October 1879
Cannon, George Q. "The Righteous Suffer Persecution—False Teachers Popular—Saints Should not Retaliate Upon Their Enemies—The Saints Will Have Power to Root Out Evil—Approaching Revolution in the Earth." Journal of Discourses. Volume 20. October 6, 1879: pg. 333-341.
Pratt, Orson. "Progress of the Work of God—Introduction of Evils By the World—Unconstitutional Inimical Measures—Plural Marriage Not Criminal—Intolerance Denounced." Journal of Discourses. Volume 20. October 6, 1879: pg. 321-329. Richards, Franklin D. "Preaching of John the Baptist and Restoration of the Gospel Compared—Opposition to Revelation—Gifts of the Holy Spirit—Polygamy—Human Laws Founded Upon the Revealed Law of God—Celestial Marriage Prominent in the Law and the Prophets." Journal of Discourses. Volume 20. October 6, 1879: pg. 309-316. Snow, Erastus. "Cleave to Light—Coming of Christ—Abominations of the Wicked—Welfare of the Young." Journal of Discourses. Volume 20. October 8, 1879: pg. 372-376. Snow, Lorenzo. "The Church Founded Upon the Rock of Revelation—Faithful Saints Cannot Be Moved By Persecution." Journal of Discourses. Volume 20. October 6, 1879: pg. 329-332. Taylor, John. "The Work of God Cannot Be Hindered—The United States to Be Afflicted By Judgment." Journal of Discourses. Volume 20. October 6, 1879: pg. 316-321. Taylor, John. "Opposition to the Work of God, Etc." Journal of Discourses. Volume 21. October 7, 1879: pg. 373-376. Taylor, John. "(Continued From Page 376, Vol. XXI.) Opposition to the Work of God, Etc." Journal of Discourses. Volume 22. October 7, 1879: pg. 1-4. The Deseret News. "General Conference." October 15, 1879: pg. 580-581. General Conference. FIRST DAY Elder Orson Pratt Progress of the Work of God Elder Lorenzo Snow The Church Founded Upon the Rock of Revelation—Faithful Saints Cannot Be Moved By Persecution 2 p. m. Elder Franklin D. Richards Preaching of John the Baptist and Restoration of the Gospel Compared Elder Brigham Young, Jr. President John Taylor The Work of God Cannot Be Hindered—The United States to Be Afflicted By Judgment Tuesday, Oct. 7, 1879. 10 a. m. President Joseph Young Mission Calls Elder Joseph F. Smith 2 p.m. President John Taylor Opposition to the Work of God, Etc. Opposition to the Work of God, Etc., Continued Statistical Report Tuesday, 7 o’clock p. m. President John Taylor Elder Junius F. Wells Elder Moses Thatcher Elder George Q. Cannon The Righteous Suffer Persecution President A. M. Cannon Sister Zina Young Wednesday, Oct 8th, 1879, 10 o’clock a.m. Elder Angus M. Cannon Elder Erastus Snow Cleave to Light—Coming of Christ—Abominations of the Wicked—Welfare of the Young Sustaining of the General Authorities Mission Calls Counselor L. W. Hardy Mission Calls President John Taylor |
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General Conference
FIRST DAY.
The Forty-Ninth Semi-Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints met in the Large Tabernacle on Monday, October 6th, 1879, at 10 o’clock a. m., as per adjournment.
Present on the stand of the Apostles: President John Taylor, Orson Pratt, C. C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, George Q. Cannon, Brigham Young [Jr.], Joseph F. Smith, A. Carrington and Moses Thatcher.
Counselor to the Twelve Apostles D. H. Wells.
Presiding Patriarch, John Smith.
First Presidents of the Seventies: Joseph Young, H. S. Eldredge, A. P. Rockwood and John Van Cott.
Of the Bishopric: Presiding Bishop, Edward Hunter; Counselors, Leonard W. Hardy and R. T. Burton.
Conference was called to order by President John Taylor.
Choir sang hymn on 235 page, “From Greenland’s icy mountains, From India’s coral strand.”
Prayer by Elder Orson Pratt.
The choir sang hymn on page 9. “The time is nigh, that happy time, That great expected blessed day.”
FIRST DAY.
The Forty-Ninth Semi-Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints met in the Large Tabernacle on Monday, October 6th, 1879, at 10 o’clock a. m., as per adjournment.
Present on the stand of the Apostles: President John Taylor, Orson Pratt, C. C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, George Q. Cannon, Brigham Young [Jr.], Joseph F. Smith, A. Carrington and Moses Thatcher.
Counselor to the Twelve Apostles D. H. Wells.
Presiding Patriarch, John Smith.
First Presidents of the Seventies: Joseph Young, H. S. Eldredge, A. P. Rockwood and John Van Cott.
Of the Bishopric: Presiding Bishop, Edward Hunter; Counselors, Leonard W. Hardy and R. T. Burton.
Conference was called to order by President John Taylor.
Choir sang hymn on 235 page, “From Greenland’s icy mountains, From India’s coral strand.”
Prayer by Elder Orson Pratt.
The choir sang hymn on page 9. “The time is nigh, that happy time, That great expected blessed day.”
Elder Orson Pratt
rejoiced in the privilege of again meeting in a General Conference in peace. Made reference to the rapid progress of this people during the period of nearly fifty years, since the organization of the Church. He then contrasted the discouraging results of the preaching of the Prophet Noah, while delivering the message that God sent him to deliver to the people of his day, with the success that has attended the labors of the Elders of Israel in our own times. Although most of our converts are among the poorer classes, from the United States and the nations of Europe, notwithstanding the intelligence of the people, especially on arrival in these western wilds, the building up of settlements and cities, of school houses and meeting houses, the conversion of the waste lands into fruitful fields and orchards, turning this vast Territory from a desert into a fruitful field has been the result of the labors of the Latter-day Saints, and not of the outside population that have come here for speculative purposes.
We came here as a religious people and established a civil government and an ecclesiastical government, under which there were no grog shops, gambling halls or houses of ill fame. We could have our doors unlocked and our windows unbolted at night; we could leave our washed clothes on the lines without any fear of them being stolen. But how is it to-day, since the introduction of Gentile civilization in our midst? Every species of evil has been fostered, making both life and property insecure, and in many instances the Federal officials have shielded the evil doors, and let them loose in our midst. There were many honorable exceptions to these characters referred to, and these remarks had no reference to them.
He then adverted to the injustice of the effort now being made by the high officials of this nations to bear down upon the Latter-day Saints on account of the religious views practiced by the people, especially plural marriage; although sanctioned by the Bible. Congress has seen fit to pass a law making it a crime, the violation of which subjects the individual to fine and imprisonment. He himself was a firm believer in the great and glorious principles of civil and religious liberty, comprehended in the Constitution of our country, and therefore he could not, as an individual, endorse the action of Congress as having anything to do with a man’s religious belief or practice so far as it did not interfere with the liberty and rights of others.
The object in meeting in Conference was to impress the great truths of our religion upon our minds, to appoint missionaries to go to the various nations of the earth, to preach the fulness of the everlasting Gospel, which also embraces the doctrine of plural marriage, and he did not think the advanced nations of modern times had become so lost to the principles of civil, to say nothing of religious liberty as to adopt measures to prevent this work and the gathering of the Saints, no matter who might recommend such a course.
rejoiced in the privilege of again meeting in a General Conference in peace. Made reference to the rapid progress of this people during the period of nearly fifty years, since the organization of the Church. He then contrasted the discouraging results of the preaching of the Prophet Noah, while delivering the message that God sent him to deliver to the people of his day, with the success that has attended the labors of the Elders of Israel in our own times. Although most of our converts are among the poorer classes, from the United States and the nations of Europe, notwithstanding the intelligence of the people, especially on arrival in these western wilds, the building up of settlements and cities, of school houses and meeting houses, the conversion of the waste lands into fruitful fields and orchards, turning this vast Territory from a desert into a fruitful field has been the result of the labors of the Latter-day Saints, and not of the outside population that have come here for speculative purposes.
We came here as a religious people and established a civil government and an ecclesiastical government, under which there were no grog shops, gambling halls or houses of ill fame. We could have our doors unlocked and our windows unbolted at night; we could leave our washed clothes on the lines without any fear of them being stolen. But how is it to-day, since the introduction of Gentile civilization in our midst? Every species of evil has been fostered, making both life and property insecure, and in many instances the Federal officials have shielded the evil doors, and let them loose in our midst. There were many honorable exceptions to these characters referred to, and these remarks had no reference to them.
He then adverted to the injustice of the effort now being made by the high officials of this nations to bear down upon the Latter-day Saints on account of the religious views practiced by the people, especially plural marriage; although sanctioned by the Bible. Congress has seen fit to pass a law making it a crime, the violation of which subjects the individual to fine and imprisonment. He himself was a firm believer in the great and glorious principles of civil and religious liberty, comprehended in the Constitution of our country, and therefore he could not, as an individual, endorse the action of Congress as having anything to do with a man’s religious belief or practice so far as it did not interfere with the liberty and rights of others.
The object in meeting in Conference was to impress the great truths of our religion upon our minds, to appoint missionaries to go to the various nations of the earth, to preach the fulness of the everlasting Gospel, which also embraces the doctrine of plural marriage, and he did not think the advanced nations of modern times had become so lost to the principles of civil, to say nothing of religious liberty as to adopt measures to prevent this work and the gathering of the Saints, no matter who might recommend such a course.
Progress of the Work of God—Introduction of Evils By the World—Unconstitutional Inimical Measures—Plural Marriage Not Criminal—Intolerance Denounced
Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered at the General Conference, Held in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 6, 1879.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
By the blessing of our Heavenly Father, we are permitted once more, under circumstances of peace, to assemble ourselves here in this large tabernacle, in the capacity of a semiannual Conference, in the 50th year of the history of this Church. A few months more, and this Church will have seen the history of fifty years. Great and wonderful has been the progress of the Church during this period of time; far beyond anything that we could have calculated upon, looking at the subject naturally, as natural men. But contemplating the subject spiritually, we might have expected to see what we now behold—a great people assembled from many nations, occupying the central portion of this great north wing of the western hemisphere. We, as a people have made during the first half century, or nearly so, of our existence, great and rapid progress, far beyond that of some of the former dispensations which have been introduced into our world. It is a matter of astonishment with me, that so many people have received the divine message which God has communicated to the human family in our day, when we consider that the generation, or people, who should live just prior to the coming of the Son of Man in his glory were described as a people such as did exist in the days of Noah. It will be remembered that the message of that good man did not receive much attention, in his day; but a very few, in fact, believed in his message. I have often times thought how discouraging it must have been to that good old prophet, to prophesy to that generation—to foretell concerning the great judgment that was to happen to them, to point out the only means of safety for those who desired to escape, laboring diligently for so many years, and then to find only seven individuals besides himself righteous enough to receive the message. How discouraging! If this message had been treated with the same indifference, we can readily imagine how discouraging it would have been to Joseph Smith, as a prophet and revelator, to labor for perhaps a hundred years and only make seven converts. As regards numbers, then, those who have obeyed the Gospel message in our day, have become very numerous, compared with those that received the message in the days of the flood. Not merely one family of persons, but hundreds of thousands have been gathered into this latter-day Church. The divinity of a message does not, however, depend upon the numbers who receive it. Numbers has nothing to do with the subject. The Lord our God has sent forth his servants in this great dispensation; he sent them first directly to our own nation; they, as a people, have rejected it. Individuals, however, in all the States, have seen proper to receive the divine warning, and have mostly gathered to these mountains, and are located among these ever-lasting hills. Who were they that first redeemed this desert? Were they a mixed people, those belonging to the Latter-day Saints and those unconnected with them? No; it was the united efforts of a poor and afflicted people, who had already been driven from their houses five times while they dwelt in the States. They came here almost barehanded, so far as property was concerned. They came to an undesirable country; they came to a location that was marked upon our maps as “the Great American Desert;” a country that had scarcely been penetrated by white men. We began anew in this country, and it was by the labor of our hands, being strengthened by the Almighty, that we opened up these rugged canyons, and penetrated into these mountains, and obtained timber to build our houses and to fence our fields; it was by the united labors of the Latter-day Saints, that we constructed water ditches and canals for the purpose of irrigating the land, instead of depending upon the rains of heaven, and thus commenced a new system of farming, at least as far as our experience was concerned. It was by the labor of the Latter-day Saints alone, and not by the labor and capital of Gentiles. These beautiful ornamental shade trees were placed out in front of our houses, to beautify and adorn the streets, by the labor of the hands of the Latter-day Saints, and not by the aid of Gentiles. It was the Saints who established these beautiful orchards that are seen, not only in this great city, which well might be termed a city of orchards, but in almost all other large towns and cities throughout this great desert. It was by the labor of our own hands that schoolhouses were erected in all the countries and settlements of our Territory; all this too, at an early stage of our settlements here, the education of our youth, being among the most prominent and important steps calculated to benefit the people. It was by the labors of our own hands that academies and buildings for high schools were established in various portions of the Territory, as well as our common schoolhouses. It was by the labor of our own hands that chapels and meetinghouses were located in all our settlements throughout this mountain region. It was by the labor of our own hands that the desert was made to blossom as the rose.
By and by, after we had fulfilled and about accomplished this work, having formed numerous settlements and built numerous dwelling houses, and planted out numerous ornamental trees and established extensive gardens, and began to raise grain, fruits and vegetables in great abundance; after we had done all these things, fairly opening up the Territory, that outside population began to pour in. Who was it, then, that opened up the country so that our Gentile friends might come into it, and of causing prosperity to prevail in our midst? It was the Latter-day Saints. Who was it that made feasible the grading of the Union Pacific Railroad through these rugged mountains—the most difficult work on the whole of its construction? It was the strong arms of the Latter-day Saints, our mountain boys; they continued the road some hundreds of miles; tunnels had to be cut through huge mountains, and rough and precipitous places were made smooth, and the way prepared that our Gentile neighbors might come among us, and all this that they might have the privilege of entering on record that they were the great ones that established these facilities, and that made the desert to blossom as the rose.
What, let me ask, have our Gentile neighbors that have come among us done? They have done some good things; they have introduced some very bad things. I speak now according to my own individual feelings upon this subject. Before they came we had no grog shops in the various towns, and villages, and cities in our Territory, to convert a temperate people into confirmed drunkards. We had no such institutions; but as soon as they came this product of what they call civilization was introduced into our midst, wherever they could obtain a foothold. So much for this kind of civilization that has been introduced into the midst of this people. What, else? Years and years passed by, before the Gentile population began in any degree to come into our Territory, during which safety attended our habitations. We could leave our doors open at night, in summer time, to be benefited by the mountain breezes; now we have to lock our doors, and bolt down the windows. Why? Because that thing called civilization has come into our midst, which renders it unsafe for our habitations to be thus left open. What else? Formerly we could wash our clothes, as we do weekly, and hang them out upon the lines, letting them remain there if necessary for one or two days and nights, without the least danger of their being taken away. Dare we do these things now? Can we expect safety now? No. Why? Because Gentile civilization has come into our midst, that which we forsook, when we left the lands from which we emigrated. It has come to us; and these are the disagreeable things which the Latter-day Saints have to encounter.
But it has been said, and even published that it was not the Latter-day Saints that introduced the blessings that are enjoyed today by the inhabitants of this Territory; that it was some other people. I am trying to portray these things precisely as they are.
What else? Our streets are filled, not only with drunkards, by introducing these liquor saloons in nearly all parts of our Territory, but we see fightings, blasphemy, threatening life, etc., in all the places in the Territory, wherever this outside “civilization” has appeared. There may be some few exceptions among the Gentile elements. We do not wish to pronounce all the outsiders who have taken up their abode among us being of this character, but we speak of these things in general terms. There are good men and women who were not among the early settlers of this country, that have come here since the way was opened, and since prosperity prevailed over this desert; we do not speak against them, but against that class that have introduced these evils into our midst. We might speak of other things, such as houses of ill fame—something that was not known in our country and something that the youth and the rising generation grew up to manhood without knowing anything about, only as they happened to read of them occasionally in some of the Eastern papers. Do they now exist? Yes. Who brought them here, and who sustains them after they have come? Undertake to put these things down by law, and every exertion is made to retain these sink-holes of corruption in the land. Writs of habeas corpus are issued in order to free those bad characters, and turn them loose upon the community. This is another feature of what they term “civilization.” We might go on and name Sabbath breaking, lying, misrepresenting, quarreling, stealing, and so forth but we have not time to dwell on all these subjects.
We came here as a religious people. We had a civil government, and a religious government; we had civil authority and ecclesiastical authority, before the Gentiles came here in any great numbers. Both of these principles of government were in existence in this Territory in the early rise thereof. The religious, in this Territory, seemed to be very much united, with a very few exceptions. We all believed in the same doctrines. But says one, “Is not this in opposition to the principles of our government, for all the people to be united?” I do not know of anything in any of the principles ordained by the revolutionary fathers that requires division in a representative form of government. They make provisions, in case there should be division; but never founded the government with an express determination that there should be division, either in their religion or in their politics; it is not a necessary concomitant to the form of our government. Our government and the principles thereof could be sustained without any violation whatever, if the forty millions of people were all of one faith. If they were all democrats, or any other political faith, still the government would not be violated. But they made provisions, in case there should be divisions. Thank God, that in this Territory we have supported a Republican form of government, without being under the necessity of impressing upon the people that they should be divided. We do not impress any such thing upon their minds. It is no part of the Republican government to be divided. You can all vote the same way at the polls; you can all believe the same religion and yet be good citizens of the United States. What? Can they all be Presbyterians and at the same time be good American citizens? Yes. Can they all be Methodists, and yet be good American citizens? Yes. Can they all belong to one political party, without any to oppose them, and yet be good American citizens? Yes. Why? Because there is nothing in the Constitution of our government that requires the population to believe different doctrines, according to their religious notions and ideas—nothing that requires them to be politically divided, in their feelings. But they are divided. The people of all nations are divided; and good wholesome laws, for the most part, have been established by Congress, and by the various States of our Union, making provisions for this divided state of society, giving, to every person the privilege of believing as he or she may see proper to do in regard to their religious ideas, and to carry out their sentiments by practicing their religion also, as well as believing; and that the majority should not, because they happen to be the majority, oppress the minority. Arguments have been made by statesmen, judges, and others professing great intelligence something like this: that the Latter-day Saints are a people of only about 150,000; while the United States are a people, numbering forty or forty-five millions. Therefore, say they, the great majority—the forty or forty-five millions of people—should, or they have a perfect right to oppress you, Latter-day Saints, because you are the minority in your religious views.
Now, I do not believe this anti-republican idea, though it was published in this city last week, from a person in high authority—a Federal officer of our Territory. Supposing for instance, there were only ten religious men, living in the United States that believed a certain doctrine, according to Bible precepts, and all the rest believed something else, differing from that; have this great majority a right to oppress these ten men? They have no such right. The Constitution of our country has provided for that minority, to believe as they choose to, so long as they injure no one by their belief, and so long as they injure no person by practicing that belief. Supposing that the Presbyterians should insist, in their Church capacity, that sprinkling with water was to be the only mode of baptism, that should be observed by the members of their denomination; have they a right to do this? Yes. But supposing that forty millions of people, who were not Presbyterians, should denounce that system as criminal, on the ground that it was not in accordance with the doctrines of the Bible, and consequently it would be a criminal practice to blaspheme the name of Trinity by sprinkling a few drops of water and call that baptism; and supposing they should succeed in getting Congress to pass a law against sprinkling, because it was criminal according to their ideas; and supposing that the persons who introduced that mode of baptism should be brought up by that law to be judged by it, and should be found criminals, according to that law of Congress; and supposing that the Supreme Court of the United States were to confirm the action of the lower court, on this matter; ought such persons to be condemned as criminals? No. You would say that they have a right to sprinkle; I would say the same, however much I might differ from the Presbyterian practice, in my own mind; however much I might look upon that act as abominable in the sight of heaven; however much I might consider it to be criminal before God, yet I would say they had a constitutional right to sprinkle; so in regard to all other divisions so far as religious sentiments are concerned. Wherein those divisions of political or religious sentiments do not harm the neighbor, do not harm society, do not harm families, or the nation at large; a law, passed by men, has nothing to do with it, what courts might decide to the contrary notwithstanding.
These are my views as an individual. I do not pretend to set these things forth as your views or the views of the people generally, but my own individual views on this subject.
Now in regard to plurality of wives, why is that a crime? Only because Congress passed a law making it criminal. Does the Bible make it criminal? No. Does the Book of Mormon make it criminal? No. Does the Doctrine and Covenants make it criminal? No. Why is it criminal? Is there a law of our nature that makes it criminal? No. There are some things that are criminal in and of themselves, and we cannot think of them only as such, and as we by our own consciences know them to be criminal. And for instance, stealing property that belongs to our neighbors. That we look upon as being criminal. We would not wish our neighbor to steal our property. Again violence done to another person to rob him of his property, that is something which is criminal in itself. Taking life like the heathen, who offer up their human sacrifices, the heathen widow that is burned upon the pile, is criminal. Why? Because it is something that our nature at once denounces to be criminal, and it is also denounced as such by the laws of heaven, by the laws of God; but not so in regard to many other things. For instance, one day out of seven is set apart as a day of rest; and under the law of God, in ancient times, it was considered criminal to gather a bundle of sticks on that day, for the purpose of making a fire; and the person who was found doing so was condemned to death. Now if there had been no law concerning that matter, all Israel would have made no distinction between the sacredness of days. All would have been alike to them. Why? Because there was nothing in their own minds or consciences that would perceive such an act to be criminal. But when the revealed law of God came, making it criminal, it then became so. So in regard to many of these religious principles, observed among the heathen. They are criminal, and any person acquainted with the law of God is compelled to pronounce them as such. But then, shall we condemn anything that the conscience does not denounce to be criminal, that the law of God does not denounce as criminal; shall we get our Congress to make a law declaring it criminal, so that those that break that law shall become criminals? I cannot see it. I am so obtuse in my understanding and my mind is so blunted, that I really cannot see any sense in a law of that kind, whether passed by Congress or a congressional power of all nations combined; it makes no difference, so far as my mind is concerned.
I have read the speeches of members of Congress, in which they have made the contrast of Bible polygamy with some of the heathen worship which is denounced by the Bible. Why not contrast everything else pertaining to religion in the same way? Why not pass a law, prohibiting that religious people called Jews, from practicing the Mosaic law of circumcision, inflicting fine and imprisonment if they persist in following the Bible custom? Simply, because they are not hated as the “Mormons” are. “We must have a law expressly framed for these Mormons; we must pass a law that will catch them. But in order to make the people think we are not unjust we will make it general throughout all the Territories.”
I believe in the great principles laid down in the American Constitution; I believe in religious freedom, religious belief, religious practice. I believe in every principle guaranteed in that document. Well, supposing then that they should send me, as an individual, to prison because of my belief or religious practice; would that alter my belief? No. Would, say, five years in the penitentiary change my belief? No. If they were to inflict the full penalty of the law upon me in every respect, how much would they succeed in converting me that my belief and practice were a crime in the sight of God? Not one iota, forty-five millions of people to the contrary notwithstanding. Why? Because although I am in the minority, I am protected by the Constitution just as much as though I were in the majority; I am an American citizen and I have the rights of an American just as much as though I belonged to the majority. Well, then, what do you say, shall I renounce my religion, because of this law? No. Shall I advise the Latter-day Saints, (an independent people to do as they please so far as their religious views are concerned) to renounce any part of their doctrines because Congress has denounced it? No. I can do no such thing. If they wish to renounce them or forsake them, they are at liberty so to do, and be accountable to God, and be disfellowshipped from the Church, because of their disbelief. “O,” says one, “you would disfellowship your members and thus bear upon them?” Certainly we would. Have we not the right to do so? What denomination is there, in these United States, but has the right to disfellowship their members for any thing they please, if they go according to their own creed and documents? I do not know of any denomination that does not enjoy this right. I claim no more for myself, nor for my brethren, in regard to these matters, than they claim for themselves, nor any more than the Constitution guarantees to all.
We have the right, therefore, to say, that if a man denounces any part or portion of his religion that we will disfellowship him; or that if a woman shall do the same, that we deal with her in like manner. And we have the right to disfellowship members of our Church, for any transgression of the laws of God. And this has nothing to do with the great principles of right and wrong established by our American government. But I will leave this subject.
We have assembled here in our semi-annual conference, what for? To take into consideration any subject that may be for the advantage and well-being of the whole. That is one object. To give advice and counsel to the people of God, that may be under the sound of our voices. To get the united sanction and voice, with uplifted hands to the Most High God, in sending forth missionaries to the various nations of the earth.
What for? To convert them to the everlasting gospel.
We have been told by a circular letter, which has been issued officially, and sent to various nations, that because the people believe in the doctrines of the Latter-Saints in Germany, in Scandinavia, in Great Britain, etc., that the United States are very anxious to get all these governments to band together against what? To prevent the religious people who believe in these doctrines from emigrating from their own lands, to the land of America. Will these governments respond? Will they aid the great government of the United States, to persecute religious people by trying to prevent them from emigrating from one country to another? I do not know but what they may; it is very doubtful, in my mind, whether they will go back to the old dark ages of persecution, and be united as Herod and Pilate were, in preventing religious people from emigrating to other nations. It would be difficult, under the color of consistency, to hinder it. How are they going to know whether emigrants are Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists or Latter-day Saints, when they embark at European ports to come to this great continent of America? Or how are they going to know what religion they belong to? Are they going to have their ambassadors, their consuls, and great men, appointed on purpose, paying them large salaries, and instructing them to be at every port, and also to make every man swear, when he embarks on board of a vessel, that he is not a Latter-day Saint?
Now, I do not believe they are going that far; and if they do not, how easy a matter it would be for emigrants, to say nothing about their religious sentiments, while sailing across the great ocean. Or could we not keep our peace so long? Would it be difficult for the Latter-day Saints to shut up the fire of truth in their hearts, so that no one would know them to be Latter-day Saints for ten long days? I expect that would be the difficult part of the undertaking. We feel to rejoice so in the Gospel, in the great plan of salvation, that we can hardly hold our peace for ten days; though if it were really necessary, I think some of us could manage to do so.
Well, supposing we landed safely, and held our peace, and should take the railroad cars for Chicago, say, whose business is it? And supposing we concluded then to take the cars for Omaha, whose business is it? And at Omaha, supposing we should get it into our heads to come further West, and should then purchase a ticket for Ogden, have we not the right to do so? Is our government going to employ runners and spies to find out every man's religious views, who passes over the various railroads? I am inclined to think not; I do not believe they have reached that stage yet.
But now concerning the justice of these matters. Supposing that we do preach what the world calls “Mormonism” from the time we embark, until the time of our landing, because we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, because we believe in repenting of our sins, and because we believe in baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and because we believe in the plural order of marriage, as taught in the Bible, have they the right to shut down the gate against us? When I say a right, I mean a Constitutional right. Is not this country open to all nations? Is it not called by every people, “the asylum of the oppressed of all nations?” They have not yet passed a law forbidding the Chinaman from emigrating to this country. Have the Latter-day Saints sunk down so far beneath heathenism, that we must have the gate shut down upon us, and heathens by tens of thousands come swarming to our land? I do not, I cannot believe that the good sense of the American people can tolerate such persecution. Amen.
Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered at the General Conference, Held in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 6, 1879.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
By the blessing of our Heavenly Father, we are permitted once more, under circumstances of peace, to assemble ourselves here in this large tabernacle, in the capacity of a semiannual Conference, in the 50th year of the history of this Church. A few months more, and this Church will have seen the history of fifty years. Great and wonderful has been the progress of the Church during this period of time; far beyond anything that we could have calculated upon, looking at the subject naturally, as natural men. But contemplating the subject spiritually, we might have expected to see what we now behold—a great people assembled from many nations, occupying the central portion of this great north wing of the western hemisphere. We, as a people have made during the first half century, or nearly so, of our existence, great and rapid progress, far beyond that of some of the former dispensations which have been introduced into our world. It is a matter of astonishment with me, that so many people have received the divine message which God has communicated to the human family in our day, when we consider that the generation, or people, who should live just prior to the coming of the Son of Man in his glory were described as a people such as did exist in the days of Noah. It will be remembered that the message of that good man did not receive much attention, in his day; but a very few, in fact, believed in his message. I have often times thought how discouraging it must have been to that good old prophet, to prophesy to that generation—to foretell concerning the great judgment that was to happen to them, to point out the only means of safety for those who desired to escape, laboring diligently for so many years, and then to find only seven individuals besides himself righteous enough to receive the message. How discouraging! If this message had been treated with the same indifference, we can readily imagine how discouraging it would have been to Joseph Smith, as a prophet and revelator, to labor for perhaps a hundred years and only make seven converts. As regards numbers, then, those who have obeyed the Gospel message in our day, have become very numerous, compared with those that received the message in the days of the flood. Not merely one family of persons, but hundreds of thousands have been gathered into this latter-day Church. The divinity of a message does not, however, depend upon the numbers who receive it. Numbers has nothing to do with the subject. The Lord our God has sent forth his servants in this great dispensation; he sent them first directly to our own nation; they, as a people, have rejected it. Individuals, however, in all the States, have seen proper to receive the divine warning, and have mostly gathered to these mountains, and are located among these ever-lasting hills. Who were they that first redeemed this desert? Were they a mixed people, those belonging to the Latter-day Saints and those unconnected with them? No; it was the united efforts of a poor and afflicted people, who had already been driven from their houses five times while they dwelt in the States. They came here almost barehanded, so far as property was concerned. They came to an undesirable country; they came to a location that was marked upon our maps as “the Great American Desert;” a country that had scarcely been penetrated by white men. We began anew in this country, and it was by the labor of our hands, being strengthened by the Almighty, that we opened up these rugged canyons, and penetrated into these mountains, and obtained timber to build our houses and to fence our fields; it was by the united labors of the Latter-day Saints, that we constructed water ditches and canals for the purpose of irrigating the land, instead of depending upon the rains of heaven, and thus commenced a new system of farming, at least as far as our experience was concerned. It was by the labor of the Latter-day Saints alone, and not by the labor and capital of Gentiles. These beautiful ornamental shade trees were placed out in front of our houses, to beautify and adorn the streets, by the labor of the hands of the Latter-day Saints, and not by the aid of Gentiles. It was the Saints who established these beautiful orchards that are seen, not only in this great city, which well might be termed a city of orchards, but in almost all other large towns and cities throughout this great desert. It was by the labor of our own hands that schoolhouses were erected in all the countries and settlements of our Territory; all this too, at an early stage of our settlements here, the education of our youth, being among the most prominent and important steps calculated to benefit the people. It was by the labors of our own hands that academies and buildings for high schools were established in various portions of the Territory, as well as our common schoolhouses. It was by the labor of our own hands that chapels and meetinghouses were located in all our settlements throughout this mountain region. It was by the labor of our own hands that the desert was made to blossom as the rose.
By and by, after we had fulfilled and about accomplished this work, having formed numerous settlements and built numerous dwelling houses, and planted out numerous ornamental trees and established extensive gardens, and began to raise grain, fruits and vegetables in great abundance; after we had done all these things, fairly opening up the Territory, that outside population began to pour in. Who was it, then, that opened up the country so that our Gentile friends might come into it, and of causing prosperity to prevail in our midst? It was the Latter-day Saints. Who was it that made feasible the grading of the Union Pacific Railroad through these rugged mountains—the most difficult work on the whole of its construction? It was the strong arms of the Latter-day Saints, our mountain boys; they continued the road some hundreds of miles; tunnels had to be cut through huge mountains, and rough and precipitous places were made smooth, and the way prepared that our Gentile neighbors might come among us, and all this that they might have the privilege of entering on record that they were the great ones that established these facilities, and that made the desert to blossom as the rose.
What, let me ask, have our Gentile neighbors that have come among us done? They have done some good things; they have introduced some very bad things. I speak now according to my own individual feelings upon this subject. Before they came we had no grog shops in the various towns, and villages, and cities in our Territory, to convert a temperate people into confirmed drunkards. We had no such institutions; but as soon as they came this product of what they call civilization was introduced into our midst, wherever they could obtain a foothold. So much for this kind of civilization that has been introduced into the midst of this people. What, else? Years and years passed by, before the Gentile population began in any degree to come into our Territory, during which safety attended our habitations. We could leave our doors open at night, in summer time, to be benefited by the mountain breezes; now we have to lock our doors, and bolt down the windows. Why? Because that thing called civilization has come into our midst, which renders it unsafe for our habitations to be thus left open. What else? Formerly we could wash our clothes, as we do weekly, and hang them out upon the lines, letting them remain there if necessary for one or two days and nights, without the least danger of their being taken away. Dare we do these things now? Can we expect safety now? No. Why? Because Gentile civilization has come into our midst, that which we forsook, when we left the lands from which we emigrated. It has come to us; and these are the disagreeable things which the Latter-day Saints have to encounter.
But it has been said, and even published that it was not the Latter-day Saints that introduced the blessings that are enjoyed today by the inhabitants of this Territory; that it was some other people. I am trying to portray these things precisely as they are.
What else? Our streets are filled, not only with drunkards, by introducing these liquor saloons in nearly all parts of our Territory, but we see fightings, blasphemy, threatening life, etc., in all the places in the Territory, wherever this outside “civilization” has appeared. There may be some few exceptions among the Gentile elements. We do not wish to pronounce all the outsiders who have taken up their abode among us being of this character, but we speak of these things in general terms. There are good men and women who were not among the early settlers of this country, that have come here since the way was opened, and since prosperity prevailed over this desert; we do not speak against them, but against that class that have introduced these evils into our midst. We might speak of other things, such as houses of ill fame—something that was not known in our country and something that the youth and the rising generation grew up to manhood without knowing anything about, only as they happened to read of them occasionally in some of the Eastern papers. Do they now exist? Yes. Who brought them here, and who sustains them after they have come? Undertake to put these things down by law, and every exertion is made to retain these sink-holes of corruption in the land. Writs of habeas corpus are issued in order to free those bad characters, and turn them loose upon the community. This is another feature of what they term “civilization.” We might go on and name Sabbath breaking, lying, misrepresenting, quarreling, stealing, and so forth but we have not time to dwell on all these subjects.
We came here as a religious people. We had a civil government, and a religious government; we had civil authority and ecclesiastical authority, before the Gentiles came here in any great numbers. Both of these principles of government were in existence in this Territory in the early rise thereof. The religious, in this Territory, seemed to be very much united, with a very few exceptions. We all believed in the same doctrines. But says one, “Is not this in opposition to the principles of our government, for all the people to be united?” I do not know of anything in any of the principles ordained by the revolutionary fathers that requires division in a representative form of government. They make provisions, in case there should be division; but never founded the government with an express determination that there should be division, either in their religion or in their politics; it is not a necessary concomitant to the form of our government. Our government and the principles thereof could be sustained without any violation whatever, if the forty millions of people were all of one faith. If they were all democrats, or any other political faith, still the government would not be violated. But they made provisions, in case there should be divisions. Thank God, that in this Territory we have supported a Republican form of government, without being under the necessity of impressing upon the people that they should be divided. We do not impress any such thing upon their minds. It is no part of the Republican government to be divided. You can all vote the same way at the polls; you can all believe the same religion and yet be good citizens of the United States. What? Can they all be Presbyterians and at the same time be good American citizens? Yes. Can they all be Methodists, and yet be good American citizens? Yes. Can they all belong to one political party, without any to oppose them, and yet be good American citizens? Yes. Why? Because there is nothing in the Constitution of our government that requires the population to believe different doctrines, according to their religious notions and ideas—nothing that requires them to be politically divided, in their feelings. But they are divided. The people of all nations are divided; and good wholesome laws, for the most part, have been established by Congress, and by the various States of our Union, making provisions for this divided state of society, giving, to every person the privilege of believing as he or she may see proper to do in regard to their religious ideas, and to carry out their sentiments by practicing their religion also, as well as believing; and that the majority should not, because they happen to be the majority, oppress the minority. Arguments have been made by statesmen, judges, and others professing great intelligence something like this: that the Latter-day Saints are a people of only about 150,000; while the United States are a people, numbering forty or forty-five millions. Therefore, say they, the great majority—the forty or forty-five millions of people—should, or they have a perfect right to oppress you, Latter-day Saints, because you are the minority in your religious views.
Now, I do not believe this anti-republican idea, though it was published in this city last week, from a person in high authority—a Federal officer of our Territory. Supposing for instance, there were only ten religious men, living in the United States that believed a certain doctrine, according to Bible precepts, and all the rest believed something else, differing from that; have this great majority a right to oppress these ten men? They have no such right. The Constitution of our country has provided for that minority, to believe as they choose to, so long as they injure no one by their belief, and so long as they injure no person by practicing that belief. Supposing that the Presbyterians should insist, in their Church capacity, that sprinkling with water was to be the only mode of baptism, that should be observed by the members of their denomination; have they a right to do this? Yes. But supposing that forty millions of people, who were not Presbyterians, should denounce that system as criminal, on the ground that it was not in accordance with the doctrines of the Bible, and consequently it would be a criminal practice to blaspheme the name of Trinity by sprinkling a few drops of water and call that baptism; and supposing they should succeed in getting Congress to pass a law against sprinkling, because it was criminal according to their ideas; and supposing that the persons who introduced that mode of baptism should be brought up by that law to be judged by it, and should be found criminals, according to that law of Congress; and supposing that the Supreme Court of the United States were to confirm the action of the lower court, on this matter; ought such persons to be condemned as criminals? No. You would say that they have a right to sprinkle; I would say the same, however much I might differ from the Presbyterian practice, in my own mind; however much I might look upon that act as abominable in the sight of heaven; however much I might consider it to be criminal before God, yet I would say they had a constitutional right to sprinkle; so in regard to all other divisions so far as religious sentiments are concerned. Wherein those divisions of political or religious sentiments do not harm the neighbor, do not harm society, do not harm families, or the nation at large; a law, passed by men, has nothing to do with it, what courts might decide to the contrary notwithstanding.
These are my views as an individual. I do not pretend to set these things forth as your views or the views of the people generally, but my own individual views on this subject.
Now in regard to plurality of wives, why is that a crime? Only because Congress passed a law making it criminal. Does the Bible make it criminal? No. Does the Book of Mormon make it criminal? No. Does the Doctrine and Covenants make it criminal? No. Why is it criminal? Is there a law of our nature that makes it criminal? No. There are some things that are criminal in and of themselves, and we cannot think of them only as such, and as we by our own consciences know them to be criminal. And for instance, stealing property that belongs to our neighbors. That we look upon as being criminal. We would not wish our neighbor to steal our property. Again violence done to another person to rob him of his property, that is something which is criminal in itself. Taking life like the heathen, who offer up their human sacrifices, the heathen widow that is burned upon the pile, is criminal. Why? Because it is something that our nature at once denounces to be criminal, and it is also denounced as such by the laws of heaven, by the laws of God; but not so in regard to many other things. For instance, one day out of seven is set apart as a day of rest; and under the law of God, in ancient times, it was considered criminal to gather a bundle of sticks on that day, for the purpose of making a fire; and the person who was found doing so was condemned to death. Now if there had been no law concerning that matter, all Israel would have made no distinction between the sacredness of days. All would have been alike to them. Why? Because there was nothing in their own minds or consciences that would perceive such an act to be criminal. But when the revealed law of God came, making it criminal, it then became so. So in regard to many of these religious principles, observed among the heathen. They are criminal, and any person acquainted with the law of God is compelled to pronounce them as such. But then, shall we condemn anything that the conscience does not denounce to be criminal, that the law of God does not denounce as criminal; shall we get our Congress to make a law declaring it criminal, so that those that break that law shall become criminals? I cannot see it. I am so obtuse in my understanding and my mind is so blunted, that I really cannot see any sense in a law of that kind, whether passed by Congress or a congressional power of all nations combined; it makes no difference, so far as my mind is concerned.
I have read the speeches of members of Congress, in which they have made the contrast of Bible polygamy with some of the heathen worship which is denounced by the Bible. Why not contrast everything else pertaining to religion in the same way? Why not pass a law, prohibiting that religious people called Jews, from practicing the Mosaic law of circumcision, inflicting fine and imprisonment if they persist in following the Bible custom? Simply, because they are not hated as the “Mormons” are. “We must have a law expressly framed for these Mormons; we must pass a law that will catch them. But in order to make the people think we are not unjust we will make it general throughout all the Territories.”
I believe in the great principles laid down in the American Constitution; I believe in religious freedom, religious belief, religious practice. I believe in every principle guaranteed in that document. Well, supposing then that they should send me, as an individual, to prison because of my belief or religious practice; would that alter my belief? No. Would, say, five years in the penitentiary change my belief? No. If they were to inflict the full penalty of the law upon me in every respect, how much would they succeed in converting me that my belief and practice were a crime in the sight of God? Not one iota, forty-five millions of people to the contrary notwithstanding. Why? Because although I am in the minority, I am protected by the Constitution just as much as though I were in the majority; I am an American citizen and I have the rights of an American just as much as though I belonged to the majority. Well, then, what do you say, shall I renounce my religion, because of this law? No. Shall I advise the Latter-day Saints, (an independent people to do as they please so far as their religious views are concerned) to renounce any part of their doctrines because Congress has denounced it? No. I can do no such thing. If they wish to renounce them or forsake them, they are at liberty so to do, and be accountable to God, and be disfellowshipped from the Church, because of their disbelief. “O,” says one, “you would disfellowship your members and thus bear upon them?” Certainly we would. Have we not the right to do so? What denomination is there, in these United States, but has the right to disfellowship their members for any thing they please, if they go according to their own creed and documents? I do not know of any denomination that does not enjoy this right. I claim no more for myself, nor for my brethren, in regard to these matters, than they claim for themselves, nor any more than the Constitution guarantees to all.
We have the right, therefore, to say, that if a man denounces any part or portion of his religion that we will disfellowship him; or that if a woman shall do the same, that we deal with her in like manner. And we have the right to disfellowship members of our Church, for any transgression of the laws of God. And this has nothing to do with the great principles of right and wrong established by our American government. But I will leave this subject.
We have assembled here in our semi-annual conference, what for? To take into consideration any subject that may be for the advantage and well-being of the whole. That is one object. To give advice and counsel to the people of God, that may be under the sound of our voices. To get the united sanction and voice, with uplifted hands to the Most High God, in sending forth missionaries to the various nations of the earth.
What for? To convert them to the everlasting gospel.
We have been told by a circular letter, which has been issued officially, and sent to various nations, that because the people believe in the doctrines of the Latter-Saints in Germany, in Scandinavia, in Great Britain, etc., that the United States are very anxious to get all these governments to band together against what? To prevent the religious people who believe in these doctrines from emigrating from their own lands, to the land of America. Will these governments respond? Will they aid the great government of the United States, to persecute religious people by trying to prevent them from emigrating from one country to another? I do not know but what they may; it is very doubtful, in my mind, whether they will go back to the old dark ages of persecution, and be united as Herod and Pilate were, in preventing religious people from emigrating to other nations. It would be difficult, under the color of consistency, to hinder it. How are they going to know whether emigrants are Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists or Latter-day Saints, when they embark at European ports to come to this great continent of America? Or how are they going to know what religion they belong to? Are they going to have their ambassadors, their consuls, and great men, appointed on purpose, paying them large salaries, and instructing them to be at every port, and also to make every man swear, when he embarks on board of a vessel, that he is not a Latter-day Saint?
Now, I do not believe they are going that far; and if they do not, how easy a matter it would be for emigrants, to say nothing about their religious sentiments, while sailing across the great ocean. Or could we not keep our peace so long? Would it be difficult for the Latter-day Saints to shut up the fire of truth in their hearts, so that no one would know them to be Latter-day Saints for ten long days? I expect that would be the difficult part of the undertaking. We feel to rejoice so in the Gospel, in the great plan of salvation, that we can hardly hold our peace for ten days; though if it were really necessary, I think some of us could manage to do so.
Well, supposing we landed safely, and held our peace, and should take the railroad cars for Chicago, say, whose business is it? And supposing we concluded then to take the cars for Omaha, whose business is it? And at Omaha, supposing we should get it into our heads to come further West, and should then purchase a ticket for Ogden, have we not the right to do so? Is our government going to employ runners and spies to find out every man's religious views, who passes over the various railroads? I am inclined to think not; I do not believe they have reached that stage yet.
But now concerning the justice of these matters. Supposing that we do preach what the world calls “Mormonism” from the time we embark, until the time of our landing, because we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, because we believe in repenting of our sins, and because we believe in baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and because we believe in the plural order of marriage, as taught in the Bible, have they the right to shut down the gate against us? When I say a right, I mean a Constitutional right. Is not this country open to all nations? Is it not called by every people, “the asylum of the oppressed of all nations?” They have not yet passed a law forbidding the Chinaman from emigrating to this country. Have the Latter-day Saints sunk down so far beneath heathenism, that we must have the gate shut down upon us, and heathens by tens of thousands come swarming to our land? I do not, I cannot believe that the good sense of the American people can tolerate such persecution. Amen.
Elder Lorenzo Snow
dwelt largely on the principle of revelation, as it existed in the days of Christ and his Apostles, and as restored in our day—no individual is under obligation to receive the testimony of another unless he receives a revelation from God, that that testimony is true—hence the Savior promised that any one who would do the will of his Father, should know of the doctrine that it was true. So with the Elders of Israel—this same promise is made to the people in every nation whithersoever they are sent, that if the people will only receive and obey the principles of the Gospel, God will make manifest to them by revelation, that this work is of God and not of man. Hence this principle of revelation forms the basis of our faith, and if the Saints who have received this knowledge in distant countries and emigrated here will only continue to live their religion, by being faithful in all the relations of life, God will pour out upon them abundantly of the spirit of revelation, and bless them in their families and all they undertake to do.
dwelt largely on the principle of revelation, as it existed in the days of Christ and his Apostles, and as restored in our day—no individual is under obligation to receive the testimony of another unless he receives a revelation from God, that that testimony is true—hence the Savior promised that any one who would do the will of his Father, should know of the doctrine that it was true. So with the Elders of Israel—this same promise is made to the people in every nation whithersoever they are sent, that if the people will only receive and obey the principles of the Gospel, God will make manifest to them by revelation, that this work is of God and not of man. Hence this principle of revelation forms the basis of our faith, and if the Saints who have received this knowledge in distant countries and emigrated here will only continue to live their religion, by being faithful in all the relations of life, God will pour out upon them abundantly of the spirit of revelation, and bless them in their families and all they undertake to do.
The Church Founded Upon the Rock of Revelation—Faithful Saints Cannot Be Moved By Persecution
Discourse by Elder Lorenzo Snow, delivered at the General Conference, held in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Oct. 6th, 1879.
Reported by John Irvine.
I have been very much interested in the remarks of Brother Orson Pratt.
I wish during the short time that I occupy the stand to make a few observations in reference to the foundation upon which we have established our faith and belief in the principles of the everlasting Gospel which we have espoused, and to see what means the elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints employ in establishing these principles in the hearts of the people in the various nations where they are proclaiming the fulness of the Gospel. It is well perhaps in view of the surrounding circumstances, and in consideration of the difficulties that arise in our midst—and which may possibly try our faith—to examine occasionally more closely into the foundation upon which we ground our hopes—our hopes in regard to our property and in regard to our ability to accomplish the commandments of God and withstand the temptations that will be presented to try our faith, and overcome the difficulties that may come in our way in the path of our progress. In preaching the Gospel in the days of the apostles there were certain things that followed their labors, that inspired individuals that received the doctrine from their hands that filled them with great confidence in regard to those principles as is shown on a certain occasion where one of the Apostles uses language like this: “Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance.” The people who had received the Gospel were reminded of the peculiar blessings and powers that attended it in its administration. When the disciples were ordained by the Savior and sent forth to proclaim the Gospel to the world, they were told that certain blessings and assurances should follow its administration. On another occasion it was said by the Savior, when people were anxious to know in regard to the divinity of his mission, he told them that if they would do the will of God they should know of the doctrine. And again, on a certain time when his disciples came together, he asked them what the people said in relation to him, the character that they gave him, and the feeling he had produced among them in regard to the divinity of his character. He was informed that the people had various ideas and views in relation to it. Some thought that he was one of the prophets that had risen, that he was Elias or Jeremiah, or John the Baptist that had been beheaded. In the midst of this confusion of ideas, however, there was one individual that had obtained correct information on the subject, and from a quarter that every person that receives the fulness of the Gospel is privileged to obtain a perfect knowledge of its divinity. Turning to the disciples he said, “But whom say ye that I am,” and Simon Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Now, he had obtained a revelation in regard to the character of the Son of God. He had not obtained it through the observance of the miracles that Jesus had performed. He had not obtained it from any other quarter or source save from God the Eternal Father. Jesus told him that “flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” That is, upon the rock of revelation, for the nature of the Gospel is such, that when it is proclaimed and honestly obeyed, individuals receive a testimony in regard to the divinity of the doctrine. This was confirmed on the day of Pentecost. Peter in preaching to the people said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For this promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. This gift of the Holy Ghost is a different principle from anything that we see manifested in the sectarian world. It is a principle of intelligence, and revelation. It is a principle that reveals things past, present and to come, and these gifts of the Holy Ghost were to be received through obedience to the requirements of the Gospel as proclaimed by the Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in these days. It was upon this rock that their faith should be grounded; from this quarter they should receive a knowledge of the doctrine they had espoused, and we are told by the Savior “that the gates of hell should not prevail against them.” Thus the Church was organized upon the principle of revelation. In it were placed “first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.” Thus God placed in his kingdom and in his Church those things that were according to the mind and will of heaven, according to the laws of the celestial world. In another place we are told that God gave gifts unto men. “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.” Now for what purpose were they given? We are told that they were given “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” How long were these gifts to continue? We are told they were to continue “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” These were the principles taught by the apostles, and when they went forth among strangers they could say, “We have authority to administer in the ordinances of the Gospel; but you cannot know these things except you receive this knowledge from the eternal world. We profess to have this authority, but you are not acquainted with us, you do not know our character. We require you to repent of your sins and to be baptized for a remission of the same, and then you shall have a knowledge of the truth.” These are the declarations of our Elders in these days; it is by this means that the people are gathered here from the various nations of the earth. Here we have a people from England, Denmark, Sweden, France and from almost all the nations of the earth. Why are we gathered into these mountain valleys? Why have we left our homes in distant lands? Because we realize the truth of the gospel as proclaimed by the Elders. We have received the gift of the Holy Ghost, which has revealed to us this knowledge; and it is because of this knowledge that we are here today. Where in all the world can you find a class of ministers that dare take the position our elders do? Where is the man or the set of men that can be found that dare to present themselves before the world and say that they have been authorized of God to administer certain ordinances to the people through which they may receive revelation from God? Anyone announcing a doctrine of this kind would soon be found out if he were an impostor—he would place himself in a very dangerous position, and would soon be discovered if he held no such authority. Our elders, however, dare take this position. We have taken this position for nearly fifty years. God has sent his holy angels from heaven and restored the authority to man to administer the ordinances of the Gospel, and through these the gift of the Holy Ghost now confers upon man a knowledge in regard to the divinity of this work. Now, we talk about people succumbing because of their inferiority in numbers or because they are partly in the minority. That may be all very well providing it is simply man's work. We can very well see that in such case 150,000 could not expect to prosper or succeed in opposition, or in holding principles that are in conflict to those of 45,000,000 of people. Noah could not expect to succeed against a whole generation while his doctrine was accepted only by seven individuals, providing it had been only man's work. Neither could Moses when he proclaimed his message expect to have succeeded against the Egyptian government and its influence had he not been inspired and had authority from God. It is not that one man or set of men should proclaim principles as divine and demand their acceptance unless he have authority beyond that of man. If, therefore, the elders of Israel have been authorized, if they have received authority from the Almighty to proclaim these principles, then it will be very easy to understand who will succumb in the end. If it is the work of God we may expect very well what will be the result. There was a law in the days of king Nebuchadnezzar that all nations should bow to the golden image which he set up; it was made obligatory upon every individual that he should not offer prayer to the God of heaven. Well, what were the results? It is very easy to see; it is very easy to see what will be the results at all times when God has a work to accomplish in the midst of a people. When men of integrity, men of honesty, receive a knowledge of any principle, divine principle, when they receive a manifestation of the Almighty concerning the truth of any work or any doctrine, it is a very difficult matter to destroy or force that knowledge from them. You cannot do it by imprisonment, you cannot by any method of torture. So in regard to the people called Latter-day Saints. Inasmuch as they have received these doctrines in various nations where the Gospel has been proclaimed, and inasmuch as they have received a divine manifestation of the truth of these principles, we do not expect when they come here to these mountain valleys that they are to be frightened out of these things, because a man's religion is more dear to him than life. Has anybody received a revelation to the contrary? Has anybody received a revelation that Joseph Smith was not endowed with power from on high, or that the Elders of Israel have not been authorized to preach this Gospel? No; but we can bring thousands of individuals that have received revelation that these things are true; thousands upon thousands. Well, then, the foundation upon which the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is built is the rock of revelation—upon the rock that Jesus said He would build His church, and the gates of hell should not prevail against it. We have not received this knowledge through flesh and blood, we have not received this testimony from man, we have not received it through the reading of the Bible, New Testament or Book of Mormon, but we have received it through the operations of the Holy Ghost, that teaches of the things of God, things past, present and to come, and that takes of the things of God, making them clearly manifest unto us. You cannot take this knowledge from us by imprisonment or any kind of persecution. We will stand by it unto death.
And now all the Latter-day Saints have to do, all that is required of us to make us perfectly safe under all circumstances of trouble or persecution, is to do the will of God, to be honest, faithful and to keep ourselves devoted to the principles that we have received; do right one by another; trespass upon no man's rights; live by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God and his Holy Spirit will aid and assist us under all circumstances, and we will come out of the midst of it all abundantly blessed in our houses, in our families, in our flocks, in our fields—and in every way God will bless us. He will give us knowledge upon knowledge, intelligence upon intelligence, wisdom upon wisdom.
May God add his blessing upon this people. May we be faithful to ourselves, faithful to all the principles we have received, seeking one another's interests with all our heart, and God will pour out his Spirit upon us, and we will come off victorious in the end, which I ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
The choir sang an anthem “Open thou, thine eyes.”
Conference adjourned till 2 p. m. Benediction by Counselor D. H. Wells.
Discourse by Elder Lorenzo Snow, delivered at the General Conference, held in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Oct. 6th, 1879.
Reported by John Irvine.
I have been very much interested in the remarks of Brother Orson Pratt.
I wish during the short time that I occupy the stand to make a few observations in reference to the foundation upon which we have established our faith and belief in the principles of the everlasting Gospel which we have espoused, and to see what means the elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints employ in establishing these principles in the hearts of the people in the various nations where they are proclaiming the fulness of the Gospel. It is well perhaps in view of the surrounding circumstances, and in consideration of the difficulties that arise in our midst—and which may possibly try our faith—to examine occasionally more closely into the foundation upon which we ground our hopes—our hopes in regard to our property and in regard to our ability to accomplish the commandments of God and withstand the temptations that will be presented to try our faith, and overcome the difficulties that may come in our way in the path of our progress. In preaching the Gospel in the days of the apostles there were certain things that followed their labors, that inspired individuals that received the doctrine from their hands that filled them with great confidence in regard to those principles as is shown on a certain occasion where one of the Apostles uses language like this: “Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance.” The people who had received the Gospel were reminded of the peculiar blessings and powers that attended it in its administration. When the disciples were ordained by the Savior and sent forth to proclaim the Gospel to the world, they were told that certain blessings and assurances should follow its administration. On another occasion it was said by the Savior, when people were anxious to know in regard to the divinity of his mission, he told them that if they would do the will of God they should know of the doctrine. And again, on a certain time when his disciples came together, he asked them what the people said in relation to him, the character that they gave him, and the feeling he had produced among them in regard to the divinity of his character. He was informed that the people had various ideas and views in relation to it. Some thought that he was one of the prophets that had risen, that he was Elias or Jeremiah, or John the Baptist that had been beheaded. In the midst of this confusion of ideas, however, there was one individual that had obtained correct information on the subject, and from a quarter that every person that receives the fulness of the Gospel is privileged to obtain a perfect knowledge of its divinity. Turning to the disciples he said, “But whom say ye that I am,” and Simon Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Now, he had obtained a revelation in regard to the character of the Son of God. He had not obtained it through the observance of the miracles that Jesus had performed. He had not obtained it from any other quarter or source save from God the Eternal Father. Jesus told him that “flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” That is, upon the rock of revelation, for the nature of the Gospel is such, that when it is proclaimed and honestly obeyed, individuals receive a testimony in regard to the divinity of the doctrine. This was confirmed on the day of Pentecost. Peter in preaching to the people said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For this promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. This gift of the Holy Ghost is a different principle from anything that we see manifested in the sectarian world. It is a principle of intelligence, and revelation. It is a principle that reveals things past, present and to come, and these gifts of the Holy Ghost were to be received through obedience to the requirements of the Gospel as proclaimed by the Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in these days. It was upon this rock that their faith should be grounded; from this quarter they should receive a knowledge of the doctrine they had espoused, and we are told by the Savior “that the gates of hell should not prevail against them.” Thus the Church was organized upon the principle of revelation. In it were placed “first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.” Thus God placed in his kingdom and in his Church those things that were according to the mind and will of heaven, according to the laws of the celestial world. In another place we are told that God gave gifts unto men. “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.” Now for what purpose were they given? We are told that they were given “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” How long were these gifts to continue? We are told they were to continue “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” These were the principles taught by the apostles, and when they went forth among strangers they could say, “We have authority to administer in the ordinances of the Gospel; but you cannot know these things except you receive this knowledge from the eternal world. We profess to have this authority, but you are not acquainted with us, you do not know our character. We require you to repent of your sins and to be baptized for a remission of the same, and then you shall have a knowledge of the truth.” These are the declarations of our Elders in these days; it is by this means that the people are gathered here from the various nations of the earth. Here we have a people from England, Denmark, Sweden, France and from almost all the nations of the earth. Why are we gathered into these mountain valleys? Why have we left our homes in distant lands? Because we realize the truth of the gospel as proclaimed by the Elders. We have received the gift of the Holy Ghost, which has revealed to us this knowledge; and it is because of this knowledge that we are here today. Where in all the world can you find a class of ministers that dare take the position our elders do? Where is the man or the set of men that can be found that dare to present themselves before the world and say that they have been authorized of God to administer certain ordinances to the people through which they may receive revelation from God? Anyone announcing a doctrine of this kind would soon be found out if he were an impostor—he would place himself in a very dangerous position, and would soon be discovered if he held no such authority. Our elders, however, dare take this position. We have taken this position for nearly fifty years. God has sent his holy angels from heaven and restored the authority to man to administer the ordinances of the Gospel, and through these the gift of the Holy Ghost now confers upon man a knowledge in regard to the divinity of this work. Now, we talk about people succumbing because of their inferiority in numbers or because they are partly in the minority. That may be all very well providing it is simply man's work. We can very well see that in such case 150,000 could not expect to prosper or succeed in opposition, or in holding principles that are in conflict to those of 45,000,000 of people. Noah could not expect to succeed against a whole generation while his doctrine was accepted only by seven individuals, providing it had been only man's work. Neither could Moses when he proclaimed his message expect to have succeeded against the Egyptian government and its influence had he not been inspired and had authority from God. It is not that one man or set of men should proclaim principles as divine and demand their acceptance unless he have authority beyond that of man. If, therefore, the elders of Israel have been authorized, if they have received authority from the Almighty to proclaim these principles, then it will be very easy to understand who will succumb in the end. If it is the work of God we may expect very well what will be the result. There was a law in the days of king Nebuchadnezzar that all nations should bow to the golden image which he set up; it was made obligatory upon every individual that he should not offer prayer to the God of heaven. Well, what were the results? It is very easy to see; it is very easy to see what will be the results at all times when God has a work to accomplish in the midst of a people. When men of integrity, men of honesty, receive a knowledge of any principle, divine principle, when they receive a manifestation of the Almighty concerning the truth of any work or any doctrine, it is a very difficult matter to destroy or force that knowledge from them. You cannot do it by imprisonment, you cannot by any method of torture. So in regard to the people called Latter-day Saints. Inasmuch as they have received these doctrines in various nations where the Gospel has been proclaimed, and inasmuch as they have received a divine manifestation of the truth of these principles, we do not expect when they come here to these mountain valleys that they are to be frightened out of these things, because a man's religion is more dear to him than life. Has anybody received a revelation to the contrary? Has anybody received a revelation that Joseph Smith was not endowed with power from on high, or that the Elders of Israel have not been authorized to preach this Gospel? No; but we can bring thousands of individuals that have received revelation that these things are true; thousands upon thousands. Well, then, the foundation upon which the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is built is the rock of revelation—upon the rock that Jesus said He would build His church, and the gates of hell should not prevail against it. We have not received this knowledge through flesh and blood, we have not received this testimony from man, we have not received it through the reading of the Bible, New Testament or Book of Mormon, but we have received it through the operations of the Holy Ghost, that teaches of the things of God, things past, present and to come, and that takes of the things of God, making them clearly manifest unto us. You cannot take this knowledge from us by imprisonment or any kind of persecution. We will stand by it unto death.
And now all the Latter-day Saints have to do, all that is required of us to make us perfectly safe under all circumstances of trouble or persecution, is to do the will of God, to be honest, faithful and to keep ourselves devoted to the principles that we have received; do right one by another; trespass upon no man's rights; live by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God and his Holy Spirit will aid and assist us under all circumstances, and we will come out of the midst of it all abundantly blessed in our houses, in our families, in our flocks, in our fields—and in every way God will bless us. He will give us knowledge upon knowledge, intelligence upon intelligence, wisdom upon wisdom.
May God add his blessing upon this people. May we be faithful to ourselves, faithful to all the principles we have received, seeking one another's interests with all our heart, and God will pour out his Spirit upon us, and we will come off victorious in the end, which I ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
The choir sang an anthem “Open thou, thine eyes.”
Conference adjourned till 2 p. m. Benediction by Counselor D. H. Wells.
2 p. m.
The choir sang Hymn on page 146: Great God attend while Zion sings, The joy that from thy presence springs.
Prayer by Counselor D. H. Wells.
The choir sang hymn on page 67: Praise ye the Lord ‘tis good to raise Your hearts and voices in his praise.
The choir sang Hymn on page 146: Great God attend while Zion sings, The joy that from thy presence springs.
Prayer by Counselor D. H. Wells.
The choir sang hymn on page 67: Praise ye the Lord ‘tis good to raise Your hearts and voices in his praise.
Elder Franklin D. Richards
said in contemplating the work of God as it exists in the earth to-day he was led to reflect on the political influence it was exerting in this and other nations. The first principle that gave it prominence was that of new revelation especially among the religionists of the United States, who raised the hue and cry of blasphemy. Some time after this the doctrine of polygamy came forth which aroused the indignation of our political champions, and who placed it side by side with slavery, calling the twin relics of barbarism. The abolishment of these two relics formed one of the chief planks of the republican platform. The attempt to abolish slavery has been made, though not accomplished, as a political movement, and the destruction of polygamy yet remains undone. The republicans pledged themselves to put it down, if raised to power. The voice of the nation to-day is, “eradicate polygamy from the country,” although that principle constitutes one of the essential truths of our faith. He appealed to the Saints as to whether they are prepared to sacrifice or relinquish that portion of their religion, or willing to bear the consequences of a strict enforcement of the law of 1862, even should the effect be attended with fines, imprisonment or even death. For such would certainly be the results if God did not interpose and prevent it. Our appeal must be to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, who has given the law of plural marriage to his neighbors, but is good in its tendency wherever carried out in righteousness. He hoped, therefore, that we as a people would humble ourselves before God, put away from us our evils and submit our cause to him, who in his own due time will defend us against the designs of the enemies of his kingdom.
said in contemplating the work of God as it exists in the earth to-day he was led to reflect on the political influence it was exerting in this and other nations. The first principle that gave it prominence was that of new revelation especially among the religionists of the United States, who raised the hue and cry of blasphemy. Some time after this the doctrine of polygamy came forth which aroused the indignation of our political champions, and who placed it side by side with slavery, calling the twin relics of barbarism. The abolishment of these two relics formed one of the chief planks of the republican platform. The attempt to abolish slavery has been made, though not accomplished, as a political movement, and the destruction of polygamy yet remains undone. The republicans pledged themselves to put it down, if raised to power. The voice of the nation to-day is, “eradicate polygamy from the country,” although that principle constitutes one of the essential truths of our faith. He appealed to the Saints as to whether they are prepared to sacrifice or relinquish that portion of their religion, or willing to bear the consequences of a strict enforcement of the law of 1862, even should the effect be attended with fines, imprisonment or even death. For such would certainly be the results if God did not interpose and prevent it. Our appeal must be to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, who has given the law of plural marriage to his neighbors, but is good in its tendency wherever carried out in righteousness. He hoped, therefore, that we as a people would humble ourselves before God, put away from us our evils and submit our cause to him, who in his own due time will defend us against the designs of the enemies of his kingdom.
Preaching of John the Baptist and Restoration of the Gospel Compared—Opposition to Revelation—Gifts of the Holy Spirit—Polygamy—Human Laws Founded Upon the Revealed Law of God—Celestial Marriage Prominent in the Law and the Prophets
Discourse by Elder F. D. Richards, delivered at the General Conference, held in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 6, 1879.
Reported by John Irvine.
In contemplating the condition of the work of the Lord as it is on the earth today, and as we have had to contemplate it from the light of history in its existence in former periods of time, we find a very striking analogy exists.
I scarcely need tell my congregation this afternoon that we as a people bear a significant relation to the people of the United States in a political point of view, and without undertaking to review the various periods of the earth's history, and the relationship which the work of God at different times has sustained to its inhabitants, it may perhaps be enough to refer to one circumstance in the days of our Savior. When John the Baptist had gone forth among the people of Palestine, telling them that the kingdom of heaven was at hand and calling upon all who entertained faith in his mission to come and be baptized—it appears that he created quite a sensation among the people, insomuch that all they of Jerusalem and Judea and the regions round about went forth and were baptized by him in great multitudes, as recorded in Mark, i, 8. This had a political effect upon the rulers of that day, and when John was followed by Jesus and his wonderful works, they began to say—“If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans will come and take away our place and nation.” It was very directly a matter of political significance and importance.
I recollect that some fifty years ago, in the days of my youth, and in the land of the Puritans, I used to hear and to see aged matrons as well as reverend ministers wringing their hands and lifting up their eyes with holy horror, because there was a great evil in the land called slavery. They could scarcely eat or drink in peace, or worship God with the spirit and understanding, by reason of a terrible sense of condemnation resting on their consciences—because their brethren in the Southern States believed in slavery. This came to be worked up by the preachers in the pulpits, by the politicians in their stump speeches, by the parents of households, and fulminated by the press, until in nearly every class of society there was a continual stir and sensation about slavery in the Southern States. This terrible evil had become one of such vast importance that it must some day bring a national scourge, and in their great anxiety and horror over this, and their determination to put it away, they stirred up the fire until the North were at enmity and hostility against the South, and the South were at enmity and hostility against the North. We well recollect what were the consequences of the recent terrible conflict that devastated and demoralized so much of our beloved country. While this fanaticism was raging in the North, and silent preparations for defense were going on in the South, none seemed to consider the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives, or the taxation necessary to pay a few hundred millions of war debt, and still less the demoralizing influences thereby fastened upon the country.
About the same time, or very soon after, when the Elders began to preach the Gospel in that region, I recollect that there arose quite a sensation about this people that professed to have new revelation. It seemed to strike these same conscientious, religious people with consternation that anybody should dare to say that God would now reveal himself to the human family; that it was the most impious blasphemy to preach that the priesthood had been restored, or to assert that the Holy Ghost was given in the latter days, or that the gifts of the Spirit were made to abound among the children of men. No indeed; it was not to be tolerated any more than the doctrine of slavery. There were here and there a few, though but very few in proportion to the general population, that did receive this very alarming doctrine among those professing religious belief in the mission of our blessed Redeemer. It will be borne in mind that at the time I now speak of, the doctrine of plurality of wives had not been heard of as a doctrine of the Church in the last dispensation; but it was the gifts of the Spirit, it was the doctrine of present revelation, it was the terrible repulsive idea that there could be a man raised up in our day who should be a prophet that should bring again the word of the Lord and speak his mind and will to the people, that created a fresh outburst of pious indignation in the minds of those who were so devout, and who claimed to occupy the “cradle of liberty.”
It was but a short time after this—stepping along rather rapidly in the history of events—till the doctrine of plurality of wives was revealed to the Saints, away in the West, on the banks of the Mississippi, though not publicly proclaimed until 1852, in Utah. But the sound of this sacred scriptural doctrine, when it came to be made known, seemed the very acme of all that was corrupt, abominable and ungodly, and they who professed to believe in the doctrine of polygamy were not deemed fit to live on the earth. Consequently, if I were to take a text to preach from. I would take “Where are we now?”
About the year 1854, or 1856, the terrible odium of these two principal doctrines, and polygamy especially, had attached such a political hold on the minds of the religious community, that they were prepared to place these as two planks in the party platform, which was to be adopted as a ground upon which a President was to be elected. The celebrated Senator Douglas, after we had come out from the midst of the people and come into the wilderness, a thousand miles from any settlement of civilization, announced to the country that if he were made a candidate for the presidency of the United States, his opinion was that “the loathsome ulcer must be cut out from the side of the body politic.” That was his political faith in regard to this one of the twins. President Buchanan was elected with a clear understanding that the abolition of polygamy was one of the jobs he was undertaking. He tried his hand at this first, but on finding that it took two years for his army to reach the field of their operations, and then in their decimated condition were dependent upon polygamists for subsistence, the prestige of the campaign dwindled down to what was commonly known as the “contractor's war on the Treasury.”
When, in 1860, the Republican party came into power, it assumed the obligation which President Buchanan had failed to discharge in regard to the “twin relics;” and, to avoid repeating the mistake which he had made, turned its attention to the other twin. This soon furnished occasion for a recall of the remaining troops in Utah to the other field of conflict.
I feel more interest in narrating these facts, because our rising generation, as well as many Saints who have immigrated to our midst from abroad, are not familiar with the circumstances, which have brought us to our present position. A little patience and I will notice some of the circumstances attendant upon what has been done, and perhaps we may judge therefore what has to be done, if it ever gets done at all.
Formerly, the Representatives and Senators from New England went to Washington laden with petitions to Congress to abolish slavery, in the District of Columbia, even more strongly than priest and people have recently been asking Congress to abolish polygamy. Ex-President John Q. Adams presented lengthy petitions containing thousands of names on many yards of paper, and became known as the Member who manufactured public opinion by the yard. These applications were repeated year after year. Be it remembered that the District of Columbia is not a State, but is governed by direct legislation of Congress. And what was the result of the strenuous and powerful efforts of the most brilliant and profound statesmen of the North, contested, of course, by the best statesmen from the South? The result was that slavery was not abolished in answer to the petitions of the Northern people, but it continued a political question, and became a powerful factor in the politics of the country. If an anti-slavery State was admitted into the Union from the North, a pro-slavery State was admitted from the South. Compromises were made between parties for the admission of certain States, until some of the Southern States declared for secession, and on the question of their right to do so the war commenced, and not on the direct question of the abolition of slavery.
From the firing of the first gun the demon of war seemed to inspire the contending parties with the most bitter enmity and rancorous hate towards each other, while multitudes met their near kinsmen in mortal combat. Year after year the war raged, till the Southern armies were recruited by their slaves; the Treasury of the nation was rapidly depleting; fierce engagements and wasting disease had done their work and recruits were enlisted for three years, or till the end of the war, and President Lincoln, by proclamation, abolished the slavery of several millions of negroes, not as a political measure, but as a measure justified by the exigencies of war. I state these facts without any argument as to whether slavery should be justified, or condemned. Their great ancestor said they should be servants of servants among their brethren, making their servitude the fulfillment of prophecy, whether according to the will of God or not.
But where are we today? We find slavery disposed of, but what of polygamy? This question is assuming proportions which seem to overshadow us so completely that even John Chinaman gets no special consideration in Utah.
About the time of the “Bull Run Stampede,” in 1862, when officers, raw recruits, and congressmen fled from the battlefield and took shelter in the Capital, Congress passed a law making plurality of wives, bigamy, or polygamy if you please, a penal offense. Now it should be distinctly understood that this offense is not sinful because Congress has made it penal. There is no ungodliness in it, because God has revealed it, he has commanded it. Congress of the United States says that it must not be permitted. Well, then, “Where are we today?” What have we to expect? This law has been passed—although we had hoped that Congress and the nation had sufficient virtue, enlightenment, liberty, and the spirit of the constitution of the fathers left among them, that they could see that this was not a sin or an evil—yet we find they have closed their eyes against this, and have determined that it is sin, while corruptions of every kind are permitted to be carried on in the country, such as prostitution, feticide, infanticide, etc., that because we have embraced the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we must be demolished or give up our religious faith. The highest court of the nation has declared polygamy unconstitutional, yet in its nature it is the only potent remedy by which to eradicate the so-called social evil, with all its concomitants, from the land. Yet they cannot see it, and they declare that all who engage in polygamy shall suffer from two to five years imprisonment and not exceeding a $500 fine.
Now I want to place it clearly before you, my hearers, that this is no longer the business of a party, it is today the voice of a nation. Mr. Secretary Evarts in his circular letter sent to ministers in foreign countries, says in the last clause that “this government has determined to prosecute polygamy to the extent of the law and to eradicate the institution from the country.” These are his words. That is authority so far as authority from the United States government goes. We find the same thing reiterated in the charge to the grand jury in this city, a short time ago, that the voice of forty to fifty millions of people must have its rule and that one hundred thousand must be sacrificed or as many of them as insist on the doctrine of polygamy. That is about where we are today. Now I ask my brethren and sisters—are you prepared for whatever comes on this question? Did you when you entered into the waters of baptism make up a reckoning what the Gospel of Jesus Christ was worth? Have we considered that it was worth fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, houses and lands, wives and children, and our own lives also? If we did not we figured up wrong, for he that is not willing to forsake all things and make them secondary to a whole-souled belief in and faithful obedience to the Gospel, is not worthy of it. I ask my brethren and sisters who have come from the antipodes of the earth to this place for the Gospel's sake, if you came prepared and having made such a reckoning? Jesus says in one of his parables, “Which of you, intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and counteth the cost whether he have sufficient to finish it, lest, haply after he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him saying, this man began to build, and was not able to finish.” Now that is about the way with us. There is no use our laying the flattering unction to our souls that government is not going to do this. We have got an example of what they have done to the Southern States, and have no doubt they are just as ready and willing to do that much to abolish polygamy among us if God will let them. They have come to that point. They have pronounced against polygamy and are ready to invite, hire and bribe men's wives to aid in the conviction of their husbands, I have no doubt of it; you need not have. They are here telling us plainly that this is their business, and we need only to look around us and see where we are today.
Now, as regards this matter, nobody need tremble at all. I do not think that any who have received the Holy Spirit, and learned of the revelations of Jesus Christ, and know of their influence, need fear, or that anybody's heart who is faithful before God, need be any heavier than it is in the habit of being, or that their faces need be any longer than they are used to be. Not at all; we must look upon this as only a part of the “all things” we agree to endure for the Gospel's sake and our salvation. Now, they may go to law, and fix up, as we see already, packed juries, just such as they want, so that no Latter-day Saint who is a believer in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, whether he believe in polygamy or not, can have any place among them, or any say as to who are innocent or who are guilty. We have evidence that they will do all this and having done this much, it would be very easy for them next winter to fix up such laws concerning juries and testimony as will enable them to carry out what they have undertaken. We give them credit for all this, and we have evidence they will do it, from the fact that the Constitution has been no limit to their former enactment. Indeed, it has virtually been cast overboard, and liberty taken to enact any such laws as might be desirable to carry favorite measures, and it will be just as consistent for them to do anything they please in regard to polygamy; and thus one thing after another, until they shall have attained the object which they have determined to accomplish.
The true issue of this question is not exactly between us individually and the courts, or the government. The issue is between the two governments. If they who make us offenders are at a loss to know which is the higher law, they will have plenty of time to find out. It is a violation of both the letter and the spirit of the Constitution, and of good and true government of this nation, that there should be any law made that should restrict our belief or practice of any religious doctrine, which does not infringe upon the rights of others. The Constitution expressly says that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Neither is there anything in the Constitution that tells Presidents, Congressmen, Judges or juries, what shall be religion, or what shall not be religion.
In the days of Jesus, their Senate and House of Representatives, their supreme and lesser courts were comprehended in the Sanhedrin, or Chief Council, which was an institution of the Jewish government to determine all matters, secular or religious. In our day, although there is no law except the law of God that determines what we may accept as religion, and what we shall not, there is a principle which I call your attention to, that will enable us to understand our position in relation to each other and to our fellow men. I may perhaps illustrate this best by stating a circumstance which took place a few years ago, while I was in Europe. A gentleman from one of the European States had emigrated to this country and had become an American citizen. He returned to his native country to attend to some business. While there that government undertook to enforce from him some act of subordination, as though he were still a subject of that government. What was the result? The government of the United States, when appealed to, informed the authorities of that land that his rights as an American citizen must be respected. We see, then, that when a difficulty arose that abridged this man's liberties, the responsibility was upon the parent government of asserting and maintaining the rights of this man's citizenship. The authorities of Europe as well as America lauded the wisdom of Daniel Webster in this case, and the man was delivered.
Now, in our case, the government has determined that polygamy shall be abolished, but the government of heaven had previously determined that polygamy should be established, and that sin and wickedness shall be rooted up; that men and women shall have the right to obey that higher law in their marital relations.
This is our position, this is where we are today. We have accepted this doctrine, this principle of faith from the Lord Jesus Christ, and we, or some of us, have lived it more than thirty years in this Territory. And in the matter of our appeal, inasmuch as the government is determined to eradicate this item of our faith, and us with it, of course, and inasmuch as we can get no redress therefrom, our appeal must be to the government of heaven, to which we have vowed allegiance. Jehovah will hold a contention with this nation, and will show them which is the higher and eternal law, and which is the lesser and more recent law. While they are carrying on this high-handed proceeding, regardless of life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness, the God of heaven and earth will notify the earthly government that the rights and liberties of His citizens must be respected and maintained.
The whole procedure is inconsistent, and utterly at variance with the fundamental principles of law. The great legal apostle, Blackstone, has plainly stated, and every lawyer knows, that human laws and governments are professedly derived from, and founded upon the revealed law of God, which he gave to Moses on Mount Sinai, and every man of them who rejects the revelations of Jesus Christ, must know that he is condemning himself in the thing he professes to allow. The eternal law of celestial marriage and plurality of wives stands out with singular prominence in all the law and prophets, and is evidenced in the personal humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Plurality, as believed and practiced by the Latter-day Saints, is no crime in and of itself; it presumes no deception or fraud; it infringes upon no other rights, but vests additional rights in him who accepts the heavenly doctrine, whose Author has said, “It shall be visited with blessings and not cursings, and with my power, saith the Lord.” It cannot therefore be malum in se, but is only malum prohibitum, by the Act of Congress.
With this view of the subject before us, what have we to do? What is our privilege and our duty in the premises? It is that we draw near to God, the Author of our faith, in humility and in obedience to all his requirements, remembering our covenants sacredly before Him, that our cause may reach His ears, and when He sees our trouble He will in His own good time step forth and deliver us. We have erred and sinned more or less, some of our children may have departed from the way of the Lord. If we have violated the Sabbath, taken the name of the Lord in vain, or violated any of our covenants, it is time for us to turn to the Lord and do so no more. If we do this, He in his own due time will say, “Hitherto shall thou come, but no further: and here let thy proud waves be stayed.” While, then, we see all the blandishments of civilization among us, while we see all the troubles that human governments can make, in our view we have only to trust in God as Daniel did. Notwithstanding the edict of the King, he worshipped the True and Living God. So must we. And peradventure all these things must happen to us. There are a great many among us who say, “Lord, Lord,” and do not pretend to do the things which God requires of us. We have to keep the commandments of God, we have to sense it, and to learn the lesson in all sobriety. Have we any time to waste with these outside characters? Have we any time to dally around grog shops and play in billiard saloons? No, my brethren and sisters, we have not. It is our duty to be alive to our work, day by day, knowing that the eyes of God are upon us. It is He that will do all things marvelously well for us; it is He that will fight our battles for us. Then the only way for us to gain deliverance is to remain devoted to his service, that we may help to build up His kingdom, and be found worthy of that assistance which He has promised to render us in the time of need.
There are two sides to this question. Peradventure it may be necessary that our enemies should carry out the works of their father, the devil, that they may show sooner or more fully to the heavens when the purpose and measure of their wickedness is full. As to the ultimate establishment of truth on the earth, there is no question. The prophets have all prophesied of it, the angels have looked forward to it with glorious anticipation, and we have the testimony of the Holy Ghost that this work shall be accomplished. The thing for us to do is to live true and faithful to our religion, irrespective of what may be going on around us.
That the Lord may inspire us by his Spirit to be faithful to our duty, to draw near to him, leave the wickedness of the world alone, and sanctify ourselves before him, is my earnest prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Discourse by Elder F. D. Richards, delivered at the General Conference, held in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 6, 1879.
Reported by John Irvine.
In contemplating the condition of the work of the Lord as it is on the earth today, and as we have had to contemplate it from the light of history in its existence in former periods of time, we find a very striking analogy exists.
I scarcely need tell my congregation this afternoon that we as a people bear a significant relation to the people of the United States in a political point of view, and without undertaking to review the various periods of the earth's history, and the relationship which the work of God at different times has sustained to its inhabitants, it may perhaps be enough to refer to one circumstance in the days of our Savior. When John the Baptist had gone forth among the people of Palestine, telling them that the kingdom of heaven was at hand and calling upon all who entertained faith in his mission to come and be baptized—it appears that he created quite a sensation among the people, insomuch that all they of Jerusalem and Judea and the regions round about went forth and were baptized by him in great multitudes, as recorded in Mark, i, 8. This had a political effect upon the rulers of that day, and when John was followed by Jesus and his wonderful works, they began to say—“If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans will come and take away our place and nation.” It was very directly a matter of political significance and importance.
I recollect that some fifty years ago, in the days of my youth, and in the land of the Puritans, I used to hear and to see aged matrons as well as reverend ministers wringing their hands and lifting up their eyes with holy horror, because there was a great evil in the land called slavery. They could scarcely eat or drink in peace, or worship God with the spirit and understanding, by reason of a terrible sense of condemnation resting on their consciences—because their brethren in the Southern States believed in slavery. This came to be worked up by the preachers in the pulpits, by the politicians in their stump speeches, by the parents of households, and fulminated by the press, until in nearly every class of society there was a continual stir and sensation about slavery in the Southern States. This terrible evil had become one of such vast importance that it must some day bring a national scourge, and in their great anxiety and horror over this, and their determination to put it away, they stirred up the fire until the North were at enmity and hostility against the South, and the South were at enmity and hostility against the North. We well recollect what were the consequences of the recent terrible conflict that devastated and demoralized so much of our beloved country. While this fanaticism was raging in the North, and silent preparations for defense were going on in the South, none seemed to consider the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives, or the taxation necessary to pay a few hundred millions of war debt, and still less the demoralizing influences thereby fastened upon the country.
About the same time, or very soon after, when the Elders began to preach the Gospel in that region, I recollect that there arose quite a sensation about this people that professed to have new revelation. It seemed to strike these same conscientious, religious people with consternation that anybody should dare to say that God would now reveal himself to the human family; that it was the most impious blasphemy to preach that the priesthood had been restored, or to assert that the Holy Ghost was given in the latter days, or that the gifts of the Spirit were made to abound among the children of men. No indeed; it was not to be tolerated any more than the doctrine of slavery. There were here and there a few, though but very few in proportion to the general population, that did receive this very alarming doctrine among those professing religious belief in the mission of our blessed Redeemer. It will be borne in mind that at the time I now speak of, the doctrine of plurality of wives had not been heard of as a doctrine of the Church in the last dispensation; but it was the gifts of the Spirit, it was the doctrine of present revelation, it was the terrible repulsive idea that there could be a man raised up in our day who should be a prophet that should bring again the word of the Lord and speak his mind and will to the people, that created a fresh outburst of pious indignation in the minds of those who were so devout, and who claimed to occupy the “cradle of liberty.”
It was but a short time after this—stepping along rather rapidly in the history of events—till the doctrine of plurality of wives was revealed to the Saints, away in the West, on the banks of the Mississippi, though not publicly proclaimed until 1852, in Utah. But the sound of this sacred scriptural doctrine, when it came to be made known, seemed the very acme of all that was corrupt, abominable and ungodly, and they who professed to believe in the doctrine of polygamy were not deemed fit to live on the earth. Consequently, if I were to take a text to preach from. I would take “Where are we now?”
About the year 1854, or 1856, the terrible odium of these two principal doctrines, and polygamy especially, had attached such a political hold on the minds of the religious community, that they were prepared to place these as two planks in the party platform, which was to be adopted as a ground upon which a President was to be elected. The celebrated Senator Douglas, after we had come out from the midst of the people and come into the wilderness, a thousand miles from any settlement of civilization, announced to the country that if he were made a candidate for the presidency of the United States, his opinion was that “the loathsome ulcer must be cut out from the side of the body politic.” That was his political faith in regard to this one of the twins. President Buchanan was elected with a clear understanding that the abolition of polygamy was one of the jobs he was undertaking. He tried his hand at this first, but on finding that it took two years for his army to reach the field of their operations, and then in their decimated condition were dependent upon polygamists for subsistence, the prestige of the campaign dwindled down to what was commonly known as the “contractor's war on the Treasury.”
When, in 1860, the Republican party came into power, it assumed the obligation which President Buchanan had failed to discharge in regard to the “twin relics;” and, to avoid repeating the mistake which he had made, turned its attention to the other twin. This soon furnished occasion for a recall of the remaining troops in Utah to the other field of conflict.
I feel more interest in narrating these facts, because our rising generation, as well as many Saints who have immigrated to our midst from abroad, are not familiar with the circumstances, which have brought us to our present position. A little patience and I will notice some of the circumstances attendant upon what has been done, and perhaps we may judge therefore what has to be done, if it ever gets done at all.
Formerly, the Representatives and Senators from New England went to Washington laden with petitions to Congress to abolish slavery, in the District of Columbia, even more strongly than priest and people have recently been asking Congress to abolish polygamy. Ex-President John Q. Adams presented lengthy petitions containing thousands of names on many yards of paper, and became known as the Member who manufactured public opinion by the yard. These applications were repeated year after year. Be it remembered that the District of Columbia is not a State, but is governed by direct legislation of Congress. And what was the result of the strenuous and powerful efforts of the most brilliant and profound statesmen of the North, contested, of course, by the best statesmen from the South? The result was that slavery was not abolished in answer to the petitions of the Northern people, but it continued a political question, and became a powerful factor in the politics of the country. If an anti-slavery State was admitted into the Union from the North, a pro-slavery State was admitted from the South. Compromises were made between parties for the admission of certain States, until some of the Southern States declared for secession, and on the question of their right to do so the war commenced, and not on the direct question of the abolition of slavery.
From the firing of the first gun the demon of war seemed to inspire the contending parties with the most bitter enmity and rancorous hate towards each other, while multitudes met their near kinsmen in mortal combat. Year after year the war raged, till the Southern armies were recruited by their slaves; the Treasury of the nation was rapidly depleting; fierce engagements and wasting disease had done their work and recruits were enlisted for three years, or till the end of the war, and President Lincoln, by proclamation, abolished the slavery of several millions of negroes, not as a political measure, but as a measure justified by the exigencies of war. I state these facts without any argument as to whether slavery should be justified, or condemned. Their great ancestor said they should be servants of servants among their brethren, making their servitude the fulfillment of prophecy, whether according to the will of God or not.
But where are we today? We find slavery disposed of, but what of polygamy? This question is assuming proportions which seem to overshadow us so completely that even John Chinaman gets no special consideration in Utah.
About the time of the “Bull Run Stampede,” in 1862, when officers, raw recruits, and congressmen fled from the battlefield and took shelter in the Capital, Congress passed a law making plurality of wives, bigamy, or polygamy if you please, a penal offense. Now it should be distinctly understood that this offense is not sinful because Congress has made it penal. There is no ungodliness in it, because God has revealed it, he has commanded it. Congress of the United States says that it must not be permitted. Well, then, “Where are we today?” What have we to expect? This law has been passed—although we had hoped that Congress and the nation had sufficient virtue, enlightenment, liberty, and the spirit of the constitution of the fathers left among them, that they could see that this was not a sin or an evil—yet we find they have closed their eyes against this, and have determined that it is sin, while corruptions of every kind are permitted to be carried on in the country, such as prostitution, feticide, infanticide, etc., that because we have embraced the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we must be demolished or give up our religious faith. The highest court of the nation has declared polygamy unconstitutional, yet in its nature it is the only potent remedy by which to eradicate the so-called social evil, with all its concomitants, from the land. Yet they cannot see it, and they declare that all who engage in polygamy shall suffer from two to five years imprisonment and not exceeding a $500 fine.
Now I want to place it clearly before you, my hearers, that this is no longer the business of a party, it is today the voice of a nation. Mr. Secretary Evarts in his circular letter sent to ministers in foreign countries, says in the last clause that “this government has determined to prosecute polygamy to the extent of the law and to eradicate the institution from the country.” These are his words. That is authority so far as authority from the United States government goes. We find the same thing reiterated in the charge to the grand jury in this city, a short time ago, that the voice of forty to fifty millions of people must have its rule and that one hundred thousand must be sacrificed or as many of them as insist on the doctrine of polygamy. That is about where we are today. Now I ask my brethren and sisters—are you prepared for whatever comes on this question? Did you when you entered into the waters of baptism make up a reckoning what the Gospel of Jesus Christ was worth? Have we considered that it was worth fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, houses and lands, wives and children, and our own lives also? If we did not we figured up wrong, for he that is not willing to forsake all things and make them secondary to a whole-souled belief in and faithful obedience to the Gospel, is not worthy of it. I ask my brethren and sisters who have come from the antipodes of the earth to this place for the Gospel's sake, if you came prepared and having made such a reckoning? Jesus says in one of his parables, “Which of you, intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and counteth the cost whether he have sufficient to finish it, lest, haply after he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him saying, this man began to build, and was not able to finish.” Now that is about the way with us. There is no use our laying the flattering unction to our souls that government is not going to do this. We have got an example of what they have done to the Southern States, and have no doubt they are just as ready and willing to do that much to abolish polygamy among us if God will let them. They have come to that point. They have pronounced against polygamy and are ready to invite, hire and bribe men's wives to aid in the conviction of their husbands, I have no doubt of it; you need not have. They are here telling us plainly that this is their business, and we need only to look around us and see where we are today.
Now, as regards this matter, nobody need tremble at all. I do not think that any who have received the Holy Spirit, and learned of the revelations of Jesus Christ, and know of their influence, need fear, or that anybody's heart who is faithful before God, need be any heavier than it is in the habit of being, or that their faces need be any longer than they are used to be. Not at all; we must look upon this as only a part of the “all things” we agree to endure for the Gospel's sake and our salvation. Now, they may go to law, and fix up, as we see already, packed juries, just such as they want, so that no Latter-day Saint who is a believer in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, whether he believe in polygamy or not, can have any place among them, or any say as to who are innocent or who are guilty. We have evidence that they will do all this and having done this much, it would be very easy for them next winter to fix up such laws concerning juries and testimony as will enable them to carry out what they have undertaken. We give them credit for all this, and we have evidence they will do it, from the fact that the Constitution has been no limit to their former enactment. Indeed, it has virtually been cast overboard, and liberty taken to enact any such laws as might be desirable to carry favorite measures, and it will be just as consistent for them to do anything they please in regard to polygamy; and thus one thing after another, until they shall have attained the object which they have determined to accomplish.
The true issue of this question is not exactly between us individually and the courts, or the government. The issue is between the two governments. If they who make us offenders are at a loss to know which is the higher law, they will have plenty of time to find out. It is a violation of both the letter and the spirit of the Constitution, and of good and true government of this nation, that there should be any law made that should restrict our belief or practice of any religious doctrine, which does not infringe upon the rights of others. The Constitution expressly says that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Neither is there anything in the Constitution that tells Presidents, Congressmen, Judges or juries, what shall be religion, or what shall not be religion.
In the days of Jesus, their Senate and House of Representatives, their supreme and lesser courts were comprehended in the Sanhedrin, or Chief Council, which was an institution of the Jewish government to determine all matters, secular or religious. In our day, although there is no law except the law of God that determines what we may accept as religion, and what we shall not, there is a principle which I call your attention to, that will enable us to understand our position in relation to each other and to our fellow men. I may perhaps illustrate this best by stating a circumstance which took place a few years ago, while I was in Europe. A gentleman from one of the European States had emigrated to this country and had become an American citizen. He returned to his native country to attend to some business. While there that government undertook to enforce from him some act of subordination, as though he were still a subject of that government. What was the result? The government of the United States, when appealed to, informed the authorities of that land that his rights as an American citizen must be respected. We see, then, that when a difficulty arose that abridged this man's liberties, the responsibility was upon the parent government of asserting and maintaining the rights of this man's citizenship. The authorities of Europe as well as America lauded the wisdom of Daniel Webster in this case, and the man was delivered.
Now, in our case, the government has determined that polygamy shall be abolished, but the government of heaven had previously determined that polygamy should be established, and that sin and wickedness shall be rooted up; that men and women shall have the right to obey that higher law in their marital relations.
This is our position, this is where we are today. We have accepted this doctrine, this principle of faith from the Lord Jesus Christ, and we, or some of us, have lived it more than thirty years in this Territory. And in the matter of our appeal, inasmuch as the government is determined to eradicate this item of our faith, and us with it, of course, and inasmuch as we can get no redress therefrom, our appeal must be to the government of heaven, to which we have vowed allegiance. Jehovah will hold a contention with this nation, and will show them which is the higher and eternal law, and which is the lesser and more recent law. While they are carrying on this high-handed proceeding, regardless of life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness, the God of heaven and earth will notify the earthly government that the rights and liberties of His citizens must be respected and maintained.
The whole procedure is inconsistent, and utterly at variance with the fundamental principles of law. The great legal apostle, Blackstone, has plainly stated, and every lawyer knows, that human laws and governments are professedly derived from, and founded upon the revealed law of God, which he gave to Moses on Mount Sinai, and every man of them who rejects the revelations of Jesus Christ, must know that he is condemning himself in the thing he professes to allow. The eternal law of celestial marriage and plurality of wives stands out with singular prominence in all the law and prophets, and is evidenced in the personal humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Plurality, as believed and practiced by the Latter-day Saints, is no crime in and of itself; it presumes no deception or fraud; it infringes upon no other rights, but vests additional rights in him who accepts the heavenly doctrine, whose Author has said, “It shall be visited with blessings and not cursings, and with my power, saith the Lord.” It cannot therefore be malum in se, but is only malum prohibitum, by the Act of Congress.
With this view of the subject before us, what have we to do? What is our privilege and our duty in the premises? It is that we draw near to God, the Author of our faith, in humility and in obedience to all his requirements, remembering our covenants sacredly before Him, that our cause may reach His ears, and when He sees our trouble He will in His own good time step forth and deliver us. We have erred and sinned more or less, some of our children may have departed from the way of the Lord. If we have violated the Sabbath, taken the name of the Lord in vain, or violated any of our covenants, it is time for us to turn to the Lord and do so no more. If we do this, He in his own due time will say, “Hitherto shall thou come, but no further: and here let thy proud waves be stayed.” While, then, we see all the blandishments of civilization among us, while we see all the troubles that human governments can make, in our view we have only to trust in God as Daniel did. Notwithstanding the edict of the King, he worshipped the True and Living God. So must we. And peradventure all these things must happen to us. There are a great many among us who say, “Lord, Lord,” and do not pretend to do the things which God requires of us. We have to keep the commandments of God, we have to sense it, and to learn the lesson in all sobriety. Have we any time to waste with these outside characters? Have we any time to dally around grog shops and play in billiard saloons? No, my brethren and sisters, we have not. It is our duty to be alive to our work, day by day, knowing that the eyes of God are upon us. It is He that will do all things marvelously well for us; it is He that will fight our battles for us. Then the only way for us to gain deliverance is to remain devoted to his service, that we may help to build up His kingdom, and be found worthy of that assistance which He has promised to render us in the time of need.
There are two sides to this question. Peradventure it may be necessary that our enemies should carry out the works of their father, the devil, that they may show sooner or more fully to the heavens when the purpose and measure of their wickedness is full. As to the ultimate establishment of truth on the earth, there is no question. The prophets have all prophesied of it, the angels have looked forward to it with glorious anticipation, and we have the testimony of the Holy Ghost that this work shall be accomplished. The thing for us to do is to live true and faithful to our religion, irrespective of what may be going on around us.
That the Lord may inspire us by his Spirit to be faithful to our duty, to draw near to him, leave the wickedness of the world alone, and sanctify ourselves before him, is my earnest prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Elder Brigham Young [Jr.]
spoke upon the same subject. The Prophet Joseph Smith brought forth by the revelations of God the most glorious principles that were ever enunciated on the face of the earth. He spoke of the futile efforts of any government or people attempting to eliminate from the hearts of the Saints that principle of faith which God has implanted by his Holy Spirit. He referred to the saying of ancient prophets that no nation should exist for any great length of time on this continent unless they observed and carried out the principles of righteousness. We, as a people, have nothing to fear, only our own weaknesses and sins. Let us therefore put away from us everything that is displeasing to God our Heavenly Father, and prepare ourselves for the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who will soon appear.
spoke upon the same subject. The Prophet Joseph Smith brought forth by the revelations of God the most glorious principles that were ever enunciated on the face of the earth. He spoke of the futile efforts of any government or people attempting to eliminate from the hearts of the Saints that principle of faith which God has implanted by his Holy Spirit. He referred to the saying of ancient prophets that no nation should exist for any great length of time on this continent unless they observed and carried out the principles of righteousness. We, as a people, have nothing to fear, only our own weaknesses and sins. Let us therefore put away from us everything that is displeasing to God our Heavenly Father, and prepare ourselves for the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who will soon appear.
President John Taylor
said he had been pleased with the remarks of the brethren. The spirit that inspired them reminded him of the early experience of the Saints in years gone by. The Saints have observed every law which the United States has made except one, and that was one that was made expressly to make us offenders against God. The Elders of this Church have been sent out to preach the gospel, and plural marriage is a part of it. That principle was revealed to him from God, and he felt to bear this testimony not only to this nation but all the nations of the earth, that he knew the Almighty had revealed it. Many others had had it revealed to them, and no power on earth can destroy or take away that testimony. We need not be at all surprised at what the nation is now doing and intends to do, but no one can do anything against the truth but for it. All the nations are in the hands of God, and so are we. All who feel to acknowledge God as our King and our law giver, say amen. [The assembled multitude responded in a loud amen]. The hand of God will be upon this nation if they oppress this people. We can afford to honor God and keep His commandments. Let us be for God and his cause, and the building up of his kingdom.
said he had been pleased with the remarks of the brethren. The spirit that inspired them reminded him of the early experience of the Saints in years gone by. The Saints have observed every law which the United States has made except one, and that was one that was made expressly to make us offenders against God. The Elders of this Church have been sent out to preach the gospel, and plural marriage is a part of it. That principle was revealed to him from God, and he felt to bear this testimony not only to this nation but all the nations of the earth, that he knew the Almighty had revealed it. Many others had had it revealed to them, and no power on earth can destroy or take away that testimony. We need not be at all surprised at what the nation is now doing and intends to do, but no one can do anything against the truth but for it. All the nations are in the hands of God, and so are we. All who feel to acknowledge God as our King and our law giver, say amen. [The assembled multitude responded in a loud amen]. The hand of God will be upon this nation if they oppress this people. We can afford to honor God and keep His commandments. Let us be for God and his cause, and the building up of his kingdom.
The Work of God Cannot Be Hindered—The United States to Be Afflicted By Judgment
Discourse by President John Taylor, delivered at the General Conference, Held in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 6, 1879.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
I have been interested in listening to the remarks of the brethren this afternoon, and I am thankful to find that good old-fashioned Mormonism, or Latter-day Saintism is not altogether dead yet—that there is a little of it living in the bosoms of the Saints, in our speakers, and in those who hear. The Methodists, you know, used to have a prayer to the effect that “His Spirit might pass from heart to heart as oil passes from vessel to vessel,” and I have thought that that kind of a spirit has been exhibited more or less here today, whether we have any Methodists among us or not.
We have come here, as has been stated, to worship Almighty God in accordance with his commands. Most of this congregation were good citizens before they came here. Some are from the various parts of Europe and from other parts of the earth, and a great many from different parts of the United States. They were good citizens and observed the laws of the land to which they belonged. They have observed every law of the United States, except one that was made on purpose to make them disobey God, and therefore, so far as political affairs are concerned, and the duties pertaining to citizens of the United States, they have been maintained in their integrity up to the present time. I remember being asked in a court here some three or four years ago—I do not remember the time precisely, but the court seemed to be very fond of interfering with religious matters, it was not always so; but I suppose civilization has extended—I was asked, “Do you believe in obeying the laws of the United States?” “Yes I do, in all except one”—in fact I had not broken that. “What law is that?” “The law in relation to polygamy.” “Well, why do you except that one?” “Because,” I replied “it is at variance with the genius and spirit of our institution; because it is at variance with the Constitution of the United States; and because it is in violation of the law of God to me.” The United States Supreme Court, however, since that time has made it a law of the land, that is, it has sanctioned it; it was not sanctioned at that time, that question was not then decided. We are here today, gathered together according to the word and law of God and the commandments of God to us. “Gather my saints together unto me,” says one of the old prophets, “those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.” “I will take you,” says another, “one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion, and I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.” Now, the servants of God in these last days have been sent out as they were in former days to gather the people, and the Lord has given us this law—the law of polygamy—among other things, and I know it before God and can bear testimony of it, if nobody else knows it. I know that it came from God, and that God is its author. But there are hundreds and thousands of others who have a knowledge of the same thing; but I speak of it in this wise to testify before God, angels and men, before this nation and all other nations that it came from God. That is the reason that I speak of it, that I may bear my testimony to you and to the nations of the earth. Now, then, about the result of it; that is with God and with the people. It is for us to do the will of God; it is for the Lord to bring about the results in his own way. But one thing I can assure all men, in the name of Israel's God, that neither this nation, nor any other nation, can do anything against the truth, but for the truth. Do their very best, help themselves as they may, they cannot help themselves in regard to these matters, for the Lord will say unto them, as he did unto the waves of the mighty ocean, “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.” Now, that is how the thing is. The prophet in another place says, “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.” He will manage the other. He will put a hook in the jaws of men and of nations, and lead them just as he pleases. They are all in his hands, as we are in his hands.
Need we be surprised that people should feel inimical to the Gospel of Jesus Christ? No. Need we be surprised that men, as the scriptures say, “should wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived?” No. We have preached it—I have preached it upwards of forty years in this nation and in other nations. Need we be surprised that they should trample under foot the Constitution of the United States? No; Joseph Smith told us that they would do it. Many around me here knew long ago that they would do this thing and further knew that the last people that should be found to rally around that sacred instrument and save it from the grasp of unrighteous men would be the Elders of Israel! When, therefore, we see these things progressing need we be astonished? I do not think we need be. Some of our people you know, who are a little shaky and get how? Why a little astride of the fence, and say “good Lord and good devil,” not knowing into whose hands they will fall; when they see some of these things transpiring they are filled with amazement; but men who understand themselves, and who are in possession of the gift of the Holy Ghost and the Spirit of the living God, are looking for such things and they are not at all surprised. Were we surprised when the last terrible war took place here in the United States? No; good Latter-day Saints were not, for they had been told about it. Joseph Smith had told them where it would start, that it should be a terrible time of bloodshed and that it should start in South Carolina. But I tell you today the end is not yet. You will see worse things than that, for God will lay his hand upon this nation, and they will feel it more terribly than ever they have done before; there will be more bloodshed, more ruin, more devastation than ever they have seen before. Write it down! You will see it come to pass; it is only just starting in. And would you feel to rejoice? No; I would feel sorry. I knew very well myself when this last war was commencing, and could have wept and did weep, over this nation; but there is yet to come a sound of war, trouble and distress, in which brother will be arrayed against brother, father against son, son against father, a scene of desolation and destruction that will permeate our land until it will be a vexation to hear the report thereof. Would you help to bring it about? No, I would not; I would stop it if I could. I would pour in the oil and the wine and balm and try to lead people in the right path that will be governed by it, but they won't. Our Elders would do the same, and we are sending them forth doing all that we can, selecting the very best men we can put our hands upon—men of faith, men of honor, men of integrity—to go forth to preach the Gospel to this nation and to other nations. And how do they receive them? Not long ago they killed one and mobbed others. Well, we cannot help that. They are in the dark; they do not realize the position they occupy; they know not what spirit they are of. But it is our duty to have our bowels full of compassion extended to them, to send forth the message of life. But when our Elders go among these people they have to take their lives in their hands and trust in the living God. Nevertheless, we need not be afraid, we need not be troubled about any of these matters. “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Yea, I say unto you fear Him; and we feel today, while we would submit to every ordinance of man that is just, equitable and right, observe every law and interfere with no man's rights, we are not ignorant of the fact that it is unjust for legislatures and courts to make and enforce laws to entrap and destroy us; that a magnanimous and just government would protect all its citizens; but we feel, at the same time, that the Lord is our God, the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King, and he shall rule over us; and all that feel like saying that, say Amen. (The vast congregation responded “Amen.“)
It is an historic fact, written in letters as of living fire, that neither nations, peoples, emperors, kings, or presidents, nor the combined powers of the earth, are able to regulate the conscience or change the faith of man. Noah maintained his faith alone, as against that of a world. Abraham could not be swerved by the most unnatural and forbidding circumstances. Moses, at the behest of God, alone withstood the power of Egypt's king and nation. Daniel unflinchingly bowed his knee to Israel's God, in the face of a prohibitory regal decree, passed by the intrigues of the combined powers of the kingdom of Babylon, who were his enemies. Job, when tried, maintained his integrity, even as against God, and said, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him;” and he further said, “I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he will stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” The three Hebrew children could not be made to bow to the image set up by the King of Babylon; but rather than deny their faith chose the penalty of the fiery furnace, in which they walked accompanied by the Son of God. Jesus came to do the will of his Father, and though in doing it he sweat great drops of blood, and begged of his Father to let the cup pass if possible, yet “not my will,” he said, “but thine be done;” and when groaning in mortal agony he cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” And though he could have commanded twelve legions of angels, who would have obeyed him, yet in obedience to the mandate of his Father, he quietly said “It is finished,” and gave up the ghost.
And this nation may yet learn that under no fictitious pleas, as used by the Babylonish nation against Daniel and others, can they pervert or overthrow the faith and religion of the Latter-day Saints; and that no legislative enactment, nor judicial rulings, can pluck from the mind of man his undying faith, or legislate away the scrupulous exactions of an inexorable conscience. The rack, the gibbet, the faggot, and death in all its horrid forms has never accomplished this, nor never will. And in free America, the land of boasted toleration, it will be as impotent under the guise of liberty as it has been in other ages under the name of despotism. And Congress to covet their shameless infraction of the Constitution of the United States, which guarantees religious liberty to all—in order to avoid the odium of religious persecution which naturally attaches itself to them, may pervert an institution of God by misnaming polygamy and calling it bigamy and not religion, and though the Supreme Court of the United States may confirm their acts, yet there are more than one hundred thousand persons who know better than they do, who will declare that polygamy is a part of their religion and a command and revelation from God.
These are our feelings and we will try to acknowledge the Lord in all things. And then, on the other hand, we do not wish to treat anybody disrespectfully. Have we any quarrel with this nation? No; they are seeking to quarrel with us; don't let us give them the opportunity. They are like the boy strutting along the street with a chip on his shoulder, asking us to knock it off. But we won't knock it off; but let them strut. It is true they try all they can to annoy and provoke us—that is, a few mean men do, although that is not generally the feeling of the nation, but is confined in great measure to religious fanatics and corrupt politicians, some of them holding positions under government, are trying to stir up strife. What for; Well, they want to get a certain “ticket” elected. A great amount of this “fuss and feathers” that we have today is simply a political ruse in the interest of party politics. What for? Why, the brethren have told you. Mormonism is very unpopular, and if they can only do something that will be in opposition to Mormonism it will satisfy the howling priests throughout the land, and a great many of their flocks. As was remarked by one of the brethren, when Jesus was crucified, Pilate and Herod could be made friends. When Mormonism is to be opposed, all men, or at least a great many men, can unite in opposing it. And they want to go before the people and tell them that they have rooted out slavery, and now they are after Mormonism, and won't you religious fanatics join in? No, excuse me, I mean, you pure and holy religious people, who are so humble and possess so much of the spirit that dwelt in the lowly Jesus, won't you help us to do this thing—won't you vote for us because we are doing this thing? Why, bless your souls, they would not hesitate to sweep us off the face of the earth to get elected. That is their feeling. They care nothing about human rights, liberty, or life, if they can bring about the results desired. They would despoil, destroy and overthrow this people to accomplish their own end. Well, the other party, it is true, would not be very well suited about it, but they would not care to see it politically. However, it is for us to do the best we can. We have got to put our trust in the living God. We might ask—Will they derive any benefit from any course taken against the Latter-day Saints? No! a thousand times no!! I tell you that the hand of God will be upon them for it, and every people, be it this nation, or any other nation, that shall lift up their hands against Zion shall be wasted away; and those that want to try it let them try it, and it is them and their God for it. But it is for us to fear God, to keep his commandments; we can afford to do right whether other people can or not. Respect all men in their rights, in their position, and in their privileges, politically and socially, and protect them in the same; but be not partakers of their evil deeds, of their crimes, nor their iniquities, that you have heard spoken about here today. We do not want them to force upon us their drinking saloons, their drunkenness, their gambling, their debauchery and lasciviousness. We do not want these adjuncts of civilization. We do not want them to force upon us that institution of monogamy called the social evil. We will be after them; we will form ourselves into police and hunt them out and drag them from their dens of infamy and expose them to the world. We won't have their meanness, with their feticides and infanticides, forced upon us. And you, sisters, don't allow yourselves to become contaminated by rustling against their polluted skirts. Keep from them! Let them wallow in their infamy, and let us protect the right, and be for God and his Christ, for honor, for truth, for virtue, purity and chastity, and for the building up of the kingdom of God. Amen.
The choir sang an anthem, Hearken unto me.
Conference was adjourned till to morrow, (Tuesday) at 10 o’clock a.m.
Benediction by Elder George Q. Cannon
Discourse by President John Taylor, delivered at the General Conference, Held in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 6, 1879.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
I have been interested in listening to the remarks of the brethren this afternoon, and I am thankful to find that good old-fashioned Mormonism, or Latter-day Saintism is not altogether dead yet—that there is a little of it living in the bosoms of the Saints, in our speakers, and in those who hear. The Methodists, you know, used to have a prayer to the effect that “His Spirit might pass from heart to heart as oil passes from vessel to vessel,” and I have thought that that kind of a spirit has been exhibited more or less here today, whether we have any Methodists among us or not.
We have come here, as has been stated, to worship Almighty God in accordance with his commands. Most of this congregation were good citizens before they came here. Some are from the various parts of Europe and from other parts of the earth, and a great many from different parts of the United States. They were good citizens and observed the laws of the land to which they belonged. They have observed every law of the United States, except one that was made on purpose to make them disobey God, and therefore, so far as political affairs are concerned, and the duties pertaining to citizens of the United States, they have been maintained in their integrity up to the present time. I remember being asked in a court here some three or four years ago—I do not remember the time precisely, but the court seemed to be very fond of interfering with religious matters, it was not always so; but I suppose civilization has extended—I was asked, “Do you believe in obeying the laws of the United States?” “Yes I do, in all except one”—in fact I had not broken that. “What law is that?” “The law in relation to polygamy.” “Well, why do you except that one?” “Because,” I replied “it is at variance with the genius and spirit of our institution; because it is at variance with the Constitution of the United States; and because it is in violation of the law of God to me.” The United States Supreme Court, however, since that time has made it a law of the land, that is, it has sanctioned it; it was not sanctioned at that time, that question was not then decided. We are here today, gathered together according to the word and law of God and the commandments of God to us. “Gather my saints together unto me,” says one of the old prophets, “those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.” “I will take you,” says another, “one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion, and I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.” Now, the servants of God in these last days have been sent out as they were in former days to gather the people, and the Lord has given us this law—the law of polygamy—among other things, and I know it before God and can bear testimony of it, if nobody else knows it. I know that it came from God, and that God is its author. But there are hundreds and thousands of others who have a knowledge of the same thing; but I speak of it in this wise to testify before God, angels and men, before this nation and all other nations that it came from God. That is the reason that I speak of it, that I may bear my testimony to you and to the nations of the earth. Now, then, about the result of it; that is with God and with the people. It is for us to do the will of God; it is for the Lord to bring about the results in his own way. But one thing I can assure all men, in the name of Israel's God, that neither this nation, nor any other nation, can do anything against the truth, but for the truth. Do their very best, help themselves as they may, they cannot help themselves in regard to these matters, for the Lord will say unto them, as he did unto the waves of the mighty ocean, “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.” Now, that is how the thing is. The prophet in another place says, “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.” He will manage the other. He will put a hook in the jaws of men and of nations, and lead them just as he pleases. They are all in his hands, as we are in his hands.
Need we be surprised that people should feel inimical to the Gospel of Jesus Christ? No. Need we be surprised that men, as the scriptures say, “should wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived?” No. We have preached it—I have preached it upwards of forty years in this nation and in other nations. Need we be surprised that they should trample under foot the Constitution of the United States? No; Joseph Smith told us that they would do it. Many around me here knew long ago that they would do this thing and further knew that the last people that should be found to rally around that sacred instrument and save it from the grasp of unrighteous men would be the Elders of Israel! When, therefore, we see these things progressing need we be astonished? I do not think we need be. Some of our people you know, who are a little shaky and get how? Why a little astride of the fence, and say “good Lord and good devil,” not knowing into whose hands they will fall; when they see some of these things transpiring they are filled with amazement; but men who understand themselves, and who are in possession of the gift of the Holy Ghost and the Spirit of the living God, are looking for such things and they are not at all surprised. Were we surprised when the last terrible war took place here in the United States? No; good Latter-day Saints were not, for they had been told about it. Joseph Smith had told them where it would start, that it should be a terrible time of bloodshed and that it should start in South Carolina. But I tell you today the end is not yet. You will see worse things than that, for God will lay his hand upon this nation, and they will feel it more terribly than ever they have done before; there will be more bloodshed, more ruin, more devastation than ever they have seen before. Write it down! You will see it come to pass; it is only just starting in. And would you feel to rejoice? No; I would feel sorry. I knew very well myself when this last war was commencing, and could have wept and did weep, over this nation; but there is yet to come a sound of war, trouble and distress, in which brother will be arrayed against brother, father against son, son against father, a scene of desolation and destruction that will permeate our land until it will be a vexation to hear the report thereof. Would you help to bring it about? No, I would not; I would stop it if I could. I would pour in the oil and the wine and balm and try to lead people in the right path that will be governed by it, but they won't. Our Elders would do the same, and we are sending them forth doing all that we can, selecting the very best men we can put our hands upon—men of faith, men of honor, men of integrity—to go forth to preach the Gospel to this nation and to other nations. And how do they receive them? Not long ago they killed one and mobbed others. Well, we cannot help that. They are in the dark; they do not realize the position they occupy; they know not what spirit they are of. But it is our duty to have our bowels full of compassion extended to them, to send forth the message of life. But when our Elders go among these people they have to take their lives in their hands and trust in the living God. Nevertheless, we need not be afraid, we need not be troubled about any of these matters. “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Yea, I say unto you fear Him; and we feel today, while we would submit to every ordinance of man that is just, equitable and right, observe every law and interfere with no man's rights, we are not ignorant of the fact that it is unjust for legislatures and courts to make and enforce laws to entrap and destroy us; that a magnanimous and just government would protect all its citizens; but we feel, at the same time, that the Lord is our God, the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King, and he shall rule over us; and all that feel like saying that, say Amen. (The vast congregation responded “Amen.“)
It is an historic fact, written in letters as of living fire, that neither nations, peoples, emperors, kings, or presidents, nor the combined powers of the earth, are able to regulate the conscience or change the faith of man. Noah maintained his faith alone, as against that of a world. Abraham could not be swerved by the most unnatural and forbidding circumstances. Moses, at the behest of God, alone withstood the power of Egypt's king and nation. Daniel unflinchingly bowed his knee to Israel's God, in the face of a prohibitory regal decree, passed by the intrigues of the combined powers of the kingdom of Babylon, who were his enemies. Job, when tried, maintained his integrity, even as against God, and said, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him;” and he further said, “I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he will stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” The three Hebrew children could not be made to bow to the image set up by the King of Babylon; but rather than deny their faith chose the penalty of the fiery furnace, in which they walked accompanied by the Son of God. Jesus came to do the will of his Father, and though in doing it he sweat great drops of blood, and begged of his Father to let the cup pass if possible, yet “not my will,” he said, “but thine be done;” and when groaning in mortal agony he cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” And though he could have commanded twelve legions of angels, who would have obeyed him, yet in obedience to the mandate of his Father, he quietly said “It is finished,” and gave up the ghost.
And this nation may yet learn that under no fictitious pleas, as used by the Babylonish nation against Daniel and others, can they pervert or overthrow the faith and religion of the Latter-day Saints; and that no legislative enactment, nor judicial rulings, can pluck from the mind of man his undying faith, or legislate away the scrupulous exactions of an inexorable conscience. The rack, the gibbet, the faggot, and death in all its horrid forms has never accomplished this, nor never will. And in free America, the land of boasted toleration, it will be as impotent under the guise of liberty as it has been in other ages under the name of despotism. And Congress to covet their shameless infraction of the Constitution of the United States, which guarantees religious liberty to all—in order to avoid the odium of religious persecution which naturally attaches itself to them, may pervert an institution of God by misnaming polygamy and calling it bigamy and not religion, and though the Supreme Court of the United States may confirm their acts, yet there are more than one hundred thousand persons who know better than they do, who will declare that polygamy is a part of their religion and a command and revelation from God.
These are our feelings and we will try to acknowledge the Lord in all things. And then, on the other hand, we do not wish to treat anybody disrespectfully. Have we any quarrel with this nation? No; they are seeking to quarrel with us; don't let us give them the opportunity. They are like the boy strutting along the street with a chip on his shoulder, asking us to knock it off. But we won't knock it off; but let them strut. It is true they try all they can to annoy and provoke us—that is, a few mean men do, although that is not generally the feeling of the nation, but is confined in great measure to religious fanatics and corrupt politicians, some of them holding positions under government, are trying to stir up strife. What for; Well, they want to get a certain “ticket” elected. A great amount of this “fuss and feathers” that we have today is simply a political ruse in the interest of party politics. What for? Why, the brethren have told you. Mormonism is very unpopular, and if they can only do something that will be in opposition to Mormonism it will satisfy the howling priests throughout the land, and a great many of their flocks. As was remarked by one of the brethren, when Jesus was crucified, Pilate and Herod could be made friends. When Mormonism is to be opposed, all men, or at least a great many men, can unite in opposing it. And they want to go before the people and tell them that they have rooted out slavery, and now they are after Mormonism, and won't you religious fanatics join in? No, excuse me, I mean, you pure and holy religious people, who are so humble and possess so much of the spirit that dwelt in the lowly Jesus, won't you help us to do this thing—won't you vote for us because we are doing this thing? Why, bless your souls, they would not hesitate to sweep us off the face of the earth to get elected. That is their feeling. They care nothing about human rights, liberty, or life, if they can bring about the results desired. They would despoil, destroy and overthrow this people to accomplish their own end. Well, the other party, it is true, would not be very well suited about it, but they would not care to see it politically. However, it is for us to do the best we can. We have got to put our trust in the living God. We might ask—Will they derive any benefit from any course taken against the Latter-day Saints? No! a thousand times no!! I tell you that the hand of God will be upon them for it, and every people, be it this nation, or any other nation, that shall lift up their hands against Zion shall be wasted away; and those that want to try it let them try it, and it is them and their God for it. But it is for us to fear God, to keep his commandments; we can afford to do right whether other people can or not. Respect all men in their rights, in their position, and in their privileges, politically and socially, and protect them in the same; but be not partakers of their evil deeds, of their crimes, nor their iniquities, that you have heard spoken about here today. We do not want them to force upon us their drinking saloons, their drunkenness, their gambling, their debauchery and lasciviousness. We do not want these adjuncts of civilization. We do not want them to force upon us that institution of monogamy called the social evil. We will be after them; we will form ourselves into police and hunt them out and drag them from their dens of infamy and expose them to the world. We won't have their meanness, with their feticides and infanticides, forced upon us. And you, sisters, don't allow yourselves to become contaminated by rustling against their polluted skirts. Keep from them! Let them wallow in their infamy, and let us protect the right, and be for God and his Christ, for honor, for truth, for virtue, purity and chastity, and for the building up of the kingdom of God. Amen.
The choir sang an anthem, Hearken unto me.
Conference was adjourned till to morrow, (Tuesday) at 10 o’clock a.m.
Benediction by Elder George Q. Cannon
SECOND DAY.
Tuesday, Oct. 7, 1879. 10 a. m.
The choir sang hymn on page 147: O God our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come.
Prayer by President Joseph Young.
The choir sang hymn on page 377: Sweet is the peace the gospel brings, To seeking minds and true.
Tuesday, Oct. 7, 1879. 10 a. m.
The choir sang hymn on page 147: O God our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come.
Prayer by President Joseph Young.
The choir sang hymn on page 377: Sweet is the peace the gospel brings, To seeking minds and true.
President Joseph Young
addressed the Conference. He was very much interested in the remarks that were made in the Tabernacle yesterday. He felt disposed to look on the most favorable side of the weaknesses of his fellowmen, for therein he could see his own. He was a firm believer in a Supreme Being, who in the Scriptures is called God; he also believed in his son Jesus Christ. We are, as mortals, poor indeed, only as we are filled with the power and Spirit of God. The Latter-day Saints, he hoped, had learned lessons of humility before God and lost to a degree those of self-esteem and importance, especially when the eyes of their understanding are opened to see the glory and majesty of God and his son Jesus Christ. He was no politician, no legislator, but he professed to have some knowledge of human nature.
He then delineated some of the leading characteristics of man’s condition, and the numerous interpretations that are put upon men’s actions by their fellow beings. Spoke of the danger of riches and its hardening tendency on the human heart; recommended the houses of the poor to be visited and their needy wants supplied. Referred to the hurry and bustle of the speculative times in which we live, which are so absorbing that many can scarcely find time to attend to their prayers and other religious duties. Men who have never had the Holy Ghost cannot sin against God to any great extent, and their chastisement and sufferings will be comparatively light. Speaking of persecution he said it was no wonder that the Latter-day Saints suffered it, for that had been the patrimony of the Saints in all the ages of the world. He prayed that God would bless them and keep them in the right path.
addressed the Conference. He was very much interested in the remarks that were made in the Tabernacle yesterday. He felt disposed to look on the most favorable side of the weaknesses of his fellowmen, for therein he could see his own. He was a firm believer in a Supreme Being, who in the Scriptures is called God; he also believed in his son Jesus Christ. We are, as mortals, poor indeed, only as we are filled with the power and Spirit of God. The Latter-day Saints, he hoped, had learned lessons of humility before God and lost to a degree those of self-esteem and importance, especially when the eyes of their understanding are opened to see the glory and majesty of God and his son Jesus Christ. He was no politician, no legislator, but he professed to have some knowledge of human nature.
He then delineated some of the leading characteristics of man’s condition, and the numerous interpretations that are put upon men’s actions by their fellow beings. Spoke of the danger of riches and its hardening tendency on the human heart; recommended the houses of the poor to be visited and their needy wants supplied. Referred to the hurry and bustle of the speculative times in which we live, which are so absorbing that many can scarcely find time to attend to their prayers and other religious duties. Men who have never had the Holy Ghost cannot sin against God to any great extent, and their chastisement and sufferings will be comparatively light. Speaking of persecution he said it was no wonder that the Latter-day Saints suffered it, for that had been the patrimony of the Saints in all the ages of the world. He prayed that God would bless them and keep them in the right path.
Elder George Q. Cannon presented the following names of missionaries.
Those who have already gone to Europe and the United States are indicated by *.
GREAT BRITAIN.
*Chas. R. Savage, Salt Lake City
*George M. Ottinger, “
Wallace Willey, Bountiful
Thomas Duce, Hyde Park
Hyrum Evans, Salt Lake City
Enoch Lewis, Bountiful
*Thomas Davis, Wales, Sanpete
James Birmingham, Bountiful
Robert F. Gould, Washington
Joseph C. Bentley, St. George
Samuel L. Adams, “
Zera P. Terry, Hebron
Abraham H. Cannon, Farmers’ Wd.
Howard Coray, Mona
William Coray, “
UNITED STATES.
*Solomon Clinton Stevens, Ogden
*Wm. W. Fife, Ogden
*George H. Carver, Plain City
*Hyrum Belnap, Hooper
*Henry Bartholomew, Slaterville
*Noah L. Shirtliff, Harrisville
*Teancum W. Heward, Draper
*Gordon S. Bills, South Jordan
*Samuel Butterfield, Fort Herriman
*Francis McDonald, Big Cottonwood
*Levi P. Helm, Mill Creek
*Moroni Pickett, Tooele
*James H. Moyle, Salt Lake City
*John Wm. Gibson, North Ogden
*David H. Peery, Ogden
*Newell W. Taylor, Harrisville
*Squire Gaeen Crowley, Lynn
Richard Hill, Ogden
*George H. Butler, Marriottsville
Lorenzo Hunsaker, Honeyville
*Benjamin Harker, Taylorsville
Franklin Spencer, Richfield
John R. Murdock, Beaver
Richard A. Ballantyne, Ogden
John H. Williams, Coalville
Crandel Dunn, Beaver Dam
Aaron Thatcher, Logan
Israel D. Olphin, Panwitch
George Nebeker, Salt Lake City
Gronway Parry, “
John Ellison, Kaysville
John C. Witbeck, Levan
SCANDINAVIA.
*Niels B. Adler, Spring City
*Niels Thompson, Ephraim
*Mons Nielsen, Ephraim
*Christian Jensen, Moroni
*Christian Olsen, Fairview
*Niels C. Larsen, Manti
*Errick O. Byland, Santaquin
*Lawrence C. Mariger, Kanab
*Carl John Oberg, Provo
*Christian L. Hansen, Gunnison
*C. Anthon Christensen, Fountain Green
*Ludwig Suhrke, Soda Springs
O. N. Stohl, Brigham City
Jacob Hansen, Bear River City
Harmon F. F. Thorup, City, First Ward
John T. Thorup, City, First Ward
Peter Nielsen, Washington
Peter Nielsen, Smithfield
Fred Lundberg, Logan
Hans Funk, Lewiston
Israel Sorensen, Mendon
Anton L. Skankie, Logan
Peter A. Nielsen, Draper
President Taylor announced that this was only part of the missionary list, other names would be called before the closed of the Conference.
Those who have already gone to Europe and the United States are indicated by *.
GREAT BRITAIN.
*Chas. R. Savage, Salt Lake City
*George M. Ottinger, “
Wallace Willey, Bountiful
Thomas Duce, Hyde Park
Hyrum Evans, Salt Lake City
Enoch Lewis, Bountiful
*Thomas Davis, Wales, Sanpete
James Birmingham, Bountiful
Robert F. Gould, Washington
Joseph C. Bentley, St. George
Samuel L. Adams, “
Zera P. Terry, Hebron
Abraham H. Cannon, Farmers’ Wd.
Howard Coray, Mona
William Coray, “
UNITED STATES.
*Solomon Clinton Stevens, Ogden
*Wm. W. Fife, Ogden
*George H. Carver, Plain City
*Hyrum Belnap, Hooper
*Henry Bartholomew, Slaterville
*Noah L. Shirtliff, Harrisville
*Teancum W. Heward, Draper
*Gordon S. Bills, South Jordan
*Samuel Butterfield, Fort Herriman
*Francis McDonald, Big Cottonwood
*Levi P. Helm, Mill Creek
*Moroni Pickett, Tooele
*James H. Moyle, Salt Lake City
*John Wm. Gibson, North Ogden
*David H. Peery, Ogden
*Newell W. Taylor, Harrisville
*Squire Gaeen Crowley, Lynn
Richard Hill, Ogden
*George H. Butler, Marriottsville
Lorenzo Hunsaker, Honeyville
*Benjamin Harker, Taylorsville
Franklin Spencer, Richfield
John R. Murdock, Beaver
Richard A. Ballantyne, Ogden
John H. Williams, Coalville
Crandel Dunn, Beaver Dam
Aaron Thatcher, Logan
Israel D. Olphin, Panwitch
George Nebeker, Salt Lake City
Gronway Parry, “
John Ellison, Kaysville
John C. Witbeck, Levan
SCANDINAVIA.
*Niels B. Adler, Spring City
*Niels Thompson, Ephraim
*Mons Nielsen, Ephraim
*Christian Jensen, Moroni
*Christian Olsen, Fairview
*Niels C. Larsen, Manti
*Errick O. Byland, Santaquin
*Lawrence C. Mariger, Kanab
*Carl John Oberg, Provo
*Christian L. Hansen, Gunnison
*C. Anthon Christensen, Fountain Green
*Ludwig Suhrke, Soda Springs
O. N. Stohl, Brigham City
Jacob Hansen, Bear River City
Harmon F. F. Thorup, City, First Ward
John T. Thorup, City, First Ward
Peter Nielsen, Washington
Peter Nielsen, Smithfield
Fred Lundberg, Logan
Hans Funk, Lewiston
Israel Sorensen, Mendon
Anton L. Skankie, Logan
Peter A. Nielsen, Draper
President Taylor announced that this was only part of the missionary list, other names would be called before the closed of the Conference.
Elder Joseph F. Smith
said he had enjoyed the spirit and instructions of this Conference. The prospects before the Latter-day Saints are very encouraging. The Kingdom of God is onward and upward, and the Latter-day Saints are in a better position in regard to numbers, wealth, education, public buildings, influence and faith than ever before. We are receiving considerable notoriety from officials abroad and officials at home. No amount of persecution will be permitted to come upon us, only so far as will be good and beneficial to us as a people, and be subservient to the great purposes of the Almighty in the last days. This state of things proved to him that God was with this people and we have nothing to fear. If persecution comes, let it be for the gospel’s sake, and not for any evils of our own, then we can truthfully look up to and expect that God will stand by and sustain us. Unless we had become the covenant people of God we could not be chastised and persecuted any more than other people. If God should permit our enemies to deprive us of our privileges and oppress us socially and politically, it will be to humble us and bring us nearer to him. He did not believe that the Saints would be under the lash of chastisements any great length of time, but after they have been brought to a more acceptable condition before God, he expected they would enjoy more freedom and power than they ever had before. The kingdom of God is onward and upward, and we as a people have great reason to rejoice and be exceedingly glad. We are entirely in the hands of God. We expect to worship God and live our religion open and above board, and manifest to God and angels, that we are willing and determined to aid in bringing about the great purposes of the Almighty. He esteemed the laws of God as infinitely higher and more binding on the conscience than the laws of men. He then adverted to the grand and glorious principles of civil and religious liberty contained in the constitution of our country, and showed that none can infringe upon those principles without exposing themselves to the just indignation of the Almighty. He dwelt upon the folly of trying to harmonize Christ and Belial, the Saints and the wicked, which are natural opposites and cannot be made one. Whatever we undertake to do, let it be in righteousness before God, and He will sustain us over every foe.
The choir sang an anthem: Thine O, Lord.
Conference was adjourned till 2 o’clock p.m.
Benediction by Elder Lorenzo Snow.
said he had enjoyed the spirit and instructions of this Conference. The prospects before the Latter-day Saints are very encouraging. The Kingdom of God is onward and upward, and the Latter-day Saints are in a better position in regard to numbers, wealth, education, public buildings, influence and faith than ever before. We are receiving considerable notoriety from officials abroad and officials at home. No amount of persecution will be permitted to come upon us, only so far as will be good and beneficial to us as a people, and be subservient to the great purposes of the Almighty in the last days. This state of things proved to him that God was with this people and we have nothing to fear. If persecution comes, let it be for the gospel’s sake, and not for any evils of our own, then we can truthfully look up to and expect that God will stand by and sustain us. Unless we had become the covenant people of God we could not be chastised and persecuted any more than other people. If God should permit our enemies to deprive us of our privileges and oppress us socially and politically, it will be to humble us and bring us nearer to him. He did not believe that the Saints would be under the lash of chastisements any great length of time, but after they have been brought to a more acceptable condition before God, he expected they would enjoy more freedom and power than they ever had before. The kingdom of God is onward and upward, and we as a people have great reason to rejoice and be exceedingly glad. We are entirely in the hands of God. We expect to worship God and live our religion open and above board, and manifest to God and angels, that we are willing and determined to aid in bringing about the great purposes of the Almighty. He esteemed the laws of God as infinitely higher and more binding on the conscience than the laws of men. He then adverted to the grand and glorious principles of civil and religious liberty contained in the constitution of our country, and showed that none can infringe upon those principles without exposing themselves to the just indignation of the Almighty. He dwelt upon the folly of trying to harmonize Christ and Belial, the Saints and the wicked, which are natural opposites and cannot be made one. Whatever we undertake to do, let it be in righteousness before God, and He will sustain us over every foe.
The choir sang an anthem: Thine O, Lord.
Conference was adjourned till 2 o’clock p.m.
Benediction by Elder Lorenzo Snow.
SECOND DAY.
2 p.m.
The choir sang hymn on page 302: When earth in bondage long had lain, And darkness o’er the nations reigned.
Prayer by Elder George Q. Cannon.
The choir sang hymn on page 213; What wondrous things we now behold, By prophets seen in days of old.
2 p.m.
The choir sang hymn on page 302: When earth in bondage long had lain, And darkness o’er the nations reigned.
Prayer by Elder George Q. Cannon.
The choir sang hymn on page 213; What wondrous things we now behold, By prophets seen in days of old.
Elder George Q. Cannon
then presented an exhibit of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund.
then presented an exhibit of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund.
President John Taylor
said there was no financial statement of the Church to read at this Conference as the returns from the various Stakes are only obtainable once a year. He said that whatever course the nations of the earth may deem proper to take towards us as a people, we as Latter-day Saints have nothing to do with it; we are here to build up the Kingdom of God. A great many are thus engaged to the best of their ability, and we leave those who oppose it in the hands of the Lord. Antagonism to the work of God is no new thing, it has existed from the beginning. We are gathered here, that God may plant within us the principle of eternal truth; that we may operate with God the Father, his Son, Jesus Christ, and all the holy prophets since the world began; for this purpose we are gathered together, and for this purpose we build temples to the name of the Lord. Unless God had revealed these things to us, we should be as ignorant of them as the people of the whole world. The hearts of the fathers are being turned to the children, and the children to the fathers, and God being our helper, and the Devil not hindering us, we will go on with our work to its consummation. And that we may labor in the common interests of humanity we say to our outside friends, hinder us not. We owe a duty to the world, and are commanded to put our light on a candlestick, and not attempt to hide it, by putting it under a bushel. We therefore ask as a privilege that we may be permitted to live our religion according to the dictates of our conscience. And while our enemies are seeking to do us all the injury they can, we will do them all the good we can.
Those who have been called upon this Conference to go on missions, he hoped were men full of the Holy Ghost, for these were the only ones he was willing should go forth on such an important and responsible labor. While it is our duty to send the gospel to the nations of the earth, it is also our duty to preserve the order of the priesthood at home, and for this purpose he called upon the Presidents of Stakes, Bishops and others to root out iniquity. He then denounced the prevalence of drunkenness in our midst, the running of saloons by men holding the priesthood, the fostering and encouraging of lewd houses, and other evils indulged in by those who have a name in our midst as members of the Church, and called upon the Bishops and others holding the priesthood, to take the steps pointed out in the laws of the Church unto all such, or their blood will be required at their hands, no matter what the name or position of the individual. I say unto you purge the Church of all such evil doers. We must cleanse the inside of the platter before we talk about touching the outside. He then made a few remarks about the suit recently inaugurated by some of the heirs of President Young, and after stating the mode of settlement brought about by the payment of seventy five thousand dollars, which appeared to him the best way of settling such an unpleasant affair, he called on the Conference for an expression of their feelings on the subject, and the settlement was endorsed by a unanimous vote. Other remarks he wished to make, but reserved them for a meeting of the priesthood, and all others who desired to attend, this evening at 7 o’clock.
said there was no financial statement of the Church to read at this Conference as the returns from the various Stakes are only obtainable once a year. He said that whatever course the nations of the earth may deem proper to take towards us as a people, we as Latter-day Saints have nothing to do with it; we are here to build up the Kingdom of God. A great many are thus engaged to the best of their ability, and we leave those who oppose it in the hands of the Lord. Antagonism to the work of God is no new thing, it has existed from the beginning. We are gathered here, that God may plant within us the principle of eternal truth; that we may operate with God the Father, his Son, Jesus Christ, and all the holy prophets since the world began; for this purpose we are gathered together, and for this purpose we build temples to the name of the Lord. Unless God had revealed these things to us, we should be as ignorant of them as the people of the whole world. The hearts of the fathers are being turned to the children, and the children to the fathers, and God being our helper, and the Devil not hindering us, we will go on with our work to its consummation. And that we may labor in the common interests of humanity we say to our outside friends, hinder us not. We owe a duty to the world, and are commanded to put our light on a candlestick, and not attempt to hide it, by putting it under a bushel. We therefore ask as a privilege that we may be permitted to live our religion according to the dictates of our conscience. And while our enemies are seeking to do us all the injury they can, we will do them all the good we can.
Those who have been called upon this Conference to go on missions, he hoped were men full of the Holy Ghost, for these were the only ones he was willing should go forth on such an important and responsible labor. While it is our duty to send the gospel to the nations of the earth, it is also our duty to preserve the order of the priesthood at home, and for this purpose he called upon the Presidents of Stakes, Bishops and others to root out iniquity. He then denounced the prevalence of drunkenness in our midst, the running of saloons by men holding the priesthood, the fostering and encouraging of lewd houses, and other evils indulged in by those who have a name in our midst as members of the Church, and called upon the Bishops and others holding the priesthood, to take the steps pointed out in the laws of the Church unto all such, or their blood will be required at their hands, no matter what the name or position of the individual. I say unto you purge the Church of all such evil doers. We must cleanse the inside of the platter before we talk about touching the outside. He then made a few remarks about the suit recently inaugurated by some of the heirs of President Young, and after stating the mode of settlement brought about by the payment of seventy five thousand dollars, which appeared to him the best way of settling such an unpleasant affair, he called on the Conference for an expression of their feelings on the subject, and the settlement was endorsed by a unanimous vote. Other remarks he wished to make, but reserved them for a meeting of the priesthood, and all others who desired to attend, this evening at 7 o’clock.
Opposition to the Work of God, Etc.
Discourse by President John Taylor, delivered at the General Conference, Salt Lake City, Tuesday Afternoon, Oct. 7th, 1879.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
I will state to the Conference that we have no financial account to present, because we do not get our returns from the various Stakes until the close of each year; in consequence of this we find it impracticable to present a satisfactory account to the General Conference oftener than once a year.
The Lord has given us a certain work to accomplish; and the feelings or ideas of men in the world in relation to this work have but little to do with us. We are gathered here for the express purpose of building up the Church and Kingdom of God upon the earth. We are endeavoring to do this—that is, a great many of the people are, to the very best of their ability; and we consider ourselves responsible to God for the action we take and for the course we pursue in relation to the fulfillment of His purposes. We think that in building Temples, sending the Gospel to the nations of the earth and prosecuting our other labors that we are carrying out the word and will, and the commands of God. Yet it not infrequently happens, that when we are doing our very best to promote correct principles among ourselves, as well as to spread them abroad, even to all nations, that we meet with determined and unrelenting opposition. This we cannot help. We do not seek it, but we do not fear it.
There has existed a principle of antagonism ever since the dawn of creation, namely, the powers of God have been opposed by the powers of the Evil One. Satan and wicked men have operated to subvert the plans and designs of Jehovah. And if we have a little of such opposition to contend with in our day, there is nothing new in it. The martyr Stephen when arraigned before “the Council” to answer to a charge of blasphemy, said, “Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers.” We have always expected that there would be a spirit of antagonism to the Church and Kingdom of God, and our Elders have been telling us, more or less, during the last fifty years, that this feeling still existed and, indeed, every now and then, we have occasion to believe them; or, to use an old saying, “The devil is not dead yet;” and he uses his influence now, as in former days, to oppose the principles that God has revealed.
We are gathered here from many nations in order that God may plant among us the principles and laws of eternal lives; that we may operate in the Priesthood with the holy men who held it in former ages, and with God the Father, and with Jesus the Mediator, and with the holy angels in the interests of mankind, not only in things pertaining to ourselves individually, but in those that concern the whole world; not only to the people that now live, but also to those who have lived; for the plans of God reach back into eternity and forward into eternity, and we are being taught and instructed through the holy Melchizedek Priesthood, which holds now, as in past ages, the keys of the mysteries of the revelations of God. It is our privilege to operate through this order, with men who have held the same keys and possessed the same powers and have had the same communication with God, and who have looked forward to the time, with joyful anticipation, that we now live in, namely, to the dispensation of the fulness of times. For this purpose we are gathered together, for this purpose we are building Temples according to the order and revelations of God—for until He revealed these things to us we knew nothing about them. And the world of mankind today know nothing about Temples and their uses. If we were to build Temples for them according to the order of God, they would not know how to administer in them; neither could we know had the Lord not revealed to us how to do it, which he did through the Prophet Joseph. We are acting upon this revealed knowledge today, seeking to carry out the will, the designs and the purposes of God, in the interest of common humanity, not for a few people only, not for the people of the United States only, nor for those of two or three nations, but for the people of the whole world. And the hearts of the people are being drawn after these principles; or, in other words, the hearts of the children are being turned towards the fathers, as well as the hearts of the fathers towards the children.
The spirit that is being manifested in the various Stakes of Zion is very creditable in this respect to the Latter-day Saints. And we purpose, God being our helper, and the devil not hindering us, to go on with our work, to build our Temples and to administer in them and to act as the friends of God upon the earth. And if we are not His friends, He has none, for there is no people anywhere, except the Latter-day Saints, who will listen to His laws—and as they say sometimes, “it's a tight squeeze” for us to do it. The question is, “Shall we falter in our calculations?” I think not; but I think we will say, as the ancient servant of God said to a man who was seeking to hinder the progress of the building of a Temple to the Lord of Hosts: “I am doing a great work; hinder me not.” We are doing a great work, and we would say to our outside friends and to people generally who are not conversant with our affairs, will you be so kind as to let us alone and hinder us not; so that we may go on with our labor of love in the common interests of humanity and in our efforts to promote the welfare of the world at large.
This is one thing we have to do, and we will try to do it, the Lord being our helper.
Then another thing we are called upon to do is to preach the Gospel to every creature throughout the world. “Why, the people will oppose you?” That they always did. But Jesus said, and I will say by way of repeating His words—for they are as true today as they were in His day—“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” Therefore we need not be troubled about it. When we first started out in this work we never looked for anything else, and we have not looked in vain either; we have found an abundance of it, and we have commenced to regard it as a natural thing. But we must not forget that we owe a duty to the world. The Lord has given to us the light of eternity; and we are commanded not to conceal our light under a bushel, but on the contrary we should let it shine forth as a city set upon a hill that cannot be hid. We need not try to get into an out-of-the-way corner from the gaze of the public eye, for we cannot. We thought we had wandered a long way from civilization when we came here; but, according to the remarks of the speakers this morning, a certain degree of it has followed us, and we are not quite out of it yet. But there are some things we can do. We will let them pursue their course, and we will ask them, if they will be so good and so kind as to let us worship God according to the dictates of our consciences. This is not a very great boon to ask of anybody. Still we do ask that we may be permitted, in this land of liberty, in this land which we call the home of the brave and the land of the free; the asylum of the oppressed of all nations, we ask that we may have the simple privilege of worshiping God according to the dictates of our own consciences. Then, while they are trying to injure us, we will try to do them good. We will teach them good principles at home, and we will send the Gospel abroad. And the kind of men we want as bearers of this Gospel message are men who have faith in God; men who have faith in their religion; men who honor their Priesthood; men in whom the people who know them have faith and in whom God has confidence, and not some poor unfortunate beings who are wanted to leave a place because they cannot live in it; but we want men full of the Holy Ghost and the power of God that they may go forth weeping bearing precious seed and sowing the seeds of eternal life, and then returning with gladness, bringing their sheaves with them. These are the kind of men we want. We do not want the names of men of the former class presented to us to go on missions; if they are, and we find it out, we shall not send them; for such men cannot go with our fellowship and good feeling. Men who bear the words of life among the nations, ought to be men of honor, integrity, virtue and purity; and this being the command of God to us, we shall try and carry it out.
Some imagine that we have almost got through with our work; when the truth of the matter is, we have hardly commenced yet. Here is Brother Joseph Young, who represents the Seventies—Brother Joseph, how many Seventies are there enrolled? [Brother Young replied that there were 5,320]. I am told that there are 5,320 Seventies; we expect to call upon a great many of these men to go abroad and proclaim the fulness of the Gospel. We received a small order lately—you know, we talk business sometimes—for forty missionaries to go and labor in one place; they did not send the money to pay their fares; but then, we have the missionaries, and we will trust in God for our pay and we shall get it if we are found doing His will and carrying out His purposes.
Again, another duty we have to do is to preserve the order of God among ourselves. And here is a great responsibility resting upon the Presidents of Stakes and their Counselors, and upon the Bishops and their Counselors, and upon all men holding authority in the Church and Kingdom of God, and upon the Twelve specially, to see that the order of God is carried out, and that iniquity does not exist among the Saints of the Most High God.
We talk sometimes about the outside world, and we sometimes indulge in casting reflections upon them—and there is plenty of room for it, no doubt; but then, what of ourselves? What do we do? Do not our own members keep some of the very saloons we talk about? and do not we engage in this business because we are afraid somebody else will? Why, that is the argument of the thief. He says, “If I do not steal, somebody else will.” But, besides, say these brethren, “We want to get a living.” But before I would live in that way, I would die and make an end of it; I would not be mixed up with such concerns nor have any hand in them, but pursue another and more honorable course to get a living than in seeking to put the cup to the mouth of the drunkard and in leading our youth and others who may be inclined that way, in the path that leads to death. What else do we do? Why some of us Elders, and some of us High Priests and Seventies, frequent these places and get drunk and disgrace ourselves and our families, and the people with whom we are associated. And what else do we do? We are commanded to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; and yet we find that our trains leave this city every Sabbath, until the weather gets too cold to bathe, carrying many of our people, who indulge in all kinds of amusements and thus violate the Sabbath, which we are commanded to keep holy, which many respectable Gentiles would never think of doing. And yet you are Latter-day Saints, are you? You are a good people, and you will talk about the gift of the Holy Ghost and the Spirit of God being in you, while you are violating some of the plainest everyday principles of the Gospel of Christ.
Discourse by President John Taylor, delivered at the General Conference, Salt Lake City, Tuesday Afternoon, Oct. 7th, 1879.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
I will state to the Conference that we have no financial account to present, because we do not get our returns from the various Stakes until the close of each year; in consequence of this we find it impracticable to present a satisfactory account to the General Conference oftener than once a year.
The Lord has given us a certain work to accomplish; and the feelings or ideas of men in the world in relation to this work have but little to do with us. We are gathered here for the express purpose of building up the Church and Kingdom of God upon the earth. We are endeavoring to do this—that is, a great many of the people are, to the very best of their ability; and we consider ourselves responsible to God for the action we take and for the course we pursue in relation to the fulfillment of His purposes. We think that in building Temples, sending the Gospel to the nations of the earth and prosecuting our other labors that we are carrying out the word and will, and the commands of God. Yet it not infrequently happens, that when we are doing our very best to promote correct principles among ourselves, as well as to spread them abroad, even to all nations, that we meet with determined and unrelenting opposition. This we cannot help. We do not seek it, but we do not fear it.
There has existed a principle of antagonism ever since the dawn of creation, namely, the powers of God have been opposed by the powers of the Evil One. Satan and wicked men have operated to subvert the plans and designs of Jehovah. And if we have a little of such opposition to contend with in our day, there is nothing new in it. The martyr Stephen when arraigned before “the Council” to answer to a charge of blasphemy, said, “Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers.” We have always expected that there would be a spirit of antagonism to the Church and Kingdom of God, and our Elders have been telling us, more or less, during the last fifty years, that this feeling still existed and, indeed, every now and then, we have occasion to believe them; or, to use an old saying, “The devil is not dead yet;” and he uses his influence now, as in former days, to oppose the principles that God has revealed.
We are gathered here from many nations in order that God may plant among us the principles and laws of eternal lives; that we may operate in the Priesthood with the holy men who held it in former ages, and with God the Father, and with Jesus the Mediator, and with the holy angels in the interests of mankind, not only in things pertaining to ourselves individually, but in those that concern the whole world; not only to the people that now live, but also to those who have lived; for the plans of God reach back into eternity and forward into eternity, and we are being taught and instructed through the holy Melchizedek Priesthood, which holds now, as in past ages, the keys of the mysteries of the revelations of God. It is our privilege to operate through this order, with men who have held the same keys and possessed the same powers and have had the same communication with God, and who have looked forward to the time, with joyful anticipation, that we now live in, namely, to the dispensation of the fulness of times. For this purpose we are gathered together, for this purpose we are building Temples according to the order and revelations of God—for until He revealed these things to us we knew nothing about them. And the world of mankind today know nothing about Temples and their uses. If we were to build Temples for them according to the order of God, they would not know how to administer in them; neither could we know had the Lord not revealed to us how to do it, which he did through the Prophet Joseph. We are acting upon this revealed knowledge today, seeking to carry out the will, the designs and the purposes of God, in the interest of common humanity, not for a few people only, not for the people of the United States only, nor for those of two or three nations, but for the people of the whole world. And the hearts of the people are being drawn after these principles; or, in other words, the hearts of the children are being turned towards the fathers, as well as the hearts of the fathers towards the children.
The spirit that is being manifested in the various Stakes of Zion is very creditable in this respect to the Latter-day Saints. And we purpose, God being our helper, and the devil not hindering us, to go on with our work, to build our Temples and to administer in them and to act as the friends of God upon the earth. And if we are not His friends, He has none, for there is no people anywhere, except the Latter-day Saints, who will listen to His laws—and as they say sometimes, “it's a tight squeeze” for us to do it. The question is, “Shall we falter in our calculations?” I think not; but I think we will say, as the ancient servant of God said to a man who was seeking to hinder the progress of the building of a Temple to the Lord of Hosts: “I am doing a great work; hinder me not.” We are doing a great work, and we would say to our outside friends and to people generally who are not conversant with our affairs, will you be so kind as to let us alone and hinder us not; so that we may go on with our labor of love in the common interests of humanity and in our efforts to promote the welfare of the world at large.
This is one thing we have to do, and we will try to do it, the Lord being our helper.
Then another thing we are called upon to do is to preach the Gospel to every creature throughout the world. “Why, the people will oppose you?” That they always did. But Jesus said, and I will say by way of repeating His words—for they are as true today as they were in His day—“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” Therefore we need not be troubled about it. When we first started out in this work we never looked for anything else, and we have not looked in vain either; we have found an abundance of it, and we have commenced to regard it as a natural thing. But we must not forget that we owe a duty to the world. The Lord has given to us the light of eternity; and we are commanded not to conceal our light under a bushel, but on the contrary we should let it shine forth as a city set upon a hill that cannot be hid. We need not try to get into an out-of-the-way corner from the gaze of the public eye, for we cannot. We thought we had wandered a long way from civilization when we came here; but, according to the remarks of the speakers this morning, a certain degree of it has followed us, and we are not quite out of it yet. But there are some things we can do. We will let them pursue their course, and we will ask them, if they will be so good and so kind as to let us worship God according to the dictates of our consciences. This is not a very great boon to ask of anybody. Still we do ask that we may be permitted, in this land of liberty, in this land which we call the home of the brave and the land of the free; the asylum of the oppressed of all nations, we ask that we may have the simple privilege of worshiping God according to the dictates of our own consciences. Then, while they are trying to injure us, we will try to do them good. We will teach them good principles at home, and we will send the Gospel abroad. And the kind of men we want as bearers of this Gospel message are men who have faith in God; men who have faith in their religion; men who honor their Priesthood; men in whom the people who know them have faith and in whom God has confidence, and not some poor unfortunate beings who are wanted to leave a place because they cannot live in it; but we want men full of the Holy Ghost and the power of God that they may go forth weeping bearing precious seed and sowing the seeds of eternal life, and then returning with gladness, bringing their sheaves with them. These are the kind of men we want. We do not want the names of men of the former class presented to us to go on missions; if they are, and we find it out, we shall not send them; for such men cannot go with our fellowship and good feeling. Men who bear the words of life among the nations, ought to be men of honor, integrity, virtue and purity; and this being the command of God to us, we shall try and carry it out.
Some imagine that we have almost got through with our work; when the truth of the matter is, we have hardly commenced yet. Here is Brother Joseph Young, who represents the Seventies—Brother Joseph, how many Seventies are there enrolled? [Brother Young replied that there were 5,320]. I am told that there are 5,320 Seventies; we expect to call upon a great many of these men to go abroad and proclaim the fulness of the Gospel. We received a small order lately—you know, we talk business sometimes—for forty missionaries to go and labor in one place; they did not send the money to pay their fares; but then, we have the missionaries, and we will trust in God for our pay and we shall get it if we are found doing His will and carrying out His purposes.
Again, another duty we have to do is to preserve the order of God among ourselves. And here is a great responsibility resting upon the Presidents of Stakes and their Counselors, and upon the Bishops and their Counselors, and upon all men holding authority in the Church and Kingdom of God, and upon the Twelve specially, to see that the order of God is carried out, and that iniquity does not exist among the Saints of the Most High God.
We talk sometimes about the outside world, and we sometimes indulge in casting reflections upon them—and there is plenty of room for it, no doubt; but then, what of ourselves? What do we do? Do not our own members keep some of the very saloons we talk about? and do not we engage in this business because we are afraid somebody else will? Why, that is the argument of the thief. He says, “If I do not steal, somebody else will.” But, besides, say these brethren, “We want to get a living.” But before I would live in that way, I would die and make an end of it; I would not be mixed up with such concerns nor have any hand in them, but pursue another and more honorable course to get a living than in seeking to put the cup to the mouth of the drunkard and in leading our youth and others who may be inclined that way, in the path that leads to death. What else do we do? Why some of us Elders, and some of us High Priests and Seventies, frequent these places and get drunk and disgrace ourselves and our families, and the people with whom we are associated. And what else do we do? We are commanded to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; and yet we find that our trains leave this city every Sabbath, until the weather gets too cold to bathe, carrying many of our people, who indulge in all kinds of amusements and thus violate the Sabbath, which we are commanded to keep holy, which many respectable Gentiles would never think of doing. And yet you are Latter-day Saints, are you? You are a good people, and you will talk about the gift of the Holy Ghost and the Spirit of God being in you, while you are violating some of the plainest everyday principles of the Gospel of Christ.
And what then? Why, we have been told about the Gentiles introducing into our midst what is termed the social evil; and we find some of our youth, and older ones too, contaminating themselves with it, thereby breaking their covenants and forsaking their God, and disgracing themselves before God, angels and all good men. Such men are a disgrace to any community, much less to a community professing, as we do, to be Saints. Are such persons Saints? No, they are not. Can we fellowship them? No, we cannot. God requires it of us before we talk of cleansing the outside of the platter, to see that the inside is clean, to place ourselves right upon the record. Do we do it? Well, sometimes—I was going to say, “hardly ever.” Sometimes we do it, but in a great many instances we do not do it. What is the matter? Good men have mean sons, and the sons must not be handled. Why so? God, you will remember, had a host of sons in heaven who did not do right, and they were cast out, even a third part of His entire family. That is the way I read it. Again, there are some sons who are good men, who have disreputable fathers, who have departed from correct principles, but out of respect to the fathers in the one instance and the sons in the other, we allow evil ways to go unchecked. Well, you Presidents and you Bishops and you Priests and Teachers may do that if you please, but their blood will be upon your heads, not upon mine. And we call upon you to honor your calling and Priesthood and purge from your midst corruption of every kind. And we call upon the Presidents of Stakes and their Counselors, upon the Bishops and their Counselors, and upon the Priests, Teachers and Deacons, to magnify their offices, and not to be partakers of other men's sins. For as sure as I live and as God lives, if you do, God will require it at your hands. And therefore, I call upon Presidents and men in authority, where men do not magnify their calling to remove them from their positions of responsibility and replace them by men who will; and let us have correct principles and the order of God carried out in Zion.
Apostles, Prophets, Pastors, Teachers and Evangelists were placed in the Church of old for what? “For the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” It is so today. My brethren who have spoken have told you plainly of many evils that exist in our midst; but we can scarcely perceive them, many of us. Sometimes it is very difficult to discern between a Saint and a sinner, between one who professes to fear God and one who does not. It is for us to straighten out these matters; and you men in authority will be held responsible, and the Twelve will be held responsible, and I hold you responsible, and God will hold you responsible for your acts. The great difficulty with us is that we are too fond of catering to the world, and too much of the world has crept into our hearts. The spirit of covetousness and greed, and—what shall I say?—dishonesty has spread itself like a plague throughout the length and breadth of the whole world in every direction, and we have drunk more or less into that spirit. Like a plague it has pervaded all grades of society; and instead of being governed by those high, noble, and honorable principles that dwell in the bosom of God, we are after the filthy lucre which is spoken of as being the root of all evil; and instead of setting our affections upon God, we set our affections upon the world, its follies and vanities. Come ye out from the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord; and honor your Priesthood and calling, and show and prove to the world, to angels and to God that you are on the side of truth and right, of honesty, purity and integrity, and that you are for God and His Kingdom, let other people do as they will.
We sometimes talk of the affairs that are taking place around us. There is now a little commotion that interested parties are getting up about the “Mormons” for the purpose of forwarding their political operations. Bless your soul, we knew about that long, long ago, and also knew what it would be for. It is about the same with these parties as it was with the editor I have read of; the printer asked for “copy,” it was handed him, but it was not enough, he wanted more. The editor told him that he had not time to prepare any more then, but to pitch into the “Mormons.” That was a kind of standing matter they kept on hand. The move that is being made now is simply a political scheme, out of which to make political capital. It was started by interested demagogues for that purpose, in order that they might have the honor of putting down “Mormonism,” and sailing into power on the current of incensed public opinion. Now they can have all the honor they can get on that score; and I guess it will be the same as Stephen A. Douglas and others have attained to by pursuing that course, and I think no more.
We are here to serve God and keep His commandments; and if we will purge ourselves from our iniquities, live our religion and keep the commandments of God, there is no power on this side of hell nor on the other, that can harm us, for God will be on our side to protect us in the position we occupy.
There is one thing I wish to speak to you about that you are well acquainted with. We had a little commotion gotten up about some of our money matters associated with the heirs of the late President Young, and it has been talked about generally. We thought we had made a settlement with them at one time, which we did, and the executors of the estate took their releases which exonerated them from all blame, and they avowed themselves satisfied with the settlements made. But then, some men's word and some men's signatures do not amount to much. What next? Why, some of our very pure and high-minded lawyers are not above entering into such things because of a little monetary inducements. It would not be proper to say they were anything but pure, high-minded and honorable men, for it is understood that all lawyers are, is it not? Well, we knew we had treated them very liberally before; and so did you. We knew we had given them all we ought to give them, and more too. But we felt to be generous to the heirs of President Young; and we did what we could to promote their welfare. Still these things came out. No matter. Bonds and writings and signatures and releases amount to nothing with some people. So they started in, and we have had a legal fight about it. Some of the Apostles have had to be confined in the penitentiary; and it was a pretty narrow squeeze with me. [Laughter.] But then I have been in such places before, and was shot at while there and hit, and therefore it would have been nothing new, and I was not much concerned about it. When they wanted to get hold of some of your means and property which I held in trust, and which they had no right to, I told them No, they could not have it. “Well,” said they, “you will have to go to jail.” “Well,” said I, “jail it is then. Some folks go off to rusticate at Soda Springs and other places; I think I will go and rusticate in the penitentiary.” But they would not have me. [Laughter.] They took Brother Cannon, Brother Brigham and Brother Carrington; I suppose they considered them worthier men, and that I had better stay out. There are all kinds of curious things started up; and among other things that have grown out of this contest is what is termed a cross suit; and because of this movement some people think we are going to law. I will tell you how much. We were merely attempting to put the complaining heirs in the same position as they had put us; thinking that by doing so they might be led to reflect that there were other people in the world besides themselves, and that other people might be placed in jeopardy besides some of our brethren. “But,” say you, “was it not contrary to a law of the Church to go to law with your brethren?” We did not exactly do it; we merely started in. I will tell you what we would have done if this settlement had not been made. We would have called upon all those who were good and honorable of President Young's family—and I am happy to say that with very few exceptions they are of that class and are desirous to carry out and fulfil their obligations, and stand by the covenants they have entered into—we were going to call upon them to turn over to our side, and then we were going to cut the others off the Church, and then go to law with them and sue for their property as they had for ours. That is all. I thought I would explain this because it is not generally understood by the people. It is really one of those things called a legal fiction, which had to arise to meet certain technicalities of the law, in order that the proper releases might be given, releases that would stand, and also a decree from the court to settle these difficulties.
This compromise was talked of, but it could not be reached very readily, for some of them wanted a little more money, and the lawyers wanted a little, and of course such honorable gentlemen should have it. Well, the compromise was at last effected. We thought it better to furnish them a little means than to have these unpleasant things going on month after month, and perhaps year after year; and we could see that we would have to be very smart indeed to prevent some of these men of honor from running away with the balance of it. That being done, we have done all we could to try to promote peace in our midst. We have taken the best of counsel, and have acted in this matter according to the very best of our judgment.
And now about the money involved. Is it a large amount? Yes, some seventy-five thousand dollars paid by the Trustee-in-Trust in behalf of the Church, beside a further amount paid by the administrators. That would be just a dollar apiece from 75,000 people. It is quite a little sum; but then, did you ever know of people giving a bone to a dog? And after you had done so, you did not think you had lost much, did you? We thought it better to take that course than to be mixed up any longer with such miserable doings; and we agreed to do it. And I would like to know whether you approve of this act or not. You who do, please signify it by holding up your right hands. [A forest of hands was raised; and a unanimous vote declared.]
Well, some have asked what we were going to do with these complaining heirs. I think we will have to deal with them according to the laws of the Church. Are you going to bring their case before the Conference? No, I think not; there are the proper officers in the Church to attend to such things, and we say to them, go, and do your duty. We are very sorry that they should have placed themselves in that position; and we are very sorry that a great many other people should, and we are very sorry that a great many of these evils referred to should exist in Israel. But they do; and what shall we do about it? Go to work and cleanse the inside of the platter, and then we can go before our God in good faith, and stand approved of him, and rejoice in the fulness of the blessings of the gospel of peace.
There are some other things I would like to touch upon, but as the time has already expired, and as there will be a Priesthood meeting tonight in this tabernacle, to which the young and the old of both sexes, are invited, I will defer speaking further until then.
Apostles, Prophets, Pastors, Teachers and Evangelists were placed in the Church of old for what? “For the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” It is so today. My brethren who have spoken have told you plainly of many evils that exist in our midst; but we can scarcely perceive them, many of us. Sometimes it is very difficult to discern between a Saint and a sinner, between one who professes to fear God and one who does not. It is for us to straighten out these matters; and you men in authority will be held responsible, and the Twelve will be held responsible, and I hold you responsible, and God will hold you responsible for your acts. The great difficulty with us is that we are too fond of catering to the world, and too much of the world has crept into our hearts. The spirit of covetousness and greed, and—what shall I say?—dishonesty has spread itself like a plague throughout the length and breadth of the whole world in every direction, and we have drunk more or less into that spirit. Like a plague it has pervaded all grades of society; and instead of being governed by those high, noble, and honorable principles that dwell in the bosom of God, we are after the filthy lucre which is spoken of as being the root of all evil; and instead of setting our affections upon God, we set our affections upon the world, its follies and vanities. Come ye out from the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord; and honor your Priesthood and calling, and show and prove to the world, to angels and to God that you are on the side of truth and right, of honesty, purity and integrity, and that you are for God and His Kingdom, let other people do as they will.
We sometimes talk of the affairs that are taking place around us. There is now a little commotion that interested parties are getting up about the “Mormons” for the purpose of forwarding their political operations. Bless your soul, we knew about that long, long ago, and also knew what it would be for. It is about the same with these parties as it was with the editor I have read of; the printer asked for “copy,” it was handed him, but it was not enough, he wanted more. The editor told him that he had not time to prepare any more then, but to pitch into the “Mormons.” That was a kind of standing matter they kept on hand. The move that is being made now is simply a political scheme, out of which to make political capital. It was started by interested demagogues for that purpose, in order that they might have the honor of putting down “Mormonism,” and sailing into power on the current of incensed public opinion. Now they can have all the honor they can get on that score; and I guess it will be the same as Stephen A. Douglas and others have attained to by pursuing that course, and I think no more.
We are here to serve God and keep His commandments; and if we will purge ourselves from our iniquities, live our religion and keep the commandments of God, there is no power on this side of hell nor on the other, that can harm us, for God will be on our side to protect us in the position we occupy.
There is one thing I wish to speak to you about that you are well acquainted with. We had a little commotion gotten up about some of our money matters associated with the heirs of the late President Young, and it has been talked about generally. We thought we had made a settlement with them at one time, which we did, and the executors of the estate took their releases which exonerated them from all blame, and they avowed themselves satisfied with the settlements made. But then, some men's word and some men's signatures do not amount to much. What next? Why, some of our very pure and high-minded lawyers are not above entering into such things because of a little monetary inducements. It would not be proper to say they were anything but pure, high-minded and honorable men, for it is understood that all lawyers are, is it not? Well, we knew we had treated them very liberally before; and so did you. We knew we had given them all we ought to give them, and more too. But we felt to be generous to the heirs of President Young; and we did what we could to promote their welfare. Still these things came out. No matter. Bonds and writings and signatures and releases amount to nothing with some people. So they started in, and we have had a legal fight about it. Some of the Apostles have had to be confined in the penitentiary; and it was a pretty narrow squeeze with me. [Laughter.] But then I have been in such places before, and was shot at while there and hit, and therefore it would have been nothing new, and I was not much concerned about it. When they wanted to get hold of some of your means and property which I held in trust, and which they had no right to, I told them No, they could not have it. “Well,” said they, “you will have to go to jail.” “Well,” said I, “jail it is then. Some folks go off to rusticate at Soda Springs and other places; I think I will go and rusticate in the penitentiary.” But they would not have me. [Laughter.] They took Brother Cannon, Brother Brigham and Brother Carrington; I suppose they considered them worthier men, and that I had better stay out. There are all kinds of curious things started up; and among other things that have grown out of this contest is what is termed a cross suit; and because of this movement some people think we are going to law. I will tell you how much. We were merely attempting to put the complaining heirs in the same position as they had put us; thinking that by doing so they might be led to reflect that there were other people in the world besides themselves, and that other people might be placed in jeopardy besides some of our brethren. “But,” say you, “was it not contrary to a law of the Church to go to law with your brethren?” We did not exactly do it; we merely started in. I will tell you what we would have done if this settlement had not been made. We would have called upon all those who were good and honorable of President Young's family—and I am happy to say that with very few exceptions they are of that class and are desirous to carry out and fulfil their obligations, and stand by the covenants they have entered into—we were going to call upon them to turn over to our side, and then we were going to cut the others off the Church, and then go to law with them and sue for their property as they had for ours. That is all. I thought I would explain this because it is not generally understood by the people. It is really one of those things called a legal fiction, which had to arise to meet certain technicalities of the law, in order that the proper releases might be given, releases that would stand, and also a decree from the court to settle these difficulties.
This compromise was talked of, but it could not be reached very readily, for some of them wanted a little more money, and the lawyers wanted a little, and of course such honorable gentlemen should have it. Well, the compromise was at last effected. We thought it better to furnish them a little means than to have these unpleasant things going on month after month, and perhaps year after year; and we could see that we would have to be very smart indeed to prevent some of these men of honor from running away with the balance of it. That being done, we have done all we could to try to promote peace in our midst. We have taken the best of counsel, and have acted in this matter according to the very best of our judgment.
And now about the money involved. Is it a large amount? Yes, some seventy-five thousand dollars paid by the Trustee-in-Trust in behalf of the Church, beside a further amount paid by the administrators. That would be just a dollar apiece from 75,000 people. It is quite a little sum; but then, did you ever know of people giving a bone to a dog? And after you had done so, you did not think you had lost much, did you? We thought it better to take that course than to be mixed up any longer with such miserable doings; and we agreed to do it. And I would like to know whether you approve of this act or not. You who do, please signify it by holding up your right hands. [A forest of hands was raised; and a unanimous vote declared.]
Well, some have asked what we were going to do with these complaining heirs. I think we will have to deal with them according to the laws of the Church. Are you going to bring their case before the Conference? No, I think not; there are the proper officers in the Church to attend to such things, and we say to them, go, and do your duty. We are very sorry that they should have placed themselves in that position; and we are very sorry that a great many other people should, and we are very sorry that a great many of these evils referred to should exist in Israel. But they do; and what shall we do about it? Go to work and cleanse the inside of the platter, and then we can go before our God in good faith, and stand approved of him, and rejoice in the fulness of the blessings of the gospel of peace.
There are some other things I would like to touch upon, but as the time has already expired, and as there will be a Priesthood meeting tonight in this tabernacle, to which the young and the old of both sexes, are invited, I will defer speaking further until then.
Elder George Q. Cannon
read statistical reports from the various Stakes of Zion.
The choir sang an anthem, O Lord, most merciful.
Conference adjourned until to-morrow, (Wednesday) morning at 10 o’clock.
Benediction by Elder C. C. Rich.
read statistical reports from the various Stakes of Zion.
The choir sang an anthem, O Lord, most merciful.
Conference adjourned until to-morrow, (Wednesday) morning at 10 o’clock.
Benediction by Elder C. C. Rich.
Tuesday, 7 o’clock p. m.
A general meeting of the priesthood in connection with the Young Men’s and Young Ladies’ Improvement Associations, &c., was held in the large Tabernacle.
President John Taylor presiding.
After singing, prayer by Elder Brigham Young [Jr.], singing.
A general meeting of the priesthood in connection with the Young Men’s and Young Ladies’ Improvement Associations, &c., was held in the large Tabernacle.
President John Taylor presiding.
After singing, prayer by Elder Brigham Young [Jr.], singing.
President John Taylor
said he had been waited upon by Brother Junius F. Wells, the general superintendent of the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Society, who asked permission to hold their meeting in this house to-night, and it was deemed wisdom to associate with it a general meeting of the priesthood, and the members of the Relief Societies and all others who feel interested in the general welfare of Zion. He wished therefore for Brother Wells to make such remarks as he might be led, and if any of ladies of the Relief Societies would like to make any remarks, they would have the privilege as far as the time would permit. He spoke very encouragingly of the labors of those who are in any way connected with the moral and religious teaching of the children. He also pointed out some of the leading traits of character that should be exhibited by the Elders of Israel.
said he had been waited upon by Brother Junius F. Wells, the general superintendent of the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Society, who asked permission to hold their meeting in this house to-night, and it was deemed wisdom to associate with it a general meeting of the priesthood, and the members of the Relief Societies and all others who feel interested in the general welfare of Zion. He wished therefore for Brother Wells to make such remarks as he might be led, and if any of ladies of the Relief Societies would like to make any remarks, they would have the privilege as far as the time would permit. He spoke very encouragingly of the labors of those who are in any way connected with the moral and religious teaching of the children. He also pointed out some of the leading traits of character that should be exhibited by the Elders of Israel.
Elder Junius F. Wells
said arrangements had been made to hold the semi-annual meeting of the Young Men’s and Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association, for the purpose of presenting the organizations of the various Stakes, but, at the suggestion of President Taylor, all the details of the meeting will be postponed for a future meeting. He then spoke of the encouraging success that has attended their labors in preparing the young men for usefulness. He felt grateful for the good results that had accrued to many who had been called and sent forth on missionary fields of labor. He also rejoiced in the opportunity of setting forth some of the leading characteristics of the Association before President Taylor and the Apostles, that their labors might receive their inspection, and, if approved, sanction and blessing; and he would be glad and thankful to receive such counsels and instruction that they might wish to impart.
said arrangements had been made to hold the semi-annual meeting of the Young Men’s and Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association, for the purpose of presenting the organizations of the various Stakes, but, at the suggestion of President Taylor, all the details of the meeting will be postponed for a future meeting. He then spoke of the encouraging success that has attended their labors in preparing the young men for usefulness. He felt grateful for the good results that had accrued to many who had been called and sent forth on missionary fields of labor. He also rejoiced in the opportunity of setting forth some of the leading characteristics of the Association before President Taylor and the Apostles, that their labors might receive their inspection, and, if approved, sanction and blessing; and he would be glad and thankful to receive such counsels and instruction that they might wish to impart.
Elder Moses Thatcher
said the youth of Zion in their various organizations, are receiving a knowledge of the things of God, which are above all price. He then spoke of his early experience when first called by Elder Geo. Q. Cannon, to take a mission in California, when only 15 years of age. While on that mission, he received a knowledge from God of the divinity of this work, and that testimony has never left him. He named this circumstance to encourage the young now before him to seek after that great blessing. He also alluded to the benefits that have resulted to our youth from their connection with the Sabbath Schools. He referred with much pleasure to the benefits derived from the various Improvement Societies, and prayed that God would abundantly bless Brother Junius Wells in his efforts.
He spoke with much emphasis on the evils of intemperance and the necessity of keeping temptation from our youth, by the enforcement of city ordinances, quoting Cache Stake as an example. On co-operation, he said we cannot be thoroughly united spiritually unless we are united temporally. But our union in temporal things will never be established among us on such business principles as are practised by the world. “Do unto others as we would they should do unto us,” must be our motto. Co-operation was first started among us for the benefit of the many, and not the aggrandisement of the few. He also spoke of the advantages resulting from the establishment of Boards of Trade. As an illustration, the article of eggs yielded to Cache Valley Stake in one year ten thousand dollars more to the people than before the Board of Trade was established. He also related the immense advantages that accrued to that Stake recently by the building over 200 miles of railway, under the united arrangements of the Board of Trade.
said the youth of Zion in their various organizations, are receiving a knowledge of the things of God, which are above all price. He then spoke of his early experience when first called by Elder Geo. Q. Cannon, to take a mission in California, when only 15 years of age. While on that mission, he received a knowledge from God of the divinity of this work, and that testimony has never left him. He named this circumstance to encourage the young now before him to seek after that great blessing. He also alluded to the benefits that have resulted to our youth from their connection with the Sabbath Schools. He referred with much pleasure to the benefits derived from the various Improvement Societies, and prayed that God would abundantly bless Brother Junius Wells in his efforts.
He spoke with much emphasis on the evils of intemperance and the necessity of keeping temptation from our youth, by the enforcement of city ordinances, quoting Cache Stake as an example. On co-operation, he said we cannot be thoroughly united spiritually unless we are united temporally. But our union in temporal things will never be established among us on such business principles as are practised by the world. “Do unto others as we would they should do unto us,” must be our motto. Co-operation was first started among us for the benefit of the many, and not the aggrandisement of the few. He also spoke of the advantages resulting from the establishment of Boards of Trade. As an illustration, the article of eggs yielded to Cache Valley Stake in one year ten thousand dollars more to the people than before the Board of Trade was established. He also related the immense advantages that accrued to that Stake recently by the building over 200 miles of railway, under the united arrangements of the Board of Trade.
Elder George Q. Cannon
spoke on the subject of co-operation and the United Order, said he had enjoyed much of the spirit of God while speaking and advocating the principles thereof. A lack of confidence is the great barrier to the establishment of the system of things revealed to us from the Lord. God has established the law of tithing and those who honor that law know that they are blest. It is our duty to pay our tithes and offerings and respond to other calls according to our ability.
He then bore testimony that God was with this people, and spoke of the deep schemes that had been laid to entrap our feet, and engulf us in trouble, but God has been so merciful to us even in the midst of our many weaknesses as to deliver us from these snares and thus made his heart to rejoice and be filled with gratitude.
spoke on the subject of co-operation and the United Order, said he had enjoyed much of the spirit of God while speaking and advocating the principles thereof. A lack of confidence is the great barrier to the establishment of the system of things revealed to us from the Lord. God has established the law of tithing and those who honor that law know that they are blest. It is our duty to pay our tithes and offerings and respond to other calls according to our ability.
He then bore testimony that God was with this people, and spoke of the deep schemes that had been laid to entrap our feet, and engulf us in trouble, but God has been so merciful to us even in the midst of our many weaknesses as to deliver us from these snares and thus made his heart to rejoice and be filled with gratitude.
The Righteous Suffer Persecution—False Teachers Popular—Saints Should not Retaliate Upon Their Enemies—The Saints Will Have Power to Root Out Evil—Approaching Revolution in the Earth
Discourse by Elder Geo. Q. Cannon, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 6th, 1879.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
I have been reminded, while listening to Brother Rudger Clawson's remarks, of the sayings of the Savior, recorded in the 6th chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke, 22nd and 23rd verses--
“Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.
“Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.”
It is frequently remarked concerning the Latter-day Saints that there being so many stories told about them, there must be some truth in some of them; in other words, to use the familiar saying, “Where there is so much smoke there must be some fire.” But it is worthy of remark that, from the beginning, according to the history that has come down to us of the dealing of God with the children of men, every man and people who professed to have a knowledge of God, and who really did have that knowledge, or a portion of it, and who were raised up by him, or called by him, had to suffer persecution. Stephen, the martyr, when he was being stoned at Jerusalem, said to the Jews: “Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One”—scarcely a prophet that had ever lived among them who had not suffered persecution. Even Moses himself, the great lawgiver, the great deliverer of the Hebrew nation, who had led them out by the exhibition of mighty power, several times during his career came very near being stoned to death, or killed by the people. It is an evidence, an infallible evidence, of truth to have persecution accompany it. It is not that every one who is reviled and who is persecuted possesses the truth. This does not always follow. But there never was a prophet of whom we have any account, raised up in the midst of the children of men to proclaim unto them divine truths, who did not receive in his life and experience these very things of which Jesus has spoken. They were hated, they were separated from the company of their fellows, they were reproached, their names were cast out as evil, they were reviled, their lives were sought; and this was especially the case with the Son of God himself—a Being who spoke as never man spoke, whose life was an exemplification of purity, who was without sin, whose doctrines were holy and pure, who performed mighty miracles among the children of men, whose work and labors were accompanied with great power; and notwithstanding these evidences of divinity which accompanied him, the generation in which he lived, and by which he was surrounded, were not satisfied until they had slain him. It is also recorded that every one of the Twelve Apostles, excepting John, died a violent death. There are reasons for this which are made plain in the Scriptures. There are two powers; there is God and there is Belial; or in other words, there is the Spirit of God and there is the spirit of Satan. These two powers, or forces, have been in existence since man was expelled from the garden of Eden. Satan has opposed God. He has contended against goodness and purity. Each of these influences has been operating upon the hearts of the children of men. When the adversary has succeeded in overpowering the truth, in slaying the servants of God, in shedding the blood of innocence, and the extirpation of the power and authority which God had bestowed upon man has been accomplished, then there has been a lull, there has been a cessation of that violence which has attended the proclamation of the truth. The extirpation of those who had authority to proclaim it has left the field to the adversary. Then he had his own way. One of the greatest evidences of the bad condition of affairs now existing in Christendom is the popularity that attends what is called the preaching of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whenever a preacher is popular in the midst of a wicked generation, or a man is popular who professes to be a minister of truth, you may set it down as a certain fact that that man does not preach the truth as it exists in Christ. There is no disputing this, if this book (the Bible) be true; if there is any reliance to be placed in the word of God. As true as there is a God, and as true as there is a devil, the man that preaches the truth to a wicked generation will bring about the hatred of which I have read in your hearing. This is just as true as that God lives and that there is evil to combat, or that Satan has power over the hearts of the children of men. Satan knows very well that his time is short. He knows very well that if the truth is proclaimed and believed in and practiced by mankind his kingdom is overthrown, that his power will soon cease. Hence it is that he has aroused in every age and at all times the children of men to rage against the truth.
Whether the Latter-day Saints preach the truth or not it is for those who hear them and examine their doctrines to decide; but there is this noted fact connected with the preaching of this truth, as imparted in this system which we call the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, that wherever it has been preached it has raised hatred, it has stirred up animosity, it has enkindled the fires of persecution, it has caused blood to flow, mobs have been raised, houses have been burned, fields have been destroyed, grain has been burned, cattle have been shot down, men and women have been expelled from their homes in the depths of winter, the blood of innocence has flowed, and all because men and women chose to believe a system of religion that differed from that which is popularly entertained. And there is this remarkable fact connected with the persecution of the people called Latter-day Saints—and it is the same characteristic that attended the preaching of the Gospel of the Son of God by himself and his Apostles the chief persecutors, and those who have stirred up strife in the hearts of the people have been popular preachers—have been themselves, in too many instances, the professed ministers of Jesus Christ. It was the High Priests, it was the Pharisees, it was the religious people in the days of the Savior who were his chief persecutors, and I am sorry to say the chief persecutions which we as a people have had to endure have had their origin with the same class. Why, I am informed that one or two if not more, of those men who formed the mob that shot Elder Joseph Standing, were circuit riders; preachers who professed to have great zeal for holy religion and pure morality. They were so filled with zeal that they could not let two young men travel in their country and preach from the Bible, without mobbing them!
As Latter-day Saints this ought to cause us to rejoice. We should not be angry, we should not indulge in the spirit of revenge. Such a spirit is foreign to the Gospel. It is our duty to endure all things patiently, uncomplainingly, and with long-suffering, putting our trust in God, relying upon his arm, awaiting the deliverance which he will bring to pass in his own time and in his own season. If I am persecuted and I turn upon my persecutors in the spirit which they manifest, do I exhibit a spirit that will bring down the blessing of God upon me? Certainly not; I would be no better than my persecutors. If a man strike me on the one cheek and I turn and strike him again, retaliate, give him blow for blow, do I by so doing manifest that I have received any better spirit than the man who struck me? I think not. It is very natural, I know, when we are reviled to turn round and revile again; when we are struck to turn round and strike again; when we are abused to turn round and abuse again. This is the natural prompting of the human heart; this is the natural feeling of every man of spirit—not to submit to indignity, but to resent it instantly. Our codes are all formed upon this. The training that we have had from our childhood upward, in the society of the world, has been that a man who submits to an outrage quietly is unworthy of the name of man; that the man who submits to be called a liar, or to rebukes, or to abuse quietly, is unworthy of the name of man. Now, that is certainly not the teaching of the Savior; all his teachings are to the contrary. His people are to be a meek people. His people are to be peacemakers. His people are to leave the results with him; to submit to these things quietly, uncomplainingly, that is, so far as outward manifestations are concerned; to pray unto him, to leave it with him. He has given unto his people a law upon this subject. If our enemies come upon us, or our families, once, we are to bear it patiently and revile not, neither seek revenge, and we shall be rewarded. If our enemies come upon us the second and third times, we are to bear it patiently, as on the former occasion, and great rewards are promised.
If they come the fourth time, then the law in ancient days, and as the Lord has revealed it to us, is that they are in our hands to do to them as we may please; but if we then will spare them, we shall be rewarded for our righteousness. I speak of these things because I know how painful it is to submit to outrages such as have been heaped upon us. There are many such committed that are almost unbearable, men feel as if they could not submit to them; but as I understand it, it is far better for us to submit to these things patiently, and without retaliating, and leave the Lord to deal with them, than to indulge in the other spirit and the other feeling.
There is a great anxiety in the minds of many of the Latter-day Saints respecting the future. “How long must we submit to such wrongs as we many times have to endure?” is a question that arises very frequently in the minds of the people. We have been in these mountains nearly thirty-three years—thirty-two years last July. We had more freedom in some respects the first few years we were here than we have today, notwithstanding our growth, notwithstanding the numbers of the people have increased to so great an extent, notwithstanding the labors that have been performed; and there is a natural anxiety in the minds of a great many people as to how long these things will go on as they are, and some are almost discouraged. There was a time when throughout these valleys, from one end to the other, drunkenness was comparatively unknown. Drinking saloons were not permitted, gambling saloons were not licensed, nor did they exist; other places which I need not name had no foothold, nor existence, in our midst, and from one end of the Territory to the other there was a condition of affairs which everybody who loved good order and peace admired. I frequently meet with gentlemen who knew us a few years ago, who speak of the unfavorable change which has taken place in our affairs. The Latter-day Saints realize very fully how great this change has been. Our sons and daughters are now exposed to temptations of which they knew nothing in former years. We had the power, which we exercised, to control these affairs, but as I explained here not a great while ago, we have now found out that the charter of this city, which we supposed gave unto the municipal authorities all the power necessary to control, regulate, and, if necessary, prohibit the institutions and practices to which I have alluded, is limited in its power to stop the sale of liquor. So the judiciary have ruled. Monster petitions have been gotten up by the women of this city and presented to the City Council, asking for the prohibition of liquor saloons; but in vain. The City Council are powerless in the matter, because of judicial ruling. Naturally the inquiry arises, how long shall these things continue? Shall all the hopes respecting the future of this country, respecting the future of Israel, be blotted out? Are we to be disappointed, and a condition of affairs be established here which will perpetuate all the evils existing elsewhere, from which we have fled? If I thought this would be the case I should be discouraged. If I thought for one moment that we should not have power in the future as we have had in the past to maintain righteousness and a righteous rule and good order in this country, I should feel exceedingly discouraged. But I do not look for a perpetuation of these evils. I expect the day will come when this people, if they will be true to themselves and the principles which we have espoused, will have power to control affairs throughout these mountains. Shall we do this by violence? Not at all. By overstepping the bounds of the Constitution, or of the legal rights of individuals? Not at all. I do not look for any such thing; but I look for the time to come when this people throughout these mountains shall have the power they ought to have—the power to elect their own officers, enact their own laws and to enforce them; when the majority of the people shall have the right to say what shall be the rule in this land, a right that has been denied us up to the present time. Why is this right denied us? Partly because of the fears of people who live in our midst—their imaginary fears, or their pretended fears. There is a class of people in these valleys, particularly in this city and the country round about, who are using every influence in their power to prevent the Latter-day Saints from having the power that citizens of the United States have elsewhere. They say that if we get this power and this authority it will be impossible for them to live here, that they will have to leave the land; that there will be such a reign of terror, or such a condition of affairs that no one will be able to endure it, except the Mormons, or Latter-day Saints, themselves; and by the publication of such stories as these, by magnifying all the trifling things they see done, by calling attention to plural marriage, and by giving a false representation of the power that is wielded by the leaders of the people, and by the circulation of the most infamous falsehoods, they create an impression abroad that is unfavorable to us and to our rights.
In the providence of God I recognize all these things as likely to accomplish much good for us. I myself feel it is important that we as a people should be trained; that we should learn those lessons that are necessary to enable us to temperately and properly exercise power when we gain it; and I have hoped that, by submitting to these things, by enduring them—as we have had to do for many years—a lesson would be taught to us that neither we nor our posterity should ever forget; and that when the time should come for us to exercise our full rights as American citizens, we might be able to administer the laws and govern in such a way that all should be protected, that every man of every creed, of every nation, and of every people, should enjoy his rights in our midst as perfectly as if he were in full faith with the majority of the people. Not the right to do wrong, not the right to practice iniquity, not the right to trample upon his neighbor, to intrude upon his rights, but the right to do that which may seem good in his own eyes, so long as he should not thereby interfere with the rights of others; the right to worship God as he pleases, to call upon him in any form that may be acceptable to him or his conscience, to believe in God, or not to believe him if he choose, so long as the belief, practice and rights of his neighbor shall not be interrupted. Until we can reach this condition and entertain these views and carry them out, it would not surprise me if we should be kept in subjection.
I wish to say for the encouragement of the Latter-day Saints, because I have sometimes thought there was a feeling of discouragement creeping over some of the people, that some were letting down bars and yielding to the influences around them and almost giving up in despair, feeling that all that had been spoken concerning our future is very doubtful or not likely to be fulfilled—I therefore wish to say for the encouragement of the people today that the time will come, as sure as God lives, that all that has been said concerning us will be fulfilled. There is a great destiny in store for this people called Latter-day Saints. They cannot be repressed. Mr. Evarts may issue his circular, he may send to the nations of the earth, and the ports of the United States may be closed against our emigration. The law of 1862, against plural marriage may be enforced with rigor, and everything be done that can be by those who are determined to check the growth and development of this people, and yet there is a power connected with them that cannot be unless the people themselves be extirpated. Anything short of this will fail, will fail entirely, in accomplishing the stoppage of this work. A people such as this, with all their faults—and our faults are numerous—but possessing such qualities as are being developed among us, must rise to the surface and become a governing people. Where in the race of life, as you witness it among private individuals, do the qualities that characterize the Latter-day Saints fail to win success? We have temperance, frugality, union, true love, honesty, industry and chastity. “No,” says one, “not chastity.” Yes chastity! For among no other people upon this continent is chastity respected as it is among the Latter-day Saints. Where will you find these qualities fail in being successful? They are always successful in private life. If you want a man to succeed, if you want your son to succeed, you say to him, “my son, be truthful, be honest, be industrious, be frugal, be chaste, avoid drunkenness, avoid wicked society, avoid taking the name of God in vain, govern your speech, be temperate in all things, and you will succeed.” What father who loves his children does not impress upon them the importance of these qualities? And these are the qualities that dominate among the Latter-day Saints.
I had occasion to go to a gentleman here, within a week, to transact some business. He has been doing business here for some years. Without my leading him on at all he said to me, “I never dealt with so honest a people as the Mormons. They pay their bills, they meet their engagements; you can rely upon them. Any money that I have lost I have not lost it through the Mormons.” I felt thankful that this man could say this about us, and yet we are not near so honest as we should be, but there is this to be said in our favor, we are struggling in this direction, struggling to be honest, struggling to be truthful. We have raised a standard which is much higher than we have attained unto. It is an elevated standard, but there is this to be said for the people, if their standard is high they are struggling to attain to it. If not done to so great an extent as we ought to do, still it can be said we are struggling to be truthful, honest and temperate, and we deplore intemperance, profanity, litigation and strife, enmity and hard feelings. I say there is a hope for a people who have a standard of this kind, and especially so when they have men in their midst—as I thank God we have—who are not afraid to tell the people when they do wrong, to tell them their faults to their faces and say unpleasant things to them. There is one thing about the leading men of this Church; they do not depend upon the people for their support. It is not necessary for them to tickle their ears by fine speeches and pleasant things. They can say rough things, unpleasant truths, because they are independent; they can live without the aid of the people by the industry of their own hands, and they are not afraid of some of their deacons or some of the congregation taking exceptions to their manner of speech and cutting off their salary. Why if such unpleasant truths were told, as have been told to the Latter-day Saints, by ministers of different denominations, who do you think would give them a call? Would they receive a call to some other places and be paid a higher salary? No, their style would be too unpleasant to be popular. Well I have hope for this people while this is the case, and I pray that we shall always have men here who are not afraid to tell you and me our faults and warn us of them and reprove us, for “better the reproof of a friend than the kiss of an enemy.”
It is not going to be a great while—and many of you will see it too—before there will be a great revolution in the earth. Just as sure as the Lord lives the day will come when there will be consternation not only in foreign nations but in our own nation. The people of this Republic are actually treading upon a volcano and they do not know how soon the fires may burst forth, how soon the governmental fabric of this nation, the most glorious the sun has ever shone upon, the best that man without the priesthood has had upon the earth, shall tumble. And why? Through the corruption of the people. The best government becomes the worst government when the people become corrupt, when bribery in high places rules, when political parties condescend to purchase votes. The power of a government is weakened when Senators, Representatives, and Presidents get their places by the use of money. Woe to a nation when this becomes the case. It is doomed and sooner or later it must fall. What is the remark respecting the election of United States Senators in many of the States? It is that a man cannot get that position except he be wealthy. What does that mean? Every one can draw his own conclusion. But that is not the worst feature either. There is disunion and animosity and the fires of sectional hatred burn fiercely. They may smolder at times. They may not always appear on the surface. But let the breeze blow and quicken them into life and how fierce the flame burns.
It may be asked what has all this to do with the Gospel? The Lord has restored the everlasting Gospel for the express purpose of raising up a pure people upon this land. This American continent is the choicest land upon the face of the whole earth. God kept it hidden until the 15th century that it might not to be overrun by the people of Europe or of the rest of the world. He kept it hidden in darkness and covered with clouds until the set time had come when he could accomplish his purpose and prepare the way for the American Republic, under which his kingdom could be established. Could it have been established in Asia, in Europe, or in Africa? No, it required the Declaration of Independence framed by men inspired of God; the Constitution of the United States framed and adopted by men whom he had raised up; it required a people who had fought for their liberty, religious and civil, and who by his divine blessing had succeeded in gaining it and in establishing a free form of government. It required such a republican government as we have, to permit this people called Latter-day Saints to be organized, to grow and increase and become a mighty power. Is there anything incompatible with true republicanism in the growth of such a people organized as the Latter-day Saints are? Let me say that the men and women who live in accordance with the Gospel are the best people in the world. They make the best members of society and live above all earthly law, that is constitutional law. Now I take issue, you know, with some laws. Some laws are constitutional, and some laws are unconstitutional, but a man who believes in and practices the Gospel of Jesus Christ will live so far above every constitutional law that he will never violate it. He may be guilty of mistakes, he may fall into error, but there will be nothing culpable in his conduct.
As the people of God, we must be meek and lowly of heart. We must confess our sins one to another, help the poor, clothe the naked and administer sustenance to those who require it. We must cease our backbiting, our strife, our fault finding, our evil speaking, bearing false witness and all other practices of this kind, and live as Latter-day Saints should who are worthy of the name, then we will be the best citizens of the country, the best citizens that can be found, citizens of whom people will be proud—that is all good and honest people—and whom God will bless. These are duties that devolve upon every one of us. We should not be Saints in name alone, but in deed and in truth, striving to make our lives an exemplification of the principles we profess, and then if men revile us and cast out our names as evil we can leave our case in the hands of God. We can call upon him and ask his blessing, and then what difference does it make what the wicked think or say about us? None in the least. We do not live for the opinion of the wicked; but if we live as we should do, if we live for God and pursue a straightforward course, and then if our enemies malign us, God will be our friend; he will deliver us and it will be all right with us in the end. “But,” says one, “how do you know God is your friend?” Pray to him in faith and you will find out. Man may deride and say there is no God, and say that it is all humbug. But I know for myself that God lives. I know that when I pray to him he hears and answers my prayers. If I pray to him in secret and he rewards and gives me the desires of my heart, supposing all the rest of the world should say that God does not live, does that alter my position, or detract from any of the blessings I enjoy? Not in the least. It does not interfere with them. It is my right to believe there is a God, and if another man chooses to believe there is not, then that is his business. Shall I quarrel with a man because I think my religion is better than his? Not at all. If my religion is better than his, why I will show it in my life and not descend to ridicule and violence. When people take up pistols and use violence they give to the world the best proof that their religion is not of God. But that is the way we have been treated. For believing in the true Gospel we must be mobbed, we must have our houses burned, we must be driven from our homes, our children and aged people must die by the way side, our track being marked with the graves of them that fall, all because we have a religion that happens to differ from the religion of others. It is curious that men will do such things in the name of religion! Now if you have true religion—as I know we ought to have—show the world that your religion is what it is proclaimed to be—the Gospel of Jesus Christ; show the world that it is a pure, a better and a loftier religion than any other, and not with our lips alone, but proclaim it to all, by our words, and by our deeds, and then the time will come when it will receive its proper recognition. Belial, or Satan, is not going to rule always. His end draweth near, and the time is nigh when misrule and wickedness shall be banished from the face of the earth.
I pray that the blessing of God may rest upon us. I pray God to fill us with the Holy Spirit, to inspire our hearts with pure desires, that we may serve him to the best of our ability and knowledge, which may God grant in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Discourse by Elder Geo. Q. Cannon, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 6th, 1879.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
I have been reminded, while listening to Brother Rudger Clawson's remarks, of the sayings of the Savior, recorded in the 6th chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke, 22nd and 23rd verses--
“Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.
“Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.”
It is frequently remarked concerning the Latter-day Saints that there being so many stories told about them, there must be some truth in some of them; in other words, to use the familiar saying, “Where there is so much smoke there must be some fire.” But it is worthy of remark that, from the beginning, according to the history that has come down to us of the dealing of God with the children of men, every man and people who professed to have a knowledge of God, and who really did have that knowledge, or a portion of it, and who were raised up by him, or called by him, had to suffer persecution. Stephen, the martyr, when he was being stoned at Jerusalem, said to the Jews: “Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One”—scarcely a prophet that had ever lived among them who had not suffered persecution. Even Moses himself, the great lawgiver, the great deliverer of the Hebrew nation, who had led them out by the exhibition of mighty power, several times during his career came very near being stoned to death, or killed by the people. It is an evidence, an infallible evidence, of truth to have persecution accompany it. It is not that every one who is reviled and who is persecuted possesses the truth. This does not always follow. But there never was a prophet of whom we have any account, raised up in the midst of the children of men to proclaim unto them divine truths, who did not receive in his life and experience these very things of which Jesus has spoken. They were hated, they were separated from the company of their fellows, they were reproached, their names were cast out as evil, they were reviled, their lives were sought; and this was especially the case with the Son of God himself—a Being who spoke as never man spoke, whose life was an exemplification of purity, who was without sin, whose doctrines were holy and pure, who performed mighty miracles among the children of men, whose work and labors were accompanied with great power; and notwithstanding these evidences of divinity which accompanied him, the generation in which he lived, and by which he was surrounded, were not satisfied until they had slain him. It is also recorded that every one of the Twelve Apostles, excepting John, died a violent death. There are reasons for this which are made plain in the Scriptures. There are two powers; there is God and there is Belial; or in other words, there is the Spirit of God and there is the spirit of Satan. These two powers, or forces, have been in existence since man was expelled from the garden of Eden. Satan has opposed God. He has contended against goodness and purity. Each of these influences has been operating upon the hearts of the children of men. When the adversary has succeeded in overpowering the truth, in slaying the servants of God, in shedding the blood of innocence, and the extirpation of the power and authority which God had bestowed upon man has been accomplished, then there has been a lull, there has been a cessation of that violence which has attended the proclamation of the truth. The extirpation of those who had authority to proclaim it has left the field to the adversary. Then he had his own way. One of the greatest evidences of the bad condition of affairs now existing in Christendom is the popularity that attends what is called the preaching of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whenever a preacher is popular in the midst of a wicked generation, or a man is popular who professes to be a minister of truth, you may set it down as a certain fact that that man does not preach the truth as it exists in Christ. There is no disputing this, if this book (the Bible) be true; if there is any reliance to be placed in the word of God. As true as there is a God, and as true as there is a devil, the man that preaches the truth to a wicked generation will bring about the hatred of which I have read in your hearing. This is just as true as that God lives and that there is evil to combat, or that Satan has power over the hearts of the children of men. Satan knows very well that his time is short. He knows very well that if the truth is proclaimed and believed in and practiced by mankind his kingdom is overthrown, that his power will soon cease. Hence it is that he has aroused in every age and at all times the children of men to rage against the truth.
Whether the Latter-day Saints preach the truth or not it is for those who hear them and examine their doctrines to decide; but there is this noted fact connected with the preaching of this truth, as imparted in this system which we call the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, that wherever it has been preached it has raised hatred, it has stirred up animosity, it has enkindled the fires of persecution, it has caused blood to flow, mobs have been raised, houses have been burned, fields have been destroyed, grain has been burned, cattle have been shot down, men and women have been expelled from their homes in the depths of winter, the blood of innocence has flowed, and all because men and women chose to believe a system of religion that differed from that which is popularly entertained. And there is this remarkable fact connected with the persecution of the people called Latter-day Saints—and it is the same characteristic that attended the preaching of the Gospel of the Son of God by himself and his Apostles the chief persecutors, and those who have stirred up strife in the hearts of the people have been popular preachers—have been themselves, in too many instances, the professed ministers of Jesus Christ. It was the High Priests, it was the Pharisees, it was the religious people in the days of the Savior who were his chief persecutors, and I am sorry to say the chief persecutions which we as a people have had to endure have had their origin with the same class. Why, I am informed that one or two if not more, of those men who formed the mob that shot Elder Joseph Standing, were circuit riders; preachers who professed to have great zeal for holy religion and pure morality. They were so filled with zeal that they could not let two young men travel in their country and preach from the Bible, without mobbing them!
As Latter-day Saints this ought to cause us to rejoice. We should not be angry, we should not indulge in the spirit of revenge. Such a spirit is foreign to the Gospel. It is our duty to endure all things patiently, uncomplainingly, and with long-suffering, putting our trust in God, relying upon his arm, awaiting the deliverance which he will bring to pass in his own time and in his own season. If I am persecuted and I turn upon my persecutors in the spirit which they manifest, do I exhibit a spirit that will bring down the blessing of God upon me? Certainly not; I would be no better than my persecutors. If a man strike me on the one cheek and I turn and strike him again, retaliate, give him blow for blow, do I by so doing manifest that I have received any better spirit than the man who struck me? I think not. It is very natural, I know, when we are reviled to turn round and revile again; when we are struck to turn round and strike again; when we are abused to turn round and abuse again. This is the natural prompting of the human heart; this is the natural feeling of every man of spirit—not to submit to indignity, but to resent it instantly. Our codes are all formed upon this. The training that we have had from our childhood upward, in the society of the world, has been that a man who submits to an outrage quietly is unworthy of the name of man; that the man who submits to be called a liar, or to rebukes, or to abuse quietly, is unworthy of the name of man. Now, that is certainly not the teaching of the Savior; all his teachings are to the contrary. His people are to be a meek people. His people are to be peacemakers. His people are to leave the results with him; to submit to these things quietly, uncomplainingly, that is, so far as outward manifestations are concerned; to pray unto him, to leave it with him. He has given unto his people a law upon this subject. If our enemies come upon us, or our families, once, we are to bear it patiently and revile not, neither seek revenge, and we shall be rewarded. If our enemies come upon us the second and third times, we are to bear it patiently, as on the former occasion, and great rewards are promised.
If they come the fourth time, then the law in ancient days, and as the Lord has revealed it to us, is that they are in our hands to do to them as we may please; but if we then will spare them, we shall be rewarded for our righteousness. I speak of these things because I know how painful it is to submit to outrages such as have been heaped upon us. There are many such committed that are almost unbearable, men feel as if they could not submit to them; but as I understand it, it is far better for us to submit to these things patiently, and without retaliating, and leave the Lord to deal with them, than to indulge in the other spirit and the other feeling.
There is a great anxiety in the minds of many of the Latter-day Saints respecting the future. “How long must we submit to such wrongs as we many times have to endure?” is a question that arises very frequently in the minds of the people. We have been in these mountains nearly thirty-three years—thirty-two years last July. We had more freedom in some respects the first few years we were here than we have today, notwithstanding our growth, notwithstanding the numbers of the people have increased to so great an extent, notwithstanding the labors that have been performed; and there is a natural anxiety in the minds of a great many people as to how long these things will go on as they are, and some are almost discouraged. There was a time when throughout these valleys, from one end to the other, drunkenness was comparatively unknown. Drinking saloons were not permitted, gambling saloons were not licensed, nor did they exist; other places which I need not name had no foothold, nor existence, in our midst, and from one end of the Territory to the other there was a condition of affairs which everybody who loved good order and peace admired. I frequently meet with gentlemen who knew us a few years ago, who speak of the unfavorable change which has taken place in our affairs. The Latter-day Saints realize very fully how great this change has been. Our sons and daughters are now exposed to temptations of which they knew nothing in former years. We had the power, which we exercised, to control these affairs, but as I explained here not a great while ago, we have now found out that the charter of this city, which we supposed gave unto the municipal authorities all the power necessary to control, regulate, and, if necessary, prohibit the institutions and practices to which I have alluded, is limited in its power to stop the sale of liquor. So the judiciary have ruled. Monster petitions have been gotten up by the women of this city and presented to the City Council, asking for the prohibition of liquor saloons; but in vain. The City Council are powerless in the matter, because of judicial ruling. Naturally the inquiry arises, how long shall these things continue? Shall all the hopes respecting the future of this country, respecting the future of Israel, be blotted out? Are we to be disappointed, and a condition of affairs be established here which will perpetuate all the evils existing elsewhere, from which we have fled? If I thought this would be the case I should be discouraged. If I thought for one moment that we should not have power in the future as we have had in the past to maintain righteousness and a righteous rule and good order in this country, I should feel exceedingly discouraged. But I do not look for a perpetuation of these evils. I expect the day will come when this people, if they will be true to themselves and the principles which we have espoused, will have power to control affairs throughout these mountains. Shall we do this by violence? Not at all. By overstepping the bounds of the Constitution, or of the legal rights of individuals? Not at all. I do not look for any such thing; but I look for the time to come when this people throughout these mountains shall have the power they ought to have—the power to elect their own officers, enact their own laws and to enforce them; when the majority of the people shall have the right to say what shall be the rule in this land, a right that has been denied us up to the present time. Why is this right denied us? Partly because of the fears of people who live in our midst—their imaginary fears, or their pretended fears. There is a class of people in these valleys, particularly in this city and the country round about, who are using every influence in their power to prevent the Latter-day Saints from having the power that citizens of the United States have elsewhere. They say that if we get this power and this authority it will be impossible for them to live here, that they will have to leave the land; that there will be such a reign of terror, or such a condition of affairs that no one will be able to endure it, except the Mormons, or Latter-day Saints, themselves; and by the publication of such stories as these, by magnifying all the trifling things they see done, by calling attention to plural marriage, and by giving a false representation of the power that is wielded by the leaders of the people, and by the circulation of the most infamous falsehoods, they create an impression abroad that is unfavorable to us and to our rights.
In the providence of God I recognize all these things as likely to accomplish much good for us. I myself feel it is important that we as a people should be trained; that we should learn those lessons that are necessary to enable us to temperately and properly exercise power when we gain it; and I have hoped that, by submitting to these things, by enduring them—as we have had to do for many years—a lesson would be taught to us that neither we nor our posterity should ever forget; and that when the time should come for us to exercise our full rights as American citizens, we might be able to administer the laws and govern in such a way that all should be protected, that every man of every creed, of every nation, and of every people, should enjoy his rights in our midst as perfectly as if he were in full faith with the majority of the people. Not the right to do wrong, not the right to practice iniquity, not the right to trample upon his neighbor, to intrude upon his rights, but the right to do that which may seem good in his own eyes, so long as he should not thereby interfere with the rights of others; the right to worship God as he pleases, to call upon him in any form that may be acceptable to him or his conscience, to believe in God, or not to believe him if he choose, so long as the belief, practice and rights of his neighbor shall not be interrupted. Until we can reach this condition and entertain these views and carry them out, it would not surprise me if we should be kept in subjection.
I wish to say for the encouragement of the Latter-day Saints, because I have sometimes thought there was a feeling of discouragement creeping over some of the people, that some were letting down bars and yielding to the influences around them and almost giving up in despair, feeling that all that had been spoken concerning our future is very doubtful or not likely to be fulfilled—I therefore wish to say for the encouragement of the people today that the time will come, as sure as God lives, that all that has been said concerning us will be fulfilled. There is a great destiny in store for this people called Latter-day Saints. They cannot be repressed. Mr. Evarts may issue his circular, he may send to the nations of the earth, and the ports of the United States may be closed against our emigration. The law of 1862, against plural marriage may be enforced with rigor, and everything be done that can be by those who are determined to check the growth and development of this people, and yet there is a power connected with them that cannot be unless the people themselves be extirpated. Anything short of this will fail, will fail entirely, in accomplishing the stoppage of this work. A people such as this, with all their faults—and our faults are numerous—but possessing such qualities as are being developed among us, must rise to the surface and become a governing people. Where in the race of life, as you witness it among private individuals, do the qualities that characterize the Latter-day Saints fail to win success? We have temperance, frugality, union, true love, honesty, industry and chastity. “No,” says one, “not chastity.” Yes chastity! For among no other people upon this continent is chastity respected as it is among the Latter-day Saints. Where will you find these qualities fail in being successful? They are always successful in private life. If you want a man to succeed, if you want your son to succeed, you say to him, “my son, be truthful, be honest, be industrious, be frugal, be chaste, avoid drunkenness, avoid wicked society, avoid taking the name of God in vain, govern your speech, be temperate in all things, and you will succeed.” What father who loves his children does not impress upon them the importance of these qualities? And these are the qualities that dominate among the Latter-day Saints.
I had occasion to go to a gentleman here, within a week, to transact some business. He has been doing business here for some years. Without my leading him on at all he said to me, “I never dealt with so honest a people as the Mormons. They pay their bills, they meet their engagements; you can rely upon them. Any money that I have lost I have not lost it through the Mormons.” I felt thankful that this man could say this about us, and yet we are not near so honest as we should be, but there is this to be said in our favor, we are struggling in this direction, struggling to be honest, struggling to be truthful. We have raised a standard which is much higher than we have attained unto. It is an elevated standard, but there is this to be said for the people, if their standard is high they are struggling to attain to it. If not done to so great an extent as we ought to do, still it can be said we are struggling to be truthful, honest and temperate, and we deplore intemperance, profanity, litigation and strife, enmity and hard feelings. I say there is a hope for a people who have a standard of this kind, and especially so when they have men in their midst—as I thank God we have—who are not afraid to tell the people when they do wrong, to tell them their faults to their faces and say unpleasant things to them. There is one thing about the leading men of this Church; they do not depend upon the people for their support. It is not necessary for them to tickle their ears by fine speeches and pleasant things. They can say rough things, unpleasant truths, because they are independent; they can live without the aid of the people by the industry of their own hands, and they are not afraid of some of their deacons or some of the congregation taking exceptions to their manner of speech and cutting off their salary. Why if such unpleasant truths were told, as have been told to the Latter-day Saints, by ministers of different denominations, who do you think would give them a call? Would they receive a call to some other places and be paid a higher salary? No, their style would be too unpleasant to be popular. Well I have hope for this people while this is the case, and I pray that we shall always have men here who are not afraid to tell you and me our faults and warn us of them and reprove us, for “better the reproof of a friend than the kiss of an enemy.”
It is not going to be a great while—and many of you will see it too—before there will be a great revolution in the earth. Just as sure as the Lord lives the day will come when there will be consternation not only in foreign nations but in our own nation. The people of this Republic are actually treading upon a volcano and they do not know how soon the fires may burst forth, how soon the governmental fabric of this nation, the most glorious the sun has ever shone upon, the best that man without the priesthood has had upon the earth, shall tumble. And why? Through the corruption of the people. The best government becomes the worst government when the people become corrupt, when bribery in high places rules, when political parties condescend to purchase votes. The power of a government is weakened when Senators, Representatives, and Presidents get their places by the use of money. Woe to a nation when this becomes the case. It is doomed and sooner or later it must fall. What is the remark respecting the election of United States Senators in many of the States? It is that a man cannot get that position except he be wealthy. What does that mean? Every one can draw his own conclusion. But that is not the worst feature either. There is disunion and animosity and the fires of sectional hatred burn fiercely. They may smolder at times. They may not always appear on the surface. But let the breeze blow and quicken them into life and how fierce the flame burns.
It may be asked what has all this to do with the Gospel? The Lord has restored the everlasting Gospel for the express purpose of raising up a pure people upon this land. This American continent is the choicest land upon the face of the whole earth. God kept it hidden until the 15th century that it might not to be overrun by the people of Europe or of the rest of the world. He kept it hidden in darkness and covered with clouds until the set time had come when he could accomplish his purpose and prepare the way for the American Republic, under which his kingdom could be established. Could it have been established in Asia, in Europe, or in Africa? No, it required the Declaration of Independence framed by men inspired of God; the Constitution of the United States framed and adopted by men whom he had raised up; it required a people who had fought for their liberty, religious and civil, and who by his divine blessing had succeeded in gaining it and in establishing a free form of government. It required such a republican government as we have, to permit this people called Latter-day Saints to be organized, to grow and increase and become a mighty power. Is there anything incompatible with true republicanism in the growth of such a people organized as the Latter-day Saints are? Let me say that the men and women who live in accordance with the Gospel are the best people in the world. They make the best members of society and live above all earthly law, that is constitutional law. Now I take issue, you know, with some laws. Some laws are constitutional, and some laws are unconstitutional, but a man who believes in and practices the Gospel of Jesus Christ will live so far above every constitutional law that he will never violate it. He may be guilty of mistakes, he may fall into error, but there will be nothing culpable in his conduct.
As the people of God, we must be meek and lowly of heart. We must confess our sins one to another, help the poor, clothe the naked and administer sustenance to those who require it. We must cease our backbiting, our strife, our fault finding, our evil speaking, bearing false witness and all other practices of this kind, and live as Latter-day Saints should who are worthy of the name, then we will be the best citizens of the country, the best citizens that can be found, citizens of whom people will be proud—that is all good and honest people—and whom God will bless. These are duties that devolve upon every one of us. We should not be Saints in name alone, but in deed and in truth, striving to make our lives an exemplification of the principles we profess, and then if men revile us and cast out our names as evil we can leave our case in the hands of God. We can call upon him and ask his blessing, and then what difference does it make what the wicked think or say about us? None in the least. We do not live for the opinion of the wicked; but if we live as we should do, if we live for God and pursue a straightforward course, and then if our enemies malign us, God will be our friend; he will deliver us and it will be all right with us in the end. “But,” says one, “how do you know God is your friend?” Pray to him in faith and you will find out. Man may deride and say there is no God, and say that it is all humbug. But I know for myself that God lives. I know that when I pray to him he hears and answers my prayers. If I pray to him in secret and he rewards and gives me the desires of my heart, supposing all the rest of the world should say that God does not live, does that alter my position, or detract from any of the blessings I enjoy? Not in the least. It does not interfere with them. It is my right to believe there is a God, and if another man chooses to believe there is not, then that is his business. Shall I quarrel with a man because I think my religion is better than his? Not at all. If my religion is better than his, why I will show it in my life and not descend to ridicule and violence. When people take up pistols and use violence they give to the world the best proof that their religion is not of God. But that is the way we have been treated. For believing in the true Gospel we must be mobbed, we must have our houses burned, we must be driven from our homes, our children and aged people must die by the way side, our track being marked with the graves of them that fall, all because we have a religion that happens to differ from the religion of others. It is curious that men will do such things in the name of religion! Now if you have true religion—as I know we ought to have—show the world that your religion is what it is proclaimed to be—the Gospel of Jesus Christ; show the world that it is a pure, a better and a loftier religion than any other, and not with our lips alone, but proclaim it to all, by our words, and by our deeds, and then the time will come when it will receive its proper recognition. Belial, or Satan, is not going to rule always. His end draweth near, and the time is nigh when misrule and wickedness shall be banished from the face of the earth.
I pray that the blessing of God may rest upon us. I pray God to fill us with the Holy Spirit, to inspire our hearts with pure desires, that we may serve him to the best of our ability and knowledge, which may God grant in the name of Jesus. Amen.
President A. M. Cannon
made a few remarks, showing the advantages of the Board of Trade.
made a few remarks, showing the advantages of the Board of Trade.
Sister Zina Young
said the daughters of Zion were united in sustaining the hands of the priesthood. She bore testimony of the truth of the celestial order of marriage; the time would soon be when no sister would be living to whom the Prophet Joseph taught that principle, but she desired to bear her testimony to all the world that Joseph Smith taught that grand and holy principle to her, and which had for its object the protection and exaltation of women. She touched on the benefits of silk culture. She rejoiced in the moral courage of the priesthood in manfully sustaining the virtue and protection of the sisters, and assured the brethren that the daughters of Zion would unite with them in the good work.
The congregation then rose to their feet and sang: The Spirit of God like a fire is burning.
Benediction by Elder F. D. Richards.
said the daughters of Zion were united in sustaining the hands of the priesthood. She bore testimony of the truth of the celestial order of marriage; the time would soon be when no sister would be living to whom the Prophet Joseph taught that principle, but she desired to bear her testimony to all the world that Joseph Smith taught that grand and holy principle to her, and which had for its object the protection and exaltation of women. She touched on the benefits of silk culture. She rejoiced in the moral courage of the priesthood in manfully sustaining the virtue and protection of the sisters, and assured the brethren that the daughters of Zion would unite with them in the good work.
The congregation then rose to their feet and sang: The Spirit of God like a fire is burning.
Benediction by Elder F. D. Richards.
THIRD DAY.
Wednesday, Oct 8th, 1879, 10 o’clock a.m.
The choir sang hymn on page 106, With joy we own thy servants, Lord, Thy ministers below.
Prayer by Elder A. M. Cannon.
The choir sang hymn on page 197: My soul is full of peace and love I soon shall see Christ from above.
Wednesday, Oct 8th, 1879, 10 o’clock a.m.
The choir sang hymn on page 106, With joy we own thy servants, Lord, Thy ministers below.
Prayer by Elder A. M. Cannon.
The choir sang hymn on page 197: My soul is full of peace and love I soon shall see Christ from above.
Elder Angus M. Cannon
said his heart was made to rejoice in reviewing the kind providences of our Heavenly Father since the Saints entered these valleys, by causing the rains to descend and the land to yield its increase. He was pleased to observe the improvement in stock, machinery, and other productions as displayed in our fair. He regretted that so many of our young men were inclined to mimic and mix up with the practices of the Gentiles, and show a disposition to associate with those who have no sympathy with the faith of the gospel, such as in baseball, philharmonic and other societies. We shall shortly be called upon to sustain the authorities of the Church, and he hoped the Latter-day Saints would well consider what they were doing when their hands were uplifted for that purpose. He closed his remarks by a few pointed exhortations.
said his heart was made to rejoice in reviewing the kind providences of our Heavenly Father since the Saints entered these valleys, by causing the rains to descend and the land to yield its increase. He was pleased to observe the improvement in stock, machinery, and other productions as displayed in our fair. He regretted that so many of our young men were inclined to mimic and mix up with the practices of the Gentiles, and show a disposition to associate with those who have no sympathy with the faith of the gospel, such as in baseball, philharmonic and other societies. We shall shortly be called upon to sustain the authorities of the Church, and he hoped the Latter-day Saints would well consider what they were doing when their hands were uplifted for that purpose. He closed his remarks by a few pointed exhortations.
Elder Erastus Snow
spoke of the spiritual nature of our religion, which can only be discerned by those who enjoyed the Spirit of God. For to be carnally minded is death, but to the spiritually minded is life and peace. He quoted and enlarged upon the parable of the virgins, five being wise, and five foolish. He then gave some good instructions to those who are placed in responsible positions as shepherds over the people, as Apostles, Bishops, Presidents of Stakes and of Quorums, if they did not preside in righteousness and feed the people with the bread of life, they would have their portion with hypocrites and unbelievers. Spoke of the effort of those who are trying to induce the Saints to break their covenants, by placing barriers and threatenings in their way. God has a controversy with the nations, beginning with that to whom the fullness of the Gospel was sent. He rejoiced in the testimonies of his brethren who have previously spoken. Dark clouds may gather around us from time to time, that is the time when the Saints should cleave to the Lord with full purpose of heart. And the sunshine of our prosperity will soon appear again. Let us keep fast hold of the rod of iron.
In speaking of the effort being made to check our emigration from foreign countries, he rejoiced, however, that we are not entirely confined to that kind of emigration, for through the great law which God has revealed to us, a far greater increase in number is filling our ranks from above, by carrying out the command given to our first parents—to multiply and replenish the earth. He then gave instructions to Presidents of Stakes, especially in utilizing the abilities of both brethren and sisters wherever they are best adapted and qualified to labor. Encourage honest labor among our young men, instead of loafing and wasting precious time. He mentioned many waste places adjacent to various stakes of Zion where it would be well to gather up our young men and newcomers sprinkled with a few experienced brethren, to go out and make homes for themselves. He called on Presidents of Stakes to look out for all such opportunities for the benefit of those under their charge, and not wait for the Apostles to lead out in these enterprises, also to set good examples to the people, and discourage every species of rowdyism and evil.
spoke of the spiritual nature of our religion, which can only be discerned by those who enjoyed the Spirit of God. For to be carnally minded is death, but to the spiritually minded is life and peace. He quoted and enlarged upon the parable of the virgins, five being wise, and five foolish. He then gave some good instructions to those who are placed in responsible positions as shepherds over the people, as Apostles, Bishops, Presidents of Stakes and of Quorums, if they did not preside in righteousness and feed the people with the bread of life, they would have their portion with hypocrites and unbelievers. Spoke of the effort of those who are trying to induce the Saints to break their covenants, by placing barriers and threatenings in their way. God has a controversy with the nations, beginning with that to whom the fullness of the Gospel was sent. He rejoiced in the testimonies of his brethren who have previously spoken. Dark clouds may gather around us from time to time, that is the time when the Saints should cleave to the Lord with full purpose of heart. And the sunshine of our prosperity will soon appear again. Let us keep fast hold of the rod of iron.
In speaking of the effort being made to check our emigration from foreign countries, he rejoiced, however, that we are not entirely confined to that kind of emigration, for through the great law which God has revealed to us, a far greater increase in number is filling our ranks from above, by carrying out the command given to our first parents—to multiply and replenish the earth. He then gave instructions to Presidents of Stakes, especially in utilizing the abilities of both brethren and sisters wherever they are best adapted and qualified to labor. Encourage honest labor among our young men, instead of loafing and wasting precious time. He mentioned many waste places adjacent to various stakes of Zion where it would be well to gather up our young men and newcomers sprinkled with a few experienced brethren, to go out and make homes for themselves. He called on Presidents of Stakes to look out for all such opportunities for the benefit of those under their charge, and not wait for the Apostles to lead out in these enterprises, also to set good examples to the people, and discourage every species of rowdyism and evil.
Cleave to Light—Coming of Christ—Abominations of the Wicked—Welfare of the Young
Discourse by Apostle Erastus Snow, delivered at the General Conference, held in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Oct. 8th, 1879.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
The prophet Isaiah, in speaking of the latter-day Zion, made this singular remark:
“Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.
“But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel:” etc.,
Again, it has been said concerning the disobedient who reject and set at nought the counsels of the Almighty, through his servants who are sent unto them:
“I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;”
The wicked comprehend not the things of God; they cannot know them, for they are spiritually discerned. “The things of God,” says the Apostle Paul, “knoweth no man only by the Spirit of God;” or, in other words, carnal man knows not the things of God, neither can he understand them. The unbelieving world cannot see as the Saints see; they walk in darkness, but the Saints are the children of light, even as many as keep sacred their covenants with God. The wicked love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. This was true of the first century of the Christian era, when the Savior uttered it; it is true today. As the light shone in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not, so might the same be said today. We are called to be the children of light. Blessed are they who continue in the light, for the day of the Lord will not overtake them as a thief in the night; but woe unto them that depart from, or reject that light that shines in the midst of the darkness, for the day cometh and that speedily, when they will be overtaken as by a whirlwind. The command of the Lord to the Saints is to watch, for we know not the day nor the hour when the Son of man shall come. The precise time of his coming has not been revealed; the prophets were ignorant of it; it could not be declared to the apostles of the Lamb, and, indeed, the Savior said that not the angels, nor even he himself, knew the day or the hour of this important event. And on taking his final leave of the Twelve, on the Mount of Olives, the question was put to him—“Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” They, it seems, were wont to regard the Savior as that Being that was to establish himself upon the throne of David, and bring to pass all that they had been so anxiously expecting; but he told them it was not for them to know the times and the seasons which the Father had put in his power. These things have been spoken that the Saints should watch and not fall asleep. The same idea is also set forth in the parable of the ten virgins, who were represented as having gone forth to meet the bridegroom, five of whom were wise and five foolish. The wise virgins took oil in their vessels, and were prepared to meet the bridegroom and to go with him into the marriage feast; the foolish virgins took no oil, they were unprepared, and were consequently shut out. This parable is expressly applicable to the time of the second coming of the Savior, showing us that however reluctant we may feel to admit it, we are plainly given to understand that a great portion of those who are counted virgins, of the Lord's people, who believe in his coming and who go forth to meet him, will slumber and sleep, and be locked out when he shall come. And it behooves all Saints to ask themselves the question which the disciples asked the Savior when he told them the startling truth that one of them should betray him—“Lord, is it I?” And all those who are very anxious upon this point will be likely to be on the watchtower, and not slumbering in that fatal hour.
And again, in the 24th of Matthew, he speaks of that wicked servant who shall begin to say, “My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” He expects this of his servants whom he has appointed over his house, to give his children meat in due season. It becomes the apostles, and presidents, and bishops, and all who are called as watchmen upon the walls of Zion to read the 24th and 25th of Matthew, giving due attention thereto, and to beware, least they be found among those unfaithful servants who have been appointed to minister in his house and give meat in due season, but who smite their fellowservants, and who eat and drink with the drunkard, and otherwise neglect their high and holy calling, for responsibility, position and station will not be any protection or safeguard in that day. But, on the contrary the greater the responsibility neglected, the greater their fall, chagrin and disappointment, and woe when they find their allotted portion among the hypocrites and unbelievers.
And the enemies of Zion who want to penetrate our sacred and holy places, and who say in their hearts, Let her temples be defiled; let adventurers, profligates and libertines mingle in their family circles, and break them asunder, and defile the daughters of Zion and break up the holy institution of sacred and holy matrimony, by which they are bound together in the new and everlasting covenant for time and eternity; yes, they say, let this covenant be broken, let all who believe and will not deny the laws and commands of God, be excluded from the jury-box, from the ballot box and from official station. And here comes another wail from a member of the Cabinet, in the form of a decision to the effect that all plural wives, who will not break their covenants with their God and their husband, shall be excluded from the right of homestead and pre-emption; and I doubt not but what everything will be done that Satan can put into their hearts to do to block the wheel, to hedge up the way, in order to test the faith of the righteous and their integrity to each other and the principles of truth. But it must be remembered that God permits it, that they may fill up the cup of their iniquity, that the righteous may be proven and tested, even to the core. For God will have a tried people, and those only who will abide in his covenant, even to the death if necessary, will be found worthy of that glory and exaltation in his kingdom which we seek after. It is a day of warning, not of many words; it is also a day of sacrifice. God has a controversy with the nations, but first with those unto whom the fullness of the Gospel has been sent. He will work in his own wondrous way his purposes to perform. It becomes us to be very humble, that we may be worthy to be his instruments in accomplishing his designs.
I rejoice in the testimony of the Spirit manifested by the previous speakers during this Conference. My earnest desire is that the Spirit may spread abroad among all people and take deep root in their hearts, not only throughout the Stakes of Zion, but throughout the earth. Dark clouds may gather around us from time to time; then is the time not to fear, but to watch and pray and patiently await the Lord of Hosts to dispel them and cause the sun to shine again upon us; remembering the vision of Nephi, in which he saw the rod of iron which led to the tree of life, along the turbulent stream of muddy water, and through mists and clouds which at intervals beset his pathway; and that those who clung to it were led safely through and reached the tree and partook of the fruit thereof, while those who ceased their hold to the rod of iron wandered off and were lost.
I have felt the greatest concern for the rising generation among us; they are far more numerous than our foreign immigrants. Secretary Evarts and the Cabinet need have far less fear concerning our foreign immigrants than of those that are constantly coming from the spirit world. The enemies of Zion fear this doctrine of the Saints, that “Children are an heritage of the Lord, * * * and happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them.” This doctrine permits the Latter-day Saints to fulfil the first great command given to Father Adam and Mother Eve, instead of adopting that abominable and soul-destroying doctrine of devils, infanticide and feticide, which is practiced to no little extent in the Christian world, which is in open violation to the laws of nature and the law of God to our first parents, to “multiply and replenish the earth.” And the practice of this same doctrine is fast depopulating some of our older States; besides, it tends to encourage prostitution; and, strange as it may appear, a future day will yet reveal that among the foremost and prominent votaries of this doctrine of devils are those who fight against Zion and her institution of marriage, under the hypocritical cant as such men as Schuyler Colfax, in his utterance from the balcony of the Townsend House in this city, and Attorney-General Devens, in his argument in the Reynolds case, in effect, that the plural marriage of the Mormons cannot be tolerated, because the burning of widows upon the funeral pile of their husbands was wrong. There is about as much relevancy and consistency in the argument as there would be to say that the practices of the multitudes of families of this Christian land, who are destroying their own offspring and taking villainous compounds to induce barrenness and unfruitfulness, must be tolerated and encouraged, because the practices of the Latter-day Saints are filling these mountains with a thrifty population. It is shown by the statistics that our children under the age of eight years are already nearly as numerous as the lay members of the Church. I feel that too much attention cannot be bestowed upon the rising generation. Our young people's Improvement Associations, our Sabbath Schools and quorum meetings are all so many aids in the training and education of the young in all that is elevating and praiseworthy. And may God bless them in their earnest efforts to improve the spirits of their fellow men.
There is one thing I wish to call the attention of our presiding officers to, more especially, that of the Presidents of Stakes and their counselors and the Bishops as their aids and assistants, and that is to give more diligent heed to the temporal condition of the families of the Saints over whom they preside, seeing to it that they are suitably and profitably employed. It is an old adage that an idle brain is the devil's workshop; and we all know that the lack of useful and proper employment is the source of numerous evils. It should be our study to introduce new branches of business, devise means of employment, that none may be idle. This is an important duty required of the leading men in Israel; and so earnest should they be in its performance that they make it a matter of faith and prayer, using their utmost endeavors to seek it out by thoughtful study, and by consulting each other, and by inviting the aid of inventive minds. It is important that our schoolteachers should not merely be automatons or parrots in the schoolroom by way of impressing a lesson upon the minds of the children, but strive, in an eminent degree, to direct their minds in a moral and religious sense, inculcating, by precept and example, due respect for virtue, and everything that is pure and noble; having also, as much as practicable a watchcare over them out of school as in school, laboring to enforce punctuality and an honest report, thereby helping their parents to look after them, so that they may not squander away their time foolishly, as many do in our towns and cities, lounging around stores and other places, acquiring habits that are calculated to lead away and defile the minds of the youth. The schoolteacher who is alive to the true spirit of his calling becomes a valuable auxiliary in improving the minds and conduct of our children, and his or her influence, when properly excited, might be of incalculable good.
There has been in times past, and still is, a great tendency among our youth to seek easy berths; and sometimes the acme of their ambition seems to be realized upon a high stool in a counting room, or behind a counter; they desire to shun the hardships through which their parents passed. That is a vain delusion, and it is simply foolishness on the part of parent or child who indulges in it. It is unwise for parents to entertain this spirit, to be anxious to shield their children from the trials of life through which they themselves have passed; no really sensible man or woman would do it. There is no sensible man or woman in the land that would exchange their experience for all the wealth of the world. If any would do it, they have failed to learn their lesson and profit from their experience. Adversity is good for all; prosperity few can fear.
The Presidents of Stakes, with their Counselors, and the Bishops as their assistants, should, when they know of any unoccupied land within their borders that ought to be improved and possessed by the Latter-day Saints get together and select young and middle-aged men who are not already provided with good, suitable homes or means of sustenance, organize them with good and efficient leaders, and send them out to occupy those new valleys, teaching them to do as their fathers have done—teach them to take out the mountain streams, build gristmills, sawmills and factories, raise breadstuff, sheep and cattle, and prepare to live, instead of craving easy berths, and be all the days of their lives dependent upon the will of an employer for a livelihood.
There are many places in our Territory east of us, on both sides of Green River, also in Sanpete, Piute and Kane counties, and in the adjoining States and Territories, that ought to be occupied; for the Latter-day Saints cannot be confined to Utah. Everything indicates the fulfillment of the declaration of the ancient prophet, who said:
“Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;
“For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left;” etc.
In the very nature of things this must be the case; for we are an aggressive people, not to trample on the rights of our fellow man, but to fulfil the purposes of the Almighty, and possess and make fruitful the waste places. And as the wicked are wasted away through disease, war and bloodshed, murder, infanticide, feticide and the judgments of an offended God, he requires his people to go forth as he shall prepare the way, and possess the land and hold it for God and his kingdom, whose it is, and who will come in due time to reign over it.
Fear not to take to yourselves wives and to multiply and replenish the earth, and occupy the unoccupied regions, and leave it not to your enemies while you are clustering around these mercantile houses and saloons and places of ease and idleness; but break out and face the realities of life. And let no father or mother in their old age indulge childish fancies, and encourage these whinings of their children; but be as courageous as the old hen, who, after scratching for her brood until they are able to scratch for themselves, sends them forth to get their own living.
We do not wish to be compelled to call men to this work of settling up the country; the Twelve and the General Conference have other things to occupy their time and attention, while this work more directly belongs to the Presidents of Stakes. The Twelve, however, are ready to counsel with these brethren and render them all the aid we can. But we don't want the Presidents of Stakes to think that they can do nothing, leaving the Twelve to attend to all such things; that is part of their calling, as fathers in Israel. We wish the country bordering on that occupied by the Lamanites settled by men who know how to behave themselves, and who will befriend that people, and not shoot them down as we would the wild beasts, without cause or provocation, nor give them occasion to be our enemies, to lay in wait to rob and kill; but to cultivate their love and good will which is a common duty of all Saints to all people, but especially to the House of Israel; and set good examples and manifest in all their dealings honesty and integrity, thereby sowing good seed in their hearts, that shall in the due time of the Lord bring forth precious fruit.
We want many earnest, upright young men also to learn the languages of the natives of the American Continent, and also the Spanish language, which is extensively used in Central and South America as well as Mexico, and which is the national language of those countries and of the educated natives who exercise dominion over the ignorant Indians and the mixed races of the Continent. We expect to call many to labor among these people, as the Lord may dictate, and we want them to be prepared to respond when there is a whisper in their ears to that effect.
May God bless you, and help us all to be truly what we are called to be, Saints of the last days, to stand before the Son of Man when he shall appear, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Discourse by Apostle Erastus Snow, delivered at the General Conference, held in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Oct. 8th, 1879.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
The prophet Isaiah, in speaking of the latter-day Zion, made this singular remark:
“Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.
“But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel:” etc.,
Again, it has been said concerning the disobedient who reject and set at nought the counsels of the Almighty, through his servants who are sent unto them:
“I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;”
The wicked comprehend not the things of God; they cannot know them, for they are spiritually discerned. “The things of God,” says the Apostle Paul, “knoweth no man only by the Spirit of God;” or, in other words, carnal man knows not the things of God, neither can he understand them. The unbelieving world cannot see as the Saints see; they walk in darkness, but the Saints are the children of light, even as many as keep sacred their covenants with God. The wicked love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. This was true of the first century of the Christian era, when the Savior uttered it; it is true today. As the light shone in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not, so might the same be said today. We are called to be the children of light. Blessed are they who continue in the light, for the day of the Lord will not overtake them as a thief in the night; but woe unto them that depart from, or reject that light that shines in the midst of the darkness, for the day cometh and that speedily, when they will be overtaken as by a whirlwind. The command of the Lord to the Saints is to watch, for we know not the day nor the hour when the Son of man shall come. The precise time of his coming has not been revealed; the prophets were ignorant of it; it could not be declared to the apostles of the Lamb, and, indeed, the Savior said that not the angels, nor even he himself, knew the day or the hour of this important event. And on taking his final leave of the Twelve, on the Mount of Olives, the question was put to him—“Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” They, it seems, were wont to regard the Savior as that Being that was to establish himself upon the throne of David, and bring to pass all that they had been so anxiously expecting; but he told them it was not for them to know the times and the seasons which the Father had put in his power. These things have been spoken that the Saints should watch and not fall asleep. The same idea is also set forth in the parable of the ten virgins, who were represented as having gone forth to meet the bridegroom, five of whom were wise and five foolish. The wise virgins took oil in their vessels, and were prepared to meet the bridegroom and to go with him into the marriage feast; the foolish virgins took no oil, they were unprepared, and were consequently shut out. This parable is expressly applicable to the time of the second coming of the Savior, showing us that however reluctant we may feel to admit it, we are plainly given to understand that a great portion of those who are counted virgins, of the Lord's people, who believe in his coming and who go forth to meet him, will slumber and sleep, and be locked out when he shall come. And it behooves all Saints to ask themselves the question which the disciples asked the Savior when he told them the startling truth that one of them should betray him—“Lord, is it I?” And all those who are very anxious upon this point will be likely to be on the watchtower, and not slumbering in that fatal hour.
And again, in the 24th of Matthew, he speaks of that wicked servant who shall begin to say, “My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” He expects this of his servants whom he has appointed over his house, to give his children meat in due season. It becomes the apostles, and presidents, and bishops, and all who are called as watchmen upon the walls of Zion to read the 24th and 25th of Matthew, giving due attention thereto, and to beware, least they be found among those unfaithful servants who have been appointed to minister in his house and give meat in due season, but who smite their fellowservants, and who eat and drink with the drunkard, and otherwise neglect their high and holy calling, for responsibility, position and station will not be any protection or safeguard in that day. But, on the contrary the greater the responsibility neglected, the greater their fall, chagrin and disappointment, and woe when they find their allotted portion among the hypocrites and unbelievers.
And the enemies of Zion who want to penetrate our sacred and holy places, and who say in their hearts, Let her temples be defiled; let adventurers, profligates and libertines mingle in their family circles, and break them asunder, and defile the daughters of Zion and break up the holy institution of sacred and holy matrimony, by which they are bound together in the new and everlasting covenant for time and eternity; yes, they say, let this covenant be broken, let all who believe and will not deny the laws and commands of God, be excluded from the jury-box, from the ballot box and from official station. And here comes another wail from a member of the Cabinet, in the form of a decision to the effect that all plural wives, who will not break their covenants with their God and their husband, shall be excluded from the right of homestead and pre-emption; and I doubt not but what everything will be done that Satan can put into their hearts to do to block the wheel, to hedge up the way, in order to test the faith of the righteous and their integrity to each other and the principles of truth. But it must be remembered that God permits it, that they may fill up the cup of their iniquity, that the righteous may be proven and tested, even to the core. For God will have a tried people, and those only who will abide in his covenant, even to the death if necessary, will be found worthy of that glory and exaltation in his kingdom which we seek after. It is a day of warning, not of many words; it is also a day of sacrifice. God has a controversy with the nations, but first with those unto whom the fullness of the Gospel has been sent. He will work in his own wondrous way his purposes to perform. It becomes us to be very humble, that we may be worthy to be his instruments in accomplishing his designs.
I rejoice in the testimony of the Spirit manifested by the previous speakers during this Conference. My earnest desire is that the Spirit may spread abroad among all people and take deep root in their hearts, not only throughout the Stakes of Zion, but throughout the earth. Dark clouds may gather around us from time to time; then is the time not to fear, but to watch and pray and patiently await the Lord of Hosts to dispel them and cause the sun to shine again upon us; remembering the vision of Nephi, in which he saw the rod of iron which led to the tree of life, along the turbulent stream of muddy water, and through mists and clouds which at intervals beset his pathway; and that those who clung to it were led safely through and reached the tree and partook of the fruit thereof, while those who ceased their hold to the rod of iron wandered off and were lost.
I have felt the greatest concern for the rising generation among us; they are far more numerous than our foreign immigrants. Secretary Evarts and the Cabinet need have far less fear concerning our foreign immigrants than of those that are constantly coming from the spirit world. The enemies of Zion fear this doctrine of the Saints, that “Children are an heritage of the Lord, * * * and happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them.” This doctrine permits the Latter-day Saints to fulfil the first great command given to Father Adam and Mother Eve, instead of adopting that abominable and soul-destroying doctrine of devils, infanticide and feticide, which is practiced to no little extent in the Christian world, which is in open violation to the laws of nature and the law of God to our first parents, to “multiply and replenish the earth.” And the practice of this same doctrine is fast depopulating some of our older States; besides, it tends to encourage prostitution; and, strange as it may appear, a future day will yet reveal that among the foremost and prominent votaries of this doctrine of devils are those who fight against Zion and her institution of marriage, under the hypocritical cant as such men as Schuyler Colfax, in his utterance from the balcony of the Townsend House in this city, and Attorney-General Devens, in his argument in the Reynolds case, in effect, that the plural marriage of the Mormons cannot be tolerated, because the burning of widows upon the funeral pile of their husbands was wrong. There is about as much relevancy and consistency in the argument as there would be to say that the practices of the multitudes of families of this Christian land, who are destroying their own offspring and taking villainous compounds to induce barrenness and unfruitfulness, must be tolerated and encouraged, because the practices of the Latter-day Saints are filling these mountains with a thrifty population. It is shown by the statistics that our children under the age of eight years are already nearly as numerous as the lay members of the Church. I feel that too much attention cannot be bestowed upon the rising generation. Our young people's Improvement Associations, our Sabbath Schools and quorum meetings are all so many aids in the training and education of the young in all that is elevating and praiseworthy. And may God bless them in their earnest efforts to improve the spirits of their fellow men.
There is one thing I wish to call the attention of our presiding officers to, more especially, that of the Presidents of Stakes and their counselors and the Bishops as their aids and assistants, and that is to give more diligent heed to the temporal condition of the families of the Saints over whom they preside, seeing to it that they are suitably and profitably employed. It is an old adage that an idle brain is the devil's workshop; and we all know that the lack of useful and proper employment is the source of numerous evils. It should be our study to introduce new branches of business, devise means of employment, that none may be idle. This is an important duty required of the leading men in Israel; and so earnest should they be in its performance that they make it a matter of faith and prayer, using their utmost endeavors to seek it out by thoughtful study, and by consulting each other, and by inviting the aid of inventive minds. It is important that our schoolteachers should not merely be automatons or parrots in the schoolroom by way of impressing a lesson upon the minds of the children, but strive, in an eminent degree, to direct their minds in a moral and religious sense, inculcating, by precept and example, due respect for virtue, and everything that is pure and noble; having also, as much as practicable a watchcare over them out of school as in school, laboring to enforce punctuality and an honest report, thereby helping their parents to look after them, so that they may not squander away their time foolishly, as many do in our towns and cities, lounging around stores and other places, acquiring habits that are calculated to lead away and defile the minds of the youth. The schoolteacher who is alive to the true spirit of his calling becomes a valuable auxiliary in improving the minds and conduct of our children, and his or her influence, when properly excited, might be of incalculable good.
There has been in times past, and still is, a great tendency among our youth to seek easy berths; and sometimes the acme of their ambition seems to be realized upon a high stool in a counting room, or behind a counter; they desire to shun the hardships through which their parents passed. That is a vain delusion, and it is simply foolishness on the part of parent or child who indulges in it. It is unwise for parents to entertain this spirit, to be anxious to shield their children from the trials of life through which they themselves have passed; no really sensible man or woman would do it. There is no sensible man or woman in the land that would exchange their experience for all the wealth of the world. If any would do it, they have failed to learn their lesson and profit from their experience. Adversity is good for all; prosperity few can fear.
The Presidents of Stakes, with their Counselors, and the Bishops as their assistants, should, when they know of any unoccupied land within their borders that ought to be improved and possessed by the Latter-day Saints get together and select young and middle-aged men who are not already provided with good, suitable homes or means of sustenance, organize them with good and efficient leaders, and send them out to occupy those new valleys, teaching them to do as their fathers have done—teach them to take out the mountain streams, build gristmills, sawmills and factories, raise breadstuff, sheep and cattle, and prepare to live, instead of craving easy berths, and be all the days of their lives dependent upon the will of an employer for a livelihood.
There are many places in our Territory east of us, on both sides of Green River, also in Sanpete, Piute and Kane counties, and in the adjoining States and Territories, that ought to be occupied; for the Latter-day Saints cannot be confined to Utah. Everything indicates the fulfillment of the declaration of the ancient prophet, who said:
“Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;
“For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left;” etc.
In the very nature of things this must be the case; for we are an aggressive people, not to trample on the rights of our fellow man, but to fulfil the purposes of the Almighty, and possess and make fruitful the waste places. And as the wicked are wasted away through disease, war and bloodshed, murder, infanticide, feticide and the judgments of an offended God, he requires his people to go forth as he shall prepare the way, and possess the land and hold it for God and his kingdom, whose it is, and who will come in due time to reign over it.
Fear not to take to yourselves wives and to multiply and replenish the earth, and occupy the unoccupied regions, and leave it not to your enemies while you are clustering around these mercantile houses and saloons and places of ease and idleness; but break out and face the realities of life. And let no father or mother in their old age indulge childish fancies, and encourage these whinings of their children; but be as courageous as the old hen, who, after scratching for her brood until they are able to scratch for themselves, sends them forth to get their own living.
We do not wish to be compelled to call men to this work of settling up the country; the Twelve and the General Conference have other things to occupy their time and attention, while this work more directly belongs to the Presidents of Stakes. The Twelve, however, are ready to counsel with these brethren and render them all the aid we can. But we don't want the Presidents of Stakes to think that they can do nothing, leaving the Twelve to attend to all such things; that is part of their calling, as fathers in Israel. We wish the country bordering on that occupied by the Lamanites settled by men who know how to behave themselves, and who will befriend that people, and not shoot them down as we would the wild beasts, without cause or provocation, nor give them occasion to be our enemies, to lay in wait to rob and kill; but to cultivate their love and good will which is a common duty of all Saints to all people, but especially to the House of Israel; and set good examples and manifest in all their dealings honesty and integrity, thereby sowing good seed in their hearts, that shall in the due time of the Lord bring forth precious fruit.
We want many earnest, upright young men also to learn the languages of the natives of the American Continent, and also the Spanish language, which is extensively used in Central and South America as well as Mexico, and which is the national language of those countries and of the educated natives who exercise dominion over the ignorant Indians and the mixed races of the Continent. We expect to call many to labor among these people, as the Lord may dictate, and we want them to be prepared to respond when there is a whisper in their ears to that effect.
May God bless you, and help us all to be truly what we are called to be, Saints of the last days, to stand before the Son of Man when he shall appear, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Elder George Q. Cannon
presented the Authorities of the Church before the Conference, all of whom were unanimously sustained by uplifted hands.
John Taylor, as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, as one of the Twelve Apostles, and of the Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
As members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: Wilford Woodruff, Orson Pratt, Charles C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, George Q. Cannon, Brigham Young [Jr.], Joseph F. Smith, Albert Carrington and Moses Thatcher.
Counselors to the Twelve Apostles—John W. Young, D. H. Wells.
The Twelve Apostles as the presiding quorum and authority of the Church, and, with their counselors, as Prophets, Seers and Revelators.
Patriarch of the Church—John Smith.
As the First Seven Presidents of the Seventies—Joseph Young, Levi W. Hancock, Henry Herriman, Albert P. Rockwood, Horace S. Eldredge, Jacob Gates and John Van Cott.
The Presiding Bishop of the Church – Edward Hunter, with Leonard W. Hardy and Robert T. Burton as his Counselors.
Elder Cannon put the following:
“It is motioned that John Taylor be and he is hereby appointed Trustee-in-Trust for the body of religious worshippers known and recognized as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to hold the legal title to its property and contract for it, that he execute bonds.”
Carried unanimously.
“It is motioned that we accept and approve a bond in the sum of one hundred dollars from the Trustee-in-Trust, with the Apostles as his sureties, and that said bond be made payable to the Presiding Bishop of the Church, for the use and benefit of said Church, said bond to be executed before and attested by the General Church Recorder.”
Carried unanimously. Contrary votes were called for; time being given for objections and none being offered, the motions were announced as carried without dissent.
Elder Cannon explained that there had a question arisen as to whether or not the Church was a corporation. This question, he said, had not been judicially decided, but whether it should be decided or not it would make no difference to us. We are a religious body and as such have a right, whether incorporated or not under the law, to elect a Trustee-in-Trust to hold our property, and it was in order that we should exercise this power which we hold as a Church, as a religious body of worshippers. The motion was put in its present form so that there should be no question hereafter as to the legality and right of our Trustee to act independent whether we are a corporation or not.
The following were also sustained unanimously:
The Twelve Apostles, their two Counselors and Bishop Edward Hunter as Counselors to the Trustee-in-Trust.
Albert Carrington as President of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund for the Gathering of the Poor, and the following as his assistants: F. D. Richards, F. M. Lyman, H. S. Eldredge, Joseph F. Smith, John W. Young, Angus M. Cannon, Moses Thatcher, William Jennings, John R. Winder, Henry Dinwoodey, Robert T. Burton, A. O. Smoot and H. B. Clawson.
Orson Pratt as Historian and General Church Recorder, and Wilford Woodruff as his assistant. Truman O. Angel as General Architect of the Church, and T. O. Angel, Junr., and W. H. Folsom as his assistants.
As Auditing Committee—W. Woodruff, E. Snow, F. D. Richards J. F. Smith.
George Goddard as Clerk of the General Conference.
presented the Authorities of the Church before the Conference, all of whom were unanimously sustained by uplifted hands.
John Taylor, as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, as one of the Twelve Apostles, and of the Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
As members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: Wilford Woodruff, Orson Pratt, Charles C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, George Q. Cannon, Brigham Young [Jr.], Joseph F. Smith, Albert Carrington and Moses Thatcher.
Counselors to the Twelve Apostles—John W. Young, D. H. Wells.
The Twelve Apostles as the presiding quorum and authority of the Church, and, with their counselors, as Prophets, Seers and Revelators.
Patriarch of the Church—John Smith.
As the First Seven Presidents of the Seventies—Joseph Young, Levi W. Hancock, Henry Herriman, Albert P. Rockwood, Horace S. Eldredge, Jacob Gates and John Van Cott.
The Presiding Bishop of the Church – Edward Hunter, with Leonard W. Hardy and Robert T. Burton as his Counselors.
Elder Cannon put the following:
“It is motioned that John Taylor be and he is hereby appointed Trustee-in-Trust for the body of religious worshippers known and recognized as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to hold the legal title to its property and contract for it, that he execute bonds.”
Carried unanimously.
“It is motioned that we accept and approve a bond in the sum of one hundred dollars from the Trustee-in-Trust, with the Apostles as his sureties, and that said bond be made payable to the Presiding Bishop of the Church, for the use and benefit of said Church, said bond to be executed before and attested by the General Church Recorder.”
Carried unanimously. Contrary votes were called for; time being given for objections and none being offered, the motions were announced as carried without dissent.
Elder Cannon explained that there had a question arisen as to whether or not the Church was a corporation. This question, he said, had not been judicially decided, but whether it should be decided or not it would make no difference to us. We are a religious body and as such have a right, whether incorporated or not under the law, to elect a Trustee-in-Trust to hold our property, and it was in order that we should exercise this power which we hold as a Church, as a religious body of worshippers. The motion was put in its present form so that there should be no question hereafter as to the legality and right of our Trustee to act independent whether we are a corporation or not.
The following were also sustained unanimously:
The Twelve Apostles, their two Counselors and Bishop Edward Hunter as Counselors to the Trustee-in-Trust.
Albert Carrington as President of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund for the Gathering of the Poor, and the following as his assistants: F. D. Richards, F. M. Lyman, H. S. Eldredge, Joseph F. Smith, John W. Young, Angus M. Cannon, Moses Thatcher, William Jennings, John R. Winder, Henry Dinwoodey, Robert T. Burton, A. O. Smoot and H. B. Clawson.
Orson Pratt as Historian and General Church Recorder, and Wilford Woodruff as his assistant. Truman O. Angel as General Architect of the Church, and T. O. Angel, Junr., and W. H. Folsom as his assistants.
As Auditing Committee—W. Woodruff, E. Snow, F. D. Richards J. F. Smith.
George Goddard as Clerk of the General Conference.
The following names of missionaries were also presented and sustained:
FOR EUROPE.
Wm. W. Jackson, American Fork
Henry A. Dixcon, Provo
Joseph Wm. Vickers, Nephi
Alonzo G. Barber, Smithfield
John L. Jones, Cedar
UNITED STATES
Thomas Farr, Ogden
Wm. R. Jones, Spanish Fork
AUSTRALIA OR NEW ZEALAND.
John P. Sorensen, City
Niels J. Grundland, City
FOR PLACES TO BE DESIGNATED.
Moses Thatcher, Logan
M. J. Trejo, San Pedro
J. Z. Stewart, Draper
FOR EUROPE.
Wm. W. Jackson, American Fork
Henry A. Dixcon, Provo
Joseph Wm. Vickers, Nephi
Alonzo G. Barber, Smithfield
John L. Jones, Cedar
UNITED STATES
Thomas Farr, Ogden
Wm. R. Jones, Spanish Fork
AUSTRALIA OR NEW ZEALAND.
John P. Sorensen, City
Niels J. Grundland, City
FOR PLACES TO BE DESIGNATED.
Moses Thatcher, Logan
M. J. Trejo, San Pedro
J. Z. Stewart, Draper
Counselor L. W. Hardy
spoke on the subject of tithing, said Bishop Hunter and counselors were ... agents were appointed to assist the Presiding Bishop in looking after and taking care of the tithing God instituted the law of tithing in the beginning, Abraham paid tithing of his substance and when God raised up his Prophet Joseph Smith, he introduced the law of tithes and offerings and those who strictly observe them, the Lord will abundantly bless. He regretted that in some Stakes, according to the statistics read yesterday, so small an amount had been paid in as fast offerings to feed the poor. He then made a fatherly appeal to the Bishops, to be kind and respectful towards the poor, and strongly urged upon the Saints to pay their honest tithes and offerings, and secure themselves the great and inestimable blessings that God has promised.
spoke on the subject of tithing, said Bishop Hunter and counselors were ... agents were appointed to assist the Presiding Bishop in looking after and taking care of the tithing God instituted the law of tithing in the beginning, Abraham paid tithing of his substance and when God raised up his Prophet Joseph Smith, he introduced the law of tithes and offerings and those who strictly observe them, the Lord will abundantly bless. He regretted that in some Stakes, according to the statistics read yesterday, so small an amount had been paid in as fast offerings to feed the poor. He then made a fatherly appeal to the Bishops, to be kind and respectful towards the poor, and strongly urged upon the Saints to pay their honest tithes and offerings, and secure themselves the great and inestimable blessings that God has promised.
Elder George Q. Cannon
then read the following names of missionaries, whose fields of labor would hereafter designated:
Ammon M. Tenney, of New Mexico.
Wm. A. Tenney, “
Ernest Tietzen, “
Luther C. Burnham, “
Peter J. Christoffersen, Arizona.
August Wilchin, “
Andrew S. Gibbons, “
Wm. Gibbon, “
Jacob Hamblin, “
Llewellyn Harris, “
Ebenezer Thayne, “
Joseph Cluff, “
Joseph Edwin Cluff, “
----- Lewis, of Round Valley, Arizona.
John H. Perkins, Arizona.
Brigham Y. Perkins, “
Clark Owens, Jr., “
Jefferson Hundley, “
Henry Walter Despain, Arizona.
Edmund Richardson, “
Thos. Walters Brockbank, “
Daniel McAllister, of St. George.
Nephi Johnson, Jr., Kanab,
Joel H. Johnson, Johnson.
Lorenzo Slack, Toquerville.
John Hilton, Virgen.
Napoleon Roundy, Kanarra.
Mormon Shumway, Johnson.
Wm. W. Eager, Hillsdale.
Joseph Hyrum Watkins, Ogden.
Wm. Francis James, “
A. F. Burnham, Richmond.
The following notices were then given out:
All the missionaries now in this city will meet in the Council House to-morrow morning at 10 o’clock a. m.
A Seventies’ meeting will be held in the 14th Ward Assembly Rooms at 7 o’clock this evening.
then read the following names of missionaries, whose fields of labor would hereafter designated:
Ammon M. Tenney, of New Mexico.
Wm. A. Tenney, “
Ernest Tietzen, “
Luther C. Burnham, “
Peter J. Christoffersen, Arizona.
August Wilchin, “
Andrew S. Gibbons, “
Wm. Gibbon, “
Jacob Hamblin, “
Llewellyn Harris, “
Ebenezer Thayne, “
Joseph Cluff, “
Joseph Edwin Cluff, “
----- Lewis, of Round Valley, Arizona.
John H. Perkins, Arizona.
Brigham Y. Perkins, “
Clark Owens, Jr., “
Jefferson Hundley, “
Henry Walter Despain, Arizona.
Edmund Richardson, “
Thos. Walters Brockbank, “
Daniel McAllister, of St. George.
Nephi Johnson, Jr., Kanab,
Joel H. Johnson, Johnson.
Lorenzo Slack, Toquerville.
John Hilton, Virgen.
Napoleon Roundy, Kanarra.
Mormon Shumway, Johnson.
Wm. W. Eager, Hillsdale.
Joseph Hyrum Watkins, Ogden.
Wm. Francis James, “
A. F. Burnham, Richmond.
The following notices were then given out:
All the missionaries now in this city will meet in the Council House to-morrow morning at 10 o’clock a. m.
A Seventies’ meeting will be held in the 14th Ward Assembly Rooms at 7 o’clock this evening.
President Taylor,
in conclusion said: I think we are now pretty much through with the business of this Conference. I am very pleased to have witnessed the feeling and spirit that has been manifested in our midst, and I would again call upon the Presidents of Stakes, the Bishops, the High Councils, the Priests, Teachers and Deacons, to carry out the instructions that have been given here in their several Stakes; and to see that the order of the Kingdom of God is sustained and maintained; that we individually and collectively seek for a closer union with the Lord; that we see that the principles of honesty, truth, integrity and virtue are maintained in the several Stakes; that we operate in a way that we may always have the smile and approbation of God; see that in your several Stakes you maintain pure principles and put down anything that is contrary to virtue, contrary to righteousness, contrary to integrity, and see that the laws of God are maintained, that the Church is purged from iniquity, that we may be prepared to present ourselves before the Lord with confidence that he may sustain us in all our acts; that we may approach near to the Lord instead of getting further off; and that we may follow the counsel given in regard to co-operation, and more especially in regard to manufacturing. We want to encourage home manufacture, in all its various branches, that we may be self-sustaining. And let us try to live our religion and keep the commandments of God, and the blessings of God will rest upon us, but if we neglect these things they will not. I want to repeat again what I said yesterday in relation to this matter, that no president, no Bishop, no Priest, no Teacher, no Deacon can be justified in allowing the laws of God to be trampled upon with impunity within his jurisdiction. If they do—if they wink at iniquity of any kind, God will require it at their hands and if they ... iniquity of other men, all right, but I will not, and the Twelve will not. It is for us to do the will of God and keep His commandments, and if we do, the spirit and blessing and power of God will be with us from this time forth, but if we do not, we may expect his hand to be over us for evil. Let us then look for men that occupy offices to be men of honor, of truth and of integrity. We do not care for the covetous and fraudulent and dishonest, let them pursue their own course, but let us look for truth, integrity and honor, that we may be the children of our Heavenly Father, who is pure and holy and cannot look upon sin with “the least degree of allowance.” God bless you. I feel to thank the brethren for the good order that has been manifested and I feel to appreciate the labors of my brethren the Twelve, and I also feel to thank the choir for their attention, and all who feel an interest in the welfare of Zion. May God bless you and lead you in the paths of life. Amen.
Conference was adjourned till April 6th, 1880.
The choir sang an anthem: I will extol thee.
Benediction by Elder Orson Pratt.
George Goddard,
Clerk of Conference
in conclusion said: I think we are now pretty much through with the business of this Conference. I am very pleased to have witnessed the feeling and spirit that has been manifested in our midst, and I would again call upon the Presidents of Stakes, the Bishops, the High Councils, the Priests, Teachers and Deacons, to carry out the instructions that have been given here in their several Stakes; and to see that the order of the Kingdom of God is sustained and maintained; that we individually and collectively seek for a closer union with the Lord; that we see that the principles of honesty, truth, integrity and virtue are maintained in the several Stakes; that we operate in a way that we may always have the smile and approbation of God; see that in your several Stakes you maintain pure principles and put down anything that is contrary to virtue, contrary to righteousness, contrary to integrity, and see that the laws of God are maintained, that the Church is purged from iniquity, that we may be prepared to present ourselves before the Lord with confidence that he may sustain us in all our acts; that we may approach near to the Lord instead of getting further off; and that we may follow the counsel given in regard to co-operation, and more especially in regard to manufacturing. We want to encourage home manufacture, in all its various branches, that we may be self-sustaining. And let us try to live our religion and keep the commandments of God, and the blessings of God will rest upon us, but if we neglect these things they will not. I want to repeat again what I said yesterday in relation to this matter, that no president, no Bishop, no Priest, no Teacher, no Deacon can be justified in allowing the laws of God to be trampled upon with impunity within his jurisdiction. If they do—if they wink at iniquity of any kind, God will require it at their hands and if they ... iniquity of other men, all right, but I will not, and the Twelve will not. It is for us to do the will of God and keep His commandments, and if we do, the spirit and blessing and power of God will be with us from this time forth, but if we do not, we may expect his hand to be over us for evil. Let us then look for men that occupy offices to be men of honor, of truth and of integrity. We do not care for the covetous and fraudulent and dishonest, let them pursue their own course, but let us look for truth, integrity and honor, that we may be the children of our Heavenly Father, who is pure and holy and cannot look upon sin with “the least degree of allowance.” God bless you. I feel to thank the brethren for the good order that has been manifested and I feel to appreciate the labors of my brethren the Twelve, and I also feel to thank the choir for their attention, and all who feel an interest in the welfare of Zion. May God bless you and lead you in the paths of life. Amen.
Conference was adjourned till April 6th, 1880.
The choir sang an anthem: I will extol thee.
Benediction by Elder Orson Pratt.
George Goddard,
Clerk of Conference