KAYSVILLE.
It is not quite two weeks since we were here and shared largely in
your hospitality, for which I thank you in behalf of those with me.
Should we continue to pass here as we have recently done, you might
begin to think we were taking pleasure trips. Well, so we are, in one
sense, for it is a pleasure to us to travel and preach among the
brethren. I used to take my carriage rides on foot, traveling and
preaching from neighborhood to neighborhood, and from people to
people, but we are now in the midst of the Saints. Many times in my
travels, I have anticipated the time when we could travel from place
to place and see none but Saints, though I did not contemplate seeing
that time so soon. I have never felt, since I began to preach the
Gospel, as though I could throw off my Gospel armor and say to myself,
"Go to the world and get your living." My feeling is that I have still
a mission. When I began preaching I took the universal text—truth; and
my subject has been eternal salvation. I took the world for my
circuit, and it did not much matter to me where I went. Now we are in
the midst of the Saints.
All who are with me have plenty to do at home. Were they to stop there
and attend to their business, they would not have a moment to spend in
visiting the Saints. This is the case with me; but when I go out I
have nothing but what I take with me—the rest I leave in the hands of
God. If I was to be so covetous as to stay at home and attend to my
private business, do you think others would leave their private
affairs and come to visit with and preach to you? Would brother
Taylor? No, for he has two mills, and is full of business. How would
it be with George A. Smith, brother Woodruff, and the rest of the
brethren? They also are full of business. I am setting an example. I
trust in God, who gave me what I have. When we come together and
devote a little time to meeting, it will not make us a particle
poorer.
Brother Taylor has just given us a good exhortation, and I will not
longer occupy your time.
May the Lord bless you, and may you realize our blessing; you do
realize it every time we pass your place, for we are filled with
blessing. We have in our hearts love to God and his children on the
earth. Let us not love the things of this world above the things of
God, but strip for the race and harness for the battle of the Gospel
plan of salvation. God bless you.
BRIGHAM CITY.
The Kingdom we are talking about, preaching about, and trying to build up is the Kingdom of God on the earth, not in the starry
heavens, nor in the sun. We are trying to establish the Kingdom of God
on the earth to which really and properly everything that pertains to
men—their feelings, their faith, their affections, their desires, and
every act of their lives—belong, that they may be ruled by it
spiritually and temporally.
The brethren have been talking about temporal things. We cannot talk
about spiritual things without connecting with them temporal things,
neither can we talk about temporal things without connecting spiritual
things with them. They are inseparably connected.
The spiritual portions of the Gospel have been, with few exceptions,
preached to many of us in foreign lands. The Elders go forth and set
before the people the Spiritual Kingdom of God upon the earth; the
people hear and believe. Many of them receive the truth in honest
hearts, and gather here to the valleys of the mountains. The
providences of God have planted our feet here, and we want to do the
will of our Father in heaven.
I do not know of a sect of Christians on the face of the earth whose
religion does not, more or less, embrace temporal things, and the
temporal acts and conduct of its members. We, as Latter-day Saints,
really expect, look for, and we will not be satisfied with anything
short of being governed and controled by the word of the Lord in all
of our acts, both spiritual and temporal. If we do not live for this,
we do not live to be one with Christ. We wish to be one, as Jesus
prayed, while here in the flesh, that his disciples might be one. We
wish to be one in the Lord, and we can agree with regard to faith,
repentance, baptism, laying on of hands, and the sacraments and
ordi nances of the House of God, and yet if we contend about land, the
water, our cattle, etc., we never can be one, if we live to the age of
Methuselah. We must become one in all of our moral and social
associations in life.
When we talk of politics we are one. The world complain of us with
regard to our politics, and enquire, "Are there any Democrats here? Are
there any Republicans here?" We do not care who rules; we are
satisfied with God, who setteth up one man, and casteth down another.
All people have to live in this temporal world; they eat temporal
food, wear temporal clothing, live in temporal houses, have temporal
horses, oxen, farms, etc., and if they have families, they are temporal
ones. If we are going to live to secure life everlasting, we require
to live so that we can be judged according to the deeds done in these
temporal bodies, and be found worthy to live in heaven, and that we
cannot do unless we live here according to the word of God.
We want this people to become wealthy, but there is an "if" in the
case. If this people can at the same time possess riches and glorify
God, then we want them to be rich; but, I would rather see this people
half clothed and living in the dens and caves of the earth, than that
through riches they should forsake their God. When the people can
endure wealth and live and glorify their Father in heaven, it will be
pleasing to him to have us wield enough of the wealth of the world to
send forth our Elders by thousands, and then gather home the faithful
by thousands and millions, who are just as honest as we are. There are
thousands of good men and women on the earth, who are praying and
seeking unto the Lord to open up the way to bring to them the words of
life that they may be saved.
If we will cling closely to the Lord, be more humble, and be filled
with the spirit of life, the Lord is willing that we should have the
good things of this world. In the first place, will we be of one heart
and mind financially? You will at once say, "yes, we are of one heart
and mind, and desire to be one in every good thing."
It has been said here, time and time again, and been prophesied for
years and years—Joseph said it when alive—that the time would come
when men would be glad to take a bundle under their arms and flee to
the mountains, when they will seek unto this people for succor.
Already is this coming to pass. People are coming by thousands and
scores of thousands into these mountains. Are we willing they should
have succor? Yes, and some of us are a little too willing. It is
written, "Love your enemies," but when I hear of what I have heard,
and what I am a witness is true, of a poor woman taking a sack of
flour and selling it sack and all for a dollar, to a man who, perhaps,
helped to kill the Prophet Joseph, while her children are left without
bread, I do not think that is right—that is loving our enemies a
little too well. It is said self-preservation is the first law of
nature, then let us preserve ourselves well enough to save our lives.
Will we sell our grain? Yes, but I will say to the inhabitants of
these mountains, who have been here for years and are raising grain,
it is their privilege to be paid for their labor. We will sell flour
at a fair labor price, and reserve the bran and shorts to feed the
cows and fatten the pigs.
Do not say there are men in the midst of this people who cannot get
work, for it is not so. And you, sisters, who lack work, if you cannot
get washing, sewing, or housework to do, go to your neighbor and tell
him, you will go into the field and pick, rake, and glean, if he will
pay you in wheat. You, brother, go to your brother and say, "You will
want your place fenced; I will cut the poles and make you a fence. I
will make adobies, get the timber to saw into lumber, and make you a
house; will you pay me in wheat?" There is plenty of work for
everybody in this Territory, and the reason many are so poor now is,
that in years gone by if a carpenter, a tailor, a blacksmith, etc.,
was offered wheat in payment, he would say, "I won't take wheat; I
have so much now it is a curse." This is the way things have gone; and
when they sold wheat, they sold it at one-third its value. This has
brought evil upon the people.
You are a good people here; and I say to you, one and all, receive my
thanks for your attention to us as a company today. I thought we had
got right into the middle of the 4th of July—that Independence Day had
come—when I saw those little ornamentings, the little ones with their
flags and rosettes, and the signs of gladness around. I do not think
you did this because brother Taylor, or brother Kimball, or anybody
else was coming, but to show your respect for your brethren, and I
bless you for it. But if you do not do what I counsel you I will tell
you of it. I do not care though all the world bowed to me, it would
not make me one particle proud. I feel prouder to be a son of God and
a member of the Kingdom of God, than anything else. Still you are
disposed to pay us respect in this manner, and I hope you will be
blessed forever and ever, which you will be through faithfulness in
good works.
The Kingdom of heaven is first and foremost with us. When the people
do right, I am satisfied; but when they do wrong, I will tell them of
it, for that is my business. It is also my business to bless, and I
bless you in the name of Jesus: Amen.
WELLSVILLE.
I shall only detain you a few minutes. The counsel you have received
here from my brethren is just as good as can be given, if you will but
heed it. There are a great many things that are said, and a great many
have not yet been said, which people will hear and learn when they
receive truth and practice righteousness sufficiently to be worthy of
them. One thing we understand perfectly, that we are to become one in
Christ Jesus. Our faith is one, our hope is one, our belief is one
with regard to our future and God and his Holy Gospel; but we are not
of one heart and mind until we are one in all temporal things as well
as in spiritual things.
The Lord has many blessings for us. He is now blessing us. Soon we
will behold the golden harvest. Our fields are rich, and it fills the
hearts of the people with joy and satisfaction to see the luxuriant
grain that now stands upon our mother earth, and bids so fair for an
abundant harvest. Do not forget the source from whence these blessings
came. It is written, speaking of the Church and Branches of the
Church, that "Paul may plant, and Apollos may water; but it is God who
giveth the increase." You may go and plant your grain here and water
it, if you bring out the streams, but you cannot produce one kernel of
grain. And when the grain is maturing how easy it would be for the
Lord to send crickets, though we can war with them easier than we can
with grasshoppers, that would destroy the fruits of your toil. The
increase is in the hands of the Lord, just as the people are in his
hands in regard to the results of their acts.
The inhabitants of the earth have the pleasure of performing the
labors they list to do, but they have never enjoyed the privilege of
controlling the results of their labors, and never will until they are
crowned with glory, immortality, and eternal lives. We have the
privilege of going to the gold mines, or staying at home; of serving
God, or not serving him; but the result of our acts is not in our
hands, it is in the hands of our Father and God. So it is with
individuals, with neighborhoods, with communities, and with the
nations of the earth.
Did you not think brethren, you who were in Missouri and Illinois,
that the inhabitants of those places did just as they pleased with
regard to driving the Saints? "Yes." And also in regard to killing
Joseph? "Yes." They had power to kill him, and now they are reaping
the results of their acts. The war now raging in the nation is the
consequence of their choosing to do evil instead of good, and the Lord
is rewarding them according to their works. So it will be with us.
There are a few things we should constantly have before our minds, day
by day and hour by hour. Becoming of one heart and mind is one of
these things; becoming one in spiritual things, one in our labors and
in all our actions here on the earth, that our united labor may
accomplish the design for which we are here in building up the kingdom
of God. Let all our thoughts, feelings, and actions point to this end.
Some of the brethren think the Saints ought not to be rich, and they
have their various feelings. A great many brethren who have been in
the States do not want to build fine houses or make many improvements
here, for they are going back to their inheritances. You know there is
a certain class who are fearful of getting the good things of this
life, saying, "the Lord has chosen the poor in wealth and rich in
faith," etc. My feelings lead out to obtain every good thing we can
obtain as a people—the gold, the silver, the flocks and herds, and to building beautiful cities; to having good gardens,
orchards, and vineyards, and to making the earth like the garden of
Eden. "To gather all we can, honestly or dishonestly?" No, but
through laboring faithfully and honestly, and treasuring up these
things and thanking the Lord for them. And if we have substance given
us from the Lord, it should be devoted to building up His kingdom upon
the earth. But let us not forget the spiritual fellowship we should
enjoy. I never forget that. It is first of all, and if we can have
only the one, let it be the good Spirit of God, to make us one in the
spiritual things of the kingdom.
The Lord designs to build up a kingdom that will be both a spiritual
and temporal kingdom upon the earth. The earth and the kingdoms
thereof will be given unto the Saints of the Most High God. Will they
be rich then? Do you not think they will possess the gold mines and
the treasures of the earth? Yes. But some cry out, "that is not yet."
That is right. How long will it be until then? As soon as we are
prepared to receive them.
Let us try to improve, until we can say, "my peace is like a river,
and my righteousness like the waves of the sea." We have come here to
encourage you to do this, and may God help us to accomplish it. Amen.
LOGAN.
25th, Afternoon.
The remarks of brother Kimball this morning, and of brother George A.
Smith this afternoon, are worthy our attention.
As I learn the kingdom of God in the latter days, I understand more of
the present duties of myself and my brethren. We are called to
establish the kingdom of God literally, just as much as we are
spiritually. If we do not build it up in a temporal point of view, we
will not accomplish what we are called to do; we will come short of
our duty, and be removed out of the way, and others will be called to
succeed us who will perform the labor we are called to do.
The question arises, will we as a people consider ourselves what we
proclaim to each other and believe day by day? And will we by our good
acts prove to the heavens, to the inhabitants of the earth, to each
other, and to all who know us, that we actually believe what we say we
believe? Every heart responds in the affirmative; every voice would
declare that we will strive to perform the duties devolving upon us.
Another question arises here, what is our duty? What are we called to
do at the present time? We are called to various duties. Many of our
brethren are called to go and preach the Gospel, and a great many have
been called to go with their teams to the Frontiers after the poor. We
are called to our various duties in a home capacity—to plow, sow,
plant, build, improve, pray with our families, teach them
righteousness, set them and all others a goodly example, in all things
striving to do all the good in our power, and no evil. We expect to
continue to be called to preach the Gospel and gather the poor Saints;
and we expect to be called upon to make provision for them when they
gather here, which we have done year after year. There are Bishops
here who are ready to receive a hundred families; let the brethren
take them and set them to work; they are ready and willing to perform
this duty.
The question has been touched upon here with regard to our liberties
and rights. A man has a right to preach the Gospel—to declare the
truth so far as he knows it. The people who hear him have the right to
believe, if they want to, and they also have the right to
reject him. The nation, as a people, objected to the Lord's calling
upon his servant Joseph, and sending him as a teacher to this
generation. The nation called the United States of America has a right
to reject the revelations given through Joseph, to reject the servants
of the Lord, and then the Lord has the right to come out from his
hiding place and vex the nation. He too has rights. They had a right
to kill Joseph, and the Lord has the right to destroy the nation.
We all have rights, and I would not abridge the rights of anybody. But
have I not the right to do right, as well as wrong? Yes. The
foolishness and weaknesses of people lead them many times to do wrong,
to show to the heavens and the earth that they have a right to do as
they please. You know people sometimes say they will do as they
please. Well, do so. We have a right to help the people gather here
and to feed them, and they have the right to go to the gold mines, or
to the devil by any road they please, and we have a right to cut them
off from all fellowship with the Church, in the heavens and on the
earth. Men may come here professedly Latter-day Saints, and when they
have accumulated a little property they have the right to apostatize,
and we have the right to cut them off from the Church.
Does it follow that a man is deprived of his rights, because he lists
in his heart to do the will of God? Must a man swear to prove that he
has an agency? I contend there is no necessity for that, nor for
stealing, nor for doing any wrong. I can manifest to the heavens and
to the inhabitants of the earth that I am freeborn, and have my
liberty before God, angels and men, when I kneel down to pray,
certainly as much as if I were to go out and swear. I have the right
to call my family together at certain hours for prayer, and I believe
that this course proves that I am a free agent, as much as if I were
to steal, swear, lie, and get drunk.
We have tried to teach ourselves to lead and guide ourselves, to be
dictated and controlled by the direction of the Holy Spirit, and then
to teach and counsel the people under the dictates of that Spirit. Is
it our duty to preach to this people and plead with them, until we can
govern and control them in all temporal affairs as much as in
spiritual affairs. I answer, it is the absolute and imperative duty of
the Elders of Israel to try and control themselves and their families
and their brethren, until they can hold control over all things in
righteousness.
I know very well the feelings of the people. "In spiritual things you
are my leader; I take you for my counsel in spiritual affairs; but if
you dictate me in my temporal concerns, you touch a string that does
not belong to you, to brother Heber, brother George A. Smith, nor
anybody else." If this is the case, ye Elders of Israel, we have been
mistaken all the day long in telling you that we are in a kingdom that
in such case we are not in, in preaching a Gospel that in such case we
have not in our possession. We have declared that God has spoken from
the heavens, when in such case He has not spoken. Our faith and labor
are vain, and we are still in our sins, or else it is our duty to lead
this people in every act of their lives, as much in their temporal as
in their spiritual affairs, so far as pertains to building up the
kingdom of God on the earth. Now, to this extent we want to control
you for your good in regard to your grain. We want you to sell it at a
fair remunerative price for your labor, so that you can build good
houses, employ your brethren, send for the poor, provide for a few
families when they arrive, and be ready to act in your positions.
I have been accused of being one of Joseph Smith's followers, and that
he was a speculator; I have never denied it. We are in one of the
greatest speculations in the world, to honor God, and so live before
him that we shall be crowned with glory, immortality and eternal
lives, to be numbered with those to whom God will give the gold and
silver and precious things and all the riches of this earth and of
eternity.
The fluctuations of the money market are such that you cannot tell
today what to ask for an article tomorrow. Cotton fabrics, cloth of
every kind, and merchandise generally are rating at very high prices
in the East, and the prices are still rising. Let us do as brother
George A. Smith has said—"raise flax," such as I saw at brother
Maughan's. He had none to sell; and I was glad of it. Raise flax and
sheep, take care of your lambs, and in winter take care of your sheep.
The first cotton we raised in the region we call our "Dixie" cost us
about $3.65 a pound; we proved that cotton could be raised there. The
next season it cost $1.84, and the next season about 70 cents, and
that is the way we proved to the people that we could raise cotton.
The experiment cost us thousands of dollars, but now we have cotton.
They have shipped cotton to California. We sent some to the States to
show that we could raise cotton here, and it sold for some 70 cents a
pound, not so much as it would have brought if it had arrived a few
days earlier. We now have some cotton factories in operation. I have
cotton machinery set up and being run by Mr. Wilmarth, a gentleman
from Massachusetts, who says the cotton will spin up to about number
40; that will make a good thread. Our cotton cloth is made from about
20's, and our ginghams from 24's. I now have machinery sufficient to
keep thirty-five power-looms going, and I wish I had them; but this
will not supply the Territory. One of our merchants said to me, last
fall, "When you get your machinery going we need not send for any more
such material as you will produce." I told him he had not counted it
up. When he reflected and made up the figures he found he had sold
more cloth himself than my machinery could make with thirty-five
looms. If we go to work and manufacture for ourselves, we can stop the
continual drain upon us through purchasing the articles of clothing
which we require.
It has been said, "Cotton is king." Everybody who knows anything of
mankind knows they had to live a great many years without cotton. The
first cotton factories were started in America within my remembrance.
What would the Indians here, who are all but naked, say if they were
told cotton is king? They would say, "No, biscuit, biscuit," that
which will sustain life. They can kill rabbits, and make clothing of
the skins. Bread is king. God bless you. Amen.
At a meeting of the Priesthood, convened at half-past six in the
evening, he said—
I presume the arrangement of the settlements in this county in a
church capacity is as good as the brethren can make it at present. I
suppose the Bishops represent their various wards and report here at
their monthly meetings, that the minutes of their previous meetings
are read for approval or disapproval, and then their other business is
attended to in due course.
I will ask whether the Bishops have led out sufficiently to have the
people follow them in building, adorning, and making the earth as it
should be? Have they apple seeds to start a nursery, or plum
pits to plant, that they can say to the brethren, if you want any
trees we will soon be able to supply you? I have never purchased a
peach or apple tree without paying from fifty cents to a dollar each
for them, yet in one season I gave away 14,000 peach trees, and if I
had received the same price I gave they would have brought me some
$7,000. I did this to encourage the people. In the early period of our
raising apples and peaches I never suffered a peach pit to be thrown
away, nor ate an apple without saving the seeds to plant. It is true
you have not been long in this valley, but you have been here long
enough to have nursery upon nursery, with trees two and three years
old. There are a few trees here. Raise orchards, if only for the
welfare of your children, as brother George A. Smith has said, that
they may be preserved from growing up thieves. The temptation is
strong for the children, and if they can get fruit in no other way
they are sorely tempted to steal it. Do not lay a foundation to make
your children thieves. The man who sends his little son or hired boy
on to the prairie to herd sheep or oxen, lays a foundation for making
that boy a thief; and he who will do this will have the curse of God
resting upon him in proportion. Trace it back, and you will find it is
so. Will you hearken to this counsel? If so, stop sending boys to
herd.
Why not quarry rock and build stone houses, and make stone fences?
Stone makes a good fence, and it will not winter kill. Build fences,
have good gardens, and make yourselves comfortable and happy, serving
God; let that be first continually, so that you may have consciences
void of offense towards God and man. Build meetinghouses, put up the
one you have in contemplation, and finish it nicely. Get lumber and
make bins in which to put up your wheat so that it can be safe for
fifty years, if needed. If you are compelled to stack your wheat,
stack it right, for you may have storms. You have English and Danish
brethren here who can stack it so that it will stand for fifty years.
But, as far as you can, get lumber and build granaries and preserve
your grain.
I want to say a word or two with regard to brethren here taking goods
from merchants to sell. Watch and learn the spirit of the man who does
this, and in nine cases out of ten his faith, feelings, and affections
are wholly to benefit his employer, to get all he can from the people,
and really commit the riches of the Saints to his employer, no matter
whether he be Jew or Gentile. Such a man will, sooner or later,
apostatize. Those who will do this, and will shave the Saints to do a
good business for the merchant who employs them, I curse in the name
of Jesus Christ, and they shall be cursed.
Sunday Morning, 26th.
There is one principle I would like to have the Latter-day Saints
perfectly understand—that is, of blessings and cursings. For instance,
we read that war, pestilence, plagues, famine, etc., will be visited
upon the inhabitants of the earth; but if distress through the
judgments of God comes upon this people, it will be because the
majority have turned away from the Lord. Let the majority of the
people turn away from the Holy Commandments which the Lord has
delivered to us, and cease to hold the balance of power in the Church,
and we may expect the judgments of God to come upon us; but while
six-tenths or three-fourths of this people will keep the commandments
of God, the curse and judgments of the Almighty will never come upon
them, though we will have trials of various kinds, and the elements to contend with—natural and spiritual elements. While this
people will strive to serve God according to the best of their
abilities, they will fare better, have more to eat and to wear, have
better houses to live in, better associations, and enjoy themselves
better than the wicked ever do or ever will do.
I say to you, and would like to hear the brethren speak upon this
subject, that the righteous have never suffered in temporal things
like the ungodly. Search history and you will find it is so, whether
with nations, neighborhoods, or individuals, from the day that Adam
ate the forbidden fruit down to the present time. If you do not wish
to go any farther back, look at the history of the Saints who have
settled these valleys, and see it exemplified. History does not show
that a colony was ever settled, either in North or South America, that
had so little difficulty with the Indians as we have had. This is
encouraging; and so it has been in our entire history. The wicked do
not know how to enjoy life, but the closer we live to God the better
we know and understand how to enjoy it. Live so that you can enjoy the
spirit of the Lord continually. I bless you in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Amen.
Afternoon.
I have been thinking that if the sisters had all worn bonnets of their
own make, they would know how to do them up, after the brief storm we
have had, and they would have been little or none the worse. That is
an advantage homemade bonnets have over the fancy ones bought in the
stores. A severe storm this afternoon would rather injure the latter
kind, and the nice collars, caps, and handkerchiefs that many of the
sisters wear. It looked as though a heavy rain storm was coming, which
would have done an incalculable amount of good in the present
condition of the crops.
I was sorry that we were interrupted in hearing brother Taylor
through, as his mind seemed to be so clear on the subject of the life
of the Christian and the life of the anti-Christian.
The sufferings recorded of those who were called the people of God
were endured by a people who had transgressed the laws of God, changed
the ordinances, and substituted other laws and other ordinances, and
had broken every covenant made to their fathers. They killed the
Prophets, and stoned those sent to them. Their Prophets were the ones
who suffered first in the midst of those whom the Lord had selected to
be his people, and then the wrath of God was poured out upon them,
their enemies were let loose to inflict suffering upon them.
How is it with us? When the whole Church could meet in a little
schoolhouse 16 feet by 24, there were more difficulties, contentions
and quarrels, to be settled before the High Council and Bishop's
Courts in one month, than there are now in all the settlements in this
county in a year. This is encouraging, when we reflect that every year
we have to take newcomers and lead them along, people who have lived
under such different circumstances. It is encouraging for us to
continue our labors, and we do not mean to stop pleading with the
Latter-day Saints to send the Gospel to the nations, gather the poor
and purify themselves, until we can say in our hearts that, when the
voice is heard, "Behold, the bridegroom cometh," we are actually ready
to go out to meet him.
BRIGHAM CITY, 27th.
Brother Weinal asked brother Kimball this question, "You have preached
so many years to us about saving our grain, will the people save it
now?" They will do just as they please. It is our duty to preach the
truth, it is theirs to believe and obey it. Some of the Saints
are very full of faith. I remember the case of an old gentleman, who
started from Manti for G. S. L. City, during the Indian difficulty,
with some three or four companions, though he was counseled to delay
his trip for a short time till a company was ready to start; but no,
he had faith the Indians would not touch him. He was tomahawked right
by the Uinta Springs, with his companions, where they had lain down to
sleep in the afternoon. If they had obeyed counsel, they might have
been saved.
The Lord has blessed the people with abundance in the past, and while
we have been preaching to them to save their grain, they have gone and
sold it and squandered it away, they had so much faith, when at the
same time it was the power of God and the faith of the few who were
consistent in their faith that saved them. My faith must be
consistent, and go with my works. It is not my duty to make you build
granaries. My duty is done when I tell you what you ought to do. I
have no right to stand over you with a rod and make you pray, for you
ought to pray of your own choice. And when I have done my duty, and
brother Kimball has done his, and the Twelve have done theirs, the
rest is with you.
Try to improve your minds; enrich them with every kind of true
knowledge known on the earth; by faith so live as to enjoy the Holy
Ghost; learn the object of the creation of man, of the formation of
the earth, of what it is composed, and what it is for. Why is gold
made? For us to worship it? No, it was made to be useful for domestic
and other purposes. May God bless you: Amen.
WILLARD CITY, 28th.
We say we believe we are the Kingdom of God on the earth—this is our
profession. Let us, by our every act, prove this profession to be
true. It has been told you before, time and again, and we want to keep
sounding it in your ears, take the course to save yourselves both
spiritually and temporally.
The world have lost confidence in each other through transgression,
and we must take a course to restore it among each other first, then
it will extend to our friends, and finally, when Jesus rules, you will
find the friendship and confidence which once existed among men will
be restored to them again.
I feel to bless you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hearken to
the counsel given to you, and we will do everything in our power to
bring power and glory and honor to the Latter-day Saints.
OGDEN, 28th.
I expect there will never be a law made in this Kingdom that will
prevent us from doing good and assisting the poor. If I were to sell
my flour to my enemy, and he were to pay me seventy-five dollars a
hundred in gold for it, it would not prevent me from giving a poor
sister fifteen or twenty pounds of flour in her need. You may think
that an extravagant price, but I have been offered $75, for flour, yet
I have never sold any at that price.
We have quite a number of people here who never had a farm in their
lives. They know nothing about trading. They have been accustomed to
work, and, when Saturday came, to receiving their ten or fifteen
shillings, and then spending it. We will have to arrange for them to
live until they can learn to take care of themselves.
When we moved south there were 20,000 bushels of wheat in the Tithing
Office, which we offered to the people, but they would not take five
bushels of it. We had to take some of the people, and feed
them too! Of what use will they be, either in this world or in the next?
Some people imagine they can obtain possession of knowledge very
easily; if they were to have a vision of eternity, they would
conclude they knew everything about it. Suppose a being on another
planet were to have a vision of this congregation, would he understand
all about the earth and its inhabitants? If I were to have the vision
of my mind opened to obtain a glimpse of the spirit world, would I
possess the knowledge of beings who are exalted in the eternal world?
We must increase in knowledge and understanding, to prove ourselves
worthy of the blessings of the Lord. Obtain wisdom that you may so
order your lives before the heavens and each other that you may be
able to accept the power God has for you, and wield it to his power
and glory. God bless you: Amen.
CENTERVILLE, 29th.
I will detain the people but a very short time. The matters which have
been laid before you this afternoon are inseparably connected with our
spiritual well-being. There is no man on this earth who can receive
the Kingdom of God in his heart and be governed according to the laws
of that Kingdom, without being governed and controled in all temporal
matters. If you are not of one heart and mind in these things, never
think of Jackson County, for you will not be wanted there. No man is
going to inherit a celestial glory, who trifles with the principles
thereof. The man who does not labor from day to day and from hour to
hour for building up this Kingdom and bringing forth the fulness of
the Kingdom of God on the earth, and the establishment of Zion, will
sooner or later, fall and go out of the Church.
If you love brother Brigham, brother Heber, and the Twelve, do as they
tell you. As fast as possible, secure a year's supply of breadstuff,
and then try to sustain yourselves without using any of that supply;
and take the same course in the harvests of 1865-6-7, and so on, until
you have a supply for seven years, then you are prepared either for a
famine of that duration, or to feed the thousands who will come here
hungry.
We are the descendants of Abraham. Here are the Lamanites—descendants
of Joseph, and the seed of Israel is scattered through the nations;
and as Joseph was a savior to his father's house, let us live in
obedience to the counsel given us, that we can become saviors to his
whole father's house in the latter days.
I exhort you to obtain the Spirit of the Lord, and to so live as to
enjoy it continually. God bless you: Amen.