It is a great work to instruct ourselves and each other; and to bring
ourselves into perfect subjection and to an understanding of
principle. We know what it is to meet with obstructions, difficulties
and contradictions of various kinds; and this people know pretty well
what it is to have to contend with the influences of the wicked world;
but we have reason to rejoice and be exceeding glad that we are not in
the same circumstances now that we have been heretofore. We have peace
here in these mountains, and since we arrived in these valleys we have
been free from those obstructions with which our pathway was
constantly strewn before. It is frequently asked me why we left the
States and the society of our Christian brethren. My reply has
invariably been, "We stayed with you just as long as you would let us,
and when you would let us stay no longer we had to hunt up some other
place, and we came to the valleys not out of choice but out of
necessity." It is true that we have had some little things to contend
with here, but it amounts to no more than a war of words. Our religion
will bear investigation, and we invite the Christian world to
investigate and to exchange ideas concerning faith and principles.
Brother Wells has been telling you about some of the influences that
we had to contend with in Illinois. This gentleman was not a "Mormon"
when we went from Missouri to Illinois, neither was he when we left
that State, and he was in a position to know what the feelings of the
people were; his neighbors composed the band that slew Joseph and
Hyrum in the jail at Carthage. He is acquainted with the
circumstances. He says he has put them from his mind as much as
possible, and does not think of them. I am happy to hear it. I wish we
may never be under the necessity of again referring to what we have
passed through; but we shall be, there is no question; and if we have
to meet with influences of another character now, all that we have to
do is to be prepared for them; and if the Lord brings us into
circumstances in which we shall be as willing to live our religion and
pray as some are to fight, it will be much better for us. We have many
Elders in Israel who would much rather fight for their religion than
pray. As for a person being saved in the celestial kingdom of God
without being prepared to dwell in a pure and holy place, it is all
nonsense and ridiculous; and if there be any who think they can gain
the presence of the Father and the Son by fighting for instead of
living their religion, they will be mistaken, consequently the quicker
we make up our minds to live our religion the better it will be for
us. If we live so as to enjoy the spirit of the faith that we have
embraced there is no danger of our being deceived.
To those of our Christian brethren who have come here, not to join a
mob to kill or persecute the Saints, but to see how many of those who
have obeyed the Gospel they can induce to forsake the holy
commandments of the Lord Jesus and to follow after phantoms, I say the
quicker this war of words commences and the fiercer it is carried on
the better it will be for the Saints. So we say come, brethren, come
with your big tents, your meetinghouses, your arguments and all the
philosophy you are in possession of, for we have a religion that we
would like the inhabitants of the earth to understand. We have nothing
in the dark, nothing but what is good for man; and we would say to all
try our religion. We have tried and we understand the religions of the
world; and in some remarks I made yesterday I ventured to say that our
youth know more of heavenly things than old men do in the Christian
world. If any doubt this, just take our children and question them,
and if they have the courage and boldness, see how quickly they will
lead members of the sectarian world into waters so deep that they
cannot see the shore. But if a war of argument is desired or intended,
I do not mean contention, but an exchange of ideas, we are willing to
give to all who want them the principles of the Gospel of life and
salvation, and they can give to us all they know of the Gospel as they
have embraced it, which is no more nor less than a system of morals or
ethics, and is excellent as far as it goes. But the Gospel that
we have embraced includes every principle of morality and virtue that
is taught by any person on the earth, whether he does or does not know
or profess to know Christ.
If we are brought into circumstances where we have the privilege of
telling strangers what we believe in we are very willing to do so; but
the first thing with them is, "Oh, your strange doctrine, your
peculiar doctrine!" How often this is said to me in my office. I say
to them, "What peculiar doctrine? Will you please to name it?" The
reply is, "Well, you know you have a peculiar doctrine;" and the
ladies stand anxiously waiting for somebody or other to give it a
name. I sometimes say, "Is it plurality of wives you mean?" "Yes, yes,
that is the doctrine." If I were to answer my own feelings to such
parties, I would answer them and say, "That is nothing; so far as a
plurality of women goes, you men, if you will allow me this vulgar
expression, 'knock the hind sights off the Mormons.'" But that is
vulgar, and so let it pass.
"But," say they, "what of your peculiar doctrine? What did you come to
the mountains for? What did you leave us for? We suppose it was on
account of your peculiar doctrine." I reply, "Pause! Wait a moment!
When we left the confines of what is called civilization the doctrine
of plurality of wives was not known by the world, and was not taught
by us, and was known only to a very few members of our Church; but
since we have declared this revelation we have dwelt in peace and
safety, so we were not persecuted for that, sure. We did not leave
Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, or any other State or neighborhood within
the confines of civilization for believing in the doctrine of a
plurality of wives." I say this to all who hear me. I want our young
folks to understand this, or they may perhaps grow up with the idea
that we were driven from our homes in consequence of our belief in
celestial marriage. I want all our young, and all who believe the
Gospel and all who do not believe it, to know that we were driven for
believing in the Old and New Testament; not for believing in the Book
of Mormon, but in the Bible, and then practicing it in our lives.
This, and this only, is what we were driven for. It is now called the
"one-man power;" then it was "the 'Mormons' clan
together;" and this
was the rock of offense or seemingly so; but in reality it was the
same then as now and now as then—we as a people believe in the
Scriptures of divine truth, and we are united in endeavoring to live
according to the precepts thereof.
When Brother Wells was speaking he said the Christian religion had
failed. I will say just what he meant to say—namely, that professing
the Christian religion has failed to bring the world into subjection
to moral laws. I would not say that Christianity has failed; the
religion of Christ has not failed, but those professing this religion
have failed to bring the world into subjection to good and wholesome
laws. You may take up politics, for instance, and in our own country
there are a great many parties who differ in their views and opinions
with regard to governing a nation, and on every hand they are
contending against each other. This division exists even among the
professing Christians. The Catholics and Quakers are probably less
divided than others, but they are far from being one in politics; and
the same is true to a greater extent of the Episcopalians,
Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, Methodists, and so on. When we see a religion, and one which is claimed to be the
religion of Christ, and it will not govern men in their politics, it
is a very poor religion, it is very feeble, very taint in its effects,
hardly perceptible in the life of a person. The religion that the Lord
has revealed from heaven unites the hearts of the people, and when
they gather together, no matter where they are from, they are of one
heart and one mind. Those who have no idea of the effects of the
Gospel attribute the oneness it produces to the influence of
individuals now living on the earth, instead of giving God the glory,
praise and honor.
The religion of heaven unites the hearts of the people and makes them
one. You may gather a people together, and no matter how widely they
differ in politics, the Gospel of Jesus Christ will make them one,
even if among them were found members of all the political parties in
the country, I do not know how many different political parties now
exist in the country. There used to be only Federals and Democrats,
then Whigs, Republicans, Locofocos, Barn-burners, and Free-soilers.
Then the "Know Nothings" sprang into existence. I believe the Ku-Klux
is a new political organization; and I have heard that, in the City of
Washington, the Anti-Ku-Klux, another political party, has recently
been organized. If members of all these various organizations were to
obey the Gospel and gather together, the religion of heaven would
clear their hearts of all political rubbish and make them one in
voting for principles and measures, instead of men, and I think that
any religion that will not do this is very feeble in its effects. The
Christian religion, or what is called so, has failed to subdue the
world; but what will the Gospel of Jesus Christ do? If the Gospel that
we preach, and which we are trying to set before priest and people—for
we want all to know and understand it—if it does not have the effect
of convincing men and women of the truth sufficiently to induce them
to yield obedience to its ordinances and to embrace the doctrine of
life and salvation, and accept the overtures of mercy, learn Christ
and obey him, it will drive them to the wall of infidelity. Do we
believe this? It must be so. Do others believe it? No, they do not.
The Christian world do not know that they are infidels in their belief
in regard to the character of the Father and the Son, and the Holy
Priesthood and its laws and requirements. If a man does not believe
that he ought to be baptized for the remission of his sins, he is an
infidel to baptism. My definition of the term infidel is that if any
principle or doctrine is set before me, and I say I disbelieve it, I
am neither more nor less than an infidel to that principle or
doctrine. Are the sectarian world infidels according to this
definition? Yes, and if we had time we would take some passages of
Scripture and prove it. Take, for instance, the character of the
Savior, and the sectarian world are infidel on this point. What do
they believe about it? I do not know what they believe, and they do
not know themselves. Many of them do not know that they believe
anything. They would he glad to believe if they knew what to believe.
But not knowing what to believe, they say, "We do not know, we do not
understand, we cannot tell. We understand some things by reading the
Scriptures; but the ministers tell us they have a spiritual meaning."
Now what does this favorite saying of the ministers—"a spiritual
meaning" —convey to the mind? Something or other that you and I do not
understand, that is all. Well, then, partially, I will say, to
a certain degree, it leaves us in infidelity. This is the situation of
the sectarian world today—they do not know what to believe, and
consequently they are full of unbelief and doubt, and we say that our
children ought to know enough to teach the whole world with regard to
these things. The divines of the day, when, they have graduated from
the schools, seminaries and colleges, so far as their knowledge of
heavenly things goes, are a bundle of trash and ignorance. I meet with
some occasionally, however, who are very religious. I met with a
gentleman in my office last Friday evening, who was very tenacious on
some points touching morality. He put me in mind of a great many I
have met in my travels—strong, staunch Christians. What did the
religion of that individual consist of? I told you yesterday—ignorance
and impudence—that is about the amount of it. Such men would be
Christians if they knew how, they would like to be. But will they
receive the truth? Our doctrine and practice is, and I have made it
mine through life—to receive truth no matter where it comes from. Is
there truth in heaven? Yes, it dwells there, it is the foundation of
the heavens. Is there truth on earth and beneath the earth? There is.
Is there truth in the words of a good man? Yes. In the words of a
wicked man? Yes, sometimes; and there is truth in the words of an
angel, and in the words of the devil, and when the devil speaks the
truth I should have the spirit to discriminate between the truth and
the error, and should receive the former and reject the latter. For
example, you read in Genesis about the formation of the earth and the
creation of Adam and Eve in the Garden. By and by the devil comes
along and tempts Eve, by offering her the fruit of a certain tree,
assuring her at the same time that the very day she ate of it her eyes
would be open and she would see like the Gods. Did the devil tell the
truth? He did. Did he tell a lie? Yes, and how many of them he told to
one truth I have not taken pains to examine. You take a wicked person,
an opposer of the truth, one of our apostates, for instance, and he
will tell you a little truth and mix it up with a great deal of error;
but we should know enough to understand and receive the truth; that
will do us good, and if we reject the error it will do us no harm.
This is our position, and we say to all Christians come and
investigate our religion. Do we understand Methodism, Presbyterianism,
Quakerism, Shakerism and the various other isms of the Christian
world? Yes. I learned these, as far as their creeds go, many years
ago. That which they could not tell and did not understand, I never
did learn. My objection to their creeds and systems was that they
talked about things they did not understand and could not tell a word
about; consequently I was called an infidel. We say, give us the
truth; but when strangers come to see me their first reflection is, "I
would like to ask him a question if I dare." What is it? It is all
about wives. My conscience! What a generation of gentlemen and ladies
we have! Their thoughts and reflections are continually about wives
and husbands. Why the mind of a pure Saint and Christian is above such
things. If it is necessary to take a wife, take one; if it is
necessary to have a husband, have one. If it is necessary to have two
wives, take them. If it is right, reasonable and proper and the Lord
permits a man to take half a dozen wives, take them; but if the Lord
says let them alone, let them alone. How long? Until we go down to the grave, if the Lord demand it. If he require an Elder or
Elders to take their valise and travel and preach the Gospel until the
day of their death, they should do it; and if they are not happy in so
doing, it would prove that they do not possess the spirit of their
religion.
This gentleman to whom I was speaking on Friday was tenacious with
regard to the Sabbath; that was his whole theme. He commenced about
our running cars here on the Sabbath Day. I told him in as few words
as I could, that my feelings were not to do it, and if I had the
management of railroads I would stop it. Why? Because the Lord has
said that it is not good for us to work the seven days; it is good to
work six and rest the seventh. Our system requires rest after six
days' labor, and consequently he has set the seventh apart for that
purpose. But I told him I could not control that matter; the people
want to run from Salt Lake to Ogden and back again to Salt Lake on
Sundays, and consequently, as it is a matter of necessity, we run the
cars on the Sabbath. Said he, "How can you reconcile this?" Said I,
"It ought to be done, that is how I reconcile it." Know whether you
ought to do a thing or not, and if you ought to do it, do it; and if
you ought not, let it alone. That is the way to live. You cannot read
anything in the Bible about a railroad from Salt Lake City to Ogden,
nor from the Atlantic to the Pacific; you cannot read anything about
telegraph wires, nor whether they should work on a Sunday or lie
still; nor anything about running a railroad, or a stage, or about the
labor of the people who live now. By reading the Bible we can learn
something about the way the ancients regulated their labors as far as
the Lord told them what to do. It is one of the most simple things in
the world for people to understand what course they should take; what
a pity they do not all understand it! If men would live and humble
themselves like children God could dwell within them and could dictate
every heart. But to enjoy this we must live before the Lord, so that
our minds would be like a sheet of white paper such as our reporters
here are writing on, then the Lord could and would dictate all our
movements. Live with a conscience void of offense towards God and man
and the spirit of inspiration would indite matter on every such well
regulated conscience. But our consciences are made by our parents and
teachers; and just as we are taught by others are our consciences
dictated. But we should all live so that the spirit of revelation
could dictate and write on the heart and tell us what we should do,
instead of the traditions of our parents and teachers. But to do this
we must become like little children; and Jesus says if we do not we
cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. How simple it is! Live free from
envy, malice, wrath, strife, bitter feelings, and evil speaking in our
families and about our neighbors and friends, and all the inhabitants
of the earth, wherever we meet them. Live so that our consciences are
free, clean and clear. This is as simple as anything can be, and yet
it is one of the hardest things to get people to understand, or rather
to practice; for you may get them to understand it, but the great
difficulty is to get them to practice it. If we, both priest and
people, will practice this, the Spirit of the Lord can dictate and
tell us our duty, and when that is presented before us we will go and
do it.
But, instead of such principles as these occupying people's minds
now-a-days, it is, "How many wives have you, Mr. Young? Oh, I do want
to ask Mr. Young how many wives he has." Ladies who come into
my office very frequently say, "I wonder if it would hurt his feelings
if I were to ask him how many wives he has?" Let me say to all
creation that I would as lief they should ask me that question as any
other; but I would rather see them anxious to learn about the Gospel.
Having wives is a secondary consideration; it is within the pale of
duty, and consequently, it is all right. But to preach the Gospel,
save the children of men, build up the kingdom of God, produce
righteousness in the midst of the people; govern and control ourselves
and our families and all we have influence over; make us of one heart
and one mind; to clear the world from wickedness—this fighting and
slaying, this mischievous spirit now so general, and to subdue and
drive it from the face of the earth, and to usher in and establish the
reign of universal peace, is our business, no matter how many wives a
man has got, that makes no difference here or there. I want to say,
and I wish you to publish it, that I would as soon be asked how many
wives I have got as any other question, just as soon; but I would
rather see something else in their minds, instead of all the time
thinking "How many wives have you; or I wonder whom he slept with last
night." I can tell those who are curious on this point. I slept with
all that slept, and we slept on one universal bed—the bosom of our
mother earth, and we slept together. "Did you have anybody in bed with
you?" "Yes." "Who was it?" It was my wife, it was not
your wife, nor
your daughter nor sister, unless she was my wife, and that too
legally. I can say that to all creation, and every honest man can say
the same; but it is not all who are professed Christians who can say
it, and I will say, and I am sorry to say it, not all professed
"Mormons" can say this. Live so that your heart is pure and holy, and
if the Lord Almighty gives you a wife take good care of her, and do
not be like many of our brethren. I heard a contention this morning
between an old man and his family, I am ashamed to say it; as I said
to the brethren, "It is bad enough to see young fools, but worse to
see old fools." You only meet with a man occasionally who knows enough
about human nature to govern his own family. Men, as a general thing,
do not know the dispositions of their wives and children, nor how to
govern and control them; and it is certainly a pretty close, intricate
point. I have had some people ask me how I manage and control the
people. I do it by telling them the truth and letting them do just as
they have a mind to. I control my wives by telling them the truth and
letting them do as they like. Will I quarrel with them? No, I will
not. Some of them may have felt a little discouraged at this. I do not
know, however, that they had a disposition to quarrel; if they have
had, they are sick of it, for they have found out that they cannot
raise the breeze. Devils, pigs, dogs and the brute creation quarrel.
Do intelligent men quarrel? Yes, and men and women will quarrel, and
sometimes they quarrel with their neighbors. I meet with some
occasionally who need chastening, but as for quarrelling I do not
think that I am guilty of it.
With these few remarks it is about time to close. We shall meet again,
this afternoon. To satisfy my feelings I should have to say a good
deal. I say to you who want to govern your wives, set them an example,
continually, that is good. Let them say, "There is my husband, does he
do anything that he should not do? No, he does not. He prays,
he is faithful, humble, meek, full of kindness and of good words and
works, I see nothing wrong in him." If a man lives like this his wife
will say, "I should be ashamed to get up a quarrel, I think I had
better do as he says, I think he knows better than I do, I will yield
my spirit to his." If a man pursue this straightforward, manly,
godlike course he will find woman in her place by his side following
him. He is leading her, she is not leading him. When we find an Elder
of Israel do this we find plenty of women who will go along with him.
And this is the principle on which to govern a neighborhood or nation
as well as a wife or children. When a king, ruler, president, governor
or legislative assembly take this course, the people knew they are
looking after the welfare of the governed instead of their own
aggrandizement, and they will always be glad to have them in office,
and they will not wish for a change. When the righteous rule, the
people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people mourn. This is the
secret of it; if we govern ourselves we can govern others.
May the Lord bless us. Amen.