Brother Joseph W. Young, in his remarks, alluded to the intelligence
to be dispensed to the people here—that which they do not get
elsewhere. The brethren come here from the States and from the old
countries: they gather from different parts of the world, expecting to
learn the great mysteries—the secret things of our God. What do you
learn, brothers and sisters? If you are good scholars, you learn to
treat your neighbors as they should be treated, and to have the same
affections for a person from Ireland or England as you do for one from
your own native land. You come here to learn to drive oxen into a
canyon, and return without sinning. You come here to learn that every
person you see is a little different from you.
Brother Kimball most beautifully compared this people to a tree,
remarking that we all receive nourishment from the same fountain. A
tree shoots forth; it soon begins to have branches; but you cannot
find two limbs precisely alike. A branch puts forth to bear fruit; the
tree continues its course upwards; another branch starts out; and if
it is a little different from the first branch, should it find fault
and complain of the tree because of that difference in shape and
capacity? You cannot find two twigs alike. You may examine any tree of
the forest and see whether you can find any two leaves that are
precisely alike. You cannot. Then you may go to a meadow, and see
whether you can find two spears of grass just alike in shape and form.
There are no two precisely alike. Examples of that endless variety are
now before me.
The greatest lesson you can learn is to learn yourselves. When we
learn ourselves, we learn our neighbors. When we know precisely how
to deal with ourselves, we know how to deal with our neighbors. You
have come here to learn this. You cannot learn it immediately, neither
can all the philosophy of the age teach it to you: you have to come
here to get a practical experience and to learn yourselves. You will
then begin to learn more perfectly the things of God. No being can
thoroughly learn himself, without understanding more or less of the
things of God: neither can any being learn and understand the things
of God, without learning himself: he must learn himself, or he
never can learn God. This is a lesson to us; and you cannot learn that
abroad which you can learn here.
How simple it appears, how trifling at the first thought, to the noble
mind of man that is reaching after eternity and eternal things, to
come here to learn to drive oxen, to learn to build houses, to learn
to mingle his feelings with his neighbor and treat his neighbor as
he is, and to learn that he must not expect every person around him to
be precisely like himself; for we see that endless variety renders it
impossible. Let every man learn to properly treat his fellow man, for
this we come together to learn.
There are a great many other things that it is important to learn, and
one in particular is to learn to live and operate on the principle
brother Kimball spoke of, that "The earth is the Lord's, and the
fulness thereof." I am a witness to what brother Kimball said. When I
asked him to build a house in Nauvoo, he had not five dollars to begin
with. Do you want to know how poor he was? I might tell you that he
was as rich as I was, except, perhaps, in his feelings: in that
respect I do not think that he was quite so rich as I was there, for I
felt like asking no odds of anybody. He had not a farthing when he
returned to Nauvoo from England. Upon our return, we found our
families comparatively naked and barefoot as we had left them. Who was
ready to step forth and help to administer to the comfort and relief
of brother Kimball? A certain Apostle managed to take the fleece of
the flock that we had raised. Would he let brother Kimball have a
dress pattern for his wife Vilate? No. Sister Kimball had not a second
dress, and yet brother Kimball could not get a dress pattern from his
brother Apostle. He began to build a house, and when it was finished
he owed no one. Suppose he had sat down and counted the cost.
There are words said to have been spoken by the Savior—"For which of
you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth
the cost, whether he hath sufficient to finish it?" No matter whether
he said this or not: it is only a question asked: he did not give it
as his counsel or advice. I have built a great many houses, and never
counted the cost before I built them. I never wanted to know anything
about it. What is to be done? I want some rock. Go and get it. I want
some lime. Go and get it. I want a mason: I hire him, and pay him to
lay up the walls. I hire my carpenters and painters, and pay them. I
want something to put on the walls. Get it and put it on: if it is a
frame building, get the timber and put it up. In short, when I want a
house, I go to work and put it up, and do not stop until it is done,
and never count the cost. "The earth is the Lord's," with all its
fulness.
When I hear of the brethren and sisters going after gold—the riches
and wealth of the earth—I think that if they had it in the
spirit world they could not do anything with it there. There are no
merchants there with their merchandise—no grog shops there in which to
spend money. Those who possess wealth must leave it here for the
Saints, and the Saints will become heirs of it; and we wish the people
to be ready to receive these and all blessings the Lord has in store
for them. Be ready. We were ready when King James Buchanan sent his
friends here to initiate us into Christianity. If we had not been
ready, your heads and mine might have been cold ere today. We were
ready, and we said, "Stop—stay your sad career, until you think."
Did Thomas H. Benton aid in gathering the Saints? Yes, he was the mainspring and action of governments in driving us into these
mountains. He obtained orders from President Polk to summon the
militia of Missouri, and destroy every "Mormon" man, woman, and child,
unless they turned out five hundred men to fight the battles of the
United States in Mexico. He said that we were aliens to the
Government, and to prove it he said—"Mr. President, make a requisition
on that camp for five hundred men, and I will prove to you that they
are traitors to our Government." We turned out the men, and many of
them are before me today; among whom is father Pettigrew—a man that
ought to have been asked into the Cabinet to give the President
counsel; but they asked him to travel on foot across the Plains to
fight our country's battles against Mexico. We turned out the men, and
Mr. Benton was disappointed. He went to his grave in disgrace, and
shame covered him. Was he a man of influence in his last days—in the
latter portion of his career in public life? When he could not be
President, nor be returned again to the Senate, after much exertion he
succeeded in being elected a member of the House of Representatives,
and at the close of his public career, because the hands of the clock
in the Representatives Hall were turned back, and the hands of his
watch did not agree with it when at twelve o'clock, said he, "Mr.
Speaker, I am not a member of this legislative body." The Speaker
said, "Sergeant-at-Arms, show that gentleman to the door," and there
was scarcely a man in the House that so much as turned his eyes to
look. The ground he walked on was disgraced by his step, and his
acquaintances shunned him: and so it will be with others.
Brother Kimball says that King James will have to pay the debt he has
contracted. He has more on his hands than he will settle for many
generations. You will see the old man go down to the grave in
disgrace. He has cast off his political friends, and they will all
cast him off as a thing of naught, and he will become a hiss and a
by-word, and has already.
The London Times speaks of the old man's being incapable of magnifying
the office bestowed upon him. They complain of him now; but, when he
was minister from our Government to England, did they not in secret
council induce him to pledge himself to destroy the "Mormons," if they
would assist in electing him President? Did they not connive with
Buchanan to destroy the "Mormons" from the earth? Did they not send
their armies to the north to head us in our retreat, provided King
James succeeded in routing us from our homes? I spoke of this to
Captain Van Vleit, when he was here. I merely ask these questions,
that those who are acquainted with political moves may draw their
conclusions upon the workings of governments. But the Lord has given
his people power to elude the grasp of our enemies; for he led them in
a way they knew not, turned them hither and thither, diverted the blow
aimed at our heads, and brought disgrace and ruin on those who sought
to bring ruin and destruction upon us. It will take them a great while
to pay the debt they have contracted. That Government known as the
United States has become like water spilled on the ground, and other
governments will follow.
"Kings become nursing fathers," indeed? Not King James: no. "Queens
become nursing mothers?" Will Queen Victoria become a nursing mother
to the Saints? I have not one word of fault to find with her as an
individual; but the Government holds her; she is fettered. She is a
good woman, but she will never nurse the Saints. Will the
Queen of Spain? Never. But the kings and queens I am looking upon
today will belong to that class; they will be the fathers and mothers
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. There are many sheep on the
earth that we have not yet found. We consider ourselves the flock of
God—the kingdom of God; and when you travel upon the islands of the
sea and among the nations who have never heard the Gospel, you will
learn that there are thousands and millions of the sheep that have not
heard the voice of the Good Shepherd. They are to be entered into the
fold, and we have it to do.
Remember that, "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." And
I can say to the Bishops and brethren of this city, that, in rating
teams to send to Florence, they have answered our expectations and
more. We shall send and bring up the poor, and shall build, and
continue to increase in our ability. Every time we put forth our
ability to do good and build up the kingdom of God, according to the
means the Lord bestows upon us, our means and ability will be doubled
and trebled. Yes, we shall receive tenfold, and, as Joseph said, an
hundredfold. Have we witnesses of this? Yes, plenty of witnesses. I
will mention one little circumstance. When we were finishing the
Temple in Nauvoo, the last year of our stay there, I rented a portion
of ground in what was called the Church farm, which we afterwards
deeded to sister Emma. Brother George D. Grant worked for me then, and
planted the corn, sowed the oats, and said this, that, and the other
must be attended to. They called for teams to haul for the Temple, and
could not get them. Said I, Put my team on the Temple, if there is not
a kernel of grain raised. I said I would trust in God for the
increase, and I had as good corn as there was on the farm, though it
was not touched from the time we put the seed in to the time of
gathering. I proved the fact. I had faith.
The poor miserable apostates there prophesied, and the Gentiles
prophesied, and all creation of wickedness seemed to agree that that
Temple should not be finished; and I said that it should, and the
house of Israel said that it should, and the angels and God said, "We
will help you." Many of you remember my setting my foot on the
capstone and addressing the people. We completed the Temple, used it a
short time, and were done with it. On the 5th or 6th of February,
1846, we committed the building into the hands of the Lord, and left
it; and when we heard that it was burned, we were glad of it.
How many circumstances could I relate to the brethren that God does
hold the purse strings of the world! Brother Kimball has slightly
alluded to a circumstance, without mentioning the particulars. When
brother Heber C. Kimball and I were on the way to England, and were
left in a little place called Pleasant Garden, I know, as I know I
live, that we had no more than thirteen dollars and fifty cents. This
was all we had, that we knew anything about. In the course of the
journey, we paid out just about eighty-six dollars, as near as I can
recollect, for conveyance, food, and lodging, always finding just
money enough in my trunk to pay each bill; and when we arrived at
Kirtland Corners, we had just the York shilling left.
I might stand here and relate to the brethren incidents, until you
would be tired of hearing. I merely wish to impress upon you the
feeling that God holds your purse strings. You may hoard up your gold,
keep your cattle on the ranges for the Indians to steal or the winters
to destroy, and tie up your hearts as tight as you please; the
Lord will let the Indians steal your cattle and thieves your
purses—will let calamity come upon you, or permit you to roll in
wealth until you go to your own place.
It has been told you that we want to bring the brethren here and give
them their endowments, and then let them apostatize if they will, and
have done with them. Those who are steadfast and faithful, we will
teach to work in the adobie yard, in the quarry, &c.; and learn them
to be cleanly and prudent, and teach them what their organization is,
that they may understand the things of God.
May God bless you! Amen.