Brigham Young

“ I can only broach the subject of building up the kingdom of God as it must be built up in the latter days; I will leave it for others to talk upon during the Conference, or not, as they please. I know what I have to do, and that is to teach this people to appreciate their own present lives. There is no life more precious than the present life which we enjoy; there is no life that is worth any more to us than this life is. It may be said that an eternal life is worth more. We are in eternity, and all that we have to do is to take the road that leads into the eternal lives. ”

“ Individual self-government lies at the root of all true and effective government, whether in heaven or on earth. Those who govern should be wiser and better than the governed, that the lesser may be blessed of the greater. Were this so, then the people would willingly repose their dearest interests to the trusts of their rulers or leaders, and with a feeling of pleasure bow to and carry out to the letter their instructions and conclusions on all matters that pertained to the general good. ”

“ Independence so viewed and so employed, either individually or collectively, religiously or politically must open a wide arena of action for all the evil, selfish and malignant qualities of depraved men, introducing distraction into every ramification of society, destroying confidence, checking the onward progress of industry and universal prosperity, and bringing in famine, pestilence and destruction everywhere. An independent company of immigrants can appoint their own captain to guide them across the plains, and they can also dispute every act of his for their good. ”

“ To believe the Gospel and embrace it, to believe all that is written in the Bible, Book of Mormon and Book of Doctrine and Covenants, is but a small matter compared with giving up comfortable homes, friends and relatives, being tossed upon the boisterous ocean, con-fined in narrow limits, and being jostled in railway cars, exposed to the insults and ridicule of rude and wicked persons that always assemble on the public highways, and suffering the hardships and privations incident to travelling over the plains. ”

“ I am satisfied that the mechanical ability of the people of this Territory will rank with that of any other people, but there is not one in five hundred that knows how to husband his ability and economize his labor when he first comes to this new country. They are for a time like a feather in the wind, until some circumstance occurs to settle them in some position where they can begin to do something to provide for themselves. It is not easy to find a Bishop that knows how to settle, in a proper way, the smallest difficulty that may occur in his Ward. ”

“ Want of confidence is the parent of moral imbecility and intellectual weakness. Hear it, ye Saints, that man or woman that is crowned with crowns of glory, immortality and eternal lives will never be heard to grumble or complain. ”

“ But we must first redeem ourselves from every root of bitterness that may be in our nature, striving daily to overcome the evil that is in the world and in ourselves, sanctifying our hearts and affections until there shall be nothing abiding in us contrary to the Holy Ghost in its perfect and full fruition of enjoyment to the creature. ”

“ When persons become subjects of the kingdom of God they enter upon a mission that will never end. They may turn away from the holy commandments, and forsake the kingdom, but so long as they remain faithful so long will their missions as advocates for God and his righteousness be continued. ”

“ This will apply to great kingdoms and mighty nations, to small companies of immigrants crossing the plains, or to the home circle. A Republican Government in the hands of a wicked people must terminate in woe to that people, but in the hands of the righteous it is everlasting, while its power reaches to heaven. ”

“ When men truly and heartily repent, and make manifest to the heavens that their repentance is genuine by obedience to the requirements made known to them through the laws of the Gospel, then are they entitled to the administration of salvation, and no power can withhold the good Spirit from them. ”

“ Shall we wait until we are whipped from among the wicked before we are willing to gather out from among them and flee to Zion? This has been the case with some, and what are such persons good for when they get to Zion? ”

“ That we may understand things as they are, and thereby learn to sanctify ourselves before the Lord our God, it is essentially necessary that we practically live our religion. Every true believer of this Gospel is anxious to gather to the home of the Saints. ”

“ There are but few persons who thoroughly understand how to organize and lead a company across the plains, and in this alone arises many inconveniences and trials to the immigrants. How many hearts are prepared to meet the difficulties, privations, trials and labors to be encountered on the plains, without murmuring and complaining? ”

“ Then let us go forth in faith and plant seed in the ground, and cultivate mother earth and pray over the earth and over our crops and over all we possess, and the curse will be removed, and God will restore genialty to the atmosphere and fertility to the soil. ”

“ I was then comparatively ignorant, to what I am now, in regard to the spirits and actions of mankind But I then learned that those persons who asked me such questions were weak in the faith and, like a faulty column in an edifice, could not bear up under the burden designed to rest upon them. This has since proved to be the case. I wish this fact to sink into your hearts, that when men or women have doubts, they also have fear; and when they have fear they are in danger of what? ”

“ If a person calls for lodgings, "O yes, you can stay and welcome. Come wife, bake some potatoes and squash, and roast some meat, bake some biscuit, and stew a little of that fruit I bought at the store," and all this the poor woman has to do in one little bake kettle. ”

“ There are but few men that can guide themselves, and gather around them the comforts and wealth of this life. In the settlements I passed through during my late visit south, I saw comparatively. little wisdom manifested in the style and extent of their improvements. Men who have been in this Church ten, fifteen, and twenty years, and in this country from the first settlement of it, possessing flocks of sheep and herds of cattle and horses running upon the plains, what kind of houses have they? ”

“ There are scores of Elders in this Church who can preach, baptize and lay on hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost, that do not know how to produce a livelihood for themselves, a wife, and one child. ”