I have heard hundreds and perhaps thousands of people make the
observation, that, before they would take the interest and bear what
brother Young and others do, they would see the people go to the
devil. We never have felt so, and I should not wish those who have had
such feelings to rule me. I am satisfied of one thing, we have all got
to learn to be mild and forbearing, and to do unto others as we would
wish others to do unto us. That is a lesson we all have to learn, and
the quicker we bring our minds to it the better it will be for us. If
you look to the First Presidency to lead you, assisted by the Twelve
and other leading members of this Church, you of course consider them
to be good men, and we in turn consider that you ought to be good men.
I think you ought to be good men and good women, good children, good
fathers and mothers, and good brethren and sisters. Why? Because you
know what is right and what is wrong. There is not a little child
before me here today, that has arrived to years of accountability,
but knows what is right to a certain degree. Then why do you not all
act upon the knowledge that you have, and bring your feelings and your
passions into subjection, and be like the clay in the hands of the
potter? When you do right you feel well, you feel satisfied, and as
though you had a conscience void of offense before God and man, and
before one another.
The instructions given today by President Young were good and
wholesome; did they not sound delicious upon your ears? Yes, you will
all say, we know they were good. Well, then, if you know it is good,
cleave to it, listen to it, and abide that counsel, for if you do you
will prosper and be blessed, and, as he said, you never will be
destroyed, and I know it.
Jesus says, "If you are not one, you are not mine." We must learn to
be one, listen to one counsel, and subject ourselves to the will of
our God. Some men, in their course, remind me of a man's trying to
reach the top of a ladder, without being satisfied to commence at the
first round, whereas, if they would commence at the first round, and
go step by step, they would soon arrive at the upper rounds.
Again, we are like to a chain, or should be, one link being connected
to the other. Then what is the use of anyone's trying to leave his
position? For by so doing he would break the connection. Act in your
places and in your callings, and by so doing the Lord will lead you
through into the celestial world, by the assistance of His servants,
for as to the Lord our God's coming here in person and leading us into
the celestial world, He never will do it, but He will authorize His
servants to do it.
When Jesus lived on the earth, he ordained and organized a Quorum of
Twelve Apostles, and said to them, "I have laid the foundation, and
you must build the house." Joseph Smith did the same; he made choice
of Twelve Apostles, and ordained them, and said, "I have laid
the foundation, and you may build upon it, you may rear the house;"
and these very persons are the ones who will lead you through into the
celestial world, and they will be at your head all the time. It will
be a very good thing if you take care of these men and nourish and
cherish them, that when you get into difficulty, into snarly hard
knots that you do not know how to untie, they may be on hand to render
you assistance. Supposing you were the leaders of this people, and
they get into a tangle and snarl, like a skein of thread, I tell you
there would be snapping, which would only tend to render the
difficulty still worse. Reflect upon these things for a moment, and
listen to them upon natural principles, for I am only speaking of
things as they naturally exist. We are not sufficiently patient; I am
not so patient as I wish to be. I wish I was so patient that when a
person abused me I could pass away from him, and never notice him; but
sometimes I turn round and fight a little; when they shoot, I shoot
too.
I again say to you, listen to the counsel that is given to you, from
time to time, and be faithful to those men who preside over you—to the
President of this Stake and his Council, to brother Hunter as the
Presiding Bishop (to whom all the Bishops are amenable for their
conduct), and to all other officers in their places.
Let us all observe obedience to our public officers, be subject to
them and listen to them; and all do the best they can; and when we are
absent, I know just how you will do, you will do exactly as I used to
when my father went away. He would say; "My son Heber, I want you to
go to hoeing corn, and to stick to it until I come back." I would put
my best foot foremost, and if any of my playfellows came round me, I
would say, "Come, boys, let us make a good job of this corn, that when
my father comes home he may rejoice in the good conduct of his son
Heber." It will be the same with the boys at the public works, they
will say, "Boys, let us do the best we can while they are gone."
Now, brethren, do not be eye servants, do not be merely Christians and
Saints while you are here, but be Saints when you are at home, in your
secret closets, and in your family, &c. When you labor, be Saints and
work while it is called today; you cannot do any too much.
Be faithful in your families, and in your prayer circles; be faithful
to your wives and to your children; and I say to the wives, be
faithful to your husbands and children; and in so doing I know God
will bless us to an extent that we have never yet experienced. Let us
do right when we are behind the house, in front of it, or in the
inside; when we are down in the cellar, upstairs, in the meadow, or
in the field; and whatever we do, let us do it in the name of the Lord
our God. When we sow our wheat, our beans, peas, and potatoes, let us
bow down and ask God to bless the seed and the earth, and warm it,
that it may bring forth in abundance, that we may reap the best crops
we even reaped in our lives. Often, when a little child calls upon
God to change the mind of its father or mother, the prayer will be
heard. I recollect the circumstance of a little boy's being left in
the house while his mother went on a visit; the boy used to get hold
of a valuable piece of crockery so she warned him not to touch it in
her absence, telling him if he did would certainly break it, and she
should whip him. He took it, and sure enough it slipped out of his
hands and broke. The little fellow prayed to his Father in heaven, in
the name of Jesus, that his mother might not feel disposed to
whip him. When she came home she had not power to punish him. Have you
not as much faith and confidence in God as that little boy? It was the
same with Daniel in the den of lions. The decree of the king was that
he should be thrown into the lions' den. Daniel called upon his Father
continually to take the ferocious feeling from the lions, that they
might not have power to harm him, and it was accomplished according to
his cry.
I could relate scores of circumstances, while I was on missions, of
men swearing that if I went to their houses they would blow my brains
out, or do me some violent bodily injury. I would go, but instead of
putting their threats into execution, nothing would be too good for
me, and they would say, "Come back, Mr. Kimball, for I never had such
a good time in my life." I held them by my faith, and that is the way
in which the devil will be bound; but as long as a person will give
him a privilege of coming into his tabernacle, he will remain, for his
object is to get a body. It would not be proper for me to come to your
house, when you have invited a guest to sit with you, and go to
casting him out, and I should have no power to do it.
We are growing pretty fast, increasing in faith, multiplying and
progressing, and we must continue to improve while we live in this
existence; and when we leave this state, what we do not gain here we
have got to gain in another. If you do not overcome your passions
here, you have got to do it there. You are not going to step right
into the presence of God when you leave this state of mortality; you
have got to make many covenants and fulfil them to the very letter.
What kind of people ought we to be? We should be Saints of God, and
not sinners. We are about to start for the south, and several are
going with us, but none but those who are of one heart and one mind.
This work is never to go down, it has commenced and it will never come
to an end until it has fulfilled the will of its Author; you need not
be troubled about that.
Now, brethren, be humble, be patient, be industrious, and when we come
back, we want to hear the spinning wheel in every house. We do not
expect the men to do this buzzing, we expect the sisters to do it. I
am going to set my folks to work at spinning up the wool, to working
up the old rags, and to making a little yarn for carpeting. I would
sooner walk on a rag carpet made by my own family, than upon an
imported Brussels carpet made in one of the best manufactories in the
world.
Let us be industrious and economical, that the blessings of God and of
all good persons may rest upon us, and we will multiply and replenish
the earth, and our crops and herds will multiply more than they ever
have. Listen to the counsel given to you, and the devil will have no
business with you. The devil can hurt no man, only when he gives way
to his influence. When he offered Jesus the whole world if he would
bow down to him, he had no power over him; says he, "I am the Son of
God, mind your own business." Then he took him upon the Temple, and
said, "If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down." But he told him
to get out of his way. The devil had no power over him, any more than
he can have power over you, if you resist his power. When the devil
has power over persons, it is because they have done something wrong,
which gives him power and influence over them. You have heard tell of
people having the blues; it is not good for men to be blue, nor for
women either, but it is for them to have confidence in God by doing
right.
God bless you, and peace be with you, and I bid you goodbye for a
season, and pray that consolation may be with you. Amen.
- Heber C. Kimball