JOURNAL OF DISCOURSES.

strength of the Priesthood to be with
us that we may know what to do.
And if we will so live before the Lord,
the Spirit will reveal to us every day
what our duties are; I do not care
what it is we are engaged in, we
should first find out the will of the
Lord and then do it, and then our
work will be well done and acceptable
before the Lord, but if we take a course
against light and against the Spirit of
God, we will find it an unprofitable
road to travel.

I feel as though the Lord is going
to do a great work in the midst of this
people. There are a great many things
at our door, a great many changes to
take place in the earth, and the king-
dom is growing; and I would here
exhort all the Latter day Saints who
hear me this day to study well the
position you are in, and search your
hearts and see if we are in the favour of
the Lord our God, and then let us in-
crease continually in faith, in hope, in
righteousness, and in every virtuous
principle which is necessary for us to
have to sustain us in every trial
through which we may be called to
pass, in order to prove us as the
friends of God, whether we will abide
in the covenant or not; we will be
tried from this time, until the coming
of the Messiah or while we live on the
earth.

If we could open the vision of our
minds, and let it extend into the fu-
ture and see this kingdom, and what
it is bound to accomplish, and what
we have to do, the warfare we have to
pass through, we would certainly see
that we have a great work on hand.
We have not only to fight the powers
of darkness, the invisible forces that
surround us, but we have to war with
a great many outward circumstances
and to contend with a great many dif-
ficulties that we must of necessity
meet, and the more of this we have to
meet the more we should be stimula-
ted to action, and to labour with all
our power before the Lord for the es-
tablishment of righteousness and truth
and the building up of the work of
God, and to see that His name is
honoured upon the earth.

Brother Wells has said, why the
world is troubled about us is because
we are united. This is true; the
world and the devil are afraid of it,
and he has laboured all his life to di-
vide everything where righteousness
dwelt, or at least ever since he was
cast out from the presence of God,
what he did before that I cannot say
any further than what is revealed.
We have got to be one and labour to-
gether to build up this kingdom be-
cause we cannot establish it upon any
other principle.

We should be careful to know that
we are right and then go ahead, and
we will find it to our advantage, and we
shall be satisfied with our reward if
we pursue that course which is ac-
cording to the commandments of God.
When we come into the presence of
our Father in heaven we shall meet
with His approbation, this alone will
reward us for our labours.

If we go to work and build up the
kingdom of God instead of ourselves,
it is no matter in what shape we do
it, whether it is in building a canal,
or in building a temple, preaching
the Gospel, cultivating the earth, or
anything else, let us take that and
make it a business, and we will
find the Lord will help, sustain,
and nerve us with His power, and
will assist us in everything we have
to do, and if we are called to lay
down our lives in the defence of God
and eternal truth, then all right, and
if we live, all right, and when we
come into the presence of the Lord
we shall be satisfied with our reward
and blessings.

The Lord has said He would prove
us whether we would abide in His
covenant even unto death; indeed we
have been tried from the commence-

230 JOURNAL OF DISCOURSES.

strength of the Priesthood to be with us that we may know what to do. And if we will so live before the Lord, the Spirit will reveal to us every day what our duties are; I do not care what it is we are engaged in, we should first find out the will of the Lord and then do it, and then our work will be well done and acceptable before the Lord, but if we take a course against light and against the Spirit of God, we will find it an unprofitable road to travel.

I feel as though the Lord is going to do a great work in the midst of this people. There are a great many things at our door, a great many changes to take place in the earth, and the kingdom is growing; and I would here exhort all the Latter day Saints who hear me this day to study well the position you are in, and search your hearts and see if we are in the favour of the Lord our God, and then let us increase continually in faith, in hope, in righteousness, and in every virtuous principle which is necessary for us to have to sustain us in every trial through which we may be called to pass, in order to prove us as the friends of God, whether we will abide in the covenant or not; we will be tried from this time, until the coming of the Messiah or while we live on the earth.

If we could open the vision of our minds, and let it extend into the future and see this kingdom, and what it is bound to accomplish, and what we have to do, the warfare we have to pass through, we would certainly see that we have a great work on hand. We have not only to fight the powers of darkness, the invisible forces that surround us, but we have to war with a great many outward circumstances and to contend with a great many difficulties that we must of necessity meet, and the more of this we have to meet the more we should be stimulated to action, and to labour with all our power before the Lord for the establishment of righteousness and truth and the building up of the work of God, and to see that His name is honoured upon the earth.

Brother Wells has said, why the world is troubled about us is because we are united. This is true; the world and the devil are afraid of it, and he has laboured all his life to divide everything where righteousness dwelt, or at least ever since he was cast out from the presence of God, what he did before that I cannot say any further than what is revealed. We have got to be one and labour together to build up this kingdom because we cannot establish it upon any other principle.

We should be careful to know that we are right and then go ahead, and we will find it to our advantage, and we shall be satisfied with our reward if we pursue that course which is according to the commandments of God. When we come into the presence of our Father in heaven we shall meet with His approbation, this alone will reward us for our labours.

If we go to work and build up the kingdom of God instead of ourselves, it is no matter in what shape we do it, whether it is in building a canal, or in building a temple, preaching the Gospel, cultivating the earth, or anything else, let us take that and make it a business, and we will find the Lord will help, sustain, and nerve us with His power, and will assist us in everything we have to do, and if we are called to lay down our lives in the defence of God and eternal truth, then all right, and if we live, all right, and when we come into the presence of the Lord we shall be satisfied with our reward and blessings.

The Lord has said He would prove us whether we would abide in His covenant even unto death; indeed we have been tried from the commence-