The teaching today has been excellent, and very profitable to us all.
When Jesus Christ commenced his ministry, he taught a short time,
wrought miracles, called twelve men and ordained them Apostles, and
gave them power from on high to establish the principles of the Gospel
of the Son of Man in all the world. When he had thus commenced the
work of his Father, and eaten his last supper with his
disciples, which we commemorate in the sacrament on the Sabbath day,
they spilled his blood. On the third day he rose again from the dead,
showed himself to his faithful followers, gave them further
instructions, promised them another Comforter, and then went to preach
to the spirits in prison, opening the door of the proclamation of the
Gospel to the dead as well as to the living, that men in the spirit
might be judged according to men in the flesh.
The present American war, which brother George A. Smith has dwelt upon
this afternoon, has disembodied thousands of spirits, who are gone
into the spirit world to mingle with those spirits who are unprepared
to enter the presence of God. Now we who hold the same Priesthood that
Christ and his Apostles held, who follow him in the regeneration,
will also become the saviors of men on earth and in the spirit world;
therefore, the thousands slain in the present war are not without
hope. It is our calling to preach life and salvation to them even in
another existence; and it is our duty so to live that we honor our
high calling in this world to be prepared to labor for the souls of
men in the next. We should forsake the world and its pernicious ways,
and serve the Lord our God with our might, soul, and strength.
The word of the Lord to all the world, and to all Israel, is repent
and turn to the Lord your God with all your hearts. The Lord does not
require that of us which we cannot do. We can forsake every
unrighteous principle and cleave to principles of truth, wherein is
the power of God. No man can have the power of God who dishonors the
truth. Jesus took Peter, James, and John into a high mountain, and
there gave them their endowment, and placed upon them authority to
lead the Church of God in all the world, to ordain men to the
Priesthood, to set in order the Church and send forth the Elders of
Israel to preach to a perishing world. For the same purpose has the
Lord called us up into these high mountains, that we may become
endowed with power from on high in the Church and kingdom of God, and
become kings and priests unto God, which we never can be lawfully
until we are ordained and sealed to that power, for the kingdom of God
is a kingdom of kings and priests, and will rise in mighty power in
the last days.
Some people are taken captive by the adversary, and are seduced to
bring themselves under obligations never to raise the standard of King
Emanuel again. We have not enlisted in the cause of truth for a
limited time, but for time and all eternity; we are not to be taken
prisoners, or ever lay down our arms to submit in the least degree to
the enemy of all righteousness, and the Lord helping us, we never
will; the world, with all their combinations of earthly power, and
earthly cunning and wisdom will never bring us into subjection. That
time is past, if we keep the covenants and vows we have made in the
house of God. I know that as well as I know that this is the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that Joseph Smith was sent of God
to organize it, and that the men who now lead it on earth are his
authorized ministers. If we follow them as they follow Christ, God
will give us the victory. But we must act as one man; and as the
natural body is dictated by the conclusions of one mind, so must we as
a Church and people act under the dictation of one head; yet, "the eye
cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to
the feet, I have no need of you."
The righteous have no cause for fear. If I fear anything, it
is that this people are becoming wealthy, becoming fanciful, and full
of love for the vain fashions of the ungodly, which, if indulged in,
will bring them trouble and sorrow.
The majority of this people are a righteous people, and God will
defend the righteous, and for the righteous' sake preserve a great many
for the time being that are not righteous; for he has great respect
for his friends—for his anointed—for the elect whose lives have been
hid with Christ in God, and none of these will be lost because Jesus
Christ saves all whom the Father has put in his power. Then let us be
comforted and full of good cheer; and let us, with a good will as a
people, work the work of righteousness. Let every person be filled
with a desire to excel in every good word and work, and strive to
become foremost in making good improvements, laying aside everything
that is unnecessary, and cleaving to that which is useful and
necessary to give us power and independence among the nations of the
world, and favor with God and angels who will bear us off
victoriously.
Brother George A. has been talking about our driving. In this I have
an extensive experience during thirty years past that I have been in
the Church; and this is an experience that no man can obtain only by
passing through the same circumstances; but all the Saints will have
enough of trials if they are faithful to their God and themselves,
they will have all they can possibly bear in one way or another.
Let us improve our homes, our city and our country, and do all in our
power to become a self-sustaining people by making at home everything
we need. One of the speakers today referred to the ignorance of
gardeners; it made me think of a gardener I had. When the corn was in
the silk, he husked it, and brought it into my family to eat; he said
he thought the cob was the part to eat. He pulled the watermelons
before they were ripe, and divided them among my family. Our English
gardeners are unacquainted with many of the productions of this
country, and hence they make some little mistakes; but who is so
ignorant that they cannot learn and improve?
We spend a great deal of ready money in the east and west for material
for clothing which we can make at home, if we will try. We can make
lace and silk, and different kinds of cloth, both cotton and woolen.
We have as good weavers as can be found in any country, but it is
almost impossible to get any of them into a loom; they seem to love
rural pursuits better. When they were in England, it was the daily
business of many to work with the flying shuttle, which could be heard
all over the land.
All sane persons, old and young, can improve. Some say they are too
old to improve, but there is no person too old to be damned for their
sins. A man of sixty years of age, if he has improved himself, is
brighter than he was at twenty; he is filled with more power, energy,
and life; he is like a ripe ear of corn that is filled with the
elements of life more than a green ear: the old man will come up
quicker than a young one. There is brightness in old men and in old
women who live and honor God and their own existence.
What brother Brigham has said in relation to the carelessness of hired
men is strictly true. I have had a man in my employ that would light
his pipe or cigarette and smoke in the hay mow, which was paying him
twenty-five dollars a month, besides boarding and washing, which
altogether would amount to fifty dollars a month and over; and then would wear out two or three pairs of thin boots in the course
of three months, for which he would pay from eight to ten dollars a
pair, and then complain he had not wages enough. There are but few men
that honestly earn their wages. Brother Brigham and myself used to
work hard, side by side, for fifty cents a day and board ourselves; we
had seventy-five cents a day when we worked in the hayfield; we would
work from sunrise to sunset, and until nine o'clock at night if there
was sign of rain. We would rake and bind after a cradler for a bushel
of wheat a day, and chop wood, with snow to our waist for eighteen
cents a cord, and take our pay in corn at seventy-five cents a bushel.
There is an impression in laborers that they should not earn their
employer anything above their wages. What man would keep an animal—say
a cow—that never made any increase? Such an animal you would fat and
eat. These are a few things which we suffer from one another, and if
such dishonesty is permitted to increase, it will be the ruination of
those who practice it.
May the Lord bless you. Amen.
- Heber C. Kimball