Truly happy is that man, or woman, or that people, who enjoys the
privileges of the Gospel of the Son of God, and who know how to
appreciate his blessings. Who is that person, or that people? We are
ready to reply, "The Latter-day Saints are the only people on earth,
that we have any knowledge of, to whom the everlasting Gospel has been
given in these days; they are the only people who are the heirs to it,
with all its blessings and privileges. Not to our knowledge is there
any other people on the face of this globe, that enjoy this
inestimable blessing." True, all mankind enjoy to a certain degree
its influence, the manifestations of the Author, Proprietor, and Giver
of the Gospel of life and salvation to fallen man. All the offspring
of Adam from his day to this, have enjoyed, to a greater or less
degree, the light, the glory, and the manifestations of the
countenance of their Lord. But they have not enjoyed in all ages the
Gospel, with its ordinances, blessings, and privileges. This is the
only people that now enjoys such signal favors. The Priesthood has
been upon the earth from time to time, and the kingdom of God has been
organized to certain degrees, but we can truly say, this is the time
of times, we live in the day of days, we enjoy the blessings of the
blessed, and have bestowed upon us, in the fulness of times,
privileges that surpass all privileges hitherto bestowed upon mankind.
In this dispensation all things will be gathered together in one, and,
strange and marvelous as it may appear to the world, these are the
people who are the instruments in the hand of God to bring
it to pass. This is a truth
that no arguments can successfully
bear down. No
matter how it is despised, persecuted,
or neglected, as a frivolous,
trifling, and childish work, it is true,
and it will remain; it is the
kingdom of heaven upon
the earth. Here is the plan of salvation, here
are the words of life, here is the light of eternity, here is the
intelligence that will instruct kings, and impart judgment to rulers.
It is em bodied here in the midst of this people, and from them
the rays of heavenly light, wisdom, and intelligence have spread upon
the wide earth; and the Spirit of the Lord, that fills immensity, has
been poured out upon its face, giving light to every man and woman
that cometh into this world.
Brethren and sisters, can we realize its greatness? Arouse the
reflecting and reasoning faculties with which you are endowed, reason
upon your past experience in this Church, and then inquire if you are
as happy as you anticipated you would be, if you have received that
which you desired, if you enjoy that which was once in the future to
you—and what will be your reasonable conclusions? What would an
enlightened judgment tell you? What would the spirit of truth decide?
That here are the pure rays of light, here is heaven on earth; and no
argument, no intelligence, no influence of earth and hell combined
could disprove it, or produce one good reason to the contrary. You may
then ascend to the powers supreme, and consult the intelligence that
fills the bosom of eternity; you may inquire of the Creator,
Organizer, and Preserver of the Universe, our Father who is in heaven;
you may associate with the glorious retinue of Saints, angels,
martyrs, and the spirits of just men made perfect; and they will all,
with one voice as it were, testify to the truth of this work in which
we are engaged. On the other hand, nothing short of the power of the
Almighty, nothing short of the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ, can prove
to you that this is the work of God. Men uninspired of God cannot by
their worldly wisdom disprove it, or prevail against it; neither can
they by wisdom alone prove it to be true, either to themselves or to
others. Their not being able to prevail against it does not prove it
to be the kingdom of God, for there are many theories and systems on
the earth, incontrovertible by the wisdom of the world, which are
nevertheless false. Nothing less than the power of the Almighty,
enlightening the understandings of men, can demonstrate this glorious
truth to the human mind.
When you were in your native homes in the old countries and in the
United States, before you gathered with the people of God, what were
your thoughts and expectations, when you looked forward to the period
of your being embodied with the Saints? What were the vision of your
mind, and the operations of the Spirit upon your understanding? When
you were gathered with the Saints of the Most High, and became
associated as a brother, a sister, and a neighbor with that blessed
society, you expected to enjoy the manifestations of the Lord Jesus
Christ, to walk in the light of his countenance, and by the power of
the Holy Ghost have the oracles of truth revealed to you continually,
and that you would be in heaven, and in the Zion of the Lord. These
were your expectations. You did not expect to hear the name of the God
we serve blasphemed from morning until evening; you expected to be
delivered from hearing the blasphemies of your wicked shopmates, from
the tyranny of your ungodly employers, and from the persecutions of
the bigoted religionists, who were all united to pick you to pieces,
and destroy you both temporally and spiritually, if it were possible;
on one side you were sheared, and on the other shaved. You were
annoyed with the ungodly conversation and filthy deeds of your
neighbors, your peace was destroyed, and you could not enjoy that
happiness held out to you in the Gospel; yet you felt the influence
of the spirit of truth burning in your heart, which kindled in you a
longing desire to mingle with the Saints; you would exclaim,
"Oh! that I could enjoy the society of the Saints, and make my escape
from this ungodly place. Oh! that I had means to gather up my little
family, and journey to the place of the gathering of the Saints of the
Most High." This was your feeling, and this your prayer. You
anticipated deliverance from hell, to find a heaven with the Saints;
you expected to exchange confusion for a Zion of order and beauty,
misery for peace and happiness, blasphemy and tumult for quietness and
reverence to the name of God, starvation for plenty; in short, you
expected to find a place where all evil had ceased, and iniquity and
sorrow were brought to an end, and where you would bask undisturbed in
the smiles of the countenance of your Lord from day to day. I think I
have drawn a faithful picture of what were the thoughts of the
majority of this people, before they were gathered to the body of the
Church.
Now, brethren and sisters, what hinders you from enjoying all you
anticipated? The calm reflections of your own minds, and the
conclusions of a well balanced judgment, enlightened by the Spirit of
the Lord, will give you a correct answer to this question. I can
answer it for myself, and perhaps for many of you. If I do not enjoy
all I anticipated, if my happiness is not as complete as I
anticipated, if the light of the Holy Spirit is not in my heart to
that degree which I expected it would be, if I have not obtained all I
anticipated when I was down in yonder world, mingled with the wicked,
the cause is in myself, in my own heart, in my own disposition, in the
weakness of human nature; it is my own will that prevents me from
enjoying all I anticipated, and more. It is a mistaken idea to suppose
that others can prevent me from enjoying the light of God in my soul;
all hell cannot hinder me from enjoying Zion in my own heart, if my
individual will yields obedience to the requirements and mandates of
my heavenly Master. He has set me a pattern to copy, which, if I
imitate faithfully, will yield to me all and more of heaven in my own
heart than I can anticipate. This is my answer.
Brother Erastus Snow asked a question—"If my neighbor shall do wrong
to me, am I thereby compelled to do wrong to my next neighbor?" I
say, no. If a brother shall tread down my grain, that is ripening in
the field, am I thereby compelled to run through and tread down yours?
No. When a person steals my poles from the fence, am I compelled to
steal yours? If my neighbor, or my brother in the Church, shall
swear, and take the name of God in vain, does it necessarily follow
that I must use the same language? If my brother shall do wrong in any
way, it does not follow that I shall be justified in committing one
single evil in all the acts of my life. Let each Latter-day Saint
examine himself, and inquire, "Am I one of those persons who will do
right in all things, though others may do wrong? Am I that person that
will serve the Lord with my house, that will cease from every evil
act, and from every evil word, though my neighbors, or my brethren
and sisters, may do the opposite?" Let the spirit within you reply to
these questions, and in every breast the response is, "Let me be that
person, let me do right from this time henceforth and forever,
without committing another evil." Then what, have you got? You have
got heaven in your own bosoms, you have got Zion in your hearts, you
have obtained all the glory, all the peace, all the joy, all the
comfort, and all the light you anticipated when you were mingling with
the wicked world. If you are deceived, who will deceive you? If you
are wronged, who wrongs you? If you are cheated out of your
crown at last, who has cheated you? These questions may apply in
different ways. They may apply to the business operations of the
world, as well as to the grace of God in the heart, and the salvation
of the soul. It is to the latter I wish them more particularly to
apply. Who has influence over any one of you, to cause you to miss
salvation in the celestial kingdom of God? I will answer these
questions for myself. If brother Brigham and I shall take a wrong
track, and be shut out of the kingdom of heaven, no person will be to
blame but brother Brigham and I. I am the only being in heaven, earth,
or hell, that can be blamed.
This will equally apply to every Latter-day Saint. Salvation is an
individual operation. I am the only person that can possibly save
myself. When salvation is sent to me, I can reject or receive it. In
receiving it, I yield implicit obedience and submission to its great
Author throughout my life, and to those whom He shall appoint to
instruct me; in rejecting it, I follow the dictates of my own will in
preference to the will of my Creator. There are those among this
people who are influenced, controlled, and biased in their thoughts,
actions, and feelings by some other individual or family, on whom they
place their dependence for spiritual and temporal instruction, and for
salvation in the end. These persons do not depend upon themselves for
salvation, but upon another of their poor, weak, fellow mortals. "I do
not depend upon any inherent goodness of my own," say they, "to
introduce me into the kingdom of glory, but I depend upon you, brother
Joseph, upon you, brother Brigham, upon you, brother Heber, or upon
you, brother James; I believe your judgment is superior to mine, and
consequently I let you judge for me; your spirit is better than mine,
therefore you can do good for me; I will submit myself wholly to you,
and place in you all my confidence for life and salvation; where you
go I will go, and where you tarry there I will stay; expecting that
you will introduce me through the gates into the heavenly Jerusalem."
I wish to notice this. We read in the Bible, that there is one glory
of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars.
In the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, these glories are called
telestial, terrestrial, and celestial, which is the highest. These are
worlds, different departments, or mansions, in our Father's house. Now
those men, or those women, who know no more about the power of God,
and the influences of the Holy Spirit, than to be led entirely by
another person, suspending their own understanding, and pinning their
faith upon another's sleeve, will never be capable of entering into
the celestial glory, to be crowned as they anticipate; they will
never be capable of becoming Gods. They cannot rule themselves, to say
nothing of ruling others, but they must be dictated to in every
trifle, like a child. They cannot control themselves in the least, but
James, Peter, or somebody else must control them. They never can
become Gods, nor be crowned as rulers with glory, immortality, and
eternal lives. They never can hold scepters of glory, majesty, and
power in the celestial kingdom. Who will? Those who are valiant and
inspired with the true independence of heaven, who will go forth
boldly in the service of their God, leaving others to do as they
please, determined to do right, though all mankind besides should take
the opposite course. Will this apply to any of you? Your own hearts
can answer. Do you know what is right and just, as well as I do? In
some things you do, and in some things you may not know as
well; but I will explain what I mean, in the following words—I will do
all the good I can, and all I know how to do, and I will shun every
evil that I know to be an evil. You can all do that much. I will
apply my heart to wisdom, and ask the Lord to impart it to me; and if
I know but little, I will improve upon it, that tomorrow I may have
more, and thus grow from day to day, in the knowledge of the truth, as
Jesus Christ grew in stature and knowledge from a babe to manhood; and
if I am not now capable of judging for myself, perhaps I shall be in
another year. We are organized to progress in the scale of
intelligence, and the least Saint by adhering strictly to the order of
God, may attain to a full and complete salvation through the grace of
God, by his own faithfulness.
I know how it was in Jackson County. There are families in this city
that went to that county twenty-one or twenty-two years ago last fall,
if I mistake not. I know what their feelings were. All their desire
was to got into the town of Independence, Jackson County, where they
expected to find all sin and iniquity dried up, heaven begun on earth,
and an end to all their mortal griefs. That was the motive that
prompted them to go there. Poor souls, how little they knew about
salvation and its mode. I might have gone there too, but I wanted to
thunder and roar out the Gospel to the nations. It burned in my bones
like fire pent up, so I turned my back upon Jackson County to preach
the Gospel of life to the people. Such were the feelings of those who
went up to Jackson County, but I did not want to go there, nothing
would satisfy me but to cry abroad in the world, what the Lord was
doing in the latter days. After awhile this undercurrent began to
work two ways; and they had more trouble in Independence than we had
in York State; it came foaming, and bellowing, and pressing upon them
until they had to fly.
I wish to ask those persons who were driven from Jackson County, if
they suffered as much in the actual driving as they would have done in
the anticipation of it a year before it took place? You will all reply
that, if you had known it a year beforehand, you would not have
endured the thought. I wish to apply this both ways. You that have not
passed through the trials, and persecutions, and drivings, with this
people from the beginning, but have only read of them, or heard some
of them related may think how awful they were to endure, and wonder
that the Saints survived them at all. The thought of it makes your
hearts sink within you, your brains reel, and your bodies tremble,
and you are ready to exclaim, "I could not have endured it." I have
been in the heat of it, and I never felt better in all my life; I
never felt; the peace and power of the Almighty more copiously poured
upon me than in the keenest part of our trials. They appeared nothing
to me. I hear people talk about their troubles, their sore privations,
and the great sacrifices they have made for the Gospel's sake. It
never was a sacrifice to me. Anything I can do or suffer in the cause
of the Gospel, is only like dropping a pin into the sea; the
blessings, gifts, powers, honor, joy, truth, salvation, glory,
immortality, and eternal lives, as far outswell anything I can do in
return for such precious gifts, as the great ocean exceeds in
expansion, bulk, and weight, the pin that I drop into it. Had I had
millions of wealth, and had I devoted it all to the building up of
this people, and said, "Take it, and build temples, cities, and
fortifications with it," and left myself pennyless, would it have been
a sacrifice? No, not to my feelings. Suppose I should be called to
preach the Gospel until my head is white, and my limbs become
weak with age, until I go down into my grave, and never see my family
and friends again in the flesh, would it be a sacrifice? No, but one
of the greatest blessings that could be conferred upon mortal man, to
have the privilege of calling thousands, and perhaps millions, from
darkness to light, from the power of Satan and unrighteousness to the
principles of truth and righteousness in the living God.
I was as ready to pass through the scenes of mobbing and driving in
Jackson County, as I was to pass through the troubles in Kirtland,
Ohio; in Davis and Caldwell Counties, Missouri; in Illinois; and up to
this place. And what of it? I have not known or seen a single
sacrifice that this people have made. There has not been one such
providence of the Almighty to this people, that was not calculated to
sanctify the pure in heart, and enrich them with blessings instead of
curses—enrich them not only with earthly blessings, but with crowns of
glory, immortality, and eternal lives in the presence of God. Where,
then, is the sacrifice this people have ever made? There is no such
thing—they have only exchanged a worse condition for a better one,
every time they have been moved—they have exchanged ignorance for
knowledge, and inexperience for its opposite.
I want you to look at the Saints before they first gathered to be
mobbed; they expected all sin to be at an end at the place of
gathering. These were my own feelings, though I did not gather with
them at that time. I had to go out and preach, lest my bones should
consume within me. But I will tell you what I did do, I commenced to
contract my business operations and dealings, and laid away my ledger,
and notebooks, saying, "I shall never want you any more." I believe
that those who want ed to be Saints indeed, should do everything to
promote righteous principles and peace among men, and be perfectly of
one heart and of one mind. I laid aside my old account books, because
I expected we should be one family, each seeking to do his neighbor
good, and all be engaged to do all the good possible. To carry out
this principle faithfully, would crown the people of God with good to
overflowing. It is easy for us to think how things should be, but the
difficulty is, things are not always as we would like to have them.
Though if the Saints at that time could have rightly judged of
appearances, could have understood the aspect around them, it was
clear that sorrow and trouble were impending. It was right they did
not see the dark cloud that was ready to burst with violence upon
their heads.
In the short speech of not more than five minutes, which I delivered
in the old Bowery, when that judge publicly insulted this people,
there were men and women in the congregation who suffered more in the
anticipation of what might be the result of it in future, than the
generality of this people have suffered in being actually mobbed. They
could see, in imagination, all hell let loose upon us, themselves
strung up, their ears cut off, their bowels torn out, and this whole
people cut to pieces. After they had had time to think, they found
themselves still alive and unhurt, to their great astonishment. They
suffered as much as though they had been sent to the bottom of the
bottomless pit. They suffered all this, because I told that corrupt
man, that he ought to be kicked out of the territory for his insolence
and barefaced presumption. I know this people have suffered more by
the contemplation of trouble, than they have when actually passing
through it.
As they have magnified future trouble almost infinitely beyond
its real dimensions, so they have imagined to themselves a greater
heaven than they can find in Zion, at its present stage of
progression. You do not enjoy the Zion you anticipated. That mankind
make mistakes in these two ways must be apparent to those who have
felt the workings of hope and fear in their nature. People suffer more
in the anticipation of death, than in death itself. There is more
suffering in what I call borrowed trouble, than in the trouble itself.
On the other hand, you have anticipated more Zion, more happiness, and
more glory in the flesh than you will ever realize in this mortality.
Those who are apt to go to one extreme, are almost sure to go to the
other, which always causes disappointment, either agreeably, or
disagreeably. These two extremes have caused the Saints much trouble;
and some, for want of patience, and a little reasonable thought, have
laid the blame of their disappointments in the wrong quarter, and have
apostatized from the Church, never thinking the blame was in
themselves. Upon these weaknesses of human nature the devil works
sometimes very successfully. But brethren, we cannot escape from
ourselves; and while we remain in this tabernacle, our onward course
will be obstructed, more or less, by the weakness to which the mortal
flesh is subject. By and by our bodies will go to their mother earth,
and receive a resurrection, and become glorious; then we shall enjoy
all, and more than the heart of man can conceive, unless it is
inspired by the Holy Ghost. This will be the inheritance of the
faithful.
There is much room for improvement in all.
If we commence from this day, and do all the good we can, and
never do another evil, we shall
come to that which I want the brethren to preach about, and endeavor
to establish. I wish it preached by the Bishops, by the Deacons, and
by every officer in the Church; I wish fathers to teach it to their
children; and I desire the subject to be taken up by all bodies of the
Saints throughout the world, viz., establish confidence in each other.
Take this for a text if you like, and preach upon it, both verbally
and practically, until confidence in each other reigns universally
among the Saints, and then will be accomplished what I wish to see. If
we wish to establish a confidence such as the Gods enjoy, let us cease
from every evil act, and from the contemplation of every evil design;
never infringe upon another's right, but let each one sustain his
brother in the enjoyment of his privileges and rights, holding them as
sacred as our own salvation. If confidence has been lost, this is the
surest and only successful way to restore it. Hear it, ye preachers,
ye Apostles, and Prophets; ye Elders, High Priests, and Seventies; ye
Priests, Teachers, Deacons, and Bishops; every man and woman in the
Church of God throughout the world; commence to preach this discourse
at home, beginning with your own heart; then teach your wives and your
children; then let it spread its warming and cheering influence, like
the genial sunbeam, from family to family, until the whole Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is united as the heart of one man.
I will illustrate the method of establishing confidence in each other
by taking, for example, the child of four or five years of age. The
mother allows that child to own a small chest in which to keep his
little trinkets, such as little bosom pins, ribbons, doll clothes, &c.
This is considered by all the family the child's chest. Now let none
go into that chest and take anything from it, without the consent of
the child. This is a very small matter, some may think; but begin at
as small a point as this to create confidence, and let it grow up from
little to much. Wives, let your husband's stores alone, if they
have not committed them to your charge. Husbands, commit that to your
wives that belongs to them and never search their boxes without their
consent. I can boast of this. I have lived in the marriage relation
nearly thirty years, and I never was man to open my wife's chest,
without her consent, except once and that was to get out a likeness
that I wanted on the instant, and she was not at home to get it for
me. That was the first time I ever opened a trunk in my life, that
belonged to my wife, or to my child. The child's little chest, with
its contents, is as sacred to him, as mine is to me. If this principle
were strictly carried out by every man, woman, and child among the
Saints, it would make them a blessed people indeed. We should seek to
preserve our neighbor's horse or ox from starving in the cold of
winter, and if we see any of his property in jeopardy, we should be
as careful of it as if it were our own; our object should be to save
everything we can, both of our neighbor's and our own.
Let every man pay his just debts. The editor of the News has published
a piece in the paper about owing no man anything; read it, reflect
upon and practice it. I can owe everybody everything; that is one side
of the matter, and to pay everybody is the other. I mean to owe every
man a debt of gratitude.
I have perhaps spoken too long I have given you all a text to preach
upon, and to act upon in your lives; do it faithfully, and it will do
you good.
May the Lord God of Israel bless you, and save you in His kingdom, is
my prayer. Amen.