Untitled Document

TURNING OUT THE WATER OF THE WEBER-THE SUFFERINGS

OF THE SAINTS-THE DESIRES OF THE SERVANTS

OF GOD TO BLESS THE PEOPLE-THE BLESSINGS OF THE

LORD TO ISRAEL-ENDOWMENTS, ETC.

Instructions by President BRIGHAM YOUNG, during his visit to

Davis and Weber counties, June 10, 11, 12, and 13, 1864.

REPORTED BY J. V. LONG.

AT KAYSVILLE.

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Before dismissing our meeting I want to return you our thanks for your kindness to us. When on a visit to the northern settlements, this is our stopping place. There is great credit due the people here-this ward is improving in many respects.

In behalf of the people that live here, and of more that would like to come here, had you more water, I will state that I am fully satisfied that a portion of Weber river can be brought above this place, and thousands of acres of good land rendered susceptible of cultivation.

Davis county is the best county I know of for fruits and grain. Perhaps some who live in Salt Lake county may think differently, but in my opinion this is one of the best counties in the Territory for raising grain, and I would like to see the brethren bringing out the waters of Weber river. It will require a good deal of labor, but it does not require money. And if you do not get the water around the sand ridge the first year, you need not be discouraged, but continue the labor as you may be able, until the ditch is made wide enough and long enough, and sufficiently tight by a deposit of sediment or by puddling, to convey all the water that may be required, I think it can be brought around the sand ridge without a great deal of extra labor or expense.

You have the finest climate there is anywhere in these mountains, therefore be encouraged, and take the advice so often given, to prepare for the day of want. If we will be faithful to our covenants, we may be sure that the Lord will give us seed time and harvest; and we will not suffer famine, unless we forsake the Priesthood of the Lord our God.

Remarks are frequently made in regard to the sufferings of the Saints; we do not suffer so much as do the world. They are constantly in torment. It is very unwise to turn away from the Lord, to get rid of sorrow, for such persons cannot so fully enjoy the blessings of life; they will have many bickerings, which do not bring happiness or peace. We want to enjoy the fruits of life, and we are organized capable of enjoying them. Let us be faithful to our God, to our religion and to each other; and let us see to our prayers, walking humbly before the Lord, then we shall have joy. The spirit of the world is mourning, it is darkness; it has no hope, no intelligence to compare with the intelligence which the Lord bestows upon His people. It is wisdom in us to live our religion then, when, we retire to our beds and when we arise in the morning, the Spirit of the Lord will be present with us week by week and year by year, and we shall enjoy the light of that spirit continually. Let us live so as to enjoy life, and prepare for the things that await us in this generation.

My brethren of the Presidency and the Twelve are with me in my desires to benefit and bless the people gathered into these valleys in the mountains. We want to lead the people to obtain and enjoy all the blessings that earth can afford, and to serve the Lord with all their hearts. If we will stick to the old ship Zion, it is sure to land us in the promised haven of rest, and to crown us with crowns of glory, immortality and eternal life. If we are faithful to our religion, we have nothing to discourage us.

God bless you, my brethren and sisters, and receive our thanks for your kindness to uisplay his power and his goodness, and it is enlarging all the time.

Brethren and sisters, I do not feel disposed on this cold morning to detain you any great length of time, but suffice it to say that I am glad of the opportunity of meeting with you, and I feel in my heart to say God bless the Saints-Heaven's blessing be with them. This is my desire, it is my earnest prayer, and if we can so live as to be without spot, and blameless in the day of the coming of the Lord Jesus it will amply compensate for all our toils, all our privations, and for all our labors of love in the kingdom of God.

That this may be the case with us, is my earnest and sincere prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen. endent companies alluded to, I really do not know whether I would lead them or not. I know that the first company that I was gathered with, of which President Young has spoken to-day, and which embraced nearly all the male members there were in the Church, brother Joseph said, come brethren, bring your money with you and bring all you have. We gathered brethren from Nova Scotia and from all the States where we had any, and then we travelled forty miles in an independent condition, that is, every man had his money in his pocket and was calculating to have, but when we got to Portage, Joseph called upon that independent company and organized it with captains of hundreds, of fifties and tens, with officers to lead and control them. Then he nominated and we accepted a pay-master and treasurer, and every officer necessary to a permanent organization. Then he said, Brethren, I want you to come together, and bring your money with you. I do not want any donations, but I want every one to bring every cent he has got. Some had not any, some had a hundred dollars; some had a shilling, and the brethren handed over what they had to the pay-master. We were then taught that we should be subject to the law and government of God.

It is an important thing for a man to lead the people of God, and unless they will subject themselves to him and to the officers of the Church a Prophet cannot lead them; it is an impossibility. This course of obedience is the one we have to take. Talk about building up the kingdom of God on the earth, how can you do it except you go to work with your might to practice as well as preach, and labor and toil with all your might by day and by night, and by this means every man in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will become independent. I was reflecting upon these things when brother Joseph brought things to terms. Then if we are ready to do as we are told, to follow the counsel of the servants of God, won't our offerings be accepted? I say they will.

When we went on that jo Untitled Document

OUR DUTIES TO GOD PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER OBLIGATIONS-DANGER OF SPECULATION

Remarks by President HEBER C. KIMBALL, made in the Bowery,

Great Salt Lake City, Oct. 6, 1862.

REPORTED BY J. V. LONG.

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I wonder if there is a person in this vast congregation to-day but what feels that all those instructions given apply to himself. I feel disposed for one to take what has been said to myself, and I do not think there is a man here who is so righteous that he cannot apply the greater portion of what brother Brigham has said to himself. I know it is very common for us to make observations like this when any of the brethren have been chastised: Well, I guess some of the brethren have received a pretty good chastisement to-day, but it don't touch me. Don't you know that this is very common? That jacket does not suit me, says one. Why did it not suit you? Because you did not put it on. If you had put it on, it would have been like a piece of raw hide or a piece of India-rubber, then it would have pinched when it became dry. Now I do not believe that there is a person here who might not be benefited by these lessons of correction and instructions, for we can all make improvement in ourselves, in our daily walk and conversation. I know that I can cultivate myself and improve in many ways, and I feel that I am improving and advancing in the things of God.

Some will say, are you not too old to learn? I say no, for I consider if I am too old to improve, I am too old to live. When a man has done learning, he had better leave and go hence.

I think I understand correctly what President Young has been talking about, and he wishes every one of us to accept of it and put it in practice.

In regard to those indep arm which has been so prominently made bare in saving the righteous. May God add his blessing. Amen. and live under a Government that guarantees unto us that right. Inasmuch as they do not give us those rights, they violate one of the holiest and most sacred provisions of the Constitution of our country, and destruction will be the consequence. The fathers of the revolution fought and bled to secure this holy right to their children so long as the world should last or the Government continue. We are therefore bold in declaring our principles, and in defending our rights. There are countries in the world where imprisonment would be the penalty of the free expression of principles and rights; but they do not live under and enjoy the blessings of the Constitution which we live under. Yet even in this free country some have sought to deprive us of the free enjoyment of the privileges granted unto us in the Constitution of our country, and they will have to pay the penalty for so doing, for they trample under foot the Constitution that grants to them their own liberties, and thus subvert their own liberties, which it becomes them as well as us to preserve inviolate. It becomes us to cleave to God and our holy religion, trusting in him because in him there is power-in him there is strength; and if we remain faithful, we shall come off victorious, and walk under our feet every principle that is calculated to destroy, and rear the standard of truth and righteousness in the world in spite of hell and all the hosts thereof. Let us be encouraged, and go steadily on in the performance of our duties, cultivating the earth, and bringing from the elements all we need for our sustenance that we may be free and independent, so far as we can, by depending on our own resources with which the Lord has abundantly blessed us. We are greatly blessed in that the Lord has planted our feet in these quiet valleys from those who sought our destruction; while he has brought an overwhelming destruction on them, he has brought safety to us. We can see his wisdom, and his mighty hand manifested in this. Let us henceforth put our trust in that Untitled Document

ENJOYMENT OF LIBERTY UNDER THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Remarks by President DANIEL H. WELLS, made in the Bowery,

Great Salt Lake City, October 26, 1862.

REPORTED BY G. D. WATT.

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The Gospel of salvation is interesting to me, to you, and should be to all the world, for by it we are to be judged. This test will be put to all. The principles of life and salvation the Gospel offers to us, which if we neglect will be brought up against us in a day to come. The light of truth has been revealed by the Savior, and through the mercy of the Lord he has sent forth his servants to proclaim this Gospel to all nations. What for? To injure them? No; but to bless them. The time has come in this age of the world when God has set himself to take the rule and the power of the earth into his own hands. He has sent forth Joseph, and Hyrum, and Brigham, and Heber, and Jedediah, and Willard, and Daniel, and the Twelve Apostles and the other authorities of the Holy Priesthood which is established upon the earth. The communication has been opened up between the heavens and the earth. He has sent forth a message to all nations, saying, "Fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment has come." It has been proclaimed to the world by faithful men for many years-it has been sounded in the by-ways and highways, in city and hamlet, and in the nooks and corners of the earth; and, in a coming day the people will be judged by it, because it has been sent forth by the direct counsel of Heaven.

It is our duty to sustain the principles of truth, virtue and integrity, and every principle that has been revealed from the Almighty to his children on the earth. If it is the duty of one man to do this, it is the duty of every man to not upon us; it was only the wrath of man. Do you not see the difference between the wrath of Heaven and the wrath of man? If our enemies had been one with the Almighty, or if he had been one with them, we should have been obliterated long before this. But here, in us, is the evidence that the world and the Almighty do not exactly agree. They never did, and they never will agree, and hence I say the Saints will live when the ungodly shall wither and die; when the wicked are in ruin and disgrace, this people will flourish under the blessing of our Father and God.

These things, although silent, are upon the pages of history, they are still in the memories of men, but though silent they speak in language too powerful for the world to conceive their strength and weight in the balances which shall determine their future destiny. Like the other portions of Jehovah's creation, the great family of planets revolve around their centre, they move in their majesty, although in silence; you can see them but not hear them; they cease not to move; the course of their speed and their velocity is the same continually, and yet, though they move in silence, they speak in language too powerful to be misunderstood, and in thunder tones declare the voice of the Almighty. Well might an individual say, who does not consider these shining works of the Creator, O, that I had some evidence that these are the works of the Almighty, I would adore him for ever! Bless you, these are better evidences that the Almighty exists and rules in the heavens above than any that mortal can adduce, showing hourly, daily and nightly, that they are governed by law, and proclaiming to all nations that the Lord is God, that by him they are made, by him they are controlled, and that he views all the works of his hands with an impartial eye.

Whoever will look upon the history of the Saints and see the providences of the Almighty that have attended them, must see that these Divine interpositions speak in evidence too powerful to be resisted. Ior to cause us to be placed in these valleys of the mountains. The Heavens foresaw the danger, but we knew it not; but our Father knew it and that was enough. Was there not a Providence over us? Did he not deal kindly with his people? And has he not done so from the beginning?

When the Saints escaped from Missouri and subsequently from Illinois; when we wandered over the prairies and found a resting place for a season in an Indian country, and when we furnished five hundred of our best men, leaving our women and children unprotected in an Indian country, while they went to fight their country's battles, and to secure to the country that had permitted us to be driven from our homes the very land upon which we now dwell was there not, I ask, a kindly Providence over them that went and also over them that remained? Yes, there was. We came into these valleys under the protecting care of our heavenly Father. We came with a few old crazy wagons, and many of us but very poor teams, for be it known unto you that the people who took our homes put them at their own prices, and paid out their own commodities; and if they had an old wagon which they thought would bear up till we got beyond the confines of civilization they would turn it out, considering that would be long enough for it to last us.

In this way we came to these valleys, and had to so live till we got something from an untried soil, not knowing whether a peck of wheat, corn or potatoes could be raised from it, but Heaven blest our labors, Providence smiled upon our exertions and we made out to continue along until the land became abundantly blessed, and now our granaries are filled with plenty. If the wrath of God had been against this people to the same extent that the wrath of man was against us, where would we have been to-day? Annihilated! Nothing would have been left of us, and our career would have been highly colored on the pages of history, and sent down to posterity with the sting of the Anathemist upon it. But the wrath of Heaven wast home. I do not want to see any of us neglect our own welfare, but I wish to see every Saint live as a man of God, as one who is striving to secure eternal life in the kingdom of our heavenly Father.

If I understand the principles of life and salvation, and with this understanding should lay down this body, I should then continue the good work which I have commenced here. All that wisdom and knowledge which we have obtained we will carry with us to the spirit world, and this, you can readily perceive, would make just about such a heaven on the other side of the vail as we have made on this side. I do not think we would make it much different. Of course we will have to learn beyond the vail as much so as have need of learning while here. Then, let us endeavor to feed upon those principles of life and salvation day by day, and labor to put them in practice while in this life, then we shall have joy, happiness, peace and a present salvation right where we are. We have the power to prove these principles all the time, and we can bear testimony to their truth, for we experience their benefits and blessings in our everyday life.

Let us be faithful and love the truth more than we love anything else, for these is a fulness of it offered to us; and we ought to know that there are no other principles or system that has a fulness of truth to offer to us. Now, there is not any of us that would be satisfied with anything short of a fulness of all that knowledge and wisdom which are hid up in the eternal worlds. But we need not think of attaining that position upon any other principles than those offered to us by our heavenly Father, for if we do, we deceive ourselves and are preparing for ourselves disappointment, and at the great day of reckoning we shall find ourselves disappointed, simply because we have not adopted the principles that alone will secure what we want in time and in eternity.

I do not feel to occupy more than my share of them time, but I feurney, Joseph told us there was an endowment laid up for us; for what? Because we had done just as we were told; and I can bear testimony that we received that endowment. Have we got through with our endowments? No, we have not; we have only just commenced, merely received the initiative ordinances, and we are only children in these things yet, but if we are faithful, we shall receive all that our hearts can desire, for the Almighty will withhold no good thing from them that love him and keep his commandments.

You will doubtless recollect reading of a certain woman in the Scriptures who was rather ambitious, and therefore wished to have her sons occupy a conspicuous place about the Savior's person. The account of the circumstance is related by St. Matthew in the following language:-"Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children, with her sons worshiping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, what wilt thou? She saith unto him, grant these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but, to sit on my right hand, and on my left is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father."-Mat. xx 20-23.

Here we find set forth by the Savior the doctrine that it belongs to the Father to give each one his place in that kingdom, hereafter to be inherited by the faithful Saints. Now let me ask, can we walk with Jesus in the regeneration that is spoken of? But before I proceed further, let me ask, what is the regeneration? I should call it an improvement, or an advancement in the things of God. By some it is said to be the change and renovation of the soul by the Spirit and grace of God. Then, again, it is called the new birth. Titus is somewhat more explicit upon the subject. He says, "But after that the kindness and lm satisfied that this should be the feeling of every Latter-day Saint in the world. If you are making a bargain, if you are talking in the house, visiting in the social party, going forth in the dance, every breath should virtually be a prayer that God will preserve us from sin and from the effects of sin.

I know that in the world we have tribulation, sorrow and mourning, but in Christ we have joy; and when we have the Spirit of Christ we feel to pray without ceasing, and in everything to give thanks to God our heavenly Father. I am so thankful that tongue cannot express what I feel, that I have the privilege of associating with the Saints, and of being a member in the kingdom of God, and that I have friends in the Church of the living God. I have no desire to see the laws or the name of God blasphemed; I have no desire to see or hear a quarrel between men and women, or with any souls upon the face of the earth.

Every time we put forth an idea, or make an effort, let it be that which will tend to joy, happiness and exaltation; and may God help us to so live. Amen.