150 years ago today - Jun 9, 1872

Remember, we want your means, we do not want your prayers. I recollect a little circumstance which transpired in Canada. A certain Methodist class leader would make the longest prayers for the widow and fatherless that were known of in the country'"they would many times reach from Toronto to Quebec. There was a poor widow belonged to the society, who used to weave for a living; and this blessed class leader said to her, '"I am giving you too much, I find you have potatoes to eat every day.'" She stepped up to him one evening after prayers, '"Look here,'" says she, '"Deacon, I want you should let me have a peck of potatoes.'" Says he, with a long face: '"I can't do it, I don't owe them to you.'" '"Well,'" says she, '"you pray for the poor and the widow, you make long prayers, but, I want to say this to you, I would rather have a peck of potatoes than all the prayers you ever offered in behalf of the widow and the fatherless in your whole life.'" We would rather have your money than your prayers on this occasion, but we want you to offer up your prayers for the success of this means which you -- Brigham City, Utah

[ Millennial Star Supplement, Manchester- Liverpool, England, 1840-1970. 34:449, in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]

No comments:

Post a Comment