Show I 1 DISCOURSE by president brigham young tabernacle feb ath pm 1853 the organization of man I 1 suppose is one of the deepest and most moat profound studies for philosophers and theologians there is in nature tile the orga organization niza tion of man embracing all the attributes and powers of his bis physical and mental constitution is considered a mystery by the wisest and most expert philosophers that have lived an is a subject that daily occupies the thought though th and researches seat ches of the more intelligent portion of the children of rhen men when we carefully notice the manner of our own reflections it is a marvel and a wonder to us and we are apt to say what am I 1 who am I 1 and for what was I 1 made who is the author of my existence who bayed the foundation ofard planned this singular structure itis it is a mystery how this wonderful machinery works and how it is sustained to fulfil fulfill the purpose of its creation in reality however there is no iia such thing as a mystery but to the ignorant demay we may also say there is no such thing in reality as a miracle except to those who do not understand the A alpha plia and omega of every phenomenon that is made manifest to a person who thoroughly understands the reason of all thing and can trace from their effects to their true causes avs tery does not exist yet the physical and me mental ni existence of nitin man is a great mystery to him in the experience of our lives wo are taught many principles that are worthy the attention of the most intelligent on earth the first great principle that ought to occupy the attention of mankind that should be understood by the child aud and the adult and which is the main spring of all action whether people understand it or not is the principle of improvement the principle of increase of exaltation of adding to that we already possess is the grand moving principle and cause of the actions of the children of men no matter what their pursuits are in what nation they were born with what people they have been associated what religion they profess or what politics they hold this Is the main spring of the actions of f tile the people embra embracing ing all the powers necessary in performing forming the duties of lire life this is the lesson we should study the powers of our minds and bodies should be governed aud and controlled in that way t that hat will secure to us an eternal increase while tile the inhabitants of the earth are bestowing all their ability both mental an and d physical u upon poll perishable objects those who profess to be latter ny day saints who have the privilege of receiving and understanding the principles ci es of the holy gospel are in duty bound to aind study yand and find on out t and put in practice in their lives those principles that are calculated to endure and that tend to a continual increase in this and in the world to come all their earthly avocations should be framed upon this principle this alone can insure to them an exaltation this is the starting point in this existence to an endless progression all the ideas cogitations and labors of man are circumscribed by and incorporated in th this i great re a t prin principle civie of life when g ell we duly reflect upon the cogitations of our own minds when we look upon the people called latter day saints upon the earth on which we stand and upon the mighty universe around us by the light of the spirit of truth in our minds we marvel with astonishment when the light that ligh teth every every man that cometh into the world illuminates the understanding and 1 exposes x 0 8 to view the true order of the works of the f framer of the universe so that they can contemplate the great first enuse cause oi 01 all things and then look upon the grovelling gro velling pursuits of mortals and their anxiety to obtain that which will perish at the expense of the more enduring substance every person must be struck with astonishment b beyond e yond measure the human family are like so many children that have just learned how to walk in the eyes of a person whose mind has been opened by the light of the holy ghost the sage grey headed gra grandfathers nd fathers and tho those of fewer years but not of less experience and wisdom have viewed the eagerness of children to possess mere trifles and often something that would be their sure destruction if they obtained it so it is with the inhabitants of the world A company of little children at play is a perfect miniature picture of the life of man give me this and give me that and I 1 want to have the ot other her thing still you are n not ot willing I 1 should possess it and the parent knows that often its possession would bean be an injury or when one child sits down in a little chair another one W will cry because of it without receiving the least i injury 11 7 if you place a plate of apples or plums plains before a child of three or four years old he will not be content with one or two or with as many as he can hold but he will try to grasp the whole plate full with his little fingers dropping one and taking up another until he has scattered and wasted them and at last be contented to sit down and eat one that is if the rest of the children have haie not any but himself or else cry when he has as many as he cn can hold because he could not hold them all the little girt girl will cry for the needle slie she sees her mother working with and when she has got it handle it to her injury and the little boy will cry for the razor he sees his father using it is so with many of tho the brethren ethron br and sisters bisters they cry for the razor these inconsistent desires of dahy childhood for trifling things are exhibited in tile human family after they have ar rived to years they may be reaching after things of weightier importance than the child I 1 but when they are compared with eternal matter mat terp they are arc just at as trifling and to alie mind that is I 1 instructed that has been touched with th the light of eternal truth they appear even more foolish than children because we expect better things of them As a general thing the men of eighty years of age are as contracted in their minds as ae to a knowledge of the true principles of life and the end and purpose of their being as little children only two and three years yean old are of the business I 1 PA as lt 1 I 1 4 i i I 1 y J that occupies e se the attention of the city council or the ae legislature a t of the state the thousand and one inconsistencies of childhood have their parallel in the actions and a nd doings of many of this people theatrical companies try to exhibit traits of human life but a better stage cannot be than the world nor better actors than men to a man of understanding it is pleasing and instructing to see certain characters personified upon the boards of a theatre which is man aged upon righteous principles feature of the human world was most admirably portrayed by our performers thi the other evening ju hi the melodrama melo drama called the serious family when tile the mother told the daughter daug liter to say to tho the friend of her hus hushard hu baud they had no spare rooms in the house bouse the daughter replied shall I 1 tell a lie yes answered the old dame if it is to promote our holy cause do anything no matter what whether it is is right or wrong to gain the end I 1 we wish is the fall language gu LIP of unenlightened generate man I 1 if f the L lord ord almighty should give the human family their desire in full they would not keep the broad road to destruction but they would go across lots quick to hell bell it is not my iny intention to detain thom the epting long this afternoon but before I 1 bring my remarks to a close 1 I 1 wish to impress upon your minds some few prominent items of our religion reli ginn I 1 can suy say truly that I 1 am happy and rejoice exceedingly and am thankful beyond measure that the items I 1 i wish to notice are in a great degree adhered to by this people as a whole that I 1 may bring the matter before our minds at once I 1 will repeat part of the mormon creed viz let every man mind his own business if tin this s is observed every in man an will have but business iness sufficient on hand so as not to afford time to trouble himself with the business of other people you can now comprehend the whole discourse by ahe nature of the text while br erastus snow was speaking he made use of weedy gardens as a coni comparison parison to apply to those who complained of other peoples gardens while their own were neglected I 1 will refer to the same idea there are plenty of evils about our neighbors this no person will pretend to deny IV but there is is no man or woman on tile the earth saint or sinner but what has plenty to do to watch the little evils that cling to human nature and weed their own gardens we are made subject to vanity I 1 and it is right we are made subject to the I 1 powers of evil which is necessary to prove all vikings we are apt to neglect our own feelings passions and undertakings or in other words to neglect to weed our own gardens and while we are weeding our neighbors neighbor ls before we are aware weeds will start up and kill the good seeds in our own this is the reason why we should most moat 8 strictly attend to our own business I 1 am happy to say that this people do increase I 1 in understanding wisdom patience and faith it appears to me much more easy for mankind to live without sin than with it we have been taught that it is contrary to nature to live without sin if a man should spit in my face it would be natural for me to knock him down town or in ra return spit in his face but suppose pose one should injure me in person or estate and I 1 should overlook I 1 it and show mercy to the individual it would cause him to reflect upon his hii conduct and show him tile the true bearings of his unjust act and make him ashamed of it much better than if I 1 re talia ted if I 1 were to pay him back in his own coin I 1 have rendered myself worthy of what I 1 have received if I 1 bear an insult it with meek patience and do not return the injury I 1 have a decided advantage over my adversary and if the person Is susceptible of feeling buell a rebuke he be will say I 1 have done wrong my conscience condemns I 1 me and my neighbor or my brother did not retaliate it at once causes the evil doer to reile reflect ct and he be will say why did I 1 do ft the devil tempted me I 1 will go and confess my sin to my neighbor for he is not disposed to return the wrong and he is a better person thau than I 1 am mid from henceforth e nee forth I 1 will mind my own business and keep a guard upon 1 my pam mawinna pa winna ions Is it not better in all such cases t to be gi li d by that principle than by the principle of retaliation to illustrate still further suppose A insults B and B demands satisfaction and they agree to tight they meet und and inflict upon each eael other lother blows and injuries and whip each other right well weft A however is the conqueror and B retires vanquished qui shed in shame and disgrace he cannot any longer remain in the same neighborhood with his hia victorious enemy and therefore concludes to sell out and leave the place now suppose B had I 1 borne the first insult or injury and returned it e only with good instead of trying to do A an injury A would have been completely conquered and B would have escaped a sound whipping were we one and all to pursue the latter course quarrels would soon cease in our community As I 1 said if we keep our own gardens clear of weeds our neighbors will take a pattern by us and produce from their gardens greater quantities of fruit another year now brethren and sisters receive the exhortation and counsel of br snow and profit by it and employ the rest of df your lives in good thoughts kind words and good works shall I 1 sit down and read the bible the book of mormon and the book of covenants all the time says one yes if you please and when you have done you may be nothing but a sectarian after all it is your duty to study to know everything upon the face of the earth in addition to td reading those books we should not only study good and its effects upon our race but also evil and its consequences I 1 make these remarks to lay the Jound foundation ution for principle in the minds of the people and if you do not yet understand what I 1 would be at I 1 will try to illustrate it still further for example we will take a strict religious holy dewri country eastern yankee who would whip a beer barrel for I 1 working on sunday and never suffer a child to go into company of his age never suffer him film to have any associates or permit him tu to do anything or know anything only what the deacon priests i I 1 or missionaries bring to tile the house when that tha t child attains to mature age say 18 or 20 26 years lie is very apt to steal away from his father and mother mot lier and when he has broken his hia bands you would think all hell is let loose and that lie he would compass the world at once now understand it when parents whip their children for reading novels aud never let them go to tile theatre or to any place of recreation and amusement but bind them to the moral law until duty becomes loathsome to them when they are freed by age from the rigorous training of their parents they are mort moro fit for companions to devils than to be the children of such religious ious parents if I 1 do not learn what is in the world from first to last somebody will be wiser than I 1 am I 1 intend to know the whole of it both good and bad shall I 1 evil no neither have I 1 told you to practise it but to learney learn by the light of truth every principle there is in existence in the world still lurther further when I 1 was you young ilg I 1 was kept within very strict bounds and was not allowed to walk more than half an hour on sunday for exercise the ile proper and necessary necessary gambols of youth having been denied me makes me want active exercise and amusement now I 1 had not a chance to dance when I 1 was young and never heard the enchanting tones of the violin until I 1 was eleven years of ge and then I 1 thought I 1 ww waa on the high high way to mt hell ell if I 1 suffered myself to linger a and listen t to 0 it I 1 shall hall not subject my little children to such a course of unnatural training but they shall go to the dance study music read novels and do anything else that will tend to expand I 1 their immes frames ad add fire to their spirits improve their minds and make them feet feel free and untrammeled inbody iii body and mind let everything come in its season place everything in the place de designed g ned for it and do everything in its right time and d inasmuch as the lord almighty has designed us to know all that is in the earth both the good and the evil and to learn not only what is in heaven but what is in hell you need not expect ever to get learning tho 1 mean to learn all that is in heaven earth and hell do I 1 need to commit iniquity to do it if no if I 1 were wera to go into the bowels of hell bell to find out what is there that does not make it necessary that I 1 should commit one evil or blaspheme in any way the name of my maker do you not suppose the lord is there and knows all about it I 1 am satisfied ot of it if he ha is not there when the wicked inhabitants of the earth begin to inquire where they shall flee to escape from his bis presence they will find a wing hiding place in bell if the wicked wish to escape front from life hi presence they must go where ho he is not act whom I 1 r 1 I 1 t I 1 I 1 i I 1 I 1 I 1 if lie doea n not ot live where his influence does not preside to find such auch a place is impossible except I 1 abey go beyond the bounds of time and space pace I 1 have learned enough to be happy when I 1 am in the enjoyment of the blessings odthe lord that is a great 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