Brigham Young

“ But let me ask, where are the individuals that can say that they know that Jesus lives? And who are the individuals that can say that his Gospel is true, and is the plan of salvation to man? I will let Christendom answer this question for themselves; but to me it is certain, that no man lives on the face of the earth—no woman lives that can say this, except those to whom Christ has revealed himself. ”

“ All the religion of the world, I have learned already. The best and greatest divines that lived in my boyhood, I may say almost in my childhood, children not as old as I was at the time, almost babes and sucklings, would drown them in their own arguments, and confuse them. ”

“ I know there are a great many people who are not acquainted with the history of this people; I am personally and most intimately acquainted with the history of Joseph Smith and this people, for twenty-two years. There are a great many people that are not; and they have thought we have been persecuted from state to state, and from place to place, because of our wickedness and lawless acts among the people. I need not say it to my Father in heaven, to Jesus Christ His Son, or to the holy angels, or the Prophets and Apostles, who have lived in former, or in latter days ”

“ Though others may say in all good conscience they believe he lives—who knows the doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ to be true? There is one class of people, and one only, that live upon the face of the earth, who do know it; and that class of men and women are those that keep his commandments, and do his will; none others can say it. None others can declare with boldness, and emphatically, that Jesus lives, and that his Gospel is true. ”

“ Joseph Smith was not killed because he was deserving of it, nor because he was a wicked man; but because he was a virtuous man. I know that to be so, as well as I know that the sun now shines. Every man and woman who does the will of the Father, and will keep the commandments of Jesus Christ, may also know, as well as myself—it is their privilege. ”

“ Suppose the Almighty should unfold the future destiny of the nations to you, and wrap you in a sea of vision, and show you the eternity of knowledge, with the history of worlds on worlds, and their destiny—you can then have a faint idea of what it is like; and any other man, or any other woman, who ever has received the promise of the Gospel, knows that the Lord Almighty is in the midst of all His creatures that are scattered abroad among the nations of the earth, and does His pleasure among them. ”

“ I make bold to speak thus, though in the eastern world it is quite unpopular to speak in one's own praise; but since I have become a western man, I can make stump speeches. Why am I driven from my possessions? Why am I persecuted, and forced to leave thousands and thousands of dollars' worth of property in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois? though I have never looked back upon it, it is as ashes under my feet. I am in the hands of God, He gave it, and He took it away; and blessed be the name of the Lord.
I am in His hands; all men are in His hands ”

“ Elders, among the people in or out of the Church, if they come in my path, where I can chastise them, the Lord Almighty being my helper, my tongue shall be swift against evil; and if evil come, let it come. If for this my body shall fall, let it fall; when they have destroyed the body, then they have no more that they can do; that is the end of their power, and of the power of the devil on this earth; but Jesus Christ has power to destroy both soul and body in hell. ”

“ Permit me to remark, my hearers, as for the intelligence of the day, and the knowledge that they have had in Christendom—how long will it take a man of reflection, of deep thought, and of a sound mind, to circumscribe every particle of it? ”

“ I have seen a great many times that I would like to have this body lie down, but as long as the spirit and body hold together, my tongue shall be swift against evil, the Lord Almighty being my helper. ”