I am heartily delighted with what has been said here this morning, so
far as I have heard—for I did not come in time to hear all the
remarks.
It is my greatest joy to see this people engaged in their religion,
faithful to their calling, true to their trust, and fervent in spirit.
And when I see the brethren and sisters striving to add faith to
faith, and good works to good works, and feeling to renew their
obligations, and covenants, and labors day by day, it is satisfying
to me—it is joy and peace.
This is a marvelous work and a wonder. Do not the people think it is?
What a stir this people make in the world! The sound thereof has gone
forth almost, if not entirely, to the uttermost parts of the earth.
Our Elders have been round the world and round the world again. They
have been to the most noted nations, and to a great many isolated
tribes and islands. I do not know but what the sound of "Mormonism"
has gone forth into all the earth, and it makes a great stir wherever
it goes.
Brother Truman O. Angell said that it appeared as though this people
and the work we are engaged in are of the greatest importance. I can
say that this work is of the greatest importance to you, and me, and
the people of the earth; for no person can get salvation without it.
And the remark of brother Carrington, that the unbridled passions of
people forge their fetters, is true. There is no freedom anywhere
outside the Gospel of salvation. The inhabitants of the earth imagine
that they are enjoying great freedom. It is not so. If they would stop
and reflect, they would find that they only place each other in
bondage. This is the case with all the nations of the earth. Do you
see that equality among them that you see here? Where is there a
people or nation that does not oppress each other? When our Elders go
forth and preach the Gospel, if it was in their power to cast from the
people the yoke of bondage, instead of our gathering into the Church,
from the British Isles, for instance, two or three thousand or ten
thousand a year, we would gain our million a year.
That is a free nation: in the common acceptation of the term they are
a free people: they are very liberal. But how many can embrace the
work there with impunity? But a few; for people have not moral courage
enough to break through their iron fetters. The people are bound down
and cannot embrace this work. Thousands and millions have heard this
Gospel preached who would have been glad to receive the blessings of
it, if they could have done so without endangering their own existence
on the earth. Life is sweet, and the majority of men will do anything
to preserve it. Jesus said that a man would give all that he had for
his life; and in our day there are a great many who will do almost
anything to preserve their natural lives. To accomplish this, they
will bow down to the whims and sayings of designing men, of
the priests of the day, and to the laws and customs of individuals.
Were it not for this, you would find that there would be millions
embracing this work where there are now but hundreds; for there is no
freedom only in the Gospel of salvation.
There is not an individual upon the earth but what has within himself
ability to save or to destroy himself; and such is the case with
nations. Is there liberty or freedom in destruction? No. When you look
at things naturally, which is as far as the natural man sees, a person
who takes a course to destroy himself temporally would be considered
very unwise. And to the natural man we are taking an unwise, an
unnatural course, wherein our religion is obnoxious to the Christian
world. Did not your friends say to many of you, before you left your
homes, that you were foolish—that the world would despise you and
hate you? Did they not ask you if you could not see that troubles were
coming upon the Saints, and say that you were very unwise in going
with them—that you had better stay where there was safety? They can
see nothing more than natural things; they do not understand the ways
of God; they are unacquainted with His doings, with His kingdom, and
with the principles of eternity.
So far as the natural man is concerned, it appears that the Latter-day
Saints are very unwise to embrace in their faith those obnoxious
principles that render them so odious in the eyes of the political and
Christian world—the popular world. The Latter-day Saints see further;
they understand more than what pertains to this world. The Gospel of
life and salvation reveals to each individual who receives it that
this world is only a place of temporary duration, existence, trials,
&c. Its present fashion and uses are but for a few days, while we were
created to exist eternally. The wicked can see no further than this
world is concerned. We understand that when we are unclothed in this
present state, then we are prepared to be clothed upon with
immortality—that when we put off these bodies we put on immortality.
These bodies will return to dust, but our hope and faith are that we
will receive these bodies again from the elements—that we will receive
the very organization that we have here, and that, if we are faithful
to the principles of freedom, we shall then be prepared to endure
eternally.
Can the wicked be brought forth to endure? No; they will be
destroyed. Which, then, are the wise, and which are the foolish? We
all naturally know—we can naturally understand that man cannot stay
here always. The inhabitants of the earth are continually coming and
going. This is not our abiding place. All can see naturally, if they
would but observe the facts before them, that this world is but of
short duration to them. They appear here infants, pass through
childhood and youth to middle age, and if they live to a good old age,
it is but a short time, and then they must go. But where do they go
to, and what will become of them? Will this intelligence cease to be?
There are but very few, if any, who really believe this. And the
thought of being annihilated—of being blotted out of existence—is most
horrid, even to that class called infidels.
The intelligence that is in me to cease to exist is a horrid thought;
it is past enduring. This intelligence must exist; it must dwell
somewhere. If I take the right course and preserve it in its
organization, I will preserve to myself eternal life. This is the
greatest gift that ever was bestowed on mankind, to know how to
preserve their identity. Shall we forge our own fetters through our
ignorance? Shall we lay the foundation to build the bulwarks
for our own destruction through our wickedness? No; the Latter-day
Saints know better. We will lay the foundation to dwell eternally, and
that, too, in the heavens, with beings superior to those with whom we
associate in our present situation and circumstances.
We have the principle within us, and so has every being on this earth,
to increase and to continue to increase, to enlarge, and receive and
treasure up truth, until we become perfect. It is wisdom for us to be
the friends of God; and unless we are filled with integrity and
preserve ourselves in our integrity before our God, we actually lay
the foundation for our destruction. The world think that we are going
to be temporally destroyed. That is nonsense. All things are temporal,
and all things are spiritual with the Lord; there is no difference
with Him, neither is there with any person who has eyes to see things
as they exist. To those who have their minds open to eternal things,
spiritual and temporal things are all one.
This is only our place of temporary existence. We cannot live here
always with our bodies full of pain and subject to decay. Deprive us
of food and we die; deprive us of water, and after a short time we
die; deprive us of air, and we live but a few moments. We all know
that this is not the state for us to live in and endure to eternity.
Our eyes are looking beyond this sphere of action, and I trust that we
are laying the foundation to endure eternally. If we do, we must be
the friends of God—the friends of the principles of life and
salvation; and we must adhere to those principles and shape our lives
according to them, or else we lay the foundation for our own
destruction.
Talk about liberty anywhere else! What liberty is there in anything
that will be dissolved and return to its native element? What liberty
can any intelligence enjoy that is calculated to be destroyed? There
is no liberty, no freedom there.
The principles of life and salvation are the only principles of
freedom; for every principle that is opposed to God—that is opposed to
the principles of eternal life, whether it is in heaven, on the earth,
or in hell, the time will be when it will cease to exist, cease to
preserve, manifest, and exhibit its identity; for it will be returned
to its native element. I say, let us live our religion, serve our God,
trust in Him; and when we are called to contend against the enemy
within ourselves, contend against him manfully, just as we would
against an open enemy—contend against those passions that rise in the
heart, and overcome every one of them.
You will hear some of the brethren say, as brother Carrington has just
said, that there are times when the blood courses like lightning, upon
seeing men who are opposed to us—who are striving with all their
powers to destroy this people. Can they destroy us? No, they cannot.
There are a great many in this congregation who are witnesses that
the Devil has been warring, with all his imps arrayed against this
work, ever since the organization of this Church, and trying to
obliterate it from the earth. Have they gained any ground? No; they
have lost ground all the time. This people, with brother Joseph at
their head, and with all the powers of Satan, earth, and hell for him
to contend against, have built up the kingdom of God and spread the
principles of the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth.
In regard to the battle in heaven, that brother Truman O. Angell
referred to, how much of a battle it was I have forgotten. I cannot
relate the principal circumstances, it is so long since it
happened: but I do not think it lasted very long; for when Lucifer,
the Son of the Morning, claimed the privilege of having the control of
this earth and redeeming it, a contention rose; but I do not think it
took long to cast down one-third of the hosts of heaven, as it is
written in the Bible. But let me tell you that it was one-third part
of the spirits who were prepared to take tabernacles upon this earth,
and who rebelled against the other two-thirds of the heavenly host;
and they were cast down to this world. It is written that they were
cast down to the earth. They were cast down to this globe—to this
terra firma that you and I walk upon, and whose atmosphere we breathe.
One-third part of the spirits that were prepared for this earth
rebelled against Jesus Christ, and were cast down to the earth, and
they have been opposed to him from that day to this, with Lucifer at
their head. He is their great General—Lucifer, the Son of the Morning.
He was once a brilliant and influential character in heaven, and we
will know more about him hereafter.
Do you not think that those spirits knew when Joseph Smith got the
plates? Yes, just as well as you know that I am talking to you now.
They were there at the time, and millions and millions of them opposed
Joseph in getting the plates; and not only they opposed him, but also
men in the flesh. I never heard such oaths fall from the lips of any
man as I heard uttered by a man who was called a fortuneteller, and
who knew where those plates were hid. He went three times in one
summer to get them—the same summer in which Joseph did get them.
Baptist, Presbyterian, and Methodist priests and deacons sent for him
to tell where those plates were, and to get them out of the hill where
they were deposited; and he had not returned to his home from the last
trip he made for them more than a week or ten days before Joseph got
them. Joseph was what we call an ignorant boy; but this
fortuneteller, whose name I do not remember, was a man of profound
learning.
He had put himself in possession of all the learning in the
States—had been to France, Germany, Italy, and through the world—had
been educated for a priest, and turned out to be a devil. I do not
know but that he would have been a devil if he had followed the
profession of a priest among what are termed the Christian
denominations. He could preach as well as the best of them, and I
never heard a man swear as he did. He could tell that those plates
were there, and that they were a treasure whose value to the people
could not be told; for that I myself heard him say. Those spirits
driven from heaven were with him and with others who tried to prevent
Joseph's getting the plates; but he did get and secrete them, though
he had to knock down two or three men, as he was going home, who were
waylaying him to kill him. From that day to this, a part of the hosts
of heaven made mention of in the Bible, with the cursed corrupt
priests and the cursed scoundrelly Gentiles with them, have been
trying to put down this work. But what have they gained? I should
suppose that they would have stopped their operations long ere this,
after uniformly meeting with such bad success.
When I commenced preaching, I told the people that if they would let
us alone, and not raise any persecution, we would go peaceably along
among the people and preach to them; but that just as sure as they
fought us and opposed this work we would actually revolutionize the
world a great deal quicker than if they let us alone. I have stuck to
that faith ever since; for every time that there has been an opposition raised against this work, God has caused it to swell like
seed in the ground; He has caused the seed to sprout and bring forth
the little mustard trees, as brother Kimball has said.
The Gospel is certainly bringing forth a multitude of Saints. Has it
not been so all the time? Yes, it has. A great deal could be said on
this subject, but I have not time to say it now; for there are some
other matters I wish to speak about.
We have issued almost 2,000 tickets inviting our brethren and sisters
to pass the 24th of July at the Lake in Big Cottonwood Canyon; and no
doubt a great many more would also like to receive tickets. Hence, I
want to tell you my feelings on the subject. If I call upon my friends
to join me in a short excursion, to form a social party at my
residence, or to unite upon any festive or memorable occasion, I never
know where to stop in my feelings until every Latter-day Saint is
invited. I wish those who do not receive invitations to go into the
canyon to understand that it is not because we have any feelings
against your going there, nor is it because we wish you to tarry at
home, nor because we not desire your society. But is it consistent for
all the people to go? It is not. We will therefore gather up some that
ought to go—some who can conveniently go, and leave the rest, with
precisely the same good feelings towards those who tarry at home as
those who go into the canyon.
Last season it was observed, "I would like to have gone into the
mountains to celebrate the 24th; but I did not want to go without an
invitation." I did not want you to, and I will tell you why. If we had
permitted such a course, a great many would have gone that were not
wanted there, as there are persons who would like to put fire into the
canyon and destroy the timber, or create a disturbance, if they could
get a chance. We expect those who go to observe the instructions on
the tickets they receive, and to go, tarry, and return in harmony and
peace. Let all who go observe good order and try to make themselves
happy. If I were to satisfy my feelings, I would invite the whole of
you. I will do so by-and-by, and we will have a party right here in
this Bowery on some Sabbath day, where we can all be together and
enjoy each other's society.
There is another item that I will touch upon. Two weeks ago today, I
mentioned the course of some individuals in this place who are writing
slanders concerning us, stating that a man cannot live here unless he
is a "Mormon," when at the same time they come here to meeting with
perfect impunity. Some of them are in the meeting today, and are now
preparing lies for their letters. A parcel of them clan together and
fix up letters, and they write to the East how desperately wicked the
"Mormons" are—how they are killing each other, killing the Gentiles,
stealing and robbing, and what wicked, miserable creatures the
"Mormons" are. And when any of them go from here, they report, "We
have barely escaped with our lives: Oh! It was a very narrow escape
that we made; but we did manage to get out of the place with our
lives; yes, we did get away without being killed." They all safely
escape to tell their lies.
They say that it is with great difficulty that they can live with the
Saints, when at the same time no one has molested them during all the
time they have been writing lies to stir up the wicked to destroy us.
They pass and repass in our streets with the same privileges that
other citizens enjoy; and there are professedly of our faith those
who sympathize for them. May God Almighty let His curse rest on
all such sympathizers. [Many voices, "Amen."]
Will troops come here and inquire into my just rebukes of such
characters and conduct? "Oh!" says one, "I am afraid they will come;
and what shall I do?" They have been with us many a time. We have been
accustomed to seeing a hundred to our one, with their guns to shoot
us, and their knives to cut our throats. Do people imagine that they
can kill "Mormonism?" I may die for my religion, and who cares for
that? Brother Carrington has told you that God can carry on his own
work, and the spirit of Joseph which fell upon me is ready to fall
upon somebody else when I am removed.
There are a few apostates here, and I have understood the whining and
sympathy they manifested for our enemies. It makes me think of what I
heard from a High Priest's house, that he did not know a Saint's face
from the Devil's. It is just so with a great many. They would not know
the angel Gabriel, if he were to stand here to preach to them, from
Lucifer, the Son of the Morning. If Lucifer were to hand out a
dollar—"You are a gentleman; won't you call at my house?" "Here is
another dollar." "Call over at my house; I have some daughters:
perhaps you would like to be introduced to them. I have a fine family;
call in, and get acquainted with my family."
Do you know that there is no fellowship between Christ and Baal? Do
you think that a union has taken place between them? Can you
fellowship those who will serve the Devil? If you do, you are like
them; and we wish you to go with them; for we do not want you. We wish
that all such men and women would apostatize and come out boldly and
say, "We are going to hell upon our own road;" and I will say, "Go
ahead, and may the Devil speed you on your journey! Here is sixpence
for you." But do not be snooping round, pretending to be Saints, at
the same time be receiving such men into your houses and such spirits
into your hearts, as many do. Well, all that is necessary, and it will
be so; but the time will come when "judgment will be laid to the line,
and righteousness to the plummet;" and if it is not hailstones, it
will be some other kind that will sweep away those who make lies and
love them.
Brother Truman said that we are here, are we not? We are in the tops
of the mountains, and all hell cannot remove us. What do you suppose
Joseph and Hyrum would have said, if they could have been here with
only one hundred such boys as they could have chosen? Their enemies
might have hunted them to this day, and they would have wasted them
away as fast as they could have come.
Brother Truman said that there are as many for us as against us. Yes;
there are ten to one for us more than those against us; but the
difficulty is that all have not eyes to see. The soldiers of the Lord
are in the mountains, in the canyons, upon the plains, on the hills,
along the mighty streams, and by the rivulets. Thousands and thousands
more are for us than those who are against us, and you need not have
any fears. They may be permitted to kill our bodies, but that is yet
to be determined. They try to fire a pistol; the cap snaps, and they
are in the lurch; for some would have a dagger into them before they
would know it. Or, if they tried to shoot with a rifle, perhaps the
person aimed at would be standing a little one side of the range of
the bullet.
Brother Carrington's testimony proves to you that men's eyes are
liable to be deceived. It may appear strange to some that he could not
tell me from Joseph Smith, when I was speaking in the stand in
Nauvoo during the October Conference of 1844. Somebody came along and
passed a finger over his eyes and he could not see anyone but Joseph
speaking, until I got through addressing the congregation.
They may shoot, and they will see Brigham a little to one side, and
Heber in another place, and fire away—at what? At shadows. We shall
live as long as the Lord wants us to. They may lie and write lies, and
they may stay here, if they behave themselves; but if they do not stop
their devilish conduct they will be over taken; for we will make their
words true in regard to their being in danger, if they persist in
their efforts to bring destruction upon us. We do not ask any odds of
them, nor of hell, nor of the world. We only ask favors of our God;
and He is the Being we serve: to Him we go; and we do not pray to a
God without body, parts, passions, or principles; for we do not serve
such a personage. We serve the living and true God, who has body, and
parts, and passions, and feelings for His children; and the wicked may
help themselves the best they can. Amen.