David McKenzie

“ I tell you that if we would keep ourselves to ourselves, you would see very few of those institutions flourishing in Salt Lake City that are springing up around us that are now getting the patronage, I am afraid, of some of the Latter-day Saints. Let me beseech you, for your own sakes, and for the sake of Israel abroad to quit patronizing Gentile institutions and abominations, and turn your attention to building up the kingdom of God, for therein are all the interests you have on the earth for time and for eternity. ”

“ It has been remarked here that Salt Lake City is, as it were, a battle-field between the powers of light and the powers of darkness. I never, as an individual, felt better in my life in this Church than I do to-day. I care nothing about the outside pressure so far as I am individually concerned, and I notice with the Saints who are awake, that the greater the opposition the stronger they get in the things of God. It is very true the young are growing up around us, and they have not had the experience of those of riper years, and are liable to be led astray. ”

“ With the Latter-day Saints it is all education, or it is all religion, just as you please. That which prepares us to live and enables us to provide for ourselves the necessaries and comforts of life, as well as that which prepares us for the presence of God our heavenly father, that we may dwell with him through all eternity with us is all education or all religion. We know not where to draw the dividing line, bearing this fact in mind, that whatsoever is good comes from God, and that whatsoever is evil comes from an evil source. ”

“ They want to go to some of the stores to lay it out on some trash, for it is a fact, patent to all, that this is a day of humbuggery, and the things you get in the stores are more or less counterfeit and sham, outside show and gingerbread gilt instead of sound, substantial things that we ought to seek after. For instance, the cloth that we wear, you go to a store and buy an article of wearing apparel, how rare it is that you can get the thing that is represented. No, you get a sham, a counterfeit, an imitation of the genuine stuff, and that is just what the world is rapidly coming to. ”

“ Many times the Saints wonder why we do not progress faster than we do, and sometimes it creates a feeling of regret; but I realize that there is an abundance of things before the people which they do not live up to. We have the oracles of God in our midst. I may sit down and read the Scriptures of the past, the commandments given to the children of Israel engraven on the tables of stone, or the carnal commandments, but they benefit me comparatively little. ”

“ Would you like to be looked upon in the light those poor creatures are who inaugurated those fashions? If you must pattern after something, pattern after the good, righteous and pure, and shun the very appearance of evil. ”

“ If we find that our young folks must run after fashions, let us go to work and set them some good examples, create fashions for ourselves that they may pattern after. Just reflect, sisters, for one moment, who is it that inaugurate the fashions which some of our so-called ladies patronize on the streets of Salt Lake City to-day? ”

“ Their ideal does not give them that true lasting happiness that comes from God. It brings care and anxiety, and increases the lust for gain, and what they seek to obtain flees further from them. The acquisition of wealth entails greater responsibility as to what use they will make of it to acquire still more. Looking at it in this light it seems to me a self-evident fact, that although we are ostensibly engaged in seeking for and promoting our happiness, we are on the wrong track when we take a course of this kind. There is a proper course for us to pursue in order to increase our happiness. ”

“ Whatsoever is good and noble, whatsoever tends to the salvation of the children of men and to happify their being here and hereafter, to bring up, to improve, to increase according to the order of the Gods, that is the religion of the Latter-day Saints, that is what constitutes their religion. ”

“ But the servants of God who stand at the head of this people, with hearts yearning for their prosperity, with constant prayers ascending to God, for the advancement of his kingdom upon the earth, have seen fit to propose that we enter into a system of co-operation, as a step towards establishing this order that we contemplate will exist at no distant day. ”

“ I see before me those who have left all that was near and dear to them—forsaken their homes, the graves of their fathers, the associations of their friends, and have gathered here to serve the true and living God—that Being who has revealed himself in this, the dispensation of the fullness of times, for the winding up of the affairs of this earth, according to the programme that was made before the world was. ”

“ There is something to pattern after, involving a principle of saving, husbanding your resources. By putting your pennies together by and by they become a pound. It is like the units of the actions of this people—when they are all aggregated together they amount to a mighty effort. ”

“ It is fashionable to designate that as education which gives the young, an acquaintance with letters, numbers, science and philosophy; while that which tends to a future state, to happify hereafter and to prepare us for the presence of God is called by the world religion. ”

“ We have been thrown together on this planet, in pretty much the same circumstances in many respects. We are sensitive to pleasure and to pain, we have a desire to increase our enjoyments, and there are many things I might mention wherein we are all very much alike. Now don't you think that the Being who created you and me knew of a certain plan which, if we would adopt, a certain course which, if we would pursue, would give us the greatest among of happiness? ”

“ Every man would be as willing to promote the welfare and advantage of his neighbor as he would his own. When two went to trade together it would not be—"Now let us see who will get the best of the bargain," or, "I don't care what you get, I want to get as much as I can." The desire would be that each should be satisfied. In a state of society in which these golden rules were observed by all, there would be no grinding the face of the poor that the rich might pile unto themselves wealth, which is a cankerworm ”

“ There is a great responsibility resting upon the parents of the young that they set their children wise and prudent examples; that they admonish them of the evils that are extant and that are encroaching upon the people to-day. ”

“ That is the work the Latter-day Saints have before them. It is well to have this continually in our minds, that we may not trifle away the time, but that we may be awake to the signs that are looming up on every hand, and pointing out, as with the finger of Jehovah, that the time is drawing near when he whose right it is to reign will come and take the kingdom. Men have had it a long time their own way. ”

“ I trust that we are awake to these things, that we do not let the time pass by unimproved, for to us is committed a great and important work—not only our own salvation but the keys for the redemption of the children of men from the earliest ages to the winding-up scene. ”

“ Images are the work of men's hands. To Nebuchadnezzar was given dominion over all the earth, a kingdom which was comparatively pure, and which was compared to fine gold; but in process of time the kingdom degenerated, and was weakened and sub-divided, as represented by the feet of the image—which were part of iron and part of miry clay. ”

“ We want the word of the Lord to-day, and we require to walk up to it when we get it. As I said, we have the living oracles in our midst, and if we receive from them admonition, counsel, and commandments if you please, that is as much the word of the Lord to this people as is the doctrine of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins.
We all look forward to the time when the Order of Enoch will be established on the earth. ”

“ Many have not, but I am fortunate enough to be thrown into that position where I am able to see and understand and be acquainted with the figures and I know the use that Tithing is applied to, and that it is first and foremost in all improvements for the advancement of the cause of truth upon the earth, and setting an example for others to follow in the same wake, and one of the great sources of the prosperity of this people is due to the fact that there is at least a certain portion of Tithing paid into the Lord's storehouse. ”

“ When I read and reflect upon the history of the past I am led to believe that the Lord has let men take things into their own hands to a certain degree, to see what they would do for themselves. You all remember the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, which Daniel interpreted, wherein he saw a great image, the head of which was of fine gold, the breast and arms of silver, &c. ”

“ If this fact is not apparent to our minds it is because we are more or less in the dark. What do we seem to possess here? I say seem to possess advisedly, because we have no control in and of ourselves. Who can guarantee himself one hour of existence? ”

“ I feel very thankful for the privilege of standing before this congregation this morning, notwithstanding it is with some degree of diffidence; yet, in common with my brethren, I have reason to rest assured that when an Elder stands up before a congregation with a desire to bless them with a portion of the good news that emanates from the eternal throne, I say I have reason to believe that that Being whom we serve and worship will not be unmindful of us, inasmuch as we draw near unto him with confidence and with prayerful hearts. ”

“ But in our present condition, with our feelings of selfishness, lusting after the things of the world, and craving after Babylon, we cannot expect that the Lord would have so little regard for his people as to require us to live this law, when it would be likely to prove our condemnation. ”

“ Is it in the mind and will of Jehovah to pour out blessings upon His people, to increase upon them everything that is calculated to happify them here and hereafter. He has designed to make a nation of kings and priests, according to His promises made to Abraham. ”

“ It is gotten up for a wise purpose, the people may therein throw their means together, and peradventure if they want to send for friends and relatives abroad, when the day rolls round to do so they will have something they can use for this laudable purpose. ”