I have only a few remarks that I wish to make this morning, and they
will chiefly relate to our practical and immediate duties.
We amuse and enjoy ourselves a great deal in this Territory, in
dancing and in other amusements. I am as fond of amusement as any
person, and love to see others enjoy rational amusement in its season.
I have this to comfort me; in all our assemblies for amusement this
winter, I have not seen or heard anything that has seriously annoyed
my feelings. The people have been very civil, and have conducted
themselves discreetly and as Saints, as far as I know.
I have now a request to make of the people, through their Bishops,
that during the coming week we bring our dancing parties to a close
and prepare to attend to matters of greater importance, as the winter
is drawing to a close, and the season for business is approaching. In
a few weeks from now, we intend to give the people a few evenings
entertainment in our new theater, which will not be entirely finished;
after which, as the spring opens, we shall attend to preparing
material for building our Temple, to gathering the poor, to farming
and gardening, to building and fencing, &c.
The exhortation we have heard this morning is good, just, and true. We
can gather much from it, touching the evidences of the Gospel. Upon
this point the people, in many in stances, do not understand
themselves, they forsake the Gospel, turn away from the holy
commandments, and turn to fables. It is very remarkable, though true,
that some persons who profess to be intelligent beings are never easy
unless they are in pain, nor happy unless they are miserable. When
they are comfortable, well fed, and clothed, have good health, and the
society of the just, comparatively speaking they must pinch
themselves, or stick pins and needles into themselves, in order to
feel happier when the pain has ceased. This is marvelous to me.
It is disgraceful for a member of this community to turn away from the
truth. When a person receives the truth, has a knowledge of the things
of God, is instructed with regard to his position relative to the
heavens, he knows a great deal; and it is astonishing to me that there
is power enough among the wicked on earth and among devils in hell to
turn such a soul away from righteousness. A few in our community seem
to be in their glory when they are doing wrong, though this portion is
comparatively very small. We do not see in our community quite so much
drunkenness as heretofore, nor so many gambling shops, but how long
this improved state of things will remain I know not. For a few weeks
we have also had a respite from marauding thieves.
Are the people righteous and pure enough in heart not to turn
to fables when they are presented to them? Not to commit iniquity when
they are tempted? Not to join hands with the ungodly when the ungodly
are here to take them by the hand? If we have attained to that power,
that Satan and all his forces will fail to turn us away from the holy
commandments of the Lord Jesus, we never again will be afflicted
through the power of the wicked. When we are tried by afflictions we
are apt to forsake the faith of Christ, and then the wicked are
permitted to bear rule over us; then unrighteousness surrounds us, and
the influence of Satan and of hell prevails in our midst.
Have we yet to endure affliction as we have at the hands of our
enemies, the ungodly Gentiles? Have we again to see armies here? And
again be driven from our homes? Have we to be visited with pestilence,
famine, and earthquake? Is all this necessary? If our hearts are pure
we shall never see any of those afflictions poured out upon this
people, from this time henceforth; on the contrary, the Lord delights
to bless such a people until there is not room to receive more. Still
in our afflictions we will not complain, for the Lord has his own way
of training his people. How joyful my heart would be if the people
would receive the Gospel, if they would understand it as they
understand their daily avocations.
Yet, when I realize that God dwells in the midst of eternal burnings,
that everything must be pure and holy that comes into his presence;
that he has marked out in the Gospel the path for the believer to
walk in to attain to holiness, and that no man or woman can receive
the Gospel without humbling themselves before the Lord, forsaking
their sins, and receiving the Holy Spirit, it is a matter of joy to me
that unholy beings are thereby prohibited from entering into his
presence. No unhallowed or unclean thing can enter the heavenly abode
of the righteous; and it is beyond the capacity of man to make a
safer place than that which God has prepared for the righteous.
Jesus, in consideration of this, said, "Lay not up for yourselves
treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves
do not break through and steal." Let us bind to heaven all that is
near and dear unto us, and if our treasures are there, there also will
our affections be.
It is thirty years the 15th day of next April (though it has
accidentally been recorded and printed the fourteenth) since I was
baptized into this Church, and in that time I have gained quite an
experience. I will tell you a little of it, though I will first make a
few remarks touching ourselves as a people. We are prone to do wrong,
or, as the preacher has recorded—"Yea, also the heart of the sons of
men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live,
and after that they go to the dead." We are merchants, speculators,
traders, and love the best end of a bargain. We delight to talk about
our neighbors. "Oh, how I delight to go over to such a house to see
that sister, she is so sociable, so full of chit-chat, and knows
everything that is going on." And thus they meet to bereave the
characters of their neighbors, and there is not an evil that can be
imagined but what will be told. After they have finished their
chatting, backbiting, and slandering, they conclude it all by
apologizing—"Really, sister, I do not know, but I have said more than
I ought, but let us pass it over, you know we are all brethren and sisters." Again, says one brother in the Church to another, "Well,
we had a good time last evening, we enjoyed ourselves pretty well. It
is true we got drunk, and it is not quite right to get drunk. My head
ached this morning, and I feel a little sorry that we indulged so
far." Another has indulged too much in making liquor, and in putting
the deadly draught to his neighbor's lips. Another has indulged too
much in swearing. Another is troubled because he has indulged in
taking the advantage of his neighbor in a trade, and, to make a cent,
has cheated the simple and good-hearted who trusted in him. Another
has stolen a little, or done this and that wrong; and all are apt to
excuse themselves under the plea of the weaknesses of human nature.
Now, I come to my own experience and say—there is not an individual
here but what has power, and God has given it to him, to drink whiskey
or let it alone, to swear or not swear, to lie or not lie, deceive or
not deceive, cheat and take advantage of a neighbor or not do so,
slander and backbite a brother or a sister or not. This power is our
own individual property, and we shall be brought into judgment for the
manner in which we use it, and for all our actions in the flesh.
Thirty years' experience has taught me that every moment of my life
must be holiness to the Lord, resulting from equity, justice, mercy,
and uprightness in all my actions, which is the only course by which I
can preserve the Spirit of the Almighty to myself. What is your
experience? It is the same as my own. You cannot constantly be sinning
a little and repenting, and retain the Spirit of the Lord as your
constant companion. My experience up to this time, has been to do as I
would that others should do unto me, under like circumstances; and, if
I understand myself, there is not a man or woman on the face of this
earth that I have dealt with contrary to this rule, and this practice
I have continued each day.
When Monday morning breaks upon the eyes of the people, they must be
as faithful to God and righteousness as they are here when partaking of
the sacrament, or lose the Spirit of the Lord. We have no permission
to sin for one moment. You may ask me if I ever do wrong. I
answer—yes, like everybody else, owing to the weakness of the flesh;
but if I do wrong knowingly, then I sin. When this people can live and
never do a wrong knowingly, if they should sin in their ignorance, God
will freely forgive that sin, if they are ready to repent when it is
made known to them and refrain from it in the future. Let us live in
this way and the kingdom is ours. It is the kingdom of God with us, or
nothing. It is in our possession, and God will have a people that will
preserve it inviolate. There may be some in our midst who do not
honor the character of our religion, yet the Lord will preserve his
kingdom.
There are some who wish to regain the Spirit of the Lord they have
lost, and others desire to go on a Mission to get that Spirit. My
advice to all such persons is—so live daily that all the light of
God's Spirit given to you will be preserved in you and increase from
day to day, until you become perfect in your sphere as our Father in
heaven is perfect. This is my experience. We cannot believe any truth
that exists in all the eternities of the Gods that is not embraced in
our holy religion, commonly called "Mormonism." It incorporates every
truth that has been known, is known, and will be known, in all the
eternities past, and in all the eternities to come; in short, it is
eternal truth upon which the throne of God is founded and
cannot be moved. May the Lord help us to be faithful.
Again, in all the duties and labors pertaining to our mortal
existence, let us remember that Paul may plant and Apollos may water,
but it is God alone who gives the increase. And how long will it be
before we shall learn to take good care of the increase God gives us?
Our labor is our wealth; it is the best capital that any nation can
possess. We have an immense capital that will bring us a large
interest, if it is expended judiciously and with that wisdom which
cometh from Heaven. Every man and woman capable of labor have their
stock of capital on hand; dispose of it wisely; let everything be put
to good use in the best possible manner to build up the kingdom of God,
and to make ourselves comfortable and happy on this earth, and the
Lord will preserve us and give us all we ask for. The kingdom is ours.
Amen.