THE GOLD-SEEKERS REBUKED. 303
But from the twelv^e came a stern rebuke. "The true use of gold is for paving streets, covering houses, and making cuHnary dishes; and when the saints shall have preached the gospel, raised grain, and built up cities enough, the Lord will open the way for a supply of gold to the perfect satisfaction of his peo- ple. Until then, let them not be over-anxious, for the treasures of the earth are in the Lord's store- house, and he will open the doors thereof when and where he pleases."*^
President John Smith wrote to the saints in Cali- fornia in March 1848, urging them to gather at the Great Salt Lake, "that they might share in the bless- ings to be conferred on the faithful; and warned them against settling down at ease in California with an eye and a half upon this world and its goods, and half an eye dimly set towards Zion on account of the high mountains and the privations to be endured by the saints."
"If we were to go to San Francisco and dig up chunks of gold," said Brigham to the returned battalion on the 1st of October, 1848, "or find it in the valley, it would ruin us." In an address on the sabbath he said: "I hope the gold mines will be no nearer than eight hundred miles ... There is more delusion and the people are more perfectly crazy on this continent than ever before... If you elders of Israel want to go to the gold mines, go and be damned. If you go, I would not give a picayune to keep you from damnation."** "I advise the corrupt, and all who want, to go to California and not come back, for I will not fellowship them. . .Prosperity and riches blunt the feelings of man. If the people were united, I would send men to get the gold who would care no more about it than the dust under their feet, and then we would gather millions into the church...
" Second General Epistle of the Twelve, dated Salt Lake City, Oct. 12, 1849, in Frontier Guardian, Dec. 26, 1849.
- H%st. B. Young, MS., 1849, 100-2, 123.
