On Sunday last I took the liberty to invite the different Wards of
this city to hold their fast meeting here today, and I now wish those
who possess the Spirit of God to occupy the time. By the utterance of
the mouth, the feeling and impulses of the heart are made known; and I
wish to know how the brethren feel. Let those who enjoy the power of
the holy Gospel build up their brethren and inspire them with a spark
of that inward and eternal influence that will kindle into a flame of
true devotion.
When the eternal living principles of the Gospel of the Son of God are
implanted in the heart of a genuine intelligent being, they do not
leave him when the wicked present their blandishments and the ungodly
their enticements to swerve the godly and the righteous from the paths
of rectitude. I put it down for a fact that those who will give way to
wickedness do not belong to the elect. With me it is a fact that
persons of sound sense, and possessing correct principles, and
striving for eternal life, will not exchange those principles for a
gill of whiskey or a pinch of snuff, nor cast them aside for every
stranger who meets them and says, "How I love you!" Such persons, when
convinced that the sun shines, that it was dark last night, that it
stormed yesterday, that the river Jordan runs from Utah Lake and
empties into Great Salt Lake, that there are mountains on our right
and left, do not, after sleeping for five minutes, wake up and dispute
those facts, and declare it nonsense to believe that we are here, and
that we might as well at once cease all efforts to do right.
We must meet periods of trial, or how can we prove that we have faith,
and do actually permit the power of the sensibility placed within us
by our Creator to have its free, untrammeled course? And those who
can be led away by the enticements of the servants of the Evil One do
not belong to the number of the elect.
It is a pity that the Latter-day Saints who live here, who say that
they have embraced the Gospel of eternal life, and are willing to
sacrifice all for their salvation, or to give up all for Christ,
should be bought over by a gill of whiskey. After they have traveled
thousands of miles for their religion—for their faith, it is pitiable
to see some enticed from their integrity through the proffering, by
the wicked, of a fancied good job—of a little speculation. The Lord
intends to know whether we will be led away in this manner and destroy
ourselves with such trifles; and for this reason temptations are
permitted.
You remember my expressions of my feelings a year ago, both in public
and in private. I wanted to travel from one end of this Territory to the other, and cry aloud to the people, and ask them whether
there was one left in Utah who had not forgotten his God. That work
commenced, and you then understood and now understand there was a
reformation. Some of the results are plain to us—the results of that
reformation in which excessive care and labor and much exposure
caused the death of brother Jedediah M. Grant. I wished to go through
the Territory and ask whether there was one left for God, or whether
all had gone astray. I ask that question now, and can answer it. A
great many—the majority of those who profess to be Saints are trying
to live their religion. Blow upon the spark of the Holy Ghost within
you, and without which we need not anticipate building up the kingdom
of God, that the wicked may be foiled in their efforts to corrupt and
destroy. They say that it is dangerous for people to believe in the
Lord God and possess his Spirit. "O dear, it will trouble the
magnanimity of the law, and the supremacy of the law!" What do they
know about the Almighty and his purposes and work in the latter days?
Nothing. Live your religion, keep the commandments of God, and you
will have no occasion for breaking the laws of the land.
If you can be enticed away, it proves that you are not worthy of the
salvation which Jesus purchased for you by his blood. Live your
religion, or else come out and say, "I am not willing to live my
religion—I will renounce it," fearless of big men or little men. You
must be for God, and know that you are his friends, or he will disown
you. Fear not him that can only kill the body, and then has no more
than he can do; but fear Him who has power to cast both soul and body
into hell, which is the first and second death. Fear no man, but fear
the Lord God and keep his commandments. Walk righteously before God
and before each other; and though the enemies of Jesus howl—though
temptations come and the floods of persecution overflow, trust in him
and strive to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us
free.
When I learn that some can be overthrown—can be enticed to run here
and there and forfeit every principle of right, of truth, virtue,
honor, and honesty, it is soul-sickening to me and discouraging to
angels and all good men. It is discouraging to see persons receive the
principles of eternal life, practice them for a season, and then
forsake them and follow the principles of death and destruction. If
you live your religion, you will be a Saint today, tomorrow, the
next day, and all the time. You will walk humbly before God, and deal
justly one with another, and disregard the condemnation and aspersions
of those who are ignorant of the principles of the eternal law of
Jehovah, and of the intent of the laws of the nations of the earth.
Blow upon the spark that is within you; blow it to a flame, and see
whether the fire of God's eternal love and the principles of the holy
Gospel cannot be kindled within you. Some may think that I am
discouraged. I am not. I have views of the nations of the earth and of
the situation of the people; and when I reflect upon the faith, the
feelings, and the conduct of those who try to live their religion, and
contrast that with the condition and conduct of the mass of the
children of men, I can plainly discern the great difference. This is
the best people upon the earth. True, some complain because
comparatively a few are going astray; but I do not feel nearly so
discouraged as did an ancient Prophet, when he said, "Lord, they have
digged down thine altars, and I alone am left," while at the same time
the Lord informed him that he had preserved seven thousand who
had not bowed the knee to Baal.
Compare this people with the mass of mankind, and what other class
will sacrifice for their faith what we have—will sell their
buildings, farms, and other property, subject themselves to poverty
and want, and travel thousands of miles? Not many who profess the
Christian religion, though some of the pagans might. The Latter-day
Saints sacrifice everything for their religion. Do not be discouraged,
for the Lord is on Israel's side, and it behooves us to prove to him
that we are on his side.
Some are fearful that the Lord will forsake them. A child may begin to
cry right here and be distressed with the fear that this house is
going to leave it, and its conduct would be as consistent as to fear
that God will forsake any person who is walking in the path of truth.
Who does he forsake? None save those who first forsake him and begin
to walk in by-and-forbidden paths, where neither he nor his angels
walk; and then such persons say the Lord has forsaken them. They have
forsaken the path of rectitude and are upon the grounds of the Devil,
being led captive by his will, and do not enjoy the benign influence
that flows from the Fountain of all intelligence as they did when they
were in the path of truth. Never be fearful that the Lord will first
forsake you; for you have first to leave him, since he never forsaketh
those who are striving to do right. Abide in the truth, and you are
sure to enjoy, more or less, the sanctifying influence of the Holy
Ghost; and if you do not, you have strayed from the paths of rectitude
and truth—of love and mercy. You must forsake the ways of the Lord in
order to get out of the way, and then the Lord will forsake you.
Otherwise he is with you, more or less, by his influence—with you by
his angels and his protecting care. I want you to thoroughly
understand that you are not to fear any being in heaven, on earth, or
in hell, superior to fearing that Being who has created the heavens
and the earth, by whom we and all things are.
Now, brethren, I wish to hear you express your feelings, and want you
to occupy the time. We have all the time allotted to us in a state of
probation, and then forever and ever, worlds without end. And if we
do not live to enjoy truth, it is because we take the road that leads
to dissolution. We must live to be prepared for better or for worse
for all time to come; so we will not hurry the exercises of our
meeting.
God bless you and fire your hearts to speak and to exercise yourselves
in the faith of the holy Gospel, that we may know and understand for
ourselves. Amen.