Brigham Young

“ But I feel very anxious to speak to my brethren and sisters and to their families, to my friends and neighbors, and the inhabitants of the earth, concerning the Christian religion. I feel thus many times when I am not able to do so, but I desire at this time to bear testimony to the Gospel—the plan of salvation, to the holy Priesthood, that the Lord has revealed in the latter days. I admit at once, without any argument at all, that the whole human family are possessed more or less of truth ”

“ Well, run the risk of it, every man on the earth has that privilege. The Gospel is preached, sin revives, some die and some contend against it—some receive it and some do not; but this is the sin of the people—truth is told them and they reject it. ”

“ Like the man at the table with the cards in his hands, unseen by any but himself, he will take the advantage as far as he can. So says the politician. So say the world of Christendom, so say the world of the heathens, and it is party upon party, sect after sect, division upon division, and we are all for ourselves, and each one is willing that we should be one in our faith, feelings and actions, if we will be one with him.
Well, this witness that is on the stand can not be set aside or overcome; it is a witness that the world of mankind can not impeach, neither the testimony which it imparts. ”

“ It is that system which brings worlds into existence and peoples them, gives them their revolutions—their days, weeks, months, years, their seasons and times and by which they are rolled up as a scroll, as it were, and go into a higher state of existence; and they who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ—the maker, framer, governor, dictator and controller of this earth—they who live according to his law and priesthood will be prepared to dwell on this earth when it is brought into the presence of the Father and the Son. ”

“ I can tell them, simply this—when the Lord Almighty brings forth the power of his chemistry, he can combine the elements and make a tree into rock in one night or one day, if he chooses, or he can let it lie until it pulverises and blows to the four winds, without petrifying, just as he pleases. He brings together these elements as he sees proper, for he is the greatest chemist there is. ”

“ This is the sin of the world, "Light has come into the world, but men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil." So said Jesus in his day. We say, Here is the Gospel of life and salvation, and every one that will receive it, glory, honor, immortality and eternal life are theirs; if they reject it, they take their chance. I hope and pray that we may all be wise and receive the good part, that we may have the benefit thereof.
I say to the Latter-day Saints, Will you live your religion? You can see people apostatizing from the Church, but what is the result? ”

“ The Lord Almighty will send forth his angels, who are well instructed in chemistry, and they will separate the elements and make new combinations thereof, and the whole heavens will be a sheet of fire. Well, our religion embraces this; and we know of no laws, no ordinances, no gifts, no principles, no arts, no sciences that are true, but what are embraced in the religion of Jesus Christ, in this Priesthood, which is a perfect system of government. ”

“ It is all right, and if we have error, it is because we do not live according to the Gospel that we have embraced. If we have embraced error in our faith, it is because we do not understand our own doctrine; if we have error in our lives, it is because we deviate from the path of rectitude that God has marked out for us to walk in. ”

“ If we had the privilege of voting in, independent of all other people on this land of America, or in the United States, the man who should serve as president, we should cast about to find the most suitable man, and he would be the nominee, and when his name came before the people, every man and woman who had the privilege of putting their vote in the ballot box would vote for that man, asking no questions. ”

“ All have truth, all have good desires—that is to say, as people and as communities. There may be individuals who do not possess these principles, but there are many in all communities of the earth professing Christianity who wish, in reality, to know the truth, and to embrace it in their creeds, and most of them desire most fervently that the professors of this Christianity should live according to pure and holy principles. This we admit, and a few of this number have received the Gospel. ”

“ Our friends in the political world say, "We do not like this oneness." The ministers in the pulpit, the politicians in the bar room, on the steam boat, in the rail cars, in the halls of Congress or in the legislatures, say, "We do not like this oneness," and still the priest and the deacon are praying continually, according to the Scripture testimony, that the Saints may be one. Well, where will you have them one? Just name those particular points wherein and how this people who profess to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be one. ”

“ Our religion embraces chemistry; it embraces all the knowledge of the geologist, and then it goes a little further than their systems of argument, for the Lord Almighty, its author, is the greatest chemist there is. ”

“ But the Lord has again set his hand to gather Israel, to redeem his people and to establish his kingdom on the earth, and the enemy of all righteousness says, "We have got plenty of religion, we have got plenty of followers, we have plenty of money, we have plenty of influence, never leave the track of the Latter-day Saints until they are used up." ”

“ You take men, women and families from the Cape of Good Hope, from the northern seas, China, the East Indies, or the islands of the sea, and let them receive the Gospel and come here, and, just as long as they live so as to enjoy the Spirit of the holy Gospel they have obeyed, there are no questions asked with regard to doctrine. ”

“ The world say, "Why do not these Latter-day Saints get up their mass meetings, and sustain this, that or the other one, and be like other peo-ple in a political point of view?" Why do we not sustain these advocates who are now in the field, and join, and be one with, some one or other of the political parties of the country? ”

“ And when a governor, member of Congress, or any other officer was in the field they would all contend for this oneness, but each one would say, "I want you should be one with me." "Well, but your neighbor, your competitor, is perhaps quite as good a man as you are." ”

“ I have an anxiety to bear testimony to the truth, though it is well known to many of my friends and acquaintances that it is not prudent for me to exercise myself in this large hall, as I have in days past. ”

“ But leaving my witness, I say these latter ideas are the cisterns which men hew out to themselves, which will hold no water, for somebody or other is eternally scuttling their vessels, and they are sinking. If every Christian denomination would come to the house of worship on the Sabbath, and break bread and partake of the bread and wine in testimony of their faith in Jesus Christ, there would be no differences, contentions or arguments, and no person could sink their vessel ”

“ He knows more about chemistry and about the formation of the earth and about dividing the earth, and more about the mountains, valleys, rocks, hills, plains, and the sands than all the scientific men that we have. ”

“ Along came a certain character and said to Eve—you know women are of tender heart, and he could operate on this tender heart—"The Lord knows that in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt not surely die, but if thou wilt take of this fruit and eat thereof thine eyes will be opened and thou wilt see as the Gods see;" ”

“ But when you come to the Latter-day Saints, if they can get the right man, the best man they can find, they unitedly cast their ballots into the ballot-box to make that man president, governor, representative, or any other officer ”

“ They also reason about the age of the world by the marvelous specimens of petrifaction that are sometimes discovered. Now we can show them plenty of places where there are trees, perfect stone, running into the solid rock, and perhaps the rock is forty, fifty, or a hundred feet above the tree. Yet it is a perfect tree. There is the bark, there is the heart, and there is the outer-coating between the heart and the bark, all perfect rock. ”

“ Take for instance, the financial circles, the commerce of the world, those business men, where they have their opponents they have an internal influence to contend against, whether they know it or not ”

“ And if they come here, they will not ask how many methods of baptism we have, or how many of administering the Sacrament, or of dispensing the ordinances of the house of God, for the Spirit makes them of one heart and one mind with those on this continent, and from whatever nation they come, they all see alike in reference to the ordinances of the house of God. ”

“ Says he, "I despise you;" and they hate themselves and everybody else. They have no fellowship for their neighbors, for the Latter-day Saints nor for any Christian denomination, and I do not know where in the world they can be placed. ”