The Gospel of life and salvation that we have embraced in our faith,
and that we profess to carry out in our lives, incorporates all truth.
We frequently testify to each other that we know that this Gospel is
true; and as I have a great many times said to those that listen to my
conversation, upon the principles of life and salvation, I believe
this work, I believe this Gospel, I believe this doctrine, that is
brought to us through the Prophet Joseph, in these the latter days, in
this our time, for the simplest, plainest and most palpable reason
that can be given. "What is it?" Why, because it is true. The Gospel
that I have embraced comprehends all truth. "How much of it is true?"
All of it. "How much does it embrace?" All the truth that there is in
the heavens, on the earth, under the earth; and if there is any truth
in hell, this doctrine claims it. It is all the truth of heaven, the
truth of God, the life of those that live forever, the law by which
worlds were, are, and will be brought into existence, and pass from
one degree or one state of being to another, pertaining to the
exaltation of intelligence from the lowest to the highest state. This
is the doctrine that the Latter-day Saints believe, whether they
realize it or not. Well, now, upon apostasy. What have the Latter-day
Saints got to apostatize from? Everything that there is good, pure,
holy, godlike, exalting, ennobling, extending the ideas, the
capacities of the intelligent beings that our heavenly Father has
brought forth upon this earth. What will they receive in exchange? I
can comprehend it in a very few words. These would be the words that I
should use: death, hell and the grave. That is what they will get in
exchange. We may go into the particulars of that which they
experience. They experience darkness, ignorance, doubt, pain, sorrow,
grief, mourning, unhappiness; no person to condole with in the hour of
trouble, no arm to lean upon in the day of calamity, no eye to pity
when they are forlorn and cast down; and I comprehend it by saying:
death, hell and the grave. This is, what they will get in exchange
for their apostasy from the Gospel of the Son of God. This is their
reward, and it is foolishness, not merely nonsense; a person can have
a little nonsense and pass it over; but this is foolishness.
There is not a particle of good sense about it; no light, no
intelligence, nothing that is ennobling, elevating, cheering,
comforting, consoling, that produces friends, or anything of this
kind. I call it foolism; I do it this time, consequently we will not
talk anything about apostasy.
When people receive this Gospel, what do they sacrifice? Why, death
for life. This is what they give: darkness for light, error for truth,
doubt and unbelief for knowledge and the certainty of the things of
God, consequently I consider it to be the biggest piece of foolism
that can be hatched up, imagined or entertained, or followed out by
any human being, to leave this Gospel for what they will receive in
exchange. So much for apostasy.
Now a few words, my brethren and sisters, with regard to our position.
There are many in this Church who have been with it a long time. This
Church has been traveling for many years. The time that this Church
has been traveling exceeds the time of the children of Israel in the
wilderness.
[At this point the water for the Sacrament was blessed.]
I will give you a word of counsel here with regard to consecrating the
bread and the water, which I want the Saints to remember. When you
[addressing the Bishops and Elders] administer the Sacrament, take
this book [the Book of Doctrine and Covenants] and read this prayer.
Take the opportunity to read this prayer until you can remember it.
You cannot get up anything that is better, and not even equal to it;
and when you read it, read it so that the people can hear you. This is
what I wish of you; it is what is right, and that which the Spirit
will manifest to you if you inquire; and if you cannot commit this
prayer to memory, the one that is given by revelation expressly for
consecrating the bread and the wine, or water, if the latter be used,
take the book and read until you can remember. If I were to come here
next Sabbath, and see you breaking bread, would this, that I am now
mentioning, be thought of? The people have various ideas with regard
to this prayer. They sometimes cannot hear six feet from the one who
is praying, and in whose prayer, perhaps, there are not three words of
the prayer that is in this book, that the Lord tells us that we should
use. This is pretty hard on the Elders, is it not? If they could
remember one thousandth part of that which they have heard, it would
have sanctified them years and years ago; but it goes in at one ear
and out at the other—it is like the weaver's shuttle passing through
the web.
Now I am going to tell you some more things, and how long will you
remember them? Until you get home? Perhaps there are a few who will
remember a few words of counsel that I shall give to you. I am here to
give this people, called Latter-day Saints, counsel to direct them in
the path of life. I am here to answer; I shall be on hand to answer
when I am called upon, for all the counsel and for all the instruction
that I have given to this people. If there is an Elder here, or any
member of this Church, called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, who can bring up the first idea, the first sentence that I
have delivered to the people as counsel that is wrong, I really wish
they would do it; but they cannot do it, for the simple reason that I
have never given counsel that is wrong; this is the reason. This
people, called Latter-day Saints, have been laboring now over forty
years. Forty-three years last April, the sixth day, this Church
was organized. People have been coming into it, many have gone out of
it, many have died in the faith; but there is quite a number in it that
are now living who have held on to it from the beginning, and they
have been striving to increase in their knowledge, to enlarge their
faith and their comprehension of the principles of eternal life; but
it is slow progress. I wonder if there are any particular sisters here
who have lived humble and faithful, to whom the Spirit has manifested
that their progress and advancement are slow: "That by the Spirit that
I receive from the Lord, the Spirit that is given to me at times, I
can see that we are far in the rear of what we should be, and we have
not come up to that status of perfection and purity that the
Latter-day Saints should reach." Are there any sisters who have
experienced any such thing? Are there any Elders who can bear witness
to these things? I expect there are. I expect there is any number of
sisters in this Church who can bear witness to this, and testify that
the people called Latter-day Saints are very tardy in the practice of
the things of God.
Now with regard to the blessings. There are blessings that the Lord
proffers to his people. Has he any conditions? This is the question.
The blessings that the Lord wishes to bestow upon his people in the
latter days, as he did upon them in former days, are they proffered to
the people on any conditions whatever, or is it the voluntary act upon
the involuntary people? Are they given to us whether we want them or
not? Whether we will enjoy them or not? Or whether we will profit by
them or not? How is this, Latter-day Saints? Is this the way the Lord
does? You and I understand this. Every blessing the Lord proffers to
his people is on conditions. These conditions are: "Obey my law, keep
my commandments, walk in my ordinances, observe my statutes, love
mercy, preserve the law that I have given to you inviolate, keep
yourselves pure in the law, and then you are entitled to these
blessings, and not until then." Now, is this not the fact? I leave it
to you. You have the Old and the New Testament, from which we can
learn doctrine. You have the Book of Mormon to read, from which we
can learn doctrine. You have the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, which
is more especially necessary to this generation. It does not contain
different doctrine to the Book of Mormon and Testaments. It is
explanatory of these three books, corroborates the doctrine that is
taught in them, and points out the path for this people to walk in
today, so that we may not err, but know how to order our lives from
morning till evening, from evening till morning, from Sunday morning
till Sunday morning again, from New Year to New Year, and every day of
our lives. The doctrine that the Lord has taught us and given to us
through his servant Joseph, points out the path for us to walk in,
and, while walking in this path, we do not lose sight of one iota of
the Gospel, but you must hold it secure, and always keep it before you
by preserving those laws and ordinances, and continuing to hold them
precious. If the Saints will do this, the Holy Ghost, the Comforter,
the Spirit of our Father and God will enlighten their minds and bring
to their remembrance things that transpired in the past, and things to
come to pass in the future, and they may lay a foundation for
everlasting life and eternal lives in the celestial kingdom of
our God. You may obtain these blessings by keeping in mind and
observing the principles, doctrine, and the laws and statutes that are
delivered to the people of God for their edification, for their
perfection, for their comfort and consolation, to prepare them for
entering into the celestial kingdom. If any profess to live in the
observance of these principles, and do not enjoy the spirit of
revelation, they deceive themselves. No person deceives the Lord.
Every individual that lives according to the laws that the Lord has
given to his people, and has received the blessings that he has in
store for the faithful, should be able to know the things of God from
the things which are not of God, the light from the darkness, that
which comes from heaven and that which comes from somewhere else. This
is the satisfaction and the consolation that the Latter-day Saints
enjoy by living their religion; this is the knowledge which every one
who thus lives possesses.
These are the books, the Old and New Testament, the Book of Mormon and
the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and we take all that has been said
to us by the Spirit of Truth, bring it together, live to it, and this
brings us into a condition that we have fellowship with the Father and
with his Son Jesus Christ, and the people of Christ are cleansed from
all sin, walk in the light and no more in darkness. We have received
in the first place the first ordinances pertaining to the Gospel that
Jesus introduced, that have been sent to the earth for the salvation
of the children of men. Before the ordinances are performed, however,
the people hear the name of Christ declared; Jesus is preached to the
people; faith springs up in the hearts of the people. We the people
believe. The Spirit of Truth bears witness to our spirits that this is
correct. This is the Christ; he is the Savior of the world; and we
begin to have faith in him; and when we begin to have faith in him,
and believe on him, and the Father who sent him, we begin to look
around ourselves and say: "Why is it that we saw nothing so familiar
and perfect years ago? All this is so familiar and plain and simple.
How is this? They that declare Christ to us, are they ready to teach
us?" "Yes, certainly." "Do you believe?" "Yes." Do you wish to be a
disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ?" "Yes." "Do you wish to enter into
his family?" "Yes." "Do you wish to belong to this quorum of
disciples?" "Yes." "Is there anything for me to do to get there?" says
the candidate. "Yes, certainly," says the Elder. "Well, what is it?"
"To go down into the waters of baptism, this is the first ordinance,
and be baptized by one having authority."
Well, now, this people have received all this. They have been
convicted of the truth, they have believed the truth, they have
repented of their sins, they have received baptism for the remission
of their sins, and the next ordinance or blessing—the laying on of
hands, so that they may receive the Holy Ghost. What accompanies this
Holy Ghost? I have been telling you: it brings to our remembrance
things past, present, and future, and dwells upon the things of God.
Here are the ordinances, and we have commenced to obey them. We have
the promise of receiving blessings if we hold on to the faith, and not
turn away from this principle; and although temptation may present
itself to us, we will resist it, and we will cling to the things of
God, and believe on his promises, and will ask the Father in
the name of Jesus to help us to overcome these temptations, and we
will free ourselves from this darkness; we will break the chain of
doubt and unbelief, and we will emerge into the full faith of the Lord
Jesus. When temptations come to you, be humble and faithful, and
determined that you will overcome, and you will receive a deliverance,
and continue faithful, having the promise of receiving blessings. What
are these blessings?
There is a variety of blessings; a different blessing being probably
given to one, two, three or four of this congregation. Thus, one will
have faith to lay hands upon the sick and rebuke disease, and drive it
from the person afflicted. Many may receive this blessing of faith,
the gift of healing. Some may receive faith to the discerning of
spirits; they can discern the spirit of a person, whether it is good
or evil. They have such power, that when a person enters this
congregation they can tell the spirit of such person; then they have
received the gift of discerning of spirits. Some may receive the gift
of tongues, that they will get up and speak in tongues, and speak in
many other languages beside their mother tongue, the language that
they were brought up in, that they were first taught, and be able to
proclaim the Gospel of life and salvation that all men could
understand it. These are the blessings; but others might receive the
gift of prophecy, get up and prophesy what is to befall this nation,
what will befall this or that individual, and what will befall the
different nations of the earth, etc. Now, after naming some of the
blessings, I want to come to something else, and draw a line for the
Latter-day Saints to walk up to.
Suppose that we hear the name of the Savior declared to us, that he is
the Savior of the world, and by his death atoned for the sins of every
man, and we believe that this is the fact; but instead of inquiring,
"Is there anything for me to do? is there any labor for me to
perform?" when we get home we sing and we say, "I thank God, and I am
satisfied." When the Elder says, "You must be baptized for the
remission of sins," and we say, "Oh no, we have received the Spirit of
Truth, there is no need of baptism. We have received all that is
necessary. The Spirit of Truth is given to us; we acknowledge the
Savior, and we rejoice in him, and we will not be baptized for the
remission of sins;" are we entitled to have hands laid upon us for the
reception of the Holy Ghost? No; every one comes to this conclusion.
Suppose that we make ourselves satisfied with what we have received,
and we can say that Jesus is the Christ—"Yes, I believe he is the
Christ; but I don't see the use of any of these ordinances," are we
entitled to the Holy Ghost? No. Are we entitled to faith to heal the
sick? No. Are we entitled to receive the spirit of prophecy? No. Are
we entitled to the gift of speaking in, or the gift of the
interpretation of tongues? No. Are we entitled to the gift of the
discerning of spirits? No. Are we entitled to any power or blessing
that the Lord has promised to his disciples: that if anybody
administered poison to them, it should not harm them, and if their
pathway were marked in the midst of serpents, they could take up
serpents and they should not hurt them? Are we entitled to this
protection? What is the answer of the Latter-day Saints? My brethren
and sisters, answer this question in your own minds. Are we entitled
to the blessings of the holy Gospel unless we obey the
ordinances thereof, and all the commandments and laws and requirements
that are laid down for us to obey? Now I know that every Latter-day
Saint will come to the same conclusion that I do—that if we did not
obey, we would not be entitled to any of these blessings from our
Father. There is not a Latter-day Saint but who comes to the same
conclusion as myself—that we would not merit, we would not be entitled
to, we could not claim at the hand of our God those blessings that he
has promised through obedience to his Word. Could we be called the
people of God? We would be in the path of disobedience. We would be in
the path that leads to death. We would be in the broad road that
millions are walking in to death. Now, every one of us comes to this
conclusion.
This people I say are very tardy. I will ask you a question, and I
will let you answer it in your own minds, for you know, and I am
satisfied that the answer I shall give will satisfy the Saints. Can we
stand still, receive so much pertaining to the blessings of the
kingdom of God, receive so much knowledge, just so much wisdom, just
so much power, and then stop and receive no more? How is this,
Latter-day Saints? Your answer will be precisely like mine—I can
answer with you all. This people must go forward, or they will go
backward. Will all answer this question the same way? Will the same
conclusion be in the mind of every Latter-day Saint, that this work is
a progressive work, this doctrine that is taught the Latter-day Saints
in its nature is exalting, increasing, expanding and extending broader
and broader until we can know as we are known, see as we are seen?
That is the answer of the Latter-day Saints.
We will say we have received a great deal; very much instruction have
we received. But there are keys to open up other ordinances which I
will mention. Do you recollect that in about the year 1840-41, Joseph
had a revelation concerning the dead? He had been asked the question a
good many times; "What is the condition of the dead, those that lived
and died without the Gospel?" It was a matter of inquiry with him. He
considered this question not only for himself, but for the brethren
and the Church. "What is the condition of the dead? What will be their
fate? Is there no way today by which they can receive their blessings
as there was in the days of the Apostles, and when the Gospel was
preached upon the earth in ancient days?" When Joseph received the
revelation that we have in our possession concerning the dead, the
subject was opened to him, not in full but in part, and he kept on
receiving. When he had first received the knowledge by the spirit of
revelation how the dead could be officiated for, there are brethren
and sisters here, I can see quite a number here who were in Nauvoo,
and you recollect that when this doctrine was first revealed, and in
hurrying in the administration of baptism for the dead, that sisters
were baptized for their male friends, were baptized for their
fathers, their grandfathers, their mothers and their grandmothers, &c.
I just mention this so that you will come to understanding, that as
we knew nothing about this matter at first, the old Saints recollect,
there was little by little given, and the subject was made plain, but
little was given at once. Consequently, in the first place people were
baptized for their friends and no record was kept. Joseph afterwards
kept a record, &c. Then women were baptized for men and men for women, &c. It would be very strange, you know, to the eyes of the
wise and they that understood the things pertaining to eternity, if we
were called upon to commence a work that we could not finish. This,
therefore, was regulated and all set in order; for it was revealed
that if a woman was baptized for a man, she could not be ordained for
him, neither could she be made an Apostle or a Patriarch for the man,
consequently the sisters are to be baptized for their own sex only.
This doctrine of baptism for the dead is a great doctrine, one of the
most glorious doctrines that was ever revealed to the human family;
and there are light, power, glory, honor and immortality in it. After
this doctrine was received, Joseph received a revelation on celestial
marriage. You will recollect, brethren and sisters, that it was in
July, 1843, that he received this revelation concerning celestial
marriage. This doctrine was explained and many received it as far as
they could understand it. Some apostatized on account of it; but
others did not, and received it in their faith. This, also, is a great
and noble doctrine. I have not time to give you many items upon the
subject, but there are a few hints that I can throw in here that
perhaps may be interesting. As far as this pertains to our natural
lives here, there are some who say it is very hard. They say, "This is
rather a hard business; I don't like my husband to take a plurality of
wives in the flesh." Just a few words upon this. We would believe this
doctrine entirely different from what it is presented to us, if we
could do so. If we could make every man upon the earth get him a wife,
live righteously and serve God, we would not be under the necessity,
perhaps, of taking more than one wife. But they will not do this; the
people of God, therefore, have been commanded to take more wives. The
women are entitled to salvation if they live according to the word
that is given to them; and if their husbands are good men, and they
are obedient to them, they are entitled to certain blessings, and they
will have the privilege of receiving certain blessings that they
cannot receive unless they are sealed to men who will be exalted. Now,
where a man in this Church says, "I don't want but one wife, I will
live my religion with one," he will perhaps be saved in the celestial
kingdom; but when he gets there he will not find himself in possession
of any wife at all. He has had a talent that he has hid up. He will
come forward and say, "Here is that which thou gavest me, I have not
wasted it, and here is the one talent," and he will not enjoy it, but
it will be taken and given to those who have improved the talents they
received, and he will find himself without any wife, and he will
remain single forever and ever. But if the woman is determined not to
enter into a plural-marriage, that woman when she comes forth will
have the privilege of living in single blessedness through all
eternity. Well, that is very good, a very nice place to be a minister
to the wants of others. I recollect a sister conversing with Joseph
Smith on this subject. She told him: "Now, don't talk to me; when I
get into the celestial kingdom, if I ever do get there, I shall
request the privilege of being a ministering angel; that is the labor
that I wish to perform. I don't want any companion in that world; and
if the Lord will make me a ministering angel, it is all I want."
Joseph said, "Sister, you talk very foolishly, you do not know
what you will want." He then said to me: "Here, brother Brigham, you
seal this lady to me." I sealed her to him. This was my own sister
according to the flesh. Now, sisters, do not say, "I do not want a
husband when I get up in the resurrection." You do not know what you
will want. I tell this so that you can get the idea. If in the
resurrection you really want to be single and alone, and live so
forever and ever, and be made servants, while others receive the
highest order of intelligence and are bringing worlds into existence,
you can have the privilege. They who will be exalted cannot perform
all the labor, they must have servants and you can be servants to
them.
The female portion of the human family have blessings promised to them
if they are faithful. I do not know what the Lord could have put upon
women worse than he did upon Mother Eve, where he told her: "Thy
desire shall be to thy husband." Continually wanting the husband. "If
you go to work, my eyes follow you; if you go away in the carriage, my
eyes follow you, and I like you and I love you; I delight in you, and
I desire you should have nobody else." I do not know that the Lord
could have put upon women anything worse than this, I do not blame
them for having these feelings. I would be glad if it were otherwise.
Says a woman of faith and knowledge, "I will make the best of it; it
is a law that man shall rule over me; his word is my law, and I must
obey him; he must rule over me; this is upon me and I will submit to
it," and by so doing she has promises that others do not have.
The world of mankind, the world of man, not of woman, is full of
iniquity. What are they doing? They are destroying every truth that
they can; they are destroying all innocence that they can. Priest and
people, governors, magistrates, kings, potentates, presidents, the
political world and the religious world, are on the highroad to
eternal misery. There are exceptions. There are honest persons
wherever there is an honest principle. If the men of the world would
be honest and full of good works, you would not see them living as
they do. And the women are entitled to the kingdom, they are entitled
to the glory, they are entitled to exaltation if they are obedient to
the Priesthood, and they will be crowned with those that are crowned.
When Father Adam came to assist in organizing the earth out of the
crude material that was found, an earth was made upon which the
children of men could live. After the earth was prepared Father Adam
came and stayed here, and there was a woman brought to him. Now I am
telling you something that many of you know, it has been told to you,
and the brethren and sisters should understand it. There was a certain
woman brought to Father Adam whose name was Eve, because she was the
first woman, and she was given to him to be his wife; I am not
disposed to give any further knowledge concerning her at present.
There is no doubt but that he left many companions. The great and
glorious doctrine that pertains to this I have not time to dwell upon;
neither should I at present if I had time. He understood this whole
machinery or system before he came to this earth; and I hope my
brethren and sisters will profit by what I have told them.
Now we have been administering the sacrament here to the
people, the bread and the water. It is to refresh our minds and bring
to our understanding the death and sufferings of our Savior. Is there
any commandment with regard to this matter? Yes, there are laws
concerning it. You take this Book [the Book of Doctrine and Covenants]
and you will read here that the Saints are to meet together on the
Sabbath day. It is what we call the first day of the week. No matter
whether it is the Jewish Sabbath or not. I do not think there is
anybody who can bring facts to prove which is the seventh day, or when
Adam was put in the garden, or the day about which the Lord spoke to
Moses. This matter is not very well known, so we call the day on which
we rest and worship God, the first day of the week. This people called
Latter-day Saints, are required by the revelations that the Lord has
given, to assemble themselves together on this day. How many go riding
or visiting, or go anywhere but to meeting, on the Sabbath day? It is
probably not so here, but in Salt Lake City, as a general thing,
Sunday is made a holiday for riding and visiting, &c. In this
commandment we are required to come together and repent of our sins
and confess our sins and partake of the bread and of the wine; or
water, in commemoration of the death and sufferings of our Lord and
Savior. I will ask the Latter-day Saints if you are entitled to these
blessings unless you keep the Sabbath day. Now, what do you say? Why,
every Latter-day Saint would answer we are not entitled to the
blessing of partaking of the emblems, or symbols, of the body and the
blood of Christ unless we observe his law. All the Latter-day Saints
will answer this question with me, just as I do, because it is right.
There is a great deal delivered to this people; they have received a
great deal—those blessings pertaining to being baptized for the dead,
celestial marriage and many others, and they should value them, and
live so as to enjoy them.
There has been considerable said here with regard to the law of
Tithing that we received years and years ago. Now, I venture to say,
that if we except some very poor men and very poor women in the
Church, who think they have paid their mites promptly and punctually,
there is not a man that has paid his Tithing. Now, this may sound
strange; for some think they have paid pretty well. To draw this
matter out and show you how I feel upon the subject of Tithing, I have
not time. But I will say a few words about some things that have been
alluded to by my brethren who have spoken to you. The Lord requires
one-tenth of that which he has given me; it is for me to pay the
one-tenth of the increase of my flocks and of all that I have, and all
the people should do the same. The question may arise, "What is to be
done with the Tithing?" It is for the building of Temples to God; for
the enlarging of the borders of Zion; sending Elders on missions to
preach the Gospel and taking care of their families. By and by we
shall have some Temples to go into, and we will receive our blessings,
the blessings of heaven, by obedience to the doctrine of Tithing. We
shall have Temples built throughout these mountains in the valleys of
this Territory and the valleys of the next Territory, and finally, all
through these mountains. We expect to build Temples in a great many
valleys. We go to the endowment house, and before going, we get a
re commendation from our Bishop that we have paid our Tithing.
We wish it was so. I do not want to accuse the brethren; but if your
consciences and my conscience does not accuse us, why, I will not
accuse you. When you give a certificate or letter for a man to have a
woman sealed to him, and he full of sin and iniquity, is not such a
certificate false? If we inquire of such, "Do you want to have another
wife sealed to you?" "Yes." "Where is your wife?" "Why, she has left
me." "Why? Because you are so full of the devil that she cannot live
with you, and the Bishop will give a certificate for you to get
another." They also want to be baptized for their dead friends when
they have not paid their Tithing. I do not want to accuse anybody; but
I do not think this to be right. If the Lord will receive the people,
if the Lord will accept of their labors, and will honor and bless
them, and say that their officiating for their dead friends shall be
sealed in the heavens and it shall be recorded by his angel, and in
the day of the resurrection it shall be accounted unto them for
righteousness, I am willing, I have not a word to say against it.
Now, then, we have received these ordinances, the doctrine the Lord
has revealed for the salvation of the dead; the doctrine that we have
received for the exaltation of men and women, which I could tell you a
great deal about if I had time; but there is only a little time and I
want to say a few things to bring your minds directly to our present
condition. You read in the Doctrine and Covenants with regard to the
building up of the kingdom of God, the order of Enoch, &c. I am
anxious in my feelings to get the Latter-day Saints to begin where the
Lord wanted them to begin, when he commenced to build up this kingdom;
that is that we are to submit ourselves to the direction of our
Bishops, or men who shall be appointed, who shall dictate them in the
things pertaining to life, so that they may be the means in the hands
of the Lord of accomplishing the work that he requires at our hands. I
had it in my mind to ask if we are not a slow, tardy people; but I
would like to see the order of Enoch introduced. If I had the
privilege that was legal, the legal right, I should have had some of
the brethren and sisters organized together and bound with bonds that
cannot be broken; but I cannot do this at present; for we desire to
commence this on a foundation that cannot be broken up and destroyed.
Brethren, if you will start here and operate together in farming, in
making cheese, in herding sheep and cattle and every other kind of
work, and get a factory here and a cooperative store—I have been told
there is no cooperative store here—get a good cooperative store, and
operate together in sheep raising, storekeeping, manufacturing and
everything else, no matter what it is, by and by, when we can plant
ourselves upon a foundation that we cannot be broken up, we shall then
proceed to arrange a family organization for which we are not yet
quite prepared. You now, right here in this place, commence to carry
on your business in a cooperative capacity. In every instance I could
show every one of you what a great advantage would be gained in
working together; I could reason it out here just how much advantage
there is in cooperation in your lumbering and in your herding. You
have men here, I suppose, who have had an arm shot off; they cannot go
into the canyons and get out wood. Ano ther, perhaps, has had a
leg cut off; he cannot run here and there like some of you; but he can
do something; he will make a first-rate shopman, and at keeping books,
perhaps, he will be one of the best. He cannot take the scythe and
mow; he cannot attend to a threshing machine; he cannot go into the
woods lumbering; he could not herd well—but he could go into the
factory, and he can do many things. Well, we can do this and keep up
cooperation, and, by and by, when we can, we will build up a city
after the order of Enoch. And I will tell you, women will not be let
into that city with Babylon upon their backs, nor men either. But we
will make our own clothing, we will make our own fashions, we will do
our own work. I can take fifty men who have not a cent, and if they
would do as I would wish them to do, they would soon be worth their
thousands, every one of them. We desire to go into this order. In it
we would not lack means, we would always have something to sell, but
seldom want to buy. This will be the case if we make our own clothes,
&c.
Another thing I want you to observe in all these settlements, and it
is one of the simplest things in nature; I want you to be united. If
we should build up and organize a community, we would have to do it on
the principle of oneness, and it is one of the simplest things I know
of. A city of one hundred thousand or a million of people could be
united into a perfect family, and they would work together as
beautifully as the different parts of the carding machine work
together. Why, we could organize millions into a family under the
order of Enoch. Will you go into the cooperative system? Will you pay
your Tithes? Will you take care of your hay? Bisbops, will you take
care of the Tithes? I have scarcely seen a good stack of Tithing hay
until within the last two years. Is this right, to let hay that is
brought in as Tithing go to waste? "Well, but," says one, "I don't
know what to do with it." Go to work, and put it into a shape that it
will last one year, five years, ten years; it will be wanted by and
by. There is about sixteen thousand dollars, I learn from the
trustees, of unpaid Tithing, in this valley. Go to work and build a
meetinghouse, and then schoolhouses. Go to work and start some
schools, and instead of going to parties to dance and indulge in this
nonsense, go to school and study; have the girls go, and teach them
chemistry, so that they can take any of these rocks and analyze
them—tell the properties and what they are. I don't suppose there is
a man here who can tell these properties. The sciences can be learned
without much difficulty. Instead of going "right and left, balance
all, promenade," go to work and teach yourselves something. Instead of
having this folly, I want to have schools and entertain the minds of
the people and draw them out to learn the arts and sciences. Send the
old children to school and the young ones also; there is nothing I
would like better than to learn chemistry, botany, geology, and
mineralogy, so that I could tell what I walk on, the properties of the
air I breathe, what I drink, &c.
I will say to you, my brethren and sisters, I bless you. I bless you
according to the Priesthood that I hold and the keys thereof. I bless
you in the name of Jesus Christ. Now will you live your religion? We
had some talk yesterday about your President; I pray you, Mr.
President, under brother Rich, to live your religion; and I pray the
Saints to live their religion, and I do ask from day to day,
in the name of Jesus Christ, and I direct the Latter-day Saints, to
live their religion, and I pray you in Christ's stead to live your
religion so as to enjoy the spirit of it. Amen.