Brigham Young's Sermon on Mormon Espionage and the Slander of Christendom - 4/29/1866
You have heard what Elder Charles S. Kimball has said this afternoon
relative to the general belief of the people in the old countries, -
That Brigham Young reads all letters before they leave this county, and
if any are not written to suit him, they are destroyed by his order! In
this way they account for so few letters reaching the members of the
Church in distant lands from their friends here in Utah. (1) I
will now make a public request that the Saints hereafter cease to bring
their letters to me, if there are any that have ever done such a thing;
and I also request the postmasters throughout the Territory to stop
sending all foreign letters to me for my inspection previous to mailing
for abroad; that is, if they have ever done such a thing; and for this
simple reason, that I have so much to do that I cannot possibly pay
attention to such an extensive amount of reading. (2)
If any of you, or if any of the people in any part of the Territory
have ever sent letters to me to read, previous to sending them to their
friends abroad, be so kind as to take notice and cease to do this thing
from this time henceforth. If any postmaster has ever sent me a single
letter to read belonging to any person - Jew or Gentile, Saint or
sinner - I request him never to do so again; for I have such an
extensive correspondence of my own, that it is a very great labor for
me to read and answer what I am obliged to do in my business and
calling. People who suppose that I can see and read the foreign
correspondence of this whole community, give me credit for an amount of
physical and mental endurance which I do not possess. (3)
Brother Charles has strongly requested those who have friends in the
old country to write to them, and I would make the same request, that
you write often to your fathers and mothers, and brothers and sisters
and friends, and acquaintances and neighbors, whom you have left behind
in those old countries. Tell them the truth with regard to the people
here, and with regard to the country, and when you, who are going to
that country, arrive there, tell the people the truth. (4)
In this country there is ample opportunity for people to get rich, to
gather up property and accumulate and store up wealth, and the minds of
the people are so occupied in this labor that they do not take time to
write to their friends, and many not even to fulfill their promises to
write. Some of those who have borrowed money of their friends in the
old countries, and promised to work when they got to America and send
it back again to them, have forgotten to do so. I am sorry to be
obliged to say this. If I could have my way, every man who professes to
be a Saint would act like a Saint. However, we are trying to be Saints.
We have embraced the Gospel of the Son of God; we have embraced a
marvellous work - a work which is a great wonder to all people. As the
Prophet has said, "Therefore behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous
work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder; for the
wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their
prudent men shall be hid." (5)
The brethren have been testifying to the truth of this work, and there
is not a man or a woman on this earth who receives the spirit of the
Gospel but what can testify to its truth. (6) We are the witnesses of this great work which the Lord has commenced in the Latter days. (7)
Were you to ask me how it was that I embraced "Mormonism," I should
answer, for the simple reason that it embraces all truth in heaven and
on earth, in the earth under the earth, and in hell, if there be any
truth there. There is no truth outside of it; there is no good outside
of it; there is no virtue outside of it; there is nothing holy and
honorable outside of it; for, wherever these principles are found among
all the creations of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and his order and
Priesthood, embrace them. (8)
When we talk about making sacrifices for this work, the word to me is
without meaning; for if a man desires to get a good name - a good
character - if he wishes to make fast friends, if he wishes wealth,
comfort, joy, and peace in all of his life here on the earth, let him
embrace the truth and then live it. (9)
When the unbeliever has a realizing sense of his own condition, he lays
down on his bed in sorrow, he wishes things were a little different; he
lays down in sorrow, and wakes up in doubt, to live every hour and
minute through the day in anxiety. There may be hours and minutes in
which people forget themselves; but, when their minds dwell upon their
situation and being in life, they are in doubt, they are in anxiety,
darkness, and ignorance; they do not know who they are, what they are
on the earth for; they know nothing of their pre-existence, or
comparatively little of their present existence, only that they are
here in the world, and by-and-by they will die and leave the world.
Where they will go when they leave the world, they know not, and there
are many who do not care. Some strive to be infidels to a great deal of
that which is true, to that which it would be to their best interest to
believe and know. (10)
If you have truth, you have got what is called "Mormonism," or, more
properly, the Gospel of life and salvation. It is here, and it is
nowhere else to the same extent that it is in the doctrine that this
people say they have embraced. Do they know it all? In comparison to
what we have yet to learn of the things of God, we are but babes and
sucklings in the knowledge of God our Father, in the knowledge of his
work and of the labor and the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ, that we
profess to be so familiar with. If it can be said of us that we are
children in the knowledge of God, we have progressed tolerably well. (11)
It has been remarked this afternoon how difficult it is for our Elders
to go forth and contend with the learning of the age. You heard the few
remarks regarding the religions of the day, and the idea that generally
prevails in Christian countries that it requires men to be qualified,
and learned, and eloquent to stand before the people to act as
religious teachers. I will give you the reason why this is so. When a
false theory has to be maintained, it requires to be set forth with
much care; it requires study and learning, and cunning sophistry to
gild over a falsehood and give it the semblance of truth, and make it
plausible and congenial to the feelings of the people; but the most
simple and unlearned person can tell you the truth. A child can tell
you the truth, in child-like language, while falsehood requires the
lawyer and the priest to tell it to make it at all plausible; it
requires a scholastic education to make falsehood pass for truth. (12) Anciently,
all the people, and the publicans, who heard Jesus, justified God,
being baptised with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers
rejected the counsel of God against themselves, not being baptized of
him. When a simple, honest hearted man, sent of God with the truth to
the world, shall question the most learned upholders of false theories,
the gilding falls off, and falsehood, in all its deformity, stands
naked and exposed. I have scores of times read from the Bible, and the
people would declare that it was not the Christian Bible, but the
"Mormon" Bible I Was reading in; and to convince them to the contrary,
would have to read the title page. (13)
Men are educated to promulgate and sustain false theories to make
money, and to create and uphold powerful sects. "And they teach with
their learning, and deny the Holy Ghost, which giveth utterance."
"Because of pride, and because of false teachers, and false doctrine,
their churches have become corrupted; and their churches are lifted up,
because of pride they are puffed up. They rob the poor, because of
their fine sanctuaries; they rob the poor, because of their fine
clothing; and they persecute the meek and the poor in heart because in
their pride they are puffed up." And all this because the fathers
transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, and broke the
everlasting covenant delivered unto them. The truth is easily
understood, and as easily told. The agriculturist and the mechanic can
tell the truth, and become efficient ministers of it, by living
faithfully in accordance with what they know of the Gospel; for in this
way they obtain the Holy Ghost, which giveth utterance. Education is a
good thing, and blessed is the man who has it, and can use it for the
dissemination of the Gospel without being puffed up with pride. "But
God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise;
and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are
despised, hath God chosen; yea, and things which are not, to bring to
naught things which are: that no flesh should glory in His presence." (14)
However good and useful a classical education may be in the possession
of a good and wise man, yet it is not essentially necessary for him to
have it to tell the simple truth which is given to mankind by the
revelations of God because it can be told by the simple and the
unlearned. But if the profession of a lawyer is chosen by any person he
needs to be educated in all the learning of the age to be successful;
for it is a hard thing for him to make a man appear innocent before a
jury of his countrymen whom he knows to be guilty. It is a hard matter
to make a jury of men endowed, not with great learning perhaps, but
with hard sense, believe that white is black, and that black is white,
as the case may be, to present the truth in such a way that they will
believe it as a lie, and a lie in such a way that they will believe it
as a truth. It requires a lawyer - a man who is well schooled in all
that men know, to make things appear what they really are not. (15)
That which will apply to law in this case will apply to a false
religion. We take our young men who have been brought up in this
community and I care not whether they can read a chapter in the Bible
or not, if they will repent and seek diligently for the Spirit of the
Lord, and send them out into the world to preach the Gospel, and if
they are faithful, they will be able, ere long, by the blessing of God,
to confound the great and the wise of the age in matters of theology.
"I thank thee, O Father Lord of Heaven and earth, because thou hast hid
these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto
babes." (16)
It was observed here this afternoon that it requires our boys to go
into the world to preach the truth to know that "Mormonism" is true.
The older portion of this community embraced the truth through the
conviction of it, and prayed unto the Lord for the light of it, and
they received the testimony of the Spirit of God; but our children do
not know the greatness of their blessings and privileges. They are
entitled to the Spirit of the Gospel from their mothers wombs; they
have it with them all the time; they are born in it. We say that they
are rude, that they are rough and unmanageable, etc.; they do not know
that they possess the light of the Holy Spirit until they go out into
the world and learn the great contrast - see the blackness of night,
the thick darkness of error that has settled down like a great pall
upon the moral and religious world. They hear their fathers pray, and
they hear the Apostles and Prophets preach, but they cannot know that
"Mormonism" is true for themselves until they have had the privilege of
being placed in circumstances to exercise faith for themselves, and to
pay to God for themselves for testimony and knowledge. Then they obtain
the power of the Holy Spirit, which awakens their senses, and they know
for themselves that God lives, for he hears and answers their prayers. (17)
I could say something encouraging to parents, if they would heed. Let
the father and mother, who are members of this Church and kingdom, take
a righteous course, and strive with all their might never to do a
wrong, but to do good all their lives; if they have one child or one
hundred children, if they conduct themselves towards them as they
should, binding them to the Lord by their faith and prayers, I care not
where those children go, they are bound up to their parents by an
everlasting tie, and no power of earth or hell can separate them from
their parents in eternity; they will return again to the fountain from
whence they sprang. I am sorry that this people are worldly-minded;
that they are in their feelings and affections glued to the world so
much as they are. I am sorry to hear Elders of Israel use words, and
manifest anger and impatience that are unbecoming. Men who are vessels
of the holy Priesthood, who are charged with words of eternal life to
the world, should strive continually in their words and actions and
daily deportment to do honor to the great dignity of their calling and
office as ministers and representatives of the Most High. We are trying
to be Saints, and many of the brethren sin, and repent, and ask
forgiveness, and intend to do better in the future, and perhaps
to-morrow they lose their temper and swear at their oxen, etc. They
love the world, and covet their fine horses; their affections are upon
them, and upon their farms, upon their property, their houses and
possessions, and in the same ratio that this is the case, the Holy
Spirit of God - the spirit of their calling - forsakes them, and they
are overcome with the spirit of the evil one, so that they have not
strength to resist the weaknesses of their nature; and they swear and
take the name of God in vain, are impatient with their families and
often abuse them. Such things as these should not be among the servants
of the Most High. (18)
If we have possessions, it is because the Lord has given them to us,
and it is our duty to see that everything we have is devoted to the
advancement of truth, virtue, and holiness, to beauty and excellence;
to redeem the earth, and adorn it with beautiful habitations, and
orchards, and gardens, and farms, and cities, until it shall become
like the garden of Eden. All that we possess belongs to the Lord, and
we are the Lord's, and we should never lust after that over which he
has made us stewards, but we should use it profitably to the upbuilding
of the Zion of our God, to send the Gospel to all the world, and to
gather and feed the poor. I am thankful that I am able to say these few
words. (19)
May God bless you. Amen. (20)
1) Brigham Young financially destroyed foreign Mormon converts for his personal enrichment.
Despite all the challenges that President Brigham Young faced, for him,
“there [was] no such thing” as sacrifice (DNW, 24 Aug. 1854, 1) because
everything belongs to God already and what we give up only blesses us
and prepares us for exaltation. He viewed what we would call sacrifices
as opportunities to exchange “a worse condition for a better one” (DNW,
24 Aug. 1854, 1). President Young taught that we can participate in the
Lord’s work by obeying the laws of tithing and
consecration—acknowledging that all we possess belongs to our Father in
Heaven and returning a portion of our possessions to Him. Tithing and
Consecration, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young,
page 155.
2) Brigham Young’s agents had for years illegally tampered with United States mail.
Our mail rights and other rights and privileges are most unjustly
trampled under foot; but they can spend millions to raise a hubbub and
make out that something wrong is being done in Utah. Brigham Young
sermon delivered on July 26, 1857.
3) Brigham Young’s espionage changed from illegal mail tampering to illegal wiretaps.
Here is the central life and authority of the State. The telegraph of
the church, extending all over the Territory, centers here, and here is
the office of the special church newspaper organ. Our New West (1869),
page 221.
4) The truth is Brigham Young personally enriched himself at the expense of Mormon religious fanatics.
Similarly guarded from cunning eyes or profane entrance by a high,
strong wall, is Brigham Young’s entire city square block. Within this
are the “tithing-house,” where are gathered in the tenth part of every
man’s yearly productions or profits, the offices and store-houses of
the church, two large houses for Young and his extensive family and his
private offices, a school-house with cupola for his children, immense
barns and sheds for his animals, and far in the rear his grand model
flouring mill. Fine gardens and orchards fill up the vacant places. Our
New West (1869), page 221.
5) The marvelous Mormon work of enriching Brigham Young is not the Christian Gospel.
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to
you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you
are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless
you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I
also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third
day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then
by the twelve. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.
6) The Christian testimony is of Jesus Christ not of the personal enrichment of Brigham Young.
And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 1 John 5:11.
7) Christians will be witnesses of Jesus Christ not of cult leaders in Utah.
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;
and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and
Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8.
8) Jesus Christ is the truth not a false church and prophets based in Utah.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6.
9) Brigham Young embraced the Mormon truth of personally enriching himself.
The Beehive house was constructed in 1854, two years before the Lion
House. The Lion House is adjacent to the Beehive House, and both homes
are one block east of the Salt Lake Temple and Temple Square on the
street South Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah. Wikipedia Encyclopedia.
10) Salvation from damnation is based on a person’s sincere belief in Jesus Christ.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16.
11) Intolerant Mormonism is not the truth or the way to God.
For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man
Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due
time, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am speaking
the truth in Christ and not lying—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith
and truth. 1 Timothy 2:5-7.
12) Christian leaders will not be novices such as Mormon boy elders and deacons.
A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate,
sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to
wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome,
not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in
submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule
his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); not a
novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same
condemnation as the devil. Moreover he must have a good testimony among
those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the
devil. 1 Timothy 3:2-7.
13) Christians are justified before God by faith not baptism.
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your
heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you
confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that
God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart
one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. Romans 10:8-10.
14) Brigham Young was guilty of his false accusations and never preached the Christian message.
For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know
God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to
save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after
wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block
and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews
and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the
foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is
stronger than men. 1 Corinthians 1:21-25.
15) Christian revelation is the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the
marriage supper of the Lamb!’” And he said to me, “These are the true
sayings of God.” And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to
me, “See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your
brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the
testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Revelation 19:9-10.
16) Ignorant Mormon boy elders do not have the Christian message.
Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also
may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live
with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him,
He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He
cannot deny Himself. Remind them of these things, charging them before
the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the
hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who
does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2
Timothy 2:10-15.
17) The Holy Spirit will testify of Jesus Christ not a false church based in Utah.
“But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father,
the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of
Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from
the beginning.” John 15:26-27.
18) Belonging to a false church based in Utah will not save you. Are you selfish or selfless?
No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in
us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we
abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And
we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of
the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides
in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God
has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and
God in him. 1 John 4:12-16.
19) Brigham Young used Mormon fanatics to enrich himself from the Mountain Meadows Massacre through 10% tithing.
James Gordon, Lee’s former neighbor, saw some of the plunder from the
massacre when Lee stopped at his home on his way to Salt Lake. Lee had
a high-topped black silk hat filled with loot he said he had recovered
from the Paiutes. He “poured it out onto the table for all to see:
watches, jewels, and silver items.” Lee apparently turned over the
booty to the General Tithing Office, for its receipt book for December
1857 listed many of the trinkets Gordon described: a gold chain, a gold
watch, a gold ring, a silver watch, silver tongs, a looking glass, and
other items valued at $150.00. Blood of the Prophets, page 174.
20) God will never bless murderous greedy religious fanatics.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.” Matthew 5:3-11