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might make in the winter, and so employ those who are destitute. In the summer there is plenty of labor for every body, all through the Territory; and it frequently happens that hands are scarce and wages high; but as soon as the storms begin to come in the Fall, laborers are thrown out of employment and have nothing to do through the long winter. I think the Bishops should turn their attention to this matter and contrive more useful and profitable employment for the winter season. The first Thursday in every month, let us remember, is a day set apart for fasting, prayer and donations to the poor. It will soon come around again. Notwithstanding there may be a little scarcity felt in the midst of the peo

ple, do not let us neglect those things. Do not forget them, and let us live up to those things necessary in the midst of the Saints of the Most High God, so as to keep a full flow of the Spirit in each and every one of us, and seek to make a better use of the blessings with which the Lord has surrounded as. The elements are rich and laden with everything that is good for man, and it is for us to exercise our discrimination and understanding to draw our support therefrom, that we may become a great, free and independent people, able to bear off His kingdom against every opposing obstacle.

May God help us to do so, and to be faithful, is my prayer in the name of Jesus: Amen.

REMARKS by President Brigham Young, made in Mill Creek Ward meeting house, Sunday, July 25th, 1868.

[REPORTED BY EDWARD L. SLOAN.]

EDUCATION-RECREATION-NECESSITY OF OBEYING COUNSEL.

From my nistry I have taken truth as my text; to behold that which is understood but I will refer this morning to the by angels and by those made perfect. words on one of the banners here, My first remarks will be concern"Education is our motto." This willing such exercises as we have seen be my text. We are here that we may learn to improve. My inquiry is, How can I do the most good to my fellow beings? What can I say to them; what can I do; how shall I walk before them; how shall I commune with them to do the greatest possible good to the human family? I am so weak that when I give instructions to my brethren and sisters it seems but a very feeble effort, when the mind is open to behold the great

earliest labors in the mi- | things of God, the riches of eternity;

here this morning. The Latter-day Saints have many pastimes, and they enjoy themselves in social society with one another. Yet I think, in my reflections, that we should have an increase and we are having partially an increase-of recreation for our youth. We have very few holydays. When the 4th of July comes, we have our amusements and exercises. When the 24th of July comes, we hail it as the anniversary of a day

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deliverance; a day of peace and joy to the Latter-day Saints, in finding the peaceful valleys of these mountains, where we can rest and gather the people together, and enjoy the privilege of serving God without any to molest or make us afraid. These two days with Christmas and New Year's, are about all the holidays we have, that we notice at all. On reflection, I have come to the conclusion that it would be better if we would pay more attention to these public exercises, and direct the ininds of our children by observing them, taking a course to have them avoid getting into the habit of drinking and every kind of rowdyism, and other things that are unbecoming; and in all of our amusements have objects of improvement that are worthy of pursuit. I think we are improving a little in this respect; but more of us should take an increased interest in it. We should have more of the children attend Sunday School, and the teachers should continually place objects before them that will lead them to study to improve in their manners, in their words, in their looks and in their behavior; and that will guide their minds aright. You will find we can place before them objects that will do them much good in their thoughts and reflections, that will improve their young and tender minds, and have an influence upon their future lives for good; and we can thus bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord by taking a course to lead their minds.

The brethren bere have caught us as they generally do. I had no thought of any person coming to meet us, nor of seeing the schools lining the road. I thank them for their good feelings to the elders of Israel. But is there any good in it? Yes. It attracts the attention of the young people—that is, I mean all un

der a hundred years old-elevates their feelings, and is calculated to induce reflections and thoughts of a life that is useful; and they will think, when are we going to have another meeting? when is brother Brigham coming too see us again; with brother Wells and brother Cannon, and others?—we cannot say brother Kimball, for he has gone to reap the reward of his labors. It will have the effect of drawing them to good, and they will follow after good continually. Is there any harm in Sunday School parties? No! it is one of the most harmless kinds of enjoyment when conducted aright. If they wish to dance, let them dance; let them talk and play; but not do any wrong. They must not get angry with each other; and if any do wrong instruct them to do right. If our children are thus taught, they will be patterns of piety and their conduct will be worthy of imitation.

I would be very pleased to learn that your Bishop, brother Miller, was preparing a place for parties; with a little pond to float boats on, and other means of enjoyment, where the people could assemble to have their exercises. Get the young minds to follow after you in these things, and they will follow after you in every precept that is good. And I would like to hear of other Bishops taking steps to prepare suitable places for the same purpose.

We are gathered here from various nations of the earth; and many of us have been in conditions of society where we have been wanting in many privileges which others enjoy. The people come here and their feelings. are united directly, which is a positive proof that there is something in our belief more than there is in the beliefs that are recognized in the world. They come here and try to te one immedia ely, and to amalga

mate their feelings. We see this, and it is encouraging; and we see our prominent men leading out and directing the minds of those from the eastern and those from the western world, and teaching them never to do a wrong, never to do evil; and, by example, to beautify themselves and their places, and everything around them. This is good, for in it we do no wrong; we do not do anything by it to injure our feelings or the feelings of others, nor to grieve our spirits; but we do that which will increase beauty and excellence among the people. In this the Lord is well pleased. For the sake of our children, for the sake of the youth of our land, I am pleased, every time I travel, to see this manifestation of respect for the elders of Israel.

We wish to improve. I will ask a question with regard to knowledge and wisdom and understanding and all the blessings of Heaven bestowed upon the people, and it is this: Who are deserving of honor and glory, who are deserving of a good name? The man and the woman who seek to know and understand the mind and will of God and to carry it out in their lives, or those who are slothful and who seek to live by what they call faith alone? I think we would decide that those who manifest by their works that they seek to do the will of the Lord are more acceptable before Him than those who live by faith alone. I believe the Latter-day Saints are the best people on the earth of whom we have any knowledge. Still, I believe that we are, in many things, very negligent, slothful and slow to obey the words of the Lord. Many seem to act upon the faith that God will sustain us instead of our trying to sustain ourselves. We are frightened at seeing the grasshoppers coming and destroying our crops. We pray to the

Lord and try to exercise faith that He may remove these devouring insects. We got along very well in the first part of the season, and our crops looked beautiful. But how has it been for the last few days? I can understand your feelings by my own. A week ago yesterday I went through here on my way to Provo, and everything looked promising. Yesterday when I returned, fields were stripped, young orchards were stripped of the leaves, and the evidences of destruction were to be seen around. Some try to exercise faith and ask the Lord to remove this destructive power. I remember saying in the School of the Prophets, that I would rather the people would exercise a little more sense and save means to provide for themselves, instead of squandering it away and asking the Lord to feed them. In my reflections I have carried this matter a considerable length. I have paid attention to the counsel that has been given me. For years past it has been sounded in my ears, year after year, to lay up grain, so that we might have an abundance in the day of want. Perhaps the Lord would bring a partial famine on us; perhaps a famine would come upon our neighbors. I have been told that He might bring just such a time as we are now having. But suppose I had taken no heed to this counsel, and had not regarded the coming time, what would have been my condition to-day.

View the actions of the Latter-day Saints on this matter, and their neglect of the counsel given; and suppose the Lord would allow these insects to destroy our crops this season and the next, what would be the result? I can see death, misery and want on the faces of this people. But some may say, "I have faith the Lord will turn them away." What ground have we to hope this? Have I any

good reason to say to my Father in | plishment of good like the Latter-day heaven, "Fight my battles," when Saints. But we do not obey counsel

He has given me the sword to wield, the arm and the brain that I can fight for myself? Can I ask Him to fight my battles and sit quietly down waiting for Him to do so? I cannot. I can pray the people to hearken to wisdom, to listen to counsel; but to ask God to do for me that which I can do for myself is preposterous to my mind. Look at the Latter-day Saints. We have had our fields laden with grain for years; and if we had been so disposed, our bins might have been filled to overflowing, and with seven years' provisions on hand we might have disregarded the ravages of these insects, and have gone to the kanyon and got our lumber, procured the materials, and built up and beautified our places, instead of devoting our time to fighting and endeavoring to replace that which has been lost through their destructiveness. We might have made our fences, improved our buildings, beautified Zion, let our ground rest, and prepared for the time when these insects would have gone. But now the people are running distracted here and there. I do not wish to condemn them. I wish all the justification that can be brought to them. But I look at them as they are. They are in want and in trouble, and they are perplexed. They do not know what to do. They have been told what to do, but they did not hearken to this counsel.

I have never promised a famine to the Latter-day Saints, if we will do half right. You have never heard it drop from my lips that a famine would come upon this people. There never will, if we will only do half right, and we expect to do better than that. There is not another people on the earth whose faith and works are directed for the accomNo. 16.

as we should. Yet when we look at them and at others on the face of the earth, we have reason to say we are proud of the Latter-day Saints. But are we all we should be? No. We must learn to listen to the whispering of the Holy Spirit, and the counsels of the servants of God, until we come to the unity of the faith. If we had obeyed counsel we would have had granaries to-day, and they would have been full of grain; and we would have had wheat and oats and barley for ourselves and for our animals, to last us for years. The people have also been counseled to take their straw and stack it up, making nice beautiful ricks of it. You may see the day your cattle will want it or perish. If you keep your straw you will be able to have your cattle to work with when you want them. Is the hay kept? No: it must be sold. A train will come in from Utah County, from Davis County, from Tooele, loaded with hay, and it must be sold, even if there is nothing— comparatively speaking-got for it. Save your hay; save your chaff; save your straw; save your wheat; save your oats; save your barley, and everything that can be saved and preserved against a day of want. We have taken our flour north, and sold it for a song, and now we see the day when our brethren are paying twelve dollars a hundred for it on the railroad, brought from the States. If we had been prudent we might have had enough to supply them, and we could have sold hundreds and thousands and tens of thousands of dollars' worth this season. I was inquired of this spring what I would sell flour for, to be taken down with the teams that went to the terminus, and I had to say we have none to spare. But we have sent it to Mon

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tana, and we have sold it for next to and making our habitations places of nothing, and now our bins are empty. loveliness. Who is deserving of honor or glory from God? Those who have preserved their substance, or those who have wasted it? Those who have preserved it; for they know how to preserve those things which the Lord places in their hands. But some have had so much faith in the providences of God to feed them that they wonld sell their grain even if they got a mere nothing for it. I remember a time when some people almost cursed wheat, it was so plenty. Would the common laborers and mechanics take wheat for their pay? No. Would they save it? No. The Lord had given us large crops; would they build bins and store the grain away? No. But it was taken to the city and sold for anything it would bring. There was a time when my heart was pained at hearing wheat spoken of as it was; and I was afraid at seeing the manifestations of ill feeling which were exhibited by some of the brethren, principally among the mechanics, concerning grain.

We have seen one grasshopper war before this. Then we had two years of it. We are having two years now. Suppose we have good crops next year, the people will think less of this visitation than they do now; and still less the next year; until in four or five years it will be almost gone from their minds. We are capable of being perfectly independent of these insects. If we had thousands on thousands of bushels of wheat, rye, and barley, and corn we might have said to them, "you may go, we are not going to plant for you." Then we could have plowed up the ground, put in the manure, and let the land rest, and the grasshoppers would not have destroyed the fruits of our labors which could have been directed to the beautifying of Zion

Just as sure as the Lord lives we are going to see times when our neighbors around us will be in want. But some may say, here have ten years, twenty years, thirty years gone, and the sayings of Joseph and the Apostles have not all come to pass. If they have not all been fulfilled, they all will be fulfilled. When we saw the flaming sword unsheathed in the terrible war between the north and the south, we could see in it the fulfillment in part of the prophecies of Joseph. But when peace comes for a short time we forget all about it, like a person who comes into the Church because of seeing a miracle. If he has professed an obedience to the gospel and a belief in its principles because he saw a miracle performed, he would need another in a day or two to continue him in his belief; and he wants a repetition of miracles to keep him in the Church. Let peace continue for a few years, and the prediction of Joseph spoken of would be forgotten by all but a few. So it is with us, comparatively. Let crickets, or grasshoppers, or frosts, or anything else come and destroy our crops, and we feel it then; but just as soon as prosperity comes we forget what has happened.

Take the people and I am proud of them; but there is a feeling with them that they must not be counseled in their temporal matters. I call this a sectarian notion. for we will find yet that God is Dictator in everything. Take the case of the Children of Israel and the miracles .hat were wrought in their deliverance from the land of Egypt. The question arises, was it through their faith, or because of the promises which God had made to their fathers? The Lord sent Moses to Pharaoh, who wrought many miracles before him; and Pharaoh sent for his wise men, his astro

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