It is nearly time to draw our meeting to a close, and I think we had
better adjourn our Conference to the sixth of next October, as the
business now necessary to be done is accomplished; and I find that we
are very much crowded in this Tabernacle, and on this account the
congregation is rather uncomfortable.
There has been much said, though for one I can say that we have not
preached to the assembled thousands one fourth part as much as we
could have wished. But we have been privileged to meet from distant
points, and see each other, and hear, learn, and receive spiritual
strength.
A few of the brethren have spoken, but there has not been a lengthy
discourse delivered since we have been together; and if we were to
continue in Conference a whole week, we could give opportunity
to but comparatively few of the Elders who would like to speak, even
though we allotted only fifteen, twenty, thirty, forty, or forty-five
minutes to each speaker.
I realize that the hearts of many are full, and they would like to
rise up and testify, and say that they believe the Book of Mormon, and
that Joseph Smith was a Prophet, just as well as the few who have
spoken. You are aware that you have this privilege in your several
Wards, and any of the Elders of Israel who wish to bear their
testimony to the truth of the Gospel, and have not had the privilege
in this Conference, can go to the Ward meetings and rise up and bear
testimony of the truth, and exhort the brethren. And if you have a
word of counsel, or a word of doctrine, give it to the people, and do
not be backward, but improve every opportunity that is presented for
you to expand your minds.
A man who wishes to receive light and knowledge, to increase in the
faith of the Holy Gospel, and to grow in the knowledge of the truth as
it is in Jesus Christ, will find that when he imparts knowledge to
others he will also grow and increase. Be not miserly in your
feelings, but get knowledge and understanding by freely imparting it
to others, and be not like a man who selfishly hoards his gold; for
that man will not thus increase upon the amount, but will become
contracted in his views and feelings. So the man who will not impart
freely of the knowledge he has received, will become so contracted in
his mind that he cannot receive truth when it is presented to him.
Wherever you see an opportunity to do good, do it, for that is the way
to increase and grow in the knowledge of the truth.
I expect the brethren who have been selected to go and preach the
Gospel will meet this evening in the Seventies' Hall, and the Twelve
will meet with them, and the missionaries will there receive some
instructions. I will give them one item of instruction now. I wish
each man, who does not feel willing to seek unto the Lord his God,
with all his heart, for preparation to magnify his mission and
calling, but declines in his feelings to walk up to his duty in
spirit, and is not anxious to cleave to righteousness and forsake
iniquity, to keep away from the Hall this evening; or, if such a one
comes there, let him ask us at once to be excused, and we will excuse
him. We do not wish a man to enter on a mission, unless his soul is in
it. Some of the brethren will say—"I do not know whether my feelings
are upon my mission, or not, but I will do the best I can." That is
all we ask of you. I have known some of the Elders, when they thought
they would be called out to preach, keep away from meeting lest they
should be called upon, for they feel their littleness, their
nothingness, their inability to rise up and preach to the people. They
do not feel that they are anybody, and why should they expose their
weaknesses? I have noticed one thing in regard to this—quite as many
of these men become giants in the cause of truth, as there is of any
other class; for when they get away they begin to lean on the Lord,
and to seek unto Him, and feeling their weaknesses, they ask Him to
give them wisdom to speak to the people as occasion may require.
Others can rise up here and preach a flaming discourse, insomuch that
you would think they were going to tear down the nations; but when
they go out into the world they often accomplish but little.
You used to hear brother Joseph tell about this people being crowded
into the little end of the horn, and if they kept straight ahead they
were sure to come out at the big end. It is so with some Elders who go on missions; while many who go into the big end of the horn,
and are so full of fancied intelligence, preaching, counsel,
knowledge, and power, when they go out into the world, either have to
turn around and come back, or be crowded out at the little end of the
horn.
On the other hand I do not wish any of the brethren to be discouraged,
for if you feel that you cannot say a single word, no matter, if you
will only be faithful to your God and to your religion, and be humble,
and cleave unto righteousness, and forsake iniquity and sin, the Lord
will guide you and give you words in due season.
Recollect that we are now calling upon the Elders to go and gather up
Israel; this is the mission that is given to us. It was the first
mission given to the Elders in the days of Joseph. The set time is
come for God to gather Israel, and for His work to commence upon the
face of the whole earth, and the Elders who have arisen in this Church
and Kingdom are actually of Israel. Take the Elders who are now in
this house, and you can scarcely find one out of a hundred but what is
of the house of Israel. It has been remarked that the Gentiles have
been cut off, and I doubt whether another Gentile ever comes into this
Church.
Will we go to the Gentile nations to preach the Gospel? Yes, and
gather out the Israelites, wherever they are mixed among the nations
of the earth. What part or portion of them? The same part or portion
that redeemed the house of Jacob, and saved them from perishing with
famine in Egypt. When Jacob blessed the two sons of Joseph, "guiding
his hands wittingly," he placed his right hand upon Ephraim, "and he
blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and
Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day.
The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads," etc.
Joseph was about to remove the old man's hands, and bringing his right
hand upon the head of the oldest boy, saying—"Not so, my father: for
this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head. And his
father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall
become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger
brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a
multitude of nations." Ephraim has become mixed with all the nations
of the earth, and it is Ephraim that is gathering together.
It is Ephraim that I have been searching for all the days of my
preaching, and that is the blood which ran in my veins when I embraced
the Gospel. If there are any of the other tribes of Israel mixed with
the Gentiles we are also searching for them. Though the Gentiles are
cut off, do not suppose that we are not going to preach the Gospel
among the Gentile nations, for they are mingled with the house of
Israel, and when we send to the nations we do not seek for the
Gentiles, because they are disobedient and rebellious. We want the
blood of Jacob, and that of his father Isaac and Abraham, which runs
in the veins of the people. There is a particle of it here, and
another there, blessing the nations as predicted.
Take a family of ten children, for instance, and you may find nine of
them purely of the Gentile stock, and one son or one daughter in that
family who is purely of the blood of Ephraim. It was in the veins of
the father or mother, and was reproduced in the son or daughter, while
all the rest of the family are Gentiles. You may think that is
singular, but it is true. It is the house of Israel we are after, and
we care not whether they come from the east, the west, the
north, or the south; from China, Russia, England, California, North or
South America, or some other locality; and it is the very lad on whom
father Jacob laid his hands, that will save the house of Israel. The
Book of Mormon came to Ephraim, for Joseph Smith was a pure
Ephraimite, and the Book of Mormon was revealed to him, and while he
lived he made it his business to search for those who believed the
Gospel.
Again, if a pure Gentile firmly believes the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
and yields obedience to it, in such a case I will give you the words
of the Prophet Joseph—"When the Lord pours out the Holy Ghost upon
that individual he will have spasms, and you would think that he was
going into fits."
Joseph said that the Gentile blood was actually cleansed out of their
veins, and the blood of Jacob made to circulate in them; and the
revolution and change in the system were so great that it caused the
beholder to think they were going into fits.
If any of the Gentiles will believe, we will lay our hands upon them
that they may receive the Holy Ghost, and the Lord will make them of
the house of Israel. They will be broken off from the wild olive tree,
and be grafted into the good and tame olive tree, and will partake of
its sap and fatness. If you take a bud and inoculate it into another
tree it ceases to receive nourishment from its original stock; it
must, however, receive nourishment, or it will die. Where must it
receive its nourishment from? From the tree into which it has been
introduced; it is supported by it, and becomes incorporated with it.
It is so with the House of Israel and the Gentile nations; if the
Gentiles are grafted into the good olive tree they will partake of its
root and fatness.
You understand who we are; we are of the House of Israel, of the royal
seed, of the royal blood.
There are many subjects upon which I wish to speak, but there is not
time now, though in regard to teachings pertaining to our temporal
organization, I will take the liberty of saying a few words. Do not
some of you have to send for doctors to draw your teeth, and lie night
after night with a bag of hot ashes, or hot salt, on your faces, and
say, "O dear, what a toothache I have got?" When your children wake
up in the night, crying on account of a pain in their heads, do not
some of you go to the doctors, to see what they can do for the little
sufferers? Some of your children are afflicted with humors in the
head, and blotches upon the body, and other ailments; and some of you
have pains in various parts of your bodies.
The fathers and mothers have laid the foundation for many of these
diseases, from generation to generation, until the people are reduced
to their present condition. True, some live to from fifty to ninety
years of age, but it is an unusual circumstance to see a man an
hundred years old, or a woman ninety. The people have laid the
foundation of short life through their diet, their rest, their labor,
and their doing this, that, and the other in a wrong manner, with
improper motives, and at improper times. I would be glad to instruct
the people on these points, if they would hearken to me. I would be
glad to tell mothers how to lay the foundation of health in their
children, that they may be delivered from the diseases with which I am
afflicted, and have been from my youth up.
Suppose I happen to say "Come, wife, let us have a good dinner today;"
what does she get? Pork and beef boiled, stewed, roasted, and fried,
potatoes, onions, cabbage, and turnips, custard, eggs, pies of all
kinds, cheese, and sweetmeats. Now grant that I and my wife
sit down and overload our stomachs, until we feel the deleterious
effects of it from the crowns of our heads to the soles of our feet,
the whole system is disturbed in its operations, and is ready to
receive and impart disease. A child begotten under such a condition of
the systems of its parents, is liable to be born with a tabernacle
subject to a life of pain and distress.
Will all the women hearken to this plain statement? No, you might as
well talk to the wild geese that fly over us.
Again, a little hot tea, coffee, or sling, is generally given to a
babe as soon as it comes into the world, to quiet the nerves, and make
it sleep better; and I have seen my own wives almost whip their little
ones to make them drink liquor. When I happen to see them, I say,
"Stop that, that is something you may very well dispense with; do not
put a drop of liquor into that child's mouth."
Some mothers, when bearing children, long for tea and coffee, or for
brandy and other strong drinks, and if they give way to that influence
the next time they will want more, and the next still more, and thus
lay the foundation for drunkenness in their offspring. An appetite is
engendered, bred, and born in the child, and it is a miracle if it
does not grow up a confirmed drunkard.
Now will you, my sisters who are before me, hearken to good, sound
common sense and reason? Will you commence now, and lay the foundation
for a healthy posterity? Will you say, "I am determined not to desire
this thing, or that, which will be injurious, but I will pray, and ask
my Father in heaven for grace according to my day, that I may not
desire that which will lay the foundation of ruin to my offspring, and
to my posterity for generations?" Or will you say, "Cannot I have a
little tea, or a little whiskey?"
The satisfying of these desires lays the foundation of sickness,
disease, and short life. But if anyone really desires a particular
kind of food, or drink, and feels as though she could not do without
it, let it be obtained, if possible; though it is far better to have
faith to overcome such desires.
It is for us to stop the tide of physical degeneracy—to lay the
foundation for a return to the position from which the human family
has fallen. We have that privilege, by keeping ourselves pure. If we
take the right course, our children will live longer than we shall,
and their children will surpass their fathers, and have longer life,
and so on, till they obtain to the age of those who lived in the early
period of the world. The Prophet, speaking of the Saints in the last
days, said, "For as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and
mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands." Still, in the
present short period of life some say that "this is a miserable world,
I do not care how soon I get through." Well go and destroy yourselves,
if you choose, you have all the opportunity that you can desire; there
is plenty of arsenic, calomel, and other means, within your reach. But
I would not give a cent for such persons; I do not delight in such
characters, and I do not believe that the Lord delights in people who
wish to die before they have accomplished the work that He designed
for them to do. For a person to be willing to die is but a small part
of the duties pertaining to the Gospel of salvation and the Gift of
eternal life. We ought to prepare ourselves to live in the flesh, and
overcome every sin, to live to the glory of God, to build up His
kingdom, and to bring forth righteousness, salvation, and deliverance
to the house of Israel, until the devil and his associates are driven
from the earth, and he and his clan are bound and thrust down
to hell, and a seal put upon them. Latter-day Saints who live merely
to get ready to die are not worth much; rather get ready to live, and
be prepared to live to the glory of your Father in heaven, and to do
the work He has given you to do. That is our duty, and then we shall
be ready to receive our blessings.
I do not wish to occupy any more time now, but if we had the time, as
we shall have, and a house to hold all who wish to assemble, I am
ready to come here every day, for I have nothing to do but to do good.
At this time some may say, "My wheat is not all sown." That does not
affect my feelings. I will tell you an item of my experience with
regard to raising grain. The last year we stayed in Nauvoo, I planted
from ten to twelve acres of corn, and I never saw one day, from the
time it was planted until it was harvested, in which to spend an hour
amongst it. My teams were wanted at the Temple, and, said I, "Let the
corn go." If they had the teams ready to attend to the corn, the word
was, "Go to the Temple," and I do not suppose there was a greater crop
of corn raised in all Hancock County. I said to the brethren who
plowed and planted the land, "Paul plants and Apollos waters, and if
God does not give the increase I can do without it."
I have given the sisters a few words of advice, and wish the brethren
to pay particular attention to what brother George A. Smith said this
forenoon. If the "old fogies" take a little tobacco, a little whiskey,
or a little tea and coffee, we wish you boys to let it alone, and let
those have it who have long been accustomed to its use. It is far
better for these my brethren, who are young and healthy, to avoid
every injurious habit. There are a great many boys here who are in the
habit of chewing tobacco, they should stop it, and take no more, they
are better without it. Some may turn round and say, "Father, do you
think so?" Yes, let the old folks have it, but you young, smart
gentlemen, let it alone.
I bless you all, and feel to pray for you, and desire you to pray for
me; and I believe that you do, as fervently as I could ask.
We have had a good Conference, though it has been a short one to me,
and perhaps we may have a long meeting some of these days, and enjoy
ourselves to the full extent of our understandings and
patience.