I recollect a few years ago, while we were holding Conference in the
Bowery, that the brethren who addressed the congregation were in the
habit of turning to the right to preach, and then to the left, and
then preaching to those behind them, so that only one portion of the
congregation could hear them at once. I set up a mark, and told them
to preach to it, right straight ahead, and not turn to the right or to
the left, as I wanted all the people to hear. I am now going to set up
a mark for the Elders of Israel to preach to. It will not be an old
table or a board; but the mark I shall set up for the Elders to preach
to is this: Never to cease their labors until they get this people,
called Latter-day Saints, to be of one heart and one mind. That is the
mark. We hear Elders in Israel praying and praying that the Lord would
preserve us from the wicked, and probably within an hour after they
will be found coaxing perhaps one of the most ungodly men in the world
to trade with them, to rent their houses, or to let them build houses
for him, and to be his servant or servants. Such individuals will keep
praying to the Lord to preserve us from the wicked when their constant
effort is to mingle with, and to call into the midst of this people
the wicked and the ungodly; and they are so blind to the mind and will
of the Lord that their efforts in this direction would never cease
until there was enough of the wicked to overthrow the Kingdom of God,
or to break us up and drive us somewhere else. I have very frequently
said to the Latter-day Saints that I am willing to try to do my utmost
to carry out the designs of Heaven concerning myself, my friends, and
the Kingdom of God. Certain ideas arise in our minds, and questions
are proposed. What would you do in such and such cases if the
wicked, the ungodly, and those who have persecuted and driven us from
our homes, and have consented to the death of the Prophets and the
innocent, will still follow us, and will have a place among us? What
would you do? I would do, I think, about as the Lord does; He lets
them alone to take their own course. They have life and death set
before them, and can choose between the two. They can refrain, and
turn away from wickedness and become righteous, if they are so
disposed; but if they are not, why the Lord permits them to take their
own course. Then why are we under the necessity of praying the Lord
to shield us in this place and in that place?
Perhaps this application is not agreeable to many, and they wish to be
sanctified in the midst of the ungodly and in the most wicked place
that can be found. To people of this class we say, just come forward
and we will give you a mission to go into the world to live, preach,
labor, and toil until you pass into the spirit world, if this is your
desire; but do not stay here praying the Lord to deliver you from the
wicked, and then get up off your knees, and, precisely like the
sectarians, let your acts give the lie to the prayers you have offered
to God. You know, among the New School Presbyterians, for instance,
and the Reform Baptists and Methodists, and the Wesleyan Methodists,
the ministers get into the pulpit and pray for the Lord to come into
their midst, and that the Holy Ghost may be shed upon the people; and
they will pray most fervently that angels may come and dwell with
them, that the heavens may be opened that the people may see and
understand aright, and when they get through praying, they will
declare in their sermons that there is no Holy Ghost given, and that
they worship a god without body, parts, and passions. How in the world
can such a god come into their midst? If he could come, what would
there be? Nothing. What can they comprehend concerning such a god?
Nothing; for there is nothing of him. They will pray most fervently
for the Lord to give them revelation, and then will get up and say
that no such thing as revelation is needed. Do not their sermons give
the lie to their prayers? And do not the lives of the Elders of
Israel, in many instances, give the lie to their faith and prayers?
They do. Can you go to work and make a people of one heart and mind
while they are possessed of the spirit of the world? You cannot. Can
they feel the same interest in the Kingdom of God while possessing the
spirit of the world that they would if they were filled with the
Spirit of Christ? They cannot. How can they devote their lives to the
building up of the Kingdom of God when they do not delight in it, but
delight in building themselves up, in making gain, and in gathering
around them the riches of the world? The Latter-day Saints, in their
conduct and acts with regard to financial matters, are like the rest
of the world. The course pursued by men of business in the world has a
tendency to make a few rich, and to sink the masses of the people in
poverty and degradation. Too many of the Elders of Israel take this
course. No matter what comes they are for gain—for gathering around
them riches; and when they get rich how are those riches used? Spent
on the lusts of the flesh, wasted as a thing of nought, and they who
were once rich are left in poverty, as they are this day.
To give an example: Suppose that one year ago today—the 6th of April,
1866—we had asked the brethren and sisters at the head of families,
and then asked those who were not heads of families, to sit down and
make an estimate of what it cost them through the fiscal year 1865-6
for the tobacco they chewed, and the tea, coffee, and liquor they
drank; and after footing it up in round numbers, and seeing what it
amounted to, suppose the proclamation had been made that we must all
observe the Word of Wisdom, and that in consequence of that
proclamation we each of us had said that for the year to come—the
fiscal year of 1866-67—I will lay by in the drawer the money that it
costs me for tobacco, tea, coffee, and liquor. If we had each adopted
this course we would have seen a people at this Conference—April,
1867—with means enough to have purchased and secured their pre-emption
right to the land in this Territory, provided that we were permitted
to do so. But how is it today? Suppose that today news were to come
by telegraph that within six weeks a Land Office for this Territory
would be established in Great Salt Lake City, whereby actual settlers
would have the privilege of paying the pre-emption payment and
obtaining the Government title to their land, and thus securing their
inheritance, who is there amongst us that could buy the first section
or quarter-section? There are very few in the Territory who could do
so.
I merely mention this to illustrate my ideas, so that you can see for
yourselves where we are. Instead of being united in our feelings to
build up all, each one takes his own course; whereas, if we were
united, we would get rich ten times faster than we do now. How are you
going to bring a people to that point when they will all be united in
the things of this life? By no other means than prevailing upon them
to live their religion that they all may possess the Holy Ghost, the
spirit of revelation, the light of Christ, which will enable them to
see eye to eye. Then their acts and all their dealings would be so
connected that they would pull together, as Joseph used to say: "A
long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together." This point gained,
we could bear off the Kingdom victoriously, and we could do what we
pleased; but there is no doctrine in existence, short of the gospel of
the Son of God, by which a people can be brought to a oneness in their
temporal matters. We are approaching this happy period, this
delightful state of society; but to enjoy it in its fulness we must
live so that the spirit of revelation will be within us a living
preacher by day and by night continually, that we may be taught, led,
governed, and controlled thereby. We must not get down and pray, and
then get right up and let our actions say we do not believe a word of
our prayer; but all the acts of our lives must be concentrated on the
building up of the Kingdom of God, then we shall be His disciples in
very deed.
We will have a good many things to lay before the Conference; but I
think I have given my brethren a mark to preach to. You may shoot when
you please, and shoot from whatever point you please; but shoot at
that mark. You may use what gun you please. I do not care,
comparatively, whether it is a Henry's rifle, a shot gun, an old
Kentucky rifle, or an old musket, but shoot at that mark, and in all
your preaching let this thread—the oneness of the people of God—be
preserved.