"This day I have been walking through the most splendid part of the city of New York. The buildings are truly great and wonderful to the astonishing of the beholder, and the language of my heart is like this. Can the great God of all the earth maker of all things magnificent and splendid be displeased with man for all these great inventions sought out by them. My answer is no it can not be, seeing these great works are calculated to make men comfortable wise and happy, therefore not for these works can the Lord be displeased."
Joseph Smith to Emma Smith, October 18, 1832
quoted from Cities of the American West
John W. Reps, p. 288
Friday, October 27, 2017
Sunday, July 9, 2017
Brigham Young, Remarks in the Ogden Tabernacle on the Afternoon of May 26th, 1872
I am happy for the privilege of standing before this congregation and speaking to them. I am thankful to see the spirit that is manifested by the people to inquire after the truth, to learn the way of life. I rejoice to see the disposition manifested by the Latter-day Saints to attend places of worship. But this is a small part of our faith. I wish to say to the Latter-day Saints that the Gospel of life and salvation is the best institution that we, as mortal beings, can invest in. Go into the financial circles of the world, and you will find men gather and project their plans for business, for railroads, for ship companies, for merchandising, and various other pursuits. You will see those engaged in these companies associate together, confer with each other, lay their plans before each other, investigate them, scan every branch, and every part and particle of their business. We are engaged in a higher-toned branch of business than any merchants or railroad men, or any institution of an earthly nature, and it is pleasing to see the Latter-day Saints meet together to talk over this matter, and to learn the course they should pursue to gain the object of their pursuit. If an inquiry arises in any of your minds with regard to this, I will answer it by saying that we are in pursuit of all there is before us—life, light, wealth, intelligence, all that can be possessed on the earth by mortal man, and then in a higher state, where there will be a more perfect development of the smattering of knowledge than we received here, and all that can be enjoyed by intelligent beings in the celestial kingdoms of our God. Is this our object? Certainly it is. We are not in the same attitude that the people were a few thousand years ago—they were depending on the Prophet or Prophets, or on having immediate revelation for themselves to know the will of the Lord, without the record of their predecessors, while we have the records of those who have lived before us, also the testimony of the Holy Spirit; and, to the satisfaction of all who desire a testimony, we can turn to this book and read that which we believe, learn the object of our pursuit, the end that we expect to accomplish—the end of the race as far as mortality is concerned—and the fullness of the glory that is beyond this vale of tears; consequently we have the advantage of those who lived before us. We are in pursuit of knowledge; and when you meet together, if you have a word of prophecy, a dream, a vision, or a word of wisdom, impart the same to the people.
Let me ask you, my brethren and sisters, Do you want wealth? If you do, do not be in a hurry. Do you want the riches pertaining to this world? Yes, we acknowledge we do. Then, be calm, contented, composed; keep your pulses correct, do not let them get up to a hundred and twenty, but keep them as nigh as you can, ranging from seventy to seventy-six; and when there is an appointment for a meeting be sure to attend that meeting. If there is to be a two days' meeting in Ogden, come to it; spend the time here and learn what is going on. Watch closely, hear every word that is spoken, let every heart be lifted to God for wisdom, and know and understand every word of prophecy, every revelation that may be given, every counsel that may be presented to the people, that you may be able to weigh, measure, comprehend and decide between that which is of God and that which is not of God. Refuse the evil, learn wisdom, and grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth. If there is a meeting appointed for the Seventies, let them come together, and let no man say “I am in a hurry in my work, and have not time to attend.” Every man that belongs to these quorums should be on hand at the time appointed, and not say, “I will work to the last minute, before I start for the meeting.” Take time, prepare yourselves, be at the place of gathering promptly, to the minute, that you may hear the first word, then you will hear every word that is spoken and every counsel that is given.
If there is a Bishop's meeting, let every Bishop, Priest, Teacher and Deacon attend, and no man among them say, “I must go and water my grain,” “cut my hay,” or “gather my harvest;” but attend the meeting, sit until it is out and hear every word. If you have to speak, speak; if you are to hear only, hear every word that is said. If there is a prayer meeting appointed, go to that prayer meeting; go to the ward meetings, attend every meeting that is appointed. I am telling you this, so that you can get rich.
I will say to the Latter-day Saints, there cannot that community be found on the face of the whole earth that, as a community, is as well off as we are here in these mountains. There are more women and children, with their husbands and fathers, sleep under their own roof in the midst of the Latter-day Saints than in any other community on the face of this earth, in civilization; and less women and children go without food and clothing than in any other community in Christendom. Looking around among the Latter-day Saints I will ask, How many are there who have been taken from cellars, from pits under ground, or from their little rooms, where one pound, or five dollars, would buy everything they possessed on the face of the earth, and brought to this country and taught how to plant their potatoes, beans, beets, carrots, how to raise their cucumbers and squashes, their corn and their wheat, how to milk a cow; feed a calf, take care of the chickens; how to build a pigpen and put a pig in it; to take the offals of the house and give to the pig, and how to raise a calf or a colt, experience they never had before in their lives? Yet they have learned this economy, and some of them, I am sorry to say, lift their heel against the Almighty and his anointed. I am happy to say, however, that the large percentage of those who have been thus rescued from poverty, and placed in circumstances of comfort and independence, are still in the faith. How many are there here today who never owned a chicken or a pig, and could not keep a cat because they had nothing to feed one on, who now ride in their wagons, have their carriages, horses, fine harness, fine stock of cows, and have butter, milk, cheese and wool at their command, and granaries full of wheat, and their barns, if they have them, full of hay? Do not the facts which present themselves before us, prove that this very desirable change has taken place in the circumstances of many? Then come to meeting. Appoint your meetings, Elders, and call the Saints together and instruct them in the things of the kingdom of God. We have missionaries that are traveling through our settlements, and no people need preaching more than the Latter-day Saints. They know the way, but they are forgetful, and they want somebody or other to come along and holloa to them, and say, comparatively, “I will warm your ears, my lady;” “Brother, I will warm your ears.” “Wake up!” “What are you doing? Are you after this mine? Are you after that job? Are you after that piece of work? Did you pray in your family this morning?” “No.” “Why?” “I was in too much of a hurry.” Stop! Wait! When you get up in the morning, before you suffer yourselves to eat one mouthful of food, call your wives and children together, bow down before the Lord, ask him to forgive your sins, and protect you through the day, to preserve you from temptation and all evil, to guide your steps aright, that you may do something that day that shall be beneficial to the kingdom of God on the earth. Have you time to do this? Elders, sisters, have you time to pray? This is the counsel I have for the Latter-day Saints today. Stop, do not be in a hurry. I do not know that I could find a man in our community but what wishes wealth, would like to have everything in his possession that would conduce to his comfort and convenience. Do you know how to get it? “Well,” replies one, “if I do not, I wish I did; but I do not seem to be exactly fortunate—fortune is somewhat against me.” I will tell you the reason of this—you are in too much of a hurry; you do not go to meeting enough, you do not pray enough, you do not read the Scriptures enough, you do not meditate enough, you are all the time on the wing, and in such a hurry that you do not know what to do first. This is not the way to get rich. I merely use the term “rich” to lead the mind along, until we obtain eternal riches in the celestial kingdom of God. Here we wish for riches in a comparative sense, we wish for the comforts of life. If we desire them let us take a course to get them. Let me reduce this to a simple saying—one of the most simple and homely that can be used—“Keep your dish right side up,” so that when the shower of porridge does come, you can catch your dish full.
I am not going into the details, to instruct my brethren particularly how to get wealth; but in the first place, do not be in a hurry. I make that as a general remark. Do you want your house neat and clean? Do you want to keep your children neat and clean? Do you wish to see every portion of your dwelling, from the cellar to the garret, from the woodhouse to the parlor, neat and clean? Certainly, every sister wishes this; then do not be in a hurry. I shall tell you a little circumstance that occurred some eighteen years ago, when we had been on a visit to the Indians. We had reached Farmington, on our way home, and stopped at a certain house. I think there were twelve of us in company. Our teams were taken care of. When I alighted from my carriage I looked at my watch and we went in, sat down, and chatted with the master of the house, while his wife prepared dinner for us. I noticed this lady. She whispered to a little girl to take her baby out of doors and amuse it; then, when her baby was out of the way, she moved about without the least noise—not a word was heard from her. She brought everything she needed from the buttery and cellar to the kitchen where she spread her table, and she mixed and baked her bread, cooked her fruit and meat, and from the time we alighted from
the carriage until she came and whispered in the ear of her husband, “Dinner is ready,” it was just fifty-five minutes. Said I to myself, “There is a housekeeper.” I could not help but see this; every time she walked back and forth she accomplished a certain amount of business. I saw this and was gratified. Now, sisters, you may do likewise, if you are not in too big a hurry. Instead of shouting, “Sally, where's the dishcloth?” “Susan, where's the broom?” or, “Nancy, have you seen the holder? I want the holder,” be calm and composed; you are in too much of a hurry. Hold on, be easy, never let your nervous system rise above your judgment and the collection of your thoughts, and have a place for everything, and everything in its place. Let your judgment be master, and when you start to do a thing you will know exactly what you want to do. I have seen hundreds of ladies fly to the cupboard, and then say, “Well, now, I declare I don't know what I came for.” They were in too much of a hurry. It is just so with men. I see them through the world, I have watched their progress for many years, and I see that many of them are too much in a hurry. If we are not in too much of a hurry we can attend these twodays' meetings, and talk to each other. Are you full of faith? You can tell whether I am or not by looking at me. You can tell whether the brethren who have been speaking to you are full of faith in the Gospel by the look of their countenances. You can see this if there is not a word spoken; we can tell by our feelings when we look at a congregation whether they have faith or not. I see there is a great amount of faith in the midst of the Latter-day Saints, and I wish there was a little more patience and obedience.
Perhaps I have said enough with regard to these meetings. Elders, appoint your meetings, and invite the people to come to them. I want now to go to other matters.
I will tell you, my brethren, my own feelings with regard to the conduct of the Latter-day Saints. In the first place I will say that we are governed and controlled too much by the feelings and fashions of the world. We lust after the leeks and onions; we yield ourselves to the spirit of the world too much. You will excuse me, for I must say a few words with regard to this. It is true we are bound, and it seems that men's bounds are set by each other, more or less. If I, for instance, were to have a coat made to suit my own taste, I do not know any of my family and perhaps my friends, and especially the tailors, merchants and business men, but what would say, “You are an oddity,” and they would think, “You are not fit for society, because you do not fashion and pattern after others.” I commence here, you know, at myself. Well, I will say that I am bound, I cannot accomplish my own wishes in these things altogether. Perhaps others cannot. I go to a tailor and say, “I have a piece of cloth, and I want you to make me a coat.” He cuts that coat to suit himself. I do not see a fashion that suits me. What use or comeliness is there in putting the legs of the pantaloons on my coat?” Well, perhaps the tailor will be a little moderate, and will cut it down considerably; but if I were my own tailor I certainly should leave off—what shall we call them? “Bustles,” “Grecian Bends,” or what shall we call them? Though these coat sleeves are not exactly like the sleeves of the frocks or dresses worn by the ladies forty or fifty years ago, which they used to call mutton-legged sleeves, shaped just like the ham of a mutton. I recollect there used to be considerable said about them. Sometimes a paper would come out and tell of the wreck of a ship, on board of which were a hundred and fifty passengers; but, they would say, “Thanks be to kind Providence, the ladies took all the male passengers into the sleeves of their dresses, and went ashore.” Such narrations as these, you know, were only meant as a satire upon the fashions of the day. Now I am coming right to the point, and I wish to say to some of my sisters, not to all, that if I were my own tailor I should cut my own coat to suit myself. “What would be your fashion” says one? I will tell you. I have a coat here which you can see—if I were to take hold of a swillpail, this part of the skirt must drop in; and if I took hold of a milkpail I must take the coat around by the other end, and hold it, or else it is in the milk. I see no convenience or beauty in it. That which is convenient should be beautiful; and I want my coat cut so that when I lift a pail of water, or a milk or swill pail the skirts shall not fall into it; and so with the pockets, I would have them convenient. If I were a lady and had a piece of cloth to make me a dress, I would cut it so as to cover my person handsomely and neatly; and whether it was cut according to the fashion or not, custom would soon make it beautiful. I would not have eighteen or twenty yards to drag behind me, so that if I had to turn around I would have to pick up my dress and throw it after me, or, just as a cow does when she kicks over the milkpail, throw out one foot to kick the dress out of the way. That is not becoming, beautiful or convenient—all such fashions are inconvenient. Take that cloth and cut you a skirt that will be modest and neat, that does not drag in the dirt nor show your garters, but cut it so that it will clear the ground when you walk, when you are passing over the floor it will not drag everything on the floor, or in the street as you pass along. Put enough into the skirt to look well, and if we are to go into particulars, of course, we would have to say, we must use enough to cover the person. I do not expect mother Eve even did this. We could relate some little incidents of our past experience, that perhaps would not entertain the people, and still, perhaps, they might learn something from them. For instance, in some circles it has been fashionable for a lady to wear, perhaps, twelve yards in the skirt of her dress, but when it came to the waist, I guess three-quarters of a yard would have been enough. I will relate a circumstance of which I heard, that took place in the metropolis of our country. A gentleman, a stranger, was invited to a grand dinner party there. The ladies of course were dressed in the height of fashion, their trails dragging behind them, and their—well, I suppose there was a band over the shoulder to the waist, but I do not recollect whether the gentleman said there was or not; but one gentleman present, who knew this gentleman was a stranger, said to him, with all the loveliness and elegance in his heart that one could imagine—“Is not this beautiful? Did you ever see the like of this?” “No sir,” said the party questioned, “never since I was weaned.” Well, all this, you know, is custom and fashion.
Now, I wish to say to my sisters, If you will be just a little more moderate, I should like it very much. Some of you, and especially the young sisters, may say, “Why, Brother Brigham, how do your daughters dress?” I will say, to my shame, many of them, and many do not. Then I must have a great many, for if I have many that do and many that do not, that will amount to a great many. But I guess I will let it go. Some of them are modest, delicate, neat, and look beautiful, and do not want twenty-four yards for a dress, nor seventeen. But this is uncomely, uncouth and ill-looking. What shall I call it? A camel's back? You will say they go from the lady to the camel, and from the camel to the lady, and so on and so forth. They are called, I believe, “Grecian Bends,” but I do not think this term is exactly proper. Are they comely in appearance? No, they are not. Then I should like my daughters and my sisters to lay them aside. They should dress neatly and comely, and to suit themselves, but not to suit anybody else. We have the ability to tell what looks well, just as well as anybody else. We need not go to New York, London, or Paris to tell whether a coat looks well if it has a collar half an inch wide. Do you recollect when collars were not more than that? I do, and I recollect when they were about six or seven inches in width. Now we need not go to Paris to ask them whether a coat looks just right with a half-inch or a five-inch collar; we are the judges, and can decide that just as well as anybody else on the face of the earth. I would not swap my eyes with any living person for beauty and comeliness. I would rather trust to my eyes for beauty, excellency and comeliness in dress, than any other person's eyes I know of. We should be our own judges. This, I say, to my sisters. Pause, reflect, look at the facts in the case as regards the folly and expense of fashion. Take the people of this city, and if you can form a correct estimate of the cost of the useless articles they wear. (I think I brought this subject up a year ago this summer, when here.) Just take these useless articles that do no good to the body of the persons who use them, and we would find that the means expended in their purchase would enable us to relieve many poor, suffering, distressed creatures abroad in the nations of the earth, and bring them here and put them in a situation in which they would be healthy, wealthy and happy. If we make a calculation on this subject we shall find that the waste of the Latter-day Saints is immense. There is a little town, south of here, the ladies of which—the F. R. Society, took it into their minds, along in the latter part of the winter, when we commenced calling upon the people to assist the emigration of the poor this summer, to give the eggs that their hens laid on Sunday. If they did not serve the Lord themselves they resolved to make their hens do it one-seventh of the time; and over a month ago I heard they had raised by this method about eight hundred dollars. Would they miss this? No, they could do without these eggs very well. Suppose the ladies of Ogden, who, on account of the many ribbons and needless articles they require, are unable to give anything else they have, should give one-seventh part of the services of their fowls to the bringing of the poor here! If Ogden had commenced this last January, thousands and thousands of dollars might have been raised by this time. Can you think of such a trifling thing as this? Suppose that every man who practices the disgusting habit, says to himself, “I will stop eating tobacco, and the means I spend in buying it I will give to emigrate the poor;” or, that, “what I pay out for liquor I will give to emigrate the poor;" and each of the ladies says, “What money I pay out for my tea or coffee” (and tobacco, liquor, tea and coffee are four very useless articles) “I will give to emigrate the poor,” how much could be saved, do you think, in this little community? Go to the stores, and ask them how much tobacco they have sold for twelve months past. Take these little retail stores, and then go into the retail departments of the wholesale stores, and we should find in this little town, I will ensure, that within the twelve months past, more than twelve, yes, twenty thousand dollars have been paid for tobacco, and I will say ten or twelve, and perhaps twenty thousand more for liquor; and then I will say twenty-five or thirty thousand more for tea or coffee, and I guess I could go up to forty thousand dollars, right here in Ogden. It is immense, the people have no idea of it, unless they go and look for themselves. Get the statistics, and then you will know with regard to the facts in the case.
Now suppose we say we will take the means we are spending for tea and coffee, liquor and tobacco, and useless articles in dressing, and we will give this to the poor; we would soon have a wealthy purse. Who has given anything this season? How many of you have given the first five dollars this season to bring the poor to Zion? If there is a man or woman in this house that has given anything for this purpose, do me the favor to hold up your hand? (One or two hands were held up.) I have given a very little, just a trifle. Sometimes I give a thousand, sometimes two thousand, mostly two thousand, and that is but a trifle. I suppose many would say, “Why, that is no more for you than five dollars for me.” Well, perhaps it is not. I have nothing but what the Lord gave me, that is certain; and if he wanted the whole of it, for the gathering of the poor this year, he is just as welcome to it as I am to eat with you when you invite me to your houses. But one thing I can say of a truth, I have not been in a hurry, I have taken things moderately, kindly, calmly, and have “kept my dish right side up.”
Well now, you who want to give a little to help the poor, please hand it over to Bishop Herrick. Bishop Herrick, will you please get the bishops together, and request them to ask every ward in this county to give something for the gathering of the poor, and see who will assist in this good work?
If we will not be in a hurry, and will pray in our families, pray in secret, attend our meetings, be patient and live so that the Spirit of the Lord will dwell within us, and witness to God every day of our lives, by faithful obedience to his requirements, that we are his, I will say we are bound to get the wealth of the world. We read in this good book (the Bible) that “the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof.” Everything belongs to him, and he is going to give it to his Saints; and all our concern and care should be, to be sure that we are Saints. Then it is all right, it is by a deed of warranty—a warranty deed, and he will warrant and defend it, if we will serve him, and be satisfied with his providences, turning neither to the right nor to the left, but serving him with an undivided heart all the days of our lives. If it pleases him, and he wishes us to travel and preach, go to the right or to the left, to the east or to the west, to the north or to the south, to live here or live there, to do this or to do that, to have little or much and be perfectly satisfied and contented, his blessings will be secured to us by a warranty deed, and he will warrant and defend it.
If we are not Saints it is a great pity. We have the experience of those who lived before us, we have the testimony of the fathers, we have the sayings of Jesus and his Apostles, and we can peruse them and can exercise faith in the name of Jesus, and be guided by the Spirit of the Lord by which these testimonies were given; and we can know whether we are Saints or whether we are not. It has been proclaimed that there is a great difference between us and the Christian world. There is. Is the difference because we believe in another religion? By no means. The difference arises from the fact that we believe this Bible, wide open, from Genesis to Revelation. They believe it, sealed up, never to be opened again to the human family. They believe it shut, we believe it open; they believe it in silence, we believe it proclaimed on the house top; and when we scan the Bible and the feelings of the Christian world, we find that it is, as has been proclaimed here—there probably never was a day on the face of the earth when infidelity reigned more completely in the hearts of the children of men than it does now. We, as Christians, believe in God, in Christ and in his atonement, in repentance and obedience, and in receiving the Spirit; but what are the facts in the case? We are persecuted, our names are cast out as evil, we have the world arrayed against us. And who are at the head of this? The Christians. You go to a real infidel—one brought up to disbelieve in, and pay no attention to, this book as the word of God, and we receive little persecution from him; none whatever in comparison with what we receive from those who profess to believe it. Where are their witness and testimony that they are right and that we are wrong? We have the Scriptures to testify to the right and righteousness of the cause we have espoused. They shut up the Bible, say they are Christians, and cry, “False prophets, false teachers, delusion, delusion, heresy, outcasts, kill them if you cannot get rid of them without, they must leave, we cannot endure them any longer!”
Where is their proof, where is our proof? What criterion shall we go by? We have the Scriptures, we have the Prophets, Jesus and the Apostles; we have the revelations of the Spirit of God to ourselves; we have the truth within our hearts, and all this is proof to us of the validity of the faith that we have embraced; and if it is correct, and the Bible is correct; if it is true, and the Lord has spoken through his servants, they must be wrong, and their own mouths shall judge them in the latter days; and if they are to be judged by the Saints or by the Almighty you will find the secret, and that will be out of their own mouths they will be judged. We have the testimony of all this for ourselves.
How are you going to know whether this work is true, whether the Bible is true, whether Joseph was a Prophet, whether Jesus was the Savior, and his Apostles were correct in their teachings? There is no way for you and me to know these things but by the Spirit of God; and if we live so as to enjoy the light of that Spirit, the light of revelation, it will be in us like a well of water springing up to everlasting life. If we do not live thus, we are in the dark as well as they.
All religion is a mystery. Do we know this? Certainly. I have an experience in this, and so have the elder members of this community: we have lived with the Christians.
What have been the declaration and the sayings of the wisest of the wise among them? Is God a personage of tabernacle? “I know not.” Does God dwell anywhere, is he a local being, or is he a traveling being? “I know not.” Does he possess a body, parts and passions? “I know not.” What of his Son Jesus? What of the evil? Acknowledge there is evil in the world—that character that fell from heaven—the Son of the Morning, has he a located place where he dwells? “I know not.” That is the answer. What do you understand by the Scriptures? “We do not know what to understand, they are a mystery, and beyond our comprehension, we cannot comprehend them. We are students of divinity, but the Scriptures are a mystery to us.” I recollect once, in my early career, well nigh forty years ago, conversing about two hours with a cousin of mine, who had finished his studies to be a priest. As I left him he said to me, “Cousin Brigham, I have learned more divinity from your mouth today than I have learned in my four years' study. You have told me things that I know are in the Scriptures, and I know they are correct, for I feel in my heart and can testify to the truth of them; but,” said he, “they are not in the books, neither in the mouths and hearts of our teachers; our preceptors do not understand them, and I have learned more divinity from you in two hours than in all my life before.” This is their experience. Have they knowledge? Go after it, and you will find an aching void, a shadow instead of a substance, words which are wind, instead of realities.
We would take the world of mankind by the hand and lead them to life and salvation, if they would let us. It was said in my office, a few days ago, by a party of railroad men, while conversing with me about us as a people, “President Young, you are not known, your people are not known; we shall know you better hereafter, and they need not publish about you as they have, or, if they do, we shall know better than to believe them. Why do they publish such things? We are glad to become acquainted with you.” I replied, “For over forty years I have been striving with all my might, in my weak capacity, and with my limited knowledge, to make the world acquainted with us and our doctrines. There are also thousands and thousands of Elders who have traversed this earth over, without purse or scrip, trying to get people to learn who the Latter-day Saints are, and what they believe in, and why have you not known us? The Bible, Book of Mormon, and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, are published to the world with other works, giving to the whole reading world the principles we are proclaiming. Why are we not known? I will tell you why: the liars are industrious, and, according to the old saying, a lie will creep through a keyhole and travel leagues and leagues while truth is getting up, wiping her eyes and putting her shoes on. That is the reason, and you believe lies instead of truth. “And,” said I, “from this time henceforth, when you read an article about the people of Utah, read it candidly and honestly, and the Spirit will tell you whether it is true or a lie, and believe the truth about us.”
I will say again, brethren and sisters, do not be in a hurry. Brethren, if you want to get rich, live so as to enjoy the Spirit of the Lord. You will then know exactly what to do in all matters. You want the spirit of wisdom in all your business transactions, and just as much in farming as anything else. We want the Spirit of the Lord from the least chore of labor that we perform, to the highest spiritual duty devolving upon the highest man in the kingdom of God. We want the Spirit of the Lord to guide and direct us through this world, to teach us in spiritual things and in temporal things, that we may learn how to gain to ourselves the riches of eternity, and secure to ourselves eternal lives.
God bless you. Amen.
Let me ask you, my brethren and sisters, Do you want wealth? If you do, do not be in a hurry. Do you want the riches pertaining to this world? Yes, we acknowledge we do. Then, be calm, contented, composed; keep your pulses correct, do not let them get up to a hundred and twenty, but keep them as nigh as you can, ranging from seventy to seventy-six; and when there is an appointment for a meeting be sure to attend that meeting. If there is to be a two days' meeting in Ogden, come to it; spend the time here and learn what is going on. Watch closely, hear every word that is spoken, let every heart be lifted to God for wisdom, and know and understand every word of prophecy, every revelation that may be given, every counsel that may be presented to the people, that you may be able to weigh, measure, comprehend and decide between that which is of God and that which is not of God. Refuse the evil, learn wisdom, and grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth. If there is a meeting appointed for the Seventies, let them come together, and let no man say “I am in a hurry in my work, and have not time to attend.” Every man that belongs to these quorums should be on hand at the time appointed, and not say, “I will work to the last minute, before I start for the meeting.” Take time, prepare yourselves, be at the place of gathering promptly, to the minute, that you may hear the first word, then you will hear every word that is spoken and every counsel that is given.
If there is a Bishop's meeting, let every Bishop, Priest, Teacher and Deacon attend, and no man among them say, “I must go and water my grain,” “cut my hay,” or “gather my harvest;” but attend the meeting, sit until it is out and hear every word. If you have to speak, speak; if you are to hear only, hear every word that is said. If there is a prayer meeting appointed, go to that prayer meeting; go to the ward meetings, attend every meeting that is appointed. I am telling you this, so that you can get rich.
I will say to the Latter-day Saints, there cannot that community be found on the face of the whole earth that, as a community, is as well off as we are here in these mountains. There are more women and children, with their husbands and fathers, sleep under their own roof in the midst of the Latter-day Saints than in any other community on the face of this earth, in civilization; and less women and children go without food and clothing than in any other community in Christendom. Looking around among the Latter-day Saints I will ask, How many are there who have been taken from cellars, from pits under ground, or from their little rooms, where one pound, or five dollars, would buy everything they possessed on the face of the earth, and brought to this country and taught how to plant their potatoes, beans, beets, carrots, how to raise their cucumbers and squashes, their corn and their wheat, how to milk a cow; feed a calf, take care of the chickens; how to build a pigpen and put a pig in it; to take the offals of the house and give to the pig, and how to raise a calf or a colt, experience they never had before in their lives? Yet they have learned this economy, and some of them, I am sorry to say, lift their heel against the Almighty and his anointed. I am happy to say, however, that the large percentage of those who have been thus rescued from poverty, and placed in circumstances of comfort and independence, are still in the faith. How many are there here today who never owned a chicken or a pig, and could not keep a cat because they had nothing to feed one on, who now ride in their wagons, have their carriages, horses, fine harness, fine stock of cows, and have butter, milk, cheese and wool at their command, and granaries full of wheat, and their barns, if they have them, full of hay? Do not the facts which present themselves before us, prove that this very desirable change has taken place in the circumstances of many? Then come to meeting. Appoint your meetings, Elders, and call the Saints together and instruct them in the things of the kingdom of God. We have missionaries that are traveling through our settlements, and no people need preaching more than the Latter-day Saints. They know the way, but they are forgetful, and they want somebody or other to come along and holloa to them, and say, comparatively, “I will warm your ears, my lady;” “Brother, I will warm your ears.” “Wake up!” “What are you doing? Are you after this mine? Are you after that job? Are you after that piece of work? Did you pray in your family this morning?” “No.” “Why?” “I was in too much of a hurry.” Stop! Wait! When you get up in the morning, before you suffer yourselves to eat one mouthful of food, call your wives and children together, bow down before the Lord, ask him to forgive your sins, and protect you through the day, to preserve you from temptation and all evil, to guide your steps aright, that you may do something that day that shall be beneficial to the kingdom of God on the earth. Have you time to do this? Elders, sisters, have you time to pray? This is the counsel I have for the Latter-day Saints today. Stop, do not be in a hurry. I do not know that I could find a man in our community but what wishes wealth, would like to have everything in his possession that would conduce to his comfort and convenience. Do you know how to get it? “Well,” replies one, “if I do not, I wish I did; but I do not seem to be exactly fortunate—fortune is somewhat against me.” I will tell you the reason of this—you are in too much of a hurry; you do not go to meeting enough, you do not pray enough, you do not read the Scriptures enough, you do not meditate enough, you are all the time on the wing, and in such a hurry that you do not know what to do first. This is not the way to get rich. I merely use the term “rich” to lead the mind along, until we obtain eternal riches in the celestial kingdom of God. Here we wish for riches in a comparative sense, we wish for the comforts of life. If we desire them let us take a course to get them. Let me reduce this to a simple saying—one of the most simple and homely that can be used—“Keep your dish right side up,” so that when the shower of porridge does come, you can catch your dish full.
I am not going into the details, to instruct my brethren particularly how to get wealth; but in the first place, do not be in a hurry. I make that as a general remark. Do you want your house neat and clean? Do you want to keep your children neat and clean? Do you wish to see every portion of your dwelling, from the cellar to the garret, from the woodhouse to the parlor, neat and clean? Certainly, every sister wishes this; then do not be in a hurry. I shall tell you a little circumstance that occurred some eighteen years ago, when we had been on a visit to the Indians. We had reached Farmington, on our way home, and stopped at a certain house. I think there were twelve of us in company. Our teams were taken care of. When I alighted from my carriage I looked at my watch and we went in, sat down, and chatted with the master of the house, while his wife prepared dinner for us. I noticed this lady. She whispered to a little girl to take her baby out of doors and amuse it; then, when her baby was out of the way, she moved about without the least noise—not a word was heard from her. She brought everything she needed from the buttery and cellar to the kitchen where she spread her table, and she mixed and baked her bread, cooked her fruit and meat, and from the time we alighted from
the carriage until she came and whispered in the ear of her husband, “Dinner is ready,” it was just fifty-five minutes. Said I to myself, “There is a housekeeper.” I could not help but see this; every time she walked back and forth she accomplished a certain amount of business. I saw this and was gratified. Now, sisters, you may do likewise, if you are not in too big a hurry. Instead of shouting, “Sally, where's the dishcloth?” “Susan, where's the broom?” or, “Nancy, have you seen the holder? I want the holder,” be calm and composed; you are in too much of a hurry. Hold on, be easy, never let your nervous system rise above your judgment and the collection of your thoughts, and have a place for everything, and everything in its place. Let your judgment be master, and when you start to do a thing you will know exactly what you want to do. I have seen hundreds of ladies fly to the cupboard, and then say, “Well, now, I declare I don't know what I came for.” They were in too much of a hurry. It is just so with men. I see them through the world, I have watched their progress for many years, and I see that many of them are too much in a hurry. If we are not in too much of a hurry we can attend these twodays' meetings, and talk to each other. Are you full of faith? You can tell whether I am or not by looking at me. You can tell whether the brethren who have been speaking to you are full of faith in the Gospel by the look of their countenances. You can see this if there is not a word spoken; we can tell by our feelings when we look at a congregation whether they have faith or not. I see there is a great amount of faith in the midst of the Latter-day Saints, and I wish there was a little more patience and obedience.
Perhaps I have said enough with regard to these meetings. Elders, appoint your meetings, and invite the people to come to them. I want now to go to other matters.
I will tell you, my brethren, my own feelings with regard to the conduct of the Latter-day Saints. In the first place I will say that we are governed and controlled too much by the feelings and fashions of the world. We lust after the leeks and onions; we yield ourselves to the spirit of the world too much. You will excuse me, for I must say a few words with regard to this. It is true we are bound, and it seems that men's bounds are set by each other, more or less. If I, for instance, were to have a coat made to suit my own taste, I do not know any of my family and perhaps my friends, and especially the tailors, merchants and business men, but what would say, “You are an oddity,” and they would think, “You are not fit for society, because you do not fashion and pattern after others.” I commence here, you know, at myself. Well, I will say that I am bound, I cannot accomplish my own wishes in these things altogether. Perhaps others cannot. I go to a tailor and say, “I have a piece of cloth, and I want you to make me a coat.” He cuts that coat to suit himself. I do not see a fashion that suits me. What use or comeliness is there in putting the legs of the pantaloons on my coat?” Well, perhaps the tailor will be a little moderate, and will cut it down considerably; but if I were my own tailor I certainly should leave off—what shall we call them? “Bustles,” “Grecian Bends,” or what shall we call them? Though these coat sleeves are not exactly like the sleeves of the frocks or dresses worn by the ladies forty or fifty years ago, which they used to call mutton-legged sleeves, shaped just like the ham of a mutton. I recollect there used to be considerable said about them. Sometimes a paper would come out and tell of the wreck of a ship, on board of which were a hundred and fifty passengers; but, they would say, “Thanks be to kind Providence, the ladies took all the male passengers into the sleeves of their dresses, and went ashore.” Such narrations as these, you know, were only meant as a satire upon the fashions of the day. Now I am coming right to the point, and I wish to say to some of my sisters, not to all, that if I were my own tailor I should cut my own coat to suit myself. “What would be your fashion” says one? I will tell you. I have a coat here which you can see—if I were to take hold of a swillpail, this part of the skirt must drop in; and if I took hold of a milkpail I must take the coat around by the other end, and hold it, or else it is in the milk. I see no convenience or beauty in it. That which is convenient should be beautiful; and I want my coat cut so that when I lift a pail of water, or a milk or swill pail the skirts shall not fall into it; and so with the pockets, I would have them convenient. If I were a lady and had a piece of cloth to make me a dress, I would cut it so as to cover my person handsomely and neatly; and whether it was cut according to the fashion or not, custom would soon make it beautiful. I would not have eighteen or twenty yards to drag behind me, so that if I had to turn around I would have to pick up my dress and throw it after me, or, just as a cow does when she kicks over the milkpail, throw out one foot to kick the dress out of the way. That is not becoming, beautiful or convenient—all such fashions are inconvenient. Take that cloth and cut you a skirt that will be modest and neat, that does not drag in the dirt nor show your garters, but cut it so that it will clear the ground when you walk, when you are passing over the floor it will not drag everything on the floor, or in the street as you pass along. Put enough into the skirt to look well, and if we are to go into particulars, of course, we would have to say, we must use enough to cover the person. I do not expect mother Eve even did this. We could relate some little incidents of our past experience, that perhaps would not entertain the people, and still, perhaps, they might learn something from them. For instance, in some circles it has been fashionable for a lady to wear, perhaps, twelve yards in the skirt of her dress, but when it came to the waist, I guess three-quarters of a yard would have been enough. I will relate a circumstance of which I heard, that took place in the metropolis of our country. A gentleman, a stranger, was invited to a grand dinner party there. The ladies of course were dressed in the height of fashion, their trails dragging behind them, and their—well, I suppose there was a band over the shoulder to the waist, but I do not recollect whether the gentleman said there was or not; but one gentleman present, who knew this gentleman was a stranger, said to him, with all the loveliness and elegance in his heart that one could imagine—“Is not this beautiful? Did you ever see the like of this?” “No sir,” said the party questioned, “never since I was weaned.” Well, all this, you know, is custom and fashion.
Now, I wish to say to my sisters, If you will be just a little more moderate, I should like it very much. Some of you, and especially the young sisters, may say, “Why, Brother Brigham, how do your daughters dress?” I will say, to my shame, many of them, and many do not. Then I must have a great many, for if I have many that do and many that do not, that will amount to a great many. But I guess I will let it go. Some of them are modest, delicate, neat, and look beautiful, and do not want twenty-four yards for a dress, nor seventeen. But this is uncomely, uncouth and ill-looking. What shall I call it? A camel's back? You will say they go from the lady to the camel, and from the camel to the lady, and so on and so forth. They are called, I believe, “Grecian Bends,” but I do not think this term is exactly proper. Are they comely in appearance? No, they are not. Then I should like my daughters and my sisters to lay them aside. They should dress neatly and comely, and to suit themselves, but not to suit anybody else. We have the ability to tell what looks well, just as well as anybody else. We need not go to New York, London, or Paris to tell whether a coat looks well if it has a collar half an inch wide. Do you recollect when collars were not more than that? I do, and I recollect when they were about six or seven inches in width. Now we need not go to Paris to ask them whether a coat looks just right with a half-inch or a five-inch collar; we are the judges, and can decide that just as well as anybody else on the face of the earth. I would not swap my eyes with any living person for beauty and comeliness. I would rather trust to my eyes for beauty, excellency and comeliness in dress, than any other person's eyes I know of. We should be our own judges. This, I say, to my sisters. Pause, reflect, look at the facts in the case as regards the folly and expense of fashion. Take the people of this city, and if you can form a correct estimate of the cost of the useless articles they wear. (I think I brought this subject up a year ago this summer, when here.) Just take these useless articles that do no good to the body of the persons who use them, and we would find that the means expended in their purchase would enable us to relieve many poor, suffering, distressed creatures abroad in the nations of the earth, and bring them here and put them in a situation in which they would be healthy, wealthy and happy. If we make a calculation on this subject we shall find that the waste of the Latter-day Saints is immense. There is a little town, south of here, the ladies of which—the F. R. Society, took it into their minds, along in the latter part of the winter, when we commenced calling upon the people to assist the emigration of the poor this summer, to give the eggs that their hens laid on Sunday. If they did not serve the Lord themselves they resolved to make their hens do it one-seventh of the time; and over a month ago I heard they had raised by this method about eight hundred dollars. Would they miss this? No, they could do without these eggs very well. Suppose the ladies of Ogden, who, on account of the many ribbons and needless articles they require, are unable to give anything else they have, should give one-seventh part of the services of their fowls to the bringing of the poor here! If Ogden had commenced this last January, thousands and thousands of dollars might have been raised by this time. Can you think of such a trifling thing as this? Suppose that every man who practices the disgusting habit, says to himself, “I will stop eating tobacco, and the means I spend in buying it I will give to emigrate the poor;” or, that, “what I pay out for liquor I will give to emigrate the poor;" and each of the ladies says, “What money I pay out for my tea or coffee” (and tobacco, liquor, tea and coffee are four very useless articles) “I will give to emigrate the poor,” how much could be saved, do you think, in this little community? Go to the stores, and ask them how much tobacco they have sold for twelve months past. Take these little retail stores, and then go into the retail departments of the wholesale stores, and we should find in this little town, I will ensure, that within the twelve months past, more than twelve, yes, twenty thousand dollars have been paid for tobacco, and I will say ten or twelve, and perhaps twenty thousand more for liquor; and then I will say twenty-five or thirty thousand more for tea or coffee, and I guess I could go up to forty thousand dollars, right here in Ogden. It is immense, the people have no idea of it, unless they go and look for themselves. Get the statistics, and then you will know with regard to the facts in the case.
Now suppose we say we will take the means we are spending for tea and coffee, liquor and tobacco, and useless articles in dressing, and we will give this to the poor; we would soon have a wealthy purse. Who has given anything this season? How many of you have given the first five dollars this season to bring the poor to Zion? If there is a man or woman in this house that has given anything for this purpose, do me the favor to hold up your hand? (One or two hands were held up.) I have given a very little, just a trifle. Sometimes I give a thousand, sometimes two thousand, mostly two thousand, and that is but a trifle. I suppose many would say, “Why, that is no more for you than five dollars for me.” Well, perhaps it is not. I have nothing but what the Lord gave me, that is certain; and if he wanted the whole of it, for the gathering of the poor this year, he is just as welcome to it as I am to eat with you when you invite me to your houses. But one thing I can say of a truth, I have not been in a hurry, I have taken things moderately, kindly, calmly, and have “kept my dish right side up.”
Well now, you who want to give a little to help the poor, please hand it over to Bishop Herrick. Bishop Herrick, will you please get the bishops together, and request them to ask every ward in this county to give something for the gathering of the poor, and see who will assist in this good work?
If we will not be in a hurry, and will pray in our families, pray in secret, attend our meetings, be patient and live so that the Spirit of the Lord will dwell within us, and witness to God every day of our lives, by faithful obedience to his requirements, that we are his, I will say we are bound to get the wealth of the world. We read in this good book (the Bible) that “the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof.” Everything belongs to him, and he is going to give it to his Saints; and all our concern and care should be, to be sure that we are Saints. Then it is all right, it is by a deed of warranty—a warranty deed, and he will warrant and defend it, if we will serve him, and be satisfied with his providences, turning neither to the right nor to the left, but serving him with an undivided heart all the days of our lives. If it pleases him, and he wishes us to travel and preach, go to the right or to the left, to the east or to the west, to the north or to the south, to live here or live there, to do this or to do that, to have little or much and be perfectly satisfied and contented, his blessings will be secured to us by a warranty deed, and he will warrant and defend it.
If we are not Saints it is a great pity. We have the experience of those who lived before us, we have the testimony of the fathers, we have the sayings of Jesus and his Apostles, and we can peruse them and can exercise faith in the name of Jesus, and be guided by the Spirit of the Lord by which these testimonies were given; and we can know whether we are Saints or whether we are not. It has been proclaimed that there is a great difference between us and the Christian world. There is. Is the difference because we believe in another religion? By no means. The difference arises from the fact that we believe this Bible, wide open, from Genesis to Revelation. They believe it, sealed up, never to be opened again to the human family. They believe it shut, we believe it open; they believe it in silence, we believe it proclaimed on the house top; and when we scan the Bible and the feelings of the Christian world, we find that it is, as has been proclaimed here—there probably never was a day on the face of the earth when infidelity reigned more completely in the hearts of the children of men than it does now. We, as Christians, believe in God, in Christ and in his atonement, in repentance and obedience, and in receiving the Spirit; but what are the facts in the case? We are persecuted, our names are cast out as evil, we have the world arrayed against us. And who are at the head of this? The Christians. You go to a real infidel—one brought up to disbelieve in, and pay no attention to, this book as the word of God, and we receive little persecution from him; none whatever in comparison with what we receive from those who profess to believe it. Where are their witness and testimony that they are right and that we are wrong? We have the Scriptures to testify to the right and righteousness of the cause we have espoused. They shut up the Bible, say they are Christians, and cry, “False prophets, false teachers, delusion, delusion, heresy, outcasts, kill them if you cannot get rid of them without, they must leave, we cannot endure them any longer!”
Where is their proof, where is our proof? What criterion shall we go by? We have the Scriptures, we have the Prophets, Jesus and the Apostles; we have the revelations of the Spirit of God to ourselves; we have the truth within our hearts, and all this is proof to us of the validity of the faith that we have embraced; and if it is correct, and the Bible is correct; if it is true, and the Lord has spoken through his servants, they must be wrong, and their own mouths shall judge them in the latter days; and if they are to be judged by the Saints or by the Almighty you will find the secret, and that will be out of their own mouths they will be judged. We have the testimony of all this for ourselves.
How are you going to know whether this work is true, whether the Bible is true, whether Joseph was a Prophet, whether Jesus was the Savior, and his Apostles were correct in their teachings? There is no way for you and me to know these things but by the Spirit of God; and if we live so as to enjoy the light of that Spirit, the light of revelation, it will be in us like a well of water springing up to everlasting life. If we do not live thus, we are in the dark as well as they.
All religion is a mystery. Do we know this? Certainly. I have an experience in this, and so have the elder members of this community: we have lived with the Christians.
What have been the declaration and the sayings of the wisest of the wise among them? Is God a personage of tabernacle? “I know not.” Does God dwell anywhere, is he a local being, or is he a traveling being? “I know not.” Does he possess a body, parts and passions? “I know not.” What of his Son Jesus? What of the evil? Acknowledge there is evil in the world—that character that fell from heaven—the Son of the Morning, has he a located place where he dwells? “I know not.” That is the answer. What do you understand by the Scriptures? “We do not know what to understand, they are a mystery, and beyond our comprehension, we cannot comprehend them. We are students of divinity, but the Scriptures are a mystery to us.” I recollect once, in my early career, well nigh forty years ago, conversing about two hours with a cousin of mine, who had finished his studies to be a priest. As I left him he said to me, “Cousin Brigham, I have learned more divinity from your mouth today than I have learned in my four years' study. You have told me things that I know are in the Scriptures, and I know they are correct, for I feel in my heart and can testify to the truth of them; but,” said he, “they are not in the books, neither in the mouths and hearts of our teachers; our preceptors do not understand them, and I have learned more divinity from you in two hours than in all my life before.” This is their experience. Have they knowledge? Go after it, and you will find an aching void, a shadow instead of a substance, words which are wind, instead of realities.
We would take the world of mankind by the hand and lead them to life and salvation, if they would let us. It was said in my office, a few days ago, by a party of railroad men, while conversing with me about us as a people, “President Young, you are not known, your people are not known; we shall know you better hereafter, and they need not publish about you as they have, or, if they do, we shall know better than to believe them. Why do they publish such things? We are glad to become acquainted with you.” I replied, “For over forty years I have been striving with all my might, in my weak capacity, and with my limited knowledge, to make the world acquainted with us and our doctrines. There are also thousands and thousands of Elders who have traversed this earth over, without purse or scrip, trying to get people to learn who the Latter-day Saints are, and what they believe in, and why have you not known us? The Bible, Book of Mormon, and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, are published to the world with other works, giving to the whole reading world the principles we are proclaiming. Why are we not known? I will tell you why: the liars are industrious, and, according to the old saying, a lie will creep through a keyhole and travel leagues and leagues while truth is getting up, wiping her eyes and putting her shoes on. That is the reason, and you believe lies instead of truth. “And,” said I, “from this time henceforth, when you read an article about the people of Utah, read it candidly and honestly, and the Spirit will tell you whether it is true or a lie, and believe the truth about us.”
I will say again, brethren and sisters, do not be in a hurry. Brethren, if you want to get rich, live so as to enjoy the Spirit of the Lord. You will then know exactly what to do in all matters. You want the spirit of wisdom in all your business transactions, and just as much in farming as anything else. We want the Spirit of the Lord from the least chore of labor that we perform, to the highest spiritual duty devolving upon the highest man in the kingdom of God. We want the Spirit of the Lord to guide and direct us through this world, to teach us in spiritual things and in temporal things, that we may learn how to gain to ourselves the riches of eternity, and secure to ourselves eternal lives.
God bless you. Amen.
Sunday, February 26, 2017
Remarks by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, October 9, 1859.
[This is a long, rambling talk on a wide variety of subjects held together by Brigham's chosen theme of "intelligence." I have excerpted some material on two themes I thought relevant to my topic of Zion]
1) The context of our material aspirations.
"....The Psalmist has written, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor.” This passage is but one of many which refer to the organization of man as though it were a great mystery—something that could not be fully comprehended by the greatest minds while dwelling in earthly tabernacles. It is a matter of vital interest to each of us, and yet it is often farthest from the thoughts of the greater portion of mankind. Instead of reflecting upon and searching for hidden things of the greatest value to them, they rather wish to learn how to secure their way through this world as easily and as comfortably as possible. The reflections what they are here for, who produced them, and where they are from, far too seldom enter their minds."
"....What, then, should be the calling and duty of the children of men? ....let them seek to know the object of their present existence, and how to apply, in the most profitable manner for their mutual good and salvation, the intelligence they possess. Let them seek to know and thoroughly understand things within their reach, and to make themselves well acquainted with the object of their being here, by diligently seeking unto a superior Power for information, and by the careful study of the best books."
"....The offspring of Adam and Eve are commanded to take the rude elements, and, by the knowledge God has given, to convert them into everything required for their life, health, adornment, wealth, comfort, and consolation. Have we the knowledge to do this? We have. Who gave us this knowledge? Our Father who made us; for he is the only wise God, and to him we owe allegiance; to him we owe our lives. He has brought us forth and taught us all we know. We are not indebted to any other power or God for all our great blessings."
2) Gathering truth to Zion
"It was the occupation of Jesus Christ and his Apostles to propagate the Gospel of salvation and the principles of eternal life to the world, and it is our duty and calling, as ministers of the same salvation and Gospel, to gather every item of truth and reject every error. Whether a truth be found with professed infidels, or with the Universalists, or the Church of Rome, or the Methodists, the Church of England, the Presbyterians, the Baptists, the Quakers, the Shakers, or any other of the various and numerous different sects and parties, all of whom have more or less truth, it is the business of the Elders of this Church (Jesus, their elder brother, being at their head), to gather up all the truths in the world pertaining to life and salvation, to the Gospel we preach, to mechanism of every kind, to the sciences, and to philosophy, wherever it may be found in every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, and bring it to Zion.
1) The context of our material aspirations.
"....The Psalmist has written, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor.” This passage is but one of many which refer to the organization of man as though it were a great mystery—something that could not be fully comprehended by the greatest minds while dwelling in earthly tabernacles. It is a matter of vital interest to each of us, and yet it is often farthest from the thoughts of the greater portion of mankind. Instead of reflecting upon and searching for hidden things of the greatest value to them, they rather wish to learn how to secure their way through this world as easily and as comfortably as possible. The reflections what they are here for, who produced them, and where they are from, far too seldom enter their minds."
"....What, then, should be the calling and duty of the children of men? ....let them seek to know the object of their present existence, and how to apply, in the most profitable manner for their mutual good and salvation, the intelligence they possess. Let them seek to know and thoroughly understand things within their reach, and to make themselves well acquainted with the object of their being here, by diligently seeking unto a superior Power for information, and by the careful study of the best books."
"....The offspring of Adam and Eve are commanded to take the rude elements, and, by the knowledge God has given, to convert them into everything required for their life, health, adornment, wealth, comfort, and consolation. Have we the knowledge to do this? We have. Who gave us this knowledge? Our Father who made us; for he is the only wise God, and to him we owe allegiance; to him we owe our lives. He has brought us forth and taught us all we know. We are not indebted to any other power or God for all our great blessings."
2) Gathering truth to Zion
"It was the occupation of Jesus Christ and his Apostles to propagate the Gospel of salvation and the principles of eternal life to the world, and it is our duty and calling, as ministers of the same salvation and Gospel, to gather every item of truth and reject every error. Whether a truth be found with professed infidels, or with the Universalists, or the Church of Rome, or the Methodists, the Church of England, the Presbyterians, the Baptists, the Quakers, the Shakers, or any other of the various and numerous different sects and parties, all of whom have more or less truth, it is the business of the Elders of this Church (Jesus, their elder brother, being at their head), to gather up all the truths in the world pertaining to life and salvation, to the Gospel we preach, to mechanism of every kind, to the sciences, and to philosophy, wherever it may be found in every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, and bring it to Zion.
The people upon this earth have a great many errors, and they have also a great many truths. This statement is not only true of the nations termed civilized—those who profess to worship the true God, but is equally applicable to pagans of all countries, for in their religious rights and ceremonies may be found a great many truths which we will also gather home to Zion. All truth is for the salvation of the children of men—for their benefit and learning—for their furtherance in the principles of divine knowledge; and divine knowledge is any matter of fact—truth; and all truth pertains to divinity."
Journal of Discourse, vol. 7, pages 276-281.
Journal of Discourse, vol. 7, pages 276-281.
Sunday, January 1, 2017
Isaiah 33:5-6
5 The Lord is exalted; for he dwelleth on high: he hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness.
Sunday, April 3, 2016
Beware of Pride, Ezra Taft Benson, Conference, April 1989
My beloved brethren and sisters, I rejoice to be with you in another glorious general conference of the Church. How grateful I am for the love, prayers, and service of the devoted members of the Church throughout the world.
May I commend you faithful Saints who are striving to flood the earth and your lives with the Book of Mormon. Not only must we move forward in a monumental manner more copies of the Book of Mormon, but we must move boldly forward into our own lives and throughout the earth more of its marvelous messages.
This sacred volume was written for us—for our day. Its scriptures are to be likened unto ourselves. (See 1 Ne. 19:23.)
The Doctrine and Covenants tells us that the Book of Mormon is the “record of a fallen people.” (D&C 20:9.) Why did they fall? This is one of the major messages of the Book of Mormon. Mormon gives the answer in the closing chapters of the book in these words: “Behold, the pride of this nation, or the people of the Nephites, hath proven their destruction.” (Moro. 8:27.) And then, lest we miss that momentous Book of Mormon message from that fallen people, the Lord warns us in the Doctrine and Covenants, “Beware of pride, lest ye become as the Nephites of old.” (D&C 38:39.)
I earnestly seek an interest in your faith and prayers as I strive to bring forth light on this Book of Mormon message—the sin of pride. This message has been weighing heavily on my soul for some time. I know the Lord wants this message delivered now.
In the premortal council, it was pride that felled Lucifer, “a son of the morning.” (2 Ne. 24:12–15; see also D&C 76:25–27; Moses 4:3.) At the end of this world, when God cleanses the earth by fire, the proud will be burned as stubble and the meek shall inherit the earth. (See 3 Ne. 12:5, 3 Ne. 25:1; D&C 29:9; JS—H 1:37; Mal. 4:1.)
Three times in the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord uses the phrase “beware of pride,” including a warning to the second elder of the Church, Oliver Cowdery, and to Emma Smith, the wife of the Prophet. (D&C 23:1; see also D&C 25:14; D&C 38:39.)
Pride is a very misunderstood sin, and many are sinning in ignorance. (See Mosiah 3:11; 3 Ne. 6:18.) In the scriptures there is no such thing as righteous pride—it is always considered a sin. Therefore, no matter how the world uses the term, we must understand how God uses the term so we can understand the language of holy writ and profit thereby. (See 2 Ne. 4:15; Mosiah 1:3–7; Alma 5:61.)
Most of us think of pride as self-centeredness, conceit, boastfulness, arrogance, or haughtiness. All of these are elements of the sin, but the heart, or core, is still missing.
The central feature of pride is enmity—enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen. Enmity means “hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition.” It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign over us.
Pride is essentially competitive in nature. We pit our will against God’s. When we direct our pride toward God, it is in the spirit of “my will and not thine be done.” As Paul said, they “seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.” (Philip. 2:21.)
Our will in competition to God’s will allows desires, appetites, and passions to go unbridled. (See Alma 38:12; 3 Ne. 12:30.)
The proud cannot accept the authority of God giving direction to their lives. (See Hel. 12:6.) They pit their perceptions of truth against God’s great knowledge, their abilities versus God’s priesthood power, their accomplishments against His mighty works.
Our enmity toward God takes on many labels, such as rebellion, hard-heartedness, stiff-neckedness, unrepentant, puffed up, easily offended, and sign seekers. The proud wish God would agree with them. They aren’t interested in changing their opinions to agree with God’s.
Another major portion of this very prevalent sin of pride is enmity toward our fellowmen. We are tempted daily to elevate ourselves above others and diminish them. (See Hel. 6:17; D&C 58:41.)
The proud make every man their adversary by pitting their intellects, opinions, works, wealth, talents, or any other worldly measuring device against others. In the words of C. S. Lewis: “Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. … It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone.” (Mere Christianity, New York: Macmillan, 1952, pp. 109–10.)
In the pre-earthly council, Lucifer placed his proposal in competition with the Father’s plan as advocated by Jesus Christ. (See Moses 4:1–3.) He wished to be honored above all others. (See 2 Ne. 24:13.) In short, his prideful desire was to dethrone God. (See D&C 29:36; D&C 76:28.)
The scriptures abound with evidences of the severe consequences of the sin of pride to individuals, groups, cities, and nations. “Pride goeth before destruction.” (Prov. 16:18.) It destroyed the Nephite nation and the city of Sodom. (See Moro. 8:27; Ezek. 16:49–50.)
It was through pride that Christ was crucified. The Pharisees were wroth because Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, which was a threat to their position, and so they plotted His death. (See John 11:53.)
Saul became an enemy to David through pride. He was jealous because the crowds of Israelite women were singing that “Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” (1 Sam. 18:6–8.)
The proud stand more in fear of men’s judgment than of God’s judgment. (See D&C 3:6–7; D&C 30:1–2; D&C 60:2.) “What will men think of me?” weighs heavier than “What will God think of me?”
King Noah was about to free the prophet Abinadi, but an appeal to his pride by his wicked priests sent Abinadi to the flames. (See Mosiah 17:11–12.) Herod sorrowed at the request of his wife to behead John the Baptist. But his prideful desire to look good to “them which sat with him at meat” caused him to kill John. (Matt. 14:9; see also Mark 6:26.)
Fear of men’s judgment manifests itself in competition for men’s approval. The proud love “the praise of men more than the praise of God.” (John 12:42–43.) Our motives for the things we do are where the sin is manifest. Jesus said He did “always those things” that pleased God. (John 8:29.) Would we not do well to have the pleasing of God as our motive rather than to try to elevate ourselves above our brother and outdo another?
Some prideful people are not so concerned as to whether their wages meet their needs as they are that their wages are more than someone else’s. Their reward is being a cut above the rest. This is the enmity of pride.
When pride has a hold on our hearts, we lose our independence of the world and deliver our freedoms to the bondage of men’s judgment. The world shouts louder than the whisperings of the Holy Ghost. The reasoning of men overrides the revelations of God, and the proud let go of the iron rod. (See 1 Ne. 8:19–28; 1 Ne. 11:25; 1 Ne. 15:23–24.)
Pride is a sin that can readily be seen in others but is rarely admitted in ourselves. Most of us consider pride to be a sin of those on the top, such as the rich and the learned, looking down at the rest of us. (See 2 Ne. 9:42.) There is, however, a far more common ailment among us—and that is pride from the bottom looking up. It is manifest in so many ways, such as faultfinding, gossiping, backbiting, murmuring, living beyond our means, envying, coveting, withholding gratitude and praise that might lift another, and being unforgiving and jealous.
Disobedience is essentially a prideful power struggle against someone in authority over us. It can be a parent, a priesthood leader, a teacher, or ultimately God. A proud person hates the fact that someone is above him. He thinks this lowers his position.
Selfishness is one of the more common faces of pride. “How everything affects me” is the center of all that matters—self-conceit, self-pity, worldly self-fulfillment, self-gratification, and self-seeking.
Pride results in secret combinations which are built up to get power, gain, and glory of the world. (See Hel. 7:5; Ether 8:9, 16, 22–23; Moses 5:31.) This fruit of the sin of pride, namely secret combinations, brought down both the Jaredite and the Nephite civilizations and has been and will yet be the cause of the fall of many nations. (See Ether 8:18–25.)
Another face of pride is contention. Arguments, fights, unrighteous dominion, generation gaps, divorces, spouse abuse, riots, and disturbances all fall into this category of pride.
Contention in our families drives the Spirit of the Lord away. It also drives many of our family members away. Contention ranges from a hostile spoken word to worldwide conflicts. The scriptures tell us that “only by pride cometh contention.” (Prov. 13:10; see also Prov. 28:25.)
The scriptures testify that the proud are easily offended and hold grudges. (See 1 Ne. 16:1–3.) They withhold forgiveness to keep another in their debt and to justify their injured feelings.
The proud do not receive counsel or correction easily. (See Prov. 15:10; Amos 5:10.) Defensiveness is used by them to justify and rationalize their frailties and failures. (See Matt. 3:9; John 6:30–59.)
The proud depend upon the world to tell them whether they have value or not. Their self-esteem is determined by where they are judged to be on the ladders of worldly success. They feel worthwhile as individuals if the numbers beneath them in achievement, talent, beauty, or intellect are large enough. Pride is ugly. It says, “If you succeed, I am a failure.”
If we love God, do His will, and fear His judgment more than men’s, we will have self-esteem.
Pride is a damning sin in the true sense of that word. It limits or stops progression. (See Alma 12:10–11.) The proud are not easily taught. (See 1 Ne. 15:3, 7–11.) They won’t change their minds to accept truths, because to do so implies they have been wrong.
Pride adversely affects all our relationships—our relationship with God and His servants, between husband and wife, parent and child, employer and employee, teacher and student, and all mankind. Our degree of pride determines how we treat our God and our brothers and sisters. Christ wants to lift us to where He is. Do we desire to do the same for others?
Pride fades our feelings of sonship to God and brotherhood to man. It separates and divides us by “ranks,” according to our “riches” and our “chances for learning.” (3 Ne. 6:12.) Unity is impossible for a proud people, and unless we are one we are not the Lord’s. (See Mosiah 18:21; D&C 38:27; D&C 105:2–4; Moses 7:18.)
Think of what pride has cost us in the past and what it is now costing us in our own lives, our families, and the Church.
Think of the repentance that could take place with lives changed, marriages preserved, and homes strengthened, if pride did not keep us from confessing our sins and forsaking them. (See D&C 58:43.)
Think of the many who are less active members of the Church because they were offended and their pride will not allow them to forgive or fully sup at the Lord’s table.
Think of the tens of thousands of additional young men and couples who could be on missions except for the pride that keeps them from yielding their hearts unto God. (See Alma 10:6; Hel. 3:34–35.)
Think how temple work would increase if the time spent in this godly service were more important than the many prideful pursuits that compete for our time.
Pride affects all of us at various times and in various degrees. Now you can see why the building in Lehi’s dream that represents the pride of the world was large and spacious and great was the multitude that did enter into it. (See 1 Ne. 8:26, 33; 1 Ne. 11:35–36.)
Pride is the universal sin, the great vice. Yes, pride is the universal sin, the great vice.
The antidote for pride is humility—meekness, submissiveness. (See Alma 7:23.) It is the broken heart and contrite spirit. (See 3 Ne. 9:20; 3 Ne. 12:19; D&C 20:37; D&C 59:8; Ps. 34:18; Isa. 57:15; Isa. 66:2.) As Rudyard Kipling put it so well:
The tumult and the shouting dies;
The captains and the kings depart.
Still stands thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget, lest we forget.
God will have a humble people. Either we can choose to be humble or we can be compelled to be humble. Alma said, “Blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble.” (Alma 32:16.)
Let us choose to be humble.
We can choose to humble ourselves by conquering enmity toward our brothers and sisters, esteeming them as ourselves, and lifting them as high or higher than we are. (See D&C 38:24; D&C 81:5; D&C 84:106.)
We can choose to humble ourselves by receiving counsel and chastisement. (See Jacob 4:10; Hel. 15:3; D&C 63:55; D&C 101:4–5; D&C 108:1; D&C 124:61, 84; D&C 136:31; Prov. 9:8.)
We can choose to humble ourselves by forgiving those who have offended us. (See 3 Ne. 13:11, 14; D&C 64:10.)
We can choose to humble ourselves by rendering selfless service. (See Mosiah 2:16–17.)
We can choose to humble ourselves by going on missions and preaching the word that can humble others. (See Alma 4:19; Alma 31:5; Alma 48:20.)
We can choose to humble ourselves by getting to the temple more frequently.
We can choose to humble ourselves by confessing and forsaking our sins and being born of God. (See D&C 58:43; Mosiah 27:25–26; Alma 5:7–14, 49.)
We can choose to humble ourselves by loving God, submitting our will to His, and putting Him first in our lives. (See 3 Ne. 11:11; 3 Ne. 13:33; Moro. 10:32.)
Let us choose to be humble. We can do it. I know we can.
My dear brethren and sisters, we must prepare to redeem Zion. It was essentially the sin of pride that kept us from establishing Zion in the days of the Prophet Joseph Smith. It was the same sin of pride that brought consecration to an end among the Nephites. (See 4 Ne. 1:24–25.)
Pride is the great stumbling block to Zion. I repeat: Pride is the great stumbling block to Zion.
We must yield “to the enticings of the Holy Spirit,” put off the prideful “natural man,” become “a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord,” and become “as a child, submissive, meek, humble.” (Mosiah 3:19; see also Alma 13:28.)
That we may do so and go on to fulfill our divine destiny is my fervent prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Saturday, January 23, 2016
Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, March 23, 1862
I am now looking upon the best people on the earth, that we have any knowledge of. There is not another community that presents the same amount of honesty, purity of heart and life, and integrity to God and to one another; yet much can be said upon our weaknesses, shortsightedness, and proneness to wander from right and do evil. I do not know that I should do right in giving full vent to some of my views and feelings concerning this people.
While conversing with some brethren the other day upon the conduct of this people as viewed by the intelligence of Heaven, I said, that it was a wonder to me that God had not long ago destroyed us all. His mercy and long-suffering are truly marvelous. Again, when I realize the object of our creation, the day of our trial we are now passing through, the weaknesses the Lord has ordained to come upon the children of men, and the steps to be taken for the exaltation of the human family my heart is filled with gratitude to God, it exults in his great beneficence. I glorify his name that he has spoken from the heavens, and noticed us mortals. I am exceedingly rejoiced that we have the privilege of living in the day when the Lord has spoken to the children of men, and revealed the Priesthood and placed it upon men, giving them the privilege of attaining to glory, immortality, and eternal lives. In the midst of our great weaknesses and manifold failings, we have abundant cause for exceeding great joy in the Gospel of our salvation. Are these great weaknesses to be found in the birds of the air, in the fishes of the sea, or in the beasts of the field? No. The animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms abide the law of their Creator; the whole earth and all things pertaining to it, except man, abide the law of their creation.
I now see before me beings who are in the image of those heavenly personages who are enthroned in glory and crowned with eternal lives, in the very image of those beings who organized the earth and its fulness, and who constitute the Godhead—still here is the evil, and we are the ones who are accountable; for we are the "lords of creation." We hold in subjection the creation; we avail ourselves of the great truths found in the arts and sciences, we navigate the seas, we survey the land, we convey intelligence with lightning speed, we harness steam and make it our servant, we tame the animals and make them do our drudgery and administer to our wants in many ways, yet man alone is not tamed—he is not subject to his Great Creator. Our ignorant animals are faithful to us, and will do our bidding as long as they have any strength; yet man who is the offspring of the Gods, will not become subject to the most reasonable and self-exalting principles. How often have we witnessed a faithful animal conveying his master home so drunk that he could not see his way or sit up; yet his faithful animal will plod through mud, shun stumps, trees, and bad places, and land him safely at home.
Are we even obedient to our better judgments and to truth that is self-evident? Many of us have been taught the doctrine of total depravity—that man is not naturally inclined to do good. I am satisfied that he is more inclined to do right than to do wrong. There is a greater power within him to shun evil and perform good, than to do the opposite. We have the powers of darkness, or the influences opposite to good, to contend with, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." There are two classes of influences, one tends to good and the other to evil; one to truth and life, the other to falsehood and death. Evil is sown in our nature, but there is not a person who is not prompted to do good and forsake evil, though there are but few who, from their own volition, will subject themselves to be perfectly obedient to the law of Christ, yet there are dispositions that will be subject to the truth through cruel mockings and scourgings, bonds and imprisonment. Truth is for us, right is for us, life is ours.
Our enemies accuse the leaders of this Church of having too much influence over the people. How much influence have I, or any other man that ever lived in this kingdom, over an apostate? It is now as it was in the days of Joseph. While people retained the spirit of their religion, they looked upon him as one of the best men on the earth; but when they gave way to the spirit of apostasy, then he was the worst of men. This has been so in all ages with every Prophet, Apostle, and righteous man and woman; they have had the warmest friends, and the bitterest enemies. No man has friends like those who are righteous; their friendship is even unto death, and then it reaches throughout all eternity. The friendship of the wicked must fade away, sooner or later; while the friendship of the righteous will last forever and ever. When we understand the truth let us abide by it, and boast not in our own strength, but glory in the strength of the Almighty.
The Elders often tell how many they have converted, and how many churches they have built up in different parts of the world. When persons apostatize from the path of right, I think some of them are man-made converts; as a Methodist preacher remarked to a drunken man lying by the wayside, who hailed him with delight saying, "You are my father in Christ, you converted me." "I should think so," said the preacher, "for it is very clear that you are not one of the Lord's converts." We cannot make Latter-day Saints of anybody on this earth but ourselves; we have not even power to make a Saint of a wife, or a child, a brother, or sister, in the least degree, unless they will hearken to counsel and obey the principles of righteousness, which I contend they are naturally inclined to do, were it not for the awful apostasy there is in the world. All persons must possess their intelligence free and independent before God.
I preach the Gospel to the Latter-day Saints; and if a person comes into our community and wishes to know further with regard to life and salvation, I will tell him as freely as ever I breathed the mountain air; but you cannot find one person that I ever crowded my religion upon either in or out of the Church. I have my reasons for taking this course. I never preach such sermons as, "Well, Mr. C., or D., have you heard any of our Elders preach? Do you know anything about Mormonism?" "No." "Why, our Gospel is the Gospel of life and salvation, it is the only true plan of salvation for the people; and you must be a 'Mormon;' if you are not a 'Mormon,' you must expect to be damned." If a person wishes to know my religion, I am willing that he should know the whole of it. There is nothing secret or hidden in it; the whole plan of salvation is for the human family, and is as free as the waters that flow from our mountains into the valleys. If you thirst, drink until you are satisfied, for you are truly welcome. This is the nature of the Gospel, and the character of Him who has sent it. It is free for all. But I am not disposed to compel any person to partake of that which they dislike, or have an aversion for.
This may not be right in every case. Why it is right with me is, that, if a person urges upon me that which I am not disposed to receive, it creates in me an alienation of feeling toward that person. I am naturally opposed to being crowded, and am opposed to any person who undertakes to force me to do this, or not do that. In my youth I was supposed to be an infidel, and perhaps in one respect I was, though I would have freely given all the gold and silver I ever could possess, to have met with one individual who could show me anything about God, heaven, or the plan of salvation, so that I could pursue the path that leads to the kingdom of heaven; but I did not want to be urged, and I am so inclined to this day. Yet I am convinced that it would not do for every man to pursue this course in every circumstance. We can guide, direct, and prune a tender sprout, and it inclines to our direction, if it is wisely and skillfully applied. So, if we surround a child with healthy and salutary influences, give him suitable instructions, and store his mind with truthful traditions, maybe that will direct his feet in the way of life.
There are persons of twenty, forty, and sixty years of age, who never saw a day in which they knew their own minds. They seem to be undecided in all their actions, like a child a few years old, and need some person to direct them. I am somewhat different from this class of persons. Should I be told that it is time to wash my face and eat my breakfast, I should be strongly inclined to notify my informant that I knew that as well as he did. So some of our Elders who preach in the world, will go into this or that house, begin to converse with the members of the family, and tell them they must be baptized or be damned. This will turn some persons against them and the truth, simply because they will not be compelled to do anything; while there are others in the world who would not embrace the truth, unless they were ordered to do it; probably they are those who will be compelled to come in.
There is a class of people that will not move to do themselves good, only as they are urged and commanded. There is a wide difference in people in this respect. There are instances in this community that if a wife does not urge her husband to pray in his family, he would never do so. And again, there are men in this city and throughout the settlements as good men as need be, who are driven from this duty by the teasing of a wife. "Now, pa, come, do let us have prayers; I have got all the children here and the Bible, and I do want to have prayers." He cannot bow to that kind of compulsion, to save him; and if he should be damned he will not be made to pray in such a manner, for when he prays he means to do it for his God, and not because a woman teases him to do it. If a wife of mine should undertake to direct me in such a manner, I should give her to understand that I would tell her and the children when to come to prayers, when to go to parties, and how to reverence the Holy Priesthood and their God; I should never pray in creation, if I could not do it independent of the dictation of a woman.
I know that the people need more or less teaching and urging all the time, Sunday after Sunday, to keep them in the path of safety. How easy we get out of patience! We get a little hasty, and do a little wrong, because we do not train ourselves—do not conquer ourselves, and subject ourselves to the law of Christ. Sisters speak evil of sisters, they hear of it, and straightway return the compliment in a spirit of vindictiveness. Elders have contention with Elders; they do not understand alike, and are not disposed to in their deal. Elders are agreed on the way and manner necessary to obtain celestial glory, but they quarrel about a dollar. When principles of eternal life are brought before them—God and the things pertaining to God and godliness—they apparently care not half so much about them as they do about five cents. "We want the dollars." What are they good for? Dollars will do good, if you can keep them until they will do good, using them in the right way. Men will scramble over each other to get gold and silver, and when they have it they waste it; it passes from them, and they know not how, doing them no good.
You can go into many houses in this Territory and find, for cooking utensils, an old skillet in which they cook their meat, heat their dishwater, wash their dishes, mix up pig feed, &c.; and when they set their table it is in keeping with the old skillet; you find little to eat, and that is half burnt and half cooked, unpalatable and unhealthy. The wife and children have scarcely a decent dress, and all around, in the house and out of it, is a picture of misery. Yet if you ask the owner of the house whether he has any cattle on the range, "Oh, yes." How many? "I do not know; I had fifty head the other day, but I am not sure how many oxen and cows I have." How many calves have you? "I think I have fifteen or twenty." Do you have any butter for breakfast? "No;" and when they have any, it is about the size of a walnut and as white as cheese curd. They do not know how to make butter and cheese, yarn and cloth, nor do they try to learn. The wool is wasting; the flax, if any is grown, is left to rot; indolence, dirt, and scarcity reign where cleanliness, beauty, order, and plenty could be produced by the hand of industry, economy, frugality, and care. There is a wonderful amount of ignorance with regard to our temporal life, to say nothing of our spiritual life.
A misunderstanding of five dollars in a settlement will sometimes set some of our Elders to quarrelling and contending, and spending the time of the High Council and Bishop Courts, and making a cost of a hundred dollars. You cannot bring up anything that relates to Priesthood, God, heaven, or heavenly things, that will move them in the direction of a quarrel, and yet they will contend about a little filthy lucre which they cannot hold; they pass by the things of God as naught compared with it, living year after year, learning little or nothing that pertains to life eternal, but would rake earth and hell to secure a few cents. Money is not wealth; neither can you subsist upon it, in the absence of the common aliments of life. It is the love of money that is a mischief—that is the root of all evil. Love not gold, nor silver, nor anything of the kind, but gather around you that which will make you "healthy, wealthy, and wise;" then all will be right, and real wealth will increase around you, and wisdom from God will illuminate your course through life.
We pray for wisdom, but God will as soon put bread and meat in our cupboards without any endeavor of ours, as he will give us wisdom without our trying to get it. If a man wants a farm, let him make it; if he wishes an orchard he plants it; if he wants a house for his family to live in, he must gather the materials and build it. The Lord instructed the people in primitive times how to smelt the ores and work in the different metals, how to hew stone, how to build houses and temples. He will give us wisdom in these things, but he will not come down to do the manual labor.
As we prepare materials to build a house or temple, so man can prepare himself for the reception of eternal wisdom. We go where the materials for a house are, and prepare them to answer our purpose; so we may go to where eternal wisdom dwells, and there diligently seek to possess it, for its price is above rubies. I have frequently said that the greatest endowment God ever gave to man is good, sound, solid sense to know how to govern ourselves, how to choose the good and refuse the evil, to know how to sever the right from the wrong, the light from the darkness, and gather to ourselves that wisdom which comes from God, and reject that which comes from beneath. Let all be brought into subjection to the will of God, and then there would be no contention about a trifle, but every man would contend lawfully for the things of God, and more earnestly than for silver and gold.
May the Lord bless the good and fill the earth with the righteous. Amen.
Journal of Discourses, Volume 9, pages 246-250
Journal of Discourses, Volume 9, pages 246-250
Saturday, January 16, 2016
President Brigham Young, Old Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, January 12th, 1868 - Journal of Discourses 12:151-157
I feel happy for the privilege of again speaking to the Latter-day Saints in this city; and I am also happy for the privilege of being a member of this Church. In this I am exceedingly blessed, and I can say of a truth, that my soul drinketh of that "river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High." I am full of peace by day and by night—in the morning, at noon, and in the evening, and from the evening until the morning. I am extremely happy for the privilege of living with those who are seeking to do the will of God. We are gathered together in the tops of these mountains for the express purpose of building up Zion, the Zion of the last days, the glory of which was seen by the prophets of the Almighty from the days of old. "And they shall call thee," says Isaiah, "The city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel." "The Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory." We are removed far away from those who bore rule over us and oppressed us, and who deprived the Saints of their constitutional rights. The Lord has led His people to a land where they can enjoy as much liberty as they are disposed to live for. There is no oppression here; there is no people on earth who have as few encumbrances upon their spiritual and temporal rights as the Latter-day Saints in these mountains. We have all liberty, yet we are not at liberty to do wrong in this community, and have it sanctioned, although many do wrong, which wrongs are in many cases overlooked and forgiven.
The law of liberty is
the law of right in every particular—that is, if we understand it to mean the
privilege of doing anything and everything to promote the peace, happiness, and
well-being of mankind, whether in a national, State, Territorial, county, city,
neighborhood, or family capacity, with a view to prepare them for the coming of
the Son of Man, and to have a place in the presence of their Father and God.
Shall we say that we enjoy this law of liberty to the fullest extent? We do, in
fact, and no power can deprive us of it. We have a good and wholesome
government, when it is administered in righteousness and equity, and its laws
scrupulously obeyed; and it guarantees to all their political, religious, and
social rights. We have the privilege of worshipping God according to the
dictates of our own consciences, and according to the revelations of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is true our consciences are formed more or less by
circumstances and by the effects of early teachings, until we enter upon the
stage of action for ourselves. Parental influences upon the growing
organization of the unborn infant have much to do in giving character to
conscience. But we always have the privilege of answering a good
conscience. We have the privilege of praying as many times a day as we please;
we have the privilege of praying from morning until evening and from evening
until morning without anyone to molest us. We have the privilege to meet in a
congregational capacity in our great public meetinghouses, or in our ward
meetinghouses, to attend to our sacraments and fasts, and there to tarry, when
we are thus assembled, as long as we please without any restrictions whatever.
There are
circumstances in which it would be right to restrict a person even in prayer
and worship. For instance, if a man should hire another to work for him so many
hours a day, for which he agrees to pay him so much, the employed is thereby
bound by the conditions of the agreement to work the number of hours stipulated,
that he may justly collect his pay, for he is not paid for praying, nor for
holding religious meetings and religious conversations with his fellow workmen.
If this may be called a restriction upon the free exercise of religion, it is a
just one, for the restriction itself becomes a religious duty in order that
mistaken notions of religious freedom may be corrected. In such a case we would
not say that a person is in the least degree abridged in the free exercise of
his religious privileges, but rather, by keeping him to a faithful observance
of his agreement, he is made to exemplify one of the foremost principles of
true religion—namely, honesty. If a man has sufficient to supply his wants, and
the wants of those who depend upon him, and can, without infringing upon the
rights of others, afford to pray all the day long and then all the night long,
he is free to do so.
A great many instances
might here be introduced to illustrate wherein men should not be permitted
to do as they please in all things; for there are rules regulating all good
societies and the business intercourse of men with each other, which are just
and righteous in themselves, the violation of which cannot be countenanced
either by civil or religious usages. It is not the privilege of any man to
waste the time of his employer under any pretense whatever, and the cause of
religion, good government, and humanity is not in the least degree advanced by
the practice, but the contrary is really the case. Men should be abridged in
doing wrong; they should not be free to sin against God or against man without
suffering such penalties as their sins deserve.
I have looked upon the
community of the Latter-day Saints in vision and beheld them organized as one
great family of heaven, each person performing his several duties in his line
of industry, working for the good of the whole more than for individual
aggrandizement; and in this I have beheld the most beautiful order that the
mind of man can contemplate, and the grandest results for the upbuilding of the
kingdom of God and the spread of righteousness upon the earth. Will this people
ever come to this order of things? Are they now prepared to live according to
that patriarchal order that will be organized among the true and faithful
before God receives His own? We all concede the point that when this mortality
falls off; and with it its cares, anxieties, love of self, love of wealth, and
love of power, and all the conflicting interests which pertain to this flesh,
that then, when our spirits have returned to God who gave them, we will be
subject to every requirement that He may make of us, that we shall then live
together as one great family; our interest will be a general, a common
interest. Why can we not so live in this world? This people have been gathered
together for a further purpose than to prepare them to be one in the faith of
the doctrine of Christ, to be one in the proclamation of the Gospel in all the
world; to be one in our obedience to the ordinances of the house of God. All
this we could have done in the different countries from whence we have been
gathered out. We could have lived and died there, as many have, in faithfulness
to the spiritual requirements of our religion, if the Lord had not had in view
a great spiritual and temporal purpose in gathering His people from the four
winds. The order of God among men is not complete without a gathering. Hence
Jesus says—"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and
stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy
children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye
would not." And because they would not be gathered and avail themselves of
the great blessings consequent upon it, their house was left unto them desolate,
etc.
We are gathered
together expressly to build up the kingdom of God. We are not gathered together
to build up the kingdom of this world. The voice of God has not called us
together from the uttermost parts of the earth to build up and enrich those who
are diametrically opposed to His kingdom and its interests. No, but we are
gathered together expressly to become of one heart and of one mind in all our
operations and endeavors to establish Christ's spiritual and temporal kingdom
upon the earth, to prepare for the coming of the Son of Man in power and great
glory.
When the everlasting
gospel is preached by the power of the Holy Ghost, the minds of those who
are honest and worthy of the truth are opened, and they see the beauty of Zion
and the excellence of the knowledge of God which is poured out upon the
faithful. Such men and women have seen in the revelations of the Spirit that
God would gather His people even before the gathering was taught to them by the
servants of God; and they understood the great object of the gathering, they
saw that the people of the Lord could not be sanctified while they remained
scattered abroad among the nations of the Gentiles. When the people first
receive the Spirit you may ask what you will of them, and they will yield it in
a moment; their submission to God and the counsels of His servants is almost
complete. They are ready to give their substance, their houses and lands, they
are ready to leave all and follow Christ; they are ready to leave their good,
comfortable, happy homes, their fathers and their mothers, and their friends;
and some have left their companions and their children for the gospel's sake,
and all this because of the vision of eternity which has been opened to their
minds so that they beheld the beauty of Zion, and they sacrifice all to gather
to the home of the Saints.
We have been assembled
together from among all nations to be corrected in our lives and manners, and
for purification before the Lord. We have come up to these mountains through
trials and tribulations and perplexities, and what do we see when we come here?
The fatigues of the journey have proved and tried the souls of many, so that
they have faltered in their faith; the light of the Spirit within them has
become darkened and the understanding benighted. They look for perfection in
their brethren and sisters, forgetting that in the vision of the Spirit
they saw Zion in her perfection and beauty, and that this state must be
obtained by passing through a strict school of experience. When they arrive
here they find the people like themselves, subject to many weaknesses of the
flesh, and some giving way to them every day. The great majority of the people
are apt to lose the Spirit they at first possessed through the cares of the
world and the many afflictions they pass through in gathering together from the
distant nations of the Gentiles, and through looking for perfections in others
which they do not find and which they themselves do not possess.
Notwithstanding this there exists no other community so dissimilar in their
education and training, and yet so agreed in theological and civil polity as we
are.
What does the Lord
want of us up here in the tops of these mountains? He wishes us to build up
Zion. What are the people doing? They are merchandising, trafficking and
trading. I wish to view them as they are and where they are. Here is a
merchant—"How much have you made this year, 1867?" "I have made
sixty thousand dollars." "Where did you get it? Did the merchants in
the east or the west give it to you?" "No." "Who did give
it to you?" I answer that this poor people, the Latter-day Saints, who
have gathered together in their penury, have put this means into the hands of
the merchant. He has got it from a people, a great number of whom have been
helped here by the means of others; and when they get a dime, a dollar, ten
dollars, they carry it at once to the merchant for ribbons, artificials, etc.,
making him immensely rich. We all have our pursuits, our different ways of
supplying ourselves with the common necessaries of life and also its luxuries.
This is right, and the possession of earthly wealth is right, if we follow our
varied pursuits, and amass the wealth of this life for the purpose of advancing
righteousness and building up the kingdom of God on earth. But how easy it is
to wander from the path of righteousness. We toil days and months to attain a
certain degree of perfection, a certain victory over a failing or weakness, and
in an unguarded moment, slide back again to our former state. How quickly we
become darkened in our minds when we neglect our duties to God and each other,
and forget the great objects of our lives.
The purpose of the
Lord is to get the Saints together, and then preach to them the doctrines of
the kingdom of God by the voices of His servants, and it is the duty and the
privilege of all His people to conform to them in their lives, in all their
daily pursuits, until they became one in all things, in every day's operations
in life, for the obtaining of our bread and meat and clothing of every
description, being one in the exercise of our ability in gathering together the
various comforts of life around us, sustaining ourselves and the household of
faith, and still being kind to the stranger. The Lord has not called us here to
make our enemies rich by giving to them our substance for considerable less
than it has cost us to produce it from the elements. They would use that means
for our destruction. This course is against the mind of the Holy Spirit,
against the mind of the angels who watch over us, against the commandments of
the Almighty, against the mind of every faithful and true Latter-day Saint, and
against the cause of God and truth. As Elder Orson Hyde has said, I would that
all the inhabitants of the earth would repent of their evil ways and become
righteous, and then work the works of righteousness all their days.
As Latter-day Saints
it is our business, morning, noon, and night, all the day long, all the week
long, all the month long, all the year long, and all our life long, to sustain
those who sustain the kingdom of God. Does not the religion which we have
embraced incorporate everything which is in heaven and earth and under the
earth? Yes, if there is a truth among the ungodly and wicked it belongs to us,
and if there is a truth in hell it is ours. Everything that will produce good
to the people is within our religion. With our religion we have embraced all
good, but we have not engaged to sustain the powers of Satan and the kingdoms
of this world. We have left them and engaged to sustain the good—the wine and
the oil—until we become one, and act as with one voice in maintaining every
temporal and spiritual interest of the political kingdom of our God on earth,
whose officers shall be peace and whose exactors shall be righteousness. Our
judges will be of our own selection, who will deal out justice and
righteousness to the people. We are looking forward to this state of things. We
expect to see the day when there will be none in our midst but those who are
for God and truth and who are valiant for His kingdom on earth. As the Prophet
has said—"Thy people also shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the
land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be
glorified." We are longing for this state of things, then why not begin to
work for it today? Why not commence the work today by ceasing to do evil, by
ceasing to give strength to the hand which would pierce us through with many
sorrows? Why not begin today by sustaining those who will sustain the
kingdom of God? This is my text for the Latter-day Saints, and I wish it to be
constantly held before them until they exemplify it in their lives, by becoming
of one heart and of one mind in all things in righteousness and holiness before
the Lord.
To observe the Word of
Wisdom is nothing more than we ought to have done over thirty years ago.
Touching this matter, I tell the people the will of God concerning them, and
then they are left to do as they please in obeying it or not. It is a piece of
good counsel which the Lord desires His people to observe, that they may live
on the earth until the measure of their creation is full. This is the object
the Lord had in view in giving that Word of Wisdom. To those who observe it He
will give great wisdom and understanding, increasing their health, giving
strength and endurance to the faculties of their bodies and minds until they
shall be full of years upon the earth. This will be their blessing if they will
observe His word with a good and willing heart and in faithfulness before the
Lord.
I am talking to the
bishops continually almost, giving them instruction and advice, but it is hard
for them to get the people to be guided by them. Now, for example, we will take
the least ward in the city, and suppose the people all consent to be guided and
controlled by the word of the Lord in all things, to be faithful in their labor
and in the discharge of every duty, being economical, prudent, and industrious
in all their labors, taking care of everything, abstaining from the use of
spirituous liquor, tea, coffee, and tobacco, etc., also to let doctors alone,
and faithfully abide the word of the Lord relating to the sick, manufacturing
what they need to wear, and raising what they need for food; saving their
dollars as they happen to get them by the sale of some of their products,
sustaining themselves in all things, wanting only what they can produce in the
country from the elements and the labor of their hands—suppose, I say, they
were to take this course, three years would not pass away before the people of
that ward would be able to produce everything they need in life. Thus, by a
union of purpose and a concentration of action, that little ward would soon be
able to buy out their neighboring wards, who would persist in pursuing the
opposite course; and perhaps fifteen years would not pass away before this
prudent ward would be able to buy out and own this whole city, if they
continued to do as they were desired to do, and the rest of the wards pursued
their own way. I pray my brethren the Bishops, the Elders, the Seventies, the
Apostles, yea, every man and woman and child who has named the name of Christ
to be of one heart and of one mind, for if we do not become of one heart and
mind we shall surely perish by the way.
Before I close my
remarks I will again remind my brethren and sisters that we have a duty to
perform in sending for our brethren and sisters who are in foreign lands. We
wish to gather them together. As to whether they will stick to the faith after
they are gathered I know not, neither do I care. It is better to feed nine
unworthy persons than to omit feeding one who is worthy among the ten. So it is
with clothing the needy and sending for the poor. They must have the same
opportunities for salvation that we have, for the neglect of which they will be
held accountable in the day of judgment as we will also be. Let us send for the
poor. We are doing considerable, though we are not doing as much as we should
do. If I could only have power sufficient with God I think I should accomplish
the desire of my heart in this matter and that of my brethren and sisters. We
do desire to have our friends relieved from their bondage, and brought to these
valleys of the mountains to share with us the blessings we enjoy. It would be a
blessing to the poor if we could only exercise the faith that Elijah had
in the case of the widow's meal and cruse of oil, that the little we do get for
the emigration of the poor may accomplish, under the blessing of God, much more
than is natural for us to expect from it. If we can only obtain faith to
multiply the means we do get, we may make a little reach out so far as to
accomplish the desires of our hearts.
May God bless you.
Amen.
Journal of Discourses, Volume 12, pages 151 - 157
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