I do not wish to be overzealous, to say the time is mine, or that I
have the privilege, above others of my brethren, of speaking. I like
to hear my brethren speak quite as well as to speak myself; but as
there is time, I feel it my privilege to stand before the Saints and
instruct, guide, and encourage them, and build them up in the faith of
the holy Gospel.
The same principles and the same feelings that I imbibed when I
embraced the Gospel of salvation are still within me, but in a greater
degree. As you have frequently heard me say, there is nothing, except
the Gospel of life and salvation—the power of God—that would ever
induce me to become a public speaker. But the principles of eternal
life are so engaging, so endearing, so lovely, so worthy of all
acceptation, so sweet, so great, that I could not refuse;
consequently, I have been striving for many years to perfect myself,
with others, in the history, plan, knowledge, and ways of the Lord
upon the earth, and in the holy Priesthood that is calculated to save
the children of men. I delight in hearing my brethren speak. I do not
know that I was ever more gratified in hearing a servant of God bring
forth out of his storehouse the riches of eternity than I was, a week
ago this morning, in hearing brother Hyde set forth the beautiful
things pertaining to the kingdom of our God. I have been equally
edified today, if I do not exactly agree with him in regard to the
means for the further promotion of the kingdom of God, and bearing off
his people. In the remarks I have heard from brother J. D. Ross, this
afternoon, I am delighted. I drink, and I drink again, and am I still
dry? I am at least still prepared for more; and the more I receive in
my understanding, and the more my mind expands for the things of God,
the better, seemingly, I am prepared to receive more and more.
I do not always entirely agree with some in their sayings; but my
brethren, like myself, sometimes do not use the language best adapted
to convey their ideas. For instance, I am not ready to confess as do
some that I know nothing, and that I am a fool. I know a great many
things, and I know them right. Brother Ross says that people are more
willing to believe the testimony of men who have been dead many
centuries than the testimony of living men. This, however, does not
apply to me; for I delighted more in the voice of Joseph Smith than in
all the voices of the dead Prophets I never heard. He was the living
oracle of God with me; he was the medium through which the Lord spoke
to me. Do you not think that his voice was delightful to me? Yes. When
I read his letters, his sermons, his revelations, unless I am in the
spirit by which they were dictated, they are lean to me to what they
used to be when he was with us. They were rich, they were full
of interest, full of good things, when I could see his face shine like
an angel's: they were then sweet as a honeycomb.
Before I had made a profession of religion, I was thought to be an
infidel by the Christians, because I could not believe their nonsense.
The secret feeling of my heart was that I would be willing to crawl
around the earth on my hands and knees, to see such a man as was
Peter, Jeremiah, Moses, or any man that could tell me anything about
God and heaven. But to talk with the priests was more unsatisfactory
to me then than it now is to talk with lawyers. If possible, the
priests were then even more ignorant upon certain points than men are
now. Did they know the first thing pertaining to salvation? No: they
could not even tell that it was necessary to be baptized for the
remission of sins. No man could tell me that, until I saw Joseph
Smith. No man could say that the ordinances of God should be obeyed,
that the same doctrine taught by Jesus and his Apostles is the only
doctrine to save the people. They were divided and subdivided—split
into small fragments, and every man was for himself.
I am delighted when I feel and enjoy the presence and power of that
instruction given by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost: our hearts are
made glad. You believed the Gospel in your native countries and took
up your line of march to this desolate wilderness. If I might so
speak, you have sacrificed all you have on earth that is near and dear
to you for the sake of the Gospel. What made you do this? The spirit
of revelation, the Spirit of God, the power of God. Is it not lovely?
I am proud of, I am delighted in my religion—in my God. And when I
speak of those who have persecuted this people and sought diligently
to destroy us, using every endeavor and means they were master of to
obliterate this people and kingdom from the earth, what do you suppose
I think of them? I cannot speak it: language is too full of poverty,
too obscure, too unmeaning for me to talk about it. Suppose you see
two men in conversation, and one of them rises up to his Father and
God with all deference, and, veiling his face, comes before him in all
humility, while the other rises up and says, "Damn him, I am not
afraid of him!" Which of the two would you love? And which of them
would you hate? Both of them are his offspring; both of them live on
his mercy, and are nourished and cherished by his bounty; and one
says, "I am not afraid of him, but I will abuse his name and
character, and deride his goodness!" And the other comes with his face
veiled, saying, "I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for
thy mercy is over me continually, to preserve me; and through thy
goodness I am permitted to come into thy presence!" Which would you
love the most? Language cannot express it.
When you contrast the religion that we believe with the religion that
the world believes, with all their pomp, grandeur, wealth, and gaudy
show, I look upon them with more disgust than I do upon the gates of
hell—language cannot tell it. I am proud to say that I honor my
God—that I love him—that I worship him; I am proud to call him my
Father, while many are proud to deride and despise him. They are proud
when they get together and curse and swear, damning and calling the
name of Jehovah in vain, calling upon God to damn each other: they are
proud that they have this audacity. They will sink into hell. I defy
all the enemies of this work to think as diminutively of me as I do of
them. There is just as much difference between their knowledge
and mine as there is between light and darkness. Here we have the
words of life, and do I not glory in them?
Paul gloried in the cross of Christ. Previous to that he was a poor,
miserable, vain, wicked, abominable, corrupt creature, brought up as a
servant in Gamaliel's house, where they despised God and every
Godlike principle. He held the clothes of the men that stoned Stephen
to death, and consented to his death. The Lord appeared to him when he
was on a mission to persecute his followers, and told him that he was
a chosen vessel for the Lord to show forth, through him, his power.
Paul gloried in the cross of Christ. He might have said that he
gloried in having the privilege of paying the debt that he had
contracted by his previous mean and evil treatment toward the Saints
and Jesus Christ when he was upon the earth. He derided them, stoned
them, laughed them to scorn, threw sticks after them in the streets,
spat upon them, and was ready to raise a mob and do anything that was
mean to afflict the Saints and servants of God. The Lord says—"I will
show you that I have had my eye upon you, from before the foundation
of the world, to make you a chosen vessel to bear my name where I
would not send a man who had never persecuted my Saints." Were I to
meet brother Paul, he would say—"Brother Brigham, I have not received
at the hands of my enemies more than I deserved. And when you were
talking about me on the stand, on such and such a day, your eye was
opened to see the path I had walked in."
Do you not think that the Lord has his eye upon a great many? There is
a passage of Scripture that reads thus—"For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he
might be the firstborn among many brethren," &c. Whom did he not
foreknow? I do not think there is anybody now on the earth, or that
has lived before us, or that will come after us, but what he knew. He
knew who would be his anointed; he has had his eye upon them all the
time, as he had upon Moses, Pharaoh, Abraham, Melchizedek, and Noah,
who was a chosen vessel to build the ark and save a remnant from the
flood.
Did you ever hear the story of an old man that came to Noah when he
was building the ark? "What, Mr. Noah, are you still at the ark? You
are a veritable old fool, building an ark far away from any water! How
are you going to float it?" "Wait a little while, and I will show you:
by-and-by the Lord will break up the mighty deep and send forth the
waters and drown the wicked." "Oh, you are a fool, Noah! You had
better build a good house, and plant and till the earth. I am going
home," &c. "Go on," said Noah; "by-and-by you will learn
that I am
right." They waited year after year, and by-and-by the fountains of
the great deep were broken up, and the rain began to descend. The old
man came along, and Noah said to him, "What do you think now,
neighbor?" "Oh, this is only a shower; it looks like clearing up; it
will soon be over." In a short time the old man came again, wading in
water to his knees, when Noah said, "Well, what do you think now?"
"Oh, it will soon clear away." He came again, and that time he was
paddling along in water up to his neck, and said, "Won't you take me
in, Noah?" "I have got my load; all who have received tickets are
aboard, and those who have not tickets cannot come aboard. What do you
think of it now, old man, is it only a little shower?" Then it
was not, "Damn old Noah!" but they were crying, "Oh, Mr. Noah, take
us in." By-and-by it will be, "Mr. Smith, won't you have a little
compassion on us?" "No," Joseph will say; "you would not take
a ticket when I offered it to you by my brethren; you refused my
tickets, and said it was 'nothing but a shower, we guess it will pass
off.'" According to the words of the Savior, "As it was in the days
of Noah, so it will be in the days of the coming of the Son of man."
"Brother Brigham, I think you talk pretty hard; for we feel very
important, and we do not like to hear you speak against our charity
and against our doings." They assassinated Joseph Smith, and they
drove us into the mountains, where, as they said, "the land is sterile
and good for nothing," and where the Indians would kill us, as they
believed with all their hearts. They said and believed this, and
prophesied day and night that the 'Mormons' were going, and would be
starved to death or killed by Indians. We came here naked and
barefoot: do you think that I shall ask any aid from them, when we are
ready to go back? No. We brought our provisions, when we came here, to
last us until we raised more. We brought our few farming implements,
our seed grain, wives, and children, with comparative nakedness and
poverty as to this world's goods. My wives took skins and made
moccasins to wear.
We have sustained ourselves, so far, in this far-off, barren region,
and we shall live here. Do they want us to live here? No, nor anywhere
else. Bark away; bark away; follow up the Saints; persecute the
Saints. Can't you buy them out, think you? "Oh dear, the
'Mormons' are
getting Uncle Sam's timber in the canyons." Who is Uncle Sam? All of
us. Get the timber out of the canyons, build houses, burn lime,
cultivate the soil, and raise animals on the range, for we have a
right so to do. But our enemies hunt, persecute, and make war upon us,
and have done this to their sorrow. They have made war upon the Saints
from the beginning, and now they will have war to the hilt, until they
are used up, root and branch. In the name of Israel's God, there will
not be one of them left upon the earth. Will I hurt them? No. The Lord
Almighty will lead them in a path wherein they will use themselves up.
Don't lay it to me; though, if you do, I don't care.
It is quite interesting, is it not, for a man to rise up and make war
upon one of his own children? Think how it would appear for a father
to kick, cuff, and otherwise abuse the youngest and best son of
twelve, never give a dime to encourage him, and then say to the
eleven—"Now, boys, rise up and kill him outright." Is not that treason
of the blackest kind? It has been as much committed as it will be; and
if they do not stop, they will be rubbed out. Have this people
committed treason or transgressed the laws of their country? If any
man says they have, he is a liar, and will go to hell, for he lies
like hell. Those who say they have are of the Devil, and are his
servants; they lie, and there is no truth in them; and they shall have
their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone.
They made war with us, and they have committed treason. We have
received enough abuse at their hands. Would we trouble them? No. If
they would only let us alone, we would only preach the Gospel, and
that we will do. The Lord has called me to this work, and I feel as
though I will do it. We will send the Gospel to the nations; and when
one nation turns us away, we will go to another and gather up the honest in heart, and the rest we care not for until we come on
Mount Zion as saviors, to attend to the ordinances of the house of
God for them. The Lord will let the people know that he will rule. The
Devil has had possession of the earth a great while.
It would be very tyrannical, would it not, for a king to make laws
that would make people do right? Oh what an overbearing government,
that would be, would it not? "Now, let that man alone; earn and eat
your own food, and do not steal that man's." What oppression there is
in Utah, when one man rises up and hinders another from oppressing his
neighbor! "Oh, what oppression! I will write to Washington about it."
Write where you please: all such will meet their doom.
Stop swearing and taking the name of God in vain. Are any in the habit
of lying? Stop it. Are any in the habit of bearing false witness
against your neighbor? Stop it. A man rises up—"Wife, I am going to
break your head!" You can't do this in Utah. A man rises up—"I
want to
steal that man's wagon, or my neighbor's axe!" You can't do it with
impunity in this community. Those who are in the habit of getting
drunk, stop it: you must not get drunk in this community. Are you in
the habit of spending your time for naught, and wasting the talents
God has given you, and running about the streets tattling and making
mischief? Stop it; this is not allowed in Utah. Stop your evil and all
your sinning, and love righteousness, for that is applauded in Utah. I
glory in it; I love it: it is sweet to me, sweeter than the honey or
the honeycomb. I am with it, and it is with me; I live in it, delight
in it, and expect to die in it, and live to all eternity in it. The
spirit and power of justice, mercy, long-suffering, patience,
kindness, and good acts to all around, filling up the measure of my
life here and to all eternity in doing good, is what I delight in.
That is the kingdom I love—the kingdom I am in; and I pray that God
may roll on his work, and that iniquity may be swept from our midst,
until we overcome, gather the honest in heart from all the earth, and
fill it with righteousness. That we may enjoy that day of rest—that
day of peace and perfect triumph over sin and iniquity, is my prayer
in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.