June 1st 1851 Sunday when I arived at meeting President
was speaking & the following is a synopsis of His
discourse. "If a man does right He shall have the spirit of God
to enlighten his mind in all things yet all men will be
tryed, Buffeted, & tempted more or less in this probation & He
that governs himself is wise. If a man is unrighteously
Angry He should let it sleep & not show itself untill He is right
again. good Men may be left to commit a gross sin But
if He had watched closely He would Have escaped the evil. the
Lord intends all men to be tryed in this life & if you Build
your faith upon a true foundation that faith Has got to be tryed
All men have an oppertunity of appearing wise or foolish
of governing themselves or making their folley manifest
commit a gross error Had he have been on the watch
tower He might have turned away in silence & not denyed his
Lord. Many have been tryed & turned away from us
at a time when they exepected to have gained sumthing by &
in doing so they have lost all. Others have been Blinded &
overcome & done evil then their eyes were open to see the conseq-
uences. But it is the privilege of all men to live so that they
can see what each act will amount to either good or evil. How
different the prospect would be before the world or this people if
they would live so from what it now is. endeavour to do right
in all things & then leave the event in the Hands of God & am satisfy
with the result. If a man is led or tempted to do a thing that you do
not comprehend the result of & that result ^not^ lead to good then let it
alone.
During the past week one remarked to me that my observat-
ions last sunday ought to be observed & was good But it ought to have
been spoken in the right spirit. But I wish to say that I am
satisfyed with the power & influence the Lord has given me. The Lord
directs things according to his own will. I know my feelings & zeal
would make my words like a sharp two edged sword so that they
would seperate the sins from this people that they should practice
sin no more not be tempeted with it But this is not the will
of God the people still must have their warfare & trial & if the
storms & waves overwhelm the ship still all is well for we have
a good captain at the helm. Some people are vary anxious
to reprove others while they are wrong themselves And do not know
the spirit they are of theiry are ready to say How do you
do Peter & , Jesus, & How do you do Mr Devil And are
vary pious but will go to Hell with their spirit & the whole
world will go to Hell with the same spirit. Awake ye & make your sure [2 Peter 1:10] lest you go to
Hell with the wicked. I do not point you to the sectarian
Hell whare Devils are tosting you with A pitchfork in the
Billows of Hell fire eternally. But go & mingle with the wicked
in the states wrangle & fight with them get their spirit
& feelings & loose the light & spirit of God & you will begin
to feel the true state of the Damned. The wicked killed
Jesus Christ out of mallace & wickedness & they did not
know that His death was to save the world the Lord turns
many things for good which the world means for Evil the
whole Earth is filled with misery, sin & wickedness. I
could find no worse Hell than to be confined among them
I labour for the welfare of this whole people I wish my
Brethren to be A Happy free people that their course of
life may be such as to get an eternal & temperal salvation
I labour to effect this. their is time & change to all things
Their has been a code of Laws given in former days
which was for all people which is the gospel of Jesus Christ
In the dasyys of Christ the Apostles & Elders were sent out
to preach the gospel & warn the people they did so but were
then for preaching it & the Saints were killed off
the Earth. that time is gone the change has come, for now
the set time has come to favor Zion to Build it up in
strength power & glory to to Build
& Zion to fight for our liberty & freedom. we have sent the
Gospel forth & preached the Book of Mormon And the minstry
of Jesus on this continent in Ancient days. Now the time is come
to gather Israel & polish them. Their is a great excitement in
the world about & the are vary fearful that
we shall have the or Indian as lslaves Here we have a
few that were that we have bought to save their lives
But what will the Abolitionest do If you owe them a dollar they
will Jog you up. Neither will they liberate the slave by buying
them & setting them free. The will be damned
if they Abuse their slaves. Yet the seed of will be
servants untill God takes the curse off from them But they are
not all the slaves their is in the world. The whole world are
slaves to sin & wickedness & passion. Have two
they are as free as I am. Shall we lay a foundation for
slavery? No God forbid And I forbid. I say let
us be free. we will be rich but we must be rich in
faith first or we shall be rich in no other way. we must
lay A foundation to manufacture our own goods if we do
not we shall be slaves to our enemies we must stop being
so much dependant oupon our enemies & a foreign market
or it will make us trouble And this people must sceace getting
in debt to the merchants for if you will get in debt you
shall pay your debts But I say stop getting in debt let No
one come to me & complain that He has got in debt & the
man will sue him & ought to be cut off from the Church
for you that get in debt & wont pay your debts are the ones
that ought to be cut off from the Church. dont get in debt
go in the spring & get the Bark off the shrub oaks their is enough
in this to tan $200,000 worth of leather, & Here your
Hiydes are roting over the Earth & your are paying 50 cts pe[r] lb
for leather & you pay the merchants $80,000 annually for shoes
But instead of persueing this course if you will lay a foundation
for taning leather making cloth making what we want you
then lay a foundation to build & sustain Zion. I drove sheep
to this valley & bought others & Brought a carding machine
Here to card wool who will put it up I have done more to
stock this valley than any 4 men in the place. I want
others to do sumthing set up the mashine & make the cloth is there
any woman in this valley who will make me a suit of clothes
se[e] if I do not wear them. what is the spirit of the times
in the world if a woman pays a great price for an article
it is considered vary nice & all want some of the same but
you get a thing cheap & all are ashamed to wear it you are looked
upon with disdain but if you pay a great price you are vary
respectable. their is many practices not right to see the men
ride through the streets they go as though they were in a Hurry
to get to Hell. To men of wisdom such things look vain &
foolish but to the world it looks glorious & the mark of fellow[shiping]
with them is fine clothing & splendor. I want the Saints to
adorn themselves first their Heartts with faith & grace then
their Bodies with the workmanship of their own Hands if
it is silk & satin all the Better it will show your art
wisdom & ingenuety in temperal things true friendship is
not known on the Earth if it is not among this people But the
friendship of this people is the fruits of the gospel of Jesus Christ
this must continue to improve untill they are perfect
In speaking upon the subject of tithing the thought
their Had not Been $200 dollars paid in cash during the
past Year inby this people in tithing But they chave paid the
merchants $200000 in cash, & their is now 30000 Bushels
of wheat due on tithing. Shall we dispens with the Law of
Tithing. Dont you want a Building to meet in to worship God
we want a Tabernacle, & A Temple for our Endowments
Also A Tower to Hang a Bell on & we want to keep building
up Zion that Israel may have A place of rest. if we do this
we do our duty we have duties to perform And a warfare
to accomplish but the victory will soon be ours the greatest
warfare is with ourselves if we can gain a victory with
ourselves so as to have peace with ourselves our wives & childn
we shall do well. many other interesting remarks were
made by the president.
In the Afternoon the meeting was Addressed by
in an edifying manner. And was followed by Elder
who spoke much to the edifycation of the people
we Had our prayer meeting in the evening & was in
council untill 10 oclok
