A DISCOURSE DELIVERED BY PRESIDENT HEBER C. KIMBALL, INTHE TABERNACLE, GREAT SALT LAKE CITY, OCTOBER 7TH, 1852, AT THE GENERALCONFERENCE
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The brethren have heard considerable about going south; and I know thereis considerable feeling manifested upon this matter. There are a great manypersons in this valley, who are working against this operation; I mean fathersand mothers, brothers and sisters, and other relations. Nearly all of thesepersons have city lots, and they propose to divide them with the emigrants,rather, than that they should leave the city;, and at the same time takeone hundred and fifty or two hundred dollars out of their brethren's pocketsfor that which cost them little or nothing; so they have a certain objectin view in persuading people to stay in the city. These things have a strongtendency to bind the brethren here. There are also many other things thathave the same tendency. They reason among themselves, saying, "If wego to Iron County, or to Millard County, we shall perhaps lose our blessings,our sealings, and our endowments, and many other privileges;" and concludeto stay here for the purpose of obtaining these things. I will tell you,that stay here for this purpose, you will not get your blessings as soonas those will who go and settle where they are counselled. For none of youcan have these blessings until you prove yourselves worthy, by cultivatingthe earth, and then rendering to the Lord the first fruits thereof, thefirst fruits of your cattle, of your sheep, and of all your increase. Thisis how I understand it. Now go and get farms for yourselves while you can.
Those brethren in Iron County, and those that are still at Coal creek,pretty much all of them, are ironmongers; they were the first to go Intothe iron and coal business and leave their farms. There are somewhere inthe neighbourhood of two hundred acres of land under cultivation in thosevalleys, that you can have the privilege of purchasing, or of cultivatingfor the time being, until you can make farms for yourselves. In the cityof Manti, half of the houses are vacant; there are houses enough empty thereto accommodate fifty or a hundred families. In Iron County also there aresimilar advantages.
Fillmore City, in Millard County, is situated in a very extensive valley.I think we travel, as we are going to Iron County, somewhere in the neighbourhoodof fifty or sixty miles, and then it extends west far beyond the power ofthe eyes to see; the fact is, we can see no distant mountains at all insome directions; and there are numerous rich valleys that are connectedor which communicate with this, on to Iron County. Millard County we wishto make strong and powerful, for there is the centre of the government ofthe State of Deseret, and where the governor and his associates, some timein the future, will dwell part of the year. There will be a building erectedthere for the use of the general government of this State and for the generalgovernment of the Church and kingdom of God. Then why need you be afraidof the result of anything that is best for you to do? Let grandfather, grandmother,brother or sister, have no influence over you to turn you aside from yourduty.
If brother Brigham is not of more consequence to you than your brotheror sister, or father or mother, or anything else that pertains to this life,I would not give much for your religion. If you will reflect for a moment,and let the Spirit of the Lord-the spirit of revelation, have place in yourbosoms, so that you can foresee the future events which we are approaching,and let your minds expand by the power of the Holy Ghost, you will not hesitateone, moment to go to these valleys.
We have no wish to get rid of the Saints, but the counsel that is giventhem to go and settle those places, is for their best interest, and forthe upbuilding of the kingdom of God.
You have arrived safely in this valley, by the providence of God, fromOld England, where it rains almost every day, and where they have to keepthe lamps lit, sometimes, in order to pass through the streets safely inthe day time. Often, when I was there, I had to sit and read in the daytime by candle light; and we very seldom durst go out without an umbrella,for if we did, we were sure to get soaked to the skin before we returned.It is not so in this country; and the further you go south, the higher thevalleys are, until you go over the rim of the Great Basin, about sixty miles,down to the Rio Virgin. As soon as you get there, you are where it is summerall the year round; but we do not wish you to go there until you are appointedto go. We want you to go where you are sent, for you cannot get your endowmentuntil you have proved yourselves-that is what we intend; it is the mindof brother Brigham, the President of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-daySaints, and the Prophet of God, who holds the keys of life and salvationpertaining to you, and me, and all the world-not a soul is excepted, neitherman, woman, nor child; they all belong to him; for he is the Prophet, heis our Priest, our Governor, even the Governor of the State of Deseret.
I think more of the things that pertain to the Church of Jesus Christof Latter-day Saints, or the kingdom of God, than I do of these little pettyterritorial matters. I presume if the brethren in this Conference will gointo these valleys, and grow wheat, raise cattle, and other products ofthe earth, and then give one-tenth of all their increase into the Lord'sstorehouse, and one-tenth of all they have got now, we shall be able toset to immediately, and build a temple, and finish it forthwith, and abandonthe idea of the Church building houses for individuals, to get a few dollarshere and there to carry on the public works. Let us attend to the Churchmatters, and rear that wall round the Temple block as soon as possible,and apply the Church funds to this purpose, instead of putting them intothe hands of a few individuals, that would perhaps pay one hundred dollars,or turn in a yoke of cattle, and say; "Build me a house, and then letthe Church pay the difference." They will pay so much, and perhapsthe rest of it is sucked out of the vitals of the Church. This is afflictingthe Church; it cannot carry this burthen, but must and will throw it off,and use the tithing in building a temple, a baptismal font, store houses,and such things the Church has need of. I do not know whether you have anydesire to have a temple built or not. Have you reflected upon it, that wemay go to with our might, our means, our substance, and with all we haveto build a house to the Lord, to build fonts, that we can attend to theordinances of salvation for ourselves, our children, our fathers, and mothers,both living and dead? What do you say? If you say we shall do so, raiseyour right hands. (All hands were up.) It is clear that they will have atemple, brother Brigham.
Now if you will take hold together, and do as you have been told, andgo and people those rich valleys, except those who have been counselledto stay here, for, if they are wanted here, it is necessary they shouldstay here; you shall be blessed. Gather up your substance, and go and makefarms for yourselves, that you can raise from two hundred to three thousandbushels of wheat next summer. We have been in those valleys two or threetimes on exploring expeditions, and we are going again next fall, over themountains, down into the lower world, if the Lord will. We shall thus travelback and forth, and live about as much in one place as in another; for thefuture we shall keep on the move, going to and fro, and shall never be easy;we never want to be, nor that you should, until the kingdom of God prevailsover this earth. We will fill up these mountains, take up the land, and,as they used to say in the States, "become squatters," and wewill become thicker on the mountains than the crickets ever were.
If you can once break up the ranks of the crickets, it breaks up theircalculations, and under such circumstances they never will undertake a warupon your crops. In like manner we have to become one, and build a Temple,that we may learn the principles of oneness more fully, to prepare for allthings to come, that when we become fixed for war, we may whip out all theenemies of truth, and never yield the point, neither man, woman, nor childthat is in Israel.
As for murmurers and complainers and fault-finders, we want to givethem some employment, and we shall attend to that part of the business beforelong. After meeting we will lay the thing before them, and all the murmurers,and complainers, and fault-finders, &c., we want they should raise theirright hand to do some good. If they want to vote, we will appoint a meetingat the Council House directly after Conference, and organize them into companies,and appoint a building committee to build brother Brigham a house, and theperson who murmurs the worst shall be the President. We will give him thesame right which we gave to Father Sherwood; but it was a tie between himand Zebedee Coltrin which should preside; but Father Sherwood's tongue beingmore limber, he whipped out Coltrin, and got the Presidency. We will organizea company of males and females, for we calculate to give females an officein that company, and they shall be upon an equal footing with the men. Nowthere's a chance for you women who seek to be equal with your husbands.This is sticking to the text brother Brigham gave yesterday. But I believeI will stop speaking for the present.