HISTORY OF MORMONISM AS IT IS.
CHOICE EXTRACTS FROM BRIGHAM YOUNG'S SERMONS.
The file of the Salt Luke News brought by the last mail from Utah, contains a number of sermons delivered in the Tabernacle at Salt Lake by Governor Brigham Young, from which we have taken the subjoined extracts:
LAWYERS AND THE IGNORANCE OF JURORS
Mr. Hovey has referred to several incidents in his experience. I will refer to what I witnessed no longer ago than yesterday, in the court room. A lawyer rose to make his plea before the jury; he took up the laws of Utah, which are strict and pointed in reference to lawyers making pleas, binding them to fairly array the facts in the case, whether they are for or against their clients, and he was so serious, so religious, so pious and so honest, that he appealed to high heaven to fitness his honesty before the jury. When he had induced the jury to believe that he was honest, he stood there and misrepresented the merits of the case for half an hour at a stretch, in regular lawyer style. Men will portray what is in their hearts when they talk freely, and they cannot keep from it. This is the way in which the Lord will exhibit the hearts of the children of men. Will he take out their hearts and show them to the people?—No, for that would not exhibit the fruit of their hearts; but he will draw them into circumstances which will compel them to manifest what is in them. Let a man rise up here and talk, and freely express his thoughts, and you can judge of what spirit he is. We have just heard the words which give a manifestation of the spirit of one of our missionaries, and I say now, as I have said before, I wish we had hundreds of such mis-sionaries throughout the territory preaching to the peo-ple, and firing up their hearts with the spirit of hones-ty, so that, they would entirely quit pilfering, lying and deceiving, and deal honestly with one another, with themselves and with their God, and be industrious and prudent, and pay attention to their business, instead of loafing about the streets. I wish we had one hundred such missionaries in this city to get up prayer meetings, preaching meetings, and evening meetings in every ward. What for? To draw away that filthy, nasty mass which assembles at the corners of this public square. For a week or two past that court house has been thronged with men, and it is darker than the bowels of hell. If you ask me how I know, I answer, I have been there and seen for myself; have understood how they felt, and tried the spirits, and I saw who were there. It is a shame for men to be found loafing about in such places, where there is contention, and quarreling, and every strata-gem that can be used to deceive juries and witnesses, and lying before them with all the grace and sanctity of a saint, pretending to be one. Such a place is darker to me than midnight darkness. There is not a jury which has occupied seats in that court house that comprehends the full scope of truth; they are put there and then their minds are beclouded, dust is thrown into their eyes, and they do not fully know truth from error, light from darkness, what is of God from what is not of God. As I have already said, a lawyer commenced his plea yesterday by appealing to high heaven to witness his honesty before the jury, and this he did to decoy their feelings, to throw them off their guard, and in all this he was true to his cli-ent in accordance with the approved mode of the gentiles. He has been a gentile lawyer for many years before he entered this church, and therefore I do not think that he really merits such severe censure as he otherwise would for taking the gentile shoot so faithfully, as the strong power of tradition and habit still enfolds him. Instead of setting before the jury the merits of the case, and nothing else, he never touched upon them, but avoided them at every turn, and threw dust in their eyes, that they might give an unrighteous decision.
THE DIRECTFUL EFFECTS OF LAW
Elders of Israel also throng such a place, and that too when no spirit reigns there but the devil's spirit, and unless enough righteous elders go in to purify the atmosphere and overbalance the power of evil, yet can get nothing from that den but the principles of hell. There is not a righteous person in this com-munity who will have difficulties that cannot be set-tled by arbitrators, the Bishop's court, the high council, or by the twelve referees, (as provided in resolution No. 4. page 390 of Utah Laws,) far better and more satisfactorily than to contend with each other in law courts, which directly tends to destroy the best interests of the community, and to lead scores of men away from their duties as good and industrious citizens. Take from one to two hundred men and detain them in a court room week after week. Just look at it! How many men have been detained at that court house during the past week?—Will a hundred fill the number? No. Will the time of one hundred and fifty men for the past six days indemnify this community for the wasted time that has been spent there in trying to decide one case, that any boy fifteen years old, possessed of good common sense, and having the spirit of truth within him, could have decided in one hour? I tell you that the time of one hundred and fifty men for six days will not supply the loss to this community which has been incurred to satisfy the lustful, wicked, cursed, hellish appetites of professed breth-ren in striving to cheat their neighbors by employ-ing lawyers to deceive or lie for them, which are synonymous terms in the eyes of justice, and by bringing in witnesses to screen the guilt and deceive a jury, whereby they are liable to give a wrong ver-dict. I am making these few remarks for your bene-fit, if you will be benefitted by them. I tell you that a cricket war, a grasshopper war, or an Indian war, would not begin to be so direful as what you would have to pass through, were it not for your ignorance. If you are willfully ignorant you will have to feel the lash, but if you are innocently ignorant, and do the best you know how, you may be excused. Does the Lord love your conduct when you drag each other before the ungodly? When you run after difficulties, contentions, broils and strifes? Do you think he has fellowship with your conduct in such things? No, you do not. Do you suppose that Jesus Christ has? No. Do you believe that angels and good men can fellowship your conduct? You do not, for one mo-ment. There is not a man or woman in this house, whether saint or sinner, Jew or Gentile, bond or free, black or white, that can so believe for a moment.—Do you believe that your consciences can be clear in the day of retribution, if you spend your time for naught, and run after the filthiness of the wicked?—Do you believe that in so doing you can stand in the great day of account with a clear conscience? You cannot. Then why, in the name of common sense, do you tag after the devil and his imps?
ADVICE TO THOSE WHO SIT ON JURIES.
Old gray headed men, who ought to be fathers in Israel, were impanneled as a jury on the case I have alluded to; and what were they after? The fog, the froth and spawn of hell-and they feast upon it.—Men who do not know their right hand from their left with regard to the influences of the spirit of God.—Might they not have known better ? Yes, if they had taken the course which Joseph Hovey has taken. If they would walk humbly before God and know his will, they would go to work and get stone and timber, and work at repairing their fences preparatory to rais-ing grain, potatoes and other articles of food, instead of following after courts and the nonsense, wickedness and lying associated with them. Do I say that lying is practised in those places? Yes, often from begin-ning to end. Men will take a solemn oath that they will tell the truth, in the name of Israel's God, and nothing but the truth, and then, if they have a pre-judice against Mr. A. or B., they will tell their story up to suit themselves, and if possible crush an innocent person. The juries are liable to be deceived, where there is much darkness, and the whole posse will go to hell and I will say it m the name of Jesus Christ. You men who follow after such a course of things as I refer to, I would not give the ashes of a rye straw for the whole of you, jurymen, witnesses, and every other person who countenances such a place. It is a cage of unclean birds, a den and kitchen of the devil prepared for hell, and I am going to warn you of it.— Some of you wondered why I sent Thomas Bullock to take your names; I wanted to know the men who were coaxing hell into our midst, for I wish to send them to China, to the East Indies, or to where they cannot get back, at least for five years. Who do we wish to stay at home? Such men as Joseph Hovey, men who will pay attention to making fences, tilling the soil and providing for their families, those who will live their religion at home. But we will send off the poor curses on a mission, and then the devil may have them, and we do not care how soon they apos-tatise, after they get as far as California.
You may think my remarks are severe upon the lawyers here, but the most of them take a course which is highly censurable, and you may see gray headed men running after them, and asking, "Can you call me up as a witness, or put me on the jury?"—in order that they may get a dollar or two. Would I go there for money? No. There is not an honest man in this community who goes there merely for mo-ney, or would plead law unless it was demanded at his hands by the principles of justice, to prevent the innocent from being wronged and abused. No princi-ple would ever lead an honest man into a court room, only to preserve the innocent from being rode down and destroyed.
BRIGHAM IS ASHAMED OF ALL HIS BRETHREN WHO ARE IN ANY CONNECTED WITH LAW.
To see professed brethren, old and young, idling away their time in and around court rooms, proves them to have little or no love for their religion, and that they care but little about their God. I would like to see a strictly honest community, if we can have one, and then there would be no differences of opinion brought before a Gentile court—never, never! Every diffi-culty would be settled amicably, without ever calling upon a court. I am ashamed of many of you; it is a disgrace for men who profess to be men of dignity and character—men who have been Judges in the Supreme Court of their country, to condescend to the mean, low lived calling of pettifogger, and miserable tools at that. I am ashamed for such persons—their conduct is a disgrace to them and to the name of Mormon. I wish we had in our midst thousands and millions of such men as Joseph Hovey—I would then bid defiance to all the powers of darkness. But while we have hundreds and thousands of men whom we hold in fellowship—who would rather take off their hats and scrape their shoes to a servant of the devil and black his boots—I tell you we are in danger.
BRIGHAM CURSES THE LAWYERS, THEIR CHILDREN, THEIR LANDS AND THEIR CATTLE
Men who love corruption, contention and broils, and who seek to make them, I curse you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; I curse you, and the fruits of your lands shall be smitten with mildew, your children shall sicken and die, your cattle shall waste away, and I pray God to root you out from the society of the saints. To observe such conduct as many lawyers are guilty of, stirring up strife among peace-able men, is an outrage upon the feelings of every honest, law abiding man. To sit among them is like sitting in the depths of hell, and their hearts are as black as the ace of spades. I have known them for years; I know where they were begotten and by whom, and how they were brought forth, and the history of their lives. They love sin, and roll it under their tongues as a sweet morsel, and will creep around like wolves in sheep's clothing, and fill their pockets with the fair earnings of their neighbors, and devise every artifice in their power to reach the property of the honest, and that is what has caused these courts. I say, may God Almighty curse them from this time henceforth, and let all the saints in this house say, Amen, [a unanimous amen from 3,000 persons re-sounded through the house,] for they are a stink in the nostrils of God and angels, and in the nostrils of every latter day saint in this Territory. We have been driven from the face of man into the wilderness, and now the poor devils follow us to stir up strife, and to produce the spawn of hell in which they delight to live and upon which they feed. And simple ones in this community will beg of them. "Cannot I be on the grand jury?—Cannot I get a little to do in the court?" You are fools; God will never pay you; all the pay you will receive will be from the devil, and it will be misera-ble pay. This I say to lawyers, and to all who will run after strife, and I say it in honesty and soberness before high heaven, before my Father in heaven, and before Jesus Christ his Son, and before the holy angels. To see lawyers, as I saw them yesterday, strive to make the jury believe them honest, and then throw dust in their eyes, who will reward you for this? The devil, when he gets you in deep suffering and trou-ble for there he will leave you and say that he has no more use for you. You would do better to labor for the Lord, and you would get better pay. And the people of this Territory will make money by paying their honest debts, and gain property and be blessed in their basket and in their store, in their fields and in their crops, in their flocks and herds, in their wives and children, while the withering touch of the Al-mighty will be upon them, if they practise wicked-ness.
NO DECENT MAN WILL GO TO A COURT HOUSE - A CLOSING ADMONITON.
Keep away from court houses; no decent man will go there unless he goes as a witness, or is in some manner compelled to. I know that many are obliged to go, but those who creep around to see what is go-ing on, let me tell you, the devil has possession of them. I wish such persons to go to California, if they wish to. I counsel you to keep away from courts; we have got the names of those who have attended that court room, and we will send those characters on long missions, for we want to get rid of them, and we do not care whether they apostatize or not. If the world complain of this, say I, if you have not sense enough to know an honest, man from a dev-il, you must run the risk of it. I could always discern the difference, and if you have not insight enough to know when they tell the truth, and when they lie, you have to run the same chance that we have. People abroad may say, "Why don't you send us all good-men?" Do you believe them? No, you do not, when we send them. We wish them to stay here, only those whom it is necessary to have go, but we have no business for those poor miserable devils. I call you miserable because the spirit of the Al-mighty has no fellowship for you; your names are written with ours here, and also in the Lamb's book of life, as I have often told you, where they will remain until you sin against the Holy Ghost. Angels have no fellowship for you, neither have I. Now go and prove yourselves, and if you desire to be saints you have an opportunity. Were it not for your ig-norance, there would be a severing between the righteous and the wicked. I would not endure what I am obliged to endure, whether I am righteous or not; I would make a scattering among this people, and make the wicked leave forthwith. I wanted to give you this brief exhortation. You may say that I have talked rather hard, but I do not care what you say about it, not one particle. I will tell you what I think about the matter; if you do not stop your wick-edness we will lay judgment to the line and right-eousness to the plummet, and I tell you that the hail-storm that will be around you will sweep away the refuge of lies and all liars.
SOME OF THE SAINTS ARE SOFT SHELLS.
I am not afraid of all hell, nor all the world, in laying judgement to the line when the Lord says so. Now then behave yourselves, you old gray-headed know-nothings; you are noted; you are shall I say hard shells?—no you are poor old soft shell fogies, that a few pounds of tea and sugar will buy. I feel as ready as any man to honor gray hairs, but I also believe in the old proverb which reads that "A wise child is better than an old and foolish king." We do not want any such men to go to courts. When they want you to sit on a jury, tell them to judge the case themselves, and you keep away and mind your own business. Let me ask you, is there a man obliged to go into a court and sit on a jury? No. Our law will not oblige him to do it, only on certain condit.ons. You can get rid of doing so; you are there because you love to be there. You suck down the drink that is there, eat the food that is there, and sup the broth that is there, because it is of hell and you like it better than you do the saints, and the sustenance of the saints. May God bless the honest in heart, and separate the wicked and unright-eous from them, and curse the latter class from this time henceforth ; Amen.
THE BISHOPS ARE OLD GRANNIES
I feel like taking men and women by the hair of their heads, figuratively speaking, and slinging them miles and miles, and like crying stop, before you ruin yourselves. But I have not the power to do this; I can talk to you a little and can beseech you to stop your mad career, and can ask your Father in heaven to give you the light of the Spirit, and when you re-ceive that you will find every word that I said last Sabbath to be true. There are men here by the score, who do not know their right hands from their left, so far as the principle of justice is concerned.—Does our high council? No, for they will let men throw dust in their eyes, until you cannot the hundredth millionth part of an ounce of common sense in them. You may go to the bishops' courts, and what are they? A set of old grannies. They cannot judge a case pending between two old women, to say nothing of a case between man and man. We have already dropped many of them, and we are pick-ing up young men. We will train them and tell them to serve God or apostatize. The time is coming when justice will be laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet, when we shall take the old broad sword and ask, "are you for God ?" And if you are not heartily on the Lord's side you will be hewn down. I feel like reproving you; you are like a wild ass that rears and almost breaks his neck be-fore he will be tamed. It is go with this people.—Have we not given you salt enough to season you? You have been sweeted with velvet lips until you do not know salt from anything else. Will you hear now? If I have strength and continue to feel like it, I will come here and train you every Sabbath, and wish my sermons to be like the raining of pitchforks point foremost, until you awake out of your sleep and find out whether you are saints or not. We have a great many gars, sharks, sheepheads, lamper eels, and eve-ry other kind of fish that is to be found in the pond; the gospel net has gathered them up, and what may you expect from such a mess? You may expect the best and worst of all God's creation mingled here to-gether. The foolish will turn from correct principles, go over to the wicked and cease to be righteous, so that they can to hell with the fools. I wish to have every man who rises to speak from this stand, lay aside the smooth tongue and velvet lips and let his words be like melted lead, that they may sink into the hearts of the people.
Now, do you think that I have cast you off; you are my brethren, if I have any. If there are any saints on the face of the earth, they are here. I am one with you, and if you turn round and say, "brother Brigham ought to live according to his preaching," I answer, I live so now that you cannot keep up with me. Do not fret yourselves, I am ready to be weighed in the balance in all my ways with any of you. Learn to live your religion day by day, and do right all the time. Let us stride to get more light, more of the grace and power of God that we may increase there-in, which is my prayer continually. May God bless you: Amen.
MONEY MAKING PAUPERS-BEGGARS IN SALT LAKE.
Br. Wooley has reported the circumstance of a bishop's finding a woman who had been living upon the charity of her neighbors, and who at the same time had valuable property and money hid up. I can refer you to scores of like circumstances, and what is more, to some of the elders, those who are supposed to be among the best of our elders, who have been preaching abroad and brought their hundreds into the church, who come here with a lie in their hearts and on their tongues with regard to their means, and declare emphatically that they have no means to help themselves with, neither money nor goods. We have brought them here and they are still owing the Perpetual Emigration Fund for their passage, and they have gold if they have no silver, and have the rich-est kind of clothing. This brings to mind the circum-stance of a family in Nauvoo, who were in the habit of travelling from house to house begging their living, and said that they were poor and destitute. When the time came for us to leave that city, and that fami-ly was starting to St. Louis, the women loosed her dress and showed one of the sisters her stays, and said, "I have my money sewed up in these stays, and the church won't get it." This woman begged her living and stayed in Nauvoo almost two years, and would rather be damned than to part with the sove-reigns sewed up in her stays. Such people will be damned, and the sooner they leave us the better.—Were I a bishop, I would know, to a reasonable de-gree of accuracy, the value of the clothing owned by those in my ward who were calling upon me for as-sistance, and I would be familiar with every nook and habitation, and watch carefully that money was not secreted the owners begging from those poorer than themselves. I would know whether they had money hoarded or hid away. A score of years ago the elders had to be very watchful, and I do not sup-pose that for many years I slept so soundly but what the slightest tap would wake me up. If any person should say "Brigham," I am ready at once to ask, "what is wanted?" I am ready to jump, at a moment's warning. No person could stir about without our knowing it. The bishops should be equally wide awake, and set those whom they have confidence in, those whom they know to be honest, to be watchmen on the tower, and let them find out who are suffering. Doubtless there are many who are suffering through want of food; but there is no necessity of any fami-lies suffering in this city, and when this city is sup-plied the remainder of the Territory may be consider-ed independent. I presume that we have one fourth less provisions in this city, to the number of the in-habitants, than has any other portion of the Territo-ry, and yet we need not suffer. Here we need not be ashamed to beg, when stern necessity has closed around us. I do not expect to see the day when I am perfectly independent, until I am crowned in the celestial kingdom of my Father, and made as inde-pendent as my Father in Heaven. I have not receiv-ed my inheritance as my own, and I expect to he de-pendent until I do, for all that I have is lent to me.-If a man comes to me and says, he is out of food, what of that ? He is out of food, that is all. If a man comes along and says "My family is destitute of food and clothing," what of that? Simply that they are destitute of food and clothing, and still they may be gentlemen and ladies for all that, and be honoring their tabernacles and being on the earth. The cus-toms of the world have made it degrading to ask for food, but it is not when a person cannot honestly pro-cure it in any other way. The man who is hungry and destitute, has as good a right to my food as any other person, and I should feel a happy in associating with him, if he had a good heart, as with those who have an abudance, or with the princes of the earth. They are all esteemed by me, not according to the wealth and position they hold, but according to the character they have.
the iniquitous to be provided for.
You say, "that man ought to die for transgressing the law of God.” Let me suppose a case:—Sup-pose you found your brother in bed with your wife, and put a javelin through both of them, you would be justified, and they would atone for their sins and be received into the kingdom of God. I would at once do so in such a case; and under such circumstances I have no wife whom I love so well that I would not put a javelin through her heart, and I would do it with clean hands. But you who trifle with your cov-enants, be careful lest in judging you will be judged. Every man and woman has got to have clean hands and a pure heart to execute judgment, else they had better let the matter alone. Again, suppose the par-ties are not caught in their iniquity, and it passes along unnoticed, shall I have compassion on them? Yes, I will have compassion on them for transgressions of the nature already named, or for those of any other description. If the Lord so order it that they are not caught in the act of their iniquity, it is pretty good proof that he is willing for them to live, and I say let them live and suffer in the flesh for their sins, for they will have it to do. There is not a man or woman who violates the covenants made with their God, that will not be required to pay the debt. The blood of Christ will never wipe that out, your own blood must atone for it; and the judgments of the Almighty will come, sooner or later, and every man and woman will have to atone for breaking their covenants. To what de-gree? Will they have to go to hell? They are in hell enough now. I do not wish them in a greater hell, when their consciences condemns them all the time. Let compassion reign in our bosoms. Try to com-prehend how weak we are, how we are organised; how the spirit and the flesh are continually at war.
CHASTISING THE HIGH PRIESTS.
There are many in this kingdom who are as foolish as men and women can well be; so much so, that it would seem as though they never had received moral instruction. They give way to wickedness, and out-rage the feelings of those who are truly moral, yet in their hearts they go all lengths for the kingdom of God on the earth. They are willing to stand in the front of the battle, to go to the ends of the earth to preach the gospel, or to do anything they are called upon to perform ; yet when you examine their moral ity, it highly outrages the feelings of those who are strictly moral and honest in all their ways. Do you believe this? Yes, and many of you know it. Many of our boys who play in the streets, and use profane language, know not what they are doing ; but there are old men, members of the High Priests' Quorum and of the High Council, who, when they get into a difficulty in the kanyon and are perplexed, will get angry, and swear at and curse everything around them. I will insure that I could find High Priests who conduct in this manner. But on their way home their feelings become mollified, and they wish to plead with the Lord to forgive them. Could you place yourself in some of our kanyons, or in some other difficult places, out of sight but within hearing, and hear some of the brethren curse and swear at their cattle and horses, you would not have the least idea that they had ever known anything about "Mormon-ism;" but follow them home and you may find them pleading with the Lord for pardon. There are just such characters in our midst. Do you think they should be cut off from the church? I think that if the presidents of quorums would chastise them it might be beneficial—at any rate it would not hurt them—and if that will not do, disfellowship them, and let them know that they must observe the laws of this kingdom, or eventually be cut off. If you do not wish to disfellowship them, you who are without sin, take such men into the kanyon, where they may bellow and bellow in vain, and give them a good cowhiding, until they will remember and be ashamed of themselves when they take the name of God in vain, or lie.
You may take this counsel spiritually or temporal-ly, just as you please. Such characters ought to be whipped so that they would remember it to the day of their death; and if they do not then stop their ly-ing, swearing, cursing and pilfering, I will tell them that sooner or later they will be cut off from the church and go to hell.
THE GOVERNOR SNAPS HIS FINGERS AT PRESIDENT PIERCE.
The world, and those of us who are destitute of the spirit of the gospel, will say, "oh it happened so."—Two years ago there was a hue and cry, from East to West, from North to South, and it was heralded forth in the papers throughout the States and all Europe, that "Governor Young says that he is Governor of Utah and will be, and that President Franklin Pierce cannot remove him from the gubernatorial chair."—I ask and I removed? Is not Brigham yet in the chair? God has ruled in all these things, though we may not know it. I said then, and I shall always say, that I shall be Governor as long as the Lord Almighty wishes me to govern this peo-ple. Do you suppose that it was the power of any man to thwart the doings of the Almighty? They may as well undertake to blot out the sun. I am in the hands of that God, so is the President of our nation, and so are kings, and emperors, and all rulers. He controls the destiny of all; and what are you and I going to do about it? Let us submit to him that we may share in this almighty, God-like power, which is the everlasting priesthood. We cannot thwart the purposes and plans of the Almighty. Do the world comprehend that if this people are faithful to God they will become a mighty people? No. It has been leaked out to a few individuals that the government of the United States is going to send troops here to drive out the Mormons. I say to such threatenings, cease your folly, for you can only do as God permits you.
VERY SEVERE ON THE OLD TERRITORIAL JUDGES.
When certain immaculate judges went from here, they were going to obliterate "Mormonism." What did they accomplish? They did all they could, and, like an empty sound, their vaporings passed away, and are know no more; neither are those judges known. Where is Mr. Brandenbury? Is he sealed in the President's chair, under the wings which sha-dow this nation? Does he control the strength and power of any part of the American Union? Where is he? The last, we heard of him he was in Wash-ington doing a little writing for this, that and the other lawyer, when he could get any to do, and at-tending to cases of a lawyer, when he could get a few dollars for transacting a little business of that kind for this or that man; running from office to office, and from pillar to post to obtain a living. He is a tolerably good man, after all; and if he had done as I coun-seled him he would have stayed here, and let that other judge go. Mr. Brandenbury was a good sort of a man, he never had any difficulty with me, and would have done well, if he had only had sense enough to know that he could not obliterate "Mormonism." But he thought that his associate was go-ing to blow the advocates of truth out of existence, when he might as well blow towards the sun to puff it out.
HARD TIMES IN SALT LAKE.
Those of you who have come here without break-fast this morning, do not go more than five days without eating. When you have gone that long without food, make your wants known to your neigh-bors, and tell them that you need something to eat, and if you come to me I will feed you. I have sus-tained my family comfortably with eight ounces of breadstuff a day to each individual. I have had my children come to me and ask, "shall I give away my rations to-day?" We have plenty of potatoes, and I presume that my family does not consume, on an average, more than five ounces of breadstuffs a day to each person. We have had plenty, ever since the first year we came here.
Be mindful, and do not go too long without eating. Notwithstanding the scarcity, I say to those who send their children to beg from house to house, and who are lugging home a dozen loads a day, stop that.—There are families now in this city, who profess to be out of provisions, sending their children out to beg, and selling flour and meat for money to carry them to the devil. Now, stop that. I say to you, bishops, appoint assistants to visit every house in your wards, and instruct them to take the liberty of lifting up the chest lids, and of looking under the floors and under the beds, for I tell you that some will hide their provisions and lie to you, and tell you that they have nothing, while they are getting money for the flour, &c., which their children beg from this community; to carry them to hell, or back to the States, or to England. I say to such as are com-pelled to beg, when you have received a sufficiency to supply your wants, stop. When the month of June arrives, and the fields are teeming with their golden fruits, there will be plenty of wheat and flour for sale in these streets, for there is a reasonable supply of those article of food. There is a word of encourage-ment, therefore, do not go too long without eating; and, if you are now brought to the pass which com-pels you to call upon the Lord, saying, "Lord, feed us, for unless thou feedst us, we cannot be fed; my Father, open the way that I may get a little bread to feed my-self and children, or I shall not be able to get it," I say, good, glory, hallelujah, that you are brought to your knees to confess his power, and to acknowledge his hand. That you may be faithful is my prayer, all the day long, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen!
