Exodus 35:20-29
Were I residing in a gathering place where I knew I could remain for two years,
and had fifty thousand dollars to spare, I would expend it in the best improvements I could, and labor to improve until the last day of my remaining. The Lord
is gathering his people, and this is a city for the Saints. A great many here are
satisfied with a log hut. Some act as though they expected to be driven, and
others say—"We will soon go back to the Center Stake of Zion, and this house
will answer my purpose till then." Let every mechanic and every scientific man
of all classes and occupations, and every woman, improve to the best of their
ability, faithfully living their religion, and we shall be none too well qualified to
build up Zion when that time arrives. I never saw a stonemason who thoroughly
understood his trade. We have not a quarryman who fully understands getting
out rock for the Temple walls. Then how, amid such ignorance, are you going to
properly lay the foundation of the New Jerusalem—the Zion of our God? What
do you know about building the great Temple that is yet to be built, upon which
the glory of God will rest by day and by night? Where is the man that knows
how to lay the first rock in that Temple, or to get out the first stick of timber for
it? Where is the woman that knows how to make a single part of its interior
decorations? That knowledge is not now here; and unless you wisely improve
upon your privileges day by day, you will not be prepared, when called upon, to
engage to the best advantage in building up Zion.
-Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Volume 8, Discourse 72
and had fifty thousand dollars to spare, I would expend it in the best improvements I could, and labor to improve until the last day of my remaining. The Lord
is gathering his people, and this is a city for the Saints. A great many here are
satisfied with a log hut. Some act as though they expected to be driven, and
others say—"We will soon go back to the Center Stake of Zion, and this house
will answer my purpose till then." Let every mechanic and every scientific man
of all classes and occupations, and every woman, improve to the best of their
ability, faithfully living their religion, and we shall be none too well qualified to
build up Zion when that time arrives. I never saw a stonemason who thoroughly
understood his trade. We have not a quarryman who fully understands getting
out rock for the Temple walls. Then how, amid such ignorance, are you going to
properly lay the foundation of the New Jerusalem—the Zion of our God? What
do you know about building the great Temple that is yet to be built, upon which
the glory of God will rest by day and by night? Where is the man that knows
how to lay the first rock in that Temple, or to get out the first stick of timber for
it? Where is the woman that knows how to make a single part of its interior
decorations? That knowledge is not now here; and unless you wisely improve
upon your privileges day by day, you will not be prepared, when called upon, to
engage to the best advantage in building up Zion.
-Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Volume 8, Discourse 72
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