I wish to call the attention of this Conference to an invitation I
shall give them, and wish to extend it to the Saints in this valley
and elsewhere. I allude to the gathering of the poor Saints.
Many of us are acquainted with the circumstances of the Saints when
they came to this valley six years ago, also five and four years ago.
Were we to go through this community and search out the men, women,
and children who have come here on their own resources, and those who
have been helped here by the Perpetual Emigrating Fund, and by private
individuals, it would be seen that a large proportion of the community
have been brought here through the assistance of others. I will not
say a majority have come here under those circumstances, but there are
thousands who have. Thousands of men, women, and children have been
helped here by the Perpetual Emigrating Fund alone.
This is the subject to which I wish to call the attention of the
Conference, and the community at large. I wish all to hearken to it,
to reflect upon it, and contemplate it seriously.
I call upon those who have not yet put forth their hands to assist in
gathering the poor, to give us their names and their means, during
this Conference, that we may raise a few thousand dollars to be
applied to this purpose. Suppose we should try to raise as much as we
did four years ago, when we were in the midst of our greatest poverty
and distress—we had just arrived here, and had scarcely sufficient to
sustain life; notwithstanding these straightened circumstances, at the
first Conference we held in the old Tabernacle, this subject was
agitated, and $5,700 in gold was raised, and sent to gather in the
poor. Dare I venture to flatter myself that we can raise $5,000 or
$6,000 this Conference, to be applied to the same good purpose? The
people are better able to raise $50,000 now, than they were to
raise $5,000 then. Suppose we raise $15,000 or $20,000 to send for our
poor brethren and sisters, who long to be here as much as any of you
did, before your way was opened. This amount can be raised now, and
not call forth an unusual effort.
We might ask you to reflect upon the days that you have spent in
yonder distant land, where you could seldom walk the streets or enter
a shop, like another citizen, without the finger of scorn being
pointed at you, without suffering the malignant taunts and sneers of
the ungodly, for the sake of your religion. Let me refer your minds to
the time that the Gospel was first introduced to you, and the light
and glory of it opened up to your understandings; when eternity and
eternal things reflected upon your benighted minds, and your
conceptions were aroused to see things as they were, as they are, and
as they will be. What were your feelings and meditations, when Zion
and its glory burst upon your vision? When the people of God appeared
to you, assembled together, preparatory to the coming of the Son of
Man? Again, what were your feelings, when in every direction that you
turned your eyes, they were met with scenes of wickedness, and your
ears saluted with deep dyed blasphemies of every description? Were
there any that feared the Lord? No. The most pious could do nothing
more than some did in the days of the Apostles; they could erect an
image to
the unknown God, and worship somebody, or something, but they
knew not what. What were your feelings
and reflections, under such
circumstances, when you first heard of the latter-day work? Of the
Gospel in its fulness? When you first learned that the Lord had a
Prophet, and Apostles, who held the words of life for the people? What
was there you would not have sacrificed in a moment for the privilege
of assembling with the Saints? Of mingling your voices and
conversation with theirs, day by day? Of visiting, journeying, doing
business, laboring, and spending your lives with those who know and
love the Lord, and will serve Him? Is there anything you would not
have sacrificed? Verily, no!
If you can remember your own feeling then, you can know how others
feel, you can realize how thousands and scores of thousands feel at
this present moment. There is no hardship they would refuse to
undergo, no danger they would not endeavor to surmount, if they could
assemble with us here this day. No trial would be too keen for them;
there is no sacrifice that they would not readily and willingly make
for the privilege you enjoy this day. Brethren and sisters, can you
realize this?
Let us now read a chapter on the other side of the page, and we find
the hearts of men and women, by crossing the ocean, by traveling a
few weeks or months by water and land, appear to become partially
closed up, and they lose sight of the object of their pursuit. It
seems as though the hardships they pass through, in coming to this
land, banish nearly every particle of the light of Christ out of their
minds.
If you started on your journey with the influence of the Holy Spirit
warming your hearts, who prevented you from retaining it every day of
year life? You may say it was the devil that robbed you of it. But
what business had you with the devil? Was there any necessity that you
should enter into fellowship with him, or into partnership with the
works of darkness? "No," you reply, "I had forsaken him and all my old
associates and feelings, and had given myself to the Lord, had
embraced His Gospel, and set out to build up His kingdom, and wished
to gather with the Saints at the gathering place."
Suppose the devil does tempt you, must you of necessity enter into part nership again with him, open your doors, and bid him
welcome to your house, and tell him to reign there? Why do you not
reflect, and tell master devil, with all his associates and imps, to
begone, feeling you have served him long enough.
Says one, "I did not know that I could possibly come here with unruly
cattle, without getting wrong in my feelings;" or, "this brother did
wrong and marred my feelings; I was irritated, and the cares of the
journey bewildered my mind, and hurt me so that I do not really know
whether I have got to where I started for, or not; things are different
here to what I expected to find them, &c."
This is a representation of the feelings of some who have crossed the
plains this season. My advice to you is, go and be baptized for the
remission of sins, and start afresh, that temptation may not overcome
you again; pause and reflect, that you be not overcome by the evil one
unawares.
In the first place, if you are rebaptized for the remission of sins,
peradventure you may receive again the spirit of the Gospel in its
glory, light and beauty; but if your hearts are so engrossed in the
things of this world, that you do not know whether you want to be
rebaptized or not, you had better shut yourselves up in some canyon
or closet, to repent of your sins, and call upon the name of the Lord,
until you get His Spirit, and the light thereof, to reflect upon you,
that you may know the nature of your offenses, and your true
condition; that you may realize and appreciate the blessing you enjoy
in being here with the Saints of the Most High.
Let me lead your minds a little further. I wish to tell you something
which you may perhaps know as well as I do, but you may not have
realized it. When the Lord Almighty opens the vision of a person's mind,
He shows him the things of the Spirit— things that will be. If any of
you had a vision of Zion, it was shown to you in its beauty and glory,
after Satan was bound. If you reflected upon the gathering of the
Saints; it was the spirit of gathering that enlightened you; and when
your minds were opened in vision to behold the glory and excellency of
the Gospel, you did not see a vision of driving cattle across the
plains, and where you would be mired in this or that mud hole; you did
not see the stampedes among the cattle, and those of a worse character
among the people; but you saw the beauty and glory of Zion, that you
might be encouraged, and prepared to meet the afflictions, sorrows and
disappointments of this mortal life, and overcome them, and be made
ready to enjoy the glory of the Lord as it was revealed to you. It was
given to you for your encouragement. Recollect that.
You will recollect my exhortation to those who have means; we want
them to give the Perpetual Emigrating Fund a lift. Bring in your
tithes and offerings, and we will help a great many more to this place
in the future than we have this year. We wish to double our diligence,
and treble the crowd of immigrants by that Fund.
I wish to show you a little of the philosophy of human nature in its
fallen and degraded state; you may consider it in the Gospel or out of
it; in the light of the Holy Spirit, or without it; as you please. The
philosophy of mankind, in their daily avocations, you may all know for
yourselves, by your own observation and experience. I wish to mention
a portion of it that has come under my notice. I could mention names,
but I will content myself with naming circumstances.
We pick up, say 200 persons, in England and convey them across the
water, and across the plains, and set them down in this valley. They
commence to labor, and in a short time they make themselves
comfortable. They can soon obtain plenty of the best kind of pay for
their labor, such as bread—the staff of life, butter, cheese and
vegetables. When a man gets these things, without the fancy nicknacks,
he does well.
Suppose we pick up a company of these poor Saints in England, whose
faces are pale, and who can scarcely tread their way through the
streets for want of the staff of life; you may see them bowed down
from very weakness, with their arms across their stomachs, going to
and from their work; the greater part of them not enabled to get a bit
of meat more than once a month; and upon an average only about one
tablespoonful of meal per day, for each person in a family, without
butter or cheese, by working 16 hours out of the 24; and when they go
to their work and return from it, they need a staff in their hands to
lean upon. We bring 200 of them here; instead of their being obliged
to work for two or three pence per day, they can get a dollar and a
dollar and a half per day. With one day's wages they can purchase
flour and meat and vegetables enough to last a moderately sized family
one week.
They have not been here long when they may be seen swelling in the
streets with an air of perfect independence. Ask one of these men if
he will pay you for bringing him here; and he will reply, "I don't
know you, sir." You ask another if he will work for you, for bringing
him out to this place; and he will appear quite astonished, saying,
"What have I had from you?" Another will say, "If I work for you, what
will you give me? Can you give me some adobies? For I am going to
build a fine house, or if you have any money to pay me, it will answer
as well."
How does such language and ingratitude make the benefactor of that
person feel? Why, his heart sinks within him. I can find thousands of
just such men and women in this territory. When they are brought to
this place, they do not know their benefactors, who saved them from
death, but they are a head and shoulders above them, when they meet
them in the streets.
Do you know the conclusion that is natural to man, when he is treated
in such a manner by his fellow man? It is, "I wish I had left you in
your own country." I wish so too. I say, let such persons starve to
death, and die Christians, instead of being brought here to live and
commit the sin of ingratitude, and die and go to hell; for while they
remained in their poverty, they were used to the daily practice of
praying for deliverance; and I say it is better for them to die
praying, and go into eternity praying, and the Almighty to have bowels
of compassion and mercy towards them, than for them to come here, and
lose the Spirit of God through ingratitude, and go into eternity
swearing.
I can pick up hundreds of men who have passed by their benefactors,
and if they should speak to them, would turn round and say, "I really
don't know you." Or if they do, they will speak everything against
them their tongues can utter, or can be allowed to; and they will
swear falsely about them—about the very men who have saved them from
starvation and death.
I frequently refer to facts that come under my own observation. When I
came into this Valley, we had notes amounting to $30,000 against
brethren we had assisted, which no person will pay one cent for. We
have helped men, women, and children from England, to over the amount
of $30,000. Except one individual, and that is a man by the name of
Thomas Green, who lives in Utah, and one young woman, who came from Eng land, there has never been a single person who has paid one
dime towards canceling a debt amounting to over $30,000, besides
other notes, accounts, and obligations which we hold.
Do I mean to be understood that no person pays their passage? By no
means. My remarks will not hit those, neither are they directed to
them who are thankful to their benefactors, and who do, and are
willing to pay. But as far as I am concerned, before we came into this
Valley, with the exception of one man and woman, no person has offered
to pay us one dime, and eight-tenths of them have turned away from the
Church, and a number of them joined the mob, and sought to dye their
hands in our blood.
Now do you see the philosophy of human nature, and I will say of
divine nature? Let me help a man who makes an evil use of the
assistance I render him, and endeavors to injure himself and me, and
his neighbor with it, what does the Spirit of the Lord teach me in
such a circumstance? What would the Lord do, provided He was here
himself? Do you not think He would withhold the thing from him? Do you
think an angel would help a man who would turn round and destroy that
angel and himself? I do not, neither do I think the Lord would, and no
good man would if he knew it, unless it were done with a view to prove
a person. I do not think a bad man would distribute his means to
another individual, or to individuals, who would use them to his
injury.
It is the evil actions and covetousness in the hearts of the poor that
shut up the bowels of compassion in the rich, and they say they will
not help the poor. We could have gathered hundreds of thousands more
of the poor, were it not that the rich have been so biased, and still
continue to be. Say they, "We do not wish our means to be applied to an
evil use."
If you wish to know what I mean by all this, it is that if any men or
women refuse to pay their passage to this place when they are in
circumstances to do it, let them be cut off from the Church, and then
sue them at the law, and collect the debt. Sever those limbs from the
tree, and then make them pay their honest debts. That is to the poor.
We now want the rich to turn in their means, that the poor, the honest
poor, may be delivered. Some of you may inquire if we wish to send the
means now to England? Yes; we want the means now, which you can pay
into the Tithing Office, and have it recorded on the books, to answer
the means we have there, which can be used for next season. We want to
give a heavy lift to the emigration of the poor, next season. We have
brought out a considerable number this season, but it is hardly a
beginning to what we wish to be brought out next season.
The first duty of those who have been brought out by the Perpetual
Emigrating Fund is to pay back what they have received from it, the
first opportunity, that others may receive the same benefit they have
received. We wish you in the first place to get something to eat,
drink, and wear; but when you are in any way comfortable, we wish you
to pay that debt the next thing you do, and replenish the Fund. It is
built upon a principle, if carried out properly, and the debts
punctually refunded, to increase in wealth. The $5,000 that was sent
for the poor four years ago this fall, if every man had been prompt to
pay in that which he received, would have increased to $20,000.
We are the greatest speculators in the world. We have the greatest
speculation on hand that can be found in all the earth. I never denied being a speculator. I never denied being a miser, or of
feeling eager for riches; but some men will chase a picayune five
thousand miles when I would not turn round for it, and yet we are
preachers of the same Gospel, and brethren in the same kingdom of God.
You may consider this is a little strong; but the speculation I am
after, is to exchange this world, which, in its present state, passes
away, for a world that is eternal and unchangeable, for a glorified
world filled with eternal riches, for the world that is made an
inheritance for the Gods of eternity.
The plan is to make everything bend to the revelations of God; this
is the object of our Priesthood—to bring into requisition every good
thing, and make it bear for the accomplishment of the main point we
have in view; and when we get through we shall reap the reward of the
just, and get all our hearts can anticipate or desire. To lay plans
for the attainment of this, is just as necessary as for a merchant to
lay plans to get earthly riches by buying and selling merchandise. It
is for us to lay plans to secure to ourselves eternal lives, which is
just as necessary as it is for the miser to lay plans to amass a great
amount of gold upon the earth; and it is for us to engage in it
systematically.
I say to the poor, pay your debts to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund;
and to the rich, help the poor; and this will bring wealth and
strength, by each one, according to his ability, calling, and means,
assisting in every point and place in this great speculation for
kingdoms, thrones, principalities and powers. It is said union is
strength; and that is enough; if we get that, we shall have power.
This is the plan for us to work upon, and I wish the brethren to
whisper this around among their neighbors, when they go out of this
tabernacle, and say, "What can we give to the Perpetual Emigrating
Fund? Can we give anything this season?" We will not refuse help from
the sisters. Do you ask how small an amount we will take? We will take
from a pin to a bed quilt; but be sure, when you bring a pin, that you
have not many other things in your trunk that would be useful, more
than you at present need; for if you bring a pin under such
circumstances, you cannot receive a blessing, and the reward it is
entitled to. If the clothing you wear each day is all you have, and
you have need to borrow a shawl to go out in, and you have only a pin
to bestow, bring that, and you shall receive a blessing.
We think it is not necessary to give you the report of the Perpetual
Emigrating Fund this Conference. It is doing well, but we want it to
do a great deal better. We want to swell the operation, and bring the
poor from the nations by scores of thousands instead of by hundreds.
This embraces what I wished to lay before the Conference upon this
point.
Before the Conference is concluded we shall call for quite a number of
Elders. It was anticipated that our missionaries would have been
called at the August Conference of this year, but we will call a
considerable number this Conference. You need not inquire where we
want you to go, for it will be told you when you are ready. Prepare
your mind and circumstances against that time, for we wish to send the
Gospel to Israel.
May the Lord bless you. Amen.