This is a very singular world that we live in; yet were it not for the
spirit of error and confusion that everywhere prevails I think we
should call it a very fine, excellent world. The annoyances,
difficulties, errors, perplexities, sorrows, and troubles of this
life, from first to last, are in consequence of sin being in the
world. For me to say it is not right for sin to be in the world, or if
we, as intelligent beings, come to the conclusion that sin entered the
world by chance, through some mistake, and it was contrary to the
design of him who created us, we should err.
This people called Latter-day Saints are looked upon as a very
singular people; in fact, we are regarded as an anomaly in the world.
Why is this so? Are we different to others who are born into the
world? Are we not of the same blood as the people of the other nations
and tongues of the earth? We certainly are, for we are gathered from
among them. Like them, we have eyes to see with, ears to hear with;
we have lips and organs of speech, and we use them as others do; we
eat, drink, sleep, plant, sow, reap, mow, build houses and inhabit
them, just as they do. Then what is the difference between us and
them, and why are we looked upon by the world as though we are
entirely different from them, and why have we from the beginning met
with vituperation and abuse from the hands of many, and, been deprived
of our civil and religious rights and treated as outlaws? If we search
the Old and New Testaments, and then the corroborative evidence
contained in the Book of Mormon, and find therein how the kingdom of
God was organized, and compare our present organization with it, we
shall find that one is a perfect facsimile of the other. This
constitutes the difference between us and the world, and this is why
we have been treated as we have been, and why we are looked upon as we
are. We believe the Bible and practice it, as far as our weaknesses
will permit. Not that we do it perfectly; as it has been stated
this morning, we have darkness, unbelief, ignorance, superstition, and
our traditions to contend with and overcome; and they cling to us to
that degree that we can hardly overcome them.
The traditions that we have imbibed in the several countries in which
we have been born, and under the various circumstances under which we
have been raised, offer a wide field for reflection, and in passing
judgment upon each other's acts a great deal of charity is necessary.
The people of one nation will do a thousand things, and, according to
their traditions, feel themselves perfectly justified, which those of
another nation, with their traditions, would not consider it right to
do. How would it look here in the United States of America to enter a
large meetinghouse like this, move out the benches, and then for a
congregation to enter the house, kneel down and say a few words of
prayer, get up and begin to waltz around to the music of the organ?
This would be considered a very strange proceeding among the people of
America; yet in other countries it is done and is considered most
sacred; and it is in accordance with their traditions. People's
notions of honesty as well as of worship differ very widely, and this
difference of opinion is the result of the traditions they have
imbibed; and for any persons to say we will bring a motley mass
together from various countries, and we will judge all of them by our
standard, would be diverging somewhat from the path of truth and
justice. Still, notwithstanding the various traditions we have
severally imbibed, we are all capable of coming to a perfect
understanding of truth and justice, and of what we should do to be
perfectly right before God. This is a subject I have reflected upon a
great deal, and I have come to the conclusion that we shall be judged
according to the deeds done in the body and according to the thoughts
and intents of the heart.
In viewing the traditions of the Christian world, so far as I have
been acquainted with them, before I knew anything of the Gospel, and
before it was revealed from heaven, I have seen men who thought they
were as full of grace, faith, and sanctity as possible, in fact, full
of self-righteousness, which they considered the righteousness of God;
and yet what would they do? I have known such men, in time of harvest,
or when they had a press of work, say to the poor man who was hardly
able to procure the bread necessary for his wife and children, "I will
give you fifty cents a day if you will come and help me harvest, and
pay you in Indian meal." Such men feel justified, for to oppress the
poor is in accordance with their traditions.
A similar course is pursued with the female sex. A young woman,
compelled to labor for her daily bread, applies for work to some lady
in comfortable circumstances. The lady perhaps says, "What wages do
you want?" "I do not know. What will you give me?" The reply is,
probably, "Well, I will give you fifty cents a week and your board,
but I shall want you to do my washing, ironing, milking, scrubbing,
and cooking," the whole of it, most likely, keeping the poor girl at
work from five o'clock in the morning until ten at night. Yet her
poverty leaves her no choice, and she is compelled to become a slave
in order to procure, day by day, her breakfast, dinner, and supper. It
is probable that if her father be alive he is too poor to help her;
and if she has a mother she may be a widow and unable to rescue her
from a life of toil and slavery. A lady, whom I knew in my
youth, the wife of a minister, where I used to attend meeting, said
once to some of her sisters in the church, "Do you suppose that we
shall be under the necessity of eating with our hired help when we get
into heaven? We do not do it here, and I have an idea that there will
be two tables in heaven." Yet she was a lady of refinement and
education, still the traditions that had been woven into her very
being proved the folly she possessed to ask such a question.
Do these and similar traditions exist in the world? Yes; I know of
countries in which if a poor person—or perhaps I should say any
person, and not confine it to the poor—where if any person, man or
woman, were passing along the street, and were to pick up a pocket
book containing one, ten, a hundred, or a thousand pounds, he or she
would feel to thank God for the blessing, and would never think of
trying to find the owners of this property, or of letting them know
anything about it, even if they were known. Such parties would feel
justified in the act, and would rejoice because they were able to make
themselves comfortable. Are any of you acquainted with such
traditions? Yes, many of you have been brought up in the midst of
them.
What would you do, who have lived in England, if you had rented a
place, and in that place you had found some old secret cupboard or
hole in the wall containing a fortune in treasure which had belonged
to some one who had formerly resided in those premises, and whose
children or relatives might be living in the neighborhood even then?
Would you divulge such a circumstance, and do your best to discover
those to whom it rightfully belonged, in order to restore it to them?
No; you would put it in your pocket, considering it a god send, and
never say a word about it.
I see these and numberless other traits of character among, the people
here, all of which are the results of their traditions. Now, what can
we expect of them? We expect to treat them as children until we can
teach them to become men and women. Seeing, then, that these
differences in sentiment exist among the people, and knowing that they
are the natural result of the traditions and circumstances by which
they have been surrounded, it will not do to judge according to the
outward appearance, but according to the sincerity and honesty of the
heart.
I look at the Latter-day Saints, and I sometimes take the liberty to
preach to them; and this principle, of being judged according to our
works, is as applicable to communities as individuals. I, therefore,
wish to apply it to those amongst us who are not as diligent as they
might be in the duties of every day life, as they present themselves
before them, whether they be of a spiritual or temporal nature.
Whatever you do, you have been taught sufficient to know that all our
duties are in the Lord and are circumscribed in the faith and practice
of the kingdom of God. "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness
thereof." The gold and the silver the earth contains are his; the
wheat and fine flour, the wine and the oil are his; the cattle that
roam over the plains and mountains belong to him we serve, and whom we
acknowledge as the God of the universe. And whether we are raising
cattle, planting, gathering, building or inhabiting, we are in the
Lord, and all we do is within the pale of his kingdom upon the earth,
consequently it is all spiritual and all temporal, no matter what we
are laboring to accomplish.
We frequently call the brethren to go on missions to preach the
Gospel, and they will go and labor as faithfully as men can
do, fervent in spirit, in prayer, in laying on hands, in preaching to
and teaching the people how to be saved. In a few years they come
home, and throwing off their coats and hats, they will say, "Religion,
stand aside, I am going to work now to get something for myself and my
family." This is folly in the extreme! When a man returns from a
mission where he has been preaching the Gospel he ought to be just as
ready to come to this pulpit to preach as if he were in England,
France, Germany, or on the islands of the sea. And when he has been at
home a week, a month, a year, or ten years, the spirit of preaching
and the spirit of the Gospel ought to be within him like a river
flowing forth to the people in good words, teachings, precepts, and
examples. If this is not the case he does not fill his mission.
Men may think, and some of them do, that we have a right to work for
ourselves; but I say we have no time to do that in the narrow, selfish
sense generally entertained when speaking about working for self. We
have no time allotted to us here on the earth to work for ourselves in
that sense; and yet when laboring in the most disinterested and
fervent manner for the cause and kingdom of God, it is all for
ourselves. When I say we do not labor for ourselves, I reflect in a
moment that I do nothing but what is for myself and then for my
friends. It is equally true with all of us; and though our time be
entirely occupied in laboring for the advancement of the kingdom of
God on the earth we are in reality laboring most effectually for self,
for all our interest and welfare both in time and eternity are
circumscribed and bound up in that kingdom.
How often, when I was engaged in traveling and preaching the Gospel,
have the people said to me, "O, this must be all a speculation! You
differ so much from other people that we cannot believe all you
teach." "We have heard a great deal about Mr. Smith, or 'Joe
Smith,'
they would often say, and he must be a speculator, and these doctrines
you preach were gotten up by him expressly for a speculation." I have
acknowledged a great many times, and I am as free to acknowledge it
today, that it is the greatest speculation ever entered into by God,
men, or angels, for it is a speculation involving eternal lives in the
celestial kingdom of God. It is the grandest investment on the face of
the earth, and one in which you may invest all and everything you
possess for the present and eternal benefit of yourself, your wives,
your children, parents, relatives and friends; and all who are wise
will enter into it, for they can make more by it, and be exalted
higher by its means than by any other speculation ever introduced
among the children of men. When I labor in the kingdom of God, I labor
for my own dear self, I have self continually before me; the object
of my pursuit is to benefit my individual person; and this is the case
with every person who ever was or ever will be exalted. Happiness and
glory are the pursuit of every person that lives on the face of the
earth, who is thoroughly endowed with wisdom and the spirit of
enterprise, whether immorality is brought in or not. Such are after
honor, ease, comfort; such want to wield power, and would like to have
influence and dominion. Now, if they will enter this great
speculation—the kingdom of God on the earth, the plan of redemption
and exaltation devised before the foundation of the world was laid, it
will lead to greater happiness, power, influence, and dominion than
ever man possessed or thought of.
I believe it is generally allowed that "self-preservation is the first
law of nature." If it is, let us save ourselves and enter into
covenant with God, who holds the issues of life and death, and who can
give and no one can dispute his right; who can withhold and no one can
hinder it. Let us enter into covenant with him by enlisting in this
great, good cause, and thus take ourselves back into his presence. We
can do this through his grace and Gospel, through the atonement of his
Son, by faith in the Father and the Son and by our obedience to their
requirements.
Now, if we are to be judged according to our works I want to proceed a
little further. You will permit me to be plain in making my remarks;
in so doing, however, I may interfere with individual ears and
feelings. I have a word to say to my sisters. When I reflect upon the
duties and responsibilities devolving upon our mothers and sisters,
and the influence they wield, I look upon them as the mainspring and
soul of our being here. It is true that man is first. Father Adam was
placed here as king of the earth, to bring it into subjection. But
when Mother Eve came she had a splendid influence over him. A great
many have thought it was not very good; I think it was excellent.
After she had partaken of the fruit she carried it to her husband,
saying, "Husband, a certain character came to me and said if you will
eat of this fruit you will find it excellent, and it will make you as
Gods, knowing good from evil; and I have tasted it, and I assure you
it is excellent." Her influence was so great with Adam that he also
partook of it, and his eyes were opened. You know the result—they were
both driven from the garden. Before this, however, they were commanded
to multiply and replenish the earth and thus fill the measure of their
creation.
Now, I say the women have great influence. Look at the nations of the
earth. Any nation you like, no matter which, and you enlist the
sympathies of the female portion of it and what is there you cannot
perform? If the government wants soldiers, they are on hand; if means,
it is forthcoming. If you want influence and power, and have the
ladies on your side, they will give it you. You take a nation that is
going to war, whether our nation or any other; in the late struggle,
for instance, between the Northern and Southern States, suppose all
the mothers, sisters and daughters of the Republic had set their will
and determination that no soldiers should go to the field, how many do
you suppose would have been obtained? A few Irishmen and Germans might
have been hired, but that is all. This is the influence the ladies
hold in the nations of the earth. It is true that they are not allowed
to go to the ballot-box, but let the females in any district be united
and say that such a man shall not go to Congress, and I reckon he
cannot go. He may make up his mind to stay at home and make shingles,
raise potatoes, or do something else. If he is a lawyer, he may try to
get a living by pleading law, but he cannot go to Congress. And when
the ladies say send such a man, he is pretty sure to go if they are
united and determined that it shall be so. The ladies may not know
that they wield so much influence as this, and they would probably
want some outward sign before they could be convinced, but it is
nevertheless true that their influence is as powerful as I have
stated.
Now, a few words directly to my sisters here in the kingdom of God. We
want your influence and power in helping to build up that kingdom, and
what I wish to say to you is simply this, if you will govern
and control yourselves in all things in accordance with good, sound,
common sense and the principles of truth and righteousness, there is
not the least fear but what father, uncle, grandfather, brothers, and
sons will follow in the wake.
It is the ladies who introduce the fashions here. I will take the
liberty of speaking with regard to some of them. If you take up some
of the fashion magazines sent here you will find the ladies very
beautifully portrayed with those "Grecian bends." They are being
introduced here, but they are of very moderate dimensions yet. By and
by, in about another year perhaps, they will be as large again as they
are now; and in two years from the present time they will be three or
four times as large, and if this ridiculous fashion should continue
they may keep on increasing in size until on a hazy day, or in the
dusk of the evening, you will not be able, for the life of you, to
tell a lady, at a distance, from a camel. Now, the ladies can do just
as they please about adopting or changing this fashion. If it is
adopted there is one thing I am afraid of. In the world, you know, it
is no uncommon thing to see children born deformed; every such
instance might have been avoided with proper care, for all such
deformities are the result of natural causes. I hope we shall never
see such things in Zion, but if our ladies continue the fashion of the
"Grecian bend," I am afraid some of their children will be born with
humps on their backs.
There is another item in relation to fashions to which I wish to call
the attention of the sisters, being satisfied that ladies, of
naturally good taste, need only to have their attention directed to
anything showing a want of it, to discontinue it. I refer now to the
trails or trains that it is fashionable for ladies to wear at the
bottom of their dresses. You know it is the custom of some here to
have a long trail of cloth dragging after them through the dirt;
others, again, will have their dresses so short that one must shut his
eyes, or he cannot help seeing their garters. Excuse me for the
expression; but this is true, and it is not right. The ladies of
Israel should consider these things, and as they will be judged
according to their works just as much as the men, they should seek to
have good works, and be governed by good sense instead of foolish
fashions in their modes of adorning and dressing themselves.
It is true that we have not the etiquette here, as a general thing,
that is in the world; and this is not at all strange when the
circumstances in which most of the people have been reared are
considered. When I meet ladies and gentlemen of high rank, as I
sometimes do, they must not expect from me the same formal ceremony
and etiquette that are observed among the great in the courts of
kings. In my youthful days, instead of going to school, I had to chop
logs, to sow and plant, to plow in the midst of roots barefooted, and
if I had on a pair of pants that would cover me I did pretty well.
Seeing that this was the way I was brought up they cannot expect from
me the same etiquette and ceremony as if I had been brought up at the
feet of Gamaliel. The most of the people called Latter-day Saints have
been taken from the rural and manufacturing districts of this and the
old countries, and they belonged to the poorest of the poor. Many of
them, I may say the great majority, never had anything around them to
make life very desirable; they have been acquainted with poverty and
wretchedness, hence it cannot be expected that they should manifest
that refinement and culture prevalent among the rich. Many and
many a man here, who is now able to ride in his wagon and perhaps in
his carriage, for years and years before he started for Zion never saw
daylight. His days were spent in the coal mines, and his daily toil
would commence before light in the morning and continue until after
dark at night. Now what can be expected from a community so many of
whose members have been brought up like this, or if not just like
this, still under circumstances of poverty and privation? Certainly
not what we might expect from those reared under more favorable
circumstances. But I will tell you what we have in our mind's eye with
regard to these very people, and what we are trying to make of them.
We take the poorest we can find on earth who will receive the truth,
and we are trying to make ladies and gentlemen of them. We are trying
to educate them, to school their children, and to so train them that
they may be able to gather around them the comforts of life, that they
may pass their lives as the human family should do—that their days,
weeks, and months may be pleasant to them. We prove that this is our
design, for the result, to some extent is already before us.
I will now return to the influence of the female portion of our
community. The ladies have power and influence to suppress the
"Grecian bend" and other fashionable follies, if they will. I want
them to consider well their standing, condition, and influence.
Suppose that our wives and daughters should say to us, "Husband," or
"Father, will you wear a straw hat of our make?" or, "We had some flax
got out last season and we have made some tow or linen cloth, and we
have some that would make a nice coat, will you wear it if we make it
up for you?" What do you suppose we should say? The reply would be,
"Wives," or "Daughters, yes, and we thank you; we see your good works
and we will wear the hat or the coat you may make for us." And we
should do this without ever having a thought about anybody else being
pleased with them or not; if we looked well in the eyes of our wives
and daughters, we should care very little for others. Then suppose,
after they had made these garments for us, they go to the boys and
say, "Here, boys, will you wear what father wears?" There would be no
fear but the boys would say, "Yes, if it is good enough for father it
is good enough for us." We sometimes see a few homemade hats in our
congregations, and without a close examination they might be taken for
foreign goods, they are so excellent and possess such a delicacy of
appearance and finish, which is praiseworthy.
What is there in these respects that the members of the Female Relief
Societies cannot accomplish? They can abolish the "Grecian bend," if
they wish to do so, and so far as my taste is concerned I would much
rather see a "Mormon bend" than a "Grecian bend;" and besides
this
they can control the fashions, and if they are so disposed, make
home-manufactured articles of all kinds the fashion throughout the
Territory. Is there any necessity for this? Certainly there is. Just
for want of a few hundred thousand dollars, owing to this people by
the railway companies, almost every business man in our community is
oppressed. Suppose the amount due were paid, in a few months it would
be spent and the people would be in about the same condition they are
in today. Where then could you procure money to buy foreign goods?
Our merchants are complaining of dull times and no sales. Ask
them what are their dividends, and they will tell you "a mere
nothing." Why not relieve this portion of the community, and keep them
from the necessity of straining their brains until they become insane
to know how to pay their debts? Say to them, "Pay your debts, we will
help you to do so but do not run into debt any more. We are going to
make our own bonnets and hats." Will you make the ribbons? No; you are
not prepared to do so now, but you soon will be. If any of you want to
do so now I have silk I can furnish you, and we have plenty of silk
weavers amongst us. But if you are not prepared for this just say, "We
will do without ribbons," or "We will do with as few as possible," and
make the ornaments you wear on your heads of the straw that grows in
our fields.
Ladies, can you do this? You can and we require you to do it. If you
are the means of plunging this whole people into debt so as to
distress them will there be anything required of you? I think there
will, for you will be judged according to your works. Are not the men
as extravagant as the women? Yes, certainly they are, and just as
foolish. I could point out instances by the score and by the hundred
of men who are just as unwise, shortsighted, and foolish as the women
can be; but a condemnation of the male portion of the community will
not justify the female portion of it.
There is a great deal said in these days with regard to woman's
rights. I wish our women understood their rights, and would then
assume them. They have a great many rights they are not aware of. As I
pass around from house to house, occasionally, I sometimes think, "I
wish the lady who lives here understood her rights; if she did I think
her house and children would look a little different." It is your
right, wives, to ask your husbands to set out beautiful shade and
fruit trees, and to get you some vine and flowers with which to adorn
the outside of your dwellings; and if your husbands have not time, get
them yourselves and plant them out. Some, perhaps, will say, "O, I
have nothing but a log house, and it is not worth that." Yes; it is
worth it. Whitewash and plaster it up, and get vines to run over the
door, so that everybody who passes will say, "What a lovely little
cottage!" This is your privilege and I wish you to exercise yourselves
in your own rights.
It is your right and privilege, too, to stop all folly in your
conversation, and how necessary this is! I have often thought and
said, "How necessary it is for mothers, who are the first teachers of
their children and who make the first impressions on their young
minds, to be strict." How careful they should be never to impress a
false idea on the mind of a child! They should never teach them
anything unless they know it is correct in every respect. They should
never say a word, especially in the hearing of a child, that is
improper. How natural it is for women to talk baby-talk to their
children; and it seems just as natural for the men to do so. It is
just as natural for me as to draw my breath to talk nonsense to a
child on my lap, and yet I have been trying to break myself of it ever
since I began to have a family.
These duties and responsibilities devolve upon mothers far more than
upon fathers, for you know the latter are often in the field or canyon,
and are frequently away from home, sometimes for several days
together, attending to labors which compel them to be absent from
home. But the mother is at home with the children con tinually; and if they are taught lessons of usefulness it depends upon her. How
foolish it is—and some mothers do it, to dress a child in the most
gaudy apparel you can get hold of, when you know that, unless under
your own eye, that very child, in five minutes after being dressed,
will be playing in the mud! Why not rather dress the child in
something useful and appropriate, for play, sunshine, and fresh air
are as necessary to children as food. Do I see any of this nonsensical
shortsightedness on the part of mothers? Yes, but it is for the want
of thought and through mistaken kindness that they do this and many
other foolish things to their children.
One thing is very true and we believe it, and that is that a woman is
the glory of the man; but she was not made to be worshipped by him. As
the Scriptures say, Man is not without the woman, neither is woman
without the man in the Lord. Yet woman was not made to be worshipped
any more than man was. A man is not made to be worshipped by his
family; but he is to be their head, and to be good and upright before
them, and to be respected by them. It is his privilege to walk erect,
to converse the same as God, in fact he is made in the express image
of his Heavenly Father, and he should honor this position. Yet he is
not made to be worshipped, but to be the head and superior, and to be
obeyed in all love and kindness, and the woman is to be his helpmeet.
Woman has her influence, and she should use that in training her
children in the way they should go; if she fails to do this she
assumes fearful responsibilities.
We have instances in this Church of mothers full of faith and good
works, and if you mark their children you cannot find one that is
froward in his ways; I do not remember an instance among the children
of such mothers but what believed in and delighted in the Gospel. We
have also here the children of mothers of an opposite
character—mothers who have been careless and indifferent about the
Gospel or the kingdom of God, and, if you mark their children, they
are the same, and they stray away from the kingdom of God and from the
ordinances of life and salvation. This is the result of the influence
of the mother; I am an eyewitness of it.
If our sisters comprehended the power they bear and the influence they
wield in the midst of the people it does appear to me that they would
consider their condition a little more than they do. It is true that I
sometimes chasten them pretty severely and talk to them harshly, and
tell them precisely how they look and act, and the path they are
walking in and point out the dangers to which they are exposed; and
sometimes it hurts their feelings, but I cannot help this. I take the
liberty of doing this and I do it for their good, for it is seldom
that a man will say anything to his wife or daughters about their
everyday labor and conduct. It is true that there is occasionally a
man who will find fault with everything, and a woman who will do the
same; and there is a certain few on this earth who are never happy
unless they are miserable, and who are never easy until they are in
pain; but such people are not commonly to be met with. Let the husband
train himself to be submissive to the Lord and his requirements in
every respect, and teach his wife or wives and children the doctrine
of life and salvation and set before them an example worthy of
imitation, and there are few families but what will follow such a
husband and father. Occasionally you may meet with a family who will
be re bellious under such circumstances, and you may once in a
while find a man who will be rebellious when his wife and children are
full of faith and good works. But such individuals are of Gentile
blood, which is the rebellious blood, and will show it out.
Now, sisters, hearken! Look to yourselves in your capacity as Relief
Societies in this city and throughout the mountains. Look at your
condition. Consider it for yourselves, and decide whether you will go
to and learn the influence which you possess, and then wield that
influence for doing good and to relieve the poor among the people.
When I have been out in the nations I have frequently been pained to
see the scenes of distress there to be met with. I recollect one
circumstance, while in England. I have related it often, but will do
so now. When standing in Smithfield Market, in the City of Manchester,
once, I spent a penny for a bunch of grapes that had just come from
France. Immediately after I felt as guilty as I could feel, for I saw
a woman passing by who, I knew by her appearance, was starving to
death. She dare not steal nor beg, for if she had done either she
would have been instantly arrested and taken to prison or the
workhouse. I say I felt guilty for spending that in luxury which, if
it had been given to that woman, might have procured her a morsel of
bread, and so have helped to relieve her misery.
Sisters, do you see any children around your neighborhoods poorly clad
and without shoes? If you do, I say to you Female Relief Societies
pick up these children and relieve their necessities, and send them to
school. And if you see any young, middle-aged or old ladies in need
find them something to do that will enable them to sustain themselves;
but don't relieve the idle, for relieving those who are able but
unwilling to work is ruinous to any community. The time we spend here
is our life, our substance, our capital, our fortune, and that time
should be used profitably. Take these old ladies, there are a great
many of them around rather poor, and give them something to do; that
is their delight. You will hardly find an old lady in the community
who has not been brought up to work; and they would rather knit
stockings or do some other useful labor than eat the bread of charity.
Relieve the wants of every individual in need in your neighborhoods.
This is in the capacity and in the power of the Female Relief
Societies when it is not in the power of the Bishops. Do you know it?
I do, whether you do or not; and you are learning it. Find out what
your influence is and how far it extends, and use it to do good; and
live every day so that when you lie down at night you can look back on
the day and say, in all honesty before God, "I do not know that I have
done a wrong action, said an improper word, indulged in a bad thought,
or neglected to perform any duty that I ought to have attended to this
day, and I can lie down in peace, and submit myself to the Lord, and
if I never wake again in this world, all right, I am just as ready to
go now as I ever shall be. This is the way we all should live, but I
know we come short of it, and then plead ignorance as an excuse, as
has been stated here today.
We are here in these mountains. How often do I think of it? Bro.
George A. says we are here because we are obliged to go somewhere.
This is true, we are absolutely under the necessity of going somewhere
or of fighting the whole world. The Lord did not desire this. It was
necessary for the people to be scourged, it was necessary for
us to learn whether we loved our property better than the truth. Five
times I have left a good handsome property; but no matter, the earth
is the Lord's, and he can give and take away what he pleases. Every
time I have been driven I have improved in my circumstances. Every
time this work has been removed it has become taller, wider, and
longer; and if in the reign of King James Buchanan, they had succeeded
in removing us we should have been still better off, because the Lord
would have prepared everything for the people to have been better off;
but this was not his mind. Here is our home, right here in these
mountains. What you have heard today from the previous speaker I
acknowledge may grate on the ears of some; nevertheless it is true. I
acknowledge another thing—truth should not at all times be spoken. But
we are here, and the statement you have heard with regard to the
President of this people saying, "If they let us alone ten years we
would ask no odds of them," is true; and the only thing in which we
have never failed in obtaining satisfaction has been to ask no odds of
them, for the most of things that we have asked for have been denied
us. In that we can have satisfaction; we cannot help it. We would not
have things as they are if we could help it. We should not have left
the States if we could have stayed there. If we could have all the
people believe the truth we would not have them unbelievers. There is
hardly a civilized nation on earth to which we have not carried the
Gospel without purse and scrip. He who had money left it at home. We
have offered life and salvation to the inhabitants of the earth
without money and without price, so you see we do not believe in a
hireling priesthood. We preach here without pay. Do our Bishops labor
for pay? No, if they are not capable of getting a living and
sustaining themselves and families, and of filling the office of
Bishop without pay, they are hardly worthy of the Bishopric. If a High
Priest is called to be a president or to travel and preach the Gospel
to the nations of the earth, he must do it without pay; and we think
that any man who is not able to keep himself and family and travel and
preach one-half or two-thirds of his time without being paid, is not
so good a financier as he ought to be, still we find many who do not
possess this qualification. When we have all learned this we shall
find that we can have all we can ask for or desire; everything to make
us happy and comfortable, no matter whether we are called to go abroad
and preach or whether we stay and labor at home.
Brethren and sisters, and especially the sisters, I hope you will
listen to what has been said this morning. I have been preaching to
the sisters of the Church this morning, not to outsiders. If I had
preached to outsiders I should have told them what the Gospel is; how
they can come to God, not to an "anxious bench." I should have told
them to repent of their sins, and to be baptized for the remission of
them, and to have hands laid upon them for the reception of the Holy
Ghost, which would bring to their remembrance things past, present,
and to come; that would make prophets and prophetesses of them; give
to them those gifts that God has set in his Church—the gift of
healing, the gift of discerning of spirits, of tongues, of the
interpretation of tongues, of prophecy, etc., etc. Are they here? Yes,
right here in abundance, to overflowing. If the Saints would be
faithful in cultivating these gifts every doctor might be removed from
our midst. Let the mothers, say nothing about the Elders in
Israel, exercise the faith that it is their right to exercise, and I
am satisfied that nine out of every ten children that now die might be
saved. Doctors and their medicines I regard as a deadly bane to any
community. Give your children, when sick, a little simple herb drink;
and if they have eaten too much let them go without food until their
stomachs are cleansed and purified, and have faith in the name of
Jesus and in the ordinances of his Church, and they will live. That is
my faith with regard to this thing. I am not very partial to doctors
and lawyers. I can see no use for them unless it is to raise grain or
go to mechanical work. But I need not go into this subject at the
present.
We say forgive us of our errors, accept the truth and love and serve
God that you may be saved in his kingdom, which I ask in the name of
Jesus. Amen.