It is a pleasure to me to bear testimony to the great work which God
has revealed, and which he is establishing on the earth. It has been a
pleasure for me to do so for nearly forty-three years. In the early
rise of this Church, when I was but a youth of nineteen, God revealed
to me the truth concerning this great latter-day work, and I have felt
from that day until the present time to bear my testimony to the
same, being commanded so to do. I have esteemed it above all other
things. The things of this world have been nothing to me, when compared
with the ministry, or declaring the truth to mankind. We have one of
the most important messages to deliver to the children of men that has
ever been communicated to mortals—a dispensation of the same Gospel as
was committed to men in the early ages of the world, and in the
different dispensations down to the coming of Christ. In addition to
this, which renders our message of still more importance to the human
family, is the fact that we are living in the last dispensation that
will be given to mankind, called the dispensation of the fullness of
times. All preceding dispensations have come to an end, apparently,
and those who have embraced the doctrines or principles communicated
to them have passed away, and darkness has intervened. But in this
last dispensation which God has given to man, there will be no
uprooting and destruction of his kingdom from the earth—it is
established never more to be thrown down, in fulfillment of ancient
prophecy. This is what makes this dispensation of greater importance
than all which have preceded it.
Here in these mountains is established a kingdom, not earthly or
transient in its nature, with officers who are called by uninspired
men but a kingdom that is divine, and which acknowledges the
Great Redeemer and Savior as its King and Lawgiver. It must endure
forever.
I look back with great pleasure upon the history of this people from
the commencement down to the present time. I see what God has wrought
in their behalf; I see what he has accomplished among the nations. It
is true that we have not continued as faithful in all things as we
should. We have not made that progression in this kingdom that we
ought. We have been perhaps slow to hearken in all things to the
counsels which God has given, and the order which he has revealed, and
which was intended to be of the greatest advantage to, and to produce
the greatest amount of happiness among the Saints of the Most High. I
say that, in some respects, we have been slow to obey the order of
Heaven. In many things we have done well. When the doctrines of faith,
repentance and baptism for the remission of sins, the baptism of fire
and the Holy Ghost through the laying on of the hands of the servants
of God, were taught to us, we laid hold of them with full purpose of
heart. We covenanted before high heaven that we would keep the
commandments of the Lord according to the best of the ability which we
had. We did well in embracing these heavenly principles.
When God spake to us some forty-two or forty-three years ago, and
commanded us—then scattered about in the State of New York—to gather
up to Ohio, we did well in hearkening to that commandment, and coming
together in Kirtland—then in Geauga County. Again, when God gave a
commandment through his servant, the Prophet Joseph, to gather up from
all parts of the United States and form a nucleus in Jackson County,
in the State of Missouri, we did well in obeying that commandment.
When God, by the mouth of his servant, commanded that we should go
forth and officiate and be baptized for and in behalf of our dead
kindred, we did well in performing that which we were commanded to do.
When he commanded his Saints, scattered abroad in foreign countries,
to gather to this continent, all who gathered in obedience to that
requirement, with full purpose of heart to do his will, did well. When
we were driven from our inheritances in Jackson County, Missouri, and
our lands and houses and goods were spoiled, we did well in being
faithful to God. When our enemies, a few years after, rose en masse
and drove us from our beautiful city of Nauvoo into these inhospitable
western wilds, where to all human appearance we must perish of
starvation, we did well to brave the dangers of the desert, and the
difficulties we had to encounter in coming to these mountains. In many
other things, too, we have done well. There are some few things,
however, which I wish to name, wherein I think a great reformation is
needed among the people of God. I read in this book, called the Book
of Mormon, of a certain order, in regard to temporal things, which
existed soon after the days of Christ, which was revealed and
established by him for he benefit of the Saints who lived on this
Western Hemisphere. It was the highest order and law of the kingdom of
God in regard to temporal things. I read that the ancient Saints upon
this continent entered into that order with all their hearts. They
were not a small handful of people like the Latter-day Saints, but
they were spread over the whole of North and South America. Millions
on millions of people dwelt in large and populous cities in the
four quarters of this great Western Hemisphere, and they all entered
into this heavenly order which God had established on this continent
and continued therein for 167 years.
What was that order? They had all things in common. Not an isolated
few where Jesus ministered to them; not a few individuals who dwelt in
a certain region of country, but the Savior having chosen twelve
disciples from among the multitude to whom he appeared, they were sent
forth upon all the face of the land, and so great were the evidences
given, concerning the appearance of Jesus, that the whole people were
converted unto the Lord, and they were willing to be guided by those
servants who were called and ordained to administer in their midst.
Prior to that time there were rich and poor among the people, and,
from the history given, no doubt an order of things existed on this
continent in those days resembling that which now exists among all the
nations and kingdoms of the earth—some lifted up in pride and
popularity because of their great wealth, others bowed down in the
dust because of their poverty, and class distinctions prevailed until
this new order of things was established. What a blessed people! How
happy they must have been! No poor either in North or South America.
No beggars in the streets of their great cities, but all the
property—the gold and silver, the flocks and herds, and everything
that was calculated to make life happy in the possession of and
enjoyed, as stewards, by the whole people. No inequality, so far as
this was concerned, for the pattern was after the order of heavenly
things.
Now let us ask the question—has God ever revealed to the Latter-day
Saints the necessity of entering into this heavenly order in regard to
their wealth? He has. When? When we gathered up to Jackson County in
the State of Missouri. In the year 1831, the land was consecrated and
set apart by revelation for the erection thereon of a great and
heavenly city unto the Most High God. Not the old Jerusalem, but a new
Jerusalem, a city of Zion. God, by the mouth of his servant Joseph,
who for a short space of time dwelt in the midst of the people there,
revealed the law of consecration, not the law of tithing, but the law
of consecration. Let me repeat that law, Latter-day Saints, for as it
is a law which will come in force at some future period of our
history, it will not be amiss for us to understand its nature and to
prepare to approximate to its requirements, so that when it is
introduced amongst us we may take hold of it with all our hearts. When
we went up to that country in 1831, the commandment of the Most High
to the Saints was that they should consecrate all that they had. Not
one-tenth merely, not the surplus of their property, but, all that
they had, whether it was gold, silver, household furniture, wearing
apparel, jewelry, horses, cattle, wagons, mechanical tools, machinery,
or whatever wealth or property they possessed, they were to consecrate
the whole and deliver it unto the Lord's judge in the midst of Zion.
Who was he? The Bishop. In those days we had not the necessity of so
many Bishops as now. We were a small people then, and the Bishop in
Zion, under the direction of the highest authorities of the Church, he
being guided and inspired by the Holy Ghost, was to take charge of all
the consecrations of the people of the Most High. This made them
all equal, every person stood upon the same platform, possessing
nothing to begin with. All was consecrated and became the common
property of the Church.
Now how was this common property to be used? First, the Saints needed
land, they needed means to build habitations; they needed farming
utensils; they needed flocks and herds; they needed manufacturing
establishments; they needed mercantile and all kinds of mechanical
business to be introduced into their midst, just as fast as they
procured means sufficient. By whom were the stewardships of the Saints
laid off? The Lord's judge or bishop in Zion purchased land from the
United States, and then laid off to each man his stewardship according
to the number of his family. Those who were mechanics received the
tools necessary to work with; those who were called upon to engage in
some business wherein a greater amount of capital was needed had a
capital accordingly. That is, that was the intention as the common
property of the Church should increase.
Perhaps the question may be asked, could this equality be maintained
from that time, henceforth and forever? If there had been no law given
instructing us how this equality could be maintained the people,
before twelve months had passed away, would have been unequal again.
Why? Because a man, perhaps, of small talent or ability, might
mismanage his stewardship or inheritance, and instead of gaining
anything he would lose. Another man, having a little more talent and
industry, and perhaps a little more wisdom, would gain a little.
Another man's business tact and knowledge were perhaps such that he
could carry on a large manufacturing establish ment, and in a short
time he would gain his thousands, and thus in the course of a year we
would again have had rich and poor if God had not provided against it.
What provisions did the Lord make in order to maintain this equality
among his Saints permanently? He made this arrangement by law—that
every man should be considered a steward first, and prove himself a
wise steward before he could be entitled to an everlasting
inheritance. These stewards were to render an account to the judge in
Zion of their stewardships, or in other words, as it is written in the
Book of Doctrine and Covenants—"It is required of every steward to
render an account of his stewardship, both in time and eternity."
(Doc. and Cov., Sec. xc: Par. 1.)
To whom does he render this report or account? To the Lord's bishop or
bishops, as the case may be; he reports what he has done with the
means entrusted to his care. If a man has been entrusted with fifty or
with a thousand dollars, or with a million, to carry on some branch of
business he must, at the end of the year, render an account of that
stewardship. If a man is only entrusted with a small farm, he renders
an account of his stewardship at the end of the year, and thus all
those who are occupied in these different branches of trade, render
accounts of their stewardships, consecrating, at the end of the year,
all that they have gained, excepting what it has cost to feed and
clothe them. Are they not equal? Yes, and this maintains a permanent
equality; for the man who has gained a hundred thousand in his
stewardship consecrates all that he has not used; and the man with a
smaller stewardship who in the whole year, has only gained fifty
dollars over and above what he has used, consecrates that fifty.
The man who has gained most consecrates most, the man who has gained
least consecrates the least. This reduces them yearly to the same
position and condition as they were in when they commenced this
heavenly order.
Did the people carry out this law? No. Why? Because they had imbibed
the notions which had prevailed among the people of the whole earth,
and these notions were in direct opposition to the order of heaven.
The notions and traditions of the world were that every man must be
for himself, every family for themselves, and they must labor with
their might, mind and strength to gain all they possibly could gain,
and use it only for themselves and their generations after them,
caring nothing at all about their neighbors. These traditions had been
instilled into our minds, and we were too full of covetousness and of
false notions about property to carry out the law of God, and hence
many, when they came up to Zion, looked abroad upon that beautiful,
rich soil, and the excellent groves of timber, and the fine prairies
and meadows, with springs breaking forth in numerous places, as they
do in Jackson County, and their souls lusted after these things, and
the rich man said, "No, I will not consecrate all my property, I will
go to the General Land Office and purchase for myself, and I will buy
largely in order that I may sell to my poor brethren when they come up
here. I will buy land and speculate upon it, and make my fortune."
That was the feeling which existed in the hearts of some of the
Latter-day Saints. God saw this, and reproved us by revelation, and he
said to the people in Jackson County, by the mouth of his servant
Joseph, that if they did not repent of this covet ousness he would
pluck them up and send them out of Zion, for said he, "The rebellious
are not of the blood of Ephraim, wherefore they shall be plucked up,
and sent away out of the land." God fulfilled this revelation—he did
pluck up the people; he did cast them away out of that land in the
year 1833. Some two years and a few months after we first began to
settle that country we were cast out of the land—plucked up, just as
the Lord had predicted, and we were told that it was because of our
sins and covetousness that we were sent away.
Did the Lord forsake us? No; he had compassion upon us, as he had upon
ancient Israel, when they were cast away out of their land from time
to time. In what respect did he have compassion upon us? When he saw
the hold that the traditions in which we had been trained had upon our
hearts, he revoked, for the time being, the law of full consecration.
Says one, "What! God revoke a commandment?" Yes, that is the way he
did in ancient times, and he is the same God yet. He did it for our
good; for if that law had been in full force this people would not
have been in these mountains this day. Our selfishness and
covetousness are so great that, as a people, we never would have
complied with it. A few amongst us might have done so, but as a people
we should have been overcome and ruined; but owing to that law being
revoked, many of us will now, perhaps, be saved.
In the year 1834, a few months after, we were driven out from that
goodly land. God said unto us in a revelation, given on Fishing River,
"Let those laws and commandments which I have given concerning Zion
and her properties, be executed and fulfilled after her redemption."
Thus you see, Latter-day Saints, that we are not under the law
of full consecration, and if not under the law we are not under the
penalty thereof. Where there is a law there is a penalty, and when we
transgress the law we incur the penalty; but having been relieved, for
a period, from the execution of that law, we were placed under another
law, which, in some respects, may be considered an inferior law. When
was that law given? In 1838, some five years after we were driven
forth from our stewardships. What is that law? It is called the law of
tithing. What is the law of tithing? Part of that law enjoins it upon
the Saints as a duty to pay into the Lord's storehouse one-tenth of
all their annual income. But let me refer you to the fulness of the
law of tithing, for, although an inferior law, I fear that as a people
we have not kept it. The first part of that law requires every man,
when he comes into the midst of the people of God, to consecrate all
his surplus property, reserving to himself a certain portion. This is
not a full consecration like the higher law. Latter-day Saints, have
we kept this inferior law? Has the man who possessed great riches,
when he came to these mountains and numbered himself with the people
of God, consecrated all his surplus property, and afterwards paid a
tenth of all his annual income? I will tell you what we have done—as a
general thing we, rich and poor, have kept all the property we had
when we came here, and some have consecrated one-tenth part of their
income, and so far as this is concerned the people have no doubt done
very well, with some few exceptions; and I am happy to be able to
state, from information I have obtained from some of the Bishops of
the Church, that the Latter-day Saints, now, are showing more
determination to pay their tithing, than they ever have done
heretofore.
But let us come back to the other portion of this inferior law. Have
we felt a disposition to consecrate our surplus property? Go east,
west, north and south, into all our settlements, and you will find
that the men are few and far between who consecrated their surplus
property, when they came here. In the first place, there have been but
few wealthy persons who have come amongst us, and the people have been
their own judges. Every man thought that he had no surplus, when he
came here. If he had a hundred thousand dollars on his arrival he has
said or thought, "O, I have made such and such calculations. I wish to
become a merchant in the midst of the people, and I need thousands and
thousands of dollars to set me up. I wish to make thirty, forty, fifty
or a hundred percent out of these poor people, and to enable me to
do so I do not think that any of this hundred thousand dollars can be
called surplus property. I need it all, I cannot carry on my
merchandising unless I have it all to set me up.
Another man who wishes to start some other branch of business makes
his calculations so as to cover up all his property, for he thinks he
will need it all to enable him to carry out the particular branch of
business which he wishes to introduce into these mountains, for he
wants to get exceedingly rich before the law of full consecration
comes. When they are thus left to be their own judges, where is the
man who is honest enough in his feelings to say, "I think I can spare
fifty, twenty, ten, five or one thousand dollars as surplus property?"
This in my opinion is wrong. They should not be their own
judges: Who should be the judges in this matter? The Bishops whom the
Lord has appointed in Zion, under the counsel of the First Presidency
of his Church and the counsels of the Holy Ghost which rest upon them
to guide their minds. The people should be honest enough when they
come up here with means, to say to the Bishops—"Here, I have so much
means, judge ye, how much of this shall be surplus, and how much I
shall retain."
The reason I make these remarks is that I want this people to fully
understand that there is a law given, a law inferior to that of full
consecration, and for every man to enquire whether he has carried out
this law according to the letter thereof. Perhaps the time has not
come even for this law to be fulfilled in all its exactness. At any
rate we are drifting along in about the same channel that the world
does, so far as our property is concerned, with the exception of
paying one-tenth of our annual income into the Lord's storehouse, and
the consequence is, there have become rich and poor in Zion, some
possessing their hundreds of thousands, and others digging, in the
dust, as it were, from year's end to year's end.
How shall this be remedied? Is the time come for us to execute the
higher law of consecration? In undertaking to do so in the settlements
of this Territory, what a revolution it would produce! How many would
apostatize and go away from the Church? How many of those who are
comparatively wheat would be plucked up with the tares if we were to
undertake to enforce the higher law of consecration, or the law of
tithing in all its fullness? And it would produce the same
revolutionary results in most of the old settlements, because we are
not prepared for it. I do not see, for my part, how we can begin to
approximate to that law of oneness in regard to our property unless we
commence in some new place, where the Church and the settlers might be
gathered together and set a pattern for all the rest. I do not know
but we might accomplish it in that way. I hope that we shall see
something that will do away with these distinctions of classes. I hate
to see them in the midst of the people of God.
There are many men of wealth, good, honest, upright men who would be
willing to do anything that the Lord required at their hands; while
there are others who hug their property close to their hearts, as
though it were dearer to them than anything either in this world or in
the world to come. There are certainly existing now among us
distinctions of classes which if not checked, may prove the overthrow
of many. For instance the rich can educate their sons and daughters in
the best schools, academies and universities; others cannot do this,
because of their poverty. This makes the children of the rich feel
themselves above the children of the poor. Have we not seen in our
gatherings for amusement these distinctions manifested? I have. I have
seen those who were poorly dressed come into our parties and take a
back seat, and there they would sit, as the old saying is, like
"wallflowers," during the whole party. Who would be out on the floor
enjoying themselves? The rich. But in many instances there are parties
of pleasure and amusement got up among the Saints, to which the poor
are never invited; they are got up only for those who can dress in
fine style, who can sweep the floor of the ballroom with two or three
yards of their dresses dragging after them.
With the feelings engendered by these distinctions of classes, there
is not that fellowship that should exist among the Saints of the
living God. If we wish, brethren and sisters, to go back and build up
the waste places of Zion, and to see the New Jerusalem erected upon
the consecrated spot, let us endeavor to approximate more nearly to
the celestial law, that when we do get back there, and that law more
fully comes in force, we may be able to enter into it; for thus saith
the Lord, in this Book of Covenants, "Zion cannot be built up only
according to the law of the celestial kingdom, otherwise I cannot
receive her unto myself." We have got to come to that, and it is well
for us in my opinion, that we begin to approximate as fast as
possible, that when the time shall come, we shall be prepared for full
consecration.
How long our President has labored in the midst of the people here to
get them to introduce home manufactures? How long and loud he has
lifted his voice, in connection with his counselors, and the Twelve
Apostles, to bring about this thing; but the people, instead of
hearkening to their counsel, have imported from abroad almost
everything they needed. The President is willing, but some of the
people are not. Amen.