Brethren and sisters, we have met here to talk over the principles of
our faith, and if we say that we are going to be Saints, and that we
are going to live our religion, we do not expect to give ourselves the
lie, to eat our own words and to falsify our characters and our
testimonies before God; but we expect to live our religion as well as
we know how. We want you who wish to be Saints, to know, that we will
do everything in our power to help you to live so, that you will be
entitled to, and enjoy, the revelations of the Lord Jesus; that every
man and every woman may know and understand their duty before God,
pertaining to themselves and what is required of them, just as much as
your humble servant who is talking to you.
It is a great privilege to know the mind and will of God, and this
privilege we enjoy, and I wish that all good people of every nation,
sect and party would so live that they might understand the will of
the Lord for themselves; but in bestowing this upon us the Lord
requires us to live accordingly, and he has placed us and all people
under this obligation.
It is my duty to know the mind of the Lord concerning myself and also
concerning this people; and I think I know it just as well as I know
the road home. I do not know the path from that door to my own home
any better than I know how to dictate this people, if they will only
hearken to me. This is a great blessing and a great privilege, and if
I were to reject it and take a course to deprive myself of the spirit
of revelation, according to what the Lord has given to me, and to
magnify the Priesthood that I received through his servant Joseph, I
would be taken forthwith from this world, I would not remain here at
all to darken the minds of, or to lead astray, any of the members of
the kingdom of God. According to the revelations that I and others of
my brethren and sisters have received, through the Prophet Joseph and
others who have lived upon the earth, if I observe my duty, I shall
have the privilege of living and enjoying the society of my brethren
and sisters, and of instructing them; but let me neglect this and I
shall be removed out of my place forthwith.
Now it is no more my duty to live so as to know the mind and
will of the Lord than it is the duty of my brethren, the rest of the
Twelve. I say the rest of the Twelve, because I am the President of
the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on the earth, and the only one that
the Lord has ever acknowledged. It is true that Thomas B. Marsh was
once President, but the Lord never acknowledged any man by revelation
as President of that Quorum but myself. At the death of Joseph I
stepped out from that position in the advance, according to the
organization of the Church, for the sake of preserving the flock of
God, but not according to my wishes, nor the desire of my heart, but
it was my duty. When I heard of the Prophet's death I said—"What will
become of the people? What will the Saints do now that the Prophet has
gone?" It was my whole desire to preserve the sheep of the flock of
God, and it is so today. Brother Kimball also stepped into the first
Presidency, and we called others and ordained them to take our place
for the time being, that the Church might be fully organized, and we
expect to ordain more when we feel like it; but because a man is
ordained an Apostle it does not prove that he belongs to the Quorum of
the Apostles. I just mention this that you may understand it.
Now, in regard to the Twelve Apostles, it is their imperative duty to
live so that they will know the mind and will of the Lord concerning
them in the discharge of their duties as a quorum, and also as
individuals; and they are under just the same obligations to live so
as to enjoy the spirit of revelation that I am. And so it is with the
Seventies, the High Priests, the Elders and the Bishops. It is the
imperative duty of a Bishop—called to preside over a ward—to live so
that he will know the mind and will of God concerning his ward just as
much as I do concerning this people. But when Bishops say they are
willing to do as brother Brigham says, and that is the end of their
researches to know the mind and will of the Lord, they will always be
making mistakes, always doing something that they will regret; they
will neglect their duty here and there, and when they make a move it
will not be right unless brother Brigham is there to tell them the
words they should say and the acts they should perform; and hence the
necessity of them living day by day so that they will know the mind
and will of the Lord for themselves.
And so you may follow on through every quorum there is in the Church,
not only Seventies, High Priests, Elders and Bishops, but also the
Priests, Teachers and Deacons, who administer to the people in going
from house to house. It is their duty to live so that they know and
understand the mind and will of the Lord concerning the people to whom
they administer, as much as it is mine to know the mind and will of
the Lord concerning the entire people. And it is the duty of every
father and mother to live so that they may have the mind and will of
the Lord concerning their duties to their families. If they are not
called to exercise the priesthood which they hold, more than to
administer to their children, it is their duty to live so as to know
how to teach, lead and advise their children; and if they are disposed
they may have the privilege, for it is God's mind and will that they
should know just what to do for them when they are sick. Instead of
calling for a doctor you should administer to them by the laying on of
hands and anointing with oil, and give them mild food, and herbs, and medicines that you understand; and if you want the mind and
will of God at such a time, get it, it is just as much your privilege
as of any other member of the Church and kingdom of God. It is your
privilege and duty to live so that you know when the word of the Lord
is spoken to you and when the mind of the Lord is revealed to you. I
say it is your duty to live so as to know and understand all these
things. Suppose I were to teach you a false doctrine, how are you to
know it if you do not possess the Spirit of God? As it is written,
"The things of God knoweth no man but by the Spirit of God."
Now I want to say a few words to the sisters, though I will say that I
do not feel the least like chastising either my brethren or my sisters
this morning. I feel kind, and I do not want to say words to them that
they would think harsh or unkind. But I will say, to both brethren and
sisters, that whenever any of us spend means needlessly, say to the
amount of one cent, dime, or dollar, we consume it upon the lusts of
our flesh. Here is a man, for instance, who has an appetite for
tobacco, and, during a year, he spends ten or twenty dollars in cigars
and tobacco, which do him no good, but injure him; do you think that
such a man will be brought to an account hereafter for that waste?
Such means does not go to build temples, or to help to sustain Elders
who have gone abroad to proclaim the gospel; it is not applied to
assist in feeding or clothing their wives or children, to find them a
little fuel in the winter, when it is cold, or to get them a cow, so
that they can have milk and a little butter to make them more
comfortable; but it is spent in the purchase of tobacco and is utterly
wasted; and they who get rid of their means so foolishly will most
surely be brought to account therefore. The same may be said of money
spent in the purchase of beer. It is a mild drink, and is very
pleasant and agreeable to a great many; but when a man pays his fifty
cents, his dollar or his ten dollars for beer it goes into the hands
of the grocery keepers and they send it off, and it does no good to
the community. The beer itself does no good, it injures the system of
those who habitually indulge in the use of it, and, whether they think
of and realize it, or not, they will be brought to account for the
means they have thus wasted.
Here in the midst of the Latter-day Saints, where we can know and
understand the mind and will of the Lord concerning us, many of us
have not taken the pains to ask what the Lord wants us to do or what
not to do; and if we are extravagant in the use of tea or coffee,
which do us no good, but which injure our systems, we shall certainly
be brought to account for it. Parties may say—"We did this
thoughtlessly and ignorantly; we did not think there was any harm in
drinking tea, coffee, beer or a little liquor, or in smoking or
chewing tobacco; and having worked for our wages, we considered that
we had a right to spend a portion of them in these luxuries, if we
were disposed to do so." But Justice will say, "If you had enquired
you might have learned that the use of these things was not only no
good to you, but was absolutely injurious, and that the means used in
purchasing them was utterly wasted, and hence you who have been guilty
of this folly must be brought to an account for it."
We might follow this subject through all the varied ramifications of
our practice in life, but it is not necessary on this occasion.
Suffice it to say that we want to understand and do better than
we have done, and to be governed by the dictates of good, solid, sound
sense in the use of the wealth, privileges and talents that are given
to us in our present life. Let me ask, what is real wealth? Do you
know? I say that time is all the wealth we have; and to illustrate,
let us suppose that all the inhabitants of the earth were, today, in
the same position that our first parents were in when they were placed
in the Garden. Here is the naked earth, without any improvements
whatever; and the people, being without experience, have not the
ability to raise anything to eat, to build dwellings to reside in, or
to gather up or utilize the stock that is running at large. Would a
people in that condition have any wealth? No; but you put them in
possession of ability to work with their hands and to raise their food
and clothing from the earth, also materials to build their houses, lay
out their streets, make their gardens, farms, etc., and they will soon
accumulate by their labor, and hence, you can easily see that all the
wealth there is on the earth consists of the bone, sinew and time of
the people. That is the capital stock of every individual and of every
nation, and all the capital stock they have. If they have
money—seeming wealth—it may go from them, they do not know how
quickly. Cities may burn up; thieves may steal their gold and silver,
and their greenbacks may be burned up with their banks, and then their
wealth is gone, or rather that which is the representative of wealth;
but they still have the ability and the bone and sinew necessary to go
to work to rebuild their cities and to make new farms, to mine out
gold and silver from the mountains to make vessels for convenience,
for table use, or for ornaments—earrings, nose jewels, bands for
their wrists, ankles, etc. But it must all be done by labor.
The enquiry rises—Who gives the ability to labor? Who gives us the
physical power to cut down trees, to saw them into lumber, and to
shape the lumber for use, so that we can make improvements in
building, fencing, and everything that labor can be used for? Is this
ability our own individual property, independent of God and every
other being? Not at all, we are dependent upon him for strength,
health, life and every power and faculty we possess. Hence we may say
that Time is really all the capital stock that is possessed by any
people or nation, by Saint of sinner, good or bad. Time and the
ability to labor are the capital stock of the whole world of mankind,
and we are all indebted to God for the ability to use time to
advantage, and he will require of us a strict account of the
disposition we make of this ability; and he will not only require an
account of our acts, but our words and thoughts will also be brought
into judgment.
Now, returning to the subject of wasting means, suppose that in the
providences of God, I have been able to gather means around me, and I
fancy and am able to pay for a breakfast that would cost a hundred
dollars, and I say to my wife—"Prepare me such and such a breakfast,"
and I actually eat a breakfast that has cost a hundred dollars, the
question arises—Am I justified, have I to give an account of this? I
am not justified, and I certainly shall have to give an account. A
fifteen or twenty cent breakfast would satisfy the demands of my
nature, and would be just as good for my system as the hundred dollar
breakfast, so that by indulging in such a luxury I waste ninety-nine
dollars and eighty cents, it has gone to the winds, gone to the enemy. Now what is my duty? I say that after eating my fifteen or
twenty cent breakfast, if I have a hundred dollars that I can afford
to spend therein, my duty is to give the residue towards sustaining
the poor, building Temples, schoolhouses, sustaining the teachers,
maintaining the orphan child, so that it may have an education,
sending an Elder to preach the Gospel, and sustaining his family while
he is away, or something or other that will advance the kingdom of God
upon the earth.
Or again, suppose I say to a tailor—"I have some grey cloth, and I
want you to make me a coat just according to my own notions." "Very
well, what will you have?" "I want you to make the coat of this grey
cloth, and I want you to take this piece of blue cloth and cut it into
narrow strips about a third of an inch wide, and strip my coat all
around, and ring it around, and put a puff here and another there, and
I want homemade epaulets on, and I want you to put fifteen or twenty
dollars worth of work on this coat," most of which, after all, is of
not the least use in the world. Am I justified in doing this, and
shall I or shall I not, have to give an account of thus spending my
means and using the time of the tailor for naught? I think I shall,
and I may say, as far as I am concerned, I know I shall have to give
an account. But the people do not think of this.
Now, then, leaving the useless things which the brethren use—tea,
coffee, tobacco, beer, whiskey, etc., I will allude to some that the
sisters use and wear, such as tea, coffee, snuff, tobacco, opium, and
then the ruffles, bows, puffs, trimmings, and this, that, and the
other that they wear on their dresses that are useless. What shall we
do in regard to these things? My senses tell me that the children of
Zion should forsake every needless fashion and custom which they now
practice. My wives dress very plainly, but I sometimes ask them the
utility of some of the stripes and puffs which I see on their dresses.
I remember asking a lady this question once, and enquired if they kept
the bed bugs and flies away. Well, if they do that they are very
useful; but if they do not, what use are they? None whatever. Now,
some ladies will buy a cheap dress, say a cheap calico, and they will
spend from five to fifteen dollars worth of time in making it up,
which is wasting so much of the substance which God has given them on
the lust of the eye, and which should be devoted to a better purpose.
I have had an observation made to me which I believe I will relate; I
never have done it, but I believe I will now. It has been said to
me—"Yes, brother Brigham, we have seen ladies go to parties in plain,
homemade cloth dresses, but every man was after the girls who had on
a hundred dollars worth of foll-the-roll, and they would dance with
every woman and girl except the one in a plain dress, and they would
let her stay by the wall the whole evening." It may be in some cases,
but should not be. It adds no beauty to a lady, in my opinion, to
adorn her with fine feathers. When I look at a woman, I look at her
face, which is composed of her forehead, cheeks, nose, mouth and chin,
and I like to see it clean, her hair combed neat and nice, and her
eyes bright and sparkling; and if they are so, what do I care what she
has on her head, or how or of what material her dress is made? Not the
least in the world. If a woman is clean in person, and has on a nice
clean dress, she looks a great deal better when washing her dishes,
making her butter or cheese, or sweeping her house, than those
who, as I told them in Provo, walked the streets with their spanker
jib flying. It adds no beauty to a lady or gentleman to have a great
many frills on their dresses or coats; beauty must be sought in the
expression of the countenance, combined with neatness and cleanliness
and graceful manners. All the beauty which nature bestows is
exhibited, let the dress be ever so plain, if the wearer of it be only
neat and comely. Do not fine feathers look well? Yes, they are very
pretty, but they look just as well on these dolls, these fixed up
machines which they have in the stores, as anywhere else; they
certainly add nothing to the beauty of a lady or gentleman, so far as
I ever saw.
Now, then, labor is our capital, and the source and creator of all the
wealth that we possess; and I feel it a duty to say to the sisters as
well as the brethren, that we must stop the course that has been so
generally pursued among the Latter-day Saints, of spending time and
means for nothing. I will mention one article to illustrate, and that
is the sewing machine. A sewing machine that costs twenty-two dollars
to manufacture, we pay one hundred and twenty-five dollars for; for
one that costs fourteen dollars to manufacture, we pay eighty-five
dollars; and for one that costs sixteen dollars, we pay one hundred.
And then, when a man gets his wife a sewing machine, she will spend
from five to fifteen dollars worth of time in making a dress. This is
wasting time; and we want the brethren and sisters to understand that
when they waste time, they are wasting the capital stock which God has
given them to improve upon here upon the earth. Says one—"I have
nothing to do." You very easily can have if you wish for it.
Now for the men. I have been into houses which have not had the least
convenience for the women, not so much as a bench to set their water
pails on, and they have to set them on the floor, and yet their
husbands will sit there year after year, and never make so much
improvement as a bench to set the pail on. Yet they have the ability,
but they will not exercise it. They ought to make every hour of the
day useful, and if they have nothing else to do, they should spend
their time in making improvements in and around their homes. They
might fix the garden fence, hoe the garden, set out trees and
cultivate and attend to them, fix the yard and make it look neater,
fix up the house and make it more convenient for the wives and the
children. A certain portion of the time should also be spent in
storing their minds with useful knowledge, reading the Bible, Book of
Mormon, and other Church works, and histories, scientific works and
other useful books. I have seen people live year after year in a log
house, with never so much as a nail to hang a broom on, and the broom
is first in one corner and then in another, on the floor or out of
doors. Never had a place to put the dishcloth in, or to hang it on, and
it would be—"Susan, where is the dishcloth?"
or—"Sally," or "Peggy,
where is the broom?" "I don't know, there is no place for the
broom;"
and a man living there year after year, who never seemed to wake up
the senses in him enough to drive a peg into the crack of a log to
have a place to hang a broom or a dishcloth on, or to make a bench for
a water or a milk pail. I have seen such men, year after year, without
a chair in their houses; and if you ask them why they do not go to
work and make some chairs they will say—"We don't know how."
Then why not go to work and learn? Do as I did when I went to learn
the carpenter and joiner's trade. The first job my boss gave me was to
make a bedstead out of an old log that had been on the beach of the
Lake for years, waterlogged and water soaked. Said he—"There are
tools, you cut that log into right lengths for a bedstead. Hew out the
side rails, the end rails and the posts; get a board for a head board,
and go to work and make a bedstead." And I went to work and cut up the
log, split it up to the best of my ability, and made a bedstead that,
I suppose, they used for many years. I would go to work and learn to
make a washboard, and make a bench to put the wash tub on, and to make
a chair. This is spending time usefully; but when we spend our time
for naught we waste that which God has given us as our capital stock
with which to make ourselves useful in life, and to give to our
fellow beings that which belongs to them.
Now, we want the sisters, as well as the brethren, to use their
capital stock to the very best advantage. And we wish them to make
their own fashions in regard to dress; but if they will not do that,
then copy the fashions of Babylon only so far as they are useful; then
stop, go no further, and sustain and uphold trade with the outside
world only so far as it is really necessary. If the sisters remain
with us they will do as they are told; and if they do this we say—You
are at perfect liberty to go and renew your covenants by baptism; but
if you will not live according to the instructions that are given, we
object to you renewing your covenants; we do not wish you to say one
thing and do another. We shall require the sisters to take hold and do
something for themselves. Where does our knitting come from? Everybody
goes to the store to buy knitted goods; but this is not right, we
ought to knit our own stockings. If the sisters want some little hoods
or jackets for their children they go to the store for them, they are
very cheap there. Yet we raise the best of wool here, and we are
spinning it just as nice as in any factory in the world. We have
knitting machines and all the material necessary, and we have also the
ability to knit or weave all the hoods, jackets, drawers, undershirts,
etc., that we need; and if the sisters will do their duty, they will
do their own knitting and prepare this Fall to raise silk another
year. I have been at thousands of dollars expense in encouraging the
people here to raise silk, but they do not do it, and in this respect,
as in many others, they have neglected their duty, for it is their
duty to take hold of this industry. The sisters will say to their
husbands—"I want so and so, and I want you to give me the money to buy
it." Instead of this, I say, let the sisters go to work and raise some
silk, and this will find them and their children profitable
employment. If you have not got any mulberry trees, plant out some
immediately, they are here by the hundreds and thousands in nurseries,
and as soon as possible raise silk, and that when raised and
thoroughly cured, will bring the money. Then you can raise the money,
without having to call on your husbands. Now if a man buys a sewing
machine for his wife, she wants a hired girl to run it; at least, I
will say that some women take this course, and they spend their time
uselessly and waste the capital stock which God has given them. This
is the course that some pursue instead of doing good. We want a
turning point to arrive for women of this class, and for all to be
guided in their conduct by the dictates of good, sound sense;
and as the sisters like to be noticed by the brethren, I will say that
they who keep themselves neat and clean, and whose countenances are
bright and clear, are the ones that will be noticed by the good.
Now, sisters, if you will consider these things you will readily see
that time is all the capital stock there is on the earth; and you
should consider your time golden, it is actually wealth, and, if
properly used, it brings that which will add to your comfort,
convenience, and satisfaction. Let us consider this, and no longer sit
with hands folded, wasting time, for it is the duty of every man and
of every woman to do all that is possible to promote the kingdom of
God on the earth.
Without going further into the details regarding the duties of this
people we can say, in a very few words, that our Father in heaven,
Jesus, our elder brother and the Savior of the world, and the whole
heavens, are calling upon this people to prepare to save the nations
of the earth, also the millions who have slept without the Gospel, and
here we are neglecting our duty, wasting our time, running here and
there as though there was nothing to do only to serve ourselves. We
have glory, immortality and eternal lives to gain, and it is our duty
to take a course to gain them, that we may enter into the highest
state of intelligence and enjoy the society of the pure and those who
dwell with God.
You have now heard some things that we want of the sisters. I will now
say a word to the brethren. If any brother is found drinking with the
drunkard we certainly shall look after him; and my counsel and advice
are for every man and every woman to pause well before they go and
renew their covenants, and know whether they are going to be Saints or
not. A person may say—"If I have strength I am going to be a Saint."
The drunkard may say—"I mean to reform;" the swearer may
say—"I mean
to reform;" the liar says—"I mean to reform;" and the thief may
say—"I
mean to reform." There is no man or woman on the earth in the habit of
stealing, but what can cease the practice right square if they are
disposed. And so with the liar, he can stop lying, and lie no more,
and tell the truth. It only wants the will to do it, and that will
brought into exercise to enable the liar to be truthful, the thief to
be honest, and the swearer to stop his evil speaking. So with the
ladies. If they only have the will, and will exercise it, they can
cease spending their time in useless fashions, and they can turn their
attention to storing their minds with all useful knowledge, then adorn
themselves with all that is necessary to make themselves neat, nice,
comely and commendable to the eyes of God and angels, and of the good
everywhere. Then they will be right. I pray the Lord to bless you,
preserve you and guide your entire lives that we may be saved in the
Kingdom of our God. Amen.