I am very thankful for the privilege that I enjoy this morning, with
so many of the Latter-day Saints. I am thankful that we have the
privilege of assembling here to worship the Lord in so comfortable a
building, and in quite a moderate climate. I am happy for the
privilege of addressing the Saints, and I could hope with all my
heart, that I may never be called upon to address any other class of
people; still, the Gospel must be preached to the world, that the
wicked may be left without excuse. We have done a great deal of
preaching and talking to persons that knew nothing of the Gospel of
salvation, and I have occupied many years in trying to lay before the
inhabitants of the earth the principles of life and salvation, until,
through the providence of God, I have been called to other duties than
to mingle or associate with those who would not believe and practice
the Gospel. Still, I should have been more than satisfied, had my duty
led me in a path to associate, more or less, with unbelievers, for I
can say that I would rather preach to them, would rather associate
with them, would rather take my chance among a people who have never
heard the Gospel preached at all, than to live in the midst of the
ungodly. The term ungodly conveys an idea to my mind, perhaps, that it
does not to all present, for it is a fact that a man or woman must
know the ways of God before they can become ungodly. Persons may be
sinners, may be un righteous, may be wicked, who have never heard the
plan of salvation, who are even unacquainted with the history of the
Son of Man, or who have heard of the name of the Savior, and, perhaps,
the history of his life while on the earth, but have been taught
unbelief through their tradition and education; but to be ungodly, in
the strict sense of the word, they must measurably understand
godliness.
It is lamentable to any person who understands by the visions of
eternity the plan of salvation, the providences of God to His
creatures, to see one who has his mind opened to see, understand, and
embrace the principles of life and salvation in his faith, and who has
the privilege of being adopted into the family of heaven, of becoming
an heir with the Saints that have formerly lived upon the earth, an
heir with the Prophets and with Jesus Christ, and of being numbered
with the children of the Most High, with a legal administrator to
officiate for the attainment of all these privileges, and to open the
door of salvation and admittance into the kingdom, neglect so great a
salvation. But for any of this people who enjoy the privilege of
seeking unto the Lord their God, of being made acquainted with the
ways of life and salvation, to procure to themselves an eternal
exaltation, who have the privilege of preparing themselves to dwell
with Christ in the presence of their Father and their God, of being
joint heirs with Christ, and with all the Holy Ones that have lived, to turn from those holy commandments, to cease or neglect
performing every duty made known to them, and to let the gay and giddy
fancies of this life entangle their feelings, and draw them from the
principles of eternal salvation, is most astonishing to me, or to any
person that ever had the vision of their minds opened.
Every principle of philosophy that is known upon the face of the
earth, every argument and reason that can be adduced, would prove that
such a man or woman was taking a course destructive to themselves;
that they were blindfolding themselves by shutting their own eyes,
and, literally speaking, rushing to a precipice from whose verge they
would be dashed to pieces. It is most astonishing to every principle
of intelligence that any man or woman will close their eyes upon
eternal things after they have been made acquainted with them, and let
the gay things of this world, the lusts of the eye, and the lusts of
the flesh, entangle their minds and draw them one hair's breadth from
the principles of life.
True there are many in the world who profess to be what we call
infidels, who have no knowledge of anything beyond the researches of
their education, who have not the faculty to pry into and understand
things beyond what they can see with their natural eyes, hear with
their ears, or comprehend with their natural understandings; yet there
are but few that are really left indeed in the dark, left to be in
reality what they profess to be. And those few have not one particle
of good sound reason, not one argument on their side, to prove that a
licentious, ungodly life is of any advantage to any person on the
earth, but will argue the point, and that strenuously, that strict
morality should be observed among all intelligences, and an honest
bearing, an upright walk, and a gen tlemanly conversation, not giving
way to vulgarity and foul language, nor doing anything in the dark
that they would not be willing to be scanned in daylight. For all this
they argue strenuously, and yet say that they know nothing about God
and eternity. We are here, we exist on the earth. I am sure that I am
alive, for I can see others living. I am endowed with a certain degree
of intelligence, where did it come from? An infidel might say, "I do
not know." Where did I originate? "I do not know." Who was the maker
and former of all we can see? "I do not know." Yet those very
characters will argue the necessity of a moral life, of an honest
upright walk, one with the other.
But what are their arguments and what are their hopes? Why, they say,
"We are today, tomorrow, perhaps, we shall be no more. We came into
existence, but how we cannot tell. We have no faith, or belief, or
confidence in the God that you Christians talk about; we have no
confidence in His providence; by chance we are, and by chance we shall
go and be no more." Do you not perceive that their arguments land them
in the vortex of ignorance and unbelief, of misery and annihilation?
Go into the world and observe those who do not possess principles that
reach into eternity, and that are in eternity, principles by which
they exist and by which God created all things, and you will see that
those principles are lost to them, and that, whether they believe in
those principles or not, their course and profession will land them
without an existence, or the possession of the least thing in heaven,
earth, or hell.
These reflections bring to my understanding the greatest ignorance
that can be manifested by an intelligent people, those in particular
that are now before me, who have had the privilege of the holy Gospel
and neg lected their duty, turned away from the holy
commandments, and ceased to live their religion in every point; such
conduct does manifest the greatest weakness, ignorance, foolery, and
wickedness that can be produced by intelligences. If you comprehend my
ideas you will agree with me, for no sensible man or woman can see the
subject in any different light. If we are here by chance, if we
happened to slip into this world from nothing, we shall soon slip out
of this world to nothing, hence nothing will remain; consequently we
have nothing to gain or lose. But the man of better judgment, of more
sound reasoning, must know that everything that was, that is, or that
will be, everything that can be in all the eternities in the vast
expanse that we behold, must have had a Creator. No principles
exhibited to the human family will suggest that a book, a bench, a
house, a tree, or any growing or manufactured article, can be produced
without a producer. All we know, all we see, hear, and understand,
proves to us that there is no fabric without a constructor.
These reflections lead me to contrast the world with a people like
this before me, a people endowed with intelligence and a knowledge of
heavenly principles. That is our profession before the world, and is
our confession to God and angels, to all that have lived on the earth
and that are now on it; and you will hear the world exclaim, "You poor
Mormons, you Latter-day Saints that have left your homes, your houses,
your friends, your families, your possessions, the place of your
birth, and everything that is near and dear to you, you say that the
visions of your minds have been opened, that you have had the visions
of eternity opened to your understanding, so that you do know that
there is a God, that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world; so that
you do know of the principles of life and salvation proffered to you;
and for these you have forsaken all and gone to the mountains."
Of these things the whole world are witnesses against us and for us,
wherever the sound of this Gospel has been; and you can hardly find a
nook on the earth where the sound of it has not reached, for it has
gone to the uttermost parts of the earth, and hosts are witnesses of
this. Yet all acknowledge that you have something superior, that you
have light and intelligence that others do not enjoy; that God has
opened up the heavens to your minds, and taken away the veil from your
understandings. And you say that there is a God, that you understand
His character, that He has revealed Himself to you, and that you have
left all and come to the mountains, and what is the cry here? Why the
people need reforming, there is necessity for reformation.
"I am thankful," says one, "that I found the spirit of reformation
when I came home." What would an angel of the Lord say, if he came
here, or a devil either? "O, shame on these Latter-day Saints, it is a
disgrace to intelligence, to your officers as Elders in Israel, to
your characters, to your names and beings on the earth, that you have
had the visions of eternity opened to you, and many have forsaken
everything that is near and dear to them by way of preparation for the
Celestial kingdom, and now cry out the necessity of a reformation. It
is most astonishing." I will leave it to every man, woman, and child,
if it does not look strange. What! Reformation? Yes, for in one sense
we intend, that is as knowledge comes to us, to reform daily. But shall
the sound go forth that we do not see and understand things as we did
when in England, in France, in Germany, in Denmark, in the East
Indies, or anywhere else on this earth? This sound goes forth, it is
echoed by the angels into the ears of our God and Father in
eternity, and it is carried on the wings of the wind over the earth,
that the Latter-day Saints are digging and toiling, going by sea and
by land, traversing distances of thousands of miles and circumscribing
the earth to be with their brethren, and when they get here they need
reforming. Why? Because they have backslidden.
You may ask me whether there is a need of reformation. Yes; and if I
were to dictate you how to reform I should have to tell the old story
over again, as I already have hundreds of times. First, reform as to
your moral character, dealing, walk, precepts and examples. Reform
first morally, before you get down before the Lord and plead with Him
for the visions of eternity to be opened to your understandings,
before you ask for the veil to be taken from your eyes. First reform
in your moral character and conduct one towards another, so that every
man and woman will deal honestly, and walk uprightly with one another,
and extend the arm of charity and benevolence to each other, as
necessity requires. Be moral and strictly honest in every point,
before you ask God to reform your spirit.
If the people in their present situation and mode of dealing in this
city, to say nothing of those out of the city, all go to work now and
have meetings and call upon God to get the spirit of reformation, but
sing and pray about doing right without doing it, instead of singing
themselves away to "everlasting bliss," they will sing and pray
themselves into hell, shouting hallelujah. You cannot be saved by any
other principle than that of the holy Gospel; and if you live in the
neglect of the performance of the duties that you know are required at
your hands, if you do not walk uprightly before God and your brethren,
if you do not deal justly with one another, if you do not walk in
honesty and soberness with one another, your faith is vain and your
reformation is vain. You must repent of your evil deeds and first of
all morally reform yourselves, before you can ask God for His Spirit
to reform and enlighten your spirits. This is my doctrine and
philosophy; were it not, I would say, let those who steal, steal on;
and you that are in the habit of swearing, swear away; and you that
have been in the habit of taking advantage of each other, cheat away;
and those who lie, lie away; and you that trespass upon your brother,
trespass away; and so continue, Christian like, only be sure, just as
you are going to die, to look out and not have death catch you asleep,
that when it comes you may be awake enough just to repent of all your
sins and turn to God, and then you will be as fit subjects for heaven
as powder would be for a burning dwelling. Our limekiln, when it is
burning to its zenith, would be as fit a place for a powder house, as
is the celestial kingdom for such characters.
Do you think that I am telling you the truth? I do not care one groat
whether you think that I am telling you the truth, or not; for when
the day comes that we shall be weighed in the balance, you will know.
I am charged by the whole world with almost every degree of immoral
conduct, with the most erroneous practices that were ever indulged in
by any person on the earth, and for what? Because I have such an
influence over these men who are sitting here; because you all hearken
to your leader. I would to God that this was altogether the truth, for
I tell you, in the name of the Lord, that there would not be a
professed Latter-day Saint in this Territory, but what would live his
religion. They think we are all one, but when the Saints gather here
they are far from being one; they have not yet learned to be one in
Christ, they do not understand the principle of being one in a
church capacity, to say nothing about being one in a family capacity,
or in a neighborhood capacity. The people might have known, long ago,
what the difficulty is, if the influences, temptations, and lusts that
are in us naturally are given way to, and we are led captive at the
will of him that rules the world; that forms the grand difficulty.
Do you want to know the reason why I speak of our being so comfortably
situated this morning in so comfortable a meetinghouse? We can return
home and sit down and warm our feet before the fire, and can eat our
bread and butter, &c., but my mind is yonder in the snow, where those
immigrating Saints are, and my mind has been with them ever since I
had the report of their start from Winter Quarters (Florence), on the
3rd of September. I cannot talk about anything, I cannot go out or
come in, but what in every minute or two minutes my mind reverts to
them; and the questions—whereabouts are my brethren and sisters who
are on the Plains, and what is their condition—force themselves upon
me and annoy my feelings all the time. And were I to answer my own
feelings, I should do so by undertaking to do what the conference
voted I should not do, that is, I should be with them now in the snow,
even though it should be up to the knees, up to the waist, or up to
the neck. My mind is there, and my faith is there; I have a great many
reflections about them.
Have any of you suffered while coming here? Yes. How many of you
sisters present buried your husbands, or your fathers, or your
mothers, or children, on the Plains? How many of you brethren buried
your wives? Have you suffered, and been in peril and trouble? Yes, you
had to endure anguish and pain from the effects of cholera, toil, and
weariness. Do you live your religion when you get here, after all the
trouble, afflictions, and pains you have passed through to come to
Zion? And to a pretty Zion! Men and women start across the Plains for
this place, and are they willing to wade through the snow? Yes. To
travel through snow storms? Yes. To wade rivers? Yes. What for? To get
to Zion. And here we are in Zion, and what a Zion! Where it is
necessary for the cry of reformation to go through the land, both a
spiritual and temporal reformation. God is more merciful than man can
be, and it is well for us. Again, when I consider the backsliding of
the people, and their sins, I will not ask God to be more merciful,
and have more sympathy towards me, than I have for my brethren and
sisters.
A good many teams have already gone out to meet the Saints who are
struggling to gain this place; I can hardly keep from talking about
them all the time, for when I am preaching they are uppermost in my
mind. The brethren were liberal last Sunday in turning out to meet
them with teams, still if any more feel desirous of going to their
assistance, I will give them the privilege, and advise them to take
feed, not only for their own animals, but also for those of the
brethren who have already gone out, for they will very likely be
short. But I should be more particularly thankful if the minds of this
community could be so impressed and stirred up, so wakened up, that
when those poor brethren and sisters who are now on the Plains do
arrive they may be able to say of a truth and in very deed, "God be
thanked, we have got to Zion." But fearfulness and forebodings of
disappointment to them are in my feelings. How far they may be
disappointed, I do not know.
I do not wish to be personal in this congregation, but let me say to
the authorities, to the Elders of Israel, the Seventies, High Priests, Bishops, or any other quorum or class of officers, if you will
appoint meetings and have only those present whom we wish to be there,
I will then tell you how to commence a reformation. I will there be
particular and personal in my remarks, if necessary, and I will talk
to you as severely as I already have to some of the quorums. Now then,
morally reform. "In what?" In everything. Reform your moral character,
and be at least as moral as you would if you belonged to a Methodist,
Presbyterian, or Baptist church, or to the Roman Catholics: be as
moral as those classes of people, for heaven's sake. Then there will
be a chance for you to reform in spirit, and to get the light of
eternity to shine upon your efforts.
There are a great many things to be taught and practiced. I have
frequently thought that I would rather preach to and baptize new
converts than to fashion over the old ones, for you can seldom get a
good pattern out of them. Some will be full of seams and checks, and
you never can make a sound piece out of them. If I had the material to
work with I would rather make new ones, than patch up the old ones:
but as we have not the new materials to work upon, we must patch up
the old ones. Patch up yourselves—make your characters comely to each
other. I am not so anxious about the Spirit; let a man walk as pure
and holy as the Gods and angels, and then see if there will not be the
light of eternity in him. Let a man or woman walk without spot or
blemish and the Spirit and power of God Almighty will be with them all
the time, and the angels of God will be round about them all the time,
they will be preserved to do the will of God preparatory to an eternal
exaltation.
Do not talk to me and tell me that you are so backslidden and dark,
but reform and get the light of God within you. Some get up here and
say, "I will live my religion, I will brethren; O pray for me, I will
live my religion, if it costs me my life." Yes, some of the great men
of Israel talk in that style. Some of the Presidents come here and
say, "I will live my religion, God being my helper, if it takes away
my life." When a man talks about his religion costing him his life, I
want to ask that man if he has any common sense about him. Have you
any true philosophy, argument, light, or intelligence in the least
degree? "O yes, we are philosophers." Then ask yourselves from whence
you derive your lives, your means, your property, everything you can
enjoy in time and eternity. Do you receive them outside of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ? No you do not. And still a man will get up here and
say, "I will serve the Lord, if it costs me my life." I will say what
I said yesterday, such a man is a fool. Such a man is condemned, and
the wrath of God is upon him. His eyes are closed, and he is no more
fit for a President of the Seventies, or any other quorum, than a red
hot limekiln is for a powder house. Cut such a man off from the
Church, for he has backslidden to that degree that nothing but death
stares him in the face, when he looks to God and Christ with a view of
keeping their law. We wish those rotten branches cut off from the
Church, severed from the trunk of the tree; slash them off, and put a
little wax on where you cut the limb off, that the wound may heal
over, and the tree grow more thrifty. May the Lord bless us. Amen.