Brigham Young

“ These persons do not depend upon themselves for salvation, but upon another of their poor, weak, fellow mortals. "I do not depend upon any inherent goodness of my own," say they, "to introduce me into the kingdom of glory, but I depend upon you, brother Joseph, upon you, brother Brigham, upon you, brother Heber, or upon you, brother James; I believe your judgment is superior to mine, and consequently I let you judge for me; your spirit is better than mine, therefore you can do good for me; I will submit myself wholly to you, and place in you all my confidence for life and salvation ”

“ Anything I can do or suffer in the cause of the Gospel, is only like dropping a pin into the sea; the blessings, gifts, powers, honour, joy, truth, salvation, glory, immortality, and eternal lives, as far outswell anything. ”

“ If I do not enjoy all I anticipated, if my happiness is not as complete as I anticipated, if the light of the Holy Spirit is not in my heart to that degree which I expected it would be, if I have not obtained all I anticipated when I was down in yonder world, mingled with the wicked, the cause is in myself, in my own heart, in my own disposition, in the weakness of human nature ”

“ We are ready to reply, "The Latter-day Saints are the only people on earth, that we have any knowledge of, to whom the everlasting Gospel has been given in these days; they are the only people who are the heirs to it, with all its blessings and privileges. Not to our knowledge is there any other people on the face of this globe, that enjoy this inestimable blessing." True, all it mankind enjoy to a certain degree its influence, the manifestations of the Author, Proprietor, and Giver of the Gospel of life and salvation to fallen man. ”

“ I know this people have suffered more by the contemplation of trouble, than they have when actually passing through it.
As they have magnified future trouble almost infinitely beyond its real dimensions, so they have imagined to themselves a greater heaven than they can find in Zion, at its present stage of progression. You do not enjoy the Zion you anticipated. That mankind make mistakes in these two ways must be apparent to those who have felt the workings of hope and fear in their nature. ”

“ Men uninspired of God cannot by their worldly wisdom disprove it, or prevail against it; neither can they by wisdom alone prove it to be true, either to themselves or to others. Their not being able to prevail against it does not prove it to be the kingdom of God, for there are many theories and systems on the earth, incontrovertable by the wisdom of the world, which are nevertheless false. Nothing less than the power of the Almighty, enlightening the understandings of men, can demonstrate this glorious truth to the human mind. ”

“ That here are the pure rays of light, here is heaven on earth; and no argument, no intelligence, no influence of earth and hell combined could disprove it, or produce one good reason to the contrary. You may then ascend to the powers supreme, and consult the intelligence that fills the bosom of eternity; you may inquire of the Creator, Organizer, and Preserver of the Universe, our Father who is in heaven; you may associate with the glorious retinue of Saints, angels, martyrs, and the spirits of just men made perfect ”

“ When a person steals my poles from the fence, am I compelled to steal yours? If my neighbour, or my brother in the Church, shall swear, and take the name of God in vain, does it necessarily follow that I must use the same language? If my brother shall do wrong in any way, it does not follow that I shall be justified in committing one single evil in all the acts of my life. Let each Latter-day Saint examine himself, and inquire, "Am I one of those persons who will do right in all things, though others may do wrong? ”

“ The Priesthood has been upon the earth from time to time, and the kingdom of God has been organized to certain degrees, but we can truly say, this is the time of times, we live in the day of days, we enjoy the blessings of the blessed, and have bestowed upon us, in the fulness of times, privileges that surpass all privileges hitherto bestowed upon mankind. ”

“ If we wish to establish a confidence such as the Gods enjoy, let us cease from every evil act, and from the contemplation of every evil design; never infringe upon another's right, but let each one sustain his brother in the enjoyment of his privileges and rights, holding them as sacred as our own salvation. ”

“ People suffer more in the anticipation of death, than in death itself. There is more suffering in what I call borrowed trouble, than in the trouble itself. On the other hand, you have anticipated more Zion, more happiness, and more glory in the flesh than you will ever realise in this mortality. Those who are apt to go to one extreme, are almost sure to go to the other, which always causes disappointment, either agreeably, or disagreeably. These two extremes have caused the Saints much trouble ”

“ No matter how it; is despised, persecuted, or neglected, as a frivolous, trifling, and childish work, it is true, and it will remain; it is the kingdom of heaven upon the earth. Here is the plan of salvation, here are the words of life, here is the light of eternity, here is the intelligence that will instruct kings, and impart judgment to rulers. It is embodied here in the midst of this people, and from them the rays of heavenly light, wisdom, and intelligence have spread upon the wide earth ”

“ Now those men, or those women, who know no more about the power of God, and the influences of the Holy Spirit, than to be led entirely by another person, suspending their own understanding, and pinning their faith upon another's sleeve, will never be capable of entering into the, celestial glory, to be crowned as they anticipate; they will never be capable of becoming Gods. ”

“ I laid aside my old account books, because I expected we should be one family, each seeking to do his neighbour good, and all be engaged to do all the good possible. To carry out this principle faithfully, would crown the people of God with good to overflowing. It is easy for us to think how things should be,. but the difficulty is, things are not always as we would like to have them. Though if the Saints at that time could have rightly judged of appearances, could have understood the aspect around them, it was clear that, sorrow and trouble were impending. ”

“ In the short speech of not more than five minutes, which I delivered in the old Bowery, when that judge publicly insulted this people, there were men and women in the congregation who suffered more in the anticipation of what might be the result of it in future, than the generality of this people have suffered in being actually mobbed. They could see, in imagination, all hell let loose upon us, themselves strung up, their ears cut off, their bowels torn out, and this whole people cut to pieces. ”

“ When you were gathered with the Saints of the Most High, and became associated as a brother, a sister, and a neighbour with that blessed society, you expected to enjoy the manifestations of the Lord Jesus Christ, to walk in the light of his countenance, and by the power of the Holy Ghost have the oracles of truth revealed to you continually, and that you would be in heaven, and in the Zion of the Lord. ”

“ Am I that person that will serve the Lord with my house, that will cease from every evil act, and from every evil word, though my neighbours, or my brethren and sisters, may do the opposite?" Let the spirit within you reply to these questions, and in every breast the response is, "Let me be that person, let me do right from this time henceforth and for ever, without committing another evil." ”

“ There is much room for improvement in all. If we commence from this day, and do all the good we can, and never do another evil, we shall come to that which I want the brethren to preach about, and endeavour to establish. ”

“ In this dispensation all things will be gathered together in one, and, strange and marvellous as it may appear to the world, these are the people who are the instruments in the hand of God to bring it to pass. ”

“ But I will tell you what I did do, I commenced to contract my business operations and dealings, and laid away my ledger, and note books, saying, "I shall never want you any more." I believe that those who wanted to be Saints indeed, should do every thing to promote righteous principles and peace among men, and be perfectly of one heart and of one mind. ”

“ You that have not passed through the trials, and persecutions, and drivings, with this people from the beginning, but have only read of them, or heard some of them related may think how awful they were to endure, and wonder that the Saints survived them at all. ”

“ There are those among this people who are influenced, controlled, and biased in their thoughts, actions, and feelings by some other individual or family, on whom they place their dependence for spiritual and temporal instruction, and for salvation in the end. ”

“ Upon these weaknesses of human nature the devil works sometimes very succesfully. But brethren, we cannot escape from ourselves; and while we remain in this tabernacle, our onward course will be obstructed, more or less, by the weakness to which the mortal flesh is subject. By and bye our bodies will go to their mother earth, and receive a resurrection, and become glorious ”

“ If this principle were strictly carried out by every man, woman, and child among the Saints, it would make them a blessed people indeed. We should seek to preserve our neighbour's horse or ox from starving in the cold of winter, and if we see any of his. property in jeopardy, we should be as careful of it as if it were our own; our. object should be to save every thing we can, both of our neighbour's and our own.
Let every man pay his just debts. The editor of the News has published a piece in the paper about owing no man anything ”

“ I will illustrate the method of establishing confidence in each other by taking, for example, the child of four or five years of age. The mother allows that child to own a small chest in which to keep his little trinkets, such as little bosom pins, ribbons, doll clothes, &c. ”