warfare, labor and faithfulness before
the Lord in order for us to keep in
fellowship with the Holy Spirit, and
to live in such a manner that we may
obtain these blessings. Jesus says—
"Strait is the gate and narrow the
way that leads to eternal lives, and
few there are who find it, while broad
is the way that leads to death, and
many there be who go in thereat." [Matthew 7:13-14]
The road to death is broad enough to
catch the whole world, and they do
not like to walk in the strait and
narrow one, they do not like to keep
the celestial law. I have met with
professed ministers of the Gospel, in
my travels, at whose tables I have
eaten and drank, and I have given
them the Book of Mormon and the
Book of Doctrine and Covenants,
and have talked to and labored with
them, and I have known some of
them spend days and days in this
warfare, trying to decide which to do,
whether to receive the and take the reproach of the
world, or reject it; and I may say
that in nine cases out of ten they
have come to the conclusion to reject
it. When I visited the
first time, I went to the house of
Mr. , a Baptist minister; and
I stayed with him. But first I went
to his church and heard him preach,
and when he got through I wanted
to bear record of the Gospel, for I
had a message to that people, and I
appointed a meeting for four o’clock
in the afternoon, and I preached the
Gospel to them, and Mr. Newton took
me to his home and I gave him the
Book of Mormon and the Book of
Doctrine and Covenants, and for ten
days that man walked about his room
until midnight trying to decide what
he should do. The bore record to him that my
testimony was true, and he felt that
if he obeyed the Gospel which I had
proclaimed unto him he would lose
his good name and honor among men,
but that if he did not receive it, he
would be damned. Finally he re-
rejected it, and the consequence was
that he became a vagabond, and a
miserable outcast. I baptized all
his flock who owned any portion
of the meeting-house, and if he had
embraced the Gospel and been gath-
ered with them he would have been
here and saved in the , instead of the vagabond that
he has since become. I merely men-
tion this to show how the minds of
some men are acted upon by the tid-
ings of the Gospel. Some of them
feel that it would be a great reproach
to obey the Gospel and to keep the
commandments of God. Bless your
souls, we who obey the Gospel of
Christ are all in good company.
Whenever you are persecuted for
righteousness sake, said Jesus, rejoice
and be exceeding glad for so perse-
cuted they the Prophets and Apostles
which were before you. [Matthew 5:11-12]
I will say to all, whether in the
church or in the world, it will pay
you to keep the commandments of
God. Here is a man who has a wife
that he thinks a great deal of; they
have lovely children, and the ties of
affection bind them closely. Now
should not such a man have respect
enough for God to keep his com-
mandments and so secure to himself
his wife and his children in the celes-
tial world after the resurrection?
But you cannot get worldlings to
believe in such a principle; the
people, as I said before, have not in-
terest enough in the things of the
kingdom of God to be willing to keep
the commandments of God.
I say to the Latter-day Saints, we
should be faithful to our God. We
are blessed above all the people that
breathe the breath of life upon the
earth, and we are blessed above all
other dispensations and generations
JOURNAL OF DISCOURSES.
warfare, labor and faithfulness before
the Lord in order for us to keep in
fellowship with the Holy Spirit, and
to live in such a manner that we may
obtain these blessings. Jesus says—
"Strait is the gate and narrow the
way that leads to eternal lives, and
few there are who find it, while broad
is the way that leads to death, and
many there be who go in thereat." Matthew 7: 13-14
The road to death is broad enough to
catch the whole world, and they do
not like to walk in the strait and
narrow one, they do not like to keep
the celestial law. I have met with
professed ministers of the Gospel, in
my travels, at whose tables I have
eaten and drank, and I have given
them the Book of Mormon and the
Book of Doctrine and Covenants,
and have talked to, and labored with
them, and I have known some of
them spend days and days in this
warfare, trying to decide which to do,
whether to receive the Gospel of
Christ, and take the reproach of the
world, or reject it; and I may say
that in nine cases out of ten they
have come to the conclusion to reject
it. When I visited the
first time, I went to the house of
Mr. , a Baptist minister; and
I stayed with him. But first I went
to his church, and heard him preach,
and when he got through I wanted
to bear record of the Gospel, for I
had a message to that people, and I
appointed a meeting for 4 o’clock
in the afternoon, and I’ve preached the
Gospel to them, and Mr. Newton took
me to his home, and I gave him the
Book of Mormon and the Book of
Doctrine and Covenants, and for ten
days that man walked about his room
until midnight trying to decide what
he should do. The Spirit of the
Lord bore record to him that my
testimony was true, and he felt that
if he obeyed the Gospel which I had
proclaimed unto him he would lose
his good name and honor among men,
but that if he did not receive it, he
would be damned. Finally he rerejected it, and the consequence was
that he became a vagabond, and a
miserable outcast. I baptized all
his flock who owned any portion
of the meeting-house, and if he had
embraced the Gospel and been gathered with them he would have been
here and saved in the kingdom of
God, instead of the vagabond that
he has since become. I merely mention this to show how the minds of
some men are acted upon by the tidings of the Gospel. Some of them
feel that it would be a great reproach
to obey the Gospel and to keep the
commandments of God. Bless your
souls, we who obey the Gospel of
Christ are all in good company.
Whenever you are persecuted for
righteousness sake, said Jesus, rejoice
and be exceeding glad for so persecuted they the Prophets and Apostles
which were before you.
I will say to all, whether in the
church or in the world, it will pay
you to keep the commandments of
God. Here is a man who has a wife
that he thinks a great deal of; they
have lovely children, and the ties of
affection bind them closely. Now
should not such a man have respect
enough for God to keep his commandments, and so secure to himself
his wife and his children in the celestial world after the resurrection?
But you cannot get worldlings to
believe in such a principal; the
people, as I said before, have not interest enough in the things of the
kingdom of God to be willing to keep
the commandments of God.
I say to the Latter-day Saints, we
should be faithful to our God. We
are blessed above all the people that
breathe the breath of life upon the
earth, and we are blessed above all
other dispensations and generations
