It is often remarked that we do not understand things alike, but I am
of the opinion that the inhabitants of the earth understand in the
spirit, or, in other words, in the intelligent portion of their
organisms, nearer alike than they have power to communicate.
We believe we are entitled to the gift of the Holy Ghost in extent
according to the discretion and wisdom of God and our faithfulness;
which gift brings all things to our remembrance, past, present, and to
come, that are necessary for us to know, and as far as our minds are
prepared to receive the knowledge of God revealed by that all-wise
Agent. The Holy Ghost is God's minister, and is delegated to visit the
sons and daughters of men. All intelligent beings pertaining to this
earth are instructed from the same source.
In the New Testament and Book of Mormon, we learn that when the Gospel
is preached the people are taught to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
to repent of their sins, be baptized for the remission of sin, and
receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands; the Holy Ghost is
then the special gift of the Father, and is his minister. He also
gives intelligence by angels, as well as by the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit, and by opening the minds of the Saints to behold in
vision things as they are in eternity. When true doctrines are
advanced, though they may be new to the hearers, yet the principles
con tained in them are perfectly natural and easy to be understood, so
much so that the hearers often imagine that they had always known
them. This arises from the influence of the Spirit of Truth upon the
spirit of intelligence that is within each person. The influence that
comes from heaven is all the time teaching the children of men. "There
is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them
understanding." Again, "The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord,
searching all the inward parts of the belly." Again, "How oft is the
candle of the wicked put out!" We have nothing independent of the
Almighty. We preach, we hear, and we are instructed. We try to so live
as to gain more information, more light, more command over ourselves,
and more influence and power to increase the good and discourage the
evil, until we can comprehend the great principles of existence and
eternal progression.
We should be more happy, if we could more successfully carry into
effect the knowledge we now have. The Lord said, "Let there be light:
and there was light." The Council in heaven said let there be an
earth, and let there be a firmament above and beneath it, and it was
so. They said let there be heat and cold, and it was so. They said let
there be spring and summer, autumn and winter, and it was so. We can
say let the people be clothed, and they are clothed; let them
be warmed, and they are warmed; let them be housed, and they are
housed. If we put forth the ability God has given us, we can bring
forth the very things we say shall come. If we say let there be wool,
or let there be flax, they will come; if we say let there be iron,
steel, brass, or any other metal we need, it will come. If we say let
there be cotton and woolen yarn and let them be made into cloth, it
will be done. The Lord said let there be an earth, let there be light
to light it, let there be seas and dry land, air, rocks, trees,
fruits, and shrubs of all kinds, grasses and flowers, and vines that
yield fruit above the ground and in the ground, for the use of man and
beast, and it was so; but all these productions come according to
natural principles. Man is surrounded by those productive principles,
and is endowed with power to act upon them; and according to the
amount of intelligence he possesses and the labor he expends are the
productive results.
This people are increasing in the wisdom which cometh from God, and
their power to organize the crude elements around them into the
necessaries of life is in ratio to their increase of intelligence and
application of labor. In this way we ought to understand these great
principles. We need not seek for a revelation to know how to make
cloth, when the mode is plainly marked before our eyes. Sheep produce
a textile material, and how to make it into cloth has been known time
out of mind; we can raise sheep in abundance. I do not look for power
from the heavens that will produce for us wool, cloth, iron, food, or
anything we need, without being made with hands. We should understand
what is required of us to sustain ourselves.
It was observed this morning, that the teachings the people are
con stantly receiving are of a temporal character, and I should think
that, if such teachings were carried into practice by them, spiritual
blessings would be attained through temporal means. It is all of God.
"The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof; the world, and they
that dwell therein." "Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the
earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands." The mountains,
valleys, and plains, all the wealth of precious metals hid in their
bosoms, all the teeming fulness of vegetable productions, and all
animal existences in their endless variety are the Lord's. All that
can be produced from the soil by the ingenuity and industry of man is
the Lord's. The Lord has given the earth to the children of men, that
by the union of mind and matter, inspired and directed by the power of
the eternal Priesthood, all may be made subject to the Great Supreme
of the universe. It is our duty individually as well as our privilege,
to learn how to dispose of the earthly wealth we may possess, to the
glory of him who has permitted us to hold it, for in temporal
blessings honestly obtained and wisely placed to their legitimate use
are concealed mines of spiritual and eternal wealth. If we magnify and
make honorable this temporal existence, by the practice of every good
and righteous principle that comes within our knowledge, we honor and
magnify that spiritual existence, and that heavenly intelligence,
which the Father of all has placed within us. This is the way to
increase in temporal and spiritual wealth. If we pursue diligently
this path, there is not the least danger of any persons being lost,
but they will be prepared to inherit after death a more glorious and
heavenly sphere than they now dwell in.
I know that the great majority of mankind, who are created for a noble and glorious purpose, are ignorant of these heavenly
principles; and they cleave to their ignorance, and love darkness
rather than light. They will not be taught by an authorized minister
of heaven, but they hire men who are as blind and as ignorant as
themselves to guide them in the way they choose to walk in. From the
days of the creation until now, I do not think there is one man out of
a million who has made so much as a scratch upon the world's history,
to show that he was entirely devoted to God and truth; but the
generations of mankind have sprung up and decayed like the grass of
the field.
When the Spirit of revelation from God inspires a man, his mind is
opened to behold the beauty, order, and glory of the creation of this
earth and its inhabitants, the object of its creation, and the purpose
of its creator in peopling it with his children. He can then clearly
understand that our existence here is for the sole purpose of
exaltation and restoration to the presence of our Father and God,
where we may progress endlessly in the power of godliness. After the
mind has thus been illuminated, the ignorance and blindness of the
great mass of mankind are more apparent. Yet there is no son or
daughter of Adam and Eve but what has incorporated in their
organization the priceless gem of endless life, for the endless
duration and endless lives which they are approaching.
Are the people glorifying their Father who is in heaven? Do they take
every step possible to do the will of God on earth, and magnify their
calling? Is every act of their lives made to increase their
intelligence, to add to their faith, virtue, and to virtue, knowledge,
and to knowledge, temperance, and to temperance, patience, and to
patience, godliness, and to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to
brotherly kindness, charity, and to improve upon every gift and grace
which God has bestowed on them through the Gospel? I fear not. There
is yet to be seen a willful and covetous disposition in some few of our
brethren and sisters. "I want a ribbon," says a sister, "and I will
have it whatever the consequence may be." "And," says a brother,
"I
want a horse, and I will have it, if I steal it, and run the risk of
being damned for it." I am sorry to say that some few of the Elders of
Israel have such feelings and desires. One of the brethren this
morning was complaining of sins rising in the heart, and of the
self-will of fallen man, and the evil which the Devil had power to
engender in the hearts of our parents, who have entailed it on their
children. How shall we overcome this inclination to evil? Let the will
of God predominate over the will of the creature. Let the husband and
father learn to bend his will to the will of his God, and then
instruct his wives and children in this lesson of self-government by
his example as well as by precept, and his neighbors also, showing
them how to be brave and steadfast in subduing this rebellious and
sinful disposition. Such a course as this will eventually subdue that
unhallowed influence which works upon the human heart.
We are all endowed with the resolution, more or less, to deal with
ourselves as we would deal with a child or with a neighbor. In case a
child will not be controlled by his parents, but is disobedient and
refractory to a hopeless degree, what would his parents be apt to do?
I can answer for myself: I presume I should say to such a child—leave
me. But I have no such children; and it is hard to say what I might
do, were I tried. If a child of mine, who has come to years of
discretion, should say to me, "I will do this, and I will not do what
you require of me," I should use the rod of correction
sufficiently to teach that child better. Why not in the same way,
institute a proper and salutary correction over the rebellious spirit
that at times arises in the human breast? Why not govern and control
the appetite, that it may be subject to the law of Christ? But how is
it? Why, "I must have some tobacco, if I am damned for it." Or, "I
must have a cup of tea, if I am damned for it." Or, "I must have this
or that, if I should have to go to hell for it." It is like saying to
our Heavenly Father, "I will not mind you, I will not obey your
commandments, but I will have my own way and follow the bent of my own
inclinations; my appetite shall be nursed and pampered, though it be
at the expense of your displeasure." Instead of pursuing this course,
listen to that Spirit God has given to all, which teaches the right
and how to avoid the wrong, and say to appetite, to disposition, to
temper, to the whole man, you must do as I command you; I am an
officer, a general in the army of Christ and I will be obeyed.
Every man and woman is called to the same office; let us magnify it,
and exert a mighty influence over this organization, and rise up in
the strength of the great I Am, and by the power of his eternal
Priesthood, command every power, every pulse of our natures to be
subject to the law of God and truth, and not suffer this low, sinful,
groveling, dark, benighted, cursed spirit we have received from the
fall to bear rule in us. All persons who suffer themselves thus to be
ruled, disgrace themselves and do not honor the being God has given
them. If men are ruled by the power, principles, and righteousness of
the Holy Priesthood, they will find themselves in possession of all
the wisdom they need to meet every emergency of this changing
existence, and all they require to conquer the world, the flesh, and
the Devil.
How very far the inhabitants of the earth live short of their
privileges! How far they live beneath the blessings the Lord has in
store for them! Is it not more or less so with us as individuals and
as a community, who profess to be the friends of God? We live far
short of the blessings the Lord has in store for us. When the visions
of our minds are opened, we can then more fully realize this truth.
And again, when the vision is closed up we are found, as a general
thing, doing the best we know how, and we may be considered pretty
good men and women. This is true, yet there is an eternity of
knowledge before us to learn.
It is as much as I can do with all the power I have with the heavens
and with the Latter-day Saints to say, let there be a carding machine
in this Territory, and it is done; to say, let there be a nail factory
in this Territory, and it is here. Again, all that has been said, and
all the praying that has been done, and all the faith that has been
exercised, and all the combination and union of effort among the
Saints have not brought to pass one say of the President's in regard
to iron; he said, let there be iron, but there is no iron yet. Brother
Wells has told you the reason, this morning. A man says, "I am going
to make iron, and I will have the credit of making the first iron in
the Territory. I will have the credit of knowing how to flux the ore
that is found in these regions, and bringing out the metal in
abundance, or no other man shall." Now, the beauty and glory of this
kind of proceeding is the blackest of darkness, and its comeliness as
deformity.
We have said, let there be a carding machine, and it is here. Let
there be sheep, and there are sheep; wool, and it is here; and now who
will say let there be flax and then produce it? Let there be linen
cloth, and then produce it by means of the power and ability
we possess? We know how to perform this labor, and how to produce
this material. There are brethren before me who know how to make as
good linen cloth as was ever manufactured in any country. It is so
with other things. By-and-by, somebody will say, let there be silk,
and silk will be produced here. All we have to do is to grow the
mulberry tree, import the eggs of the silkworm, and apply the skill
that is already in our possession, and we can produce an abundance of
sewing silk, silk dress patterns, silk vesting, and anything we need in
the shape of silk drapery. Silk is in the elements around us, and not
only silk, but all things which pertain to the earth; and again, all
things which pertain to the heavens; all things which pertain to time,
and all things which pertain to eternity, which is the same with God
today, yesterday, and forever. I am extremely anxious that this
people should understand the value of their existence here, and the
great worth of that immortal spirit which is clothed upon with an
earthly house, preparatory to an eternal exaltation and eternal lives.
Honor this earthly house, for in it are concealed the rudiments of
all knowledge, the root and foundation of science that we have any
knowledge of. Mankind are capable of collecting and retaining an
immense amount of knowledge, if they will diligently apply the
ability God has given them; in fact, they are made to travel on
through an endless progression of improvement. I have only time to
give a few hints on this subject, though it might prove very
interesting to you, were I to classify these great truths and dwell
upon them, item by item, through a course of lectures.
Do you know, mother, the worth of that child in your lap? There is
not a mother here, I presume, that knows the real value of her
offspring. We say, "The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away,"
&c., when our children die. The truth is, the Lord has given and we do not
know the value of the gift we have received, and it is taken from us;
not because the Lord wants the child, for there are myriads of spirits
in heaven, and more coming all the time. They do not want the
spirit back again—they do not need it in the spirit world. It should
remain here, and we should know the worth of it sufficiently to take
care of it and preserve it on earth, until it has fulfilled the
measure of its creation—brought forth all the fruits of its
existence, and become ripe to go home to a higher state of glory to
rest for a season, until it is time again to unite the body with the
spirit.
A thousand glorious principles open up to my mind, that I cannot now
dwell upon; but there is one subject pertaining to our temporal
existence that I wish to present; the news we receive from the east
and from the west is of wars and floods, trouble and sorrow. Our
southern settlements have suffered by floods; they have lost their
farms, gardens, and orchards. The water has risen twenty-five feet
higher than it has ever been known to rise before in San Bernardino
and other parts of California. I wish to warn this people, that they
be not caught unprepared when spring opens. Make the best provisions
in your power to ward off destruction by high water into City Creek
and other mountain streams running through our settlements.
Particularly, let the brethren who are living on the Cottonwood
bottoms, take care, or we may hear of their passing down Jordan. The
earth is now saturated with rain and melted snow, and if the snow in
City Creek goes away with a warm spring rain, the first we know, some
of the people may be washed down into the river.
May the Lord bless us. Amen.