Discourses of Brigham Young : 14 : 164 : - Discourses of Brigham Young : 14 : 173 : 3
CHAPTER XIV
THE SABBATH; MEETINGS; THE SACRAMENT
How to Spend the Sabbath Day -- Spend the Sabbath day prudently, in the love and fear of God. 19:65.
Persons professing to be Saints should assemble themselves together on the Lord's day, except those who may be necessarily detained at home to keep the house, take care of the children, or to perform some work of necessity and mercy; the rest should assemble in the place appointed for worship and the offering up of our sacraments. 10:284.
You take this book (the book of Doctrine and Covenants) and you will read here that the Saints are to meet together on the Sabbath day. It is what we call the first day of the week. No matter whether it is the Jewish Sabbath or not. I do not think there is anybody who can bring facts to prove which is the seventh day, or when Adam was put in the garden, or the day about which the Lord spoke to Moses. This matter is not very well known, so we call the day on which we rest and worship God the first day of the week. This people called Latter-day Saints, are required by the revelations that the Lord has given, to assemble themselves together on this day. In this commandment we are required to come together and repent of our sins and confess our sins and partake of the bread and of the wine, or water, in commemoration of the death and sufferings of our Lord and Savior. 16:168.
Instead of suffering our labors to occupy the Sabbath -- instead of planning our business to infringe
upon the first day of the week, we should do as little as possible; if it is necessary to cook food, do
so; but even if that could be dispensed with, it would be better. As to keeping the Sabbath according
to the Mosaic law, indeed, I do not; for it would be almost beyond my power. Still, under the new
covenant, we should remember to preserve holy one day in the week as a day of rest -- as a memorial
of the rest of the Lord and the rest of the Saints; also for our temporal advantage, for it is instituted
for the express purpose of benefiting man. It is written in this book (the Bible), that the Sabbath was
made for man. It is a blessing to him. As little labor as possible should be done upon that day; it
should be set apart as a day of rest, to assemble together in the place appointed, according to the
revelation, confessing our sins, bringing our tithes and offerings, and presenting ourselves before the
Lord, there to commemorate the death and sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. 6:277-278.
Now, remember, my brethren, those who go skating, buggy riding or on excursions on the Sabbath day -- and there is a great deal of this practiced -- are weak in the faith. Gradually, little by little, little by little, the spirit of their religion leaks out of their hearts and their affections, and by and by they begin to see faults in their brethren, faults in the doctrines of the Church, faults in the organization, and at last they leave the Kingdom of God and go to destruction. I really wish you would remember this, and tell it to your neighbors. 15:83.
The Lord has directed his people to rest one-seventh part of the time, and we take the first day of the week, and call it our Sabbath. This is according to the order of the Christians. We should observe this for our own temporal good and spiritual welfare. When we see a farmer in such a hurry, that he has to attend to his harvest, and to haying, fence-making, or to gathering his cattle on the Sabbath day, as far as I am concerned, I count him weak in the faith. He has lost the spirit of his religion, more or less. Six days are enough for us to work, and if we wish to play, play within the six days; if we wish to go on excursions, take one of those six days, but on the seventh day, come to the place of worship, attend to the Sacrament, confess your faults one to another and to our God, and pay attention to the ordinances of the house of God. 15:81.
I said yesterday to a Bishop who was mending a breach in the canal, and expressed a wish to continue his labor on the following Sabbath, as his wheat was burning up, let it burn, when the time comes that is set apart for worship, go up and worship the Lord. 3:331.
The Lord has planted within us a divinity; and that divine immortal spirit requires to be fed. Will earthly food answer for that purpose? No; it will only keep this body alive as long as the spirit stays with it, which gives us an opportunity of doing good. That divinity within us needs food from the Fountain from which it emanated. It is not of the earth, earthy, but is from heaven. Principles of eternal life, of God and godliness, will alone feed the immortal capacity of man and give true satisfaction. 7:138.
We are under the necessity of assembling here from Sabbath to Sabbath, and in Ward meetings, and besides, have to call our solemn assemblies, to teach, talk, pray, sing, and exhort. What for? To keep us in remembrance of our God and our holy religion. Is this custom necessary? Yes; because we are so liable to forget -- so prone to wander, that we need to have the Gospel sounded in our ears as much as once, twice, or thrice a week, or, behold, we will turn again to our idols. 6:195.
If you can make as good a beginning as did an old lady, you will do well. She went to a schoolhouse, and, on her return, called at a neighbor's who inquired where she had been. She replied, "I have been to meeting." "Has there been a meeting?" "Oh, yes, and a glorious one, too." "Dear me, we did not hear of it. Were there many there?" "No, there were not many." "Who was there?" "Why, the Lord was there, and I was there, and had a blessed good meeting." If you cannot get any person to meet with you, be sure and have the Lord meet with you, and you will soon gain confidence in yourselves and have influence with your brethren. 8:65.
Worship on Every Day -- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday must be spent to the glory of God, as much as Sunday, or we shall come short of the object of our pursuit. 13:261.
The Lord knows the wants of his mortal children, and has appointed unto them one-seventh part of the time for rest, though we cannot say, in every sense of the word, that this is a day of rest to the Latter-day Saints or to the professing Christians, some of whom are in the habit of rising at sunrise to hold prayer-meetings; they then eat breakfast and hurry away to the morning service until noon; in the afternoon they again have meetings, and class meetings, prayer meetings, confessing meetings, etc., and so continue until nine in the evening. To such persons I cannot consider it really a day of rest. 10:187.
Coming to this Tabernacle to worship and do the will of God for one day in the week, and following our own inclinations and doing our own will at all other times, is a folly; it is useless, and a perfect burlesque on the service of God. We should do the will of God, and spend all our time for the accomplishment of his purposes, whether we are in this Tabernacle or elsewhere. 12:34.
If I had my own mind, I would devote the time for meetings like this within the measure of the six days, and on the seventh rest from all my labors, for the express purpose of renewing the mental and physical power of man. They require it, as the Lord well knew; hence he established a day of rest. The natural tendency of the physical powers of man is to decay; and to preserve them as long as possible, they need this retirement from labor -- this rest -- this ease. 8:58.
Preaching and Listening in Meetings -- While we have the privilege of speaking to each other, let us
speak words of comfort and consolation. When you are influenced by the Spirit of holiness and
purity, let your light shine; but if you are tried and tempted and buffeted by Satan, keep your
thoughts to yourselves -- keep your mouths closed; for speaking produces fruit, either of a good or
evil character. 7:268.
As we have met in the capacity of a General Conference, we shall expect to hear instructions from the Elders pertaining to the building up of the Kingdom of God on earth. This is our calling, this is the labor devolving upon us, and it should occupy our attention day by day from morning until evening and from week to week; in fact, we have no other calling or business. 13:260.
Today we are able to meet together to speak to each other, to strengthen and do each other good; and by forsaking our fields for a season, to gather together to worship our God, I can assure you that our crops will be better than they would be if we were to spend all our time in our fields. We may water and plant and toil, but we should never forget that it is God who gives the increase; and by meeting together, our health and spirits will be better, we will look better, and the things of this world will increase around us more, and we will know better how to enjoy them. 11:116.
I will take the liberty of suggesting to my brethren who address the congregation that our sermons should be short, and if they are not filled with life and spirit let them be shorter, for we have not time at this Conference to let all the Elders who speak preach a long sermon, but we have time to say a few words in bearing testimony, to give a few words of counsel to encourage the Saints, to strengthen the weak, to endeavor to confirm those who are wavering, and so forward the Kingdom of God. 12:27.
Brethren and sisters, I will make one request of you. When you speak, speak so that we can hear and understand you, whether it be much or little, good or bad. If you have nothing to say, take my counsel, and keep your seat. If you have anything to say, say it; and when you get through, stop. Let your feelings be governed and controlled by the principles of eternal life, as should the children of God, delighting in truth and righteousness. 7:270.
Many have a foreboding in their hearts; a fearfulness, a tremor comes over them, when they arise to address a congregation. They think that it will not do to tell the people just what they understand, but talk about it and talk about it. In this way they darken counsel. Do not darken counsel by your words. 4:368.
When people assemble to worship they should leave their worldly cares where they belong, then their minds are in a proper condition to worship the Lord, to call upon him in the name of Jesus, and to get his Holy Spirit, that they may hear and understand things as they are in eternity, and know how to comprehend the providences of our God. This is the time for their minds to be open, to behold the invisible things of God, that he reveals by his Spirit. 3:53.
Every person should be silent when we meet here to worship God. Remember and try to keep perfectly quiet, and do not whisper, talk, nor scrape your feet; and do not let your children cry if you can help it. 14:44.
My greatest desire to my Father and God is that I may so speak that my remarks will be acceptable to him and beneficial to those who hear me. 7:131.
I am responsible for the doctrine I teach; but I am not responsible for the obedience of the people to that doctrine. 13:1.
The same weakness is in me, that is common to the most of my brethren who address you from this stand, that is, a degree of timidity, which arises from a sense of the importance of the work in which we are engaged; but my resolution overbalances this. 1:334.
I am extremely anxious so to convey my ideas to the people that they will understand them as I do. Our language is deficient, and I do not possess in this particular the natural endowment that some men enjoy. I am a man of few words, and unlearned in the learning of this generation. 9:287.
I have never yet seen the time that I had wisdom, strength, and ability enough to preach a Gospel discourse -- to commence it, and finish it, setting before the people the plan of salvation sufficiently full, that thereby they might be saved. But it is only given in portions -- a little here, and a little there, by feeble man. 6:283.
When I have endeavored to address a congregation, I have almost always felt a repugnance in my heart to the practice of premeditation, or of pre-constructing a discourse to deliver to the people, but let me ask God my Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, to give me his Spirit, and put into my heart the things he wishes me to speak whether they be for better or worse. These have been my private feelings, as a general thing. 1:264.
I need the attention of the congregation and the faith of those who have faith; I need the wisdom of
God and his Spirit to be in my heart to enable me to speak to the edification of the people. Although
I have been a public speaker for thirty-seven years, it is seldom that I rise before a congregation
without feeling a child-like timidity; if I live to the age of Methuselah I do not know that I shall
outgrow it. There are reasons for this which I understand. When I look upon the faces of intelligent
beings I look upon the image of the God I serve. There are none but what have a certain portion of
divinity within them; and though we are clothed with bodies which are in the image of our God, yet
this mortality shrinks before that portion of divinity which we inherit from our Father. This is the
cause of my timidity, and of all others who feel this embarrassment when they address their fellow
beings. 13:139.
In addressing a congregation, though the speaker be unable to say more than half a dozen sentences, and those awkwardly constructed, if his heart is pure before God, those few broken sentences are of more value than the greatest eloquence without the Spirit of the Lord and of more real worth in the sight of God, angels, and all good men. In praying, though a person's words be few and awkwardly expressed, if the heart is pure before God, that prayer will avail more than the eloquence of a Cicero. What does the Lord, the Father of us all, care about our mode of expression? The simple, honest heart is of more avail with the Lord than all the pomp, pride, splendor, and eloquence produced by men. When he looks upon a heart full of sincerity, integrity, and child-like simplicity, he sees a principle that will endure forever -- "That is the spirit of my own kingdom -- the spirit I have given to my children." 8:283-284.
I believe, according to my feelings, that if I had all the mastery of language that has ever been obtained by the learned, my spirit would delight more in childlike conversation, and that too, in a simple language, than in the most learned literary style that is used. A plain, clear method of expressing ideas is the most pleasing to me. 4:341.
I believe it is our duty to imitate everything that is good, lovely, dignified and praiseworthy. We ought to imitate the best speakers, and study to convey our ideas to each other in the best and choicest language, especially when we are dispensing the great truths of the Gospel of peace to the people. I generally use the best language I can command. 11:255.
Testimony Meetings -- You know that the first Thursday in each month we hold as a fast day. How many here know the origin of this day? Before tithing was paid, the poor were supported by donations. They came to Joseph and wanted help, in Kirtland, and he said there should be a fast day, which was decided upon. It was to be held once a month, as it is now, 2 and all that would have been eaten that day, of flour, or meat, or butter, or fruit, or anything else, was to be carried to the fast meeting and put into the hands of a person selected for the purpose of taking care of it and distributing it among the poor. 12:115.
Do not hesitate to tell your feelings. 4:368.
In our fast-day meetings, the Saints meet to express their feelings and to strengthen each other in
their faith in the holy Gospel. 7:267.
We wish the Latter-day Saints to meet at their respective houses, erected for that purpose, on the day appointed for a fast, and take with them of their substance to feed the poor and the hungry among us, and, if it is necessary, to clothe the naked. We expect to see the sisters there; for they are generally first and foremost in deeds of charity and kindness. Let the hearts of the poor be made glad, and let their prayers and thanksgiving ascend unto God, and receive an answer of rich blessings upon our heads. 12:126.
Do you not receive as much of the spirit of intelligence, of the spirit of knowledge, and the consoling influences of the Holy Ghost, to have people rise and testify of the things of God which they do know, of those things which they have experienced themselves? Does not that vividly bring to your minds the goodness of the Lord in revealing to you the truths of the Gospel? Does not that strengthen your faith, give you an increase of confidence and witness to you that you are a child of God? Most assuredly it does. Therefore, when any testify of the things of God, it strengthens their brethren, precisely as it did in days of old when they observed the counsel to, "Speak often one to another," "strengthen the brethren," and so on. 4:367.
If any of you feel that there is no life in your meetings, as I occasionally hear some of the brethren say, then it becomes your duty to go and instill life into that meeting, and do your part to produce an increase of the Spirit and power of God in the meetings in your locality. 10:309.
I always feel to urge our youth to attend meetings when strangers preach, that they may be able to understand that which is not of God, and learn the difference between the doctrine taught by us and others. 13:323.
Now, then, if our brethren of the Presbyterians, Methodists or any others visit here and want to preach to you, certainly let them preach, and have your children hear them. They will tell you to keep the Sabbath and to love your father and mother; they will tell you to be true, honest, industrious, to be faithful to your studies, to read the Bible and all good books, to study the sciences, etc., which is all good, and as far as such teaching goes just as good as it can be. I say, parents, do not be afraid of having your children learn everything that is worth learning. And if any of our Christian brethren want to go into our Sabbath schools to teach our children, let them do so. They will not teach them anything immoral in the presence of those who are in charge of the schools. 14:196.
Whether we are poor or rich, if we neglect our prayers and our sacrament meetings, we neglect the Spirit of the Lord, and a spirit of darkness comes over us. 10:300.
When a man opens or closes a meeting with prayer, every man, woman, and child in the congregation who professes to be a Saint should have no desire or words in their hearts and mouths but what are being offered by the man who is mouth for all the congregation. 6:42.
The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper -- The revelations of God to Joseph Smith instruct the Latter-day Saints to live their religion day by day, and to meet on the first day of the week to break bread, confess their faults one to another and pray with and for each other. I would like this tradition fastened not only upon the people generally, but particularly upon the Bishops and other leaders of this Church. 9:369.
I say to the brethren and sisters, in the name of the Lord, it is our duty and it is required of us, by our Father in Heaven, by the spirit of our religion, by our covenants with God and each other, that we observe the ordinances of the house of God, and especially on the Sabbath day, to attend to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Then attend the Ward meetings and the Quorum meetings. 15:82.
In the ordinance we here attend to in the afternoon, we show to the Father that we remember Jesus Christ, our Elder Brother; we testify to him that we are willing to take upon us his name. When we are doing this, I want the minds here as well as the bodies. I want the whole man here when you come to meeting. 8:137.
This is a very solemn ordinance. The Christian world accepts it, in preference to any other, as one of the ordinances of the house of God. With some, this ordinance is the first and the last; and with others this ordinance is not thought to be of sufficient importance to be attended to. I wish to say to the Latter-day Saints, and also to those who do not believe in the fulness of the Gospel, that this ordinance, which we are now attending to this afternoon, is, in reality, no more sacred than any other ordinance of the house of God in the eyes of him who has instituted the same. The validity of one divine law is the same as the validity of another with our Father and God. 11:39-40.
I would exhort my brethren and sisters to receive this ordinance every Sabbath, when they meet together, as is our practice; not following the customs of others, for with some denominations this is administered once a month, with others once in three months, with others never, they not believing in outward ordinances. We are in the habit of partaking of the contents of the cup each Sabbath when we meet together, and I do pray you, my brethren and sisters, to contemplate this ordinance thoroughly, and seek unto the Lord with all your hearts that you may obtain the promised blessings by obedience to it. Teach its observance to your children; impress upon them its necessity. Its observance is as necessary to our salvation as any other of the ordinances and commandments that have been instituted in order that the people may be sanctified, that Jesus may bless them and give unto them his spirit, and guide and direct them that they may secure unto themselves life eternal. Impress the sacredness of this important ordinance upon the minds of your children. 19:91.
We do this in remembrance of the death of our Savior; it is required of his disciples until he comes again, no matter how long that may be. No matter how many generations come and go, believers in him are required to eat bread and drink wine in remembrance of his death and sufferings until he comes again. Why are they required to do this? To witness unto the Father, to Jesus and to the angels that they are believers in and desire to follow him in the regeneration, keep his commandments, build up his Kingdom, revere his name and serve him, with an undivided heart, that the may be worthy to eat and drink with him in his Father's Kingdom. This is why the Latter-day Saints partake of the ordinance of the Lord's Supper.
I know that in the Christian world sermon after sermon is preached on this subject; yet people there differ in their belief concerning these emblems. The Mother Church of the Christian world believes that the bread becomes the actual flesh of Jesus, and that the wine becomes his blood; this is preposterous to me. It is bread, and it is wine; but both are blessed to the souls of those who partake thereof. But to be followers of the Lord Jesus more is required than merely to partake of the bread and wine -- the emblems of his death and suffering -- it is necessary that strict obedience be rendered to his requirements. 13:139-140.
In what consists the benefit we derive from this ordinance? It is in obeying the commands of the Lord. When we obey the commandments of our Heavenly Father, if we have a correct understanding of the ordinances of the house of God, we receive all the promises attached to the obedience rendered to his commandments. 2:3.
It is one of the greatest blessings we could enjoy, to come before the Lord, and before the angels, and before each other, to witness that we remember that the Lord Jesus Christ has died for us. This proves to the Father that we remember our covenants, that we love his Gospel, that we love to keep his commandments, and to honor the name of the Lord Jesus upon the earth. 6:277.
In the days of ancient Israel, while in the land of Palestine, they were not blessed so profusely as we are with the crystal streams from the mountains. They were in the habit of drinking a great deal of wine, and among the few who have continued to inhabit that land, this habit, I believe, has been kept up to the present time. It is a wine country. But the Lord has said to us it mattered not what we partake of when we administer the cup to the people, inasmuch as we do it with an eye single to the glory of God; it is then acceptable to him. Consequently we use water as though it were wine; for we are commanded to drink not of wine for this sacred purpose except it be made by our own hands. 19:92.
In some of our Wards and settlements the administering of the Sacrament has been introduced in the Sunday schools. It is very pleasing and gratifying to the spirit that I possess, for the parents to see that their children attend Sunday school and receive the proper instruction with regard to their faith. After the Sunday school is over, let the parents take the pains to bring their children to meetings. 19:92.
I will now express a wish in relation to all who may rise here to ask a blessing on the bread and water of the Sacrament, or to preach to such large congregations as assemble here. When the Elders rise here to speak, I want them to raise their voices so that the people can hear them, that the audience may be able to say "Amen" to all the good; and if there is evil, refuse it. When any one rises to preach, pray, sing, exhort, or bless the Sacramental emblems. let him do so with voice sufficient for all to hear. 8:183.