Heber C. Kimball

“ Does brother Brigham preach anything but what he practises? No, he practises it night and day, and is just as virtuous and pure before his family as he is when he is before the public, and I would not give a dime for a man who is not. Does not the Almighty know all these things? Some may think that the Almighty does not see their doings, but if He does not, the angels and ministering spirits do. ”

“ Let us repent and forsake our sins and turn our hearts to our God, every one of us. I have said a thousand times, if I was to die now, to-day, I could not do better than I have done, still I have my weaknesses. ”

“ Stop your lawing one with another, your quarrelling one with another, and let all cease to do evil, and then will not the angels rejoice? Well, God have mercy upon you all and save you from your follies, that you may be His in time, and His in eternity, which is the prayer of your unworthy servant, in the name of Jesus Christ. ”

“ You have been warned before hand, and that by revelation from God through Joseph Smith, and afterward through brother Brigham who is our Prophet, you have been warned, time and time again, to take care of your grain. In future build yourselves good store-houses and save your grain for a time of famine, and sickness, and death upon the nations of the wicked, to get rid of the evil doers. ”

“ It will not be fifty years, perhaps, before all of us here to day will leave this state of existence, and then you will prove whether brother Brigham and the rest of the brethren have told you truth or not. You know that the world has made a great deal of fuss, and told many lies about the devil pitching on to Joseph Smith when he went to get the plates, but they will get to a place where the devils will handle them worse than they did Joseph when he got the plates; if they do not embrace the Gospel it will be so. ”

“ When I lay up grain and others do not, I cannot let them starve to death, it is not in me to do that, but it is a pretty difficult position to be placed in. When we attempt to draw the line of distinction between right and wrong, it is unpleasant to have individuals among us who will lie for a pound of flour. When we know such individuals is it right for me to give flour to them? ”

“ Do you suppose that there are any angels here to-day? I would not wonder if there were ten times more angels here than people. We do not see them, but they are here watching us, and are anxious for our salvation. Will one out of twenty of those who are here to-day go through the gates into the celestial City? ”

“ I mention this to show that the devil is an enemy to me, he is also an enemy to brother Brigham, to brother Jedediah, to the Twelve, and to every righteous man. When brother Benson goes to the old country he will find hosts of evil spirits, and he will know more about the devil than he ever did before. The spirits of the wicked, who have died for thousands of years past, are at war with the Saints of God upon the earth. ”

“ This is our integrity, and God ever help us to be one, and also the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, and every Latter-day Saint, that we may all be one with Joseph, as is Joseph with Peter, and Peter with Jesus, and Jesus with his Father. ”

“ The Lord has hosts of angels who are qualified to defend us, and they have information enough to march armies and to select leaders to lead them against the enemy of the Saints; and the devil has leaders enough to march his armies against the Saints.
If men and women do not qualify themselves and become sanctified and purified in this life, they will go into a world of spirits where they will have a greater contest with the devils than ever you had with them here. ”

“ Let us all take such a course, and in future raise an abundance of grain, and save ourselves from the dilemma which we will otherwise fall into. It is necessary for you to understand and comprehend these things, and I wish you to understand them for yourselves; I can only act for one. ”

“ I will say a few words about divorces, do they prove that you are loving men and women, having your prayers ascend to God? No, but they prove that you are contending with each other. However, I presume that such cases will occur, that people will keep apostatizing until the Savior comes, and he says that even then they of the kingdom will be like ten virgins, five wise and five foolish. ”

“ As I told some to-day, when passing through the gate at noon, when you go to the straight gate that we read of, you will not go through there crowding by hundreds as you do now, the righteous and wicked all mixed up together; you cannot go into the celestial world unless you are sanctified through the celestial law. ”

“ There will not many calamities come upon the nations of the earth, until this people first feel their effects, and when hard times commence they will begin at the house of God, and if there is any house of God on the earth, where is it? ”

“ This is the way in which we have got to prove ourselves, and we have got to be tested and become suitable for governors, to govern others and to control our families, and then to control nations and kingdoms. ”

“ There are many who will feed the ungodly sooner than the Saints, but I tell you I will feed the Saints first and the poor devils afterwards, if there is any to spare. But none of them should have food unless they worked for it. ”

“ Take this people as a people, throughout the valleys of the mountains, and I presume that they are the best people upon the face of the earth, and even here there is hardly a person but what takes a course to live from hand to mouth, that is, they will never lay up anything. ”

“ In the Bible Jesus uses a parable concerning talents which were delivered to different individuals, with instructions to go and improve upon them, to put them to use that they might increase upon that capital. ”

“ It is where the people have assembled together according to the commandments of the Almighty. We have got to feel the effects of these things, and if we do so patiently it will be good for us. No serious loss or injury will arise from calamities, if we do as we are told. ”

“ In due time the, lord called upon those men to whom he gave the talents, and the one who had received one talent had hid it, but the others had put theirs to use, and received their reward accordingly. ”