_MISSIONARY WORK_
_The Gospel to be Preached to all Men_--The Gospel must be
preached to the world, that the wicked may be left without excuse. 4:58.
It is necessary that all have the privilege of receiving or rejecting
eternal truth, that they may be prepared to be saved, or be prepared to
be damned. 7:139.
Our Father in Heaven, Jesus, our Elder Brother and the Savior of the
world, and the whole heavens, are calling upon this people to prepare
to save the nations of the earth, also the millions who have slept
without the Gospel. 18:77.
The Lord has called me to this work, and I feel as though I will do it.
We will send the Gospel to the nations; and when one nation turns us
away we will go to another and gather up the honest in heart, and the
rest we care not for until we come on Mount Zion as saviors, to attend
to the ordinances of the house of God for them. 8:230-1.
The Lord has restored the Priesthood in our day for the salvation of
Israel. Does he design to save anybody else? Yes; he will save the
House of Esau, and I hope to live until I see Mount Zion established,
and saviors come up to save those poor, miserable beings who are
continually persecuting us--all who have not sinned against the Holy
Ghost. Our labor is to save ourselves, to save the House of Israel, to
save the House of Esau, and all the Gentile nations--every one that can
be saved. 7:281.
This Kingdom or work is proffered to the whole of the human family,
even to all who will accept it, upon the terms of strict obedience to
all its ordinances and requirements, {490} and to its organization of
Prophets and Apostles, gifts and blessings and graces. 11:249.
There are, doubtless, millions of just as honest people among the
several religious denominations as are amongst the professedly
Latter-day Saints. But they have not the Gospel, they are in darkness
with regard to the plan of salvation, and their teachers are blind
guides, totally unable to give the people the living word, the way of
life. If they live up to the best light and knowledge they have and
can get, they are safe, and in a saved condition. What is the sin of
the ministry and people of the present Christian denominations? It is
that light has come to them and they reject it. The condemnation of the
Jewish nation was that light had come into the world, but they chose
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil; so says the
Savior. The same Gospel that Jesus taught to those who rejected him is
entrusted to us to preach to the whole world with the same consequences
which must reach them at some time, in some condition. 17:262.
I shall be very happy when I can know that the people of the East
Indian Archipelago, and the people on every island and continent, both
the high and the low, the ignorant and intelligent, have received the
words of eternal life, and have had bestowed upon them the power of the
eternal Priesthood of the Son of God, by which they may become truly
civilized. 8:7.
The day will come when the Gospel will be presented to the kings and
queens and great ones of the earth; but it will be presented with a
different influence from that with which it has been presented to the
poor, but it will be the same Gospel. We shall not present any other
Gospel; it is the same from everlasting to everlasting. 13:150. {491}
The Elders have also preached through the different nations of Europe
so far as they were allowed to do so. In some countries the law would
not permit them; but the Lord will yet revolutionize those nations
until the door will be opened and the Gospel will be preached to all.
12:256.
Had I the choice whether to go to the Saints and gather Saints, or to
go where the Gospel was preached by the ancient Apostles of the Lord
Jesus Christ, among the children of the people who have formerly had
the Gospel preached to them, I would engage to go to the States and
gather one hundred Saints to one that could be gathered from among the
children of those who heard Peter, Paul, and others of the ancient
Apostles preach the Gospel. 4:306.
Though the people in the States are daily becoming more hardened
against the truth, yet if I were in New York this day, and it was my
business to be there, I would not be there long before I would have
many Elders preaching through different parts of that city; I would
have them preaching in the English, Danish, French, German, and other
languages. And soon would have Elders dispersed all over the State, and
would raise up new friends enough to sustain me, that is, if the Lord
would help me, and if he did not, I would leave. 4:37.
_Help to Save Every Person_--What is Babylon? It is the confused
world: come out of her, then, and cease to partake of her sins, for if
you do not you will be partakers of her plagues. 12:282.
If to all eternity you could praise God, through being the means of
saving one soul, I may say the least or most inferior intelligence upon
the earth, pertaining to the human family,--if you could be the means
of saving one such {492} person, how great would be your joy in the
heavens! Then let us save many, and our joy will be great in proportion
to the number of souls we save. Let us destroy none. 9:124.
A true servant of God takes more pleasure in saving the meanest
capacity organized in human form upon the face of the earth than a
wicked person can in leading hosts astray. Let a Prophet of God,
an Apostle, or any servant of the Lord Jesus have the privilege of
bringing the very smallest degree of organized intelligence up higher
and higher until it is capable of receiving the intelligence of angels,
and it will give more consolation and happiness than to lead all the
posterity of Adam into a wrong path. 8:59.
We had better gather nine that are unworthy than to neglect the tenth
if he is worthy. 15:18.
We gather the poorest of the people, the unlearned, and a few of the
learned; but generally, we gather those who are poor, who wish to be
redeemed; who feel the oppression the high and the proud have made
them endure; they have felt a wish to be delivered, and consequently
their ears were open to receive the truth. Take those who are in the
enjoyment of all the luxuries of this life, and their ears are stopped
up; they cannot hear. 12:256.
And when you are called to preach the Gospel on foreign missions, take
a course to save every person. There is no man or woman within the
pale of saving grace but that is worth saving. There is no intelligent
being, except those who have sinned against the Holy Ghost, but that is
worth, I may say, all the life of an Elder to save in the Kingdom of
God. 9:124.
This people are mostly gathered from what are termed the laboring and
middle classes. We have not gathered {493} into this Church men that
are by the world esteemed profound in their principles, ideas, and
judgment. We have none in this Church that are called by them expert
statesmen. How frequently it is cast at the Elders, when they are
abroad preaching, that Joseph Smith, the founder of their Church and
religion, was only a poor illiterate boy. That used to be advanced
as one of the strongest arguments that could be produced against the
doctrine of salvation, by the wise and learned of this world, though it
is no argument at all. The Lord should have revealed himself to some
of the learned priests or talented men of the age, say they, who could
have done some good and borne off the Gospel by their influence and
learning, and not to a poor, ignorant, unlettered youth. Not many wise,
not many mighty, not many noble, speaking after the manner of men, are
called; but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound
the wise, the weak things of the world to confound the things that are
mighty; and base things of the world--things which are despised by the
world, hath God in his wisdom chosen; yea, and things which are not,
to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in his
presence. 6:70.
It is the House of Israel we are after, and we care not whether they
come from the east, the west, the north, or the south; from China,
Russia, England, California, North or South America, or some other
locality; and it is the very lad on whom Father Jacob laid his hands,
that will save the House of Israel. The Book of Mormon came to Ephraim,
for Joseph Smith was a pure Ephraimite. 2:268.
If this net does not gather the good and the bad we should have no idea
that it is the net that Jesus spoke about when he said that it should
gather of all kinds. 14:78. {494}
I may say that this Gospel is to spread to the nations of the earth,
Israel is to be gathered, Zion redeemed, and the land of Joseph, which
is the land of Zion, is to be in the possession of the Saints, if the
Lord Almighty lets me live; and if I go behind the veil somebody else
must see to it. My brethren must bear it off shoulder to shoulder.
3:361.
_Words to Departing Missionaries_--We wish the brethren to
understand the facts just as they are; that is, there is neither man or
woman in this Church who is not on a mission. That mission will last
as long as they live, and it is to do good, to promote righteousness,
to teach the principles of truth, and to prevail upon themselves and
everybody around them to live those principles that they may obtain
eternal life. 12:19.
When I came into this Church, I started right out as a missionary, and
took a text, and began to travel on a circuit. Truth is my text, the
Gospel of salvation my subject, and the world my circuit. 9:137.
We do not wish a man to enter on a mission, unless his soul is in it.
2:267.
The brethren who have been called upon foreign missions we expect to
respond to the call cheerfully. 4:264.
Go forth and preach the Gospel, gain an experience, learn wisdom, and
walk humbly before your God, that you may receive the Holy Ghost to
guide and direct you, and teach you all things past, present, and to
come. 8:176.
Go trusting in God, and continue to trust in him, and he will open
your way and multiply blessings upon you, and your souls will be
satisfied with his goodness. I cannot promise you any good in taking an
unrighteous course; your lives must be examples of good works. 8:73.
I think that the brethren were required to go and preach {495} "without
purse and scrip," and that is what I am now trying to get them to
do--to go "without purse and scrip," and not beg the poor Saints to
death. Let us support the Elders, instead of making the poor do it. We
are able to send these men out to preach the Gospel, and they may go
"without purse or scrip." 8:169.
I wish the Elders to go forth as I have taught them. If you have a
clean shirt and one to be washed, then be satisfied. If you are clothed
so as to be comfortable, be satisfied, and do not let your minds reach
out after anything, only to preach the Gospel and gather the souls of
men. That is all the business you have upon your hands--it is your
whole mission; and trust in God to get home--trust in the Lord to go
from place to place, and the way will be opened for you. 8:185.
Those who now go forth upon missions will feel more of the power of God
than they ever had, and will speak as men having authority, asking no
odds of the wicked. 8:172.
I would like to impress upon the minds of the brethren, that he who
goes forth in the name of the Lord; trusting in him with all his heart,
will never want for wisdom to answer any question that is asked him, or
to give any counsel that may be required to lead the people in the way
of life and salvation, and he will never be confounded worlds without
end. Go in the name of the Lord, trust in the name of the Lord, lean
upon the Lord, and call upon the Lord fervently and without ceasing,
and pay no attention to the world. You will see plenty of the world--it
will be before you all the time--but if you live so as to possess the
Holy Ghost you will be able to understand more in relation to it in one
day than you could in a dozen days without it, and you will at once see
the difference between {496} the wisdom of men and the wisdom of God,
and you can weigh things in the balance and estimate them at their true
worth. 12:34.
If the Elders cannot go with clean hands and pure hearts, they had
better stay here. Do not go thinking, when you arrive at the Missouri
River, at the Mississippi, at the Ohio, or at the Atlantic, that then
you will purify yourselves; but start from here with clean hands and
pure hearts, and be pure from the crown of the head to the soles of
your feet; then live so every hour. Go in that manner, and in that
manner labor, and return again as clean as a piece of pure white paper.
This is the way to go; and if you do not do that, your hearts will ache.
Will you be liable to fall into temptation and be overtaken by sin?
Yes, unless you live so as to have the revelation of Jesus Christ
continually, not only to live in it today or while you are preaching,
in a prayer meeting, or in a conference; and when you are out of these
meetings, when you are guarded more particularly by the Spirit, say
that you can get along without the Holy Ghost. You must have it all
the time--on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and every day through the week,
and from year to year, from the time you leave home until you return;
so that when you come back, you may not be afraid if the Lord Almighty
should come into the midst of the Saints and reveal all the acts and
doings and designs of your hearts in your missions; but be found clean
like a piece of white paper. That is the way for the Elders to live in
their ministry at home and abroad. 6:273-4.
I want to say for the consolation of the Elders of Israel and those
who go forth to preside, you need have no trouble with regard to the
building up of this Kingdom, only do {497} your duty in the sphere to
which you are assigned. 14:79.
Elders who go forth to proclaim the Gospel, unless they do something
to clip their faith, or cause them to apostatize from their religion,
so that they are left in the dark, are generally on the increase in
improvement, grow in grace and in knowledge. They are advancing in the
principles of truth, while the world are receding from the truth they
once had; consequently, it appears to the Elders, and to those who
go from the Saints into the world, that it is growing wicked faster
than it really is, and the Elders do not always realize that their
advancement in truth produces much of the appearance of the great
distance between them and the world. 3:221-2.
If those who are going to preach do not go with that faith that
pertains to eternal life, and that spirit that is like a well of water,
springing up into everlasting life, their labors will be vain. They may
be the best theoretical theologians in the world--may be able to preach
a Bible and a half in a sermon, to read history without a book, and
understand all the dealings with men from the days of Adam till now;
and, without the Spirit of the living God to guide them, they will not
be able to accomplish anything to their credit towards building up his
Kingdom. They must realize that success in preaching the Gospel springs
not from the wisdom of this world. They must so live as to enjoy the
power of God. 8:70-71.
Don't carry your wives or your children in your hearts or in your
affections with you one rod. Dedicate them to the Lord God of Israel,
and leave them at home; and when you are in England, or among other
nations, no matter where, when you pray for your families, pray for
them as being in the Great Salt Lake Valley, and do not bring them
{498} close to you, as though they were in your carpet-bag. Pray for
them where they are. You must feel--if they live, all right; if they
die, all right; if I die, all right; if I live, all right; for we are
the Lord's, and we shall soon meet again. 6:276.
I wish to say to you that are left here, whose husbands and fathers
are going away for a season--don't cling to them one particle, but let
them go as cheerfully as you would give a weary traveler a cup of cold
water. If you live, it is all right; and if you fall asleep before they
return, it is all right. Don't send your hearts after them one step,
nor suffer your spirits to cling to them one moment. Then you, wives,
in very deed will be blessed and be helpmeets to your husbands. 6:276.
Many have such feelings, that they are greater who are in the world
preaching the Gospel than those who remain here. It is a grand mistake.
6:274.
Look over the history of the Church of the living God on the earth from
the days of Adam until now, and I will ensure that you cannot find the
equal to the excessive labor of the Elders of Israel in our day in
spreading the Truth through the world to save mankind. I have no idea
that it was done in the days of Enoch; for the human family had then
spread over the earth but little, and the Elders did not have to travel
scores of thousands of miles without purse or scrip among the wicked.
So also in the days of Noah; they had but a short distance to travel.
In the days of the Israelites, of the Prophets, of Jesus Christ, and
the Apostles, what was their labor in the extent of its field, compared
with that of this people? Very small. You may trace the course of their
travel, and you will find that it {499} was far less than that of the
Elders of Israel in our day. 5:351.
If you go on a mission to preach the Gospel with lightness and
frivolity in your hearts, looking for this and that, and to learn what
is in the world, and not having your minds riveted--yes, I may say
riveted--on the cross of Christ, you will go and return in vain. Go
forth weeping, bearing precious seed, full of the power of God, and
full of faith to heal the sick even by the touch of your hand, rebuking
and casting out foul spirits, and causing the poor among men to
rejoice, and you will return bringing your sheaves with you. Let your
minds be centered on your missions and labor earnestly to bring souls
to Christ. 12:33-34.
_Advice to Missionaries in the Field_--The travels and labors
of the Elders about to go on missions will throw them into positions
which will cause them to seek unto the Lord. They need to live their
religion, to go forth with pure hearts and clean hands, and then preach
the Gospel by the power of God sent down from heaven. They should touch
not and taste not of sin, and when they return they should come pure
and clean, ready to meet the Saints with open countenances. 8:178.
When you reach your respective fields of labor in the States, in
England, or elsewhere, do not begin to pull down your predecessors.
So far as their conduct will permit, speak of them as your brethren,
and as men who have done the best they knew how. Testify that you know
them to be good men, when you know that they have been doing according
to their best judgment and understanding; and do not say hard words
about your predecessors in the vineyard. Not one who does this will
gain anything by it. {500} Do not discourage, deride, or bring anything
against any of your predecessors to lessen the character of any one who
has done the best he knew how. 8:181.
Gather the Saints, but do not flatter; invite, but do not urge, and by
no means compel any one. 8:72.
If you have a happy influence with your brethren and sisters, preserve
it, for it is more choice than fine gold. How many times have I told
the Elders, "When you go on missions, be careful to preserve your
God-like dignity and integrity." 8:346.
The Elders who are going abroad should deal out kindness to those they
are sent to watch over, and your smiles will be far better than your
cursings could be. 8:74.
You know that I have said that, if it were now my calling to go and
preach the Gospel, I could make as many converts as I ever did; for I
would go in such a manner that the bitterly prejudiced would have to
labor hard to find out that I was a "Mormon" until I had induced them
to love the truth. Then they would say, "If that is 'Mormonism' I want
it." 5:5.
I wish the Elders of Israel to understand mankind as they are--to go to
the people and take them as they are. 9:121.
I wish you all to understand that no Elders go to any place among the
world but what the wicked find fault with the people of God. 4:78.
Let me now say to my brethren, the Elders of Israel, it is always
proper to ask kindly and affectionately the people to perform what you
wish performed, instead of ordering them to do it. This principle is
always good for parents and teachers to observe. 10:228.
Elders of Israel, learn to be spiritual physicians. Carry {501} the
medicine with you to deal out to every patient as he needs it. If a
patient has chills and fever in his spirit, you must carry the medicine
to cure it. 9:125.
Never suffer yourselves to mingle in any of those recreations that tend
to sin and iniquity, while you are away from the body of the Church,
where you cannot so fully control yourselves. 1:48.
I recollect, in England, sending an Elder to Bristol, to open a door
there, and see if anybody would believe. He had a little more than
thirty miles to walk; he starts off one morning, and arrives at
Bristol; he preached the gospel to them, and sealed them all up to
damnation, and was back next morning. He was just as good a man, too,
as we had. It was want of knowledge caused him to do so. I go and
preach to the people, and tell them at the end of every sermon, He that
believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; and he that believeth not,
shall be damned. I continue preaching there day after day, week after
week, and month after month, and yet nobody believes my testimony, that
I know of, and I don't see any signs of it. "What shall I do in this
case, if I am sent to preach there?" you may inquire. You must continue
to preach there, until those who sent you shall tell you to leave
that field of labor; and if the people don't manifest by their works,
that they believe, as long as they come to hear me, I will continue
to plead with them until they bend their dispositions to the Gospel?
Why? Because I must be patient with them, as the Lord is patient with
me; as the Lord is merciful to me, I will be merciful to others; as
he continues to be merciful to me, consequently I must continue in
long-suffering to be merciful to others--patiently waiting, with all
diligence, until the people will believe, and until they are prepared
to {502} become heirs to a celestial kingdom, or angels to the Devil.
3:91.
In the first place, I want to say to the Elders who go forth to preach
the Gospel--no matter who may apply to you for baptism, even if you
have good reason to believe they are unworthy, if they require it,
forbid them not, but perform that duty and administer the ordinance for
them; it clears the skirts of your garments, and the responsibility is
upon them. 14:78.
The meek and lowly Jesus sent his disciples without purse or scrip;
and when the honest in heart see our Elders go in the same manner
that Jesus' disciples did, with the doctrine that he delivered to his
disciples, and preach without purse or scrip, our Elders will find
plenty of honest-hearted persons who will receive their testimony.
But when the Elders go into the great cities, hire large halls and
hire carriages to ride to their pulpit in, the people say it is a
speculation, and such Elders do not have much of the Spirit of the Lord
to preach to the people. 13:90.
When you reach your fields of labor, do the best you can; and when the
enemy comes along and tells you that you are somebody, say, "Mr. Devil,
it is none of your business. What I have spoken is what the Lord gave
to me. I have presented it to the people, and that is all I have to
do with it." If you cannot preach as nicely and smoothly as you wish,
and a feeling rises that you cannot preach at all--that you had better
return home, tell Satan to get behind you--that he has no power to
dictate whether you preach a word or not, for you are in the Lord's
service. So live that the Spirit of the Lord can instruct your minds
at all times, and you can then defy the Devil and all his emissaries.
If you have nothing from the Lord to present {503} to the people, be
as willing to be silent as you would to preach what might be termed a
splendid discourse. 8:55.
I do not think there was worse said about the Savior and his disciples
in ancient days than has been said about the people of Utah in modern
times. Take no notice of this, but attend to the business about which
you have been sent. Tell this generation the truth, and pass along. Do
not contend or argue much but pass along peaceably and preach the first
principles of the Gospel. 8:56.
If you should have visits here from those professing to be Christians,
and they intimate a desire to preach to you, by all means invite them
to do so. Accord to every reputable person who may visit you, and who
may wish to occupy the stands of your meeting houses to preach to
you, the privilege of doing so, no matter whether he be a Catholic,
Presbyterian, Congregationalist, Baptist, Free-will Baptist, Methodist,
or whatever he may be; and if he wishes to speak to your children let
him do so. Of course you have the power to correct whatever false
teachings or impressions, if any, your children may hear or receive.
14:195.
When men enjoy the spirit of their missions and realize their calling
and standing before the Lord and the people, it constitutes the
happiest portions of their lives. 8:53.
Some inquire, "Why cannot we serve God in other countries as well as
here?" You can just as well in England, in France, in Germany, in
Italy, on the islands of the sea, in the United States, in California,
or anywhere else, as you can here. 2:253.
_The Returned Missionary_--Come home with your heads up. Keep
yourselves clean, from the crowns of your heads to the soles of your
feet; be pure in heart,--otherwise you will return bowed down in spirit
and with a fallen countenance, {504} and will feel as though you never
could rise again. 2:253.
I wish to make this request: that the Elders who return from missions
consider themselves just as much on a mission here as in England or in
any other part of the world. 14:220.
We frequently call the brethren to go on missions to preach the Gospel,
and they will go and labor as faithfully as men can do, fervent in
spirit, in prayer, in laying on hands, in preaching to and teaching the
people how to be saved. In a few years they come home, and throwing
off their coats and hats, they will say, "Religion, stand aside, I am
going to work now to get something for myself and my family." This
is folly in the extreme. When a man returns from a mission where he
has been preaching the Gospel he ought to be just as ready to come to
this pulpit to preach as if he were in England, France, Germany, or on
the islands of the sea. And when he has been at home a week, a month,
a year, or ten years, the spirit of preaching and the spirit of the
Gospel ought to be within him like a river flowing forth to the people
in good words, teachings, precepts, and examples. If this is not the
case he does not fill his mission. 14:100.
Do not come from your missions leaving behind you people whom you
have oppressed, from whom you have begged their money. I would work
my way there and back again, or beg from strangers, before I would
take one dime from the Saints, unless they of their own free will and
accord wished to make me presents, and were able to do so without
distressing themselves. True, I have seen the time, and so have many of
my brethren, when my heart has ached to see men and women go without
food day after {505} day for the sake of feeding me, when I could
feed myself; but any other course would not satisfy them. Under such
circumstances you must humor the people and yield to their feelings.
8:55.
Those faithful Elders who have testified of this work to thousands of
people on the continents and islands of the seas will see the fruits of
their labors, whether they have said five words or thousands. They may
not see these fruits immediately, and perhaps, in many cases, not until
the Millennium; but the savor of their testimony will pass down from
father to son. 8:142.
_The Gospel is Preached With Authority_--When a man who is called
and ordained of God goes forth he preaches the ordinances, faith in
Christ and obedience to him as our Savior. He declares that the first
step to be taken, after believing in the Father and the Son, is to go
down into the waters of baptism and there be immersed in the water,
and come up out of the water as Jesus did. Some may inquire why the
Latter-day Saints are so strenuous on this point? We do it for the
remission of sins; Jesus did this to fulfil all righteousness. 14:96.
Perhaps some may say that I have too much faith in the prophecies of
God, in the latter-day work, and in the administration of individuals
that now live and have lived on the earth in our day. Be it so, no
matter to me. I am here to testify in the name of the God of Israel
that for many years past there have been men traveling through the
length and breadth of the earth who possess the same power and
authority as that with which Jesus endowed his Apostles when he told
them to go into all the world and "preach the Gospel to every creature,
and he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that
believeth not shall be {506} damned, and these signs shall follow them
that believe. In my name they shall cast out devils, heal the sick,
speak with new tongues," etc. 14:131.
_The Spirit, Not Logic or Debate, Makes Converts_--Let one go
forth who is careful to prove logically all he says by numerous
quotations from the revelations, and let another travel with him who
can say, by the power of the Holy Ghost, Thus saith the Lord, and tell
what the people should believe--what they should do--how they should
live, and teach them to yield to the principles of salvation,--though
he may not be capable of producing a single logical argument, though
he may tremble under a sense of his weakness, cleaving to the Lord for
strength, as such men generally do, you will invariably find that the
man who testifies by the power of the Holy Ghost will convince and
gather many more of the honest and upright than will the merely logical
reasoner. 8:53.
However good and useful a classical education may be in the possession
of a good and wise man, yet it is not essentially necessary for him
to have it, to tell the simple truth which is given to mankind by
the revelations of God, because it can be told by the simple and the
unlearned. 11:215.
Debate and argument have not that saving effect that has testifying to
the truth as the Lord reveals it to the Elder by the Spirit. I think
you will all agree with me in this; at least, such is my experience.
I do not wish to be understood as throwing a straw in the way of the
Elders storing their minds with all the arguments they can gather to
urge in defense of their religion, nor do I wish to hinder them in the
least from learning all they can with regard {507} to religions and
governments. The more knowledge the Elders have the better. 8:53.
I had only traveled a short time to testify to the people, before I
learned this one fact, that you might prove doctrine from the Bible
till doomsday, and it would merely convince a people, but would not
convert them. You might read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation,
and prove every iota that you advance, and that alone would have no
converting influence upon the people. Nothing short of a testimony
by the power of the Holy Ghost would bring light and knowledge to
them--bring them in their hearts to repentance. Nothing short of that
would ever do. You have frequently heard me say that I would rather
hear an Elder, either here or in the world, speak only five words
accompanied by the power of God, and they would do more good than to
hear long sermons without the Spirit. That is true, and we know it.
5:327.
When a false theory has to be maintained, it requires to be set forth
with much care; it requires study, and learning, and cunning sophistry
to gild over a falsehood and give it the semblance of truth, and make
it plausible and congenial to the feelings of the people; but the
most simple and unlearned person can tell you the truth. A child can
tell you the truth, in child-like language, while falsehood requires
the lawyer and the priest to tell it to make it at all plausible; it
requires a scholastic education to make falsehood pass for truth.
11:214.
The servants of God have truth, and nothing but truth, to present to
the world, that the world may be sanctified by the truth. The truth
needeth no polish to make it lovely and desirable to those who love it.
11:234.
They must eventually either acknowledge that he is the {508} Son of God
and that his Gospel is the only Gospel, or they must take infidelity.
Sooner or later the sects, one after another, will deny the Savior and
every one of the ordinances of his Gospel, until they are all enveloped
in infidelity, or they must accept the whole. Strange as it may appear,
they are now following shadows, phantoms of the brain, and mischievous
manifestations. 14:74.
What should the wicked hear? They should hear a man testify that Joseph
Smith was and is a Prophet of God, that he was a good man, and that he
did plant and establish the Kingdom of God on the earth, and we know
it. "How shall I know?" says one. By obeying the commandments given to
you. The Lord has said, go into the waters of baptism and be baptized
for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive a witness that I
am telling you the truth. How? By baptism and the laying on of hands
alone? No. By seeing the sick healed? No, but by the Spirit that shall
come unto you through obedience, which will make you feel like little
children, and cause you to delight in doing good, to love your Father
in Heaven and the society of the righteous. Have you malice and wrath
then? No, it is taken from you, and you feel like the child in its
mother's lap. You will feel kind to your children, to your brothers
and sisters, to your parents and neighbors, and to all around you; you
will feel a glow, as of fire, burning within you; and if you open your
mouths to talk you will declare ideas which you did not formerly think
of; they will flow into your mind, even such as you have not thought
of for years. The Scriptures will be opened to you, and you will see
how clear and reasonable everything is which this or that Elder teaches
you. Your hearts will be comforted, you can lie down and sleep in
peace, and {509} wake up with feelings as pleasant as the breezes of
summer. This is witness to you. 3:211.
The Latter-day Saints realize that there is no period of man's
existence not incorporated with the plan of salvation, and directly
pointing to a future existence. Consequently, when we stand here to
speak to the people, let every man speak what is in his heart. If
one of our Elders is capable of giving us a lecture upon any of the
sciences, let it be delivered in the spirit of meekness--in the spirit
of the holy Gospel. If, on the Sabbath day, when we are assembled here
to worship the Lord, one of the Elders should be prompted to give us
a lecture on any branch of education with which he is acquainted, is
it outside the pale of our religion? I think not. If any of the Elders
are disposed to give a lecture to parents and children on letters,
on the rudiments of the English language, it is in my religion, it
is a part of my faith. Or if an Elder shall give us a lecture upon
astronomy, chemistry, or geology, our religion embraces it all. It
matters not what the subject be, if it tends to improve the mind, exalt
the feelings, and enlarge the capacity. The truth that is in all the
arts and sciences forms a part of our religion. Faith is no more a part
of it than any other true principle of philosophy. Were I to give you
a lecture today upon farming, would I be speaking upon a matter that
transcends the bounds of our religion? Agriculture is a part of it as
well as any other truth. Were I to lecture on business principles of
any kind, our religion embraces it; and what it does not circumscribe,
it would be well for us to dispense with at once and forever. 1:334.
_Humility and Devotion, the Essentials_--The Kingdom of our God,
that is set upon the earth, does not require men {510} of many words
and flaming oratorical talents, to establish truth and righteousness.
It is not the many words that accomplish the designs of our Father in
Heaven, with him it is the acts of the people more than their words;
this I was convinced of before I embraced the Gospel. Had it not been
that I clearly saw and understood that the Lord Almighty would take the
weak things of this world to confound the mighty, the wise, and the
talented, there was nothing that could have induced me, or persuaded
me, to have ever become a public speaker. 4:20.
On the other hand, I do not wish any of the brethren to be discouraged,
for if you feel that you cannot say a single word, no matter, if you
will only be faithful to your God and to your religion, and be humble,
and cleave unto righteousness, and forsake iniquity and sin, the Lord
will guide you and give you words in due season. 2:268.
I have known some of the Elders when they thought they would be called
out to preach, keep away from meeting lest they should be called upon,
for they feel their littleness, their nothingness, their inability
to rise up and preach to the people. They do not feel that they are
anybody, and why should they expose their weaknesses? I have noticed
one thing in regard to this--quite as many of these men become giants
in the cause of truth, as there are of any other class; for when they
get away they begin to lean on the Lord, and to seek unto him, and
feeling their weaknesses, they ask him to give them wisdom to speak to
the people as occasion may require. Others can rise up here and preach
a flaming discourse, insomuch that you would think they were going to
tear down the nations; but when they go out into the world they often
accomplish but little. 2:267. {511}
_Preach Only That Which is Known_--With regard to doctrinal
points, that which we do not understand should not be talked about in,
this stand; and the Elders of Israel should never contend about any
point of doctrine that does not pertain to the present day's salvation.
7:47.
I will give a caution to my brethren, the Elders--never undertake to
teach a thing that you do not understand. Such things will come into
your minds; but without launching out on such subjects, questions may
be asked and answered, and we gain knowledge from each other. There is
plenty within the scope of our own brains that, by the assistance of
the Spirit of the Lord, will enable us to tell many things--more than
the world, or even more than the Saints can receive. 13:263.
If you do not understand a doctrine or a portion of Scripture, when
information is asked of you, say that the Lord has not revealed that to
you, or that he has not opened your understanding to grasp it, and that
you do not feel safe in giving an interpretation until he does. 8:56.
_Hints for Preachers_--Short sermons fitly spoken, are better than
long ones ill spoken. 3:249.
The spirit of truth will do more to bring persons to light and
knowledge, than flowery words. 4:21.
I wish to see the Elders get up here and manifest their spirits, and
speak as they feel when they are alone in their meditations. 3:237.
I care little for a man's language, if his spirit proves to me that he
has the love of God within him. 9:290.
The preacher needs the power of the Holy Ghost to deal out to each
heart a word in due season, and the hearers need the Holy Ghost to
bring forth the fruits of the preached word of God to his glory. 8:167.
{512}
No man ever preached a Gospel sermon, except by the gift and power of
the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. Without this power, there is no
light in the preaching. 8:138.
Elders in this Church--men who have been members for years,--often
speak of principles in the abstract, when they would be better
understood if they spoke of them in connection with other kindred
principles. 8:259.
Perfection in conveying ideas is not yet given to the children of men.
Our language is altogether inadequate for always conveying our ideas
with unmistakable precision, and the same ideas are generally advanced
in different words by different persons. 8:259.
When a person opens his mouth, no matter what he talks about, to a
person of quick discernment he will disclose more or less of his true
sentiments. You cannot hide the heart, when the mouth is open. If you
want to keep your heart secret, keep your mouth shut. 6:74.
There are two thousand persons in this assembly, and if only half
a dozen of them have done wrong, I could not chastise them without
appearing to chastise the whole congregation, which in reality is not
so. By chastising the guilty, however, it is impossible to spot the
conscience of good men and women, whose hearts are clean and pure as a
piece of white paper. 1:92.
We can form some kind of an idea how a man feels by looking at him,
but if you wish a man to portray himself faithfully you must get him
to talk, and I will insure that the organs of speech will show out the
true state of the mind, sooner or later, and reveal the fruit of his
heart. No man can hide it if he is allowed to talk; he will be sure to
manifest his true feelings. 3:237. {513}
If you wish to impress on the minds of individuals or an audience
anything that you desire them to remember, you will have to use
language accordingly. 14:193.
When we hear a man that can speak of heavenly things, and present
them to the people in a way that they can be understood, you may
know that to that man the avenue is open, and he, by some power, has
communication with heavenly beings; and when the highest intelligence
is exhibited, he, perhaps, has communication with the highest
intelligence that exists. 8:206.
I do not like to hear men make excuses, although it is natural, and I
put up with it. I wish they could see and understand that they have had
advantages above many of their brethren--that they have been greatly
blessed, and should never complain, but should stand up here and
exercise themselves according to the best of their ability, and do all
the good possible for them to do. 5:97.
The truth is easily understood, and as easily told. The agriculturist
and the mechanic can tell the truth, and become efficient ministers
of it, by living faithfully in accordance with what they know of the
Gospel; for in this way they obtain the Holy Ghost, which giveth
utterance. 11:214.
When people are hungry they need substantial food; when they are
thirsty they need substantial drink. Moses' smiting the rock would not
have benefited the people in the least, if water had not gushed out.
It is the duty of the true minister of Christ to instruct the people
of God how to get their food today, and to teach them by precept and
example how to become an independent nation. 11:133.
It is my business to teach mankind how to live, how to honor their
present existence, how to treat their bodies so as to live to a good
old age on the earth, and have power {514} to do good and not evil
all their days, and be ready to enter into the rest prepared for the
Saints. 10:27.
It yields solid satisfaction to hear men testify of the truth of the
Gospel. It is always peculiarly interesting to me to hear the Saints
tell their experience. It is to me one of the best of sermons to hear
men and women relate to each other how the Lord has wrought upon
their understanding and brought them into the path of truth, life,
and salvation. I would rather hear men tell their own experience, and
testify that Joseph was a Prophet of the Lord, and that the Book of
Mormon, the Bible, and other revelations of God, are true; that they
know it by the gift and power of God; that they have conversed with
angels, have had the power of the Holy Ghost upon them, giving them
visions and revelations, than hear any kind of preaching that ever
saluted my ears. 1:89.
A man who wishes to receive light and knowledge, to increase in the
faith of the Holy Gospel, and to grow in the knowledge of the truth
as it is in Jesus Christ, will find that when he imparts knowledge to
others he will also grow and increase. Be not miserly in your feelings,
but get knowledge and understanding by freely imparting it to others,
and be not like a man who selfishly hoards his gold; for that man
will not thus increase upon the amount, but will become contracted in
his views and feelings. So the man who will not impart freely of the
knowledge he has received, will become so contracted in his mind that
he cannot receive truth when it is presented to him. Wherever you see
an opportunity to do good, do it, for that is the way to increase and
grow in the knowledge of the truth. 2:267.
If a congregation wish to be instructed so as to understand alike and
alike receive an increase of wisdom and {515} knowledge, their minds
must be intent on the subject before them. They must not suffer their
thoughts to be roaming over the earth; they must not permit their minds
to be scanning and traversing their every-day duties and avocations.
6:93-4.
Elders of Israel and Bishops, be fathers, and take a course by which
you will win the affections of the people. How? With your silken
lips? No, no; but with the fear of the Almighty. Do you know that men
and women of God love truth? They do not love sophistry, it is an
abomination to them. 4:283.
A few words now, with regard to preaching. The greatest and loudest
sermon that can be preached, or that ever was preached on the face of
the earth, is practice. No other is equal to it. 12:271-2.
If you will reflect upon what class of speakers have most edified you,
no matter whether they are taught or untaught in, the learning of the
schools, you will readily discover that it has been those whose minds
were stored with good ideas, and who spoke so that you could readily
and easily understand them, whether their language was couched in the
most approved style or not. When you hear individuals speak whose minds
are stored with rich ideas, do they not benefit you the most? I care
but little about your language, hand out the ideas, and let us know
what you have stored in your minds. 3:243-4.
I have the same diffidence in my feelings that most public speakers
have, and am apt to think that others can speak better and more
edifying than I can. There are but few public speakers but what feel
more or less timidity. That is probably not so much a man-fearing
spirit as it is a natural delicacy or timidity. All of you have
doubtless to {516} some extent realized the same feeling, either in
large or small assemblies, and also in social conversation. People
generally are more or less disturbed and thrown off their balance by
the sound of their own voices, especially when speaking to an audience,
even after being much used to addressing assemblies. Some of our most
eloquent and interesting speakers would rather do almost anything than
speak to the congregations that assemble here. That diffidence or
timidity we must dispense with. When it becomes our duty to talk, we
ought to be willing to talk. If we never exhibit the knowledge within
us, the people will not know really whether we have any. 6:93.
If an Elder in preaching the Gospel, does not feel that he has the
power to preach life and salvation, and legally to administer the
ordinances, and that, too, by the power of God, he will not fill his
mission to his own credit, nor to the good of the people, and the
advancement and honor of the Kingdom of God. From all I can read, from
all I can gather, from the revelations from God to man, and from the
revelations of the Spirit to me, no man can successfully preach the
Gospel and be owned, blessed, and acknowledged by the heavens, unless
he preaches by the power of God through direct revelation. Not but
that, in a great many instances, a man may not be manifestly under
the immediate and powerful influences and direction of revelation to
dictate him all the time in his meditations and reasonings, and yet can
advance many good ideas that he has gathered by means of his natural
reasoning. But to magnify and make honorable the calling of an Elder
in this Church, I cannot conceive, in my understanding, any other true
principle by which it can be done, only when perfectly controlled by
the Spirit of the Lord. 8:52-53. {517}
When a "Mormon" Elder offers evidence of this great work to
unbelievers, they tell him that he is a party concerned, and his
evidence cannot be taken with regard to Joseph Smith's mission. I ask
the Christian world, Where are your witnesses that Jesus is the Christ?
Who are those who testified of his mission, and how many are there?
Eight persons testified of him, and their testimony is recorded, and
they were his disciples and parties concerned; yet at this day all the
Christian world is ready to receive their testimony. I testify that
this work of God in which we are engaged has been commenced to gather
the House of Israel and establish Zion in the last days, and has more
outward and weighty evidence to prove that it is of God than there was
in the days of Jesus to prove that he was the Christ. When the Book of
Mormon came forth it was testified to by twelve witnesses, and who can
dispute their testimony? No living person on the earth can do it; and
besides the testimony of these twelve witnesses, hundreds and thousands
have received a witness to themselves from the heavens, and who can
dispute their testimony? No living person on the earth can do it. This
infidel world inquires, "Where do you get your testimony?" We answer,
we get it from the heavens. Were we to ask them where they get the
knowledge they possess, they reply, "We do not know; it came to us; we
know not its source." We have testimony that the Bible is true, that
the prophecies contained in it are true, that Jesus is the Son of God,
and came to redeem the world. Have the so-called Christian world this
kind of testimony? They have not. All the testimony they can boast of
is the testimony of eight men who lived nearly two thousand years ago.
The infidel world cannot {518} receive their testimony, because they
were parties concerned. 12:208.
Brother Whiting says that he is a man of but few words. I am satisfied
that there is greater wisdom with many who say but little, than there
is with those who talk so much; as for the multitude of words, they
are but of little consequence, the ideas are by far the greatest
importance. 4:20. {519}