Daniel H. Wells

“ There is no true principle, no true philosophy, no good thing that comes from any source except that which I have been speaking of. No matter through whom, or by whom it comes to the children of men, it has emanated from that source—from God our Father. ”

“ May the God of heaven bless us and help us to see the path marked out for us to walk in, and thus help us to be faithful and diligent, and put away our own devices and traditions that we have inherited from the fathers, inasmuch as they are wrong, and we have been led to see that wrong, and our judgments convinced concerning the work of the Almighty. ”

“ A great many of them do know it; some do not, but I trust that they will, and that they will continue to learn and progress in these things, until they know beyond all question that God's way is the best, and that it is not only superior to man's way, but that there is no other by which men and women can build up a community which will be wise, virtuous and happy, and by which the resources of the earth may be developed and the elements used so as to best promote the general good. God's way is as much better than man's way, as the heavens are higher than the earth. ”

“ Let us beautify the earth, bring forth from the elements those things which are necessary for our subsistence; work, be industrious, live prudently, economically, and walk in the path that the God of heaven marks out for us. Then we shall be successful; then the blessings of the Almighty will flow unto us abundantly, and we shall have great cause to rejoice continually in the name of the Holy One of Israel. ”

“ Is it necessary that we should obey the principles of the gospel, which we are told is the power of God unto salvation? I think that no one will deny that. We must repent, we must be baptized for the remission of sins, receive the administration of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and then go on with the light of the Spirit, having received the testimony of the truth of the work, and maintain that work against every opposing obstacle. ”

“ This plan of salvation was devised before this earth was organized and made habitable for the children of men to dwell on, away in the eternities back, "when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy," if you know when that was. We have to obey that plan of salvation here in our earthly probation in order that we may have the privilege of going back into the presence of God. We need not go to tinkering that plan of salvation, for we cannot make it any better if we do. The world have been doing so ever since men came to dwell upon the earth. ”

“ The time will come and is now hastening when the people of God will not be a dependent people, that is, dependent upon the outside world; of course they will always be dependent upon the Lord, but the day will come when they, under the blessing of heaven, will be an entirely self-sustaining people, and the Lord is ready and willing, as he ever has been and ever will be, to sustain the efforts of his people in this direction. They must put forth their hands to be self-sustaining, and then the blessings of the Almighty will attend them even more abundantly. ”

“ There is one whose guidance we need, he is wiser than we are, for he has passed through all the ordeals and trials of a lower estate, and has gained an experience far beyond the experience of men, and he is now willing to lead and guide his children here on the earth if they will only allow him to do so. But men generally think they know best themselves, they are not willing to be guided by the God of heaven, they give the preference to the paths marked out by themselves. Are their own counsels the best? No, they are not, and the Latter-day Saints ought to know it by this time. ”

“ I am not aware that God ever asked us here to help to devise a plan for our own salvation, I never heard of any such thing. He had the right to do it himself and he did it, and it is for mankind to receive it if they choose to do so; and if they do choose so to do it is nobody's business, they have that power if they have a mind to; and other people have a right to believe in and embrace man-made systems and to hold on to them if they choose to do so, and it is none of our business any more than it is theirs if we choose to obey the plan the Lord has revealed. ”

“ Here we are, a spectacle before the heavens and before the world, a handful of Latter-day Saints. What shall we do? Pursue that suicidal policy in regard to sustaining ourselves that is calculated to impoverish us and to make us depend upon our enemies, those who would only be too glad to see us overthrown, wasted away and destroyed? ”

“ But I do not care whether it is the people of Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, the United States, England, or any other community or nation, political economy says that they must export more than they import, or the balance of trade will be continually against them, and any country or community in that position will be drained of the circulating medium, and will be more or less impoverished thereby. If a community wishes to become wealthy, it must manage to produce not only all it needs for the wants of its own members, but also to partially supply some of the wants of its neighbors. ”

“ We have come up here to be taught in his ways that we may walk in his paths. Men should not mark out paths for themselves to walk in, they are not capable of doing so. You may say that this infringes upon man's agency and independence; but it makes no difference what may be said or thought of this, it is true, and we need only look abroad in the world to see the difficulties which beset the people on every hand to find ample confirmation of this statement. Are the people satisfied with the paths they have marked out for themselves? ”

“ This is the appointed place where God can work with his people on the earth; and in order that he may be able to do so effectually it is necessary that we divest ourselves of every evil, stand before God blameless, and become united as the heart of one man in sustaining the cause of Zion. The responsibility of building up this kingdom rests in a manner upon us, who have taken upon us the name of the Most High. We have gathered together that we may build Temples to his holy name, wherein we may receive the blessings of time and eternity, both for the living and the dead. ”

“ As soon as the Lord Jesus finds a people who are willing to take upon them his name, and will follow him through evil as well as through good report, and who, if need be, will even go to death in the maintaining of the principles of truth upon the earth. Just as soon as he finds a people who will be united and will not sift their ways to strangers, but will hold that which he bestows upon them for him and for his kingdom, will he establish that kingdom upon the earth. ”

“ Why, in the first place there must be a people to govern, and a king to rule over them. It takes that much anyhow to constitute a kingdom. The people must have a place to dwell. They must have land, streams of water, valleys, mountains, ranges, grass, timber, rock, canyons and everything we find here on the earth, the elements with which it is covered and surrounded, and which are found in its depths in order to obtain a sustenance. All these things are necessary in any kingdom. The people want houses to live in, orchards for fruit, also vegetables ”

“ But if we do not divest ourselves of the sins of the world, have we any assurance that we shall escape the plagues and judgments of the almighty? By no means. We gather up to these mountains that we may not be partakers of her sins. ”

“ It is necessary to build Temples that we may attend to the ordinances for those who have gone before, for millions of them have lived according to the best light they had, and they were moral and exemplary all the days of their lives, and did all the good they could. Without Temples they could not have the privilege and opportunity of being officiated for in the ordinances of the Gospel of salvation devised by our Father in heaven before the world was organized. ”

“ It is a material kingdom, and not something ethereal that we cannot comprehend nor have any part or lot in. It involves our everyday life, labor and duty, just as we pass along; it is not beyond our reach, but is right within the purview of our ability to accomplish to a certain extent. We cannot jump at a single leap to its fulness; but the small wedges break the big rock. Drill the holes here and there, then put in the wedges and tap them lightly, and after awhile these taps will break the big rock in two. That is the way the Lord has worked with this people. ”

“ We are professed Latter-day Saints, and have been called forth in this age of the world to be co-workers with our Father in heaven in bringing to pass his purposes and establishing his kingdom upon the earth, to be the recipients of the authority of the holy priesthood, to stand in holy places and to administer in the ordinances of the house of God, that once again upon this earth his authority and kingdom may be established, and holy and righteous principles and the institutions of high heaven have a place. ”

“ It is necessary for us to turn a short corner and drift in a direction that will make us self-sustaining. If we do this we shall become more independent and more closely united, and in a short time we shall find that it will be the path of prosperity. It is a matter of good political economy for any community to become self-sustaining ”

“ We may rest assured that he will withhold no good thing that will prove beneficial to us. He never did and he never will reveal a thing to the children of men but what, if it can be carried out according to his design, will prove an advantage and a blessing to them. Men may undertake to change that which God has revealed, and try to make it mean something else; but it is folly to do so. In taking this course they go into by and forbidden paths, and, being then without the light of truth, they are compelled to grope their way. ”

“ Great and glorious instructions were given to a few in the commencement, and through the blessing of the Almighty they have been sent forth to the nations of the earth and, in obedience thereunto, a great people, in comparison with what the church was originally, have gathered to these mountains, and the work of the Lord has continued to grow and increase, taking root downward and bearing fruit upward. It is true that many have undertaken to run the gospel race and have faltered and fainted by the wayside, still the work has progressed and has been onward and upward until the present time ”

“ The Lord has, from time to time, through his servants, given forth a line of conduct or principle for us to be guided by, so that we may become more united than we have been hitherto; and while it may be said that we are slowly approaching that point, we are far from having advanced in the principles of unity to the fullest extent, and hence we cannot realize the blessings that will accrue when that unity which the Lord desires to see among his people is fully established. ”

“ This is sound philosophy and political economy in any community, and particularly so with the Latter-day Saints. We have the elements around us, from which with our own industry and economy all our wants can be supplied in abundance, if our labor is applied in the right direction, which can only be done by laboring unitedly and according to the counsel that may be given us by the Lord through his servants. ”

“ Let us put away these things that are of no profit, and seek to that. which is good, which comes from above, and which is for our own best interests here, and for our eternal welfare in the world to come. ”

“ The line is marked out; the Lord through his servants is continually showing us the way, but I sometimes think that we are slow coming to it. We should become more self-sustaining. We have been drifting in the wrong direction for the past few years. ”

“ We have done this to a certain extent as we have passed along, and according to our faithfulness we have received the blessings, and beyond our expectations, for we could not have expected as much as we have received. We may go on still more gloriously if we will be more faithful. ”

“ We are on an equal footing in regard to this matter, and all we ask is hands off and show us fair play, the same as we are willing to extend unto you, that is all. We have a right to ask and demand that, and to maintain it, and we expect to do it. ”

“ But we have commenced, and we can work in that direction, and it is our bounden duty to do so; and the farther we progress the more will his blessings be multiplied towards us; and if we continue in the path marked out for us by the Almighty through his servants, we shall ultimately attain to a fulness This is the way I understand it. ”