I want your attention. I do not know how long it will be prudent to
continue our meeting, but we would like to say a great deal more to
the people. I will talk to you a little with regard to building the
Temple. When br. Heber asks you to come and join us in drawing rock,
you turn round and say, "I have paid my tithing; what more do you
want? Do you want any donations or extra help? What do you do with the
tithing?" This is in the minds of the people, and it is something that
I think about, too, but I confess to you that, although I am
Trustee-in-Trust and have the management of all this, I know but
little about what is done with the tithing. Br. Hunter is Bishop, and
whether he could give you a knowledge of what goes with the tithing I
do not know. The brethren turn in their grain and their stock, and it
is gathered up, but that does not bring the rock here to build the
Temple. Br. Kimball and some others have assisted in bringing some
rock here, and a few have been drawn with my teams. Now, the rock does
not come as we want it. We have commenced a Temple that I want to see
stand a thousand years when the earth rests. We do not calculate that
that building will fall down. You know I was so distrustful about the
foundation, there were so many things about it I did not like, that we
took it up and had to commence it again. We have got started now, and
I think it is safe. When the Temple is built I want it to stand
through the millennium, in connection with many others that will yet be
built, that the Elders may go in and labor for their dead who have
died without the gospel, back to the days of Adam. But to see this
Temple built and then pass into the hands of the wicked, I would
rather that the walls should never rise another foot. I shall not tell
you, today, all that I think about building temples and giving
endowments.
We have decided that this Temple shall be built of this beautiful
granite rock, which, I think, will please everyone. We are preparing a
canal to bring the rock to this city, still we shall have five or six
miles to draw the rock to the canal, but the most of the distance
where our bad roads are we shall float this rock on little boats that
we shall have on this canal. We want all the brethren to pay their
tithing or tax for the privilege of watering their lands from this
ditch or canal according to the charter and organization of the
company who are performing this labor. If the brethren will do this we
can have the ditch finished up and in operation in a month or two.
A great many want this Temple done that they may go in there and get
their endowments. I want to say to the Latter-day Saints, one and all,
that we have all the privileges and blessings conferred upon us that
we live for. The Latter-day Saints are not prepared to receive the
celestial kingdom at once, because they have not eyes to see and ears
to hear; and they do not understand the mind and will of the Lord on
these subjects. If we did we would see at once that our blessings are
greater than our labors merit, and we would not find fault nor be in a
hurry, but we would move steadily along. As I told you the other day
when talking of the sayings of Joseph, "the Latter-day Saints want to
pull together—a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether."
These were the words of Joseph. We want to labor unitedly that our
labors may be successful. I want this Temple that we are now building
to the name of our God, to stand for all time to come as a monument of
the industry, faithfulness, faith, and integrity of the Latter-day
Saints who were driven into the mountains. I want to see the Temple
finished as soon as it is reasonable and practicable. Whether we go in
there to work or not makes no difference; I am perfectly willing to
finish it to the last leaf of gold that shall be laid upon it, and to
the last lock that should be put on the doors, and then lock every
door, and there let it stand until the earth can rest before the
Saints commence their labors there. They receive more in the House of
the Lord now than is their due. Our brethren and sisters, baptized
three, four, or six months ago, go and get their endowments, the
sealing blessings for all eternity, the highest that can be conferred
upon them, yet how lightly they are treated! Many do not consider,
they do not realize these things. They have not the spirit of
revelation, they do not live for it, hence they do not see these
things in their proper light, and we are not in such a hurry as many
think we ought to be.
Well, will we go to work and build this Temple? The brethren around
say we will pay our tithing, and we will pay it willingly, and you may
do what you please with it. Sometimes I have thought that our tithing
is so great that it requires more looking after than it is worth. See
a dozen men in the Tithing Office, and a dozen or fifteen in another
place taking care of tithing; but how it is used I do not know. One thing I do know, that when our tithing is paid in the north and in
the south it costs almost as much to get it here as it is worth. What
is paid here is clear profit, and is useful and beneficial for us to
work upon. If the brethren pay their tithing, and pay it willingly, we
are satisfied; that is all that is required of them. If my brethren
who live near here, whom the Lord is blessing, have a mind to put in
some teams extra for drawing rock, I give them the privilege.
There are some things with regard to the general business of the
Church that is hardly worth while for me to mention. I could name a
few things; but I do not know that it would be any benefit. I do not
know that doing so would relieve my feelings in the least. If it would
be any satisfaction to my brethren, and would enlighten them at all,
they are welcome to a few items. I will ask the Elders of Israel who
it is that finds the money to defray all these expenses? I will ask
them how much money they pay in on their tithing? "Why," say they,
"we
let you have our wheat and cattle, and they are just as good as
money." Ask yourselves if you ever knew a bushel of wheat, a hundred
pounds of flour, or a horse, an ox, a cow, a mule, a sheep, a load of
potatoes, a load of onions, or anything else that comes in on tithing
to be sold for money? Go and see if there ever was five dollars worth
of this property sold for money. What did our emigration cost last
season? We will make a rough guess (which will probably be below the
mark by many thousand dollars), and say forty thousand dollars. Do the
brethren living in the counties around or anywhere else pay any money
in towards this? Where do you think it comes from? It is paid, there
is no doubt of that, and the poor are brought here; and there are over
nine hundred thousand dollars owing to the Perpetual Emigration Fund
for helping the poor here.
Does this enlighten your mind any? "Why, no," say some, "unless we
know where the money comes from." It would puzzle our astrologers to
tell you; still, you can ask them if you wish; they can be just as
sensible about that as anything else. Who pays this money? Who is it
that buys every dollar's worth of goods that is brought here to pay to
these hands who work on the public works? Is there a man at work there
but who gets a portion of money and store pay? And with the exception
of what the merchants here pay in on tithing, is there a dollar's
worth of store pay to be got without paying the money for it? Is there
a light of glass, a pound of nails, a pound of rope, or anything else
brought here from the east that the money is not paid for? No, not one
pound. Now, then, you astrologers, sit down and make your figures and
see if you can tell where the money comes from; or you scholars and
learned men enlighten the minds of the people on these matters if you
can. I will tell you what you can do—you can be economical, prudent,
and saving, and help a great deal more than you now do. If we will go
to work and finish this canal we can bring the rock here for the
Temple. I have asked my brethren, and I will ask again, will not you
who have sawmills bring on some lumber so that we can go on with this
tabernacle? Will you not help a little in this telegraphic operation?
We want lumber for this, that, and the other—will you not bring on
some? "Yes," say they, "if you will pay us money for it."
With regard to paying tithing, I will say that is becoming
easier and more congenial to the minds of the people every year, and
they pay it with a glad heart. This is a blessing to them. Let me say
to you, just what the Lord requires of you, if you would only do it.
He requires at our hands, each and every one of us, to begin and
sustain the Kingdom of God, and to withdraw from the world and the
business of the world. If our neighbors want our flour, let them come
here to buy it, pay a good fair price for it, and take it away, but
never carry it to them—never, never, no, never! If we want goods,
hats, boots, shoes, bonnets, coats, and so forth, we should send
Latter-day Saints, Elders of Israel, with our money to markets where
they have them for sale, and purchase them and bring them here; and we
should buy of our brethren, and sustain the Kingdom of God. I say this
is the mind and the will of God concerning this people, if they will
hearken to it. Purchase no more of your enemies. I read a revelation
here on this subject a few weeks since, given in Jackson County,
Missouri, commanding br. Gilbert to go and purchase goods and sell
them to the Saints without fraud. I will take the liberty of saying
that I consider some of our own merchants do not come up to the
requirements of this revelation, for they would sell to the Latter-day
Saints a piece of goods worth fifty cents for a thousand dollars if
they could get it, without any regard to truth, righteousness, or
justice, or the building up of anybody on God's earth but themselves.
This is the case with some of our own merchants, while there are
others who deal fairer. There are some amongst us who would not
speculate, had they all the opportunity in the world, as much as some
who are called Latter-day Saints. All this is true, but we can not
begin to point out and individualize; that will not do here. But it is
the will of the Lord that you and I live within ourselves.
Do you recollect that I made mention of our government yesterday? We
have sued to them many times for our rights. We have asked for bread,
and they have given us a stone; we have asked for a fish, and they
have given us a serpent; we have asked for an egg, and they have given
us a scorpion; so we have got to live within ourselves and trust in
God. We will pay our taxes and we will pay our tithing. But there are
some among us who, probably, would like to meddle with our tithing. I
wonder if they would like to meddle with the tithing that is paid to
build churches in the east, and with the donations made for that
purpose? I wonder if they would not like to legislate upon them, and
see who has been paying donations to build this church or that
schoolhouse or academy. I wonder if they would not like to legislate
as they do about schools for the freedmen. I suppose it will not be
long before they will want to dictate in some other places, and
say how much shall be raised for schools and so forth; and I suppose
it will be but a little while before some of those officious
characters will determine the number of beans that brother Kimball and
I shall have in our porridge, and whether they shall be white or
black. I think, if some of them had their way, they would have them
all black.
I have told you some few things with regard to the Temple. We want the
tabernacle finished, and when a man is asked to go and work on it, do
not begin to make a wry face, and say, "I have got so much work to
do." When you carpenters are asked to go and help to finish it, so
that we can hold our October Conference in it, do not begin to
say, "I have so many jobs on hand, and so much work to do, and this
engagement and that engagement," wherever they will pay you sixpence
a day more; and "I will work for the devil as quick as for the Lord
Jesus Christ." Do not say that any more. The mechanics, by their
conduct, have said hitherto, "We will build up hell just as quick as
we will heaven, if we can get sixpence a day more for doing it." Do
you want to know the true policy of building up Zion, and what is
required of us as a people? I can give it to you. It is to build up
the Kingdom of God on the earth, to build temples and tabernacles, to
preach the gospel, to sustain the families of the Elders abroad, and
to sustain the Priesthood at home and abroad, whether we get a dollar
a day or nothing, it is all the same. Work whether we get our pay or
not, or whether we have money offered to us or not. You and I will
find in the end that there is not a man on the earth who can give the
increase to our labor; but it is the Lord who gives it. No matter
whether you make fifty cents or fifty dollars a day, the Lord gives
the increase; and whatever He pleases to give He will give, and
whatever He pleases to withhold He will withhold. I say to you again
and again that the blessings of this people are more than they merit
by their lives; but if we live every day of our lives so as to possess
the Spirit of the Lord, and are dictated in all our business
transactions and in every move we make by the spirit of revelation, we
should merit, and justly and righteously obtain greater blessings than
we now possess.
Now, my brethren, you who have sinned, repent of your sins. I can say
to you in regard to Jesus and the atonement (it is so written, and I
firmly believe it), that Christ has died for all. He has paid the full
debt, whether you receive the gift or not. But if we continue to sin,
to lie, steal, bear false witness, we must repent of and forsake that
sin to have the full efficacy of the blood of Christ. Without this it
will be of no effect; repentance must come, in order that the
atonement may prove a benefit to us. Let all who are doing wrong cease
doing wrong; live no longer in transgression, no matter of what kind;
but live every day of your lives according to the revelations given,
and so that your examples may be worthy of imitation. Let us remember
that we never get beyond the purview of our religion—never, never!
"Mormonism," so-called, embraces every principle pertaining to life
and salvation, for time and eternity. No matter who has it. If the
infidel has got truth it belongs to "Mormonism." The truth and sound
doctrine possessed by the sectarian world, and they have a great deal,
all belong to this church. As for their morality many of them are
morally just as good as we are. All that is good, lovely, and
praiseworthy belongs to this church and kingdom. Death, hell, and the
grave only are outside of "Mormonism." "Mormonism" includes
all truth.
There is no truth but what belongs to the gospel. It is life, eternal
life; it is bliss; it is the fullness of all things in the gods and in
the eternities of the gods. What is the difference, then, what we are
called to do? Let us do it with a cheerful heart and a willing mind,
that we may receive the blessing which the Lord has for the faithful.
May God bless you. Amen.