I do not wish to detain the congregation long, still I do not think
that those who have the spirit of a Saint are tired and wish the
meeting to come to a close. Every word I have heard today is
salvation and the very quintessence of righteousness, and I assure you
that I have enjoyed myself more under what I have heard today, than I
ever did in the best party that I ever attended. True, I have enjoyed
myself extremely well when I have been with my brethren in the dance,
but, gentlemen and ladies, what we have heard today is salvation and
eternal lives to us, if we will listen to and obey it.
I am thankful that the time has come when brother Brigham is disposed
to lift the veil and expose the iniquities of men, if they are not
willing to expose them themselves. I know they were exposed in
the days of Joseph, and brother Brigham, myself, and many others were
with him and stood by him to the day of his death, and do still. When
their iniquities were exposed, men whom we thought much of, and those
whom we thought nothing of, turned away from the faith. They were
poor, miserable, rotten-hearted creatures; we knew that, and knew it
when we were in England, and when we came home; and because we would
not pamper and flatter those poor, miserable devils, they became our
enemies and the enemies of Joseph.
Joseph would many times ostensibly hold men up to see whether this
people would worship them, to see whether they had discernment enough
to know the difference between a righteous man and a wicked one, and
if we preferred the society of a blackleg, or of a whoremaster, or of
any other abominable character, he was perfectly willing that we
should have the opportunity to prove ourselves.
Now we are here in the mountains and am I not glad? Yes, I am glad,
and I rejoice exceedingly, and if I am concealing wickedness or
iniquity, I say, let it be exposed, that others by seeing it may
repent and forsake their sins. Men will often tell what they will
do—that they are willing to lay down their lives for the sake of this
Gospel and for their brethren, but the thing is to come and do it,
while at the same time they are not willing to pay their tithing, nor
do anything else that is required of them. He is no Saint who will not
fulfil the requirements of heaven.
Brother Brigham is a servant to this people, and he serves you and
waits upon you by night and by day, and his associates are willing to
do whatever they are called upon. He is your servant, and I am your
servant, but if you do not treat your servants well while in this
time, I am afraid that when they come to what is called eternity, you
will not have the privilege of troubling them much. Therefore, listen
with hearing ears and understanding hearts; walk up like men to do
what God requires at your hands, and be willing to come to the light
that your sins may be revealed; and if your sins are revealed and you
repent of them, there are men who can tell you what road to take and
what atonement to make, that you may be set in the road which leads to
life, and if you will not be corrected you will be damned as sure as
the sun will again set.
What is called "Mormonism" is the delight of my heart; this people are
the pride of my heart, and I wish that everyone would do right, keep
the commandments of the Lord, and listen to those correct principles
that are taught them from time to time. Some will come with great zeal
and anxiety, saying, "I want my endowments; I want my washings and
anointings; I want my blessings; I wish to be sealed up to eternal
lives; I wish to have my wife sealed and my children sealed to me;" in
short, "I desire this and I wish that." What good would all this do
you, if you do not live up to your profession and practice your
religion? Not as much good as for me to take a bag of sand and baptize
it, lay hands upon it for the gift of the Holy Ghost, wash it and
anoint, and then seal it up to eternal lives, for the sand will be
saved, having filled the measure of its creation, but you will not,
except through faith and obedience. Those little pebbles and particles
of sand gather themselves together and are engaged, as with one heart
and mind, to accomplish a purpose in nature. Do they not keep the
mighty ocean in its place by one united exertion? And if we were fully
united we could resist and overcome every evil principle there is on
earth or in hell.
Let us all listen with care and attention to the counsels that are
given and that have been given unto us today, for they are
more precious and delicious to me than the sweetest thing I ever
tasted in this life. Shall we sit down and not rebuke sin?
If you oppose any of the works of God you will cultivate a spirit of
apostasy. If you oppose what is called the "spiritual wife doctrine,"
the Patriarchal Order, which is of God, that course will corrode you
with a spirit of apostasy, and you will go overboard; still a great
many do so, and strive to justify themselves in it, but they are not
justified of God. When you take that course you put a knife to brother
Brigham's breast, and to the breasts of his associates; and more or
less so when you oppose anything which God has instituted for His
glory and the exaltation of man. I do not like such conduct myself,
and I am opposed to such characters; I do not ask any favors of them,
and I have often said that I never want one of them to darken my door.
I am against them and God is against them, and I am for sustaining His
cause, the cause of my Father who dwells in the heavens; the cause of
His Son, and the cause that brother Joseph has been the means of
bringing forth by the revelations of Jesus Christ. We sustained Joseph
in this cause in his day, and we sustain the same cause now, and we
will sustain it forever, and that is our desire and prayer from this
time henceforth, God helping of us.
The principle of plurality of wives never will be done away although
some sisters have had revelations that, when this time passes away and
they go through the veil, every woman will have a husband to herself.
I wish more of our young men would take to themselves wives of the
daughters of Zion, and not wait for us old men to take them all; go
ahead upon the right principle, young gentlemen, and God bless you
forever and ever, and make you fruitful, that we may fill the mountains
and then the earth with righteous inhabitants. That is my prayer, and
that is my blessing upon all the Saints and upon your posterity after
you, forever. Amen.
- Heber C. Kimball