My remarks on this occasion will be disconnected, in order to answer
my feelings, and to satisfy the congregation.
Here is a spectacle that is indeed admirable, and a scene that has
called forth many reflections in my mind, and, no doubt, in the minds
of the spectators.
First of all, allow me to remark, that before it was concluded to
celebrate this day, the Seventh Anniversary of the entrance of the
Pioneers into these valleys which we now occupy, I had determined to
treat some of my family and friends to a dinner and had made
preparations accordingly. This has occupied a portion of my time and
attention, but before all my preparatory labor was performed, I was
urged to attend on this interesting occasion. This has thrown my
previous plans, touching this day, somewhat into confusion, still I am
filled with joy in beholding this heart-cheering scene. According to
the Program it seems I am to be escorted by the procession back to
my dwelling. I however ask it as a favor of the officers of the day to
excuse me, and relieve me from being present, or from taking
any further part in this day's proceedings, after the dismissal of
this congregation, that I may repair immediately to my house, for, if
I have to wait for the company to escort me, it will make it late
before I can be present to wait upon my friends.
Before I proceed further, I wish to make another request, in behalf
of the children, who are not capable of judging for themselves—they
would traverse these streets until they fainted. I wish the Bishops
and Marshals of the day to consider this, and my advice is to dismiss
them soon; and while they are parading the streets, be sure to have
plenty of water handy for them to drink. If these requests can be
granted, I shall feel thankful, and I presume you will have no
objections to granting them.
On such occasions as this, our Tabernacle does not afford room for
seating the people. I wish the Bishops to hearken to a request I will
make of them—Enable brother Hyde to prosecute the labors placed upon
him to build a Bowery, on the north of this Tabernacle, that will
convene about twelve thousand people; and let it be done before
another Celebration comes off or even before another Conference. I am
disposed to take a vote upon this matter. If the brethren and sisters,
old and young, will put forth their exertions and means to assist in
accomplishing this work, let them signify it by raising their right
hands. [All hands were up.] I shall with pleasure render all the
assistance possible.
Were there time, I would like to make a great many remarks pertaining
to parents and children, but my time will be too limited.
A portion of the youth of our community is before me, and could I give
these young persons a word of counsel, it would meet my wishes, and
gratify my desires to do them good. I will venture to give them a few
items pertaining to life, health, vigor, and salvation; and I hope
they will not forget what I am about to say to them.
I will begin by asking the older portion of the assembly, if you do
not recollect that when you were two, three, or four years of age,
many of your mothers, as soon as you were able to drink out of a
glass, and they happened to have a little wine, would compel you to
partake of it, contrary to your feeble remonstrances? Do you not
recollect when your mother made a little sling to revive her when she
was fatigued with labor or exertion of any kind, saying to you,
"Drink, my child?" Now, I wish to say to you girls, never be guilty of
such practices when you become mothers. Never, when you sit down at
the table to drink strong tea, perhaps as a stimulant when you are
fatigued, give it to your child. I see this practice almost daily, or
occasionally, at least, in this as well as other communities. Keep the
tea, the coffee, and the spirits from the mouths of your children.
I could say many things that would be of great worth to you,
pertaining to the rising generation, had I time; but I wish you to
recollect and practice this one item I have briefly laid before you. I
wish the daughters of Israel to far exceed their mothers in wisdom.
And I wish these young men and boys to far exceed their fathers. I
wish my sons to far exceed me in goodness and virtue. This is my
earnest desire concerning my children, and that they not only walk in
the footsteps of their father, but take a course to enjoy life,
health, and vigor while they live, and the Spirit of intelligence from
God, that they may far outstrip their father in long life, and in the
good they will perform in their day. What I say of my children I apply
to all.
Young men, my young brethren, will you accept a little counsel
from me? When you go from this Tabernacle make a covenant with
yourselves that you will taste no more ardent spirits, unless it is
absolutely necessary, and you know it is; also make a covenant with
yourselves that no more of that filthy, nasty, and obnoxious weed
called tobacco shall enter your mouths; it is a disgrace to this and
every other community. I am well aware of the reflections of many upon
this subject. You may say to yourselves, "If I can do as well as my
parents, I think I shall do well, and be as good as I want to be; and
I should not strive to excel them." But if you do your duty you will
far excel them in everything that is good—in holiness, in physical and
intellectual strength, for this is your privilege, and it becomes your
duty. Young men, take this advice from me, and practice it in your
future life, and it will be more valuable to you than the riches of
this world. "Why," say you, "I see the older brethren chew tobacco,
why should I not do it likewise?" Thus the boys have taken license
from the pernicious habits of others, until they have formed an
appetite, a false appetite; and they love a little liquor, and a
little tobacco, and many other things that are injurious to their
constitutions, and certainly hurtful to their moral character. Take a
course that you can know more than your parents. We have had all the
traditions of the age in which we were born to contend with; but these
young men and women, or the greater part of them, have been born in
the Church, and brought up Latter-day Saints, and have received the
teachings that are necessary to advance them in the kingdom of God on
earth. If you are in any way suspicious that the acts of your parents
are not right, if there is a conviction in your minds that they feed
appetites that are injurious to them, then it is for you to abstain
from that which you see is not good in your parents.
I will now offer a few words of encouragement, and I wish you to
listen to them attentively. If you wish to be great in the Kingdom of
God, you must be good. It has been told you often, and I reiterate it
today, that no man or woman in this kingdom that the Lord Almighty
has again established upon the earth, can become great without being
good—without being true to their integrity, faithful to their trust,
full of charity and good works. If they do not order their lives to do
all the good they can, they will be stripped of their anticipations of
greatness. You may write that down, and write it as revelation if you
please, for it is true. Again, you must make sacrifice, if such you
may call it, of every feeling you possess on earth, as a man, as a
woman, as a father, as a mother, as a husband, as a wife, as a member
of a family or community, for the sake of the kingdom of God on
earth—that you assuredly must do. Now remember, that no earthly object
may stand between you and your calling and duty.
While gazing upon the scene before me, and thinking of what we had
passed through—scenes of affliction fleeting through my memory, I
reflected on the generation now growing up, and on the past dealings
of the Lord towards this people in His wise providences. I recollect
that in 1839, the Twelve and others were called upon to go to England,
after they had suffered much persecution and tribulation.
Brother Joseph Smith had to leave Ohio and escape for his life.
I had also to leave the country to save my life; I was
going to the west, where
Joseph told me to go. I had not been in Missouri more than five
months, before the mob commenced to burn houses. I had expended what
little means I had left, to purchase an inheritance for my family, but I had to leave Missouri, after being at the trouble and
expense of conveying my goods there, and preparing for living; I left
all behind and went to Illinois. Well, the revelation was that several
of the brethren must start on missions to foreign lands, and we
fulfilled it in the midst of poverty. This is a proof that the hand of
God is able to sustain His people, and he will continue to provide for
them.
If we do His will, He will take care of us as a people, and as
individuals. One proof of this, is in my own life and experience. When
I left my family to start for England, I was not able to walk one
mile, I was not able to lift a small trunk, which I took with me, into
the wagon. I left my wife and my six children without a second suit to
their backs, for we had left all our property in possession of the
mob. Every one of my family were sick, and my then youngest child, who
has spoken before you today, was but ten days old at the time I left
for England. Joseph said, "If you will go, I promise you, that your
family shall live, and you shall live, and you shall know that the
hand of God is in calling you to go and preach the Gospel of life and
salvation to a perishing world." He said all he could say to comfort
and encourage the brethren. This was our situation, and I say, with
regard to the remainder of the Twelve, they had all been driven like
myself, and we were a band of brethren about equal. My family lived.
When I left them they had not provisions to last them ten days, and
not one soul of them was able to go to the well for a pail of water. I
had lain for weeks, myself, in the house, watching from day to day for
some person to pass the door, whom I could get to bring us in a pail
of water. In this condition I left my family, and went to preach the
Gospel. As for being cast down, or at all discouraged, or even such
thoughts entering in my heart as, "I will provide for my family, and
let the world perish," these feelings and thoughts never once occurred
to me; if I had known that every one of them would have been in the
grave when I returned, it would not have diverted me from my mission
one hour. When I was ready to start, I went and left my family in the
hands of the Lord, and with the brethren.
I returned again in two years, and found that I had spent hundreds of
dollars, which I had accumulated on my mission, to help the brethren
to emigrate to Nauvoo, and had but one sovereign left. I said I would
buy a barrel of flour with that, and sit down and eat it with my wife
and children, and I determined I would not ask anybody for work, until
I had eaten it all up. Brother Joseph asked me how I intended to live.
I said, "I will go to work and get a living." I tarried in Nauvoo from
the year 1841 to 1846, the year we left. In that time I had
accumulated much property, for the Lord multiplied everything in my
hands, and blessed all my undertakings. But I never ceased to preach;
and traveled every season, both in the winter, and in the summer. I
was at home occasionally, and the Lord fed and clothed me. It has
never entered into my heart, from the first day I was called to preach
the Gospel to this day, when the Lord said, "Go and leave your
family," to offer the least objection. It has never entered into my
heart to violate my covenants, to be an enemy to my neighbor, to
deceive, to lie, or to take to myself that which was not my own. The
youth around me, in their addresses this day, have eulogized the life
and ability of brother Brigham; I want you not only to do as I have
done, but a great deal better.
I am trying to encourage you to do good, and not evil, that the Lord
Almighty may take care of you, sustain you, and give you power
and influence, which He will do, if you serve Him with an undivided
heart, but if you do not, He will chastise you. Remember it.
When I left Nauvoo, I again left all I had, and was under the
necessity of borrowing a span of horses from this man, a yoke of
cattle from that, and a wagon from the other; and after gathering up
what little moveable property I could in this way, I left the country.
I had accumulated thousands of dollars' worth of property, and had to
leave it in the hands of the mob, and, said I, "Eat it up, destroy it,
or burn it down, as quick as you please, for 'the earth is the Lord's
and the fulness thereof.'"
How did I obtain all this property? The Lord gave it to me; He has
done what has been done. And if the youth will turn their hearts and
affections to the Lord their God, they will be prepared to enter into
the glory we are contending for, they will be prepared to redeem Zion.
These young brethren and sisters will be prepared to return to Zion,
bear off the Priesthood triumphantly, and build up the kingdom of God
among the nations of the earth far better than we their fathers and
mothers have, though we have done the best we could. Be full of
integrity and love for all people, let hope abound in you, be filled
with truth and virtue, and never allow yourselves to do a thing you
would be ashamed to do in the presence of the Lord Almighty, or that
you would be ashamed of were He to stand in your path, and call you to
an account. That is the way to live, and it is the only way for a
"Mormon" Elder to live, or for a "Mormon" mother, or daughter,
or
sister, in order to obtain what they wish to obtain. It is the only
path you can possibly walk in to secure that which you desire. There
are men who will tell you many things in your houses, and will try to
pervert the truth, and the simple principles of the Holy Gospel, but
you must remember that it is a holy life before God which gives you
influence with Him.
Look, and see the past course of brother Brigham; he is not any
different today from what he ever was. Knowing that the Lord wishes
him to do a certain work, he is willing to do it. This has always been
his character. You have seen me rise up here in my authority, when
necessary, and I have had to be like a lion among the people. But who
can point out a single act that has not been full of kindness to this
people, collectively and individually? Though sometimes I have to roar
to them; and why? Because sometimes they are foolish. This was
exhibited here today, and also on the fourth of July. I saw scores of
men who had no more sense than to crowd upon the women and children,
at the risk of crushing them to death. When I see such conduct, I feel
like a lion in the cause of the oppressed; and when the dogs and the
wolves undertake to make this people a prey, they may expect that
somebody is ready to roar, and contend for them.
Do you wish to know how men of God feel under such circumstances? I
will tell you. If an enemy is crawling round this people, trying to
make inroads to destroy them, they can pick up men as fast as they
come to them, and throw them out of their way; they can conquer and
destroy army after army; and in their feelings a thousand or ten
thousand are no more to them than so many grasshoppers. It is the
strength of the Almighty God that is in them. Keep His commandments,
if you would have strength in the day you need it; and when you do not
need it, be passive, like children in their mother's lap, and be
always ready and willing to extend the hand of charity and
benevolence, and do all the good that is needed to be done, and
you will thereby be able to resist the evil.
I had to go out to the door, when the people were crowding each other
down, and talk as if I would swallow them up. What for? To injure
them? No. Did I tell you to rush on and tread down women and children?
No. Have I ever told you to take advantage of the weak and
defenseless, or in any way oppress the innocent? No, never; and if you
do, I shall handle you; and if you get into my way, you will be no
more to me than a child's toy.
I am consuming much time, and I wish to dismiss the meeting. But I
will state that if children could know the feelings of their parents,
when they do good or evil, it would have a salutary influence upon
their lives; but no child can possibly know this, until it becomes a
parent. I am compassionate therefore towards children. Parents, will
you have a little wisdom, and learn to bring up your children under a
proper influence, and under proper teaching? Mothers, remember that
when your husbands are engaged in the service of the Church, and are
all the time occupied in the duties of the Priesthood, so that they
have not time to instruct their children, the duty devolves upon you.
Then bring your children up in the ways of truth, and be to them both
a father and mother, until they are old enough to perform duties by
the side, and under the immediate eye of their father. I like to see
mothers bring their children to meeting, as soon as they can be
brought without injuring them, and when they can tell what they want,
and call for water when they are faint. As soon as they are old enough
to receive instructions, bring them here to be taught; and when you go
home with them, do not put strong drinks, or tea, or coffee to their
lips. I have actually seen women whip their children to make them
drink spirits; such mothers do not know what is actually necessary
they should know. Children should have milk, bread, water, and
potatoes; and everything that would lay the foundation for disease
should be strenuously kept from their stomachs, that no appetites may
be formed for pernicious substances, which, when formed, cannot be
overcome easily, if at all. The course mothers generally take in the
world with their children, produces an appetite in the child that
almost invariably leads to excess. There are scores in our midst who
were begotten in a vault of liquor, and were enveloped in it till the
day of their birth. They have come forth from it, and have a longing
desire to still swim in it unto the day of their death. I wish you to
understand this, sisters; and when you become mothers, know how to
train up your children better than the past generations have been
brought up.
Brethren and sisters, may the Lord bless you all. If I had time to
answer my feelings here today, I should enjoy more freedom in my
remarks. Brother George A. Smith has given you the music, and I wished
to point out the way in which you ought to walk. Take him for the
music, and my words for the counsel; all he said was right, and I want
you to observe what he told you; and what more you should do, we will
tell you in season.