Brigham Young

“ There is no more a United States. Can they amalgamate and form a government? No. Will they have ability to form a government and continue it? No, they will not. Hear it, Jew and Gentile. Suppose there is a division between the North and South, and the fifteen slave States try to form a permanent government, can they do it? I tell you they cannot. They are too smart. South Carolina is taking the lead, and says she—"We will sit as kings and queens, or revolt from you." Says Georgia—"We have as smart men in our State as you have, and we will have a President for our State." ”

“ He is the true fountain of all knowledge and wisdom.
The query arises in the minds of many with regard to their capability. Is there a principle inherent in the man that loves liquor to let it alone? Or is he compelled to follow his appetite? Is there ability in the man or woman that is inclined to handle that which is not their own, to resist that temptation and learn to be honest and honourable? ”

“ Be honest before God and with yourselves, and let that monitor that God has placed within you take the preeminence; and when persons say they are inclined more to evil than good, tell them it is a falsehood. Until they sin away the day of grace, there is something in all persons that would delight to rise up and reject the evil and embrace the truth. There is not a person on the earth so vile but, when he looks into his own heart, honours the man of God and the woman of God—the virtuous and holy—and despises his comrades in iniquity who are like himself. ”

“ I will be the friend of God and his Son Jesus, my Saviour. Let the Elders of Israel and all the Saints be the friends of Jesus and our Father in heaven, and cling to them. Now, take one side or the other. Either be for God, or else walk out and show that you are for the Devil and believe that he will come off conqueror, and that you are going to stick by him. Here are the two powers on the earth—the evil and the good, not to speak of the ten thousand paths they make through the earth, and the various spirits that go to-and-fro. It is the good and the evil. ”

“ That power is inherent in every man and woman upon the earth, to a greater or less degree. In proportion to the intelligence people are endowed with, so do they possess the qualification for bettering their condition by improving their lives and receiving truth for error, light for darkness. And if they continue to overcome every temptation and every evil appetite, they will become masters of them, and will conquer at last, and be counted worthy to be crowned ”

“ If our present happy form of government is sustained, which I believe it will be, it will be done by the people I am now looking upon, in connection with their brethren and their offspring. The present Constitution, with a few alterations of a trifling nature, is just as good as we want; and if it is sustained on this land of Joseph, it will be done by us and our posterity. Our national brethren do not know how to do it. They are not capable of controlling their own passions, to say nothing of ruling a nation. What is the reign of a king who cannot control his passions? ”

“ We are never going to destroy the enemies of God by the evil passions that are in us—never, no never. When those who profess to be Saints contend against the enemies of God through passion or selfwill, it is then man against man, evil against evil, the powers of darkness against the powers of darkness. ”

“ Let truth bear sway, and true integrity shed a charm around your whole being. Rise up for the right in the strength of your own ability. God has bestowed upon you the power to reject the evil and receive the truth ”

“ If we are permitted to rule, govern, and control, in the first place we must control our passions until they are in perfect subjection to us. When we have controlled one and got it perfectly mastered, we shall be prepared to control two; and if we can properly rule over two, we can reign over two thousand or over millions as well as two. If you can control one, you are then prepared to control your family; and if you are prepared to control a family, then you are able to control a city; and if a city, then a nation, upon the same principle. ”

“ Every man is his own counsellor, his own general, and his own governor. We used to say, when we were boys—"Hurrah! Every man for himself, and the Devil for us all!" and they will find it to be so.
They are too wise. They will prove, by their conduct, whether they are capable of forming and sustaining a government for the Southern States that have seceded. ”

“ If it delights your soul, speak to the Saints; but do not boast to the wicked and ungodly that the Lord is coming out of his hiding-place to vex the nation. They will learn that soon enough. I have heard Joseph say, "You will see the sorrows and misery of the world and the misery that will be upon this land, until you will turn away and pray that your eyes may not be obliged to look upon it." Said he, "There are men in this Council that will live to see the affliction that will come upon this nation, until their hearts sink within them." ”

“ I do not believe much in fighting, and my faith is to escape such a calamity as to war and fight with either friends or enemies. I want to so have power with God, that he will govern and control and guide and direct the steps of our enemies, until they drive into the ditch. How easy it is for the Almighty to direct the steps of our enemies, until they fall off the precipice and are dashed in pieces, without the efforts of his servants. ”

“ As I often tell you, if we are faithful, the Lord will fight our battles much better than we can ourselves. We should be apt to get nervous in fighting battles, and sometimes get into corners where we might almost have to take a little gunpowder to encourage us—to nerve up our energy—or have to burn some under our noses to become a little used to it. When the Lord fights the battles of the Saints, he does it so effectually that nobody gets nervous but the enemy. We might become nervous, and perhaps give way to passion. ”

“ Cannot people refrain from taking that which is not their own? Speaking of moral religion alone, they can. Cannot an individual, who is in the habit of taking the name of God in vain, resist that temptation? He can, if he chooses. If he cannot easily do so, let him do as a boy who came to this country with me said that he did. He was addicted to swearing; and got a piece of India-rubber to chew when tempted to swear. That person, I think, has not been heard to swear for years. No boy, in his youth, was more addicted to that habit than he was. ”

“ But when men who are sanctified, purified, do anything, they will do it with a coolness as if conversing at their firesides with each other; they will do it with the power of the living God. If they are ever called to wipe out their enemies, they will do it without excitement ”

“ What shall we do with such men? Perhaps we may call them honourable men in the earth, in order not to hurt the feelings of some by speaking lightly of such talent in our nation. They are so wonderfully smart! ”

“ But you speak into their hearts, and there it is; and every time they have the privilege of thinking and holding converse with themselves, there is the good that leads to happiness: the evil and misery you all know. ”

“ A large share of the ingenuity of the world is taxed to invent weapons of war. What a set of fools! I wonder if they think that they will never die, unless they kill one another. Is there any danger of their living here forever? ”

“ Every man in Congress is so smart that he is looking to the presidential chair. The boys of West Point and the boys studying law in the nation have their eyes on the presidential chair. The general feeling is—"I am intending to sit there." They are all looking to the presidential chair, and have been for years—the boy, the middle-aged Congressman, and the grey-headed Senator. The boy says—"I am the best council I can get. I am at West Point, and I shall soon graduate. Generals Washington, Taylor, and Jackson reached the chair of state, and I shall soon be there." ”

“ Look into the world and into the hearts of the people, and see what they see in their secret reflections, and they will manifest to you that they delight in and reverence that character that lives a virtuous and holy life. ”

“ This is folly in the extreme, for you deny your own senses. There is not a man on the earth but what denies his own judgment when he reasons with himself in this way. I can take or refuse, partake or reject, at my own will and pleasure. ”

“ Christ and Baal never can be friends. One or the other must reign triumphantly on the earth, and I say that Jesus Christ shall reign, and I will help him; and Baal shall not reign here much longer—the Devil shall not have power much longer upon the land of Joseph. ”

“ There is the evil. Can they better the condition of our country? No; they will make it worse every time they attempt to do so. What is the difficulty? Brother Carrington says there is no noble-minded master-spirit to lead out—one whom the rest will follow. They are all master-spirits! They are all smart men! ”

“ No being is fit to rule, govern, and dictate, until he has been controlled, governed, and dictated,—has yielded obedience to law, and proved himself worthy, by magnifying the law that was over him, to be master of that law. ”

“ Breckenridge be crowned king for three weeks, that another king might come before King Abraham to see what the administration of that king would be. I do not know of anything better that I could advise him.
"Mormonism" will live, and God will promote it; but shall we be prepared to be promoted with it? That is the question with me. It is in my thoughts by day and by night, Shall I be prepared for the things that are coming upon the earth? I will try to be; and if I have an evil appetite, I will overcome it. ”

“ We are serving a King who can control his passions; and who, as brother George Simms remarked in the forenoon, can be touched with the feelings of the infirmities of the weak. Who can be thus touched, except those who have suffered in like manner? ”

“ Let us be faithful, live our religion, govern our passions, and boast not against our enemies because we live to see the commencement of the fulfilment of this prophecy in our day. The prophecies must be fulfilled. ”

“ Let the people alone, and they will die of themselves, without killing them. But much of the skill, ingenuity, and ability of the Christian nations are now devoted to manufacturing instruments of death. ”

“ Will you have the good and refuse the evil? Then be moral Christians, as we frequently say, and was alluded to this morning. There are moral Christians among the heathen, among the Hindoos, and among all nations. ”

“ Be ready at all times and in all places to do your duty, and be the friends of God. Cease to mingle with the wicked. Many of our Elders seem to believe that Christ and Baal can yet be made friends. How many times Elders of Israel try to make me fellowship the Devil, or his imps, or his servants ”

“ They used to have men whom they looked up to, though but very seldom. I can recollect almost every President of the United States. There never was a wise man that was much looked up to or revered until after his death: then the people could revere him—a Jefferson, a Monroe, an Adams, &c. ”

“ I have no doubt with regard to the good work of the Lord, referred to by those who have spoken, and it will continue among the nations of the earth. The Lord will bring out the results to his own honour and glory ”