Brigham Young, Jr.

President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (December 9, 1899 – April 11, 1903)

Counselor in the First Presidency (June 8, 1873 – August 29, 1877)

Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (October 9, 1868 – April 11, 1903)

General Conference Addresses

• April 1902 General Conference
  • Prophetic Declarations Fulfilled
    • “God is blessing the people. We witness it upon every hand; and if we continue to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth as it is in Him, this people will soon be the head, not the tail; for virtue, uprightness, honesty and continuity of purpose will bring the honest and the pure to the head of the whole world.”
    • “If God permits a thing, shall we complain at it?”
• October 1901 General Conference
  • The Work of the Twelve
    • “This is a progressive work, and what you receive at this conference you never received before, in its entirety. There are things both new and old, and we must accept everything that comes to us by the spirit of revelation, because it is God’s way of improving the minds of His Saints.”
  • Overruling Power of God
    • “At no time, day nor night, within my recollection, was the Prophet Joseph Smith safe from assassination. He could not stand before a congregation like this, as President Smith has done—before his friends, and deliver the word of God. He had to face death at every step he took, and he never saw a moment when he was not liable to be arrested by men who would try to slay him.”
• April 1901 General Conference
  • Gathering of Israel
    • “Perhaps I am a little uncharitable, but today I look upon every effort that is made to misrepresent this people as an injury to this nation. These men who are doing all in their power against the work of God, which has been established for the benefit and blessing of this nation, are in reality, though they may not know it. seeking to destroy the great United States as a nation.”
    • “If that day shall come, through the rejection of this Gospel by the people of these United States, the Latter-day Saints will rise up in the power and majesty of the priesthood, and they will bear off the Constitution of the United States. That was given ty revelation, and we will defend it with the last drop of blood we have in our bodies and the last dollar in our pockets; God will reject those wicked men and women who have sought to blind the minds of the honest and thereby brought trouble and woe upon this nation.”
    • “This land will never be given to another people and Israel, together with the virtuous, the honest, the Godfearing will hold the reins of government upon tills land, and the people of every nation will rejoice, because God will bring it to pass.”
• October 1900 General Conference
  • A Day of Separation
    • “If I am not in a saved condition this moment, I am in a bad plight, because I have no assurance that life will be lengthened out to me.”
    • “As God lives, I will never support a man that I know is a wicked man, for any office. The word of the Prophet of God has been given to me, as it has to you, and we have got to take cognizance of these things.”
• April 1900 General Conference
  • The Redemption of Zion
    • “If there are any men opposing us that have the idea that we do not pray for them, they are mistaken.”
    • “If you do not feel in your hearts that this is the most glorious day that we ever witnessed on this earth, then you do not feel as I do.”
• April 1899 General Conference
  • Tithing is for Training
    • “The principle of tithing was given because the people had rejected the higher law; and this law of tithing was given that they might be in training.”
    • “The principle of revelation to every man and to every woman is the safeguard that will keep them from becoming entangled in the meshes of the sinful.”
• October 1898 General Conference
  • Avoid Evil Speaking and Contention
    • “God will temper these things to the good of His people. When the earth yields in abundance is the time to take care of it. When you have plenty of grain, plenty of wealth and the abundance of the earth is given to you, I say to you go from this Conference and take care of it.”
• April 1898 General Conference
  • The Spirit of the World
    • “The only vulnerable place in our armor is where we ourselves leave it exposed, because God has armed us at all points. He has made us impervious to outside attacks. But when we boil inside, destruction waits upon us.”
    • “God will have a people that will serve Him, and they will be a righteous people, and the land will be blessed; for I testify to you this day that Zion will be weeded, the iniquitous acts of men will bring their own destruction, and Zion will be cleansed before this great and dreadful day comes when war shall be among all nations, and in Zion there shall be peace.”
• October 1897 General Conference
  • What a Christian Is
    • “I do not believe this day that there would be one soul wanting labor, wanting employment, not one soul needing food, shelter or clothing, if we had sought first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.”
• April 1884 General Conference
  • Uniting of Temporal Interests
    • “In fact his doctrine on this subject was, that we could not stand financially, unless we became self-sustaining. It is doctrine that comes home to the heart of every Latter-day Saint; it is doctrine that all must accept and reduce to practice, if we would attain to power and influence in the land. We must become financially strong. Wealth in and of itself, is a lever of power; and wealth in the hands of a righteous people must necessarily command an influence for good.”
• April 1880 General Conference
  • Living our Religion
    • “It is not our province to have angels of God visit us, as they certainly did the Prophet Joseph Smith, when he laid out the broad foundation of the kingdom of God upon the earth. In his case their visits were actually necessary; for nothing short of direct communication with the heavens could have enabled him to do the work he did; in ours it is different.”
    • “We listen to many things that are pleasing to the ear, but which are not profitable to the mind. This should not be.”
    • “Let the line be drawn between those that live their religion and those that do not. The very best way to show them up in their true colors is for us to live our religion and let people see by our works that we are for God and his kingdom.”
    • “Let us have charity. I believe in charity, I would like to have more of it; but I do not consider it is charity for me and mine to indulge in the society of those that are apostates, that are wicked in their hearts, and will deny the covenants which they have made before their Father and God. I do not think itis charity for me to throw pearls before swine. I believe in charity, and at the same time I believe in entire exclusiveness, so far as mixing up my interest and striking hands with the unbelievers is concerned.”
• April 1879 General Conference
  • The Growth of Zion
    • “Yet I, in connection with this whole people, am accused of yielding my own will and free agency to an overbearing priesthood, thus becoming their dupes and slaves. This is in short, the judgment generally passed on the Latter-day Saints by the American nation. And while they say this of us, their better sense would tell them that they do the same in law, in morals, in mechanism, in politics, etc., directly, and in religious matters they do the same indirectly. Well, for one—and in saying this I speak the sentiments of this whole people—I intend to follow the men appointed and ordained of God to lead and direct his Saints, as they follow Christ.”
• October 1874 General Conference
  • Saints Are Living Witnesses of the Truth
    • “If they can testify to me that the Christian religion is true, I can, in turn, testify to them that God has revealed himself, that he has again spoken to men upon the earth, and that they hear his voice just as much as Isaiah, Ezekiel or any of the Prophets of ancient days. This is my testimony, and I know it to be true. By the same Spirit that revealed unto Peter his Lord and Savior I know that Jesus is the Christ. This has not become knowledge with me through the testimony of others alone. I sought and received that testimony for myself.”
    • “If I see a person in the wrong I am justified in going to him and trying to teach him the principles of the Gospel which I find contained in the Bible, and which God has revealed to the human family for their salvation; in other words, I should be justified in trying to lead him in what I believe to be the path of righteousness, but I should not be justified in trying to drive him.”
• October 1872 General Conference
  • Testimony
    • “I am aware that these evils are not pleasant, and probably if we could understand and comprehend evil without coming in contact with it, God would never have placed us on this earth, so far from our home, so far from those with whom we dwelt in the eternal worlds. He never would have placed us here but for our own good.”
    • “I find that our young men are copying after the young men who travel on other roads—they smoke and they drink, with as much assurance as though they had followed it all their lives; and I doubt not, if they continue in the pursuit of such practices, they will become as proficient in other sins as some I have seen elsewhere.”
    • “On one occasion, only a very few years after the Church was organized, the Prophet Joseph counseled him and others never to do another day’s work to build up Babylon, and he has obeyed that counsel. I know he has for twenty-five years past, and I am satisfied he has from the time the counsel was given.”

Other Talks

• The Saints Striving to Live Their Religion, Discourse in Salt Lake City, June 22, 1884
  • “I understand the mission of the Elders of this Church, it is a mission of peace, to extend the olive branch to all people upon the face of the earth. I do not consider it my duty nor my privilege to make war upon individuals, or upon sects or parties in the Territories of Arizona or New Mexico, not even in the Territory of Utah. From my earliest recollections, pretty nearly, to the present time, constant persecution has followed this people. I do not feel like persecuting.”
  • “It is a remarkable thing, very strange indeed; but we find that in our settlements in the south, our people are greatly blessed, as elsewhere, with children, and this valuable immigration from above is extending. I do not know how long it will be before Congress will legislate against having babies; but it don’t look much like this immigration could be stopped now.”
  • “The golden rule which has been laid down, and this people have adopted it, “Do unto others, as you would have others do unto you,” has been changed a little in some districts which we have visited, not among our people, but among those of the world. They have changed it, and say, “Do unto others as others would have you do unto them.” It is a brass rule, a counterfeit, it is not the golden rule; but the Latter-day Saints in all of their troubles and trials in these extended regions which we have visited, have adopted the golden rule, and are seeking to put it into practice, not only towards each other, but towards those who are inimical to their interests.”
  • “Persecution has done us no harm. In fact it seems to me that we need about so much persecution—that we need to carry great loads to make us remember our God.”
• God’s Ways Not as Man’s Ways, Remarks in Farmington, Utah, August 25, 1872
  • “I have no particular text to speak upon at the present time, save the one that should be at all times in the mind of every Latter-day Saint, and that is, the kingdom of God, and its growth and development upon the earth. This is a subject that should be ever present with us; and when an individual whose interests are professedly identified with that kingdom, forgets the duties devolving upon him in connection with it, we may infer that he has ceased to be useful therein.”

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