I arise to address myself to the congregation of the Saints who are
here assembled with a degree of pleasure and satisfaction, feeling
that it is a great privilege that we enjoy of meeting together in this
bowery, from Sabbath to Sabbath, for the purpose of hearing from and
worshipping the Lord our God.
It has always been a great satisfaction to my mind, and a source of
pleasure, to speak of the things of the kingdom of God, especially on
those occasions on which the Lord has condescended to bless me with a
portion of his Spirit; for the Spirit of the Lord gives joy and
satisfaction to all those who are made partakers of it, whether it be
the speaker or the hearer; and without that Spirit no person can
expect to enjoy any great degree of happiness in this life or in that
which is to come. It is contrary to the nature of happiness for us to
undertake to enjoy ourselves independent of the approbation of Heaven,
and independent of the Holy Spirit which the Almighty pours out upon
those who are honest and upright before him. There is no happiness in
anything else; there is no place worthy of being called a place of
happiness only in the enjoyment of the favor of God and of his Holy
Spirit. And those persons are truly blessed who have the greatest
share of that Spirit abiding with them; and when that Spirit withdraws
from the hearts of mankind, they are truly cursed. In the Spirit of
the Lord there is peace, there is joy, there is light, there is
truth, there is hope, and there is truth. Without that Spirit all is
darkness, all is wretchedness, and all is shut up and closed as it
were to the human mind, and future hope, or hope of future blessings
and exaltation, is cut off.
Perhaps this may be the last opportunity, for some time to come, at
least, that I shall have of addressing the Saints in Utah. In a few
days I expect to be wending my way, in company with some of my
brethren, on another mission to the United States, for the purpose of
doing whatever the Spirit of the Lord may direct in those lands.
Whether I shall return again to Utah, it matters not, if it so be that
I keep the commandments of God and do his will. All flesh is in His
hands, and He governs and controls all things according to his own
righteous will and purposes, and preserves in life whomsoever
he sees proper, and takes away his servants whenever it seems to him
good to do so. Whether I shall be spared many years or few, it matters
not to me, if I am only faithful to the end. This is my object; this
is the foremost thing in my mind; and it should be the foremost in the
minds of all the Latter-day Saints. Many great and good men have
fallen by the power of their enemies, by the Destroyer, by sickness,
and by accidents; but this is the lot of all mankind, to pass through
the veil—to go from this stage of existence to another, altogether a
different state of existence from this, in many respects. But even
this state of existence that we now enjoy is a pleasure to the
righteous; it is a great satisfaction to those that keep the
commandments of God. Life is sweet, and there are but very few
individuals who are willing to part with it, even though they knew
with the perfect knowledge that when leaving this mortal state of
existence, where we are subject to toil and fatigue, to pain and
sorrow—though they knew that they would enter into the presence of
God, and enjoy complete happiness in his kingdom henceforth and
forever; yet there are many, who although they might know this with
the most perfect knowledge, they would pray in their hearts that they
might abide here a little longer. There are but very few individuals
upon the earth among the Latter-day Saints who desire to die; and I
doubt very much whether there have been many persons of that kind, in
the past ages of the world, among the true-hearted servants of God,
who desired to die. When they reflected upon the work that they might
accomplish and perform in this world, they would still feel to pray
for life, even immortal life to be continued unto them.
Why do we desire to live? Is it to accumulate riches? No; this ought
not to be the cause of the desire in our hearts; for if we should have
power to heap up gold as the sands—if we should have power to collect
the treasures of the earth together to a very great extent, and have
power to have everything, so far as this world's goods are concerned,
to the fullest extent of our desires, what is it even then? Can we
take those things into the grave with us? Can we carry our farms, our
houses, our carriages, and other property, behind the veil with us?
No, we cannot. Then why should this be in the hearts of so many of
those who profess to be Saints as the uppermost desire? Why should the
people lie awake to study how to collect an abundance of the things of
this life? Why should they cling to the things that must perish and be
done away? This is one of the great temptations that beset the pathway
of mortal man. He desires to heap up the riches of this world, as
though he were to stay here forever. But he may inquire if the
original desire is not placed in the heart of man for a good purpose?
Yes, it is; but that desire should be controlled according to the law
of God and the will of Heaven. We should seek for nothing in this
dispensation and in the kingdom in which we are engaged—we should seek
for nothing, I repeat, that would be calculated to lead our minds
astray from the great purposes we have in view as Latter-day Saints.
Nothing should be permitted to lead our minds from God and his
kingdom, and from worshipping him with the fulness of our hearts.
Desires are very good in their places: when dictated by the Spirit of
God, they will be gratified in due time. Every man and woman should
seek in a lawful way to procure the things that are necessary in this
life to benefit themselves, their neighbors, and the poor around
them, and make a good use of the blessings God bestows, and
the things he entrusts them with in this world. But how many there are
among the Saints of the living God, whose hearts and minds are almost
overwhelmed with the things of this present life! They covet gold and
silver, houses and lands, and other riches in abundance; and they know
not why. I should delight to see the Saints of God rich; yes, I should
be pleased to see the poorest Saint among us have in his possession
all that his heart could desire, if he would use those things properly
that were committed to his charge and according to the will of Him
that made him. I should also desire to see no poor in the midst of
Zion, but that all might be blest with a good supply of the things of
this life. I desire to see the day come when all the Latter-day Saints
who have suffered shall have everything which their hearts can desire
in righteousness of the things of this world, when they will be good
for them, and when they can use them for the glory of God. Until that
period shall come, I doubt whether riches will benefit the Saints of
God. If, peradventure, any of you, by your diligence and perseverance,
should happen to accumulate riches to some extent, if you should use
them for the purposes which God has ordained, all will be well; but if
not, they will prove a curse to you, instead of a blessing. And I will
add that there is one thing that I am confident of—viz., that in Utah
there is not much danger of the Latter-day Saints becoming very rich.
If they accumulate by their perseverance a sufficiency of breadstuffs
and those things that are necessary for their present sustenance and
future security against the famines that are to spread desolation in
the earth, they will do well. I think there are no people upon the
face of the earth that need to envy the Latter-day Saints, so far as
their temporal prospects are concerned. In other respects they have
great cause to envy them.
There is not much chance for the Latter-day Saints to grow rich in
this Territory—I mean according to the meaning of the term in the
world. There is and ever will be too much to be done in various kinds
of labor for the building up of the kingdom of God. Your land, of
course, yields abundantly where it is well cultivated; but it requires
a great deal of toil to accomplish it. About three or four times the
labor is required of the farmers and agriculturists than is required
in other countries. Why, it takes a man almost one-half of his time to
get his fuel from the canyons, about one-quarter to irrigate the soil,
and of course the rest is well occupied with the other duties of life.
This being the case, then, there is not much prospect of soon becoming
very rich. We ought, nevertheless, to be thankful for the blessings we
enjoy; for the Almighty has brought us into a country where we have
not the privilege of heaping up riches and ruining ourselves forever.
It takes a people a long time to prepare themselves for riches. The
old principle which was planted in the hearts of our ancestors, which
was a principle of covetousness, as practiced by the Gentiles in all
ages, has become a part of the nature of the human family, by
tradition; so much so, that it seems to be one of the most difficult
things to root out of the hearts of men. To accomplish this, the Lord
has to train the people, year after year, in order to get it out of
their minds; and he has given us a very thorough training and
experience in order to deliver this people from this covetous feeling
and principle.
If we reflect back upon our past history—and I believe that the
Latter-day Saints are acquainted with that history, either by actual
experience, by reading, or by hearing it verbally recited;
suffice it to say that they are pretty well acquainted with the
history of this Church for the last thirty years—what has the Lord
been trying to accomplish since the rise of this Church? Has he not
been trying to accomplish one of the greatest events and one of the
greatest works ever accomplished among mankind? Yes, he has been
trying to eradicate from the people the old leaven of the Gentiles
that has been established in the hearts of men so many generations,
and to prepare the Saints for the great work of the last days. In
regard to heaping up a multitude of the riches of this life, all our
past history shows that the Lord was so determined to rid us of this
principle as far as possible, in order that we might enjoy riches when
he shall see fit to bestow them upon us, that he suffered us to be
driven from our inheritances, to undergo many privations, and thus be
prepared for the vicissitudes of future life.
We need not be fainthearted nor discouraged in regard to the riches
of this life, for this people are bound to be the richest of any
people upon the face of the whole earth, in the Lord's own due time.
That will be in fulfillment of prophecy, and no people that ever dwelt
upon this earth ever came up to what the Latter-day Saints will be in
the accumulation of the things of this life. But when we reflect upon
these things, we ought to pray earnestly that we may never be put in
the possession of those things until we are rid of those feelings of
selfishness and covetousness. (President B. Young: We shall not be;
for the Lord knows that wealth would certainly be a curse to us.) It
frequently looks very curious to me, looking at it naturally, and
causes me some astonishment, when I see the pride and arrogance of the
children of men; for I see that the whole bent of their minds is upon
the wheat and corn, that they may grow: their contemplations seem to
be upon the plans and means by which they can best accumulate the
treasures of this world. Who would place their minds in this direction
when they see thousands and millions perishing and annually going into
their graves? And who would believe that they would be so exceedingly
anxious to heap up millions more than they actually need? They see
scores of their neighbors cut down upon their right hand and upon
their left: they have the experience before them to prove that all
must go into their graves without carrying with them the goods and
riches of this world. Why is it that it does not take away this
feeling from them, either morning or night? Men of this kind are awake
during many of the silent hours of the night to calculate how they can
the easiest accumulate riches.
We have brought these principles and notions with us; we have
inherited them from our fathers; they were instilled into us by our
parents; and we have to get rid of them as soon as we can, in order
that we may be prepared to receive the true principles in the proper
spirit. We ought to be thankful that we are in a country where we
cannot get rich as easily as we desire to—a country where it takes
from morning till night in hard labor to get the common necessaries
of life, and that this will continue until the Lord says that our
hearts are prepared, and we are capable of enjoying the good things of
this life.
We, as Latter-day Saints, not only have the promise of earthly riches
and temporal comforts; but, what is far more joyful to us and more
satisfactory to our minds, is, that we look forward to an eternity of
riches—to a perpetual increase of wealth to be given unto us, if we
are faithful before the Lord, to be enjoyed upon righteous
principles—to be enjoyed where no covetousness shall mar our
feelings—to be participated in by the Latter-day Saints when they have
clean hands, pure hearts—when they can use the blessings bestowed
upon them according to the mind and will of God and in peace, where
riches will impart the most perfect happiness to the Saints of the
living God.
These are the riches we should seek after first—these the treasures
that our hearts should be set upon—the riches that are behind the
veil, that extend beyond this mortal sphere—the riches that are as
endurable as eternity. It is these riches that will be able to endure
and stand when all earthly riches shall vanish away like the dream of
a night vision.
Thirty years ago next January, by a revelation that was given through
the Prophet Joseph, we were told to seek earnestly for the riches of
eternity; and the Lord said it must needs be that my people shall be
tried and proven, that they may be prepared to receive that which is
in store for the faithful. Seek first for the riches that are in the
future life. Seek first, as our Savior bade his disciples, the
kingdom of God and its righteousness, and all things shall be added to
you, that are needful and necessary.
It will be thirty years next Wednesday since I was baptized into this
Church—almost one-third of a century since I have had an opportunity
of understanding the things of the kingdom of God in some measure—of
being baptized into that kingdom which shall endure forever. How
shall I look back upon these thirty years? In many respects I look
back with exceeding great joy; in some respects, with exceeding great
sorrow. I can see where I have failed in many things, and that if I
had lived as faithful as I might have done, I might have done more to
the honor and glory of God. I might have been a person more humble
and diligent in obeying counsel—more faithful in the discharge of many
duties that are required of a person holding the Priesthood; I might
have taken a course that would have been better for myself in many
respects, better for mankind, better for my family, and for the cause
and kingdom of God. You can easily perceive, then, that reflection
upon these things gives me a degree of sorrow. But after considering
all these matters, when I reflect upon the little good that I have
done, and upon the travels and labors that I have performed, the
success that has attended my efforts, and the few good desires that I
have had to build up the kingdom, I certainly have great joy. I feel a
satisfaction in my own mind in contemplating my past life. I feel a
joy and satisfaction that I would not part with for all the luxuries
and honors of this present life. These would be nothing in comparison
with it. I ever expect to look back upon the past period of my history
with joy, so far as the good is concerned. I shall have to reflect
with pleasure that I have preached the Gospel to so many—that I have
so often borne my testimony to the great work of the last days in
which we are engaged. I shall never regret any of the testimonies that
I have borne in regard to the future events that are coming upon the
earth; I shall never have to regret exhorting mankind to believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, to repent of their sins, to believe in the
laws, doctrines, and ordinances of the Church and kingdom of God, and
in the holy Priesthood restored to man in this generation. Have I any
reason to regret these things now? No; and I should very much dislike
being placed back thirty years in my his tory, and to have to
live my life over again. I should be exceedingly fearful that I might
not live it as well as I have done; I should be afraid of taking a
step that would prove my overthrow. How long I shall live hereafter it
matters not. I desire to live, if it is the will of my Heavenly
Father; and if it is his will, I desire to die. I desire to be
perfectly submissive. Death has lost its terrors to me. I feel no fear
of pain, for it is only momentary. There is pain in yielding up this
mortal tabernacle in many cases, but what is it? It only lasts for a
few minutes, a few hours, days, or weeks, and then all is over.
The great object of our existence is to have the mind and the spirit
right, the feelings and passions under control—to have the mortal man
that dwells within led and dictated by the Holy Spirit. If that is
right, the pain and suffering of the body is but small. If we have
hope of eternal life—I do not mean that kind of hope that exists
among the Christian world at large, or that which exists among the
Pagans or Mahomedans—but I mean that kind of hope that is based upon
a sure foundation—a hope that we can really depend upon—a hope that is
not built upon a sandy foundation, but one that takes hold of the
things in eternity, that lays hold of the things of the Most High
God—a hope founded upon the promises of the Almighty, upon the
Priesthood which is after the order of an endless life, and obedience
to the laws of heaven and those of the kingdom of God on the earth—a
hope that blooms with immortality and eternal lives.
This is what imparts confidence to man and takes away the fear of
death, distress, and terror from the minds of the Saints.
Have I this hope? I have to some degree, and I would to God that I had
it to a greater degree. Promises have been showered upon my head;
blessings have been pronounced upon me by the Priesthood at different
times; other blessings have been sealed upon me, through the holy
ordinances of the Gospel, by the proper authority: but I contemplate
that these are conditional. There is a small degree of trembling and
fear that, after all, I may prove unfaithful, and that I may not be
able to endure unto the end.
The great promises of our Savior to his Apostles have been made upon
this condition. It is true there are some promises that God has made
upon some subjects without conditions. We might mention the following
in the revelation upon marriage, concerning sealing blessings upon
persons, and sealing them up to eternal life—sealing upon them
blessings for time and for all eternity, at the time when the man and
woman go forth and are sealed by the Priesthood having authority to do
this. This remains upon them, if they are sealed unconditionally; at
least, the revelation says, if such a one transgresses, he shall be
destroyed in the flesh and suffer until the day of redemption; and
then they shall come forth and inherit all that was placed upon their
heads by the servants of God, on the condition that they have not
committed the sin against the Holy Ghost or shed innocent blood. This
would seem to be as near an unconditional promise as can well be made
to mortals. But this is not altogether unconditional, for there are
some exceptions; but it would come as near as anything we have ever
read of.
This ought to be a comfort to the Saints, and not a license for them
to sin and commit all manner of blasphemies; but it should be a
comfort and a consolation to those that may, in the hour of
temptation, be overtaken in a fault, to encourage them to turn unto
the Lord their God with all their hearts, minds, might, and strength. Then they can lay hold of these promises, and with them come
forth in the morning of the first resurrection, and inherit all that
was placed upon their heads. But when we reflect upon pain in this
life, it is grievous to be borne and to think of. When we think that a
man may be buffeted, not only in this life, but until the morning of
the first resurrection, this ought to cause the heart of every
Latter-day Saint to shrink from everything that is sinful. What! Shall
we offend God who has made these great and precious promises? Where is
our life, if we should offend God, the giver of all these good things?
If we should dare to sin upon such a promise, we should indeed be
deserving of the severest punishment. Let no Latter-day Saint, then,
try to claim these great and precious things, if they willfully commit
sin, and because the Lord has promised that they should only be
punished for a season. The time of their punishment is here in this
life, and it is sure not to extend into the other for any great period.
Yet there is far more satisfaction in being perfectly honest before
God and men—yes, far more satisfaction, joy, and consolation here in
this life, to live without any threatening and punishment in this or
in the next life. Every man that has the right spirit within him will
feel that he ought to keep the commandments of God; and it is the
great source of our happiness and the fountain from which we draw all
these great, glorious, and honorable tokens of the approval of our
Heavenly Father. Obedience produces enduring happiness in our minds.
Then let us love God and love righteousness, because it is right; let
us love honesty, love to do good, because there is pleasure in doing
so; let us hate wickedness because it is hateful in its nature; let us
hate that which has the appearance of evil, and do that because we
know it to be the feeling of God, of angels, and of all good men.
These should be the feelings of every Latter-day Saint; they should
study to discriminate between the right and the wrong, and be
determined to walk continually in the path of virtue, of
righteousness, and of truth. Let us study to make ourselves approved
before God, that we may have his smiles and approbation continually.
We are fallen beings, and are not aware how deeply the prejudices of
our forefathers have been visited upon our minds. When we think
ourselves free from the bondage of our fathers, we then imagine that
we become perfectly untrammeled, and we are not at all aware how
deeply these prejudices have entwined themselves around our hearts.
How diligent we should be to root them out, and get every feeling of
our nature in the proper direction for that new state of society into
which we have entered. The Lord does not prompt his servants to love
the manners and evil customs of the world, and you can scarcely put
your finger upon the custom that is not evil; and although the
passions of human nature have been planted in the breasts of men for
wise and good purposes, yet they have become so changed by associating
evil with them that we do not appear to realize the influence they may
exert over our minds. We therefore ought to study and to seek
diligently for that light which comes from heaven, to look into our
own hearts as we look into a mirror, that we may be enabled to see our
foolish practices, turn from them, and feel that we are not only in
the presence of man, but that we are in the presence of God, that we
may become sensible of our responsibility, and act consistently in all
things, that our government may be righteous and holy in all
things. Let us ask ourselves the question, Are we practicing as though
we were in the presence of heavenly beings, and enjoying what they
enjoy, and being with them day after day, and night after night
throughout all eternity? Are we prepared to stand up before God,
angels, and before holy and celestial beings, with confidence and a
oneness of feeling, being assured that there is nothing the matter in
our hearts, but that we are upright as they are upright—that we hate
iniquity as they hate it? We may feel that we are trying to do this;
but a little more light of the Spirit from heaven—of the Holy Ghost
shed forth upon our hearts—would enable us to see many imperfections
and follies that are gathered up by the traditions of our forefathers
and from the acts of our neighbors.
This being the last time, probably, that I shall have the opportunity
of speaking to you in this place for some time to come, although I
almost consider it unnecessary to bear my testimony before a people
that have so often heard it, yet it seems it would be a satisfaction
to my own mind, if it is not so to you, to bear testimony concerning
the kingdom and work in which you are engaged as well as myself. Do I
know that this Church and kingdom that is established here in the
Territory of Utah, and whose branches extend abroad in England, in
France, and in various parts of the earth—do I know that this is the
kingdom spoken of by the Prophets of old—that this is the great
Latter-day Kingdom of the Most High God? Yes, I do. How do I know
this? Not by miracles that my eyes have beheld, though I have seen
many; not by manifestations in healing the sick, although I have seen
many healed; not by the testimony of others, although I have heard
many, but that would not give me a living and an abiding witness. How
do I know that this Latter-day Kingdom, organized by the inhabitants
of this Territory, as well as the Branches that are abroad, are all
included in that great and glorious kingdom of the last days that is
to stand forever? Have I seen the face of the Almighty in open
vision? No; this is a great privilege that I have never attained to.
Have holy angels come down from heaven when I was awake and conversed
with me as one man converses with another? No; I have not had so great
a privilege—I have not attained to that. But I know by the power of
the Holy Ghost shed forth in my heart from time to time; for,
notwithstanding all my faults, all my weaknesses, my imperfections,
and failings, through the past thirty years, I do know one fact, and
that is that God has from time to time, through his infinite mercy and
goodness, shed forth upon me his Holy Spirit, unworthy as I was to
receive it, and that has borne testimony, time and again, that this is
the work of God: it has given me a knowledge which it is impossible
for me to doubt. If I had seen angels, I might doubt, without having
the Holy Ghost. I might doubt if I had seen great miracles, without
the Holy Ghost accompanying them; and I might doubt if I saw the
heavens opened, if I heard the thunders roll; and I might go and build
a golden calf and worship it: but when the Holy Ghost speaks to me and
gives me a knowledge that this is the kingdom of God, so that I know
it just as well as I know anything else, then that knowledge is past
controversy. By that knowledge I know this work to be true; by it I
know that this kingdom will roll on until it shall attain its high
destiny, and the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our God
and his Christ.
I feel truly thankful for this know ledge that I have been
counted worthy to receive, and the greatest desire of my heart is that
I may always retain this knowledge within me. The Spirit may depart
for a little season, but it will return again, if we are faithful. How
miserable, how unhappy would every person be to have this knowledge
remain and the Spirit be taken from him. It would be calculated to
make a man one of the most wretched beings upon the face of the earth.
What! A knowledge that this is the work of God, and at the same time
lose the Spirit that imparted it?
Now, brethren and sisters, if all of you have this knowledge, and have
had the Spirit to bear this witness, beware how you grieve the Spirit
of the living God, and how you turn from the influences of that Spirit
to evil, unless you want to become miserable all the days of your
lives.
I am going forth shortly to the United States, and I pray that the
grace of God may sustain me. What is the desire of my heart? It is, O
Lord my God, let thy servant have thy Spirit to direct him while upon
this mission. This is the chief desire of my heart. I do not care
whether I preach much or little, or whether I administer much or
little, so that I perform those duties that may be re quired at my
hands. As for poverty or affliction, they matter not, if I only have
the Spirit of God to accompany me. If it were not for this, I would
not give anything for the testimony of this work. All those holding
the Priesthood without the Spirit to accompany them can do nothing.
Without a man's testimony is accompanied by the Spirit, it will do
nothing. He may multiply words—he may study, as the revelations says;
and after he has done all this, without the Spirit is with him to
carry conviction to the hearts of the people, all his labors will be
in vain.
They have systems in the world; they have the best books that are
published amongst themselves; but they do not make a right use of
them; and when a man goes to preach without the Holy Ghost, to bear
testimony, to be in his heart to give him utterance, it will be all in
vain. Nothing can be done satisfactory either to himself or to this
people.
Then I do hope and pray that not only myself, but all the Missionaries
that are going across the Plains may have this Spirit all the time to
be with them. Give me the Holy Spirit, and I can work the work of the
Lord. Let this be promised, and all will be well.
May God bless you all! Amen.