Minutes and Discourses, 6–7 April 1844, as Published in Times and Seasons
Source Note
General conference of the church, Minutes, and JS, Discourses, Nauvoo, Hancock Co., IL, 6–7 Apr. 1844; in “Conference Minutes, Times and Seasons, 1 May 1844, 5:522–524; 15 July 1844, 5:577–579; 1 Aug. 1844, 5:596–598; and 15 Aug. 1844, 5:612–617.
great deal of difficulty that is now in existence. If we can have a privilege and confess our faults unto God and one another every Sabbath day, it will do away with these, you poor sisters shall have a seat in that ; I will stand on the top of the pulpit and proclaim to all what the sisters have done; when you offer up your sacraments every Sabbath, you will feel well a whole week; you will get a great portion of the Spirit of God, enough to last you a week, and you will increase. We are now deprived of the privilege of giving the necessary instruction,— hence we want a . All the money shall be laid out for what you design it; it shant be paid for any thing else. I am one of the committee; the committee tell me the quarry is blockaded, it is filled with rock; the stone cutters are wanting work; come on with your teams as soon as conference is over. It is not necessary for me to tell who wi[l]l come and do it; I will prophesy that you will do it. There is not one in the but what will do right if they know it; only one or two exceptions and they are not worth notice; God will take care of them, and if he dont the devil will. I described them once and you will always know them while you see them, they will keep hopping till they hop out of town. Some are tree toads who climb the trees and are continually croaking.— We are now the most noble people on the face of the globe, and we have no occasion to fear tad-poles. We are designated by the all-seeing eye, designated to do good; not to stoop to any low thing. We are apt to suffer prejudice to get into our hearts on hearing reports, we never should allow it; never should pass our judgment until we hear both sides. I will tell a Dutch anecdote: a certain Dutchman had a cause brought before him and heard one side and he gave in his decision, ‘by sure you have got the case;’ and when the other party brought their witnesses, he said again, ‘by sure and you have got the case too.’ If you hear of any one high in authority, that he is rather inclined to apostacy, dont let prejudice arise, but pray for him;— God may feel after him and he may return; never speak reproachfully or disrespectfully, he is in the hand of God, I am one of those peacemakers who take a stand above these little things. It has been intimated we should have investigations this conference, do you think I would trouble this conference with it. If I have a difficulty with a man I will go and settle it, let them settle their difficulties; there is not a man who has had a difficulty, who would trouble this congregation about it; we ask no favors, we can settle it ourselves; dont think any thing about persons who are on the eve of apostacy, God is able to take care of them. Let God judge, do your duty, and let men alone.
I wish to speak about Messrs: Law’s steam mill, there has been a great deal of bickering about it. The mill has been a great benefit to the , no matter how much fault found; it has been the means of building up the , it has brought in thousands who would not have come here; but as they saw that the Mormons had not got horns, they came, and have got good by it. People would rather come in than starve.— The Messrs. Laws have sunk their capital, and done a great deal of good; it is out of character to cast any aspersions on the Messrs. Laws.— When we come to investigate the conspiracy, it is that rascal who presumed upon them; he supposed he could lead them into any manner of iniquity. I do not believe that the Messrs. Laws would do any thing to injure me or any man’s life. The men gave in affidavit that said they would go into it tooth and toe nail; I will not believe they will do it, if swore it upon a stack of Bibles as big as Mount Etna. I make these observations for the purpose of putting down prejudice. If I was as full of the devil as an egg is full of meat, and you undertook to oppress me, you could not drive me, neither if I was full of the Sprrit of God. Never undertake to destroy men because they do some evil thing; it is natural for a man to be lead and not driven; put down iniquity by good works; many men speak without any contemplation, but when they have a little contemplation it would not have been spoken. We ought to be careful what we say, and take the example of Jesus, cast over the mantle of charity and try to cover their faults. We are made to enlighten, and not to darken one another; save men but not destroy men; do unto others what you would have them do unto you. It is well enough to root out conspiracy, do not fear, but if you are in the rignt track, having God to guide you, he will save you, for God will save you if he has to destroy the wicked so as by fire.
I want to put down all false influence; all that brother Joseph said, was all right; but it was said by the rascal . If I thought I should be saved, and any in the congregation be lost, I should not be happy; for this purpose Jesus effected a resurrection; our Savior is competent to save all from death and hell; I can prove it out of the revelations; I would not serve a God that had not all wisdom and all power. The reason why I feel so good is because I have a big soul, there are men with small bodies who have got souls like Enoch; we have gathered out all the big souls from [p. 597]