I have a request to make of the doorkeepers and of those brethren who
seat the congregation, as also of our sisters, some of whom, I see,
are occupying a few of the seats that we usually reserve for
strangers. We should be very much pleased if the sisters would
fill up other parts of the house first, and we would like the brethren
who seat the congregation, to see that the seats generally occupied by
strangers are held in reserve today until the meeting commences;
then, if those for whom they are reserved do not come to fill them,
they may be used by the sisters. I hope this will be recollected and
observed.
As our brethren of the Twelve will address us during the Conference, I
feel like giving them a few texts to preach upon if they choose to do
so. I should have no objection to hear them discourse upon union of
action, or concentration of faith and action, or, as some call it,
cooperation. That is one item. I would also like to hear them give
instruction with regard to our traditions; instruction on this subject
is necessary all the time. We must overcome them and adopt the rules
laid down in revelation for the guidance of man's life here on the
earth. If any of our brethren feel to speak upon this subject we
should be very pleased to hear them; if they are not disposed to
preach to the text, they may preach from it, as most ministers do. I
have heard very few ministers preach to their texts, they generally
preach from them.
The education of our children is worthy of our attention, and the
instruction of the Elders from this stand. It is a subject that should
be thoroughly impressed upon the minds of parents and the rising
generation; and those who wish to preach from this text may do so. And
if they do not feel to preach to the text, they may preach from it.
The subject of the building of the Temple is a very good one for
occupying a portion of the time. The ordinances of the House of God
are for the salvation of the human family. We are the only ones on the
earth at the present time, that we have any knowledge of, who hold the
keys of salvation committed to the children of men from the heavens by
the Lord Almighty; and inasmuch as there are those who hold these
keys, it is important that they should be acted upon for the salvation
of the human family. The building of Temples, places in which the
ordinances of salvation are administered, is necessary to carry out
the plan of redemption, and it is a glorious subject upon which to
address the Saints.
The gathering of the House of Israel is another text upon which the
brethren might address the Saints with profit. We are in the midst of
Israel; they are also scattered among the nations of the earth. They
are mixed with all nations, especially the tribe of Ephraim. These are
to be gathered out. We have Israel in our midst; we live upon their
land; we have communion with them and we are under the necessity of
feeding and clothing them to a certain extent, and to preserve peace
with them at present, until they come to a knowledge of the truth. I
mean the Lamanites, the aborigines of our country. They are of the
House of Israel.
Not least nor last, but one subject that I would as soon hear treated
upon in this house as in any other place, is the union of the sexes.
We cannot go into any town or little village in the Territory but we
find quite a large number of young people who have arrived at a
marriageable age and still they remain single. But this can be
accounted for to some extent. The young man says, "I dare not marry a
wife, the fashions and customs of the world prevail among the ladies
here to such a degree that I should need a fortune to maintain one."
The young lady says, "I don't wish to marry unless I can find
a husband who can take care of me and support me according to my idle
wishes." By their acts only can people be judged, and from observing
them we must conclude that the ideas of the young men are too true,
they are founded in fact. This should be done away. Such feelings,
views and influences should be dispelled from and broken up in the
midst of the people. Our young men and women should consider their
obligations to each other, to God, the earth, their parents, and to
future generations for their salvation and exaltation among the Gods
and for the glory of Him whom we serve. These are not idle tales, they
are not fictions, but facts; and for a community, believing as we do,
to live like the Gentile nations in these things is very incorrect. It
is not according to our faith; we should put our faith into practice,
and be willing to sustain ourselves, each and every one of us. Our
young folks who have arrived at years of maturity should think and act
for themselves. They are citizens of the earth; they have a share
here, and have a part to bear—a character to form and frame and
present to the world, or they will sink into oblivion and
forgetfulness. These things are of importance to us at least, and
especially in this nation, where many of the people are wasting away
their lives, bartering away their very existence, and will hardly
receive in return therefore a mess of pottage.
The education of youth is an important text for the brethren to preach
from. A very high value should be placed upon it by the Saints. We
have the privilege of enjoying the spirit of revelation and the
knowledge which comes from above, and in addition to this, every
branch of education known in the world should be taught among and
acquired by us. All the arts and sciences, and every branch of
mechanism known and understood by man should be understood by this
people. But no matter how much knowledge we may acquire in a worldly
point of view, by study, unless the revelations of the Lord Jesus are
dispensed to each and every individual, they cannot use or apply their
acquirements to the best advantage. A man may know facts without
revelation. The mathematician, for instance, may acquire a great
amount of knowledge without any special revelation by the Spirit of
the Lord to enlighten his mind; but still he will not know and
understand what he might if he had applied his heart unto wisdom. So
it is with all the sciences.
These principles should be considered by this people. This is the
place, brethren, to teach them. But I will give a caution to my
brethren, the Elders—never undertake to teach a thing that you do not
understand. Such things will come into your minds; but without
launching out on such subjects, questions may be asked and answered,
and we gain knowledge from each other. There is plenty within the
scope of our own brains that, by the assistance of the Spirit of the
Lord, will enable us to tell many things—more than the world or even
more than the Saints can receive.
Suppose a man should come here and tell you the very nature of our
Father Adam—tell precisely how he was organized, his height, his
proportions, the extent of his knowledge, tell you the agreement that
was entered into, the amount of knowledge that he had to forget to
reduce himself to the capacity of a corruptible being! Suppose this
could all be told to the congregations of the Saints, what would they
know about it? Very little. There may be some minds which
could grasp some things pertaining to it, but others could not. The
spirit of revelation can reveal these things to the people, but unless
they live so as to have the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ, they
will remain a mystery, for there is a veil before the minds of the
people, and they cannot be understood. Some of these principles have
been taught to the Latter-day Saints, but who can understand them?
Brother Orson Hyde referred to a few who complained about not getting
revelations. I will make a statement here that has been brought
against me as a crime, perhaps, or as a fault in my life. Not here, I
do not allude to anything of the kind in this place, but in the
councils of the nations—that Brigham Young has said "when he sends
forth his discourses to the world they may call them Scripture." I say
now, when they are copied and approved by me they are as good
Scripture as is couched in this Bible, and if you want to read
revelation read the sayings of him who knows the mind of God, without
any special command to one man to go here, and to another to go
yonder, or to do this or that, or to go and settle here or there. In
the early days of the Church, if a man was going to sell a farm he
must have a revelation—Joseph must receive and give a revelation. Many
men would not do one thing until God had given them a revelation
through the prophet. It must be: "Thus saith the Lord, sell your farm,
devote such a portion of your means to education, or printing, or for
distributing knowledge to the world. Devote such a portion of your
means to do this, and such a portion to do that." I have known a good
many men in the early days of the Church who had property, that must
have revelation to know what disposition to make of their substance;
but who, when they received it, were sure not to strictly obey it.
What did revelation do for such persons? Nothing but seal their
condemnation. Why do the people want revelations to damn themselves?
Give the mind of the Lord to this people here in this Conference,
would they observe it? There is a few who would like to; but take some
of those who are called Latter-day Saints, would they follow it if it
were given them? I know they would not, still the Lord is merciful and
forbearing and He bears with His people. He has borne with and blest
us, to see if we would walk in the knowledge of the truth and yield
strict obedience to His requirements.
Poverty, persecution and oppression we have endured; many of us have
suffered the loss of all things in a worldly point of view. Give us
prosperity and see if we would bear it, and be willing to serve God.
See if we would be as willing to sacrifice millions as we were to
sacrifice what we had when in comparative poverty. Men of property, as
a general thing, would not be. We know this, God knows it, and He has
to treat us as unruly, disobedient, slow to think and slow to act—as a
set of children.
It has been said, time and time again, that if the people would live
worthy of the great things God has in store for them, they are ready
to come forth for their salvation and edification; but until we
improve upon little things and hearken to the voice of the Lord in our
first duties, He is not going to bestow the great mysteries of the
invisible worlds upon us. We know too much already unless we do
better. You may think I am complaining; well, I am just a trifle. I
see the Latter-day Saints here and there going to destruction, apostatizing. "Oh," say they, "we have a little wealth, a little
means," and in some instances that is leading them to destruction.
These merchants that we have made rich, where are they? Those who are
not in fellowship and some who are in fellowship with us? They are in
our midst, but their feelings are, "We want more, we want your money,
Latter-day Saints." Ask them to sacrifice their all and see what
course they will take. When they came here they had not a wagon and
did not own five dollars in the world; we have made them rich. Is
there one in ten that would endure if we were to get a revelation for
them to make a sacrifice of all they have? No, they would lift up
their heels against the Almighty and His Anointed. Whether I am
complaining or not, this is too true.
Now, brethren, preach the things that we verily believe, and when we
come to points of doctrine that we do not know, even if we have good
reason to believe them, if our philosophy teaches us they are true,
pass them by and teach only to the people that that we do know.
You can know nothing of this Gospel short of the revelations of the
Lord Jesus Christ. If our Gospel, that we preach in this house and
that the Elders of Israel teach, is hid to any man on earth, it is
because he is lost. It is not hid to him whose eyes are open to the
things of God; he understands it. When he hears the voice of the Good
Shepherd, when he hears sound doctrine—that that comes from God, he
knows it and receives it. Says he, "That is right, correct, that is
congenial to my ears and sits smoothly and satisfactorily on my
understanding. I like that doctrine because it is true. The reason we
like "Mormonism" is because it is true. It is good; it embraces all
the good there is in the sciences, and all that ever was revealed for
the benefit of the children of men. There is no art beneficial to the
human family but what is incorporated in our religion. The only true
philosophy ever revealed by God to man on this earth is comprised
within and is part of our religion. It embraces the whole man and all
his talents and time while he lives here on the earth, and then will
only prepare him, let him do his best, to enter a higher state of
glory, where he will see that he is but just commencing to learn the
things of God and the riches of eternity, to know and understand the
life of those immortal beings who dwell in light and live in glory and
who are surrounded with light, glory, immortality, and eternal lives,
and live in accordance with the laws which control the Gods. When we
have learned all that we can learn here by a close application in our
lives to the faith which Jesus has unfolded, we shall see that we are
then just commencing to learn, as it were; and when the spirit is
reunited with the body we shall be prepared to enter into the joy of
our Lord.
A good deal is said about so much power being given to one man. What
does man's power on the earth consist of? Of the influence he
possesses. If a man have influence with God he has power with Him.
Again, if he has influence with the people he has power with them;
that is all the legitimate or righteous power man has. We have
influence; God has given it to us, and the Latter-day Saints delight
to place that confidence in us that is deserving, and the wicked world
cannot help it. It may be a great pity in the estimation of a great
many, but still the world cannot help it; and justice, mercy, truth,
righteousness, love, and good will command this respect, and
the worthy get it. We have heard considerable about "down with the
one-man power!" All right, down with it! What is it and how are you
going to get it down? When you get down the power of God, that which
is called one-man power in the midst of the Latter-day Saints will
fall, but not before! It is no more nor less than the concentration of
the faith and action of the people. And this brings to my mind the
facts that exist with regard to the faith of the Latter-day Saints.
When we go into the world we find quite a portion of the people who
belong to a class called Spiritualists. I do not know that I am right
in styling them a class, but they aspire to be so considered. They
would like to have it considered that "Mormonism" is nothing but
Spiritualism; but it is temporalism as well as Spiritualism. A great
many want to know the difference between the two. I will give one
feature of the difference, and then set the whole scientific world to
work to see if they can ever bring to bear the same feature in
Spiritualism. Take all who are called Spiritualists and see if they
can produce the order that is in the midst of this people. Here are
system, order, organization, law, rule, and facts. Now see if they can
produce any one of these features. They cannot. Why? Because their
system is from beneath, while ours is perfect and is from above; one
is from God, the other is from the devil, that is all the difference.
Now see if the whole Spiritualist world can organize a community of
six individuals who will agree for a year, that will not fall to
pieces like a rope of sand. Now, Spiritualists, go to work, bring your
science to bear and demonstrate the fact that you have a system if you
can. We have demonstrated it to the world; it is manifest, it is
before us, we see it, it is tangible, we can see its results, it has
wrought wonders. See if they can do like this. If the kingdom of the
devil can do like the kingdom of God on the earth, it is deserving of
credit; but its members can only divide and subdivide, produce
confusion on confusion, disorder following on the heels of disorder,
one to the right, another to the left, another for the front, another
for the rear, one pulling this way, another pulling that, sect against
sect, people against people, community against community,
politically, religiously, and I may say morally to a great extent; and
I do not know but I might say scientifically, although the sciences
agree better than the faith, feelings and imaginations of the people.
Now try this, Spiritualists! This is a text for you; and when you have
produced order, system and unity among the inhabitants of the earth we
will look and see what more there is that we have that the world have
not. I am not going into details at all, but I just mention this to
see if the Spiritualists can systematize or organize anything. When
they have done this it will be time enough to admit that they have
some science; but until then we will say that Spiritualism is a mass
of confusion, it is a body without parts and passions, principle or
power, just like, I do not like to say it, but just like the so-called
Christians' God. The creed of the so-called Christians represents that
their God is without body, parts or passions; and it should be added,
without principle or power, for the latter is the corollary of the
former. When we see anything that has solidity and permanency, that
produces good, that builds up, creates, organizes, sustains, and
betters the condition of the people, we pronounce that good and from
God; but when we see that that injures, hurts, destroys,
produces confusion in a community, disturbance and discord, strife and
animosity, hatefulness and bitter feelings one towards another, we at
once pronounce it evil, and declare that it springs from beneath. All
evil is from beneath, while all that is good is from God.
I did not think to preach you a sermon when I commenced, but to call
upon some of the brethren to do so. I have given them some texts, and
they may preach to or from them, just as they please. Some of them
will probably talk about organizing the kingdom of God on the earth,
and so governing a community as to make them of one heart and one
mind. I am prepared to prove to any sensible congregation, any good
philosopher or thinking person or people, who have steady brain and
nerve to look at things as they are, that can tell white from black
and daylight from midnight darkness, that the closer the connection in
a business point of view that a community hold themselves together,
the greater will be their joy and wealth. I am prepared to prove, from
all the facts that have existed or that now exist in all branches of
human affairs, that union is strength, and that division is weakness
and confusion.
I do not know but I will advert once more to Spiritualism.
Spiritualism is like Methodism and the sects of the day exactly, I
mean so far as unity of faith or action is concerned. When I was a
Methodist, as I was once, they said to me, "You may be baptized by
immersion if you absolutely require it, but we do not believe in it,
but we do believe in giving every person his choice." "Well," said I,
"I believe in it. There are some things required in the doctrine of
the Close Communion Baptists which I cannot subscribe to as well as to
most of the principles that you hold in your catechisms, and in the
tenets of your church, but," said I, "they believe in baptism by
immersion, and I want to be baptized by immersion;" and finally they
consented to baptize me, and did do it. So say the Spiritualists.
Another one says, "I want to kneel down in the water and have the
water poured on my head." Says the Methodist priest, "We don't believe
in it, but you can have it done. It is no matter, one method of
baptism, perhaps, is as good as another." So say the Spiritualists.
Another one says, "I want to get down into the water and be baptized
face foremost." "Well," says the priest, "we don't think it
makes any
difference, and if you really desire it, you may have the ordinance
administered to you according to your wishes." So say the
Spiritualists. Another one says, "I want to sit in my chair and have
the minister dip his fingers into a bowl, and put it on my forehead,
and call that baptism in the name of the Trinity." The Methodist says,
"We will consent to that; it is just as good as anything else." So say
the Spiritualists. Another one says he wants to kneel down in the
water and have water poured on him. The priest consents to this also.
So do the Spiritualists. Why do I say this? Because men baptized by
these various methods can all get communications, they say, from the
spirits sanctioning each and every different form of baptism. The
Methodists say, "We believe in a God without body, parts and
passions;" so say the Spiritualists, the Presbyterian and other sects,
but the Latter-day Saints do not. And in reference to the ordinance of
baptism; the Latter-day Saints say, "Go down into the water and be
buried with Christ in the water; and come out of the water as
Christ came up out of the water, when the Holy Ghost in the form of a
dove rested on His head, and a voice from heaven was heard saying,
'This is my beloved Son, hear ye him.' He will tell you what to do,
teach you correct doctrine. He has no traditions to overcome, no
prepossessed notions taught by parents, binding him to the sects that
are now on the earth. Hear ye Him! Have hands laid upon you that you
may receive the Holy Ghost." The Latter-day Saints say to the people,
"Believe in God the Father and in Jesus, the Son! Believe in the gifts
of the holy Gospel! They are as ready to be bestowed upon His children
at this day as any other in the history of the world. This is the time
to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; this is the very time that we
should acknowledge him and believe in his ordinances and in the gifts
and graces that are promised to the children of God. We are living in
a Gospel age and dispensation, we are living right in the day in
which, as the Apostles said on the Day of Pentecost, the promise is to
you and to your children and to all that are afar off, even as many as
the Lord our God shall call." Has the Lord called upon the children of
men in this day? Yes, in the east and the west, from the north to the
south, and in the uttermost parts of the earth. He has called upon the
inhabitants of the earth to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Suppose
this order of things had continued from the days of the ancient
Apostles; suppose there had been no backsliding, no merchants to lift
their heels because they are getting rich, no apostates, and the
successors of the Apostles had received the holy Priesthood and had
gone to the uttermost parts of the earth, where would have been your
paganism today? It would not have been on the earth; infidelity would
not have been known. Children would have been taught the ways of the
Lord and brought up in the way they should go, and the whole world
would have been full of the knowledge of God, instead of being in
darkness as now!