I regard it a distinguished privilege conferred upon me, whenever I
have the opportunity of arising in this congregation and speaking to
my brethren and sisters. The Priesthood which the Lord has conferred
upon my head through his servant, and which in his abundant mercy he
has enabled me thus far to magnify, is my joy, my theme, and the
thoughts and reflections of my soul are how and by what means I may in
the best possible manner make honorable all those blessings and
ordinations which have been conferred upon my head. It is and ever has
been, since I entered into this Church, my desire to be found among
those who are valiant for the truth.
The light of the fulness of the everlasting Gospel which, through the
voice of the servants of God in the last days, called through the
instrumentality of Joseph Smith the Prophet, has been caused to shine
or to glimmer in every part of the earth, gives me joy. It is still
shining forth, and has caught the attention of thousands that are now
here in this Territory, and caused them to come to Zion for the
purpose of worshipping God under the instruction of the Prophets, that
they might learn more fully the mind and will of Heaven, and the
ordinances of the Gospel that are necessary for the living and the
dead.
"And it shall come to pass in the last days," saith the Prophet, "that
the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of
the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations
shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let
us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of
Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his
paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the
Lord from Jerusalem." —Isaiah, chap. 2, verses 2 and 3.
It is for this purpose that we may be taught of the ways of the Lord,
and that we may walk in his paths that we have gathered from almost
every nation under heaven.
It is well understood that the human race have been traditioned to the
utmost extreme that tradition could possibly be impressed in the human
breast, in the practice of covetousness, the worship of money, the
love of earthly goods, the desire to possess property, to control
wealth, has been planted in the breast, soul, and heart of almost every
man in the world from generation to generation. It has been the great
ruling Deity, and the object worshipped by the whole Christian world.
It has found its way into the pulpit, into the monastery, into the
cloister, and into every department of life. No man seems to desire an
office, or is called upon to fulfil an office for the public good, but
the first thing to be considered is, What will it pay? How much can we
make? "Is there money in it?" The god of this world has
dominion over the souls of men to an unlimited extent. Let an Elder go
among them to preach without purse or scrip, and tell them so, and
they will immediately say, "We can believe your religion a great deal
better than we can believe that you come to preach without having your
salary paid. Why, the assumption is ridiculous; do not think to stuff
us with such a doctrine as that."
With these traditions firmly imprinted upon our minds we have been
gathered, and have brought along our schooling and notions that we
have imbibed while at school; but with all these things we brought
along a feeling in our souls to build up Zion, and to be faithful in
all things so long as we remain in this life, that we may inherit
blessings in the life which is to come. We came here inspired with a
feeling to awaken in our breasts an unlimited desire to labor for the
building up of Zion, and this desire exists in a great many Elders.
Some of the brethren have desired to go to different parts of the
earth to preach the Gospel, part of them for the sake of making it a
matter of profit: yes, men who have been ordained to the Priesthood
will dare to ask how much they can make of a Mission, when their
business is to labor for the building up of the kingdom of God. This
feeling of speculation has gone so far as to engross the attention of
men in the ministry, so that wherever they have gone they have levied
grievous contributions upon the people, and it seems to have been the
first thing about which they have planned, and that every step they
have taken has been with a view to a reward in gold! In some instances
the poor have been taxed, those to whom the Gospel should have been
preached freely, without money and without price, to furnish money to
gratify the ambition that reigned in the breasts of certain Elders; I
hope they are not many, but there are a few instances no doubt.
On the other hand, the Elders that have remained at home ever since
the Church was driven from Jackson County, and that have continued to
farm and perform different services at their business, have not by any
means been idle spectators, but they have been pillars in the Church.
For as soon as the Church was organized, Bishops, Councilors, and
Teachers were necessary to give counsel and to preside in the temporal
affairs of the Church, thereby sustaining the kingdom; and while these
and many other Elders have not been conspicuous as Elders traveling
abroad, they have yet been pillars at home in constructing and
building up the kingdom of God on the earth.
While we take this into consideration we will again review, for a
moment, the present acts of the Elders generally, for very few of the
whole body of the Elders can be pointed out as having done a great
work at a particular place. What the world call having done a great
work, or big things, is somewhat different from the kind of work that
the Elders in this Church are expected to do. For instance, it is said
that Saint Patrick went to Ireland and banished all the toads and
frogs, and then converted the whole of Ireland, and that he not only
converted the people, but the best of it is that the greater part of
them remain firm to the faith of Catholicism until the present day.
There are a few Elders who have baptized their thousands, and an
account may be found in the records of the Church of some who have
gone on Missions and baptized their hundreds; but as a general thing
it is hard to find but few who were very distinguished in this
respect. Constant labor, diligence, and humility may and does gather
many; they are baptized and receive the fulness of the
Gospel. But only a portion of those who have embraced the Gospel under
the auspices of those successful Elders, have had faith and energy
enough to gather with the Saints to take part in helping to build up
Zion. By-and-by subdivision takes place, and the people spread
themselves abroad upon the right and upon the left, forming new
settlements all through this great desert. In this way the work has
attained its present position, and the kingdom is being built up. It
is like the laborer with his spade and wheelbarrow, who commences on
a large hill and digs, and finally wheels it away. Well, says the
passerby, that is small business; but by-and-by you pass that way
and the hill is removed, and a fine city is on its site.
The Elders are steadily and quietly operating for the spread of truth
and the advancement of the kingdom of God, and before the world are
aware of it, their rotten dynasties and corrupt governments will be
undermined and crumble to dust. You notice a bee, it carries a little
honey to the hive, and continues to do so from week to week and from
month to month, and lays up a store of the most delicious of earthly
substance and the choicest of earth's sweets, and this is the result
of the little busy bee. So it is, and so it should be with the Elders
in Zion. It is not that we are required to do and perform everything
in a minute, but by using the minutes to do the little things that are
within our reach, and striving always to do them properly. Zion is
silently spreading her curtains, strengthening her stakes, and
lengthening out her cords, and she will so continue until her wisdom,
her influence, and her power circumscribe the globe. Who is doing this?
The Lord is doing it and it is marvelous in our eyes. But in all this
we have to contend with our tradition, we have to contend with the god
of this world—the love of money—with our covetousness, and we have to
contend above all with our ignorance. Men can sit in the congregation
and be taught by the Presidency; yes, be taught to the easiest lessons
ever taught, year after year, and these teachings seem to make no
impression upon them. Those valuable instructions are, to a great
many, like pearls cast before swine. Again there are numbers of our
brethren who have had to go to the States and to California, in order
to see the difference between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of
the Devil. Then after a few years they come back and say, well I
declare I never saw things in such a condition before, how wicked the
world is becoming now to what it was before I came into the Church. We
have another class of men who can go to ward meetings and say they
would labor to build up the kingdom, and even to build a city upon a
rock, and farm upon naked land, and settle upon the highest peaks, if
counseled to do so. But there are extremes of expression and thought.
To go forth and preach the Gospel, teaching faith, repentance, and
baptism for the remission of sins, and to contend against the
arguments presented by the Gentile world, has been and still continues
to be one of the most laudable employments in the kingdom of God, but
a comparatively ignorant man can do it. It is not the learned, nor the
wise men the Lord called to do this, but it is the reverse; he calls
the weak things of this world to confound the wise and the mighty. It
reminds me of a story that Bishop Hardy tells about Luke Johnson. When
he went to preach the Gospel in Massachusetts, he was plainly
dressed, his trousers were strapped down to his cowhide boots, because
they were not quite long enough. One man said, have you seen
the Mormon? No, was the reply, have you? Yes, said the man, I saw one
and heard him preach, and he said, "the Lord hath called the weak
things of this world to confound the wise and mighty, and by mighty I
thought so." It was but a little while till the only argument used
against this doctrine was mobocracy, a row at the meeting, a coat of
tar and feathers, a shower of mud or the lighted torch.
The man that exerts his power, his influence and understanding to
guide Zion at home, to develop our resources, to shape, bend, and make
useful the elements and facilities which lie dormant in these
surrounding hills, has to possess superior wisdom, a greater degree of
knowledge; and the Holy Spirit influences the leaders of this Church,
those that are called to act as Trustees, or in any other department
of the home affairs of Zion. It is required of us to seek wisdom out
of the best books, that a foundation may be laid and all things
properly prepared for the great future, that our institutions may be
rendered permanent and self-sustaining, that all things may be
properly carried on, according to the mind and will of Heaven. It is
in this respect that the leaders of the people called Latter-day
Saints have shown themselves to be the wise men upon the earth, and it
is in this respect, too, that a large portion of the people have
failed to see the grandeur and magnificence of the Counsels of the
First Presidency, but have suffered themselves to remain in ignorance
and stupidity.
I presume now that in speaking at the present time, I am addressing a
considerable portion of those brethren who have been called on to
strengthen the stakes of Zion on the southern borders of our
Territory. The Twelve being called to act a part in organizing this
Mission, has caused me to fall in company with a considerable number
of those brethren who are counseled to go south and raise cotton, and
I can realize to a great extent the feelings which exist in some of
their breasts. A man who has come into this Valley to make Zion his
home, has gone to work and by untiring industry has surrounded himself
with comforts, and probably with wealth and an abundance of this
world's goods; he can proclaim himself an Elder in Israel who is ready
for anything. Such a man would go into the mountains to hedge up the
way of our enemies, go abroad and preach the Gospel, and in fact he
will find himself constantly called to assist in establishing Zion.
The word of the Presidency is, brethren, it is necessary to strengthen
the southern border of our thriving Territory, and this is for the
general good of all. Now you go down south and raise cotton and you
will be blessed more than you ever have been heretofore, and know that
in doing this you are doing your part to build up Zion. But some do
not feel so. Why, I have seen faces look as long as a sectarian
parson's face, comparatively speaking; I have seen diseases appear in
men that had heretofore been considered healthy, and that too as soon
at they heard they were wanted to perform any unpleasant mission. I
have sometimes argued the case, and tried to persuade them, in regard
to this mission that it would do them good. Oh, but they will reply I
have always been sick in a warm country. Well, I have told them, we
can, in the cotton country, in a few hours riding, give you any
climate from the torrid to the frigid zone. But this is not the
difficulty. This cotton mission rouses up covetous feelings, for it
must be remembered that the prospects for a large farm are not very
good there. We can make more here; we can get more wealth and
get along faster if we stay here, than we can raising cotton in
Washington County. And in fact a few of the brethren feel disheartened
about going south to raise cotton, indigo, and such other articles as
we cannot raise in this part of the Territory. A brother came into the
office the other day and volunteered to go south to the cotton
country, then he came in the next day and said he had been too fast in
volunteering, that he had not got sufficient clothes to wear. I told
him that it was a great deal warmer in that country than it is in
this, and consequently he could do with less clothing. But he felt
that he must go to work and get more clothing for his family before he
could go. I replied that I considered the best thing he could do was
to raise a quarter of an acre of cotton. I showed him some cloth that
my wife had been spinning and weaving. Then he said his wife did not
know how. I told him mine did not until she learned.
It has been my lot to take part in the starting of settlements in the
southern portion of this Territory; I have assisted in settling the
country from the cotton district in Washington County to Utah
mountain. It used to be nearly as much work to get a man to go to Iron
County as it was for Jetta Bunyan in the Pilgrim's Progress to get
poor Christians into heaven. When I got them started south, they would
meet at every settlement on the road, men who would discourage them by
saying, "you are going to a poor country, Oh how I pity you, you will
starve in that miserable country, here is a good piece of ground close
by me, you had better stop, I can sell you all the grain you will want
for seed and to eat; you are going away out of the world." In this way
hundreds of those who were counseled to go to the far south were
stopped in Utah County, or turned aside from fulfilling what was
desired of them. When I led the first company to Parowan, some of the
brethren insisted there was not grass enough to keep their cattle
through the winter, when in reality there was an abundance of feed for
thousands of stock, and in a few weeks they hardly knew their own
cattle, they had improved so much. These incidents have been a lesson
to me, and I felt that I wanted to preach to the brethren upon the
subject of going south. We are going down there to raise cotton, and
the Presidency want men who are called to go upon this Mission to let
it have their undivided attention.
There are a few that have always allowed themselves the indulgence of
whining and finding fault whenever they pleased. This is very wrong. A
spirit to find fault is an enemy to your peace and comfort, and also
to the happiness of those around you. It is a key to your destruction.
It is so in our home affairs, when you go abroad and exercise this
influence among the people you sow a spirit of dissension in the midst
of Israel. If you have a portion of Priesthood upon you; you disgrace
it in doing so. If you have been baptized for the remission of sins
you dishonor that baptism in doing this. Some will grumble and
quarrel, until they go into partnership with Satan to oppose the
kingdom, lose the spirit and deny the faith. It is Satan's business to
oppose the Saints, but those professing to be Saints should labor for
the good of the kingdom of God.
The southern settlements were at first considered rather orderly, more
so than some of those nearer this city, but in the spring of 1858,
there was an influx from California of a large number of persons, who
had gone there because they were not contented to live in this
country, and who could not enjoy the liberty that was here.
Many of them went to California to get rich, but a spirit came over
some of them that the Lord was going to destroy all the Gentiles, and
that if they came up here for a while they could go back after the
Gentiles were killed off, and find better diggings, and many others
thought their brethren were in trouble, and if they could not live
Mormonism they would fight for it anyhow. Several hundred persons
came into the southern counties under these and similar influences,
and intended to stay, no doubt, until the vengeance was over and the
Gentiles swept off from the earth, then some thought they could go
back and keep tavern. A man who had been among the Gentiles and served
the Devil for several years, would come up to this Territory and
expect to be respected as much as those who stayed at home and
attended to their own business and labored for the good of the
kingdom, when it was as much as an Elder could do who had stayed at
home and helped to build up Zion, to retain the Spirit of the Lord and
magnify his calling. In this way there was grumbling, and a kind of
daredevil influence scattered all through the settlements. We saw
much of it here, but where the settlements were small, an influence of
this kind took deeper hold and had a far more powerful effect. The
spirit of avarice was not gratified, the Lord had not designed to cut
off the wicked to please a few avaricious Mormons. He designed those
who professed to be Saints to live good and upright lives, and to
exercise a holy influence over the children of men, that all who loved
the truth might be converted and saved in the kingdom of God. As soon
as this was ascertained many went back again.
Brethren, you who are going from here have been in the habit of
hearing the President, Sunday after Sunday, and where you have been
considered examples, here you have acted as Bishops, High Priests,
Seventies, Elders, or Teachers, and your example should be a good one
and worthy of imitation. A great many Elders have been called to go on
this Mission to raise cotton, and they should consider themselves as
much on a Mission as if they were among the nations preaching the
Gospel. I advise every man to fortify his mind against becoming like
Satan in accusing the brethren, or in grumbling, in faultfinding in
word, in thought, or in your hearts. If the Mission was to go and
build a city on a rock, my advice would be, go at it, for if you did
not choose to do that you would have a chance to choose a sandy
foundation which would not be proper nor beneficial.
I wish to talk to the brethren on this principle of faultfinding. If
we are disposed to find fault with the Bishop, with our wives, with
our neighbors, with the Priesthood, and the general authorities of
the Church, we shall have all the influences of Satan necessary to
help us to carry out our design. Those who practice these things will
soon be full of hell and have plenty of devils to help them to carry
it on. You are called upon to go and build up a city and villages for
a stake of Zion.
When you first came here you dropped down into a desert, went to work
and made it blossom as the rose. Then, when you have done this, you
have to go to other places and make them blossom also. You have got to
lay out the streets, make fences, and build houses, and do everything
that will make a city pleasant, agreeable, and inviting. We can get up
in our meeting and sing—
"The cities of Zion soon shall rise."
but how are they going to rise? We are going to build them, so that
they will rise far above the clouds; and to accomplish this we
are going to build them on the high mountains. We are not only going
to sing about building them, but we are going to do the labor
requisite to carry out our designs.
Now, I do not wish a solitary man to go down there to perform this
service that cannot go with his whole heart. If he has got a splendid
house, a mill, or farm, or carding machine in this part of the
Territory and his heart is set upon it, his soul will be here. He will
be like some Elders that are sent to England on missions; they say
"yes, I will go and preach," but when they get there it is, "Oh dear
if I was but at home." If I were presiding over such a man I would
send him home, so that I might get rid of the poisoning influence of
his company. I want a man that is going on a Mission to say wife,
children, the Lord gave you to me, I will go and do my duty, and
hereby show to him and to all men that I am worthy of you.
In this case the Mission to which you, brethren, are called is to
build a city; it calls for wives, children, for machinery, for
mechanics, for everything that is calculated to add to the comfort
and happiness of the citizens of a city. We are not going to be a
great while isolated from our brethren, but we are going to assist in
building up Zion. We want all necessary and important improvements,
and if we build a telegraphic line from here to Santa Clara, it won't
cost more than fifty thousand dollars. But you need not be afraid of
leaving headquarters, for although we cannot all live at headquarters
we expect that headquarters will be connected with every part of the
world, and when Zion is not big enough for us, the Lord will be
willing to stretch it so as to make room for his Saints. Oh, says a
brother, I am perfectly willing to go, but I understand that we are
only to cultivate three acres of land each and I cultivate thirty at
home. Remember the Lord has said that it his business to provide for
his Saints, therefore if we cultivate a small farm when we are
required to do so, he will give us a big one, for there is plenty of
land in the hands of those who do not respect him, and if we are
faithful we may expect to be made rulers over many things.
I want our sisters that are called to go with their husbands, to
cultivate a spirit of joy, cheerfulness and satisfaction, and feel a
pleasure in going. They ought to feel that they are honored in being
called to go and build up the cities of Zion. This is the advice that
I give to the brethren and sisters upon this subject, and I do not
want the Californians in the southern settlements to say, brother
George A., is this a specimen of Salt Lake City grumblers? They can
beat us, who have been to California, in murmuring, for although we
would rather live here than anywhere else, we should discipline our
minds to live where we can be the most useful to the cause of Zion. We
should manifest our joy that we have had the high privilege of helping
to enlarge the borders of Zion, to inspire them with a spirit of
faithfulness and industry. I was pleased when brother Spencer asked me
to speak.
May the blessings of Israel's God rest upon you all. Amen.
- George A. Smith