Journal of Discourses

I am pleased to have an opportunity of meeting with you in your conference, and of talking with you

interested. We are gathered together from among the nations of the earth. We have assembled ourselves thus together because of a work which the Lord has commenced in the interests of humanity, not only pertaining to ourselves, but pertaining to the world of mankind. In obedience to the revelations of His will, and the command that He has given unto His servants through the restoration of the everlasting Gospel, we have many of us gone forth among the nations of the earth to proclaim those principles which God has revealed for the salvation, happiness and exaltation of the human family. We have been gathered together according to the word of the Lord which He spake by His ancient Prophets who have lived in the world in generations that are past, and who, under the influence of the Spirit of God, have given a very graphic account of the gathering of the people together, in the last days; and of the instructions they should receive preparatory to other events that will necessarily transpire upon the earth, as spoken of by all the holy Prophets since the world was. We are living in what is called “the dispensation of the fullness of times,” wherein it is said God will gather together all things in one, whether they be things in the heavens or things on the earth. And we are gathered together to this land of Zion, (which has been spoken of also in the Scriptures) where we might learn more perfectly the law of God, and carry out those principles which He has made known for our information, for our instruction, for our guidance and direction, as regards the course that we should pursue, and the blessings that should attend those who have obeyed His laws and kept His commandments. We are here

In relation to these matters we as a people have been very much interested, and these things have been spoken of for a long, long time. I have been preaching them between forty and fifty years, and a great many others who are now living, have borne testimony of these things; and have gathered together as we have done. This places us in a very peculiar position, for we not only bring our religion with us, and the spiritual ideas connected with it—we not, only bring these things that are spiritual, but we bring our bodies along with us which are very temporal; and when we gather as we have done here in this land and form a people such as we are, we necessarily become part of the body politic of the nation with which we are associated—that is, of the United States. We are organized here in a Territorial capacity, as other Territories are organized, and are now living in what was before the unsettled portions of the United States; we are organized according to the general provisions made and provided by the nation in which we live, and we are organized under what is called an Organic Act, whereby the action of the Government of the United States has placed us in the position that we now occupy. We have, for instance, as other Territories have, a governor. We have district judges of the United States; we have a U.S. marshal, an attorney, etc., etc., and the same kind of officers that exist in other Territories that are under and associated with the government of the United States. We have granted unto us in the instrument called the Organic Act certain rights and privileges. We send a Delegate to Congress, and are authorized so to do. We have our Legislature, and have the right of

endeavors to preach the Gospel and gather together the people under the blessing and guidance and direction of the Almighty, we have been very successful thus far. Although in our history there are many things which have been unpleasant for people to meet with—such as mobbings and drivings, killings and imprisonment, and a variety of other things that are not pleasant to the feelings of human nature, yet upon the whole the Lord has controlled these things for our good, just in accordance with the words of the Psalmist, where he says: “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.” It has not been pleasant for people to be driven, say as I have been, and as many of you have been from our homes; but, then, we had to endure it, and there is no use grunting about it. We had to do it in Missouri. We were driven from our homes there. Then we went to Illinois, and at first we were treated very kindly. But when we began to grow and increase, they did not like our religion, and they don't like it today, and we don't fancy their's much either; so on the religious question there is not much love lost. We had to leave Illinois and come here. It was not very agreeable, as I have said, to have to leave our homes and our farms and come out here to live among the Redskins; for this was a desert when we first came here. It was not full of beautiful farms and houses, orchards and gardens, cities, villages and hamlets. It was a desert where the red man roamed unmolested, where the crickets had full sway, and where the white man had scarcely trodden. There had been a few pass through before we came here, and it had been discovered perhaps a hundred years or two by some travelers that

tionship with God than he has been for generations past. Many things have been revealed, and there will be many more yet revealed that have been hidden from before the foundation of the world according to the word of God to us, and we are trying to act wisely, prudently and intelligently, to live and act and conduct ourselves in a manner that will be honorable before God, that will be honorable before the holy angels, that will be honorable before all honorable men and all men who love righteousness and truth and virtue, and who are inspired by the principle and integrity and by those principles that emanate from God, and that always lift up and exalt and elevate those that have embraced and are governed by them. These principles are revealed to us according to the laws which God has introduced, and through the medium of the Holy Priesthood, which He has again restored unto the earth, and we are here to learn His laws that we may walk in His paths. We are here that we may build temples unto His name, and that we may administer in those temples. This is the object of our being gathered together, that we may be brought into a closer union and relationship to God our heavenly Father, that we may be instructed in the laws of life, and that we may comprehend the relationship that exists between us and Him. And while we are looking for calamity and trouble—wars, pestilence and famine, and all those things that have been spoken of by the holy Prophets—yet there is to be a voice heard before that day crying: “Come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues”—that is, speaking of a certain something that is called Babylon. Well, we have been doing that,

polygamy, under the direction of the Lord; David was a man after God's own heart, and he had wives given to him of the Lord. They would have put them in the Penitentiary, if they had been here today. But then because of many things that transpire in these days, the Lord will make the earth empty. Why? Because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, broken the everlasting covenant. We are gathered together here in order that we may observe the laws which have been restored unto us, and keep the everlasting covenant. While they make covenants for time only, we make covenants for time and for eternity. There is the difference. Ours is everlasting; theirs until death do they part. We as wives and husbands expect to be associated after death in the eternities that are to come. We believe in an everlasting covenant, and in an everlasting Gospel. An angel was to bring the everlasting Gospel, and everything associated with it is everlasting. It existed before we came here. It exists with us in time, it reaches into eternity, and people that do not have the Gospel have no everlasting covenants. They think we are very low, on the one hand, because we cannot comply with their ideas, and we think they are very ignorant because they don't understand ours. But so it is. We are here to do the will of God, to carry out His law in all humility and faithfulness to God our heavenly Father—faithfulness as men to the nation in which we live—faithfulness to all men—to make known the things that God has communicated to us.

Now, then, in speaking of covenants, let me follow that subject a little further. Have we to do with time? Yes. Have we to do with eternity? Yes. Did we exist be-

ought to be practicing among us. That is, if a man has a brother dead who has left a widow, let the woman left in that kind of a position be just as well off as a woman who has a husband. Here is a principle developed which then existed, and I will speak a little on that subject and show certain reasons and certain whys and wherefores for these things. If a man should die and leave a wife and she should be childless, why not her be taken care of as well as anybody else? Would not that be just. Would not that be proper? Would not that be right? Yes. But says the man, “I do not know about that. I would rather raise up seed for myself.” Perhaps you might do both. You might if the law did not prevent you carrying out the law of God in the United States. If these worthy ancients had lived here, they would not have allowed them to carry out such a law. Still there is a principle of that kind exists. Why should it not be put into practice? We do believe, you know, more or less in this principle. But then there are a certain class of men who will say: “I would rather somebody else attended to that business; I would rather attend to my own affairs, and let everybody attend to theirs.” All right. Suppose you do it. We will carry the thing a little further. This woman's husband has gone behind the veil, and he is operating there, and probably he will be called upon in a family capacity to look after those that were coming there, or help prepare mansions for somebody who is yet on the earth, as Jesus did for His disciples. He has left His wife behind here, but he is there operating for others. Now, what would you think of making to yourselves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness; that, when you fail, they may receive you

order so far as I understand it, and I wanted to say so much in relation to these matters. Why should not women have equal rights with men? They have these rights and they ought to be sustained and maintained among us as Saints. We ought to look after the welfare and interest of all.

I shall now refer to what is known as Utah Lake and Jordan River dam water question. This is a subject that has troubled you a great deal and upon which there has been much awkwardness and unpleasant feeling. It was adjusted some time ago, but the agreement, it appears, was not carried out: in consequence of which considerable trouble was likely to ensue. President Angus M. Cannon showed me a letter in which it was stated that a lawsuit was commenced in regard to the affair, some of the parties, thereto being outside of the Church and some inside. In commencing this suit those inside the Church were not taking the right course, and they would have subjected themselves to be cut off the Church, because God has given us laws in relation to these matters whereby they can be properly regulated wisely and in accordance with His laws. Brother Cannon (who is President of the Salt Lake Stake) came to me and wanted to know what to do. He said he could not regulate these matters as his jurisdiction did not extend beyond Salt Lake Stake, nor could President Smoot because his jurisdiction did not go beyond Utah Stake. Here was a dilemma. What shall be done? Could I show him a way out of the difficulty? I told him I could; that a council had been provided through the Prophet Joseph Smith, for just such cases. Some people don't know anything about that, but yet that is a fact. They did not know that it

over affairs in Utah Stake, and the other council was formed just to meet such an emergency. I speak of this for your information; and, as I have said, when the matter is thoroughly completed, it will prove to be satisfactory to all parties.

Now, I want to read you a curious Scripture. We talk a good deal about water, and about certain laws—laws of hydraulics and hydrostatics—we have had a good deal of talk about these things lately, I have heard some very singular remarks made pertaining to the waters of the Utah Lake by Brother Madsen, who has kept a very accurate account of the condition of the waters of the lake under various circumstances for a great number of years. Among other things he said that it was very difficult to tell how and in what manner the waters of the lake were sometimes increased. That he had frequently seen large fountains or springs rising in the lake, that he should think furnished more water than any of the rivers that flowed into it—and these springs were very fluctuating, so much so, that it was found very difficult to make any accurate calculations pertaining thereto.

It is thought and so stated by some writers that there are subterraneous passages for water flowing from Lake Superior.

This may appear strange to some. But in regard to the flood, the laws governing hydraulics, as we understand them, were not strictly carried out on that occasion. Speaking of the flood we read:

“And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.

“In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second mouth, the seventh day of the month, the

heaven was restrained, and the waters returned from off the earth.” Where did they go to? From whence they came. Now, I will show you something else on the back of that. Some people talk very philosophically about tidal waves coming along. But the question is—How could you get a tidal wave out of the Pacific ocean, say, to cover the Sierra Nevadas? But the Bible does not tell us it was a tidal wave. It simply tells us that “all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered. Fifteen cubits upwards did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.” That is, the earth was immersed. It was a period of baptism.

I will find you another Scripture. It will be found in the book of Job. Job had been complaining. It is said he was the most patient man on the earth. Still he had been complaining about the treatment he had received. He had lost his camels, and sheep, and his children; the lightning had struck his son's house, and finally he was smitten with boils, etc. He was not very patient then, not any more so than any of us would be under similar circumstances. He got a little out of humor; did not fancy it very much; found himself scraping his body with a potsherd, and wallowing in ashes. After some of his friends had talked to him, the Lord spake, saying:

“Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.

“Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding.

“Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched line upon it.

“Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;

the rock the waters came out. By what principle? Was that according to the law of hydraulics? It was the power of God that manipulated that affair. So it was in the case of Elijah. There had been a drouth in the land of Israel, and there was great suffering in consequence of it. Elijah went and prayed to the Lord that the drouth might pass off, and that rain might come. The Lord heard his prayer, and sent the rain. At first, we are told, a little cloud arose out of the sea, like a man's hand; but by and by the heaven was black with clouds, and there was great rain. Who was it that manipulated these matters? It was the Lord. It would appear to some to be according to the laws of nature, etc. So it would; but at the same time this was done by the prayer of faith, and the water flowed forth. And I want to say one thing here, and that is, that if we are sustained in these latter days, God must sustain us; if we are upheld, God must uphold us. Men are raging and have been raging against us; but I will say, as I have often said, Woe! to them that fight against Zion, for God will fight against them, and He will have His own way of doing it. It is for us to pursue the even tenor of our way, and if we will work righteousness and fear God, and keep His commandments, the wilderness and the solitary places shall be made glad, (as it has been already abundantly among us) and the desert shall blossom as the rose. But it will not be to me, or to Brother Cannon, or to President Young, or to anybody else, that the glory will belong. We will give God the glory for all our