I cordially agree with what has been said by President Young, and I
know that every reasonable man does. The religion we believe in
consists of faith and works. I would not give a dime for all the faith
there is in this world without works. We believe or disbelieve what we
hear. After we believed the testimony of the Elders who brought the
intelligence that God had sent an holy angel, raised up a Prophet,
&c., then we were required to repent. After we had repented, we went
forth and were baptized in water for the remission of sins. Then we
received the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, whose
office it is to show us things to come and bring things to our
remembrance. Then we received the holy Priesthood, shouldered our
knapsacks, and started out to preach without purse or scrip. As soon
as we believed, we began to work, and we have kept working all the
time until now. By working, we receive the fruits of our labor.
Wheat cannot be produced unless the ground is prepared and the seed
sown upon it. When it has attained to ripeness, it must then be
reaped, thrashed, and taken to the mill to be ground; then it must be
fermented, kneaded into dough, and baked into bread, before we can eat
it. This is a good comparison. The religion of Christ cannot exist
without works. "Faith without works is dead, being alone" —as
much so
as the body is dead without the spirit. Go and do what you have been
told to do today. Our religion is a daily work; it is our duty to
work continually.
I have traveled through many portions of the United States; I have
lived in the best country there is in the United States; I have been
to Europe; but I have never seen such a scenery in my life as I have
seen in this valley. It is the best valley there is in the mountains,
that we have seen; still I expect there are better valleys than this.
I do not know but Sanpete is the next.
I never have had better feelings in seeing any country, and to see the
people in it who have commenced to improve it. We are pretty well
satisfied that they are Saints that live here. A great many people,
when starting, said they were going to Cache Valley; but we do not
find them here: they have gone to Carson Valley, or to some other
place. I can say, Peace be to this valley; and peace be to the
righteous; and sorrow and tribulation, weakness, and utter destruction
from the angel of God waste away the wicked that will not repent. I
pray that an Uncle Sam's army may never come into this valley; and if
they do not come near you, this valley will be one of the greatest
granaries that ever was in the house of Israel.
I am calculating, if it continues to rain as it does
today—that is, when it is wanted, that the Lord will receive some ten
to twelve thousand bushels of grain here in his granary. If the people
here will take the course to do as they have been told, listening to
those men who have been appointed to preside over them, they will have
one of the richest valleys in the world; and the Lord will temper it:
he will temper your winters and your summers, and he will temper the
people—help them to control their tempers, and the peace and blessing
of the Lord will dwell here. I feel to pray all the time—"O Father,
bless this people, bless this valley, bless these mountains, the
fountains of water, and bless everything that pertains to this
people," that this place may be a place when Salt Lake fails of having
wheat, that we may come here and get a little. I feel to bless
Sanpete, that it may still continue to be a granary. It is, so far;
and I feel as though this would be, and I am satisfied it will be, if
you live right.
Brother Rix undertook to build a saw mill. He has the irons, and here
are the timbers; you are sitting upon them. He would have had hundreds
of bushels of wheat more, had he gone on and built that mill. You all
want lumber; and I would now, if I were in his place, put up that
mill.
Take upon you the yoke of Christ, and wear it, for it is easy, and the
path of the righteous is plain. But when a man is wrong and neglects
his duty, he is full of sorrow, he is uneasy, and unhappy all the day
long. You know this. Peace be with you! And may God help you to do
right, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
- Heber C. Kimball