Brigham Young

“ I went to my Father in heaven and asked him with regard to the truth of the doctrines taught by Joseph Smith, and I know they will save all that will hearken to them, and that those who do not will miss salvation in the celestial kingdom of God; and though Joseph Smith should steal horses every day, or gamble every night, or deny his Saviour from the crowing of the cock in the morning until sunset in the evening, I know that the doctrine he preaches is the power of God to my salvation, if I live it. ”

“ You came to England and preached the Gospel, and told me not to trust in man, but to seek unto the Lord my God, in the name of Jesus Christ, and receive a witness for myself and know for myself that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God, that the Book of Mormon is true, and that God has set to his hand to gather the house of Israel and build up Zion. ”

“ God has borne and foreborne with them, until he has begun to send them strong delusions, as he long foretold that he would, that they might believe a lie and be damned, for they have pleasure in unrighteousness, and have no pleasure in truthfulness, nor in the salvation of the Lord Jesus. They have pleasure in rioting, fighting, warring, killing, contentions, and every crime that can be enumerated. What will become of their belief? Will it not perish? Yes. When you believe the principles of the Gospel and attain unto faith, which is a gift of God, he adds more faith, adding faith to faith. ”

“ I say to all grunters, grumblers, whiners, hypocrites, and sycophants, who snivel, crouch, and crawl around the most contemptible of all creatures for a slight favour, Should it enter my mind to dig down the Twin Peaks, and I set men to work to do so, it is none of your business, neither is it the business of all earth and hell, provided I pay the labourers their wages. ”

“ Let them deal justly with their fellow-men, be truthful, honest, and charitable, full of good works to the day of their death, and I will insure them that the kingdom of God is theirs. And when their spirits leave their bodies, their eyes will be opened to see those heavenly and eternal realities which they could not comprehend while in the flesh. ”

“ Take the evildoers, in this community, those who have once tasted of the good word of God, who have received the Spirit of truth, and then turned again to the allurements of the enemy, have forsaken their God in their feelings, and connected themselves with those who are not in the Church; they know my character, and have much more confidence in me than I have in them. They believe what I say to be the truth; but they deceive, and I know it. I tell the truth; and, so far as I have power, I always act the truth ”

“ Brother Spencer says that we can tell a little about God the Father by his handiwork. It is very little. What does the world know? A wicked man may pray from this time to all eternity, and he will not be able to discern the print of his footsteps. It takes a spiritually-minded wise man to discern the hand of God in all things, and to be ready to acknowledge it, to discern that he rules among the armies of heaven, and that he is dictating, ruling, managing, and turning the hearts of the people on the earth to the right and to the left. ”

“ It has been stated that God our Father comprehends eternity, from eternity to eternity, all there is, all there was, all there ever can be about eternity, in and through it. When a person undertakes to establish such a doctrine, what does he do? He gives bounds to that eternity which he at the same time admits to be boundless. Admit such doctrine, and eternity flees away like the shadow of morning ”

“ It is the belief, the ability, the power that God has organized in the organization of man, and which he can do with as he pleases. If he uses it to believe a lie that he may be damned, both himself and his belief will perish and fall, to rise no more, while God will bestow faith on those who believe the truth. ”

“ Now, I do not admit that good, active, bright, intelligent hearts and brains, or, in other words, good spirits put in mortal tabernacles are quite so ignorant as some imagine, although they may feel that they are, and may think that they cannot conceive of anything but what they hear with their ears, see with their eyes, &c. This is a mistake: they can see and understand more, but they do not know how to classify it. Let this be as it may, as I have said already, all who will correctly live an external religion are entitled to a degree of salvation. ”

“ How many years have the Saints been taught upon these principles, to give them an understanding of the dealings of the Lord with the children of men?
When a man begins to find fault inquiring in regard to this, that, and the other, saying, "Does this or that look as though the Lord dictated it?" you may know that that person has more or less of the spirit of apostacy. Every man in this kingdom, or upon the face of the earth, who is seeking with all his heart to save himself, has as much to do as he can conveniently attend to, without calling in question that which does not belong to him. ”

“ If people will believe the Gospel, and live by the principles thereof, they will be saved. They will not be fault-finders, they will not be discontented, they will not be workers of iniquity, they will not seek to falsify and change the truth into a lie, nor a lie into the truth; they will not seek to make white black, and black white. The Spirit of God has no place in persons who do such things. ”

“ I make these remarks that you may understand that our Father controls the results of our acts at his own pleasure, and we cannot prevent it. Man can produce and control his own acts, but he has no control over their results. God causes even the wrath of man to praise him, to resound to his glory and the salvation of his children. ”

“ If he succeeds in saving himself, it has well occupied his time and attention. See to it that you are right yourselves; see that sins and folly do not manifest themselves with the rising sun. I repeat that it is as much as any one can well do to take care of himself by performing every duty that pertains to his temporal and eternal welfare. ”

“ Man is a mystery to himself. You see some who at once believe the truth when they hear the Gospel of salvation declared by the servants of God. Truth fastens upon their understandings, they yield to it at once and openly acknowledge it, and yet they live for years and years without receiving a love of that truth. Is not this a great mystery? It partially is In their outward faith and lives they believe the Gospel of salvation as much as any person can ”

“ He gives to all men their agency to act, reserving to himself the right to control the results of their acts. The Lord does not dictate to do wrong; but when men are disposed to do wrong, he brings out the results in accordance with his own pleasure. You may plant and water, but can you make a kernel of grain or a spear of grass? This is not in the power of man to do; but God in his providences produces this. Let the Lord send an angel through this valley to cause certain properties in the air and water to depart, and your grain-crops fall, or your fruit is cut off. ”

“ Understand eternity? There is not and never was a man in finite flesh who understands it. Enoch has been referred to in this matter. How many of the Gods and kingdoms he saw when the vision of his mind was opened, matters not. If he had seen more than he could have enumerated throughout his long life, and more than all the men on earth could multiply from the time his vision opened until now, he would not have attained to the comprehension of eternity. ”

“ Suppose that in this community there are ten beggars who beg from door to door for something to eat, and that nine of them are impostors who beg to escape work, and with an evil heart practise imposition upon the generous and sympathetic, and that only one of the ten who visit your doors is worthy of your bounty; which is best, to give food to the ten, to make sure of helping the truly needy one, or to repulse the ten because you do not know which is the worthy one? ”

“ If the Lord has promised to save a son of a man or woman that is full of faith—has promised that he shall come into his kingdom, though that son be froward and disposed to be wicked, yet he will receive his punishment in the flesh. ”

“ Belief and unbelief are independent in man, the same as other attributes. Men can acknowledge or reject, turn to the right or to the left, rise up or remain seated: you can say that the Lord and his Gospel are not worthy of your notice, or you can bow to them. When the Elders went into your neighbourhoods to preach the Gospel, you had the privilege of believing or disbelieving. You believed it; your neighbours disbelieve it. It is free and at your own option to di [s] pose of at your pleasure. Could not your neighbours have believed the truth as well as you? ”

“ He bestows faith upon his creatures as a gift; but his creatures inherently possess the privilege of believing the Gospel to be true or false. Is the belief they possess, to believe a lie expressly that they may be damned, faith? ”

“ The Lord says, by one of the ancient prophets, "Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their hearts far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precepts of men; therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder; for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. ”

“ The sound of the Gospel of life and salvation, to gather the house of Israel and redeem the children of men, is a terror to all nations. The fulfilment of this prophecy is plainly manifest, as is also that of revelations given in our day in connection with the great latter-day work ”

“ I preach to the people and reason with them with regard to the dealings of God with the children of men. Many have apostatized because we were driven by our enemies from Missouri, notwithstanding they were taught that we never should be driven, if the people would sanctify themselves and be prepared for the blessings in store for them. ”

“ You will all say, Administer charitable gifts to the ten, rather than turn away the only truly worthy and truly needy person among them. If you do this, it will make no difference in your blessings, whether you administer to worthy or unworthy persons, inasmuch as you give alms with a single eye to assist the truly needy. ”

“ He grants this and takes away that at his pleasure, but the people do not know it; they cannot discern it. One may here say, "What am I to do? If God dictates and guides the hearts of the people, they cease then to be responsible?" ”

“ I build walls, dig ditches, make bridges, and do a great amount and variety of labour that is of but little consequence only to provide ways and means for sustaining and preserving the destitute. I annually expend hundreds and thousands of dollars almost solely to furnish employment to those in want of labour. ”

“ Now, follow out this idea to the last days in which we live, the time spoken of by the Prophets, and by the Saviour, and his ancient Apostles, when the unbelief and hardness of the hearts of the children of men would cause them to be overcome by the power of Satan, to yield themselves to be servants to that wicked one. ”

“ You do it, and by means of this he causes your enemies to stumble. Say that you are tilling the soil, and the Lord says to an angel, Do thus and so. What do you receive for your labour? Perhaps fifty, sixty, or a hundred bushels of wheat to an acre, when another year, perhaps, in the same place and with like labour, you do not receive more than five, ten, or fifteen bushels. Do you know the cause of this? No. No man can know, unless he enjoys the revelations of the Almighty. ”

“ No: they are received in the first society of the land as gentlemen. They are associates for Presidents and governors—for the chief rulers of the nation, who receive them with all the courtesy and generous kindness of which they are capable. ”