Brigham Young

“ The Lord God Almighty has a controversy with you and he will bring you to judgment, and no power can hinder it. It is the decree of the Almighty in the heavens, and will be so. Let us prepare for it, Saint and sinner. This life is but a moment, and is only preparatory to a higher state of glory. We are in darkness and ignorance here; but it is to give us an experience that we can step into a higher state of knowledge, understanding, light and intelligence. ”

“ We are not pure enough yet; we are not holy, we are not sanctified; no, the Latter-day Saints are not sanctified, and if any person thinks that we, as a people, are a pattern for the human family, we would just refer him and all mankind to the commandments and revelations which the Lord has given for the salvation of his creatures; they are perfect, but we are imperfect. ”

“ If we will bear all these things and be patient, and live our religion whether we have enough to eat or half enough; whether we have a good house to dwell in, or we live in tents, wagons, or in dens and caves, and love the Lord and delight to do his will and walk humbly before him, and overcome every passion and evil propensity, and subdue the old man within us that Christ may live within us—the new man to his glory, we will inherit celestial glory. ”

“ And they who are not sanctified through the law which I have given unto you, even the law of Christ, must inherit another kingdom, even that of a terrestrial kingdom, or that of a telestial kingdom. For he who is not able to abide the law of a celestial kingdom, cannot abide a celestial glory; and he who cannot abide the law of a terrestrial kingdom cannot abide a terrestrial glory; he who cannot abide the law of a telestial kingdom, cannot abide a telestial glory; therefore he is not meet for a kingdom of glory. Therefore he must abide a kingdom which is not a kingdom of glory. ”

“ Although you may be called upon to chastise and to speak to the people sharply, do not let anger arise in you, no, never! Let us sanctify the Lord God in our hearts and live to his honor and glory and all is right with us ”

“ But if we preserve ourselves in the truth and live so that we shall be worthy of the celestial kingdom, by and by we can officiate for those who have died without law—the honest, honorable, good, truthful, virtuous and pure. By and by it will be said unto us, "Go ye forth and be baptized for them, and receive the ordinances for them;" and the hearts of the children will be turned to the fathers who have slept in their graves, and they will secure to them eternal life. ”

“ Why papa and mamma kiss the children, and the children kiss papa and mamma, and this will not do, it is not civilization. Kick, cuff and scold from morning to night must be the story, "then we are ready to receive you?" ”

“ I am happy in believing, in knowing and in proclaiming, that the Lord Almighty has so organized his kingdom on the earth and he so rules it that no man will have the privilege of coming into and abiding in it, and receiving a fullness of its blessings through covetousness, selfishness or any spirit of idolatry. In the contemplation of this I rejoice, and I am exceedingly glad that the Lord has so ordered it that no man can be saved in his sins and in his iniquity. ”

“ We are trying to be perfect, and trying to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts, and to honor his name, character and laws, and to spread them as far as we possibly can to the east, west, north and south, and to gather up all that will be gathered into the celestial kingdom ”

“ It is a matter of great rejoicing, and should bring forth gratitude from the hearts of the whole world of mankind, that the Lord has promised a day of rest. The day will come when Jesus will rule King of nations, as he now does King of Saints, and this glorious rest that the Saints have been looking for for thousands and thousands of years, from the days of Adam until now, will arrive. ”

“ That we may come up higher and higher, and not be reduced when we enter the next state of existence, I say to the inhabitants of the earth, for God's sake and for your own sakes, do take that course that when you step into another room, or lay down this mortal tabernacle, you will be prepared for a higher state of glory. It will not be present civilization that will prepare you for that ”

“ They will have to abide a kingdom where there is no glory.
Well now, why not take this family and let papa and mamma train up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and teach them every good moral principle, and faith in the name of Jesus? To my certain knowledge children in our community, when mamma has been sick, have said, "Mamma, are you not better?" ”

“ I want to say a few things to the Latter-day Saints, for I have not half freed my mind. Will you live so as to make your calling and election sure? You have a work to do, and it requires a holy life to prepare you to do it. Now I charge you again, and I charge myself not to get angry. Never let anger arise in your hearts. ”

“ We try to live according to them, and that too strictly; and when aught is said against us I only ask my brethren and sisters to live so that it will be said falsely—live so as to be guiltless—be innocent, full of faith, good works, charity, love, long-suffering, patience, godliness and brotherly kindness. If we fill up our lives with these good works, happy are we, no matter where other people go or what they say or do ”

“ I teach them morning and evening to pray; I teach them to read the Bible, to be good, not to tell falsehoods, but to be truthful and honest, and not to take a pin's worth from their neighbors; not to contend with each other about their toys. ”

“ Let us be in a condition now, if we could step forward directly into a position in which we should be equal with our neighbors, equal with the corruptions of this world, equal with the wicked, and we should have praise and popularity. I am glad it is not so. If we could have the favor of the wicked world, and have the blessings heaped upon us and be fostered as other people, communities and territories are, probably it would lead away a great many. ”

“ Could any man prove it? Not that man that lives on the face of the earth; it cannot be proved. Why? Because the Saints are free and clear from the crime, that is the reason. Let the evil they speak of us be just as false as that was when they were going to bring us all to judgment! ”

“ But no person will be sanctified without the law—the law which the Lord has given, will be observed by few comparatively, when we take into account the vast numbers who have lived on the face of the earth. ”

“ If we were to take the pains to read what the Lord has said to his people in the latter days, we should find that he has made provision for all the inhabitants of the earth; every creature who desires, and who strives in the least, to overcome evil and subdue iniquity within himself or herself, and to live worthy of a glory, will possess one. But, "In my Father's house are many mansions," says the Savior; he has prepared places for his children ”

“ We live in peace and prosper, and live in hope; and if we do our duty we shall live down every obstacle, every opposing foe, every opposite spirit and influence that is raised against us as a nation or as nations ”

“ Now, after we get a parcel of grogshops and can see, every Saturday, men drinking in the streets, hurrahing, running their horses, having children run over, and perhaps get to fighting and somebody's head broken, or some one shot down, and have some gambling saloons, then we are ready for a meeting house, and here comes the priest through the streets mourning over the sins of the people, crying, and "Oh what a wretched place this is." ”

“ As much as we think of that ancient name and character—the Savior, which age and antiquity have rendered so sacred to the Christian world that they profess to revere them, compare the course his immediate followers took, with the course taken by the followers of Joseph Smith, the Prophet of the latter days, as much as he is despised and his name ridiculed. ”

“ He has compassion on the works of his hands, while we, through the fall, have a disposition, in common with all mankind, that is revengeful, and apt to give way to passion, wrath, malice, anger, bickering, contentions, hateful feelings and unbecoming words. ”

“ Every truth in the sciences and in the arts, and all the knowledge that God has given to man in mechanism, and in fact on the earth, which is but a small speck among the creations of God, and the whole universe, all is incorporated in and constitutes what the world call "Mormonism." ”

“ There is scarcely any, no matter how high socially, who can speak of him with sufficient respect to call him "Mr." or "Joseph" Smith, but they generally refer to him as "Joe" Smith; yet, much as he is scorned and despised, he had hundreds and thousands who would have gone to the death with him when he went to death, but Jesus found not a man. Joseph Smith, though he spent only fourteen years in presiding over this people, organizing the Church, proclaiming the Gospel and receiving revelations, yet had hundreds and thousands of men and women who were ready to go to the death with him. ”

“ We have never been driven yet for our peculiar institutions which they talk about, and if we can beat them in peculiar conduct I am mistaken! I have seen men come here, who moved in the highest society on the American continent, and "Who have you got with you?" ”

“ All men are subject to this; but the Latter-day Saints should be above it; and I wish to caution them, and to inform them that if they expect to enter the celestial kingdom they must overcome this weakness and the wicked dispositions they have inherited through the fall; they must subdue, and become masters of them in the name of Jesus, and become compassionate to all. I have travelled a great deal in the world ”

“ Now, mark, in the estimation of civilization it requires a settlement, territory and subjects for this territory; and then it requires certain ingredients within this community, to constitute civilization. ”

“ There is no prospect whatever of multitudes of them being sanctified by the law of Christ. What we shall do for them in the Millennium it is not for me to say altogether. We shall do a great deal, there is no question about it. ”