Brigham Young

“ If people could always understand the manifestations of the Spirit upon themselves, they would learn that they can be tempted as well as other people, and that would make them careful to watch against temptation and overcome it. Consequently, I rejoice for them, inasmuch as every individual who is prepared for the celestial kingdom must go through the same things.
I am happy, brethren, for the privilege of having temptation. A great many people have thought that in my life I was not tempted like other men. I tell them if I am it is none of their business; it is nothing to them. ”

“ This Priesthood is given to the people, and the keys thereof, and, when properly understood, they may actually unlock the treasury of the Lord, and receive to their fullest satisfaction. But through our own weaknesses, through the frailty of human nature, we are not yet capable of doing so.
We have to humble ourselves and become like little children in our feelings—to become humble and childlike in spirit, in order to receive the first illuminations of the spirit of the Gospel, then we have the privilege of growing, of increasing in knowledge, in wisdom, and in understanding. ”

“ If this people would live their religion, and continue year after year to live their religion, it would not be many years before we would see eye to eye; there would be no difference of opinion, no difference of sentiment, and the veil that now hangs over our minds would become so thin that we should actually see and discern things as they are. ”

“ At one time you see them as enthusiastic as mortals can be, in what they call righteous principles, and hear them saying, "I have more light now than I ever had before in my life, I am better now than I ever was, I am filled with the Holy Spirit." ”

“ Though we may be mingled together, and our interchanges are as they are, still if a stranger should look upon us as a community, who have been here many years, and see but few of the new comers do wrong, and then judge us off and say, we are all evil, that none of us are righteous, that there is no good fruit here, that would be an unrighteous judgment and decision.
It is our privilege, for you and me to live, from this day, so that our consciences will be void of offence towards God and man; it is in our power to do so, then why don't we? ”

“ If we did fully understand the principles of the Gospel—the keys of the Priesthood, it would be familiar with us, and be easy to be understood and to act upon and perform, and be no more of a miracle to know how to receive the things of God by revelation, than it is now a miracle to cast seed into the ground, after it is prepared, and reap our crops. ”

“ So long as I do the thing the Lord requires of me, and do not stop to inquire what I shall tell to my neighbor as his duty, and pay very close attention to my individual person, that my words are right, that my actions are right before God, that my reflections are right, and that my desires are according to the holy Gospel, I have not much time to look at the faults of my neighbors. Is not this true?
This is our practical religion; it is our duty to stop and begin to look at ourselves. ”

“ No they have not, but they have given way to evil, to a little dishonesty, falsifying, shading of sentiment, speeches, sayings, and doings of their neighbors. They have given way to anger, and will remark, "It is true I got angry, I was overcome, true I acted the fool, but I mean to refrain from so doing in the future." And thus they live for a spell, but how long will it be before they are again overtaken in fault? Then if a delusive spirit, professedly a righteous one, is cast into a neighborhood, how easy such people are decoyed by it, led away by it. ”

“ Though the veil is partially broken to the Saints, though it becomes thin, as it were, and the twilight appears like the dawning of the day, yet we may travel for many years before the sunshine appears. ”

“ There are many who never fail to improve upon every means of grace given them, upon every particle of light imparted to them. They perform every duty that is made known to them, they cease to do evil wherever an evil is presented to them, they refrain, so far as is in their power, from every act and from every thought and disposition which is contrary to the holy Gospel. ”

“ Some say "Brother Brigham, you slide along and the devil lets you alone." If I have battles with him, I can overcome him single handed quicker than to call in my neighbors to help me. If I am tempted to speak an evil word, I will keep my lips locked together. ”

“ But when you see men run to hell to sell a bushel of wheat for sixty cents, instead of laying it up in their granaries for a day of scarcity, you are forced to conclude that they would trade with the very devil, to get his coat and shoes in exchange for their wheat. I hope they will learn wisdom in the future, and lay up wheat to feed the brethren when they come here from distant countries. ”

“ A great many of them do not. All ought to live their religion every day, and there are a great many who do. But there are a great many who do not, who are overcome with evil, get out of the true path of righteousness, and do those things which are wrong. They contend with each other, quarrel, have broils and difficulties in families, and in neighborhoods, law with each other touching property, one saying, "This is mine," and another saying, "It is not yours, but it is mine." ”

“ This is a great privilege, while the world, excepting this people who inhabit these valleys, and those that are associated with us in different parts of the earth, are destitute of this principle and privilege. Still, many of us, and I may say comparatively all of us, are upon the same ground, situated precisely like other professors of religion, in order that we may struggle, wrestle, and strive, until the Lord bursts the veil and suffers us to behold His glory, or a portion of it. ”

“ I will tell you what the difficulties and troubles are, by relating brother John Young's dream. He dreamed that he saw the devil with a looking-glass in his hand, and the devil held it to the faces of the people, and it revealed to them everybody's faults but their own.
The difficulty is, neglecting to watch over ourselves. Just as soon as our eyes are turned away from watching ourselves, to see whether we do right, we begin to see faults in our neighbors; this is the great difficulty, and our minds become more and more blinded until we become entirely darkened. ”

“ We wish to save the world of mankind, and difficulties, embarrassments, and obstacles are thrown in our way continually. If this congregation could live twenty years without communion and intercourse with any other people, if we did not preach any more to the world, and no more Saints were gathered from abroad, we might, perhaps, train ourselves so as to see eye to eye, and that too before we had lived as many years to come as this Church has been organized. ”

“ If they are crossed by their friends and families they are ready to speak by the spirit of evil, by the spirit of contention; they are ready to receive a little malice in their hearts. They do all this, they turn round and repent of it, they are sorry for it, and they say they will try to do better, will try to overcome their passions, or the temptations of the evil one in their natures. ”

“ I do not know, but I am strongly of the opinion that it is possible for a person to overcome their dispositions to evil, to such a degree that they will have no evil in the heart to slip out over the tongue; and if there is none in the heart, there is less danger of the tongue being used to the disadvantage of that individual, or to that of anybody else. ”

“ You should succeed in bringing your tongues into subjection, so as to never let them speak evil, so that they will perfectly obey your judgment and the discretion God has given you, and are perfectly obedient to the will of the holy Gospel. ”

“ But as sure as I let them out they will live and afflict me, If I smother them in myself, if I actually choke them to death, destroy the life, the power, and vigor thereof, they will pass off and leave me clear of fault, and pure, so far as that is concerned; and no man or woman on earth knows that I have ever been tempted to indulge in wicked feelings. ”

“ If they will learn wisdom now, I will promise them, in the name of Israel's God, that the earth will yield its abundance, as it has heretofore. Men in these valleys have reaped crop after crop which grew spontaneously, without putting a drag or a plow in the land, and yet they are ready to curse God for His blessings. ”

“ We receive a little here and there, and the hearts of the people are comforted by the very Priesthood we are in possession of, which has been given to this people for the express purpose of their receiving that which God has given them, though not yet to possess it independently, but as means for trial. ”

“ Many have walked them underfoot, and have been ready to curse God who bestowed them. They wanted gold and silver, instead of wheat and corn, and fine flour, and the best vegetables that ever grew upon the earth. ”

“ As I have frequently thought, and said, when duty requires I am happy in going from home, and I am happy in returning, for it is my greatest joy and comfort to do what the Lord requires of me, and what I know to be my duty, no matter what it is if the Lord requires it of me. ”

“ It will not prepare a thief, a liar, a sorcerer, a whoremonger, an adulterer, a murderer, or a false swearer, in one day, so that he can enter into the celestial kingdom of God. We ought to understand that when our lives have been filled with all manner of wickedness, to turn and repent of our sins, to be baptized for the remission of them, and have our names w [r] itten upon the Church records, does not prepare us for the presence of our Father, and elder brother. ”

“ There are many people who cannot now get employment, but the spring is going to open upon us soon, and we are not going to suffer any more than what is for our good. I am thankful for the hand of the Lord which is visible ”