hand of the Supreme, guiding and controlling the affairs of the children of men.
I have a short discourse to preach now to my friends who may be here today, who are engaged in, or who may contemplate commencing operations in, the mining business. It is the general belief now, that there is a great deal of mineral wealth in these mountains. The reports that have gone abroad concerning this are causing great excitement; and I will preach a short discourse now to miners, merchants, lawyers, doctors, priests, people, everybody. I want to talk to you a little and give you some counsel; and I want the Saints to take this counsel. But they take it all the time, and I expect they will continue to do so. This counsel is with regard to lawing with one another. I want to say to you miners: Do not go to law at all; it does you no good, and only wastes your substance. It causes idleness, waste, wickedness, vice, and immorality. Do not go to law. You cannot find a courtroom without a great number of spectators in it; what are they doing? Idling away their time to no profit whatever. As for lawyers, if they will put their brains to work and learn how to raise potatoes, wheat, cattle, build factories, be merchants or tradesmen, it will be a great deal better for them than trying to take the property of others from them through litigation.
We have got to a state in our nation when there is quite a portion of the young and middle-aged men who calculate to live, as the saying is, by their wits. I would like to have a man look philosophically into his own heart, by the spirit of truth, and examine himself, and see what he is, what he was made for, and what use he is on the earth if he never did a thing to produce a morsel of bread. Such a man eats the bread of the laborer, he wears the clothing of the laborer; every time he lies down on his bed he lies on that which the labor of another produced; he never took the pains to raise a goose, duck, lamb, or sheep. He never sheared a sheep or tried to make cloth of the wool; he never took the pains to plough the ground and sow a little wheat, to plant a few potatoes, to raise a calf, a pig, or a chicken. No, he never did anything useful; but still he eats, drinks, and wears, and lives in luxury. In the name of common sense, what use is such a man on this earth? The question may arise, “Must we not have law?” We have plenty of it, and sometimes we have a little too much. Legislators make too many laws; they make so many that the people do not know anything about them. Wise legislators will never make more laws than the people can understand. But by reason of the wealth of our country, young men are sent to schools and colleges, and after receiving their education they calculate to live by it. Will education feed and clothe you, keep you warm on a cold day, or enable you to build a house? Not at all. Should we cry down education on this account? No. What is it for? The improvement of the mind; to instruct us in all arts and sciences, in the history of the world, in the laws of nations; to enable us to understand the laws and principles of life, and how to be useful while we live. But the idler is of no use to himself or to the world in which he dwells.
In all nations, or at least in all civilized nations, there are distinctions among the people created by rank, titles, and property. How does God look upon these distinctions? How do Truth, Justice, and Mercy look upon them? They are all alike in their eyes. The king upon the throne and the beggar in the street are the same before the Heavens—the same in the eyes of Truth, Justice, Love, and Mercy. Find a true philosopher and he will look at the children of men as they are. I do not care whether he says so or not, he regards the poorest of the poor as human beings—men and women, and the kings and great ones, no matter how they are clothed, if they wear crowns, diadems, and diamonds, and ride in gilded coaches, are but human beings.
Our education should be such as to improve our minds and fit us for increased usefulness; to make us of greater service to the human family; to enable us to stop our rude methods of living, speaking, and thinking. But you take those who bear the sway among men, those who hold the affairs of the nations in their hands, catch them in the dark, and they are the lowest of the creations of God. Many of them descend to the lowest gutters they can find, and there, in darkness and in private, wallow in filth and wickedness. This is a waste of their lives, a prostitution of their knowledge and of the blessings Providence has bestowed upon them. Many of them will sit and gamble all night, to see who shall have the pile; and such men are called gentlemen! And in the day time they seem the most perfect gentlemen imaginable. They are accomplished to the highest degree; they understand languages, and amongst them are to be found lawyers, doctors, statesmen and members of the highest classes of society. I heard of one in New York. A young man went there from Boston, and a gentleman wished to show him around, and initiate him into the mysteries of high life in New York. He took him to one of the finest houses on Fifth Avenue, I think it was. The young man supposed it was the residence of a private family. He was led into a long hall, so richly adorned and ornamented that his eyes were dazzled. There was table after table, table after table, surrounded by gentlemen who were gambling, and the furniture and the room throughout were gorgeous in the extreme. Here was hall after hall, side rooms, refreshment rooms, etc., and the young man found out that he was in a fashionable gambling hell. He had not believed in such things before; but he sat there all night watching, for he wanted to find out something pertaining to fashionable life in the metropolis. About 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning there was a gentleman sat back from one of the tables. He had played, played, played at one of the tables until he had played himself perfectly out, his money and estate all gone. He entered the place the night before a wealthy man, and by 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning he was not worth a penny in the world. He threw himself back from the table, and saying, “Gentlemen, I am played out,” he took a derringer pistol from his pocket, put it to his ear, and put a ball through his brains. He was one of the wisest of that class of men I ever heard of. If each and every one of them would do like this one, before commencing to game, and leave their substance to men and women who would labor, they would prove themselves wise, for their wealth would benefit the earth. “O,” say they, “we have plenty.” If you have, go and build up another city or town; go into the wilderness, take the poor with you, teach them how to farm, how to raise cattle, how to gather around them the comforts of life, and prove yourselves worthy of an existence. If you have money to gamble with, you have money to buy a farm and set the poor to work. In doing this, you are helping to elevate the human family; but in gambling and otherwise abusing the blessings, power and influence you possess, you do no good to anybody, and work out your own destruction. When you have bought a farm and set the poor to work, get a school on your farm, and begin and teach those who never had the privilege of going to school. There are hundreds and thousands in the City of New York who never went to school a day in their lives; they are wallowing in the gutter, ragged, dirty, and filthy. They learn sharpness, it is true; but where do they sleep? By the wayside, or crawl into some old building—girls and boys, and live there by the thousand. They have not a shelter to place their heads under, but when night comes their only refuge is old buildings, hovels, and corners of streets forsaken by the police, and there they must spend the night. Why not take such characters and bring them out to this country, or take them to California, Oregon, or to the plains of Illinois, Wisconsin, &c., and make a town, settle up the country, and make these poor, miserable creatures better off? You would prove yourselves worthy of existence on the earth if you would. But no, “We will gamble.” Now gamblers, stop your gambling here and go to work; that is my advice. “Well, but,” say some, “we are not going to be instructed by Brigham Young.” Who cares for that? If you will not receive my instructions, instruct yourselves. I want you to see, in and of yourselves, that your life is a poor miserable life of waste, a disgrace to the human family. Go to work, improve the country, build towns and cities, set out shade trees, build schoolhouses and meetinghouses and worship what you please, we do not care what. Be civil, honest in your deal, be upright, do not take that which belongs to your neighbor; and miners do not go to law, and lawyers go to work. If you have difficulties that you cannot settle among yourselves, have recourse to arbitration. Select your men, three, five, seven, nine, eleven, thirteen, or what number you please, men without prejudice for this or that side, place them in possession of the facts of the case; and when they say, “Mr. James Munroe, you do so much;” or, “Mr. John Jones, you do so and so, this is our decision,” abide by it. This course will cost you nothing, you go about your business, the country is quiet, and the community is not running after these infernal courts. Excuse me for the expression; but the whole nation think we must have courts, and the courts adjudicate; and some courts take the liberty of legislating as well as adjudicating, when, the fact is, if all difficulties now taken into courts were submitted to men's honor, honesty, brains, and hearts, they could be adjudicated without the least trouble in the world. What would we do with our judges in such a state of society? Let them go to farming, get a factory, or go into business and improve the country.
I cannot say that this counsel is especially for the Latter-day Saints. Why? For this simple reason—you take out of these mountains the whole of the community except the Latter-day Saints, and I might include a good many who do not belong to the Church, and we would not have a lawsuit in our midst from one year's end to another for five hundred miles square. And if the counsel I have just given be adopted, we shall have the most stable mining districts through our settlements that have ever been found in the western country. You will never see the excitement that you have seen in other mining localities. Of course there may be some who will crawl up into the mountains, build up little towns, and have their games and a little rowdyism, but not much; you will see a steadfast community.
We say to the Latter-day Saints, work for these capitalists, and work honestly and faithfully, and they will pay you faithfully. I am acquainted with a good many of them, and as far as I know them, I do not know but every one is an honorable man. They are capitalists, they want to make money, and they want to make it honestly and according to the principles of honest dealing. If they have means and are determined to risk it in opening mines, you work for them by the day. Haul their ores, build their furnaces, and take your pay for it, and enter your lands, build houses, improve your farms, buy your stock, and make yourselves better off; but, no lawing in the case. I have had an experience in this. I never lawed it much in my life; but from my youth, my study has been to avoid law, and to take a course that no man could get the advantage of me.
The esteem in which I hold law prompts me to keep out of it. You recollect the story of the lawyer and the two farmers. The farmers had quarreled about a cow, and they went to law, and the result was the farmers held the cow and the lawyer milked her. I never see law going on much without the lawyer getting the milk and the cream, while those who go to law hold the cow for him to milk. I know you think my esteem is not very high for lawyers. I will say it is not for their evil practices; but as men and gentlemen I have known many who never dabbled in dishonesty. I have marveled many times at the oath that is required of a lawyer with regard to his client; it gives him license to make white black, and black white. If I were to fix up an oath for a lawyer to take when he entered upon business, I would make him swear to tell the truth, and to show the right of the case, for or against, every time, that is what I would do. But they are licensed from the very oath they take to justify their client, let him be ever so wrong; this, however, does not compel them to be dishonest. Now, I do beseech you, I pray you, for your own sakes, you capitalists, to have no law. I have heard it said that a mine is good for nothing until there has been two or three lawsuits over it, but I say that will make your claims no better whatever.
I will say still further with regard to our rich country here. Suppose there was no railroad across this continent, could you do anything with these mines? Not the least in the world. All this galena would not bear transportation were it not for that; and, take the mines from first to last, there is not enough silver and gold in the galena ore to pay for shipping were it not for the railroad. And then, were it not for this little railroad from Ogden to this city these Cottonwood mines would not pay, for you could not cart the ore. Well, they want a little more help, and we want to build them a railroad direct to Cottonwood, so that they can make money. We want them to do it and to do it on business principles, so that they can keep it, and when you get it, make good use of it and we will help you. There is enough for all. We do not want any quarreling or contention; and I believe that, if dishonest capitalists were to come here and commence a dishonest course with our citizens in hiring them, there are men of honor sufficient to say, “You had better get out of this place; we are an honest and industrious community, and we wish to deal on honest principles and make this community substantial. We will furnish you with all your supplies that we can produce here, and take our pay for it; you take your capital and add to it, and then when you leave you will feel well about us and yourselves.”
I do not want you to think that I have ever counseled this. Do it, in and of yourselves, for you know it would be ridiculous in the eyes of some to take counsel of Brigham Young; it would be preposterous to suppose he can give good counsel. I leave that, however, to every man or woman to decide whether or not it is good counsel. There has been but little of this contention and lawing here, and I do hope and pray there will be less; it only creates bad feelings and distress in any society in the world.
We are here as a human family. Bless your hearts, there is not one of us but what is a son or daughter of Adam and Eve, not any but what are just as much brothers and sisters as we should be if born of the same parents, right in the same family, with only ten children in the family. It is the same blood precisely. I do not care where we come from, we are all of this family, and the blood has not been changed. It is true that a curse came upon certain portions of the human family—those who turned away from the holy commandments of the Lord our God. What did they do? In ancient days, old Israel was the chosen people in whom the Lord delighted, and whom he blessed and did so much for. Yet they transgressed every law that he gave them, changed every ordinance that he delivered to them, broke every covenant made with the fathers, and turned away entirely from his holy commandments, and the Lord cursed them. Cain was cursed for this, with this black skin that there is so much said about. Do you think that we could make laws to change the color of the skin of Cain's descendants? If we can, we can change the leopard's spots; but we cannot do this, neither can we change their blood.
There is a curse on these aborigines of our country who roam the plains, and are so wild that you cannot tame them. They are of the house of Israel; they once had the Gospel delivered to them, they had the oracles of truth; Jesus came and administered to them after his resurrection, and they received and delighted in the Gospel until the fourth generation, when they turned away and became so wicked that God cursed them with this dark and benighted and loathsome condition; and they want to sit on the ground in the dirt, and to live by hunting, and they cannot be civilized. And right upon this, I will say to our government if they could hear me, “You need never fight the Indians, but if you want to get rid of them try to civilize them.” How many were here when we came? At the Warm Springs, at this little grove where they would pitch their tents, we found perhaps three hundred Indians; but I do not suppose that there are three of that band left alive now. There was another band a little south, another north, another further east; but I do not suppose there is one in ten, perhaps not one in a hundred, now alive of those who were here when we came. Did we kill them? No, we fed them. They would say, “We want just as fine flour as you have.” To Walker, the chief, whom all California and New Mexico dreaded, I said, “It will just as sure kill as the world, if you live as we live.” Said he, “I want as good as Brigham, I want to eat as he does.” Said I, “Eat then, but it will kill you.” I told the same to Arapeen, Walker's brother; but they must eat and drink as the whites did, and I do not suppose that one in a hundred of those bands are alive. We brought their children into our families, and nursed and did everything for them it was possible to do for human beings, but die they would. Do not fight them, but treat them kindly. There will then be no stain on the Government, and it will get rid of them much quicker than by fighting them. They have got to be civilized, and there will be a remnant of them saved. I have said enough on this subject.
I want to say a little now with regard to tithing. Some of this people think they pay their tithing. I expect they do; but I can make the same comparison that Jesus did when in Jerusalem. Here came the Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, &c., and put their substance in the Lord's storehouse; and there came along a poor widow with nothing, to all appearance. She had not clothing to make her comfortable, but she had two mites, which she had saved probably by her labor, and she placed them in the storehouse of the Lord. Jesus lifted himself up, and, seeing what they were doing, said, “Of a truth I say unto you that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all; for all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God; but she of her penny hath cast in all her living that she had.” Now there are a few of just this same kind of characters here who do pay their tithing. But do we rich men pay ours? Not by considerable. I can inform the Elders of Israel and everybody else that since we have been raising grain in these valleys the deposits paid in on tithing have not amounted to one-hundredth part of all that has been raised, whereas one-tenth was due the storehouse of the Lord. You may say, “Brother Brigham, have you paid in yours?” No, I have not. There is a number of the brethren who have paid in considerable, but I expect I have paid more tithing than any other man in this Church. I expect I have done more for the poor than any other man in the Church; yet I have hardly commenced to pay my tithing. How is it with you? I know how it is. There are a few poor who pay their tithing, and who are pretty strict; but take the masses of the people, and they have not paid one-twentieth of their tithing. Do you believe it? I know it. If I were to reason over this and attempt to show the Latter-day Saints the inconsistency of their course in the matter, I would plant my feet on this ground: We are not our own, we are bought with a price, we are the Lord's; our time, our talents, our gold and silver, our wheat and fine flour, our wine and our oil, our cattle, and all there is on this earth that we have in our possession is the Lord's and he requires one-tenth of this for the building up of his kingdom. Whether we have much or little, one-tenth should be paid in for tithing. What for? I can tell you what for in a hundred instances, but I will only tell you just a few, and will commence with the poor. You count me out fifty, a hundred, five hundred, or a thousand of the poorest men and women you can find in this community; with the means that I have in my possession, I will take these ten, fifty, hundred, five hundred, or a thousand people, and put them to labor; but only enough to benefit their health and to make their food and sleep sweet unto them, and in ten years I will make that community wealthy. In ten years I will put six, a hundred, or a thousand individuals, whom we have to support now by donations, in a position not only to support themselves, but they shall be wealthy, shall ride in their carriages, have fine houses to live in, orchards to go to, flocks and herds and everything to make them comfortable. But it is not every man that can do this. The Bishops cannot do it; not that I would speak lightly of the wisdom of our Bishops, but we have hardly a Bishop in the Church who knows A with regard to the duties of his office. Still we have good men, but our hearts are somewhere else, and we are not studying the kingdom, the welfare of the human family, nor what our office calls upon us to perform. We do not seek after the poor and have every man and woman put to usury. This ought to be, for our time is the Lord's. All we want is to direct this time and use it profitably. There is abundance of labor before us. We have the earth to subdue, and to make it like the Garden to Eden. Do you believe it? I know it. But how do we live? Very much like the rest of the world. We are ready to run over all creation. Just as I have said to some of the brethren, and to some that I have known in the world; they get their eye on a dime; they see it roll away and they go after it. By and by they stub their toe against an eagle; soon they come to another one, a doubloon or a slug, and they will stub their toe against it, and down they go; but they are up again, for their eye is on that dime, and, in their eagerness to obtain it, they stumble over the eagles they might pick up if they had wisdom to do it. Is this so? O yes, they who have eyes to see can see. Take things calm and easy, pick up everything, let nothing go to waste.
You, sisters, know I have sometimes told you what my office is. Does it make you ashamed of me when you hear some of the brethren say, “Well, I do not believe that Brother Brigham has anything to do with my farm or household matters, or with temporal things; I do not think the First Presidency has anything to do with my temporal affairs.” O, yes, we have; and to come right down to the point, it is my privilege, if I were capable, to teach every woman in this Church and kingdom how to keep house, and how to sweep house, cook meat, wash dishes, make bread without any waste, &c. I may go to a house and what do I see? Perhaps the bottom or top of the bread is burnt to a coal. Why did you not do different? “O, these are accidents.” Yes, because we never think of the business on our hands. Mother gets up and it is: “O, Sally, where is the dishcloth, I want it in a minute?” “Susan, where in the world have you put that broom?” or, “Where is the iron holder?” and Susan knows nothing about either dishcloth or broom, and says, “We have no iron holder except some waste paper.” If I had nothing but a piece of an old newspaper folded for a holder I would have it where I could put my hand on it in a moment, in the dark if I wanted it. And so with the dishcloth, the broom, the chairs, tables, sofas, and everything about the house, so that if you had to get up in the night you could lay your hand on whatever you wanted instantly. Have a place for everything and everything in its place.
If I only had time I would teach you how to knit stockings, for there are very few women now-a-days who know how many stitches to set on to knit stockings for their husbands or for themselves; or what size yarn or needles they require; and when their stockings are finished they are like some of these knitted by machinery—a leg six inches long while the foot is a foot or a foot and a half long; or the leg only big enough for a boy ten years old, while the foot is big enough for any miner in the country. You know this is extravagant, but it is a fact that the art of knitting stockings is not near so generally understood among the ladies as it should be. I could tell you how it should be done had I time and knew how myself.
I will ask the whole human family is there any harm in teaching people how to be mechanics and artists, and what their life is for? Is there any harm in teaching them the laws of life and how to live, so that when they go down to the grave they can say, “There is my life, and it has been one of honor; look at it and do as much better than I have as God will give you ability to do. This is the duty of the human family, instead of wasting their lives and the lives of their fellow beings, and the precious time God has given us to improve our minds and bodies by observing the laws of life, so that the longevity of the human family may begin to return. By and by, according to the Scriptures, the days of a man shall be like the days of a tree. But in those days people will not eat and drink as they do now; if they do their days will not be like a tree, unless it be a very short-lived tree. This is our business.
Then pay your tithing, just because you like to, not unless you want to. They say we cut people off the Church for not paying tithing; we never have yet, but they ought to be. God does not fellowship them. The law of tithing is an eternal law. The Lord Almighty never had his kingdom on the earth without the law of tithing being in the midst of his people, and he never will. It is an eternal law that God has instituted for the benefit of the human family, for their salvation and exaltation. This law is in the Priesthood, but we do not want any to observe it unless they are willing to do so. If I ask my brethren, “Are you willing to pay tithing?” Many of them would say, “Yes, we are not only willing to pay tithing, but all that we have, for we are the Lord's, and all that he has given us is his.” That would be the reply of thousands here today. If the law of the land would permit us, we would show whether we are willing to deed our property to the kingdom of God or not. Mine has been deeded; and now I will tell you that the insurance company that I have taken stock in is up yonder, and the Lord of Hosts is President of that company. I do not want to insure my life in any other; and if we want to insure property, let us insure each others' and our own. I say, my brethren and sisters, that if we had the privilege, we would show to the world whether we would deed everything to the kingdom of God or not. But can we do it here? The Government has passed a law to the effect:
“That it shall not be lawful for any corporation or association for religious or charitable purposes to acquire or hold real estate in any Territory of the United States during the existence of the territorial government of a greater value than fifty thousand dollars; and all real estate acquired or held by any such corporation or association contrary to the provisions of this act shall be forfeited and escheat to the United States: Provided, that existing vested rights in real estate shall not be impaired by the provisions of this section.”
That is how the Government binds us up. Never mind, we can build temples, pay our tithing and our freewill offerings; we can raise our bread, hire our school teachers and teach our children without help. We came here stripped of everything, and men in high places sat and laughed at us, and said we should perish; but we have not perished. Many of them have gone down to their graves and their spirits have gone into the spirit world, where they will not have the comforting influences of the angels of God as the Saints will. Hades, the grave and the world of spirits are called hell in the original language. Now I don't expect them to go down, down, down to the bottom of the bottomless pit, where they will be pitched over with pitchforks. I do not have reference to anything of this kind when I speak of hell, or the world of spirits. I do not wish to frighten people to the anxious seat, and then say, “O, my beloved sister, how did you feel when your dear little infant died?” and, “O, my beloved brother, did not your heart bleed for your dear companion when you laid her in the silent bourne from whence no traveler returns.” This is not our religion; our religion does not consist of sensation or animal magnetism, as that of the sectarian world does. I have seen it from my youth up, working on the passions of the people, making them crazy. About what? Nothing at all. I have seen them lie, when under their religious excitement, from ten minutes to probably an hour without the least sign of life in their systems; not a pulse about them, and lay the slightest feather in the world to their nose and not the least sign of breathing could be discerned there, any more than anywhere else. After lying awhile they would get up all right. “What have you seen, sister or brother? What have you learned more than before you had this fit?” I do not know what kind of a fit it would be, whether a falling sickness or fainting fit, or a fit of animal magnetism. “What do you know, sister?” “Nothing.” “What have you seen, brother?” “Nothing nor nobody.” “What have you to tell us that you have learned while in this vision?” “Nothing at all.” It always wound up like the old song, “All about nothing at all.”
That is not the faith of the Latter-day Saints. Their religion consists of the knowledge that comes from God; a knowledge of the law of heaven, the power of the eternal Priesthood of the Son of God; and by obeying this law and these ordinances we, in a business manner, philosophically, in a manner that can be demonstrated as clearly as a mathematical problem, gain the right to eternal life; and though we do not see the Lord in the flesh we can see him in vision, and we have a right to visions, administration of angels, the power of the eternal Priesthood with the keys and blessings thereof. And by and through the labors of his faithful servants the Lord offers salvation to the human family; and though they will not save themselves we calculate to do all we can for them.
God bless you. Amen.
The choir sang: “Rejoice in the Lord.”
The benediction was pronounced by President Brigham Young.
Conference adjourned till the 6th of October, at 10 a.m.
John Nicholson,
Clerk of Conference.
The Forty-First Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints closed last evening, and the streets of the city to-day are assuming their ordinary quiet appearance, the multitude of visitors leaving quickly for their homes in the settlements.
The attendance of Saints from distant settlements of the Territory has not been so numerous this Conference as it has been on some occasions formerly, the reason being the lateness of the Spring rendering attention to outdoor work imperatively necessary; and it was not till Saturday that the seats in the huge Tabernacle were anything like filled; on Saturday morning however, very many from the cities and settlements in this county were in, and on Saturday afternoon the audience was large; and yesterday it reached not less than ten or eleven thousand persons.
The teachings of the Elders throughout the Conference were of a practical nature, suited to the circumstances and condition of the people, and the present phase of the growth and development of the Church of God on the earth. The remarks in relation to the building of Temples will, we are assured, cause the hearts of the Saints, universally, to thrill with joy. There is every prospect now that the building of Temples to the name of the Lord, in which the ordinances of eternal salvation may be administered for all, both in and out of the flesh, will be pushed forward vigorously, not only in this city, but in at least one other portion of the Territory. No subject connected with the work of God is esteemed of greater importance by the Saints, and the announcement, by the First Presidency, of an intention to proceed with the one whose foundations are laid in Salt Lake City, and another in St. George, Southern Utah, will be sure to be hailed with the most intense satisfaction by the members of the Church throughout the world, but especially by those in Zion who, having already been privileged with receiving a portion of the ordinances of salvation, are thereby enabled, more fully, to appreciate the value and importance of Temples being erected to the name of the Lord.
Another subject touched upon forcibly, during the Conference, was helping the poor, scattered Saints to gather home. Thousands now here, who, had they not been assisted from Babylonian bondage by their brethren and friends in Zion, never could have gathered, know from sad and bitter experience, the helplessly poverty-stricken condition of thousands of their co-religionists in the old world; and it is to be hoped that the appeals made during Conference on their behalf will meet with a generous response, so that thousands now sighing and longing for deliverance may, ere the close of the present year, rejoice in peace and plenty in Zion. It is true that circumstances here, in the past, have been anything but propitious, for extending aid of a strictly pecuniary nature to the poor in Europe; but prospects are brightening and there is a great probability that labor and money will be far more plentiful throughout the Territory this summer than they have been for years past. Should these anticipations so generally entertained, be realized, the poor should be remembered, and a bounteous share of Zion’s blessings be extended to them.
During the services yesterday, the very large audience could not but be struck forcibly with the excellent counsel of President Young in relation to mining and going to law. Our Territory is now on the eve of a great mining excitement and large operations in developing its mineral resources. In view of this fact, how excellent the advice given by the President to those engaged or about to engage in this business! Every word was replete with wisdom! And so far as we have heard any opinion, the advice given was heartily endorsed by all of the class present for whose benefit it was specially intended. Let the counsel be followed, and however extensive and rich mineral developments may be in Utah, we are certain that her mining districts will not be disgraced by the outrages and crimes that have been so numerous elsewhere in similar localities.
The advice of President Young to the Saints was also excellent, being just such as their circumstances require; and taken throughout, though the attendance was not as numerous as on any occasion since the New Tabernacle has been in use for public worship, the 41st Annual Conference, for the excellence and pertinence of the instructions given, was fully equal to any of its predecessors; and we think that, viewed in every light and from every standpoint, the prospect before the Saints, and the Church and Kingdom of God on the earth never were brighter.
The attendance of Saints from distant settlements of the Territory has not been so numerous this Conference as it has been on some occasions formerly, the reason being the lateness of the Spring rendering attention to outdoor work imperatively necessary; and it was not till Saturday that the seats in the huge Tabernacle were anything like filled; on Saturday morning however, very many from the cities and settlements in this county were in, and on Saturday afternoon the audience was large; and yesterday it reached not less than ten or eleven thousand persons.
The teachings of the Elders throughout the Conference were of a practical nature, suited to the circumstances and condition of the people, and the present phase of the growth and development of the Church of God on the earth. The remarks in relation to the building of Temples will, we are assured, cause the hearts of the Saints, universally, to thrill with joy. There is every prospect now that the building of Temples to the name of the Lord, in which the ordinances of eternal salvation may be administered for all, both in and out of the flesh, will be pushed forward vigorously, not only in this city, but in at least one other portion of the Territory. No subject connected with the work of God is esteemed of greater importance by the Saints, and the announcement, by the First Presidency, of an intention to proceed with the one whose foundations are laid in Salt Lake City, and another in St. George, Southern Utah, will be sure to be hailed with the most intense satisfaction by the members of the Church throughout the world, but especially by those in Zion who, having already been privileged with receiving a portion of the ordinances of salvation, are thereby enabled, more fully, to appreciate the value and importance of Temples being erected to the name of the Lord.
Another subject touched upon forcibly, during the Conference, was helping the poor, scattered Saints to gather home. Thousands now here, who, had they not been assisted from Babylonian bondage by their brethren and friends in Zion, never could have gathered, know from sad and bitter experience, the helplessly poverty-stricken condition of thousands of their co-religionists in the old world; and it is to be hoped that the appeals made during Conference on their behalf will meet with a generous response, so that thousands now sighing and longing for deliverance may, ere the close of the present year, rejoice in peace and plenty in Zion. It is true that circumstances here, in the past, have been anything but propitious, for extending aid of a strictly pecuniary nature to the poor in Europe; but prospects are brightening and there is a great probability that labor and money will be far more plentiful throughout the Territory this summer than they have been for years past. Should these anticipations so generally entertained, be realized, the poor should be remembered, and a bounteous share of Zion’s blessings be extended to them.
During the services yesterday, the very large audience could not but be struck forcibly with the excellent counsel of President Young in relation to mining and going to law. Our Territory is now on the eve of a great mining excitement and large operations in developing its mineral resources. In view of this fact, how excellent the advice given by the President to those engaged or about to engage in this business! Every word was replete with wisdom! And so far as we have heard any opinion, the advice given was heartily endorsed by all of the class present for whose benefit it was specially intended. Let the counsel be followed, and however extensive and rich mineral developments may be in Utah, we are certain that her mining districts will not be disgraced by the outrages and crimes that have been so numerous elsewhere in similar localities.
The advice of President Young to the Saints was also excellent, being just such as their circumstances require; and taken throughout, though the attendance was not as numerous as on any occasion since the New Tabernacle has been in use for public worship, the 41st Annual Conference, for the excellence and pertinence of the instructions given, was fully equal to any of its predecessors; and we think that, viewed in every light and from every standpoint, the prospect before the Saints, and the Church and Kingdom of God on the earth never were brighter.