Favorite Brigham Young Stories And Teachings

[Zathura]

Please share your favorite teachings or stories of Brigham Young.

Try to think of some that might be less well known!

[simpleton]

Please share your favorite teachings or stories of Brigham Young.

Try to think of some that might be less well known!

Is this entrapment?

[LDS Watchman]

“When we see the time that we can willingly strike hands and have full fellowship with those who despise the kingdom of God, know ye then that the Priesthood of the Son of God is out of your possession. Let us be careful how we make friends with and fellowship unrighteousness, lest the curse of God descends heavily upon us.”

-Brigham Young, President of the Church,
25 Oct. 1863

[NewEliza]

Quote on his role as a father from his daughter Susa:

“No other fact of father’s life was so profound a proof of his true nobility and greatness as his life at home and the influence which he radiated there. He was ever present in spirit. . . . The world knows Brigham Young as a states- man and colonizer; but to his children he was an ideal father. Kind to a fault, tender, thoughtful, just and firm. . . . None of us feared him; all of us adored him. . . . What his life and love meant to his family only their subsequent lives may testify.”

https://byustudies.byu.edu/file/1282/do ... n=ojOimluh

[Zathura]

Please share your favorite teachings or stories of Brigham Young.

Try to think of some that might be less well known!

Is this entrapment?

[Phantom]

One of my favorite Brigham stories comes from my family history. It's not well known. I have a great grandfather who was one of the first to be married in Utah after arriving in 1848. Brigham married the couple personally. Many years later Brigham was traveling to southern Utah and stayed in their home. At the time there was a great focus on the Temple (St. George and Manti would come long before Salt Lake, and they were close and involved in both). This couple, who had many children already, were worried their vows were incomplete because they were not married in a temple or even the Endowment House. They anxiously discussed it and decided they would ask Brigham what to do if they could ever counsel with him alone. His visit to their home was their chance.

Over a pot roast dinner they sprung the question. Brigham, remembering the day they were married under the meager shelter of the Bowery in what would become temple square in later years, waved off the question between bites. He said, "The priesthood I hold is just as effective under the Bowery as it is in a Temple. What you did was a work of righteousness and the Lord accepts it."

Parenthetically, this meal was also the occasion where Brigham uttered this nugget: "If you want your bread to fall from the table with the buttered side up it is best to butter both sides".

[Zathura]

One of my favorite Brigham stories comes from my family history. It's not well known. I have a great grandfather who was one of the first to be married in Utah after arriving in 1848. Brigham married the couple personally. Many years later Brigham was traveling to southern Utah and stayed in their home. At the time there was a great focus on the Temple (St. George and Manti would come long before Salt Lake, and they were close and involved in both). This couple, who had many children already, were worried their vows were incomplete because they were not married in a temple or even the Endowment House. They anxiously discussed it and decided they would ask Brigham what to do if they could ever counsel with him alone. His visit to their home was their chance.

Over a pot roast dinner they sprung the question. Brigham, remembering the day they were married under the meager shelter of the Bowery in what would become temple square in later years, waved off the question between bites. He said, "The priesthood I hold is just as effective under the Bowery as it is in a Temple. What you did was a work of righteousness and the Lord accepts it."

Parenthetically, this meal was also the occasion where Brigham uttered this nugget: "If you want your bread to fall from the table with the buttered side up it is best to butter both sides".

Nice one thanks

[SempiternalHarbinger]

Not a fan of Brigham Young in the least, but I do appreciate some of his observations on the environment of the SL saints. It sounds all too familiar. Here are a few gems...

"Have we separated ourselves from the nations? Yes. And what else have we done?... Have we not brought Babylon with us? Are we not promoting Babylon here in our midst? Are we not fostering the spirit of Babylon that is now abroad on the face of the whole earth?... Yes, yes, to some extent, and there is not a latter-day Saints but what feels that we have too much Babylon in our midst."
-JD 17:38

"I am more afraid of covetousness in our elders than I am of the hordes of hell. Have we men out now of that class? I believe so. I am afraid of such spirits; for they are more powerful and injurious to this people than all hell outside our borders. All of her enemies in the United States or in the world and all hell with them marshaled against us to not do us the injury that covetousness in the hearts of this people to do us; For it is idolatry." -JD 5:353

"whether you can see it or not, I know that this people are more or less prone to a idolatry; for I see that spirit manifested every day, and hear it from nearly every quarter." -JD 13:38

"They're cheating and lying, they're scheming in every possible way ... have caused my spirit to weep and mourn." -JD 3:118

"But the great majority of men who have amassed great wealth have done it at the expense of their fellows, on the principles at the doctors, the lawyers, and the merchants require their's. Such men are impositions on the community." -JD 19:97

"My experience for the best part of 40 years teaches me that they never progress-they are as they were, and as they no doubt will be." -JD 12:269 (makes me think of D&C 98:20)

"The Devils in hell are looking at this people, too, and trying to overthrow us, and the people are still shaking hands with the servants of the devil, instead of sanctifying themselves and calling upon the Lord and doing the work which he has commanded us and put into our hands to do." -JD 18:304

"The Lord . . . is sending forth his voice into the hearts of his people, crying unto them- 'stop! Stop your course! Cease to bring in and build up Babylon in your midst! -JD 17:37

"I have seen many cases, when the young lady would have to take her clothing on a Saturday night and wash it, and order that she might go to meeting on the Sunday with a clean dress on. Who is she laboring for? For those who, many of them, are living in luxury. And, to serve the classes that are living on them, the poor, laboring men and women are toiling, working their lives out to earn that which will keep little life within them. Is this equality? No! What is going to be done? The latter-day Saints will never accomplish their mission until the inequality shall cease on the earth." -JD 19:47

"The earth is here and the fullness thereof is here. It was made for man and one man was not made to trample his fellow man under his feet, and enjoy all his hearts desires, while the thousands suffer." -JD 19:46

Brigham Young offered this prayer at the dedication of the Manti temple...

"we ask Thee that Thou would hide up the treasures of the earth, preserve thy people from the inducements which these perishable things offer, which are liable to decoy the minds of those saints." -

(^God sadly didn't hear BY prayer. Somehow today we associate treasure and wealth with progression.)

"Many professing to be Saints seem to have no knowledge, no light to see anything beyond a dollar or a pleasant time, or a comfortable house, or a fine farm. Oh fools and slow of heart to understand the purposes of God and his handiwork." -JD 18:237, 9

"Elders of Israel are greedy after the things of this world. If you ask them if they are ready to build up the kingdom of God, their answer is prompt—“Why, to be sure we are, with our whole souls; but we want first to get so much gold, speculate and get rich, and then we can help the church considerably. We will go to California and get gold, go and buy goods and get rich, trade with emigrants, build a mill, make a farm, get a large herd of cattle, and then we can do a great deal for Israel.” -BY

"We wish the wealth of things of the world; we think about them morning, noon and night; they are first in our minds when we awake in the morning, and the last thing before we go to sleep at night." "We have gone just as far as we can be permitted to go in the road on which we are now traveling. One man has his eye on a gold mine, another is for a silver mine, another is for marketing his flour or his wheat, another for selling his cattle, another to raise cattle, another to get a farm, or building here and there, and trading and trafficking with each other, just like Babylon. . .. Babylon is here, and we are following in the footsteps of the inhabitants of the earth, who are in a perfect sea of confusion. Do you know this? You ought to, for there are none of you but what see it daily. . . . The Latter-day Saints [are] trying to take advantage of their brethren. There are Elders in this Church who would take the widow's last cow, for five dollars, and then kneel down and thank God for the fine bargain they had made "

"Now those that can see the spiritual atmosphere can see that many of the Saints are still glued to this earth and lusting and longing after the things of this world, in which there is no profit. . . . According to the present feelings of many of our brethren, they would arrogate to themselves this world and all that pertains to it. . . . Where are the eyes and the hearts of this people? . . . All the angels in heaven are looking at this little handfull of people, and stimulating them to the salvation of the human family. So also are the devils in hell looking at this people, too, and trying to overthrow us, and the people are still shaking hands with the servants of the devil, instead of sanctifying themselves, [given a choice between the two]." -BY

[Robin Hood]

Not a fan of Brigham Young in the least, but I do appreciate some of his observations on the environment of the SL saints. It sounds all too familiar. Here are a few gems...

"Have we separated ourselves from the nations? Yes. And what else have we done?... Have we not brought Babylon with us? Are we not promoting Babylon here in our midst? Are we not fostering the spirit of Babylon that is now abroad on the face of the whole earth?... Yes, yes, to some extent, and there is not a latter-day Saints but what feels that we have too much Babylon in our midst."
-JD 17:38

"I am more afraid of covetousness in our elders than I am of the hordes of hell. Have we men out now of that class? I believe so. I am afraid of such spirits; for they are more powerful and injurious to this people than all hell outside our borders. All of her enemies in the United States or in the world and all hell with them marshaled against us to not do us the injury that covetousness in the hearts of this people to do us; For it is idolatry." -JD 5:353

"whether you can see it or not, I know that this people are more or less prone to a idolatry; for I see that spirit manifested every day, and hear it from nearly every quarter." -JD 13:38

"They're cheating and lying, they're scheming in every possible way ... have caused my spirit to weep and mourn." -JD 3:118

"But the great majority of men who have amassed great wealth have done it at the expense of their fellows, on the principles at the doctors, the lawyers, and the merchants require their's. Such men are impositions on the community." -JD 19:97

"My experience for the best part of 40 years teaches me that they never progress-they are as they were, and as they no doubt will be." -JD 12:269 (makes me think of D&C 98:20)

"The Devils in hell are looking at this people, too, and trying to overthrow us, and the people are still shaking hands with the servants of the devil, instead of sanctifying themselves and calling upon the Lord and doing the work which he has commanded us and put into our hands to do." -JD 18:304

"The Lord . . . is sending forth his voice into the hearts of his people, crying unto them- 'stop! Stop your course! Cease to bring in and build up Babylon in your midst! -JD 17:37

"I have seen many cases, when the young lady would have to take her clothing on a Saturday night and wash it, and order that she might go to meeting on the Sunday with a clean dress on. Who is she laboring for? For those who, many of them, are living in luxury. And, to serve the classes that are living on them, the poor, laboring men and women are toiling, working their lives out to earn that which will keep little life within them. Is this equality? No! What is going to be done? The latter-day Saints will never accomplish their mission until the inequality shall cease on the earth." -JD 19:47

"The earth is here and the fullness thereof is here. It was made for man and one man was not made to trample his fellow man under his feet, and enjoy all his hearts desires, while the thousands suffer." -JD 19:46

Brigham Young offered this prayer at the dedication of the Manti temple...

"we ask Thee that Thou would hide up the treasures of the earth, preserve thy people from the inducements which these perishable things offer, which are liable to decoy the minds of those saints." -

(^God sadly didn't hear BY prayer. Somehow today we associate treasure and wealth with progression.)

"Many professing to be Saints seem to have no knowledge, no light to see anything beyond a dollar or a pleasant time, or a comfortable house, or a fine farm. Oh fools and slow of heart to understand the purposes of God and his handiwork." -JD 18:237, 9

"Elders of Israel are greedy after the things of this world. If you ask them if they are ready to build up the kingdom of God, their answer is prompt—“Why, to be sure we are, with our whole souls; but we want first to get so much gold, speculate and get rich, and then we can help the church considerably. We will go to California and get gold, go and buy goods and get rich, trade with emigrants, build a mill, make a farm, get a large herd of cattle, and then we can do a great deal for Israel.” -BY

"We wish the wealth of things of the world; we think about them morning, noon and night; they are first in our minds when we awake in the morning, and the last thing before we go to sleep at night." "We have gone just as far as we can be permitted to go in the road on which we are now traveling. One man has his eye on a gold mine, another is for a silver mine, another is for marketing his flour or his wheat, another for selling his cattle, another to raise cattle, another to get a farm, or building here and there, and trading and trafficking with each other, just like Babylon. . .. Babylon is here, and we are following in the footsteps of the inhabitants of the earth, who are in a perfect sea of confusion. Do you know this? You ought to, for there are none of you but what see it daily. . . . The Latter-day Saints [are] trying to take advantage of their brethren. There are Elders in this Church who would take the widow's last cow, for five dollars, and then kneel down and thank God for the fine bargain they had made "

"Now those that can see the spiritual atmosphere can see that many of the Saints are still glued to this earth and lusting and longing after the things of this world, in which there is no profit. . . . According to the present feelings of many of our brethren, they would arrogate to themselves this world and all that pertains to it. . . . Where are the eyes and the hearts of this people? . . . All the angels in heaven are looking at this little handfull of people, and stimulating them to the salvation of the human family. So also are the devils in hell looking at this people, too, and trying to overthrow us, and the people are still shaking hands with the servants of the devil, instead of sanctifying themselves, [given a choice between the two]." -BY

Excellent, thank you for posting.

[David13]

Not a fan of Brigham Young ...

...

instead of sanctifying themselves, [given a choice between the two]." -BY

I quite agree with everything he says there.

And I also agree with Robin Hood, excellent, etc. ...


But, I also have to agree that as long as we are on this earth we have to live here, one way or another and that Brigham Young was guilty of all this just as much as anyone else at the time.

However, perhaps none of them were so guilty of it, ... all the time. They did all take their moments of at least some charity, and benevolence, etc.

It was all just a question of how much, when, and according to who's standard.
dc

[ajax]

Not a fan of Brigham Young in the least, but I do appreciate some of his observations on the environment of the SL saints. It sounds all too familiar. Here are a few gems...

"Have we separated ourselves from the nations? Yes. And what else have we done?... Have we not brought Babylon with us? Are we not promoting Babylon here in our midst? Are we not fostering the spirit of Babylon that is now abroad on the face of the whole earth?... Yes, yes, to some extent, and there is not a latter-day Saints but what feels that we have too much Babylon in our midst."
-JD 17:38

"I am more afraid of covetousness in our elders than I am of the hordes of hell. Have we men out now of that class? I believe so. I am afraid of such spirits; for they are more powerful and injurious to this people than all hell outside our borders. All of her enemies in the United States or in the world and all hell with them marshaled against us to not do us the injury that covetousness in the hearts of this people to do us; For it is idolatry." -JD 5:353

"whether you can see it or not, I know that this people are more or less prone to a idolatry; for I see that spirit manifested every day, and hear it from nearly every quarter." -JD 13:38

"They're cheating and lying, they're scheming in every possible way ... have caused my spirit to weep and mourn." -JD 3:118

"But the great majority of men who have amassed great wealth have done it at the expense of their fellows, on the principles at the doctors, the lawyers, and the merchants require their's. Such men are impositions on the community." -JD 19:97

"My experience for the best part of 40 years teaches me that they never progress-they are as they were, and as they no doubt will be." -JD 12:269 (makes me think of D&C 98:20)

"The Devils in hell are looking at this people, too, and trying to overthrow us, and the people are still shaking hands with the servants of the devil, instead of sanctifying themselves and calling upon the Lord and doing the work which he has commanded us and put into our hands to do." -JD 18:304

"The Lord . . . is sending forth his voice into the hearts of his people, crying unto them- 'stop! Stop your course! Cease to bring in and build up Babylon in your midst! -JD 17:37

"I have seen many cases, when the young lady would have to take her clothing on a Saturday night and wash it, and order that she might go to meeting on the Sunday with a clean dress on. Who is she laboring for? For those who, many of them, are living in luxury. And, to serve the classes that are living on them, the poor, laboring men and women are toiling, working their lives out to earn that which will keep little life within them. Is this equality? No! What is going to be done? The latter-day Saints will never accomplish their mission until the inequality shall cease on the earth." -JD 19:47

"The earth is here and the fullness thereof is here. It was made for man and one man was not made to trample his fellow man under his feet, and enjoy all his hearts desires, while the thousands suffer." -JD 19:46

Brigham Young offered this prayer at the dedication of the Manti temple...

"we ask Thee that Thou would hide up the treasures of the earth, preserve thy people from the inducements which these perishable things offer, which are liable to decoy the minds of those saints." -

(^God sadly didn't hear BY prayer. Somehow today we associate treasure and wealth with progression.)

"Many professing to be Saints seem to have no knowledge, no light to see anything beyond a dollar or a pleasant time, or a comfortable house, or a fine farm. Oh fools and slow of heart to understand the purposes of God and his handiwork." -JD 18:237, 9

"Elders of Israel are greedy after the things of this world. If you ask them if they are ready to build up the kingdom of God, their answer is prompt—“Why, to be sure we are, with our whole souls; but we want first to get so much gold, speculate and get rich, and then we can help the church considerably. We will go to California and get gold, go and buy goods and get rich, trade with emigrants, build a mill, make a farm, get a large herd of cattle, and then we can do a great deal for Israel.” -BY

"We wish the wealth of things of the world; we think about them morning, noon and night; they are first in our minds when we awake in the morning, and the last thing before we go to sleep at night." "We have gone just as far as we can be permitted to go in the road on which we are now traveling. One man has his eye on a gold mine, another is for a silver mine, another is for marketing his flour or his wheat, another for selling his cattle, another to raise cattle, another to get a farm, or building here and there, and trading and trafficking with each other, just like Babylon. . .. Babylon is here, and we are following in the footsteps of the inhabitants of the earth, who are in a perfect sea of confusion. Do you know this? You ought to, for there are none of you but what see it daily. . . . The Latter-day Saints [are] trying to take advantage of their brethren. There are Elders in this Church who would take the widow's last cow, for five dollars, and then kneel down and thank God for the fine bargain they had made "

"Now those that can see the spiritual atmosphere can see that many of the Saints are still glued to this earth and lusting and longing after the things of this world, in which there is no profit. . . . According to the present feelings of many of our brethren, they would arrogate to themselves this world and all that pertains to it. . . . Where are the eyes and the hearts of this people? . . . All the angels in heaven are looking at this little handfull of people, and stimulating them to the salvation of the human family. So also are the devils in hell looking at this people, too, and trying to overthrow us, and the people are still shaking hands with the servants of the devil, instead of sanctifying themselves, [given a choice between the two]." -BY

LOL, Brigham, the richest man in the Kingdom, using tithing funds for personal purposes.