REMARKS rema EEMA bies fiES by lly President prel clent BRIGHAM xoung YOUNG tabernacle july july 31 isag 1 REPORTED nepon TED ceu BT BY G D WATT I 1 rejoice in the privilege of making malting a few remarks this morning by way of explanation anti anil exhortation if lf the latter day saints assemble to worship merely because our fathers did or because we have been BO so taught by our school masters we have not a correct view of the subject ct the being who organized us did so upon principles which pleased him and can please us only through obedience to his laws that being placed within us a principle that has been among all the nations of men from the beginning the principle of reverence of worship of seeking after something superior to what we possess every person possesses more or lebs lees of thi principle we all acknowledge it more or less and all are seeking something thi ni not net dt in our possession nv we e are on this earth for an express purpose the body is organized the spirit takes possession of it and here we are as finite beings in a world of sin of darkness and of the thralldom of iniquity and that too for an express purpose that cannot be accomplished upon any other principle or plan eternal existence depend solely upon adopting and carrying out ins irr our lives the principles couched in the term tern holy nois priesthood which alone tend to life and arld eternal duration ang and anda exaltation we are aie afe seeking for 8 something that we are not no 7 now ivl ivi in p possession os session of and every individual wishes to understand those true principles ea which will put him in possession of the right plan by which to obain what we are seeking mankind are prone to seeking after perishable things though we in reality if we did but realize it are by no means doing eo so exclusively the spirit and intelligence that god ha has fl placed laced I 1 within us prompt us to seek more or less ss after imperishable things had we worlds to command and dictate in our finite state with the authority and power we now possess it would not satisfy the mind the holy priesthood is a system of laws and government that ia is pure and holy and if it is adhered to by intelligent man whom god has created a little lower than angels it is calculated to preserve our tabernacles in eternal being otherwise they will be resolved into native element nothing is calculated to satisfy the mind of an intelligent being only to obtain principles that will preserve him in his identity to enable him to inci increase ease in wisdom power knowledge and perfection and when we meet to worship we do or should meet to speak of those principles and to strengthen our faith falih but should it please tha the am almighty eighty to place us in circumstances that would preclude our assembling to wore worship hip if we understand these principles they are as dear to us in our closets in our homes and when we are laboring i in n our fields our shop sor in the kenyons kan a as w when h en we are in this tabernacle we are searching for these principles and we are laboring continually to obtain what you see mankind running to and fro like ants upon an ant bill now forward now wheeling and taking the back track then to the right and to the left seemingly in a perfect state of excitement and confusion they are seeking they know not what they possess the foundation for eternal intelligence and the they y do not know how bow to obtain that which will satisfy their minds nothing can satisfy except being perfectly subject to the law that will preserve them thern in their identity to all eternity and that is the holy priesthood and yet so long as we have lived and as much as the wisest of us have seen and learned we are still comparatively as infants it is bythe by the law of the priesthood that in men en are and by that law they may maintain their eternal identity A strict observance of those laws will secure an inheritance in that kingdom where death never enters and all else will sooner or later pass away as a night vision when we undertake to worship the lord it is eternal principles that we desire to learn they are taught here from sabbath to sabbath a little here and a little there pertaining to the doctrines of salvation like explaining the civil laws of the land lawyers are called upon to explain the civil law and we must be lawyers in the law of the priesthood to read comprehend and correctly teach the writings of moses of the psalmist Paal Poal mist of the prophets and apostles or to tell the truth as it comes fresh from heaven Ir independent dependent of reading from any book no one can correctly dispute that mankind are possessed of intelligence upon the intelligence they possess in mechanism in astronomy trono tr onomy my ac did they produce that no I 1 obtained the principles of intelligence that I 1 am in possession of from the same source that they obtained theirs and which I 1 attribute to the author of our existence but they cannot tell from whence those principles came they are searching and researching with an inherent principle prin principle cirle ciEle that thit never can be satisfied without true knowledge now ledge and that true knowledge flows through the priesthood to enable us to know how to order our lives to overcome every principle that tends to th tha death and to embrace em brace every principle that tends to the life that we may preserve our identity to all eternity 1 e rd ity which ia is the adf greatest blessin blessing g bestowed t 0 v ed upon man ani and which we now have the privilege to place ourselves in the way to secure the laws given by the almighty to the children of men by which we can preserve our 19 spirits frits and our bodies to all eternity are what t the e world call mormonism those laws are what this people believe and are in possession of and are we obliged to falter here and to falter there if I 1 am presented with unwholesome food or with poison that would destroy my life lif am I 1 obliged to eat tat it no though I 1 may be obliged to have it presented to me if a man hands bands you a dose of arsenic saying that you ned nead it and that it will do you goo good are you obliged to swallow it or if those who pret prefer ersin erbin bin sin and roll it under their tongues aa as a ajeet sweet morsel present to you principles that tend to the death are you obliged to receive them to loin oin oln in and commit sin some who Is profess to be latter day saints do so and continue to do so what a pity it is how bow strange it is that mankind do not better understand and conduct themselves true as is written sin was introduced to the human family by the transgression of our first parents and thereby the adversary of all righteousness gained great power over our bodies aa as we can daily see exhibited the flesh as the apostle has written warring against the spirit so in a garden the weeds spring up spontaneously and if you wish to produce certain fruits and vegetables you must carefully till the soil because the ground is cursed to produce th orns and thistles whistles es and obnoxious weeds the original transgression subjected the flesh to weakness and infirmities but not dot the spirit which explains how much easier it is for a person to sin than to work righteousness by the power sin has obtained over earthly tabernacles notwithstanding the to do right and that a person feels tetter better etter in doing right than wrong we must have our day of trial an opportunity to become acquainted with the bitter and the sweet we are so organized as to be able to choose or to refuse we can take the downward road that leads to destruction or the road that leads to life we can constantly act upon the principles that tend to death or refuse them and act upon the principles that pertain to life and salvation this is a day of trial our faith and patience can now be tried now ia is the time for your fortitude and integrity to be tried let the trials come for if we should be ao so unspeakably happy as to obtain a crown of eternal life we shall be like gold tried seven times in the fire let the fiery furnace burn and the afflictions come and the temptations be presented it if we wish with i to be crowned with crowns of glory and exalted to dwell with oun our elder brother jesus christ we must choose the good and refuse the evil according to our faith we must sarh e to live our religion when in the kenyons getting wood and lumber when laboring in our fields and wherever we mav may be we have to learn and practice eternal principles to obtain eternal life and they are the principles of the holy priesthood god has given giren man an agency and it behooves us to understand and practice the principles of life to live our religion and walk humbly with our god living according to the laws and regulations of the holy priesthood so far as it is revealed the principles of eternal life that are set before us are calculated to exalt us to power and preserve p r serve us from decay if we choose to take tb the opposite course an and to imbibe and practice the principles that tend to death the fault ia Is with ourselves if we fall to obtain the salvation we are seeking for we will acknowledge that we have secure secured Tto to ourselves every reward that is due to us by our acts and that we have acted in accordance with the independent agency given us and we will be judged out of our own mouths whether we are Justi justl justified fiedor or condemned when meditating upon matters aa as they are passing I 1 am happy and rejoice that things are as they are you do not often see me in this burldine buil build dine inc inz neither do I 1 often address you neither do I 1 wish to at present but I 1 want everything to be shaken that can be shaken that thie those who remain will be steadfastly determined to serve their god As I 1 have often said I 1 would rather be associated with a dozen men who would live their religion than to have the whole world for my compani companions ens to bear off the kingdom in doin doln to all nations I 1 would rather see the people leave until there are not ten men left in the mountains than to see what I 1 bee gee and hear bear what mine ears have to hear the blasphemy corruption wickedness dishonesty one with another and running after the devil and ready to strike hands wherever whenever rever they meet him I 1 want to see those who will not live their religion sifted out let them float off and let the few who will live their religion who will live for god remain until they are like the gold that is tried in the furnace seven times I 1 understand that some of the people p e ople opie are remiss in coming to meeting D do 0 t they b ey stay at home to weigh welea themselves in the balance to know whether they are actually in possession of the religion that we profess or are their eyes like the fools in the ends enda of the earth looking for a good job here and a bargain there and a speculation yonder you will know by and bye whether whet her ber you possess the religion you profess the lord will sift the ee people eople and the time is not far distant when he will sift the nations with a seive belve of vanity and the time ia is at your doors when be he will hold a controversy with the nations and will plead with all flesh and it will be known who is for god and who is not I 1 often ask the father to hasten his bis woric ani do you au to hasten his zion upon the earth and ills hia work upon all nations have you any idea what that work is I 1 am at times checked in my feelings and make the inquiry am I 1 prepared with this people to receive what will come every time that my mind stretches forth to discern what the lord is doing to contemplate upon hla hia goings forth among the nations and what he ij bringing about according to all the sayings of the tha prophets and the designs of 1118 his son jesus christ and to reflect upon the nations of the earth as they now are and will be I 1 ask myself am I 1 prepared for all this are the people callad latter day saint saints prepared for all this I 1 am checked in my feelings in amor a moment nent freyou are you or do yon you think that you are ready suppose that the lord should make his ilia appearance in hib his glory how bow many in this tabernacle could abide the day of his coming la Is there an individual in the valleys of the mountain gor upon the face of the earth that could abide me the appearance f the son of man in his glory that could look unon imon him bim are you prepared for the ri di ira iya ir s that i is coming upon the nations maby maty of you fre think that your lot is very hard that your trials are numerous and severe and imagine this and that and there is a great disposition with many of you as well as with the rest of the world to pity yourselves you yon had bad better letter continue continua to pity yours yourselves yourself elv each and every one lest we should not be light in all the things chins of god as fast as he is if rolling then them along I 1 have been driven from my home five times I 1 have left my houses bouses and lands and every thing I 1 bad do I 1 wish evil to come upon my enemies every time I 1 think of it and when hen ben my mind is opened by the visions of the lord to seethe bee see the weeping the wailing and distress of the nations that many who now live will see there is not a person in this room that could bear it there are no eyes looking upon me that could bear to see the awful distress that the nations are bringing upon n themselves to look upon the judgments cipo of f t the he almighty that they are bringing upon themselves you think that you see distress I 1 have seen poverty I 1 have seen the gray headed father and mother bowed to their graves with starvation I 1 have seen the middle aged the hand young children ta going 0 i ng to their graves through starvation but I 1 have v e seen nothing to compare with what I 1 shall yet see it if I 1 live I 1 shall see the distress that will be u upon n the nations look a little further and reflect fl upon what the lord will do when he has revolutionized the nations and cleansed and purged this earh earth with fire are we prepared to sit down with jesus when he be comes we had better be careful to know whether we are prepared we think that we have great occasion for sorrow but how should we feel after all our preparations faith labors and looking lookin forth for the coming of the son 0 f man mah to be consumed by the brightness of his appearance we had better be purifying our hearts that is the best occupation I 1 can recommend to the saints I 1 would recommend such a course far beyond their taking their neighbors casttle catt tle breg brei breaking king down their neighbors fences spending their Sabbat sabbaths Sab baths bs in the kenyons getting wood or doing anything that they should not do ask such persons whether they pray no s A man in the eleventh ward said 1 11 I prayed daily over my crops last ye arand my harvest was very light this year I 1 have not prayed and my crops look first rate those who think that they can succeed without praying raying baying try it and I 1 will promise them eternal destruction if they persist in that course some think that they can prosper by lying a little breaking the th sabbath and doing almost everything that they ought not dot to do in the end they will learn hat that they have trod the path that leads to the first and second death which will have power over them and the time will come wh enthey ey will be as though they had not bee been irp iff it is recorded that job clung to the lord and proved his integrity to his father and god the lord to try him suffered his crops to be laid waste his property to be plundered hla hia sons to be destroyed and sorely afflicted him in divers livers ways and so it has been and will be with thousands of other persons and though their property families and friends be taken from them yet they