Much has been said here today with regard to that class who are
unruly and forward—who are subject to do evil. I presume the great
majority of this congregation have concluded to place all those
remarks upon those who do not come to meeting. Doubtless the few—yes,
the very few characters that have been referred to by the brethren
today are at home studying mischief. It is very seldom that you will
find a thief in this house—a person that plunders his neighbors. But
if you will go into the streets, you will find certain persons in the
different Wards who have an excuse for not attending meeting. Some are
so very industrious that they cannot attend meeting. I would not doubt
much but what we could now go to several houses and find women at
work; they are so very industrious. And it is often the case that some
men are so industrious that they cannot find time to get a load of
wood without going for it or returning with it on Sunday. That is
really the case with those who do not love "Mormonism:" they have
embraced it because they know it is true and think it will
shield them in their iniquity. It is seldom that such persons come to
meeting. I conclude that the remarks which have been made today are
designed for those persons who are disposed to do evil; but there is
probably only a very few or none of that class present, and we shall
have to depend upon you to tell them what has been said about them. I
am thankful that it is my honest conviction that there are but a very
few of that class in our community.
There are a great many people who do wrong because they have not the
standard of right and wrong within them, but permit themselves to be
governed by the prejudices and education they have received among the
different nations and neighborhoods where they have been trained. You
may find some persons who have within them the standard of right and
wrong: they can tell when they do right—what is right, and judge
themselves as easily as they can others; but of this class there are
but a very few. And were I to say that there are none who are entirely
free from the prejudices and prepossessed ideas gathered in their
youthful days from their parents, teachers, and friends, I should say
what is strictly true. Still, we are studying and trying to learn how
to discern between the evil and the good, the right and the
wrong—between that which is of God and that which is not of him.
This people are mostly gathered from what are termed the laboring and
middle classes. We have not gathered into this Church men that are by
the world esteemed profound in their principles, ideas, and judgment.
We have none in this Church that are called by them expert statesmen.
How frequently it is cast at the Elders, when they are abroad
preaching, that Joseph Smith, the founder of their Church and
religion, was only a poor illiterate boy. That used to be advanced as
one of the strongest arguments that could be produced against the
doctrine of salvation by the wise and learned of this world, though it
is no argument at all. The Lord should have revealed himself to some
of the learned priests or talented men of the age, say they, who could
have done some good and borne off the Gospel by their influence and
learning, and not to a poor, ignorant, unlettered youth. Not many
wise, not many mighty, not many noble, speaking after the manner of
men, are called; but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world
to confound the wise, the weak things of the world to confound the
things that are mighty; and base things of the world—things which are
despised by the world; hath God in his wisdom chosen; yea, and things
which are not to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should
glory in his presence.
Men were too wise in the days of the Savior to receive the Gospel,
and we see the same disposition exhibited in our day. The world spurn
the idea of receiving truth from a person they look upon as inferior
to them in the talent, learning, and cunning of the present
generation. Perhaps they might bow to the requirements of Heaven were
an angel to personally visit them individually, and exalt them to high
places, and give them the influence, power, and glory that are of this
world. We have none of those men here: we are all of the laboring and
middle classes. There are but few in this Church who are not of the
laboring class, and they have not had an opportunity to cultivate
their minds, to search into the history of the nations of the earth,
to learn the prejudices that are upon the people, their education,
feelings, and customs. We have mostly come from the plough and the
furrow, from the mechanic shops and the loom, from the spinning jenny,
the kitchen, and washroom. This people have not been educated
in the deviltry and craft of the learned classes of mankind, and
consequently possessed honesty enough to embrace the truth. That is
the character of the class of people before me today.
Who is capable of judging? We do not look for that talent and great
judgment from the common people that we would naturally expect from
those who are called the refined and educated. There must be an
opportunity given them for improvement before we can expect the same
refinement and classical attainments which the higher classes, so
called, boast of. The higher classes have nothing to do only to study
the nature of man, their own dispositions, and those of their
fellow beings. We can look upon them as they really are, and truly we
are compelled to conclude that the deviltry, mischief, dishonesty,
craft, corruption, &c., that are taught and practiced among the higher
classes, have prevented them from receiving the Gospel. But the poor,
half-starved laborers, those who feel as though they want a friend,
who look around for some source of happiness, for some arm to lean on,
for some eye to pity them, are the ones who have honesty enough to
receive the truth.
What should we expect from such a class of people? I have my reasons
for justifying and my reasons for condemning; I have my reasons for
liking this people and my reasons for disliking the conduct of some;
and I believe that I look upon them very much as the Lord does. He
pities the human family; they are objects of his mercy and
commiseration. There are men in this community who, through the force
of the education they have received from their parents and friends,
would cheat a poor widow out of her last cow, and then go down upon
their knees and thank God for the good fortune he had sent them and
for his kind providences that enabled them to obtain a cow without
becoming amenable to any law of the land, though the poor widow had
been actually cheated. We see that trait of character in mankind. Are
such persons capable in all things of rightly discerning between truth
and error? No. But they, through their traditions, can judge every
person but themselves: they can weigh every person in their scale of
justice; but they never think of trying themselves. That proceeds from
the force of education and false tradition upon their minds, and some
still remain ignorant of many of the true principles of right and
wrong, although they have embraced the Gospel.
Brother Kimball told the truth this morning with regard to many of our
mechanics. I have not built a house since I have been in this place
but what I have furnished many more pounds of nails than I would have
to do for the same piece of work in the States. I knew that some of
the workmen took them, and I told them so. They need not undertake to
deceive me, for I know precisely what they do. Since the days of
reformation, I have had many a one come to me—honest men to all
appearance—men that you would almost have sworn were as holy as an
angel, and confess that they had stolen nails from me, or a wagon,
&c. But they have not yet become honest enough to bring the stolen
articles back. In what condition are they, after such a confession,
without making restitution, compensation, or some kind of
satisfaction? Just as they were before. To me, taking and keeping
another's property, without leave, is stealing; but to many, they
consider it a godsend to have another's nails to carry home in their
pockets. That often is the consequence of tradition, rather than an
innate disposition to steal. I will relate a circumstance to
corroborate that statement. I once knew a man in this Church
who told me that, when he was in the old country, he would, if
possible, spoil his work, in order to be employed to do it again. He
was a plumber and glazier. As soon as he had finished a fine window or
a large sash for a hothouse in a gentleman's garden, he would place it
in a situation where it would be sure to be broken to pieces, that he
might thereby secure employment; and when he received the second job,
he would thank God for his kind providences toward him. To him, in his
tradition, and amid the oppression of the laboring classes, that was
just as honest as anything could be. But here they are not so
oppressed.
To this day, if you employ masons to do a valuable piece of work, many
will so do it that the wall or building will last only a few years,
and then believe that to be honesty, whereas I believe it to be
dishonesty. And joiners, with few exceptions, will so hang doors, put
up mantelpieces, put on roofs, and lay floors, that in a short time
all their work is out of repair or good for nothing. Very many,
through the power of erroneous education, do not know what honesty and
dishonesty are, and are not capable of judging. Observe the artisans in
any branch of mechanism, and you will learn that what I have stated is
true. Then you may take the class called merchants, also the doctors,
the priests in the various sects, the lawyers, and every person
engaged in any branch of business throughout the world, and, as a
general thing, they are all taught from their childhood to be more or
less dishonest.
Those who have their eyes opened to see and understand where honesty
and uprightness are, what righteousness is, and to discern between
that which is right and that which is wrong, often rise here and talk
about it. I do so myself; and when I speak of dishonesty among the
people, I look at them as they are, whether I tell it or not. This is
the most honest people on the earth. There is more honesty in this
community than in any other community on the earth—that is, that we
have any knowledge of. The great majority of this community are as
honest as they know how to be. I have stated that I had not found a
man honest enough to bring back what he had taken from me; but those
persons are poor and can make a reasonable excuse. One of the best men
I ever hired to labor for me—one whom I paid well for all he did for
me, took some of my tools; that is to say, he borrowed them and never
brought them back. Well, he is poor. Will I forgive him? Yes. They may
steal from me as much as they please, and I will forgive them as far
as they ought to be forgiven. They may say, "You have plenty, brother
Brigham." That is true; and, so far as I can remember, I have never
stolen a pin's worth in any way, shape, or manner, except the taking a
few melons or a little fruit, once in a while, when I was a boy. Have
I cheated any of you, or wronged any of you in any way? If I have, I
would be glad to have you tell me wherein. Have I oppressed the
laborer in his wages? If I have, let the man come and tell me of it.
Some think that I am very close and economical. I am; and I will tell
you wherein. When a man comes to labor for me—one who will only
leisurely do two or three hours' work in a day, and wants as much pay
as a man who will do six times as much, I am not willing to pay him
for idling away his time. If I have a man labor for me who can do six
days' work in one, did I ever refuse to pay him for the amount of
labor he performed? Ask Isaac Hunter if I ever refused to pay him
wages to the full amount of labor he could perform in a day. In this
valley we have esti mated laying rock in a wall to be worth one
dollar a perch. Ask any mason, when he laid ten perches in a day, if I
ever refused to pay him ten dollars. But if a man wanted three dollars
and a half for laying one perch, I am not willing to pay him at that
rate. I will suppress dishonesty, but I never oppress honesty.
I have tried to suppress dishonesty in individuals, and have tried
thereby to make them honest. If I hire a carpenter and pay him three
dollars a day, and he is three days in making a six-panel door that a
good workman can make in one, or even a door and a half, I do not want
to pay him three dollars a day for that labor. Yet some who are here
have no more judgment, discretion, or idea of right or wrong, than to
want to be paid for labor they do not perform; and that they consider
to be honesty: but it is just as dishonest as anything in the world.
I am willing to pay men for what they do. I am anxious that all should
have that which belongs to them, and wish them to let that which
belongs to me alone. If I furnish nails to build a house, the workmen
have no right to carry them off. When using nails, the mechanic often
has more or less in his pocket. At quitting time he forgets to take
them out, and carries them home. He goes out to chop a little wood and
says, "Dear me, these nails" —some twenty or thirty, or perhaps
more—"are quite a burden to me," and he puts them out of his way.
By-and-by he wants to build a pigpen, or to build a little addition
to his house, and feels quite thankful that he has the nails to do it
with, and will praise the name of the Lord for the manner in which he
has blessed him. I do not want blessings on such grounds, and I never
expect them in that way, because I have the natural sense to know
better. Others also will have it, if they will continue to try to find
out how to judge between right and wrong in themselves as they do in
another individual.
You may go to High Councils, though we do not have many in these days,
and to Bishops' Courts, and hear a trial between parties that have
quarreled with each other, and you will readily perceive that if
those individuals could judge themselves as they judge each other,
there would have been no difficulty between them; they would have
settled their affairs between themselves, and the best of feelings
would have been established for each other. But people cannot judge
themselves as they can others, nor look upon their own conduct as they
do upon the conduct of others. We must learn to look at ourselves, to
judge ourselves, and know how to deal with ourselves, and that will
enable us to bring ourselves into perfect subjection to the law of
Christ.
Are the people striving to do right? Yes, they are. It has been
observed that we are pretty clear from those unruly spirits that have
been in our midst. So we are; but you need not flatter yourselves for
a moment that the Devil has left us. You will find that he marshals
his forces more particularly against this people; and if we are now
clear from those unhallowed spirits and the tabernacles they occupied,
you may expect that he will, if possible, find somebody here in whom
he can have a resting place. You will learn that the wicked
disembodied spirits have not left this people, though the most of
those wicked persons who sought to destroy the Saints have left us.
There are myriads of disembodied evil spirits—those who have long ago
laid down their bodies here and in the regions round about, among and
around us; and they are trying to make us and our children sick, and
are trying to destroy us and to tempt us to evil. They will try
every possible means they are masters of to draw us aside from the
path of righteousness.
Do you not think that we need to watch and pray continually—that we
need all the time to keep a guard over ourselves, that we may preserve
ourselves in the love of the truth? We do. It should be our constant
study to guard ourselves on every side against every attack of the
enemy of all righteousness.
Cease looking at others. Cease to judge each other. Go into a family
where there are two women belonging to one man, and from that to as
many as you can find, and you will soon learn that almost every woman
can judge all the family but herself; and that she thinks that
whatever she does is just right: she would not do a wrong for the
world. Then go to the next woman that was said to be so out of the
way, and with her it is, "I am exactly right, and the other is wrong."
They do not rightly look at their own failings, views, and passions.
If they were all capable of straightening themselves, they would not
come in collision with each other, but would all conclude to walk
together in the straight and narrow path, whereas now they are at
times almost diametrically opposed to each other. Is that the case?
Judge ye for yourselves. That is not the case with every family, to my
certain knowledge; but it is so with too many. It is just so with the
brethren. You find more or less of the same difficulty everywhere you
go. It is, "I am right, and you are wrong."
You have been taught the standard of right. Now subdue your rebellious
passions, dismiss everything that you know or consider to be wrong,
and embrace that which is better. Get wisdom and all the light you
possibly can, and never live another twenty-four hours without the
Holy Spirit of the Lord, and that will give you joy, peace, comfort,
light, and intelligence, by which you can grow in grace and in the
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. I cannot reach these attainments,
neither can you, only by the light and intelligence which flow from
heaven. You may say, "Brother Brigham, you are like the rest of us: we
see our faults, but we do not like to acknowledge them; we like to
have them covered up and kept out of the sight of our neighbors." If
you find a secret fault, dismiss it secretly. Let your faults go
behind you; turn them overboard, and forever disown them. If no
person but yourselves has seen your faults, you are blessed. You may
then get rid of them without their being made manifest to others.
If men and women, and more especially women, for they love chit-chat,
when they feel in any way bad, or a little cross, or feel as though
somebody is out of the way, and feel like finding fault with their
neighbor and exposing this one's fault and the other one's fault,
would only be as secret on the faults of others as they are on their
own, it would be beneficial to their welfare and that of their
neighbors. When a person opens his mouth, no matter what he talks
about, to a person of quick discernment, he will disclose more or less
of his true sentiments. You cannot hide the heart, when the mouth is
open. If you want to keep your heart secret, keep your mouth shut.
Some say, "I feel as though I must boil over, and I must talk to
relieve myself." All hell is boiling over; but does that make it any
better? No. If you let your tongue run, and it scatters the poison
that is in you, it sets the whole being on fire. The Apostle James
says, "And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue
among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on
fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell." And again, "But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of
deadly poison." Are you aware of this, sisters and brethren? If you
keep silent, you can master your feelings, can subdue your passions,
and ultimately become masters of them and banish them from you. If you
give way to your unbridled tongues, you increase anger within you, and
the first you know your blood is boiling with wrath. That is what the
Apostle meant when he wrote, "It setteth on fire the whole course of
nature; and it is set on fire of hell." It is hell that sets it
agoing. If you find that you cannot keep your tongue still, get some
India-rubber and chew it with all your might. Do as brother Joseph
Sharp did when he assisted in conveying Mrs. Mogo to the soldier's
camp. He considered that the soldiers rather imposed upon him and his
brother Adam, and he was for fight; but Adam, who is not so impetuous,
coaxed him into the wagon, where he laid down on his face, and in two
hours chewed up almost a whole plug of tobacco. In such cases a good
piece of India-rubber is better, cheaper, and will last longer; though
it would be better for you to chew up a whole plug of tobacco than to
have a real quarrel with your tongues. You would not in a long time
get over the effects of a quarrel: it would be like a cankerworm to
your souls.
There is not a person on the earth, that has sense enough to know what
experience is, but what, if they would bridle their tongues and subdue
their passions, could say, "I have not injured anybody—no, not even
myself." It is no matter how you are tempted, if you do not give way
to temptation; but if you give way to temptation, it carries you to
destruction. If you give way to your angry feelings, it sets on fire
the whole course of nature, and is set on fire of hell; and you are
then apt to set those on fire who are contending with you. When you
feel as though you would burst, tell the old boiler to burst, and just
laugh at the temptation to speak evil. If you will continue to do
that, you will soon be so masters of yourselves as to be able, if not
to tame, to control your tongues—able to speak when you ought, and to
be silent when you ought.
Let the mechanics and all others try to improve as you have. There has
a great improvement taken place in the midst of this people, and we
will still continue to improve. Let us seek unto the Lord for wisdom,
until we can rightly judge all matters that come before us—until we
can judge ourselves and our neighbors with equal justice, and so
continue to improve, until we come up to the standard of truth in all
our acts and words; so that when I employ a mason to lay me up a wall,
he will do it honestly, and so on with every other workman. Then if a
man does not earn his wages, he will not ask them or take them. Now it
is—"I want all I can get." Honesty never comes into the hearts of such
persons; their rule is to keep what they have got, and to get all they
can, whether honestly or not, and pray for more.
When the eyes of your understandings are opened to deal righteously
with each other, then my axes, shovels, &c., will all be safe, if they
are left in the barn. But it has been so that my harness was taken, my
picks and shovels, my wagon, wheels, and tire, and everything else
that could be was carried off. When we have attained the improvement I
anticipate, I can lie down in peace at night and enquire, "Wife, have
you brought in those clothes that were hung out?" "No." "All
right—no
person, will meddle with them." I would rather persons who are
destitute would come to me and say, "We need a pair of pantaloons, a
hat," &c., and give me a chance to assist them. But when they
steal, I cannot trust them.
I would rather give a woman a dollar than have her come to my house
saying, "Do you want to buy a pound of butter?" "Yes. What do you
want
for it?" "Twenty-five or thirty cents," as the case may be, and then
stop with my family and eat a great deal more butter than she sold to
me. If they would come to me and say, "Brother Brigham, I want to sell
this butter, for I have no way of living only by my labor," it would
be another thing. If a poor woman should come to me and say, "I want
fifty cents to purchase dyestuffs," here it is; you are welcome to
the money, but do not undertake to sponge on me.
Let my nails, tools, and other property remain where they belong. Work
honestly and deal honestly one with another. Evil practices in a great
degree spring from the traditions of the people; they are so educated.
They have been taught, in different parts of the world, that if they
found a thing, though not many yards from the door of the owner, it
belonged to them. "This belongs to me now, for I have found it." Did
you earn it? "No; I found it." That and a thousand other traits of
human life tend to lead the people astray. They seldom stop to think
whether they are right or wrong.
We need to learn, practice, study, know, and understand how angels
live with each other. When this community comes to the point to be
perfectly honest and upright, you will never find a poor person: none
will lack; all will have sufficient. Every man, woman, and child will
have all they need just as soon as they all become honest. When the
majority of a community are dishonest, it maketh the honest portion
poor, for the dishonest serve and enrich themselves at their expense.
You know that I think that this people are the best people that there
are; yet we need to train ourselves, to study ourselves, and study the
principles of truth and righteousness, until we can discern that which
is right from that which is wrong in the least particular within
ourselves; and you will find that to answer every purpose, without
judging our neighbors as much as many do.
As to this people being a good people, I say, God bless you all the
the time! Who else will do as this people do? Nobody else. All you
have is on the altar, ready to be offered up for the kingdom of God.
You could hardly find a man or woman in this congregation but what
would take the clothing from their backs to promote this kingdom.
We are telling you all the time to do as you are told; but do you do
it to that extent which you will in a few years to come? No. Why?
Because you do not know how. I know that this people are doing a great
deal better than they did years ago. Could Joseph do with this people
as I and my brethren now can? No. Were this people in the situation
they now are when Joseph was alive? No. Joseph was running the
gauntlet among his wicked enemies all the time. He hardly knew a man
in the kingdom that he could put confidence enough in to call for a
dollar to help him out of a difficulty. He did not know how many would
stand by him when a mob gathered against him. He had a few faithful,
tried friends; but he had many around him who would betray him into
the hands of his enemies.
I am not afflicted with such persons in the midst of this people; but
there is confidence and a concentration of faith; and we will so
improve, that, when a man rises here to pray, there will not be a
desire from the heart of a man or woman but what is uttered by the
one who is mouth. When we come to understanding, there will not
be as many desires and prayers as there are people, while one is
officiating as mouth for the whole; but when he who is mouth prays,
every heart will wait until he utters a sentence, and that embodies
what they also desire. When the sisters meet together and appoint one
of their number to pray, they will never let a desire escape from the
heart until they know what the mouth is praying for. Then they all
will desire the same and pray for the same. This people are hastening
to that degree of perfection.
I thank the Lord all the time, and I bless the name of Israel's God
that I live in this day and age of the world, and that I am associated
with such a people. Is there any misery, sorrow, and affliction here?
I do not know what trouble or sorrow is. Do I feel for others? Yes,
all I ought to feel.
I know what the sorrow of the world is. It works death, and I have
long ago bid goodbye to it. If I am sorry for anything, I try to have
a godly sorrow to benefit me. My heart is cheerful; I am happy and
thankful all the day long; and I believe that I am in the light. I
have not asked for a lantern, only from the Almighty; and I know that
the whole people are daily progressing, ascending, and increasing in
good works and in faith and knowledge, even the knowledge of God; and
we are doing the works he desires at our hands.
It would do you good to look out yonder in the mountains and see our
brethren warmly clad and well provided for. The brethren and sisters
here and in the neighborhoods round about have liberally answered to
our calls, and every time have supplied more than was called for. Will
they part with everything, if it is called for? Yes. I have heard but
of one man, since the brethren went out to watch the enemy—a man up
north, who really wished the brethren to spare his ox; but they
butchered him before his eyes. I said amen to it. If his god can be
slain as easily as that, it is an excellent thing for him. If any of
you have gods in horses, or in oxen, make an offering of them
forthwith, and tell the boys who are going out that they are welcome
to them. They are welcome to all mine. If you don't believe it, try
it.
We are a blessed people, and we shall be preserved from our enemies,
if we will continue to do right, and the Lord will sustain us. And I
can tell you that this people will do right and God will sustain us.
Ere long Zion will triumph and the glory and knowledge of God will
cover the earth, and we will still be in the old ship Zion and ride
all wicked opposition down to destruction. May God help us so to do.
Amen.