It is some time since I have occupied much time in this stand. I want
you, brethren, sisters, and friends, and all that live, to understand
that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the kingdom of
God, is the same today as it was thirty years ago.
I think it is twenty-seven or twenty-eight years since I came into
this Church. My friends and relatives said it would come to naught
probably in about a year. I told them it was a Church and kingdom
which God had set up, and it never would come to naught; and I now
say, it never will be overcome worlds without end. I know this just as
well as I know I see you today. I knew it when I first became a
member of this Church, but not so well as I do today. All the nations
upon this earth will crumble back to their mother earth, but this
Church will stand forever; so you may set your hearts at rest upon
that point.
Things are as we see them to prove our integrity towards God and his
cause; for everything that can be shaken and overthrown will not
stand, and that which cannot be shaken will remain. And those who
stand will be like the gleaning of grapes after the vintage is done.
So it will be with this people. It mattereth not what takes place, for
it cannot affect the truth, but makes it shine brighter and brighter
in the eyes of those who cleave to it, and bring forth the fruits of
righteousness.
Joseph Smith was a prophet of the Most High, and laid the foundation
of this great Work, and established the holy Priesthood upon the
earth, and God gave many revelations through him for our guidance. He
said many a time while he was living, "I am laying the foundation, and
you, Brother Brigham, and your brethren the Twelve Apostles, with
those who are connected with you in the holy Priesthood, will rear a
great and mighty fabric upon it; you will bear off the kingdom." And
so it will be. Wicked men and wicked spirits may bring into
requisition all the wisdom and cunning they possess to devise plans
to overthrow this kingdom, but all their deep-laid plots will fail.
They cannot do a thing to hinder the progress of this Work, but
everything they do will promote it and bring it more and more into
notice, from this time henceforth and forever. I know it, and all
hell cannot prevail against it; for Jesus says, "And upon this rock
will I build my church, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against
it." It is the same church that he established in his day which he has
renewed unto us, with the same Priesthood and the same authority, and
the Lord God will back up this kingdom and cause it to spread like a
thrifty plant, and bring about his great purposes by the hands of those who cleave to it.
You may think me too absolute in my language; but how can I be too
positive in that which I know? Were I to say I know you are in this
tabernacle, would any language be too absolute? Just as certainly do I
know that this Work is true and cannot be overthrown by the world;
although they may seek to kill, and destroy, and persecute the Saints
of God to the death, they never will prevail against it.
It would be well for every one of us to live the religion we profess
and let our light so shine that others may see our good works and be
led to honor the Lord, and do unto one another as we would wish others
to do unto us, and stick to the faith and principles of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. As the Apostle Paul says in his epistle to the Hebrews,
"Therefore (not) leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ,
let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of
repentance from dead works, and of faith towards God, Of the doctrine
of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection from the
dead, and of eternal judgment." But let us go on unto perfection,
keeping our covenants and vows we have made with each other, with our
God, and with the holy angels, and then we shall be blessed all the
day long.
When a man backslides and loses the spirit of the Gospel, it is a hard
case for that man to redeem himself and gain that communion with his
God, with angels, and with the Holy Ghost, which he had in the
beginning. Therefore, continue in the faith, progressing from grace to
grace unto perfection. This is my exhortation and teaching unto you
who profess the faith of Jesus Christ. Let us live our religion,
repent and forsake all our sins, lie not, deceive not, steal not.
There is not a horse, ox, cow, sheep, or anything else that is stolen
in this Territory, but what it is said the Mormons have done it.
Though, doubtless, there are men who profess to be Latter-day Saints
that are thieves. And as I said the other day to a person while
talking on this matter, if a man will steal from a Gentile, he will
steal from me, and vice versa. An honest man will be honest with all
men.
This is the religion I have believed and practiced ever since I have
been a member of this Church, and before I embraced any religious
profession, I was taught this by my mother and teachers; for I came
from a Christian country—from old Vermont—and they are all Christians
there, of course. How can those of the New England States be otherwise
who have held up so nobly for their Christianity? They are much
extolled for their righteousness. I was there taught to be righteous,
and I used to say, like many others there, it was pretty hard for a
man to be a righteous man and get any property; for they, in that
country, were a pack of knaves who would take the teeth out of your
head if you did not keep your mouth shut. That was the kind of
Christianity I was brought up amongst, and I came to these mountains
to get among a people that worship the Lord God in spirit and in
truth.
Then armies, merchants, gamblers, the scum of the Eastern States
followed upon our trail; but this is no excuse for me to do wrong and
be unrighteous. If the strangers who are passing through to California
wish to trade with me, I will deal as righteously with them as with my
brethren. This kind of religion I have practiced from my youth up.
As for the emigration this year that is passing through our country to
California, let me tell you they are pretty fine fellows; they are as
civil a set of men as I ever saw pass through these mountains;
they mind their own business; they are not damning everybody and
swearing they will kill the first Mormon they come across. Why is
this? I expect all those kind of characters came with the army, and
all the rest are civil men traveling west to find riches. May God
bless them and help them to do right. There is not one of them but
what will be blessed in doing unto others as they wish others to do
unto them.
Would there be any trouble in this world if all would take that
course? Would there be any war, mobs, confusion, desolation, poverty,
and distress, as you now see it in the United States and in the old
countries? One half of the population of the world is starving for the
want of the actual necessaries of life, while the other is living in
pomp, and splendor, and extravagance; still, we all come from the same
Father and God. It is astonishing to see the wrangling and confusion
of this world. I came here with my brethren to get rid of fighting and
contention. I have been driven five times, and tamely submitted to be
robbed of my home and possessions. I have but two articles now which I
had when I was first married, except my wife; one is a tea canister of
my own making, of brown earthenware, and the other is a chest made by
President Brigham Young.
God bless you, peace be with you, brethren and sisters, and with all
the righteous, wherever they be, in this Church or out of it, it
mattereth not to me; for I love a good and virtuous man, of whatever
profession, who would do to me as he would wish me to do by him. Even
so. Amen.
- Heber C. Kimball