11^th Sunday I met with the people at Union Fort I preached to them
was followed by A. O. Smoot & John Pack & the Bishops of the ward
we took dinner & rode Back in our sleighs in one & a half hours
I attended the prayer circle I then went into President Youngs
house the Lion house & attended the 18 ward meeting in his school
room the assembly mostly consisted of the families of the Presidency. I
preached to the Assembly for about one hour. I spoke of the organ-
ization of the Church & the Patraiarchal order of the Church & the
Blessings given us & exhorted the people to prize the blessings which
God had put into their hands & not to treat lightly the Holy
things of God. I refered to the Blessings of presidents Youngs family
Soon Presidents Young came in & addressed the people for half an
hour or more the following is a synopsis of his remarks

A synopsis of President B Youngs remarks Before the 18 ward Jan 11^th 1857
the following is not recorded or reported in any other place

It is wright that we should meet together often to pray, sing preach
teach & recieve instruction in order to assist us to live our religion, but
none of thes things or any of the ordinances of the gospel which we admin-
ister to the children of men or to each other does not benefit the Lord
Our worshiping the Lord is of no particular benefit to our Father in Heaven
but it is all entirely for our own benefit & in this light we should
view it. their is a doctrin taught from the stand & freequently taught
in Public that we should follow Brother Joseph or Brother Brigham
or any man who leads & do as they say & foobey them & that is all that is
required but this is a fals doctrin in one sense. for I will say that
no man should trust to the testimony of another but he should go to God
& get the testimony for himself this evry man & woman should do
I might have heard Joseph Smith preache & testify of the truth of the Book
of mormon & of this work untill he had been as old as Methuselah & in
the end I should have snaped my fingers at him & said to him you
are a foolish old man & turned upon my heels & walked off if I
had not have had some other testimony besides his but I went to
the Lord & the Lord revealed to me that it was true & that it was his word
& I received it upon that principle, & I have lived upon that
principle from that day untill now & it is the right privilege & Duty
of evry man & woman to get the revelation of Jesus Christ for
themselves & evry person should get the spirit of God & live by
it & if all would do this there would not be a man or woman unhappy
in this territory & the flood of complaint which now salutes my
ears of Husbands & wives complaining of each other would be done
away. One man comes & sayes my family will not be subject to
me another woman says my husband abuses me & I want a bill
to get away from him and a thousand complaints come poreing in
upon me none of which I should hear if the people lived by the
spirit of God you should all obtain the spirit of God & overcome
your passions when you get angry you should put a peace of
Indiaruber in your mouth & bite it untill you could get perfect
controll over your passions do not speak while you are angry for
you will say sumthing that you will be sorry for but if you will keep
your thoughts to yourself when you are angry they will not become
the property of another. Any person who is acquainted with me knows
that I have controll over myself I do not speak in anger to my
wives, children, or the people. I make all my Passions be in subjection
to the priesthood & the spirit of God. people cannot fulfill their
calling & do their duty unless they are filled with the Holy Ghost
I do not know that there is a female in Israel who is worthy of the
appellation of a Mother in Israel for any woman to raise up children
unto the Lord as they should do they should be filled with the Holy Ghost
when they concieve seed & continue filled with the Holy Ghost
untill the child is born & weaned then the Mother should have the Holy
Ghost to teach the child untill He is Grown up so the Father should
be filled with the Holy Ghost when he begetts a child & he also should
be filled with the Holy Ghost in order to train up that child right then
it will be Holy unto the Lord & will have power with God. these are
true principles. the Saints should bring all there passions in subjections
to the Law of God I am learning evry day I live, I see some that
will bear a testimony that they know that Joseph was a prophet

& the Book of Mormon is true & this work is of God & yet if any thing is said
that comes contrarary to their selfish dispositions they will manifest the
most stoubern will & will not yield one hair from what their wicked
dispositions dictate. I see it in families one will growl because one
drops a mop at their door or does sumthing that does not please them
they have no disposition to do any thing ownly for their own Gratification
but this is not right you should feel like this what can I do to help
you I am not above helping my neighbor, do you want your shoes blacked
I will black them I am not to good to do it this is the way you should
feel for the Lord will reward you according to your work. their are
many in this Territory who are miserable why because they have not the
spirit of God they do wrong & get into the dark but no person should be
miserable who has received the Holy Gospel they should be happy all the time
day & night many other remarks was made which iare not now brought
to my mind