Heber C. Kimball

“ If you do not pay one dime of tithing it will not impoverish the Almighty, but I will tell you where the effect will be, it will affect yourselves, your own salvation. If you neglect these things, I tell you the Lord will neglect to bless you; it comes on yourselves individually, and it stands you in hand, every soul of you, men and women, to arise and prove the Lord, and see if He does not watch your faithfulness, and is not ready to pour you out a blessing that you have not room to receive. ”

“ I wish the brethren would not come to President Young, nor to any other one, with that complaint any more, until the potatoes are all gone. Why not say, "We have to live on bread, and water, and potatoes, and pumpkins, squashes, and all these good things?" Will you not be so candid as to make that report the next time? I know perfectly well we are comfortable as a people, and you may go into the United States, and into the best cities and towns that there are in the United States, and you cannot find so large a congregation as are here together, which is as well clad as you are to-day. ”

“ What will you see outside of that city? Dogs, sorcerers, and whoremongers, and those who love and make a lie, and steal, and disobey the requirements of God, and take His name in vain. Are they going inside? No; but a wall will have to be built to keep the devils out, even in heaven; and still, many do not deem it necessary for Saints to be gathered together and wall in a city!
Awake, all ye Israel, from your slumber, and call upon God, and listen to His counsel, and obey, and then we shall prevail, and not be prevailed against ”

“ The Twelve feel to be one with the First Presidency, as they are with eachother. I do not fear this world, nor do I fear anything that is in it, for where there is union and concentration with that man whom God has appointed, there is a power that this earth cannot handle. ”

“ He will not come to the wicked first, but to those who are virtuous, and have kept their covenants; and when He comes to the wicked He will come in the clouds of heaven and in flames of fire, and will take vengeance on them, and on those that know not God, and do not obey His counsel, and His Priesthood, and the power He has placed upon earth. ”

“ The world is in confusion, and shall we pattern after the world, or after the armies of heaven? What do you say as a people? To pattern after heavenly things is my religion, it is what I believe, and is what I would like to practise, and what I would like to see the Elders in Israel practise, and all who profess to be Saints. ”

“ At the same time there are a great many who murmur, and say it is the hardest place they ever saw; that is a curiosity to me, when the blessings of the Almighty attend us wherever we go; for we can build up a city in a few days, or at the furthest in a few years, and it seems to be no trouble at all. Brethren and sisters, let us try to appreciate our blessings, and honor the calling we have received. At the same time there are a great many who disregard their profession, and tantalize others who hold the Priesthood, and try to make it dishonorable ”

“ We are on trial, and let us prove ourselves by paying our tithing, and fulfilling all our duties before God, and see if He will not pour us out a blessing that there will not be room to contain it. How in the heavens can you prove the Lord whether His word shall be verified, if you do not step forward and do as He has told you? ”

“ There is no man upon the face of the earth that will be favorable towards Zion and towards this people, but what he will prosper temporally as well as spiritually. I have never seen a place, since I was born upon the earth, in which I could make one dollar, but that I could make 50 dollars among the Saints in the same length of time. It seems to cost more to build a house here by one half than it does in the United States, still it is easier to build, and to multiply and replenish the earth, and raise food, and everything else, in this place, than in any other that ever I saw. ”

“ You who do not wish to be Saints, who do not care anything about righteousness, and desire to follow the evil habits you have been accustomed to in other countries, will you not please to leave us? Will you lift up your hands and show yourselves? No. I can not get a hand up, you keep down under the curtain; but we will find you out by and bye, and we will cast nuisances out of this city; for in a city acknowledged by God the Eternal Father grog shops cannot be tolerated. ”

“ The Priesthood is a gift from the Almighty, and He has placed a portion of it upon me to honor, and if I honor that calling, that Priesthood will honor me, it will magnify me before God, and before the world. ”

“ Some of the Bishops and Elders become so contracted that it is too hard for them to pay their tithing when it pertains to them as individuals, for it is an individual salvation. Let us be one in these things, and be up and doing while it is time; and it is time all the time, and it is time in eternity all the time, and always will be; and when we get into the next stage of action it will be time while we are there, and it will be eternity around us. Let us go to work and purify our hearts—our tabernacles—and purify and cleanse our houses, and let us rise up as a people. ”

“ I have thought a thousand times how it is possible that men can have nothing under the heavens to live upon but bread and water, when the valleys are full of vegetation, and at the same time they will have plenty of potatoes, beets, carrots, pumpkins, and everything of that kind, and still they say they have nothing but bread and water! ”

“ As for riches, let us seek after the riches of eternal life, and let us seek first the kingdom of God, and its righteousness, and then all necessary things shall be added unto us, both those that pertain to earth, and that pertain to heaven and heavenly things. ”

“ Well, here we pray, and here we desire, that inasmuch as the world raise weapons against Zion, or against God's people, we pray that these weapons may fall upon their own heads, and not upon ours; we pray, inasmuch as they dig pits, that they may fall into them instead of getting us into them. ”

“ I know the earth is full of the abundance of everything that is or ever was upon it; and we are bound to prosper if we take this course, but if we do not we shall experience the opposite; and when the opposite takes place it will be worse, and more sorrowful, and more to be dreaded than anything we have ever had to experience. ”

“ There is a blessing that attends this people wherever they go, and every man that comes to us, or is at a place when we come, I never have seen the time but what they begin to get rich. Look at Nauvoo, for instance, and see how poor and penniless we were, living in old log cabins, and destitute; but we began to get rich, and many became wealthy. ”

“ There are a great many men will pray when you ask them to pray, but I doubt whether they pray at any other time, but they must keep up an appearance in our midst, and at the same time carry on iniquity right here in the heart of Zion. ”

“ Bless your souls, I have no fear about any matters pertaining to this people, if they would rise up and be as one man, and act by common consent with the President, as his Counsellors and as the Twelve do. ”

“ Don't you say it will be better to take that course than to have the chastity of our virtuous women violated? Drunkenness and pollution cannot prevail while we dwell here, and when we remove there will be nobody here but devils. Every place we have left has become a literal hell. Look at Nauvoo, which we tried to build up, and they would not let us, but killed our Prophet and Patriarch, because we preached, and tried to practise, the same righteous course which I am now exhorting you to pursue. That is what they drove us for. I know all about it, I was there, and President Young was there. ”

“ The lingerers are right in the gate, like a dog in a manger; they will neither eat themselves nor let anybody else eat; and they are an offence in the eyes of the world, and they block up the work from rolling on. ”

“ Let us show to the world that we are Saints, for it hurts my feelings to see the steps that some Elders here are taking right in the midst of Israel, rising up in clans to steal from their brethren, and thinking we shall believe it is some one else. ”

“ An apprentice who goes to a trade has to do as his master tells him. Look at it, we are apprentices, and we ought to become obedient to our masters, that we may become workmen who need not be ashamed to present ourselves before our masters, or before those who of right take cognizance of us. ”

“ Though there may be individuals who have passed through pretty close places, yet I never saw a place where there was not a chance to get out some time; but have you, as a people, one in a hundred of you, passed through any great trials? ”

“ Still, do you not see how desirous people are to scatter here and there, and not go as they are told; but they are for getting off by themselves, to partake of the spirit of the world, and the spirit of selfishness; and they want to own everything there is, that no person or being can get within miles of them. ”

“ I feel grateful for the privileges and blessings we enjoy as a people. This seems to be the feeling of every one that attempts to speak before this congregation. But what are the feelings of thousands of this people that appreciate their blessings and their enjoyments? ”

“ When He has given every thing that you can retain, that you can watch over, and preside over, He is not impoverished, because there is an eternal increase, and there is no end to His income, and there is no end to His creations, for they go on continually. ”

“ Now the world do not know this, but still they are fearful; there is something out of sight which they fear. Again, if those who go forth to preach the Gospel could speedily gather every one of the Saints from Europe, Asia, Africa, the islands of the sea, and from wherever they are scattered, there would be twenty thousand, yes, fifty thousand, converted, where there now are not ten. ”

“ You know that it is said to be the most celebrated place for good order. I say the majority of this people are the best that ever lived, or dwelt upon the earth, according to their experience. Is not that a pretty good recommend? ”

“ Some in the world say, "I never can believe the earth was made with hands, or if it was, it is certainly a curiosity for the Lord to measure the whole of it in the hollow of His hand, and it is said He did ”

“ Among the wicked there will be disorder, but in the armies of heaven there will be order. Things in heaven are in order, there is a pure government there, and it must be observed, and strictly adhered to ”

“ In Europe all the troops that are enlisted have to be taken and drilled, and when they have been drilled for many years, they have to learn to march with heads up, and eyes right or left, and all step alike ”

“ Such characters will see sorrow, they will see wretchedness, they will see misery; and may God grant that their misery may begin to fall upon them, and increase, that they may never rest until they repent, and wash away their sins, and turn unto the Lord ”

“ They will not sell whisky, and stick up grogeries, and establish distilleries, and engage in various other operations to pollute this people among whom they have enlisted, even under the banners of Christ. ”

“ We are commanded to gather into one place, and purify ourselves, and sanctify ourselves, that we may be prepared for His coming; for He will come by and bye, when He gets ready; the time is not very far off, as many suppose ”