Gospel topic
Money: Materialism
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Last Sabbath we had an excellent discourse from brother Aaron Farr; his spirit is good, and so is brother Washington L. Jolly's. Brother Farr closed his remarks by saying, “that we were building fine houses, and neglecting the Temple of the Lord,” and brother Jolly referred to the same thing in his remarks. If it would not hurt their feelings, I would say, it is none of your business if we do not build a Temple here for years. I know they feel anxious to have a place for us to administer the endowments in, and so do I. Among those we administered the endowments to in Nauvoo, do you not think we administered to some who were devils, or in other words, full of the devil? You wish to see a Temple built, and, when it is done, some poor miserable beings will come up, and say, “We were baptized by brother So-and-so. Brother Brigham is a charming man, and what an excellent woman his wife is! Cannot we have our endowments this winter, brother Brigham?” And they will plead with brother Kimball, and sympathize for this or that man, saying, “Do let him have his endowment, for he is so generous and loving; he gave a sister a pair of stockings and shoes; cannot he have his endowment?” Well, he gets his endowment, and what for? To go to California, and reveal everything he can, and stir up wickedness, and prepare himself for hell. I would rather see this people cleansed, and give the righteous their endowments after they have waited awhile. Let the poor, and those who are humble before the Lord, have the first chance. I shall not build a Temple, nor commence to put one piece of hewn stone upon the foundation, or plane a board or stick of timber for that building, until the Temple lot is fenced. If this people will pay one-fifth of the tithing that is due, we can build all that we wish. I will venture to say that brothers Farr and Jolly never counseled their brethren, where they have been laboring, to come up here and pay their tithing; and yet they look to me and my brethren to do it all, to send the Gospel to the nations, to build temples, and watch night and day over the interests of this kingdom, and they have not even mouthed tithing; or, if they have, they have merely touched upon it, and when they get here, they whisper in my ear, “Brother Brigham, handle them carefully on tithing, for they know but little about it.” I wish you to understand me. Wait until this people have paid their tithing, before there is any demand made on the Lord, or on His servants, for a Temple. If this people rise up, and make demands on me for anything that has not been done, or complain about anything that they have done, I am ready to post up the books, and strike a balance sheet, and show whether it is you or your President that is the defaulter. If all the brethren understood, and would pursue a proper policy, they would do better than they now do. My policy is to get rich; I am a miser in eternal things. Do I want to become rich in the things of this earth? Yes, if the Lord wishes me to have such riches, and I can use them to good advantage. My policy is to keep every man, woman, and child busily employed, that they may have no idle time for hatching mischief in the night, and for making plans to accomplish their own ruin. We see men in our streets employed only in plotting the ruin of this people. But men who are engaged in the canyons, in stores, or in any active labor in the day time, when night comes they are glad to rest. Night is the time the idle and the indolent watch for their prey. My policy is to keep everybody busy in building up this kingdom; in building houses; in breaking up land; in setting out fruit and ornamental trees; in laying out fine gardens, pleasant walks, and beautiful groves; and in building academies, and other places of learning. There are hundreds of young men here who can go to school, which is far better than to waste their time. Study languages, get knowledge and understanding; and while doing this, get wisdom from God, and forget it not, and learn how to apply it, that you may do good with it all the days of your lives. May God bless you. AMEN.
President Brigham Young
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The Latter-day Saints who turn their attention to moneymaking soon become cold in their feelings toward the ordinances of the house of God. They neglect their prayers, become unwilling to pay any donations; the law of Tithing gets too great a task for them; and they finally forsake their God, and the providences of heaven seem to be shut out from them—all in consequence of this lust after the things of this world, which will certainly perish in handling, and in their use they will fade away and go from us. We, as well as the whole world of mankind, know that our time is short, our days but a span. And yet we lust after this filthy lucre, the world’s wealth. It matters not how much of this world’s goods a man may possess, his few days soon expire, and he sleeps with the fathers. To him his riches are no more; it was only seeming wealth. We cannot expect to receive real wealth until we receive the riches of eternity, which are eternal. Those riches will not be committed to us, until we shall have filled our measures here, having done all the Lord requires of us, towards perfecting ourselves, and assisting him in the work of the salvation of the human family. Not until Jesus shall present all things to the Father, saying, I have completed the work thou gavest me to do; here are the results of my labors. Then, and not until then, can we possess real riches, true riches, eternal riches. How vain it is in man to allow himself to think that he can make himself happy with the pleasures of this world. There is no lasting pleasure here, unless it is in God. When men leave the kingdom of God, their lives are filled with bitterness, their thoughts are full of fearfulness, and they are sorrowful, day by day. They may tell you they are happy. But when you probe them, and find out the inmost recesses of the heart, it is a cup of gall; they are not happy. They may seek, to the uttermost parts of the earth, for happiness, but they find it not. Where is happiness, real happiness? Nowhere but in God. By possessing the spirit of our holy religion, we are happy, in the morning, we are happy at noon, we are happy in the evening; for the spirit of love and union is with us, and we rejoice in the spirit because, it is of God, and we rejoice in God, for he is the giver of every good thing. Each and every Latter-day Saint, who has experienced the love of God in his heart, after having received the remission of his sins, through baptism, and the laying on of hands, realizes that he is filled with joy, and happiness, and consolation. He may be in pain, in error, in poverty, or in prison, if necessity demands, still, he is joyful. This is our experience, and each and every Latter-day Saint can bear witness to it.
President Brigham Young
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Pride is characterized by “What do I want out of life?” rather than by “What would God have me do with my life?” It is self-will as opposed to God’s will. It is the fear of man over the fear of God. Humility responds to God’s will—to the fear of His judgments and the needs of those around us. To the proud, the applause of the world rings in their ears; to the humble, the applause of heaven warms their hearts. Someone has said, “Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man.” Of one brother, the Lord said, “I, the Lord, am not well pleased with him, for he seeketh to excel, and he is not sufficiently meek before me.” (D&C 58:41.) The two groups in the Book of Mormon that seemed to have the greatest difficulty with pride are the “learned, and the rich.”
President Ezra Taft Benson
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Pride is a sin that can readily be seen in others but is rarely admitted in ourselves. Most of us consider pride to be a sin of those on the top, such as the rich and the learned, looking down at the rest of us. (See 2 Ne. 9:42.) There is, however, a far more common ailment among us—and that is pride from the bottom looking up. It is manifest in so many ways, such as faultfinding, gossiping, backbiting, murmuring, living beyond our means, envying, coveting, withholding gratitude and praise that might lift another, and being unforgiving and jealous. Disobedience is essentially a prideful power struggle against someone in authority over us. It can be a parent, a priesthood leader, a teacher, or ultimately God. A proud person hates the fact that someone is above him. He thinks this lowers his position. Selfishness is one of the more common faces of pride. “How everything affects me” is the center of all that matters—self-conceit, self-pity, worldly self-fulfillment, self-gratification, and self-seeking. Pride results in secret combinations which are built up to get power, gain, and glory of the world. (See Hel. 7:5; Ether 8:9, 16, 22–23; Moses 5:31.) This fruit of the sin of pride, namely secret combinations, brought down both the Jaredite and the Nephite civilizations and has been and will yet be the cause of the fall of many nations. (See Ether 8:18–25.)
President Ezra Taft Benson
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