I know not what I shall say or how I shall be led to address you, but
I have no doubt many are thinking that perhaps I shall be led to speak
as plainly as I did two or three weeks ago. With regard to that I wish
to tell you, brethren and sisters, that I never could have led myself
in such a train of ideas; the Holy Ghost led me to speak upon those
items that you consider small items, for if you did not consider them
of little moment you would reform in your practices touching those
points, and take a different course from what you do. I do know, and
that most positively, that if this people would put into practice
those things that I recommend, they would be blessed, for they are
fundamental principles of our holy religion.
These things are the ax that is laid at the root of your trees; and
what is it? It is rottenness. Where is that rottenness? It is at the
root of the tree; and if the roots have become rotten—have become
defiled—then of course the tree will also be rotten, with every branch
pertaining to it, and the whole tree will perish. You are every one of
you compared to a tree, or to a body; and there is no body, neither
will there be, but what has a root to it; if it were not so you could
not produce a posterity. It is for you to take that evil—that
corruption—away from the root. It is a corruption that the world is
dabbling in, and this people are dabbling in it more or less. Such a
thing as adultery never would be known in the house of Israel, if some
were not dabbling in that evil, and if rottenness was not at the roots
of some of the trees. It is this which leads to the principle of
adultery, and the body has become tinctured with corruption.
It is like this: take a good sweet barrel and fill it with good sweet
pork, and then deposit in the center of it a tainted piece as big as
my fist, and how long will it be before it will ruin the whole barrel
of good meat, in case the tainted meat is not removed? Upon the same
principle let wickedness be in our midst undisturbed—pay no attention
to it at all—and it will ruin this whole people. It will canker the
roots of the trees and spread, until all the branches per taining to those trees are defiled and corrupted. We have got to
lay those evils aside—to cease tampering with them, and pursue a
course that will lead to regeneration.
Many may not know what regeneration is. If I can tell you what
degeneration is, then I can tell you what regeneration is. For
instance: take a quart of the strongest alcohol, and mix ten quarts of
water with it, and you have reduced its strength ten degrees lower
than it was; or if you mix twenty quarts of water with it, then you
have reduced it twenty degrees below the point at which it was. I
bring this up as a comparison, to show that the world have become
degenerated. Upon the same principle some are a great many degrees
below zero, that is, below the point of perfection at which God first
made us.
Some are so far from the summit they first occupied that they cannot
see it, nor can they see our Father who lives there. How is the quart
of strong alcohol to be restored back to its original strength? It
must go through the process by which it was first produced, or some
process for separating it from that by which it has been degenerated.
I do not know of any other way; and that is regeneration.
What I mean to convey is that we become degenerate by receiving
principles that are less pure and perfect than the principles of God.
Some have received the principles of the opposite, that is, of the
devil, and have been degenerating and degenerating until they are, as
it were, 260 degrees below zero. I merely use this figure to show you
the principle of regeneration and degeneration.
I was speaking here a few Sundays ago for you to multiply and
increase. Our generation is on the increase, and is returning back
towards our Father and God. Brother Brigham has talked here today so
plain that a little child cannot misunderstand it. He spoke about our
Father and our God; I believe what he has said, in fact I know it.
Often when I have been in the presence of brother Brigham, we would
feel such a buoyant spirit that when we began to talk we could not
express our feelings, and so, "Hallelujah," says Brigham, "Glory to
God," says I. I feel it and say it.
Some of the brethren kind of turn their noses on one side at me when I
make such expressions, but they would not do it if they knew God. Such
ones do not even know brothers Brigham and Heber; if they did they
would not turn a wry face at us. I am perfectly satisfied that my
Father and my God is a cheerful, pleasant, lively, and good-natured
Being. Why? Because I am cheerful, pleasant, lively, and good-natured
when I have His Spirit. That is one reason why I know; and another
is—the Lord said, through Joseph Smith, "I delight in a glad heart and
a cheerful countenance." That arises from the perfection of His
attributes; He is a jovial, lively person, and a beautiful man.
I cannot refer to any man of my acquaintance in my life as being so
much like God as was brother Brigham's father. He was one of the
liveliest and most cheerful men I ever saw, and one of the best of
men. He used to come and see me and my wife Vilate almost every day,
and would sit and talk with us, and sing, and pray, and jump, and do
anything that was good to make us lively and happy, and we loved him.
I loved him as well as I did my own father, and a great deal better, I
believe. Thus you see that I am not partial in my feelings. If I see a
tree bring forth better fruit than the tree I was brought forth from I
will like that tree the best.
"31 There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing
without, sent unto him, calling him.
"32 And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold,
thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.
"33 And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?
"34 And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said,
Behold my mother and my brethren!
"35 For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother,
and my sister, and father and mother."
—St. Mark iii.
Why should I be partial and selfish? Some men cannot go and live but a
short time in Tooele, or San Pete, or Box Elder, or in any other of
our settlements, before they begin to feel that there is no people
like the people in the place where they are living. I do not mean
Bishop Warren Snow, for it will not hit him; no, but it will hit lots.
I don't mean Lot Smith, but I mean that it will hit many.
I am national in one respect: I am strongly in favor of the house of
Israel, and of all good men and women of every nation, clime, and
country, for they are of my kindred, and have sprung from the same
Father and God that I have. But, as brother James W. Cummings said
when speaking about them, do I love the wicked? Yes, I love them
insomuch that I wish they were in hell, that is, a great many of
them, for that is the best wish I can wish them. And those that killed
Joseph and Hyrum, and David W. Patten, and other Patriarchs and
Prophets, I wish they were in hell; though I need not wish that, for
in one sense they are in hell all the time; and if they have not
literally gone down into hell they will go there, as the Lord God
lives, everyone of them, and every man that consented to the acts
those murderers performed. That is loving the wicked, to send them
there to hell to be burnt out until they are purified. Yes, they shall
go there and stay there and be burnt, like an old pipe that stinks
with long usage and corruption, until they are burnt out, and then
their spirits may be saved in the day of God Almighty. It is my
feelings that they may be damned for their awful iniquity in shedding
innocent blood, as also all who sanction their acts, both men and
women, together with all who associate with them and partake of their
spirit, for that spirit is opposite to God and His servants.
As brother Brigham has said, I can say that every word is true that
brother James has spoken. God bless him and fill him with the Spirit
of righteousness, that the power of God may be upon him; and God bless
every good man and woman; the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
shall be upon them, and you cannot help it. We will arise and live our
religion and serve our God; instead of running down into degradation
we will regenerate ourselves.
Brethren, do listen to what I said here a few weeks ago. It was spoken
in plainness, but it has gone from my mind and I am glad of it, for
through tradition and human weakness I presume I should feel bad, if I
could think what I did say. It was the truth of God, and it laid the
ax at the roots of trees, for I told you where you were corrupting
yourselves. You are corrupting yourselves—where? In the root. Now let
us take a course and pursue the other path, and go on unto
perfection—unto the restitution, and go back to God from whom we
sprung.
Does the Lord hear me when I pray to Him? Yes, I do not know that I
ever asked Him in earnest for a thing that was right, but what
I received an answer from Him. I know that He lives; I know that His
Son Jesus Christ lives; I know that the Holy Ghost lives; and I know
that the angels of God live. I know that Joseph, Hyrum, Willard, and
Jedediah, and all other good men who have died in the faith, live and
associate with those who held the Priesthood before they did. And they
are with brother Brigham and with us, and will be with us forever, for
we never will be separated, and I know it. I know that, brother
Brigham, just as well as I know that I see this people today; and I
shall be with you, and we will have a happy time when we meet Joseph
and Hyrum and Willard and Jedediah and father Smith! Will not the old
gentleman be jolly! Yes, for he always was; and he will be more so in
proportion to the greater light and knowledge he has. Those are the
men we are going to meet with; also with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
three of the old polygamists.
Do you suppose that Joseph and Hyrum and all those good men would
associate with those ancient worthies, if they had not been engaged in
the same practices? They had to do the works of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, in order to be admitted where they are—they had to be
polygamists in order to be received into their society. God knows that
I am not ashamed of those good men now, and how much more I shall
prize my associate polygamists, when I am further advanced in
knowledge, I do not know. I am talking in earnest, and from the
experience I have had.
I know the character of the human family and the course that many men
and women are taking; they are making a desolation and taking a course
to bring destruction upon their root; they are following a course that
would ultimately depopulate the earth. All will come to that, if they
do not take a course of continual increase forever and forever.
How long do you suppose it will take a little man like me, though I
feel perfectly able to thrash any six common wicked men, if I am
faithful in keeping the commandments of God and true all the days of
my life to my brethren, as I have been hitherto and mean to be more
so, to get into the celestial kingdom of God with my whole posterity,
in case there should be no obstruction? How long do you suppose it
will be before my posterity increases to over a million? A hundred
years will not pass away before I will become millions myself. You may
go to work and reckon it up, and twenty-five years will not pass away
before brother Brigham and I will number more than this whole
Territory. Now, if that number proceeds from us, I tell you our roots
are fruitful. Take away every cause of death to those roots and
nourish them and cherish them, and they will increase and you cannot
help yourselves. In twenty-five or thirty years we will have a larger
number in our two families than there now is in this whole Territory,
which numbers more than seventy-five thousand. If twenty-five years
will produce this amount of people, how much will be the increase in
one hundred years? We could not number them, or if we did sum up the
amount to any given time, they are still on the increase.
But some of you are taking a course to spend your lives for nought,
while brother Brigham and I are becoming like Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, and the Prophets. Why do you not be profitable to yourselves,
and put out your lives to usury? Do you understand me? That is the
principle I love to talk about, and I would just as soon talk about
it here today, before you, as in the chimney corner. Some say that I
am vulgar, but I never spoke a word of vulgarity here. Those
who are vulgar receive my language as such, but the pure never
received it so. To those who are pure, all things are pure; and to
those who are vulgar, all things are vulgar.
I have not spoken vulgarly, but have spoken of the acts wherein some
have degraded themselves in the eyes of heaven. God cannot abide with
such persons, nor His angels, and the Holy Ghost will not dwell with
them, when they are so corrupt. Some still continue in the corruption
they were in while they mingled among the wicked in the world. Is it
not time for all to quit it—to reform and break off from those things?
Brothers Brigham, Heber, and Daniel do not do as you do. We have taken
another course—a course of exaltation, and put out our lives and
strength to usury, while some of you are throwing away your
lives—spending your existence for nought—the axe is laid at the root
of the tree—and you will be cut down by and by, except you forsake
such evils.
"19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and
cast into the fire." [St. Matthew's Gospel, 7th chap.]
My feelings are that I may be like clay in the hands of the potter, or
like a fiddle in the hands of the performer. I am not going to dictate
God, but I feel to say, Father play through me in a manner that shall
be for the salvation of this people. These are my feelings all the
time and my prayer, and that should be the prayer of every man, and
not get up here, as almost every man does, and say, "I am no preacher,
I am not an eloquent man, I have not got silver lips," and this and
that. We know all this, and what do you want to tell of it here for?
It is like a fiddle's getting up here to make an excuse for the
fiddler. I would knock a fiddle into a cocked up hat, if it should
undertake to dictate me, would not you, brother Smithies? Brother
Smithies is our chorister and is a very modest man, but he would not
permit the fiddle to dictate him. I do not like to hear the Twelve,
the High Priests, the Seventies, the Bishops, nor any member in this
Church and Kingdom who has got the Priesthood, get up here to make
apologies.
While speaking of our sins, brother James said let us forsake them and
turn over a new leaf, that is, throw the old one entirely overboard
and commence a new life, as though we never had commenced. I will
illustrate this idea by bringing up a figure. Suppose that you have an
old scrapbook, in which you have written from your childhood all kinds
of scribbling, pot hooks and hook pots, and marks of every kind and
description, using it one year one end up, and then turning the other
end up and writing down again, insomuch that the old scrapbook
presents to view a miserable mess of confusion. Now, can you correct
that book and put every character into line? You cannot correct it,
except you entirely blot out the old marks, and commence afresh to
write in it and keep it as it should be, so that you will not be
ashamed for the angels to look upon it and be able to say, "It is well
done." You cannot correct the old book, for it has become a blot. What
shall you do with it? If you do as you have been told, you will take
the old scrapbook and tumble it overboard, or lay it aside and not
undertake to look at it any more, and take a new blank book and fill
it up anew, and learn to be men and women approved of God.
Brother Brigham says that if you will all quit your sins and follies
and begin now to pursue a righteous course, your sins shall
all be remitted; the old book will be laid aside and never again
presented before you. But if you persist in your sins after this
mercy, the old book will be brought up against you again, and you will
have to pay the debt or be judged by it. If you will now quit your
sinning, God will have mercy upon you and His servants will, and you
will be blessed. Do you not know that the Prophet says, that if the
people turn away from their sins and repent, and forsake them, thus
saith the Lord, I will no more remember their sins against them
forever; but if they turn from their righteousness to their
unrighteousness, I will bring all their former sins back upon their
heads, those which they have committed in all their days? And if you
persist in your sins, you will have to be judged out of the old
scrapbook. Is not this a great promise?
It is easy to do right, to lay aside old erroneous notions, hypocrisy,
thieving, lying, and a thousand other things that are a rebellion
against God and against His authority. I want to know if God will love
and respect and send His angels to one of my wives, though she were
fifty, sixty, or a hundred years of age, if she is disobedient to me
when I am as merciful, generous, and kind a man to her as ever lived?
If she disobeys me, persists in taking a course contrary to my will
and the will of God all the time, saying, "I will do as I please, and
the angels will come and visit me?" Neither God nor His Son Jesus
Christ will send the holy angels to minister to such a woman, and she
need not tell about their coming to visit her, nor about receiving
revelations from heaven concerning brother Brigham, and about what
brother Brigham and brother Heber should do. Damn such fixings, they
are not of God; they never saw Him, nor never will, unless they repent
of such foolishness. I discard such things, and so does our God, and
so do angels. Get revelations for the Prophet of God to be subject to
your requests!!! Get out, you stinking things, and your swamp angels
too. I am as independent of you as God upon His throne, and of all
such creatures and so is any man of God that is valiant in the latter
days. I ask no odds of the world and its corruptions, nor of anything
that pertains to it, for God my Father and my Elder brother Jesus
Christ, and his faithful servants are my friends.
I have spoken these things with good feelings, and these principles
are laying the axe at the root of the trees, and that tree will fall
which is not connected with God and His children. The Scripture says
that there is an axe laid at the root of every tree, that is, it is
laid at the root of every man and woman, and that axe will be used to
slay them, if they persist in iniquity. If there is an axe at the root
of my tree, let me so live that I may be worthy to pick up that axe
and slay the wicked, and not be slain. That man or woman who will not
do that, will be slain.
God bless you. I feel good; I feel to bless you. I bless the Saints,
the good men, the good women, and the good children the wide world
over, and I bless the earth we inherit; but I feel to curse the
wicked, and the ungodly, and those who are taking the road to
destruction. I bless all Saints, and all good people. Amen.
- Heber C. Kimball