The hymn which has been sung, I think, is a very appropriate one, and
if we can all put it in practice, if we all say we will commence to do
it from this day, I imagine that we have created a heaven already in
our own minds. If we would forsake everything that is unrighteous,
that creates sorrow and misery in this world, you will all admit that
I and you would be at once in possession of a heaven of happiness.
The discourse we have heard from brother Taylor was a rehearsal of a
great many things we have passed through, that is, many of us. Those
who have passed through these things have appreciated them, and they
are actually in possession of more knowledge and experience than those
who have not passed through them. Still, we find, in the course of our
experience, that many think they have more experience, and know more
and comprehend more, than their neighbors. However, I will let time
suffice to give them an experience in that matter—time is necessary to
bring it about. I have said it many times, that I had no doubt that
every man and every woman would, perhaps, get all the experience they
wanted. And as for this people, I do not say to what they can be
brought; but sometimes I have thought, or had my doubts, whether or no
the majority of them will take a course to keep peace in our midst,
and secure to us continually the comfort and consolation we now enjoy.
The majority of you enjoy greater blessings this day than you ever did
in your lives. I have traveled over a great portion of the earth in
days that are past. I have seen the sorrows of the world. I have seen
this people, or many of them, very poor, and penniless. I have dwelt
in England, and a part of the time in London, and established the
Gospel there, when I have lived upon my two penny loaves per day,
with a glass of water. You that have come from there, know what kind
of a thing a penny loaf is; there certainly is not that substance
existing in it that there is in a piece of good solid bread the
breadth of my three fingers; it is not all bread, but it is a mixture,
a combination of other fixings, something like their milk in London,
which they make from chalk; so if any of you are destitute of milk
cows, I am telling you how you can make milk. I speak of these things
because I have experienced them. I want to know if there are any
people brought to that, in this community? Do you live as poor and as
penniless as you did there? No, you do not. There are many here that
did live there and they have now their abundance, and they eat so much
here that they are almost disabled, their minds are not so active, and
this is the cause many times they are not to be found in this
hall—they eat so much, they are under the necessity of going to bed,
not to rest themselves, but to rest the food they have taken. This is too much the case. If I take food in the afterpart of the day,
it is disagreeable for me to speak in the afternoon; it is hard and
laborious. When you go from this place and return to your homes, you
eat so much, that when you return here again, those that do, you are
as void of receiving intelligence and the Spirit of the Lord God as a
stone. This I know to be true; that is, with many of that portion that
do return. There is nearly one-half of this congregation who disable
themselves, and are obliged to go to bed to rest their food, on the
Sabbath afternoon. I am not speaking of this thing as though it is
practiced here any more than it is in the whole world. You do not
train your bodies, and cultivate your minds, in eating and drinking,
in partaking of the fruits of the earth; your lives are wasted away,
not in a useful manner, but in a very useless manner. You throw away
your lives. I could prove it to you very easily if I had you in a
place where I knew who you were. I know I cannot teach here, and come
upon little matters, that, nevertheless, are important to be known.
Why? Because it would be considered ridiculous. What did brother
Brigham say here one day, when he was speaking upon the works of the
human family, and that they would have to give an account of their
works? Said he, "It is ridiculous for me to recount their works, or
speak them before any public assembly." So you would consider, many of
you, that the holy order of God, or what I would say to you, is
ridiculous; on the other hand, many of you would consider it the most
consistent. But allow me to say, that your salvation and exaltation
depend upon what you consider indelicate for a man to speak in a
public congregation.
Brethren, there is not anything I fear, sisters, there is not anything
I fear, in this world, but that we shall prosper, and dwell upon the
earth, and continue in the Valleys of the mountains, and never be
removed, that is, if we will be faithful, and do as well as we know
how, and follow the dictates of the Holy Spirit of God, and of him and
his brethren who preside over us. If we do this, we never shall be
overcome. These things have been talked about many times, and I might
split my lungs, and my brethren might do the same, unto some people in
the world; for the more you talk to them, the more light that is
revealed to them, the less they seem to appreciate it. If they do seem
to appreciate it, they do not obey it, they do not walk in the path
marked out; but they will receive instructions from day to day, and
enter into the most solemn obligations, before God and angels, that
they will observe them, but before they get home they forget them. Is
not this true, gentlemen? Is it not true, ladies? I will tell you my
feelings plainly about these matters. I wish to God that this people
would do as they are told, as brother Taylor has said today. You know
what my belief is, and I am satisfied it is the belief of every person
here. Many are willing to eat and drink, wear clothing, and lie down
to sleep, and they think they are going to be ushered into the Kingdom
of God by that portion of men and women that are faithful. This is a
mistake, gentlemen and ladies. If you do not cultivate yourselves, and
cultivate your spirits in this state of existence, it is just as true
as there is a God that liveth, you will have to go into another state
of existence, and bring your spirits into subjection there. Now you
may reflect upon it, you never will obtain your resurrected bodies,
until you bring your spirits into subjection. I am not talking to this
earthly house of mine, neither am I talking to your bodies, but I am
speaking to your spirits. I am not talking as to people who
are not in the house. Are not your spirits in the house? Are not your
bodies your houses, your tabernacles or temples, and places for your
spirits? Look at it; reflect upon it. If you keep your spirits trained
according to the wisdom and fear of God, you will attain to the
salvation of both body and spirit. I ask, then, if it is your spirits
that must be brought into subjection? It is; and if you do not do that
in these bodies, you will have to go into another estate to do it. You
have got to train yourselves according to the law of God, or you will
never obtain your resurrected bodies. Mark it! You do not think of
these things, you only think of today. If you can pass along today,
it is all right, thinking that brother Brigham, brother Heber, brother
Willard, and the Twelve, with brother Joseph at our head, will lead
you all into the celestial world. We cannot do it. Why? Because
Justice sits at the door, and will not admit a single soul until he
has paid the uttermost farthing. Do you think we can pass you in there
clandestinely? If you do, you will find justice sitting at the door,
and she will require justice at your hand, and mercy will claim all
that is due to her, but mercy will not rob justice, not one writ,
neither will justice rob mercy; they are united together, just as much
as the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ever were. As brother Brigham said
here, if you sin against God, you have got to satisfy Him; and if you
sin against Jesus Christ, you have got to make confession to Jesus,
and He and the Father can forgive you; and if you sin against the Holy
Ghost, you have got to satisfy the Holy Ghost, for neither the Father
nor the Son can forgive that sin. Is not that good law? That is the
law of Deseret, gentlemen. And when you sin against brother Brigham,
will the Father forgive you? No: you have got to ask forgiveness of
brother Brigham. And when you sin against me, you have got to seek
forgiveness of me, before you get it from the Father. You have got to
repent of your sins, and turn unto the Lord your God, with full
purpose of heart, and cease your murmuring and complaining, that you
may be forgiven.
I could not get a company here last Conference, I could not get one
solitary vote for a man to preside over a company, of murmurers. You
cannot organize ten murmurers in this whole city; for if you can get
them together, they cannot agree, and that is the difficulty.
I will tell you what will be good for us, and it will bestow upon us
all the luxuries of this life, of heaven and earth. You are talking
about heaven and about earth, and about hell, &c.; but let me tell
you, you are in hell now, and you have got to qualify yourselves here
in hell to become subjects for heaven; and even when you have got into
heaven, you will find it right here where you are on this earth. When
we escape from this earth, we suppose we are going to heaven? Do you
suppose you are going to the earth that Adam came from? That Eloheim
came from? Where Jehovah the Lord came from? No. When you have learned
to become obedient to the Father that dwells upon this earth, to the
Father and God of this earth, and obedient to the messengers He
sends—when you have done all that, remember you are not going to leave
this earth. You will never leave it until you become qualified, and
capable, and capacitated to become a father of an earth yourselves.
Not one soul of you ever will leave this earth, for if you go to hell,
it is on this earth; and if you go to heaven, it is on this earth; and
you will not find it anywhere else. Is it not hard to bring these
truths home to you. I tell you I am at home now, and I am in heaven;
but the heaven I have to enjoy is the heaven I make myself. Do
you know it? Well, if this be the case, which you will probably all
admit, for it will be the case with me, it will be the same with you,
and you cannot help yourselves—I want to know if you have any peace at
home, in your families, only what your wife and children make? You
have not. If you make peace and a heaven in your habitations, then you
are in heaven, both you and your families. Now suppose we apply this
principle to the house of every man in Israel, who is a father of a
family, and they all agree they will make heaven at home, and after
that they all conclude to come together and make a general heaven. But
the first place to begin to make a heaven, is to make it at home, and
then we will club together, and conclude to have it all over. Do you
understand my logic? Do you, brother Hyde? [Elder Hyde, "Yes, sir." ]
These are my feelings.
Now let us go to work, every one of us, and pull together, and put
means into the hands of the Trustee-in-trust, pay up our tithing, and
then if we have a surplus which we do not want to put out to usury
now, put it in the hands of the Trustee-in-trust. Go to work, not only
next spring, but now make preparations, and let us build a temple.
What say you? I do not want you to say yes, unless you calculate to do
it, but, as brother Joseph used to say, "Yankee doodle do it." Now go
to work, and do the thing right up, and when next fall comes to pass,
let us see the walls of the temple erected, and the roof on it. What
say you? It is just as you say. No one man has the capacity and power
to do it himself, but if you say it, and you will do it, there will be
a temple next fall, with a roof upon it. Do you believe it? You do.
You nod your heads; come, nod them a little lower still; none of your
half winks here, but whole winks or nothing. We can do it just as
easily as I have built a little house on the corner there. How do you
feel, brethren? Do you feel, do it? Don't you say yes, or give me a
half wink, without meaning it; but, as the girls say, give me a whole
heart or nothing. I do not want you should have my heart, and I do not
want you should have the hearts of my brethren, because if you have
their hearts, they will do nothing for God or His cause. You know I
talk just as I have a mind to, when I get up to talk here. Do you
consider it sensible, that we go to work, and rear a temple to the
name of the Lord, and have the roof on it next fall? Say? None of your
half winks to me again; is it not reasonable to say, it cannot be done
unless you do it?
It is necessary to unite and cultivate the hearts of this people
together, more than anything else. The subject of building a temple
alone will not do it, or your means; but to bring this to a focus,
your hearts must be where your treasure is. If you place your treasure
in the temple, your hearts must be there, they are wherever you place
your treasure. The Scripture says so, and so say I. I am a servant of
God, a man of truth, and President Young is my brother, my leader, and
governor, and shall be forever and ever, and you cannot unhorse me if
you try, and we will unhorse the whole of you if you do not do right.
Shall we go to work, and build a temple, and a wall around it? Now,
gentlemen, if we do it at all, we have got to commence the work, and
continue to progress in it until we have completed it. You must put
your means and labor in it. How many hands do we see here on the
public works weekly? Why there is scarcely a man to be seen, except
regularly employed hands. Do not talk to me about doing a thing, when you do not do it. As brother Hyde said, it is punctuality that
will save you. The Lord said, through Joseph, in the Book of Doctrine
and Covenants, that a covenant breaker never could be saved. You never
can be saved, only in truth and faithfulness to God, and those whom He
has appointed and selected to govern the affairs of His Church on the
earth. Now, you say, "Brother Kimball, you talk rather barefaced, the
Gentiles will hear you." That is what they dread. Bless your souls, we
want they should hear it more and more and more, until the kingdom of
our God brings under subjection every kingdom in the world. Can we do
it; gentlemen and ladies, upon any other principle than by being one?
Tell me if any of you have got an argument to prove to the contrary? I
know you have not got it; if you have, I am ready for it today.
I am perhaps trespassing upon your time and patience; well, I do not
care whether I am or not, you seem to sit very easy notwithstanding.
It is not very cold; though your faces appear rather blooming; your
eyes are bright and your spirits look cheerful. I do not think you are
cold; you never saw a man or a woman have the blues yet, but they
looked black, and their flesh looked blue, like the green fly. I have
got the start of you, for I have on a great coat. I have not spoken in
public for some time, and I did not know if ever I should again, my
lungs are so injured by speaking in private meetings.
What do you say now, casting away the blues and everything of this
kind, what do you say about going to, ye Bishops, with your several
wards, after this day—tomorrow morning, with light hearts, and
cheerful spirits, and glad countenances, to prepare for the erection
of a temple to the name of the Almighty. We want to get stone on the
ground, and other preparations are necessary to be made, to lay the
foundation for this work. What do you say? I will have no half winks,
neither will I call a vote without you go it as the heart of one man.
What do you say, brethren and sisters? Will you say, "Yankee doodle do
it?" If you do, say aye. [All said, "Aye."]
There, Bishops, I will deliver up the meeting into your hands.
- Heber C. Kimball