Heber C. Kimball

“ Some time ago I brought up a comparison about an apple tree, and although I did not know it then, I have got one tree that has probably got fifty limbs on it, and there is not one but is so full that I have had to pick apples off it twice, and every limb is weighed down with fruit. Well, I have tried it since then, and there is not one particle of difference in the fruit of all those limbs. Is it good fruit? No; the first limb is not worth a dime, and all the rest are just like it. ”

“ Well, if it is time for the Government of the United States to cut the thread, we are perfectly competent to take care of ourselves. We would not give a dime for this people to be one more in number than they are. ”

“ Every word of truth that you gather into your bosoms is light and life; and the most inferior man or woman can be regenerated through the word of the living God; for that word will be in you springing up unto everlasting life. ”

“ When we consider all things, are they not to be pitied? They are. If you will live your religion, you never will have anything to do but to live your religion and lay up stores and prepare for the sceneries that are to come; for, as true as the Lord lives, the people of the nations will come by hundreds and by thousands for food, and for raiment, and for protection; and that time is right at our door. ”

“ If you have, that is just the way with old Buchanan: he cannot do anything, but he will bruise somebody's shins, and they will be after him, and he never shall rest again—no, never, until the time comes for us to redeem him. ”

“ There are thousands of men in the house of Israel, and among the Elders of Israel, that are now considered to be small men, and not of much account, that will supersede, eventually, thousands of men who may now think that they are the smartest. That may be queer to you; it may be singular to many; but I have known of a great many instances of that kind.
When we go into a fruit orchard or vineyard, we find the husbandman, as he is called, who has charge of it; and I have myself seen very inferior trees that never brought forth any fruit. ”

“ But as for our enemies, they have cursed themselves with all the curses they can bear; and the cursings that are on them they never can get off, neither can those who sustain them. The Church and kingdom to which we belong will become the kingdom of our God and his Christ, and brother Brigham Young will become President of the United States. ”

“ You understand how to originate good stock, and so do I. You go into England and into the New England States, and every man that is raising stock is taking a course to take away the ringed, and the streaked, and the little, dried-up fixings, and to produce a more noble stock. It is upon the same principle that this people should become regenerated.
Well, supposing that a man is a long way beneath his fellows, and is a little, dried-up, knotty, inferior man; can that man be cultivated? ”

“ We will yet save the Constitution of the United States. We will do it, as the Lord liveth, and we will save this nation, everyone of them that will be saved. Brother Brigham Young and brother Joseph Smith stand at our head, and will do that thing, as the Lord liveth. Yes, we, as their children, with our children to assist us, will do it. We have got that power, and so have they, and will bear the kingdom off victoriously to every nation that is upon God's footstool ”

“ The President of this nation and his brethren in office, with all the rulers and all, the priests, have sanctioned the destruction of this people. Yes, the President and all his coadjutors have sanctioned our death as much as if they had taken our lives, and they are a bloodthirsty nation. They have killed our Prophets, Patriarchs and Apostles, and they have slain, or caused to fall, thousands—yea, thousands of our brethren and sisters, our wives, our fathers, and our mothers ”

“ The Lord God is going to play with them, as he did with Pharaoh in Egypt; and let me tell you, there will not be much fighting for us to do, if we live our religion; but God will use them to accomplish his own works, as the monkey did the cat, when he took the cat's paw to pull the nut out of the fire. We will make monkeys of them, and we will make them crawl on all-fours, and they never will rest. ”

“ All his coadjutors, his cabinet, and all his governors—yes, I will say from here, or from Dan to Jerusalem—they shall go over the dam: they never shall rest in peace till the Lord Almighty has scourged them until they are fully satisfied. ”

“ Because we will make peace, and we will sustain it and support it, and we will bear off the kingdom and establish it. We will bring forth every one of those old veterans, and we will place them upon this land that they fought for. Now, mark it; for we will do it, and all the devils in hell cannot hinder it, if this people will only live their religion and do as they are told; and you cannot do as you are told without living your religion ”

“ A great many men would come along and say to the husbandman, "Why don't you take up that tree? It never will be of any account." Those men do not understand, as the husbandman does, or they never would make such a speech. ”

“ Sometimes I am at work at an apple tree, and sometimes at a cucumber vine; but what is the difference? They have all roots, and they have all cores, and they are all produced for a noble purpose.
The aristocracy—that is, those that are called the aristocracy, came out of the old country: they came as far as Lehi came from Jerusalem, and so on, till they came into this country; but still those that remained behind considered themselves the aristocracy. But let me tell you those men that came here were the true aristocracy; they were the original stock ”

“ You may take water-melons, and you will find the largest at the extreme part of the vine. Can it be possible that the most extended part of the vine can bring forth as much as the most extended limb on a tree? ”

“ There are enough of us; for the Lord is going to manifest his power and to play with our enemies as he did with Pharaoh and all his host. Now, mark it, and see if it does not come so, or something similar. ”

“ Their teams are failing fast, and the supposition is, they will have to hire our teams to help them in, but the soldiers will not come. There is nobody to molest them, but their minds are not quiet: they are scared almost to death ”