Brigham Young

“ You will see plenty of the world—it will be before you all the time—but if you live so as to possess the Holy Ghost you will be able to understand more in relation to it in one day than you could in a dozen days without it, and you will at once see the difference between the wisdom of men and the wisdom of God, and you can weigh things in the balance and estimate them at their true worth. ”

“ You may think that these things are not of much importance; no more they are, unless they are observed, but let the people observe them and they lay the foundation for longevity, and they will begin to live out their days, not only a hundred years, but, by and bye, hundreds of years on the earth. Do you think they will stuff themselves then with tea and coffee, and perhaps with a little brandy sling before breakfast and a little before going to bed, and then beef, pork, mutton, sweetmeats, and pastry, morning, noon, and night? ”

“ I only ask God, my Father, in the name of Jesus, to help me to live my religion, and to give me ability to save my fellow-beings from the corruptions of the world, to fill them with the peace of God, and to prepare them for a better kingdom than this. ”

“ Take the people in the east, west, north, and south who have obeyed the gospel, and, so far as the spiritual gifts are concerned, they are all of one heart and one mind, but not one soul knows how to build up Zion. Not a man in all the realms and kingdoms that exist knows how to commence the foundation of the Zion of God in the latter days without revelation. ”

“ I would like to impress upon the minds of the brethren, that he who goes forth in the name of the Lord, trusting in Him with all his heart will never want for wisdom to answer any question that is asked him, or to give any counsel that may be required to lead the people in the way of life and salvation, and he will never be confounded worlds without end; while he who trusts in the wisdom of man, or leans on the arm of flesh, is weak and blind, and destitute of the principles that will lead the Elders of Israel to victory and glory. ”

“ Take the Americans, say in the old Granite State where I have travelled, and to look at their surroundings out of doors you would not think they had more than one bean to a pint of water, but go into their houses and you will find beef, pork, apple pie, custard pie, pumpkin pie, mince pie, and every luxury, and they live so as to shorten their days and the days of their children. ”

“ To the elders who are going to preach I will give another word of counsel—try and maintain yourselves as much as you can. You are going where thousands of the people die annually of starvation. Do not go and beg of them, but rather give to them. I have told every one of my boys not to depend on the people, but when they get a dinner from the poor, instead of taking the last crumb or morsel they have, leave something with them to enable them to supply their wants. ”

“ Like children, there is no day but we need instruction, and if we do not live so that we may have the Holy Ghost within us continually we need to be taught by our friends around us how to build up the Kingdom of God, to sanctify ourselves, to prepare for the coming of the Son of man, and for the accomplishment of the great work of the latter days. ”

“ We are gathered together expressly to expose the wickedness that is in our hearts. How often, in looking over the congregations of the Saints, I can pick out a man here and a woman there guilty of these things. Here, probably, is a brother who has been a deacon in the Baptist or Presbyterian church for thirty or forty years, and was just as good a man as there was in the world, but gather him home with the Saints, and though his whole judgment is convinced that the gospel is true, and he believes it with all his heart, yet he will deceive and lie a little and take that which is not his own. ”

“ The people here seem to be perfectly lost, and cannot imagine what they do want. They are not clogged with every luxury, to be sure; they are not over surfeited with riches, for they are not rich; but they are comfortable, and they spend their substance for naught, for that which neither enriches the soul nor builds up the Kingdom of God. ”

“ We never shall become one to that extent that we shall look alike or possess precisely the same mental power and ability; this is not the design of Heaven. But we expect to become one in all our operations to bring forth the fullness of the Kingdom of God on the earth that Jesus may come and reign King of nations as He does King of Saints. ”

“ Let one man undertake such a work, and how long would it take him? But let us be united in the undertaking, and we can soon have our columns quarried, hauled, and erected. Suppose there was a union of effort in every political and financial matter undertaken for the benefit of the whole people, who cannot see the good that would result? ”

“ Now, Latter-day Saints, only think how far short we come of being what we ought to be. Some will indulge in a little falsehood here and there, evil, folly, nonsense, wickedness, lies, deception, arrogating to themselves that which does not belong to them. ”

“ I have seen many such things. Such practices, if not repented of and forsaken, will canker the very souls of those who are guilty, and will deprive them of the glory that will be enjoyed by honest and virtuous men and women. ”

“ I can say also to the brethren and sisters, no matter what you are doing—working in the garden, plowing, sowing, going to the kanyon, building houses, laying rock or adobies, attending to your household affairs in the kitchen, the washroom, in the parlor, or in your bedchambers, live continually so that you may have the Spirit of the Lord with you and the counsel of God within you, that you may be able to give a word of counsel, instruction, and comfort to the disconsolate, to strengthen the weak, and to confirm the wavering, and spend every day of your lives in doing good. ”

“ We can learn how to raise and improve our stock, how to raise our grain, fruit, and vegetables, we can raise our our own wool and flax and make it into cloth, and in fact we can learn to raise and make all that we need, and this is one of the great objects to be attained to in the gathering of the Saints together. As for your surplus means, you can lay it away, and when a call is made you can donate to assist the elders who are sent on missions to the nations of the earth, and help to sustain their families while they are away. ”

“ I have known many sisters, and perhaps there are some of them here to-day, who, when times were far better than they are now, would pinch themselves for a whole week in order to provide a comfortable dinner or supper for an elder who would visit them, at the same time they, probably, did not have more than one-half, or at most two-thirds, of what was necessary to sustain themselves. The Elders of Israel should go forth calculating to help the people both temporally and spiritually, but some of them have done nothing but beg from the time they left here until their return. ”

“ They will go north, south, east, and west, and they will all take up the scriptures of truth contained in the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and each one will corroborate the testimony of the other in establishing the truth of the gospel of the Son of God, and all will exactly agree. Yet, when we are gathered together, there are as many minds as there are persons in regard to the affairs of every-day life and the managing of financial affairs. Now, the people of God are being gathered together expressly to become one with regard to the things of this world. ”

“ By and by the Jews will be gathered to the land of their fathers, and the ten tribes, who wandered into the north, will be gathered home, and the blood of Ephraim, the second son of Joseph, who was sold into Egypt, which is to be found in every kingdom and nation under heaven, will be gathered from among the Gentiles, and the Gentiles who will receive and adhere to the principles of the gospel will be adopted and initiated into the family of Father Abraham, and Jesus will reign over His own and Satan will reign over his own. ”

“ We are often told that, so far as the principles of our religion are concerned, we are one. Our brethren here are going on missions to Scandinavia, Germany, and perhaps to places where the gospel has never been preached before, and some, per-haps, to the antipodes of others, yet in the proclamation of the principles of the gospel I do not expect there will be any variation. ”

“ To see the slackness, slothfulness, and neglect of duty in taking care of the things which God gives to us. We may say we have abundance—more than we need—but will we give it to those who need it? No, but it is wasted in buying articles for which there is no real need. ”

“ If two men enter into partnership, say in the banking business, or in mercantile business or manufacturing, it is very seldom that they agree a great while. Their minds will run in different channels with regard to business matters, and one will not be trammeled with the ideas of the other, so each resolves to take his own course. ”

“ If the people in the world could sanctify themselves and prepare themselves to build up Zion they might remain scattered, but they cannot, they must be gathered together to be taught, that they may sanctify themselves before the Lord and become of one heart and of one mind. ”

“ Why you will not live half your days; you will come short of it, as much as the wicked. Is this true? It is verily true. You get up in the morning and have your cup of tea, your fried ham, your cold beef and mince pies, and everything you can possibly cram into the stomach, until you surfeit the system and lay the foundation for disease and early death. Says the mother—"Do eat, my little daughter, you are sick; take a piece of pie, toast, or meat, or drink a little tea or coffee ”

“ Mothers in Israel, such a course engenders disease, and you are laying a foundation that will cut off one-half or two-thirds of the lives of your children; and yet a more healthy country than ours cannot be found upon the face of the earth, if the people would learn to live prudently. ”

“ You will see them running in every direction, but it is seldom that two of them take the same course; they will run against each other, tumble over each other, and, finally, rob each other. This is a perfect example of the course pursued by the inhabitants of the earth. ”

“ I serve, and have implicit confidence in Him, and I am perfectly satisfied that we will all receive all we are worthy of. May the Lord help us to live so that we may be worthy of a place in His presence. ”

“ Our religion should be first with us all the time. Coming to this tabernacle to worship and do the will of God for one day in the week, and following our own inclinations and doing our own will at all other times, is a folly ”

“ I say it is good policy for people to be of one heart and mind in all their operations. I have frequently looked at the inhabitants of the earth and seen how their feelings, dispositions, and pursuits differ ”

“ Unless we take this course it is useless to talk about being Latter-day Saints, the redemption of Zion, or the establishment of the Kingdom of God, for nothing short of the wisdom and power of God and the Holy Ghost will ever enable any people on the face of the earth to redeem Zion, and to establish the kingdom of God in these latter days. ”

“ In foreign lands you may find districts where many of the people do not have, probably, more than two-thirds of what they need to eat—and they live thus from year to year—yet you will find them much more healthy than they who gorge themselves continually. ”

“ To correspond with the ladies the gentlemen ought to have one half of their hats covered with feathers and the other half with a cockade, and frills up and down the sleeves of their coats and the legs of their pantaloons. Still, we see some who wear home-made. I noticed one young man, who is going on a mission, and who spoke here to-day, with a suit of home-made cloth on. We can make our own cloth and then wear it. ”

“ Perhaps here is another man who gets five dollar a day, and he is poor; and another one who has a hundred cattle running on the prairie, and he is living on a dirt floor; he is not able to buy a few boards to make a floor. ”

“ Let the people be temperate in their food, then go to work and clothe themselves. Ladies, why can you not make your own bonnets as well as buy them? Will you go to work and do it? I know not. You can do as you please. ”

“ The Bishops have nothing in their hands, the tithing is used up, it has gone to sustain the poor, the Priesthood, and the Public Works. Yet when they go to a Bishop he has to look round to procure them a house, some wood, or some wheat or flour on tithing. ”