Brigham Young

“ If the Holy Ghost manifests to you, one thousand or ten thousand miles from here, that this is the time the Lord has fixed for building up his Zion—that this is the time spoken of by the Prophets in which the Saints are commanded to gather out from the wicked, then it is the Spirit of the Most High that has influenced and controlled you, and not me nor any other man. ”

“ If we will so live as to be satisfied with ourselves, and will not drive ourselves from our homes, we shall never be driven from them. Seek for the best wisdom you can obtain, learn how to apply your labour, build good houses, make fine farms, set out apple, pear, and other fruit trees that will flourish here, also the mountain currant and raspberry bushes, plant strawberry beds, and build up and adorn a beautiful city. ”

“ Shall we, like the Presbyterians, Methodists, and others, simply prepare to die, and then depart? No: I in-tend to persevere in fighting the Devil until he is driven from the face of the earth, and it is turned into a paradise, and so prepared that angels and Jesus will come and dwell here. ”

“ Let your faith bear a holy life. Enjoy the Spirit of the Lord, and you have satisfactory enjoyment and solid consolation, and are ready to go here or there, to do this or that, as the Lord shall require at your hands. His Spirit is what has called you here. Live and enjoy it; continue to enjoy it and its increase, and your hearts will be comforted, and you will grow in grace and enjoy the truth. ”

“ Those who are slothful of the things committed unto them in a temporal point of view—the blessings pertaining to the world—how can they expect eternal riches to be committed to their charge? On the other hand, the neighbourhood or community that adorns its city, farms, gardens, and supremely loves and sets its affections upon these things, had better never have seen or had anything to enjoy. ”

“ Reflect upon these matters, read the writings of the Prophets, search the world over, and can you learn of any location to which the words of the Prophets can so justly apply, where the people of the Lord were to be hid up, in the latter days, in the chambers of the mountains? You cannot. No man here has any good reason to be discouraged—no good reason to complain. And those who will so live that they are satisfied with themselves will be satisfied with the country and with the brethren. ”

“ That oneness cannot be found anywhere else; it is produced only in the hearts of the Latter-day Saints, and is not manifested in any other community. No other people will pick up such portions of their substance as they can, and travel thousands and thousands of miles—fathers and mothers leaving their children, husbands leaving their wives, wives leaving their husbands, children leaving their parents, brothers and sisters leaving each other—after this "strange delusion," as it is called, and, when they are gathered, hearken to one man. ”

“ How many are there in the mountains of Europe that would be thankful for a privilege to go out to the sides of these mountains and make little gardens by packing soil from the bottoms? Thousands in the old country obtain their living in that way. ”

“ There is peace now, and probably will be for some time; though we do not know but that next week the marauding Indians about you may kill a few men in the kanyons. Take care of yourselves, and build up a safe and beautiful city. Make good houses; learn how to build; become good mechanics and business men, that you may know how to build a house, a barn, or a store-house, how to make a farm, and how to raise stock, and take every care of it by providing proper shelter and every suitable convenience for keeping it through the winter ”

“ Do you think there is even one person who has not as much as he can eat, at least as often as once a day? These are temporal things, but over which the Devil causes many to stumble. Go to your native lands in foreign countries, many of you, and ask men there who are thirty years old, and probably women too, "How often in your lives have you had all you wanted to eat?" ”

“ You may see, or think you see, a thousand faults in your brethren; yet they are organized as you are; they are flesh of your flesh, bone of your bone; they are of your Father who is in heaven: we are all his children, and should be satisfied with each other as far as possible. The main difficulty in the hearts of those who are dissatisfied is, they are not satisfied with themselves. ”

“ Compare the tombstones with the number of those living in any other city, district, place, or country, for the same length of time, and you will find here less graves of persons from one day to ten, fifteen, or twenty years old, than in any other country you were ever acquainted with. It is the best country in the world for raising Saints. ”

“ Learn to improve the earth, and to sustain and preserve yourselves upon your inheritances, and then pray and exercise faith that the Lord will make our feet fast here—that they shall never be removed until we have the privilege of going to build up the centre Stake of Zion. ”

“ Are you satisfied to make these sterile plains your adopted home, to live here in the mountains, forming new associations with those who are entire strangers to you those, perhaps, of other countries and other tongues? Are you satisfied with all this? If you are, it is evidence to you, so far as it goes, that you are accepted of the Lord. It is evidence to you that you have chosen the good part. It should be satisfactory evidence that you are in the path of life, if you love God and your brethren with all your hearts. ”

“ The settlements in this valley have been exposed to Indian depredations; but now there are so many here that, if they build in a prudent form, they are able to defend themselves. First secure your lives, and then your property, against Indian depredations. We do not wish to hear of any of you being killed. When the Indians become cross, and you see in them a wish to stir up difficulty, the brethren should immediately be on their guard; and in going into the kanyons, be careful that enough go to be able to defend themselves, and have each one take his fire-arms with him. ”

“ I will say to you, my brethren, those of you who are from the Eastern States, and from England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, or any other part of the north of Europe, that you have a far better country here than you had in your native land. ”

“ I have known farmers obliged to cut down their orchards for fuel, because they could not haul wood a mile, on account of deep snow. The house in which I was born was so covered with snow, one winter, before I was two years old, that there was no way to get out only by cutting steps and beating a path to the surface. Almost every year the snow would cover the ground from four to six feet deep ”

“ Lay out your cities, but not so large that you cannot readily raise the whole city, should an enemy come upon you.
Your houses are now scattered, and you have not closed up your fort. When new settlements are made where they are exposed to the Indians, settle so that they cannot get the advantage of you. ”

“ My brethren and sisters from Italy, for instance, are my witnesses that many in that country would be glad to get a few square rods of rock on which to pack soil from the low lands and make gardens, and to gather feed from the bottoms to keep a cow through the winter. ”

“ Perhaps some will not live here because they have to irrigate the ground, or because they have to go into the mountains after wood. There are many throughout the valleys who were raised where it was much more difficult to get wood in winter than it is here. ”