I shall call the attention of that portion of the House of Israel who
are present to the text which was given us at the beginning of this
Conference—"Be ye of one heart and of one mind." This is a very good
text, and one that is of great importance to this people. As was
quoted this morning, Jesus said if ye are not one ye are not mine.
This principle has been given to us by commandment and revelation.
"Mormonism" is not a fable, neither is it a Yankee trick got up to
deceive this generation, but it is a living fact, a truth which God
and the angels in heaven know, and which many people on earth
understand.
The principles which have been taught to us since the commencement of
this Conference are very important for us to understand and to carry
out in our lives. This is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. It has been established by the commandment of God, and it is
composed of the honest in heart, the meek of the earth, out of all
sects, parties, denominations, and nations. This body of people, or
church, has got to build up the Zion of God in the last days, and this
work cannot be accomplished upon any other principle than that of our
being united together as the heart of one man.
Everywhere upon the face of the earth we can see what the effect of
disunion is. The more that nations, communities, families, or bodies
of people in any capacity under heaven, are divided, the less power
they possess to carry out any purpose or principle imaginable, and the
more union they possess, whether in a legislative or any other
capacity, the more power they have to accomplish what they desire. We
can see that the people of the world are becoming more and more
divided every day, and the evils resulting therefrom are everywhere
apparent. We are called to build up Zion, and we cannot build it up
unless we are united; and in that union we have got to carry out the
commandments of God unto us, and we have got to obey those who are
set to lead and guide the affairs of the Kingdom of God.
There have been principles presented before us and counsel given
during this Conference which are of vast importance to this people.
There are many positions that we as a people have to occupy, and many
branches of business to which we have to attend, not only of a
spiritual but also of a temporal nature. Jesus said to the Jews—You
pay tithes of mint, anise, and cummin, but you neglect the weightier
matters of the law, and they, as well as your tithing, are required at
your hands. So it is with us. We are one of heart and mind, as it
regards faith, repentance, baptism, or the first principles of the
gospel of Jesus Christ; but the same unity must exist in our
midst in all our temporal labors—in building temples, tabernacles,
cities, towns, villages, canals, cultivating the earth, or any other
labor, if we ever accomplish the object for which we have been raised
up. No people, unless they are united together, can ever build up Zion
and establish the Kingdom of God on the earth.
We have been taught the Word of Wisdom. It was given to us many years
ago, and the Lord said it was applicable to the weakest Saint. Very
few of us have kept the Word of Wisdom; but I have no doubt that if
the counsel of President Young were carried out it would save the
people of this Territory a million of dollars annually. I feel that we
ought to put these things into practice. We ought to unite together in
all matters required of us in order to carry out the purposes of the
Lord our God. The people are able to do it if they feel disposed. Why,
Bishop Hardy told me here this morning that he had laid aside his
tobacco; he has loved it almost ever since he was born, and if he can
leave it off every man in Israel ought to be able to do it. It was
said today that whiskey drinking makes fools of men; it does. Its
effects are much worse than they used to be, for the liquor made
nowadays contains so much strychnine and arsenic that it is enough
to kill anybody, and unless those who use it do lay it aside many will
die. Lay aside whiskey, tobacco, tea, and coffee, and use none of them
unless it be as a medicine. We can all do it, and there is not a man
or woman in Israel, with any faith in this work, but is required to do
so.
This little mustard seed here around this bowery, which has sprung up
in the valleys of the mountains, has either got to grow and progress
and become a great tree, in whose branches the fowls of the air can
lodge, or it must stop growing altogether. We have either to build up
Zion in its beauty, power, and glory, to the order which has been
received by the servants of God, or else give it up. We must do one or
the other. If we do this we must advance, and whatever God requires at
our hands we must carry out.
I know the world oppose us because we are united; they say we are
governed by one man. I would to God that all Israel would obey the
voice of one man as the heavens obey the voice of God. Then we would
have power to build up Zion and to obtain all things necessary for us
before the Lord. We have come to this. There is no division among us
so far as the principles of our religion are concerned; it is in
relation to some things the world call temporal that we are not one.
How are you going to build up Zion? In the hearts of the people? Why
you could not get Zion into the heart of any man, not even into that
tabernacle, and I never saw a man in my life as big as that, and I
hope we shall never see the day when we will have a house big enough
to hold Israel, for I trust they will be too numerous for any house we
can build. We have to build up Zion, a temporal work here upon the
face of the earth, and we have got to establish righteousness and
truth. When I say a temporal work, I speak of temporal things. The Zion
of our God cannot be built up in the hearts of men alone. We have to
build up temples and cities, and the earth has to become sanctified
and to be made holy by the children of God who will dwell upon it, and
to do this we must be united together.
I do not wish to preach a long sermon, but I feel that we ought to lay
hold and carry out the counsel that has been given to us at
this Conference. If we lay aside these things that do us no good, as
has been already said, we will be better off, have more unity, have
power to gather and feed the poor, to send the Elders abroad, and to
do a great deal of good with the means that we have saved, instead of
squandering it upon those things that are injurious to us and
displeasing in the sight of God.
Brethren and sisters, let us lay these things to heart, and be united
in doing all the good we can in our day and generation. We have the
right to do good, but not evil. The principles of the gospel of Jesus
Christ which have been revealed in our day are the power of God unto
salvation to all that believe, both Jew and Gentile, in this age of
the world as well as any other; and inasmuch as we will be united in
carrying out the counsel we have received, we can overcome every evil
that lies in our path, build up the Zion of God, and place ourselves
in a position that we may be saved therein, which, may God grant, for
Christ's sake. Amen.