I am very much gratified in the opportunity of appearing in this house
again. I am disposed to say a few words to you. I have not time to
instruct you in all things, nor to say all I wish to say. Do just as
well as you know how in all things, never permitting yourself to
commit an act unless the Spirit of God within you justifies you in
doing it. And if you live every day of your lives according to the
best light and understanding you possess, glorifying God, our Heavenly
Father, just as far as your knowledge extends, I will promise you
eternal life in the kingdom of God. This is saying a great deal, it is
a very important discourse embodied in a few words. The grand
difficulty with the people is they do not do quite as well as they
know how; it is that which hinders us from accomplishing the work
given us to do.
Now let me say to you, my brethren and sisters, if you live according
to the light within you, you will be of one heart and one mind; your
interests and labors will be one, and you will take hold with all the
power God has given you to consummate this great and glorious work
com mitted to our charge. When we become one we shall have a heaven
here upon the earth. Do you think that in the family of heaven
dwelling in the presence of God there is any jarring, bickerings,
contentions, faultfinding, or distrust in the Priesthood? No. It is
true we are in a world of darkness, and we have a great many
weaknesses, temptations and annoyances all tending to lead us astray.
But if we do as well as we know how, we shall accomplish the work.
I have been spending the winter in St. George. Our Temple there is
finished, which is the first completed Temple built to the name of the
Most High, in which the ordinances for the living and the dead can be
performed, since the one built by Solomon in the land of Jerusalem,
that we have any knowledge of. The Nephites may have built Temples,
and in all probability they did, but we have no account of them. We
enjoy privileges that no other people enjoy, or have enjoyed. In the
days of Solomon, in the Temple that he built in the land of Jerusalem,
there was confusion and bickering and strife, even to murder, and the
very man that they looked to to give them the keys of life and
salvation, they killed because be refused to administer the ordinances
to them when they requested it; and whether they got any of them or
not, this history does not say anything about.
We enjoy the privilege of entering into a Temple, built to the name of
God, and receiving the ordinances of his House, with all the keys and
blessings preparatory of entering into the "lives;" we also enjoy the
privilege of administering for our fathers and mothers, our
grandfathers and grandmothers, for those who have slept without the
Gospel.
You can understand why it is that the press of our nation is so ready
to cry out against the "Mormons;" why it is that these poor Latter-day
Saints are not considered fit to live, why they ought not to enjoy the
common blessings of citizenship, and why the wicked would, if they
could, deprive this whole people of their rights and privileges, and
destroy their leaders from off the earth? It is evidence to all
Latter-day Saints, if they have hearts to understand, that God is with
this people, and that the Evil One is using the same means now, as he
always has done, to oppose Him. We ought to be thankful that we are
worthy to receive these persecutions. And I can promise you, that if
we exercise patience and faith, and attend faithfully and diligently
to the work given us to do of the Father, that they will work out for
us a more excellent degree of glory and exaltation. Consequently it
becomes us to be patient, trusting in God and the promises he has made
unto us.
I was about to say to you, that our labors during the time I have
spent in St. George, are perfectly satisfactory to me; and I believe
we have all the evidence we can ask for, that the Lord is satisfied.
And now that we have succeeded so well in building one Temple, we feel
encouraged to continue our labors in the same direction until we shall
have built and finished others. We want to commence another one in
your region of country, at Manti; and we intend to lay out the ground
when we reach there on our way to the city. We have, traveling with
us, in our company, Elder Parry, the man who had charge of the
rockwork of the St. George Temple; he is on his way to Manti, to work
on the Temple to be built at that place. We expect to say to the
Latter-day Saints, Rear these walls forthwith, and complete this
building, that you may enjoy the blessings therein promised.
Brethren and sisters, live your holy religion that the spirit of
truth, of virtue and of holiness may burn within you, that your only
desire may be to do the will of the Father in the literal building up
of this his kingdom on the earth. Say your prayers, and increase your
faith in the Lord and in his promises made to the faithful. Bring up
your children in the love and fear of the Lord; study their
dispositions and their temperaments, and deal with them accordingly,
never allowing yourself to correct them in the heat of passion; teach
them to love you rather than to fear you, and let it be your constant
care that the children that God has so kindly given you are taught in
their early youth the importance of the oracles of God, and the beauty
of the principles of our holy religion, that when they grow to the
years of man and womanhood they may always cherish a tender regard for
them and never forsake the truth. I do not wish you to lay the stress
and importance upon outward ceremonies that many do. There are those
belonging to what is called the Mother Church who say give them the
care and training of children at from three to seven years
old, and they could so ground them in their faith, that they forever
afterwards, would remain good Catholics. The secret of their great
success is no doubt in their strict observance of outward ordinances
and ceremonies. But while they go to one extreme in the observance of
ceremony, making bigots of their children, (for one of the earliest
recollections of the child, who is reared in Catholicism, is the use
of the sign of the cross) many of the Latter-day Saints go to the
other, failing entirely to impress the minds of their children with
that degree of reverence and sacredness that belongs to the ordinances
of our Church. Parents, teach your children by precept and example,
the importance of addressing the throne of grace; teach them how to
live, how to draw from the elements the necessaries of life, and teach
them the laws of life that they may know how to preserve themselves in
health and be able to minister to others. And when instructing them in
the principles of the Gospel, teach them that they are true, truth
sent down from heaven for our salvation, and that the Gospel
incorporates every truth whether in heaven, in earth, or in hell; and
teach them too that we hold the keys of eternal life, and that they
must obey and observe the ordinances and laws pertaining to this holy
Priesthood, which God has revealed and restored for the exaltation of
the children of men.
If I were to ask the High Priests of this district, Do you pray in
your families before going to work, or before you sit around the breakfast
table? Do you kneel down in humility and meekness, with the faith that
the Father requires at your hands to ask him in the name of Jesus, to
bless and preserve and give you grace according to your day; and do
you do this before retiring to bed? Seventies, do you call upon the
Lord morning and evening? The Lord says, I will be sought unto by my
people for the blessings that they need. And instead of our classing
prayer among the duties devolving upon us as Latter-day Saints, we
should live so as to deem it one of the greatest privileges accorded
to us; for were it not for the efficacy of prayer what would have
become of us both as a people and as individuals?
I do not feel disposed to preach a lengthy sermon to you, but we feel
in our hearts to say, God bless you, peace be to you. I do not expect
to come to see you as often as I have done, my health will not permit
of it. My voice is good, I feel as though I could make myself heard a
mile off, but my system is almost worn out; yet I expect to work right
in the harness until I am called for to go hence. I am so thankful we
have completed our Temple, it is the greatest blessing that could be
bestowed upon us, I know of nothing that could equal it. But we are
not satisfied with this one, we must hurry the building of another
one, and thus another one and so on, and perform the great work
therein that is required at our hands. Let us live so that we may be
worthy to be owned of the Lord, and to be received into the fulness
with him. Amen.