Brigham Young

“ Who but man shall remove the foul blot, and restore all things to their primeval purity and innocence? But can he do this independent of heavenly aid? He can not. To aid him in this work heavenly grace is here; heavenly wisdom, power, and help are here, and God's laws and ordinances are here; the angels and spirits of just men made perfect are here; Jesus Christ our Great High Priest, with Prophets, Apostles, and Saints, ancient and modern, are here to help man in the great work of sanctifying himself and the earth for final glorification in its paradisiacal state. ”

“ If I can see the people serving God with all their hearts, building up His kingdom on the earth, and bringing forth righteousness, I do not care whether they ever think of brother Brigham, or of brother Heber C. Kimball, or whether they believe what we say or not; if they believe what the Almighty says, that will content me; then will they realize what the power of faith will do for a people. ”

“ The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb."
Mankind have departed from the commandments of the Lord, and the fear of the Lord is not before their eyes. ”

“ Then blessed are the poor, or, in other words, blessed are they who know for themselves that every blessing which they receive, whether spiritual or temporal, is the gift of God. Blessed are they who are poor in spirit, or blessed are they who feel their own weakness, and know their own inability and the power of God, and enjoy the Holy Ghost. Blessed are they who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and who know that he is their Savior, and that in him they can find mercy, and grace to help in time of need. These are the blessed ones, no matter if they possess all the riches of this world ”

“ When death overtakes the votaries of the god of this world they will be willing to give all they possess of earthly wealth for knowledge and power to rebuke death and be restored to life. "And Satan answered the Lord, and said, skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life." Then, shall we obtain riches for the sake of being rich? ”

“ Shall we neglect the law of the Lord, which is perfect, converting the soul, and turn away from the testimony of the Lord, which is sure, making wise the simple? "The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandments of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. ”

“ Men and women are tried, and get out of patience and speak evil one against another; but as a general thing they are sorry for their sins.
What earthly power can gather a people as this people have been gathered, and hold them together as this people have been held together? It was not Joseph, it is not Brigham, nor Heber, nor any of the rest of the Twelve, nor any of the Seventies and High Priests that does this, but it is the Lord God Almighty that holds this people together, and no other power. ”

“ If we bring back all things through the help of our Heavenly Father, then shall we possess all things—the earth and its fulness, and all things pertaining to time and eternity, even all things that man was made lord over. ”

“ We say to the brethren, at this time, seek not after gold, nor after silver, nor after any of the precious metals that are hid up in the earth, for as yet they would do you no good if you possessed them. But suppose we had a few thousand millions of gold and silver, would it follow that we should be destroyed, because we possessed this wealth? ”

“ Once in a while a man will go to hunt for gold and silver, and run off here and there. Of all such I can say that, if you will canvas their private characters and lives, you will invariably find that they neglected their prayers, neglected to go to meeting, to pay their Tithing, etc., until they forsook the commandments of the Lord, until God was not in all their thoughts night or day, and they went away from us. When they forsake the spirit of this people they then want to leave the community. ”

“ Those who have embraced the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ as it is portrayed in the New Testament and Book of Mormon, who believe in the mission of Joseph the Prophet, and have received the spirit of this latter-day work, feel like saying "good bye to former associations, and I do not wish to keep any back accounts or notes against my brethren in the same Church, for we are all Saints." ”

“ Those who live for truth and holiness have a right to enjoy the revelations of Jesus Christ. We know the oracles of God which He has placed in the midst of this people, and we know that we should observe the counsel which is given to us. ”

“ Such a person is not affected in faith, as a follower of the Lord Jesus, by riches or by poverty.
If we ever attain to faith enough to obtain the kingdom of God, as we anticipate, we shall obtain all the wealth there is for this kingdom in time and eternity. We shall not rob other kingdoms, but we shall possess the eternity of matter that lies in the path of the onward progress of this kingdom, and still eternity and its fulness will continue to stretch out before us. ”

“ Since man has brought this upon himself, who but man can effect a restoration from sin to purity? From death to life? If I injure my neighbor in any way, I am the only person that can make restitution and obtain the forgiveness of my injured friend, neighbor, or brother. When a child revolts from under a good parents' control, it is the place of that child to return to his father, like the prodigal of old, and reinstate himself in the friendship and good feelings of his injured parent. ”

“ The devil and his emissaries thought, if they could only destroy Joseph Smith, that the system he had laid the foundation to build upon would crumble and fall to rise no more; but it is evident to all, that since the death of Joseph, the system has flourished with greater vigor than before, for where there is a testament in full force, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator, for a testament is of force after men are dead. ”

“ A great many think that the kingdom of God is going to bless them and exalt them, without any efforts on their part. This is not so. Every man and woman is expected to aid the work with all the ability God has given them. Each person belonging to the human family has a portion of labor to perform in removing the curse from the earth and from every living thing upon it. When this work is performed, then will they possess all things. ”

“ Joseph Smith told the nations of the earth what would be their doom, unless they stopped rebelling against the kingdom of God, and forsook their own systems, or, in, other words, the cisterns they had hewn out for themselves, which hold no water, and began to trust in the Lord. We see that the kingdom of God is established, will the Lord defend it? ”

“ Then Satan steps in and overcomes them through the weakness there was in the children of the Father when they were sent to the earth, and sin was brought in, and thus we are subjected to sin. The earth is pure in and of itself, having kept the law of its creation; and mankind have actually brought on themselves all the sin, all the distress, all the anguish, pain, sickness, and death that are upon the earth. ”

“ I do not know that it would injure us to drink wine of our own make, although we would be better without it than to drink it to excess. And it would be better for us to do without gold and silver, than to ruin ourselves with them. ”

“ I have often thought of the foolishness of the devil, notwithstanding all his cunning; yet he is much of a gentleman, when compared with many that serve him. He did not manifest much wisdom in seeking to accomplish the death of the Savior. In that he undertook to destroy the kingdom Jesus had come to establish; but through the mode he took to destroy it, he only succeeded in establishing it. So in the case of Joseph Smith. ”

“ When the Lord has done with the trash, then he will suffer it to be carded off by the Devil or his servants, but they cannot enter the dining room; we will turn out the offal of the table, when it is ready, and then the Devil and his servants are welcome to it. This is all in the providence of God. So long as a man observes the law of God, he never need fear that he will be culpable. ”

“ We can then clearly understand the things that are of God, and the things that are not of Him, and be able to see and judge all things as they are, for, "He that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man." ”

“ If we had plenty of gold and silver we could neither eat nor wear them, as we do food and clothing. We could not with any comfort wear shoes or slippers made of the precious metals, and hats, bonnets, caps, &c., made of them would be equally uncomfortable and unprofitable. The whole world seems to be intoxicated in the lust of their hearts after gold, silver, and precious stones—they seem to be frantic to obtain them. ”

“ The human family are formed after the image of our Father and God. After the earth was organized the Lord placed His children upon it, gave them possession of it, and told them that it was their home—the place of their habitation from henceforth ”

“ The great powers of eternal wisdom will be exercised to enhance the wealth, beauty, excellency and glory of this kingdom, previous to its being introduced into the presence of the Father and the Son. This work we have to help perform. ”

“ If this people will believe the testimony contained in these four books concerning the kingdom of God upon the earth, and the hand dealing of the providence of God to his children, and do His will, I promise them eternal life, for such a belief and such a practice will lead them to the fountain where they can know for themselves, as Moses, the Prophets, Jesus, the Apostles and Ancient Saints, Joseph Smith and others of modern times knew ”

“ Those who follow modern Christianity say that we have revived the customs of ancient heathenism—the practices of dark ages. Our Christian friends are mistaken, for those were enlightened ages. Abraham lived in one of the most enlightened ages of the world, and so did Noah, and Enoch the seventh from Adam. ”

“ But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and you need not that any man teach you; but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. ”

“ They would declare war against Mexico, to vindicate the honor of the nation. Do you not think the Lord will chasten the nation which has killed his prophets, set at naught his message, and scourged and cast out his servants? ”

“ Whether they were rich or poor as to the things of this world made but little difference with regard to their faithfulness, and their life and practice in the ordinances of the house of God, and the knowledge of His providences. ”