Show i a toi i tay lay py pr sd inc A 2 in tnie the mow mom now vew Taberna cf I 1 salt zake lake city april 7 i 1 i reported D py AY w y after oun our usual custom we have met in a general council of the church to receive ceide instruction in those things which are necessary for the government and well weli being of the people and to be instructed ted in that which is calculated to promote our burcon con ferencek feren ces a general interchange ange auge of thought and feeling in the midst of israel takes place at these meetings we receive great blessings rich treasures of knowledge and understanding are opened up and made known to the people throughout the valleys of the mountains we come here to be instructed ted we gather from the nations of the earth that we may be taught in the ways of the lord and that we may learn to walk in his paths we can see a glorious future before us we can dwell upon the words of the holy prophets and picture to ourselves great things in time to come concerning the beauty and glory of zion when she shall be built up we can talk of exaltations in the kingdom of god of thrones dominions principalities and powers but how are we going to attain to these things it seems as though when we receive the gospel and jand our hearts are lit up with the spirit of truth we expect without any particular effort on our part at some time in the future to attain to these greated great ex cellen celien oies cies and glories we are ake a good deal like children we tell them of reading and writing but they will never he be able to do either dither unless they take the trouble to learn we often hearit he hearit arlt arit said that if we have a heaven we shall have to create it for ourselves there is considerable truth in thip thio in the days of joseph could he have accomplished with this people what can now sow be accomplished in the days of brigham no it would have been impossible I 1 rei ret remember hember hearing bearing him talk and seeing his endeavors endeavor sto to establish merchandising izing on a similar footing to that which has been bean recently introduced among the saints but there were difficulties in the way in those days there was a tendency of feeling that each should share alike in everything so much so that it was imi I 1 possible for any man to do buti busl business diess fiess in 11 thea the mercantile ni line A good brother who was needy would think it was selfish if he could not go to a store and and get what hei he wanted without paying the money for it it was a good deallo de deal deai also aiso so when we first came here Leta let a brother commence the mercantile business ani and the first thing he knew his whole capital stock was credited out to the brethren he could not refuse to credit a brother 0 no if he did it was said at once that he was selfish and was no friend to the poor I 1 have never seen the time when operation cooperation co could have been established in the midst of the eople people until the present some borne will doubtless find fault with it now but we do not expect to be clear of fault finders we have to be instructed and the lord has been merel merciful ful fal and kind he has sought all the day long to train us in the way we should go we never can learn the principles pertaining to the building up of the kingdom of god while scattered abroad hence the necessity of gathering together that chat we maybe instructed in the ways of tile the lord there is a great tendency among the people to go into the business of trading i and to shun the more laborious pur pursuits suits and avocations of life A great many seem to think that trading or dazing is more genteel and that it is more gentlemanly not to learn some profitable trade or business A considerable number who have been engaged in mercantile pursuits owing to this change in our system of business will vill no doubt be thrown out of employment they will have to seek other avocations some persons who possess capital will have to seek other avenues in which to invest that da capital pital in a new pow country like this there is a variety of ways open tu to them foi for its safe and profitable investment A man may invest incest hundreds of thousands of dollars in n goods and put them on his shelve shelves band bana sand fand in his warehouses and dispose of them aga into other par ties but what does buc such buch suc a man produce or create with hl his means that ia is beneficial cialeo to his fellow creatures crea erea tures fures nothing it is merely an interchange it is useful and necessary in its way and I 1 abe ate I 1 I 1 and it is all ali well weil enough but sufficient I 1 should be done and no more than clent dent trading is overdone there are too many employed in this kind of business they should seek employment in some come other way and find other channels for investing their capital that are better calculated to produce some thing from the earth and br bring ing f forth rth from the elome elements ants that which fg Is feces Z sary sara for the comfort acdwell and well weli heing being of man and beast just think how many things could be bd raised and manufactured here that if we ie had fidd them today to day would fetch very remunerative prices butter for instance that at the pres pros ent time is selling for a dollar and nd a quarter a a country like this should not bring more than twenty five cents cheese the same these two articles are imported twelve or fifteen hundred miles and then the territory is not near supplied wool and flax too might be raised profitably not s ot near enough Y of these is rai rat raised sed and and in these arti atti articles cles cies our surplus means might be safely and profitably invested there is not near enough grain raised in the territory wheat is selling today at four dollars a bushel when it should not be more than half that price and even then would well remunerate the producer it is so with every other article of our own consumption and that is required for the sustenance of our animals and the same may be said of the animals themselves stock raising offers a profitable avenue for the in ve vestment 8 of means here are manhaven 4 ues aes in which they who have been overturned in their mercantile pursuits can invest their means which will pay ray ay UES larger profits and which are far lehs liable to fluctuation because mercantile pursuits are often subject to great de through being overdone or through scarcity of money and other causes causer if a person has a farm his pro duce will keep until he can obtain rem ren rc munera tive prices and he is more free and independent than the merchant for the earth being his bis banker lie lle h e is 19 not called upon to meet his bills and auld obligations by any particular cular and specified time tinie as the merchant is by turning our attention in A these directions direct fons ions bur capital may be safely lne invested and many who are now but little better betten betler better than idlers in israel might be remuneratively employed I 1 should say let every evers young man and woman too learn some way to procure thel their own rown subsistence and to promote their own independence this is incumbent upon all no person should be above learning some useful occoa tion tiou trade or business that is cal cai calculate culat ed to produce something for fo his rh own is and the general benefit hund Rund hundreds reds and t thousands hou sands of articles are imported here that might just as well be made in our midst and it if they were made here ift would atwould render reader us as a people a great deal more independent and comfortable than we are no now w that man only is truly rich who knows how to provide for himself and his household I 1 do not care how much means he has in ills his possession sion slon he only is independent who earthe has the means of subsistence within himself who has the capability of going forth and nd by his own industry drawing from the elements thos things which are af necessary for his own subsistence tetie I 1 remember reading an ail anecdote ane aue cOote af pf stephin Stephen 1 a young man be a h in a long time timi e I 1 who had received some same encouragement encourage men and had large expectations from him tha when chehad attained his lilt majority heSy buld set him urla upla up in business when that time arrived instead of giving the young man a draft for a certain amount of money he told him to go and serve an apprenticeship to some useful trade trado I 1 by which in case of a reverse of fortune he would be enabled to earn his own subsistence the young man went and bound himself to a cooper and learned that trade in a years yearb time he went back to his hia patron with a barrel of his own make the old gentleman examined the barrel and asked the price he could amford afford them at and was told a dollar each mr girard said eaid it was a good article and worth the money and if he could make as good barrels as that for that price he had bad insured to himself a living in any event that might in happen for his obedience in going and learning a trade as the old gentleman had directed him he was rewarded with a check for twenty five thousand dollars to set him up in business incase of any reverse of fortune this marshad something to fall back upon I 1 have always thought this was waa a very good principle to act upon I 1 would like to see all of our hiir young men learn some useful trade or occupation which would produce for them an honorable living by their own industry and andia if they acquire this in early life habits of industry and order become natural by industry we thrive industry in the mechanical and agricultural pursuits is a the foundation of our independence and they who obtain a livelihood by habits of industry are far more honorable members of society than they who live by their wits I 1 heard recently of a city that cheout the outsiders are endeavoring to start called corinne which it Is said is to be the great city of the interior west who are going there to expend their labor can cities be built without labor I 1 think not I 1 have no idea that a great city will be built in the location designated unless a dlf dif different Terent class of people go there than is to be found in such places generally I 1 have no doubt that the soil is rich and that by industry the tile elements necessary for the building up of a great city could be developed but any person who expects that a large city is going to be reared without altho ut industry and hard labor reckons without his host there may he be a rush abrush there for a short time ilme of s speculators peculators torb tors loafers Isa ija fers and rowdies bowdie b but u if these are arp tile the only classes of people 01 le who go there as here there is good reason teason to believe this great city that is to be like others of the same samei elass class wili will will soon die out and the people be scattered to some other places can men mefi be industrious and follow the various avocations and pursuits of life and still be servants of god yes such things are conducive to good morals it is said than an idle brain is the workshop of the devil and it is far more inore likely to be so than the brain of a person who is occupied with some U useful e employment can a person work on the railroad for instance and be associated with the wicked without being contaminated by them 0 yes if he aae is so disposed an elder of israel should wrap himself as with a mantle from sin whether he goes to preach the gospel to a wicked world or whether he goes to labor among the wicked such a man mart will willrose lose iose nothing but he will wil I 1 gain the esteem even of the wicked themselves by being faith falth faithful ful fui and true to his calling keeping the commandments of god and observing the word of wisdom and no matter what society he may be in he will be respected and will be far moe more likely to be so for the strict observance of the principles of the religion he professes than he will be if he does dods not observe them I 1 do not know that it is any excuse for ft a man to smoke chew drink whiskey keihe ta kethe name bf god in nii yain swear or drink tea anti antl e chuse cause he bb mingles with tho thoi thoeng eng 6 end efy hey voi 00 10 lo sueh such dol you think your associates would woula respect you the more for it no not a whit but they would inspect you more for not doing such things they would have greater confidence in you I 1 and if the they had money they wished to entrust t td the care of any one I 1 they would sooner entrust it to the care eare of a man who was faithful to the principles of his religion I 1 g io n han than to their associates who get dr drunk u nat gamble swear and commit every abomination this his people have been awakened to a sense of the their 1 ir duty in keeping the word of wisdom yet many of them think it a excuse for them to use hot drinks if they happen hap perito to be where others use them theril in this way they are arb falling baek back to the usa us of araz t tobacco bacco and are smoking their pipes C cr r cigars apolare ab a elare olare drinking tea and coffee tor lor or a little whisky now and again and arb are are letting those old habits grow on them again this is wrong they should not do it I 1 mention this in order lorder to stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance br anee we should not forget that we have entered into covenant not to do so latter day saints should remember that there is hot a day hour or moment in which they can afford to lay aside the armor of righteousness there is no time but what the adversary is at their elbows ready to enter in take hold and lead them into forbidden paths it is and ever has been a struggle with this people to trample the wickedness of the world under their feet it rises before us continually and we are never hid and without it we do nou not ot expect to be without it in our midst if this is the kingdom of god 1 I suppose jesus had as good an idea of what constituted the kingdon of god as any of us and he said it was like a net cast into the sea which brought forth all kinds both good and bad therefore let no one say this cannot be the kingdom of god because there are some who are not righteous in our midst because the wicked and unrighteous are in the world must we be partakers par akers takers of their wickedness by no means it is not at all necessary that it A should hould be so let liet us endeavor to eradicate from our own bosoms bosom s all sin it is not a matter of enthusiasm to last for an hour a day or a week and then die out it is in this way that people forget god and do wickedly you know that the scriptures inform us that they who do wickedly and all the nations who forget god shall be turned into hell the paths of virtue and truth are the paths of peace the paths of union that the leaders of this people are striving incessantly to introduce among us are calculated to create excellence cel lence greatness and power in our midst by pursuing these paths we shall grow in every virtue and excellence until we shall attain to those great glories that are for the faithful about which we slig sing and pray and the contemplation of which always lights up our minds minda with so much joy and bliss by faithfully observing the counsels given to us meshall we shall shail actually come into possession of these things as naturally as a child by constant instruction st comes to attainments I 1 in learning it will be done by gainin gaining item by item by living our holy religion day by day hour by hour and all i the time I 1 blessed Bles bies sedis is that person man and woman who can retain from youth up a good holy and righteous influent influence le who have never committed an overt act acty preserving themselves righteously before the lord dinall in nil all good faith and conscience all the days of their lives I 1 |