In detailing the different grades of people, of which we have known
but little, and in discoursing upon their character and habits, I
think that Captain Gibson, in his lecture, has been both amusing,
instructive, and interesting.
When Captain Gibson first came to this city, he proposed addressing
the people, and wished to know whether the subject possessed sufficient
interest to warrant an audience. I think he is now well satisfied that
he can have all the hearers he wishes.
The religion embraced by the Latter-day Saints, if only slightly
understood, prompts them to search dili gently after knowledge. There
is no other people in existence more eager to see, hear, learn, and
understand truth.
In a quotation read by Captain Gibson I noticed the word civilization;
and I wish to know whether there is a person present who understands
the term as I do. What is meant by "civilization?" We readily answer,
"the state of being civilized" —refinement of manners, in
contradistinction to the grossness of savage life. According to my
definition of the word, there is not a strictly and fully civilized
community now upon the earth. Is there murder by wholesale to be found
in a strictly civilized community? Will a community of civilized
nations rise up one against another, nation against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom, using against each other every destructive
invention that can be brought to bear in their wars?
When will they be civilized? When the Lord shall judge among the
nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their
swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; when
nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither learn war any
more. When the world is in a state of true civilization, man will have
ceased to contend against his fellow man, either as individuals,
parties, communities, sects, or nations. This state of civilization
will be brought about by the holy Priesthood of the Son of God; and
men, with full purpose of heart, will seek unto Him who is pure and
holy, even our Great Creator—our Father and God; and he will give them
a law that is pure—a government and plan of society possessed by holy
beings in heaven. Then there will be no more war, no more bloodshed,
no more evil speaking and evil doing; but all will be contented to
follow in the path of truth, which alone is calculated to exalt and
dignify the whole man, mentally and physically, in all his operations,
labors, and purposes. Short of this, mankind cannot be said to be
truly civilized.
God forbid that modern civilization should make that simple,
unsophisticated people, whom Captain Gibson has portrayed tonight, as
are the Christian nations of Europe and America! God forbid that such
a civilization should ever be introduced among them! But bestow upon
them the principles of eternal truth; teach them how to live so as to
do honor to their existence; teach them how to preserve
themselves—how to preserve their companions, their associates,
friends, and relatives; teach them how to preserve themselves as
communities and nations, and how to secure and preserve to every
person his equal and legal rights, seeking to preserve them in the
truth, in light, in intelligence, in honor, and in every principle
and act calculated to make a happy, Godlike, heavenly, social
community. These are my views of civilization.
I shall be very happy when I can know that the people of the East
Indian Archipelago, and the people on every island and continent, both
the high and the low, the ignorant and intelligent, have received the
words of eternal life, and have had bestowed upon them the power of
the eternal Priesthood of the Son of God, by which they may become
truly civilized.
I am trying to civilize myself. Are you trying to do the same? If we
have succeeded in this, then we have control over our words and over
our actions, and also, so far as our influence goes, over our
associates. If we are civilized ourselves, we shall be partially
prepared to receive the things that our Father and God has in store
for all such as prepare themselves to become recipients of his choice
gifts—for enlightenment, for intelligence, for glory, for power, and
for every qualification he wishes to bestow upon his children here
upon the earth, to prepare them to dwell in mansions of eternal light.
It is written that the greatest gift God can bestow upon man is the
gift of eternal life. The greatest attainment that we can reach is to
preserve our identity to an eternal duration in the midst of the
heavenly hosts. We have the words of eternal life given to us through
the Gospel, which, if we obey, will secure unto us that precious gift.
The greatest blessing that can be bestowed on the children of men is
power to civilize themselves after the order of the civilization
of the heavens—to prepare themselves to dwell with heavenly beings who
are capable of enduring the presence of the Gods.
It has been supposed by many writers that there is a regular gradation
from the vegetable kingdom to the highest intelligence that has been
bestowed upon man, gradually rising from one degree of intelligence to
another. We learn that great intelligence has been bestowed upon
certain persons among the children of men. We discern degrees of
intelligence in our own society. There are also degrees of
intelligence in a national capacity. There are degrees of intelligence
in one family: you see its variations in communities, and you may mark
its gradations from the highest and most refined intelligence of man
down to the brute creation.
God has given this great variety of intelligence. He has also given
this great variety of forms—that eternal variety which we see upon
this earth, not only among human beings, but in every class of all the
creations of God; and they are all designed to be preserved to all
eternity. None of them were made to be destroyed, except those that do
not abide the law given them.
The earth will abide its creation, and will be counted worthy of
receiving the blessings designed for it, and will ultimately roll back
into the presence of God who formed it and established its mineral,
vegetable, and animal kingdoms. These will all be retained upon the
earth, come forth in the resurrection, and abide forever and forever.
Who will be destroyed? Those who have the words of eternal life
offered to them and reject those words. They will remain uncivilized
and in their heathenish darkness. There are others who will become
civilized, purified, and prepared to dwell to all eternity in the
kingdoms God has prepared for them.
The last time I spoke to you here I told you that I found my religion
just as sweet to me in my private capacity, in my secret meditations
upon my bed, and in my closet, in my office, or with my family, as it
is when I am in this stand. I love it as well—esteem it as highly; it
is as precious to my understanding, and it invigorates, buoys up,
strengthens, and fills every power of my capacity with unspeakable
joy, just as much at home as it does here. I hope this is the case
with you all. If you live your religion, it is as dear to you when you
are out of this Tabernacle as when you are here. Live your religion,
walk humbly before your God, and secure to yourselves eternal life.
That is what I desire; it is what I pray for.
The kingdom of God will roll, and no power can stop the work that the
Almighty has commenced. Kings, rulers, governors, presidents, peoples,
and all the armies of hell joined with them will never be able to
impede the steady, onward, accelerated progress of this glorious
latter-day work. If we should deny the faith of the holy Gospel, and
go out of this Church, still it will roll on the same. This kingdom
will stand forever. This religion will abide the day of the coming of
the Lord Jesus, and will prepare us to meet him in peace.
Live your religion, walk uprightly, deal justly, love mercy, eschew
evil of every kind, and sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and
purify and sanctify your affections with the principles of eternal
life, that Jesus may fulfil his own words—that he, by his Spirit, may
be in you a well of water springing up to everlasting life.
The world is before us, eternity is before us, and an inexhaustible
fountain of intelligence for us to obtain. Every man, and more
particularly my immediate associates who are with me daily, know
how I regret the ignorance of this people—how it floods my heart with
sorrow to see so many Elders of Israel who wish everybody to come to
their standard and be measured by their measure. Every man must be
just so long, to fit their iron bedstead, or be cut off to the right
length: if too short, he must be stretched, to fill the requirement.
If they see an erring brother or sister, whose course does not comport
with their particular ideas of things, they conclude at once that he
or she cannot be a Saint, and withdraw their fellowship, concluding
that, if they are in the path of truth, others must have precisely
their weight and dimensions.
The ignorance I see, in this particular, among this great people is
lamentable. Let us not narrow ourselves up; for the world, with all
its variety of useful information and its rich hoard of hidden
treasure, is before us; and eternity, with all its sparkling
intelligence, lofty aspirations, and unspeakable glories, is before
us, and ready to aid us in the scale of advancement and every useful
improvement.
See that your children are properly educated in the rudiments of their
mother tongue, and then let them proceed to higher branches of
learning; let them become more informed in every department of true
and useful learning than their fathers are. When they have become well
acquainted with their language, let them study other languages, and
make themselves fully acquainted with the manners, customs, laws,
governments, and literature of other nations, peoples, and tongues.
Let them also learn all the truth pertaining to the arts and sciences,
and how to apply the same to their temporal wants. Let them study
things that are upon the earth, that are in the earth, and that are in
the heavens.
There are hundreds in this community who are more eager to become rich
in the perishable things of this world than to adorn their minds with
the power of self-government, and with a knowledge of things as they
were, as they are, and as they are to come. I will say to such, Get
rich in gold and silver, in horses and lands, in goods and chattels,
in flocks and herds, until you possess all you can possibly gain; but
let me caution you not to get one cent, unless you get it honestly.
And when you have amassed your millions, never allow yourselves to
possess one dollar with the belief that you are capable of disposing
of it judiciously without wisdom from our God. In all things inquire
of the Lord, that you may wisely direct your earthly substance, as
well as the energies of your minds, to the building up of his kingdom
and the consummation of his purposes pertaining to this world and our
salvation.
We are not yet half civilized, though we are more civilized than any
nation upon the earth. Our neighbors say we are barbarians, sunk in
heathenish ignorance. I will acknowledge my lack of memory to retain
scientific phrases, and the names of places, and of men who have
figured in the history of the world. With these exceptions, I am not a
whit behind them as to a knowledge of things as they are, though I
confess that my knowledge is limited. If they understand the Hebrew
language, I understand its roots, and how it originated. If they
understand the Greek tongue, I know whence it came, and how it was
introduced among men.
I know the cause of the various languages and customs among the
people, and the reason of the variation in our appearance, and the
difference in the intelligence given to the children of men;
and after all, I feel very ignorant, when I scan the wide field there
is for improvement; and I know that this community are ignorant, and
are not what they should be. I also know that if the enemies of truth
will let us alone, as barbarous as we are, we will soon show them the
most peaceable, right-loving, and law-abiding community in the wide
world. We will show them the most civil community—a community farther
advanced in the arts of refinement than any other upon the earth. We
will show them men and women the most profound in learning, and
mechanics the most expert and ingenious. We will show them men endowed
with the most brilliant natural talent and the most wisdom that can be
found in the world. We will do this, if they will cease driving us
from our homes, and robbing us of our homesteads to the music of the
rifle and cannon, and the horrible oaths and fiendish hilarity of
civilized mobs who mock at our sufferings, and laugh to scorn our
sorrows. If they will not let us alone, we will take the musket and
the sword in one hand, the trowel and the hammer in the other, and
build up the Zion of our God; and they cannot prevent it.
I am very thankful for the knowledge I have received from Captain
Gibson's book, from the little I have conversed with him, and from the
lectures I have heard him deliver. I shall not cease learning while I
live, nor when I arrive in the spirit world; but shall there learn
with greater facility; and when I again receive my body, I shall learn
a thousand times more in a thousand times less time; and then I do not
mean to cease learning, but shall still continue my researches.
Let us be patient with one another. I do not altogether look at things
as you do. My judgment is not in all things like yours; nor yours like
mine. When you judge a man or woman, judge the intentions of the
heart. It is not by words, particularly, nor by actions, that men will
be judged in the great day of the Lord; but, in connection with words
and actions, the sentiments and intentions of the heart will be taken,
and by these will men be judged.
There are men in this community who make blunders; but they would not
do an intentional wrong. They are weak; they do not fully understand
themselves, and are sometimes overtaken in fault. Am I to condemn
them? No; but to take them by the hand, and lift them up, and instruct
them—give them a little intelligence as they can receive it. If they
can receive but a little, give them only a little, exercising patience
with them.
Ye mighty men of God, make sure the path for your own feet to walk to
eternal life, and take as many with you as you can. Take them as they
are, understand them as they are, and deal with them as they are; look
at them as God looks at them, and then you can judge them as he would
judge them.
May the Lord bless you! Amen.