Brigham Young 1856-1860.

        THE POWERS OF THE PRIESTHOOD NOT GENERALLY UNDERSTOOD--THE
        NECESSITY OF LIVING BY REVELATION--THE ABUSE OF BLESSINGS.
   A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle,
                 Great Salt Lake City, January 27, 1856.

	I am thankful for the privilege of again appearing here before the
brethren and sisters.  A few of us have been absent for a short time, and,
in our absence, I hope and trust you have been blessed with the Holy
Spirit of the Lord.  I pray for the continuance of the light of that
Spirit to rest upon the Saints, this I crave continually for myself and
for all who profess to be Saints of the Most High.

	As I have frequently thought, and said, when duty requires I am happy
in going from home, and I am happy in returning, for it is my greatest joy
and comfort to do what the Lord requires of me, and what I know to be my
duty, no matter what it is if the Lord requires it of me.  This course
gives joy and peace.  When this principle becomes the acting principle of
all the Saints, we shall find that Zion is here; we shall be in the midst
of it; we shall enjoy it.

	As individuals, we enjoy Zion at present, but not as a community;
there is so much sin, darkness, and ignorance, and the veil of the
covering which is over the nations of the earth is measurably over the
Latter-day Saints.  The same unrighteous principles, which becloud the
minds of men universally, more or less becloud the minds of the Latter-day
Saints.  Though the veil is partially broken to the Saints, though it
becomes thin, as it were, and the twilight appears like the dawning of the
day, yet we may travel for many years before the sunshine appears.  It
does not yet appear to this people, they are merely in the twilight.

	As one expressed it in ancient times, "We see through a glass
darkly"--through a smoked or dim glass--through which we cannot behold
objects clearly with the natural eye.

	We have not faith sufficient to have revelation, to have the visions
of eternity opened unto us so clearly that we may see things as they are,
consequently, we have to live by faith and not by sight.  We have to live
by the principles of the Gospel, which is faith in the heart and obedience
to its requirements.  It is our joy and salvation that we have this
privilege.

	If we could understand the nature of the Priesthood--could comprehend
it fully, this people, as a community, the Elders, as Elders of Israel,
quorums, as quorums, when they present themselves before the Lord, would
possess keys to unlock the treasury of heaven, and we could receive as one
person receives from another.  To us, as a people, the keys of the rich
storehouse of the Lord are committed, yet we do not fully know how to
unlock and receive.  We receive a little here and there, and the hearts of
the people are comforted by the very Priesthood we are in possession of,
which has been given to this people for the express purpose of their
receiving that which God has given them, though not yet to possess it
independently, but as means for trial.

	This Priesthood is given to the people, and the keys thereof, and,
when properly understood, they may actually unlock the treasury of the
Lord, and receive to their fullest satisfaction.  But through our own
weaknesses, through the frailty of human nature, we are not yet capable of
doing so.

	We have to humble ourselves and become like little children in our
feelings--to become humble and childlike in spirit, in order to receive
the first illuminations of the spirit of the Gospel, then we have the
privilege of growing, of increasing in knowledge, in wisdom, and in
understanding.  This is a great privilege, while the world, excepting this
people who inhabit these valleys, and those that are associated with us in
different parts of the earth, are destitute of this principle and
privilege.  Still, many of us, and I may say comparatively all of us, are
upon the same ground, situated precisely like other professors of
religion, in order that we may struggle, wrestle, and strive, until the
Lord bursts the veil and suffers us to behold His glory, or a portion of
it.

	If we did fully understand the principles of the Gospel--the keys of
the Priesthood, it would be familiar with us, and be easy to be understood
and to act upon and perform, and be no more of a miracle to know how to
receive the things of God by revelation, than it is now a miracle to cast
seed into the ground, after it is prepared, and reap our crops.

	An individual who holds a share in the Priesthood, and continues
faithful to his calling, who delights himself continually in doing the
things God requires at his hands, and continues through life in the
performance of every duty, will secure to himself not only the privilege
of receiving, but the knowledge how to receive the things of God, that he
may know the mind of God continually; and he will be enabled to discern
between right and wrong, between the things of God and the things that are
not of God. And the Priesthood--the Spirit that is within him, will
continue to increase until it becomes like a fountain of living water;
until it is like the tree of life; until it is one continued source of
intelligence and instruction to that individual.

	This is one of the most glorious and happy principles than can be set
before any people, or any individual who will be faithful to his God and
to his religion.  Upon whoever are bestowed the keys of the eternal
Priesthood, by a faithful life, will secure to themselves power to see the
things of God, and will understand them as plainly as they ever understood
anything by gazing upon it with their natural eyes, or as clearly as they
ever could distinguish one object from another by their sensations.

	It is the privilege of every person who is faithful to the
Priesthood, who can overcome the enemy, thwart the design of death, or him
that hath the power of it, to live upon the earth until  their appointed
time; and they may know, see, and understand, by revelation, the things of
God just as naturally as we understand natural things that are around us.

	We inquire, is this the character of the people called Latter-day
Saints? We can say it is the character of many of them, but when we
reflect, it is not the case with the whole of them.  There are many who
never fail to improve upon every means of grace given them, upon every
particle of light imparted to them.  They perform every duty that is made
known to them, they cease to do evil wherever an evil is presented to
them, they refrain, so far as is in their power, from every act and from
every thought and disposition which is contrary to the holy Gospel.

	Again, when we look around we see many, very many, men and women who
profess to know the things of God, to belong to His family, to the Church
of the First-Born--the Church of Jesus Christ, who are ofttimes wrought
upon by the Holy Spirit of the Gospel which has caused them to rejoice
therein, who give thanks to their God, rejoice with joy unspeakable, and
you would think they were very near the kingdom of heaven--near the
threshold of the gate which opens into the presence of the Father and the
Son, and yet, if anything crosses them, will give way to an evil temper;
and if anything is presented to them which they do not understand, they
condemn it at once; they are ready to pass judgment upon that which they
do not understand.  If they are crossed by their friends and families they
are ready to speak by the spirit of evil, by the spirit of contention;
they are ready to receive a little malice in their hearts.  They do all
this, they turn round and repent of it, they are sorry for it, and they
say they will try to do better, will try to overcome their passions, or
the temptations of the evil one in their natures.  You see them again,
have they kept themselves pure?  No they have not, but they have given way
to evil, to a little dishonesty, falsifying, shading of sentiment,
speeches, sayings, and doings of their neighbors.  They have given way to
anger, and will remark, "It is true I got angry, I was overcome, true I
acted the fool, but I mean to refrain from so doing in the future."  And
thus they live for a spell, but how long will it be before they are again
overtaken in fault?  Then if a delusive spirit, professedly a righteous
one, is cast into a neighborhood, how easy such people are decoyed by it,
led away by it.

	At one time you see them as enthusiastic as mortals can be, in what
they call righteous principles, and hear them saying, "I have more light
now than I ever had before in my life, I am better now than I ever was, I
am filled with the Holy Spirit."

	This is the way we often find them, they are rejoiced exceedingly and
are upon Pisgah's top--flaming Latter-day Saints, and, perhaps, when the
next day or the next week has passed over they are angry, filled with
malice and wrath.  After a while they will say, "That was a delusive
spirit, it is true I felt joyful and happy, I thought it was the best
spirit and the most light I ever enjoyed in all the days of my life, but I
now find I was deceived, I find that if I had continued in that spirit
there was a trap laid to catch me, to decoy me away, and destroy my faith
in the holy Gospel."  Is this the case with the Latter-day Saints?  Yes,
with many of them.

	Our religion is a practical and progressive one.  It will not prepare
a thief, a liar, a sorcerer, a whoremonger, an adulterer, a murderer, or a
false swearer, in one day, so that he can enter into the celestial kingdom
of God.  We ought to understand that when our lives have been filled with
all manner of wickedness, to turn and repent of our sins, to be baptized
for the remission of them, and have our names witten [sic] upon the Church
records, does not prepare us for the presence of our Father, and elder
brother.  What will?  A continuation of faithfulness to the doctrines of
Christ; nothing short of this will do it.  The Latter-day Saints should
understand this.  Do they?  Yes.  Do they live to it?  A great many of
them do not.  All ought to live their religion every day, and there are a
great many who do.  But there are a great many who do not, who are
overcome with evil, get out of the true path of righteousness, and do
those things which are wrong.  They contend with each other, quarrel, have
broils and difficulties in families, and in neighborhoods, law with each
other touching property, one saying, "This is mine," and another saying,
"It is not yours, but it is mine."  One says, "You have wronged me,"  the
other says, "I have not."  Thus there are thousands of plans which the
enemy of all righteousness employs to decoy the hearts of the people away
from righteousness.

	If this people would live their religion, and continue year after
year to live their religion, it would not be many years before we would
see eye to eye; there would be no difference of opinion, no difference of
sentiment, and the veil that now hangs over our minds would become so thin
that we should actually see and discern things as they are.

	True we labor under many embarrassments with regard to our progress
in Christian life, and it is right we should be situated just as we are. 
We wish to save the world of mankind, and difficulties, embarrassments,
and obstacles are thrown in our way continually.  If this congregation
could live twenty years without communion and intercourse with any other
people, if we did not preach any more to the world, and no more Saints
were gathered from abroad, we might, perhaps, train ourselves so as to see
eye to eye, and that too before we had lived as many years to come as this
Church has been organized.

	But no, if we are instructed now, and understand all it is our
privilege to understand, another year we must have another batch of clay
thrown in the mill, as brother Kimball calls it, and this new supply
spoils more or less of the clay that is already well tempered, and it is
right that it should be so.  Though this is a good comparison--the making
of vessels out of clay, and the grinding up of clay, still, is it in every
respect correct?  We might carry it out perhaps, but I argue, and believe
with all my soul, that if there were 10,000 Saints to emigrate to this
point yearly from England, or any other country, and though thousands of
the wicked should gather with them, it would not prove, for one moment,
that any Saint would be obliged to sin thereby; it would not prove, for
one moment, that this congregation before me would be obliged to do wrong.

	Though we may be mingled together, and our interchanges are as they
are, still if a stranger should look upon us as a community, who have been
here many years, and see but few of the new comers do wrong, and then
judge us off and say, we are all evil, that none of us are righteous, that
there is no good fruit here, that would be an unrighteous judgment and
decision.

	It is our privilege, for you and me to live, from this day, so that
our consciences will be void of offence towards God and man; it is in our
power to do so, then why don't we?  What is the matter?  I will tell you
what the difficulties and troubles are, by relating brother John Young's
dream.  He dreamed that he saw the devil with a looking-glass in his hand,
and the devil held it to the faces of the people, and it revealed to them
everybody's  faults but their own.

	The difficulty is, neglecting to watch over ourselves.  Just as soon
as our eyes are turned away from watching ourselves, to see whether we do
right, we begin to see faults in our neighbors; this is the great
difficulty, and our minds become more and more blinded until we become
entirely darkened.  So long as I do the thing the Lord requires of me, and
do not stop to inquire what I shall tell to my neighbor as his duty, and
pay very close attention to my individual person, that my words are right,
that my actions are right before God, that my reflections are right, and
that my desires are according to the holy Gospel, I have not much time to
look at the faults of my neighbors.  Is not this true?

	This is our practical religion; it is our duty to stop and begin to
look at ourselves.  We may have trials to pass through, and when people
come to me, and tell me that they are wonderfully tried and have a great
may [sic] difficulties to encounter--have their troubles on the right and
on the left, and what to do they are at a loss to know, I say, "I am glad
of it." I rejoice to think that they must have trials as well as other
people.  And when they say, "It seems as though the devil would overcome
me," it is a pretty good evidence that an individual is watching himself.

	If people could always understand the manifestations of the Spirit
upon themselves, they would learn that they can be tempted as well as
other people, and that would make them careful to watch against temptation
and overcome it.  Consequently, I rejoice for them, inasmuch as every
individual who is prepared for the celestial kingdom must go through the
same things.

	I am happy, brethren, for the privilege of having temptation.  A
great many people have thought that in my life I was not tempted like
other men.  I tell them if I am it is none of their business; it is
nothing to them.  Some say "Brother Brigham, you slide along and the devil
lets you alone."  If I have battles with him, I can overcome him single
handed quicker than to call in my neighbors to help me.  If I am tempted
to speak an evil word, I will keep my lips locked together. Says one, "I
do not know about that, that would be smothering up bad feelings, I am
wonderfully tried about my neighbor, he has done wrong, he has abused me
and I feel dreadful bad about it.  Had I not better let it out than to
keep it rankling within me?"  No.  I will keep bad feelings under and
actually smother them to death, then they are gone.  But as sure as I let
them out they will live and afflict me.  If I smother them in myself, if I
actually choke them to death, destroy the life, the power, and vigor
thereof, they will pass off and leave me clear of fault, and pure, so far
as that is concerned; and no man or woman on earth knows that I have ever
been tempted to indulge in wicked feelings.  Keep them to yourselves.

	If you feel evil, keep it to yourselves until you overcome that evil
principle.  This is what I call resisting the devil, and he flees from me. 
I strive to not speak evil, to not feel evil, and if I do, to keep it to
myself until it is gone from me, and not let it pass my lips.

	You should succeed in bringing your tongues into subjection, so as to
never let them speak evil, so that they will perfectly obey your judgment
and the discretion God has given you, and are perfectly obedient to the
will of the holy Gospel.  How long have we to live for that?  I do not
know, but I am strongly of the opinion that it is possible for a person to
overcome their dispositions to evil, to such a degree that they will have
no evil in the heart to slip out over the tongue; and if there is none in
the heart, there is less danger of the tongue being used to the
disadvantage of that individual, or to that of anybody else.  If there is
nothing in the heart which governs us, and controls to an evil effect, the
tongue of itself will never produce evil.

	Quite a number of us have returned from our southern mission, and as
I have given you a few of my views with regard to some of the particular
parts of our religion, I say for myself, and for the rest of my brethren
who have been absent with me, we are happy to see you.  I am, and I am
sure that the rest are glad of the privilege of standing before you again
in this house.  I have nothing particular upon my mind, only to urge all
the Latter-day Saints to live their religion.

	I might say something with regard to the hard times.  You know that I
have told you that if any one was afraid of starving to death, let him
leave, and go where there is plenty.  I do not apprehend the least danger
of starving, for until we eat up the last mule, from the tip of the ear to
the end of the fly whipper, I am not afraid of staving to death.  There
are many people who cannot now get employment, but the spring is going to
open upon us soon, and we are not going to suffer any more than what is
for our good.  I am thankful for the hand of the Lord which is visible; I
am as thankful for this providence of His as for any that I ever received. 
I have told you, years ago, my feelings with regard to their sympathies,
their faith, gratitude, and thankfulness, and their acknowledgment of the
hand of the Lord and of the dispensations of His providence.  My soul has
been grieved to bleeding, to see the waste, and the prodigal feeling of
this people in the use of their bountiful blessings.  Many have walked
them underfoot, and have been ready to curse God who bestowed them.  They
wanted gold and silver, instead of wheat and corn, and fine flour, and the
best vegetables that ever grew upon the earth.  They walked them
underfoot, and set at nought the choice blessings of the Lord their God. 
If I were to see those individuals obliged to gnaw the the [sic] ground in
order to get out the thistle roots, and have no fingers to dig them with,
it would not be a disagreeable sight to me, until they learn to know who
it is that feeds them.

	We never ought to be without three or five years provisions on hand. 
But when you see men run to hell to sell a bushel of wheat for sixty
cents, instead of laying it up in their granaries for a day of scarcity,
you are forced to conclude that they would trade with the very devil, to
get his coat and shoes in exchange for their wheat.  I hope they will
learn wisdom in the future, and lay up wheat to feed the brethren when
they come here from distant countries.  If they will learn wisdom now, I
will promise them, in the name of Israel's God, that the earth will yield
its abundance, as it has heretofore.  Men in these valleys have reaped
crop after crop which grew spontaneously, without putting a drag or a plow
in the land, and yet they are ready to curse God for His blessings.  How
do you suppose the Lord feels?  If He were no better than I am, He would
chastise us far more severely than we have been.  I will give way to
others.

    ETERNAL INCREASE OF KNOWLEDGE--NECESSITY OF CLEAVING TO EVERY GOOD
   PRINCIPLE--MEN ARE NOT MADE SAINTS BY MIRACULOUS GIFTS, BUT THROUGH
       OBEYING THE TRUTH, AND OBTAINING THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT.
  A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle, 
                 Great Salt Lake City, February 17, 1856.

	We have just heard brother Morley's testimony concerning the religion
that we have embraced.  The extent of knowledge, incorporated within the
salvation extended to the children of men, will vastly exceed the
researches of the human family, and when they have passed the veil, they
will then understand that they have but just commenced to learn.  Brother
Morley says he never expects to be too old to learn; I believe that
doctrine. That which is to be learned in the eternities of the Gods
pertains to life, and that life is exhibited to the human family in the
degree which they are capacitated to receive it, that they may be taught
as we teach our children, that they may learn the first rudiments of
eternal lives.

	Could we live to the age of Methuselah, and eat the fruits which the
earth would produce in her strength, as did Adam and Eve before the
transgression, and spend our lives in searching after the principles of
eternal life, we would find, when one eternity had passed to us, that we
had been but children thus far, babies just commencing to learn the things
which pertains to the eternities of the Gods.

	We might ask, when shall we cease to learn?  I will give you my
opinion about it; never, never.  If we continue to learn all that we can,
pertaining to the salvation which is purchased and presented to us through
the Son of God, is there a time when a person will cease to learn?  Yes,
when he has sinned against God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the
Holy Ghost--God's minister; when he has denied the Lord, defied Him and
committed the sin that in the Bible is termed the unpardonable sin--the
sin against the Holy Ghost.  That is the time when a person will cease to
learn, and from that time forth, will descend in ignorance, forgetting
that which they formerly knew, and decreasing until they return to the
native element, whether it be one thousand or in one million years, or
during as many eternities as you can count.  They will cease to increase,
but must decrease, until they return to the native element.  These are the
only characters who will ever cease to learn, both in time and eternity.

	A number of items occupy my mind pertaining to the Saints, I may say,
a great many more than I could tell in one day, in one month, or in one
year.  Those who are well acquainted with me, know something of the action
of my mind.  To explain it, let me say to you, if you wish to tell me a
long story, one that will take you two hours to get through with, a key
word will at once give me an understanding of all you could say, in that
long time.  All who are acquainted with me know this, [sic-punc]  Bring
any business matter before me, and the brethren with whom I am associated
in business transactions, know that I need but a word to know the nature
of it.  So it is with regard to my preaching to the people.  If I could
put into them the same spirit and understanding which I have, they could
see and understand things without a long detail of explanation.  But this
is not the case with all the people, therefore I am, in a manner,
compelled to use the time I do in speaking to them upon the various
subjects, at least so far as I can possibly spare it.  If I were disposed
to, I could train myself to get up here and take a text and explain it,
and dwell upon one little item just as long as any other man, but what is
the use of it?  Upon this principle it would take us more eternities than
we shall ever see, to learn what we have to learn, consequently, when I
speak to you I speak the few words I have to say, as I already have upon
the subject of intelligence and learning.

	We shall never cease to learn, unless we apostatize from the religion
of Jesus Christ.  Then we shall cease to increase, and will continue to
decrease and decompose, until we return to our native element.  Can you
understand that?  It is a subject worthy the attention of the eminent
divines of Christendom, and they may search into it until they are tired,
and still know comparatively little about it, while I preach it to you in
a few words.

	I will here introduce a subject that we all should be acquainted
with, I allude to morality.  Have you been taught morality?  Yes, every
one of you have been taught not to use profane language, to be honest in
all your dealings, to be courteous to all at home and abroad, and to be
strictly upright on all occasions.  All this you have been taught from
your youth.

	Many think that all which was taught them by their fathers and
mothers, school teachers and priests, ought to be removed, laid aside,
dispensed with, and that they should begin anew to learn every principle
of civilization.  This is a great mistake.  I make these remarks because I
have heard Elders preach that there was not a sectarian priest--not a man
living upon the earth, or that had lived upon it, neither a reformer nor a
professed Christian, from the time the Priesthood was taken from the earth
until Joseph Smith came, but what went straight to hell fire when he died. 
Yes, I have heard them preach just as absurdly as that.  I have heard many
say, I will dispense with this, and I will dispense with that; and many of
our Elders actually dispense with praying, and say it is nothing but a
sectarian notion.  Were you taught by your fathers to pray?  "Yes, but
that is a sectarian notion."  Were you taught not to pilfer?  "Yes, but we
think, we wont say it aloud, it is nothing but a sectarian notion, and we
have to learn everything over again."  This is a mistaken idea.  There is
only one thing which the people lack on this point, in order that their
traditions and former education may do them good, and that is to know how
to seer the good from the bad, how to assimilate to themselves every good
trait of character they have seen in their fathers and mothers, teachers
and neighbors, and every good thing that has been taught them from their
youth, and how to gather to themselves every good principle they have been
traditionated in, and store that up as their individual property, and then
dispense with every erroneous idea and every inconsistency.  Many things
which have been taught us in our childhood, or in our early lives, are
truly inconsistent, lay them aside and cleave to the traditions which
actually tend to virtue, holiness, chastity, loveliness, kindness,
honesty, and truthfulness in every respect, and gather all the good into
our own store house, and let each one say, that belongs to me.

	Some imagine that they must begin and unlearn the whole of their
former education, but I say, cling to all the good that you have learned,
and discard the bad.  This leads me into a field, the gate to which I wish
to have closed up, locked up, and passed by; I do not wish to say anything
about it.  I will say this much, however, if there are not all kinds of
fish in this Gospel net, I should like to see the kind that is not in it,
and I think that would be something new under the sun.

	Treasure up in your hearts that which tends to virtue.  You say, "I
want an explanation upon virtue."  I wish I could so give it to you, that
you could understand it when I am done talking; I will do my best to do
so.  Learn the will of God, keep His commandments and do His will, and you
will be a virtuous person.  Can you understand that?  If you can know the
will of God and do it, you will be a virtuous person.  You say, "Perhaps I
should be led to do that which is contrary to my former traditions, and to
do that which is really wrong."  No matter anything about that; if you can
know the will of God and do it, you will be a virtuous person, and will
receive knowledge upon knowledge, and wisdom upon wisdom, and you will
increase in understanding, in faith, and in the light of eternity, and
know how to discriminate between the right and the wrong.  I know the
people say that that [sic] they do not understand, that they do not know
what the Lord requires of them.  I say keep the commandments of the Lord. 
We were taught that the commandments of the Lord were this, that, and the
other, in our former lives, but when we can know and understand, by the
revelations of Jesus Christ, the will of our Father in heaven and do His
will, He will make us pure and holy, and fit for the society of angels and
Himself.  Will we not be virtuous then? yes, in the highest sense.  Many
say, "I don't know the will of the Lord, I wish I did.  I do really wish I
knew what the Lord requires of me, but I do not know, and do not know how
to find out."

	I will now refer you to the scripture. [sic-punc] where it reads that
we shall be judged according to the deeds done in the body.  If I do not
know the will of my Father, and what He requires of me in a certain
transaction, if I ask Him to give me wisdom concerning any requirement in
life, or in regard to my own course, or that of my friends, my family, my
children, or those that I preside over, and get no answer from Him, and
then do the very best that my judgment will teach me, He is bound to own
and honor that transaction, and He will do so to all intents and purposes. 
I have often reflected, with regard to people knowing the mind and will of
the Lord by revelation.  My thoughts turn within me in a moment, in my
reflections upon what has hitherto been, and that which actually now comes
before me, concerning the Saints in the last days and in the former days. 
For instance, Jesus, when upon the earth, called twelve men to be
witnesses that he was the Christ.  Then, there were a great many others
who believed that fact, but he showed to those twelve men things that he
showed to none else; he convinced them in a degree that he convinced no
other person, that is, in some instances.

	My mind then reflects, in a moment, did Jesus have the power to make
his disciples believe that he was the Son of God by raising the dead, by
laying hands on the sick, by walking on water, by multiplying the
particles of bread and fish set before the multitude, or by any other
miracle?  Did he convince, and prove to twelve men that he was the Christ,
by the miracles he performed?  He did not.  He did not convince them by
one or all of the acts, which were called miracles, that he performed upon
the earth.  I know that many think that they are a great proof, that it is
astonishing that people will not believe, when they read over the history
and miracles performed in the days of Jesus and his Apostles.  Let me tell
you that if his Apostles were here in this our day, travelling through the
country, raising the dead, laying hands on the sick, casting out devils,
walking upon the water, or doing whatever they might be able to perform,
it would all be no proof to the people that they were sent of God.  I know
that some of you think this is strange, and if so, I have strange views
upon these subjects.  It is no proof to me, it is no proof to any person
else, and often serves to throw persons, relying upon it, into temptation,
and to cast them still further into darkness.  "Have you any proof of
this?"  Yes, right here in our midst.  Men who have professedly seen the
most, known and understood the most, in this Church, and who have
testified in the presence of large congregations, in the name of Israel's
God, that they have seen Jesus, &c., have been the very men who have left
this kingdom, before others who had to live by faith.  I have a witness
right before me, and I am fearful every time that a man or woman comes to
me and relates great visions, saying, "I have had a vision, an angel came
and told me thus and so; the visions of eternity were opened, and I saw
thus and so; I saw my destiny; I saw what the brethren would do with me; I
foresay this and that.  Look out for that man or woman going to the devil.

	I ask, is there a reason for men and women being exposed more
constantly and more powerfully, to the power of the enemy, by having
visions than by not having them?"  There is and it is simply this--God
never bestows upon His people, or upon an individual, superior blessings
without a severe trial to prove them, to prove that individual, or that
people, to see whether they will keep their covenants with Him, and keep
in remembrance what He has shown them.  Then the greater the vision, the
greater the display of the power of the enemy.  And when such individuals
are off their guard they are left to themselves, as Jesus was.  For this
express purpose the Father withdrew His spirit from His son, at the time
he was to be crucified.  Jesus had been with his Father, talked with Him,
dwelt in His bosom, and knew all about heaven, about making the earth,
about the transgression of man, and what would redeem the people, and that
he was the character who was to redeem the sons of earth, and the earth
itself from all sin that had come upon it.  The light, knowledge, power,
and glory with which he was clothed were far above, or exceeded that of
all others who had been upon the earth after the fall, consequently at the
very moment, at the hour when the crisis came for him to offer up his
life, the Father withdrew Himself, withdrew His Spirit, and cast a vail
over him.  That is what made him sweat blood.  If he had had the power of
God upon him, he would not have sweat blood; but all was withdrawn from
him, and a veil was cast over him, and he then plead with the Father not
to forsake him.  "No," says the Father, "you must have your trials, as
well as others."

	So when individuals are blessed with visions, revelations, and great
manifestations, look out, then the devil is nigh you, and you will be
tempted in proportion to the vision, revelation, or manifestation you have
received.  Hence thousands, when they are off their guard, give way to the
severe temptations which come upon them, and behold they are gone.

	You will recollect that I have often told you that miracles would not
save a person, and I say that they never should.  If I were to see a man
come in here this day, and say, "I am the great one whom the Lord has
sent," and cause fire to come down in our sight, through the ceiling that
is over our heads, I would not believe any more for that.  It is no matter
what he does, I cannot believe any more on that account.  What will make
me believe?  What made the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ witnesses? 
What constituted them Apostles--special witnesses to the world?  Was it
seeing miracles?  No.  What was it?  The visions of their minds were
opened, and it was necessary that a few should receive light, knowledge,
and intelligence, that all the powers of earth and hell could not gainsay
or compete with.  That witness was within them, and yet, after all that
was done for them, after all that Jesus showed them, and after all the
power of the spirit of revelation which they possessed, you find that one
of them apostatized, turned away and sold his Lord and master for thirty
pieces of silver, in consequence of his not being firm to his covenant in
the hour of darkness and temptation.  Another of them was ready to say, "I
do not know anything about the Lord Jesus Christ," and denied him with
cursing and swearing.

	Some are apt now to say, "I don't know anything about this Mormonism,
I don't know about the Priesthood."  Did you not once know?  "I thought I
did."  Did you not once know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet?  "I thought
I did."  Did you not once know that this was the kingdom of God set up on
the earth?  "I thought I did, but now I find myself deceived."  What is
the reason?  Because they give way to temptation; they may have had great
light, knowledge, and understanding, the vision of their minds may have
been opened and eternity exhibited to their view, but when this is closed
up, in proportion to the light given to them, so is the darkness that
comes upon them to try them.

	Are you going to apostatize when you are in darkness?  That is the
time to stand firm.  I know there are some people right in our midst, only
about on a par with good quakers; say they "I pray when I feel like it." 
Have you prayers in your families?  "Yes, sometimes, but I do not always
feel like praying, and then I feel as though it would be a sin."

	Let me tell you how you should do.  If you feel that you are tempted
not to open your mouth to the Lord, and as though the heavens are brass
over your heads and the earth iron beneath you feet, and that every thing
is closed up, and you feel that it would be a sin for you to pray, then
walk up to the devil and say, Mr. Devil, get out of my way; and if you
feel that you cannot get down upon your knees for fear you will swear,
say, get down knees; and if they don't feel right when they are down, put
something under them, some sharp sticks, for instance, and say, knees come
to it.  "But I dare not open my mouth," says one, "for fear that I shall
swear."  Then say, open, mouth, and now tongue, begin.  Cannot I say
Father?  Yes, I can:  I learned that in the days of my youth.  Suppose you
say, "Father, look in mercy upon me,"  do you think the devil is going to
snap you up then?  If he is still by, and you dare not open your eyes for
fear you will see him, tell him to stand there until you have done
praying, and bring the body to a state of submission.

	I have taught you that the spirit is pure, when it comes into the
tabernacle.  The tabernacle is subject to sin, but the spirit is not.  A
great many think that the spirits of the children of men, when they enter
the tabernacles, are totally depraved; this is a mistake.  They are as
holy as the angels; the devil has no power to contaminate them, he only
contaminated the bodies.  When your spirit wishes to worship the Father,
and your body is so full of weakness or wickedness, that you feel as
though you could not do it, go to and bring your body into subjection; bow
the knee and confess that Jesus is the Christ, if it is darker that 10,000
midnights in your minds; say, "I am for the Lord anyhow."

	That makes me think of a great many Christians in the world; when
they are sick and in trouble they will pray; if they are in fear of
starving to death for want of good, of freezing through lack of raiment of
fuel, then they will call npon [sic] the Lord.  I know the old Prophet
said, "In the day of trouble they draw nigh unto me."  Get out, say I, in
my feelings, in regard to such a religion.  When I am starving to death it
is time for me to be diligent in getting something to eat; when the ship
is in a storm, it is then time to look out for the rigging.  One may say,
"Are you not going down below to pray, in this dreadful storm?"  "No, I
have no time to pray now, I must take care of the ship."  So it should be
with every Latter-day Saint.  By and bye the storm is over, then let us go
down into the cabin and do up our praying in fair weather.  That is what
"Mormonism" teaches me; and when it is dark as midnight darkness, when
there is not one particle of feeling in my heart to pray, shall I then
say, I will not pray?  No, but get down knees, bend yourselves upon the
floor, and mouth, open; tongue, speak; and we will see what will come
forth, and you shall worship the Lord God of Israel, even when you feel as
though you could not say a word in His favor.  That is the victory we have
to gain; that is the warfare we have to wage.  It is between the spirit
and the body; they are inseparably connected.  The spirit was not made
here, it was organized in eternity, before the worlds were, with the
Father and with angels before they came here.

	When the devil got possession of the earth, his power extended to
that which pertains to the earth.  He obtained influence over the children
of men in their present organization, because the spirits of men yielded
to the temptations of the evil principle that the flesh or body is
subjected to.  This causes the warfare spoken of by Paul, when he says,
"The spirit warreth against the flesh, and the flesh against the spirit." 
Paul explained it as well as he could, and I am trying to explain it as
well as I can.  Often when the spirit would do good the body overcomes,
then one does the evil that brings into subjection the spirit.  When the
spirits of men are subject to the body, and continue to be, and commit the
amount of evil necessary to fill up their cup, they are cast out and their
names will be blotted out from the Lamb's Book of Life.

	You know that it used to be a great saying, and I might say worthy of
all acceptation, among the Methodists, "I know that my Redeemer lives, and
my name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life."  Their names were always
there, and never will be blotted out, though they may be up and down,
warm, hot, and cool, and though they may sin to-day, and to-morrow repent
of it, but their names will remain in the Lamb's Book of Life until they
sin the sin unto death.  And when their names are once blotted out they
will never be written there again; they will then be numbered with those
who will cease to increase, cease to learn, to multiply, and spread
abroad. 

	But again to the witness, that is on my mind. It was necessary for
Jesus Christ to open the heavens to certain individuals that they might be
witnesses of his personage, death, sufferings, and resurrection; those men
were witnesses. But as Jesus appeared to the two brethren going out of
Jerusalem, he was made known to them in the breaking of bread.  Now
suppose he had eaten that bread, and gone out without opening their eyes,
how could they have known that he was the Savior who had been crucified on
Mount Calvary?  They could not; but in the breaking of bread the vision of
their minds was opened.  This was necessary in order to constitute safe
witnesses, and they returned to Jerusalem and told the brethren what they
had seen.

	When Jesus came and ate fish broiled upon the coals, and told his
disciples to cast the net on the other side of the ship, which they did
and got it so full that they could hardly draw it to shore, would they
have known that he was the Savior by the catching and hauling in a
wonderful quantity of fish, or by anything else that they could have seen
with their natural eyes?  No, but when he came and ate the boiled fish and
honeycomb, he opened their eyes and they saw that he was present with
them.  He had been back to his Father, had ascended to heaven and again
descended, and opened their minds that they might be special witnesses. 
This is necessary.  Did all the disciples, in the days of the Apostles,
see the risen Jesus?  No. I know the inquiry may arise, can a person be a
real disciple without having visions?  Yes, but that person cannot be a
special witness to the doctrine he believes in.

	What makes true disciples to a doctrine, to a religion, to a creed,
or to a faith, no matter what it is which is subscribed to?  To be
faithful adherents to those articles of faith or doctrine taught, makes
them true disciples to that religion or doctrine.  Then if we have the
religion of the Savior we are entitled to the blessings precisely as they
were anciently.  Not that all had visions, not that all had dreams, not
that all had the gift of tongues or the interpretation of tongues, but
every man received according to his capacity and the blessing of the
Giver.  "Well, brother Brigham, have you had visions?"  Yes, I have. 
"Have you had revelations?"  Yes, I have them all the time, I live
constantly by the principle of revelation.  I never received one iota of
intelligence, from the letter A to what I now know, I mean that, from the
very start of my life to this time, I have never received one particle of
intelligence only by revelation, no matter whether father or mother
revealed it, or my sister, or neighbor.

	No person receives knowledge only upon the principle of revelation,
that is, by having something revealed to them.  "Do you have the
revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ?"  I will leave that for others to
judge.  If the Lord requires anything of this people, and speaks through
me, I will tell them of it; but if He does not, still we all live by the
principle of revelation.  Who reveals?  Every body around us; we learn of
each other.  I have something which you have not, and you have something
which I have not; I reveal what I have to you, and you reveal what you
have to me.  I believe that we are revelators to each other.  Are the
heavens opened?  Yes, to some at times, yet upon natural principles, upon
the principle of natural philosophy.  "Do you know the will and mind of
the Lord?"  Yes, concerning this people, and concerning myself.  Do every
one of my brethren and sisters know the will of the Lord?  Let me say to
the Latter-day Saints, if they will take up their cross and follow the
Lord Jesus Christ in the regeneration, many of them will receive more,
know more, and have more of the spirit of revelation than they are aware
of; but the revelations which I receive are all upon natural principles. 
I will give you one revelation which I had in Far West, and it was upon
the same principle that it would be for me to have a revelation now, while
I am talking to you.  It was in the spring of 1838, before there was any
disturbance in Far West, or in Davis County.

	This people, thought I, are obnoxious to these Missourians, our
religion they hate, our Prophet they despise and would like to kill him;
they are ignorant of the things of God; they have received the precepts of
men and drank deep into them, and are so interwoven with their feelings
that the true religion of heaven cannot abide in their minds.  Therefore I
saw, upon natural principles, that we would be driven from there, but
when, I did not know; but still it was plain to me that we would have to
leave the State, and that when we did leave it we would not go south,
north or west, but east, back to the other States.  That I saw upon
natural principles, and I knew what those people were afraid of.  I then
saw that we would go north, as a Church and people, and then to the west,
and that when they went to Jackson County, they would go from the west to
the east.  Mark my words, write them down, this people, as a Church and
kingdom, will go from the west to the east.  I can tell you more
concerning what I saw upon natural principles; I saw that this people
would have to gain a foothold, a strength, power, influence, and ability
to walk by themselves and to take care of themselves, and power to contend
with their enemies and overcome them, upon the same principle that the
whites did when they first came to America and overcame the Indians.  Many
here do not know anything about the history of the early settling of
America.

	New Orleans was one of the first places settled by the Europeans,
after North America was discovered.  St. Louis was settled long before New
York, and in that region you can find apple trees two feet though,
standing among the oaks which are several feet in diameter.  Did the first
settlers stay there?  No, they were either killed or had to leave lest
they should be killed, with the exception of a few of the Spaniards who
intermarried and lived with the Indians.  The whites had to leave and go
down the Mississippi river, and went round into Maine and Massachusetts,
and when they reached there the Indians said, "You are welcome to this
land:" a region where they have thirteen months of winter during each
year.  I use that extravagant expression in order to convey an idea of the
rigor of the climate; but you talk about hard winters and snows here; in
comparison many of you know but little about them.

	I can pick up scores of Yankees here who have lived in countries
where they could have fine orchards, and live like nabobs, and yet, in the
winter season often ride in their sleighs over fences five feet high.  I
have rode over snow in the eastern states when it was fifteen feet deep. 
To return to the subject; I said, upon natural principles, that this
people had to go to a country that the Gentiles do not desire.  I can tell
you another thing, when you see any member of this community wishing to
withdraw and go to where there is a beautiful country--where it is easy to
live, let me tell you that that man will apostatize, or be driven from his
favorite locality: write that down brother George as the word of the
Almighty.

	I have deed after deed of land for which I did not get a cent when I
was obliged to leave it.  I also built many houses in the states, they are
there now, for ought I know; they will fall down some of these days, and I
care not how quickly.  This people can only gain strength upon the
principle of fleeing to a country where the wicked will not live, and
where they can gain strength enough to walk by themselves, and to go where
they please.  This is one of the truths of heaven.

	Whenever you see persons from this place on their way to a milder
climate, seeking a better home, they will apostatize or be driven from
their loved asylum; you may set that down for a fact.  I saw that this
people would have to flee into the mountains, and into a climate and
country that the Gentiles would not desire.  If we are not in such a
place, I do not know where we will find one more undesirable than this. 
Do the Saints delight in this locality?  No, it is repugnant to their
feelings, if they could have their choice.  Did I come here by choice, or
was it not because I had to come?  I like this country, and if it is not
bare enough, cold and disagreeable enough, to those who wish to live in
ease, we will find another location a little farther off.  When we came
here we were one thousand miles from everybody.  Are you afraid of the
Gentiles coming here? Should we all move from this city and give the
Gentiles liberty to occupy our houses, our farms, &c., in five years you
would not find them here; they could not live here, for this is not a
place that would suit them.  If this is not the place for us to dwell, it
is not to be found in texas, in California, nor in old or new Mexico. 
Where is it then?  That is not for me nor you to inquire about, but it
will not be in any of those places.  If we are not now in the right place,
the Lord will lead us to where we can gather up our strength, and multiply
and sanctify ourselves, so that we can go forth and serve the Lord with
clean hands and pure hearts.

	I will now tell you a little more about the witnesses; I have strayed
some from that point, but I never bind myself while I am with the
brethren.  If I were preaching abroad in the world I should feel myself
somewhat obliged, through custom, to adhere to the wishes and feelings of
the people in regard to pursuing the thread of any given subject, but here
I feel as free as air.  You have gathered the idea from me that it is not
the miracles that are performed before a person's eyes that convince him
that one is of God, or of the devil; yet, if the Lord designs that a
person should heal the sick, that individual can do so; but is that to
convince the wicked that the operator is sent of God?  No, it is a
blessing on the Saints, and the wicked have nothing to do with it, they
have no business to hear of it; that is for the Saints, it is especially
for their benefit, and theirs alone.  What should the wicked hear?  They
should hear a man testify that Joseph Smith was and is a Prophet of God,
that he was a good man, and that he did plant and establish the kingdom of
God on the earth, and we know it.  "How shall I know?" says one.  By
obeying the commandments given to you.  The Lord has said, go into the
waters of baptism and be baptized for the remission of your sins, and you
shall receive a witness that I am telling you the truth.  How?  By baptism
and the laying on of hands alone?  No.  By seeing the sick healed?  No,
but by the Spirit that shall come unto you through obedience, which will
make you feel like little children, and cause you to delight in doing
good, to love your father in heaven and the society of the righteous. 
Have you malice and wrath then?  No, it is taken from you, and you feel
like the child in its mother's lap.  You will feel kind to your children,
to you brothers and sisters, to your parents and neighbors, and to all
around you; you will feel a glow, as of fire, burning within you.  And if
you open your mouths to talk you will declare ideas which you did not
formerly think of; they will flow into your mind, even such as you have
not thought of for years.  The Scriptures will be opened to you, and you
will see how clear and reasonable everything is which this or that Elder
teaches you.  Your hearts will be comforted, you can lie down and sleep in
peace, and wake up with feelings as pleasant as the breezes of summer. 
This is a witness to you.  You ask the Lord to heal you, or your sick
child, and if He is disposed to do it He will, and if not it is all right. 
If He is disposed to open the heavens and give us a visit from an angel,
it is all right.  If He is disposed to reveal to us, by natural
philosophy, what is going to take place, that is right.  If He is disposed
to show us by vision where this people are going, and when, all right, and
it is right if He withholds that information.

	If, by the whispering of a small, still voice, He dictates you to do
this or that, showing you which is right and which is wrong, it is all
right, and it is right to acknowledge the hand of the Lord in His so
doing.

	But if you had faith to go out to the graveyard and raise up scores
of the dead, that alone would not make you Latter-day Saints, neither if
the visions of your minds were opened so as to see the finger of God. 
What will?  Keeping the commandments of the Lord, to walk humbly before
your God, and before one another, to cease to do evil and learn to do
well, and to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God; then
you are a Latter-day Saint, whether you have visions or not. 

	You may be tried and cast down, and be inclined to say that the Lord
has not revealed this or that to you, but that has nothing to do with me
or you.  I do not desire to dictate the Lord in that matter; all I have to
do is to concern myself with the things He requires of me, for it is His
right to pursue His own way, and take His own time and course in dealing
with me.  Can you gain a victory?  You can.
	As I have told you, your spirit is continually warring with the
flesh; you spirit dictates one way, your flesh suggests another, and this
brings on the combat.  What are you to do?  You must bring the hands, the
elbows, the feet, the tongue, and all the organs of speech and every power
of the body into subjection.

	You must say that you will not swear, nor say or do anything which is
wrong.  An elder was cut off from the Church here last Sunday for
swearing.  What do I think of it?  Time and time again have I requested
the High Priests and Seventies to cut off such members of their several
quorums as will break the Sabbath, and take the name of God in vain.  I
say sever them from the tree, for these loose and wicked characters hurt
the tree.  They are like dry limbs, and have become so decayed, that the
moisture leaks through them, and seeks its way into the heart of the tree,
and, by and bye, if we do not cut away such branches, the tree itself will
die.

	I often think that the High Priests and Seventies dare not walk up
strictly to this duty, and I am disposed, at times, to imagine that some
of the presidents of those quorums are guilty of such things themselves.

	Bring the names of such men to this stand and I will cut them off, if
no other person will, and ask no odds of the quorum, and you will go in
with me.  Bring the names of men who take the name of God in vain and do
wrong in any way, and I will not ask for a High Council or Bishop's Court
to deliberate on their case; I will sever them from the tree of life, and
ask them what they are going to do about it.  They will wither and die.

	You may try to make dead limbe grow on the tree, but such a practics
[sic] is a detriment to the bearing of good fruit.

	I want to talk a little more about the witnesses.  I am a witness--of
what?  I have told it here and in Nauvoo.  I know what I am a witness of,
and I know my Apostleship. I am a witness that Joseph Smith was a Prophet
of God.  What an uproar it would make in the Christian world to say, I am
an Apostle of Joseph.  Write it down, and write it back to your friends in
the east, that I am an Apostle of Joseph Smith.  He was a man of God and
had the revelations of Jesus Christ, and the words of Jesus Christ to the
people.  He did build and establish the kingdom of God on earth, and
through him the Lord Almighty again restored the Priesthood to the
children of men.

	Brethren, I am a witness of that; not by my laying hands on the sick
and they being healed, nor by the revelations which are given of him in
the Bible, but by receiving the same Spirit and witness which the ancients
received; by the visions of the heavens being opened to my mind; by my
understanding that which is revealed in the Book of Mormon, and that which
Joseph revealed as comprised in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants.

	I am a witness that those are the revelations of the Lord through
Joseph Smith, in this the last dispensation  for the gathering of the
people; and all who reject my testimony will go to hell, so sure as there
is one, no matter whether it be hot or cold; they will incur the
displeasure of the Father and of the Son.

	I am a witness of this; and all who will hear the voice of the
servants of God, pay attention to what they say, and obey the commandments
given to the people, shall receive a testimony and know that we tell them
the truth, that Joseph is a Prophet of God, and did actually finish the
work which the Lord gave him to do, sealed his testimony with his blood,
and has gone to dwell in the world of spirits, until he gets his body. 
All will have to acknowledge that this is true.

	There are many other things that might be noticed, and much more
might be said upon this subject.  I have merely hinted at the witness, at
the privileges, blessings, and duties of the Saints, and at what makes a
Saint, but I feel as though I had talked long enough, or as much as I
should to-day. I have a bad cold, and could cough as well as the rest of
you, but I have been enabled to refrain from coughing since I have been
here, and during the brief time I have occupied while addressing you this
morning.

	I hope and trust that we will order our lives so as to be worthy of
the blessings promised to us, and live to the glory of God, that we may
have a glorious resurrection, and enjoy each other's society in the
kingdom of our God.  This is our constant prayer concerning you, in the
name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

  LAWYERS, AND THOSE WHO PRACTISE ATTENDING LAW COURTS, REBUKED--A CURSE
        PRONOUNCED UPON ALL WHO LOVE LITIGATION AND DO NOT REPENT.
  A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle, 
                 Great Salt Lake City, February 24, 1856.

	So far as I am a judge of the true spirit of the Gospel, I think that
we have had that spirit manifested this morning, by brother Joseph Hovey,
in his expression of his feelings, and that too in his own natural way. 
He is a blacksmith, carpenter stone cutter, wood chopper; or anything else
within his power, the particular channel of his operations depending
entirely upon counsel.  Some of the brethren present are no doubt apprised
of the mission which brother Hovey has been engaged in during this present
winter; they may also be apprised that his course was found fault with
when he was in the county of Utah, and more especially while in a place
called Payson.  While I was in Fillmore the brethren wrote to me
concerning the doings and sayings of brother Hovey, and in searching to
know the ground of the complaint against him, I learned that it amounted
to simply this--"If brother Hovey is let alone, the people will confess
their sins."

	I wrote back to them, inquiring whether they thought there was any
danger of any persons confessing to more sin than he was guilty of; that
if they could find out that any had confessed to more stealing, swearing,
lying, and swindling, than they were really guilty of, it would be well to
give brother Hovey a word of caution, and to tell him to hold up a little
and not cause the innocent to belie themselves.  At the same time I said,
that I thought there was not much danger of that, and that they might go
on in that course for some time longer, and not then have made all the
confessions that they ought to.

	I asked brother Hovey to preach to-day, and to frankly express his
feelings as they really existed, that I might have a chance to understand
some of his "Mormonism."  I wish to see the Elders get up here and
manifest their spirits, and speak as they feel when they are alone in
their meditations.  Let us know how you feel, and what you think. We can
form some kind of an idea how a man feels by looking at him, but if you
wish a man to portray himself faithfully you must get him to talk, and I
will insure that the organs of speech will show out the true state of the
mind, sooner or later, and reveal the fruit of his heart.  No man can hide
it if he is allowed to talk; he will be sure to manifest his true
feelings.

	Brother Hovey has referred to several incidents in his experience.  I
will refer to what I witnessed no longer ago than yesterday, in the
court-room.  A lawyer rose to make his plea before the jury; he took up
the laws of Utah, which are strict and pointed in reference to lawyers
making pleas, binding them to fairly array the facts in the case, whether
they are for or against their clients, and he was so serious, so
religious, so pious, and so honest, that he appealed to high heaven to
witness his honesty before the jury.  When he had induced the jury to
believe that he was honest, he stood there and misrepresented the merits
of the case, for half an hour at a stretch, in regular lawyer style.

	Men will portray what is in their hearts, when they talk freely, and
they cannot keep from it.  This is the way in which the Lord will exhibit
the hearts of the children of men.  Will He take out their hearts and show
them to the people?  No, for that would not exhibit the fruit of their
hearts; but He will draw them into circumstances which will compel them to
manifest what is in them.  Let a man rise up here and talk, and freely
express his thoughts, and you can judge of what spirit he is.

	We have just heard the words which give a manifestation of the spirit
of one of our missionaries, and I say now, as I have said before, I wish
we had hundreds of such missionaries throughout this Territory, preaching
to the people, and firing up their hearts with the spirit of honesty, so
that they would entirely quit pilfering, lying, and deceiving, and deal
honestly with one another, with themselves, and with their God, and be
industrious and prudent, and pay attention to their business, instead of
loafing about the streets.  I wish we had one hundred such missionaries in
this city, to get up prayer meetings, preaching meetings, and evening
meetings in every ward.  What for?  To draw away that filthy, nasty mess
which assembles at the corner of this public square.  For a week or two
past, that court-house has been thronged with men, and it is darker than
the bowels of hell.  If you ask me how I know, I answer, I have been there
and seen for myself; have understood how they felt and tried the spirits,
and I saw who were there.  It is a shame for men to be found loafing about
in such places, where there is contention, and quarrelling, and every
stratagem that can be used to deceive juries and witnesses, and lying
before them with all the grace and sanctity of a Saint, pretending to be
one.  Such a place is darker to me than midnight darkness.

	There is not a jury which has occupied seats in that court-house that
comprehends the full scope of truth; they are put there and then their
minds are beclouded, dust is thrown into their eyes, and they do not fully
know truth from error, light from darkness, what is of God from what is
not of God.

	As I have already said, a lawyer commenced his plea yesterday, by
appealing to high heaven to witness his honesty before the jury, and this
he did to decoy their feelings, to throw them off their guard, and in all
this he was true to his client, in accordance with the approved mode of
the Gentiles.  He has been a Gentile lawyer for many years before he
entered this Church, and therefore I do not think that he really merits
such severe censure as he otherwise would for taking the Gentile shoot so
faithfully, as the strong power of tradition and habit still enfolds him. 
Instead of setting before the jury the true merits of the case, and
nothing else, he never touched upon them, but avoided them at every turn
and threw dust in their eyes, that they might give an unrighteous
decision.

	Elders of Israel also throng such a place, and that too when no
spirit reigns there but the devil's spirit, and unless enough righteous
Elders go in to purify the atmosphere and overbalance the power of evil,
you can get nothing from that den but the principles of hell.  There is
not a righteous person, in this community, who will have difficulties that
cannot be settled by arbitrators, the Bishop's Court, the High Council, or
by the 12 Referees (as provided in Resolution No. 4, page 390 of Utah
Laws), far better and more satisfactorily than to contend with each other
in law courts, which directly tends to destroy the best interests of the
community, and to lead scores of men away from their duties, as good and
industrious citizens.  Take from one to two hundred men and detain them in
a court room week after week, just look at it!!  How many men have been
detained at that court-house during the past week?  Will a hundred fill
the number?  No.  Will the time of one hundred and fifty men, for the past
six days, indemnify this community for the wasted time that has been spent
there in trying to decide one case, that any boy 15 years old, possessed
of good common sense, and having the spirit of truth within him, could
have decided in one hour?  I tell you that the time of one hundred and
fifty men, for six days, will not supply the loss to this community which
has been incurred to satisfy the lustful, wicked, cursed, hellish
appetites of professed brethren, in striving to cheat their neighbors, by
employing lawyers to deceive or lie for them, which are synonymous terms
in the eyes of justice, and by bringing in witnesses to screen the guilty
and deceive a jury, whereby they are liable to give a wrong verdict.

	I am making these remarks for your benefit, if you will be benefitted
by them.  I tell you that a cricket war, a grasshopper war, or an Indian
war, would not begin to be so direful as what you would have to pass
through, were it not for your ignorance.  If you are wilfully ignorant you
will have to feel the lash, but if you are innocently ignorant, and do the
best you know how, you may be excused.

	Does the Lord love your conduct when you drag each other before the
ungodly?  When you run after difficulties, contentions, broils, and
strifes?  Do you think He has fellowship with your conduct in such things? 
No, you do not.  Do you suppose that Jesus Christ has?  No.  Do you
believe that angels and good men can fellowship your conduct?  You do not,
for one moment.  There is not a man or woman in this house, whether Saint
or sinner, Jew or Gentile, bond or free, black or white, that can so
believe for a moment.

	Do you believe that your consciences can be clear in the day of
retribution, if you spend your time for naught, and run after the
filthiness of the wicked?  Do you believe that, in so doing, you can stand
in the great day of account with a clear conscience?  You cannot.  Then
why, in the name of common sense, do you tag after the devil and his imps?

	Old grey-headed men, who ought to be fathers in Israel, were
empaneled as a jury on the case I have alluded to, and what were they
after?  The fog, the froth, and spawn of hell, and they feast upon it, men
who do not know their right hands from their left, with regard to the
influences of the Spirit of God.  Might they not have known better?  Yes,
if they had taken the course which Joseph Hovey has taken.  If they would
walk humbly before God and know His will, they would go to work and get
stone and timber, and work at repairing their fences preparatory to
raising grain, potatoes, and other articles of food, instead of following
after courts and the nonsense, wickedness, and lying associated with them.

	Do I say that lying is practised in those places?  Yes, often from
beginning to end.  Men will take a solemn oath that they will tell the
truth, in the name of Israel's God, and nothing but the truth, and then,
if they have a prejudice against Mr. A or B, they will tell their story to
suit themselves, and if possible crush an innocent person.  The juries are
liable to be deceived, where there is so much darkness, and the whole
posse will go to hell, and I will say it in the name of Jesus Christ.

	You men who follow after such a course of things as I refer to, I
would not give the ashes of a rye straw for the whole of you, jurymen,
witnesses, and every other person who countenances such a place.  It is a
cage of unclean birds, a den and kitchen of the devil, prepared for hell,
and I am going to warn you of it.  Some of you wondered why I sent Thomas
Bullock to take your names; I wanted to know the men who were coaxing hell
into our midst, for I wish to send them to China, to the East Indies, or
to where they cannot get back, at least for five years.  Who do we wish to
stay at home?  Such men as Joseph Hovey, men who will pay attention to
making fences, tilling the soil, and providing for their families, those
who will live their religion at home.  But we will send off the poor
curses on a mission, and then the devil may have them, and we do not care
how soon they apostatize, after they get as far as California.

	You may think my remarks are severe upon the lawyers here, but the
most of them take a course which is highly censurable, and you may see
grey headed men running after them, and asking, "Can you call me up as a
witness, or put me on the jury?"--in order that they may get a dollar or
two.  Would I go there for money?  No.  There is not an honest man in this
community would go there merely for money or would plead law unless it was
demanded at his hands, by the principles of justice, to prevent the
innocent from being wronged and abused.  No principle would ever lead an
honest man into a court room, only to preserve the innocent from being
rode down and destroyed.

 	To see professed brethren, old and young, idling away their time in
and around court-rooms, proves them to have little or no love for their
religion, and that they care but little about their God.  I would like to
see a strictly honest community, if we can have one, and then there would
be no differences of opinion brought before a Gentile court--never, never! 
Every difficulty would be settled amicably, without ever calling upon a
court.  I am ashamed of many of you; it is a disgrace for men who profess
to be men of dignity and character--men who have been judges in the
supreme court of their country, to condescend to the mean, low-lied
calling of a pettifogger, and miserable tools at that.  I am ashamed for
such persons, their conduct is a disgrace to them, and to the name of
"Mormon."

	I wish we had in our midst thousands and millions of such men as
Joseph Hovey I would then bid defiance to all the powers of darkness.  But
while we have hundreds and thousands of men, whom we hold in fellowship,
who would rather take off their hats and scrape their shoes to a servant
of the devil, and black his boots, I tell you we are in danger.

	Men who love corruption, contention, and broils, and who seek to make
them, I curse you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; I curse you, and
the fruits of your lands shall be smitten with mildew, your children shall
sicken and die, your cattle shall waste  away and I pray God to root you
out from the society of the Saints.  To observe such conduct as many
lawyers are guilty of, stirring up strife among peaceable men, is an
outrage upon the feelings of every honest, law abiding man.  To sit among
them is like sitting in the depths of hell, for they are as corrupt as the
bowels of hell, and their hearts are as black as the ace of spades.  I
have known them for years; I know where they were begotten and by whom,
and how they were brought forth, and the history of their lives.  They
love sin, and roll it under their tongues as a sweet morsel, and will
creep around like wolves in sheep's clothing, and fill their pocket's with
the fair earnings of their neighbors, and devise every artifice in their
power to reach the property of the honest, and that is what has caused
these courts.  I say, may God Almighty curse them from this time
henceforth, and let all the Saints in this house say, Amen [a unanimous
Amen from 3000 persons resounded through the house] for they are a stink
in the nostrils of God and angels and in the nostrils of every Latter-day
Saint in this Territory.

	We have been driven from the face of man into the wilderness, and now
the poor devils follow us to stir up strife, and to produce the spawn of
hell, in which they delight to live and upon which they feed.  And simple
ones in this community will beg of them, "Cannot I be on the grand jury? 
Cannot I get a little to do in the court?"  You are fools; God will never
pay you; all the pay you will receive will be from the devil, and it will
be miserable pay.

	This I say to lawyers and to all who will run after strife, and I say
it in honesty and soberness before high heaven, before my Father in
heaven, before Jesus Christ His Son, and before the holy angels.

	To see lawyers, as I saw them yesterday, strive to make the jury
believe them honest, and then throw dust in their eyes, who will reward
you for this?  The devil, when he gets you in deep suffering and trouble,
for there he will leave you, and say that he has no more use for you.  You
would do better to labor for the Lord, and you would get better pay.  And
the people of this Territory will make money by paying their honest debts,
and gain property and be blessed in their basket and in their store, in
their fields and in their crops, in their flocks and herds, in their wives
and children, while the withering touch of the Almighty will be upon them
if they practise wickedness.

	Keep away from court houses; no decent man will go there unless he
goes as a witness, or is in some manner compelled to.  I know that many
are obliged to go, but those who creep around to see what is going on, let
me tell you, the devil has possession of them.  I wish such persons to go
to California, if they wish to.  I counsel you to keep away from courts,
we have got the names of those who have attended that court room, and we
will send those characters on long missions, for we want to get rid of
them, and we do not care whether they apostatize or not.

	If the world complain of this, say I, if you have not sense enough to
know the difference between an honest man and a devil, you must run the
risk of it.  I could always discern the difference, and if you have not
insight enough to know when they tell the truth and when they lie, you
have to run the same chance that we have.  People abroad may say, "Why
don't you send us all good men?"  Do you believe them?  No, you do not,
when we send them.  We wish them to stay here, only those whom it is
necessary to have go, but we have no business here for those poor
miserable devils.  I call you miserable, because the Spirit of the
Almighty has no fellowship for you; your names are written with ours here,
and also in the Lam's book of life, as I have often told you, where they
will remain until you sin against the Holy Ghost.  Angels have no
fellowship for you, neither have I.  Now go and prove yourselves, and if
you desire to be Saints you have an opportunity.  Were it not for your
ignorance, there would be a severing between the righteous and the wicked. 
I would not endure what I am obliged to endure, whether I am righteous or
not, I would make a scattering among this people, and make the wicked
leave forthwith.

	I wanted to give you this brief exhortation.  You may say that I have
talked rather hard, but I do not care what you say about it, not one
particle.  I will tell you what I think about the matter, if you do not
stop your wickedness we will lay judgment to the line and righteousness to
the plummet, and I tell you that the hailstorm that will be around you
will sweep away the refuge of lies and all liars.

	I am not afraid of all hell nor of all the world, in laying judgment
to the line, when the Lord says so.  Now, then, behave yourselves, you old
gray-headed know nothings, you are doted; you are--shall I say hardshells? 
No, you are poor old soft shell fogies, that a few pounds of tea and sugar
will buy.

	I feel as ready as any man to honor gray hairs, but I also believe in
the old proverb which reads that "a wise child is better than an old and
foolish king."  We do not want any such men to go to courts.  When they
want you to sit on a jury, tell them to judge the case themselves, and you
keep away and mind your own business.  Let me ask you, is there a man
obliged to go into court and sit on a jury?  No.  Our law will not oblige
him to do it, only on certain conditions.  You can get rid of doing so,
you are there because you love to be there.  You suck down the drink that
is there, eat the food that is there, and sup the broth that is there,
because it is of hell and you like it better than you do the Saints, and
the sustenance of the Saints.  May god bless the honest in heart, and
separate the wicked and unrighteous from them, and curse the latter class
from this time henceforth.  Amen.



            THE NECESSITY OF THE SAINTS LIVING UP TO THE LIGHT
                        WHICH HAS BEEN GIVEN THEM.
   A Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle,
                   Great Salt Lake City, March 2, 1856.

	I have many subjects that I would like to speak upon for the benefit
of the Saints, and one thing in particular I should like to do for them,
which I believe would be the greatest blessing that could be bestowed upon
them, and that is to give you eyes with which to see things as they are. 
If I had power to bestow that description of sight upon the Latter-day
Saints, I do not believe that there is a man or woman but what would try
to live their religion.

	Some might suppose that it would be a great blessing to be taken and
carried directly into heaven and there set down, but in reality that would
be no blessing to such persons; they could not reap a full reward, could
not enjoy the glory of the kingdom, and could not comprehend and abide the
light thereof, but it would be to them a hell intolerable, and I suppose
would consume them much quicker than would hell fire.  It would be no
blessing to you to be carried into the celestial kingdom, and obliged to
stay therein, unless you were prepared to dwell there.

	If people had eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to understand
things as they are, it would prove a blessing to them, for they would then
order their lives in a manner to secure the blessings which they
anticipate.  However, it is out of my power to thus bless this people, but
the gift has been placed within the reach of every person by the purchase
of the Son of God, and it is for them to obtain it, or to pass along
without obtaining it, just as they may choose.  But some facts are easily
comprehended; take the Latter-day Saints and compare their feelings,
lives, and doings with those of the world, and what will be readily
discovered?  Were any of you now to go forth into the world, if you had
one spark of honesty  or of virtue about you, you would desire to return
as soon as duty would permit, and would exclaim, "I had no idea that the
world was as I found it to be."  Many of our Elders exclaim, on their
return from foreign missions, "How wicked the world has got to be!  They
are growing worse and worse, and go rapidly from bad to worse."  I have
heard them exclaim, "It was astonishing to see how the people could so
alter in the course of two or three years!"

	On this point I will remark that the Elders rapidly alter one way,
and the people of the world alter directly the other way, thus the space
between them increases much faster than we are apt to be aware of.  Elders
who go forth to proclaim the Gospel, unless they do something to clip
their faith, or cause them to apostatize from their religion, so that they
are left in the dark, are generally on the increase in improvement, grow
in grace and in the knowledge of the truth, and gather to themselves more
knowledge than they had before they went on their mission.  They are
advancing in the principles of truth, while the world are receding from
the truth they once had; consequently, it appears to the Elders, and to
those who go from the Saints into the world, that it is growing wicked
faster than it really is, and the Elders do not always realize that their
advancement in truth produces much of the appearance of the great distance
between them and the world.

	If many of this congregation knew, if they had eyes to see, and ears
to hear, they would often be ashamed of their conduct, when contrasted
with all the light that has been manifested in the Gospel of salvation
revealed to us.  We have heard Joseph the Prophet preach, have seen his
face, and have the revelations given through him, and the manifestations
of the Holy Spirit; we have knowledge, we have the living oracles in our
midst, and with all this let me say to the Latter-day Saints that they
stand upon slippery places.  They do not all fully know the paths they
walk in, they do not all perfectly understand their own ways and doings,
many do not altogether realize their own weaknesses, do not understand the
power of the devil and how liable they are to be decoyed one hair`s
breadth, to begin with, from the line of truth.  They are first drawn by a
fine line, in a little time it becomes a cord, it soon increases to a
strong rope, and from that to a cable; thus it grows from the size of a
spider's web, in comparison.

	Let a Saint diverge from the path of truth and rectitude, in the
least, no matter in what, it may be in a deal with his neighbor, in
lusting after that which is not in his possession, in neglecting his duty,
in having an over anxiety for something he should not be anxious about in
being a little distrustful with regard to the providences of God, in
entertaining a misgiving in his heart and feeling with regard to the hand
of the Lord towards him, and his mind will begin to be darkened.

	Brother Amasa Lyman has just observed, that some say "I suppose we
must acknowledge the hand of God in all things."  There is no supposition
with as me to that matter, we can do as we please about it; but we have to
confess or be chastised until we know and understand how things are, and
realize that the Lord God is with us, in our midst and around about us, by
His angels, by His Spirit, and by His eye which searches and researches
our hearts.  If He is not here in person, He is conversant with our
actions, and scans every thought of our hearts and every action of our
lives.  He is in our midst, and we might as well begin to think about it
first as last.

	If there is a misgiving in the heart with regard to confidence in our
God, do you not see that there is a chance for one to slide a hair's
breadth from the truth?  This gives power to the enemy, and if we are
decoyed in the least from the path of duty, do you not perceive that it
produces darkness?  Do you not understand that, in your experience?  Yes,
every Saint does.  If you become dark, do you not know that the enemy has
still greater power to decoy you further from the path?  Then how soon the
people would go to destruction, how soon they would go to ruin!

	I will tell you what this people need, with regard to preaching; you
need, figuratively, to have it rain pitchforks, tines downwards, from this
pulpit, Sunday after Sunday.  Instead of the smooth, beautiful, sweet,
still, silk-velvet-lipped preaching, you should have sermons like peals of
thunder, and perhaps we then can get the scales from our eyes.  This style
is necessary in order to save many of this people.  Give them smooth
preaching, and let them glide along in their own desires and wishes, and
they will follow after the traditions of their forefathers and the
inclinations of their own wicked hearts, and give way to temptation,
little by little, until, by and bye, they are ripe for destruction.

	If I could take away the vail, and let you see how things really are,
you would then know just as well as I know, and I know them just as well
as any man on the face of the earth need to.  I would not ask for a
particle more knowledge upon that subject than I now have in my
possession, were I capable of imparting it to this people, until we
improve upon what knowledge we already possess.  I know the condition of
this people, I know what induces them to do as they do, I know the secret
springs to their actions, how they are beset, the temptations and evils
that are around them, and how liable they are to be drawn away,
consequently, I tell you, brethren, that you need to have the thunders of
the Almighty and the forked ligtnings [sic] of truth sent upon you, to
wake you up out of your lethargy.

	Some may say, "Brother Brigham always chastises us."  But what do I
tell you?  I say that if there are any Saints on earth they are here, if
the kingdom of God is on the earth it is here, if Jesus is not known here,
he is not known upon the earth, if his Father is not known here, He is not
known upon the earth.  What of all this?  If we have this knowledge
greater is the shame, unless we live to it, and greater will be our
condemnation.  The people should be preached to, but they need something
besides smooth teaching.  Comparatively speaking, they should have their
ears cuffed and be roughly handled, be kicked out doors, and then kicked
in again.  Most of the Elders who preach in this stand ought to be kicked
out of it, and then kicked into it again, until they overhaul themselves
and find out what is the matter with them.

	The mass of the people are all asleep together, craving after the
world, running after wickedness, desiring this, that, and the other, which
is not for their good.

	You hear many talk about having made sacrifices; if I had that word
in my vocabulary I would blot it out.  I have never yet made what I call
sacrifices; in my experience I know nothing about making them.  We are
here in this wicked world, a world shrouded in darkness, principally led,
directed, governed, and controlled, from first to last, by the power of
our common foe--him who was opposed to Jesus Christ and to his
kingdom--the son of the morning--the devil.  Lucifer has almost the entire
control over the whole earth, rules and governs the children of men and
leads them on to destruction.  He has millions and millions of agents;
they are in every place, the air is full of them and the earth is full of
them.  You cannot go anywhere without finding some of them, unless it is
among a few of the Saints who have faith to turn them out of their hearts
and affections, out of their houses, and then out of their midst.

	There are a few such places on the earth, but they are very few,
compared with all the world beside.  The world is drunk with its own
folly, with its own wickedness.

	I know that I spoke very harshly to you last Sabbath, but that does
not hurt the oil and the wine; no, not one particle.  There was not a
Latter-day Saint then within hearing of my voice but that his soul
shouted, "Amen, thank God, glory, hallelujah."  You need such preaching as
was that, from day to day, until the rubbish cleaving to you is swept
away, until your minds are upon something beside the follies and vanities
of the world.  You have much to learn.  Do you think I was too rash last
Sunday?  (Voices, no.)  Even then I told you only a small portion of the
truths pertaining to the subjects touched upon.

	I cannot tell you the whole truth, for you are not in a condition to
receive it; my voice is not powerful enough to pierce your hearts; I alone
am not able to remove the scales from your eyes that you may see things as
they are.  I can talk to you here, and diffuse my spirit among you, so far
as you will receive it.  If I have the Spirit of the Lord, and your hearts
are soft, I can impart to you what the Lord has for you through me; that
is all I can do.  I have to cling to my Father, to my God, and to my
religion every day, yes, every moment of my life;  have to plead with Him
and centre all my confidence, hopes, and faith in Him, and so should you.

	There is one thing I desire of this people more than everything else
on this earth, more than gold, silver, houses, lands, and the riches of
this world which are not to compare with it, and that is that this people
would so live as to know the Father and the Son, to know the will of God
concerning them, and to be filled with the Holy Ghost, and have the
visions of eternity opened to them.  Then my soul would be satisfied; that
is all I could ask of them.  I do not care whether we have half rations,
or quarter rations, that is a matter I care but little about.  I would
rather that this people should starve to death in the mountains, than to
have the Lord Almighty hand us over to a cursed, infernal mob.  I would
rather go down to the grave in peace than to fight a mob, unless the Lord
would give me enough Saints to fight and kill the poor devils; in such
case I wish to live and fight them.  But I never want to see a mob again
drive and tread under foot the Saints.

	While brother Amasa was addressing the people, I admired the
principles he taught, and I can apply them to myself, so far as they
pertain to me; but I do not know how my little boys and girls, now growing
up in our midst, could understand what is in the world, unless we sent
them forth so that they could contrast one class with the other.  For my
part I do not need a mob to aid me to purify myself; I do not require to
hear another man take the name of God in vain, in order to complete my
experience concerning profanity.  I have no occasion for the devil and his
imps, nor to see the face of a wicked man while I live, in order to make
me more acquainted with their power.  I will be perfectly satisfied with
the glory and crown I shall receive, if I have no further acquaintance or
experience with the power of the devil, so far as I am concerned.

	If I have to pass through scenes of trouble, sorrow, and affliction,
if we have to fight the devil, and I have the power to live, I pray my
Father in heaven, in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, to let me live to
enjoy this privilege.  If I, of necessity must pass, through war and
bloodshed, toils and labors, let me live, for I love to fight the devils,
but I love to overcome them.  If I had the power I would doubtless use
them up, perhaps to the injury of the Saints.  Why?  Because if you do not
know wickedness you cannot enjoy the happiness God has in store for you.

	Paul asks, "Shall we sin that righteousness may abound?"  No, there
is plenty of sin without your sinning.  We can have all the experience we
need, without sinning ourselves, therefore we will not sin that good may
come, we will not transgress the law of God that we may know the opposite. 
There is no necessity for such a course, for the world is full of
transgression, and this people need not mingle up with it.

	Can you discern between the righteous and the wicked here?  You know
I have spoken of a certain  class of men who frequent our law shops, and
every other wicked hole they can get into; can they discern the difference
between those who love the law of God and those who despise it?  No.  The
vilest sinner on the earth who will come with a bland countenance, using
the airs that belong to the etiquette of the day, you receive as a very
fine man, a beautiful gentleman.  Do you not know that you need the Spirit
of the Almighty to look through a man and discern what is in his heart,
while his face smiles upon you and his words flow as smoothly as oil?  If
you had the power of God upon you, you might see the sword lurking within
him, and that, if he had the power, he would plunge it in your heart and
destroy you from the earth.  I meet many such men in these streets, and in
the houses round about.

	Do you not know that Jesus told the truth when he said, "They what
are not for us are against us?"  A great many have our patronage and
influence, benefit by our forbearance, and enrich themselves with our
cash, but when that is gone, what shall we hear next?  "Wipe them from the
earth, put them out of existence and let the earth not be infested with
them any longer, for they have no money, no influence for us now; they
cannot patronize and promote us, therefore destroy them from the earth." 
That is the spirit of the devil which reigns in every man who is not a
saint at heart.  This wicked principle may lay dormant, to all appearance,
year after year, lurking in the flesh, until it increases to such a degree
that the flesh has overcome the spirit of light which God implanted in
them, when it exhibits itself, and then the cry is, "Destroy the Apostles
of Jesus and every one of his true followers; root out that clan which
will destroy us unless we destroy them; root them out, that we be no more
pestered with them."

	Suppose one of my brethren had a large family connection, had many
brothers and sisters near and dear to him, as near his feelings as a child
is to its father's or mother's, and that this blood connection, embracing
all the friends he had upon earth, should, on a night so dark that they
could not see one inch before their eyes, mount their horses, put spurs to
them, and start at the top of their speed, on a road that neither they nor
their horses had ever travelled one inch upon, would he not cry at the top
of his voice, "Where are you going?" Would he not say, "You are riding in
the dark and on a road which you do not know?"  They might put spurs in
their horses and reply, "We will perform the journey."  You are the
individuals I am referring to.  Let any one see people hastening to the
brink of an awful precipice, hundreds of feet in depth, and before they
are aware of it, about to leap into the abyss, what feelings would move
the individual looking upon such a sight?  Would he not wish to take them
by the hair of their heads, if they would not stop, and save them if
possible?

	So I fell about you.  I feel like taking men and women by the hair of
their heads, figuratively speaking, and slinging them miles and miles, and
like crying, stop, before you ruin yourselves!  But I have not the power
to do this; I can talk to you a little and can beseech you to stop your
mad career, and can ask your Father in heaven to give you the light of His
Spirit, and when you receive that you will find every word that I said
last Sabbath to be true.  There are men here, by the score, who do not
know their right hands from their left, so far as the principle of justice
is concerned.  Does our High Council?  No, for they will let men throw
dust in their eyes, until you cannot find the hundredth millionth part of
an ounce of common sense in them.  You may go to the Bishops' courts, and
what are they?  A set of old grannies.  They cannot judge a case pending
between two old women, to say nothing of a case between man and man.  We
have already dropped many of them, and we are picking up young men.  We
will train them, and tell them to serve God or apostatize.

	The time is coming when justice will be laid to the line and
righteousness to the plummet; when we shall take the old broad sword and
ask, "Are you for God?" and if you are not heartily on the Lord's side,
you will be hewn down.  I feel like reproving you; you are like a wild ass
that rears and almost breaks his neck before he will be tamed.  It is so
with this people.

	Have we not given you salt enough to season you?  You have been
sweetened with velvet lips, until you do not know salt from anything else. 
Will you hear now?  If I have strength and continue to feel like it, I
will come here and train you every Sabbath, and I wish my sermons to be
like the raining of pitchforks point foremost, until you awake out of your
sleep and find out whether you are Saints or not.  We have a great many
gars, sharks, sheepheads, lamper-eels, and every other kind of fish that
is to be found, in the pond; the Gospel net has gathered them up, and what
may you expect from such a mess?  You may expect the best and worst of all
God's creation mingled here together.  The foolish will turn from correct
principles, go over to the wicked, and cease to be righteous, so that they
can go to hell with the fools.  I wish to have every man who rises to
speak from this stand, lay aside the smooth tongue and velvet lips and let
his words be like melted lead, that they may sink into the hearts of the
people.

	Now do not think that I have cast you off; you are my brethren, if I
have any.  If there are any Saints on the face of the earth they are here. 
I am one with you, and if you turn round and say, "Brother Brigham ought
to live according to his preaching,"  I answer, I live so now that you
cannot keep up with me.  Do not fret yourselves, I am ready to be weighed
in the balance in all my ways, with any of you.  Learn to live your
religion day by day, and do right all the time.  Let us strive to get more
light, more of the grace and power of God, that we may increase therein,
which is my prayer continually.  May God bless you:  Amen.

       INSTRUCTIONS TO THE BISHOPS--MEN JUDGED ACCORDING TO THEIR
         KNOWLEDGE--ORGANIZATION OF THE SPIRIT AND BODY--THOUGHT
                   AND LABOR TO BE BLENDED TOGETHER.  
   A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle,
                  Great Salt Lake City, March 16, 1856.

	I do not now rise expressly for the purpose of giving additional
instructions, for we have already heard much to-day; still, I have a few
reflections which I will offer.  Can you not remember hearing public
speakers, both here and in other countries, use many words without clearly
and distinctly conveying ideas?  

	The discourse by brother Vernon, in the forenoon, quite delighted me. 
I was extremely well pleased to hear him clothe his ideas with such
beautiful language, and so easily understood.  Hence, I exhort my
brethren, the Elders, when they rise to teach, edify, or instruct the
people, not to hamper themselves with efforts to merely select nice
sounding words, but to deal out correct and useful ideas, even if you do
not use one word in ten in a way that the learned would deem proper.  If a
speaker presents useful ideas to a congregation of the best scholars in
existence, though not one word of his language is strictly proper, yet
what he says will feed that congregation, far more than will a perfect
volume of nice sounding words which convey few or no important ideas.  I
will leave the correctness of this remark to philosophers of every grade.

	Still, when any one rises to speak, if his mind is stored with
valuable ideas, let him clothe his thoughts with the best language he can
command--that which comes to him easily and naturally.  I really wish to
impress this idea upon the minds of the Elders.

	If you will reflect upon what class of speakers have most edified
you, no matter whether they are taught or untaught in the learning of the
schools, you will readily discover that it has been those whose minds were
stored with good ideas, and who spoke so that you could readily and easily
understand them, whether their language was couched in the most approved
style or not.  When you hear individuals speak whose minds are stored with
rich ideas, do they not benefit you the most?  I care but little about
your language, hand out the ides, and let us know what you have stored in
your minds.

	I will now refer to a portion of the discourse delivered here this
afternoon, and say to the Bishops, that it would be highly gratifying to
me, and to all of us, if you would prove yourselves wise stewards.  You
have a good opportunity to exhibit your abilities, and I say to the Bishop
who has just addressed us, won't you do as I have formerly directed you,
and appoint good, wise, judicious men to go through your Ward, to find out
what is in that Ward, and the situation of every family, whether they have
money, flour, or costly clothing, or whether they are destitute and
suffering?  This is your business and calling.  But many of our Bishops
are sleepy and good for nothing, and if I were going to cleanse the
Church, knowing the character of individuals, I think I should commence
with the Bishops.  Theirs is one of the most laborious and responsible
offices in the whole Church; it is an office which requires men of the
best skill, judgment and talent, to fill, and is one of the greatest
importance.  Bishops, will you take hold and try to make men of
yourselves?  After all I have said now and heretofore, if you were going
to search your Wards, you would be very apt to come to me to inquire what
you should do.  I will tell you, do not let there be one place, in the
habitations of the Saints in your Wards, about which you are uninformed. 
Brother Wooley has reported the circumstance of a Bishop finding a woman
who had been living upon the charity of her neighbors, and who, at the
same time, had valuable property, and money hid up.  I can refer you to
scores of like circumstances, and what is more, to some of the Elders,
those who are supposed to be among the best of our Elders, who have been
preaching abroad and brought their hundreds into the Church, who come here
with a lie in their hearts and on their tongues, with regard to their
means, and declare, emphatically, that they have no means to help
themselves with, neither money nor goods.

	We have brought them here, and they are still owing the Perpetual
Emigrating Fund for their passage, and they have gold, if they have no
silver, and have the richest kind of clothing.  This brings to my mind the
circumstance, of a family in Nauvoo, who were in the habit of travelling
from house to house, begging their living, and said, that they were poor
and destitute.  When the time came for us to leave that city, and that
family was starting to St. Louis, the woman loosed her dress and showed
one of the sisters her stays, and said, "I have my money sewed up in these
stays, and the Church won't get it."  This woman begged her living, and
stayed in Nauvoo almost two years, and would rather be damned than to part
with the sovereigns sewed up in her stays.  Such people will be damned,
and the sooner they leave us the better.

	Were I a Bishop, I would know to a reasonable degree of accuracy, the
value of the clothing owned by those in my Ward, who were calling upon me
for assistance, and I would be familiar with every nook and habitation,
and watch carefully that money was not secreted, and the owners begging
from those poorer than themselves.  I would know whether they had money
hoarded, or hid away.

 	A score of years ago the Elders had to be very watchful, and I do not
suppose that, for many years, I slept so soundly but what the slightest
tap would wake me up.  If any person should say, "Brigham!"  I am ready at
once to ask, "What is wanted?"  I am ready to jump, at a moment's warning. 
No person could stir about, without our knowing it.

	The Bishops should be equally wide awake, and set those whom they
have confidence in, those whom they know to be honest, to be watchmen on
the tower, and let them find out who are suffering.  Doubtless, there are
many who are suffering through want of food, but there is no necessity of
any family suffering in this City, and when this City is supplied, the
remainder of the Territory may be considered independent.

	I presume that we have one fourth less provisions in this City to the
number of the inhabitants, than has any other portion of the Territory,
and yet we need not suffer.  Here we need not be ashamed to beg, when
stern necessity has closed around us.  I do not expect to see the day when
I am perfectly independent, until I am crowned in the celestial kingdom of
my Father, and made as independent as my Father in heaven. I have not yet
received my inheritance as my own, and I expect to be dependent until I
do, for all that I have is lent to me.

	If a man comes to me and says, he is out of food, what of that?  He
is out of food, that is all.  If a man comes along and says, "My family is
destitute of food and clothing," what of that?  Simply that they are
destitute of food and clothing, and still they may be gentlemen and
ladies, for all that, and be honoring their tabernacles and being on the
earth.

	The customs of the world have made it degrading to ask for food, but
it is not, when a person cannot honestly procure it in any other way.  The
man who is hungry and destitute has as good a right to my food as any
other person, and I should feel as happy in associating with him, if he
had a good heart, as with those who have an abundance, or with the princes
of the earth.  They all are esteemed by me, not according to the wealth
and position they hold, but according to the character they have.

	Bishops, will you try to magnify your calling?  I will give you a few
words of consolation; at our next Conference we expect to drop a good many
Bishops, and appoint others, and we intend to keep doing so, until we get
men with good hearts and active brains, to fill that responsible station.

	I will now speak upon another subject; one which I have touched upon
many times, but which, to this day, is but little understood.  I allude to
the organization of the spirit and the body, the distinction between the
two, and their operations.  This subject is not well understood, and
generally not much reflected upon, but is one which the Saints have got to
learn, if they ever learn the real organization of man.  Then they will
know and understand the peculiarities of our present organization, and how
liable mankind are to submit to its weaknesses, and to the influences of
the powers that rule over them.

	Were you in possession of this knowledge, you would be more
compassionate.  As severely as I sometimes talk to you, my soul is full of
compassion.  It has ever been my study to understand myself, for by so
doing I can understand my neighbors.

	If this people would apply their minds to wisdom, with regard to
themselves, they would be more compassionate than they are now.

	From what is at times said here, it might be inferred that every one
who did not walk to the line was at once going to be destroyed, but who
has been hurt?  Who is about to be killed?  Who is about to be taken out
of the way?  When this people have lived long enough upon the earth, to
have the principles of life and salvation disseminated among them, and to
have their children taught in those principles, so that they fully know
the principles of eternal salvation, then let us or our children turn away
from the commandments of God, as some do now, and I could tell you what
will be done with them.

	Brother Wooley has said, the time is not far distant, but it will
never come until the inhabitants of the earth, and especially those who
have been gathered together, have a sufficient time to be educated in the
celestial law, so that each person may understand for himself.  Then if
they transgress against the light and knowledge they possess, some will be
stoned to death, and "judgment will be laid to the line, and righteousness
to the plummet." But people will never be taken and sacrificed for their
ignorance, when they have had no opportunity to know and understand the
truth.  Such a proceeding would be contrary to the economy of heaven.  But
after we receive and understand things as they are, if we then disobey, we
may look for the chastening hand of the Almighty.

	If we could learn ourselves, we should see thousands and thousands of
weaknesses in the people.  They turn to the right and to the left, to this
and that which is wrong; yet if we did know and see things as they are, we
should understand that thousands of those acts are performed in ignorance.

	I presume there are people hearing me talk, who would give the riches
of the Indies, if they had them in their possession, to be able to obtain
the mind and will of God concerning themselves.  They would give all they
possess on the earth, or expect to possess, were they in possession of
keys by which they could know the path to walk in.  What are we going to
do with this class of persons?  I will tell you what I am going to do with
them, so far as I am concerned.  I am going to give them my faith,
confidence, prayers, and full fellowship.  And when they get through with
this probation, if they have done, all the time, according to the best
they knew, God will not hold them responsible for what they did not know,
and they will be received, through the merits of the Son, into the kingdom
of our Father.

	I mention this to inform the people, that they may understand what
they should do with regard to the law of God, and the transgression
thereof.  The law is very strict; and in this congregation there are men
and women who, with uplifted hands to heaven, before the Father, the Son,
and all the holy angels, made solemn covenants that they never would do
thus and so.  For example, one obligation is, "I will never have anything
to do with any of the daughters of Eve, unless they are given to me of the
Lord."  Men will call God to witness that they never will transgress this
law, and promise to live a virtuous life, so far as intercourse with
females is concerned; but what can you see?  A year will not pass away
before some few of them are guilty of creeping into widows' houses, and
into bed with the wives of their brethren, debauching one woman here, and
another there.  Do we enforce upon them the strict penalty of the law? 
Not yet.  I hope their conduct arises from their ignorance, but let me
transgress my covenant, and the case would be different.  I want to live
as long as I can, on the earth, but I would not like to live to violate my
covenants; I would rather go behind the vail before doing so.

 	A few of the men and women who go into the house of the Lord, and
receive their endowments, and in the most sacred manner make covenants
before the Almighty, go and violate those covenants.  Do I have compassion
on them?  Yes, I do have mercy on them, for there is something in their
organization which they do not understand; and there are but few in this
congregation who do understand it.

	You say, "That man ought to die for transgressing the law of God." 
Let me suppose a case.  Suppose you found your brother in bed with your
wife, an put a javelin through both of them, you would be justified, and
they would atone for their sins, and be received into the kingdom of God. 
I would at once do so in such a case; and under such circumstances, I have
no wife whom I love so well that I would not put a javelin through her
heart, and I would do it with clean hands.  But you who trifle with your
covenants, be careful lest in judging you will be judged.

	Every man and women has got to have clean hands and pure heart, to
execute judgment, else they had better let the matter alone.

	Again, suppose the parties are not caught in their iniquity, and it
passes along unnoticed, shall I have compassion on them?  Yes, I will have
compassion on them, for transgressions of the nature already named, or for
those of any other description.  If the Lord so order it that they are not
caught in the act of their iniquity, it is pretty good proof that He is
willing for them to live; and I say let them live and suffer in the flesh
for their sins, for they will have it to do.

	There is not a man or woman, who violates the covenants made with
their God, that will not be required to pay the debt.  The blood of Christ
will never wipe that out, your own blood must atone for it; and the
judgments of the Almighty will come, sooner or later, and every man and
woman will have to atone for breaking their covenants.  To what degree? 
Will they have to go to hell?  They are in hell enough now.  I do not wish
them in a greater hell, when their consciences condemn them all the time. 
Let compassion reign in our bosoms.  Try to comprehend how weak we are,
how we are organized, how the spirit and the flesh are continually at war.

	I told you here, some time ago, that the devil who tempted Eve, got
possession of the earth, and reigns triumphant, has nothing to do with
influencing our spirits, only through the flesh; that is a true doctrine. 
Inasmuch as our spirits are inseparably connected with the flesh, and,
inasmuch as the whole tabernacle is filled with the spirit which God gave,
if the body is afflicted, the spirit also suffers, for there is a warfare
between the flesh and the spirit, and if the flesh overcomes, the spirit
is brought into bondage, and if the spirit overcomes, the body is made
free, and then we are free indeed, for we are made free by the Son of God. 
Watch yourselves, and think.  As I had observed, on the evening of the
14th, at the social Hall, "think, brethren, think," but do not think so
far that you cannot think back again.  I then wanted to tell a little
anecdote, but I will tell it now.

	In the eastern country there was a man who used to go crazy, at
times, and then come to his senses again.  One of his neighbors asked him
what made him go crazy; he replied, "I get to thinking, and thinking,
until finally I think so far that I am not always able to think back
again."  Can you think too much for the spirit which is put in the
tabernacle?  You can, and this is a subject which I wish the brethren
instructed upon, and the people to understand.  The spirit is the
intelligent part of man, and is intimately connected with the tabernacle.
Let this intelligent part labor to excess, and it will eventually overcome
the tabernacle, the equilibrium will be destroyed, and the whole
organization deranged.  Many people have deranged themselves by thinking
too much.

	The thinking part is the immortal or invisible portion, and it is
that which performs the mental labor; then the tabernacle, which is formed
and organized for that express purpose, brings about or effects the result
of that mental labor.  Let the body work with the mind, and let them both
labor fairly together, and, with but few exceptions, you will have a
strong-minded, athletic individual, powerful both physically and mentally.

	When you find the thinking faculty perfectly active, in a healthy
person, it should put the physical organization into active operation, and
the result of the reflection is carried out, and the object is
accomplished.  In such a person you will see mental and physical health
and strength combined, in their perfection.  We have the best opportunity
afforded any people to cultivate these properties of man.

	I do not know that I am trammeled by tradition, or that any of us
need to be, hence we are in the best situation to exhibit, through the
organization of the tabernacle, the labor and properties of the invisible
part.  When a person is thinking all the time he is little better than a
machine; he perverts the purpose of his organization, and injures both
mind and body.  Why?  Because the mental labor does not find vent through
the organism of the tabernacle, and has not that scope--that field of
labor which it desires, and which it was wisely designed that it should
have.  Think according to your labor, labor according to your thinking.

	Some think too much, and should labor more, others labor too much,
and should think more, and thus maintain an equilibrium between the mental
and physical members of the individual; then you will enjoy health and
vigor, will be active, and ready to discern truly, and judge quickly.  Is
it not your privilege to have discernment to circumscribe all things, no
matter what subject comes before you, and to at once know the truth
concerning any matter?  When you see a person of this character, you see
one with a healthy and vigorous mind, throughout the whole operations of
organization.  True, this is not the privilege of every one; some have to
do much thinking, and but little manual labor, while others do much manual
labor with little, if any thinking.  The latter class are as dull and
stupid as the brutes, and when their labor is done, they lie down and
sleep, like the brutes.  They do not think enough, they should bring their
minds into active operation, as well as their bodies.  Men who do much
thinking, philosophers for instance, would apply their bodies to more
manual labor, in order to make their bodies more healthy and their minds
more vigorous and active.

	Let me take twenty years to come, in which to build cities, temples,
tabernacles, halls, dwellings, &c., with my mental organization, and not
put forth my hands, or use any manual labor, to perform any of this work,
do you not perceive that my body would not have labored during all this
period, and that my mind would have labored to excess, even to the
overcoming of the tabernacle.  Again, let me build house after house, hall
after hall, temple after temple, &c., my mind would have something to rest
upon, and my body being weary with labor, I could lie down, and both would
rest together.  When I wish to build a temple it costs me much thought,
and when I see a temple finished on this block, as I have seen it in the
vision of my mind, do you not perceive that the whole of the labor of the
mind, on that matter, is at rest?  This is my philosophy on thinking; and
if I were obliged to think for ten years, and not erect a building, or
help build up a city, or in any way put my thoughts into execution, it
would materially injure my mental faculty, through want of results for it
to rest upon.  But let me engage in active operations, even though I do
not personally perform one day's manual labor, let me see the result of my
thinking budding into existence, and my mind has something to rest upon. 
If I cannot carry out that which is in my mind--that which I wish to
accomplish in all the improvements, in building up Zion in the latter
days, as soon as I am deprived of the necessary physical labor I withdraw
my mind from that object; I will not suffer my mind to rest upon it.  For
instance, we are going to suspend labor upon the Temple for a year, until
we can prepare ourselves more fully for that work.  We have abandoned the
idea of using adobies in the walls of that building, and intend to use
granite.  Now, suppose I should begin to think, and think, and still think
about it, are you not aware that it would be a worse than useless waste of
time and mental labor?  My body would become wearied and languid.  I do
not expect to think about it for one year; good bye to it, for the
present.  I must carry out the labor of my mind, or I injure it.  Can you
go to sleep in one minute, after you have said your prayers and gone to
bed?  Can you cease reflection, bid good bye to thought, and say to the
body, compose yourself and let us go to sleep?  How many now in this house
can do that?  Whether it is natural, or supernatural, mental or
mechanical, it matters not, but I have trained myself to go to sleep when
I get ready, and when I am in good health, as a general thing, in about
one minute I can be fast asleep.

	Until you can govern and control the mind and the body, and bring all
into subjection to the law of Christ, you have a work to perform touching
yourselves.  I delight to talk upon he subject of our organization but I
must do so a little at a time, or I might weary your bodies and distract
your thoughts.  Short sermons fitly spoken, are better than long ones ill
spoken.  May God bless you, Amen.



DIFFICULTIES NOT FOUND AMONG THE SAINTS WHO LIVE THEIR RELIGION--ADVERSITY
   WILL TEACH THEM THEIR DEPENDENCE ON GOD--GOD INVISIBLY CONTROLS THE
                           AFFAIRS OF MANKIND.
  A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle, 
                  Great Salt Lake City, March 16, 1856.

	I feel very thankful for the privilege that I have enjoyed this
morning, and for the discourse that has been delivered to us, it is meat
and drink to me--it is joy and peace.  Truly if we are good men, and good
women, we can make ourselves very comfortable and happy, otherwise we
shall be very miserable.

	I believe that it is a hell intolerable for a people, a family, or a
single person, to strive to grasp truth with one hand, and error with the
other, to profess to walk in obedience to the commandments of God, and, at
the same time, mingle heart and hand with the wicked.

	I believe that I should be one of the most miserable beings upon the
earth, if I did not enjoy the spirit of the religion which I profess.  I
also believe that if every person, who professes to be a Latter-day Saint,
was actually a Saint, our home would be a paradise, there would be nothing
heard, nothing felt, nothing realized, but praise to the name of our God,
doing our duty, and keeping His commandments.

	There are thousands of individuals in these valleys, and I may say
thousands within this City, men, women, and children, who are constantly
minding their own business, living their religion, and are full of joy,
from Monday morning until Saturday night.

	On this account, they do not obtrude themselves and their acts upon
the notice of the public, hence, they are known but by few.  Probably my
beloved brother Vernon, who has spoken to you this morning, is not known
by many of this congregation, for since his arrival in our midst he has
been quietly and industriously practising the principles of our religion. 
For this reason a formal introduction of brother Vernon to the
congregation might by some have been deemed necessary, but with me
"Mormonism" is, "Out with the truth," and that will answer our purposes,
and is all we desire.

	Brother Vernon came here with Elder Taylor, when he returned from
Europe.  He is not known except by a few of his associates, who have been
laboring with him at the Sugar Works.  But, suppose he had been guilty of
swearing in the streets, of getting intoxicated, of fighting, and
carousing, he would have been a noted character, and there would hardly
have been a child but what would, by this time, have known brother Vernon;
and the expressions would have been, "O, he is the man we saw drunk the
other day, the one whom we heard swear and saw fight; the one who was
tried before the High Council for disorderly conduct, or reproved before a
General Conference for his wickedness.

	But brother Vernon is almost entirely unknown, because he has lived
his religion, kept the commandments of God, and minded his own business. 
So it is with many in this City, they are known but by few, they live
here, year after year, and are scarcely known in the community, because
they pay attention to their own business.

	They live their religion, love the Lord, rejoice continually, are
happy all the day long, and satisfied, without making an excitement among
the people.  This is "Mormonism."  I wish we were all so, I should then
indeed be very much pleased.

	I think such a state of society would answer my happiness, not
particularly my spiritual enjoyment, for I know that in that particular I
must be happy for myself.  I must live my religion for myself, and enjoy
the light of truth for myself, and when I do that all hell cannot deprive
me of it, nor of its fruits.

	My spiritual enjoyment must be obtained by my own life but it would
add much to the comfort of the community, and to my happiness, as one with
them, if every man and woman would live their religion, and enjoy the
light and glory of the Gospel for themselves, be passive, humble, and
faithful; rejoice continually before the Lord, attend to the business they
are called to do, and be sure never to do anything wrong.

	All would then be peace, joy, and tranquility, in our streets and in
our houses.  Litigation would cease, there would be no difficulties before
the High Council and Bishop's Courts, and courts, turmoil, and strife
would not be known.

	Then we would have Zion, for all would be pure in heart.  I should be
pleased if we had a few more thousands of such men as brother Vernon. 
That class, I am happy to say, is increasing, this I can truly say, for
the encouragement of this community.

	When we reflect upon how many strangers we gather to these valleys,
those who formerly believed some of the various creeds of the day, which
did not fully inform them upon the principles of the Gospel, who come
clothed upon with many of the diverse traditions and customs of different
nations and neighborhoods, and how harmoniously they mingle, how few
differences exist among them, how little strife and wickedness, it is a
subject full of consolation.

	Still there is much more strife than we should have, yet, with all,
consider how easily, under these varied circumstances, we get along, how
easily we pass the time, and with what little difficulty.  I can say in
truth, for the comfort and credit of this community, that the Latter-day
Saints are indeed improving.

	Do you hear of any difficulty among those long tried and proven, or
among that portion of younger members who are thoroughly imbued with the
principles of the Gospel?  Rarely.

	You seldom find persons who have been reared in this Church, or who
were very young when their parents came into the Church creating any
difficulties.  They grow into the truth; they understand those principles
which are taught; they know the very foundation and essence of the Gospel,
they are schooled in the first rudiments of the education of the
Saints--in those principles which are designed for the people in their
childhood, while learning the science of government.

	These principles seem to be lost to the world, judging by their
present operations.  Bother [sic] Vernon beautifully portrayed this fact. 
The principle of correct government seems to be lost by the world, seems
to be taken from the nations.

	The very rudiments of the Gospel of our salvation teach the
principles best adapted to control the child, and if so, of course, best
designed to guide his steps when he has advanced further in life.  And if
best for instruction in the government of one, they must be for that of
two, and if for that of two, then they must needs be for that of a family,
of a neighborhood, of a nation, and of the whole earth.

	No man ever did, or ever will rule judiciously on this earth, with
honor to himself and glory to his God, unless he first learn to rule and
control himself.  A man must first learn to rightly rule himself, before
his knowledge can be fully brought to bear for the correct government of a
family, a neighborhood, or nation, over which it is his lot to preside.

	Is the spirit of the government and rule here despotic?  In their use
of the word, some may deem it so.  It lays the ax at the root of the tree
of sin and iniquity; judgment is dealt out against the transgression of
the law of God.

	If that is despotism, then the policy of this people may be deemed
despotic.  But does not the government of God, as administered here, give
to every person his rights?  Does it not sustain the Methodist as well as
the "Mormon?"  The Quaker equally as well as the Methodist, in his
religious rights?  The Jew as well as the Gentile?  It does.  It will
sustain all the religions, sects, and parties on the earth in their
religious rights, just as much as it will sustain the Latter-day Saints in
theirs.  Not that the diverse creeds are right, but the agency of the
believers therein demands protection for them, as well as for us.

	The law of God is pointed against sin and iniquity, and where they
appear it is unbending in its nature and must, sooner or later, hold
sovereign rule against them, or righteousness could never prevail.

	Do we not see this exemplified in a portion of sacred history?  When
there was rebellion in heaven, judgment was laid to the line and
righteousness to the plummet, and the evil were cast out.  Yet there was a
portion of grace allotted to those rebellious characters, or they would
have been sent to their native element.

	But they must go from heaven, they could not dwell there, they must
be cast down to the earth to try the sons of men, and to perform their
labor in producing an opposite in all things, that the inhabitants of the
earth might have the privilege of improving upon the intelligence given to
them, the opportunity for overcoming evil, and for learning the principles
which govern eternity, that they may be exalted therein.

	I know that this people are improving, notwithstanding we have trials
and are called to pass through difficulties, and have to endure a season
of scarcity.

	I tell you honestly that I do not know when I have been more
thankful, in all my life, than I have to see the pinching hand of want
compel every man and woman to pray God our Father, to give us day by day
our daily bread.

	It makes me happy, inasmuch as the people will not otherwise
understand that the Lord does feed them.  In years of plenty their
understandings seemed closed to this fact, they did not appear to realize
that the Lord made the earth fruitful, and caused it to yield its fruit
bountifully.

	And while our flocks and herds were increasing upon the mountains and
plains, the eyes of the people seemed closed to the operations of the
invisible hand of Providence, and they were prone to say "It is our own
handy-work, it is our labor that has performed this."

	The people are so blinded, when they are prospered, that they do not
realize that it is all due to the direct providence of that God who is
truly invisible to the world, but whose operations should not be
unacknowledged by this people.

	It seems to be so interwoven with our nature, while we are blessed
and surrounded with all the comforts of the earth, to forget that the Lord
furnishes these things to us, [sic-punc]  Then I say that I rejoice, when
the Lord brings us into circumstances calculated to make us aware that if
we are fed it is Him that feeds us, that if we are clothed it is Him that
clothes us, for we cannot do it ourselves, that if we get bread to eat,
from this until harvest, it must be the hand of the Lord that furnishes
it, for of ourselves we cannot obtain it.

	I am glad to see you brought into a state where you may begin to
think and realize from whence your blessings flow.  The Lord rules and
reigns.

	If we could see and understand things as they are, we would
understand that there is not a king upon his throne, that there never has
been from the forming of the earth to this time, without the Lord bringing
about the circumstances which placed that king in that position.  There
never was one dethroned, without the Lord moving the circumstances to
cause it.

	There never was a nation built up and prospered, except by the hand
of the Almighty, and there never was a nation crushed and brought to
naught, without its being done by the generalship--the invisible workings
of Providence.

	The ancient proverb reads, "Whom the gods would destroy, they first
make mad,"  and it is written that the Lord will destroy the wicked, and
He has done so by bringing about circumstances to cause them to destroy
themselves.

	Do you suppose that the Lord would have ever given a king to Israel,
if they had not required one at His hands?  No, He would have been their
king and ruler, and there would have been a Prophet to guide them, had it
not been for their rebellion.  They made choice of a king, and God gave
them one in His anger.

	Their rebellion against the law, the agency given to them allowing
their free choice, induced them to ask for a king, and God gave them one.

	Was it the Lord's choice that they should have an earthly king?  No,
it was not His mind and will, but it was the will of the people,
consequently, He brought about circumstances to give them kings and
rulers, according to their desire, and to bring judgments upon them.

	The Prophet Joseph has been referred to, and his prophecy that this
people would leave Nauvoo and be planted in the midst of the Rocky
Mountains.  We see it fulfilled.  This prophecy is not a new thing, it has
not been hid in the dark, nor locked up in a drawer, but it was declared
to the people long before we left Nauvoo.  We see the invisible hand of
Providence in all this; we realize that His hand has wrought out our
salvation.

	Through His control of circumstances this people have been removed
from civilization, and have been brought to inhabit these vales among the
Rocky Mountains, to dwell in these desolate and barren plains where no
other people, that we have any knowledge of, would live one year, if they
could get away.  The providence of God has brought us here.

	Are we here in fulfillment of prophecy?  The world say that the
Prophet knew nothing about it, that the Lord had nothing to do with it,
that the "Mormons" became obnoxious to them and had to leave, because they
were the weakest party and their enemies the strongest.  "No, God knew
nothing about all this, He had no hand in it, but we could not live with
you Mormons."  They said, "We Methodists Presbyterians, Baptists &c.,
cannot live with you, one of us must leave, which shall it be?  You
Mormons must leave, if we can drive you."  They herald forth that, "It was
us who drove you to the Rocky Mountains as every one knows who is
acquainted with your history."

	"The Mormons must leave and go where no other people will go, and
live where no other people can or will live."  The world cannot see the
hand of the Lord in all our moments, they have not eyes to see, nor hearts
to understand that the Lord showed the future to the Prophet Joseph, and
brought it before him in vision.  They cannot understand that the Lord
produced all the circumstances which effected the removal of this people. 
They do not now understand that the Lord is building up His kingdom on the
earth, is gathering His Israel, for the last time, to make a great and
mighty nation of this people.

	Circumstances have planted the Saints in the midst of the mountains,
have given them a Territory and a Territorial Government, and will, ere
long, give them a free and independent State, and justly make them a
sovereign people.  Circumstances will accomplish all this.  Now, in the
name of common sense, who rules these invisible circumstances?  Is it you,
or I?  True, to a certain permitted degree, we rule, govern, and control
circumstances, in a great many instances, but, on the other hand, do not
circumstances control us?  They do.  Who has guided all these
circumstances, which neither we nor the Prophet knew anything about?  Was
it in the power of a single man, or of any set of men, to create and
control the circumstances which caused this people to be planted within
these mountains?  The moment that you say it was not, you acknowledge the
workings of a Supreme Power.

	The world, and those of us who are destitute of the spirit of the
Gospel, will say, "Oh, it happened so."  Two years ago there was a hue and
cry from east to west, from north to south, and it was heralded forth in
the papers throughout the States and all Europe, that "Governor Young says
he is Governor of Utah and will be, and that President Franklin Pierce
cannot remove him from the gubernatorial chair."  I ask, am I removed?  Is
not Brigham yet in the chair?  God has ruled in all these things, though
we may not know it.  I said then, and I shall always say, that I shall be
Governor as long as the Lord Almighty wishes me to govern this people.

	Do you suppose that it is in the power of any man to thwart the
doings of the Almighty?  They may as well undertake to blot out the sun. 
I am in the hands of that God, so is the President of our nation, and so
are kings, and emperors, and all rulers.  He controls the destiny of all,
and what are you and I going to do about it?  Let us submit to Him, that
we may share in this invisible, almighty, God-like power, which is the
everlasting Priesthood.  We cannot thwart the plans and purposes of the
Almighty.  Do the world comprehend that if this people are faithful to God
they will become a mighty people?  No.  It has been leaked out, to a few
individuals, that the government of the United States is going to send
troops here to drive out the "Mormons."  I say to such threateners, cease
your folly, for you can only do as God permits you.

	When certain immaculate judges went from here, they were going to
obliterate "Mormonism."  What did they accomplish?  They did all they
could, and, like an empty sound, their vaporings passed away and are known
no more, neither are those judges known.  Where is Mr. Branderbury?  Is he
seated in the President's chair, under the wings which shadow this nation? 
Does he control the strength and power of any part of the American Union? 
Where is he?  The last we heard of him he was in Washington, doing a
little writing for this, that, and the other lawyer, when he could get any
to do, and attending to cases as a lawyer, when he could get a few dollars
for transacting a little business of that kind, for this or that man;
running from office to office, and from pillar to post, to obtain a
living.  He is a tolerably good man, after all; and, if he had done as I
counselled him, he would have stayed here, and let that other judge go. 
Mr. Brandenbury was a good sort of a man, he never had any difficulty with
me, and would have done well, if he had only had sense enough to know that
he could not obliterate "Mormonism."  But he thought that his associate
was going to blow the advocates of truth out of existence, when he might
as well blow towards the sun to puff it out.

	When men operate against this people, they may spend all they possess
and all their ability, and it will pass away like an empty sound, and they
will be forgotten.  Such persons have always come to naught, and all who
fight against the people of the Most High will continue to come to naught.

	Who that has lifted his heel against Joseph has ever prospered, from
the day he found the plates, from which the Book of Mormon was translated,
until now?  No man.  So it will be with all others who leave this
community thinking to injure them.  Show me the priest, the church, the
people, the state, or nation, that will prosper in lifting the heel
against the kingdom of God which is built up upon the earth.  They cannot
prosper in such a course.  Do not be fearful, brethren, you and I will
live here just as long as the Lord wishes us to.  If I have fears about
anything, it is that you and I will not live our religion; if we do this I
am at the defiance of all the wicked.  I sometimes become excited when I
talk about them, and so do my brethren.  Why?  Because we are made of
flesh, blood, and bones like other men, and sometimes our feelings are
warm, when we think about the conduct of our enemies.  But what do the
pure principles of the Gospel teach us?  "Be still, and know that I am
God, that I rule in the heavens above, and perform my pleasure on the
earth, and that I turn the hearts of the children of men, as the rivers of
water are turned?"  He asks no odds of anybody.  Who does He call upon to
counsel Him, to dictate Him in the affairs of His rule on the earth?  He
is the Father, God, Saviour, Maker, Preserver, and Redeemer of man.  He
holds in His hands the issue of all things, and will judge every man
according to his works.  I will be Governor so long as God permits, and we
will live here, and have hard winters and unfruitful summers, and suffer
the ravages of the destroying insects--what for?  To bring us to our
senses; I am thankful for it.

	Those of you who have come here without breakfast this morning, do
not go more than five days without eating.  When you have gone that long
without food, make your wants known to your neighbors and tell them that
you need something to eat, and if you come to me I will feed you.  I have
sustained my family comfortably with eight ounces of bread stuff a-day, to
each individual.  I have had my children come to me and ask, "Shall I give
away my rations to-day?"  We have plenty of potatoes, and I presume that
my family does not consume, on an average, more than five ounces of bread
stuff a-day to each person.  We have had plenty ever since the first year
we came here.

	Be mindful, and do not go too long without eating.  Notwithstanding
the scarcity,  I say to those who send their children to beg from house to
house, and who are lugging home a dozen loads a-day--stop that.  There are
families now in this city, who profess to be out of provisions, sending
their children out to beg, and selling flour and meat for money to carry
them to the devil; now stop that.  I say to you Bishops, appoint
assistants to visit every house in your Wards, and instruct them to take
the liberty of lifting up the chest lids, and of looking under the floors
and under the beds, for I tell you that some will hide their provisions
and lie to you, and tell you that they have nothing, while they are
getting money for the flour, &c., which their children beg from this
community, to carry them to hell, or back to the States, or to England.  I
say to such as are compelled to beg, when you have received a sufficiency
to supply your wants, stop.  When the month of June arrives, and the
fields are teeming with their golden fruits, there will be plenty of wheat
and flour for sale in these streets, for there is a reasonable supply of
those articles of food.  This is a word of encouragement, therefore do not
go too long without eating, and if you are now brought to the pass which
compels you to call upon the Lord, saying, "Lord, feed us, for unless thou
feedest us we cannot be fed; my Father open the way that I may get a
little bread to feed myself and children, or I shall not be able to get
it,"  I say, good, glory, hallelujah, that you are brought to your knees
to confess His power, and to acknowledge His hand.  That you may be
faithful is my prayer, all the day long, in the name of Jesus Christ. 
Amen.

    PREACHING--NECESSITY OF THE SAINTS HAVING CONFIDENCE IN THOSE OVER
   THEM--NECESSITY OF WISDOM IN DEALING WITH THOSE WHO ARE DEAD TO GOOD
     WORKS--IGNORANCE OF WORLDLY PHILOSOPHERS--THE PRINCIPLE OF LIFE
          AS SHOWN IN THE DISOLUTION [sic] OF ORGANIZED MATTER.
   A Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle,
                  Great Salt Lake City, March 23, 1856.

	I rise desiring that what I may say may be instructive, edifying, and
beneficial to the people.  At times, when I think of addressing you, it
occurs to me that strict sermonizing upon topics pertaining to the distant
future, or reviewing the history of the past, will doubtless please and
highly interest a portion of my hearers; but my judgment and the spirit of
intelligence that is in me teach that, by taking such a course, the people
would not be instructed pertaining to their every day duties.  For this
reason, I do not feel impressed to instruct you on duties to be performed
a hundred years hence, but rather to give those instructions pertaining to
the present, to our daily walk and conversation, that we may know how to
benefit ourselves under the passing time, and present privileges, and be
able to lay a foundation for future happiness.

	Still, I love to hear historical narrations, to hear the Elders
vividly portray the important events which transpired in the days of the
Prophets, the Savior, and the Apostles, and it also cheers my heart to
hear the Elders of Israel illustrate the beauties and glory of Zion, in
the future.  Yet, when I reduce it all to the duties of the religion we
profess, I realize that it is of vital importance for us to know how to
lay a present foundation for our future destiny, that we may attain that
exaltation, happiness, and glory, which we anticipate, hence, I confine my
remarks, more particularly, to the practical part of religion.

	Again, we often have strangers in our midst, and, perhaps, some who
never heard one of our Elders preach, until they came to this valley, and,
no doubt, they would like to hear a systematic sermon upon the first
principles of the Gospel, to have the speaker formally quote his text,
divide it into four or five heads, and expatiate upon each part, and
illustrate the beauties of Christianity in former days, and picture the
scenes of suffering which the former-day Saints had to pass through, and
then prescribe the duties that pertain to the people, but not the
individual.  Some might prefer to have the speaker dwell upon the general
duties devolving upon the community, but not upon duties pertaining to the
individual, prefering [sic] something or other to please the natural
feelings of mankind.

	This does not suit my disposition, for I am in favor of that
instruction which will enable us, this day, to receive the blessings
offered and teach us to appeciate [sic] them, that we may be prepared to
enjoy the glory that has been revealed.  That is my "Mormonism," my
reflections, my judgment, and the spirit in me dictates this course, not
to speak merely to gratify those who prefer to hear pleasing, delightful
discourses, which sound smoothly to the ear and lull the hearers to sleep.

	What we have heard from brother Frost this morning is that which I am
upon all the time, it was practical religion.  Suppose we should actually
enjoy the light of truth, to such a degree that we could always foreknow
important events--that we had the spirit of prophecy insomuch that we
could foresee our future destiny, would we not lay a foundation to secure
our best interests?  We most certainly would.  It would be the constant
aim of our daily conduct, to secure to ourselves and our families that
happiness and comfort which we desire.

	Is it possible for us to do this?  It is.  There are many who do not
know and understand for themselves.  Now let each person of that class ask
himself this question--"Even though I do not know and understand for
myself, is it reasonable that I should have confidence in those who do?" 
and, through the weakness and blindness of fallen nature, he would answer,
"No."  Still it would be best could it be so, for those who are blinded to
their own interest to have confidence in those who do know and understand
what is for their good, to trust in them, take their counsel, and do in
all things as they are told.  But, no; the spirit of apostacy, the neglect
of duty, tend to cast a vail over the minds of people, and when they
cannot see and understand for themselves, they say, "I think I know as
well how to dictate my own affairs as does brother Brigham, or any other
brother."

	They have no confidence in anybody, and can have none in themselves,
for they do not know themselves.  They do not comprehend their existence,
and were it not that they get tired, and wish to rest, they would scarcely
realize that they had a body; and when their stomachs become empty and
crave food, they are prompted, like the brutes, to seek for something to
eat.  This is the case with some in this congregation, they have but
little more idea of what they are, who they are, and what will be their
future destiny, than has the stall-fed bullock that is fatted for
slaughter.

	What is the matter with them?  The god of this world has blinded
their minds, they give way to selfishness, covetousness, and divers other
kinds of wickedness, suffer the allurements of this world to decoy them
from the paths of truth, forget their God, their religion, their
covenants, and the blessings they have received, and become like beasts,
made to be taken and destroyed at the will of the destroyer.

	This is the situation, not only of the great majority of the world,
but of many of the inhabitants of these valleys; they have no correct idea
of the day of destruction, the day of calamity; they have no realization
of the day of sorrow and retribution.  They put these things far away and
do not wish to think about them, but say, "Let us eat, drink, and lay down
and sleep, and that is all we desire;" then like the brutes they are
happy.  It never enters the hearts of the mass of mankind that they are
preparing for the day of calamity and slaughter.

	This people have yet much to learn, even the best of them.  For one,
I am aware that I know enough to do right to-day, as also do very many who
are now before me.  If sin present itself to them they know what it is,
and know better than to give way to it.  I know that it is not right to do
wrong, and so do the most of the people, and all may and should, as have
all who have received the spirit of the Gospel, and if this knowledge has
gone from them, it is because of transgression.

	I have often referred to the wickedness of mankind, to how liable
they are to step out of the way, how easy it is for them to sin and not
know it, and how important it is that we should have compassion upon them;
yet mercy is not always to be extended to the people, judgment must claim
its right.

	If we wish this Church and kingdom of God upon earth, to be like a
fine, healthy, growing tree, we should be careful not to let the dead
branches remain too long.  You have seen limbs which you supposed
completely dead, yet when the genial influences of spring operate upon
them, only a twig or two of the branch proves to be winter killed.

	The entire limb is not dead but still draws sustenance from the
trunk, and partly lives and is partly dead.  It is so with some of the
members of this Church and kingdom, they partly live and partly do not
live.  Sometimes they enjoy the spirit of the Gospel and feel quite happy,
and speak in prayer meetings, and sometimes make confessions of their
sins.  Their hearts occasionally become a little warmed up, and at times
they feel and act as though they wish to bear fruit, and perhaps among the
twigs of the limb you may find here and there a cluster of fruit. 
Sometimes such members of this kingdom will be found performing good acts
and doing their duty, and again they are overcome and turn away, that is
for a time, and seemingly enjoy none of the spirit of their religion.

	In this manner they pass along, first to the right and then to the
left.  By and bye they will either receive nourishment from the trunk of
the tree, shooting forth into the various twigs of the sickly branches,
filling them with life and vigour, and turning the diseased into thrifty
growing limbs, or the twigs will continue to die until there are none left
alive.  Who can tell whether a limb is actually dead or not, without
proper time to test the matter?  This is a point which ought to be closely
scrutinized by every Latter-day Saint.  You see the failings of your
neighbor, he has performed an act to-day which you know is dishonest and
wicked, by and bye he does something else which is wrong, and you begin to
lose confidence in that person.  When you saw no evil and many traits of
good in him, then you had a foundation for reposing implicit confidence,
but he commits a wrong act and your confidence begins to be shaken.  You
see him commit another evil and another, but can you yet tell whether that
limb is alive or dead?  I think that we, as a people, as individuals, have
got to learn more and more of the mind of God than we now possess, before
we are prepared to judge quickly, distinctly, and truly when limbs are
dead and should be severed from the body of the tree.

	When we have learned that they are really dead, then there is danger
in suffering them to remain too long, for they will begin to decay and
tend to destroy the tree.  When we are satisfied that a limb is dead we
clip it off close to the trunk, and cover up the wound that it may not
cause any more injury.  That is the principle which brother Frost has just
been upon.  But the nice point is, for us to be able to determine when a
limb is entirely dead.  Twig after twig may die, and you may often see
half the limbs of a tree killed by the severity of winter, yet in the
course of the summer the living portion begins to rapidly put forth young
and tender branches, and the increase may be as great, perhaps, as though
no part had died.  That proves the soundness of the trunk, even though
many twigs and branches have died.  It requires great discrimination, to
be able to rightly decide upon the condition of persons in their religious
views, their honesty and integrity before God.

	There are many in this kingdom who are as foolish as men and women
can well be, so much so that it would seem as though they never had sensed
moral instruction.  They give way to wickedness, and outrage the feelings
of those who are truly moral, yet in their hearts they go all lengths for
the kingdom of God on the earth.  They are willing to stand in the front
of the battle, to go to the ends of the earth to preach the Gospel, or to
do anything they are called upon to perform, yet, when you examine their
morality, it highly outrages the feelings of those who are strictly moral
and honest in all their ways.  Do you believe this?  Yes, and many of you
know it.

	Many of our boys who pay in the streets and use profane language,
know not what they are doing, but there are old men, members of the High
Priests' Quorum, and of the High Council, who, when they get into a
difficulty in the kanyon and are perplexed, will get angry and swear at,
and curse everything around them.  I will insure that I can find High
Priests who conduct in this manner.  But on their way home their feelings
become mollified, and they wish to plead with the Lord to forgive them. 
Could you place yourselves in some of our kanyons, or in some other
difficult places, out of sight but within hearing, and hear some of the
brethren curse and swear at their cattle and horses, you would not have
the least idea that they had ever known anything about "Mormonism," but
follow them home and you may find them pleading with the Lord for pardon. 
There are just such characters in our midst.  Do you think they should be
cut off from the Church?  I think that if the Presidents of Quorums would
chastise them it might be beneficial, at any rate it would not hurt them,
and if that will not do, disfellowship them, and let them know that they
must observe the laws of this kingdom, or eventually be cut off.  If you
do not wish to disfellowship them, you who are without sin, take such men
into the kanyon, where they may bellow and bellow in vain, and give them a
good cowhiding, until they will remember, and be ashamed of themselves
when they take the name of God in vain, or lie.

	You may take this counsel spiritually or temporally, just as you
please.  Such characters ought to be whipped, so that they would remember
it to the day of their death, and if they do not then stop their lying,
swearing, cursing, and pilfering, I will tell them that sooner or later
they will be cut off from the Church and go to hell.

	No unrighteous person, no person who is filthy in their feelings will
ever enter into the kingdom of God.  I know that the inquiry is often
made, "What shall we do with such men?"  I say chastise them.  I have
reprimanded some of the brethren severely, and made them first-rate men;
it brought them to their senses.  You may chastise them or take any
judicious course to bring them to their senses, that they may know whether
they wish to be Saints or not.

	If we continue to sin, if we continue to neglect our duty and disobey
counsel, the light afflictions which have visited us in these mountains
are but as a drop to a bucketful when compared with what awaits us.

	What a pity it is that a men who do not know how to govern themselves
in the kingdom of God, do not know enough to observe the counsel of those
who do know.  A pity it is that men and women of mature age, but who have
not got a fair stock of good sense, do not know how to control and apply
what they do know.  Such persons do not know enough to sit still and hear
from others, but they must always be indulging in their own gabble; their
tongues are like a flutter wheel in rapid motion, and their chatter flows
in a continual stream. We have men here who will come into this stand, and
preach you and I perfectly blind, figuratively speaking, and when they are
through they do not know themselves from a side of sole leather, with
regard to the things of God; they are all gab.  What a pity it is!

	I used to think, until I was forty-five years of age, that I had not
knowledge, sense, or ability enough to enable me to associate with the men
of the world, until I learned that the inhabitants of the earth were
groveling in darkness and ignorance, and that their professed knowledge
contained but few correct principles, that they were a set of automatons
on the stage of life, following the maxim, "As the old cock crows, so
crows the young."  All the learned crow one tune, say one prayer, and
mainly act just alike.  The learned world, so called, is a great mass of
ignorance.  I was once conversing with a worldly philosopher concerning
the elements, and he told me how many there were.  I informed him that we
were both ignorant on that subject, but that I knew enough to know that
there was a vast number of elements which philosophers had not yet been
able to classify and determine.  I asked him if he would clearly and fully
define the nature and properties of the element called light, remarking,
you can philosophize, you understand chemistry, astronomy, and many other
sciences; now will you please inform me what puts the light in that
candle?  He replied, "I cannot."  He could not explain the nature and
properties of the light produced by the burning of a cotton yarn in
tallow.  I said to him, do not talk to me any more about philosophy, and
your great learning and knowledge, when you cannot give me the least idea
of the properties of light.

	So it is with the world's philosophy.  All the learning and knowledge
upon the face of the earth cannot, of themselves, make or produce a spear
of grass, or the smallest leaf upon a tree.  Do you know where they come
from and what produces them?  I know their origin and mode of production,
and so do you, though you may not, in your reflections, have fully carried
out the ideas connected with that subject.  I will give you one item which
pertains to what I call natural, true philosophy; and if a philosopher of
the day could understand it and explain it to the world, learned
institutions would send him sheep skins conferring praise and titles.

	I will bring to your minds what I have formerly stated with regard to
the spirit's entering the body.  Our bodies are composed of visible,
tangible matter, as you all understand, you also know that they are born
into this world.  They then begin to partake of the elements adapted to
their organization and growth, increase to manhood, become old, decay, and
pass again into the dust.  Now in the first place, though I have explained
this many times, what we call death is the operation of life, inherent in
the matter of which the body is composed, and which causes the
decomposition after the spirit has left the body.  Were that not the fact,
the body, from which has fled the spirit, would remain to all eternity
just as it was when the spirit left it, and would not decay.

	What is commonly called death does not destroy the body, it only
causes a separation of spirit and body, but the principle of life,
inherent in the native elements, of which the body is composed still
continues with the particles of that body and causes it to decay, to
disolve [sic] itself into the elements of which it was composed, and all
of which continue to have life.  When the spirit given to man leaves the
body, the tabernacle begins to decompose, is that death?  No, death only
separates the spirit and body, and a principle of life still operates in
the untenanted tabernacle, but in a different way, and producing different
effects from those observed while it was tenanted by the spirit.  There is
not a particle of element which is not filled with life, and all space is
filled with element; there is no such thing as empty space, though some
philosophers contend that there is.

	Life in various proportions, combinations, conditions, &c., fills all
matter.  Is there life in a tree when it ceases to put forth leaves?  You
see it standing upright, and when it ceases to bear leaves an fruit you
say it is dead, but that is a mistake.  It still has life, but that life
operates upon the tree in another way, and continues to operate until it
resolves it to the native elements.  It is life in another condition that
begins to operate upon man, upon animal, upon vegetation, and upon
minerals when we see the change termed dissolution. There is life in the 
material of the fleshly tabernacle, independent of the spirit given of God
to undergo this probation.  There is life in all matter, throughout the
vast extent of all the eternities; it is in the rock, the sand, the dust,
in water, air, the gases, and, in short, in every description and
organization of matter, whether it be solid, liquid, or gaseous, particle
operating with particle.

	I have heard some philosophers argue that because no body could move
without displacing other matter, therefore there must be empty space. 
That reasoning is nonsense to me, because eternity is, was, and will
continue to be full of matter and life.  We put a ship in motion on the
water, and have we created an empty space?  No, we have only changed the
position of matter.  Men and animals move upon the earth, birds and fishes
cleave the elements they are organized to operate in, but do they leave a
track of empty space?  No, for all eternity is full of matter and life.
True, element is capable of contraction and expansion but that does not by
any means imply empty space.  You see life in human beings and in the
growing vegetation, and when that spirit of life departs, another
condition of life at once begins to operate upon the organization which
remains.  By way of illustration I will quote one passage from the book of
Job, who in his afflictions was visited by several friends, and after he
had concluded that they were all miserable comforters, he exclaimed,
"Though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God."  To
make this passage clearer to your comprehension, I will paraphrase it,
though my spirit leave my body and though worms destroy its present
organization, yet in the morning of the resurrection I shall behold the
face of my Saviour, in this same tabernacle; that is my understanding of
the idea so briefly expressed by Job.  If you wish to know how the quoted
passage reads, see Job, 19 chapter, 26 verse, King James' translation.

	I have formerly spoken about the spirits overcoming the flesh; the
body or flesh, is what the devil has power over.  God gave Lucifer power,
influence, mastery, and rule, to a certain extent, to control the life
pertaining to the elements composing the body, and the spirit which God
places into he body becomes intimately connected with it, and is of course
more or less affected by it.

	Now let some of our philosophers tell us how much empty space there
is, and where it is, in all the eternities that exist, or in other words,
where life is not.  The term death is often used to accommodate the
understandings of the people but they are in darkness upon this subject.

	The spirit leaves a body, and then that body begins to pass away by
another system of life.  I might enlarge upon the death pertaining to this
time, and the death that will be hereafter, but itis [sic] all upon the
same principle, it is plain, simple, natural philosophy, and our religion
is based upon it.

	I will now leave that subject and ask, will you lay a foundation for
your future happiness?

	Quite a number of men came here the first season besides the
pioneers. Brother Frost was one of the pioneers, and probably one of the
first who hammered iron in this region since the days of the Nephites.  He
has travelled through the Territory north, south, east, and west, wherever
he has been sent.  He has also crossed the Pacific ocean, and is again
right here on hand--not dead yet.  There are many others who have held on
in the same way, who have not turned aside but have remained here, or gone
where they have been sent.

	As I was observing last Sabbath, such persons are the characters who
are not generally known, throughout our community, as are the drunkards,
and men who go to law; those are the men of notoriety, but the others are
men of sense, men who mind their own business.  Still, do not go to
cutting off twigs before they ought to be cut off, but if they prefer it,
let them go to California and put their gold and silver into the hands of
the devil, for I ask no odds of them, and expect I could buy the whole of
them so far as property is concerned.  However, be merciful to them.  I
say to those men and women who cannot stay here because famine threatens
the land, because we are threatened with being distressed, and through
fear that we shall all die, just go, won't you?  for you are nothing but
hinderances [sic].

	We have lifted you up, as we do poor horses that are down and cannot
help themselves, and we have nursed you, year after year, and as soon as
you could stand alone, you kick at your benefactors. As soon as you get a
hundred dollars in money, and two or three yoke of cattle, you are ready
to say, "I want to go to the devil now," and say, go, but as the Lord
Almighty lives, you will meet sore chastenings, and pass through much more
sorrow than if you were to continue Saints and remain with the Saints.

	And after you are handled by the devil until you are willing to do as
the Lord wishes you to, then you will be glad to come here and black the
boots and shoes of such men as brother Frost, and will have to do the
drudgery to all eternity, or as long as the faithful have a mind to keep
you.  The poor miserable curses--I call them so because they are
cursed--will prowl around and serve the devil, will run back and forth,
and go to California and to the States, and here and there, and at the
same time pretend they wish to be Saints.

	What will be done with such people?  God Almighty will make them our
servants.  You had better stay here and die, if die it is.  California is
not the gathering place for the Saints; here is the gathering place, and
here we will gather and stay until God says, "Go somewhere else."

	If that is back to Jackson County, do not be scared, for as the Lord
lives this people will go back and build a great temple there.  Do not be
frightened because a few rotten, corrupt scoundrels in our midst cry out,
"O, the troops are coming, and that will be the end of 'Mormonism,'" in
order to deceive the weak-minded females.

	Should you see little boys playing with pebbles and small sticks, and
hear them say, "Get out of the way, we are going to build a great big
structure, that we may climb to the sun, and pull it down," their words
and conduct would be just as sensible as it is for the world to tell us
that "Mormonism" is going to be destroyed.  If we do right we need care no
more about them than we do about musquitoes [sic], for this people will
surely go back to Jackson County.  How soon that may be, or when it may
be, I do not care; but that is not now the gathering place for this
people.

	You will find a great many "Mormons" who have lived in the States
ever since they were driven from Missouri, and who still have a wish to be
"Mormons," but they mingle with the world, and some have joined the
Methodists, some the baptists, &c., so as to be on hand when this people
go back to Jackson County.  Then they expect to walk into Zion; but when
that day comes they will be only far enough advanced to black the shoes of
the faithful, dig trenches hew wood, and draw water, and perform such
other labors as may be required of them, while the Saints dictate the
affairs of this kingdom.  They think that they are going to slip in with
the crowd, but they will find themselves mistaken, for if any one presents
them saying, "Let this or that man in," I will reply, "He stayed in
Missouri all the time that the Saints were in the wilderness."  I should
want to baptize such characters, and then send them to preach to the
spirits in prison.  After they have been there a long time, we will then
send them to make our farms, attend to our gardens, to our horses and
stables, and to do all the drudgery.  They may complain and say, "Really
brother Joseph, we have been good Saints all the time," and Joseph will
reply, "Come here and let me anoint your eyes," then he will touch their
eyes, and they will turn round and exclaim, "Let us be doorkeepers, or do
anything else, that we may stay with you.  Now we have eyes to see, ears
to hear, and a heart to understand; we see that we have been fools."

	They will labor under the guidance and dictation of the Elders who
have ben faithful.  Joseph and his faithful brethren will be at the gate,
and the unfaithful cannot pass.  They think that Jesus will be there, and
that if he is there they will have the privilege of seeing him, and that
they may gain an entrance, but if they have the privilege of seeing Joseph
Smith's coat tail, they may think themselves well off.  If the Father, the
Son, and the holy angels are there, they will only attend to the general
oversight of affairs, and the faithful of this people will have the
privilege of determining who is worthy of admission.

	This is my philosophy with regard to the duties of the Saints.

	Now if philosophers will point out where empty space is, I will pay
them for their trouble, because all the wicked will be running to me to
know where it is, that they may be where God does not dwell, for they will
want the rocks and mountains to fall on them to hide them from His
presence.  I could make money by directing poor devils where empty space
is.  May God bless you.  Amen.

   DISINCLINATION OF MEN TO LEARN THROUGH THE TEACHINGS AND EXPERIENCE
        OF OTHERS--LATTER-DAY SAINTS COMPARED WITH THOSE OF FORMER
        DAYS--SACRIFICE--SHEEP AND GOATS--CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS.
  A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle, 
                  Great Salt Lake City, April 20, 1856.

	Sometimes I think it quite strange that the children of men are so
constituted as to need to be taught one lesson all the time, and again it
is not so marvellous to me, when I reflect upon and understand their
organization, and the designed effect thereupon of this state of
probation.  Men are organized to be independent in their sphere, are
organized for an independent being, yet they have, as soldiers term it, to
run the gauntlet all the time.  They are organized to be just as
independent as any being in eternity, but that independency, in order for
them to occupy a position in the sphere of an independent being having
control over all things, must be proved and tried while in this state of
existence, must be operated upon by the good and the evil.

	It is not so strange to me that the people should continually need
talking to, that they should continually need instructing, when I take
this view of the matter.  Mothers when bringing up their children, if they
will observe and reflect, can see and understand the feelings of the whole
human family.  The mother says to the child, "Don't do that; you must not
handle those things;" but the little child thinks itself just as capable
of handling a tea cup, or a tumbler, as are father and mother.  The little
girl takes up a broom to sweep the hearth, but if mother is not watching
her she may let the broom take fire and set it by the bed, and thereby the
bed and then the building be set in a blaze. In the actions of their
children parents can detect the course of all, from the king upon his
throne to the humblest peasant, they are all performing their part on the
theatre of the earth.  

	People may be advanced far in life, and yet be surrounded by
weaknesses comparatively like those of children.  The man or woman of
eighty, sixty, forty, twenty, or the child of two or five years of age,
have something ahead of them to attain to, and which they are striving to
accomplish.  There is a principle in the feelings of people which is
implanted in their organization expressly for them to become independent,
to become Gods, and it is continually urging them to reach forward and to
wish to do and perform that which they do not understand.  These
weaknesses are in the organization, irrespective of age. True, persons can
do many things at twenty-five years of age which they could not do when
but five years old, and men may know much more at fifty than at twenty,
yet the same common weakness is apparent which you can see exhibited in
the little child.  There is one rule to adopt, one course to pursue, one
lesson to be learned, and it is applicable alike to all ages, from the
child of one or two years old to the grey-haired veteran, and which, if
they would learn, would prove highly beneficial, and that is, to do those
things which they know they can do, and when required by a superior to do
a thing they never have done, to take the advice of those who have
successfully performed the same act, and then with the best skill they can
command, do as they are told, and thus further their education in life and
be satisfied.

	If the child could understand and be satisfied that the mother knows
better than it does, when it is told to let the dishes alone, the broom,
or the pin-cushion, or not to swing on the table lest it be turned over
and break the dishes, or not to do this or that, and that such and such
things it might do, it would be a great aid to it to take the course laid
down by a judicious parent, and would save it much trouble while passing
through its mortal career.  I ask myself why it is that people do not
learn to be satisfied and contented with what they do know, until they are
instructed and learn more, and practise this principle in their lives.  We
are taught here all the time to be passive and contented, to do the things
we know how to do.  Still I have no question, but what, if I could
unobserved and unknown to them listen to the remarks of many of the
Elders, or of brethren and sisters, I should hear doctrines taught and
suggestions made which God never designed to have His servants teach.  At
the same time remarks such as these might be dropped, "I am impressed and
the Spirit leads me thus and so; true I believe all that is written and
taught, but I tell you that brother Brigham does not tell us all of it; he
says he does not, but that he tells us as fast as we can understand and
practise what he does teach."  Now that is true; but all do not stop and
reflect, neither do they fully understand the principles of the Gospel,
the principles of the  holy Priesthood; and from this cause many imbibe
the idea that they are capable of leading out in teaching principles that
never have been taught.  They are not aware that the moment they give way
to this hallucination the devil has power over them to lead them on to
unholy ground; though this is a lesson which they ought to have learned
long ago, yet it is one that was learned by but few in the days of Joseph.

	I was speaking about this matter last night, about the feelings of
the people towards the Prophet Joseph.  The mass of the people never
realized, to the day of his death, but what Joseph was made by them.  They
actually believed that he was amenable to the people, that he did not know
it all, and that other men knew things which he did not know concerning
the kingdom of God on the earth.

	Here let me give you one lesson that may be profitable to many.  If
the Lord Almighty should reveal to a High Priest, or to any other than the
head, things that are, or that have been and will be, and show to him the
destiny of this people twenty-five years from now, or a new doctrine that
will in five, ten, or twenty years hence become the doctrine of this
Church and kingdom, but which has not yet been revealed to this people,
and reveal it to him by the same Spirit, the same messenger, the same
voice, and the same power that gave revelations to Joseph when he was
living, it would be a blessing to that High Priest, or individual; but he
must rarely divulge it to a second person on the face of the earth, until
God reveals it through the proper source to become the property of the
people at large.  Therefore when you hear Elders, High Priests, Seventies,
or the Twelve, (though you cannot catch any of the Twelve there, but you
may the High Priests, Seventies, and Elders) say that God does not reveal
through the President of the Church that which they know, and tell
wonderful things, you may generally set it down as a God's truth that the
revelation they have had, is from the devil, and not from God.  If they
had received from the proper source, the same power that revealed to them
would have shown them that they must keep the things revealed in their own
bosoms, and they seldom would have a desire to disclose them to the second
person.  That is a general rule, but will it apply in every case, and to
the people called the kingdom of God at all times?  No, not in the
strictest sense, but the Spirit which reveals will impart the proper
discretion.  All the people have not learned this lesson, they should have
learned it long ago.

	As I have already observed, comparatively few learned, in the days of
Joseph, that he was placed between the people and God, that they had no
more right to dictate him than they had to dictate the angel Gabriel, that
they had no more business to interfere with him, or call him to an
account, than we have to call to an account the angel Gabriel.

	This we all ought to understand, and also how and when to teach and
practise what we do know, and when we have done that much then stop until
we learn more.

	I know, and so do many others, by experience, by what we have seen
and passed through, by what has passed before us and by what we have seen
in others, that when the devil cannot overcome an individual through
temptation to commit wickedness, when he sees that a person is determined
to walk to the line and travel straight forward into the Celestial
Kingdom, he will adopt a course of flattery, will strive to exercise a
pleasing influence and move along smoothly with him and when he sees an
opportunity he will try to turn him out of the way, if it is only to the
extent of a hair's breadth.  And if he cannot keep a person this side the
Gospel line, he will walk with that individual on the line and strive to
push him over.

	That is so invariably the case that people need eyes to see, and
understanding to know how to discriminate between the things of God and
the things that are not of Him.  Will this people learn? I am happy and
joyful, I am thankful, and can say of a truth, brethren and sisters, that
the manifestations of goodness from this people are not to be compared, in
my opinion, with those from any other people upon the face of the whole
earth since the days of Enoch.

	Old Israel, in all their travels, wanderings, exercises, powers, and
keys of the Priesthood, never came nigh enough to the path this people
have walked in to see them in their obedience that was and is required by
the Gospel.  Yet there are thousands of weaknesses and overt acts in some
of this people, which render us more or less obnoxious to each other.

	Still, you may search all the history extant of the children of
Israel, or that of any people that ever lived on the face of the earth
since the days of Enoch, and I very much doubt, taking that people with
their traditions, and comparing them with this mixed multitude from the
different nations now in the world with our traditions, whether you would
find a people from the days of Enoch until now that could favorably
compare with this people in their willingness to obey the Gospel, and to
go all lengths to build up the kingdom of God.

	I have said a great many times, and repeat it now, and whether I am
mistaken or not I will leave for the future to determine, and though, as I
do, Joseph when living reproved the people, that I believe with all my
heart that the people who gathered around Enoch, and lived with him and
built up his City, when they had traveled the same length of time in their
experience as this people have, were not as far advanced in the things of
the kingdom of God.

	Make your own comparisons between the two people, think of the
traditions of the two.  How many nations were there in the days of Enoch? 
The very men who were associated with him had been with Adam; they knew
him and his children, and had the privilege of talking with God.  Just
think of it.

	Though we have it in history that our father Adam was made of the
dust of this earth, and that he knew nothing about his God previous to
being made here, yet it is not so; and when we learn the truth we shall
see and understand that he helped to make this world, and was the chief
manager in that operation.

	He was the person who brought the animals and the seeds from other
planets to this world, and brought a wife with him and stayed here.  You
may read and believe what you please as to what is found written in the
Bible.  Adam was made from the dust of an earth, but not from the dust of
this earth.  He was made as you and I are made, and no person was ever
made upon any other principle.

	Do you not suppose that he was acquainted with his associates, who
came and helped to make this earth?  Yes, they were just as familiar with
each other as we are with our children and parents.

	Suppose a number of our sons were going to Carson Valley to build
houses, open farms, and erect mills and workshops, and that we should say
to them that we wish them to stay there five years, and that then we will
come and visit them, when I go there will they be afraid of me?  No, they
would receive me as their father, just as Adam received his Father.

 	The very man who walked and talked with and knew the God of heaven,
and knew and understood all about making this earth had associates who
were associated with Enoch, and yet twenty-five years of the travel and
experience of Enoch with his people had not advanced them so far, in my
opinion, as this people have advanced in the same time, taking into
account the difference of traditions and other advantages.

	They had not a diversity of languages, but all spoke one language;
they were not trained in the various traditions in which we have been, for
they received only one from Adam; they were as intimately associated as we
would be in living in this City two hundred years, with the gates shut
down upon all egress and ingress, and under such circumstances do you not
think that our traditions would be all alike?

	Yet Enoch had to talk with and teach his people during a period of
three hundred and sixty years, before he could get them prepared to enter
into their rest, and then he obtained power to translate himself and his
people, with the region they inhabited, their houses, gardens, fields,
cattle, and all their possessions.  He had learned enough from Adam and
his associates to know how to handle the elements, and those who would not
listen to his teachings were so wicked that they were fit to be destroyed,
and he obtained power to take his portion of the earth and move out a
little while, where he remains to this day.

	You know that I sometimes reprove you because you deserve it, yet
there is a constant and rapid increase of willingness to build up this
kingdom.

	Where is there a woman that would say to her husband, or to her son,
"I do not wish you to go on the mission you have been called to perform"? 
That would say "It is true you were called, but I do not like to have you
go, cannot you get excused and stay at home?"  I do not believe you could
find five such women in this Territory.

	There may be a few who are going to California that would say, "Yes,
you may go on your mission, but I will go with you."  All they desire is
to get away.  Can you find five such women?

	I care not if they should be old ladies of seventy-five years of age
and had not the first thing to subsist upon, and though their whole
dependence was upon their sons or husbands, they would say, "Go John, my
son; or, go husband, if you do not we shall suffer; but if you go and do
your duty God will provide for us in your absence."  Are not these the
feelings of every wife and mother?

	In the midst of all this some talk about sacrifices, but upon that
point I wish to be allowed to differ from the class who view the matter in
that light.

	There may be some few exceptions, but I have made no sacrifices.
"Mormonism" has done everything for me that ever has been done from me on
the earth; it has made me happy, it has made me wealthy and comfortable;
it has filled me with good feelings with joy and rejoicing. Whereas,
before I possessed the spirit of the Gospel, I was troubled with that
which I hear others complain of, that is, with, at times, feeling cast
down, gloomy, and desponding; with everything wearing to me, at times, a
dreary aspect.

	But have the trees, the streams, the rocks, or any part of creation
worn a gloomy aspect to me for one half minute since I came in possession
of the Spirit of this Gospel?  No, though before that time I might view
the most beautiful gardens, buildings, cities, plantations, or anything
else in nature, yet to me they all wore at times a shade of death.

 	They appeared at times as though a vail was brooding over them, which
cast a dark shade upon all things, like the shade of the valley of death,
and I felt lonesome and bad.  But since I have embraced the Gospel not for
one half minute, to the best of my recollection, has anything worn to me a
gloomy aspect, under all circumstances I have felt pleasant and cheerful.

	When surrounded by mobs, with death and destruction threatening on
every hand, I am not aware but that I felt just as joyful, just as well in
my spirit, as I do now.  Prospects might appear dull and very dark, but I
have never seen a time in this Gospel but what I knew that the result
would be beneficial to the cause of truth and the lovers of righteousness,
and I have always felt to joyfully acknowledge the hand of the Lord in all
things.

	When I was among the wicked, they looked to me as do the wicked, and
when I saw devils possessing the bodies of the children of men I knew that
God permitted it, and that He permitted them to be on the earth, and
wherein would this be a state of probation, without those devils?  We
cannot even give endowments without representing a devil.

	What would we know about heaven or happiness were it not for their
opposite?  Consequently we could not have got along so well and so rapidly
without those mobocrats.  And if mobbers should happen to come here do not
look too sour at them, for we need them.

	We could not build up the kingdom of God without the aid of devils,
they must help to do it.  They persecute and drive us from city to city,
from place to place, until we learn the difference between the power of
God and the power of the devil.

	But does it then follow that we should say to them, "Come on here, we
are good fellows well met?"  By no means, care must be observed that we do
not overrun the rule; we only need enough of them to help do up the work.

	If we should get too many here they would overcome the good, and the
Saints would have to flee.

	Some of our Elders desire all the time to say, as I plainly phrase
it, "How do you do brother Christ, and How do you do brother devil?  Walk
in and take breakfast with me."

	I consider such men useful in their places.  This fact was very
clearly exemplified to me in a dream which I had while so many were going
to California, at a time when many of the brethren were under quite an
excitement about the Saints going there to dig gold.

	I thought considerably about the movement, and there had been a
feeling abroad among the people that when the Saints got into the
mountains "judgment would be laid to the line and righteousness to the
plummet," that the axe would be laid at the root of the tree, and that
every person who did not meet the measure would, in accordance with the
iron bedstead rule, be chopped off if too long, and stretched out if too
short.

	Several supposed that this would be the case; and perhaps thought
that they would be able to so sanctify themselves, that in one year they
could take Great Salt Lake Valley and the regions round about up to Enoch,
or have him come here.  I did not so view the matter, and did not give any
special instructions upon it.

	At that time I dreamed that while I was a little below the road and
just north of the Hot Springs, about four miles from here, I saw brother
Joseph coming and walked up to the road to see him, and asked him where he
was going?  He replied, "I am going north."

 	There were two or three horsemen along, and some men were riding with
him upon a few boards placed loosely upon the running gears of a wagon,
upon which were also a tent and camp utensils.  I wished to talk with him,
but he did not seem inclined to conversation, and it occurred to me that
he was going to Captain James Brown's to buy all his goats.

	I had been promised ten or a dozen of them, but I thought that he was
going to buy every one, and that I should not get a single goat to put
with my sheep, and I laughed in my sleep.

	Pretty soon he came back, with a large flock of sheep and goats
following the wagon, and as I looked upon them I saw some sheep that were
white, pure, and clean, and as large as a two year old cow, with wool from
ten to twenty inches in length, as fine as silk and as white as the driven
snow.

	With them were all lesser sizes down to the smallest goat or sheep I
ever saw, and all mixed up together. I saw some sheep with hair like that
of goats, and goats of all colors, red, black, white, &c., mixed with the
sheep; and their sizes, colors, and quality of fleeces, seemed to be
almost innumerable.

	I remarked to Joseph that he had got the strangest flock I ever saw,
and looked at him slyly and laughed, and asked him what he was going to do
with them.  He looked at me in his usual shrewd manner and replied, "They
are all good in their places."

	On awaking I at once understood the dream, and I then said, go to
California, or where you please, for goats are as good in their places as
sheep, until the time for them to mingle is over.  And in striving to
guide and improve the flock we sometimes have to cry out, shoo, and at
other times to draw them nigh by calling, sheep, sheep.

	We are trying to train the flock, and to turn the goats into sheep,
and the spotted, ring-streaked and speckled into beautiful white, and how
shall we succeed?  Perhaps we shall see rather a curious flock at last,
but we will do the best we can.

	Sometimes I rise up here and really feel to storm at some who are in
this community, for their conduct is awful, it is outrageous.  I presume I
could come here this afternoon and eat bread and drink of the cup, in the
name of Israel's God, with men who would go straight from the communion
and steal my property.

	Let us consider this point a little, for this matter has been through
me, round me, over me, and under me; I have turned it inside out and round
about and looked at it, and then I have turned it over again.  Brother
Fullmer has just alluded to the rails disappearing from fences.  Are not
your fences taken?  Is not you clothing taken when it is hung out to dry? 
And is not wood taken from your wood piles?  How many have to lock up
their wood, or lose it?  Taking property without leave from the owner is
what I call stealing, but many who practise that do not so understand it.

	Even if I had to work by the day for bread, wood, clothing, and
comforts for myself and family, and should then without authority go and
take wood from brother Joseph's wood pile, were he living here and
President of the Church, my judgment, what I know of right and wrong, the
traditions of my fathers, and the teachings of my parents and of the
neighbors where I was brought up would all confirm me in the belief that I
was stealing.  Do all persons feel so?  No, they do not.

	During two or three of the past winters, except the last, I have no
question but that women and children carried from one to three cords of
wood per day from my woodyard, and when the wood was scarce they would
take my fence poles.  I have myself seen the take back loads of wood and
then fill their bags with the chips and small sticks, but when they took
my fence poles and posts I stopped them, and told them that if they were
not satisfied with taking my wood without taking my fencing to leave my
yard, and not to come there to steal any ore.

	But do I see some there yet?  Yes, you may see women and children
carrying away my wood every day. If my workmen ask them what they are
doing, they reply "Brother Brigham said I might have some wood, he will
not say anything."  Do you suppose that those persons fully realize that
they are stealing?  No.

	I will tell you a little that I know about the difference in
traditions and customs, and will go no further than where I have traveled
and preached. A large number of the inhabitants in the old countries are
tenants, renting houses for longer or shorter periods, generally for from
three to twelve months.

	Now suppose that A, when vacating a house, accidentally leaves his
pocket-book in a cupboard, and that B, who next occupies the same
building, finds A's pocket-book with perhaps, twenty sovereigns in it;
what does the custom of that country warrant in such a case? Their
traditions are such that B claims that property as his own, and A cannot
get it, unless B is honest enough to give it up.

	B's course in that case may not be in accordance with law, but it is
according to custom, which in such instances is stronger than law.

	An American would consider, if he was to find hand irons left in the
fireplace, or a chair of sofa left in the sitting-room, that the former
tenant had the right to call and take them away; and if he was to
undertake to smuggle any of those things he would consider himself
stealing.

	That difference of feeling and conduct arises from the difference
there is in the traditions of different countries.  In America a man would
as soon venture to go into his neighbor's house and steal a chair, as to
retain one accidentally left there by a previous occupant.  I will notice
another difference in traditions.

	Among various other occupations I have been a carpenter, painter and
glazier, and when I learned my trades and worked, both as journeyman and
master, if I took a job of painting and glazing, say to the amount of one
pound sterling, or five dollars, and through my own carelessness in any
manner injured the work or material, I considered it my duty to repair the
injury at my own expense.

	In Liverpool, Manchester, Preston, or anywhere else in England if you
employ a glazier to work to the value of one pound, ten or fifty pounds,
and he can manage in any way to put the windows in such a position that
the wind will blow them over and break them, he will do it, in order to
get the work to do over.

	Do they think they do wrong?  No.  Why?  Because their employers
would make them do their work for nothing, and then compel them to live on
roots and grass if their physical organization could endure it, therefore,
says the mechanic, "If I can get anything out of you I will call it a
godsend."

	Servants into he houses of the great ones, if they can get anything
out of their masters besides their wages, call it a godsend.  If they can
take bread, eat, butter, and cheese, without the masters knowing it, to
support their wives, others, fathers, children, brothers, and sisters who
are not capable of taking care of themselves, they will put that provision
in their possession, to keep them from starving to death, and call it a
godsend.

 	Let me do that in this country, and I should consider myself a
culprit, according to my judgment and traditions.  No matter if I were
suffering for bread, and at the same time working among millions of it, if
I could not procure it by my labor, I must ask for it and have it given to
me, for if I got it in any other way, I must consider myself a thief.  Are
the Americans altogether excusable?  No, for if I wish to find the rough
and ready ones, I can do it as quick in America as any where else.

	Shall I tell you what are some of the traditions of a few of the
Americans?  Yes.  If they have not all they need to eat, drink, or wear,
and find an ox or cow on the range over Jordan, or any where else, that
belongs to me or you, and can take that animal and kill it they will do
so, and then sell the meat to you and me, and call that a godsend, and
say, "O we are all of one family."  That is an American tradition among a
few; but as a general thing, the customs of this country and the
traditions of the nations across the great waters differ materially.

	When I went to England the brethren and sisters would not have me to
shave on the Sabbath, they would pay any price to have me shave on
Saturday.  Said I, "I will shave on Sunday morning, if I have no time to
do so on Saturday."  I told them that I did not come there to learn their
customs and traditions, but to teach the people the Gospel of salvation.
That we had traditions in America with regard to blacking boots, shaving,
&c. on Sunday, as well as they, but if I had no time to do that work on
Saturday I would do it on Sunday, if I deemed it necessary.  And if I
wished to go to meeting and worship God, it was just as acceptable to do
so on Saturday as on Sunday.

	Adam Clark is taken by any as a standard amongst the comentators, and
it is said, if the clock struck twelve on Saturday night, and he happened
to have but one shoe blacked, that he would drop the blacking and brushes,
and go to meeting next day with one shoe blacked and the other unblacked. 
That might by some be esteemed a pious example, and by others a wayark to
the kingdom of folly.

	Such are a few of the traditions extant among different people.  I
have no question but that any in our community do things which are
actually sinful if they did but know them right, but their traditions are
such that they act with impunity, and pass on as unconcerned and
unconscious of wrong as if they had just been on their knees praying. If
we live long enough together, we shall have a tradition of our own, and
that is, to be so trained in the law of the Celestial kingdom, to so learn
the law of right, as to be able at all times to know right from wrong, and
then always to do right.  Is this the case now?  No.

	Suppose that several of the brethren were to go for fuel and timber
in Red Bute kanyon, where we generally went when we first came to this
Territory.  Some go on up the kanyon cutting a tree for timber in one
place, and preparing fuel for loading in another, while others follow up
with their teams, and you know that when they get a little brush-whipped
they are apt to become angry, to forget themselves a little, and to say,
"Damn it,"  and directly one will begin to say to himself, "This kanyon is
as much mine as any persons; I think I shall take this tree and this wood
that are already cut."

	Another comes across a wagon that is broken down, and takes one of
the hounds from it and puts it into his own.  Still another passes by
where somebody has lost an axe; he finds it and takes it along, saying,
"Well, it is lost here, we are away in the wilderness, these are as much
my premises as any one's; I will take out this helve and put in another,
and grind the axe over a little, and nobody will know it; thank the Lord,
I have an axe now."

	Do you know that some people feel and act in that manner?  I know
they do.  Some will find wood cut in the kanyon and load it on their
wagons, perhaps that which grandad, with his crippled libs, had toiled
hard to collect together; but that makes no difference, they pile it on,
saying, "I believe I am blessed of the Lord, I am much favored of Him
to-day," and come out rejoicing, having found a load of wood already cut. 
But what have they done?  They have found loads of wood cut to their
hands, and apparently have not reflected but what an angel had cut it
expressly for them.  This is a tradition and custom of the Mountains. 
Some of you may inquire whether I believe what I am talking about.  Let me
tell you what I have observed; two or three years ago I went up City Creek
kanyon to show a man where he might get wood on shares, which I was having
cut.  I came to where my men were cutting wood and brush to clear out the
road, and I told them to pile it so that my teamster could drive up and
load it handily.  Soon afterwards and old gentleman came along and,
without any privilege from me, drove off the man to whom I had just
engaged the wood and began to load it on his wagon.  That individual was
an old Saint, one who had been twenty years in this Church.

	What is the feeling with some of the Yankees, English, Scotch, Irish,
French, Germans, &c?  "We have come to Zion where all things are common." 
The devil has put this idea into the minds of some, and the devil, I was
going to say, cannot take it away from them.  They possess this feeling,
and they are determined to have it so.  With such the idea is,  "We are
all children of one parent, we all belong to the household of faith, we
are one family, and we will have it so, and will not be beat out of it."

	This notion is partly right and partly wrong, and, as I have often
said, people ought to know how to discern between the things that are of
God and the things that are not of God.  This is the spirit they receive
in the first place--"Ye are one in Christ Jesus," and that is right, but
are we one out of Christ Jesus?  Many would like to have it so.  You have
come here from all quarters to be one family, yet if some of you come
across a wagon wheel, you will appropriate it to your own use, asking no
leave; or if you have no axe, you will get one from some part of the great
family, and thank God for an axe; and if you come across piles of wood,
that you have not labored to cut, you shout, "Thank God, hallelujah, I
have found some wood ready cut to my hand."  That is being one out of
Christ.

	Others will say, "Let us take down this fence, and turn our cattle
into this meadow."  You can find plenty of earth and pole fences purposely
thrown down, and might hear the trespassers exclaim,  "O, this is Father's
land, let us enjoy it."  Others will say, "Damn it, it is mine as well as
yours."  I will take some of the reputed best men now in this
congregation, who, through carelessness and thoughtlessness, when they
have done their forenoon's work on their five acre lots, turn out their
cattle in other people's oats, wheat, or grass, while they lay asleep. 
Yes, some of the would-be-thought best men in this congregation are sure
to keep their cattle on their neighbor's lots, and off from their own, and
should you pass along and rouse them up, saying "Why, brethren, your
cattle are in my oats," they would reply, "Really, brother, I did not know
it, I turned them out a little while, and lay down to rest."

	All such people deserve whipping and scolding, and require much
training.  What for?  Not for their goodness, their faith, obedience,
honesty, and anxiety to build up the kingdom of God, but for their
careless, indolent feelings, for their stupidity in laying down and
permitting their animals to trespass upon their neighbor's crops, for
trying to train themselves into the belief that it is right to take this
or that, or to do thus and so, when it is not strictly according to the
law of God.  You and I have got to learn better things.

	Let this land come into market and the brethren buy sections, half
sections, or quarter sections, and soon, and how soon you would hear,
"Bless you, now we have law to defend us."  Can you not see that tradition
makes the brethren, where there is a little difficulty, walk into the
court room with all the confidence imaginable, feeling almost like little
gods,and exclaiming, "Now things will be done as they should be, matters
will go right now."  And what is done?  Why, the lawyers and court take
pretty much all the money; for a debt of five dollars taken into court
they will expend one hundred dollars of your means in lawyers' fees, jury
fees, and other court expenses, when the question could have been settled
in five minutes.

	This is an American tradition, though there are fortunately many
exceptions to the power of this general tradition.  Some men will go into
court and spend five hundred dollars and feel as nicely about it as
possible, even when their case has not been adjudicated as justly as a
sensible "Mormon" boy, ten years old, would do it.  And yet, when they
know this fact full well, they will spend their time, day after day, and
their means with seeming contentment, saying to themselves, "Oh, if we can
only go into the court, and address the court, and say, may it please the
court, may it please your honor, may it please you, gentlemen of the jury,
O, how joyous we shall be--we shall feel as though we were men of some
importance, if we can only get up and strut and splutter before a court." 
Even when merely a judge is sitting there, like a bean on the end of a
pipe stem, who would be flipped off should a grain of good sense happen to
strike him, how big he feels while sitting there for days to adjudicate a
case that should not require five minutes.

	We have got to learn better than to practise and follow after such
nonsense, and learn the principle and law of right.  That is the doctrine,
the tradition which this people have got to come to.  Will they come to
it?  Yes, or be damned, one or the other.  I would not give the ashes of a
rye straw for all the law that was ever made on this earth, outside of
that which has come from heaven, to control a righteous man, neither would
any man or woman that desires truth and righteousness.  Cannot you observe
the law of righteousness as easily as you can observe the poor, miserable,
sunken laws devised by a set of wicked men?  Some may reply, "My
traditions will not let me."

	How do you suppose that the Lord looks upon litigation? It is just as
mean and contemptible, in the eyes of angels and of the Almighty, to go to
law, and thereby wrong a fellow being, as it is for you to go and steal my
property, yet some of you justify yourselves in going to law, and in your
other false and unholy traditions.  Learn the law of Christ and let alone
the traditions of the children of men; make the law of Christ your
tradition, for we have got to come to this position.

	I will now return to where I began, and again ask, why do you require
to be talked to so much?  You know right from wrong; there is hardly a
person here, but what knows right from wrong, then why do you not all do
right?  Because of your filthy traditions and dispositions.  I have often
sincerely and absolutely thought that the doctrine and practice of a
certain lawyer was in the end strictly worldly wise; he first studied
divinity and preached to the people for the salvation of their souls,
until he learned that they did not care so much for their spiritual as for
their temporal salvation, when he studied and practised medicine, but soon
discovered that the poor miserable wills of men were more to them than the
salvation of their bodies, and he finally studied law and indulged all his
clients in the expensive gratification of their wills, which was dearer to
them than the salvation of soul and body.

	When we have an antipathy towards a person, the temptation is strong
to be revenged, and one is inclined to say,"I will do this and that, and
will let the passion of the moment control me."  But we have to learn the
law of Christ, and to train ourselves to it until it will become the
tradition of this people, and then you can bring up your children in the
way they should go.  In every nation, community, and family, there are
peculiar traditions, and the child is trained in them.  If the law of
Christ becomes the tradition of this people, the children will be brought
up according to the law of the celestial kingdom, else they are not
brought up in the way the should go.  Children will them be brought up in
the way they should go.  Children will them be brought up, under the
traditions of their fathers, to do just right, and to refrain from all
evil, and when old they will not depart from a righteous course. Solomon
could not carry out this principle in his life, because he was not
thoroughly brought up in the way he should go.  The old Indian adage is
rather the most applicable to the present practise of many, viz., "Train
up a child, and away it goes, as it pleases."

	If this people could be shut out from all communication with other
people, and have no customs and traditions introduced foreign to the law
of Christ, we should soon see eye to eye, and our traditions would be
framed according to the celestial law; and we should then be prepared to
bring up our children in the way they should go.

	I have spoken with much plainness concerning several traditions and
practices, in order that the Saints abroad may correctly understand that
we are not all, as yet, fully sanctified by the truth, and that both they
and the world may know that the Gospel net still gathereth fish of every
kind, that the flock has some goats intermingled with sheep of various
grades, and that they day of separation has not yet arrived.  May God
bless you.  Amen.

       IRRIGATION--EVERY SAINT SHOULD LABOR FOR THE INTEREST OF THE
         COMMUNITY--IT IS THE LORD THAT GIVES THE INCREASE--ETC.
         Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery,
                   Great Salt Lake City, June 8, 1856.

	I wish to say a few words before this meeting is dismissed, upon the
subject of the Big Cottonwood Canal.  I have been along the line of the
canal, more or less, during nearly every day of the last week, and I will
say, for the gratification of the Bishops and brethren present, that I
think they have done extremely well.  A great many men have labored on
that canal during the past week, and had it not been for faith, or the
Spirit of the Lord upon them, many might have sunk with fatigue, for they
looked as though they would faint; but they have labored faithfully.  What
was absolutely necessary to be done a week ago to-day could have been done
in one week, if all the labor could have been judiciously applied, an the
portion we derived to finish this season would have now been completed. 
But such drawbacks will occur, when time cannot be previously taken to
make the proper estimate and distribution of men and teams for different
points of the work.  With the circumstances under which we commenced last
Monday morning, it could not be expected but what there would be more or
less confusion and misapplication of labor; but even with these
disadvantages the work has prospered extremely well.

	If we can get the water of Big Cottonwood as far as Big Kanyon, as
ditches have already been opened from the last named point, we can water
the five acre lots and about one-third of the city; but we expect to
continue operations until we bring the water to the termination of the
canal above the city, on the north side.  The large reservoirs formed by
the embankments across the deep ravines will hold an immense quantity of
water, and we wish to have them speedily finished for containing water to
be used when we need it.

	In regard to irrigation, I will venture to say that one-half of the
water is wasted; instead of being applied where and when it is needed, it
runs here and there, and perhaps one-half reaches the drooping plants.  If
people would take a little more pains in preparing ditches, gates, and
embankments for economically conducting water where it is most needed, it
would be very great advantage to them.

	When water is brought to the termination of the canal, which we can
accomplish in a few days, I presume that the reservoirs on the line of the
work and those portions which are excavated in full will contain water
enough to allow the people to irrigate when necessary, and thus do away
with the practice of watering only two hours a week on a city lot, and
much of that to be done in the night. And that is not all, for by the time
the water is fairly on a lot it is taken by the next person whose right it
is to use it.  And lots which have had thousands of dollars expended on
them, and which would yield more than a thousand dollars' worth of fruit
and vegetables, could they be properly irrigated, are only allowed a small
stream of water for two hours once a week, and at the same time and
adjoining lot planted with corn, the hills six feet apart and one stalk in
a hill, comparatively speaking, the balance of the ground being covered
with weeds, is allotted the same time and amount of water as the one on
which the fruit trees and other choice vegetation are worth thousands of
dollars. 

	There ought to be are formation in the distribution of the water. 
The man who will not raise five dollars' worth of produce on his lot, has
the same water privilege as the man who could raise a thousand dollars'
worth.  For instance, brother Staines gets the water for two hours in a
week, and what are his fruit trees worth? He could make his thousand
dollars a year from them, if he were disposed to sell the fruit instead of
giving it away, could he have a fair portion of water.  I have a lot just
below him well cultivated in fruit trees, a nursery, and choice
vegetables, I also can only have the water on my lot for two hours in a
week; when lots near by, with but little on them except weeds, get the
same water privilege, and that too in the day time, while we have to use
it in the night.  Water masters ought to look to this matter, until they
have arranged a more just distribution.

	So soon as we can complete the canal and its reservoirs, the people
will be enabled to water their gardens thoroughly, which will be scores of
thousands of dollars advantage to this city yearly, besides the immense
benefit to the farming lands.  There is much grain growing in the city
lots, and many persons have spaded their ground, not having teams to plow
with, consequently their lots are better cultivated this year than
heretofore, and we wish to water them that we may not lose our labor.  If
we can have your help for a few days more, we shall bring much more water
to the city than we now have.

	I have personally interested myself very diligently in the labors
upon the canal, and have endeavored to follow the instructions of brother
Kimball during last Sabbath.  Who has been impoverished by our labor?  Who
has been injured by it?  Not a single individual, old or young.  Who is
benefited by it?  The whole community: every man, woman, and child.  This
canal will be a lasting benefit; without it we may be discouraged with
regard to the farming interests of this portion of the valley.  We expect
to see this canal completed.  I know that some have thought it would be
almost impossible to complete such a work here, to secure the banks of the
deep ravines, but we shall not leave it until it is completed.

	Shall we stop making canals, when the one now in progress is
finished?  No, for as soon as that is completed from Big Cottonwood to
this city, we expect to make a canal on the west side of Jordan, and take
its water along the east base of the west mountains, as there is more
farming land on the west side of that river than on the east.  When that
work is accomplished we shall continue our exertions, until Provo river
runs to this city.  We intend to bring it around the point of the mountain
to Little Cottonwood, from that to Big Cottonwood, and lead its waters
upon all the land from Provo kanyon to this city, for there is more water
runs in that stream alone than would be needed for that purpose.

	If we had time we should build several reservoirs to save the waters
of City Creek, each one to contain enough for once irrigating one-third of
the city.  If we had such reservoirs the whole of this city might be
irrigated with water that now runs to waste.  Even then we do not intend
to cease our improvements, for we expect that part of the Weber will be
brought to the Hot Springs, there to meet the waters from the south and
empty into Jordan.  Then we contemplate that Bear river will be taken out
at the gates to irrigate a rich and extensive region on its left bank, and
also upon the other side to meet the waters of the Malad.  We know not the
end of our public labors and enterprises in this Territory, and we design
performing them as fast as we can.

	Our preaching to you from Sabbath to Sabbath, sending the Gospel to
the nations, gathering the people, opening farms, making needed
improvements, and building cities, all pertain to salvation.  The Gospel
is designed to gather a people that will be of one heart and of one mind. 
Let every individual in this city feel the same interest for the public
good as he does for his own, and you will at once see this community still
more prosperous, and still more rapidly increasing in wealth, influence,
and power.  But where each one seeks to benefit himself or herself alone,
and does not cherish a feeling for the prosperity and benefit of the
whole, that people will be disorderly, unhappy, and poverty-stricken, and
distress, animosity, and strife will reign.

	Efforts to accumulate property in the correct channel are far from
being an injury to any community, on the contrary they are highly
beneficial, provided individuals, with all that they have, always hold
themselves in readiness to advance the interests of the kingdom of God on
the earth.  Let every man and woman be industrious, prudent, and
economical in their acts and feelings, and while gathering to themselves,
let each one strive to identify his or her interests with the interests of
this community, with those of their neighbor and neighborhood, let them
seek their happiness and welfare in that of all, and we will be blessed
and prospered.

	I do not wish to boast in the least, neither do I think much of
myself, nor ever did, nor do I ever pause much to think, in all my labors,
doings, travelings, toils, and preachings, whether I have friends or foes,
but the care that I have for this community I do manifest in my works. 
Not that I think that I am extraordinarily praiseworthy, or that I am a
very good man, for you know that I have never professed to be a very
religious man; but what I wish you to do to your neighbor I do by you; but
I will not ask my Father in heaven to deal any more kindly with me than I
deal with my brethren.

	My interest is the interest of this community; this has been
characteristic of my course from the beginning.  I have witnesses here to
prove that, from the time I entered this kingdom until this day, this
community and its welfare have been my interest.

	I have proven this all the time, and I prove it still.  I have proven
it this year,  in the scarce time we are passing through.  Ask the poor
brethren and sisters who have come to me for bread if they have been
turned away empty.  I have had a large amount of flour and means, for
among other property I have two of the best mills in the Territory, and a
large farm upon which I generally raise much wheat and other produce.  I
have always raised more grain than my family consumed, and in these scarce
times find the man or woman that I have taken fifty cents from for flour.

	I have had money offered to me, but I have told such persons to go
and buy where flour is for sale; I have none to sell.

	In all my transactions in this community I have acted in a similar
manner. What do I get for taking such a course?  When I came into this
valley I owed for my outfit; I had but little; I do not think that one
third of my family had shoes to their feet, and I had no leather from
which to make shoes.

	We came with what we had, and I borrowed oxen from one man, and
horses from another, which I have since paid for, besides paying thousands
of dollars for my poor brethren who could not pay.

	What the Lord has done for me, you all know.  Have I wronged any man,
or pinched any man in a time of trouble, or in any way taken an advantage
of his necessities?  Bring forward a man whom  I have wronged, and I will
restore to him not only four but tenfold.  My hands are open; I have
naturally an open hand, it does not contract on the needy like that. 
(Holding his hand with the fingers shut.)

	Neither am I like the miller who striked the toll dish with a
crowning hand, thus leaving the grain convex, but who, when he quit
milling and opened a tavern, reversed his hand and left the grain concave.

	I do not wish you to deal any better by me than I do by you, neither
do I wish God my Father do deal any more kindly towards me than I do
towards you.  How came I by what I have?  We may dig water ditches, make
canals, sow wheat, build mills, and labor with our mights, but if God does
not give the increase we remain poor.  Though we bestow much labor upon
our fields, if God does not give the increase we shall have no grain.

	How few there are who fully understand this matter, who realize
thoroughly that unless God blesses our exertions we shall have nothing. 
It is the Lord that gives the increase.  He could send showers to water
our fields, but I do not know that I have prayed for rain since I have
been in these valleys until this year, during which I believe that I have
prayed two or three times for rain, and then with a faint heart, for there
is plenty of water flowing down these kanyons in crystal streams as pure
as the breezes of Zion, and it is our business to use them.

	I do not feel disposed to ask the Lord to do for me what I can do for
myself.  I know when I sow the wheat and water it that I cannot give the
increase, for that is in the hands of the Almighty; and when it is time to
worship the Lord, I will leave all and worship Him.  As I said yesterday
to a Bishop who was mending a breach in the canal, and expressed a wish to
continue his labor on the following Sabbath, as his wheat was burning up,
let it burn, when the time comes that is set apart for worship, go up and
worship the Lord.

	When Bishops and the brethren can perceive and understand that it is
the Lord that gives the increase, after all their exertions to sustain
themselves, they will be satisfied that the glory belongs to Him, and not
altogether to the exertions of man.  You know Paul says that he considered
himself an unprofitable servant, and so is every other man; that is, when
we have done all we can to save ourselves, spiritually and temporally, it
is the Lord who gave us the means.

	He opened up the way of life and salvation, organized the elements to
sustain our mortal bodies, and thus afforded all the means for increase. 
It is all through the wisdom of Him who has created all things, who rules
over and sustains all things.

	Have the Latter-day Saints got to learn this?  Yes.  And they have
got to learn that the interest of their brethren is their own interest, or
they never can be saved in the celestial kingdom of God.

While saying a few words here last Sabbath about the canal, I told you
when you lifted your hands to heaven, in token of your willingness to do a
certain thing that you ought to do it.  A great many of you have had your
endowments, and you know what a vote with uplifted hands means.

	It is a sign which you make in token of your covenant with God and
with one another, and it is for you to perform your vows.  When you raise
your hands to heaven and let them fall and then pass on with your
covenants unfulfilled, you will be cursed.

	I feel sometimes like lecturing men and women severely, who enter
into covenants without realizing the nature of the covenants they make,
and who use little or no effort to fulfil them.

	Some Elders go to the nations and preach the Gospel of life and
salvation, and return without thoroughly understanding the nature of a
covenant.  It is written in the Bible that every man should perform his
own vows, even if to this own hurt; in this way you will show to all
creation and to God that you are full of integrity.

	This people have got to entirely wake out of their sleep, they have
got to be a strictly righteous people, or they will have to meet worse
things than a scanty morsel of bread.

	Do they believe this?  Some think--"Well, perhaps it will be so, and
perhaps not.  I have a little flour now, and I really want the money, and
if I can get twelve or thirteen dollars a hundred for it I can spare it."

	This is the principle some persons operate upon, and it is
sectarianism.  It seems of the long-faced deacon style, who, when a poor
man wants flour for his wife and children, in measured tone and with a
long religious face, says, "No;" but who, after long importunity on the
part of the hungry man, will at last, in a very soft, measured, pious,
long-faced, sighing style, reply, "Well, brother, I have not any to spare,
but I don't know but that if you will come and work for me a couple of
days in harvest, I will spare you a bushel to accommodate you.  I shall
have to hire labor at harvest, can you come and help me?"

	The answer is, "Yes," when at the same time he knows that he can have
two bushels a day for work in harvest, but the long-faced deacon will make
him agree to work two days for one bushel.

	I have heard of a man in this city who was stopped from building a
house. Why?  Because he got first-rate mechanics to work for five pounds
of flour a day, which is at the rate of thirty cents a day.  His Bishop
told him that he could not build a house in his Ward upon any such
principle.

	Do you suppose that such a man is fit to belong to any church?  Yes,
to Joe Bowers' church, and his was a hell-fired church.

	You who have surplus flour hoarded up, give it to the poor,and say
that you will trust in God.

	The first year that I came into this valley I had not flour enough to
last my family until harvest, and that I had brought with me, and persons
were coming to my house every day for bread.  I had the blues about one
day; I went down to the old fort, and by the time I got back to my house I
was completely cured.  I said to my wife, "Do not let a person come here
for food and go away empty handed, for if you do we shall suffer before
harvest; but if you give to every individual that comes we shall have
enough to last us through."

	I have proven this many a time, and we have again proven it this
year.  I have plenty on hand, and shall have plenty, if I keep giving
away.  More than two hundred persons eat from my provisions every day,
besides my own family and those who work for me.

 	I intend to keep doing so, that my bread may hold out, for if I do
not I shall come short.

	Do you believe that principle?  I know it is true, because I have
proven it so many times.

	I have formerly told this community of a circumstance that occurred
to brother Heber and myself, when we were on our way to England.  We paid
our passage to Kirtland, and to my certain knowledge we had only $13.50,
but we paid out #87.00; this is but one instance among many which I could
name.

	You who have flour and meat, deal it out, and do not be afraid that
you will be too much straightened, for if you will give, you will have
plenty, for it is God who sustains us and we have got to learn this
lesson. All I ask of you is to apply your heart to wisdom and to watch the
providences of God, until you prove for yourselves that I am telling the
truth, even that which I do know and have experienced.

	I have experienced much in my life, and I will not ask you to do any
better by one another nor by me than I do by you, and I will bless you all
the time.  I feel to bless you continually; my life is here, my interest,
my glory, my pride, my comfort, my all are here, and all I expect to have,
to all eternity is wrapped up in the midst of this Church.

	If I do not get it in this channel, I shall not have it at all.  How
do you suppose I feel?  I feel as a father should feel towards his
children.  I have felt so for many years, even when I durst not say so; I
have felt as a mother feels towards her tender offspring, and durst not
express my feelings; but I have tried to carry out their expression in my
life.  May God bless you.  Amen.

   REMARKS ON A REVELATION GIVEN IN AUGUST 1831--GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS.
     A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery,
                   Great Salt Lake City, June 15, 1856.

	I will read a revelation printed in the Book of Doctrine and
Covenants, and given in Zion in August, 1831.  It was given in
Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, I think during the first time that
Joseph was in that land.  (The President read the revelation, section 18.)

	I do not anticipate, in the few remarks that I shall make, throwing
any particular light upon this revelation, especially to those who are
acquainted with the circumstances under which it was given,.

	When revelations are given through an individual appointed to receive
them, they are given to the understandings of the people.  These
revelations, after a lapse of years, become mystified to those who were
not personally acquainted with the circumstances at the time they were
given.

	The revelation that I have been reading may be as mysterious to our
children, in a thousand or fifteen hundred years from now, in case the
world continues in the same degree of enlightenment that it has for a few
ages past, as the revelations contained in the Old and New Testaments are
to this generation, and it would be commented upon with the same scrutiny
and accuracy; and men would study, year after year, and fret themselves
almost to death to find out the mysterious meaning of the revelation given
to us their forefathers.

	This revelation is as plain and clear to the understandings of those
who know the circumstances that called it forth, as it would be for you to
understand me should I talk about making a canal to bring the waters of
Big Cottonwood to this city for irrigating our gardens and the farming
lands.  It is plain and easy to be understood, it is familiar to us who
were in that country at the time, we know all about it.

	But a portion of this congregation have not been personally
acquainted with the early experience and travels of this Church, and with
the sayings and doings of the Prophet Joseph, and it may be that they do
not fully understand what this revelation really does mean.

	They do not actually know that there is such a place as Independence,
in Jackson County, Missouri; they have heard of it, and may have an idea
that it is situated in the regions where angels dwell.

	The revelation which I have read was perfectly plain, and could
readily be understood by all the brethren then in Jackson County,
Missouri, and in Kirtland, Ohio, as easily as you can understand me when I
talk about digging canals, building dwellings, tabernacles, temples, and
store-houses, or when I talk about drawing sand and clay, burning lime,
&c.

	Is it strange or is it not strange, to people endowed with wisdom,
that the inhabitants of the earth, beclouded as they are, should have such
revelations given to them?  Is it strange or is it not strange that they
should reject them?

	Would this be a hard question for the congregation to answer? 
Looking at these things, after the manner of the wisdom of the world, we
say that it would be very strange indeed, as a certain professor would
say, "It would be passing strange."

	It would be strange indeed should people receive such ideas, upon
such subjects, as revelations from God, from the Supreme of the Universe,
the great Eloheim, the Creator and upholder of all things, who is
enthroned in eternity in glory and in power, yet who condescends to talk
about such matters as building store-houses, sending men to do this or
that, to go to this or that land, to gather up money for this or that
purpose.  And very many would exclaim, "O, it is money, money, money!"

	That has been the cry continually from the enemies of the kingdom of
God.  You know that was the cry in the days of Joseph; "O, he is after
money, you can see this is in all his revelations; money, money, money; he
wants to get your money!  He pretends it is going into the hands of the
Bishop to purchase lands, but when he gets hold of it you do not get it
again.  It is money, money, money, all the time."

	The commands to go and buy this or that farm, to build houses, sell
out a farm here and rent one there, take a mission to preach the Gospel to
the world, gather money to purchase lands, and divide with the poor
brethren, are all familiar talk with us, easy to be understood, and
without mystery.

	When Joseph received this revelation, it was as plain to the
understanding of the Saints, as are my instructions when telling you what
to do.

 	The Lord said to the people through Joseph, "You must keep the law
here, and be careful to repent of your sins."  Occasionally a man's name
would be mentioned, and he might be pointed out as a pattern for the rest.

	Do you repent of your sins?  If you do not, you will be overcome by
the enemy.  He said to the people, "Repent of your sins and keep the law,
or you will have no inheritance in this region."

	Many who are here now, owned farms there, and some owned large tracts
of land.  Have you possession of them now?  You have not.  You may be
rightful owners of those lands, but you are not the possessors.  There are
many in this congregation who own the right of the soil there, that is to
say, if the government of the United States could or would give any right
to it.

	The Lord said, "Repent of your sins, or you cannot stay here and
receive your inheritance; and this land will not be given to the Saints
until they are scourged and driven from city to city."  This is plain, and
every person can understand it.

	As there are persons named in the revelation which I have read, to
whom I wish to refer more particularly, I will again read a portion of it.

	"Now as I spake concerning my servant Edward Partridge, this land is
the land of his residence, and those whom he has appointed for his
counsellors.  And also the land of the residence of him whom I have
appointed to keep my store-house; wherefore let them bring their families
to this land, as they shall counsel between themselves and me:  for
behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things, for he that is
compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant;
wherefore he receiveth no reward."

	Here are two characters pointed out, brother Partridge and another
whose name is not mentioned here, but whose name was Gilbert, and who was
appointed keeper of the store-house.

	You can understand what this plain revelation meant, and it will come
home to your comprehension.  "For behold, it is not meet that I should
command in all things, for he that is compelled in all things, the same is
slothful and not a wise servant."  Those men whose names are mentioned
were considered to be as holy, I may say, as any men in the world.

	I am a witness, so far as this is concerned, that the persons whose
names are mentioned, and many others of the first Elders of the Church,
were looked upon almost as angels. They were looked upon by the young
members as being so filled with the Spirit and power of God, that we were
hardly worthy to converse with them.  You hear the names of Bishop
Partridge, of brother W. W. Phelps, who is now sitting in this stand, of
Parley P. Pratt, of David Whitmer, of Oliver Cowdery, and the names of
many others of the first Elders who had been up to Zion, and I declare to
you that brethren in other parts of the land, those who had not seen the
persons named, felt that should they come into their presence they would
have to pull off their shoes, as the ground would be so holy upon which
they trod.

	Do you know what distance and age accomplish?  They produce in people
the most reverential awe that can be imagined.

	When we reflect and rightly understand, we learn how easy of
comprehension the Gospel is, how plain it is in its plan, in every part
and principle fitted perfectly to the capacity of mankind, insomuch that
when it is introduced among the lovers of truth it appears very easy and
very plain, and how very ready the honest are to receive it.

	But send it abroad and give it antiquity, and it is at once clothed
with mystery.  This is the case with all the ancient revelations.  Those
which were received and understood by the ancients are shrouded in mystery
and uncertainty to this generation, and men are employed to reveal the
meaning of the ancient Scriptures.

	The people on every hand are inquiring, "What does this scripture
mean, and how shall we understand this or that passage?"  Now I wish, my
brethren and sisters, for us to understand things precisely as they are,
and not as the flitting, changing imagination of the human mind may frame
them.

	The Bible is just as plain and easy of comprehension as the
revelation which I have just read to you, if you understand the Spirit of
God--the Spirit of revelation, and know how the Gospel of Salvation is
adapted to the capacity of weak man.

	If you could see things as they are, you would know that the whole
plan of salvation, and all the revelations ever given to man on the earth
are as plain as would be the remarks of an Elder, were he to stand here
and talk about our every day business.

	I want you to understand this, that you may know how to
understandingly read the Bible and the revelations delivered to you in
your own generation, and how to honor your religion and your God.

	When you read the revelations, or when you hear the will of the Lord
concerning you, for your own sakes never receive that with a doubtful
heart. This is a matter that I have frequently impressed upon the people
here; I have exhorted them from year to year upon this very point, and
have asked, why do you receive the counsel of God with doubtful hearts
when you are taught the way of life and salvation, when things are made so
plain and easy to you that you cannot misunderstand them?  Why do you
admit of such unbelief in your hearts and feelings as to say--"This or
that is beneath the notice of the Almighty, and say that He does not deal
in such simple, small, and every day affairs?"

	Why say, "We want to hear from the stand concerning the
mysteries--the eternal mysteries of the kingdom of God, that which we have
never heard?"  I might say to such, O fools, and slow of heart to believe
all that the Prophets have spoken.  Is it a mystery to you, sisters, how
to knit a stocking?  You all answer, "No, not at all."

	But bring an individual from a world where they never had stockings,
and it is as much of a mystery to that person, as any thing you have ever
thought of could be to you, because he would be perfectly ignorant of all
ideas pertaining to that art.

	You may now be inclined to say, "O, this is too simple and
child-like, we wish to hear the mysteries of the kingdoms of the Gods who
have existed from eternity, and of all the kingdoms in which they will
dwell; we desire to have these things portrayed to our understandings."

	Allow me to inform you that you are in the midst of it all now, that
you are in just as good a kingdom as you will ever attain to, from now to
all eternity, unless you make it yourselves by the grace of God, by the
will of God, by the eternal Priesthood of God, which is a code of laws
perfectly calculated to govern and control eternal matter.  If you and I
do not by this means make that better kingdom which we anticipate, we
shall never enjoy it.

	We can only enjoy the kingdom we have labored to make.  If you say
that  you want mysteries, commandments, and revelations, I reply that
scarcely a Sabbath passes over your heads, those of you who come here,
without your having the revelations of Jesus Christ poured upon you like
water on the ground.

	"Why do you not write them, brother Brigham?"  I will tell you one
reason why:--I expect that they will be one of these days, but I expect
that you will have them written when God and His faithful servants have
suffered enough from the ignorance, foolishness, wickedness, and
slothfulness of the people, from their slowness of heart to believe, and
from their unrighteous dealing one with another.

	Then I expect that there will be just revelation enough given and
written to cut all the ungodly off from the Church, and send them to hell. 
The reason it is not given now, is because of the mercy the Lord still
sees fit to extend towards them.

	You recollect that last sabbath, and two weeks ago to-day, I told the
people that it would be for their good to go and perform a certain piece
of work, which was just as much revelation to you as would be teachings
upon the subject of getting your endowment.  It was life, and was upon the
principles of eternal lives.  I recollect telling you, when you lift your
hands to heaven like that (raising his hand) and say that you will perform
thus and so and do not, that such a course would damn you, as sure as you
are now living.  Men and women ought to fulfil all their covenants.

	I exhorted the brethren not to say that they would do the work,
unless they intended to go and do it, for if they did not, I said they
would be cursed.

	I am almost constrained by the power that is within me to draw the
dividing line in the midst of this people, and to cut many from the
Church, but I plead for mercy.  I have mercy for the people, and I ask God
to bear with the wickedness there is in their midst, which can hardly be
borne with by the spirit and power of the Holy Ghost.

	I said, two weeks ago to-day, that some of you would be cursed, but
have you ever heard me curse the people?  You have not, though I have to
hang, as it were, on a slender thread of faith to plead with the Almighty
to yet spare the wicked in our midst.  What hinders them from observing
the law of God?  Do I or does any other person hinder them?  Who hinders
you from doing a good work?  I am wearied with seeing the conduct of some
of this people, their thieving, lying, tattling, deceiving, running after
the Gentile spirit, after the spirits of this world, receiving delusive
spirits, and adhering to all manner of principles that are not of God.

	What hinders us in living as close to our religion as do the angels? 
Angels do not hinder us, God certainly does not, and we ought to say to
devils, "You shall not."  But in the midst of this people there is a set
of thieves, idolaters, drunkards, whoremongers, and vile persons.  It may
be asked, "Shall we not draw the dividing line soon?"  Yes, some will in
due time get line enough to send them to hell.  Many are pleading for
revelations; do you suppose that Saints lack revelations?  They have
plenty of them, and they are stored in the archives of those who have
understanding of the principles of the Priesthood, ready to be brought
forth as the people need.  I will again read a portion of the revelation,
"For he that is compelled in all things the same is a slothful and not a
wise servant, wherefore he receiveth no reward.  Verily I say, men should
be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free
will, and bring to pass much righteousness, for the power is in them
wherein they are agents unto themselves, and inasmuch as men do good they
shall in no wise lose their reward."

	There is one principle that I do wish the people would observe, that
is, do not ask God to give you knowledge, when you are confident that you
will not keep and rightly improve upon that knowledge.  It is a mercy in
God that many are as ignorant as they are, for were it not so they would
not be borne with as they are.  Do not ask for revelations to dictate you
in this, that, or the other, unless you are sure that you can obey them. 
Do not suffer yourselves to falter in your faith, and to say that the door
of revelation is closed, for I tell you that there are now too many for
your good, unless you hearken more diligently than you have hitherto,
unless you apply more closely in your lives what is revealed and live your
religion more faithfully.

	You are frequently told that the chastisements which come upon this
people are for their good.  We may ask, "Is pinching want for our good? 
Is the destruction of our crops for our good?  Is the losing of our
property for our good?"  Who will lay it to heart?  Who will realize it? 
There are a few who will.  I can say with safety that I firmly believe
that there are five wise virgins and five foolish ones; that there are
five who are wise servants and hand-maidens to five who are foolish.  But
in looking at the people in mass this may not appear, for you are
frequently told that one evil person can corrupt many.  It is an old
saying, and a true one, that "a wicked king can corrupt a nation," and a
wicked father will corrupt a family, and a wicked ruler will corrupt those
he rules over.  We wish to be one, but "Evil communications corrupt good
manners."  Unrighteous dealings and doings appear to exert a wider
influence than righteous ones, consequently in this community when you
find one evil person in a family, or in a neighborhood, that person will
actually make it appear to a stranger that the whole family, or
neighborhoods is evil.  The good and evil are mixed together, the wheat
and the tares are growing together, the wise and foolish virgins are
traveling on together.  Some of the people are actually foolish, and they
think that the Lord looks upon sin with a great deal of compassion, and
are thinking, "O, if I should do this or that I will be forgiven.  Yes, I
will go and tell it all to the heads of the Church and get their
forgiveness, and pass on in my wickedness."  Do you wish your friends to
stay here, and all to be Saints indeed?  Now some children are wicked and
their parents righteous, and again children may be Saints and their
parents wicked.  There are good people who have wicked brothers and
sisters, and they say, "Let us be forgiving, let us hold on to them, if we
have compassion, perhaps they will do better and repent of their sins, and
yet be Saints."  Is this not the feeling of every heart?  It is, more or
less.  Who is there entirely void of these compassionate feelings? 
Father, save your son if possible; save your daughter, parents, if it is
possible; brothers,  save your brethren, if it is possible; save your
sisters, if it is possible; save this man, or that woman, and let us have
mercy on them, we will be compassionate on them.

	A great many come to me and say, "I wish to do exactly as the Lord
shall direct through you, brother Brigham."  If I had the word of the Lord
I would not dare give it to them, unless I knew it was an absolute duty. 
They never would obey it, because they are taught the word of the Lord
here all the time, but do they hearken to it?  Those who have wisdom
within themselves, who have in possession the spirit of the Gospel, know
what they hear from this stand.  They know truth from error, they are
satisfied, and never ask the Lord to give them more revelation, but to
give them grace to observe and keep what they have received.

	You can perceive what kind of characters they are who need to be
commanded, they are slothful and not wise servants.  Many of you may
inquire why I am urging this point today; because it is necessary, it
ought to be done.  I wish those who are Saints to walk uprightly before
their God, and to do everything they can for their brethren who are not
Saints.  I desire every man and woman to exercise themselves to the
utmost, for they will, in all probability, be lost unless we save them. 
You came to me and want to know the will of God, what for?  It would send
you to hell, as likely as not, for you will not do it, and that would lay
the foundation for your condemnation, as it is written, "Those that
receive the commandments of God and do not do them are damned."  I feel to
urge these things upon the people that they may save themselves, that they
may be industrious,  and go to with a ready heart and willing mind, with
all their might, to do the things that are necessary to be done.

	Suppose that the Lord should give you a written revelation through
me, I am satisfied that it would not infringe upon your planting corn,
sowing wheat, and watering in the season thereof.  The very first thing
would be to instruct the people to take care of their temporal lives, for
if a people do not provide to live on the earth they cannot accomplish the
work given them to do.  The first thing to be written would be for people
to prepare to live on the earth, until they could overcome the wickedness
that is in the world.

	This would be dictating you in your temporal affairs; I can dictate
you in those matters, and if the Lord does not move me to the point of
drawing the dividing line, though if He does I expect to be on hand, let
us go to with all our might and do every good work we can, and be
satisfied, and not be continually grumbling and complaining against the
Lord, and teazing Him for more than you know what to do with.

	I could not, nor could any other man, give a revelation that would be
more plain to the comprehension of the people than the one I have read to
you this morning.  There is no mystery about it, nothing mysterious or in
the dark, but every man may easily know precisely what it means; all the
people may understand it to perfection.  This revelation was given to the
people in their ignorance; it was given, we may say, at the birth of the
man child, in the first days of the being of the Priesthood again upon the
earth, and yet it was so calculated and so worded, that every person could
understand it.  Brother Partridge knew what to do; Gilbert, Rigdon, and
Peterson knew what to do; and in Returning to Kirtland the Elders were to
lift up their voices by the way, and to build up Churches.

	One man is told to do this, and another to do that.  Edward, you go
and get your family and move them up here, &c.  Can you understand this? 
It is one of the revelations of God, given to this people in the first
rise of the Church.  I do not expect to give you any particular light upon
it by the way of illustration, for it would be like my telling you that
the sun shines, and that we are within the walls of this Temple Block,
seated under a partial shade, constructed for screening us from the rays
of the sun.  You know all this, you understand it as well as I do; so did
those to whom it was given understand this revelation.  Would you
understand what might be said to you, if I should command you to do this
or that.  Ask some man to command you, and never ask God to do it, until
you are prepared to keep His commandments.

	You are ready to say in your hearts, "We are always scolded."  Who
hurts you?  You will never be hurt, unless you hurt yourselves.  If we
live our religion we shall prosper, and if we live in the neglect of our
duty, and continue to do so, as many do, there will be tribulation and
anguish here, and the chastening hand of the Almighty will be on this
people, more so than it has ever been.  If I could stand here and talk to
you without advancing these ideas, I would endeavor to do so, and would be
very much pleased if there was no occasion for rebuke.  It would delight
me to be able to preach all the time upon the glories of Zion, that Zion
prospers, that we are all in the straight and narrow way, that all feel
fully engaged in building up the kingdom of God, and that every man,
woman, and child is doing right, but such is not the case.  If I could
prevail upon the people to so lay instruction to heart, that they would
repent of their sins and refrain from them, that they would forsake their
hard-heartedness and follies, I should be thankful indeed.

	I need not go into particulars in explaining the feelings of this
people, for they are too well known.  We see them exhibited in our
temporal management, and in our transactions one with another.  Some you
see walking uprightly, and again you may see the honest suffering, and but
few ready to extend the hand of charity to relieve them, while the
dishonest who have followed this people, we will say, for the loaves and
fishes, are begging, and their children also, from morning until night and
hoarding up more than they can possibly consume.  We see these different
dispositions, yet we all are known under the appellation of Saints, we are
all brethren and sisters in the Church of Christ.

	There is a disposition in many of the brethren like this, "I want to
consecrate all I have to the Church, and I will not reserve anything to
myself."  Very well, there are blank deeds in the Office, fill one out, if
you wish, but do as you please about it.  "I really feel as though it
would be a great privilege to give everything I possess to the Church." 
What have you got?  "O, I have a five-acre lot."  What is it worth? 
"Well, I don't know; it is full of saleratus and greasewood."  Such
characters are so loving and kind, and will say, "Now, brother Brigham, I
feel better than I ever felt in my life, I feel happy that I am in the
kingdom of God with all that I have; I have dedicated everything I have. 
Brother Brigham, do you think I can have a house and lot?"  They do not
talk so loud as I am now talking, they whisper in my ear:  "Could you let
me have a yoke of oxen, or a span of horses and a wagon, or twenty bushels
of wheat,"  &c., &c.?  If I were to hearken to one third of such calls,
these characters would drain our means to that degree, that the Church
would never have the first sixpence, from this time forth to the day of
judgment, with which to carry on this work.  There is not one third enough
paid in tithing by this great people, to answer the calls of hypocrites
and ungodly persons.

	Are all hypocrites?  No, but if you see honest persons, you see those
who are ready to take hold and labor with their might, even though they
have but one potatoe in a day; they will suffer rather than impoverish the
Church.

	I will relate a circumstance that transpired lately.  I think it was
last Tuesday or Wednesday night, as I was sitting in one of my houses,
about nine o'clock in the evening, that a little boy, some nine or ten
years of age, came along.  As soon as he came to the door he began a
story, but in such a manner that I could not understand him.  I called him
near to me, and desired him to relate his story again.  He commenced by
telling about his father's dying with the cholera on the Plains, that his
mother was sick and had several children to take care of, and wound up by
saying, that his mother had not eaten anything since the morning of the
day previous.  I told my wife to give him some bread, remarking that if I
could walk as I once could I would know the true situation of that family. 
Brother Wells was by and said, "I can walk,"  I then asked the boy where
he lived; he replied, "Over yonder."  In what Ward?  He did not know. 
What is your name?  "David Jones."  What was your father's name?  "Jones." 
Who are your neighbors?  He did not know.  Brother Wells started off in an
easterly direction with him.  The boy began to limp and complained of sore
feet, and ere long sat down and began to cry loudly and raise the
neighborhood.  Bishop Woolley hearing the crying came up, and, after
trying to make him hush and start for his home, gave him a good spanking,
and started him homeward.  He at length mentioned the name of Bishop
Perkins, and, from that Bishop, brother Wells learned that the name of the
family was Meiklejohn, and that they lived in the Seventh Ward.  After
much inquiry the boy's home was found, though he was determined not to go
home, and it was soon discovered that he had a father (whose christian
name is David) and mother living, both of whom had gone to bed, and a
little sister, who waited on the opposite side of a street while the boy
who begged, was still out.

	The parents of course said the boy did very wrong, and that they had
no idea of his conducting himself so, when the fact is, the boy has been
trained to lie from his childhood by his father and mother, and so has the
girl.  Scores of times would not amount to the number that these very
children have been to my house, and we have given them flour, meal, and
bread which they have carried home.

	On the same evening, persons were overheard talking beneath some
trees.  One said, "Sister, where did you get your flour to-day?"  "I got
it at brother Brigham's."  "I have some money, and shall have to buy
some."

	"Don't buy one pound, but go to brother Brigham and tell him a good
story, and you will get some flour.  I have money, but I will not pay one
cent for my flour."

	I mention these facts to illustrate the spirit that is in a portion
of this community.  If you go into England, or into any of the old
countries, you will see the same class of poor, guilty, miserable wretches
begging for a living, and they carry on that business to such a degree,
and in such a manner, that the rich and those who are in comfortable
circumstances, aware of the rascality of many, often refrain from given to
any through fear of being imposed upon, and thereby the honest, innocent
poor suffer.  They would also suffer here if we were equally fearful of
being imposed upon; but many who are unworthy are now aided, by those who
are ever ready to assist the destitute, lest some honest poor should
suffer; for this reason we withhold not from any.

	If this loose course of begging is suffered to go on in this
community, without a check being put to it, but a few years would elapse
before the honest might be permitted to starve to death in the streets;
for those who have would say, "We do not know but that you have your
thousands at home, and we will not take the trouble to find out."

	We have our arrangements for learning the condition of the people,
and I will here make a few remarks concerning the Bishops.  If they
magnify their office and calling, they will know the circumstances of
every family in their Wards.  But with all our experience in regard to
Bishops, especially those who have been in the Church so long, and who
know so much about the kingdom of God, they ought to know a little more
about the families residing in their Wards, and not quite so much about
the kingdom, if they cannot understand both at the same time.  I very well
know that they have their own families to take care of, and that they are
allowed nothing for their services.  That is partly why we have been
appointing some new Bishops.  I want men to act as Bishops who are smart
enough to take care of themselves, and at the same time magnify their
calling; and if we do not find them to be honest we mean to appoint other
persons, and to continue so doing until that Quorum is filled with honest
men.  I am sorry to say that we have proven a few Bishops dishonest. 
Perhaps some of the Bishops here, or of those who live in other part of
the Territory, will say, "It comes very hard, brother Brigham, for you to
make such a statement as that, and not point out the dishonest person; the
people may think that you mean me."  You are the very ones I mean, if your
consciences accuse you, for if you are not guilty you care not for such a
statement, as your consciences are clear and you are not accused,
therefore I mean those who say, "This is hard."

	Do you wish me to explain myself?  I have proof ready to show that
Bishops have taken in thousands of pounds in weight of tithing which they
have never reported to the General Tithing Office.  We have documents to
show that Bishops have taken in hundreds of bushels of wheat, and only a
small portion of it has come into the General Tithing Office; they stole
it to let their friends speculate upon.  If any one is doubtful about
this, will you not call on me to produce my proof before a proper
tribunal?  I should take pleasure in doing so, but we pass over such
things in mercy to the people.

	Will you repent of your sins, and go to and do that which you know
you ought to do, without being commanded of the Lord, and thus be
compelled to do it, or be damned?  Will you live so as to know the voice
of the Good Shepherd when you hear it, or are you determined to live so as
not to know the difference between that voice and the voice of a stranger? 
In this I fear for the people.  I have explained and commented upon these
seemingly small items, though in reality they are of much importance.

	Chemists who are familiar with analizing [sic] matter, inform you
that the globe we inhabit is composed of small particles, so small that
they cannot be seen with the unaided natural eye,  and that one of these
small particles may be divided into millions of parts, each part so minute
as to be undiscernable [sic] by the aid of the finest microscopes.  So the
walk of man is made up of acts performed from day to day.  It is the
aggregate of the acts which I perform through life that makes up the
conduct that will be exhibited in the day of judgment, and when the books
are opened, there will be the life which I have lived for me to look upon,
and there also will be the acts of your lives for you to look upon.  Do
you not know that the building up of the kingdom of God, the gathering of
Israel, is to be done by little acts?  You breathe one breath at a time;
each moment is set apart to its act, and each act to its moment.  It is
the moments and the little acts that make the sum of the life of man.  Let
every second, minute, hour, and day we live be spent in doing that which
we know to be right.

	If you do not know what to do, in order to do right, come to me at
any time and I will give you the word of the Lord on that point.  But if
you wish the word of the Lord on your nonsensical, foolish notions and
traits, be pleased to keep away from me, for I know too much about such
characters for them to pass before me unobserved.  Mankind are weak and
feeble, poor and needy; how destitute they are of true knowledge, how
little they have when they have any at all.  We have need to increase in
knowledge and understanding, and to apply our hearts more to wisdom.

	How necessary it is for us to live our religion so as to know
ourselves better, and to know how to live better in accordance with the
religion we have embraced.  To know how to gather up the sons and
daughters of Abraham, and to establish the kingdom of God on the earth,
how necessary it is for you and I to live our religion, and not be
slothful and negligent in fulfilling our duty.

	The Book of Mormon, of Doctrine and Covenants, the Old and New
Testaments all corroborate the fact that when you receive the Spirit that
gives you light, intelligence, peace, joy, and comfort, that it is from
God.  But when you, sisters, particularly in your family affairs, are
tried and tempted, when parents and children have a spirit come upon them
that irritates them, that causes them to have bad feelings, disagreeable,
unhappy, and miserable sensations, causing them to say, "We wish it was
some way else; we wish our circumstances were different; we are not happy;
something or the other is always wrong; we wish to do just right, but we
are very unhappy;"  I desire to tell you that your own conduct is the
cause of all this.  "But," says one, " I have done nothing wrong, nothing
evil."  No matter whether you have or not, you have given way to a spirit
of temptation.  There is not that man or woman in this congregation, or on
the face of the earth, that has the privilege of the holy Gospel, and
lives strictly to it, whom all hell can make unhappy.  You cannot make the
man, woman, or child unhappy, who possesses the Spirit of the living God;
unhappiness is caused by some other spirit.

	The spirit of contention divides families as we see some divided.  We
can hardly associate with some persons, for we have to walk in their midst
like walking upon eggs.  What is the matter?  You do not know the spirit
they are led by.  Treat them kindly, and, perhaps, by and bye they will
come to understanding.  What would they do were they of one heart and
mind?  They would be like little children, would respect their superiors
and honor their God and their religion.  This they would do, if they
understood things as they are.  Be careful of them, and treat them kindly. 
Who is there that walks up to the line, and knows the will of God without
being commanded?  A great many do; but it is not all of this people who
are doing as I have been counselling you.  Still I will venture to say
that there are as many wise ones as foolish.  But many will have to
separate from their own family conexions, if they do not do better. 
Parents and children will have to separate, and husbands and wives, ere
long.  How long shall they live together?  Until the Lord says, gather up
the tares and prepare them for the burning.  I am not going to undertake
to separate the tares from the wheat, the sheep from the goats, but we
will try to make you goats produce fleeces of wool instead of hair, and we
will keep hammering at you with the word of God, which is quick and
powerful, until you become sheep, if possible, that we may not have five
foolish virgins in the company.  Though in all this I do not expect to
even desire to thwart the plans and sayings of Jesus Christ in the least.

	Let us do all the good we can, extend the hand of benevolence to all,
keep the commandments of God and live our religion, and after all there
will be five foolish virgins, and if we are not careful, we shall all be
on the list of the foolish ones.

	I dedicate myself, this congregation, and the whole interest of the
kingdom of God on the earth, to our Father, to His Son Jesus Christ, and
to the Holy Ghost, that we may be saved; and I pray that this may be our
happy lot.  Amen.

      THE ORDER OF PROGRESSION IN KNOWLEDGE--THE WAY BY WHICH SAINTS
     BECOME ONE--APTNESS OF MEN TO REMEMBER EVIL RATHER THAN GOOD--A
         CHARACTERISTIC OF SAINTS IS TO REMEMBER GOOD AND FORGET
       EVIL--OUR AFFECTIONS SHOULD BE PLACED ON THE KINGDOM OF GOD
                         ABOVE ALL OTHER THINGS.

	A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery, 
                   Great Salt Lake City, June 15, 1856.

	As I have frequently remarked, it seems that the people need a great
deal of preaching; they require to be preached to continually to put them
in mind of their duties, and to stir them up to perform the works which
they know that they ought to do.  This at first appears strange, and then
again it is not so strange.  Our organization is such, we are subject to
so many spirits and influences that are in the world, that it is not
strange that our minds require stirring up to remembrance, and our
physical powers to diligence.

	As Saints in the last days we have much to learn; there is an
eternity of knowledge before us; at most we receive but very little in
this stage of our progression.

	The most learned men that have ever lived on the earth have only been
able to obtain a small amount of knowledge, in comparison to the vast
store of information that exists for the faithful Saints.

	It cannot be understandingly exhibited by any individual, not even by
an angel, to the people any further than they are able to receive and
comprehend it; consequently the Lord has to descend to our capacities and
give us a little here and a little there, line upon line, and precept upon
precept, as the Prophet has said.

	But we are so organized, and it is so ordained, that we can receive
that little, and still continue to receive a little and a little more, and
treasure up and retain in our memories that which we have received, so
that it will be ready when it is necessary to bring it forth.  What we
learn to day does not prevent our learning more to-morrow, and so on.

	This principle is inherent in the organization of all intelligent
beings, so that we are capable of receiving, and receiving, and receiving
from the inexhaustible fountain of knowledge and truth.

	It has been frequently stated to us, and is a doctrine we understand,
that this people have got to become of one heart and one mind.  They have
to know the will of God and do it, for to know the will of God is one
thing, and to bring our wills, our dispositions, into subjection to that
which we do understand to be the will of God is another.

	We might say that this is the first lesson we have to learn and one
of the easiest, one that is calculated and adapted to the capacity of the
child, to learn to be submissive to our Father in heaven.  Parents require
this duty of their children, when they have become intelligent enough to
understand that the parent is superior in point of government, and strict
obedience is required by that authority.  That the parent is his superior
is one of the first lessons that the child learns--that he is his dictator
to measure and guide his steps, as soon as he comes to an understanding of
what is required.

	If we are obedient to the will of our Father in heaven it
accomplishes one grand object, namely, our being the disciples of Christ,
for he observed to his disciples, "Except ye are one ye are not mine."  "I
am in my Father and ye in me, and I in you," one eternal principle
governing and controlling the intelligence that dwells in the persons of
the Father and the Son.  I have these principles within me, Jesus has them
within him, and you have them within you.  I am governed and controlled by
them, my elder brother, Jesus, is governed and controlled by them.  He
learned them, Jesus learned them, and we must learn them in order to
receive crowns of glory, immortality, and eternal lives.

	The principle of eternal life that sustains all intelligent beings,
that governs and controls all things in eternity, the principle by which
matter does exist, the principle by which it is organized, by which it is
redeemed and brought into celestial glory, is the principle that is in you
and me, that is in our heavenly Father.

	It is life, it is the life of Christ and of every Saint; in this
capacity they are in us and we in them.  We must be possessed of the
spirit that governs and controls the angels, we must have the same spirit
within us that our Father in heaven is in possession of.

	That spirit must rule you and me, it must control our actions and
dictate us in life, we must cling to it and imbibe it until it becomes a
second nature to us.  We are accustomed to saying second nature, but in
reality it is the first nature that we had, though sin has perverted it.
God planted it there as the predominant principle, but our giving way to
temptation has frustrated the plan and driven it from us.

	How easy it is for people to understand and do the will of God, if
they will throw off their unrighteous traditions and let truth stand for
truth, light for light, and let that which is of God be received as such.

	When truth comes, receive it as from the Lord, and let everything be
simplified to us as unto children, for the Lord has ordained that we may
grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the truth, and be able to receive
more knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, and it is not possible for us
to receive it any other way, only as we apply our hearts strictly to
overcome every evil and cleave to that which is pleasing to the Lord--to
that which tends to life and salvation.  This is the only channel in which
we can become of one heart and of one mind.

	This has been the burden of our exhortations, prayers, and pleadings. 
It was the burden of the exhortations, prayers, and pleadings of the
servants of God who lived in ancient days, as much as it is of those who
live now.  No good person has ever lived on the earth--one who understood
the principles of life--but what he has desired to see the time when the
people would be governed by other principles than those of sin and
selfishness.

	All the righteous have desired to see the people governed by
principles that will endure, and that will give durability to all who obey
them.  Their bowels of compassion yearned continually after the sons of
men, and they labored to bring them under the control and government of
the principles of eternal life, and to cut them loose from the little,
selfish, frivolous, trifling, deathly principles that pertain to this
flesh.

	What would be the result of this effort and desire, if accomplished
among us?  We should be of one heart and of one mind; we should cease to
play the hyprocrite [sic]; we should cease to be slothful servants; we
should cease to do evil and do good continually.

	The reflections of many are that they cannot govern and control
themselves.  And should we ask some whether their memory is good, whether
they can recollect certain transactions which have transpired thus and so,
they would reply, "No, our memory is very treacherous."  That is true, but
in different degrees, with all people.

	We may ask one person, can you remember anything you wish to, and the
reply may be, "It is with difficulty that we remember anything."  This
lack of mental force is found in a large class of mankind, but to search
into the causes of this would take us far back, for they pertain to
parents as well as to children, to the ancient as well as to the modern
inhabitants of this globe.

	Another peculiarity of memory is, the stronger recollection of an
injury than a favor; for instance, take a person of the most treacherous
memory and apply a little cayenne pepper to his eyes, and he will remember
that act as long as he lives.

	It is an old saying, "That we can forgive (it is man's privilege) but
we cannot forget."  Can you forget an injury?  No, you will always
remember it.  But on the other hand, suppose that a friend should come, in
the hour of your distress, to relieve you from pain and suffering, and by
laying his hands upon you your pain is gone; or furnish you food when you
have none, and administer to your wants in everything calculated to make
you happy and comfortable in body and mind, you will forget those kind
acts many times quicker than the act of throwing a little cayenne pepper
in your eyes.

	Think of that and ask yourselves the cause; reason as to why it is
that you can remember an injury better than a kindness; why you can retain
hatred longer than love.  Is it through your fallen nature?  Is it because
you were begotten and born in sin?  Or is it not rather because the power
of the tempter has control over you, and because the world is full of evil
principles, and you have adhered to them?  Yes, this is the cause, and you
must acknowledge it.  The whole world is contaminated with a spirit to
remember evil and forget the good.

	Mankind are organized of element designed to endure to all eternity;
it never had a beginning and never can have an end.  There never was a
time when this matter, of which you and I are composed, was not in
existence, and there never can be a time when it will pass out of
existence; it cannot be annihilated.

	It is brought together, organized, and capacitated to receive
knowledge and intelligence, to be enthroned in glory, to be made angels,
Gods--beings who will hold control over the elements, and have power by
their word to command the creation and redemption of worlds, or to
extinguish suns by their breath, and disorganize worlds, hurling them back
into their chaotic state.  This is what you and I are created for.

 	But in view of all this, what can we discover in ourselves?  As an
instance, A has a favorite dog, which B discovers doing mischief on his
grounds, and kills, whereupon A, who was fond of his dog for serving him
so well, and guarding his house and children so long and faithfully,
becomes highly enraged, and says, "I tell you I cannot stand it, I am so
angry, that I feel as though I should fly all to pieces, and I have almost
a mind to take my rifle and shoot you."  What, for a dog?

	Let a man or woman come forward that can say they have not had such
feelings, to a certain degree.  Yes, you have similar feelings in
consequence of some one's abusing your dog, but when you enter into the
holy city, (should you be so happy as to get there) you will learn that
the dogs will all be on the outside of the walls with the murderers,
adulterers, fornicators, liars, and those who take the name of God in
vain.  "For your conduct towards my dog, I am almost ready to kill you,
neighbor."

	Do you here such language used?  Yes, right in our midst.  Kill
almost any person's favorite animal, and he is ready to draw the rifle to
his eye, in a moment, to shed the blood of his neighbor.  This is the
passion of the animal organization that the devil has power over.  When
such feelings assail you, stop and reflect, and let the spirit within you
reason, and it would say, "Shame on you, Brigham, John, Mary, or Jane?" 
Grant that an individual has done wrong, should we be so provoked about
it?

	We are organized for the express purpose of controlling the elements,
of organizing and disorganizing, of ruling over kingdoms, principalities,
and powers, and yet our affections are often too highly placed upon
paltry, perishable objects.  We love houses, gold, silver, and various
kinds of property, and all who unduly prize any object there is beneath
the celestial world are idolators.

	Some say, "We are placed here, the devils were here, the world is
full of wickedness, and we are subjected to all this without any agency on
our part," but this assertion does not prove such to be the case.  Will
you subject your children to wickedness when it is in your power to
deliver them from it?  We are measurably subjected to it because of the
sin that was in our parents, but have we now the knowledge to deliver our
children from this power?  We have.  Then let us begin and do it, and cast
off your unrighteous traditions, as I have often taught and counselled
you. Let every man and woman bring up their children according to the law
of heaven.  Teach your children from their youth, never to set their
hearts immoderately upon an object of this world.

	Should you train yourselves?  Yes, you should.  Can you remember to
do good instead of evil?  Do you watch the operations of the spirits upon
the people, upon their affections, upon their hearts?  Can you not hear
some of this congregation, as they leave the meeting, and afterwards,
begin to find fault and complain on this wise?  "Well, I do not like this,
and I do not like that, and I think I shall go back to the States.  I wish
I was back in England.  I will not pay my money for flour, but I will beg
it, and send my children to beg it, and spend my money to get away from
here."

	Have I done you any harm since you have been here?  Did my brothers
who proclaimed the Gospel to you, do you anything but good?  "No, O, no." 
If they have done the least thing to injure you, why will you not tell of
it before you leave?  But no, you will not, and as soon as you go away
your testimony will be, "Brothers Brigham, and Heber, and Jedediah, and
the Twelve, and all the brethren at Great Salt Lake are the worst people
we ever saw."  Can you tell of one thing wherein they have wronged you? 
They may have fed you, you may have lived here on their bounty and
kindness, but as soon as you go away, you partake of the spirit of the
world, which I am trying to contrast with the spirit of the Gospel.

	As soon as you are overcome by the spirit of the world, you forget
every good deed and kindness that has been extended to you, and you only
remember the transpiring and infliction of what you deemed to be evil. 
You imagine a thousand things to be evil that would have resulted in good,
had you done right.  Can you believe that?  "O, yes." Those who have
apostatized and left, cannot recollect a kindness that I have done them,
but I can say to the praise of a few Gentiles, who have passed through
here, they have recollected the kindnesses done to them by this people. 
Almost universally, after having received the greatest kindnesses they
ever received, apostates and some Gentiles after they leave these valleys,
vividly remember and proclaim, from Dan to Beersheba, every fancied
injury.

	Brother Tobin lately arrived from the army in Oregon; he there became
acquainted with a part of Colonel Steptoe's command.  Yesterday, as we
were walking about, I told him that the Indians who were tried for the
murder of Captain Gunnison were confined within the walls of the
Penitentiary.  He said that he thought they had made their escape; that he
had been informed that the lock was broken, the gate opened, and the
Indians sent off.

	I informed him that it was true that the Indian prisoners escaped,
but that I soon recovered them, placed them in charge of the Warden, and
wrote to Colonel Steptoe, who was at Bear river en route for California,
acquainting him with the circumstances.  The Colonel replied, and thanked
me in his note.  I asked brother Tobin whether the Colonel did not tell
him that those Indians were recovered.  He replied, "No, but it has
appeared in nearly all, if not all, the western papers, that the "Mormons"
let the Indians out of prison."  They could publish that the Indians
escaped, but they would not proclaim that the "Mormons" speedily recovered
them, and that they are still safely lodged in prison.

	Those who love righteousness and possess the Spirit of God, those who
delight to do good can remember good.  They can remember every good
principle and every good act; and when they read the Bible, the sayings of
the Prophets and Apostles will be as near their hearts as lies are to the
hearts of the wicked.  By this you may know whether you are Saints or not. 
Can you remember good?  If you forget good and remember evil, you may lay
it down as a positive fact that you are on the highway to destruction.  If
you love the truth you can remember it.

	One may here inquire, "Can I strengthen my memory and bring it into
lively exercise?"  Yes, by applying your mind to the point you wish to
improve upon, and you can learn and remember righteous deeds if you are
full of integrity.

	The Gospel of salvation has been revealed unto us expressly to teach
our hearts understanding, and when I learn the principles of charity or
righteousness I will adhere to them, and say to selfishness, you must not
have that which you want, and when it urges that I have no more flour than
I shall need until harvest, and that I must not give any away, not even a
pound, I say, get out of my door.  And when it argues that a brother will
not be profited by our endeavors to benefit him, that you had better keep
your money to yourselves and not let him have this ox, that farm or cow,
&c., and strives to persuade you not to feed such a poor person, not to do
anything for the P. E. F. Company, that you have not any more than you
need, just do as the man did in Vermont, for by the report we would judge
him to be a pretty good man.  He had a farm, raised a large quantity of
grain, and usually had some to spare.  It so happened one season that a
poor neighbor thrashed out his rye, and was to receive his pay in grain. 
The poor man came; the farmer told him to leave his bags and he would
measure up the amount and have it ready when again called for.  He was
alone when measuring the grain, and as he put into the measure, something
whispered to him, "Pour it in lightly," but instead of doing this, he gave
the measure a kick.  When he put on the strike something said to him,
"When you take that off, take a little out the poor man will know nothing
about it."  At last the farmer said, "Mr. Devil, walk out of my barn, or I
will heap every half bushel I measure for the poor man."

	When you are tempted to do wrong, do not stop one moment to argue,
but tell Mr. Devil to walk out of your barn, or you will heap up every
half bushel; you can do that I know.  A drunkard can walk by a tavern,
though I have heard it said that some men cannot go by, or if they do
manage to get by, that they say, "Now I know I am the master, and I will
go back and treat resolution."

	I am aware that some will argue that they cannot do good without evil
being present with them; that has nothing to do with the case.  Though it
may be present with them, as it was with Paul, there is no necessity for
any man's giving way to that evil.  If we should do good, do it, and tell
the evil to stand out of the way.  You are privileged to be masters of
yourselves; you can strengthen your memories, and by a close application
you can train yourselves to remember the good instead of the evil.  If
anybody has injured you, forget it.  Can you do so?  I know you can.

	Forget the imperfections of your brethren; for often the injuries
which you imagine to have been done, arise through the weakness of the
flesh, and without the individual's being aware that he has done you an
injury, and when no evil was designed.  Judge not according to the outward
appearance, but according to the intentions of the heart.  If they
designed to injure you, they sinned; if they have injured you without
design, you are bound to forgive.  Remember good principles, and when you
hear the truth, if you have a love for it, you will remember it.

	It is frequently said by mothers, and is a universal characteristic
of the rising generation, "How easy it is for children to learn mischief;
I do not like to have my children associated with such and such children,
or go to this or that school."  Do they learn any good?  Perhaps they do a
little, and a great deal of evil.  It is natural for children to learn
that which they should not, and to do that which they should not, but no
more so than it is for you and me.  There are many now before me who
desire something put in their possession which would be injurious to them,
therefore do not blame the children so much for desiring to handle that
which is not meet for them to handle, and to possess that which they
cannot take care of.

	What shall we do?  We will cut off every avenue of evil, as fast and
as far as may lay in our power.  You can stop those evil communications
that corrupt good manners in yourselves first, and then keep your children
as strictly from evil as possible, and not many generations will pass away
ere the heavens will acknowledge that there is a reformation among the
Latter-day Saints.  How many generations we do not know, but I sometimes
think that the Lamanites will become a white and delightsome people about
as quick.  It belongs to us to commence the work of reformation, and in
the first place to set the example of good works before our children, and
when they grow up they will say, these are the traditions of my fathers. 
They will thus improve a little, and the next generation will improve a
little more, until the traditions of the children are in accordance with
the principles of the eternal Priesthood, which will produce life and
salvation.

	I will speak a little more upon placing your affections on beings who
are not worthy of them.  Take a Prophet, and Apostle, a man of God, one
who is just as good in his calling and capacity as Jesus Christ was in
his, a man who has adorned the doctrine of his profession, until he is
sealed up unto eternal lives by the power of the Priesthood, one who is
sure of a glorious resurrection, and let him desire to have a wife.  Now
suppose that he gains the affection of a lovely woman and marries her, how
much shall that righteous man love that woman?  Shall he say, "I love this
woman to such a degree that I will go to hell rather than not have her, I
will do even this rather than lose my wife?"  No, for you ought to love a
woman only so far as she adorns the doctrine you profess; so far as she
adorns that doctrine, just so far let your love extend to her.  When will
she be worthy of the full extent of your affection?  When she has lived
long enough to secure to herself a glorious resurrection and an eternal
exaltation as your companion, and never until then.

	Elders, never love your wives one hair's breadth further than they
adorn the Gospel, never love them so but that you can leave them at a
moment's warning without shedding a tear.  Should you love a child any
more than this?  No.  Here are Apostles and Prophets who are destined to
be exalted with the Gods, to become rulers in the kingdoms of our Father,
to become equal with the Father and the Son, and will you let your
affections be unduly placed on anything this side that kingdom and glory? 
If you do, you disgrace your calling and Priesthood.  The very moment that
persons in this Church suffer their affections to be immoderately placed
upon an object this side the celestial kingdom, they disgrace their
profession and calling.  When you love your wives and children, are fond
of your horses, your carriages, your fine houses, your goods and chattels,
or anything of an earthly nature, before your affections become too
strong, wait until you and your family are sealed up unto eternal lives,
and you know they are yours from that time henceforth and for ever.

	I will now ask the sisters, do you believe that you are worthy of any
greater love than you bestow upon your children?  Do you believe that you
should be beloved by your husbands and parents any further than you
acknowledge and practice the principle of eternal lives?  Every person who
understands this principle would answer in a moment, "Let no being's
affections be placed upon me any further than mine are on eternal
principles--principles that are calculated to endure and exalt me, and
bring me up to be an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ." 
This is what every person who has a correct understanding would say.

	Owing to the weaknesses of human nature you often see a mother mourn
upon the death of her child, the tears of bitterness are found upon her
cheeks, he pillow is wet with the dews of sorrow, anguish, and mourning
for her child, and she exclaims, "O that my infant were restored to me," 
and weeps day and night.  To me such conduct is unwise, for until that
child returned to its Father, was it worthy of your fullest love?  No, for
it was imperfect, but now it is secure in the bosom of the Father, to
dwell there to all eternity; now it is in a condition where it is worthy
of your perfect love, and your anxiety and effort should be that you may
enter at the same gate to immortality.

	When the wife secures to herself a glorious resurrection, she is
worthy of the full measure of the love of the faithful husband, but never
before.  And when a man has passed through the vail, and secured to
himself an eternal exaltation, he is then worthy of the love of his wife
and children, and not until then, unless he has received the promise of
and is sealed up unto eternal lives.  Then he may be an object fully
worthy of their affections and love on the earth, and not before.

	I will now briefly call your minds to the principle of being one.  Do
you not comprehend that you ought to have your affections concentrated in
the kingdom of God on the earth?  As I observed here last Sabbath, I do
not reflect much whether I have friends or foes, or care one groat about
it.  I do not care whether you take my counsel or not, provided you take
the counsel of the Almighty.  I do not care what the people do, if they
will only serve God and build up this kingdom.  I do not care what become
of the things of this world, of the gold, of the silver, of the houses and
of the lands, so we have power to gather the house of Israel, redeem Zion,
and establish the kingdom of God on the earth.  I would not give a cent
for all the rest.  True, these things which the Lord bestows upon us are
for our comfort, for our happiness and convenience, but everything must be
devoted to the building up of the kingdom of God on the earth.  I may say
that this Gospel is to spread to the nations of the earth, Israel is to be
gathered, Zion redeemed, and the land of Joseph, which is the land of
Zion, is to be in the possession of the Saints, if the Lord Almighty lets
me live; and if I go behind the vail somebody else must see to it.  My
brethren must bear it off shoulder to shoulder.  We must be of one heart
and one mind and roll forth this kingdom; and when we get the first
Presidency, the Twelve, and so on, shoulder to shoulder to forward the
kingdom, wives and children, what are you going to do?  Will you pull
another way?  No, but let your affections, faith, and all your works be
with your husbands, and be obedient to them as unto the Lord.  And
husbands, serve the Lord with all your hearts, and then we shall be a
blessed people, and be of one heart and mind, and the Lord will withhold
no good thing from us, but we shall put down the power of Satan, walk
triumphantly through the world, preach the Gospel and gather the Saints. 
I say then, let us be faithful, and may God bless you.  Amen.

       THE GIFTS OF PROPHECY AND TONGUES.--THE FORMER CIRCUMSTANCES
       AND PRESENT CONDITION OF THE SAINTS CONTRASTED.--TRIALS AND
          TEMPTATIONS NECESSARY TO EXALTATION.--THE CONDITION OF
              DISEMBODIED SPIRITS.--REDEMPTION OF THE DEAD.
    A Discourse, by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery,
                   Great Salt Lake City, June 22, 1856.

	I am happy for the privilege of rising again before you to converse
upon those things that pertain to our peace, that most deeply interest us
in our reflections and in our lives, it is a matter of constant joy and
comfort to me.

	It gives me great pleasure to look upon the congregations of the
Saints, while I reflect that some of us have been faithful in this Church
for many years, have preached to the Saints and to sinners, have called
upon people to repent while the finger of scorn has been pointed at us and
all manner of evil has been spoken against us falsely.  And many times the
Elders, while laboring faithfully in preaching to the people, would not
find where to lay their heads, no doors open to receive them, and no one
to feed them, yet they have traveled and searched until they have found a
great many that ought to be honest in heart--a great many who have
embraced the Gospel.

	It has been a hard labor upon many of the Elders of this Church to
accomplish what has been done, to preach this Gospel to so many people in
so many different nations and kingdoms.

	If the miles our missionaries have traveled were counted they would
amount to a great sum, and if you could know how many days the have been
without eating, while calling upon the people to repent, you would find
them to be a great number.

	If the troubles of this people from the commencement of this work,
from the early history of the Prophet, and the persecutions of the Saints,
could be presented before this congregation you would be astonished, you
would marvel at them.  You would not believe that a people could endure so
much as this people have endured, you would think it an impossibility for
men and women to endure and pass through what a great many in this Church
have.  Truly it is a miracle that we are here.

	Taking these things into consideration, and viewing our present
circumstances and the privileges we enjoy, there is not a heart that fully
realizes what we have passed through and the blessings we now enjoy,
without praising God continually and feeling to exclaim, "O praise the
name of our God."

	True, many think and feel that we have hard times here, that it is a
hard country to live in.  We have long cold winters, and we have a great
many difficulties to encounter--the Indian wars, the cricket wars, the
grasshopper wars, and the drouths.

	What we have suffered during the two years past comes before us, and
now the prospect is gloomy pertaining to sustenance for man.

	How many are there who feel and say like this?  "Were it not for
'Mormonism' I should know at once what to do; I know the course I would
pursue."  What would you do, brother?  "I would pick up my duds and leave;
I would sell what I have here, if I could, and if I could not I would
leave it."  These are the feelings of some.

	I will tell you what my feelings are, they are, praise God for hard
times, for I feel that it is one of the greatest privileges to be in a
country that is not desirable, where the wicked will pass by.

	Now, do we all realize this?  No, we do not; though I have no doubt
but that some do.  I will tell you what will make you realize it; to
suffer the loss of all things here by the enemy's coming along and driving
you out of your houses, from your farms and fields, and taking your
horses, cattle, farming implements, and what little substance you have,
and banishing you from this place and sending you off five or six hundred
miles, bereft of all you possessed, without suitable clothing and
provisions for the journey.

	Then you go to work, and toil and labor with all your might, for a
few years, to get another home, and then let another set come and drive
you out of that place, taking your cattle, your farms, and all you have,
telling you that they want your possessions, and by the time they had thus
driven you four or five times, as they have many of us, and made you leave
every thing you have, and threatened you with death, and watched for you
by day and by night, to get a chance to kill you, and they suffered to go
at large with impunity, and would kill you in open daylight if they dare,
after having passed through fifteen or sixteen years of this kind of
persecution, you would thank God for hard times, for a country where mobs
do not wish to live.

	Many of the people in these valleys have no experience in these
things, and I would be very glad to have such persons escape those trials,
if they could receive the same glory and exaltation that they would if
they had passed through them.

	I look upon the people, and as I frequently say, I have compassion
upon them, for all have not experience.  It was told you this morning that
you could not be made perfect Saints in one day, that is impossible.  You
might as well undertake to learn a child every branch of English
literature during its first week's attendance at school, this cannot be
done.

	We are not capacitated to receive in one day, nor in one year, the
knowledge and experience calculated to make us perfect Saints, but we
learn from time to time, from day to day, consequently we are to have
compassion one upon another, to look upon each other as we would wish
others to look upon us, and to remember that we are frail mortal beings,
and that we can be changed for the better only by the Gospel of salvation.

	As it was observed this morning, we ought to be ourselves and not
anybody else.  We do not wish to be anybody else, neither do we wish to be
anybody but Saints.  We wish the Gospel to take effect upon each one of
us; and we can change in our feelings, in our dispositions and natures, to
the extent that was observed by brother Kimball in the comparison which he
made.

	A man, or a woman, desiring to know the will of God, and having an
opportunity to know it, will apply their hearts to this wisdom until it
becomes easy and familiar to them, and they will love to do good instead
of evil.  They will love to promote every good principle, and will soon
abhor everything that tends to evil; they will gain light and knowledge to
discern between evil and good.

	The person that applies his heart to wisdom, and seeks diligently for
understanding, will grow to be mighty in Israel.

	Call to mind when you first embraced the Gospel, how much did you
then know compared with what you now know?  Could you detect error then as
now?  Could you then understand the operations of the different spirits as
you can now understand them?  I know what your reply would be to these
interrogations.

	In the first rise of the Church, when the gifts of the Gospel were
bestowed on an individual, or upon individuals, the people could not
understand but that the giver of the gift gave also the exercise of it;
how much labor the Elders that understood this matter have had to make it
plain to the understandings of the people.

	Take, for instance, the gift of tongues; years ago in this Church you
could find men of age, and seemingly of experience, who would preach and
raise up Branches, and when quite young boys or girls would get up and
speak in tongues, and others interpret, and perhaps that interpretation
instructing the Elders who brought them into the Church, they would turn
round and say, "I know my duty, this is the word of the Lord to me and I
must do as these boys or girls have spoken in tongues."

	You ask one of the Elders if they understand things so now, and they
will say, "No, the gifts are from the Lord, and we are agents to use them
as we please."

	If a man is called to be a Prophet, and the gift of prophecy is
poured upon him, though he afterwards actually defies the power of God and
turns away from the holy commandments, that man will continue in his gift
and will prophecy lies.

	He will make false prophecies, yet he will do it by the spirit of
prophecy; he will feel that he is a prophet and can prophecy, but he does
it by another spirit and power than that which was given him of the Lord. 
He uses the gift as much as you and I use ours.

	The gift of seeing with the natural eyes is just as much a gift as
the gift of tongues.  The Lord gave that gift and we can do as we please
with regard to seeing; we can use the sight of the eye to the glory of
God, or to our own destruction.

	The gift of taste is the gift of God, we can use that to feed and
pamper the lusts of the flesh, or we can use it to the glory of God.

	The gift of communicating one with another is the gift of God, just
as much so as the gift of prophecy, of discerning spirits, of tongues, of
healing, or any other gift, though sight, taste, and speech, are so
generally bestowed that they are not considered in the same miraculous
light as are those gifts mentioned in the Gospel.

	We can use these gifts, and every other gift God has given us, to the
praise and glory of God, to serve Him, or we can use them to dishonor Him
and His cause; We can use the gift of speech to blaspheme His name.  That
is true, and I have as good a right as brother Kimball, to say that what I
am talking about is true.

	He said that all his talk in the forenoon was true, and I have as
good a right to say that my talk is true, as he has to say that his is
true.

	These principles are correct in regard to the gifts which we receive
for the express purpose of using them, in order that we may endure and be
exalted, and that the organization we have received shall not come to an
end, but endure to all eternity.

	By a close application of the gifts bestowed upon us, we can secure
to ourselves the resurrection of these bodies that we now possess, that
our spirits inhabit, and when they are resurrected they will be made pure
and holy; then they will endure to all eternity.

 	But we cannot receive all at once, we cannot understand all at once;
we have to receive a little here and a little there.  If we receive a
little, let us improve upon that little; and if we receive much, let us
improve upon it.

	If we get a line to-day, improve upon it; if we get another
to-morrow, improve upon it; and every line, and precept, and gift that we
receive, we are to labor upon, so as to become perfect before the Lord.

	This is the way that we are to change ourselves, and change one
another, pertaining to the principles of righteousness.

	As brother Joseph observed this morning, "Joseph must be Joseph;
Brigham must be Brigham; Heber must be Heber; Amasa must be Amasa; Orson
must be Orson; and Parley must be Parley;" we must be ourselves.

	What should we be, and what are we?  I will take the liberty of
saying a few words upon this.  We were created upright, pure, and holy, in
the image of our father and our mother, in the image of our God.

	Wherein do we differ?  In the talents that are given us, and in our
callings.  We are made of the same materials; our spirits were begotten by
the same parents; in the begetting of the flesh we are of the same first
parents, and all the kindreds of the earth are made of one flesh; but we
are different in regard to our callings.

	In the first place, we may vary with regard to our organizations
pertaining to the flesh; brother Kimball explained this morning why and
how we vary.

	Let a man be devoted to his God and to his religion, and his wives
with him, and he is very apt to have children that will grow up in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord.  If the whole of the father and mother
in all their acts is devoted to the building up of the kingdom of God on
the earth, if they have no desire but to do right, if righteousness reigns
predominant, then the spirit that is within them controls, to a certain
extent, the flesh in their posterity.

	Yet every son and daughter have got to go through the ordeal that you
and I have to pass through; they must be tried, tempted and buffeted, in
order to act upon their agency before God and prove themselves worthy of
an exaltation.

	Though our children are begotten in righteousness, brought forth in
holiness, they must be tried and tempted, for they are agents before our
Father and God, the same as you and I.

	They must bring this agency into action; the passions and appetites
must be governed and controlled; the eye, the speech, the tastes, the
desires, all must be controlled.

	If the people would thus control themselves in their lives, it would
make a great alteration in the generations yet to come.

	But we cannot clear ourselves from the power of satan; we must know
what it is to be tried and tempted, for no man or woman can be exalted
upon any other principle, as was beautifully exhibited in the life of the
Savior.

	According to the philosophy of our religion we understand that if he
had not descended below all things, he could not have ascended above all
things.

	As he was appointed to ascend above all things, his father and his
God so brought it about by the handiwork of His providence, that he was
actually accounted, in his birth and in his life, below all things.

	Did he descend below all things?  His parents had not a house nor
even a tent for him to be born in, but were obliged to go to a stable,
doubtless because they were denied the privilege of a house.

	The Son of Man could not be born in a house, and the poor mother in
her distress crawled into a manger, among the litter that had been left by
the cattle.

	Others may have been born in as low a state as this, but it is hard
to find anybody, among the civilized portions of mankind, that gets any
lower.

	But in the opinion of the people they were not considered worthy of
anything better, and by some means it happened so, though they did not
know why, neither did the people.

	The history of Joseph and Mary is given to us by their best friends,
and precisely as we will give the history of the Prophet Joseph.  We know
him to have been a good man, we know that he performed his mission, we
know that he was an honorable man and dealt justly, we know his true
character.

	But let his enemies give his character, and they will make him out
one of the basest men that ever lived.  Let the enemies of Joseph and Mary
give their characters to us, and you would be strongly tempted to believe
as the Jews believe.

	Let the enemies of Jesus give his character to us, and, in the
absence of the testimony of his friends, I do not know but that the
present Christian world would all be Jews, so far as their belief that
Jesus Christ was an impostor and one of the most degraded men that ever
lived.

	Jesus descended very low in his parentage and birth; but the question
may be asked, did he condescend to be reduced in his understanding?

	By the same reasoning I would believe that he did.  I would believe
that he was one of the weakest children that was ever born, one of the
most helpless at his birth; so helpless that it might have been supposed
that he would never grow up to manhood.

	What is his history?  Read for yourselves the account given by his
friends.  It is said that Josephus has given a pretty just account of
Joseph and Mary, of the Apostles, &c., but he has only given just about as
good an account of Jesus and his parents as some person in London lately
has about the "Mormons" and Joseph Smith their Prophet, though he gives a
pretty fair account.

	Take a man in Paris or in London and let him write a history of
Joseph Smith and the Latter Day Saints thirty years after Joseph figured
on the earth, for the history of Christ by Josephus was written several
years, after he was crucified, and he would come as nigh to the truth,
perhaps, as Josephus did in the history he has given of Jesus and his
Apostles.  Josephus was a pretty fair man, but he knew but little about
them.

	What account would Jesus have given of himself, could he have
transmitted his own statements?  Such as every good man would, for he
would have told the truth; but now we have to take his history from his
friends and from his foes.

	What history do we get from the Jews?  I will venture to say that no
man living on the face of the earth, capable of using language to portray
the character of any individual that lives on the earth, could paint a
worse character than they have given to Jesus Christ.

	Compare that with all that has been said against Joseph Smith, and
you will find that the wisdom of this generation will have to succumb to
that of the Jews, for they portrayed the meanest character in the history
they have given of Jesus; but let that pass.

	You can discern that we have to control ourselves, that by the Gospel
we can actually do so and reform.  Each man and woman, by the spirit of
truth, can conform to that principle to improve until we will know and
understand the things of God, so as to save ourselves by the commandments
and will of God.

	The Gospel is simple, it is plain.  The mystery of godliness, or of
the Gospel, is actually couched in our own ignorance; that is the cause of
the mystery that we suppose to be in the revelations given to us; it is in
our own misunderstanding--in our ignorance.

	There is no mystery throughout the whole plan of salvation, only to
those who do not understand.

	Brother Joseph, in the forenoon, touched upon one principle that I
wish to talk about, that is, our future state--futurity.

	From time to time our fathers and our mothers leave us, their bodies
are consigned to the silent tomb; our Prophets are taken from us; our
companions are taken away; our brothers and sisters leave this world.

	The organization that pertains to this life decays, it becomes
lifeless, we lay it down.  Disease fastens upon our children, and they are
gone.

	I said a few words upon the principle of affection last Sabbath, now
I wish to say a few words with regard to our lives hereafter; I will
extend these remarks further than our existence here in the flesh.

	We understand, for it has long been told us, that we had an existence
before we came into the world.  Our spirits came here pure to take these
tabernacles; they came to occupy them as habitations, with the
understanding that all that had passed previously to our coming here
should be taken away from us, that we should not know anything about it.

	We come here to live a few days, and then we are gone again.  How
long the starry heavens have been in existence we cannot say; how long
they will continue to be we cannot say. How long there will be air, water,
earth; how long the elements will endure, in their present combinations,
it is not for us to say.  Our religion teaches us that there never was a
time when they were not, and there never will be a time when they will
cease to be; they are here, and will be here for ever.

	I will give you a figure that brother Hyde had in a dream.  He had
been thinking a great deal about time and eternity; he wished to know the
difference, but how to understand it he did not know.  He asked the Lord
to show him, and after he had prayed about it the Lord gave him a dream,
at least I presume He did, or permitted it so to be, at any rate he had a
dream; his mind was opened so that he could understand time and eternity. 
He said that he thought he saw a stream issuing forth from a misty cloud
which spread upon his right and upon his left, and that the stream ran
past him and entered the cloud again.  He was told that the stream was
time, that it had no place where it commenced to run, neither was there
any end to its running; and that the time which he was thinking about and
talking about, what he could see between the two clouds, was a portion of
or one with that which he could not perceive.

	So it is with you and I; here is time, where is eternity?  It is
here, just as much as anywhere in all the expanse of space; a measured
space of time is only a part of eternity.

	We have a short period of duration allotted to us, and we call it
time.  We exist here, we have life within us let that life be taken away
and the lungs will cease to heave, and the body will become lifeless.  Is
that life extinct?  No, it continues to exist as much as it did when the
lungs would heave, when the mortal body was invigorated with air, food and
the element in which it lived, it has only left the body.  The life, the
animating principles are still in existence, as much so as they were
yesterday when the body was in good health.  Here the inquiry will
naturally arise, when our spirits leave our bodies where do they go to?

	I will tell you.  Will I locate them?  Yes, if you wish me to.  They
do not pass out of the organization of this earth on which we live.  You
read in the Bible that when the spirit leaves the body it goes to God who
gave it.  Now tell me where God is not, if you please; you cannot.  How
far would you have to go in order to go to God, if your spirits were
unclothed?  Would you have to go out of this bowery to find God, if you
were in the spirit?  If God is not here, we had better reserve this place
to gather the wicked into, for they will desire to be where God is not. 
The Lord Almighty is here by His Spirit, by His influence, by His
presence.  I am not in the north end of this bowery, my body is in the
south end of it, but my influence and my voice extend to all parts of it;
in like manner is the Lord here.

	It reads that the spirit goes to God who gave it.  Let me render this
Scripture a little plainer; when the spirits leave their bodies they are
in the presence of our Father and God, they are prepared then to see, hear
and understand spiritual things.  But where is the spirit world?  It is
incorporated within this celestial system.  Can you see it with your
natural eyes?  No.  Can you see spirits in this room?  No.  Suppose the
Lord should touch your eyes that you might see, could you then see the
spirits?  Yes, as plainly as you now see bodies, as did the servant of
Elijah.  If the Lord would permit it, and it was His will that it should
be done, you could see the spirits that have departed from this world, as
plainly as you now see bodies with your natural eyes; as plainly as
brothers Kimball and Hyde saw those wicked disembodied spirits in Preston,
England.  They saw devils there, as we see one another; they could hear
them speak, and knew what they said. Could they hear them with the natural
ear?  No.  Did they see those wicked spirits with their natural eyes?  No. 
They could not see them the next morning, when they were not in the
spirit; neither could they see them the day before, nor at any other time;
their spiritual eyes were touched by the power of the Almighty.

	They said they looked through their natural eyes, and I suppose they
did.  Brother Kimball saw them, but I know not whether his natural eyes
were open at the time or not; brother Kimball said that he lay upon the
floor part of the time, and I presume his eyes were shut, but he saw them
as also did brother Hyde, and they heard them speak.

	We may enquire where the spirits dwell, that the devil has power
over?  They dwell anywhere, in Preston, as well as in other places in
England.  Do they dwell anywhere else?  Yes, on this continent; it is full
of them.  If you could see, and would walk over many parts of North
America, you would see millions on millions of the spirits of those who
have been slain upon this continent.  Would you see the spirits of those
who were as good in the flesh as they knew how to be?  Yes.  Would you see
the spirits of the wicked?  Yes.  Could you see the spirits of devils? 
Yes, and that is all there is of them.  They have been deprived of bodies,
and that constitutes their curse, that is to say, speaking after the
manner of men, you shall be wanderers on the earth, you have got to live
out of doors all the time you live.

	That is the situation of the spirits that were sent to the earth,
when the revolt took place in heaven, when Lucifer, the Son of the
Morning, was cast out.  Where did he go?  He came here, and one-third part
of the spirits in heaven came with him.  Do you isuppose [sic] that one
third part of all the beings that existed in eternity came with him?  No,
but one third part of the spirits that were begotten and organized and
brought forth to become tenants of fleshly bodies to dwell upon this
earth.  They forsook Jesus Christ, the rightful heir, and joined with
Lucifer, the Son of the Morning, and came to this earth; they got here
first.  As soon as Mother Eve made her appearance in the garden of Eden,
the devil was on hand.

	You cannot give any person their exaltation, unless they know what
evil is, what sin, sorrow, and misery are, for no person could comprehend,
appreciate, and enjoy an exaltation upon any other principle.  The devil
with one third part of the spirits of our Father's Kingdom got here before
us, and we tarried there with our friends, until the time came for us to
come to the earth and take tabernacles; but those spirits that revolted
were forbidden ever to have tabernacles of their own.  You can now
comprehend how it is that they are always trying to get possession of the
bodies of human beings; we read of a man's being possessed of a legion,
and Mary Magdalene had seven.

	You may now see people with legions of evil spirits in and around
them; there are men who walk our streets that have more than a hundred
devils in them and round about them, prompting them to all manner of evil,
and some too that profess to be Latter Day Saints, and if you were to take
the devils out of them and from about them, you would leave them dead
corpses; for I believe there would be nothing left of them.

	I want you to understand these things; and if you should say or think
that I know nothing about them, be pleased to find out and inform me.  You
can see the acts of these evil spirits in every place, the whole country
is full of them, the whole earth is alive with them, and they are
continually trying to get into the tabernacles of the human family, and
are always on hand to prompt us to depart from the strict line of our
duty.

	You know that we sometimes need a prompter; if any one of you was
called by the government of the United States to go to Germany, Italy, or
any foreign nation, as an Ambassador, if you did not understand the
language somebody would have to interpret for you.  Well, these evil
spirits are ready to prompt you.  Do they prompt us?  Yes, and I could put
my hands on an dozen of them while I have been on this stand; they are
here on the stand.  Could we do without the devils?  No, we could not get
along without them.  They are here, and they suggest this, that, and the
other.

	When you lay down this tabernacle, where are you going?  Into the
spiritual world.  Are you going into Abraham's bosom. No, not any where
nigh there, but into the spirit world.  Where is the spirit world?  It is
right here.  Do the good and evil spirits go together?  Yes, they do.  Do
they both inhabit one kingdom?  Yes, they do.  Do they go to the sun?  No. 
Do they go beyond the boundaries of this organized earth?  No, they do
not.  They are brought forth upon this earth, for the express purpose of
inhabiting it to all eternity.  Where else are you going?  No where else,
only as you may be permitted.

	When the spirits of mankind leave their bodies, no matter whether the
individual was a Prophet or the meanest person that you could find, where
do they go?  To the spirit world.  Where is it?  I am telling you.  The
spirit of Joseph, I do not know that it is just now in this bowery, but I
will assure you that it is close to the Latter-day Saints, is active in
preaching to the spirits in prison and preparing the way to redeem the
nations of the earth, those who lived in darkness previous to the
introduction of the Gospel by himself in these days.

 	He has just as much labor on hand as I have; he has just as much to
do.  Father Smith and Carlos and brother Partridge, yes, and every other
good Saint, are just as busy in the spirit world as you and I are here. 
They can see us, but we cannot see them unless our eyes were opened.  What
are they doing there?  They are preaching, preaching all the time, and
preparing the way for us to hasten our work in building temples here and
elsewhere, and to go back to Jackson County and build the great temple of
the Lord.  They are hurrying to get ready by the time that we are ready,
and we are all hurrying to get ready by the time our Elder Brother is
ready.

	The wicked spirits that leave here and go into the spirit world, are
they wicked there?  Yes.

	The spirits of people that have lived upon the earth according to the
the [sic] best light they had, who were as honest and sincere as men and
women could be, if they lived on the earth without the privilege of the
Gospel and the Priesthood and the keys thereof are still under the power
and control of evil spirits, to a certain extent.  No matter where they
lived on the face of the earth, all men and women that have died without
the keys and power of the Priesthood, though they might have been honest
and sincere and have done every thing they could, are under the influence
of the devil, more or less.  Are they as much so as others?  No, no.  Take
those that were wicked designedly, who knowingly lived without the Gospel
when it was within their reach, they are given up to the devil, they
become tools to the devil and spirits of devils.

	Go to the time when the Gospel came to the earth in the days of
Joseph, take the wicked that have opposed this people and persecuted them
to the death, and they are sent to hell.  Where are they?  They are in the
spirit world, and are just as busy as they possibly can be to do every
thing they can against the Prophet and the Apostles, against Jesus and his
kingdom.  They are just as wicked and malicious in their actions against
the cause of truth, as they were while on the earth in their fleshly
tabernacles.

	Joseph, also, goes there, but has the devil power over him?  No,
because he held the keys and power of the eternal Priesthood here, and got
the victory while here in the flesh.

	Before I proceed further I will give you an illustration.  Send a man
that is used to magnetizing people, and see if he can magnetize an Elder
in Israel, one that is full of the faith, or a faithful sister in the
Church of God.  Could Le Roy Sunderland, one of their greatest characters,
magnetize one of the Latter Day Saints?  No.  He might as well try to
magnetize the sun in the firmament.  Why?  Because the Priesthood is upon
you, and he would try to magnetize you by another and lesser power.

	The principle of animal magnetism is true, but wicked men use it to
an evil purpose.  I have never told you much about my belief in this
magnetic principle.  Speaking is a true gift, but I can speak to the glory
of God, or to the injury of His cause and to my condemnation, as I please;
and still the gift is of God.  The gift of animal magnetism is a gift of
God, but wicked men use it to promote the cause of the devil, and that is
precisely the difference.  You may travel through the world and make
inquiries where the Elders have traveled, and you cannot find an instance
where the devil has gained power over a good an faithful Elder through
this power.  He cannot do it, because the faithful Elder of this Church
holds keys and power above that which is used by those who go round
lecturing on magnetism, and operating upon all who will become passive to
their will.  They have not the same power that the faithful Elders of
Israel have, for those Elders have the eternal Priesthood upon them, which
is above and presides over every other power.

	When the faithful Elders, holding this Priesthood, go into the spirit
world they carry with them the same power and Priesthood that they had
while in the mortal tabernacle.  They have got the victory over the power
of the enemy here, consequently when they leave this world they have
perfect control over those evil spirits, and they cannot be buffeted by
Satan.  But as long as they live in the flesh no being  on this earth, of
the posterity of Adam, can be free from the power of the devil.

	When this portion of the school is out, the one in which we descend
below all things and commence upon this earth to learn the first lessons
for an eternal exaltation, if you have been a faithful scholar, and have
overcome, if you have brought the flesh into subjection by the power of
the Priesthood, if you have honored the body, when it crumbles to the
earth and your spirit is freed from this home of clay, has the devil any
power over it?  Not one particle.

	This is an advantage which the faithful will gain; but while they
live on earth they are subject to the buffetings of Satan.  Joseph and
those who have died in the faith of the Gospel are free from this; if a
mob should come upon Joseph now, he has power to disperse them with the
motion of his hand, and to drive them where he pleases.  But is Joseph
glorified? No, he is preaching to the spirits in prison.  He will get  his
resurrection the first of any one in this kingdom, for he was the first
that God made choice of to bring forth the work of the last days.  

	His office is not taken from him, he has only gone to labor in
another department of the operations of the Almighty.  He is still an
Apostle, still a Prophet and is doing the work of an Apostle and Prophet;
he has gone one step beyond us and gained a victory that you and I have
not gained, still he has not yet gone into the celestial kingdom, or if he
has it has been by a direct command of the Almighty, and that too to
return again so soon as the purpose has been accomplished.

	No man can enter the celestial kingdom and be crowned with a
celestial glory, until he gets his resurrected body; but Joseph and the
faithful who have died have gained a victory over the power of the devil,
which you and I have not yet gained.  So long as we live in these
tabernacles, so long we will be subject to the temptations and power of
the devil; but when we lay them down, if we have been faithful, we have
gained the victory so far; but even then we are not so far advanced at
once as to be beyond the neighborhood of evil spirits.

	The third part of the hosts of heaven, that were cast out, have not
been taken away, at least not that I have found out, and the other
two-thirds have got to come and take bodies, all of them who have not, and
have the opportunity of preparing for a glorious resurrection and
exaltation, before we get through with this world; and those who are
faithful in the flesh to the requirements of the Gospel will gain this
victory over the spirits that are not allowed to take bodies, which class
comprises one third of the hosts of Heaven.

	Those who have died without the Gospel are continually afflicted by
those evil spirits, who say to them--"Do not go to hear that man Joseph
Smith preach, or David Patten, or any of their associates, for they are
deceivers."

	Spirits are just as familiar with spirits as bodies are with bodies,
though spirits are composed of matter so refined as not to be tangible to
this coarser organization.  They walk, converse, and have their meetings;
and the spirits of good men like Joseph and the Elders, who have left this
Church on earth for a season to operate in another sphere, are rallying
all their powers and going from place to place preaching the Gospel, and
Joseph is directing them, saying, go ahead, my brethren, and if they hedge
up your way, walk up and command them to disperse.  You have the
Priesthood and can disperse them, but if any of them wish to hear the
Gospel, preach to them.

	Can they baptize them?  No.  What can they do?  They can preach the
Gospel, and when we have the privilege of building up Zion, the time will
come for saviors to come up on Mount Zion.  My brother Joseph spoke of
this principle this forenoon.  Some of those who are not in mortality will
come along and say, "Here are a thousand names I wish you to attend to in
this temple, and when you have got through with them I will give you
another thousand;" and the Elders of Israel and their wives will go forth
to officiate for their forefathers, the men for the men, and the women for
the women.

	A man is ordained and receives his washings, anointings, and
endowments for the male portion of his and his wife's progenitors, and his
wife for the female portion.

	Then in the spirit world they will say, "Do you not see somebody at
work for you?  The Lord remembers you and has revealed to His servants on
the earth, what to do for you."

	Is the spirit world here?  It is not beyond the sun, but is on this
earth that was organized for the people that have lived and that do and
will live upon it.  No other people can have it, and we can have no other
kingdom until we are prepared to inhabit this eternally.  In the spirit
world those who have got the victory go on to prepare the way for those
who live in the flesh, fulfilling the work of saviors on Mount Zion.

	To accomplish this work there will have to be not only one temple but
thousands of them, and thousands and tens of thousands of men and women
will go into those temples and officiate for people who have lived as far
back as the Lord shall reveal.  If we are faithful enough to go back and
build that great temple which Joseph has written about, and should the
Lord acknowledge the labor of His servants, then watch, for you will see
somebody whom you have seen before, and many of you will see him whom you
have not seen before, but you will know him as soon as you see him.

	This privilege we cannot enjoy now, because the power of Satan is
such that we cannot perform the labor that is necessary to enable us to
obtain it.

	When we commence again on the walls of the temple to be built on this
Block, the news will fly from Maine to California.  Who will tell them? 
Those little devils that are around here, that are around this earth in
the spirit world; there will be millions of them ready to communicate the
news to devils in Missouri, Illinois, California, Mexico, and in all the
world.  And the question will be, "What is the news?  There is some
devilish thing going on among the 'Mormons' and I know it.  Those
'Mormons' ought to be killed."  They do not know what stirs them up to
this feeling, it is those spirits that are continually near to them.

	We all have got spirits to attend us; when the eyes of the servant of
Elijah were opened he saw that those for them were more than those that
were against them.  There are two thirds for us, and one third against us;
and there is not a son or daughter of Adam but what will be saved in some
kingdom and receive a glory and an exaltation to a degree, except those
who have had the privilege of the Gospel and rejected it and sinned
against the Holy Ghost, they will become servants to devils.

	How long will they exist?  I do not know, neither do I care.  Every
one of this people, with the Saints that have lived before us, from the
days of Adam until now, and those that may come after us, all say, "Build
up the kingdom of God."  What for"  To save the inhabitants of the earth,
to get them all back into some kind of a kingdom where they can be
administered to, and not have this organized matter return again to its
native element, for we wish this work to be preserved.

	You know that when you make a farm you dislike to see it overrun with
weeds, and it would hurt your feelings to see your houses, barns, and
other property destroyed.  True, you can make more, but how do you suppose
the Lord feels, who is much more compassionate than we are, when He sees
the devil gaining an advantage over His creatures to lead them away to
destroy them?  Do you not suppose that the bowels of His compassion yearn
over this people, and that He is angry with the wicked?  Do you not
suppose that He often feels like saying, "O, my children, why do you not
hearken to what I tell you, and take hold of the principles of life, and
cease pursuing a course that is calculated to destroy you?  I have labored
to bring forth this organization, and I do not wish to lose my labor, but
I desire to have you hearken to the counsel I give to you and prepare
yourselves to endure forever and come into my presence, and if you cannot
do that and abide a celestial law, at least abide the law of a kingdom
where I can send angels to you, and I will send and comfort you and
administer unto you and will raise you up and make you glad and happy, and
will fill you with joy and with peace."

	It is our business to live our religion, and it is all that we have
to do.  "But," says one, "I thought we had got to raise grain."  I have
told you, many a time, that I would not give you anything for your faith,
without you add works.  How are you going to work to build up the kingdom?

	I now wish to leave the subject we have been considering, for I think
I have talked enough about it for the present, and tell you how to prepare
yourselves to build up the kingdom of God and save the honest in heart.

	Here we are in the valleys of these mountains, and I say that there
is not a people on the earth that would live here but the Latter-day
Saints, and it seems almost more than they can do to stay here.  Now if
they would be as swift to hearken to counsel as they are to get rich, and
as they are in pleasing their own dispositions, we should not see the hard
times that we now see.

	When we first came here we had not been two weeks on this square,
before the Big Cottonwood canal which we are now building, was just as
visible to me as it ever will be when it is completed, and you will yet
see boats on it.  It has to be there.  What for?  To sustain this people. 
Do you think we want the water that is now wasted in those natural
channels?  Say, sisters, do you think we want any more water for
irrigation?  Yes, you do, for your peas are drying up, and you are not
likely to have many cucumbers for pickling.

	Have this people been as swift to hearken to counsel as to get rich? 
No, and many of you would rather pray the Lord to send rain, than to
appropriate, by your labor, the waters that are continually flowing from
these kanyons.  I tell you now, as I have before said, I do not have much
faith to pray for rain; and if I had faith and power to bring rain upon
the crops in these valleys, I would not do it.  Why?  Because it would
throw many of you into lazy, slothful, idle habits, and every Gentile that
came through here would covet your farms, and would say, "This is the
finest country we ever saw, how rich you are, how your cattle thrive upon
the hills, your grain grows almost without labor in cultivating the
earth."

	They would soon begin to desire your inheritances, those houses and
this city, and it would be but a few years before we would have to leave,
or contend with them.  As it is now, there is no people that would live
here, except the Latter-day Saints, and they are decidedly the best people
upon the earth, even though I sometimes chastise them, and what I say is
true, for a few deserve chastising.

	I do not believe that the city of Enoch made greater advancement, in
the same period of time, than this people have done in the twenty-six
years of their career, which is saying a great deal for them.  Who else
would live here?  Nobody.  Put Gentiles here and tell them that they had
to be confined here, and they would consider themselves in a worse prison
than a penitentiary.

	Do some of the brethren murmur a little, and say if it were not for
"Mormonism," they would do thus and so?  What of that?  Is there any other
people who would do as well as you do?  No, not another.

	When I find fault with the people for not hearkening to counsel, it
is because I want them to live so as speedily to obtain the reward of
righteousness, and not have to wait so long for it.

	This is a good people, though there are some in our midst who do not
do right.  Plant the Gentiles here, and you would soon see cutting throats
and hear the sharp crack of the rifle at the water sects.  There would be
far more fighting for water than there is among the "Mormons" though some
of them steal it now.

	Many of the brethren feel as I do; if I had my crops growing and
somebody should come along and steal my water, I should say, you will
raise grain, will you not?  Well, go ahead, for we shall get it, if you
raise it.

	Here sits a man I can now look upon who says I am a greater despot
than the Emperor of Russia.  May be I am, for should I see the poor
suffering, I could knock open flour barrels better than Alexander II, and
give the contents to the poor with a better heart than he could.

	Who in the wide world could live here more peaceably than we do? 
Nobody; and I thank God for hard times.  Do you suppose that the Gentiles
want this country?  No; they say, "It is a God-forsaken country," and I
say, hallelujah, for it is the very country I prefer, a country where
nobody else will live but those who are willing to keep the commandments
of God.

	I wish to be tyrannical enough, if that is the proper term, to make
you good men and good women.  Go to with your might this year, and see if
we cannot prepare for another.  This is a great Saint raising country; we
have seen wheat grow here almost spontaneously, and there could not be a
better Saint raising country.

	If a person is honest before God and has more than he needs for his
own use, and does not covet it, he will make a distribution to those who
have not, and there need not any person go without necessary food.  I know
that there are many here who have given out much flour, and they have by
no means suffered on account of their liberality.  There is a man sitting
on the stand who says that scraped the bottom of the flour barrel, and on
the next morning has gone to scrape again, to give out more to the poor,
and found it half full.  She asked him "If he had put it there."  He
answered, "No."  "Well," said she, "I scraped it out last night."

	The Lord wishes to try you; shall we say that we will hoard up the
blessings of God, that we may be able to say that we have a large amount
to ourselves?  No, but divide them out, and do so with an honest heart, in
all humility; and let those who receive blessings receive them with an
honest heart, in all humility and thankfulness.  Some who have, will
withhold, and some of the poor are covetous and will grab a little here
and there and lay it up, or waste it.  If you continue in covetousness,
your substance will shrink and waste away.

	Let the poor, those who have to depend upon their brethren for bread,
after they have done all they can to obtain it themselves be thankful, and
take no more than they require to use in a frugal manner.  By taking such
a course, no person would suffer.

	With some there is a fearfulness, a want of faith and confidence in
God, and a stingy close fistedness; this is the cause of many's being so
pinched.  As I have often done, I again invite those who are distrustful,
and fearful that God is going to forsake this people, to leave, if they do
not wish to be Saints and repose confidence in the God of the Saints.  I
wish such characters would leave; I shall be glad if they will leave.  I
would not have them stay:  I would rather give them flour and help them to
leave because they are a curse to the Saints.  And if the devil puts into
their hearts to leave, I know there will be a certain portion of those
evil spirits go with them, and still we shall always have plenty more
coming.

	All I ask of you is to apply your hearts to the Gospel of Jesus
Christ and be Saints.  I will not ask anything else on this earth of you
only to live so as to know the mind and will of God when you receive it,
and then abide in it.  If you will do that, you will be prepared to do a
great many things, and you will find that there is much good to be done.

	We have no time to spend foolishly, for we have just as much on our
hands as we can probably do, to keep pace with that portion of our
brethren who have gone into the other room.

       TESTIMONY TO THE DIVINITY OF JOSEPH SMITH'S MISSION--ELDERS
         SHOULD GO TO THEIR MISSIONS WITHOUT PURSE OR SCRIP--THE
     LORD DEALS WITH THE SAINTS--JESUS THEIR PRESIDENT--SATAN ANGRY.
     A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery,
                  Great Salt Lake City, August 31, 1856.

	I appear before you to bear my testimony to the truth of "Mormonism,"
that Joseph Smith, jun., was a Prophet called of God, and that he did
translate the Book of Mormon by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost. 
This same testimony all can bear, who have received and continue to retain
the Spirit of the Gospel.

	We are happy to hear from our brethren who have returned from the
fields of their labor, it rejoices our hearts, and we like to see their
faces.  I know how they feel when they return home, for I have felt many
times, in returning to the Saints, as though the privilege of beholding
their faces was a feast to overflowing, my soul has been full.  I rejoice
all the time, and I can understand why brother Clinton has rejoiced so
exceedingly; it is because the lightning and thunder are in him, and
because he gave vent to his feelings.  Brother Robins' calling has been
different, of such a nature that the lightning and thunder in him have
lain dormant, to a certain degree, and he has not enjoyed himself so well
as he would, had he been sent solely to preach and build up churches.

	Let me reduce this to your understandings.  Right here, in our midst,
many who gather from foreign lands, who have undergone all the toil,
labor, and hardship that it is possible for their nature to sustain on
their journey, after they arrive in these valleys begin to sink in their
spirits, neglect their duties, and in a little time do not know whether
"Mormonism" is true or not.  Take the same persons and keep them among the
wicked, and they will preserve their armor bright, but it has become dull
and rusty here; this is the cause of so many leaving these valleys.  The
seas are so calm and the vessel is wafted over them so smoothly, and in a
manner so congenial to the feelings of the people, that they forget that
they are in Zion's ship.  This is the main reason of so many leaving for
the States, California, and other places.  Send those persons among their
enemies, among those who will oppose "Mormonism," among those who will
oppose truth, and let them be continually persecuted, and they will know
very quickly whether they are "Mormons" or not, for they must go to the
one side or the other.  But the condition of society here, and the
feelings of the people, are so different from those of the wicked, that
many glide smoothly along, forget their religion and their God, and
finally think that this is not the place for them and go away.

	I will now state that I am thus far perfectly satisfied with the
labors of the brethren who have returned from their missions this season,
and have come on the stand to-day, and at other times; I am highly
gratified with the doings and labors of those Elders.

	With regard to brother John Taylor, I will say that he has one of the
strongest intellects of any man that can be found; he is a powerful man,
he is a mighty man, and we may say that he is a powerful editor, but I
will use a term to suit myself, and say that he is one of the strongest
editors that ever wrote.  Concerning his financial abilities, I have
nothing to say; those who are acquainted with the matter, know how "The
Mormon" has been sustained.  We sent brother Taylor, and other brethren
with him, to start that paper without purse or scrip, and if they had not
accomplished that object, we should have known that they did not trust in
their God, and did not do their duty.

	Let me call your reflections to the days of Joseph; here are some of
the Twelve, here are the Seventies and Hgh [sic] Priests, and members of
the High Council, and several who have been long in the Church, did any of
you ever receive any support from the Church, while on your missions in
the days of Joseph?  Were you all to answer, you would say that you do not
know the time.

	I came into this Church in the spring of 1832.  Previous to my being
baptized, I took a mission to Canada at my own expense; and from the time
that I was baptized until the day of our sorrow and affliction, at the
martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum, no summer passed over my head but what I
was traveling and preaching, and the only thing I ever received from the
Church, during over twelve years, and the only means that were ever given
me by the Prophet, that I now recollect, was in 1842, when brother Joseph
sent me the half of a small pig that the brethren had brought to him, I
did not ask him for it; it weighed 93 pounds.  And that fall, previous to
my receiving that half of a pig, brother H. C. Kimball and myself were
engaged all the time in pricing property that came in on tithing, and we
were also engaged in gathering tithing, and I had an old saddle valued at
two dollars presented to me, and brother Heber was credited two dollars in
the Church books for one day's services, by brother Willard Richards who
was then keeping those books.  Brother Heber said, "Blot that out, for I
don't want it."  I think it was crossed out, and so was the saddle, for I
did not want it, even had it been given to me.  These were the only
articles I ever received in the days of Joseph, so far as I recollect.

	I have traveled and preached, and at the same time sustained my
family by my labor and economy.  If I borrowed one hundred dollars, or
fifty, or if I had five dollars, it almost universally went into the hands
of brother Joseph, to pay lawyers' fees and to liberate him from the power
of his enemies, so far as it would go.  Hundreds and hundreds of dollars
that I have managed to get, to borrow and trade for, I have handed over to
Joseph when I came home.  That is the way I got help, and it was good for
me; it learned me a great deal, though I had learned, before I heard of
"Mormonism," to take care of number one.

	For me to travel and preach without purse or scrip, was never hard; I
never saw the day, I never was in the place, nor went into a house, when I
was alone, or when I would take the lead and do the talking, but what I
could get all I wanted.  Though I have been with those who would take the
lead and be mouth, and been turned out of doors a great many times, and
could not get a night's lodging.  But when I was mouth I never was turned
out of doors; I could make the acquaintance of the family, and sit and
sing to them and chat with them, and they would feel friendly towards me;
and when they learned that I was a "Mormon" Elder, it was after I had
gained their good feelings.

	When the brethren were talking about starting a press in New York,
and how it has been upheld, I did wish to relate an incident in my
experience.  In company with several of the Twelve I was sent to England
in 1839.  We started from home without purse or scrip, and most of the
Twelve were sick; and those who were not sick when they started were sick
on the way to Ohio; brother Taylor was left to die by the road-side, by
old father Coltrin, though he did not die.  I was not able to walk to the
river, not so far as across this block, no, not more than half as far; I
had to be helped to the river, in order to get into a boat to cross it. 
This was about our situation.  I had not even an overcoat; I took a small
quilt from the trundle bed, and that served for my overcoat, while I was
traveling to the State of New York, when I had a coarse sattinet overcoat
given to me.  Thus we went to England, to a strange land to sojourn among
strangers.

	When we reached England we designed to start a paper, but we had not
the first penny to do it with.  I had enough to buy a hat and pay my
passage to Preston, for from the time I left home, I had worn an old cap
which my wife made out of a pair of old pantaloons; but the most of us
were entirely destitute of means to buy even any necessary article.

	We went to Preston and held our Conference, and decided that we would
publish a paper; brother Parley P. Pratt craved the privilege of editing
it, and we granted him the privilege.  We also decided to print three
thousand hymn books, though we had not the first cent to begin with, and
were strangers in a strange land.  We appointed brother Woodruff to
Herefordshire, and I accompanied him on his journey to that place.  I
wrote to brother Pratt for information about his plans, and he sent me his
prospectus, which stated that when he had a sufficient number of
subscribers and money enough in hand to justify his publishing the paper,
he would proceed with it.  How long we might have waited for that I know
not, but I wrote to him to publish two thousand papers, and I would foot
the bill.  I borrowed two hundred and fifty pounds of sister Jane Benbow,
one hundred of Brother Thomas Kington, and returned to Manchester, where
we printed three thousand Hymn Books, and five thousand Books of Mormon,
and issued two thousand Millennial Stars monthly, and in the course of the
summer printed and gave away rising of sixty thousand tracts.  I also paid
from five to ten dollars per week for my board, and hired a house for
brother Willard Richards and his wife who came to Manchester, and
sustained them; and gave sixty pounds to brother P. P. Pratt to bring his
wife from New York.  I also commenced the emigration in that year.

	I was there one year and sixteen days, with my brethren the Twelve
and during that time I bought all my clothing, except one pair of
pantaloons, which the sisters gave me in Liverpool soon after I arrived
there, and which I really needed.  I told the brethren, in one of my
discourses, that there was no need of their begging, for if they needed
anything the sisters could understand that.  The sisters took the hint,
and the pantaloons were forthcoming.

	I paid three hundred and eighty dollars to get the work started in
London, and when I arrived home, in Nauvoo, I owed no person one farthing. 
Brother Kington received his pay from the books that were printed, and
sister Benbow, who started to America the same year, left names enough of
her friends to receive the two hundred and fifty pounds, which amount was
paid them, notwithstanding I held her agreement that she had given it to
the Church.

	We left two thousand five hundred dollars worth of books in the
Office, paid our passages home, and paid about six hundred dollars to
emigrate the poor who were starving to death, besides giving away the
sixty thousand tracts; and that too though I had not a sixpence when we
first landed in Preston, and I do not know that one of the Twelve had.

	I could not help thinking that if I could accomplish that much in
England, in that poor, hard country, it could not be much of a job for a
man to establish paper in New York.  I thought that to be one of the
smallest things that could be; I could make money at it.  We sent brother
George Q. Cannon, one of brother Taylor's nephews, to California, over a
year ago last spring, to print the Book of Mormon in the Hawaiian
language.  He has printed a large and handsome edition of that book; has
published a weekly paper and paid for it; has paid for the press and the
type, and paid his board and clothing bills, though he had not a farthing
to start with, that is, he went without purse and scrip, so far as I know,
as did also brothers Bull and Wilkie who went with him.

	It is one of the smallest labors that I could think of to establish a
paper and sustain it in St. Louis, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, or any
of the eastern cities.  I wish to say this much, for the information of
those who think it is a great task to establish and sustain a paper;
though I am not aware that any of the brethren think so.

	I will relate another incident, which ccourred [sic] during our
journey to England.  Brother George A. Smith accompanied me to New York
City, and we had not money enough to pay the last five miles' fare.

	We started from New Haven in a steam boat, and when we left the boat,
I hired passage in the stage to New York; the captain of the steam boat
happened to be in the same stage.

	When we left the coach, I said to the captain, will you have the
kindness to pay this gentleman's passage and mine.  I had had no
conversation with him during the day, only in interchanging the common and
usual compliments, but when we left him he greeted us cordially, and said
that he had paid our stage-fare with the greatest pleasure, and shook our
hands as heartily as a brother, saying, "May God bless and prosper you in
your labors."

	In five minutes we were in the house with Parley P. Pratt, who had
moved to that city the fall before.  As soon as those of the Twelve who
were appointed on that mission to England came in, we concluded that we
would not go among the Branches, but seek out and preach to those who had
not had an opportunity of hearing the Gospel.

	Accordingly we separated and went into many parts of the State of New
York, Long Island and New Jersey, and some went into the city of
Philadelphia.

	After we had got through with the regular meetings, we proposed to
the brethren, if any of them wished to have meetings in their private
houses and would tell us when and where that we would meet with them.

	It was not more than a week or ten days before we had been in fifty
different places in New York city and the surrounding country, and those
who came to hear us invited their neighbors, and thus we preached and
baptized, and soon gathered means enough to defray the expenses of our
passage to England, principally from those who were the fruits of our own
labor.

	Though the people in the States are daily becoming more hardened
against the truth, yet if I was in New York this day, and it was my
business to be there, I would not be there long before I would have many
Elders preaching through different parts of that city; I would have them
preaching in the English, Danish, French, German, and other languages. 
And soon would have Elders dispersed all over the State, and would raise
up new friends enough to sustain me, that is if the Lord would help me,
and if He did not I would leave.

	That is the way we have traveled and preached, but now we do a great
deal for our missionaries, for they gather money on tithing, and ask me to
credit such and such a man so much on tithing; this course tends to shut
up every avenue for business here.

	We do not receive cash on tithing from abroad, because our
missionaries are so liberal, and feel so rich, that they gather every
dollar that can be scraped up, and then come here and have it credited to
such and such individuals on tithing, without handing over the money.

	This course hedges up the work at head quarters.  Did I have that
privilege?  No, never; and men should not have it now.  If a paper should
be published, brethren ought to have wisdom enough to sustain themselves
and the paper, and they can do it.

	I do not wish to find fault with our missionaries, but many of them
now live on cream and short cake, butter, honey, light biscuit, and sweet
meats, while we had to take the butter milk and potatoes.  That kind of
fare was good enough for us, but now it is short cake and cream, light
biscuit, with butter and honey, and sweet meats of every kind, and even
then some of them think that they are abused.

	I see some here who did not have as good fare as buttermilk and
potatoes; I see some of the brethren who have been to Australia, the East
Indies, &c.  When I returned from England, I said it is the last time I
will travel as I have done, unless the Lord specially requires me to do
so; for if we could ride even as comfortably as brother Woodruff once rode
on one of the Mississippi steam boats we considered ourselves well off. 
All the bed he had was the chines of barrels, with his feet hanging on a
brace, and he thought himself well off to get the privilege of riding in
any shape, to escape constant walking.

	How do they go now?  They take the first cabins, cars, and carriages. 
I wish to see them cross the Plains on foot, and then have wisdom enough
to preach their way to the city of New York, and there, in the same
manner, to get money enough to cross the ocean.  But no, they must start
from here with a full purse, and take broad cloth from here, or money to
buy it in the States, and hire first cabin passages in the best ocean
steamers; and after all this many think it is hard times.

	I want to see the Elders live on buttermilk and potatoes, and when
they return be more faithful.  But they go as missionaries of the kingdom
of God, and when they have been gone a year or two, many of them come back
merchants, and how they swell, "how popular 'Mormonism' is, we can get
trusted in St. Louis for ten thousand dollars as well as not, and in New
York brother Brigham's word is so good that we can get all the goods we
want; 'Mormonism' is becoming quite popular."  Yes, and so are hell and
the works of the devil.

 	When "Mormonism" finds favor with the wicked in this land, it will
have gone into the shade; but until the power of the Priesthood is gone,
"Mormonism" will never become popular with the wicked.  "Mormonism" is not
one farthing better than it was in the days of Joseph.

	The hand of the Almighty is over mankind, and "Mormonism" is hid from
them; they do not know anything about it.  The Lord deals with this
people, and draws them into close quarters, and makes them run the
gauntlet, and tries their faith and feelings.  He draws them into diverse
circumstances to prove whether they believe in Jesus Christ, or not; and
if need be He will let the enemy persecute us and destroy many of us; He
will let them take our substance and drive us from our homes.  Was
"Mormonism" popular with those who have formerly persecuted, killed and
driven us?  Yes, as much so as it is at this day.

	The hand of the Almighty is over the wicked, and He handles them
according to His good pleasure, as He does the Saints.  His hand is over
us, and His hand is over them.  But there is a thick mist cast before
their eyes, so they do not discern the truth of "Mormonism."  Do you
wonder that they are mad, when they see the progress of truth?  I do not.

	The different political parties are in opposition.  One party says,
"We are republicans, and we are opposed in principle to all who are not of
our party."  Can the various parties be reconciled?  No.  Each party
wishes to elect a President of the United States.  We design to elect
Jesus Christ for our President, and the wicked wish to elect Lucifer, the
Son of the Morning, and swear that they will have him; and we declare that
we will serve Jesus Christ, and he shall be our President.

	Do you think that the democrats and republicans have made friends? 
No, they are just as much opposed to each other now as ever they were, and
the devil is just as much opposed to Jesus now as he was when the revolt
took place in heaven.  And as the devil increases his numbers by getting
the people to be wicked, so Jesus Christ increases his numbers and
strength by getting the people to be humble and righteous.  The human
family are going to the polls by and by, and they wish to know which party
is going to carry the day.

	When you see mild weather, when all is smooth and our religion is
becoming popular, the Lord is casting mist before the eyes of the wicked,
and they do not see nor understand what will take place at the polls when
the day of voting comes.  Those who vote for Jesus will be on the right
hand, and those who vote for Lucifer on the left; one part will be right
and the other wrong.  We calculate that we are right, and we are going to
vote for the sovereign we believe in; and when he comes behold he will go
into the chair of state and take the reins of government.  Do you suppose
the wicked will feel bad about it?  That is what they are afraid of all
the time.

	They may kill the bodies we have, they may strive to injure us, but
when the day of the great election comes, as the Lord Almighty lives, we
shall gain our President, and we anticipate holding office under him.  Do
you blame the wicked for being mad?  No.  They desire to rule, to hold the
reins of government on this earth; they have held them a great while.  I
do not blame them for being suspicious of us; men in high standing are
suspicious of us, hence the frequent cry, "Treason, treason, we are going
to have trouble with the people in Utah."  What is the matter?  Wherein
can they point out one particle of injury that we have done to them?

 	True we have more wives than one, and what of that?  They have their
scores of thousands of prostitutes, we have none.  But polygamy they are
unconstitutionally striving to prevent: when they will accomplish their
object is not for me to say.  They have already presented a resolution in
Congress that no man, in any of the Territories of the United States,
shall be allowed to have more than one wife, under a penalty not exceeding
five years imprisonment, and five hundred dollars fine.  How will they get
rid of this awful evil in Utah?  They will have to expend about three
hundred millions of dollars for building a prison, for we must all go into
prison.  And after they have expended that amount for a prison, and roofed
if over from the summit of the Rocky Mountains to the summit of the Sierra
Nevada, we will dig out and go preaching through the world.  (Voice on the
stand:  what will become of the women, will they go to prison with us?) 
Brother Heber seems concerned about the women's going with us; they will
be with us, for we shall be here together.  This is a little amusing.

	Brother Robbins, in his remarks, said that the Constitution of the
United States forbids making an ex post facto law.  The presenting of the
resolution alluded to shows their feelings, they wish the Constitution out
of existence, and there is no question but that they will get rid of it as
quickly as they can, and that would be by ex post facto law, which the
Constitution of the United States strictly forbids.

	Brother Robbins also spoke of what they term the "nigger drivers and
nigger worshippers," and observed how keen their feelings are upon their
favourite topic slavery.  The State of New York used to be a slave State,
but there slavery has for some time been abolished.  Under their law for
abolishing slavery the then male slaves had to serve until they were 28
years old, and if my memory serves me correctly, the females until they
were 25, before they could be free.  This was to avoid the loss of, what
they called, property in the hands of individuals.  After that law was
passed the people began to dispose of their blacks, and to let them buy
themselves off.  They then passed a law that black children should be
free, the same as white children, and so it remains to this day.

	But at the time that slavery was tolerated in the northern and
eastern States, if you touched that question it would fire a man quicker
than any thing else in the world; there was something very peculiar about
it, and it is so now.  Go into a slave State and speak to a man on the
subject, even though he never owned a slave, and you fire up his feelings
in defence of that institution; there is no other subject that will touch
him as quickly.  They are very tenacious and sensitive on those points,
and the North are becoming as sensitive as the South.  The North are slow
and considerate; they have their peculiar customs; and are influenced by
the force of education, climate, &c., in a manner which causes them to
think twice before they act; and often they will think and speak many
times before they act.  The spirit of the South is to think, speak, and
act all at the same moment.  This is the difference between the two
people.

	Matters are coming to such a point, the feelings of both parties are
aroused to that degree, that they would as soon fight as not.  But I do
not wish to speak any longer in that strain, though, if you want to know
what I think about the question, I think both parties are decidedly wrong.

	It is not the prerogative of the President of the United States to
meddle with this matter, and Congress is not allowed, according to the
Constitution, to legislate upon it.  If Utah was admitted into the Union
as a sovereign State, and we chose to introduce slavery here, it is not
their business to meddle with it; and even if we treated our slaves in an
oppressive manner, it is still none of their business and they ought not
to meddle with it.

	If we introduce the practice of polygamy it is not their prerogative
to meddle with it; if we should all turn to be Roman Catholics to-day, if
we all turned to the old Mother Church, it would not be their prerogative,
it would not be their business, to meddle with us on that account.  If we
are Mormons or Methodists, or worship the sun or a white dog, or if we
worship a dumb idol, or all turn Shaking Quakers and have no wife, it is
not their prerogative to meddle with these affairs, for in so doing they
would violate the Constitution.

	There is not a Territory in the Union that is looked upon with so
suspicious an eye as is Utah, and yet it is the only part of the nation
that cares anything about the Constitution.  What have they done in the
States?  Why, in some places they have celebrated the fourth of July by
hoisting the National flag bottom side up, making a burlesque of the
celebration, but "Utah is hell and the devil."  This reminds me of a
circumstance that transpired in England.  A boy was brushing his shoes on
Sunday morning, and a priest observing him said, "What, do you brush your
shoes on Sunday?"  "Yes, sir; do you brush your coat?"  "Yes."  "Well, I
suppose it is life and salvation for you to brush your coat, but hell and
damnation for me to brush my shoes."  That is the difference.

	"Mormonism" is true, and all hell cannot overthrow it.  All the
devil's servants on the earth may do all they can, and, as brother Clinton
has just said, after twenty six years faithful operation and exertion by
our enemies, including the times when Joseph had scarcely a man to stand
by him, and when the persecution was as severe on him as it ever was in
the world, what have they accomplished?  They have succeeded in making us
an organized Territory, and they are determined to make us an independent
State or Government, and as the Lord lives it will be so.  (The
congregation shouted amen.)  I say, as the Lord lives, we are bound to
become a sovereign State in the Union, or an independent nation by
ourselves, and let them drive us from this place if they can; they cannot
do it.  I do not throw this out as a banter; you Gentiles, and hickory and
basswood "Mormons," can write it down if you please, but write it as I
speak it.

	I wish you to understand that God rules and reigns, that he led us to
this land and gave us a Territorial government.  Was this the design of
the wicked?  No.  Their design was to banish us from the earth, but they
have driven us into notoriety and power; we are now raised to a position
where we can converse with kings and emperors.

	In the days of Joseph it was considered a great privilege to be
permitted to speak to a member of Congress, but twenty-six years will not
pass away before the Elders of this Church will be as much thought of as
the kings on their thrones.  The Lord Almighty will roll on the wheels of
His work, and none can stop them; and they cannot drive us from these
mountains, because the Lord will not suffer them to do so.  I desire them
to let us alone; "hands off and money down," we crave no jobs and make
none.  Let them attend to their own business, and we will build up Zion
while they go to hell.  Jesus Christ will be the President, and we are his
officers, and they will have to leave the ground: for they will find that
Jesus has the right of soil.  This they are afraid of, do you blame them? 
No, I do not, and you should not: let them feel bad and worry.

	I have frequently told you, and I tell you again, that the very
report of the Church and kingdom of God on earth is a terror to all
nations, wheresoever the sound thereof goeth.  The sound of "Mormonism" is
a terror to towns, counties, states, the pretended republican governments,
and to all the world.  Why?  Because, as the Lord Almighty lives and the
Prophets have ever written the truth, this work is destined to
revolutionize the world and bring all under subjection to the law of God,
who is our lawgiver.

	I am still governor of this Territory, to the constant chagrin of my
enemies; but I do not in the least neglect the duties of my Priesthood,
nor my office as governor; and while I honor my Priesthood I will do honor
to my office as governor.  This is hard to be understood by the wicked,
but it is true.  The feelings of many are much irritated because I am
here, and Congress has requested the President to inquire why I still hold
the office of governor in the Territory of Utah.  I can answer that
question; I hold the office by appointment, and am to hold it until my
successor is appointed and qualified, which has not yet been done.  I
shall bow to Jesus, my Governor, and under him, to brother Joseph.  Though
he has gone behind the vail, and I cannot see him, he is my head, under
Jesus Christ and the ancient Apostles, and I shall go ahead and build up
the kingdom.  But if I was now sitting in the chair of state at the White
House in Washington, everything in my office would be subject to my
religion.  Why?  Because it teaches me to deal justice and mercy to all. 
I am satisfied to love righteousness and be full of the Holy Ghost, while
all hell yawns to destroy me, though it cannot do it.

	If I were to forsake this kingdom, the car of righteousness would
roll over and crush me into insignificance; and so it will every other man
that gets out of the right path.  What then are we going to do?  We had
better stick to the ship than jump overboard, because if we stay aboard we
stand a good chance to be saved, but if we jump over we shall be drowned.

	Who can help all these things?  I did not devise the great scheme of
the Lord's opening the way to send this people to these mountains.  Joseph
contemplated the move for years before it took place, but he could not get
here, for there was a watch placed upon him continually to see that he had
no communication with the Indians.  This was in consequence of that which
is written in the Book of Mormon; one of the first evils alleged against
him was that he was going to connive with the Indians; but did he ever do
anything of the kind?  No, he always strove to promote the best interest
of all, both red and white.  Was it by any act of ours that this people
were driven into their midst?  We are now their neighbors, we are on their
land, for it belongs to them as much as any soil ever belonged to any man
on earth; we are drinking their water, using their fuel and timber, and
raising our food from their ground.

	I do not wish men to understand I had anything to do with our being
moved here, that was the providence of the Almighty; it was the power of
God that wrought out salvation for this people, I never could have devised
such a plan.  What shall we do?  Be still and know that the Lord is God:
and let all people be silent and know that the Lord Almighty reigns, and
does His pleasure on the earth.  What had we better do? Be submissive and
passive, serve our God and walk humbly before Him.

	The same Spirit pervades the Latter-day Saints in all the world, and
what the Lord designs doing here is made manifest to the brethren in
different parts, and the world feels the power of it and begins to
persecute.  When we commence that temple you will hear the devils howl.

	We are now doing but little besides taking care of ourselves, but the
kingdom has got to be taken and the Lord Jesus come to reign here.  When
you wonder why it is that we are building many large buildings here and
the temple not going on, be silent and patient.

	Here let me ask the old Saints a question.  Have you ever seen a
temple finished, since this Church commenced?  You have not.  The Lord
says, "Be patient and gather together the strength of my house;" then do
not fret yourselves, and if you feel a little worried, be sure that you
are right, and do as you are counseled.

	Why do we urge this upon the people?  They are only counseled to love
God and do His will.  You cannot point out where a man has been counseled
one hair's breadth from this course, and in this we have a right to be
urgent, and strenuous, and sharp in our remarks.  Serve your God and love
your religion.

	I could tell you a great many lessons that I have learned in
"Mormonism," but it is very seldom that I refer to past scenes, they
occupy but a small portion of my time and attention.  Do you wish to know
the reason of this?  It is because there is an eternity ahead of me, and
my eyes are ever open and gazing upon it, and I have but little time to
reflect upon the many circumstances I have been placed in thus far during
life.  They are behind me, and I am thankful that I have not time to
reflect on past transactions, only once in a while, when it seems almost
necessary to refer to them.

	May the Lord God of heaven and earth bless you, and may He preserve
us and all good men and women upon the earth, and give us power to blow
the Gospel trump to earth's remotest bounds, and gather up the honest in
heart, build up Zion, redeem Israel, rebuild Jerusalem, and fill the earth
with the glory and knowledge of our God, and we will shout hallelujah! 
Amen.

        A CALL FOR AN EXPRESSION OF THE CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE--
      REPENTANCE AMONG THE SAINTS NECESSARY--RENEWING OF COVENANTS.
    Instructions by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery,
                Great Salt Lake City, September 21, 1856.

	I have an impulse within me to preach the Gospel of salvation.  I am
here by the providence of our God; I have professed to be a teacher of
righteousness for many years, and to preach the Gospel of salvation which
is still within me, and I feel to pour it forth upon the people; and I
present myself here this morning as a teacher in Israel, as a man having
the words of eternal life for the people.

	I feel to call upon this congregation to know whether any of them, or
whether all of them wish salvation.  If they do, I have the Gospel of
salvation for them; and I call upon the people to know whether they are
the friends of God, or only of themselves individually.  I do not know of
any better way to get an expression from the people, as to whether they
wish the Gospel preached to them, whether they desire to believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ, to obey his counsels, and live to his glory, denying
themselves of worldly lusts and of every thing that is sensual and
contrary to his Gospel, and feel as though they wanted to be Saints of the
Most High, than to have the brethren and sisters, those who so wish and
desire, manifest it by rising upon their feet.  You will observe all who
do not rise.  [The vast congregation all responded by standing up.]  Take
your seats again.  You have manifested that you want to be Saints, and I
am happy for the privilege of talking to such a people.

	When we get the font prepared that is now being built, I will take
you into the waters of baptism, if you repent of your sins.  If you will
covenant to live your religion and be Saints of the Most High, you shall
have that privilege, and I will have the honor of baptizing you in that
font, or of seeing that it is done.

	As for living here, as I have done for a length of time, hid up in
the chambers of the Lord, with a people that are full of contention, full
of covetousness, full of pride, and full of iniquity, I will not do it. 
And if the people will not repent, let the sinners and hypocrites look
out.  I will repent with you and I will try with my might to get the
spirit of my calling; and if I have not that spirit now to a fulness, I
will get more of it, so as to enjoy it to its fulness.  And if I should be
filled with the power and spirit of the mission that is upon me, I shall
not spare the wicked; I shall be like a flaming sword against them, and so
will all those that live their religion; it is not to be suffered any
longer.

	As I told you last Sabbath, if I was not mistaken, my feelings were
that this people were preparing themselves, many of them, for apostacy;
were preparing themselves for the apostacy of their neighbors and their
families; their children and their friends were all leading the way of the
sinner.  I had not then an idea that I was mistaken; I have not now an
idea that I am mistaken.  I understand these things perfectly well; and if
the people are disposed to awake out of their lethargy and walk up to
their religion, to their duty, to the highest privilege that ever was or
ever can be granted to mortal man upon this earth, which is eternal life,
and will do so, then we will be brethren.  And if not, the thread must be
severed, for I cannot hold men and women in fellowship that serve the
devil and themselves, and give no heed to the Almighty; I cannot do it.

	This people have been taught a great deal; they have had principle
and doctrine fed to them till they are surfeited; and where is the man,
the officer, or the community, that understands what has been taught them? 
There may be one here and there that understands, but generally the eyes
of the people are closed upon eternal things, and they seek for that which
pleases the eye, that which is in accordance with the lusts of the flesh,
that which is full of iniquity, and they care not for the righteousness of
our God.

	I repeat that, as for [sic] as those who are disposed to refrain from
their evils, to renew their covenants and live their religion, I will have
the honor and you the privilege of going forth and renewing your
covenants, otherwise their must be a separation.  Let those who have been
with us ten or fifteen years, who have passed through the sorrowful scenes
that Joseph and many others who have gone behind the vail had to wade
through, look back and see the hand of God that has led us to a land where
we enjoy liberty, where we enjoy all the freedom that ever the city of
Enoch enjoyed, until they were more perfectly made acquainted with God. 
All that we can enjoy more than we do, unless we further acquaint
ourselves with our God and become His friends and His associates, will be
but very little more than we now possess.

	I tell you that this people will not be suffered to walk as they have
walked, to do as they have done, to live as they have lived.  God will
have a reckoning with us ere long, and we must refrain from our evils and
turn to the Lord our God, or He will come out in judgment against us.  I
refer to the doctrine and the teachings that have been laid before this
people; and I will say that it would take me weeks and months to tell you
what has been already told you.  But it passes into your ears and out
again, and is no more remembered.

	Show me the man who knows enough about his God, and is sufficiently
acquainted with the principle of eternal lives to be able to say, "I can
handle the gold and the silver, the goods, the chattels, and the
possessions of this world, with my heart not more set upon them than it is
upon the wind.  I know how to use them, to deal out this and to distribute
that, and to do all to the glory of my Father in heaven."  If there is one
in this congregation that knows how to do all this, will you please to
rise up?  These are things that I have taught you week after week, and
year after year, but do you understand them?  No.  You may say, with
shamefacedness, that there is hardly a man in this congregation that can
righteously manage even earthly things.  Just as quick as you are
prospered you are lost to the Lord, you are filled with darkness.

	Do you think the angels of the Lord lust after the things that are
before them?  All heaven is before us, and all this earth, the gold and
the silver, all these are at our command, and shall we lust after them? 
They are all within our reach; they are for the Saints whom God loves,
even all who fix their minds upon Him and the interests of His kingdom.
Our Father possesses all the riches of eternity, and all those riches are
vouchsafed unto us, and yet we lust after them.

	I have taught you these things weeks and months ago, and yet there is
not a man or woman in this congregation that understands them in their
fulness.  These are simple principles that should be learned; and although
they have been taught you from time to time, yet you have not learned
them.  And for me to repeat to you what I have taught you, and what my
brethren have taught you, would take me weeks.

	And notwithstanding all that has been taught, still the people are
full of idolatry, the spirit of contention and the spirit of the world are
in them, and they are full of the things of the world.

	Well, I just say, my brethren and sisters, it cannot be suffered any
longer, a separation must take place; you must part with your sins, or the
righteous must be separated from the ungodly.  I will now give way, and
call upon others of the brethren to speak to you.  Amen.

        THE PEOPLE OF GOD DISCIPLINED BY TRIALS--ATONEMENT BY THE 
     SHEDDING OF BLOOD--OUR HEAVENLY FATHER--A PRIVILEGE GIVEN TO ALL
                       THE MARRIED SISTERS IN UTAH.
     A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery,
                Great Salt Lake City, September 21, 1856.

	Before I sit down, I shall offer a proposition to the congregation;
though I will first say a few words concerning our religion, our
circumstances, and the circumstances of the brethren and people generally
that inhabit these valleys, but more especially of those that have the
privilege of assembling at this Tabernacle from Sabbath to Sabbath.

	If they will rightly consider their situation, they will believe for
themselves that they are in a place, in a country, where they can be
Saints as well as in any other place there is on the face of this earth.

	True, we hear some complaints from those who lose the spirit of their
religion, who turn away from us.  They think that this people will suffer
here.  I will give you my feelings upon the subject.

	There is not a hardship, there is not a disappointment, there is not
a trial, there is not a hard time, that comes upon this people in this
place, but that I am more thankful for than I am for full granaries.

	We have been hunting during the past twenty-six years, for a place
where we could raise Saints, not merely wheat, and corn.  Comparatively I
care but little about the wheat and corn, though a little is very useful.

	It is true that this is a good country for fruits of some kinds; this
soil produces, as good peaches as can be raised on any soil, and also
grapes, apples, and so on.  But what of all that?  The man, or the woman,
that mainly looks after the fruit, after the luxuries of life, good food,
fine apparel, and at the same time professes to be a Latter-day Saint, if
he does not get that spirit out of his heart, it will obtain a perfect
victory over him; whereas he is required to obtain a victory over his
lusts and over his unwise feelings; and if he does not get rid of that
spirit, the quicker he starts east for the States, or west for California,
the better.

	If we could not raise any fruit, if we could not raise an ear of
corn, I should be quite thankful if we could raise the oats and the peas,
and make the oat bread and the pea broth, and live on them from year to
year.

	I say hallelujah, this is a first-rate place to raise Saints.  Let
the people complain of hard times, complain of their poverty, their poor
fare and their hard labor; that wood is scarce, that we have to go far for
it, and have to toil so hard to raise our grain; that we lose our stock
upon the prairie, that a cow is gone to-day, and an ox was lost last year;
that if we turn out our cattle they will stray off, and we shall see them
no more.

	How would you feel were you in a country where you could not raise
stock, except you provided comfortable shelter and an abundance of fodder
for them all?

	In the country where I was brought up, could you turn out a calf in
the fall and have it live through the winter?  There never was such a
thing done, to my knowledge; and no man ever thought of such a thing as
wintering a calf, unless he had a shelter prepared for it almost as warm
as the rooms for the children.

	I mention these things for the benefit of those here to-day, if any,
who think that this is not a good country, and who do not really know
whether they wish to stay, or whether we are right or wrong, or whether
"Mormonism" is true or false.

	I would advise those persons to repent of their sins forthwith, and
to try with all their might to get the spirit of their religion upon them,
and if they cannot do that, to take their own course and go where their
hearts desire, for doubtless there is some place where you would wish to
go.

	Those that have the Gospel, who enjoy the Spirit of their religion,
lie down in peace, and wake up full of rejoicing, full of peace, of glory,
of faith and thanksgiving; this is the case with all who are full of good
works.

	We need a reformation in the midst of this people; we need a thorough
reform, for I know that very many are in a dozy condition with regard to
their religion; I know this as well as I should if you were now to doze
and go to sleep before my eyes.

	You are losing the spirit of the Gospel, is there any cause for it? 
No, only that which there is in the world.  You have the weakness of human
nature to contend with, and you suffer that weakness to decoy you away
from the truth, to the side of the adversary; but now it is time to awake,
before the time of burning.

	Whether the time of burning will be this week, or the next, or next
year, I do not know that I care; and I do not know that I would ask, if I
was sure the Lord would tell me.  But I tell you that which I do know, and
that is sufficient.

	I do know that the trying day will soon come to you and to me; and
ere long we will have to lay down these tabernacles and go into the spirit
world.  And I do know that as we lie down, so judgment will find us, and
that is scriptural; "as the tree falls so it shall lie," or, in other
words, as death leaves us so judgment will find us.

	I will explain how judgment will be laid to the line.  If we all live
to the age of man the end thereof will soon be here, and that will burn
enough, without anything else; and the present is a day of trial, enough
for you and me.

	We have got to be rightly prepared to go into the spirit world, in
order to become kings.  That is, so far as the power of Satan is concerned
you and I have got to be free from his power, but we cannot be while we
are in the flesh.

	Here we shall be perplexed and hunted by him; but when we go into the
spirit world there we are masters over the power of satan, and he cannot
afflict us any more, and this is enough for me to know.

	Whether the world is going to be burned up within a year, or within a
thousand years, does not matter a groat to you and me.  We have the words
of eternal life, we have the privilege of obtaining glory, immortality,
and eternal lives, now will you obtain these blessings?

	Will you spend your lives to obtain a seat in the kingdom of God, or
will you lie down and sleep, and go down to hell?

	I want all the people to say what they will do, and I know that God
wishes all His servants, all His faithful sons and daughters, the men and
the women that inhabit this city, to repent of their wickedness, or we
will cut them off.

	I could give you a logical reason for all the transgressions in this
world, for all that are committed in this probationary state, and
especially for those committed by men.

	There are sins that men commit for which they cannot receive
forgiveness in this world, or in that which is to come, and if they had
their eyes open to see their true condition, they would be perfectly
willing to have their blood spilt upon the ground, that the smoke thereof
might ascend to heaven as an offering for their sins; and the smoking
incense would atone for their sins, whereas, if such is not the case, they
will stick to them and remain upon them in the spirit world.

	I know, when you hear my brethren telling about cutting people off
from the earth, that you consider it is strong doctrine; but it is to save
them, not to destroy them.

	Of all the children of Israel that started to pass through the
wilderness, none inherited the land which had been promised, except Caleb
and Joshua, and what was the reason?  It was because of their rebellion
and wickedness; and because the Lord had promised Abraham that he would
save his seed.

	They had to travel to and fro to every point to the compass, and were
wasted away, because God was determined to save their spirits.  But they
could not enter into His rest in the flesh, because of their
transgressions, consequently He destroyed them in the wilderness.

	I do know that there are sins committed, of such a nature that if the
people did understand the doctrine of salvation, they would tremble
because of their situation.  And furthermore, I know that there are
transgressors, who, if they knew themselves, and the only condition upon
which they can obtain forgiveness, would beg of their brethren to shed
their blood, that the smoke thereof might ascend to God as an offering to
appease the wrath that is kindled against them, and that the law might
have its course.  I will say further; I have had men come to me and offer
their lives to atone for their sins.

	It is true that the blood of the Son of God was shed for sins through
the fall and those committed by men, yet men can commit sins which it can
never remit.  As it was in ancient days, so it is in our day; and though
the principles are taught publicly from this stand, still the people do
not understand them; yet the law is precisely the same.  There are sins
that can be atoned for by an offering upon an altar, as in ancient days;
and there are sins that the blood of a lamb, of a calf, or of turtle
doves, cannot remit, but they must be atoned for by the blood of the man. 
That is the reason why men talk to you as they do from this stand; they
understand the doctrine and throw out a few words about it.  You have been
taught that doctrine, but you do not understand it.

	It is our desire to be prepared for a celestial seat with our Father
in heaven.  It was observed by brother Grant that we have not seen God,
that we cannot converse with Him; and it is true that men in their sins do
not know much about God.  When you hear a man pour out eternal things, how
well you feel, to what a nearness you seem to be brought with God.  What a
delight it was to hear brother Joseph talk upon the great principles of
eternity; he would bring them down to the capacity of a child, and he
would unite heaven with earth, this is the beauty of our religion.

	When it was mentioned this morning about seeing God, about what kind
of a being He was, and how we could see and measurably understand Him, I
thought I would tell you.  If we could see our heavenly Father, we should
see a being similar to our earthly parent, with this difference, our
Father in heaven is exalted and glorified.  He has received His thrones,
His principalities and powers, and He sits as a governor, as a monarch,
and overrules kingdoms, thrones, and dominions that have been bequeathed
to Him, and such as we anticipate receiving.  While He was in the flesh,
as we are, He was as we are.  But it is now written of Him that our God is
as a consuming fire, that He dwells in everlasting burnings, and this is
why sin cannot be where He is.

	There are principles that will endure through all eternity, and no
fire can obliterate them from existence.  They are those principles that
are pure, and fire is made typical use of to show the glory and purity of
the gods, and of all perfect beings.  God is the Father of our spirits; He
begat them, and has sent them here to receive tabernacles, and to prove
whether we will honour them.  If we do, then our tabernacles will be
exalted; but if we do not, we shall be destroyed; one of the
two--dissolution or life.  The second death will decompose all tabernacles
over whom it gains the ascendancy; and this is the effect of the second
death, the tabernacles go back to their native element.

	We are of the earth, earthy; and our Father is heavenly and pure. 
But we will be glorified and purified, if we obey our brethren and the
teachings which are given.

	When you see celestial beings, you will see men and women, but you
will see those beings clothed upon with robes of celestial purity.  We
cannot bear the presence of our Father now; and we are placed at a
distance to prove whether we will honor these tabernacles, whether we will
be obedient and prepare ourselves to live in the glory of the light,
privileges, and blessings of celestial beings.  We could not have the
glory and the light without first knowing the contrast.  Do you comprehend
that we could have no exaltation, without first learning by contrast?

	When you are prepared to see our Father, you will see a being with
whom you have long been acquainted, and He will receive you into His arms,
and you will be ready to fall into His embrace and kiss Him, as you would
your fathers and friends that have been dead for a score of years, you
will be so glad and joyful.  Would you not rejoice?  When you are
qualified and purified, so that you can endure the glory of eternity, so
that you can see your Father, and your friends who have gone behind the
vail, you will fall upon their necks and kiss them, as we do an earthly
friend that has been long absent from us, and that we have been anxiously
desiring to see.  This is the people that are and will be permitted to
enjoy the society of those happy and exalted beings.

	Now for my proposition; it is more particularly for my sisters, as it
is frequently happening that women say they are unhappy.  Men will say,
"My wife, though a most excellent woman, has not seen a happy day since I
took my second wife;"  "No, not a happy day for a year," says one; and
another has not seen a happy day for five years.  It is said that women
are tied down and abused: that they are misused and have not the liberty
they ought to have; that many of them are wading through a perfect flood
of tears, because of the conduct of some men, together with their own
folly.

	I wish my own women to understand that what I am going to say is for
them as well as others, and I want those who are here to tell their
sisters, yes, all the women of this community, and then write it back to
the States, and do as you please with it.  I am going to give you from
this time to the 6th day of October next, for reflection, that you may
determine whether you wish to stay with your husbands or not, and then I
am going to set every woman at liberty and say to them, Now go your way,
my women with the rest, go your way.  And my wives have got to do one of
two things; either round up their shoulders to endure the afflictions of
this world, and live their religion, or they may leave, for I will not
have them about me.  I will go into heaven alone, rather than have
scratching and fighting around me.  I will set all at liberty.  "What,
first wife too?"  Yes, I will liberate you all.

	I know what my women will say; they will say, "You can have as many
women as you please, Brigham."  But I want to go somewhere and do
something to get rid of the whiners; I do not want them to receive a part
of the truth and spurn the rest out of doors.

	I wish my women, and brother Kimball's and brother Grant's to leave,
and every woman in this Territory, or else say in their hearts that they
will embrace the Gospel--the whole of it.  Tell the Gentiles that I will
free every woman in this Territory at our next Conference.  "What, the
first wife too?"  Yes, there shall not be one held in bondage, all shall
be set free.  And then let the father be the head of the family, the
master of his own household; and let him treat them as an angel would
treat them; and let the wives and the children say amen to what he says,
and be subject to his dictates, instead of their dictating the man,
instead of their trying to govern him.

	No doubt some are thinking, "I wish brother Brigham would say what
would become of the children."  I will tell you what my feelings are; I
will let my wives take the children, and I have property enough to support
them, and can educate them, and then give them a good fortune, and I can
take a fresh start.

	I do not desire to keep a particle of my property, except enough to
protect me from a state of nudity.  And I would say, wives you are welcome
to the children, only do not teach them iniquity; for if you do, I will
send an Elder, or come myself, to teach them the Gospel.  You teach them
life and salvation, or I will send Elders to instruct them.

	Let every man thus treat his wives, keeping raiment enough to clothe
his body; and say to your wives, "Take all that I have and be set at
liberty; but if you stay with me you shall comply with the law of God, and
that too without any murmuring and whining.  You must fulfil the law of
God in every respect, and round up your shoulders to walk up to the mark
without any grunting."

	Now recollect that two weeks from to morrow I am going to set you at
liberty.  But the first wife will say, "It is hard, for I have lived with
my husband twenty years, or thirty, and have raised a family of children
for him, and it is a great trial to me for him to have more women;" then I
say it is time that you gave him up to other women who will bear children. 
If my wife had borne me all the children that she ever would bare, the
celestial law would teach me to take young women that would have children.

	Do you understand this?  I have told you many times that there are
multitudes of pure and holy spirits waiting to take tabernacles, now what
is our duty?--to prepare tabernacles for them; to take a course that will
not tend to drive those spirits into the families of the wicked, where
they will be trained in wickedness, debauchery, and every species of
crime.  It is the duty of every righteous man and woman to prepare
tabernacles for all the spirits they can; hence if my women leave, I will
go and search up others who will abide the celestial law, and let all I
now have go where they please; though I will send the Gospel to them.

	This is the reason why the doctrine of plurality of wives was
revealed, that the noble spirits which are waiting for tabernacles might
be brought forth.

	If the men of the world were right, or if they were anywhere near
right, there might not be the necessity which there now is.  But they are
wholly given up to idolatry, and to all manner of wickedness.

	Do I think that my children will be damned?  No, I do not, for I am
going to fight the devil until I save them all; I have got my sword ready,
and it is a two-edged one.  I have not a fear about that, for I would
almost be ashamed of my body if it would beget a child that would not
abide the law of God, though I may have some unruly children.

	I am going to ask you a good many things, and to begin with I will
ask, what is your prayer?  Do you not ask for the righteous to increase,
while the unrighteous shall decrease and dwindle away?  Yes, that is the
prayer of every person that prays at all.  The Methodists pray for it, the
Baptists pray for it, and the Church of England and all the reformers, the
Shaking Quakers not excepted.  And if the women belonging to this Church
will turn Shaking Quakers, I think their sorrows will soon be at an end.

	Sisters, I am not joking, I do not throw out my proposition to banter
your feelings, to see whether you will leave your husbands, all or any of
you.  But I do know that there is no cessation to the everlasting whining
of many of the women in this Territory; I am satisfied that this is the
case.  And if the women will turn from the commandments of God and
continue to despise the order of heaven, I will pray that the curse of the
Almighty may be close to their heels, and that it may be following them
all the day long.  And those that enter into it and are faithful, I will
promise them that they shall be queens in heaven, and rulers to all
eternity.

	"But," says one, "I want to have my paradise now."  And says another,
"I did think I should be in paradise if I was sealed to brother Brigham,
and I thought I should be happy when I became his wife, or brother
Heber's.  I loved you so much, that I thought I was going to have a heaven
right off, right here on the spot.

	What a curious doctrine it is, that we are preparing to enjoy!  The
only heaven for you is that which you make yourselves.  My heaven is
here--[laying his hand upon his heart].  I carry it with me.  When do I
expect it in its perfection?  When I come up in the resurrection; then I
shall have it, and not till then.

	But now we have got to fight the good fight of faith, sword in hand,
as much so as men have when they go to battle; and it is one continual
warfare from morning to evening, with sword in hand.  This is my duty, and
this is my life.

	But the women come and say, "Really brother John, and brother
William, I thought you were going to make a heaven for me," and they get
into trouble because a heaven is not made for them by the men, even though
agency is upon women as well as upon men.  True there is a curse upon the
woman that is not upon the man, namely, that "her whole affections shall
be towards her husband," and what is the next?  "He shall rule over you."

	But how is it now?  Your desire is to your husband, but you strive to
rule over him, whereas the man should rule over you.

	Some may ask whether that is the case with me; go to my house and
live, and then you will learn that I am very kind, but know how to rule.

	If I had only wise men to talk to, there would be no necessity for my
saying what I am going to say.  Many and many an Elder knows no better
than to go home and abuse as good a woman as dwells upon this earth,
because of what I have said this afternoon.  Are you, who act in that way,
fit to have a family?  No, you are not, and never will be, until you get
good common sense.

	Then you can go to work and magnify your callings; and you can do the
best you know how; and on that ground I will promise you salvation, but
upon no other principle.

	If I were talking to a people that understood themselves and the
doctrine of the holy Gospel, there would be no necessity for saying this,
because you would understand.  But many have been (what shall I say?
pardon me, brethren,) hen-pecked so much, that they do not know the place
of either man or woman; they abuse and rule a good woman with an iron
hand.  With them it is as Solomon said--"Bray a fool in a mortar among
wheat, with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him."  You
may talk to them about their duties, about what is required of them, and
still they are fools, and will continue to be.

	Prepare yourselves for two weeks from to morrow; and I will tell you
now, that if you will tarry with your husbands, after I have set you free,
you must bow down to it, and submit yourselves to the celestial law.  You
may go where you please, after two weeks from to-morrow; but, remember,
that I will not hear any more of this whining.

	In the midst of all my harsh sayings, shall I say chastisements?--I
am disposed, in my heart, to bless this people; and I do bless you, in the
name of Jesus.  Amen.

      THE HAND-CART EMIGRATION--OPINIONS OF THE EMIGRANTS CONCERNING
          IT--FEMALES ENDURE THE JOURNEY BETTER THAN MALES, ETC.
         Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery,
                Great Salt Lake City, September 28, 1856.

	I think it is now proven to a certainty that men, women, and children
can cross the Plains, from the settlements on the Missouri river to this
place on foot, and draw hand-carts, loaded with a good portion of the
articles needed to sustain them on the way.

	To me this is no more a matter of fact this morning, after seeing the
companies that have crossed the Plains, than it was years ago.  I have no
different knowledge, feelings, or faith, upon this subject to-day than I
have had from the beginning.  It has been a matter of doubt with many of
our Elders who have gone out to preach, and with many who have staid at
home, as to the propriety of starting a train upon the Plains for men,
women, and children to walk.

	Probably my faith has been based upon actual knowledge.  There are a
great many men who know but little about what they can do, and there are a
great many women that never consider what they can perform; people do not
fully reflect upon their own acts, upon their own ability, and therefore
do not understand what they are capable of doing.

	My reasoning has been like this:  Take small children, those that are
over five years of age, and if their steps were counted and measured,
those that they take in the course of one day, you would find that they
had taken enough to have traveled from twelve to twenty miles.

	Count the steps that a woman takes when she is doing her work, let
them be measured, and it will be found that in many instances she had
taken steps enough to have traveled from fifteen to twenty miles a day; I
will warrant this to be the case.  The steps of women who spin would, in
all probability, make from twenty to thirty miles a day.

	So with men, they do not consider the steps they make when they are
at their labor; they are all the time walking.  Even our masons upon the
walls are all the time stepping; they take a step almost at every breath.

	Many people have believed that they could not walk much of a
distance, if they had to walk right along in a road, but this is not so. 
Our carpenters, joiners, masons, tenders, road makers, tillers of the
soil, and persons of almost all avocations in life, men, women, and
children, are subject to continual travel.  These things I have
contemplated, and I have seen walking put into practise.

	The longest journey on foot that ever I took at one time was in the
year 1834, when a company of the brethren went up to Missouri, the next
season after the Saints were driven out of Jackson County.  Many in this
congregation, and some on the stand, were in that company; brother Kimball
and brother Woodruff were in it.  We performed a journey of two thousand
miles on foot; we started on the 5th day of May, and accomplished that
journey inside of three months, carrying our guns on our shoulders, doing
our own cooking, &c.  And instead of walking along without having to
labor, much of the way we had to draw our baggage wagons through mud holes
and over sections of bad road.  Twenty or thirty men would take hold and
draw a wagon up a hill, or through a mud hole; and it was seldom that I
ever laid down to rest until eleven or twelve o'clock at night, and we
always rose very early in the morning, I think the horn was blown at three
o'clock to arouse us, to prepare breakfast, &c. and get an early start;
and we averaged in the outward trip upwards of forty miles a day.

	If we laid by a day, or half a day, we generally calculated to make
the travel of the week average forty miles a day.

	We spent considerable time in waiting upon the sick; and some days
and nights the brethren who were able, were standing over the sick and
dying, and burying the dead; we buried eighteen of the company. 
Notwithstanding all this, inside of three months we walked about two
thousand miles.

	I am not a good walker, though I have walked a great deal in the
course of my life, but it is not natural to me to be a great walker.  I
have walked much during my missions to preach the Gospel; and we have many
in this congregation who have walked from twenty to thirty miles on a
Sabbath, after working hard all the week, and then preached two or three
times.

	When I was in England I found that I was poor at walking, in
comparison with the females there.  Brother Edmund Ellsworth, who has led
this first company of hand-carts over the Plains, says that the females
have stood the journey better than the males; taking the girls and the
boys of equal age, the men and the women, and the females have best
endured the travel.

	In England I could walk comfortably with the men, but if the women
undertook, they could easily out do me in walking.

	Our American women think it strange to advance such an idea as
women's walking.  I will refer you to one individual that many of you
know, and that is sister Turley, who now lives in San Bernardino; after
working hard all the week, she and her husband frequently used to walk
twenty or thirty miles on the Sabbath, and attend three meetings.

	There are many in this congregation that used to walk and preach, and
some of them did so on week days as well as on Sabbaths.

	True, in those old countries people are not in the habit of taking
journeys of hundreds of miles as the Americans do, but they walk through
their towns and counties, throughout their circuits, and walk a great deal
more and better than do the Americans.

	The common people, the masses that work in the factories, do not own
teams in the old countries, and if they wish to visit or go to a fair,
they go on foot.  If they should get any way of conveyance to places where
the railroads have not yet reached, they hire a cart, or perhaps a wagon
on springs, and six, eight, twelve, or twenty persons will get in and ride
for a few miles; but that is only for the sake of the name of riding, and
not particularly for the comfort of it, for they would, as a general
thing, rather foot it than ride in many of their modes of conveyance.

	To the American this seems strange; but you may go into Scotland and
Wales, and then cross to the little island called Ireland, and then to
France and the German States, and pass on to Italy, and you will find the
generality of the people in the habit of performing their journeys on
foot, not depending upon being conveyed in vehicles.

	They are in the habit of working and walking, and their toils and
lobors [sic] are very excessive, and apparently without cessation.  Go
into the mountainous regions of some of those old countries, and you will
see men, women, and children packing soil, like it would be to take it
from the banks of Jordan and carry it half way up the sides of these
mountains, and, when they can get one, two, or three rods of level
surface, making their gardens upon the rocks.

	They will take cows up to such places, and pack up fodder, and there
keep them, for they are not able to go down and feed and return again the
same day.

	They will walk on the brinks of precipices, clamber around the rocks,
pack up the soil from the bottoms, and thus make a subsistence, raising a
few potatoes and whatever vegetables they can, and there they live summer
and winter; they are all the time toiling and laboring.

	In many districts of England, it is the custom to put children into
factories at five years of age, and there they remain so long as they
live.  Children from five years old and upwards, will go for miles to
their labor early in the morning, winter and summer, and must be at the
factory at factory time, and there they must stand upon their feet until
they are dismissed for half an hour, or an hour, to eat their breakfast,
or their dinner, and all the rest of the time they are upon their feet. 
They are used to labor, accustomed to being on their feet and walking.

	We have not yet had a report from any of the brethren who have led
the hand-cart companies, with regard to their traveling across the Plains,
any more than to say they are here.  I think brother Ellsworth says that
seven persons died in his company, between here and Iowa City.  How many
died in the companies last year?  How many will die in the companies who
ride?  Double that number, very likely.  As for health, it is far
healthier to walk than to ride, and better every way for the people.  When
they get up in the morning, instead of wearying the women with running
through the long grass hunting the oxen, &c., they are there in camp, and
if they wish to do any walking, they can take hold of their little hand
carts and go on about their business.  when they come to sandy hills, it
is then no doubt hard.  (Voice, they can then double teams.)  Yes, they
can easily double teams, for they are right on hand all the time.

	The hand-carts look rather broken up, but if they had been made of
good seasoned timber, they would have come in as nice as when they started
with them.  True, the brethren and sisters that came in with hand-carts
have eaten up their provisions, and some have hired their clothing
brought, and they had but little on their carts when they came in.

	They also started with full loads, and I presume it was hard for them
at first, but they became inured to it.  And yesterday I heard many of
them, and especially the women, observing to some of the sisters that came
to see them, while they were questioning them about their journey across
the Plains on foot, "that if we had the journey to perform again, and had
our choice, we would go on foot rather than go with teams, and be plagued
with oxen and wagons."  Why, I will answer one query, "We have not time to
wait for oxen and wagons."

	The hand-cart companies that have come in, had a few strong teams
with them, well able to travel, but the companies had to wait every day
for these teams, and they hindred [sic] them exceedingly.  If this is not
so, let brother Ellsworth correct me; this is what I have heard some of
them say.

	They could have been here ten days ago, perhaps twelve, had it not
been for waiting for the teams.  If persons have a journey to perform and
can get at railroad speed with hand-carts, it is better than to drag along
with ox teams.

	This is the subject I have on my mind, and I presume the people feel
as I do; it is an interesting subject, an interesting event in our history
as a people.  There is nothing that can be brought before the Latter-day
Saints of deeper interest than to know how they can be gathered together,
without so great an expense as has hitherto attended the gathering.

	We know that our sorrows and our cares in this particular are
measurably at an end if we can avoid buying teams and expensive outfits to
bring the people here.  We have now proved that they can come pretty much
by themselves, working their way along and drawing their own provisions,
and also their little ones, and the maimed, and old, and blind.  If any
way can be opened for the gathering together of the poor, it takes off a
great burden and labor from the body of the people.

	It is an interesting subject, and my feelings are precisely as they
have been all the time.  I have believed, and I believe to-day, that I can
take my own family, my women and children, across those Plains, asking no
odds of any team in the world, only what we make ourselves; and I believe
I could beat any ox train at it.  I have always believed it, I believe it
to-day.  I presume my family would feel, as others feel, that it is a hard
task, a great trial; who can bear such great afflictions? to have to walk
a thousand miles?  Those who get into the Celestial Kingdom will count
this a very light task in the end, and if they have to walk thousands of
miles, they will feel themselves happy for the privilege, that they may
know how to enjoy celestial glory.

	I recollect that in my young days, before I made any profession of
religion, when people were disposed to call me an infidel (though they did
not know what infidelity was) because I did not believe in the sectarian
religion, I could not see any utility in it, any further than a moral
character was concerned, yet I believed the Bible.  I felt in those days,
after I had made a profession of religion, that if I could see the face of
a Prophet, such as had lived on the earth in former times, a man that had
revelations, to whom the heavens were opened, who knew God and His
character, I would freely circumscribe the earth on my hands and knees; I
thought that there was no hardship but what I would undergo, if I could
see one person that knew what God is and where He is, what was His
character, and what eternity was; and I presume that the people feel with
regard to religion, to the doctrine of the Gospel, partially, if not
altogether, as I did.  They are very anxious to know the ways of life,
they want to know the ways of God; they want to become acquainted with His
character, to know who He is and what He is.  They want to understand just
as they are directed to understand in the New Testament, and said to be
the words of the Savior, "this is eternal life, to know the only living
and true God, and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent."  To know that God, and
to know Jesus, the people who wish to do right are willing to undergo
anything.  Those that gather here, if they will do the best they know,
will know God, and Jesus whom He has sent, and be as familiar with Him as
they can be with any character whose face they see not; they can know His
character and understand His ways.

	I shall now give way, and call upon brother Ellsworth to address you;
and if any of the other brethren who have been called upon to come to the
stand, are in the congregation, they will please come forward, for it is
of great interest to me, to learn something of the travels of our brethren
and sisters.

 	DISCORD AT MEETINGS REBUKED--A TEXT FOR SPEAKERS AT THE
			CONFERENCE--SUBJECT
 FOR THE PEOPLE--A CALL FOR MULES, HORSES, WAGONS, TEAMSTERS, FLOUR, ETC.
       Remarks by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Bowery,
                  Great Salt Lake City, October 5, 1856

	I wish the most strict attention of the entire congregation, for if
there is walking and talking within and around this bowery, a great many
will not be able to hear.  And I request those who wish to talk and
whisper, to remove so far that they will not disturb the congregation
to-day, nor during the Conference, as the assembly, undoubtedly, will be
very large.

	If we could possibly build a bowery, or a tabernacle, that would
bring the people so near to us that we would not have to speak so loud, we
should certainly do it; but this we cannot do, for by the time that we
could build a tabernacle for seating fifteen thousand persons nearer the
speaker than are the outskirts of this congregation, the people would have
so increased, that we should just be as far from our object as now.

	I shall require the people to be perfectly still, while they are here
and we are trying to speak to them.  Let there be no talking, whispering,
nor shuffling of feet.  It would be beneficial for mothers who have small
children here that will cry, to leave the bowery, if they cannot keep
their children still.  I make this suggestion, in consequence of what has
passed.

	I will say, in regard to the sisters who bring children here to make
a noise, they have never yet sufficiently thought, nor sufficiently
considered their own place in this world, nor the place of others, to know
that there is any other person living on the earth but themselves; and
they think, when they hear people talk, that it is a noise through a dark
veil.  I cannot say much for the education, based on good feeling, that
such persons have.  Were I to describe it in a plain way, I should say
that they are people of no breeding, that they were never bred but came
up; that is about as good a character as I can afford to give to any
mother that will keep a squalling child in a meeting.  I have never said
to the congregation, look and see who they are, for you may distinguish by
your ears, without looking, the mothers that have had good teaching and
been brought up in a civilized society.

	So it is with some men; and to the disgrace of some of our police, I
will state that in Conference times, and when we have unusually large
assemblies, they will converse right in the congregation, and just on the
outside, disturbing the meeting.  I would that we had a police that
understood good breeding.  If the police want to know how to manage to
keep order, notwithstanding I have frequently told them, I will now tell
them again.  Instead of shouting "silence," go and touch the unruly
person.

	Were I a policeman I would follow a practice of my father's; it used
to be a word and a blow, with him, but the blow came first.  I should act
upon that plan, when persons are holding caucus meetings in or about our
congregations; and if they would not desist, I would rap them hard enough
for them to take the hint without my speaking.

	I make these remarks, because I wish the brethren who will speak to
you to-day, the Elders who have lately returned, to be heard.  Those who
speak in large assemblies understand that they often have to raise their
voices as though they were giving commands to a large army, but we expect
our Elders will speak as they have been in the habit of doing.  If they
can raise their voices above the crying of children and the talking and
whispering of the people, so that all can hear, it will be well; but this
we cannot expect.

	To-morrow our semi-annual Conference commences, and I notice that
many have come in from a distance.  We shall have large congregations
during the Conference, and we wish perfect order maintained.

	I will now give this people the subject and the text for the Elders
who may speak to-day and during the Conference, it is this, on the 5th day
of October, 1856, many of our brethren and sisters are on the Plains with
hand-carts, and probably many are now seven hundred miles from this place,
and they must be brought here, we must send assistance to them.  The text
will be--to get them here!  I want the brethren who may speak to
understand that their text is the people on the Plains, and the subject
matter for this community is to send for them and bring them in before the
winter sets in.

	That is my religion; that is the dictation of the Holy Ghost that I
possess, it is to save the people.  We must bring them in from the Plains,
and when we get them here, we will try to keep the same spirit that we
have had, and teach them the way of life and salvation; tell them how they
can be saved, and how they can save their friends.  This is the salvation
I am now seeking for, to save our brethren that would be apt to perish, or
suffer extremely, if we do not send them assistance.

	I shall call upon the Bishops this day, I shall not wait until
to-morrow, nor until next day, for sixty good mule teams and twelve or
fifteen wagons.  I do not want to send oxen, I want good horses and mules. 
They are in this Territory, and we must have them; also twelve tons of
flour and forty good teamsters, besides those that drive the teams.  This
is dividing my text into heads; first, forty good young men who know how
to drive teams, to take charge of the teams that are now managed by men,
women, and children who know nothing about driving them; second, sixty or
sixty-five good spans of mules, or horses, with harness, whipple-trees,
neck-yokes, stretchers, load chains, &c.; and, thirdly, twenty-four
thousand pounds of flour, which we have on hand.

	I will repeat the division; forty extra teamsters is number one;
sixty spans of mules or horses is part of number two; twelve tons of
flour, and wagons to take it, is number three; and, fourthly, I will allow
the brethren to tell something about their missions, by way of exhortation
to wind up with.

	I will tell you all that your faith, religion, and profession of
religion, will never save one soul of you in the celestial kingdom of our
God, unless you carry out just such principles as I am now teaching you. 
Go and bring in those people now on the Plains, and attend strictly to
those things which we call temporal, or temporal duties, otherwise your
faith will be in vain; the preaching you have heard will be in vain to
you, and you will sink to hell, unless you attend to the things we tell
you.  Any man or woman can reason this out in their own minds, without
trouble.  The Gospel has been already preached to those brethren and
sisters now on the Plains; they have believed and obeyed it, and are
willing to do anything for salvation; they are doing all they can do, and
the Lord has done all that is required of Him to do, and has given us
power to bring them in from the Plains, and teach them the further things
of the kingdom of God, and prepare them to enter into the celestial
kingdom of their Father.  First and foremost is to secure our own
salvation and do right pertaining to ourselves, and then extend the hand
of right to save others.

	I have given you my text and the subject, and shall give way to the
brethren, and request close attention, and that there be no noise; for I
realize that men who go forth to preach are in the habit of speaking to
small congregations, in small halls, where all can hear without much
elevation of the voice.  This cannot be done here, for we have to shout,
and exercise our lungs to the utmost, to make so many people hear.

	I am satisfied that the prayer by brother Spencer was not heard by
one-third of the congregation this morning; a little moving of the feet, a
little whispering, the noise occasioned by mothers' trying to keep their
children still, a little noise of this kind and a little of that, all tend
to break the sound of the speaker's voice, and the people cannot catch his
words, and of course are not edified.  May the Lord bless us all.  Amen.


       REFORMATION NECESSARY AMONG THE SAINTS.--INFIDEL PHILOSOPHY.
  A Discourse, by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle,
                 Great Salt Lake City, November 2, 1856.

	I am very thankful for the privilege that I enjoy this morning, with
so many of the Latter-day Saints.  I am thankful that we have the
privilege of assembling here to worship the Lord in so comfortable a
building, and in quite a moderate climate.  I am happy for the privilege
of addressing the Saints, and I could hope with all my heart, that I may
never be called upon to address any other class of people; still, the
Gospel must be preached to the world, that the wicked may be left without
excuse.  We have done a great deal of preaching and talking to persons
that knew nothing of the Gospel of salvation, and I have occupied many
years in trying to lay before the inhabitants of the earth the principles
of life and salvation, until, through the providence of God, I have been
called to other duties than to mingle or associate with those who would
not believe and practise the Gospel.  Still, I should have been more than
satisfied, had my duty led me in a path to associate, more or less, with
unbelievers, for I can say that I would rather preach to them, would
rather associate with them, would rather take my chance among a people who
have never heard the Gospel preached at all, than to live in the midst of
the ungodly.  The term ungodly conveys an idea to my mind, perhaps, that
it does not to all present, for it is a fact that a man or woman must know
the ways of God before they can become ungodly.  Persons may be sinners,
may be unrighteous, may be wicked, who have never heard the plan of
salvation, who are even unacquainted with the history of the Son of Man,
or who have heard of the name of the Savior, and, perhaps, the history of
his life while on the earth, but have been taught unbelief through their
tradition and education; but to be ungodly, in the strict sense of the
word, they must measurably understand godliness.

	It is lamentable to any person who understands by the visions of
eternity the plan of salvation, the providences of God to His creatures,
to see one who has his mind opened to see, understand, and embrace the
principles of life and salvation in his faith, and who has the privilege
of being adopted into the family of heaven, of becoming an heir with the
Saints that have formerly lived upon the earth, an heir with the Prophets
and with Jesus Christ, and of being numbered with the children of the Most
High, with a legal administrator to officiate for the attainment of all
these privileges, and to open the door of salvation and admittance into
the kingdom, neglect so great a salvation.  But for any of this people who
enjoy the privilege of seeking unto the Lord their God, of being made
acquainted with the ways of life and salvation, to procure to themselves
an eternal exaltation, who have the privilege of preparing themselves to
dwell with Christ in the presence of their Father and their God, of being
joint heirs with Christ, and with all the Holy Ones that have lived, to
turn from those holy commandments, to cease or neglect performing every
duty made known to them, and to let the gay and giddy fancies of this life
entangle their feelings, and draw them from the principles of eternal
salvation, is most astonishing to me, or to any person that ever had the
vision of their minds opened.

	Every principle of philosophy that is known upon the face of the
earth, every argument and reason that can be adduced, would prove that
such a man or woman was taking a course destructive to themselves; that
they were blindfolding themselves by shutting their own eyes, and,
literally speaking, rushing to a precipice from whose verge they would be
dashed to pieces.  It is most astonishing to every principle of
intelligence that any man or woman will close their eyes upon eternal
things after they have been made acquainted with them, and let the gay
things of this world, the lusts of the eye, and the lusts of the flesh,
entangle their minds and draw them one hair's breadth from the principles
of life.

	True there are many in the world who profess to be what we call
infidels, who have no knowledge of anything beyond the researches of their
education, who have not the faculty to pry into and understand things
beyond what they can see with their natural eyes, hear with their ears, or
comprehend with their natural understandings; yet there are but few that
are really left indeed in the dark, left to be in reality what they
profess to be.  And those few have not one particle of good sound reason,
not one argument on their side, to prove that a licentious, ungodly life
is of any advantage to any person on the earth, but will argue the point,
and that strenuously, that strict morality should be observed among all
intelligences, and an honest bearing, an upright walk, and a gentlemanly
conversation, not giving way to vulgarity and foul language, nor doing
anything in the dark that they would not be willing to be scanned in
daylight.  For all this they argue strenuously, and yet say that they know
nothing about God and eternity.  We are here, we exist on the earth.  I am
sure that I am alive, for I can see others living.  I am endowed with a
certain degree of intelligence, where did it come from?  An infidel might
say, "I do not know."  Where did I originate?  "I do not know."  Who was
the maker and former of all we can see?  "I do not know."  Yet those very
characters will argue the necessity of a moral life, of an honest upright
walk, one with the other.

	But what are their arguments and what are their hopes?  Why, they
say, "We are to-day, to-morrow, perhaps, we shall be no more.  We came
into existence, but how we cannot tell.  We have no faith, or belief, or
confidence in the God that you Christians talk about; we have no
confidence in His providence; by chance we are, and by chance we shall go
and be no more."  Do you not perceive that their arguments land them in
the vortex of ignorance and unbelief, of misery and annihilation?  Go into
the world and observe those who do not possess principles that reach into
eternity, and that are in eternity, principles by which they exist and by
which God created all things, and you will see that those principles are
lost to them, and that, whether they believe in those principles or not,
their course and profession will land them without an existence, or the
possession of the least thing in heaven, earth, or hell.

	These reflections bring to my understanding the greatest ignorance
that can be manifested by an inteligent [sic] people, those in particular
that are now before me, who have had the privilege of the holy Gospel and
neglected their duty, turned away from the holy commandments, and ceased
to live their religion in every point; such conduct does manifest the
greatest weakness, ignorance, foolery, and wickedness that can be produced
by intelligences.  If you comprehend my ideas you will agree with me, for
no sensible man or woman can see the subject in any different light.  If
we are here by chance, if we happened to slip into this world from
nothing, we shall soon slip out of this world to nothing, hence nothing
will remain; consequently we have nothing to gain or lose.  But the man of
better judgment, of more sound reasoning, must know that every thing that
was, that is, or that will be, every thing that can be in all the
eternities in the vast expanse that we behold, must have had a Creator. 
No principles exhibited to the human family will suggest that a book, a
bench, a house, a tree, or any growing or manufactured article, can be
produced without a producer.  All we know, all we see, hear, and
understand, proves to us that there is no fabric without a constructor.

	These reflections lead me to contrast the world with a people like
this before me, a people endowed with intelligence and a knowledge of
heavenly principles.  That is our profession before the world, and is our
confession to God and angels, to all that have lived on the earth and that
are now on it; and you will hear the world exclaim, "You poor Mormons, you
Latter-day Saints that have left your homes, your houses, your friends,
your families, your possessions, the place of your birth, and every thing
that is near and dear to you, you say that the visions of your minds have
been opened, that you have had the visions of eternity opened to your
understanding, so that you do know that there is a God, that Jesus Christ
is the Savior of the world; so that you do know of the principles of life
and salvation proffered to you; and for these you have forsaken all and
gone to the mountains."

	Of these things the whole world are witnesses against us and for us,
wherever the sound of this Gospel has been; and you can hardly find a nook
on the earth where the sound of it has not reached, for it has gone to the
uttermost parts of the earth, and hosts are witnesses of this.  Yet all
acknowledge that you have something superior, that you have light and
intelligence that others do not enjoy; that God has opened up the heavens
to your minds, and taken away the vail from your understandings.  And you
say that there is a God, that you understand His character, that He has
revealed Himself to you, and that you have left all and come to the
mountains, and what is the cry here?  Why the people need reforming, there
is necessity for reformation.

	"I am thankful," says one, "that I found the spirit of reformation
when I came home."  What would an angel of the Lord say, if he came here,
or a devil either?  "O, shame on these Latter-day Saints, it is a disgrace
to intelligence,. to your officers as Elders in Israel, to your
characters, to your names and beings on the earth, that you have had the
visions of eternity opened to you, and many have forsaken everything that
is near and dear to them by way of preparation for the Celestial kingdon
[sic], and now cry out the necessity of a reformation.  It is most
astonishing."  I will leave it to every man, woman, and child, if it does
not look strange.  What! reformation?  Yes, for in one sense we intend,
that is as knowledge comes to us, to reform daily.  But shall the sound go
forth that we do not see and understand things as we did when in England,
in France, in Germany, in Denmark, in the East Indies, or anywhere else on
this earth?  This sound goes forth, it is echoed by the angels into the
ears of our God and Father in eternity, and it is carried on the wings of
the wind over the earth, that the Latter-day Saints are digging and
toiling, going by sea and by land, traversing distances of thousands of
miles and circumscribing the earth to be with their brethren, and when
they get here they need reforming.  Why?  Because they have backslidden.

	You may ask me whether there is a need of reformation.  Yes; and if I
were to dictate you how to reform I should have to tell the old story over
again, as I already have hundreds of times.  First, reform as to your
moral character, dealing, walk, precepts and examples.  Reform first
morally, before you get down before the Lord and plead with Him for the
visions of eternity to be opened to your understandings, before you ask
for the vail to be taken from your eyes.  First reform in your moral
character and conduct one towards another, so that every man and woman
will deal honestly, and walk uprightly with one another, and extend the
arm of charity and benevolence to each other, as necessity requires.  Be
moral and strictly honest in every point, before you ask God to reform
your spirit.

	If the people in their present situation and mode of dealing in this
city, to say nothing of those out of the city, all go to work now and have
meetings and call upon God to get the spirit of reformation, but sing and
pray about doing right without doing it, instead of singing themselves
away to "everlasting bliss," they will sing and pray themselves into hell,
shouting hallelujah.  You cannot be saved by any other principle than that
of the holy Gospel; and if you live in the neglect of the performance of
the duties that you know are required at your hands, if you do not walk
uprightly before God and your brethren, if you do not deal justly with one
another, if you do not walk in honesty and soberness with one another,
your faith is vain and your reformation is vain.  You must repent of your
evil deeds and first of all morally reform yourselves, before you can ask
God for His Spirit to reform and enlighten your spirits.  This is my
doctrine and philosophy; were it not, I would say, let those who steal,
steal on; and you that are in the habit of swearing, swear away; and you
that have been in the habit of taking advantage of each other, cheat away;
and those who lie, lie away; and you that trespass upon your brother,
trespass away; and so continue, Christian like, only be sure, just as you
are going to die, to look out and not have death catch you asleep, that
when it comes you may be awake enough just to repent of all your sins and
turn to God, and then you will be as fit subjects for heaven as powder
would be for a burning dwelling.  Our lime-kiln, when it is burning to its
zenith, would be as fit a place for a powder house, as in the celestial
kingdom for such characters.

	Do you think that I am telling you the truth?  I do not care one
groat whether you think that I am telling you the truth, or not; for when
the day comes that we shall be weighed in the balance, you will know.  I
am charged by the whole world with almost every degree of immoral conduct,
with the most erroneous practices that were ever indulged in by any person
on the earth, and for what?  Because I have such an influence over these
men who are sitting here; because you all hearken to your leader.  I would
to God that this was altogether the truth, for I tell you, in the name of
the Lord, that there would not be a professed Latter-day Saint in this
Territory, but what would live his religion.  They think we are all one,
but when the Saints gather here they are far from being one; they have not
yet learned to be one in Christ, they do not understand the principle of
being one in a church capacity, to say nothing about being one in a family
capacity, or in a neighborhood capacity.  The people might have known,
long ago, what the difficulty is, if the influences, temptations, and
lusts that are in us naturally are given way to, and we are led captive at
the will of him that rules the world; that forms the grand difficulty.

	Do you want to know the reason why I speak of our being so
comfortably situated this morning in so comfortable a meeting house?  We
can return home and sit down and warm our feet before the fire, and can
eat our bread and butter, &c., but my mind is yonder in the snow, where
those immigrating Saints are, and my mind has been with them ever since I
had the report of their start from Winter Quarters, (Florence,) on the 3rd
of September.  I cannot talk about any thing, I cannot go out or come in,
but what in every minute or two minutes my mind reverts to them; and the
questions--whereabouts are my brethren and sisters who are on the Plains,
and what is their condition--force themselves upon me and annoy my
feelings all the time.  And were I to answer my own feelings, I should do
so by undertaking to do what the conference voted I should not do, that
is, I should be with them now in the snow, even though it should be up to
the knees, up to the waist, or up to the neck.  My mind is there, and my
faith is there; I have a great many reflections about them.

	Have any of you suffered while coming here?  Yes.  How many of you
sisters present buried your husbands, or your fathers, or your mothers, or
children, on the Plains?  How many of you brethren buried your wives? 
Have you suffered, and been in peril and trouble?  Yes, you had to endure
anguish and pain from the effects of cholera, toil, and weariness.  Do you
live your religion when you get there, after all the trouble, afflictions,
an pains you have passed through to come to Zion? and to a pretty Zion! 
Men and women start across the Plains for this place, and are they willing
to wade through the snow?  Yes.  To travel through snow storms?  Yes.  To
wade rivers?  Yes.  What for?  To get to Zion.  And here we are in Zion,
and what a Zion! where it is necessary for the cry of reformation to go
through the land, both a spiritual and temporal reformation.  God is more
merciful than man can be, and it is well for us.  Again, when I consider
the backsliding of the people, and their sins, I will not ask God to be
more merciful, and have more sympathy towards me, than I have for my
brethren and sisters.

	A good many teams have already gone out to meet the Saints who are
struggling to gain this place; I can hardly keep from talking about them
all the time, for when I am preaching they are uppermost in my mind.  The
brethren were liberal last Sunday in turning out to meet them with teams,
still if any more feel desirous of going to their assistance, I will give
them the privilege, and advise them to take feed, not only for their own
animals, but also for those of the brethren who have already gone out, for
they will very likely be short.  But I should be more particularly
thankful if the minds of this community could be so impressed and stirred
up, so wakened up, that when those poor brethren and sisters who are now
on the Plains do arrive they may be able to say of a truth and in very
deed, "God be thanked, we have got to Zion."  But fearfulness and
forebodings of disappointment to them are in my feelings.  How far they
may be disappointed, I do not know.

	I do not wish to be personal in this congregation, but let me say to
the authorities, to the Elders of Israel, the Seventies, High Priests,
Bishops, or any other quorum or class of officers, if you will appoint
meetings and have only those present whom we wish to be there, I will then
tell you how to commence a reformation.  I will there be particular and
personal in my remarks, if necessary, and I will talk to you as severely
as I already have to some of the quorums.  Now then, morally reform.  "In
what?"  In everything.  Reform your moral character, and be at least as
moral as you would if you belonged to a Methodist, Presbyterian, or
Baptist church, or to the Roman Catholics: be as moral as those classes of
people, for heaven's sake.  Then there will be a chance for you to reform
in spirit, and to get the light of eternity to shine upon your efforts.

	There are a great many things to be taught and practised.  I have
frequently thought that I would rather preach to and baptize new converts
than to fashion over the old ones, for you can seldom get a good pattern
out of them.  Some will be full of seams and checks, and you never can
make a sound piece out of them.  If I had the material to work with I
would rather make new ones, than patch up the old ones: but as we have not
the new materials to work upon, we must patch up the old ones.  Patch up
yourselves--make your characters comely to each other.  I am not so
anxious about the Spirit; let a man walk as pure and holy as the Gods and
angels, and then see if there will not be the light of eternity in him. 
Let a man or woman walk without spot or blemish and the Spirit and power
of God Almighty will be with them all the time, and the angels of God will
be round about them all the time, they will be preserved to do the will of
God preparatory to an eternal exaltation.

	Do not talk to me and tell me that you are so backslidden and dark,
but reform and get the light of God within you.  Some get up here and say,
"I will live my religion, I will brethren; O pray for me, I will live my
religion, if it costs me my life."  Yes, some of the great men of Israel
talk in that style.  Some of the Presidents come here and say, "I will
live my religion, God being my helper, if it takes away my life."  When a
man talks about his religion costing him his life, I want to ask that man
if he has any common sense about him.  Have you any true philosophy,
argument, light, or intelligence in the least degree?  "O yes, we are
philosophers."  Then ask yourselves from whence you derive your lives,
your means, your property, everything you can enjoy in time and eternity. 
Do you receive them outside of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?  No you do not. 
And still a man will get up here and say, "I will serve the Lord, if it
costs me my life."  I will say what I said yesterday, such a man is a
fool.  Such a man is condemned, and the wrath of God is upon him.  His
eyes are closed, and he is no more fit for a President of the Seventies,
or any other quorum, than a red hot lime-kiln is for a powder house.  Cut
such a man off from the Church, for he has backslidden to that degree that
nothing but death stares him in the face, when he looks to God and Christ
with a view of keeping their law.  We wish those rotten branches cut off
from the Church, severed from the trunk of the tree; slash them off, and
put a little wax on where you cut the limb off, that the wound may heal
over, and the tree grow more thrifty.  May the Lord bless us.  Amen.

   COUNSEL CONCERNING IMMIGRATION--BENEFITS TO BE DERIVED FROM AN EARLY
             START--CROSSING THE PLAINS WITH HANDCARTS, ETC.
   A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle,
                 Great Salt Lake City, November 2, 1856.

	Brother Kimball, in his remarks, touched upon an idea that had not
previously entered my mind, that is, that some of the people were
dissatisfied with me and my counselors, on account of the lateness of this
season's immigration.  I do not know but what such may be the case, as I
am aware that those persons now on the Plains have a great many friends
and relatives here; but it never came into my mind that I was in the least
degree censurable for any person's being now upon the Plains.  Why? 
Because there is not the least shadow of reason for casting such censure
upon me.  I am about as free from what is called jealousy, as any man that
lives; I am not jealous of any body, though I know what the feeling is;
but it never troubled me much, even in my younger days.  Neither am I
suspicious of my brethren, therefore I was not suspecting any censure of
the kind just named.

	Aside from entire want of foundation, and aside from my freedom from
jealousy and suspicion, there are other reasons why I could not be
expected to have indulged in the suspicion of such a charge.  Our general
epistles usually go from here twice a year, and the immigration, the
gathering of the people, is dictated in those epistles, with a
considerable degree of minute detail; I also advance many ideas on the
same subject, from time to time, which are written and published; and I
write a great many letters on this subject, and many of these are
published.

	There is not a person, who knows anything about the counsel of the
First Presidency concerning the immigration, but what knows that we have
recommended it to start in season.  True, we have not expressly, and with
a penalty, forbidden the immigration to start late, but hereafter I am
going to lay an injunction and place a penalty, to be suffered by any
Elder or Elders who will start the immigration across the Plains after a
given time; and the penalty shall be that they shall be severed from the
Church, for I will not have such late starts.  You know my life; there is
not a person in this Church and kingdom but what must acknowledge that
gold and silver, houses and lands, &c., do multiply in my hands.  There is
not an individual but what must acknowledge that I am as good a financier
as they ever knew, in all things that I put my hands to.  This is well
known by the people, and they consider me a frugal, saving man, therefore
there is no ground or room for their suspecting that my mismanagement
caused the present sufferings on the Plains.  I presume that brother
Kimball never would have thought of such an idea, had he not heard it.

	Say that we start a company from the Missouri river as late as the
first of June, and allow them three months in which to perform the
journey, then they have time to travel moderately and one month of good
weather for lee-way, in which to finish the journey, provided they do not
complete it in three months; then they may be ninety days or more in
coming a thousand miles, which a child of four years old could walk it in
that time.  They may stop and feed their teams, and after they arrive they
will have the autumn in which to look round and prepare for winter.  This
is my policy, and then during the first half of the journey the cattle can
get what is called prairie grass while it is at its best, for it is easily
killed by frost, and cattle must have the privilege of feeding upon it
before it is too dry, or frost bitten.  The month of June is the best
month for that grass, and this all know who are acquainted with the
western prairies.  Then they come to the mountain grass in the latter part
of their journey, which though probably dry by the time they get to it, is
filled with nutrition, nearly as much so as grain, and will fatten cattle.

	They can come along moderately, take their time, and arrive here in
August.  They should be here in that month, what for?  To help us harvest
our late wheat, corn, potatoes; to help get up wood, put up fences and
prepare for winter.  This plan also puts into the possession of new comers
time and ability to secure to themselves their winter's provision.  Do you
not see that such is the result?  I have known this all the time.  I have
always said, send the companies across the Plains early.  Companies have
suffered loss upon loss of lives and property, but never by the dictation
of the First Presidency.  Do you not readily understand that if the
immigration had been here a few months ago, or by the first of September,
that they would have had opportunity to rest, and then to secure wheat, to
lay up a few potatoes, to get up wood and lay in the staple necessaries
for winter?

	But our Elders abroad say, by their conduct all the time, that we
here in the mountains do not understand what is wanted in the east, as
well as they do.  They do not proclaim it in so many words, but their
conduct does, and "by their fruits ye shall know them."  Their actions
assert that they know more than we do, but I say that they do not.  If
they had sent out immigration in the season that they should have done,
you and I could have kept our teams at home; we could have fenced our five
and ten acre lots; we could have put in our fall wheat; could have got up
wood for ourselves and for the poor that cannot help themselves; and thus
we might have been providing for ourselves, and making ourselves
comfortable; whereas, now your hands and mine are tied.

 	This people are this day deprived of thousands of acres of wheat that
would have been sowed by this time, had it not been for the misconduct of
our immigration affairs this year, and we would have had an early harvest,
but now we may have to live on roots and weeds again before we get the
wheat.  I look at this matter as plainly as I do upon your faces.  I have
a philosophical forecast, and I do know the results of men's work; I know
what the conduct of this people will produce in their future life.  If I
have not this power naturally, God has surely given it to me.

	Well, what shall be done?  Why, we must bear it.  The Elders east
fancy that they know more about what is wanted here than we do, and we
have to bear it.  Let me have had the dictation of the emigration from
Liverpool, and I could have brought many more persons here, and at a cost
of no more than from three to five dollars of what it has now cost,
provided I could have dictated matters at every point.  That is not
boasting; I only want to tell you that I know more than they know.  But
what have we to do now?  We have to be compassionate, we have to be
merciful to our brethren.

	Here is brother Franklin D. Richards who has but little knowledge of
business, except what he has learned in the Church; he came into the
Church when a boy, and all the public business he has been in is the
little he has done while in Liverpool, England; and here is brother Daniel
Spencer, brother Richards' First Counselor and a man of age and
experience, and I do not know that I will attach blame to either of them. 
But if, while at the Missouri river, they had received a hint from any
person on this earth, or if even a bird had chirped it in the ears of
brothers Richards and Spencer, they would have known better than to rush
men, women, and children on to the prairie in the autumn months, on the
third of September, to travel over a thousand miles.  I repeat that if a
bird had chirped the inconsistency of such a course in their ears, they
would have thought and considered for one moment, and would have stopped
those men, women, and children there until another year.

	If any man or woman complains of me or of my Counselors, in regard to
the lateness of some of this season's immigration, let the curse of God be
on them and blast their substance with mildew and destruction, until their
names are forgotton [sic] from the earth.  I never thought of my being
accused of advising or having anything to do with so late a start.  The
people must know that I know how to handle money and means, and I never
supposed that anybody had a doubt of it.  It will cost this people more to
bring in those companies from the Plains, than it would to have seasonably
brought them from the outfitting point on the Missouri river.  I do not
believe that the biggest fool in the community could entertain the thought
that all this loss of life, time, and means, was through the mismanagement
of the First Presidency.

	I know how to dictate affairs; and no man need to have walked in
darkness touching this duty with regard to the foreign immigration.  You
can read their duty in our epistles, letters, and sermons; and what is the
purport of those documents, on this point?  That we are new settlers in a
wild and uninhabited country, and are thrown upon our own resources; that
we need all our teams and means to prepare for those persons who are
coming, instead of crippling us by taking our bread, men, and teams, and
going out to meet them.  And if the present system continues, this people
will be found like the Kilkenny cats, which eat up each other clear to
their tails, and they were left jumping at one another; such operations
will financially use us up.

	Last year my back and head ached, and I have been about half mad ever
since, and that too righteously, because of the reckless squandering of
means and leaving me to foot the bills.  Last year, without asking me a
word of counsel, without a word being spoken to me about the matter, there
was over sixty thousand dollars of indebtedness incurred for me to pay. 
What for?  To fetch a few immigrants here, when I could have brought the
whole of them with one quarter of the means.

	What is the cause of our immigration being so late this season?  The
ignorance and mismanagement of some who had to do with it, and still,
perhaps they did the best they knew how.

	Are those people in the frost and snow by my doings?  No, my skirts
are clear of their blood, God knows.  If a bird had chirped in brother
Franklin's ears in Florence, and the brethren there had held a council, he
would have stopped the rear companies there, and we would have been
putting in our wheat, &c., instead of going on the Plains and spending
weeks and months to succor our brethren.  I make these remarks because
they are true.

	As to the companies now out, we must bring them in; and another year
we will send men to the Missouri river who understand the right management
of affairs, and will send them in the speediest conveyances, so that they
may not get the "big head" before they arrive there, and then they may be
able to do as we tell them.

	Can people come across the Plains with hand-carts?  Ask brothers
Edmund Ellsworth, Daniel D. McArthur and William Bunker, who led the three
hand-cart companies that have already arrived; and the brethren and
sisters in those companies state that they crossed quicker and easier than
the wagon companies.

	Those who counseled the companies to come on have nearly all gone
back to their assistance, after staying at home but about two days, after
their return from a long mission, thus manifesting their faith by their
works.

	I cannot help what is out of my reach, but I am on hand to send more
teams, and to send and send, until, if it is necessary, we are perfectly
stopped in every kind of business.  Brother Heber says that he will send
another team, and I mean to send as many more as he does; I ought to send
more than brother Heber, for I am fourteen days older than he is.  I can
send more teams, but I do not intend that the fetters shall be on me
another season.

	I will mention something more.  You cannot hear George D. Grant,
Daniel Spencer and others of the lately returned missionaries speak
without eulogizing Franklin D. Richards.  They are full of eulogizing
Franklin D. Richards, but they need to be careful or they will have the
"big head" and become as dead and devoid of the Spirit as old pumpkins. 
And with them it is, "What could I have done without brother George?  And
what could we have done without brother Franklin?--and when you hear me
calling you Rabbi, know ye that I want to be called Rabbi;" and so it
goes, but I suppose that this is not what they do it for.

	Don't you know that I know whether you are good for anything, or not,
without my praising you?  I know all about you, without telling what great
things you have done, and what you have not done, [sic-punc.]  But the
very spirit some have in them of pride, arrogance, and self esteem, has
led men and women to die on the Plains, by scores, at least their folly
has. And if they had not had any such spirit about them, God would have
whispered to them to have held a council, and would have stopped them from
rushing their brethren and sisters into such suffering.  But we must now
rescue those people, and may God help us to do it.  Amen.

        THE EMIGRATING SAINTS WERE PROMPTED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD.
         Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery,
                 Great Salt Lake City, November 9, 1856.

	I wish to say to the brethren, as many as are here to-day, who have
come across the Plains with the hand-carts, that I feel to bless you, and
you may be sure that you have my best feelings all the time.

	While brother Ellsworth was speaking about the Spirit, and the
spirits that were around them, the spirit that he seemed to have to
contend with, and the spirit that the people had to contend with, I wanted
to tell one secret.  While those brethren and sisters were faltering, and
did not know whether to stop or go along, there was faith in this valley
that bound them to that journey, and they were obliged to perform it, they
could not help performing it.  Who had that faith?  The people here; and
the Spirit of the Lord was all the time prompting them, and the brethren
who led them.  They were, as many are now, they were prompted to do as
they did; they could not do anything else, because God would not let them
do anything else.  The brethren and sisters came across the Plains because
they could not stay; that is the secret of the movement.  But let the
devil have his will, and do you suppose that any of them could have
crossed the Plains?  No, not a person ever would have started.  But they
did start, and they performed the journey.

	We are doing a great many things, and Joseph did a great many things,
because the Spirit of the Lord prompts us to do them, as it prompted him. 
Joseph could not do anything else than what he did; it is the same with us
all the time.  The Lord prompted the hand-cart companies all the time, in
the midst of their afflictions, to prepare for and start upon their
journey, and they only had faith and power for the day, and on the morrow
it seemed as though they certainly had to stop.  But when to-morrow came
they had faith and power to perform the journey of that day, and so they
have been prompted day by day, to this point.

	God is at the helm of this great ship, and that makes me feel good. 
When I think about the world, and the enemies of the cause of God, I care
no more about them than I do for a parcel of musketoes.  All hell may
howl, and they may run up and down the earth and seek whom they may
destroy, but they cannot move the faithful and pure in heart.  Let those
apostatize who wish to, but God will save all who are determined to be
saved.

	Brethren and sisters, I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

      THE GOSPEL LIKE A NET CAST INTO THE SEA--GOOD AND BAD IN THE
 CHURCH--EMBRACE PRINCIPLES IN YOUR FAITH, NOT MEN--CONFESS ONLY TO THOSE
      AGAINST WHOM YOU HAVE SINNED--ECONOMIZE THE GIFTS OF GOD, ETC.
   A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle,
                 Great Salt Lake City, November 9, 1856.

	I rise to explain one principle to Elders who are in the habit of
preaching the Gospel to the world.  Not but what their views coincide with
mine, not but what they fully comprehend the matter, but all have not the
power and faculty to develop what is in them; some are at a loss to
explain that which they understand.

	I wish to refer more particularly to a remark made by brother
Benjamin L. Clapp, who has just been speaking to us concerning men coming
to him in Texas, and saying that things were thus and so in Utah.  What
can they tell about Utah?  To begin with, they do not know any evil of
this people; the sins of this people are with themselves and their God.  I
defy all hell and all the devils in and about the inhabitants of the earth
to substantiate permanent acts of wickedness against the Elders of this
people.

	Suppose that men came to brother Benjamin in Texas, and told him that
I was the biggest scoundrel in the world, do not this people know better
about that than they? and even Benjamin himself knows it to be a
falsehood?  We know that is falsehood, and I should have taken the liberty
of telling them so.

	I never preached in Texas, but I have preached in places as wicked;
and when a man told me that which was not true about this people or about
the leaders of this people, I would take the liberty of telling him that
he was not telling the truth.  I preached during twenty-four or
twenty-five years among the wicked, and I never yet saw a man that I was
afraid to tell that he was saying that which was not so, when I knew
better; frequently they would turn and say to me, "You had better tell me
that I lie," and my prompt reply would be, you do, sir, and that before
God.

	What fault could the world justly find with this people?  Some have
passed through here to California to dig gold, but they have received
nothing at the hands of this people but kindness.  What do they know about
us?  They cannot charge us with one evil.  Suppose there are wicked men
here, I say the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that gathers fish
both good and bad, and I say this because it is true.

	We have in our community the worst creatures that the world can
produce; the Gospel net must gather them of necessity, or the saying of
Jesus, and what he knew of the kingdom in the last day would not come to
pass.  There are as bad men and women within the pales of this Church as
there are upon this earth, and the Gospel being preached to them prepares
them to become devils.  As you have frequently been told, that is the only
way men can become devils; they must have the knowledge to sin against the
Holy Ghost, or yet the day of redemption awaits them, one or the other.

	Suppose I was preaching in the world, and they should alledge that
some of the people in Utah swore, stole, and were wicked in many ways, I
would acknowledge it to be the case.  They might then inquire, "Why do you
say that you have got the Gospel of salvation? and why do you come to us
to preach, seeing that your own people do wickedly?"  I would reply that
the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that gathers fish of all kinds,
therefore we must have the good and the bad in Utah, or else it cannot be
the kingdom of heaven.

	We have some of the bad, and those who pass through our settlements,
or sojourn in our midst for a brief period, become familiar with those who
are wicked, but do not become acquainted with the righteous.  The great
majority of this people are righteous, but the worldlings seek out and
mingle with the few wicked here, because both those classes love the
spirit of the world.

	As to the great argument against the kingdom of God, because there
are some evil doers in the Church, I will take the principles and
doctrines taught by Jesus and his Apostles, and show that these go to
prove and substantiate the fact that this is the kingdom of God.  Why? 
Because we can produce the meanest curses there are on the earth, those
who take all the revelations given by the Almighty, and every influence
and revelation they can get from the devil, and make use of them to add
sin to sin.  This fact is also another proof that all hell is against this
people, for there is not a person in the world, that gives way to
wickedness, but what has antipathy against this people.

	Now hearken, O ye Texians [sic]; do you say there are are [sic]
people here who are wicked?  So we say.  Could I wish things to be
otherwise?  No, I would not have them different if I could.  We can
produce the best men and the worse, the best women and the worst, and thus
prove, according to the sayings of Jesus Christ and his Apostles, that
this is the kingdom of God, or at least answers to the Savior's
description of that kingdom.

	Were I in Texas I would say, let me tell you that I have not embraced
any man on this earth, in my faith, but I have embraced the doctrine of
salvation, and it is no matter what the people do in Utah.  Here is the
doctrine of salvation, talk against that, prove that to be false, or find
a flaw in it, if you can.  Ask for the people, they cannot save you. 
Never embrace a man in your faith, for that is sectarianism.

	There are many of the men and women now before me who have looked for
a pure people, and have supposed that that was a proof of the truth of our
doctrines, but they will never find such a people until Satan is bound,
and Jesus comes to reign with his Saints.  The doctrine we preach is the
doctrine of salvation, and it is that which the Elders of this Church take
to the world, and not the people of Utah.

	Some of the Elders seem to be tripped up in a moment, if the wicked
can find any fault with the members of this Church; but bless your souls,
I would not yet have this people faultless, for the day of separation has
not yet arrived.  I have many a time, in this stand, dared the world to
produce as mean devils as we can; we can beat them at anything.  We have
the greatest and smoothest liars in the world, the cunningest and most
adroit thieves, and any other shade of character that you can mention.

	We can pick out Elders in Israel right here who can beat the world at
gambling, who can handle the cards, cut and shuffle them with the smartest
rogue on the face of God's foot-stool.  I can produce Elders here who can
shave their smartest shavers, and take their money from them.  We can beat
the world at any game.

	We can beat them, because we have men here that live in the light of
the Lord, that have the Holy Priesthood, and hold the keys of the kingdom
of God.  But you may go through all the sectarian world, and you cannot
find a man capable of opening the door of the kingdom of God to admit
others in.  We can do that.  We can pray the best, preach the best, and
sing the best.  We are the best looking and finest set of people on the
face of the earth, and they may begin any game they please, and we are on
hand, and can beat them at anything they have a mind to begin.  They may
make sharp their two-edged swords, and I will turn out the Elders of
Israel with greased feathers, and whip them to death.  We are not to be
beat.  We expect to be stumbling block to the whole world, and a rock of
offence to them.

	I never preached to the world but what the cry was, "that damned old
Joe Smith has done thus and so."  I would tell the people that they did
not know him, and I did, and that I knew him to be a good man; and that
when they spoke against him, they spoke against as good a man as ever
lived.

	I recollect a conversation I had with a priest who was an old friend
of ours, before I was personally acquainted with the Prophet Joseph.  I
clipped every argument he advanced, until at last he came out and began to
rail against "Joe Smith," saying, "that he was a mean man, a liar,
money-digger, gambler, and a whore-master;" and he charged him with
everything bad, that he could find language to utter.  I said, hold on,
brother Gillmore, here is the doctrine, here is the Bible, the Book of
Mormon, and the revelations that have come through Joseph Smith the
Prophet.  I have never seen him, and do not know his private character. 
The doctrine he teaches is all I know about the matter, bring anything
against that if you can.  As to anything else I do not care.  If he acts
like a devil, he has brought forth a doctrine that will save us, if we
will abide it.  He may get drunk every day of his life, sleep with his
neighbor's wife every night, run horses and gamble, I do not care anything
about that, for I never embrace any man in my faith.  But the doctrine he
has produced will save you and me, and the whole world; and if you can
find fault with that, find it.  He said, "I have done."

	It is the fashion in the world to embrace men in their faith, or a
fine meeting house, or a genteel congregation, thinking, "O, what perfect
order, and how pretty they look; how straight they walk to meeting, and
how long their faces are during the services; how pretty that deacon looks
under the pulpit; the people are so pretty, the meeting house is so nice,
that we want to join such pretty people."  Such feelings will take a
people to hell.  Embrace a doctrine that will purge sin and iniquity from
your hearts, and sanctify you before God, and you are right, no matter how
others act.

	I wish you all to understand that no Elders go to any place among the
world, but what the wicked find fault with the people of God.  They found
fault with Joseph Smith, and at length killed him, as they have a great
many others of the Latter-day Saints.  What for?  Because of his
wickedness?  No.  But the cry was, "Away with him, we cannot do with this
man nor with his people."  Did they hate him for his evil works?  No.  If
he had been a liar, a swearer, a gambler, or in any way an evil doer, and
of the world, it would have loved its own, and they would have embraced
him, because he could have spread still more delusion through the world
around him.

	We are hated, because we are righteous.  If we have sinned, the
people in Texas know nothing about it; they cannot in truth find a word of
fault with the charater of this people, except with the few we have on
hand ready to beat them at their meanness.  The Lord wants those few here
to fulfil His words and purposes, and they are fit for no other place. 
The sheep and the goats, the calves and the pigs, are all good in their
places.  The Lord will make use of us to His glory; and though a good many
of those who now profess to be good Latter-day Saints may meet
condemnation, even their course will finally result to the glory of God. 
Are these ideas correct?  Judge ye.

	Now, brethren, let me say a few words to you.  Let us repent of our
backslidings and tell the people of Texas that we ask no odds of them, nor
of any one else but our Father and our God, and those we are associated
with in His kingdom.  As brother Benjamin has exhorted you, confess your
faults to the individuals that you ought to confess them to, and proclaim
them not on the house tops.  Be careful that you wrong not yourselves. Do
you not know that if a good person is guilty of committing a crime he
thinks that everybody knows it, and is ready to confess here, and there,
and everywhere he has an opportunity?

	I do not want to know anything about the sins of this people, at
least no more than I am obliged to.  If persons lose confidence in
thenselves, it takes away the strength, faith and confidence that others
have in them; it leaves a space that we call weakness.  If you have
committed a sin that no other person on the earth knows of, and which
harms no other one, you have done a wrong and sinned against your God, but
keep that within your own bosom, and seek to God and confess there, and
get pardon for your sin.

	If children have sinned against their parents, or husbands against
their wives, or wives against their husbands, let them confess their
faults one to another and forgive each other, and there let the confession
stop; and then let them ask pardon from their God.  Confess your sins to
whoever you have sinned against, and let it stop there.  If you have
committed a sin against the community, confess to them.  If you have
sinned in your family, confess there.  Confess your sins, iniquities, and
follies, where that confession belongs, and learn to classify your
actions.

	Suppose that the people were to get up here and confess their sins,
it would destroy many innocent persons.  Does Texas know about it?  No,
nor you about one another, if you will be wise and confess your wrongs
where they ought to be confessed, and keep the knowledge of them from
every person it ought to be kept from.  In this way you will have strength
against the enemy, who would otherwise buffet you and say, "Here is your
wickedness made manifest," and would overcome you and destroy all the
confidence you have in yourselves and in your God.

	If the Lord has confidence in you, preserve it, and take a course to
produce more.  If the Lord had a people on the earth that He had perfect
confidence in, there is not a blessing in the eternities of our God, that
they could bear in the flesh, that He would not pour out upon them. 
Tongue cannot tell the blessings the Lord has for a people who have proved
themselves before Him.

	That we may have confidence in Him, and He in us, let us take a
coures to create it, that He may open the heavens and pour upon us the
blessings and power of the Holy Ghost.

	Fathers, reflect for yourselves.  Suppose that a father had thirty
thousand dollars to distribute among three of his boys, and that one of
them was a spendthrift who would prodigally sow his share to the four
winds, and cause his wife and children to come on his father for support. 
Would that father have confidence to bestow ten thousand dollars on his
spendthrift son?  No, but he would deal it out to that son's wife and
children as they might need, and the rest he would preserve for him to
another time.  Our Father has to deal in that manner with us, for He has
not confidence to know that we will do the things we ought and economize
His blessings, if He should bestow them upon us.

	We are like children who want the looking-glass to play with, and who
cry for the sharp razor and for the moon they see reflected in the water,
desiring them for play-things.  Let us take such a course that God will
have confidence in us, and then we shall receive all we need, all we
desire and ask for.

	Take a wise course; do not be foolish.  I want you to reform, for
there is need of it; though the world knows nothing about it.  They hate
us for the truth's sake, and seek to destroy us; and I say to them, go it
ye cripples, while you are young; for the day is coming in which you will
find yourselves as badly crippled as ever the "Mormons" were.

	May the Lord bless you.  Amen.

   TEMPTATION AND TRIALS NECESSARY TO EXALTATION--IF THE SAINTS PERFORM
  THEIR OBLIGATIONS, THE LORD WILL NOT FAIL IN HIS--HAND-CART EMIGRATION
                     PREFERABLE TO THAT BY OX-TEAMS.
   A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle,
                 Great Salt Lake City, November 16, 1856.

	I rise to make a few remarks, to satisfy the feelings of the people
and correct their minds and judgment.

	You have heard concerning the sufferings of the people in the
handcart trains; and, probably you will hear the Elders, for some time to
come, those who have lately returned from their missions and those now on
the Plains, speak about the scenes they have witnessed, and I would like
to forestall the erroneous impressions that many may otherwise imbibe on
this subject.

	Count the living and the dead, and you will find that not half the
number died in brother Willie's hand-cart company, in proportion to the
number in that company, as have died in past seasons by the cholera in
single companies travelling with wagons and oxen, with carriages and
horses, and that too in the forepart of the season.  When you call to mind
this fact, the relations of the sufferings of our companies this season
will not be so harrowing to your feelings.  With regard to those who have
died and been laid away by the roadside on the Plains, since the cold
weather commenced, let me tell you they have not suffered one hundreth
[sic] part so much as did our brethren and sisters who have died with the
cholera.

	Some of those who have died in the hand-cart companies this season, I
am told, would be singing, and, before the tune was done, would drop over
and breathe their last; and others would die while eating, and with a
piece of bread in their hands.  I should be pleased when the time comes,
if we could all depart from this life as easily as did those our brethren
and sisters.  I repeat, it will be a happy circumstance, when death
overtakes me, if I am privileged to die without a groan or struggle, while
yet retaining a good appetite for food.  I speak of these things, to
forestall indulgence in a misplaced sympathy.

	You have heard the brethren relate their trials through Iowa; it is a
a [sic] wicked place.  Those regions of the country are the locality of
the afflictions that have come upon this people.  Take Missouri, Illinois,
and Iowa, and they are the places where we have been afflicted and driven. 
What can we expect from those people? anything but hell out of doors?

	Not long since I was talking with one of the brethren, who has
crossed the Plains this season, in regard to the propriety of companies
starting so late.  He argued that it was far better for the Saints to be
striving with all their might, doing all they could to serve the Lord and
keep His commandments, and traveling the road to Zion with intent to build
it up and establish the kingdom of God on earth, even though they should
lay down their lives by the way, than to stop among the Gentiles and
apostates.  I told him it was a good argument, though it was not exactly
according to the will of the people and the will of the Lord, for He
wishes to throw temptation and trial before His people, to prove them
preparatory to their eternal exaltation; consequently, if the people have
not an opportunity of proving themselves before they die, by the ruler of
their faith and religion, they cannot expect to attain to so high a glory
and exaltation as they could if they had been tried in all things.  Yet I
believe it is better for the people to lay down their bones by the way
side, than it is for them to stay in the States and apostatize.

	I told the Elder that his argument seemed reasonable, but it made me
think of the story about a Roman Catholic priest and a Jew.  The priest
was crossing on the ice, and on his way found a Jew, who had fallen
through an air hole, clinging to the edge of the ice, and unable to get
out.  He begged of the priest to help him out, but he would not, unless he
first professed a belief in Jesus Christ.  "I cannot," said the Jew. 
"Then I will let you down," replied the priest, and let go of him.  Still
clinging to the ice, as the priest was about to leave, he again begged him
to pull him out.  "I cannot, unless you believe in Christ."  "I cannot
believe," said the Jew, and the priest let him go again.  At length the
Jew said, "Take me out, I do believe in the Lord Jesus Christ with all my
might."  "Do you?" said the priest, "then I think it is best to save you,
while you are a Christian and strong in the faith," and he shoved him
under the ice.

	If he could have it so, I would a little rather the Saints could be
privileged to come here and serve the Lord, or apostatize, as they might
choose, for we surely expect to gather both the good and the bad.  You
recollect what I told you, last Sabbath, that we can beat the world at
anything.  If brother Willie has brought in some of the sharks, the
garfish, the sheepheads, and so on and so forth, it is all right, for we
need them to make up the assortment; as yet, I do not know how we could
get along without them; all these kinds seem to be necessary.

	I have seriously reflected upon the gathering of the people.  They
have all the time urgently plead and importuned to be gathered, especially
from the old countries where they are so severely oppressed; and they are
willing to come on foot and pull hand-carts, or do anything, so they can
be gathered with the Saints.  Well, we do gather them, and where do many
of them go?  To the devil.

	In Nauvoo we had obligations, to an amount exceeding $30,000, against
Saints that we had brought from England with our private means; and there
is not to exceed two, of all the persons thus brought out, who have
honorably come forward to pay one cent of that outlay in their behalf; and
some of them were in the mob when it killed Joseph.

	I knew all the time that it was better for many of these persons to
stop in England and starve to death, for then they might have received a
salvation; but they plead with the Lord and with His servants for an
opportunity to prove themselves, and made use of it to seal their
damnation and become angels to the devil.  They had the opportunity, do
you not see that they had?

	If Saints do right and have performed all required of them in this
probation, they are under no more obligation, and then it is no matter
whether they live or die, for their work here is finished.  This is a
doctrine I believe.

	If brother Willie's company had not been assisted by the people in
these valleys, and he and his company had lived to the best light they had
in their possession, had done everything they could have done to cross the
Plains, and done justice as they did, asking no questions and having no
doubting; or in other words, if, after their President or Presidents told
them to go on the Plains, they had gone in full faith, had pursued their
journey according to their ability, and done all they could, and we could
not have rendered them any assistance, it would have been just as easy for
the Lord to send herds of fat buffaloes to lay down within twenty yards of
their camp, as it was to send flocks of quails or to rain down manna from
heaven to Israel of old.

	My faith is, when we have done all we can, then the Lord is under
obligation, and will not disappoint the faithful; He will perform the
rest.  If no other assistance could have been had by the companies this
season, I think they would have had hundreds and hundreds of fat buffaloes
crowding around their camp, so that they could not help but kill them. 
But, under the circumstances, it was our duty to assist them, and we were
none too early in the operation.

	It was not a rash statement for me to make at our last Conference,
when I told you that I would dismiss the Conference, if the people would
not turn out, and that I, with my brethren, would go to the assistance of
the companies.  We knew that our brethren and sisters were on the Plains
and in need of assistance, and we had the power and ability to help them,
therefore it became our duty to do so.

	The Lord was not brought under obligation in the matter, so He had
put the means in our possession to render them the assistance they needed. 
But if there had been no other way, the Lord would have helped them, if He
had had to send His angels to drive up buffaloes day after day, and week
after week.  I have full confidence that the Lord would have done His
part; my only lack of confidence is, that those who profess to be Saints
will not do right and perform their duty.

	You hear the testimony of the brethren with regard to the feasibility
of the hand-cart mode of traveling; that testimony and their experience
have fully sustained the correctness of the views and feelings of myself
and others upon that subject from the beginning.  It is the very essence
of my feelings that the people in this house, if we wanted to cross the
Plains next season to the States, could start from here with hand-carts,
and beat any company in traveling that would cross the Plains with teams,
and be better of [sic] and healthier.  These are my feelings, and they
have been all the time.

	I have argued the point before the people that they are not aware of
their ability, that they do not know what they can do; that they are
healthier when they live in the open air.  What gives the people colds and
makes them sick?  You hear many say, "I had not had a cold this fall,
until I came into our new house."  Brethren and sisters that have come
into the city from living in the kanyons, and those who have arrived from
the States this season, have not been troubled with colds until they came
into warm houses; that gives them colds, by depriving their lungs of the
benefit they are organized to receive from the atmosphere.

	It is a strange thought, but could you weigh the particles of life
that you constantly receive from the water you drink and from the air you
breathe, you would learn that you receive a greater proportion of
nourishment from those sources than from the food you consume.  Many are
not aware of this, for they are not apt to reflect how much longer they
can live when deprived of food than they can when deprived of air.  When
people are obliged to breathe confined air, they do not have that free,
full flow of the purification and nourishment that is in the fresh air,
and they begin to decay, and go into what we call consumption.

	People need not be afraid of living out of doors, nor of sleeping out
of doors; this country is much healthier than the lowlands in the States,
or than many places in the old world.  I recollect that in 1834, myself,
brother Kimball, and others, traveled two thousand miles inside of three
months, and that we too in the heat of summer, [sic-punc]  We cooked our
own food, carried our guns, got our provisions by the way, and performed
the journey within ninety days.  We laid on the ground every night, and
there was scarcely a night that we could sleep, for the air rose from the
ground hot enough to suffocate us, and they supplied musketos in that
country, as they did eggs, by the bushel; they never thought of supplying
less than a bushel or so at once to an individual.  That journey was many
times more taxing upon the health and life of a person, than this season's
hand-cart journey over the Plains.

	You may take the rich and the poor, every person, and they can gather
from the Missouri river, or from parts of the States where there are no
railroads or steamboats, easier than they can with teams.  And I am
ashamed of our Elders that go out on missions, it is a disgrace to the
Elders of Israel, that they do not start from here with hand-carts, or
with knapsacks on their backs, and go to the States, and from thence
preach their way to their respective fields of labor.  Brother Kimball
moves that we do not send any Elders from this place again, unless they
take handcarts and cross the Plains on foot.  When the time comes, I
expect that this motion will be put to vote.

	It is a shame for the Elders to take with them from this place
everything they can rake and scrape.  I can go on foot across the Plains. 
As old as I am, I can take a hand-cart and draw it across those Plains
quicker than you can go with animals and loaded wagons, and be healthier
when I get to the Missouri river.  Our Elders must have a good span of
horses, or mules, and must ride, ride, ride; kill many of their animals,
and get little or nothing for those left when they arrive at the Missouri
river, besides taking four or five hundred dollars worth of property from
their families.  And some ride so much that they do not know how to
preach, whereas, if they would walk, they would be in far better condition
to labor in the Gospel.

	As to the expediency of the handcart mode of traveling, brothers
Ellsworth, McArthur, and Bunker, who piloted the three first hand-cart
companies over the Plains, can testify that they easily beat the wagon
companies.  Brother Ellsworth performed the journey in sixty-three days,
and brother McArthur in sixty-one and a half, notwithstanding the
hindrance by the baggage wagons.  If brother Willie's company could have
had their provisions deposited at Laramie and at Green river, and had been
free from wagons, they would have been in this valley by the time they
were in the storms.

	We are not in the least discouraged about the hand-cart method of
traveling.  As to its preaching a sermon to the nations, as has been
remarked, they are preached pretty nigh to destruction already.  We do not
care whether the hand-cart scheme preaches to them, or whether it be by
the teachings of the Elders of Israel.  They are so bound up with their
friends and so priest-ridden, that they cannot burst through those chains;
and they will have to remain so until Jesus devises some other means to
save them, for the great majority will not hear and obey.

	There are a few who are sufficiently independent to obey the truth
when they hear it.  We will gather them up, and let the devils howl and
let all hell be moved in striving to overthrow this people.  We will
gather the faithful, God being our helper, and we do not care whether the
rest hear and believe or not.  The sound of the Gospel has gone to the
uttermost parts of the earth, as I have told you already; and I know not a
people, and hardly a nation, but what it makes them quake from centre to
circumference.  If they do not believe the sound that has gone forth, let
them disbelieve; we ask no odds of them.

	We do not expect that all the people will believe, and wickedness
will increase while the Saints are gathering together.  If those who
profess to know what right is, will do right and live to the Gospel of
Christ which they understand, there is no danger but what the elect will
be saved, and that the devil cannot get them.  All that Jesus designs to
save he will save; all that are disposed to believe and obey, he is
disposed to save, and will do it.  And those that will falter and hearken
to the teachings and seductions of the world, the flesh, and the devil, he
can save upon the principles he has established.

	Men act upon their own agency; we do not expect that those who will
not hearken and obey will be saved by the Gospel; and many that obey the
first principles of the Gospel will not live their religion.

	Let this people live their religion here.  We cry to you all the time
to live your religion.  Let every man and woman forsak [sic] their evil
ways, and turn unto the Lord with all their hearts, that He may have mercy
on us, that the light may shine, and the nations feel its influence, and
the honest in heart rejoice therein and be gathered to Zion.

	As I told the brethren the other evening, if the candle of the
Almighty does not shine from this place, you need not seek for light any
where else.  If this people have not the light and power of God with them,
the Elders that go forth cannot have the light and enjoy the power that we
do not have here; they must be lower than we are; they cannot attain to
the light that we can here.

	Shall we forsake our wickedness?  I say, thank God, that I see a
spirit of repentance in a degree; but I want to see so thorough a reform
that sin and wickedness will be done away.  Live your religion; that tells
the whole story.  If you live your religion you have the Holy Ghost in
you, it abides with you; you shun evil, and put forth your energies to do
all the good you can; you will refrain from everything that is evil, and
do everything you can to promote the cause of God on the earth.

	It is all embraced in the three words, live your religion; that is
what I wish to say to all good people.  That the Lord may help us so to
do, that we may be accounted worthy to be saved in His kingdom, is my
constant prayer, brethren and sisters, in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.


               ON THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT JEDEDIAH M. GRANT.
      A Funeral Sermon, by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the
   Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, December 4, 1856.

	We expected that this congregation would have been assembled and
seated by ten o'clock, or by a quarter past ten at the latest; it is now
twelve, lacking five minutes, and near the time when we should be moving
to the place of burial.

	The time is so far advanced, that I shall not presume to answer my
feelings, in my remarks on this occasion.  I expected to have had time
enough for offering some of my feelings and views, with regard to the
living and the dead.  True, it would take me a long time to reveal to you
what is in my heart, but I expected to have had time to bestow a portion
thereof on this congregation.

	I will say to those here assembled, and especially to those more
immediately connected with brother Grant in the capacity of a family, you
have no cause for mourning, neither have we.  True, we were very fond of
the company and society of brother Grant; brother Jedediah was a man we
all loved, and we would have liked to have had him staid with us; we would
have been pleased in longer enjoying his society here.

	But this our place of abode is only temporary; we are on a journey;
we have only to winter and summer, as it were.  Brother Grant has got
through here, and has gone to his spiritual place of abode for a season. 
Not that he has reached his journey's end, nor will he, until he has again
received this body that now lies before me.  Every material part and
portion pertaining to his body, to the temporal organization that
constitutes the man, will clothe his spirit again, before he is prepared
to receive the place and habitation that is prepared for him, yet he has
gone to his spiritual home for a season.

	I am aware of the feelings of families and friends on such occasions. 
Many times I can govern and control my feelings, at other times I cannot. 
When I can control my own feelings, I can collect my thoughts and express
my ideas as clearly as my language will permit.

	In the few remarks that I will make to-day, I will not go to the
Bible, to the Book of Mormon, nor to the Book of Doctrine and Covenants,
for my text, for I will give you a text which comprehends the sermon also,
so that if I do not dwell directly upon it, I trust that what I say will
be true, for it will be incorporated in my text, and the text alone will
be a sermon.

	On this occasion I will say, as on other occasions, blessed are they
that hear the Gospel of salvation, believe it, embrace it, and live to all
its precepts. That is the text, and a whole sermon in and of itself.

	Time will not permit me to tell, only in part, wherein they are
blessed, how and with what they will be blessed, for it takes a life time
to prepare for this blessing.

	Some people would have to live to be a hundred years of age, in order
to be as ripe in the things of God as was brother Grant, whose body now
lies lifeless before us; to be as ripe as was the spirit which lately
inhabited this deserted earthly tabernacle.

	There are but few that can ripen for the glory, the immortality that
is prepared for the faithful; for receiving all that was purchased for
them by the Son of God; but very few can receive what brother Grant has
re- [sic] received in his life time.  He has been in the Church upwards of
twenty-four years, and was a man that would live, comparatively speaking,
a hundred years in that time.  The storehouse that was prepared in him to
receive the truth, was capable of receiving as much in twenty-five years
as most of men can in one hundred.

	Though we might say that the time has been short which he has had to
prepare himself in the flesh for receiving all that is treasured up for
the faithful, yet there are but few men in this Church that ever will be
prepared to receive what he will receive, though they live thirty, fifty,
seventy-five, or a hundred years, or to the coming of the Son of Man;
there are but few men that will be prepared to receive the same degree of
glory and exaltation that brother Jedediah will receive.  This may be
attributed to the peculiar organization of man.

	It is not every man that is capable of filling every station, though
there is no man but what is capable of filling his proper station, and
that, too, with dignity and honor to himself.  When you find a person that
is capable of receiving light and wisdom, one that can descend to the
capacity of the weakest of the weak, and can comprehend the highest and
most noble intelligence that can be obtained by man, can receive it with
all ease, and comprehend it, circumscribe it, understand it from first to
last, that is the man that can ripen for eternity in a few years; that is
the individual who is capable of occupying stations that many cannot
occupy.

	Brother Grant we were well acquainted with, and there is no person
but what laments his departure from this world.  But what will we mourn
for?  I want to ask myself that question, as I have a great many times. 
What will you mourn for, because brother Grant has gone where he can do
more good?  No, we will not mourn for that.  Will we mourn because he has
overcome all his enemies here, all that are opposed to Jesus Christ and to
his Gospel, because he has won the prize?  Will we mourn for that?

	He is prepared to dwell with Prophets, with brother Joseph, with the
ancient Apostles, with Moses, with Abraham, and to dwell in the presence
of Jesus Christ.  We will not mourn for that.  What will we mourn for?  He
has lost nothing, but has gained all.

	Why do we mourn?  Perhaps it will be difficult for me to tell you,
yet I know.  It is not the knowledge that God has given you or me, that
causes us to mourn; it is not the Spirit of the Gospel that produces
within us a mournful feeling; it is not the Spirit of Christ, the
knowledge of eternity, of God, or of the way of life and salvation.  Our
mourning proceeds from none of those causes.  What causes us to mourn? 
Neither more nor less, to me and so far as I can convey my idea by
language, than the earthly weakness that is in us.  It is not the
knowledge of the Almighty, the power of God, the light of eternity, but it
is the darkness, the weakness, the ignorance, the want of that eternal
knowledge, so far as I can conceive, that makes any person mourn here on
the earth.  If this conveys the idea to you, as it does to me, it will
satisfy me.

	Mourning for the righteous dead springs from the ignorance and
weakness that are planted within the mortal tabernacle, the organization
of this house for the spirit to dwell in.  No matter what pain we suffer,
no matter what we pass through, we cling to our mother earth, and dislike
to have any of her children leave us.  We love to keep together the social
family relation that we bear one to another, and do not like to part with
each other; but could we have knowledge and see into eternity, if we were
perfectly free from the weakness, blindness, and lethargy with which we
are clothed in the flesh, we should have no disposition to weep or mourn.

	Perhaps it is not proper for me to make a few remarks with regard to
this day's operations.  Funeral ceremonies have often borne upon my mind
with considerable, I will say, weight, and especially since I came into
the vestry at the time appointed for the services to commence.  I have
often reflected with regard to paying particular respect to that which is
useless, to that which is nothing at all to us.  And while waiting in the
vestry, I was pondering upon how many bands of music attended Jesus to the
tomb, upon what the procession was, how many wore crape, who mourned, and
the situation of the mourners.

	There are but few of us but what have been honored with as convenient
a place for a birth as was Jesus, though I presume that his mother was
comparatively comfortable while lieing on the hay in the manger; there are
but few of us but what have had the privilege of a house to be born in.

	I was reflecting upon how many there were to lament and mourn for Him
when he went out of the world; and the few that did mourn had to make
their escape, like going on to Ensign Peak; they had to stand afar off to
mourn, and durst not be seen near the place of the crucifixion.  When the
body had hung on the cross until night, Joseph begged the privilege of
taking it down and carrying it to the tomb.

	I was reflecting further.  Suppose brother Grant could speak to us
this day, he would deprecate to the lowest degree the fuss and parade we
are making.  He would say, "Away with you; stop your blowing of horns,
beating of drums, and hoisting of colors.  Give my body a place to lay and
rest, and do not consider me better than other men.  Take my body and bury
it deep enough, so that it can rest where the floods cannot wash it out,
where is can remain until the trumpet sounds, when I may awake up and help
you again.

	Perhaps it is not proper for me to make these remarks, yet I hope
they will not injure the feelings of any one.  But I say to each and every
one of you, whether I die in this city, or wherever I die, when my spirit
leaves my body, know ye that that tabernacle is of no use, until the
command comes for it to be resurrected; and I do not want you to cry over
it, nor make any parade, but give me a good place where my bones can rest,
that have been weary for many years, and have delighted to labor until
nearly worn out; and then go home about your business, and think no more
about me, except you think of me in the spirit world, as I do about
Jedediah.

	I have not felt, for one minute, that Jedediah is dead; I feel he is
with us just as much as he was a week or a month ago.

	The few words I say will perhaps be a consolation to you, and perhaps
not, but I tell you some of my feelings and views.

	I want you all to remember this; when I die, let your flags remain in
their proper places, omit your parade, and lay me away where I can rest. 
And I do not wish any of you to cry and feel badly, but prepare yourselves
to fight the devils while you live, and after you pass through the vail;
and let me tell you, that there we will do a great deal more than we can
here.

	Another thing I want to promise you, every one of you, if you will be
faithful; I promise it to myself.  True, brother Grant was a great help to
me; he stood by me, and was willing to come and go, and to do whatever was
requested of him, in order to take the burden from me; but I tell you that
we will have not only four, but an hundred fold for him, just as good, and
so we will for every good man that lies down; I promise you that.  Brother
Grant we call a great man, a giant, a lion; but let me tell you that the
young whelps are growing up here who will roar louder than ever he dare,
and instead of there being two, or three, or four, there are hundreds of
them.

	Perhaps many of you will think I am not correct in my views, that I
am enthusiastic, that I am mistaken; but let me tell you that the very
sons of these women that sit here will rise up and be as great as any man
that ever lived, and as far beyond Jedediah, or myself, and brother Heber,
as we are in the Gospel beyond our little children.  I am not going to
gather the lions of the forest from the sectarian world, that is not where
I am going to get them, but the mothers in Israel are going to rear them. 
They will raise hundreds and thousands that will know more about the
things of God in twenty years than Jedediah did in his lifetime, which was
forty years.  Will they know more than I do?  Yes.

	I do not make any calculation, and never did, but that my boys who
are now growing up will be as far beyond me, at my age, as I am beyond the
knowledge I had in my infancy.  We will not mourn for that, will we?  No. 
For one I am comforted, if I can overcome the weakness that is upon me,
which is the result of ignorance; that pertains to the flesh--to fallen
nature.  The cause of mourning does not pertain to God, nor to the things
of God, but arises from the weakness of human nature.

	When we lose such men as we have since we came into the valleys of
the mountains, such men as brother Whitney, brother Willard, brother
Jedediah, brother Orson Spencer, and many others, it is a matter of
regret.

	Brother Grant can now do ten times more than if he was in the flesh;
do you want to know how?  He is in the spirit world, he has conquered
death and hell, and will the grave, when he again assumes his body.  He is
no more subject to the devils that dwell in the infernal regions; he
commands them, and they must go at his bidding; he can move them just as I
can move my hand.  Do you know how that is done?  It is done by the
principle in me that is called will, which principle God has planted in
all intelligences according to the capacity bestowed upon them.  That
intelligence is in us; we may call it will; it is the power of life in
every creature and in all intelligences, and by that power I stretch out
my arm and bring it to me again at my pleasure, I look to the right or to
the left, and I speak according to the dictates of my will.  When I govern
myself, I do this or that, I rise up to go to that city and return again,
I sit down and rise up, and do what I please.

	When men overcome as our faithful brethren have, and go where they
see Joseph, who will dictate them and be their head and Prophet all the
time, they have power over all disembodied evil spirits, for they have
overcome them.  Those evil spirits are under the command and control of
every man that has had the Priesthood on him, and has honored it in the
flesh, just as much as my hand is under my control.

	Do you not think that brother Jedediah can do more good than he could
here?  When he was here the devils had power over his flesh, he warred
with them and fought them, and said that they were around him by millions,
and he fought them until he overcame them.  So it is with you and I.  You
never felt a pain and ache, or felt disagreeable, or uncomfortable in your
bodies and minds, but what an evil spirit was present causing it.  Do you
realize that the ague, the fever, the chills, the severe pain in the head,
the plurisy [sic], or any pain in the system, from the crown of the head
to the soles of the feet, is put there by the devil?  You do not realize
this, do you?

	I say but little about this matter, because I do not want you to
realize it.  When you have the rheumatism, do you realize that the devil
put that upon you?  No, but you say, "I got wet, caught cold, and thereby
got the rheumatism."  The spirits that afflict us and plant disease in our
bodies, pain in the system, and finally death, have control over us so far
as the flesh is concerned.  But when the spirit is unlocked from the body
it is free from the power of death and Satan; and when that body comes up
again, it also, with the spirit, will gain the victory over death, hell,
and the grave.

	When the spirit leaves the tabernacle of flesh and goes into the
spirit world, it has control over every evil influence with which it comes
in contact, and when it takes up the body again, then the body also, with
the spirit, will have control over every evil spirit that is in a
tabernacle, if there is any such being, just as far as the spirit that has
the Priesthood had control over evil spirits.

	Perhaps you do not understand me.  Take a spirit that has gone into
the spirit world, does it have control over corruptible bodies?  No.  It
can only act in the capacity of a spirit.  As to the devils inhabiting
these earthly bodies, it cannot control them, it only controls spirits. 
But when the spirit is again united to the body, that spirit and body
unitedly have control over the evil bodies, those controlled by the devil
and given over to the devils, if there is any such thing.  Resurrected
beings have control over matter as well as spirit.

	Brother Grant's body which lies here is useless, is good for nothing
until it is resurrected, and merely needs a place in which to rest; his
spirit has not fled beyond the sun.  There are millions and millions of
spirits in these valleys, both good and evil.  We are surrounded with more
evil spirits than good ones, because more wicked than good men have died
here; for instance, thousands and thousands of wicked Lamanites have laid
their bodies in these valleys.  The spirits of the just and unjust are
here.  The spirits that were cast out of heaven, which you know are
recorded to have been one-third part, were thrust down to this earth, and
have been here all the time, with Lucifer, the Son of the Morning, at
their head.

	When a goo