Brethren and sisters—I arise this morning to make a few remarks to
you; and I crave your prayerful and watchful attention. I must
necessarily be careful and guarded in my speech and communication, in
order to preserve my lungs, having used them pretty freely of
late—often in the open air, and sometimes in the storm, in the midst
of large assemblies of the Saints; and, consequently, I feel the
effects of constant labor and exposure; but if I now begin on a low
key, and guard and restrain my voice, I may be able to make you all
hear and understand me, at least before I shall come to a close.
While sitting here and reflecting upon our condition, this morning,
the words of our Savior came to my mind with peculiar force, which
say, "Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for I say unto you, that
many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able." These words, in
and of themselves, cannot fail to awaken and alarm every reflecting
mind—that many will seek to enter in and not be able? Is this thy
state and condition? Let each one answer the question. It is like the
awakening peals of Mount Sinai's thunders. It is a summon of itself—a
volume. It should serve to us all as the warning cry to be up and
doing, and to seek in the right way to enter in. If we were to seek
for a lost treasure in places where it was not, we might seek as
diligently, and even more so than the person who sought where it was
and found it. How necessary, then, that truth and wisdom guide our
steps! To this point I wish to call your attention today.
We have had a good season during the past winter, and a precious
opportunity to improve our minds and to gain knowledge and information
preparatory to our assuming those responsibilities, and to act that
part in the great drama of God's eternal kingdom, which our
profession, office, and calling imperatively demand at our hand. But
if the season had been open and mild, as it sometimes is in this
country, we might, perhaps, through a great desire to accumulate
comforts around us, have been led away by our worldly interests to the
great neglect of the "one thing needful." If, therefore, an overruling
Providence has mercifully laid an embargo upon our temporal pursuits
by the pitiless storms of a long and dreary winter, and poured out His
Holy Spirit upon us to awaken us to reformation, we have double reason
to acknowledge His hand and to praise Him forever for the good and
benevolent designs He has manifested towards us.
It now behooves us, in this time of prosperity, when Zion shines under
the smiling face of her God, to lay by in store a good foundation against
the time to come. To the faithful Saints, it matters not whether the
seasons are mild and pacific, or boisterous and severe. If we do
right, we shall all have abundant reason to say, "True and
righteous are Thy ways, Thou King of Saints."
You were taught, brethren and sisters, before my arrival from Carson
(which was on the 9th of December last), to awake from your sleep—to
repent of your sins, and then to restore to the injured according to
the wrongs you may have done them. Next, you were taught in doctrine
and in principle—reproved, admonished, comforted, and guided in the
path wherein you might seek, and seek not in vain.
Truths of almost every character and kind have been declared and dealt
out to you with a profuse and a liberal hand. Day after day, and night
after night, the voice of inspiration has been heard in your midst.
Truths adapted to every character, every state, and every condition in
life, have been faithfully portrayed unto you in letters of living
light, and in words of most burning and soul-stirring eloquence—even
such as the Holy Ghost inspired—from the simple to the sublime, and
from the tone of the harp to the voice of thunder.
Have you performed the tasks given you? Have you done the work and
kept abreast with your instructions? Or have you indulged a wish to
get some new thing—something far-fetched, which can have no effect
other than to allure your minds from the truths that worthily demand
your sincere attention and observance? It sometimes happens that a
scholar at school, anxious to advance, takes a lesson today in one
branch of science, and tomorrow in another, and the third day in
another, and so on, until, in his own estimation, he comes out a
polished and refined student, a professor and a sage—when, in fact,
he understands nothing that he has read, and is only cherishing a
deception that he has practiced upon himself.
Is this the case with us? Have we thoroughly learned the lessons that
have been given us, and reduced them to practice? There is nothing
better calculated to imprint upon the mind any science or theory than
to reduce it to practice and really act upon it. Then we see its force
and bearing; and while engaged in the practical part, it stamps
indelibly upon our minds, never to be forgotten, the principles we
have imbibed.
If we have practiced upon the lessons and teachings we have received,
we know that they will stand by us; but if we have merely heard them,
and not entered into the practical duties thereof, they will die in
our memory, never having been incorporated in our organization, and we
became like the man beholding his natural face in the glass, and
straightway goeth away and forgetteth what manner of man he is.
I might explain to you all about the art of printing; yet, with all
the knowledge that my explanation could give you respecting this
important art, who of you that is not a compositor can take my sermon
and go into an office and set it up? "Practice makes perfect." If we
learn righteous principles and practice them, they have power to
change our natures in conformity with themselves. They become a part
and parcel of ourselves, bringing us into an alliance with them that
knows no separation. Hence we become a righteous people; and, if we
continue, we not only strive, but shall be able to enter in.
Each of you can recollect acting upon certain things taught you in the
days of your childhood. They are as fresh in your recollection now as
they were in the day you acted upon them. Therefore, let us ever act
upon true and righteous principles, and they will remain with us, and
we shall become righteous in our natures; and if we never act upon an
evil principle, we shall forget all the evil we ever knew, and
God will forget it also; and our natures will never be evil inclined.
If we have reduced to practice all the teachings and instructions
given us from this stand and from other places, we are a blessed and
happy people. If we have not, we have not done justice to ourselves.
Let us honor the teachings we have received, and we shall find ample
ground to occupy without anything far-fetched and dear bought.
We are a congregation of Latter-day Saints (so called), assembled here
this morning to hear the words of life or edification concerning the
kingdom of God. This question arises in my mind—Are we all Saints of
the Most High God? Or, are we composed of individuals bearing that
name, when, indeed, we all may not merit it?
I will present to you a figure to illustrate my idea; for I wish to
make plain to your understanding the thoughts of my own heart; and if
I can transmit them to you as they exist in my bosom, they may operate
on your minds as they do upon mine. It is now the time of seeding. Our
farmers are sowing at the north and in the south—a matter of great
satisfaction to me. And here allow me to express a wish, that while
they sow in faith, they may reap with joy! By-and-by, when this wheat
grows up, you may see it waving in the wind, and you will say, Here is
a beautiful field of wheat. It is fine, healthy, and presages a
bountiful harvest. It gradually matures in the sun's scorching rays;
and you see the field white already to harvest. You call it all wheat.
Now, the question is, Is it all wheat? Is not the greater portion of
it straw? Though you call it all wheat, even as you call this
congregation all Saints, may not a portion of the products of that
field be chaff likewise? Certainly. Then, again, is there not often
considerable smut in that which you call wheat? Yes, and a great many
shrunken kernels that will yield no flour, but will be blown away. In
bulk you call it all wheat; yet, come to analyze and separate its
different properties and qualities, you find from the bulk of the
growth of that field which you called all wheat but a small portion
that is really genuine wheat. Then, after the plump berry is separated
from the straw, chaff, smut, &c., there remains yet a finer quality of
chaff, which you call bran. Then there are different qualities of
flour—No. 1, or superfine, No. 2 and 3, or shorts. But a small portion
of the produce of that field, we discover, is really fit for the
Master's table!
Now, then, here is a thing which I wish you to consider, which is
this: The chaff, straw, &c., produced in that field draw their
nourishment from the very same source that the berry does from the
moisture and fatness of the soil! They all feed upon the very same
food! Not only so, but we perceive that, by ligaments and fibers, the
chaff, the straw, and the berry are all connected together; and in
view of a similar principle, our Savior said, "Root not up the tares
until the time of harvest, lest, by rooting up the tares, ye root up
the wheat also."
It is necessary that the straw exist to sustain the wheat, the chaff
to protect the berry, by serving as an overcoat and shield from the
various and varied influences of the weather, from insects, and to
keep it warm. The same nourishment that supports the berry and keeps
it alive also sustains and keeps alive the chaff as its cloak or
mantle. There is not a sparrow that flies in the air that partakes not
of the goodness of our God. He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and
on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. All the
tribes of men, the swarms of insects, the herds of animals, the flocks
of the feathered millions that fly over our heads, are all
sustained by the same liberal hand of our Heavenly Father. His
providence provides for all, even for the wolf and the poisonous
rattlesnake.
Now, in the midst of all this, who among us are prepared to say
whether we are straw, chaff, smut, or wheat—bran, shorts, or flour?
"Many shall seek to enter in and shall not be able."
Perhaps I shall be able, ere I close my remarks, to give you some key
to this matter, which, if it shall enable you fully to determine, may
at least materially aid you in your inferences in relation to
yourselves. But of this one thing rest perfectly assured, that the way
to life is straight and very narrow. The straw and the chaff are
growing up and striving to enter the granary; but they will be hardly
able.
As I look about upon this congregation, and as I mingle with the
Saints at large, I discover that there are different spirits. Every
organization has a spirit peculiar to itself. I do not say that there
is any fatality in this. Do not understand me to convey that idea. But
I do say this, that every spirit connected with an earthly
organization may be tempered by the Spirit of God according to its
fidelity, intelligence, and faith, so that there is no excuse. If I
point you to the horse, you find a peculiar spirit attending the
organization of that animal. When he is fine and in good condition,
there is something stately and grand about him.
When we see the beautiful dove flying through the air, a pleasing
sensation is produced in us by its graceful movements, because the
Holy Spirit was once sent in that form. Again, we look at the serpent,
and another feeling is produced—a fear—a chill—a horror. So every
creature, beast and bird, man and woman, has a spirit peculiar to its
own organiza tion; and no organization is entirely independent of the
Spirit of God; for all have some intelligence. Were the spirits and
temperaments all alike, the same instructions would serve for all. But
as it is, every man must receive his portion of meat in due season.
And the word must be rightly divided—giving to every man his portion
that is adapted to his organization and temperament, that he may
thereby be saved.
Man is composed of matter and spirit; and the Spirit of God operates
upon and tempers man's organization according to his faith and good
works. Some are tempered very highly. Such not only carry a keen edge,
but are susceptible of a high polish. Others are of low temper,
because of a low, dull, and sluggish disposition and character, which
they have indulged, and consequently formed. They are not a very
smooth or sweet cutting tool. They have not sought to cultivate their
temperament by seeking and courting the Spirit of God as they should.
Yet these may be guilty of no outbreaking sin. They keep within the
pale of the law, pay their tithing, and keep along, and are considered
good, peaceable, and honorable citizens. They despise to steal, are
willing to labor, and pursue an even, straightforward course. Still,
we cannot look upon them as being tempered by the Holy Spirit to the
extent of their privilege. Yet they work righteousness as far as they
work at all. These persons are fond of going to meeting, and are often
heard to say, "What a good sermon we have had!"
This is all right, if you did have a good sermon. They will ask you a
thousand and one questions in order to draw out something to satisfy
their eager desire for knowledge and understanding, not hardly
recollecting their privilege to ask of God and receive for themselves.
But there is no crime in this. Still, one can hardly refrain
from thinking, when he sees his neighbor begging and borrowing bread,
how much more commendable it would be in him to apply himself to
labor and produce thereby bread from the soil by his own exertion.
And inasmuch as our Heavenly Father is accessible to all, it is far
better to store our minds with the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,
by our own spiritual labors and toil, direct from the great Fountain
of celestial light and love, than to trust wholly to the testimony and
teachings of others. Obtain the testimony of Jesus, which is the
spirit of prophecy. Startle not at the idea of prophecy and prophets;
for I would to God that all the Lord's people were prophets. There is
no professing Christian in the world, who does not possess the spirit
of prophecy, that can tell whether he is wheat, straw, chaff, smut, or
tares. And no person can have the spirit of prophecy who declares that
the days of the prophets are gone by and are not needed now, unless
that spirit should be given to seal condemnation upon the
narrow-minded bigot who will not confess it and give God the glory,
after it may have fallen upon him; for he loves the praise of men more
than the praise of God.
The sun, moon, and stars are the representatives of the final homes of
the departed dead, if not their real homes. The sun is said to shine
by its own light inherent in itself. I might not admit this under some
circumstances; but the popular thing will here answer my purpose. The
moon and stars shine by borrowed light. These stars or planets vary in
their size, motion, distance from the earth, and intensity of heat,
cold, &c. Some of them may revolve in eternal day, while others roll
in endless night; and still others, like our earth, may have alternate
day and night.
Here are homes for all grades of spirits, from the faithful martyr to
Christ's kingdom and Gospel, whose glory is represented by the sun in
the firmament, to the wicked tare, who will be sent away into outer
darkness, upon some planet destined to roll in endless night. "In my
Father's house are many mansions." There is one glory of the sun,
another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars. One star
differs from another star in glory; so also is the resurrection of the
dead.
The children of this world who love darkness rather than light, will
find themselves, finally, to be inhabitants of those planets that move
in outer darkness; having a home adapted to their disposition and
character.
The inspired Apostles and Prophets, together with the martyrs of
Jesus, and all the pure and sanctified ones, will inherit a glory like
the sun; while the hypocritical professor, the liar, the adulterer,
the profane swearer, with all who hold to a religion without Prophets
and Apostles, without inspiration and miracles, without revelation,
prophecy, keys, and powers to bind on earth and in heaven, after the
call is made upon them by the messengers of the true religion, will be
damned and sent away into outer darkness, even into prison, where they
will gnaw their tongues for pain.
In this prison they must remain until they have paid the utmost
farthing. The antediluvians were in this prison for a long time, until
at length Christ preached the Gospel to their spirits, that they might
be judged according to men in the flesh. He opened the prison doors to
them that were bound, and proclaimed a release to the captive sons and
daughters of earth, enslaved by sin in the days of Noah.
While the Savior's body lay entombed in the sepulchre, his spirit was
not inactive. He was preaching the Gospel to the spirits in
prison. But after they have suffered in prison and are finally
released, after many a thousand years' servitude in pain and darkness,
their glory cannot be like that of the sun, neither like that of the
moon, nor yet like the stars of the first magnitude; but, perhaps,
like the faint glimmer of a distant star—so distant from the sun, that
a ray from that brilliant orb can hardly reach it.
The foolish virgins, not having the means of light in themselves,
could never enter a mansion or world that shines by its own light; but
as they had no oil in their vessels, they were compelled to borrow;
and hence, they must go to a world or mansion that shines by borrowed
light. Have light in yourselves! You may borrow all you can of me, and
I will cheerfully lend all in my power; but have, at least, some light
in yourselves, and salt likewise.
Oh that the testimony of Christ, which is the spirit of prophecy, were
freely shed upon all this people! It would be, if we were all pure and
worthy. Then one need no longer say to another, Know ye the Lord; for
they would all know Him, from the least unto the greatest. Then we
should know that we were neither straw, chaff, smut, bran, nor tares,
but pure and genuine, superfine No. 1, and labeled for the celestial
kingdom—"Right side up, with care."
With the light and knowledge which we, through the grace of God, have
obtained, let us press forward with boldness and a laudable ambition
to secure the prize bought by a Savior's blood, and freely offered
unto us in the full blaze of inspiration, which light is despised by
the world, scoffed at by the religionists, and hated of all nations.
God grant to establish this light in the earth, and us in this light,
and this light in us, and the love thereof, forever and ever. Amen.