Brigham Young

“ Sometimes I think it quite strange that the children of men are so constituted as to need to be taught one lesson all the time, and again it is not so marvellous to me, when I reflect upon and understand their organization, and the designed effect thereupon of this state of probation. Men are organized to be independent in their sphere, are organized for an independent being, yet they have, as soldiers term it, to run the gauntlet all the time. ”

“ Shall I tell you what are some of the traditions of a few of the Americans? Yes. If they have not all they need to eat, drink, or wear, and find an ox or cow on the range over Jordan, or any where else, that belongs to me or you, and can take that animal and kill it they will do so, and then sell the meat to you and me, and call that a godsend, and say, "O we are all of one family." That is an American tradition among a few; but as a general thing, the customs of this country and the traditions of the nations across the great waters differ materially. ”

“ I have spoken with much plainness concerning several traditions and practices, in order that the Saints abroad may correctly understand that we are not all, as yet, fully sanctified by the truth, and that both they and the world may know that the Gospel net still gathereth fish of every kind, that the flock has some goats intermingled with sheep of various grades, and that the day of separation has not yet arrived. ”

“ You have come here from all quarters to be one family, yet if some of you come across a wagon wheel, you will appropriate it to your own use, asking no leave; or if you have no axe, you will get one from some part of the great family, and thank God for an axe; and if you come across piles of wood, that you have not labored to cut, you shout, "Thank God, hallelujah, I have found some wood ready cut to my hand." ”

“ People may be advanced far in life, and yet be surrounded by weaknesses comparatively like those of children. The man or woman of eighty, sixty, forty, twenty, or the child of two or five years of age, have something ahead of them to attain to, and which they are striving to accomplish. There is a principle in the feelings of people which is implanted in their organization expressly for them to become independent, to become Gods, and it is continually urging them to reach forward and to wish to do and perform that which they do not understand. ”

“ And if he cannot keep a person this side the Gospel line, he will walk with that individual on the line and strive to push him over.
That is so invariably the case that people need eyes to see, and understanding to know how to discriminate between the things of God and the things that are not of Him. Will this people learn? I am happy and joyful, I am thankful, and can say of a truth, brethren and sisters, that the manifestations of goodness from this people are not to be compared, in my opinion, with those from any other people upon the face of the whole earth since the days of Enoch. ”

“ When I was among the wicked, they looked to me as do the wicked, and when I saw devils possessing the bodies of the children of men I knew that God permitted it, and that He permitted them to be on the earth, and wherein would this be a state of probation, without those devils? We cannot even give endowments without representing a devil. ”

“ It is just as mean and contemptible, in the eyes of angels and of the Almighty, to go to law, and thereby wrong a fellow being, as it is for you to go and steal my property, yet some of you justify yourselves in going to law, and in your other false and unholy traditions. Learn the law of Christ and let alone the traditions of the children of men ”

“ We have got to learn better than to practise and follow after such nonsense, and learn the principle and law of right. That is the doctrine, the tradition which this people have got to come to. Will they come to it? ”

“ We could not build up the kingdom of God without the aid of devils, they must help to do it. They persecute and drive us from city to city, from place to place, until we learn the difference between the power of God and the power of the devil. ”

“ Servants in the houses of the great ones, if they can get anything out of their masters besides their wages, call it a godsend. If they can take bread, meat, butter, and cheese, without the masters knowing it, to support their wives, mothers, fathers, children, brothers, and sisters who are not capable of taking care of themselves, they will put that provision in their possession, to keep them from starving to death, and call it a godsend.
Let me do that in this country, and I should consider myself a culprit, according to my judgment and traditions. ”

“ I know, and so do many others, by experience, by what we have seen and passed through, by what has passed before us and by what we have seen in others, that when the devil cannot overcome an individual through temptation to commit wickedness, when he sees that a person is determined to walk to the line and travel straight forward into the Celestial Kingdom, he will adopt a course of flattery, will strive to exercise a pleasing influence and move along smoothly with him, and when he sees an opportunity he will try to turn him out of the way, if it is only to the extent of a hair's breadth. ”

“ All such people deserve whipping and scolding, and require much training. What for? Not for their goodness, their faith, obedience, honesty, and anxiety to build up the kingdom of God, but for their careless, indolent feelings, for their stupidity in laying down and permitting their animals to trespass upon their neighbor's crops, for trying to train themselves into the belief that it is right to take this or that, or to do thus and so, when it is not strictly according to the law of God. ”

“ Even when merely a judge is sitting there, like a bean on the end of a pipe stem, who would be flipped off should a grain of good sense happen to strike him, how big he feels while sitting there for days to adjudicate a case that should not require five minutes. ”

“ There is one rule to adopt, one course to pursue, one lesson to be learned, and it is applicable alike to all ages, from the child of one or two years old to the grey-haired veteran, and which, if they would learn, would prove highly beneficial, and that is, to do those things which they know they can do, and when required by a superior to do a thing they never have done, to take the advice of those who have successfully performed the same act, and then with the best skill they can command, do as they are told, and thus further their education in life and be satisfied. ”

“ No matter if I were suffering for bread, and at the same time working among millions of it, if I could not procure it by my labor, I must ask for it and have it given to me, for if I got it in any other way, I must consider myself a thief. Are the Americans altogether excusable? ”

“ Sometimes I rise up here and really feel to storm at some who are in this community, for their conduct is awful, it is outrageous. I presume I could come here this afternoon and eat bread and drink of the cup, in the name of Israel's God, with men who would go straight from the communion and steal my property. ”

“ You may read and believe what you please as to what is found written in the Bible. Adam was made from the dust of an earth, but not from the dust of this earth. He was made as you and I are made, and no person was ever made upon any other principle. ”

“ Is not your clothing taken when it is hung out to dry? And is not wood taken from your wood piles? How many have to lock up their wood, or lose it? Taking property without leave from the owner is what I call stealing, but many who practise that do not so understand it. ”

“ The very man who walked and talked with and knew the God of heaven, and knew and understood all about making this earth had associates who were associated with Enoch, and yet twenty-five years of the travel and experience of Enoch with his people had not advanced them so far, in my opinion, as this people have advanced in the same time, taking into account the difference of traditions and other advantages. ”

“ You know right from wrong; there is hardly a person here, but what knows right from wrong, then why do you not all do right? Because of your filthy traditions and dispositions. I have often sincerely and absolutely thought that the doctrine and practice of a certain lawyer was in the end strictly worldly wise ”

“ If the Lord Almighty should reveal to a High Priest, or to any other than the head, things that are, or that have been and will be, and show to him the destiny of this people twenty-five years from now, or a new doctrine that will in five, ten, or twenty years hence become the doctrine of this Church and kingdom, but which has not yet been revealed to this people, and reveal it to him by the same Spirit, the same messenger, the same voice, and the same power that gave revelations to Joseph when he was living, it would be a blessing to that High Priest, or individual ”

“ Even if I had to work by the day for bread, wood, clothing, and comforts for myself and family, and should then without authority go and take wood from brother Joseph's wood pile, were he living here and President of the Church, my judgment, what I know of right and wrong, the traditions of my fathers, and the teachings of my parents and of the neighbors where I was brought up would all confirm me in the belief that I was stealing. Do all persons feel so? ”

“ Old Israel, in all their travels, wanderings, exercises, powers, and keys of the Priesthood, never came nigh enough to the path this people have walked in to see them in their obedience that was and is required by the Gospel. Yet there are thousands of weaknesses and overt acts in some of this people, which render us more or less obnoxious to each other. ”

“ I ask myself why it is that people do not learn to be satisfied and contented with what they do know, until they are instructed and learn more, and practise this principle in their lives. We are taught here all the time to be passive and contented, to do the things we know how to do. ”

“ If the child could understand and be satisfied that the mother knows better than it does, when it is told to let the dishes alone, the broom, or the pin-cushion, or not to swing on the table lest it be turned over and break the dishes, or not to do this or that, and that such and such things it might do, it would be a great aid to it to take the course laid down by a judicious parent, and would save it much trouble while passing through its mortal career. ”

“ It is not so strange to me that the people should continually need talking to, that they should continually need instructing, when I take this view of the matter. Mothers when bringing up their children, if they will observe and reflect, can see and understand the feelings of the whole human family. ”

“ The little girl takes up a broom to sweep the hearth, but if mother is not watching her she may let the broom take fire and set it by the bed, and thereby the bed and then the building be set in a blaze. In the actions of their children parents can detect the course of all, from the king upon his throne to the humblest peasant, they are all performing their part on the theatre of the earth. ”

“ These weaknesses are in the organization, irrespective of age. True, persons can do many things at twenty-five years of age which they could not do when but five years old, and men may know much more at fifty than at twenty, yet the same common weakness is apparent which you can see exhibited in the little child. ”

“ Because their employers would make them do their work for nothing, and then compel them to live on roots and grass if their physical organization could endure it, therefore, says the mechanic, "If I can get anything out of you I will call it a godsend." ”

“ They are organized to be just as independent as any being in eternity, but that independency, in order for them to occupy a position in the sphere of an independent being having control over all things, must be proved and tried while in this state of existence, must be operated upon by the good and the evil. ”

“ If this people could be shut out from all communication with other people, and have no customs and traditions introduced foreign to the law of Christ, we should soon see eye to eye, and our traditions would be framed according to the celestial law ”

“ Others will say, "Let us take down this fence, and turn our cattle into this meadow." You can find plenty of earth and pole fences purposely thrown down, and might hear the trespassers exclaim, "O, this is Father's land, let us enjoy it." ”

“ Some men will go into court and spend five hundred dollars and feel as nicely about it as possible, even when their case has not been adjudicated as justly as a sensible "Mormon" boy, ten years old, would do it. ”

“ I consider such men useful in their places. This fact was very clearly exemplified to me in a dream which I had while so many were going to California, at a time when many of the brethren were under quite an excitement about the Saints going there to dig gold. ”

“ I will take some of the reputed best men now in this congregation, who, through carelessness and thoughtlessness, when they have done their forenoon's work on their five acre lots, turn out their cattle to feed, but at the same time are sure to keep them off from their own lots ”