I am now looking upon the best people on the earth, that we have any
knowledge of. There is not another community that presents the same
amount of honesty, purity of heart and life, and integrity to God and
to one another; yet much can be said upon our weaknesses,
shortsightedness, and proneness to wander from right and do evil. I do
not know that I should do right in giving full vent to some of my
views and feelings concerning this people.
While conversing with some brethren the other day upon the conduct of
this people as viewed by the intelligence of Heaven, I said, that it
was a wonder to me that God had not long ago destroyed us all. His
mercy and long-suffering are truly marvelous. Again, when I realize
the object of our creation, the day of our trial we are now passing
through, the weaknesses the Lord has ordained to come upon the
children of men, and the steps to be taken for the exaltation of the
human family my heart is filled with gratitude to God, it exults in
his great beneficence. I glorify his name that he has spoken from the
heavens, and noticed us mortals. I am exceedingly rejoiced that we
have the privilege of living in the day when the Lord has spoken to
the children of men, and revealed the Priesthood and placed it upon
men, giving them the privilege of attaining to glory, immortality, and
eternal lives. In the midst of our great weaknesses and manifold
failings, we have abundant cause for exceeding great joy in the Gospel
of our salvation. Are these great weaknesses to be found in the birds
of the air, in the fishes of the sea, or in the beasts of the field?
No. The animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms abide the law of their
Creator; the whole earth and all things pertaining to it, except man,
abide the law of their creation.
I now see before me beings who are in the image of those heavenly
personages who are enthroned in glory and crowned with eternal lives,
in the very image of those beings who organized the earth and its
fulness, and who constitute the Godhead—still here is the evil, and we
are the ones who are accountable; for we are the "lords of creation."
We hold in subjection the creation; we avail ourselves of the great
truths found in the arts and sciences, we navigate the seas, we survey
the land, we convey intelligence with lightning speed, we harness
steam and make it our servant, we tame the animals and make them do
our drudgery and administer to our wants in many ways, yet man alone
is not tamed—he is not subject to his Great Creator. Our ignorant
animals are faithful to us, and will do our bidding as long as they
have any strength; yet man who is the offspring of the Gods, will not
become subject to the most reasonable and self-exalting principles. How often have we witnessed a faithful animal conveying his
master home so drunk that he could not see his way or sit up; yet his
faithful animal will plod through mud, shun stumps, trees, and bad
places, and land him safely at home.
Are we even obedient to our better judgments and to truth that is
self-evident? Many of us have been taught the doctrine of total
depravity—that man is not naturally inclined to do good. I am
satisfied that he is more inclined to do right than to do wrong. There
is a greater power within him to shun evil and perform good, than to
do the opposite. We have the powers of darkness, or the influences
opposite to good, to contend with, "For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the
rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in
high places." There are two classes of influences, one tends to good
and the other to evil; one to truth and life, the other to falsehood
and death. Evil is sown in our nature, but there is not a person who
is not prompted to do good and forsake evil, though there are but few
who, from their own volition, will subject themselves to be perfectly
obedient to the law of Christ, yet there are dispositions that will be
subject to the truth through cruel mockings and scourgings, bonds and
imprisonment. Truth is for us, right is for us, life is ours.
Our enemies accuse the leaders of this Church of having too much
influence over the people. How much influence have I, or any other man
that ever lived in this kingdom, over an apostate? It is now as it was
in the days of Joseph. While people retained the spirit of their
religion, they looked upon him as one of the best men on the earth;
but when they gave way to the spirit of apostasy, then he was the
worst of men. This has been so in all ages with every Prophet,
Apostle, and righteous man and woman; they have had the warmest
friends, and the bitterest enemies. No man has friends like those who
are righteous; their friendship is even unto death, and then it
reaches throughout all eternity. The friendship of the wicked must
fade away, sooner or later; while the friendship of the righteous will
last forever and ever. When we understand the truth let us abide by
it, and boast not in our own strength, but glory in the strength of
the Almighty.
The Elders often tell how many they have converted, and how many
churches they have built up in different parts of the world. When
persons apostatize from the path of right, I think some of them are
man-made converts; as a Methodist preacher remarked to a drunken man
lying by the wayside, who hailed him with delight saying, "You are my
father in Christ, you converted me." "I should think so," said the
preacher, "for it is very clear that you are not one of the Lord's
converts." We cannot make Latter-day Saints of anybody on this earth
but ourselves; we have not even power to make a Saint of a wife, or a
child, a brother, or sister, in the least degree, unless they will
hearken to counsel and obey the principles of righteousness, which I
contend they are naturally inclined to do, were it not for the awful
apostasy there is in the world. All persons must possess their
intelligence free and independent before God.
I preach the Gospel to the Latter-day Saints; and if a person comes
into our community and wishes to know further with regard to life and
salvation, I will tell him as freely as ever I breathed the mountain
air; but you cannot find one person that I ever crowded my religion
upon either in or out of the Church. I have my reasons for
taking this course. I never preach such sermons as, "Well, Mr. C., or
D., have you heard any of our Elders preach? Do you know anything
about Mormonism?" "No." "Why, our Gospel is the Gospel of
life and
salvation, it is the only true plan of salvation for the people; and
you must be a 'Mormon;' if you are not a 'Mormon,' you must
expect to
be damned." If a person wishes to know my religion, I am willing that
he should know the whole of it. There is nothing secret or hidden in
it; the whole plan of salvation is for the human family, and is as
free as the waters that flow from our mountains into the valleys. If
you thirst, drink until you are satisfied, for you are truly welcome.
This is the nature of the Gospel, and the character of Him who has
sent it. It is free for all. But I am not disposed to compel any
person to partake of that which they dislike, or have an aversion for.
This may not be right in every case. Why it is right with me is, that,
if a person urges upon me that which I am not disposed to receive, it
creates in me an alienation of feeling toward that person. I am
naturally opposed to being crowded, and am opposed to any person who
undertakes to force me to do this, or not do that. In my youth I was
supposed to be an infidel, and perhaps in one respect I was, though I
would have freely given all the gold and silver I ever could possess,
to have met with one individual who could show me anything about God,
heaven, or the plan of salvation, so that I could pursue the path that
leads to the kingdom of heaven; but I did not want to be urged, and I
am so inclined to this day. Yet I am convinced that it would not do
for every man to pursue this course in every circumstance. We can
guide, direct, and prune a tender sprout, and it inclines to our
direction, if it is wisely and skillfully applied. So, if we surround a
child with healthy and salutary influences, give him suitable
instructions, and store his mind with truthful traditions, maybe that
will direct his feet in the way of life.
There are persons of twenty, forty, and sixty years of age, who never
saw a day in which they knew their own minds. They seem to be
undecided in all their actions, like a child a few years old, and need
some person to direct them. I am somewhat different from this class of
persons. Should I be told that it is time to wash my face and eat my
breakfast, I should be strongly inclined to notify my informant that I
knew that as well as he did. So some of our Elders who preach in the
world, will go into this or that house, begin to converse with the
members of the family, and tell them they must be baptized or be
damned. This will turn some persons against them and the truth, simply
because they will not be compelled to do anything; while there are
others in the world who would not embrace the truth, unless they were
ordered to do it; probably they are those who will be compelled to
come in.
There is a class of people that will not move to do themselves good,
only as they are urged and commanded. There is a wide difference in
people in this respect. There are instances in this community that if
a wife does not urge her husband to pray in his family, he would never
do so. And again, there are men in this city and throughout the
settlements as good men as need be, who are driven from this duty by
the teasing of a wife. "Now, pa, come, do let us have prayers; I have
got all the children here and the Bible, and I do want to have
prayers." He cannot bow to that kind of compulsion, to save him; and
if he should be damned he will not be made to pray in such a manner, for when he prays he means to do it for his God, and not
because a woman teases him to do it. If a wife of mine should undertake
to direct me in such a manner, I should give her to understand that I
would tell her and the children when to come to prayers, when to go to
parties, and how to reverence the Holy Priesthood and their God; I
should never pray in creation, if I could not do it independent of the
dictation of a woman.
I know that the people need more or less teaching and urging all the
time, Sunday after Sunday, to keep them in the path of safety. How
easy we get out of patience! We get a little hasty, and do a little
wrong, because we do not train ourselves—do not conquer ourselves, and
subject ourselves to the law of Christ. Sisters speak evil of sisters,
they hear of it, and straightway return the compliment in a spirit of
vindictiveness. Elders have contention with Elders; they do not
understand alike, and are not disposed to in their deal. Elders are
agreed on the way and manner necessary to obtain celestial glory, but
they quarrel about a dollar. When principles of eternal life are
brought before them—God and the things pertaining to God and
godliness—they apparently care not half so much about them as they do
about five cents. "We want the dollars." What are they good for?
Dollars will do good, if you can keep them until they will do good,
using them in the right way. Men will scramble over each other to get
gold and silver, and when they have it they waste it; it passes from
them, and they know not how, doing them no good.
You can go into many houses in this Territory and find, for cooking
utensils, an old skillet in which they cook their meat, heat their
dishwater, wash their dishes, mix up pig feed, &c.; and when they set
their table it is in keeping with the old skillet; you find little to
eat, and that is half burnt and half cooked, unpalatable and
unhealthy. The wife and children have scarcely a decent dress, and all
around, in the house and out of it, is a picture of misery. Yet if you
ask the owner of the house whether he has any cattle on the range,
"Oh, yes." How many? "I do not know; I had fifty head the other day,
but I am not sure how many oxen and cows I have." How many calves have
you? "I think I have fifteen or twenty." Do you have any butter for
breakfast? "No;" and when they have any, it is about the size of a
walnut and as white as cheese curd. They do not know how to make
butter and cheese, yarn and cloth, nor do they try to learn. The wool
is wasting; the flax, if any is grown, is left to rot; indolence,
dirt, and scarcity reign where cleanliness, beauty, order, and plenty
could be produced by the hand of industry, economy, frugality, and
care. There is a wonderful amount of ignorance with regard to our
temporal life, to say nothing of our spiritual life.
A misunderstanding of five dollars in a settlement will sometimes set
some of our Elders to quarrelling and contending, and spending the
time of the High Council and Bishop Courts, and making a cost of a
hundred dollars. You cannot bring up anything that relates to
Priesthood, God, heaven, or heavenly things, that will move them in
the direction of a quarrel, and yet they will contend about a little
filthy lucre which they cannot hold; they pass by the things of God as
naught compared with it, living year after year, learning little or
nothing that pertains to life eternal, but would rake earth and hell
to secure a few cents. Money is not wealth; neither can you subsist
upon it, in the absence of the common aliments of life. It is the love
of money that is a mischief—that is the root of all evil. Love
not gold, nor silver, nor anything of the kind, but gather around you
that which will make you "healthy, wealthy, and wise;" then all will
be right, and real wealth will increase around you, and wisdom from
God will illuminate your course through life.
We pray for wisdom, but God will as soon put bread and meat in our
cupboards without any endeavor of ours, as he will give us wisdom
without our trying to get it. If a man wants a farm, let him make it;
if he wishes an orchard he plants it; if he wants a house for his
family to live in, he must gather the materials and build it. The Lord
instructed the people in primitive times how to smelt the ores and
work in the different metals, how to hew stone, how to build houses
and temples. He will give us wisdom in these things, but he will not
come down to do the manual labor.
As we prepare materials to build a house or temple, so man can prepare
himself for the reception of eternal wisdom. We go where the materials
for a house are, and prepare them to answer our purpose; so we may go
to where eternal wisdom dwells, and there diligently seek to possess
it, for its price is above rubies. I have frequently said that the
greatest endowment God ever gave to man is good, sound, solid sense to
know how to govern ourselves, how to choose the good and refuse the
evil, to know how to sever the right from the wrong, the light from
the darkness, and gather to ourselves that wisdom which comes from
God, and reject that which comes from beneath. Let all be brought into
subjection to the will of God, and then there would be no contention
about a trifle, but every man would contend lawfully for the things of
God, and more earnestly than for silver and gold.
May the Lord bless the good and fill the earth with the righteous.
Amen.