Brigham Young

“ How very far the inhabitants of the earth live short of their privileges! How far they live beneath the blessings the Lord has in store for them! Is it not more or less so with us as individuals and as a community, who profess to be the friends of God ? We live far short of the blessings the Lord has in store for us. ”

“ It is our duty individually as well as our privilege, to learn how to dispose of the earthly wealth we may possess, to the glory of him who has permitted us to hold it, for in temporal blessings honestly obtained and wisely placed to their legitimate use are concealed mines of spiritual and eternal wealth. If we magnify and make honourable this temporal existence, by the practice of every good and righteous principle that comes within our knowledge, we honour and magnify that spiritual existence, and that heavenly intelligence, which the Father of all has placed within us. ”

“ I know that the great majority of mankind, who are created for a noble and glorious purpose, are ignorant of these heavenly principles; and they cleave to their ignorance, and love darkness rather than light. ”

“ I do not look for power from the heavens that will produce for us wool, cloth, iron, food, or anything we need, without being made with hands. We should understand what is required of us to sustain ourselves.
It was observed this morning, that the teachings the people are constantly receiving are of a temporal character, and I should think that, if such teachings were carried into practice by them, spiritual blessings would be attained through temporal means. It is all of God. "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein." ”

“ Let the husband and father learn to bend his will to the will of his God, and then instruct his wives and children in this lesson of self-government by his example as well as by precept, and his neighbours also, showing them how to be brave and steadfast in subduing this rebellious and sinful disposition. Such a course as this will eventually subdue that unhallowed influence which works upon the human heart.
We are all endowed with the resolution, more or less, to deal with ourselves as we would deal with a child or with a neighbour. ”

“ Again, "the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly." Again, "How oft is the candle of the wicked put out." We have nothing independent of the Almighty. We preach, we hear, and we are instructed. We try to so live as to gain more information, more light, more command over ourselves, and more influence and power to increase the good and discourage the evil, until we can comprehend the great principles of existence and eternal progression. ”

“ Do they take every step possible to do the will of God on earth, and magnify their calling? Is every act of their lives made to increase their intelligence, to add to their faith, virtue, and to virtue, knowledge, and to knowledge, temperance, and to temperance, patience, and to patience, godliness, and to godliness, brotherly-kindness, and to brotherly-kindness, charity, and to improve upon every gift and grace which God has bestowed on them through the Gospel? I fear not. There is yet to be seen a wil [l] ful and covetous disposition in some few of our brethren and sisters. ”

“ All that can be produced from the soil by the ingenuity and industry of man is the Lord's. The Lord has given the earth to the children of men, that by the union of mind and matter, inspired and directed by the power of the eternal Priesthood, all may be made subject to the Great Supreme of the universe. ”

“ We believe we are entitled to the gift of the Holy Ghost in extent according to the discretion and wisdom of God and our faithfulness; which gift brings all things to our remembrance, past, present, and to come that are necessary for us to know, and as far as our minds are prepared to receive the knowledge of God revealed by that all-wise Agent. The Holy Ghost is God's minister, and is delegated to visit the sons and daughters of men. All intelligent beings pertaining to this earth are instructed from the same source. ”

“ All persons who suffer themselves thus to be ruled, disgrace themselves, and do not honour the being God has given there. If men are ruled by the power, principles and righteousness of the Holy Priesthood, they will find themselves in possession of all the wisdom they need to meet every emergency of this changing existence, and all they require to conquer the world, the flesh, and the Devil. ”

“ We can say let the people be clothed, and they are clothed; let them be warmed, and they are warmed; let them be housed, and they are housed. If we put forth the ability God has given us, we can bring forth the very things we say shall come. If we say let there be wool, or let there be flax, they will come; if we say let there be iron, steel, brass, or any other metal we need, it will come. If we say let there be cotton and woollen yarn and let them be made into cloth, it will be done. ”

“ It is often remarked that we do not understand things alike, but I am of the opinion that the inhabitants of the earth understand in the spirit, or, in other words, in the intelligent portion of their organisms, nearer alike than they have power to communicate. ”

“ He also gives intelligence by angels, as well as by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and by opening the minds of the Saints to behold in vision things as they are in eternity. When true doctrines are advanced, though they may be new to the hearers, yet the principles contained in them are perfectly natural and easy to be understood, so much so that the hearers often imagine that they had always known them. This arises from the influence of the Spirit of Truth upon the spirit of intelligence that is within each person. ”

“ Mankind are capable of collecting and retaining an immense amount of knowledge, if they will dilligently [diligently] apply the ability God has given them; in fact, they are made to travel on through an endless progression of improvement. ”

“ Why not in the same way, institute a proper and salutary correction over the rebellious spirit that at times arises in the human breast ? Why not govern and control the appetite, that it may be subject to the law of Christ? ”

“ This people are increasing in the wisdom which cometh from God, and their power to organize the crude elements around them into the necessaries of life is in ratio to their increase of intelligence and application of labour. In this way we ought to understand these great principles. We need not seek for a revelation to know how to make cloth, when the mode is plainly marked before our eyes. Sheep produce a textile material, and how to make it into cloth has been known time out of mind; we can raise sheep in abundance. ”

“ We should be more, happy, if we could more successfully carry into effect the knowledge we now have. The Lord said, "let there be light, and there was light." The Council in heaven said let there be an earth, and let there be a firmament above and beneath it, and it was so. ”

“ In the New Testament and Book of Mormon, we learn that when the Gospel is preached the people are taught to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to repent of their sins, be baptized for the remission of sin, and receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands; the Holy Ghost is then the special gift of the Father, and is his minister. ”

“ One of the brethren this morning was complaining of sins rising in the heart, and of the self-will of fallen man, and the evil which the Devil had power to engender in the hearts of our parents, who have entailed it on their children. How shall we overcome this inclination to evil? Let the will of God predominate over the will of the creature. ”

“ The mountains, valleys, and plains, all the wealth of precious metals hid in their bosoms, all the teeming fulness of vegetable productions, and all animal existences in their endless variety are the Lord's. ”

“ The truth is, the Lord has given and we do not know the value of the gift we have received, and it is taken from us; not because the Lord wants the child, for there are myriads of spirits in heaven, and more coming all the the time. They do not want the spirit back again—they do not need it in the spirit world. ”

“ I wish to warn this people, that they be not caught unprepared when spring opens. Make the best provisions in your power to ward off destruction by high water into City Creek and other mountain streams running through our settlements. Particularly, let the brethren who are living on the Cottonwood bottoms, take care, or we may hear of their passing down Jordan. The earth is now saturated with rain and melted snow, and if the snow in City Creek goes away with a warm spring rain, the first we know, some of the people may be washed down into the river. ”

“ When the visions of our minds are opened, we can then more fully realize this truth. And again, when the vision is closed up we are found, as a general thing, doing the best we know how, and we may be considered pretty good men and women. ”

“ If we pursue dilligently [diligently] this path, there is not the least danger of any persons being lost, but they will be prepared to inherit after death a more glorious and heavenly sphere than they now dwell in. ”

“ A thousand glorious principles open up to my mind, that I cannot now dwell upon; but there is one subject pertaining to our temporal existence that I wish to present; the news we receive from the east and from the west is of wars and floods, trouble and sorrow. Our southern settlements have suffered by floods; they have lost their farms, gardens, and orchards. ”

“ The Lord said let there be an earth, let there be light to light it, let there be seas and dry land, air, rocks, trees, fruits, and shrubs of all kinds, grasses and flowers, and vines that yield fruit above the ground and in the ground, for the use of man and beast, and it was so ”

“ Man is surrounded by those productive principles, and is endowed with power to act upon them; and according to the amount of intelligence he possessess [possesses] and the labour he expends are the productive results. ”