Brigham Young

“ It cannot long be administered by wicked hands. "When the wicked rule, the people mourn."
My heart is filled with pain for the inhabitants of the earth. We desire with all our hearts to do them good, There are scores of Elders beneath, the sound of my voice who have preached enough to convert the world. I have myself travelled many thousands of miles, carrying my valise and sustaining myself, to preach the Gospel to this generation and to bear testimony to the truth as I do to-day. I take liberties here, in referring to the world and its vanities, that I wish my brethren not to take. ”

“ Great and mighty empires are raised to the summit of human greatness by him, to bring to pass his inscrutable purposes, and at his pleasure they are swept from existence and lost in the oblivion of antiquity. All these mighty changes are pointing to and preparing the way for the introduction of his kingdom in the latter times, that will stand for ever and grow in greatness and power until a holy, lasting, religious and political peace shall make the hearts of the poor among men exult with joy in the Holy One of Israel, and that his kingdom is everywhere triumphant. ”

“ If there is a people within the pales of this nation that is worthy of the constitution, good laws and institutions of the American Government, it is this people called Latter-day Saints. It is the best earthly Government that ever was framed by man, and the true and righteous are alone worthy of it. ”

“ In the days of the great tower of Babel God confounded their language, and spread confusion and dismay among them, and ultimately scattered them to the four winds of heaven. The confusion will be no less great in these days, and the destruction of human life will be so great that but few men will be left. ”

“ The world is as uncertain of the calling of Joseph Smith, as their religious ministers are that they are called of God; they hope they are so called; they hope they have experienced a change of heart; they hope they are renewed in spirit; they hope their sins are forgiven ”

“ We should seek substantial information, and trust little to that kind of so-called learning that is based entirely upon theory. We should pluck fruit from the tree of knowledge, and taste, then shall our eyes be open to see, our ears to hear and our hearts to understand. ”

“ There is no man can see, unless he sees by the gift and power of revelation, that every move that has been made by the Government has been made to fulfil the sayings of Joseph Smith the Prophet, and all earth and hell cannot help it. ”

“ Let there be a mutual desire in every man to disseminate knowledge, that all may know. I have always followed out the rule of dispensing what I know to others, and been blessed in so doing. After all our endeavours to obtain wisdom from the best books, &c., there still remains an open fountain for all; "If any man lack wisdom let him ask of God." ”

“ Man's machinery makes things alike; God's machinery gives to things which appear alike a pleasing difference. Fields and mountains, trees and flowers, and all that fly, swim or move upon the ground are lessons for study in the great school our heavenly Father has instituted for the benefit of his children. ”

“ After introducing into our schools every useful branch of education, let our teachers ask the Father, in the name of Jesus, to bestow upon them and upon their scholars the Spirit of wisdom and intelligence from heaven; ask for skill to control and ability to teach on the part of the teacher, and willingness to be controlled and aptability to be taught on the part of the scholars. ”

“ We are determined to build up the kingdom of God on the earth; to bring forth Zion, to promote the cause of righteousness on the earth, and to walk under foot sin and wickedness. There is an opposing party who are determined that the kingdom of God shall not be built up, and who do all in their power to destroy it and its supporters. ”

“ We have just been listening to the testimony of one of the Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, also an Apostle of him whom the Lord has called in our day to establish his kingdom no more to be overcome by wickedness on the earth. To say that we are Apostles of Joseph Smith is rather a dark saying to many. ”

“ It is an erroneous idea that a very learned man should not work with his hands, and is better than other people because he is learned. Education is the handmaid to honest labour. I should be pleased to have our young females study the fine arts, music, painting, &c., for which there is fine talent here, but I would not have them suppose that education in the fine arts alone constitutes them ladies, or will fit them for the active duties of life. ”

“ Our course is onward to build up Zion, and the nation that has slain the Prophet of God and cast out his people will have to pay the debt. They will be broken in pieces like a potter's vessel; yea worse, they will be ground to powder. ”

“ The days will come that war will be poured out upon all nations, beginning at that place; for, behold, the Southern States shall be divided against the Northern States, and the Southern States will call on other nations, even the nation of Great Britain, as it is called, and they shall also call upon other nations, in order to defend themselves against other nations; and thus war shall be poured out upon all nations," &c. The wickedness of the wicked is onward and downward, while the righteousness of the righteous is onward and upward. ”

“ Let every Latter-day Saint constantly practice himself in the performance of every good word and work, to acknowledge God to be God, to be strict in keeping his laws and learning to love mercy, eschew evil and delight in constantly doing that which is pleasing to God. ”

“ At this day, if they had the power, they would show us that their malignity is no less than it was in the days of Joseph Smith, but they have not the power to injure the kingdom of God and the Lord's anointed. They do not make a move on the national checker-board without my knowing their designs. They may send men here, with their mouths sealed as to their instructions, to dictate and guide affairs in Utah as they would have them, but all their deep laid plots will vanish into thin air and their fondly anticipated purposes will fail. ”

“ The Lord is willing that we should be the pioneers of this work, and it is now our duty to prove ourselves worthy of his confidence, by educating ourselves until our traditions are precisely according to the Gospel and will of God. The revelations of God to Joseph Smith instruct the Latter-day Saints to live their religion day by day, and to meet on the first day of the week to break bread, confess their faults one to another and pray with and for each other. ”

“ Let all who are for God and his laws, walk with me and gain influence with those heavenly powers, and there is no danger but what they will gain influence with all good persons who labour for the same influence, which will bear us off conquerers over all our enemies, spiritual and temporal. ”

“ Let us explore this great field of information that is open before us in good books and in the great laboratory of nature, and let every man become his own lawyer, every family have its own doctor, and every person be his own accountant, &c. Let even the female portion of our community be taught how to do business, in the absence of their guardians. ”

“ It is our duty to pray for them and place before them the holy principles of the Gospel by precept, and in the acts of our lives, rather than to hold prominently forward their manifold corruptions. They are in the hands of God, and so are we. ”

“ This is the only sure way to obtain influence with God and all good men. I want the fellowship and confidence of those who are justified before the heavens, and to have this I must walk in the path Christ has marked out, and let all the rest go their own way. ”

“ When Joseph Smith came to the people with the message of the Gospel in its fullness, they said "let us kill him, or he will change our customs, overthrow our religions, make proselytes in foreign lands and flood our country with them, expose our political corruptions, and may take away our place in the nation ”

“ There are no two productions of nature, whether animal, vegetable or mineral, that are exactly alike, and all are crowned with a degree of polish and perfection that cannot be obtained by ignorant man in his most exquisite mechanical productions. ”

“ It is so in this day; the man who will speak the word of the Lord fearlessly is hated, while false prophets and false teachers, who pander to human vanity and to human greatness for gain, are fostered by wicked rulers and exalted to the chief seats in the synagogues. ”

“ Let parents aid the teacher in his labours, by seeing that their children attend school punctually, with a proper supply of books, slates, pencils, &c.; and permit not a good, diligent, faithful school-teacher to suffer for the common necessaries of life, while he is labouring to educate and bless their children. ”

“ There is no true faith, for all is uncertainty—every man pursuing his own way. They have no light of revelation to guide them, and that which would have saved this nation from its present awful chastisement they have cast out from them, therefore "Behold the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. ”

“ It is more necessary that they should know themselves and the duties that will be required of them when they are wives and mothers; to educate them thus, is a duty that is particularly binding upon mothers. ”

“ Joseph Smith was the first Apostle of this Church, and was commanded of Jesus Christ to call and ordain other Apostles and send them into all the world with a message to all people, and with authority to baptize all who should believe the fulness of the Gospel and sincerely repent of all their sins. These other Apostles are Apostles of Jesus Christ, and of Joseph Smith the chief Apostle of this last dispensation.
Joseph Smith has laid the foundation of the kingdom of God in the last days; others will rear the super-structure. ”