Brigham Young

“ The purpose of our life should be to build up the Zion of our God, to gather the house of Israel, bring in the fulness of the Gentiles, restore and bless the earth with our ability and make it as the Garden of Eden, store up treasures of knowledge and wisdom in our own understandings, purify our own hearts and prepare a people to meet the Lord when he comes. ”

“ We had to leave our homes and possessions on the fertile lands of Illinois to make our dwelling places in these desert wilds, on barren, sterile plains, amid lofty, rugged mountains. None dare come here to live until we came here, and we now find it to be one of the best countries in the world for us. ”

“ Could I have my wish, I would introduce into our system of education every real improvement, for all the great discoveries and appliances in the arts and sciences are expressly designed by the Lord for the benefit of Zion in the last days, and would be for the benefit of all mankind it they would cease to be wicked, and learn to acknowledge the hand of God in all things.
The Saints of God should be self-sustaining. While they are laboring to gain the mastery over themselves, to subdue every passion and feeling of their nature to the law of Christ ”

“ I know of no better climate and soil than are here for the successful culture of tobacco. Instead of buying it in a foreign market and importing it over a thousand miles, why not raise it in our own country or do without it? True principles of domestic and political economy would suggest the production at home of every article of home consumption, for herein lies the basis of wealth and independence for any people. ”

“ Every providence and dispensation of God to his earthly children tends directly to life and salvation, while the influences and powers exerted by the enemy upon mankind and every suggestion of our corrupt natures tends to death. If there exists within us one feeling, one desire that is not devoted to the Gospel of the Son of God and to the building up of his kingdom on the earth, that feeling or desire so far tends to death. ”

“ Because we are commanded to love our enemies, shall we forsake the society of the Saints and leave for California and other places to mingle with them, and swear, curse, gamble and do all manner of iniquity with them? ”

“ I have no desire to again behold the face of an unbeliever; especially of those who have had the privilege of receiving the Gospel and have rejected it. I hope I shall live to see this people serve the Lord with an undivided heart and affection all their days, devoting every day to God and his Work. ”

“ If we can do no more, we should give them the facilities of a common education, that when our sons are sent into the world as ministers of salvation and as representatives of the kingdom of God in the mountains, they can mingle with the best society and intelligibly and sensibly present the principles of truth to mankind, for all truth is the offspring of heaven and is incorporated in the religion which we have embraced. ”

“ Cotton and fruits of tropical climes can be grown to perfection and in abundance in the southern portions of Utah, while cereal crops, flax, wool, silk, and a great variety of fruit can be produced in perfection in the northern. Our object is not to find and possess great stores of the precious metals. Iron and coal would be far more valuable to us than mines of silver and gold.
To increase clothing in the ratio of the growth of our community and its wants makes it very necessary that we import and make machinery to work up the raw material in great quantities. ”

“ We are the guardians of our children; their training and education are committed to our care, and if we do not ourselves pursue a course which will save them from the influence of evil, when we are weighed in the balance we shall be found wanting, and the sin will be laid at our doors.
Let good schools be established throughout all the settlements of the Saints in Utah. Let good teachers who are Latter-day Saints in principle and at heart, be employed to educate our children. A good school teacher is one of the most essential members in society ”

“ Every accomplishment, every polished grace, every useful attainment in mathematics, music, and in all science and art belong to the Saints, and they should avail themselves as expeditiously as possible of the wealth of knowledge the sciences offer to every diligent and persevering scholar. ”

“ Still the old leaven more or less reigns within us; our traditions lead us to reflect upon death as we formerly did, and to suppose that this life is only designed to prepare us to meet the last moments of the dissolution of the body. This life is now the only life to us; and if we do not appreciate it properly it is impossible to prepare for a higher and more exalted life. ”

“ This land is choice above all other lands upon the face of the earth. We occupy these mountains as a safe retreat from the power of our enemies. When we first came here we did not know that we could raise grain of any kind. Probably some parts of South America are as good for raising wheat as this is; and in no part of North America can they raise better wheat than is raised here. God has blessed the soil for our sakes, and we live and prosper contrary to the expectations of our persecutors. ”

“ Seeing that we possess the holy Priesthood, we should introduce a code of traditions among our children which they will not need to unlearn, as we have had to do. We have received the spirit of life, light and intelligence that comes from God out of heaven, and thus we have become his Saints ”

“ People often wish they had the power of God upon them. This is a good wish, and the power of God is a power that would aid men to accomplish much more than they now do, if they possessed along with it a liberal supply of sound information and good sense. The power of God and true knowledge are component parts of godliness, and all the providences of God dealt out to us are for the furtherance of his kingdom upon the earth. ”

“ We should never permit ourselves, in the beginning of a new day, to converse with a wife, a child, or a neighbor, unless the Spirit of God is with us, retaining it for our companion through the labors and business of the day until we retire to rest at night. ”

“ I crave no other; they are the only people I wish to see and associate with. Unless in the line of my duty, I do not wish ever to associate with any people who do not believe in the Gospel of the Son of God. ”

“ In consideration of these things, is it not strange that we should lust after the gay, foolish, vain things of this world? that we should be proud, haughty, arrogant, selfish, covetous and contentious? ”

“ In the meantime let our wives and daughters employ themselves industriously at their wheels at home, that our wants may be partially supplied until more machinery shall be made and set up in different districts of our territory. Anciently garments were made of linen and of wool, and the Israelites were forbidden to mix wool and linen together; and we read in the book of Genesis that Pharaoh arrayed Joseph in "vestures of silk." It is of more modern date that cotton has become so extensively used throughout the world as an article of clothing and adorning the body. ”

“ This southern country is well adapted to the production of cotton; we should raise it and manufacture it in sufficient quantities to meet the wants of our increasing population.
This community has not yet concluded to entirely dispense with the use of tobacco, and great quantities have been imported into our territory. The silver and gold which we have paid out for this article alone, since we first came into Utah, would have built several extensive cotton and woollen factories, and filled them with machinery. ”

“ The Lord is kind to this people, and if we could understand things as they really are and be as willing to help ourselves as the Lord is to help us, we should advance much more rapidly in the knowledge of God than we do. ”

“ Sugar ranks high among the staples of life, and should be produced in great abundance.
Tea is in great demand in Utah, and anything under that name sells readily at an extravagant price. This article opens a wide drain for the escape of much of our circulating medium. The tea of commerce is extensively adulterated, not only by the Chinese, but also by numerous others through whose hands it passes before it reaches the consumer. Tea can be produced in this territory in sufficient quantities for home consumption, and if we raise it ourselves we know that we have the pure article. ”

“ Should not every person professing to be a Saint so live that the Spirit of God will dwell within them like a burning fire? and when chastisement is necessary, let it always be administered in the spirit of meekness, whether to a wife, a child, a brother or a sister, &c. God wishes every one of his sons and daughters to purify their hearts to be prepared to dwell with him. ”

“ We may rejoice greatly in the possession of the spirit of truth and in the power of God, which elevates the soul to the contemplation of heavenly things, but it does not teach men how to raise corn. The Lord could impart this information in a special revelation, the same as he instructed Adam and Eve how to cover their nakedness. ”

“ The world is wrong and we have to right it under the direction of Heaven. For this purpose are we located upon the land of Zion, and the land of Zion is North and South America—the land where our heavenly Father made his appearance and planted the Garden of Eden. ”

“ The world of mankind have taken a course to alienate the feelings of each other; they have destroyed the little fellowship and confidence that were formerly placed in man towards his fellow-man. I now allude, in particular, to the Christian world. They have taken a course to break up and rend to pieces every trait of friendship. ”

“ God has placed the means of salvation within our reach, and the volition of the creature is at his own disposal. When his sons and daughters avail themselves of the means he has supplied for their salvation, doing good for themselves, it is gratifying to him. ”

“ With few exceptions, none dare trust his neighbor, and we have to restore that confidence which has been lost; we have to restore wholesome government and administer wholesome laws to bind the feelings of the people together. ”

“ In Utah territory they are well located for variety of climate suitable to the production of materials necessary to gratify every reasonable want. So far as we have learned the resources of the country, we are satisfied that we need not depend upon our neighbors abroad for any single necessity of life, for in the elements around us exists every ingredient of food and raiment; we can be fed with the daintiest luxuries, and can be clothed almost equal to the lilies of the field. ”

“ An article in the Deseret News on the culture of indigo, and manufacturing it for coloring, would be interesting, espe-cially to the people of our southern settlements.
Whatsoever administers to the sustenance, comfort and health of mankind forms the basis of the commerce of the world. Gold and silver in coin are only valuable as mediums in trade to facilitate exchange. They can be made useful to us and add to our comfort when made into cups, plates, &c., in our household economy. ”

“ In doing this they pass the greater portion of their time from under the influence of their parents and teachers, and are kept in ignorance of the rudiments of learning and of the principles of moral rectitude, and are exposed to the pestilential influences of evil, and to the temptations of those who are older and more experienced in the nefarious practice of stealing and running off horses and cattle. They learn to gamble, to steal, to blaspheme the name of God, to lie, to chew and smoke tobacco, and drink whisky, while they are in the bush herding our stock. ”

“ This will create a market in this territory for our cotton.
I wish the brethren of the cotton country to import machinery and make their cotton into cloth, and we will put up machinery in Great Salt Lake City, buy our cotton from you, and haul it to the city. In the meantime, let every appliance for home spinning and weaving be improved upon; let hand cards be used, and spinning-wheels, and let each family make the cloth they wear, for if they do not, they will have to go without it. Is it not apparent to all since the commencement of the war, that we must become self-sustaining? ”

“ Some of the sons of our citizens have come to a premature grave because they would steal, and, if the truth were known, this fatal practice can, in almost every case, be traced to have found its origin in them when they were herd-boys. ”

“ Let us apply our hearts to our God and our religion, that we may soon be prepared to be more fully organized as the children of God our Father; that we may be qualified to go back to Jackson County, instead of calling for five hundred teams to go to the Missouri River for the poor. ”

“ They have assembled from different parts of the earth to these valleys expressly to serve God and live their religion. The nations of the earth, without exception, have wandered far from the fountain of knowledge and the intelligence the Lord gives to his covenant people. It seems as though it might take the age of an earth like this to bring back the children of God to where they may know their Father and understand that they are his offspring. ”

“ This, however, cannot be until the people are better organized in a temporal point of view, that all their temporal actions may point to the building up of the kingdom of God, when no man will say that ought he possesses is his own, but hold it only for the interest and good of the whole community of the Saints. ”