Brigham Young

“ Our bodies, which are now subject, to death, will return to mother earth for a time, to be refined from that which pertains to the fall of man, which has particularly affected the body but not the spirit. When the spirit enters the body, it is pure and holy from the heavens; and could it reign predominently in the tabernacle, ruling, dictating, and directing its actions without an opposing force, man never would commit a sin; but the tabernacle has to suffer the effects of the fall, of that sin which Satan has introduced into the world and hence the spirit does not bear rule all the time. ”

“ I have a few words to say touching our present existence, and in reference to the remarks made to-day by brother Kimball pertaining to the body. Our mortal bodies are all important to us; without them we never can be glorified in the eternities that will be. We are in this state of being for the express purpose of obtaining habitations for our spirits to dwell in, that they may become personages of tabernacle. Our former religious traditions has taught us that our Father in heaven has no tabernacle, that his centre is everywhere and his circumference nowhere. ”

“ We have to fight continually, as it were, sword in hand to make the spirit master of the tabernacle, or the flesh subject to the law of the spirit. If this warfare is not diligently prosecuted, then the law of sin prevails, and in consequence of this some apostatize from the truth when crossing the plains, learn to swear instead of to pray, become high-minded and high tempered instead of learning to be patient and humble, and when they arrive in these vallies they feel so self-sufficient that they consider themselves the only ones that are really right ”

“ They could once testify, by the revelations of Jesus Christ to them that Mormonism, or the Gospel is true; then the Spirit triumphed over the flesh, they walked in the light of God, and great was their joy, and brilliant their hope of immortality and eternal life. The rule of the flesh brings darkness and death, while, on the other hand, the rule of the Spirit brings light and life. ”

“ Write it down and read it twenty years hence, and see whether my spirit is not better and brighter than it is today. Need we in spirit bow down to this poor, miserable, decaying body? We will not. Brother Kimball's side has been, broken by a fall from a wagon, but he will be mended up, and his life will not be shortened on that account; and we are going to live until we are satisfied.
The Elders of Israel, though the great majority of them are moral men, and as clear of spot and blemish as men well can be, live beneath their privilege; they live continually without enjoying the power of God. ”

“ When we receive the Gospel, a warfare commences immediately; Paul says, "for I delight in the law of God, after the inward man," but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." ”

“ The food and drink we partake of are contaminated with the seeds of death, yet we partake of them to extend our lives until our allotted work is finished, when our tabernacle is in a state of ripeness, are sown in the earth to produce immortal fruit. ”

“ We certainly should be extremely knowing, did we know everything; but, as we do not, we will be satisfied with what we do know and can still learn. This people know much. Their experience and their knowledge, coupled with that which has been revealed to them from the Fountain of all knowledge, are far beyond the capacities of those who have not heard and received the Gospel. ”

“ He once possessed a body, as we now do; and our bodies are as much to us, as his body to him. Every iota of this organization is necessary to secure for us an exaltation with the Gods. Our mortal tabernacles decline. The spirit is inseparably connected with the body until death, and it is so designed; but when we get through with our worship in this Tabernacle or building for worship we dispense with it until we wish to meet again. ”

“ The Lord Almighty leads this Church, and he will never suffer you to be led astray if you are found doing your duty. You may go home and sleep as sweetly as a babe in its mother's arms, as to any danger of your leaders leading you astray, for if they should try to do so the Lord would quickly sweep them from the earth. Your leaders are trying to live their religion as far as I am capable of doing so? ”

“ But there is a constant warfare between them, still they must remain together, be saved and exalted together, or neither of them will be saved and exalted with the salvation and the exaltation which the Gospel offers.
Our bodies are all important to us, though they may be old and withered, emaciated with toil, pain, and sickness, and our limbs bent with rheumatism, all uniting to hasten dissolution, for death is sown in our mortal bodies. ”

“ If we live in these bodies as we should we shall be prepared to receive all the glory he has for the faithful. Let us continue the warfare, fight the good fight of faith, sanctify our hearts before the Lord, and day by day perform the labour he has for us to do, and we shall be accounted worthy to receive our exaltation. ”

“ I want to see men and women breathe the Holy Ghost in every breath of their lives, living constantly in the light of God’s countenance. Brother Kimball says you must keep alive, and give nourishment and vitality to the body, comparing the Church to a tree ”

“ Brother Kimball understands this doctrine as I do, but he has his method of expressing his ideas and I have mine; and I am extremely anxious to so convey my ideas to the people that they will understand them as I do. Our language is deficient, and I do not possess in this particular the natural endowment that some men enjoy. I am a man of few words, and unlearned in the learning of this generation. ”

“ A tree or plant of any kind that sends its roots into the ground does not gain strength and vitality from the ground alone, but the atmosphere contributes to its support as well as the ground, and it will live longer out of the ground with air than in the ground without it. ”

“ From the atmosphere and the rays of the sun it gathers elements that we do not see, which operate upon the sap sent up through the roots under the bark into the branches and leaves where it is prepared to make wood and fruit, and give strength and growth to the trunk, roots, and the whole tree. ”