April 1882
Richards, Franklin D. "The Lord's Work—Warfare not Required of the Saints—An Overruling Providence—Corruption and Perjury in High Places—Violation of the Constitution—False Accusations Against the Saints—Words of Comfort and Exhortation." Journal of Discourses. Volume 23. April 8, 1882: pg. 106-114.
Smith, Joseph F. "The Laws of God and the Laws of the Land—The Saints An Obedient and Law-Abiding People—Their Persecutions Productive of Prosperity—Their Past and Prospective Experience and Eventual Triumph." Journal of Discourses. Volume 23. April 9, 1882: pg. 69-76.
Snow, Erastus. "The Last Dispensation—The Saints' Religion Practical—Hostility to God's Work—Divisions in Sectarian Churches—Unity of the Saints—Early History of Utah—“Mormon” Thrift and Enterprise—The One-Man Power—God's People a Free People—Increase of Corruption—The Saints Hopeful." Journal of Discourses. Volume 23. April 7, 1882: pg. 83-92.
Snow, Lorenzo. "Ancient and Modern Israel Compared—God's Work Progressive—His Overruling Providence." Journal of Discourses. Volume 23. April 7, 1882: pg. 150-155.
Taylor, John. "The Gospel's Restoration—Its Priesthood and Principles—The Saints Misrepresented—The “Mormon” War—Comparative Statistics—The Impending Judgments of God—Duties of the Saints—A Warning to Their Oppressors—The Wickedness of the World—Exhortation to Righteousness." Journal of Discourses. Volume 23. April 9, 1882: pg. 47-68.
Thatcher, Moses. "The Mission of the Holy Ghost—Commissions of the Ancient and Modern Apostles—Unbelief, Division, Superstition and Fanaticism—Sincerity No Evidence of Truth, But Always Entitled to Respect—Marriage Commanded of God and Forbidden By Man—Moral Courage and Anti-“Mormon” Legislation—Righteous and Unrighteous Dominion—The Purity of the Elders of Israel—The Worship of Wealth and Its Poverty—Public opinion and Independence of Character—The Latter-Day Saints Never Destined to Be Slaves—Persecution and Its Consequences—Exhortation to Loyalty, Long-suffering, Kindness, Integrity and Righteousness." Journal of Discourses. Volume 23. April 8, 1882: pg. 196-214.
The Deseret News. "Fifty-Second Annual Conference." April 12, 1882: pg. 188-189.
The Deseret News. "Fifty-Second Annual Conference." April 19, 1882: pg. 194-195.
FIFTY-SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE
President John Taylor
Apostle John H. Smith
Apostle Francis M. Lyman
Bishop John Sharp
Elder W. W. Cluff
Elder A. Hatch
April 6, 2 p. m.
Apostle Brigham Young [Jr.]
Statistical Report
Apostle Wilford Woodruff
Friday, April 7th, 10 o’clock a.m.
Apostle Lorenzo Snow
Ancient and Modern Israel Compared
Reports of Auxiliaries
Mission Calls
President John Taylor
2 p. m.
Apostle Erastus Snow
The Last Dispensation
President John Taylor
Saturday, April 8, 10 o’clock a.m.
Apostle Franklin D. Richards
The Lord's Work
Elder George Teasdale
Elder L. John Nuttall
Saturday, 2 p. m.
Apostle Moses Thatcher
The Mission of the Holy Ghost
Sunday, 10 a. m.
Sustainings of the General Authorities
Mission Calls
President Joseph F. Smith
The Laws of God and the Laws of the Land
President John Taylor
2 o’clock p.m.
President John Taylor
The Gospel's Restoration
Statistics Relevant to Talk - Presented by L. John Nuttall
The Gospel's Restoration, Continued
Mission Calls
Smith, Joseph F. "The Laws of God and the Laws of the Land—The Saints An Obedient and Law-Abiding People—Their Persecutions Productive of Prosperity—Their Past and Prospective Experience and Eventual Triumph." Journal of Discourses. Volume 23. April 9, 1882: pg. 69-76.
Snow, Erastus. "The Last Dispensation—The Saints' Religion Practical—Hostility to God's Work—Divisions in Sectarian Churches—Unity of the Saints—Early History of Utah—“Mormon” Thrift and Enterprise—The One-Man Power—God's People a Free People—Increase of Corruption—The Saints Hopeful." Journal of Discourses. Volume 23. April 7, 1882: pg. 83-92.
Snow, Lorenzo. "Ancient and Modern Israel Compared—God's Work Progressive—His Overruling Providence." Journal of Discourses. Volume 23. April 7, 1882: pg. 150-155.
Taylor, John. "The Gospel's Restoration—Its Priesthood and Principles—The Saints Misrepresented—The “Mormon” War—Comparative Statistics—The Impending Judgments of God—Duties of the Saints—A Warning to Their Oppressors—The Wickedness of the World—Exhortation to Righteousness." Journal of Discourses. Volume 23. April 9, 1882: pg. 47-68.
Thatcher, Moses. "The Mission of the Holy Ghost—Commissions of the Ancient and Modern Apostles—Unbelief, Division, Superstition and Fanaticism—Sincerity No Evidence of Truth, But Always Entitled to Respect—Marriage Commanded of God and Forbidden By Man—Moral Courage and Anti-“Mormon” Legislation—Righteous and Unrighteous Dominion—The Purity of the Elders of Israel—The Worship of Wealth and Its Poverty—Public opinion and Independence of Character—The Latter-Day Saints Never Destined to Be Slaves—Persecution and Its Consequences—Exhortation to Loyalty, Long-suffering, Kindness, Integrity and Righteousness." Journal of Discourses. Volume 23. April 8, 1882: pg. 196-214.
The Deseret News. "Fifty-Second Annual Conference." April 12, 1882: pg. 188-189.
The Deseret News. "Fifty-Second Annual Conference." April 19, 1882: pg. 194-195.
FIFTY-SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE
President John Taylor
Apostle John H. Smith
Apostle Francis M. Lyman
Bishop John Sharp
Elder W. W. Cluff
Elder A. Hatch
April 6, 2 p. m.
Apostle Brigham Young [Jr.]
Statistical Report
Apostle Wilford Woodruff
Friday, April 7th, 10 o’clock a.m.
Apostle Lorenzo Snow
Ancient and Modern Israel Compared
Reports of Auxiliaries
Mission Calls
President John Taylor
2 p. m.
Apostle Erastus Snow
The Last Dispensation
President John Taylor
Saturday, April 8, 10 o’clock a.m.
Apostle Franklin D. Richards
The Lord's Work
Elder George Teasdale
Elder L. John Nuttall
Saturday, 2 p. m.
Apostle Moses Thatcher
The Mission of the Holy Ghost
Sunday, 10 a. m.
Sustainings of the General Authorities
Mission Calls
President Joseph F. Smith
The Laws of God and the Laws of the Land
President John Taylor
2 o’clock p.m.
President John Taylor
The Gospel's Restoration
Statistics Relevant to Talk - Presented by L. John Nuttall
The Gospel's Restoration, Continued
Mission Calls
FIFTY-SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE
The Fifty-Second Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints convened on Thursday, April 6th, 1882, in the large Tabernacle, at 10 o’clock a. m., as per adjournment.
Present on the stand: Of the First Presidency—John Taylor and Joseph F. Smith.
Of the Twelve Apostles—Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, Brigham Young [Jr.], F. M. Lyman and John H. Smith; Counselor, D. H. Wells.
Patriarch—John Smith.
Of the First Seven Presidents of Seventies—Henry Herriman, Horace S. Eldredge, Jacob Gates, John Van Cott and Wm. W. Taylor.
Of the Presiding Bishopric—Edward Hunter, Leonard W. Hardy and Robt. T. Burton.
Besides Presidents of Stakes, Bishops and the other leading men from all parts of the Territory.
Conference was called to order by President John Taylor.
The choir sang the hymn on page 142.
Sing to the great Jehovah’s praise,
All praise to him belongs.
Prayer by Apostle Franklin D. Richards.
The choir sang on page 265:
The great and glorious gospel light,
Has ushered forth unto my sight.
The Fifty-Second Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints convened on Thursday, April 6th, 1882, in the large Tabernacle, at 10 o’clock a. m., as per adjournment.
Present on the stand: Of the First Presidency—John Taylor and Joseph F. Smith.
Of the Twelve Apostles—Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, Brigham Young [Jr.], F. M. Lyman and John H. Smith; Counselor, D. H. Wells.
Patriarch—John Smith.
Of the First Seven Presidents of Seventies—Henry Herriman, Horace S. Eldredge, Jacob Gates, John Van Cott and Wm. W. Taylor.
Of the Presiding Bishopric—Edward Hunter, Leonard W. Hardy and Robt. T. Burton.
Besides Presidents of Stakes, Bishops and the other leading men from all parts of the Territory.
Conference was called to order by President John Taylor.
The choir sang the hymn on page 142.
Sing to the great Jehovah’s praise,
All praise to him belongs.
Prayer by Apostle Franklin D. Richards.
The choir sang on page 265:
The great and glorious gospel light,
Has ushered forth unto my sight.
President John Taylor
said: We are now commencing our Conference, which is the 52nd Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Church itself, as well as those connected with it, have passed through as many changes as most men that dwell upon the earth.
We have had the Gospel of Jesus Christ revealed to us, in connection with its powers and privileges, and these have inspired us with such hopes and aspirations, as have enabled us to bear with calmness the mobbings and drivings which we have endured so many times, and we shall be able doubtless again to bear with equanimity whatever the Lord in His tender mercy may see fit for us to suffer.
Many Elders have been sent forth to dispense the unsearchable riches of Christ. The message we have borne to the nations has been that of peace and good will to man, going forth without purse and scrip, scattering the seeds of life and bringing back our sheaves with us. We have done this years ago, are doing it now, and calculate to continue doing it, the Lord being our helper, without any trembling of the knees. We have been driven from our homes five times; we have been robbed and plundered; a spirit of antagonism is in the world, it has been, is now, and always will be until He comes whose right it is to reign.
President Taylor felt well this morning and rejoiced in the work of God. He spoke with great power, and said were he to give vent to his feelings, he would exclaim, Hallelujah! the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.
The discourse was reported in full and will be published.
said: We are now commencing our Conference, which is the 52nd Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Church itself, as well as those connected with it, have passed through as many changes as most men that dwell upon the earth.
We have had the Gospel of Jesus Christ revealed to us, in connection with its powers and privileges, and these have inspired us with such hopes and aspirations, as have enabled us to bear with calmness the mobbings and drivings which we have endured so many times, and we shall be able doubtless again to bear with equanimity whatever the Lord in His tender mercy may see fit for us to suffer.
Many Elders have been sent forth to dispense the unsearchable riches of Christ. The message we have borne to the nations has been that of peace and good will to man, going forth without purse and scrip, scattering the seeds of life and bringing back our sheaves with us. We have done this years ago, are doing it now, and calculate to continue doing it, the Lord being our helper, without any trembling of the knees. We have been driven from our homes five times; we have been robbed and plundered; a spirit of antagonism is in the world, it has been, is now, and always will be until He comes whose right it is to reign.
President Taylor felt well this morning and rejoiced in the work of God. He spoke with great power, and said were he to give vent to his feelings, he would exclaim, Hallelujah! the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.
The discourse was reported in full and will be published.
Apostle John H. Smith,
having just returned from a visit to the East, rejoiced to be home again and breath the mountain air of Utah. We have but few friends in the outside world, but the recent agitation is preaching a loud sermon. Many honest inquirers after truth are seeking information pertaining to our doctrines from those whom they think capable of imparting it. Good will come out of the apparent evil. The work of God will prevail; Zion will grow and increase. Although clouds gather around Zion, he had firm faith in the final triumph of her cause. She may pass through trials and be sifted as wheat, but ultimate success awaits her. Let us then be faithful and true to all the obligations and duties the Gospel enjoins on us and all will be well.
having just returned from a visit to the East, rejoiced to be home again and breath the mountain air of Utah. We have but few friends in the outside world, but the recent agitation is preaching a loud sermon. Many honest inquirers after truth are seeking information pertaining to our doctrines from those whom they think capable of imparting it. Good will come out of the apparent evil. The work of God will prevail; Zion will grow and increase. Although clouds gather around Zion, he had firm faith in the final triumph of her cause. She may pass through trials and be sifted as wheat, but ultimate success awaits her. Let us then be faithful and true to all the obligations and duties the Gospel enjoins on us and all will be well.
Apostle F. M. Lyman.
This handful of people are attracting more attention than ever before. The history of the people of God in former ages foreshadows what we may expect. When men undertake to carry out the purposes of God they necessarily encounter the opposition of the world, because there is a love of unrighteousness in the hearts of mankind. The Gospel creates a warfare within ourselves; how then can we be surprised if it causes a warfare in the world? How many of us have learned to subdue this evil within ourselves; have learned to do always that which is right; to deal justly and walk uprightly all the time? There is in man a religious sentiment. Though all do not worship at the same shrine, yet all have some chief object of worship or attainment. When the everlasting Gospel came to us it did not materially change the object of our worship, except so far as we had formed erroneous ideas concerning the Deity. Through obedience to it we have obtained a knowledge of the truth, and its spirit has wrought in us, revealing the mind and will of God, and urging us to works of righteousness, giving us a testimony which has enabled us to gather with the Saints, endure persecution, sustain ourselves, be united, and had we been more exact in its observance, more sincere, fervent and spiritually-minded, it would have more perfectly united us and established us. We are here on earth to obtain an experience in the things thereof, and also to develop ourselves morally and spiritually that we may be enabled to go into the next world with treasures of eternal riches. The Lord has revealed the gospel that we may, as well as get our living, develop ourselves intellectually, morally and spiritually. In doing this, God has for a long time past given us peace, prosperity and blessings that we could not have expected. And now if we have trying times what will they be for? Why was Jesus smitten, His name cast out as evil and His life taken? Not because he was wicked, but because there was a power on earth that warred against his mission. We have had to meet this before, and should be able to do so again. It is not intended that we should fight with the sword, but with the truth, and our motto should be, “peace on earth.” We are to build up the kingdom, not by violence, but by the power of God who will shelter us and we shall not be scattered abroad. It is not for any evil that we do that we are persecuted, but because we are engaged in the work of God, and our strength will be in doing right and having God for our friend. May we be able to act always so as to secure that friendship, and may the peace of heaven be upon our Conference and our Territory until the kingdom of God is permanently established on earth.
This handful of people are attracting more attention than ever before. The history of the people of God in former ages foreshadows what we may expect. When men undertake to carry out the purposes of God they necessarily encounter the opposition of the world, because there is a love of unrighteousness in the hearts of mankind. The Gospel creates a warfare within ourselves; how then can we be surprised if it causes a warfare in the world? How many of us have learned to subdue this evil within ourselves; have learned to do always that which is right; to deal justly and walk uprightly all the time? There is in man a religious sentiment. Though all do not worship at the same shrine, yet all have some chief object of worship or attainment. When the everlasting Gospel came to us it did not materially change the object of our worship, except so far as we had formed erroneous ideas concerning the Deity. Through obedience to it we have obtained a knowledge of the truth, and its spirit has wrought in us, revealing the mind and will of God, and urging us to works of righteousness, giving us a testimony which has enabled us to gather with the Saints, endure persecution, sustain ourselves, be united, and had we been more exact in its observance, more sincere, fervent and spiritually-minded, it would have more perfectly united us and established us. We are here on earth to obtain an experience in the things thereof, and also to develop ourselves morally and spiritually that we may be enabled to go into the next world with treasures of eternal riches. The Lord has revealed the gospel that we may, as well as get our living, develop ourselves intellectually, morally and spiritually. In doing this, God has for a long time past given us peace, prosperity and blessings that we could not have expected. And now if we have trying times what will they be for? Why was Jesus smitten, His name cast out as evil and His life taken? Not because he was wicked, but because there was a power on earth that warred against his mission. We have had to meet this before, and should be able to do so again. It is not intended that we should fight with the sword, but with the truth, and our motto should be, “peace on earth.” We are to build up the kingdom, not by violence, but by the power of God who will shelter us and we shall not be scattered abroad. It is not for any evil that we do that we are persecuted, but because we are engaged in the work of God, and our strength will be in doing right and having God for our friend. May we be able to act always so as to secure that friendship, and may the peace of heaven be upon our Conference and our Territory until the kingdom of God is permanently established on earth.
Bishop John Sharp
Felt much pleasure in being present at this Conference, and had enjoyed the remarks made by the previous speakers. His mind reverted to the time when he first heard the principles of life. After embracing those principles the peace and joy that the Spirit of the Lord brought to his heart, had never forsaken him from that time to the present. Speaking of the present spirit of the times he said, we know not what lies before us, but the only safeguard we have is in keeping the commandments of God. He felt no concern or dubiety about the result but had implicit trust in the overruling power of the Almighty. Prayed for the blessing of God to be upon the Saints.
Felt much pleasure in being present at this Conference, and had enjoyed the remarks made by the previous speakers. His mind reverted to the time when he first heard the principles of life. After embracing those principles the peace and joy that the Spirit of the Lord brought to his heart, had never forsaken him from that time to the present. Speaking of the present spirit of the times he said, we know not what lies before us, but the only safeguard we have is in keeping the commandments of God. He felt no concern or dubiety about the result but had implicit trust in the overruling power of the Almighty. Prayed for the blessing of God to be upon the Saints.
Elder W. W. Cluff
Was pleased with the privilege of being here. We know that this is the work of God. We know that if we keep the commandments of God we have nothing to fear. Trials and tribulations are not new to the servants of God. The preaching of righteousness provokes persecution from the wicked. By embracing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we signified our willingness to have our names cast out as evil. Prejudice against us a people is wide-spread, and most of it is through ignorance of our motives and aims. We are accused of hostility to the government of this nation, and yet there are no people in all this broad land that are so law-abiding and true to the Constitution of our country. We have nothing to fear if we do right and pursue the path that is marked out for us by the Lord. It is our duty to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all people. Let us be pure in our lives, humble and thoughtful and do all the good we can while we remain on the earth.
Was pleased with the privilege of being here. We know that this is the work of God. We know that if we keep the commandments of God we have nothing to fear. Trials and tribulations are not new to the servants of God. The preaching of righteousness provokes persecution from the wicked. By embracing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we signified our willingness to have our names cast out as evil. Prejudice against us a people is wide-spread, and most of it is through ignorance of our motives and aims. We are accused of hostility to the government of this nation, and yet there are no people in all this broad land that are so law-abiding and true to the Constitution of our country. We have nothing to fear if we do right and pursue the path that is marked out for us by the Lord. It is our duty to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all people. Let us be pure in our lives, humble and thoughtful and do all the good we can while we remain on the earth.
Elder A. Hatch
Realized to some extent the magnitude of the work in which we are engaged and the great labor that devolved on the early Elders of this Church, when the members were very few and apparently feeble. Now we number many thousands. He wished to say that though the National Legislature saw fit to pass bills restrictive in their nature, and deprive us of our political rights, yet he realized that this was their act and not ours. We therefore have only to maintain our integrity to keep the commandments of God and leave the result in His hands. He was a native born citizen and was fifty years of age, yet had never had the privilege of voting for the President of the United States. So much for political liberty. He felt that what was coming upon us would finally result in a status that we have never reached before; and while the Government is seeking to oppress us, let us hold out to them the olive branch of peace. He rejoiced in the spirit made manifest thus far in this Conference. Let us one and all continue to build up Zion and all will be well.
The choir sang an them: Angels from the realms of glory.
Conference adjourned till 2 p.m.
Benediction by Apostle Wilford Woodruff.
Realized to some extent the magnitude of the work in which we are engaged and the great labor that devolved on the early Elders of this Church, when the members were very few and apparently feeble. Now we number many thousands. He wished to say that though the National Legislature saw fit to pass bills restrictive in their nature, and deprive us of our political rights, yet he realized that this was their act and not ours. We therefore have only to maintain our integrity to keep the commandments of God and leave the result in His hands. He was a native born citizen and was fifty years of age, yet had never had the privilege of voting for the President of the United States. So much for political liberty. He felt that what was coming upon us would finally result in a status that we have never reached before; and while the Government is seeking to oppress us, let us hold out to them the olive branch of peace. He rejoiced in the spirit made manifest thus far in this Conference. Let us one and all continue to build up Zion and all will be well.
The choir sang an them: Angels from the realms of glory.
Conference adjourned till 2 p.m.
Benediction by Apostle Wilford Woodruff.
April 6, 2 p. m.
The choir sang on page 117:
All praise to our redeeming Lord,
Who joins us by his praise.
Prayer by President Joseph F. Smith.
The choir sang on page 13.
Praise to God immortal praise,
For the love that crowns our days.
The choir sang on page 117:
All praise to our redeeming Lord,
Who joins us by his praise.
Prayer by President Joseph F. Smith.
The choir sang on page 13.
Praise to God immortal praise,
For the love that crowns our days.
Apostle Brigham Young [Jr.]
said he was pleased at the opportunity of attending another annual Conference. He endorsed the remarks of the speakers of this morning. His feelings had been a little wrought upon at the actions of those who ought to foster and encourage us, for we are bringing the poor and down-trodden to this country, and teaching them how to live and improve themselves, and develop the resources of this wild and barren waste. This people have done more to establish and prepare this western region for capitalists to come to and build fine houses than the rest of the United States all put together. He then spoke of the suicidal policy we had been guilty of by sustaining and making rich those who had refused to render one act of succor or utter one word of remonstrance when troubles assailed us. He hoped to be sustained in observing the laws of God. The watch-word to-day for us was peace and good will. He had faith in God, and had no fears for the result. We must not be deterred by obstacles, but press forward in faith and a way would always be opened and a ram be found in the thicket. If we put away from us the principles that God has given us, this people never can prosper, but let us serve God with renewed energy, and if we have neglected our quorum meetings or other duties, let us repent and do better, and trust in God, and the persecutions now threatening will do us no harm, but all will work to our advantage and for the building up of the kingdom of God at large. He felt it incumbent on him to keep the commandments of God, and through not strictly living up to the duties and responsibilities of our religion he attributed the chief cause of the troubles and calamities this people had been called to pass through.
said he was pleased at the opportunity of attending another annual Conference. He endorsed the remarks of the speakers of this morning. His feelings had been a little wrought upon at the actions of those who ought to foster and encourage us, for we are bringing the poor and down-trodden to this country, and teaching them how to live and improve themselves, and develop the resources of this wild and barren waste. This people have done more to establish and prepare this western region for capitalists to come to and build fine houses than the rest of the United States all put together. He then spoke of the suicidal policy we had been guilty of by sustaining and making rich those who had refused to render one act of succor or utter one word of remonstrance when troubles assailed us. He hoped to be sustained in observing the laws of God. The watch-word to-day for us was peace and good will. He had faith in God, and had no fears for the result. We must not be deterred by obstacles, but press forward in faith and a way would always be opened and a ram be found in the thicket. If we put away from us the principles that God has given us, this people never can prosper, but let us serve God with renewed energy, and if we have neglected our quorum meetings or other duties, let us repent and do better, and trust in God, and the persecutions now threatening will do us no harm, but all will work to our advantage and for the building up of the kingdom of God at large. He felt it incumbent on him to keep the commandments of God, and through not strictly living up to the duties and responsibilities of our religion he attributed the chief cause of the troubles and calamities this people had been called to pass through.
Elder L. J. Nuttall
Then read the statistics of the various stakes of Zion, also a half-yearly statistical and financial report of the Relief Societies.
Then read the statistics of the various stakes of Zion, also a half-yearly statistical and financial report of the Relief Societies.
Apostle Wilford Woodruff
felt as when he was first baptized into this Church—that whatever the Spirit of the Lord might give him to speak to the people, regardless of the feelings and views of the outside world, that he had always spoken, and hoped to continue to do. He wished to say to the Latter-day Saints that with us it was the kingdom of God or nothing. Outside the kingdom of God there is no exaltation. The God of heaven has set His hand to establish his kingdom. All the Prophets of by gone days have prophesied of these days, and of the setting up of the kingdom of God. He had watched and marked the progress of this work for near half a century. The God of Heaven called Joseph Smith to lay the foundation of this great latter-day work, and God stood by him to the day of his death. We need not expect to pass through this world in connection with this work, without being persecuted, for all men in every dispensation who held the Priesthood had to contend with it more or less. If God was not the author of this latter-day dispensation we should not meet with persecution. The world would love its own. He could remember nearly 70 years back, and the change that had come of the Christian world was wonderful. They had become infidel, and had discarded nearly all the ordinances of the gospel. They have no faith in God, and utterly repudiated and would laugh at the very idea of new revelation. If the world do not believe there is a God, we do. Over 100,000 persons living in these mountains, believe in God, and He will protect and defend us, for we know that God rules and reigns, and He is our friend. A Congressman said lately to one of our Elders, “If Congress pass that Edmunds bill, God have mercy on you Mormons.” But I say, God have mercy on the outside world, for they are in the hands of God as much as we are, and He will have with them a fearful reckoning. If the world persecute us, we need not fear and tremble, but put our trust in the Almighty. There is no principle or commandment that God has revealed for us to observe that we can afford to give up. Our business is to keep the commandments of God regardless of the consequences. He then called on every man and woman in Israel to enter into their closets and pour out their souls and petitions before God, and the thousands of fervent, honest prayers going up before the Lord will be sure to bring down blessings upon the heads of the Saints and sanctify to our God all that we may be called upon to pass through. The God of heaven is going to exalt Zion and make His people great in the earth. The Prophet Joseph had said the time would come when the principles of the Constitution would be forsaken and that instrument would be rent asunder, and this people would then step forward and rescue it from entire destruction. The government of this nation are fast preparing themselves for the severe chastening hand of the Almighty, for He holds them responsible; they have got to foot the bill for all that they do. We have been called to a great and mighty work; let us keep the commandments of God and fear not. He was willing to risk his life, his honor, and his eternal salvation, on the result of obedience to the principles of our holy religion. We have appealed to earthly courts in vain, let us appeal to the court of Heaven, and let us prepare ourselves for the work that lies before us and live so that we may finally inherit eternal life for Jesus’ sake.
The Choir sang the hymn of page 260:
How firm a foundation ye Saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word.
Conference was adjourned till to-morrow at 10 o’clock a.m.
Benediction by Apostle Lorenzo Snow.
felt as when he was first baptized into this Church—that whatever the Spirit of the Lord might give him to speak to the people, regardless of the feelings and views of the outside world, that he had always spoken, and hoped to continue to do. He wished to say to the Latter-day Saints that with us it was the kingdom of God or nothing. Outside the kingdom of God there is no exaltation. The God of heaven has set His hand to establish his kingdom. All the Prophets of by gone days have prophesied of these days, and of the setting up of the kingdom of God. He had watched and marked the progress of this work for near half a century. The God of Heaven called Joseph Smith to lay the foundation of this great latter-day work, and God stood by him to the day of his death. We need not expect to pass through this world in connection with this work, without being persecuted, for all men in every dispensation who held the Priesthood had to contend with it more or less. If God was not the author of this latter-day dispensation we should not meet with persecution. The world would love its own. He could remember nearly 70 years back, and the change that had come of the Christian world was wonderful. They had become infidel, and had discarded nearly all the ordinances of the gospel. They have no faith in God, and utterly repudiated and would laugh at the very idea of new revelation. If the world do not believe there is a God, we do. Over 100,000 persons living in these mountains, believe in God, and He will protect and defend us, for we know that God rules and reigns, and He is our friend. A Congressman said lately to one of our Elders, “If Congress pass that Edmunds bill, God have mercy on you Mormons.” But I say, God have mercy on the outside world, for they are in the hands of God as much as we are, and He will have with them a fearful reckoning. If the world persecute us, we need not fear and tremble, but put our trust in the Almighty. There is no principle or commandment that God has revealed for us to observe that we can afford to give up. Our business is to keep the commandments of God regardless of the consequences. He then called on every man and woman in Israel to enter into their closets and pour out their souls and petitions before God, and the thousands of fervent, honest prayers going up before the Lord will be sure to bring down blessings upon the heads of the Saints and sanctify to our God all that we may be called upon to pass through. The God of heaven is going to exalt Zion and make His people great in the earth. The Prophet Joseph had said the time would come when the principles of the Constitution would be forsaken and that instrument would be rent asunder, and this people would then step forward and rescue it from entire destruction. The government of this nation are fast preparing themselves for the severe chastening hand of the Almighty, for He holds them responsible; they have got to foot the bill for all that they do. We have been called to a great and mighty work; let us keep the commandments of God and fear not. He was willing to risk his life, his honor, and his eternal salvation, on the result of obedience to the principles of our holy religion. We have appealed to earthly courts in vain, let us appeal to the court of Heaven, and let us prepare ourselves for the work that lies before us and live so that we may finally inherit eternal life for Jesus’ sake.
The Choir sang the hymn of page 260:
How firm a foundation ye Saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word.
Conference was adjourned till to-morrow at 10 o’clock a.m.
Benediction by Apostle Lorenzo Snow.
SECOND DAY.
Friday, April 7th, 10 o’clock a.m.
The choir sang a hymn on page 209--
Come, O thou King of kings,
We’ve waited long for Thee.
Prayer by Bishop David H. Cannon.
Come listen to a prophet’s voice,
And hear the word of God.
Friday, April 7th, 10 o’clock a.m.
The choir sang a hymn on page 209--
Come, O thou King of kings,
We’ve waited long for Thee.
Prayer by Bishop David H. Cannon.
Come listen to a prophet’s voice,
And hear the word of God.
Apostle Lorenzo Snow
read a few verses from the 14th chapter of Exodus. He described the condition of the children of Israel, with the Red Sea in their front and the army of the Egyptians in their rear, and compared it with the circumstances that the Latter-day Saints have passed through, and may possibly in the future be placed in, where, to all human appearance, there can be no deliverance unless the Almighty steps in and displays his power in their behalf. He referred to the persecution and trials in the early history of this Church, when our enemies were numerous and strong and the Saints few in number and feeble in strength, yet in the midst of their deepest troubles very few were inclined to give up their faith in God, and return to Babylon. When impediments rise up to stop the work of God, which no human power can avert, the Elders of Israel must not stop, but move forward, trusting in God, and in the own due time of the Lord when necessity requires it, the Lord may inspire his servants as he did Moses of old to say to the people “Stand still and see the salvation of God. The purposes of God can never be thwarted or set aside. No human agency can prevent the establishment of the kingdom of God upon the earth. Let not the Elders stop their labors, and let the watchword be, “Do not stand still, move on!” Let there be no moving back. Let the farmer pursue his agricultural work; let the mechanic go on with his labor; let Israel continue to build their temples, their houses of worship and schoolhouses; let the Elders preach the Gospel and gather Israel; we must not stand still, but go on improving. Let us continue sending out our missionaries to preach the gospel, and in every way to push forward in labors of love in the building up of Zion. We must never stop while we have strength to move, and a voice to speak. When Christ was nailed to the cross his enemies thought they had gained the advantage, but the purposes of God were being fulfilled. So it has been in all the persecutions and drivings of the Latter-day Saints, and so it will be in the future. As an example of moral courage and sterling integrity to God and the blessings that resulted therefrom, the speaker instanced the three Hebrew children and the Prophet Daniel, who in the face of the king’s decree, continued to serve God who delivered them from their perilous situation. The Saints of the latter-days possess the same kind of integrity, and would rather suffer all kinds of persecution than relinquish any of those principles of righteousness which God has revealed for the salvation of the human family. Sometimes we see that rulers and men in high places are moved upon to confer privileges and powers upon the Saints, as in the Nauvoo charter and in the appointment of President Young as Governor of Utah, and then they are permitted to chastise the Saints, and then God can soften their hearts and dispose them to bestow favors upon us, however unexpectedly they may come. If any one had predicted, when the Saints were driven from Nauvoo that our Prophet would be appointed Governor, and some of our Elders to other offices in the Territory, he would at least have been counted a false prophet. God moved in ancient times upon infidel kings for the good of His people and we may yet be able to see that good can yet “come out of Nazareth.” He then spoke of plural marriage, as a principle of our religion, which was so explained to him by Joseph Smith, and personally revealed to him from heaven as a correct principle of the Gospel. The Edmunds bill though so obscure as not to be easily understood, creating quite a division of opinion among Congressmen as to its meaning, had some good provisions. It legitimatized the offspring of plural marriages up to Jan. 1, 1883, if those marriages were performed according to the usages and customs of the “Mormon” Church—no others were included. This was quite unexpected and we shall appreciate it.
After offering some very encouraging remarks to the Saints, he exhorted them to live so as to secure the blessings of God and finally the fulness of His glory.
read a few verses from the 14th chapter of Exodus. He described the condition of the children of Israel, with the Red Sea in their front and the army of the Egyptians in their rear, and compared it with the circumstances that the Latter-day Saints have passed through, and may possibly in the future be placed in, where, to all human appearance, there can be no deliverance unless the Almighty steps in and displays his power in their behalf. He referred to the persecution and trials in the early history of this Church, when our enemies were numerous and strong and the Saints few in number and feeble in strength, yet in the midst of their deepest troubles very few were inclined to give up their faith in God, and return to Babylon. When impediments rise up to stop the work of God, which no human power can avert, the Elders of Israel must not stop, but move forward, trusting in God, and in the own due time of the Lord when necessity requires it, the Lord may inspire his servants as he did Moses of old to say to the people “Stand still and see the salvation of God. The purposes of God can never be thwarted or set aside. No human agency can prevent the establishment of the kingdom of God upon the earth. Let not the Elders stop their labors, and let the watchword be, “Do not stand still, move on!” Let there be no moving back. Let the farmer pursue his agricultural work; let the mechanic go on with his labor; let Israel continue to build their temples, their houses of worship and schoolhouses; let the Elders preach the Gospel and gather Israel; we must not stand still, but go on improving. Let us continue sending out our missionaries to preach the gospel, and in every way to push forward in labors of love in the building up of Zion. We must never stop while we have strength to move, and a voice to speak. When Christ was nailed to the cross his enemies thought they had gained the advantage, but the purposes of God were being fulfilled. So it has been in all the persecutions and drivings of the Latter-day Saints, and so it will be in the future. As an example of moral courage and sterling integrity to God and the blessings that resulted therefrom, the speaker instanced the three Hebrew children and the Prophet Daniel, who in the face of the king’s decree, continued to serve God who delivered them from their perilous situation. The Saints of the latter-days possess the same kind of integrity, and would rather suffer all kinds of persecution than relinquish any of those principles of righteousness which God has revealed for the salvation of the human family. Sometimes we see that rulers and men in high places are moved upon to confer privileges and powers upon the Saints, as in the Nauvoo charter and in the appointment of President Young as Governor of Utah, and then they are permitted to chastise the Saints, and then God can soften their hearts and dispose them to bestow favors upon us, however unexpectedly they may come. If any one had predicted, when the Saints were driven from Nauvoo that our Prophet would be appointed Governor, and some of our Elders to other offices in the Territory, he would at least have been counted a false prophet. God moved in ancient times upon infidel kings for the good of His people and we may yet be able to see that good can yet “come out of Nazareth.” He then spoke of plural marriage, as a principle of our religion, which was so explained to him by Joseph Smith, and personally revealed to him from heaven as a correct principle of the Gospel. The Edmunds bill though so obscure as not to be easily understood, creating quite a division of opinion among Congressmen as to its meaning, had some good provisions. It legitimatized the offspring of plural marriages up to Jan. 1, 1883, if those marriages were performed according to the usages and customs of the “Mormon” Church—no others were included. This was quite unexpected and we shall appreciate it.
After offering some very encouraging remarks to the Saints, he exhorted them to live so as to secure the blessings of God and finally the fulness of His glory.
Ancient and Modern Israel Compared—God's Work Progressive—His Overruling Providence
Discourse by Apostle Lorenzo Snow, delivered at the General Conference, Friday, A. M., April 7th, 1882.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
The speaker read the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th verses of the 14th chapter of Exodus, and then said:
There is an important lesson contained in these verses, and the lesson is not only applicable to this community as a whole, but to each individual. It appears that the children of Israel at the time referred to in the passage I have read, were not very well acquainted with the Lord, or with his ability to carry out his purposes. They, however, had not the opportunities of becoming acquainted with him, as have the Latter-day Saints. They had seen some of the works of the Lord wrought in the presence of the Egyptians as well as in their own presence; but their hearts had not been touched, neither had their understandings been enlightened by the intelligence of the Holy Spirit, as has been the case with the Latter-day Saints, and therefore, when they were brought to face the Red Sea, which, to all human appearance, was impassable, and with the armies of the Egyptians pressing close upon them, their hearts failed them.
The Latter-day Saints in latter days have been placed in circumstances very similar. I well remember in my own experience the Latter-day Saints being placed in situations where it became very necessary for them to rely upon their knowledge of the things of God and their faith in His power to carry out His purposes.
It is not at all strange that the Israelites at that time, possessing the little knowledge they did, should be considerably alarmed, or that they should display a great amount of ignorance and folly, having expressed themselves to Moses as being in doubt as to the propriety of attempting to deliver them from their fettered condition, notwithstanding the Egyptians had been so severe upon them, and had taken the lives of their children, yet they had so little faith in the word of the Lord through their deliverer, Moses, that they were willing to still continue slaves rather than place themselves under the direction of the Almighty. They wished to know of Moses if there were not sufficient graves in Egypt that it became necessary for them to be destroyed by the army of Pharaoh in the wilderness, and chided Moses for the course he had pursued, and wished themselves back in bondage.
I do not think the Latter-day Saints in any period of their history have displayed such weakness and lack of faith; however trying our circumstances may have been, we have never been guilty of such pronounced ingratitude to God. At the time the mob came against us in Missouri there were but a few of us, and the circumstances were such it was impossible to expect deliverance except through the intervention of the Almighty. There may, it is true, have been some persons at that time whose hearts failed them under the very trying circumstances in which we were placed; but they were very few. The Latter-day Saints had received the Gospel accompanied by the Holy Spirit; and it was in consequence of that miraculous influence and power that was and had been upon them at various times, which caused them to have faith in their deliverance. They did not display the weakness and folly that we see manifested in the children of Israel on the occasion referred to in the verses I have read, as well as on many other occasions. There were a few, however, that wished to turn back to Babylon and give up their faith, the ordeal being too severe. In reading ecclesiastical history we find that even the prophets on certain occasions, displayed more or less weakness; and I have thought that Moses exhibited a little on this occasion, that is, if the translation be strictly correct. He saw the difficulties, and although he had more faith and knowledge in his bosom than all the faith and knowledge of the people put together, yet there seemed to be a feebleness in the course that he advised on this occasion. With the Red Sea in front and the army of Pharaoh pressing closely in the rear, the state of affairs, of course, seemed critical, and it was apparent to all: and while the people were bewailing their condition Moses gave instructions, saying, “Fear ye not”—now that part of it was excellent, and may apply to the Latter-day Saints, and will always be applicable in whatever condition they may be placed; but the after part of the instruction I would scarcely think was exactly applicable on that occasion, and it certainly would not be to the Latter-day Saints in any situation or circumstance, namely, “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.” It appears from this verse which I will read, that Moses began to cry unto the Lord for deliverance; and the Lord answered him saying: “Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward.” There was no standing still; there never has been since the day that the Almighty commenced to establish His work, the people have always been required to move on and never stand still. Although the Lord will work and accomplish wonders in regard to the deliverance of His people when impediments arise in the path of their progress and no human power or ability can remove them, then God by His power will do so, but it is the business of those who profess to be engaged in His work to move on, to go forward, and that too without murmuring or having to be urged; so long as there remains a step forward to be taken, that step should be taken. As in this case it was not wisdom for the people to stand still to see the salvation of the Lord, but the word was, move on, go forward, have faith, so that when they should come to the water's edge and place their feet therein, that then the Lord would either move upon the Egyptians to stay the hand of destruction, or show His power in delivering them in some other way; but so long as they could make a move in the direction that God through Moses had appointed, it was their duty to do so.
It may appear through our ignorance in not understanding fully the ways of the Lord and His purposes, that in our onward march in carrying out the program before us, we sometimes come to a stopping place for the time being, but the fact is, there is no such thing in the program, and there cannot be providing the people continue their labors putting their trust in the promises of God. The Apostles, notwithstanding the opportunities they had of acquainting themselves with the purposes of the Almighty, through personal converse with the Son of God, thought there was a time when they would have to stand still, and cease their labors as ministers of God. When they saw the Savior hanging upon the cross in the agonies of death, their hearts failed them, and they concluded that all was over with them. They had thought that Jesus was to be king of Israel, and deliver them from the Gentile yoke, but now their hopes seemed vain and all was lost; now said their leader, let us go a fishing. Was there a cessation of the work of God, when Jesus was suffering upon the cross? No, the work was still going on, but the Apostles did not understand it; they did not seem to comprehend the fact that the purposes of God were being carried out when He was suffering upon the cross; but when Jesus appeared to them after He arose from the tomb, He gave them to understand that in His suffering and death the words of the prophets were being fulfilled and He opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures. But the High Priests of the Jewish faith, and all those who were foremost in the crucifixion of the Savior, believed they had accomplished their purpose in putting to death Him whom they feared would take away their name and nation, and doubtless felt satisfied with their work, especially as He failed to come down from the cross, when they cried out, If He be the Son of God let Him come down from the cross.
There is no standing still with the Latter-day Saints. When we were driven from Kirtland and Jackson County by mob violence, the purposes of God were being fulfilled and the work was undergoing changes necessary to its growth and progress, and the trials and afflictions incident thereto were necessary to the proving of the Saints and the establishment of the kingdom of God upon the earth. And I would say, let the motto be to every Elder in Israel, and to every person worthy to be called a Saint: “Fear not, and never stand still, but move on.” Let the farmer go forward making improvements, plow and sow and reap; and those engaged in proper and useful enterprises continue to do what seems good according to the Spirit of God that may operate upon them, and let every man be faithful and very diligent in keeping the commandments of God, and cultivate the desire to do good to those around him; and if, in reflecting on the past, we find we have not acted strictly in accordance with the dictates of our consciences and duty, let us make ourselves right before God and man, that we may be prepared for every event that may transpire. Let the work of building temples and houses of worship go on; let Israel continue to educate their children and bring them up in the fear of the Lord, and let the Gospel still be carried to the nations afar, and Israel be gathered and the people always be found moving on as the purposes of God continue to be fulfilled. Do not stand still and expect to see the salvation of God, but move on so long as there is a step to be made in the direction that he has commanded, and then see the salvation of the Almighty. This is the work of God, and he is directing its course and progress in the earth, and this work should ever be uppermost in our minds; and so long as we are found in the path of duty we can surely remain fixed and unmoved and determined in our purpose, and thus exhibit to the world our faith and devotion to the principles of truth which God has revealed, as did the Saints when they were driven from their homes as recorded in the history of the Church. And because of this exhibition of faith, God blessed us wonderfully and miraculously after we had passed through the trials which followed in the accomplishment of this work, trials which seemed indeed to the world almost unbearable. However we regard those afflictions, they were not so very disagreeable. When the three Hebrew children, for instance, had been brought to a certain position, cast into the fiery furnace because of their undying faith and integrity, they could not after all perhaps have been placed in more pleasing and agreeable circumstances. A holy being, it is said, appeared and walked with them, side by side in the midst of the flames; and so with Daniel under similar circumstances. Did they wait to see what God would do for them? No; it was “move on” with them. They knew that in the hands of their Master were held the issues of life and death, and that to die in Him is to live, live eternally, to go on, on to perfection until they should become even like unto Him; and having a living, an abiding faith, and a knowledge of the true and living God they were ready to live and they were ready to die for the truth. It was not with those men as it was with the children of Israel of whom I have read. They were in possession of knowledge through the operation of the Holy Ghost which prepared them for any circumstances in which they might be placed. And so with regard to the Latter-day Saints: When compelled to sign over our property to the mob in Missouri, we were advised to disperse and mix up among the people and not attempt to gather together again; and yet under these circumstances the Lord moved upon the legislature of the State of Illinois to grant us a city charter in which there were favorable provisions that were not found in any other charter. And this was as he had told us he would do, namely, that he would soften the hearts of rulers from time to time that they should show favor to his people. I do not believe, as some do, that no good can come out from Nazareth. We talk sometimes rather harshly about some of the politicians of our country, and deservedly, too; but notwithstanding the illiberal and unjust policy they show towards us, I believe they can do us a great deal of good provided the Lord operates upon the hearts of ruling men, as he has done in the past, and as he will do in the future, which will result in their showing and granting us favors and blessings that many now little imagine.
The circumstances under which we came to these mountain valleys are well known; they need not be recited now. After we had passed through the chastisement, the Lord moved upon our national government to bestow favors upon the people of God. They gave us what is called the Organic Act, a bill of rights as good as we could expect from their hands, and what was more, they conferred political favor upon our leader, our Prophet and President, Brigham Young, by making him Governor of the Territory. And who would have thought of such a thing? Any man that would have predicted such a thing at the time we were being driven from Missouri, would have been considered to say the least, an enthusiast. And besides that, one of our United States judges was a Mormon Elder; the Secretary of the Territory was also a Mormon Elder. And who, let me ask, did this? Was it the Congress or the President of the United States? Well, now, I would dislike very much to say anything that could be construed into ungratefulness on our part or in failing to recognize all the good that our nation has designed to do us, for we recognize it as our uncle, and sometimes it has been a pretty good uncle; but, notwithstanding, we see in all this the hand of our God who through them, has wrought out this good and this deliverance for his people, while we are ready and willing to acknowledge an overruling Providence in the good that comes to us; and for one I am ever ready to acknowledge that good also can come out of Nazareth. We can certainly afford to suffer a little when at times we perceive magnanimity displayed towards us by our government, which has been the case in the past, and which I firmly believe will be in the future despite the pressure that is being brought to bear against us and the nature of the means that are being now employed.
The Lord moved upon rulers in former generations; he moved upon infidel kings to favor his people, and he is the same God now as then.
We talk about the Edmunds bill, what it is going to do I do not pretend to say, neither do I think that its framers and abettors know what is going to come of it. One thing I have noticed, and that is that Congressmen themselves differ widely with regard to certain of its provisions; and that being the case it would perhaps, become us to wait and watch. But there is one singular feature about it relating to plural marriage. And about that allow me here to say, I happen to have some knowledge of it as a principle of revelation belonging to the religion we have espoused. I was personally acquainted with Joseph Smith during twelve or fourteen years and, of course, through him I first learned what I now know about that principle. And as to his being a man of truth and honor I, nor anyone else that knew him, have any reason to question for a moment. But then I never went forth to preach the principles of this Gospel depending entirely upon any information I received through him or any other man; but I believed on his words, coming as they did to me as the words of truth, from an inspired man of God; and from that hour the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost which all men may receive and enjoy, has confirmed the truth of what he had told me, and it became knowledge to me of that nature which no man can give or take away. And now, as there is good, more or less, to be found elsewhere, the Edmunds bill is not without its good; and, therefore, I say, let us accept the good and feel thankful therefore. That extraordinary bill legalizes the issue of plural marriage up to the 1st day of January, 1883. Now, who could have expected so much good to come out of Nazareth? Uncle Samuel is now and then a pretty good uncle after all. (Laughter). And, mark you, the framers of the Bill have been so considerate as to distinctly provide that the children thus legalized must be the offspring of marriages performed according to the rites and ceremonies of the sect known as the Latter-day Saints. In the language of the small boy I say, “good enough.” (Laughter.) Now, if any of our Gentile friends have been indiscreet, or should hereafter be guilty of bigamy, their offspring of course are not so favored. (Laughter.) We ought to be thankful for this unexpected favor, and indeed I have no doubt we are. I really never expected that the lawmakers of our nation would ever legalize plural marriages as performed for the last thirty years or more. If the Lord is able to do a thing of this kind through men who framed that strange and singular bill, our open and avowed enemies, what is he not able to do? What may we not expect if we remain faithful and true to the trust reposed in us?
The Lord very possibly may cause a heavy pressure to bear upon us, such as will require great sacrifice at the hands of his people. The question with us is, will we make that sacrifice? This work is the work of the Almighty, and the blessings we look for which have been promised, will come after we have proven ourselves and passed through the ordeal. I have no special word to this people that there is, or that there is not, before them a fiery ordeal through which they will be called to pass; the question with me is, am I prepared to receive and put to a right and proper use any blessing the Lord has in store for me in common with His people; or, on the other hand, am I prepared to make any sacrifice that he may require at my hands? I would not give the ashes of a rye straw for any religion that was not worth living for and that was not worth dying for; and I would not give much for the man that was not willing to sacrifice his all for the sake of his religion.
Well, I close my remarks by saying to one and all, Move on! move on, and see the salvation of the Lord, and not stand still. Amen.
Discourse by Apostle Lorenzo Snow, delivered at the General Conference, Friday, A. M., April 7th, 1882.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
The speaker read the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th verses of the 14th chapter of Exodus, and then said:
There is an important lesson contained in these verses, and the lesson is not only applicable to this community as a whole, but to each individual. It appears that the children of Israel at the time referred to in the passage I have read, were not very well acquainted with the Lord, or with his ability to carry out his purposes. They, however, had not the opportunities of becoming acquainted with him, as have the Latter-day Saints. They had seen some of the works of the Lord wrought in the presence of the Egyptians as well as in their own presence; but their hearts had not been touched, neither had their understandings been enlightened by the intelligence of the Holy Spirit, as has been the case with the Latter-day Saints, and therefore, when they were brought to face the Red Sea, which, to all human appearance, was impassable, and with the armies of the Egyptians pressing close upon them, their hearts failed them.
The Latter-day Saints in latter days have been placed in circumstances very similar. I well remember in my own experience the Latter-day Saints being placed in situations where it became very necessary for them to rely upon their knowledge of the things of God and their faith in His power to carry out His purposes.
It is not at all strange that the Israelites at that time, possessing the little knowledge they did, should be considerably alarmed, or that they should display a great amount of ignorance and folly, having expressed themselves to Moses as being in doubt as to the propriety of attempting to deliver them from their fettered condition, notwithstanding the Egyptians had been so severe upon them, and had taken the lives of their children, yet they had so little faith in the word of the Lord through their deliverer, Moses, that they were willing to still continue slaves rather than place themselves under the direction of the Almighty. They wished to know of Moses if there were not sufficient graves in Egypt that it became necessary for them to be destroyed by the army of Pharaoh in the wilderness, and chided Moses for the course he had pursued, and wished themselves back in bondage.
I do not think the Latter-day Saints in any period of their history have displayed such weakness and lack of faith; however trying our circumstances may have been, we have never been guilty of such pronounced ingratitude to God. At the time the mob came against us in Missouri there were but a few of us, and the circumstances were such it was impossible to expect deliverance except through the intervention of the Almighty. There may, it is true, have been some persons at that time whose hearts failed them under the very trying circumstances in which we were placed; but they were very few. The Latter-day Saints had received the Gospel accompanied by the Holy Spirit; and it was in consequence of that miraculous influence and power that was and had been upon them at various times, which caused them to have faith in their deliverance. They did not display the weakness and folly that we see manifested in the children of Israel on the occasion referred to in the verses I have read, as well as on many other occasions. There were a few, however, that wished to turn back to Babylon and give up their faith, the ordeal being too severe. In reading ecclesiastical history we find that even the prophets on certain occasions, displayed more or less weakness; and I have thought that Moses exhibited a little on this occasion, that is, if the translation be strictly correct. He saw the difficulties, and although he had more faith and knowledge in his bosom than all the faith and knowledge of the people put together, yet there seemed to be a feebleness in the course that he advised on this occasion. With the Red Sea in front and the army of Pharaoh pressing closely in the rear, the state of affairs, of course, seemed critical, and it was apparent to all: and while the people were bewailing their condition Moses gave instructions, saying, “Fear ye not”—now that part of it was excellent, and may apply to the Latter-day Saints, and will always be applicable in whatever condition they may be placed; but the after part of the instruction I would scarcely think was exactly applicable on that occasion, and it certainly would not be to the Latter-day Saints in any situation or circumstance, namely, “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.” It appears from this verse which I will read, that Moses began to cry unto the Lord for deliverance; and the Lord answered him saying: “Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward.” There was no standing still; there never has been since the day that the Almighty commenced to establish His work, the people have always been required to move on and never stand still. Although the Lord will work and accomplish wonders in regard to the deliverance of His people when impediments arise in the path of their progress and no human power or ability can remove them, then God by His power will do so, but it is the business of those who profess to be engaged in His work to move on, to go forward, and that too without murmuring or having to be urged; so long as there remains a step forward to be taken, that step should be taken. As in this case it was not wisdom for the people to stand still to see the salvation of the Lord, but the word was, move on, go forward, have faith, so that when they should come to the water's edge and place their feet therein, that then the Lord would either move upon the Egyptians to stay the hand of destruction, or show His power in delivering them in some other way; but so long as they could make a move in the direction that God through Moses had appointed, it was their duty to do so.
It may appear through our ignorance in not understanding fully the ways of the Lord and His purposes, that in our onward march in carrying out the program before us, we sometimes come to a stopping place for the time being, but the fact is, there is no such thing in the program, and there cannot be providing the people continue their labors putting their trust in the promises of God. The Apostles, notwithstanding the opportunities they had of acquainting themselves with the purposes of the Almighty, through personal converse with the Son of God, thought there was a time when they would have to stand still, and cease their labors as ministers of God. When they saw the Savior hanging upon the cross in the agonies of death, their hearts failed them, and they concluded that all was over with them. They had thought that Jesus was to be king of Israel, and deliver them from the Gentile yoke, but now their hopes seemed vain and all was lost; now said their leader, let us go a fishing. Was there a cessation of the work of God, when Jesus was suffering upon the cross? No, the work was still going on, but the Apostles did not understand it; they did not seem to comprehend the fact that the purposes of God were being carried out when He was suffering upon the cross; but when Jesus appeared to them after He arose from the tomb, He gave them to understand that in His suffering and death the words of the prophets were being fulfilled and He opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures. But the High Priests of the Jewish faith, and all those who were foremost in the crucifixion of the Savior, believed they had accomplished their purpose in putting to death Him whom they feared would take away their name and nation, and doubtless felt satisfied with their work, especially as He failed to come down from the cross, when they cried out, If He be the Son of God let Him come down from the cross.
There is no standing still with the Latter-day Saints. When we were driven from Kirtland and Jackson County by mob violence, the purposes of God were being fulfilled and the work was undergoing changes necessary to its growth and progress, and the trials and afflictions incident thereto were necessary to the proving of the Saints and the establishment of the kingdom of God upon the earth. And I would say, let the motto be to every Elder in Israel, and to every person worthy to be called a Saint: “Fear not, and never stand still, but move on.” Let the farmer go forward making improvements, plow and sow and reap; and those engaged in proper and useful enterprises continue to do what seems good according to the Spirit of God that may operate upon them, and let every man be faithful and very diligent in keeping the commandments of God, and cultivate the desire to do good to those around him; and if, in reflecting on the past, we find we have not acted strictly in accordance with the dictates of our consciences and duty, let us make ourselves right before God and man, that we may be prepared for every event that may transpire. Let the work of building temples and houses of worship go on; let Israel continue to educate their children and bring them up in the fear of the Lord, and let the Gospel still be carried to the nations afar, and Israel be gathered and the people always be found moving on as the purposes of God continue to be fulfilled. Do not stand still and expect to see the salvation of God, but move on so long as there is a step to be made in the direction that he has commanded, and then see the salvation of the Almighty. This is the work of God, and he is directing its course and progress in the earth, and this work should ever be uppermost in our minds; and so long as we are found in the path of duty we can surely remain fixed and unmoved and determined in our purpose, and thus exhibit to the world our faith and devotion to the principles of truth which God has revealed, as did the Saints when they were driven from their homes as recorded in the history of the Church. And because of this exhibition of faith, God blessed us wonderfully and miraculously after we had passed through the trials which followed in the accomplishment of this work, trials which seemed indeed to the world almost unbearable. However we regard those afflictions, they were not so very disagreeable. When the three Hebrew children, for instance, had been brought to a certain position, cast into the fiery furnace because of their undying faith and integrity, they could not after all perhaps have been placed in more pleasing and agreeable circumstances. A holy being, it is said, appeared and walked with them, side by side in the midst of the flames; and so with Daniel under similar circumstances. Did they wait to see what God would do for them? No; it was “move on” with them. They knew that in the hands of their Master were held the issues of life and death, and that to die in Him is to live, live eternally, to go on, on to perfection until they should become even like unto Him; and having a living, an abiding faith, and a knowledge of the true and living God they were ready to live and they were ready to die for the truth. It was not with those men as it was with the children of Israel of whom I have read. They were in possession of knowledge through the operation of the Holy Ghost which prepared them for any circumstances in which they might be placed. And so with regard to the Latter-day Saints: When compelled to sign over our property to the mob in Missouri, we were advised to disperse and mix up among the people and not attempt to gather together again; and yet under these circumstances the Lord moved upon the legislature of the State of Illinois to grant us a city charter in which there were favorable provisions that were not found in any other charter. And this was as he had told us he would do, namely, that he would soften the hearts of rulers from time to time that they should show favor to his people. I do not believe, as some do, that no good can come out from Nazareth. We talk sometimes rather harshly about some of the politicians of our country, and deservedly, too; but notwithstanding the illiberal and unjust policy they show towards us, I believe they can do us a great deal of good provided the Lord operates upon the hearts of ruling men, as he has done in the past, and as he will do in the future, which will result in their showing and granting us favors and blessings that many now little imagine.
The circumstances under which we came to these mountain valleys are well known; they need not be recited now. After we had passed through the chastisement, the Lord moved upon our national government to bestow favors upon the people of God. They gave us what is called the Organic Act, a bill of rights as good as we could expect from their hands, and what was more, they conferred political favor upon our leader, our Prophet and President, Brigham Young, by making him Governor of the Territory. And who would have thought of such a thing? Any man that would have predicted such a thing at the time we were being driven from Missouri, would have been considered to say the least, an enthusiast. And besides that, one of our United States judges was a Mormon Elder; the Secretary of the Territory was also a Mormon Elder. And who, let me ask, did this? Was it the Congress or the President of the United States? Well, now, I would dislike very much to say anything that could be construed into ungratefulness on our part or in failing to recognize all the good that our nation has designed to do us, for we recognize it as our uncle, and sometimes it has been a pretty good uncle; but, notwithstanding, we see in all this the hand of our God who through them, has wrought out this good and this deliverance for his people, while we are ready and willing to acknowledge an overruling Providence in the good that comes to us; and for one I am ever ready to acknowledge that good also can come out of Nazareth. We can certainly afford to suffer a little when at times we perceive magnanimity displayed towards us by our government, which has been the case in the past, and which I firmly believe will be in the future despite the pressure that is being brought to bear against us and the nature of the means that are being now employed.
The Lord moved upon rulers in former generations; he moved upon infidel kings to favor his people, and he is the same God now as then.
We talk about the Edmunds bill, what it is going to do I do not pretend to say, neither do I think that its framers and abettors know what is going to come of it. One thing I have noticed, and that is that Congressmen themselves differ widely with regard to certain of its provisions; and that being the case it would perhaps, become us to wait and watch. But there is one singular feature about it relating to plural marriage. And about that allow me here to say, I happen to have some knowledge of it as a principle of revelation belonging to the religion we have espoused. I was personally acquainted with Joseph Smith during twelve or fourteen years and, of course, through him I first learned what I now know about that principle. And as to his being a man of truth and honor I, nor anyone else that knew him, have any reason to question for a moment. But then I never went forth to preach the principles of this Gospel depending entirely upon any information I received through him or any other man; but I believed on his words, coming as they did to me as the words of truth, from an inspired man of God; and from that hour the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost which all men may receive and enjoy, has confirmed the truth of what he had told me, and it became knowledge to me of that nature which no man can give or take away. And now, as there is good, more or less, to be found elsewhere, the Edmunds bill is not without its good; and, therefore, I say, let us accept the good and feel thankful therefore. That extraordinary bill legalizes the issue of plural marriage up to the 1st day of January, 1883. Now, who could have expected so much good to come out of Nazareth? Uncle Samuel is now and then a pretty good uncle after all. (Laughter). And, mark you, the framers of the Bill have been so considerate as to distinctly provide that the children thus legalized must be the offspring of marriages performed according to the rites and ceremonies of the sect known as the Latter-day Saints. In the language of the small boy I say, “good enough.” (Laughter.) Now, if any of our Gentile friends have been indiscreet, or should hereafter be guilty of bigamy, their offspring of course are not so favored. (Laughter.) We ought to be thankful for this unexpected favor, and indeed I have no doubt we are. I really never expected that the lawmakers of our nation would ever legalize plural marriages as performed for the last thirty years or more. If the Lord is able to do a thing of this kind through men who framed that strange and singular bill, our open and avowed enemies, what is he not able to do? What may we not expect if we remain faithful and true to the trust reposed in us?
The Lord very possibly may cause a heavy pressure to bear upon us, such as will require great sacrifice at the hands of his people. The question with us is, will we make that sacrifice? This work is the work of the Almighty, and the blessings we look for which have been promised, will come after we have proven ourselves and passed through the ordeal. I have no special word to this people that there is, or that there is not, before them a fiery ordeal through which they will be called to pass; the question with me is, am I prepared to receive and put to a right and proper use any blessing the Lord has in store for me in common with His people; or, on the other hand, am I prepared to make any sacrifice that he may require at my hands? I would not give the ashes of a rye straw for any religion that was not worth living for and that was not worth dying for; and I would not give much for the man that was not willing to sacrifice his all for the sake of his religion.
Well, I close my remarks by saying to one and all, Move on! move on, and see the salvation of the Lord, and not stand still. Amen.
Elder L. J. Nuttall
Then read the reports of the Temple donations for the past half year, also the reports of the Sunday School Union, Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association, and the Primary Associations as follows:
Deseret Sunday School Union.
No. of schools reported, 291
No. of schools not reported, 14
Total No. of children, 34,119
Total No. of officers and teachers, 5,685
Total No. officers, teachers and children, 39,754
No. Theological classes, 157
“ Bible classes, 261
“ Book of Mormon classes, 377
“ Doctrine and Covenant classes, 170
“ Juvenile Instructor classes, 156
“Catechism classes, 181
“ Miscellaneous classes, 1,639
Total No. of classes, 3,641
Total No. of books in library, 23,166
Geo. Q. Cannon, General Supt.,
Geo. Goddard, Asst. Genl. Supt.,
S. W. Richards, Secretary,
Geo. Reynolds, Treasurer.
Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association.
Meetings held, 1,449
Number of members, 4,544
Number of chapters read from Church works, 38,803
Miscellaneous reading, 9,459
Manuscript papers, 115
Books in library, 149
Elmina S. Taylor, President.
Louie M. Wells, Secretary.
Primary Associations.
Number of members, 22,347
“ meetings held, 5,627
“ chapters read from Church works, 26,284
Number of miscellaneous, 11,504
“ recitations, 15,140
Manuscript papers, 7
Essays written, 377
Louie B. Felt, President.
Lillie T. Freeze, Secretary.
Then read the reports of the Temple donations for the past half year, also the reports of the Sunday School Union, Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association, and the Primary Associations as follows:
Deseret Sunday School Union.
No. of schools reported, 291
No. of schools not reported, 14
Total No. of children, 34,119
Total No. of officers and teachers, 5,685
Total No. officers, teachers and children, 39,754
No. Theological classes, 157
“ Bible classes, 261
“ Book of Mormon classes, 377
“ Doctrine and Covenant classes, 170
“ Juvenile Instructor classes, 156
“Catechism classes, 181
“ Miscellaneous classes, 1,639
Total No. of classes, 3,641
Total No. of books in library, 23,166
Geo. Q. Cannon, General Supt.,
Geo. Goddard, Asst. Genl. Supt.,
S. W. Richards, Secretary,
Geo. Reynolds, Treasurer.
Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association.
Meetings held, 1,449
Number of members, 4,544
Number of chapters read from Church works, 38,803
Miscellaneous reading, 9,459
Manuscript papers, 115
Books in library, 149
Elmina S. Taylor, President.
Louie M. Wells, Secretary.
Primary Associations.
Number of members, 22,347
“ meetings held, 5,627
“ chapters read from Church works, 26,284
Number of miscellaneous, 11,504
“ recitations, 15,140
Manuscript papers, 7
Essays written, 377
Louie B. Felt, President.
Lillie T. Freeze, Secretary.
Names of Elders who have been called on missions since the October Conference, 1881, and now in their fields of labor:
GREAT BRITAIN.
Thomas Allsop, Union.
UNITED STATES.
P. Green Taylor, Harrisville.
Wm. G. Brough, Morgan.
SOUTHERN STATES.
John J. Dunn, Brigham City.
John Haven Barlow, East Bountiful.
John Morgan, 14th Ward.
NEW ZEALAND.
Wm. Burnett, Hooper.
ARIZONA.
Alma H. Bennett, Mount Pleasant.
Elder Nuttall also read the following list of missionaries, all of whom were unanimously sustained by the Conference.
GREAT BRITAIN.
John Charles Reader, Wellsville.
Joseph A. West, Ogden.
Edwin Spencer, Randolph.
Wm. G. Reese, Benson.
Thomas W. Horsley, Paris.
Isaac Green, Wellsville.
David Burnett, Oneida.
Henry W. Manning, Hooper.
Joseph Alma Smith, Coalville.
Willard F. Smith, Coalville.
David Lewis, East Bountiful.
John Penman, “
James Meikle, Smithfield.
Ephraim H. Nye, Ogden.
Joseph Wild, American Fork.
John Crawford, Ogden.
Geo. Croft, Fillmore.
James H. Kinnersley, 17th Ward.
SCANDINAVIA.
Lars Swenson, Moroni.
Soren Madsen, Milton.
Christian Poulsen, Richfield.
J. B. Hesse, Monroe.
John Anderson, Fillmore.
SWITZERLAND.
John Hafen, Santa Clara.
UNITED STATES.
John A. Sutton, Paris.
Gilbert R. Belnap, Jr., Hooperville.
Wm. H. Wright, Ogden.
Niels Rasmussen, Parowan.
B. P. Wolfenstien, St. George.
Reuben Farnsworth, Richfield.
H. M. Payne, Glenwood.
A. W. Buchanan, “
SOUTHERN STATES.
Charles F. Martineau, Logan.
Nathaniel W. Haws, “
Joseph S. Hunter, Cedar City.
Edwin R. Miles, Smithfield.
Walter George Paul, Mendon.
Milson R. Pratt, 19th Ward.
NEW ZEALAND.
Alma Greenwood, Fillmore.
Ira N. Hinckley, “
MALAD INDIAN FARM.
James Chandler, Willard, as school teacher.
GREAT BRITAIN.
Thomas Allsop, Union.
UNITED STATES.
P. Green Taylor, Harrisville.
Wm. G. Brough, Morgan.
SOUTHERN STATES.
John J. Dunn, Brigham City.
John Haven Barlow, East Bountiful.
John Morgan, 14th Ward.
NEW ZEALAND.
Wm. Burnett, Hooper.
ARIZONA.
Alma H. Bennett, Mount Pleasant.
Elder Nuttall also read the following list of missionaries, all of whom were unanimously sustained by the Conference.
GREAT BRITAIN.
John Charles Reader, Wellsville.
Joseph A. West, Ogden.
Edwin Spencer, Randolph.
Wm. G. Reese, Benson.
Thomas W. Horsley, Paris.
Isaac Green, Wellsville.
David Burnett, Oneida.
Henry W. Manning, Hooper.
Joseph Alma Smith, Coalville.
Willard F. Smith, Coalville.
David Lewis, East Bountiful.
John Penman, “
James Meikle, Smithfield.
Ephraim H. Nye, Ogden.
Joseph Wild, American Fork.
John Crawford, Ogden.
Geo. Croft, Fillmore.
James H. Kinnersley, 17th Ward.
SCANDINAVIA.
Lars Swenson, Moroni.
Soren Madsen, Milton.
Christian Poulsen, Richfield.
J. B. Hesse, Monroe.
John Anderson, Fillmore.
SWITZERLAND.
John Hafen, Santa Clara.
UNITED STATES.
John A. Sutton, Paris.
Gilbert R. Belnap, Jr., Hooperville.
Wm. H. Wright, Ogden.
Niels Rasmussen, Parowan.
B. P. Wolfenstien, St. George.
Reuben Farnsworth, Richfield.
H. M. Payne, Glenwood.
A. W. Buchanan, “
SOUTHERN STATES.
Charles F. Martineau, Logan.
Nathaniel W. Haws, “
Joseph S. Hunter, Cedar City.
Edwin R. Miles, Smithfield.
Walter George Paul, Mendon.
Milson R. Pratt, 19th Ward.
NEW ZEALAND.
Alma Greenwood, Fillmore.
Ira N. Hinckley, “
MALAD INDIAN FARM.
James Chandler, Willard, as school teacher.
President John Taylor
said when we make motions of this kind, he wished it to be distinctly understood that those who voted, should strictly carry the vote out. While the missionaries were absent, let us look after their families and make them as comfortable as our own, if there is an entertainment invite them to it and provide for their necessities. Some people ask the Lord to provide for missionaries’ families and for the poor; he thought a little flour, meat, money and groceries were good things to add to prayers. He made some very encouraging remarks about the storm that seemed to be so much talked about; and said let us treat it the same as we did this morning in coming through the snow-storm—put up our coat collars and wait till the storm subsides. After the storm comes sunshine. While it lasts it is useless to reason with the world; when it subsides we can talk to them. Notwithstanding all the accusations against the Saints, there are no more law-abiding people on the continent than those who live in these valleys, nor can there be found any people who are so loyal to the Constitution and laws of our country, and we will continue to support republican principles and every constitutional law, and if other people cannot afford to do right, we can, and we will preach the Gospel to and try to save them in return for the evil they would do unto us. He spoke in praise of those honorable members of Congress who had the manhood to sustain human rights and constitutional liberties in the face of the opposition which prevailed, and said this showed that there is some salt left yet in the United States; there are thousands of good men who possess sufficient integrity to defend the right and maintain correct principles, but some of them are afraid to express their feelings at the present juncture. However, we will pursue our course, do right and build up Zion. We have no quarrel with any one, but we will be united, and seek after our own interests. We will sustain the Constitution of the United States, and keep the commandments of God. And as there were some people here who were so very pure that the “Mormons” were denounced by them as degraded, it would be as well not to go into their stores, lest their goods might be contaminated, and we could do our trading among ourselves. Our organization was viewed as remarkable and different from anything else. It is so, and the reason is because it was not obtained from any human government or church, but was revealed of God like all other parts of our religion. And we will sustain it, rejoice upon the mountains, sing hallelujah in the valleys, praise God and honor Him in our lives. We would not violate the contracts we have made with our wives for time and all eternity. It is wrong and unconstitutional to impair the obligation of contracts, and those who did so were unworthy of our confidence. [The Conference sustained these sentiments by a united amen.] President Taylor concluded by exhorting the people to righteousness, faithfulness and trust in the Almighty.
The choir sang an anthem. Daughter of Zion.
Conference adjourned till 2 o’clock p. m.
Benediction by Apostle Erastus Snow.
said when we make motions of this kind, he wished it to be distinctly understood that those who voted, should strictly carry the vote out. While the missionaries were absent, let us look after their families and make them as comfortable as our own, if there is an entertainment invite them to it and provide for their necessities. Some people ask the Lord to provide for missionaries’ families and for the poor; he thought a little flour, meat, money and groceries were good things to add to prayers. He made some very encouraging remarks about the storm that seemed to be so much talked about; and said let us treat it the same as we did this morning in coming through the snow-storm—put up our coat collars and wait till the storm subsides. After the storm comes sunshine. While it lasts it is useless to reason with the world; when it subsides we can talk to them. Notwithstanding all the accusations against the Saints, there are no more law-abiding people on the continent than those who live in these valleys, nor can there be found any people who are so loyal to the Constitution and laws of our country, and we will continue to support republican principles and every constitutional law, and if other people cannot afford to do right, we can, and we will preach the Gospel to and try to save them in return for the evil they would do unto us. He spoke in praise of those honorable members of Congress who had the manhood to sustain human rights and constitutional liberties in the face of the opposition which prevailed, and said this showed that there is some salt left yet in the United States; there are thousands of good men who possess sufficient integrity to defend the right and maintain correct principles, but some of them are afraid to express their feelings at the present juncture. However, we will pursue our course, do right and build up Zion. We have no quarrel with any one, but we will be united, and seek after our own interests. We will sustain the Constitution of the United States, and keep the commandments of God. And as there were some people here who were so very pure that the “Mormons” were denounced by them as degraded, it would be as well not to go into their stores, lest their goods might be contaminated, and we could do our trading among ourselves. Our organization was viewed as remarkable and different from anything else. It is so, and the reason is because it was not obtained from any human government or church, but was revealed of God like all other parts of our religion. And we will sustain it, rejoice upon the mountains, sing hallelujah in the valleys, praise God and honor Him in our lives. We would not violate the contracts we have made with our wives for time and all eternity. It is wrong and unconstitutional to impair the obligation of contracts, and those who did so were unworthy of our confidence. [The Conference sustained these sentiments by a united amen.] President Taylor concluded by exhorting the people to righteousness, faithfulness and trust in the Almighty.
The choir sang an anthem. Daughter of Zion.
Conference adjourned till 2 o’clock p. m.
Benediction by Apostle Erastus Snow.
2 p. m.
The choir sang the hymn on page 9--
The time is nigh, the happy time,
That great expected, blessed day.
Prayer by Apostle F. M. Lyman.
The choir sang the hymn on page 302--
When earth in bondage long had lain,
And darkness o’er the nations reigned.
The choir sang the hymn on page 9--
The time is nigh, the happy time,
That great expected, blessed day.
Prayer by Apostle F. M. Lyman.
The choir sang the hymn on page 302--
When earth in bondage long had lain,
And darkness o’er the nations reigned.
Apostle Erastus Snow
had experience much satisfaction in visiting for a few weeks past the Saints in the southern part of the Territory. He rejoiced in the spirit of the Most High made manifest thus far during this Conference. The Saints feel peculiarly interested in those things that pertain to the building up of the kingdom of God, and had the weather been favorable, this large Tabernacle would have been crowded. The Saints have ofttimes been persecuted in days gone by and their faith and perseverance have been severely tried; but God gave them success and laid His Church upon a sure foundation. The Prophet Joseph Smith, together with his brother Hyrum, both sealed their testimony with their blood. The mission of the Latter day Saints is not a mission of blood, war, strife nor contention, but one of peace and good will to the children of men—a mission of salvation not only theoretical, but also practical, not of faith only, but works also. The faith of the Latter-day Saints is a living faith, producing legitimate results.
The Gospel seed that is sown broadcast, falls upon a variety of soil, which is expressed in the parable of the Savior. Where the soil is rich and deep, it brings forth in some 60 and some an hundred fold. It teaches us charity, to love one another and to care for each other. It also teaches us to become one, according to the prayer of our Savior. One main objection that the Christian world has against us, is our union. Polygamy has been the war cry, yet that, in reality, they care nothing about, but it is our union and Priesthood that they are after.
He then spoke of the time prior to the civil war, when the main plank in the platform of the dominant political party was, the annihilation of slavery and polygamy as twin relics of barbarism. The Christian world at that time was very much divided during the war, Christians on both sides, sent up their prayers to God for the success of their respective armies. Had those prayers been fully answered, they would all have been destroyed. The religion of Jesus Christ enjoins Christian unity, and this unity is what the outside world is opposed to. And so far as morality is concerned there is more prostitution in one year in one of their large cities than there has been immorality of any kind in this Territory since its organization. He then gave an interesting and historical account of the way in which this country was first ceded by treaty to the American Government from Mexico, and touched upon the nature of the Territorial system of government and the refusal of Congress to admit Utah into the Union as a State, while California was admitted. Yet Utah framed at least as liberal and democratic a constitution as California and formed part of the same Mexican Territory which was ceded to the United States. However, with all the disadvantages of being under a Territorial form of government, we have been a prospered people, we have opened up farms, established factories, built school-houses and manufactured many articles of general utility and educated our children without any aid from the general government. These facts must be patent to the world, and giver the lie to the charge of our being a licentious and vicious people. Are these the fruits of corruption? Are these the products of lawlessness? We invite statesmen and others to our Sunday Schools, our assemblies and other places where they can learn our true character, instead of being led by the lying scribblers who are all the time trying to poison the public mind against us. Why are they afraid to mingle among the people about whom they wish to gain information and learn the truth instead of being led by falsehood?
A great hue and cry is often heard about the one-man-power. Where, he would ask, could be found a greater exhibition of the one-man-power than was made manifest by the Governor of this Territory in giving a certificate of election to a man who received but 1,300 votes against 18,000 cast by the people for the man of their choice? He referred to the course taken in Congress during the passage of the Edmunds bill and asked where was the statesmen who did not vote as whipped into line by the lash of his party. He spoke of that great and glorious instrument of human liberty, the Constitution of the United States, and showed that its principles, with those of Declaration of Independence, were the same that God had revealed for the government of his children, ever since the creation of the world, and which he substantiated by reference to the Bible and the Book of Mormon, showing the liberty of Israel under the rule of the Judges, each tribe a commonwealth, and the chief ruler of man God, and the happiness of the Nephites under similar government. In the Book of Mormon we are told that God would establish upon this continent a free and independent government and in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants that there would be no need for the Saints in observing the commandments of God, to break the laws of the land that are in accord with the Constitution of the country. This doctrine has been preached by the Prophet Joseph and his successors and practised by the Saints, and if this nation had hearkened to the voice of Joseph Smith it would have been saved from the civil war; the slaves of the South would have been freed at a tenth of the cost and without the shedding of blood. But following the war there has been a degeneracy among men in high places, moral, spiritual and political tending to the breaking down of the barriers of constitutional liberty. Even the Supreme Court once thought to be incorruptible had become tainted with this degeneracy, and now a returning board was sought to be foisted upon this people after 35 years of vassalage under territorial government. He drew attention to the canyon roads in these mountains which often looked as though passage was barred, and yet a turn of the road would open to the view a broad and pleasant valley. So it would be in our experience if we keep our covenants and do right; the Lord will open the way and all will turn for our good. He endorsed the remarks of President Taylor and advised the purchase of such goods as must be imported through our own co-operative stores instead of handing money over to our enemies and defamers, and though not predicting the consequences of recent legislation thought that if those who had helped to bring it about could stand its results we could who had become used to such things. He closed by exhorting the Saints to wisdom, faith and righteousness.
had experience much satisfaction in visiting for a few weeks past the Saints in the southern part of the Territory. He rejoiced in the spirit of the Most High made manifest thus far during this Conference. The Saints feel peculiarly interested in those things that pertain to the building up of the kingdom of God, and had the weather been favorable, this large Tabernacle would have been crowded. The Saints have ofttimes been persecuted in days gone by and their faith and perseverance have been severely tried; but God gave them success and laid His Church upon a sure foundation. The Prophet Joseph Smith, together with his brother Hyrum, both sealed their testimony with their blood. The mission of the Latter day Saints is not a mission of blood, war, strife nor contention, but one of peace and good will to the children of men—a mission of salvation not only theoretical, but also practical, not of faith only, but works also. The faith of the Latter-day Saints is a living faith, producing legitimate results.
The Gospel seed that is sown broadcast, falls upon a variety of soil, which is expressed in the parable of the Savior. Where the soil is rich and deep, it brings forth in some 60 and some an hundred fold. It teaches us charity, to love one another and to care for each other. It also teaches us to become one, according to the prayer of our Savior. One main objection that the Christian world has against us, is our union. Polygamy has been the war cry, yet that, in reality, they care nothing about, but it is our union and Priesthood that they are after.
He then spoke of the time prior to the civil war, when the main plank in the platform of the dominant political party was, the annihilation of slavery and polygamy as twin relics of barbarism. The Christian world at that time was very much divided during the war, Christians on both sides, sent up their prayers to God for the success of their respective armies. Had those prayers been fully answered, they would all have been destroyed. The religion of Jesus Christ enjoins Christian unity, and this unity is what the outside world is opposed to. And so far as morality is concerned there is more prostitution in one year in one of their large cities than there has been immorality of any kind in this Territory since its organization. He then gave an interesting and historical account of the way in which this country was first ceded by treaty to the American Government from Mexico, and touched upon the nature of the Territorial system of government and the refusal of Congress to admit Utah into the Union as a State, while California was admitted. Yet Utah framed at least as liberal and democratic a constitution as California and formed part of the same Mexican Territory which was ceded to the United States. However, with all the disadvantages of being under a Territorial form of government, we have been a prospered people, we have opened up farms, established factories, built school-houses and manufactured many articles of general utility and educated our children without any aid from the general government. These facts must be patent to the world, and giver the lie to the charge of our being a licentious and vicious people. Are these the fruits of corruption? Are these the products of lawlessness? We invite statesmen and others to our Sunday Schools, our assemblies and other places where they can learn our true character, instead of being led by the lying scribblers who are all the time trying to poison the public mind against us. Why are they afraid to mingle among the people about whom they wish to gain information and learn the truth instead of being led by falsehood?
A great hue and cry is often heard about the one-man-power. Where, he would ask, could be found a greater exhibition of the one-man-power than was made manifest by the Governor of this Territory in giving a certificate of election to a man who received but 1,300 votes against 18,000 cast by the people for the man of their choice? He referred to the course taken in Congress during the passage of the Edmunds bill and asked where was the statesmen who did not vote as whipped into line by the lash of his party. He spoke of that great and glorious instrument of human liberty, the Constitution of the United States, and showed that its principles, with those of Declaration of Independence, were the same that God had revealed for the government of his children, ever since the creation of the world, and which he substantiated by reference to the Bible and the Book of Mormon, showing the liberty of Israel under the rule of the Judges, each tribe a commonwealth, and the chief ruler of man God, and the happiness of the Nephites under similar government. In the Book of Mormon we are told that God would establish upon this continent a free and independent government and in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants that there would be no need for the Saints in observing the commandments of God, to break the laws of the land that are in accord with the Constitution of the country. This doctrine has been preached by the Prophet Joseph and his successors and practised by the Saints, and if this nation had hearkened to the voice of Joseph Smith it would have been saved from the civil war; the slaves of the South would have been freed at a tenth of the cost and without the shedding of blood. But following the war there has been a degeneracy among men in high places, moral, spiritual and political tending to the breaking down of the barriers of constitutional liberty. Even the Supreme Court once thought to be incorruptible had become tainted with this degeneracy, and now a returning board was sought to be foisted upon this people after 35 years of vassalage under territorial government. He drew attention to the canyon roads in these mountains which often looked as though passage was barred, and yet a turn of the road would open to the view a broad and pleasant valley. So it would be in our experience if we keep our covenants and do right; the Lord will open the way and all will turn for our good. He endorsed the remarks of President Taylor and advised the purchase of such goods as must be imported through our own co-operative stores instead of handing money over to our enemies and defamers, and though not predicting the consequences of recent legislation thought that if those who had helped to bring it about could stand its results we could who had become used to such things. He closed by exhorting the Saints to wisdom, faith and righteousness.
The Last Dispensation—The Saints' Religion Practical—Hostility to God's Work—Divisions in Sectarian Churches—Unity of the Saints—Early History of Utah—“Mormon” Thrift and Enterprise—The One-Man Power—God's People a Free People—Increase of Corruption—The Saints Hopeful
Discourse by Apostle Erastus Snow, delivered at the General Conference, Salt Lake City, Friday Afternoon, April 7, 1882.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
I regard the mission of the Latter-day Saints as the most important that has fallen to the lot of man because we, as the people of God, live in the most important period of the world's age—the dispensation of the fulness of times, in which the God of heaven has set his hand a second time to recover his people, the house of Israel; to lay the foundation of the fulfillment of the promises made to the fathers through Moses and the Prophets, and to bring to pass the covenants made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and those made with Joseph the son of Jacob, concerning his seed. The Book of Mormon gives a brief history of a portion of the house of Joseph who came to this land from Palestine, their native land; and, it not only gives an account of this people but it foretells their future. A great future lies before this people in connection with the Latter-day work.
Our mission is not a mission of blood; it is not a mission of war, of strife or contention, but a mission of peace on earth and good will to men; a mission to bring life and salvation unto the children of men who will receive it; a mission to make known the things that God has revealed for the happiness, glory and exaltation of his children, both in this world and the world to come. And what God has revealed to us, which we call our religion, is not only theoretical but eminently practiced. It could not be otherwise and be the Gospel of life and salvation. A religion that is exclusively theoretical, that is merely a matter of faith producing no legitimate works or fruits of that faith is dead. There are many dead forms of religion in the world; and as a matter of course they are without force and effect. But the Gospel of the Son of God revealed anew from heaven in our age and time, and which his people have espoused, is a living faith, producing in its votaries its legitimate fruits—love, joy, peace and good works. I am sorry to say, however, that we are not all examples of that living faith to the extent that God requires at our hands. In this respect it is with us as it was with others who preceded us; some of the seed lies fallen by the way side, producing little effect in them that received it; some has fallen in stony places, and as anciently, such rejoice for the time being, but alas! when tribulation or persecution arises, they having not much depth of soil, are easily uprooted. Some again has fallen among thorns, and the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. But blessed are those who break up the fallow ground of their hearts, thereby preparing themselves by suitable reflection, meditation, humility and prayer, overcoming the evil that is in them by the good, that the seed when sown, may take deep root and spring forth and bear precious fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some one hundred fold, according to the depth of the soil and the strength and cultivation of the mind.
I said our religion was eminently practical, as true religion cannot be separated from true practice. It teaches us to visit the fatherless and the widow in their affliction, and to keep ourselves unspotted from the world; it teaches charity and love one toward another, and to assist to bear each other's burdens, and be one in Christ Jesus. Just before the Savior was offered up upon the cross he prayed to his Father in behalf of his disciples and those who should believe on him through their ministrations, that they might be one with him as he was one with the Father.
Now it is quite a fine thing in the estimation of the Christian world to preach about Jesus and his doctrines; but when it comes to practice it is quite another thing. One of the main objects of the Latter-day Saints is to become united, both spiritually and temporally. The clergymen of America who have been foremost in working up the late furor against the “Mormon” people, who have met in solemn conclave and dictated resolutions and gotten up memorials to Congress, and who have traveled and visited the noted cities as lecturers, among whom may be mentioned the celebrated Parson Newman and the celebrated—what shall I say?—well, Mr. Schuylar Colfax, and others, have aroused the nation and moved the members of Congress to hostile legislation against the Latter-day Saints. Their general declaration has been that polygamy—though polygamy was the war-cry—was not to be dreaded like “Mormon” unity. They term it priestly influence, or the influence of the “Mormon” hierarchy. In reflecting upon this declaration which was freely expressed on numerous occasions during last winter and spring, in the tirades made against the Latter-day Saints, it has caused some curious reflections. What would have been the result if the Methodists, the Presbyterians, the Baptists and all the prominent denominations of America, had been true disciples of Christ, and had come under that rule laid down in the Savior's prayer—if they had all become one in Christ as he was one with the Father? What would have been the result? Methinks things would be very different in the history of American government from what we now see. We will refer, for example, to the condition of things prior to the late civil war, and about the time the republican party incorporated in their platform at the Philadelphia convention in 1856, the celebrated plank known as the twin relics—in which they pledged themselves to exterminate the twin relics, slavery and polygamy. What was the condition of the religious sects of America at that time? Those who are familiar with the history of those times will remember that preparatory to that great struggle which resulted in the great civil war, there had been a complete separation and two distinct organizations of all the prominent sects of America. The Methodist church was divided into the Methodist church north and the Methodist church south; the Presbyterians were divided into the Presbyterian Church north and the Presbyterian church south; the Baptists, the Campbellites and the other various sects were divided in like manner, the Mason and Dickson line, as it was called, was the line of division between the churches north and the churches south; and substantially the same line marked the boundary between the southern confederacy and northern. States during the war, for the division commenced in the churches, and it was the various religious sects of America that worked up the war. They divided one against another, and brought on the war. And when the Northern and Southern armies were marching against and slaying each other by hundreds of thousands, every regiment and division of the army on both sides were encouraged by the prayers and preaching of their respective chaplains of the various sects on both sides, each praying for the success of their arms, that each side might succeed in using up the opposite side.
Now imagine them, for a moment, to be the true disciples of Christ, ministers of the true and everlasting Gospel holding power and authority from him. What would have been the result if the Lord had heard the prayers of the religious elements of these two contending parties? The only thing we can think of as expressing the idea, is the old fable of the Kilkenny cats, which, it is said, fought each other and devoured each other all but the tails, and they began to jump at each other. From the results one would suppose that the Lord heard the prayers on both sides to a considerable extent. But it is too serious a matter to be treated in a jocose style. And, yet, one can hardly resist the temptation, it is so ludicrous to see people professing the same holy religion, to be followers of the meek and lowly Jesus and his righteousness, and preachers of his Gospel arrayed on each side, stirring up the people to war, urging them on, and praying to the same God for the success of each others' arms. Now, I ask, is this an ensample of Christian unity such as the Savior prayed for, when he asked the Father that all that should believe on him through the words of his disciples might become one even as he and the Father were one?
The Latter-day Saints, as I have before remarked, are far from being as yet what the Lord requires them to be. But that spirit which accompanies the fulness of the Gospel, and which the Latter-day Saints have received through the preaching of the Gospel and through obedience to its requirements, has so far made their hearts as one, causing them to see eye to eye, and to gather together upon this land of Joseph, that they might learn more fully the ways of the Lord and walk in his paths, and cultivate the Christian unity which the Savior prayed for. And this appears to be the head and front of our offending. Polygamy is ostensibly the cry; but what reflecting man that is posted in the history of the times, believes that this has a particle of influence upon our statesmen? They admit, according to their own showing, that there is more immorality, depravity, whoredom, and the terrible consequences of the social evil in one of the great cities of the Union in a single year than has been in Utah ever since it has been founded. They know this full well. They know that we are a people of energy, of industry and honest labor, a people who do not labor with a view and desire to build ourselves up at the expense and ruin of our neighbors; but a people who labor to gather from the elements around us, producing the comforts of life for ourselves and families. They recognize in us a people who have planted a flourishing commonwealth in the heart of the great American desert, and made it possible to populate the surrounding Territories.
In 1847, the standard of the American nation was planted on this Temple block. I assisted in planting it; and many around me today participated in those early scenes. At the same time the country lying west of the Sierra Nevada and between it and the Pacific Coast, was held under the American flag by the Mormon Battalion, who under General Kearney captured the State of California from the Mexican government and held it for the United States government until this country was ceded to the United States by treaty on the 22nd of February, 1848. The stars and stripes were planted between the Rocky Mountains on the east and the Sierra Nevadas west by “Mormon” colonies, and west to the Pacific coast by the “Mormon Battalion,” and, the country held for the American government. We proceeded to the establishment and organization of civil government. This great basin country between the mountains was incorporated into the State of Deseret, a provisional government was organized for the State of Deseret, a republican constitution was framed and adopted by the people; the country was divided into counties and precincts, local government was organized, laws adopted and delegates sent to Congress to ask for admission into the Union. At the same time the gold hunters were flocking to California after the “Mormon Battalion” revealed the first gold which they brought to light while dragging Captain Sutter's mill race. Some of the men are still in our midst who brought about these results, who first revealed to the astonished world the gold of California, and who raised the first furor, which resulted in thousands flocking to the Pacific coast. And mark you, the first colony of settlers upon that Pacific coast after the capture of that country through the valor of the “Mormon Battalion,” was a “Mormon” colony shipped from the New England States, who took with them a printing press, and planted their feet upon the shores of San Francisco, and there issued the California Star, in 1847, which was the first publication in the English language west of the Rocky Mountains—the first free press hailing the American flag and proclaiming American liberty, the principles of free government; and at the same time we planted a free press in this city, whence was issued the DESERET NEWS, proclaiming those principles to all the world.
Both California and Deseret presented themselves at the same time, through their delegates, knocking at the door of Congress, praying for admission into the Union. The prayer of California was accepted; that of Deseret was rejected.
Jesus had occasion to ask this question of the Jews: If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will ye give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? It might ill become me perhaps, to apply these words to our national government; but the facts are that when we presented ourselves as the State of Deseret, precisely on equal footing with that of California, with equally a democratic government and republican constitution, both of which States had been organized out of the old Mexican States of Upper California, and which had been recently captured from the Mexican government, and presented themselves to Congress on equal footing; one was accepted, the other rejected. Instead of granting to Deseret a State government, Congress gave us a territorial form of government under the Organic act of 1850. It is true it extended to us certain rights of self-government, but to a limited extent. We had the right of representation in the Legislative Assembly, but those rights were clipped by the absolute veto of a Federal Governor; nor, indeed, is the absolute veto of a Federal Governor the only veto held over the Territorial Legislature, Congress itself reserving to itself a right to annul the acts of the Legislative Assembly, though receiving the signature of the Governor. But if the Governor chooses to withhold his signature no matter how wholesome or necessary the measure, it cannot become law, nor would he be, under the Organic Act, required to assign any reason for it. The mere whim of a man, a stranger to our country who has but little, if any, practical knowledge of our needs, and who himself is not a taxpayer, probably may deprive a whole community of people of their legal rights. Such is the territorial form of government, not of all Territories, for with the exception of Utah and New Mexico, this absolute veto power does not exist on American soil. Other Territories as well as the States, and the United States, may, through a two-thirds vote of their legislature, pass any measure over the veto of its executive.
But what does this signify? It says to us, “we are not willing to trust you with the rights and privileges of self-government in common with other American citizens; and it is deemed advisable that we should hold this check upon your legislature.” But notwithstanding we have been shut out from Statehood, we have prospered and grown into a flourishing community of people.
On several occasions we have renewed our efforts by appealing to Congress for the rights of self-government; but on every occasion we have been put off. But we have continued to prosper, and yet we have received no aid from the general government in establishing and maintaining schools, as other portions of the country have. We have built our schoolhouses and maintained our schools, and educated our children as best we could. And here let me say that Utah will compare favorably in educational matters with any portion of the United States, even the older and richer States; and while the number of children is three times that of other populations, yet, they are all enjoying the benefits of a common school education at least; and as the higher schools are being established the facilities for more extensive education are accessible.
We have opened up farms and established towns and cities over this vast country, of 500 miles in extent. We have established mills and have produced the various cereals and vegetables and fruits, and raised the beef and mutton, and the wool to supply our factories, and cotton, to manufacture to a considerable extent, the clothing that we wear; and we have manufactured to a considerable extent our farming implements, and yet we are under the necessity of largely importing manufactured goods. And, today, Utah enjoys prosperity equal, if not superior to any other Territory, and, indeed, some of the Western States.
Now these are facts patent to the world. And with such facts can they in their inmost souls look upon this people as a vicious people, or as a wicked, licentious people, as a people who are influenced by worldly considerations and fleshly lusts? Are these the works of the licentious and dissolute? We invite the people of the United States to attend our Sabbath School Unions and attend the public gatherings of the people where they congregate; we invite their statesmen and honorable men and women of all classes to come and visit us and learn facts as they exist, instead of swallowing greedily the malicious calumnies and misrepresentations set afoot concerning us by those who know little or nothing about us; or if they have known anything about us, they have sold themselves to the Devil long since, and they are of their father the Devil, who was a liar from the beginning, and his works they will do; and when honest people come among us we ask them not to sit themselves down and allow themselves to be corralled by the lying hypocrites that are fanning the flame of persecution, and never come in contact with the people they desire to know and understand. Why is it that honorable men should act as though they were ashamed to learn the truth? Why is it they do not come and hear and see for themselves both sides?
We are accused of disloyalty. We are accused of being governed by priestcraft, and that we are subjects of the one-man power. Here we would pause and respectfully say, in the language of Scripture, “Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.” Where, I would ask, could we look for a more decidedly marked expression of the one-man power than in the case we have recently had in Utah, in which the Governor gave the certificate of election to the man for whom the insignificant number of 1,300 votes was cast, withholding it from the rightful representative of the people for whom 18,000 votes were recorded? The persistency with which he and his friends, the enemies of this people, have sought to fasten this fraud upon the people in this Territory, not to say anything about the one-man power provided for in the organic act! A federal governor, a stranger sent among us with an absolute veto, possessing the power to wipe out the doings of a whole session of the people's representatives!
I will further direct attention to all reflecting men to the scenes in the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States when the Edmunds' bill was put through under what is called the gag law of the previous question, cutting off amendments and limiting debate. I will appeal to every honest man—if there be an honest politician in the land—by asking, Who among them possesses the freedom of speaking and acting only in obedience to the party lash, and what Senator or Representative dare try to air his sentiments or vote contrary to the dictum of his party leaders? Shame upon them when they talk about the exercise of one-man power in Utah! If there is a people upon the earth that exercise greater freedom of speech or action than the Latter-day Saints, I hope and pray that we may grow until we become their equals at least.
Every principle in our holy religion tends to freedom, or in the language of the New Testament, the Gospel is the perfect law of liberty. The reason that it is so is, because it lifts the spirits of man above the law, or, in other words, it teaches him to work righteousness and thereby escape the penalties of the law, and enables him to enjoy that perfect freedom which God has ordained for all flesh—the freedom to do right, but there is no liberty to do wrong without incurring the penalty of that wrongdoing, therefore, every one who does wrong must accept of the consequences of that wrong, and may expect to suffer the penalty either in time or in eternity. The Gospel then extends to us the freedom to do right, and the laws of our common country used to extend this right and privilege to its citizens. This was declared by the fathers in the famous Declaration of Independence, and which was consolidated by the fathers of the Constitution of our country, which was one of the fruits of their great struggle.
This famous declaration enunciated the doctrine that “all just powers of government are derived from the consent of the governed;” and upon this principle are the institutions of our country founded; and it is only through the guarantees of this fundamental doctrine underlying our institutions that there can be any freedom. This declaration of the fathers embodied in that celebrated instrument, signed on the 4th of July, 1776, is the embodiment of the principles of civil and religious liberty, such freedom as God has ever taught and sought to establish among his children from the beginning of the world. And whenever there has been a people who have listened to the voice of God, they have been made free, and oppression has been a stranger to them. The careful student of the Bible will at once perceive that everything which God sought to establish among his people, tended to freedom and the enjoyment of the common rights of humanity. Never did ancient Israel enjoy as free and happy a government as under the reign of the judges, from the time Moses led them out of Egyptian bondage until they clamored for a king. For 430 years they triumphed over their foes, and they dwelt in peace and unity, and love and freedom existed, and every tribe was a commonwealth managing its own local affairs, while they all sustained a central power which counseled and directed them; and their rulers were judges inspired of God, were prophets, seers and revelators, who judged in righteousness, and exercised no control over the liberties and consciences of men. The same principle is observed in reading the history of the American continent. The Book of Mormon is replete with testimony in this direction. And during the palmy days of the Nephites there was no king among them; and that long and happy period that preceded the coming of the Savior, and for hundreds of years that followed during the reign of the judges among the Nephites, liberty and freedom and happiness prevailed. And although they had at one time in accordance with their pronounced and persistent desire, a king—King Benjamin and King Mosiah—yet, these were kings more in name than in fact; they were only patriarchs or fathers among their people, and the term they apply to them might quietly have a tendency to cause them to augment power to themselves and to exercise oppressive jurisdiction over the people, and foreseeing this King Mosiah beseeched the people to abolish the office, and establish and maintain free government, and elect their chief judge or governor by the voice of the people. He reasoned and explained to them the dangers which would result to them by having a ruler who was not elected by the people. When Israel began to fall into darkness and transgression, in the days of Samuel, and they clamored for a king to lead them to war and thus be like the Gentile nations around them, it grieved Samuel the Seer to his heart; and he besought the people to desist from their determination, and he warned them of the dangers that would follow, telling them that it would lead to oppression and tyranny, and that taxes would be levied and heavy burdens would be laid upon the people grievous to be borne, and that it would finally lead to war, bloodshed and bondage. But they would not listen. And when the prophet inquired of the Lord what he should do, he answered and said to Samuel: “Hearken unto the voice of the people in all they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.”
Furthermore, the Book of Mormon tells that God will cause a free government to be established upon this land in the latter days, and inasmuch as the people will serve the Lord they shall forever be a free people. And in the Doctrine and Covenants is contained a revelation which was given to the Latter-day Saints in the early history of the Church, commanding us to uphold and maintain the principles of freedom and liberty, as claimed by our fathers and consolidated in the Constitution of the United States, and in which is written this remarkable declaration: “Let no man break the laws of the land, for he that keepeth the laws of God has no need to break the laws of the land;” and we are further told that we should uphold and maintain that law which is the Constitutional law of the land; for, the Lord said, the Constitution was established by wise men whom he raised up for that purpose, after the land had been redeemed by bloodshed. This doctrine was taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith, in the early days of this people, and cannot be separated from the religion we have embraced; and by the help of the Lord we mean to maintain those principles to the end, notwithstanding that some of our American statesmen wax wanton in their feelings and tyrannical in their acts and expressions, while religious bigots and political demagogues are undermining the foundations of our American institutions. They commence today upon Utah; but it is not the first time. From the time the declaration was made in Philadelphia by the republican party there have been divers departures from those principles embraced in our American Constitution. Had the people of America listened to the voice of the Lord through the Prophet Joseph Smith, they would have long since freed their slaves in an amicable, an honorable and economical manner without the shedding of blood. But they disdained the counsels of the Lord. The Prophet Joseph published his views in pamphlet form on the powers and duties of the national government on the then much-mooted question of slavery, in which he treated upon the compact of the United States as between the North and South on this question of slavery; and proposed an easy and honorable plan of settling the question without violating that compact or encroaching upon the rights of each other; and that was, to negotiate with the Southern States for the gradual emancipation of their slaves, the consideration to be met by the national treasury, and fixing a time after which all children should be born free, thus providing for a gradual emancipation, and that they might not feel that they were robbed, and by their being gradually emancipated they would have been prepared gradually for free government and free labor, and thus the ill and unpleasant consequences would have been measurably averted, at least, of turning loose a horde of uncultivated people who were totally unprepared for American citizenship. Had they listened to this proposition, less than a tenth part of the cost of the war would have freed all the slaves, and that too without bloodshed, and the utter devastation of the Southern States would have been spared.
But we have seen it. And following the war has been inaugurated an era of degeneracy in public morals, degeneracy in politics and religion, a degeneracy in the minds of our statesmen which has shown itself in a desire on their part to tamper with the sacred rights of man, to tamper with every part of the government, not even excepting the Supreme Court, which, up to the time of the civil war, was looked upon by the American people as almost beyond temptation, and beyond the probability of being corrupted or bribed. But alas! the Supreme Court itself has been tampered with. And for many years, almost from the commencement of that effort to break down the barriers of the Constitution and to settle this vexed question of slavery by violence—from that time politicians have sought to sustain themselves in violent, revolutionary and unconstitutional measures by foisting into the Supreme Court partisans who are already imbued with extreme political notions and ideas, whose carrying them with them on the bench has resulted in many decisions which after ages will greatly deplore and point out as the stepping stones to the destruction of our free institutions. But it remains for the Congress of the United States in 1882 to strike the blow at human freedom which places a vast people who have enjoyed their freedom in part only for 35 years in these mountains, at the disposal of a returning board to be sent here by the President. This is the object of the Edmunds' bill. Its framers, its advocates and supporters scarcely expect anything from it toward the extinguishing of polygamy; but they do expect from it the transfer of our flourishing Territory into the hands of the enemies of the “Mormon” people. And they expect to disfranchise whom they will, and decide who may vote and who may hold office, who may become members of the Legislature, etc., and vice versa; and then dictate what laws they shall make, and then dictate how the people shall be taxed to pay their salaries and expenses, unless forsooth, Congress shall, according to the recommendation of President Arthur, reconsider that part of the law and make provision for their salaries.
It is not my purpose to attempt to foretell the consequences of this class of legislation. We shall all see for ourselves; but if our neighbors, our Gentile friends can stand it, we can; and if our nation can stand it, we can; and if our statesmen and the people who elect them and countenance their acts can stand it, we can; and if merchants, miners, bankers, agents, speculators, etc., among us can stand it, we can. If the taxes should be doubled up, and burdens put upon the people, and they can stand their share of it, we can stand ours, because we are used to it, and they are not. If they can confine themselves to one woman, I know we can. (Laughter.) The proof of the pudding you know, is in the eating. We do not intend to be worried; we have already passed through many very trying places, and we still expect to find an outlet. I am reminded often of our experience when traveling through some of the narrow gorges in our mountains; it often appears that our road has come to an end against a mountain, but when we get close up to it, we find a turn, and we keep traveling; and this is sometimes often repeated in a day's travel, until, at last, our road opens out and a broad, beautiful valley is in sight, which never fails to bring feelings of relief to the weary traveler, especially if he is not familiar with the road. Such has been our experience in the pilgrimage of life up to the present time, and we confidently expect that He who has led us, through His Holy Priesthood, will continue to open up our way, and He will do so if we keep our covenants with Him. Amen.
Discourse by Apostle Erastus Snow, delivered at the General Conference, Salt Lake City, Friday Afternoon, April 7, 1882.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
I regard the mission of the Latter-day Saints as the most important that has fallen to the lot of man because we, as the people of God, live in the most important period of the world's age—the dispensation of the fulness of times, in which the God of heaven has set his hand a second time to recover his people, the house of Israel; to lay the foundation of the fulfillment of the promises made to the fathers through Moses and the Prophets, and to bring to pass the covenants made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and those made with Joseph the son of Jacob, concerning his seed. The Book of Mormon gives a brief history of a portion of the house of Joseph who came to this land from Palestine, their native land; and, it not only gives an account of this people but it foretells their future. A great future lies before this people in connection with the Latter-day work.
Our mission is not a mission of blood; it is not a mission of war, of strife or contention, but a mission of peace on earth and good will to men; a mission to bring life and salvation unto the children of men who will receive it; a mission to make known the things that God has revealed for the happiness, glory and exaltation of his children, both in this world and the world to come. And what God has revealed to us, which we call our religion, is not only theoretical but eminently practiced. It could not be otherwise and be the Gospel of life and salvation. A religion that is exclusively theoretical, that is merely a matter of faith producing no legitimate works or fruits of that faith is dead. There are many dead forms of religion in the world; and as a matter of course they are without force and effect. But the Gospel of the Son of God revealed anew from heaven in our age and time, and which his people have espoused, is a living faith, producing in its votaries its legitimate fruits—love, joy, peace and good works. I am sorry to say, however, that we are not all examples of that living faith to the extent that God requires at our hands. In this respect it is with us as it was with others who preceded us; some of the seed lies fallen by the way side, producing little effect in them that received it; some has fallen in stony places, and as anciently, such rejoice for the time being, but alas! when tribulation or persecution arises, they having not much depth of soil, are easily uprooted. Some again has fallen among thorns, and the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. But blessed are those who break up the fallow ground of their hearts, thereby preparing themselves by suitable reflection, meditation, humility and prayer, overcoming the evil that is in them by the good, that the seed when sown, may take deep root and spring forth and bear precious fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some one hundred fold, according to the depth of the soil and the strength and cultivation of the mind.
I said our religion was eminently practical, as true religion cannot be separated from true practice. It teaches us to visit the fatherless and the widow in their affliction, and to keep ourselves unspotted from the world; it teaches charity and love one toward another, and to assist to bear each other's burdens, and be one in Christ Jesus. Just before the Savior was offered up upon the cross he prayed to his Father in behalf of his disciples and those who should believe on him through their ministrations, that they might be one with him as he was one with the Father.
Now it is quite a fine thing in the estimation of the Christian world to preach about Jesus and his doctrines; but when it comes to practice it is quite another thing. One of the main objects of the Latter-day Saints is to become united, both spiritually and temporally. The clergymen of America who have been foremost in working up the late furor against the “Mormon” people, who have met in solemn conclave and dictated resolutions and gotten up memorials to Congress, and who have traveled and visited the noted cities as lecturers, among whom may be mentioned the celebrated Parson Newman and the celebrated—what shall I say?—well, Mr. Schuylar Colfax, and others, have aroused the nation and moved the members of Congress to hostile legislation against the Latter-day Saints. Their general declaration has been that polygamy—though polygamy was the war-cry—was not to be dreaded like “Mormon” unity. They term it priestly influence, or the influence of the “Mormon” hierarchy. In reflecting upon this declaration which was freely expressed on numerous occasions during last winter and spring, in the tirades made against the Latter-day Saints, it has caused some curious reflections. What would have been the result if the Methodists, the Presbyterians, the Baptists and all the prominent denominations of America, had been true disciples of Christ, and had come under that rule laid down in the Savior's prayer—if they had all become one in Christ as he was one with the Father? What would have been the result? Methinks things would be very different in the history of American government from what we now see. We will refer, for example, to the condition of things prior to the late civil war, and about the time the republican party incorporated in their platform at the Philadelphia convention in 1856, the celebrated plank known as the twin relics—in which they pledged themselves to exterminate the twin relics, slavery and polygamy. What was the condition of the religious sects of America at that time? Those who are familiar with the history of those times will remember that preparatory to that great struggle which resulted in the great civil war, there had been a complete separation and two distinct organizations of all the prominent sects of America. The Methodist church was divided into the Methodist church north and the Methodist church south; the Presbyterians were divided into the Presbyterian Church north and the Presbyterian church south; the Baptists, the Campbellites and the other various sects were divided in like manner, the Mason and Dickson line, as it was called, was the line of division between the churches north and the churches south; and substantially the same line marked the boundary between the southern confederacy and northern. States during the war, for the division commenced in the churches, and it was the various religious sects of America that worked up the war. They divided one against another, and brought on the war. And when the Northern and Southern armies were marching against and slaying each other by hundreds of thousands, every regiment and division of the army on both sides were encouraged by the prayers and preaching of their respective chaplains of the various sects on both sides, each praying for the success of their arms, that each side might succeed in using up the opposite side.
Now imagine them, for a moment, to be the true disciples of Christ, ministers of the true and everlasting Gospel holding power and authority from him. What would have been the result if the Lord had heard the prayers of the religious elements of these two contending parties? The only thing we can think of as expressing the idea, is the old fable of the Kilkenny cats, which, it is said, fought each other and devoured each other all but the tails, and they began to jump at each other. From the results one would suppose that the Lord heard the prayers on both sides to a considerable extent. But it is too serious a matter to be treated in a jocose style. And, yet, one can hardly resist the temptation, it is so ludicrous to see people professing the same holy religion, to be followers of the meek and lowly Jesus and his righteousness, and preachers of his Gospel arrayed on each side, stirring up the people to war, urging them on, and praying to the same God for the success of each others' arms. Now, I ask, is this an ensample of Christian unity such as the Savior prayed for, when he asked the Father that all that should believe on him through the words of his disciples might become one even as he and the Father were one?
The Latter-day Saints, as I have before remarked, are far from being as yet what the Lord requires them to be. But that spirit which accompanies the fulness of the Gospel, and which the Latter-day Saints have received through the preaching of the Gospel and through obedience to its requirements, has so far made their hearts as one, causing them to see eye to eye, and to gather together upon this land of Joseph, that they might learn more fully the ways of the Lord and walk in his paths, and cultivate the Christian unity which the Savior prayed for. And this appears to be the head and front of our offending. Polygamy is ostensibly the cry; but what reflecting man that is posted in the history of the times, believes that this has a particle of influence upon our statesmen? They admit, according to their own showing, that there is more immorality, depravity, whoredom, and the terrible consequences of the social evil in one of the great cities of the Union in a single year than has been in Utah ever since it has been founded. They know this full well. They know that we are a people of energy, of industry and honest labor, a people who do not labor with a view and desire to build ourselves up at the expense and ruin of our neighbors; but a people who labor to gather from the elements around us, producing the comforts of life for ourselves and families. They recognize in us a people who have planted a flourishing commonwealth in the heart of the great American desert, and made it possible to populate the surrounding Territories.
In 1847, the standard of the American nation was planted on this Temple block. I assisted in planting it; and many around me today participated in those early scenes. At the same time the country lying west of the Sierra Nevada and between it and the Pacific Coast, was held under the American flag by the Mormon Battalion, who under General Kearney captured the State of California from the Mexican government and held it for the United States government until this country was ceded to the United States by treaty on the 22nd of February, 1848. The stars and stripes were planted between the Rocky Mountains on the east and the Sierra Nevadas west by “Mormon” colonies, and west to the Pacific coast by the “Mormon Battalion,” and, the country held for the American government. We proceeded to the establishment and organization of civil government. This great basin country between the mountains was incorporated into the State of Deseret, a provisional government was organized for the State of Deseret, a republican constitution was framed and adopted by the people; the country was divided into counties and precincts, local government was organized, laws adopted and delegates sent to Congress to ask for admission into the Union. At the same time the gold hunters were flocking to California after the “Mormon Battalion” revealed the first gold which they brought to light while dragging Captain Sutter's mill race. Some of the men are still in our midst who brought about these results, who first revealed to the astonished world the gold of California, and who raised the first furor, which resulted in thousands flocking to the Pacific coast. And mark you, the first colony of settlers upon that Pacific coast after the capture of that country through the valor of the “Mormon Battalion,” was a “Mormon” colony shipped from the New England States, who took with them a printing press, and planted their feet upon the shores of San Francisco, and there issued the California Star, in 1847, which was the first publication in the English language west of the Rocky Mountains—the first free press hailing the American flag and proclaiming American liberty, the principles of free government; and at the same time we planted a free press in this city, whence was issued the DESERET NEWS, proclaiming those principles to all the world.
Both California and Deseret presented themselves at the same time, through their delegates, knocking at the door of Congress, praying for admission into the Union. The prayer of California was accepted; that of Deseret was rejected.
Jesus had occasion to ask this question of the Jews: If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will ye give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? It might ill become me perhaps, to apply these words to our national government; but the facts are that when we presented ourselves as the State of Deseret, precisely on equal footing with that of California, with equally a democratic government and republican constitution, both of which States had been organized out of the old Mexican States of Upper California, and which had been recently captured from the Mexican government, and presented themselves to Congress on equal footing; one was accepted, the other rejected. Instead of granting to Deseret a State government, Congress gave us a territorial form of government under the Organic act of 1850. It is true it extended to us certain rights of self-government, but to a limited extent. We had the right of representation in the Legislative Assembly, but those rights were clipped by the absolute veto of a Federal Governor; nor, indeed, is the absolute veto of a Federal Governor the only veto held over the Territorial Legislature, Congress itself reserving to itself a right to annul the acts of the Legislative Assembly, though receiving the signature of the Governor. But if the Governor chooses to withhold his signature no matter how wholesome or necessary the measure, it cannot become law, nor would he be, under the Organic Act, required to assign any reason for it. The mere whim of a man, a stranger to our country who has but little, if any, practical knowledge of our needs, and who himself is not a taxpayer, probably may deprive a whole community of people of their legal rights. Such is the territorial form of government, not of all Territories, for with the exception of Utah and New Mexico, this absolute veto power does not exist on American soil. Other Territories as well as the States, and the United States, may, through a two-thirds vote of their legislature, pass any measure over the veto of its executive.
But what does this signify? It says to us, “we are not willing to trust you with the rights and privileges of self-government in common with other American citizens; and it is deemed advisable that we should hold this check upon your legislature.” But notwithstanding we have been shut out from Statehood, we have prospered and grown into a flourishing community of people.
On several occasions we have renewed our efforts by appealing to Congress for the rights of self-government; but on every occasion we have been put off. But we have continued to prosper, and yet we have received no aid from the general government in establishing and maintaining schools, as other portions of the country have. We have built our schoolhouses and maintained our schools, and educated our children as best we could. And here let me say that Utah will compare favorably in educational matters with any portion of the United States, even the older and richer States; and while the number of children is three times that of other populations, yet, they are all enjoying the benefits of a common school education at least; and as the higher schools are being established the facilities for more extensive education are accessible.
We have opened up farms and established towns and cities over this vast country, of 500 miles in extent. We have established mills and have produced the various cereals and vegetables and fruits, and raised the beef and mutton, and the wool to supply our factories, and cotton, to manufacture to a considerable extent, the clothing that we wear; and we have manufactured to a considerable extent our farming implements, and yet we are under the necessity of largely importing manufactured goods. And, today, Utah enjoys prosperity equal, if not superior to any other Territory, and, indeed, some of the Western States.
Now these are facts patent to the world. And with such facts can they in their inmost souls look upon this people as a vicious people, or as a wicked, licentious people, as a people who are influenced by worldly considerations and fleshly lusts? Are these the works of the licentious and dissolute? We invite the people of the United States to attend our Sabbath School Unions and attend the public gatherings of the people where they congregate; we invite their statesmen and honorable men and women of all classes to come and visit us and learn facts as they exist, instead of swallowing greedily the malicious calumnies and misrepresentations set afoot concerning us by those who know little or nothing about us; or if they have known anything about us, they have sold themselves to the Devil long since, and they are of their father the Devil, who was a liar from the beginning, and his works they will do; and when honest people come among us we ask them not to sit themselves down and allow themselves to be corralled by the lying hypocrites that are fanning the flame of persecution, and never come in contact with the people they desire to know and understand. Why is it that honorable men should act as though they were ashamed to learn the truth? Why is it they do not come and hear and see for themselves both sides?
We are accused of disloyalty. We are accused of being governed by priestcraft, and that we are subjects of the one-man power. Here we would pause and respectfully say, in the language of Scripture, “Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.” Where, I would ask, could we look for a more decidedly marked expression of the one-man power than in the case we have recently had in Utah, in which the Governor gave the certificate of election to the man for whom the insignificant number of 1,300 votes was cast, withholding it from the rightful representative of the people for whom 18,000 votes were recorded? The persistency with which he and his friends, the enemies of this people, have sought to fasten this fraud upon the people in this Territory, not to say anything about the one-man power provided for in the organic act! A federal governor, a stranger sent among us with an absolute veto, possessing the power to wipe out the doings of a whole session of the people's representatives!
I will further direct attention to all reflecting men to the scenes in the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States when the Edmunds' bill was put through under what is called the gag law of the previous question, cutting off amendments and limiting debate. I will appeal to every honest man—if there be an honest politician in the land—by asking, Who among them possesses the freedom of speaking and acting only in obedience to the party lash, and what Senator or Representative dare try to air his sentiments or vote contrary to the dictum of his party leaders? Shame upon them when they talk about the exercise of one-man power in Utah! If there is a people upon the earth that exercise greater freedom of speech or action than the Latter-day Saints, I hope and pray that we may grow until we become their equals at least.
Every principle in our holy religion tends to freedom, or in the language of the New Testament, the Gospel is the perfect law of liberty. The reason that it is so is, because it lifts the spirits of man above the law, or, in other words, it teaches him to work righteousness and thereby escape the penalties of the law, and enables him to enjoy that perfect freedom which God has ordained for all flesh—the freedom to do right, but there is no liberty to do wrong without incurring the penalty of that wrongdoing, therefore, every one who does wrong must accept of the consequences of that wrong, and may expect to suffer the penalty either in time or in eternity. The Gospel then extends to us the freedom to do right, and the laws of our common country used to extend this right and privilege to its citizens. This was declared by the fathers in the famous Declaration of Independence, and which was consolidated by the fathers of the Constitution of our country, which was one of the fruits of their great struggle.
This famous declaration enunciated the doctrine that “all just powers of government are derived from the consent of the governed;” and upon this principle are the institutions of our country founded; and it is only through the guarantees of this fundamental doctrine underlying our institutions that there can be any freedom. This declaration of the fathers embodied in that celebrated instrument, signed on the 4th of July, 1776, is the embodiment of the principles of civil and religious liberty, such freedom as God has ever taught and sought to establish among his children from the beginning of the world. And whenever there has been a people who have listened to the voice of God, they have been made free, and oppression has been a stranger to them. The careful student of the Bible will at once perceive that everything which God sought to establish among his people, tended to freedom and the enjoyment of the common rights of humanity. Never did ancient Israel enjoy as free and happy a government as under the reign of the judges, from the time Moses led them out of Egyptian bondage until they clamored for a king. For 430 years they triumphed over their foes, and they dwelt in peace and unity, and love and freedom existed, and every tribe was a commonwealth managing its own local affairs, while they all sustained a central power which counseled and directed them; and their rulers were judges inspired of God, were prophets, seers and revelators, who judged in righteousness, and exercised no control over the liberties and consciences of men. The same principle is observed in reading the history of the American continent. The Book of Mormon is replete with testimony in this direction. And during the palmy days of the Nephites there was no king among them; and that long and happy period that preceded the coming of the Savior, and for hundreds of years that followed during the reign of the judges among the Nephites, liberty and freedom and happiness prevailed. And although they had at one time in accordance with their pronounced and persistent desire, a king—King Benjamin and King Mosiah—yet, these were kings more in name than in fact; they were only patriarchs or fathers among their people, and the term they apply to them might quietly have a tendency to cause them to augment power to themselves and to exercise oppressive jurisdiction over the people, and foreseeing this King Mosiah beseeched the people to abolish the office, and establish and maintain free government, and elect their chief judge or governor by the voice of the people. He reasoned and explained to them the dangers which would result to them by having a ruler who was not elected by the people. When Israel began to fall into darkness and transgression, in the days of Samuel, and they clamored for a king to lead them to war and thus be like the Gentile nations around them, it grieved Samuel the Seer to his heart; and he besought the people to desist from their determination, and he warned them of the dangers that would follow, telling them that it would lead to oppression and tyranny, and that taxes would be levied and heavy burdens would be laid upon the people grievous to be borne, and that it would finally lead to war, bloodshed and bondage. But they would not listen. And when the prophet inquired of the Lord what he should do, he answered and said to Samuel: “Hearken unto the voice of the people in all they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.”
Furthermore, the Book of Mormon tells that God will cause a free government to be established upon this land in the latter days, and inasmuch as the people will serve the Lord they shall forever be a free people. And in the Doctrine and Covenants is contained a revelation which was given to the Latter-day Saints in the early history of the Church, commanding us to uphold and maintain the principles of freedom and liberty, as claimed by our fathers and consolidated in the Constitution of the United States, and in which is written this remarkable declaration: “Let no man break the laws of the land, for he that keepeth the laws of God has no need to break the laws of the land;” and we are further told that we should uphold and maintain that law which is the Constitutional law of the land; for, the Lord said, the Constitution was established by wise men whom he raised up for that purpose, after the land had been redeemed by bloodshed. This doctrine was taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith, in the early days of this people, and cannot be separated from the religion we have embraced; and by the help of the Lord we mean to maintain those principles to the end, notwithstanding that some of our American statesmen wax wanton in their feelings and tyrannical in their acts and expressions, while religious bigots and political demagogues are undermining the foundations of our American institutions. They commence today upon Utah; but it is not the first time. From the time the declaration was made in Philadelphia by the republican party there have been divers departures from those principles embraced in our American Constitution. Had the people of America listened to the voice of the Lord through the Prophet Joseph Smith, they would have long since freed their slaves in an amicable, an honorable and economical manner without the shedding of blood. But they disdained the counsels of the Lord. The Prophet Joseph published his views in pamphlet form on the powers and duties of the national government on the then much-mooted question of slavery, in which he treated upon the compact of the United States as between the North and South on this question of slavery; and proposed an easy and honorable plan of settling the question without violating that compact or encroaching upon the rights of each other; and that was, to negotiate with the Southern States for the gradual emancipation of their slaves, the consideration to be met by the national treasury, and fixing a time after which all children should be born free, thus providing for a gradual emancipation, and that they might not feel that they were robbed, and by their being gradually emancipated they would have been prepared gradually for free government and free labor, and thus the ill and unpleasant consequences would have been measurably averted, at least, of turning loose a horde of uncultivated people who were totally unprepared for American citizenship. Had they listened to this proposition, less than a tenth part of the cost of the war would have freed all the slaves, and that too without bloodshed, and the utter devastation of the Southern States would have been spared.
But we have seen it. And following the war has been inaugurated an era of degeneracy in public morals, degeneracy in politics and religion, a degeneracy in the minds of our statesmen which has shown itself in a desire on their part to tamper with the sacred rights of man, to tamper with every part of the government, not even excepting the Supreme Court, which, up to the time of the civil war, was looked upon by the American people as almost beyond temptation, and beyond the probability of being corrupted or bribed. But alas! the Supreme Court itself has been tampered with. And for many years, almost from the commencement of that effort to break down the barriers of the Constitution and to settle this vexed question of slavery by violence—from that time politicians have sought to sustain themselves in violent, revolutionary and unconstitutional measures by foisting into the Supreme Court partisans who are already imbued with extreme political notions and ideas, whose carrying them with them on the bench has resulted in many decisions which after ages will greatly deplore and point out as the stepping stones to the destruction of our free institutions. But it remains for the Congress of the United States in 1882 to strike the blow at human freedom which places a vast people who have enjoyed their freedom in part only for 35 years in these mountains, at the disposal of a returning board to be sent here by the President. This is the object of the Edmunds' bill. Its framers, its advocates and supporters scarcely expect anything from it toward the extinguishing of polygamy; but they do expect from it the transfer of our flourishing Territory into the hands of the enemies of the “Mormon” people. And they expect to disfranchise whom they will, and decide who may vote and who may hold office, who may become members of the Legislature, etc., and vice versa; and then dictate what laws they shall make, and then dictate how the people shall be taxed to pay their salaries and expenses, unless forsooth, Congress shall, according to the recommendation of President Arthur, reconsider that part of the law and make provision for their salaries.
It is not my purpose to attempt to foretell the consequences of this class of legislation. We shall all see for ourselves; but if our neighbors, our Gentile friends can stand it, we can; and if our nation can stand it, we can; and if our statesmen and the people who elect them and countenance their acts can stand it, we can; and if merchants, miners, bankers, agents, speculators, etc., among us can stand it, we can. If the taxes should be doubled up, and burdens put upon the people, and they can stand their share of it, we can stand ours, because we are used to it, and they are not. If they can confine themselves to one woman, I know we can. (Laughter.) The proof of the pudding you know, is in the eating. We do not intend to be worried; we have already passed through many very trying places, and we still expect to find an outlet. I am reminded often of our experience when traveling through some of the narrow gorges in our mountains; it often appears that our road has come to an end against a mountain, but when we get close up to it, we find a turn, and we keep traveling; and this is sometimes often repeated in a day's travel, until, at last, our road opens out and a broad, beautiful valley is in sight, which never fails to bring feelings of relief to the weary traveler, especially if he is not familiar with the road. Such has been our experience in the pilgrimage of life up to the present time, and we confidently expect that He who has led us, through His Holy Priesthood, will continue to open up our way, and He will do so if we keep our covenants with Him. Amen.
President John Taylor
said, I stated this morning that there was a storm raging at present, and had been for some little time, and that it would be well for us to keep up our coat collars and protect ourselves as best we could until the storm passed over. There will be a storm in the United States after a while; and I want our brethren to prepare themselves for it. At the last Conference, I think I advised all who were in debt to take advantage of the prosperous times and pay their debts, so that they might not be in bondage to any one, and when the storm came they might be prepared to meet it. There will be one of that kind very soon; and I thought I would give you this warning again, and repeat this piece of advice. The wise will understand.
The choir sung the anthem, I will lift up mine eyes.
Conference was adjourned till Saturday morning at ten o’clock in the Tabernacle.
Benediction by Apostle F. D. Richards.
said, I stated this morning that there was a storm raging at present, and had been for some little time, and that it would be well for us to keep up our coat collars and protect ourselves as best we could until the storm passed over. There will be a storm in the United States after a while; and I want our brethren to prepare themselves for it. At the last Conference, I think I advised all who were in debt to take advantage of the prosperous times and pay their debts, so that they might not be in bondage to any one, and when the storm came they might be prepared to meet it. There will be one of that kind very soon; and I thought I would give you this warning again, and repeat this piece of advice. The wise will understand.
The choir sung the anthem, I will lift up mine eyes.
Conference was adjourned till Saturday morning at ten o’clock in the Tabernacle.
Benediction by Apostle F. D. Richards.
THIRD DAY.
Saturday, April 8, 10 o’clock a.m.
The choir sang on page 7:
Glorious things of thee are spoken,
Zion City of our God.
Prayer by Counselor D. H. Wells.
The choir sang on page 374:
Though deepening trials throng your way,
Press on, press on, ye Saints of God.
Saturday, April 8, 10 o’clock a.m.
The choir sang on page 7:
Glorious things of thee are spoken,
Zion City of our God.
Prayer by Counselor D. H. Wells.
The choir sang on page 374:
Though deepening trials throng your way,
Press on, press on, ye Saints of God.
Apostle Franklin D. Richards
said the greatly increasing numbers of the Latter-day Saints and their diversified condition and circumstances call for the aid and succor of God our Heavenly Father, to suit the multiplied feelings and desires of the Saints, many of whom come to these conferences from a great distance, so that on their return to their various homes they may be refreshed in spirit and strengthened in their faith. God has promised that He will not only go before us by His angels, but also by His presence, and has said: “It is my business to provide for any Saints,” and he has also told us in those revelations which came through the Prophet Joseph Smith, that he does not wish us to use carnal weapons in defending ourselves from our enemies, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but spiritual to the pulling down of strongholds of Satan. In ancient times the style of warfare was more in the nature of a mortal combat, but in our day he has graciously appointed a more peaceable way. He has promised to fight our battles. The Lord kept His people from that fratricidal war when brothers were arrayed against each other and fathers against their sons, He brought us here that our hands might not be stained with blood. It is plain to be see that it is wisdom in God for His people to maintain clean hands and pure hearts in contending with the powers of evil. David was not permitted to build God’s Temple because he was a man of blood, and the Saints must build Temples with clean hands. The word to us to-day is “Thy God reigneth.” It is He that sets up kings and nations and also causes them to sink down into confusion and shame. We have been subjected to many indignities but they have turned to our good. We were denied the right to bear arms even on the anniversary of our national independence, and this, too, when surrounded by Indian tribes. This was contrary to the Constitution but we submitted and the Lord turned away the hostility of the savages and softened their hearts towards the truth and thus took away the need for us to bear arms. God, our Heavenly Father has preserved us, and we have abundant reason to still put our trust and confidence in Him. Let us forsake our evil ways and practices, and turn unto the Lord our God with full purpose of heart. He then referred to the circumstances connected with the sending of the United States army, who came here with ribaldry and threats for the purpose of destroying our leading men—but the kind hand of our Heavenly Parent overruled their plans; and caused that enterprise to result in the greatest good to the people of God. We must not forget these instances of the kindness of our Heavenly Father. He spoke of the Constitution of our country, which was admitted by Europeans to be the grandest instrument of human rights that was ever enunciated for the government of the people. All the members of our government have to take an oath to carry out the principles of that Constitution in all their official acts. When such men forget their oaths and pass laws in diametrical opposition to those principles, they will have to meet such violation of their sacred obligations and meet the charge of perjury, either in this life, or that which is to come. We have occasion to rejoice that God will not permit the infringement of the rights of man without calling them to account. The speaker referred to the constitutional provision forbidding any law to be passed by the States impairing the obligation of contracts. Here is something which it would be well to consider. No State government has any right to enact laws that will render null and void contracts even of a financial character, how, then, can laws be constitutionally enacted that will nullify the vested rights of a marital nature—the sacred contract between man and wife? If such laws are made and enforced, we can appeal to a higher court where justice and equity will be surely vindicated, while our enemies are setting traps for our feet, let us be wise, and take such a course as will meet with the approval of high heaven, and live worthy of God’s protection from day to day. The work is the Lord’s, and He will protect and defend it. We have therefore nothing to fear. He then spoke of the assassination of the Prophet Joseph and Hyrum, whose blood still stains the skirts of the nation, and in the due time of the Lord will have to be atoned for. This nation has the power to inflict serious trouble upon us, if God should permit it. We must therefore pursue the path of duty cheerfully, and put our trust in God, who will not allow anything to occur but what will be for our good and for His glory.
said the greatly increasing numbers of the Latter-day Saints and their diversified condition and circumstances call for the aid and succor of God our Heavenly Father, to suit the multiplied feelings and desires of the Saints, many of whom come to these conferences from a great distance, so that on their return to their various homes they may be refreshed in spirit and strengthened in their faith. God has promised that He will not only go before us by His angels, but also by His presence, and has said: “It is my business to provide for any Saints,” and he has also told us in those revelations which came through the Prophet Joseph Smith, that he does not wish us to use carnal weapons in defending ourselves from our enemies, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but spiritual to the pulling down of strongholds of Satan. In ancient times the style of warfare was more in the nature of a mortal combat, but in our day he has graciously appointed a more peaceable way. He has promised to fight our battles. The Lord kept His people from that fratricidal war when brothers were arrayed against each other and fathers against their sons, He brought us here that our hands might not be stained with blood. It is plain to be see that it is wisdom in God for His people to maintain clean hands and pure hearts in contending with the powers of evil. David was not permitted to build God’s Temple because he was a man of blood, and the Saints must build Temples with clean hands. The word to us to-day is “Thy God reigneth.” It is He that sets up kings and nations and also causes them to sink down into confusion and shame. We have been subjected to many indignities but they have turned to our good. We were denied the right to bear arms even on the anniversary of our national independence, and this, too, when surrounded by Indian tribes. This was contrary to the Constitution but we submitted and the Lord turned away the hostility of the savages and softened their hearts towards the truth and thus took away the need for us to bear arms. God, our Heavenly Father has preserved us, and we have abundant reason to still put our trust and confidence in Him. Let us forsake our evil ways and practices, and turn unto the Lord our God with full purpose of heart. He then referred to the circumstances connected with the sending of the United States army, who came here with ribaldry and threats for the purpose of destroying our leading men—but the kind hand of our Heavenly Parent overruled their plans; and caused that enterprise to result in the greatest good to the people of God. We must not forget these instances of the kindness of our Heavenly Father. He spoke of the Constitution of our country, which was admitted by Europeans to be the grandest instrument of human rights that was ever enunciated for the government of the people. All the members of our government have to take an oath to carry out the principles of that Constitution in all their official acts. When such men forget their oaths and pass laws in diametrical opposition to those principles, they will have to meet such violation of their sacred obligations and meet the charge of perjury, either in this life, or that which is to come. We have occasion to rejoice that God will not permit the infringement of the rights of man without calling them to account. The speaker referred to the constitutional provision forbidding any law to be passed by the States impairing the obligation of contracts. Here is something which it would be well to consider. No State government has any right to enact laws that will render null and void contracts even of a financial character, how, then, can laws be constitutionally enacted that will nullify the vested rights of a marital nature—the sacred contract between man and wife? If such laws are made and enforced, we can appeal to a higher court where justice and equity will be surely vindicated, while our enemies are setting traps for our feet, let us be wise, and take such a course as will meet with the approval of high heaven, and live worthy of God’s protection from day to day. The work is the Lord’s, and He will protect and defend it. We have therefore nothing to fear. He then spoke of the assassination of the Prophet Joseph and Hyrum, whose blood still stains the skirts of the nation, and in the due time of the Lord will have to be atoned for. This nation has the power to inflict serious trouble upon us, if God should permit it. We must therefore pursue the path of duty cheerfully, and put our trust in God, who will not allow anything to occur but what will be for our good and for His glory.
The Lord's Work—Warfare not Required of the Saints—An Overruling Providence—Corruption and Perjury in High Places—Violation of the Constitution—False Accusations Against the Saints—Words of Comfort and Exhortation
Discourse by Apostle F. D. Richards, delivered at the General Conference, Salt Lake City, Saturday Morning, April 8, 1882.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
The greatly increased numbers of Israel, and the greatly diversified and multifarious necessities which are occurring, and which increase like the branches upon a great tree, call upon us each and all, to seek continually for the mind of the Lord, that in all our varied ministrations, labors and duties, we may perform the same acceptably to him and profitably to all of his children; not only to the Saints but to the inhabitants of all the earth, inasmuch as they will hearken to his word.
We have a vast number of witnesses and evidences of the mercy, the favor and blessing of God unto us, as a people, as well as to ourselves individually and as families, it being the privilege of all who live faithfully in Christ Jesus to see and acknowledge the hand of God in all things throughout their checkered lives.
This morning I am reminded of some choice, precious promises which the Lord has made to us in the dispensation in which we live, having a peculiar application unto us, though like blessings may have been promised to people in former generations, those now referred to were given especially to the Saints of the last days. There is one very significant saying in the revelations, you will find it in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 103, beginning at the 19th verse. It is as follows:
“Therefore, let not your hearts faint, for I say not unto you as I said unto your fathers: Mine angel shall go up before you, but not my presence. But I say unto you: Mine angels shall go before you, and also my presence, and in time ye shall possess the goodly land.”
Here is a very definite and positive assurance that this work is His, that he is particularly to figure in it himself; that he has not entirely committed it, even to angels; as represented in the parable, so beautifully expressed in the Book of Mormon, where the husbandman calls upon his servants to come and help him to prune his vineyard for the last time; we are given to understand that so we are called to be helpers to the Lord our God, to prune his vineyard for the last time.
We should not allow the cares or corruptions of the world to lead us to forget that the work in which we are engaged is the Lord's work; we should never forget that the work to which all are called, God has undertaken to direct Himself; especially as it was commenced in former dispensations, but, for obvious reasons, remains to be consummated and perfected in the dispensation of the fulness of times in which we live. The Lord has also told us specifically in his revelations that it is his business to provide for his people. Most encouraging words—calculated to increase confidence in the hearts of all those who walk by faith before him.
Furthermore, he has condescended to tell us in the revelations given through the Prophet Joseph Smith, “For behold, I do not require at their (the Elders) hands to fight the battles of Zion; for, as I said in a former commandment, even so will I fulfil—I will fight your battles.” Doctrine and Covenants, section 105, verse 14.
One after another passages might be repeated relating to the designs and purposes of God, all going to show that he has not let out the work to be done by chance or to be controlled by others, but that he will direct it himself.
Have we not evidence of these facts? We have as pointed and conclusive evidence of these things, already before us, as the Apostle Paul had when he told the Hebrews that, through faith the worlds were framed by the word of God; through faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should afterwards receive for an inheritance, obeyed; by faith he sojourned in the land of promise, etc. Let us look at two or three prominent features of our history for evidences of his divine favor in overruling affairs for our welfare according to the counsels of his own will.
In former times there was much destruction of life and a great deal of contention between the enemies of God's work and his people. The latter have at different times gone forth, and that by the holy command of heaven, to mortal combat. The Lord has told us in his revelations of the last days concerning the laws which governed warfare in the days of Abraham, of Lehi and Nephi, etc., which are detailed very minutely in the Doctrine and Covenants. He says:
“Behold, this is the law I gave unto my servant Nephi, and thy fathers, Joseph, and Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham, and all mine ancient prophets and apostles.
And again, this is the law that I gave unto mine ancients, that they should not go out unto battle against any nation, kindred, tongue or people, save I, the Lord, commanded them. (Doctrine and Covenants, sec. 98, verse 32, 33.)”
For an account of the laws that justify warfare the Saints can read this section from the 23rd verse to the end.
In those days there was more contention or mortal combat permitted and required, in order to maintain the rights of God's people and establish righteousness before his face, when idolatrous and all manner of worship, except that of the true and living God, prevailed among the nations generally. But it is not given unto us that we should contend with weapons of war; that inasmuch as we serve him, he will fight our battles for us. How has he done this? Have we forgotten how he managed to keep us out of the late terrible fratricidal war, when our great country was divided in a sanguinary struggle? How did he graciously regard us? It was by telling us to arise and go hence.
Some of you well remember in what haste we gathered our little remaining substance in Nauvoo, leaving our homes in the winter season, and how we crossed the river on the ice. History attests the fact that we left none too soon to escape the dire necessity of taking up weapons of war against our fellow man. The great reason why David was not allowed to build a house to the Lord, was because he had been a man of blood. He had commenced to gather his thousands of talents of gold and silver together, and was ready to build, but the Lord told him he should not, that he had been too much a man of war, had shed too much blood; but that he might get the materials together, and that Solomon, his son, should build a temple to his name. It is plainly to be seen, in the wisdom of God, that the Saints are not to take that course; but on the contrary, the Lord requires of them that they preserve to themselves pure hearts and clean hands to build His Temples. Was not this a great and wonderful manifestation of his loving kindness, was it not a demonstration to a great people of his tender mercy in preserving us from that fratricidal strife that arose in the nation? Where is the heart that cannot be thankful for this? Here is one great, we may say, worldwide demonstration of his kindness and goodness to provide for his people, and to preserve them from dire calamities, the direst of calamities that overtake the human family. Let us then sense the feeling and spirit of the ancient prophet Isaiah when speaking of the judgments of the latter days, that the watchmen should lift up their voices and speak comforting words to Zion. And what should they say? “Thy God reigneth.” That is the word to us, brethren and sisters. “Thy God reigneth.” Let us learn to know and sense it, put our trust in him, and learn that it is he that builds up nations, and it is he that levels them to the dust; that it is he that raises up and makes rulers and people to become mighty in the earth, and that it is he that permits them to go down into insignificance, shame and contempt.
How has it been when our enemies in our midst, in violation of a sacred principle of the Constitution, have said that we should not bear arms, which we had been wont to do in celebrating the anniversary of our national independence, and for our own protection in this new and Indian country, and that too in accordance with a provision of the Constitution; when we submitted in silence to this indignity, what has been wrought out in our behalf? As if the heavens took momentary record of it, from that day to this the enmity that has existed among the unprincipled, low and degraded Lamanites upon our borders has been hushed to silence; the manner in which we have dealt with them has been felt for good. Terrible wars have been prevented by the influence of the Latter-day Saints among them, until today it is not necessary that any, in this region of country, should have arms to protect themselves unless it be from professed friends. Is there no God in this? Look all around us, God has made even our adversaries to be at peace with us. He has made the blessings of peace to be multiplied around us, until the very occasion for weapons of defense is removed. The wicked had no sooner forbidden us to bear arms when God in his tender mercies and parental solicitude removed the very occasion of defense, leaving us at peace with all around us. The glorious tidings, “peace on earth and good will to man,” have come sounding to us through the ages, and they are being echoed and reechoed to us by the voice of those who hold the keys of the kingdom, and we see it not only in word but in power and demonstration of truth.
These are none other than the blessings of God unto us, my brethren and sisters. We ought to think of these things; we ought to acknowledge in gratitude this dispensation of his providence; and we should make it our business to sanctify ourselves before him; yea, let the man that has taken to his cups depart from them; and let he who has drunk of the spirit of the world, and who fraternizes with the ungodly, turn from the error of his ways, wash himself from the filth of unrighteousness and purify himself before God, and call upon his name that he may forgive and extend his pardoning favor. It is to be deplored that there are so many that are so easily to be civilized by this damning “civilization” that has come among us; it is an occasion of sorrow to the Latter-day Saints that so many are so easily drawn away to affiliate with the ungodly. When we remember the mercies and blessings of God to us, it is a fitting time to turn and seek his face and favor afresh, and renew our covenants before him, and become worthy in his sight.
I might enumerate many other instances of the goodness and mercy of God unto us, how he fed the suffering Saints with quails on the banks of the Mississippi, how he sent gulls to rid us of the crickets when they threatened us with starvation here.
I must refer to the time when the Lord permitted the United States to send an army to Utah. It was told to us that there were a million of bayonets in the States ready to be turned toward Utah. We did not count them, but we know the details of their coming and how the soldiery arrived here. They came with their mouths full of ribaldry, full of threatenings, full of animus and destruction towards President Young, his family, the Apostles, and towards all that were immediately associated with them, threatening to hang them like Haman upon a tree. But God in his mercy before they got here very much cooled their ardor; and when they arrived they came as harmless as any 4th of July celebrators. They marched in quiet through our streets, no man daring to commit an indignity as they passed.
Our Heavenly Father sanctified this to our good, for while they scattered much means among us, scarcely an act of hostility was committed, and, when the time of terrible destruction came they marched away to the violence of death. Is not the hand of God to be seen in this? If so, should we not acknowledge with thanksgiving his mercy in thus making us the objects of such care. We ought to bestow the best efforts and energies of our lives to build up his kingdom, establish his righteousness, and make him our friend for time and eternity.
I would not dwell too lengthily upon these things, although they show the divine goodness and tenderness. Is there a loving father that deals more affectionately with his children than this? Could the Lord deal more lovingly with us? It is to be feared that his tender mercies are so abundant, and we become so used to them as to grow ungrateful.
A few words in regard to the fundamental law established for the guidance of the people of this great nation, called the Constitution of the United States, that instrument was framed by our forefathers, who purchased the power to do so with their blood; they were men who went into the revolutionary war pledging their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor, and placed everything they possessed upon the altar of liberty. The Constitution they adopted has been admitted by European statesmen to be the grandest palladium of human rights known upon the earth. The flag of our nation has commanded respect in every part of this habitable globe, whether on land or sea.
All representatives and officers of the government, state or national, from the highest to the lowest, lift up their hands to heaven and swear that they will observe that Constitution and the laws of the nation or State, as the office may require, to the best of their knowledge and ability, so help them God. When Congress so far descends as to make special laws, and send forth its legislative missiles to us bearing the odor, power, and character of attainder, and ex post facto laws; when they can provide, directly or indirectly, for conviction without trial by jury; when they frame and pass measures having for their object the deprivation or spoliation of rights common to all citizens, and that in direct opposition to the provisions of the Constitution, as appears on the face of the Edmunds' bill, they themselves violate that oath of office which they took before God and their country. They may, standing in high places, think that it does not become citizens to question their acts; but citizens of this Republic are the sovereigns of the nation; and when the Constitution was created it was provided that every power not granted by that instrument was retained by the people. Public men, in the true spirit of the Constitution of our government, are the servants of the people, put in office to administer the will of the people as defined in that instrument.
When men in high places forget themselves, and in violation of their oaths dictate or forbid what shall or what shall not be observed as religious rites, they become amenable to the higher laws, and will have to answer to the charge of perjury to an immortal court, from whose decisions mortals have found no mode of appeal by any bill of exceptions.
The principles upon which our government is founded are most excellent, and to all intents and purposes most satisfactory. The great and learned Webster, Clay, and their contemporaries, considered them a standard of liberty—far above that of any other country upon our globe; something that every American had cause to be proud of. If the American nation will be governed by its doctrines, it will extend to the whole human family the precious boon of liberty, and will make this land in reality an asylum for the oppressed of all nations. But we have come to a time when Congress has undertaken to dictate our ethics, to declare what we may or may not accept as tenets of religion. This is a right or power that is not conveyed in the Constitution; but on the contrary, Congress is expressly prohibited from making any law establishing any form of religion or preventing the free exercise thereof; this right of worshiping God according to the dictates of one's own conscience is the right of every American citizen.
Aside from what may be pronounced legal, there is an equity side of the court to which all Godfearing people have recourse. One principle of which the courts of the nation seem to have taken no consideration, but which the Latter-day Saints cannot afford to pass unnoticed, is this: Wherein it is given in the Constitution that the States shall make no law to impair the obligation of contracts. I wish to ask the people, not in the legal sense, but in the sense of equity, of righteousness and eternal truth, if the marriage relation is not to all intents and purposes a contract? Do we not enter into a covenant, a contract, an agreement with our wives. Yes; not only a contract, an agreement of a civil nature, as it is regarded in the world, but our contracts are of a higher order, of a more sacred nature extending as they do in perpetuity from time into eternity. Now, if it is a violation of States rights to pass a law impairing the obligation of contracts in common financial matters, is it not a graver and more serious violation of the Constitution to pass a law impairing the obligation of contracts as between man and wife? It is laid down by the most eminent law writers of our country that properly maintained marital relationship is the true basis of all human society; it needs the solemn covenants of husband and wife to be taken into account, and then what follows? The reasons why contracts and faith in them should not be violated is because of vested rights that accrue under those contracts; and have you any vested rights, my brethren and sisters, under the contracts that you have made with your wives and husbands, have you not acquired under those covenants and contracts the most precious of vested rights—those of sons and daughters given you in the flesh? These are possessory rights, the value of which bear no comparison with any thing that can be called goods or chattels. We look upon the increase of our families, as the foundation of our eternal dominion, we cannot but look upon any hand impairing the obligation of these contracts as striking at the very root of our prosperity. Our children are our vested rights growing out of these holy relations, rights not only of a temporal but of an eternal, and finally immortal character, and of the highest possible consideration.
I apprehend while I talk upon this subject, that it is very improbable that the courts of the world would regard these matters in any such light, but they are matters which pertain to the laws of the living God before whose court we shall all appear and our rights be vindicated; those who have undertaken to deprive us of these rights will also appear and on such a writ of errors as will bring them effectually within the jurisdiction of the court.
The Lord has given unto us these rights, which we are learning to appreciate, but which the world know nothing of. Is it to be wondered at that they do many things, as did those who slew the Savior, concerning whom he said, “They know not what they do?”
The rulers of our land have undertaken to set snares for our feet, to bring us into subjection to the political will of the Republican party to teach us how to promote party discord, be oppressed with heavy taxes and become burdened with debt. Let us put our trust in the living God, and see that while we violate no law of man unnecessarily, that we do not violate any of the laws of God, so that we may be entitled to His protection and that his blessing may abide with us.
Not desiring to occupy too much time, I would exhort my brethren and sisters to renew their diligence in trying to honor the Lord by keeping his commandments, remembering our obligations to each other; that we continue preaching the Gospel to the nations, gathering the honest in heart who receive the word through the ministrations of the Elders; and inasmuch as this is God's work we have no need to fear. There are those who dwelt here in 1848-9, who for days and weeks, scarcely tasted bread. Those who have passed through these scenes will never fear anything that may come upon us again. I often think of the peculiar circumstances of the Savior when upon the earth, who when Herod the Great sent word to him, inquiring who this Jesus of Nazareth was; the answer of the Savior being, Go tell him that the birds of the air have nests, and the foxes have holes, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head. Think of it my friends; He by whom the worlds were created, who gave the law upon Mount Sinai; He who communicated with the brother of Jared, directing him to cross the sea and people this continent; He who was and is our great Ruler came and dwelt in the flesh, instead of making himself the possessor of houses and lands and earthly substance, had not where to lay His head. And after passing through a life of sorrows he was tried for His life, when the judge washed his hands, saying, he found no fault in Him. The fact was He was above the law, He was without sin, and of the things of which they tried to convict him he was not guilty, wherein he said he was the Son of God, which they, in their blind ignorance, looked upon as blasphemy.
Now, we are charged with blasphemy, because we believe and declare that the holy Priesthood has been restored to us from heaven. It is made blasphemy to believe that Peter, James and John were sent from heaven to earth to ordain Joseph and Oliver, and because, as they had been instructed to do, they ordained others to the same Priesthood, and then commissioned them to go to all the world and preach the Gospel. This is put forth and published as one of the blasphemies that we believe in which has made us to incur the displeasure and wrath of this self-righteous generation. While we contemplate that the Prophets of God have been slain, their blood ruthlessly shed, and the nation has never made an expression to exculpate themselves from the act, they have never even expressed their disapproval of it, but, on the contrary, multitudes have said, they were glad of it, but that they disliked the way in which it was done.
While this is upon the nation and until they wash their hands of it, we can but look upon them with sorrow and apprehension and dread for thus acquiescing in breaking and overriding the fundamental laws of the land; for if these things can be inflicted upon us they can be done to others. And they have been to others. Do you not recollect when the army came here, it was the nation's first effort against the “Mormons,” against what they were pleased to term a “twin relic”—polygamy; and having extirpated the “twin relic” of the south—slavery, which was deemed necessary to secure the triumph of the republican arms, now the attack is made again upon the people representing the remaining “relic.” They and we are in the hands of God, and it becomes us to move on in all our duties quietly, peaceably and prayerfully. The nation, of course, can cause us a great deal of bodily and mental suffering if God permits. They have already shown what they are capable of doing by their deprivations and arbitrary rule in the south; and we have every reason to believe they would do as much for us were it the pleasure of the Almighty to permit them.
The few men now sitting in Congress, from the Southern States, who had the manhood and the moral courage to protest against the measure, which has since become a law, aimed directly at our liberty and rights, knew from experience the effects of military law, and those usurpations which have tended to ruin their country after the desolation caused by the war. They had been through the furnace, they could feel anew the burnings of the fire, and they could see the grief into which we are to be crowded.
The question with us is, are we sufficiently devoted to the interests of the kingdom of God to enable us to confidently believe, without a doubt, that he will sustain us in all that we may be called upon to pass through? If we are he certainly will not permit any more to come upon us than we can endure and that will be for our good; because he is that God who is nearer to us than a friend or a brother.
He had told us that those who kept his commandments had no need to break the laws of the land. We made no law nor passed any ordinance contrary to the laws of the land; the lawmakers of the nation made the law which brought us in conflict with our government; and, therefore, we must look to him to overrule this conflict, and trust that he will do better for us than we know how to ask or even to think for ourselves; provided, we pursue the path of duty faithfully and steadfastly.
I pray that we may so take consideration of our ways that we shall not feel vindictive to those who are vindictive towards us; but, on the contrary, rise above such a feeling upon the more elevated platform which was introduced by the Savior, in which he taught his disciples to do good to them who despitefully used and persecuted them. This is a lesson that we have not fully learned.
May the Lord bless and prosper all who seek to do his will, and may his mercy be multiplied to all nations until the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God, and until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ; may we live and our generations after us to perform efficient and faithful service in bringing about his purposes. Oh, that our enemies might see the error of their ways, repent as in dust and ashes and place themselves in a condition to receive the favor of God, and thereby escape the terrible judgments that must sooner or later overtake those who willfully battle against the truth.
It remains for us to continue to bear our testimony to the world, to build our Temples, in which to perform the work for ourselves and our dead, essential to salvation and exaltation in his kingdom, and to build up a Zion to the glory of God. That this may be our determined purpose to a faithful consummation, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
Discourse by Apostle F. D. Richards, delivered at the General Conference, Salt Lake City, Saturday Morning, April 8, 1882.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
The greatly increased numbers of Israel, and the greatly diversified and multifarious necessities which are occurring, and which increase like the branches upon a great tree, call upon us each and all, to seek continually for the mind of the Lord, that in all our varied ministrations, labors and duties, we may perform the same acceptably to him and profitably to all of his children; not only to the Saints but to the inhabitants of all the earth, inasmuch as they will hearken to his word.
We have a vast number of witnesses and evidences of the mercy, the favor and blessing of God unto us, as a people, as well as to ourselves individually and as families, it being the privilege of all who live faithfully in Christ Jesus to see and acknowledge the hand of God in all things throughout their checkered lives.
This morning I am reminded of some choice, precious promises which the Lord has made to us in the dispensation in which we live, having a peculiar application unto us, though like blessings may have been promised to people in former generations, those now referred to were given especially to the Saints of the last days. There is one very significant saying in the revelations, you will find it in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 103, beginning at the 19th verse. It is as follows:
“Therefore, let not your hearts faint, for I say not unto you as I said unto your fathers: Mine angel shall go up before you, but not my presence. But I say unto you: Mine angels shall go before you, and also my presence, and in time ye shall possess the goodly land.”
Here is a very definite and positive assurance that this work is His, that he is particularly to figure in it himself; that he has not entirely committed it, even to angels; as represented in the parable, so beautifully expressed in the Book of Mormon, where the husbandman calls upon his servants to come and help him to prune his vineyard for the last time; we are given to understand that so we are called to be helpers to the Lord our God, to prune his vineyard for the last time.
We should not allow the cares or corruptions of the world to lead us to forget that the work in which we are engaged is the Lord's work; we should never forget that the work to which all are called, God has undertaken to direct Himself; especially as it was commenced in former dispensations, but, for obvious reasons, remains to be consummated and perfected in the dispensation of the fulness of times in which we live. The Lord has also told us specifically in his revelations that it is his business to provide for his people. Most encouraging words—calculated to increase confidence in the hearts of all those who walk by faith before him.
Furthermore, he has condescended to tell us in the revelations given through the Prophet Joseph Smith, “For behold, I do not require at their (the Elders) hands to fight the battles of Zion; for, as I said in a former commandment, even so will I fulfil—I will fight your battles.” Doctrine and Covenants, section 105, verse 14.
One after another passages might be repeated relating to the designs and purposes of God, all going to show that he has not let out the work to be done by chance or to be controlled by others, but that he will direct it himself.
Have we not evidence of these facts? We have as pointed and conclusive evidence of these things, already before us, as the Apostle Paul had when he told the Hebrews that, through faith the worlds were framed by the word of God; through faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should afterwards receive for an inheritance, obeyed; by faith he sojourned in the land of promise, etc. Let us look at two or three prominent features of our history for evidences of his divine favor in overruling affairs for our welfare according to the counsels of his own will.
In former times there was much destruction of life and a great deal of contention between the enemies of God's work and his people. The latter have at different times gone forth, and that by the holy command of heaven, to mortal combat. The Lord has told us in his revelations of the last days concerning the laws which governed warfare in the days of Abraham, of Lehi and Nephi, etc., which are detailed very minutely in the Doctrine and Covenants. He says:
“Behold, this is the law I gave unto my servant Nephi, and thy fathers, Joseph, and Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham, and all mine ancient prophets and apostles.
And again, this is the law that I gave unto mine ancients, that they should not go out unto battle against any nation, kindred, tongue or people, save I, the Lord, commanded them. (Doctrine and Covenants, sec. 98, verse 32, 33.)”
For an account of the laws that justify warfare the Saints can read this section from the 23rd verse to the end.
In those days there was more contention or mortal combat permitted and required, in order to maintain the rights of God's people and establish righteousness before his face, when idolatrous and all manner of worship, except that of the true and living God, prevailed among the nations generally. But it is not given unto us that we should contend with weapons of war; that inasmuch as we serve him, he will fight our battles for us. How has he done this? Have we forgotten how he managed to keep us out of the late terrible fratricidal war, when our great country was divided in a sanguinary struggle? How did he graciously regard us? It was by telling us to arise and go hence.
Some of you well remember in what haste we gathered our little remaining substance in Nauvoo, leaving our homes in the winter season, and how we crossed the river on the ice. History attests the fact that we left none too soon to escape the dire necessity of taking up weapons of war against our fellow man. The great reason why David was not allowed to build a house to the Lord, was because he had been a man of blood. He had commenced to gather his thousands of talents of gold and silver together, and was ready to build, but the Lord told him he should not, that he had been too much a man of war, had shed too much blood; but that he might get the materials together, and that Solomon, his son, should build a temple to his name. It is plainly to be seen, in the wisdom of God, that the Saints are not to take that course; but on the contrary, the Lord requires of them that they preserve to themselves pure hearts and clean hands to build His Temples. Was not this a great and wonderful manifestation of his loving kindness, was it not a demonstration to a great people of his tender mercy in preserving us from that fratricidal strife that arose in the nation? Where is the heart that cannot be thankful for this? Here is one great, we may say, worldwide demonstration of his kindness and goodness to provide for his people, and to preserve them from dire calamities, the direst of calamities that overtake the human family. Let us then sense the feeling and spirit of the ancient prophet Isaiah when speaking of the judgments of the latter days, that the watchmen should lift up their voices and speak comforting words to Zion. And what should they say? “Thy God reigneth.” That is the word to us, brethren and sisters. “Thy God reigneth.” Let us learn to know and sense it, put our trust in him, and learn that it is he that builds up nations, and it is he that levels them to the dust; that it is he that raises up and makes rulers and people to become mighty in the earth, and that it is he that permits them to go down into insignificance, shame and contempt.
How has it been when our enemies in our midst, in violation of a sacred principle of the Constitution, have said that we should not bear arms, which we had been wont to do in celebrating the anniversary of our national independence, and for our own protection in this new and Indian country, and that too in accordance with a provision of the Constitution; when we submitted in silence to this indignity, what has been wrought out in our behalf? As if the heavens took momentary record of it, from that day to this the enmity that has existed among the unprincipled, low and degraded Lamanites upon our borders has been hushed to silence; the manner in which we have dealt with them has been felt for good. Terrible wars have been prevented by the influence of the Latter-day Saints among them, until today it is not necessary that any, in this region of country, should have arms to protect themselves unless it be from professed friends. Is there no God in this? Look all around us, God has made even our adversaries to be at peace with us. He has made the blessings of peace to be multiplied around us, until the very occasion for weapons of defense is removed. The wicked had no sooner forbidden us to bear arms when God in his tender mercies and parental solicitude removed the very occasion of defense, leaving us at peace with all around us. The glorious tidings, “peace on earth and good will to man,” have come sounding to us through the ages, and they are being echoed and reechoed to us by the voice of those who hold the keys of the kingdom, and we see it not only in word but in power and demonstration of truth.
These are none other than the blessings of God unto us, my brethren and sisters. We ought to think of these things; we ought to acknowledge in gratitude this dispensation of his providence; and we should make it our business to sanctify ourselves before him; yea, let the man that has taken to his cups depart from them; and let he who has drunk of the spirit of the world, and who fraternizes with the ungodly, turn from the error of his ways, wash himself from the filth of unrighteousness and purify himself before God, and call upon his name that he may forgive and extend his pardoning favor. It is to be deplored that there are so many that are so easily to be civilized by this damning “civilization” that has come among us; it is an occasion of sorrow to the Latter-day Saints that so many are so easily drawn away to affiliate with the ungodly. When we remember the mercies and blessings of God to us, it is a fitting time to turn and seek his face and favor afresh, and renew our covenants before him, and become worthy in his sight.
I might enumerate many other instances of the goodness and mercy of God unto us, how he fed the suffering Saints with quails on the banks of the Mississippi, how he sent gulls to rid us of the crickets when they threatened us with starvation here.
I must refer to the time when the Lord permitted the United States to send an army to Utah. It was told to us that there were a million of bayonets in the States ready to be turned toward Utah. We did not count them, but we know the details of their coming and how the soldiery arrived here. They came with their mouths full of ribaldry, full of threatenings, full of animus and destruction towards President Young, his family, the Apostles, and towards all that were immediately associated with them, threatening to hang them like Haman upon a tree. But God in his mercy before they got here very much cooled their ardor; and when they arrived they came as harmless as any 4th of July celebrators. They marched in quiet through our streets, no man daring to commit an indignity as they passed.
Our Heavenly Father sanctified this to our good, for while they scattered much means among us, scarcely an act of hostility was committed, and, when the time of terrible destruction came they marched away to the violence of death. Is not the hand of God to be seen in this? If so, should we not acknowledge with thanksgiving his mercy in thus making us the objects of such care. We ought to bestow the best efforts and energies of our lives to build up his kingdom, establish his righteousness, and make him our friend for time and eternity.
I would not dwell too lengthily upon these things, although they show the divine goodness and tenderness. Is there a loving father that deals more affectionately with his children than this? Could the Lord deal more lovingly with us? It is to be feared that his tender mercies are so abundant, and we become so used to them as to grow ungrateful.
A few words in regard to the fundamental law established for the guidance of the people of this great nation, called the Constitution of the United States, that instrument was framed by our forefathers, who purchased the power to do so with their blood; they were men who went into the revolutionary war pledging their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor, and placed everything they possessed upon the altar of liberty. The Constitution they adopted has been admitted by European statesmen to be the grandest palladium of human rights known upon the earth. The flag of our nation has commanded respect in every part of this habitable globe, whether on land or sea.
All representatives and officers of the government, state or national, from the highest to the lowest, lift up their hands to heaven and swear that they will observe that Constitution and the laws of the nation or State, as the office may require, to the best of their knowledge and ability, so help them God. When Congress so far descends as to make special laws, and send forth its legislative missiles to us bearing the odor, power, and character of attainder, and ex post facto laws; when they can provide, directly or indirectly, for conviction without trial by jury; when they frame and pass measures having for their object the deprivation or spoliation of rights common to all citizens, and that in direct opposition to the provisions of the Constitution, as appears on the face of the Edmunds' bill, they themselves violate that oath of office which they took before God and their country. They may, standing in high places, think that it does not become citizens to question their acts; but citizens of this Republic are the sovereigns of the nation; and when the Constitution was created it was provided that every power not granted by that instrument was retained by the people. Public men, in the true spirit of the Constitution of our government, are the servants of the people, put in office to administer the will of the people as defined in that instrument.
When men in high places forget themselves, and in violation of their oaths dictate or forbid what shall or what shall not be observed as religious rites, they become amenable to the higher laws, and will have to answer to the charge of perjury to an immortal court, from whose decisions mortals have found no mode of appeal by any bill of exceptions.
The principles upon which our government is founded are most excellent, and to all intents and purposes most satisfactory. The great and learned Webster, Clay, and their contemporaries, considered them a standard of liberty—far above that of any other country upon our globe; something that every American had cause to be proud of. If the American nation will be governed by its doctrines, it will extend to the whole human family the precious boon of liberty, and will make this land in reality an asylum for the oppressed of all nations. But we have come to a time when Congress has undertaken to dictate our ethics, to declare what we may or may not accept as tenets of religion. This is a right or power that is not conveyed in the Constitution; but on the contrary, Congress is expressly prohibited from making any law establishing any form of religion or preventing the free exercise thereof; this right of worshiping God according to the dictates of one's own conscience is the right of every American citizen.
Aside from what may be pronounced legal, there is an equity side of the court to which all Godfearing people have recourse. One principle of which the courts of the nation seem to have taken no consideration, but which the Latter-day Saints cannot afford to pass unnoticed, is this: Wherein it is given in the Constitution that the States shall make no law to impair the obligation of contracts. I wish to ask the people, not in the legal sense, but in the sense of equity, of righteousness and eternal truth, if the marriage relation is not to all intents and purposes a contract? Do we not enter into a covenant, a contract, an agreement with our wives. Yes; not only a contract, an agreement of a civil nature, as it is regarded in the world, but our contracts are of a higher order, of a more sacred nature extending as they do in perpetuity from time into eternity. Now, if it is a violation of States rights to pass a law impairing the obligation of contracts in common financial matters, is it not a graver and more serious violation of the Constitution to pass a law impairing the obligation of contracts as between man and wife? It is laid down by the most eminent law writers of our country that properly maintained marital relationship is the true basis of all human society; it needs the solemn covenants of husband and wife to be taken into account, and then what follows? The reasons why contracts and faith in them should not be violated is because of vested rights that accrue under those contracts; and have you any vested rights, my brethren and sisters, under the contracts that you have made with your wives and husbands, have you not acquired under those covenants and contracts the most precious of vested rights—those of sons and daughters given you in the flesh? These are possessory rights, the value of which bear no comparison with any thing that can be called goods or chattels. We look upon the increase of our families, as the foundation of our eternal dominion, we cannot but look upon any hand impairing the obligation of these contracts as striking at the very root of our prosperity. Our children are our vested rights growing out of these holy relations, rights not only of a temporal but of an eternal, and finally immortal character, and of the highest possible consideration.
I apprehend while I talk upon this subject, that it is very improbable that the courts of the world would regard these matters in any such light, but they are matters which pertain to the laws of the living God before whose court we shall all appear and our rights be vindicated; those who have undertaken to deprive us of these rights will also appear and on such a writ of errors as will bring them effectually within the jurisdiction of the court.
The Lord has given unto us these rights, which we are learning to appreciate, but which the world know nothing of. Is it to be wondered at that they do many things, as did those who slew the Savior, concerning whom he said, “They know not what they do?”
The rulers of our land have undertaken to set snares for our feet, to bring us into subjection to the political will of the Republican party to teach us how to promote party discord, be oppressed with heavy taxes and become burdened with debt. Let us put our trust in the living God, and see that while we violate no law of man unnecessarily, that we do not violate any of the laws of God, so that we may be entitled to His protection and that his blessing may abide with us.
Not desiring to occupy too much time, I would exhort my brethren and sisters to renew their diligence in trying to honor the Lord by keeping his commandments, remembering our obligations to each other; that we continue preaching the Gospel to the nations, gathering the honest in heart who receive the word through the ministrations of the Elders; and inasmuch as this is God's work we have no need to fear. There are those who dwelt here in 1848-9, who for days and weeks, scarcely tasted bread. Those who have passed through these scenes will never fear anything that may come upon us again. I often think of the peculiar circumstances of the Savior when upon the earth, who when Herod the Great sent word to him, inquiring who this Jesus of Nazareth was; the answer of the Savior being, Go tell him that the birds of the air have nests, and the foxes have holes, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head. Think of it my friends; He by whom the worlds were created, who gave the law upon Mount Sinai; He who communicated with the brother of Jared, directing him to cross the sea and people this continent; He who was and is our great Ruler came and dwelt in the flesh, instead of making himself the possessor of houses and lands and earthly substance, had not where to lay His head. And after passing through a life of sorrows he was tried for His life, when the judge washed his hands, saying, he found no fault in Him. The fact was He was above the law, He was without sin, and of the things of which they tried to convict him he was not guilty, wherein he said he was the Son of God, which they, in their blind ignorance, looked upon as blasphemy.
Now, we are charged with blasphemy, because we believe and declare that the holy Priesthood has been restored to us from heaven. It is made blasphemy to believe that Peter, James and John were sent from heaven to earth to ordain Joseph and Oliver, and because, as they had been instructed to do, they ordained others to the same Priesthood, and then commissioned them to go to all the world and preach the Gospel. This is put forth and published as one of the blasphemies that we believe in which has made us to incur the displeasure and wrath of this self-righteous generation. While we contemplate that the Prophets of God have been slain, their blood ruthlessly shed, and the nation has never made an expression to exculpate themselves from the act, they have never even expressed their disapproval of it, but, on the contrary, multitudes have said, they were glad of it, but that they disliked the way in which it was done.
While this is upon the nation and until they wash their hands of it, we can but look upon them with sorrow and apprehension and dread for thus acquiescing in breaking and overriding the fundamental laws of the land; for if these things can be inflicted upon us they can be done to others. And they have been to others. Do you not recollect when the army came here, it was the nation's first effort against the “Mormons,” against what they were pleased to term a “twin relic”—polygamy; and having extirpated the “twin relic” of the south—slavery, which was deemed necessary to secure the triumph of the republican arms, now the attack is made again upon the people representing the remaining “relic.” They and we are in the hands of God, and it becomes us to move on in all our duties quietly, peaceably and prayerfully. The nation, of course, can cause us a great deal of bodily and mental suffering if God permits. They have already shown what they are capable of doing by their deprivations and arbitrary rule in the south; and we have every reason to believe they would do as much for us were it the pleasure of the Almighty to permit them.
The few men now sitting in Congress, from the Southern States, who had the manhood and the moral courage to protest against the measure, which has since become a law, aimed directly at our liberty and rights, knew from experience the effects of military law, and those usurpations which have tended to ruin their country after the desolation caused by the war. They had been through the furnace, they could feel anew the burnings of the fire, and they could see the grief into which we are to be crowded.
The question with us is, are we sufficiently devoted to the interests of the kingdom of God to enable us to confidently believe, without a doubt, that he will sustain us in all that we may be called upon to pass through? If we are he certainly will not permit any more to come upon us than we can endure and that will be for our good; because he is that God who is nearer to us than a friend or a brother.
He had told us that those who kept his commandments had no need to break the laws of the land. We made no law nor passed any ordinance contrary to the laws of the land; the lawmakers of the nation made the law which brought us in conflict with our government; and, therefore, we must look to him to overrule this conflict, and trust that he will do better for us than we know how to ask or even to think for ourselves; provided, we pursue the path of duty faithfully and steadfastly.
I pray that we may so take consideration of our ways that we shall not feel vindictive to those who are vindictive towards us; but, on the contrary, rise above such a feeling upon the more elevated platform which was introduced by the Savior, in which he taught his disciples to do good to them who despitefully used and persecuted them. This is a lesson that we have not fully learned.
May the Lord bless and prosper all who seek to do his will, and may his mercy be multiplied to all nations until the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God, and until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ; may we live and our generations after us to perform efficient and faithful service in bringing about his purposes. Oh, that our enemies might see the error of their ways, repent as in dust and ashes and place themselves in a condition to receive the favor of God, and thereby escape the terrible judgments that must sooner or later overtake those who willfully battle against the truth.
It remains for us to continue to bear our testimony to the world, to build our Temples, in which to perform the work for ourselves and our dead, essential to salvation and exaltation in his kingdom, and to build up a Zion to the glory of God. That this may be our determined purpose to a faithful consummation, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
Elder George Teasdale
said there are thousands in this congregation that can bear a faithful testimony that God lives, and that this is His work that we are engaged in. He spoke of the time when God first revealed himself to Joseph Smith who was then the only man who had this testimony. Then commenced persecution, the world against the truth, in the midst of which was exhibited the power of God in the protection of His servant, in the preservation and translation of the plates from which came forth that sacred record called the Book of Mormon. Then came the authority conferred upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery by John the Baptist, to empower them to preach the Gospel and baptize believers for the remission of their sins. Then there were two men standing on earth as witnesses for Christ. After which came Peter, James and John to confer the Melchisedec Priesthood and who gave instructions pertaining to the kingdom of God. He then spoke of the effects that have followed the preaching of the Gospel to the various nations of the earth; and the thousands that have been gathered to these valleys of the mountains, bringing with them the spirit of the Gospel, being protected on their journey by manifestations of God’s providences in fulfillment of predictions made to them by the servants of the Lord. He rejoiced at the awakening there is among the Latter-day Saints. God is moving among us, and while we are actively engaged in the various duties of our calling, the building of Temples, the payment of our tithes and offerings, and offering up our prayers we can see the providences of the Almighty in our history and rely that He will most assuredly protect and defend us so long as we work righteousness. Zion will not be redeemed by blood, but by righteousness, and we must take a course to secure the favor of the Almighty; that we may be preserved and finally redeemed back again in His presence.
said there are thousands in this congregation that can bear a faithful testimony that God lives, and that this is His work that we are engaged in. He spoke of the time when God first revealed himself to Joseph Smith who was then the only man who had this testimony. Then commenced persecution, the world against the truth, in the midst of which was exhibited the power of God in the protection of His servant, in the preservation and translation of the plates from which came forth that sacred record called the Book of Mormon. Then came the authority conferred upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery by John the Baptist, to empower them to preach the Gospel and baptize believers for the remission of their sins. Then there were two men standing on earth as witnesses for Christ. After which came Peter, James and John to confer the Melchisedec Priesthood and who gave instructions pertaining to the kingdom of God. He then spoke of the effects that have followed the preaching of the Gospel to the various nations of the earth; and the thousands that have been gathered to these valleys of the mountains, bringing with them the spirit of the Gospel, being protected on their journey by manifestations of God’s providences in fulfillment of predictions made to them by the servants of the Lord. He rejoiced at the awakening there is among the Latter-day Saints. God is moving among us, and while we are actively engaged in the various duties of our calling, the building of Temples, the payment of our tithes and offerings, and offering up our prayers we can see the providences of the Almighty in our history and rely that He will most assuredly protect and defend us so long as we work righteousness. Zion will not be redeemed by blood, but by righteousness, and we must take a course to secure the favor of the Almighty; that we may be preserved and finally redeemed back again in His presence.
Elder L. John Nuttall
announced that the Saints from the country who were unable to procure lodging places and refreshments during the remainder of the Conference, in consequence of the crowded condition of the hotels, and not having friends in the city, could be accommodated by calling on Bishop Hunter and his Counselors at the Tithing Office, who would direct them how to proceed; the Bishops of the various Wards would make proper provision for them.
Conference was adjourned till 2 p.m.
The choir sang the anthem: How beautiful upon the mountains.
Benediction by Apostle John H. Smith.
announced that the Saints from the country who were unable to procure lodging places and refreshments during the remainder of the Conference, in consequence of the crowded condition of the hotels, and not having friends in the city, could be accommodated by calling on Bishop Hunter and his Counselors at the Tithing Office, who would direct them how to proceed; the Bishops of the various Wards would make proper provision for them.
Conference was adjourned till 2 p.m.
The choir sang the anthem: How beautiful upon the mountains.
Benediction by Apostle John H. Smith.
Saturday, 2 p. m.
The choir sang on page 41:
Jesus, from whom all blessings flow,
Great builder of the Church below.
Prayer by Elder A. M. Cannon.
The choir sang hymn on page 259,
Guide us, O thou great Jehovah,
Saints unto the promised land.
The choir sang on page 41:
Jesus, from whom all blessings flow,
Great builder of the Church below.
Prayer by Elder A. M. Cannon.
The choir sang hymn on page 259,
Guide us, O thou great Jehovah,
Saints unto the promised land.
Apostle Moses Thatcher
said he had enjoyed the remarks of his brethren who had previously spoken, and he desired to be prompted by the same spirit that had actuated them. This is a sure guide to mankind. Our senses may fail us one by one, or deceive us, but he who has the light of God and is guided by it, will not go astray. The Apostles of Jesus had listened to the sermon on the mount, had seen the multitude fed by a few loaves and fishes, the eyes of the blind opened, and many wondrous works wrought, but with all their experience they were not qualified to preach the Gospel of life and salvation until they had received this light, being endowed with power from on high. The Elders of this Church are sent to the nations to preach the Gospel by the same power. No other ministers are able to promise with assurance the bestowal of this power from high, if the people believe their testimony, with the signs following as promised by the Savior. The speaker alluded to the absence of those gifts in the Christian world and the divisions existing therein. This shows that either the words and prayers of Jesus were unfulfilled or the people called “Christians” are not true believers. He related instances of suffering endured voluntarily by Catholics in Mexico as evidence of their sincerity. He respected the sincerity of religious worshippers even though they might be in error. God gave to man his agency in the beginning, and in this great republic a man should be free to worship anything or nothing as he pleased, so long as he does not interfere with the rights of others. God gave a commandment when he created man in His own image, which has never been repealed. It was, “increase and multiply.” No matter what laws man might make this law of God is in force. The Catholic church attempts to establish celibacy and governments try to restrain obedience to this commandment, but the word of God remains. The Lord will judge them according to their light. The speaker would not cease to pray for the leaders of this nation. He felt that there was “salt” in the land yet. He believed that there were a great many more righteous men in Congress than the number required for the preservation of Sodom and Gomorrah. There are yet a few men who have courage to oppose unconstitutional measures like the Edmunds bill, although threatened with the lash of party and the anger of their constituents. Touching on the petitions sent by 75 thousand people of Utah to Congress he showed that they did not ask for anything but fair investigation of our principles and condition before taking action against us. Our prayers were not heard. But we have no enmity or hatred in our hearts towards those who refused our petition; our religion has taught us better. And when we have tutored ourselves to return good for evil and have no feeling to oppress any one, God would give this people the dominion as He had promised. The speaker denied the charge that the Saints were under dictation which they had to follow, right or wrong, and testified that nowhere was there a freer people than in Utah. He was proud of being a born citizen of the United States, but rejoiced more in the knowledge that he had received the light and power of God in the Gospel. In his recent trip east he had looked upon the treasures of art and wealth and displays of beauty and culture, but who would exchange for this the humble and pure in heart through the Gospel. Alluding to the charge of disloyalty he showed that we had been taught to regard the principles of this government as the best ever given by man to man. Public opinion he maintained, had caused rivers of blood to flow, immured men in dungeons and crushed out their lives; it followed Christ through the hall of justice where he was pronounced guiltless, and hurried him to his death on the cross. If there had been a Daniel Webster or a Charles Sumner in Congress when through a depraved public opinion the principles of republicanism were assailed and trampled upon, he would have drive back into their corners those who, enraged and deceived by error, threatened members who were supposed to be against the legislation designed to oppress a weak people. There is room enough in Utah for Jews, Gentiles, Indians, Chinese and negroes without our interfering with their rights. We have never done so. Ministers opposed to our faith have been invited to preach in our Tabernacle, while our Elders sent forth to preach to the places from whence those men came have slept at night under the trees, and have been scorned, threatened and despised. And our religion has taught us not to feel hatred in our hearts to those who do spitefully use us. Elder Thatcher touched on the condition of those who, having received the light and testimony of the truth, have then through fear or man denied the Son of God and turned away from the faith, and expressed his desires that the Saints might be able to cleave to the right under every circumstance. Referring to the Edmunds bill, he showed that if the suppression of polygamy was the object, there was no need to take away the rights of 150,000 people and place them in the hands of a Returning Board who could set aside the vote and voice of any number of citizens. He claimed that this is a loyal people who will defend and protect the Constitution of the United States and contend for their liberties, only by proper means, and we will contend for the rights of others as much as for our own, and will hold up to our children the principles for which the fathers of this country fought and bled. We have never been called, as alleged, to make a covenant against the Government, but he was prepared to make a covenant to defend its principles and aid in securing equal rights for all. In conclusion he showed that the outside pressure would only tend to consolidate the Saints. We will treat those who are sent among us with courtesy, while we claim the ... against us, we will follow Christ in life and in death, preach the Gospel to the world, and then to the spirits in prison, walk in the one, only way of salvation, roll on the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, until the image is destroyed and every knee shall bow, not to man but to Christ, the Redeemer and King, who preached salvation to the living and the dead, and exhorted His people to return good for evil. We will pray for the misguided who have been led astray by those who have sought to make merchandise of the souls of men, treat the officials sent there with courtesy and kindness, be full of love, charity and kindness, that we may receive the blessings and power and dominion promised by the Lord through the mouth of His servant Joseph, to distil upon us like the dews of heaven, and flow unto us without compulsory means for ever.
said he had enjoyed the remarks of his brethren who had previously spoken, and he desired to be prompted by the same spirit that had actuated them. This is a sure guide to mankind. Our senses may fail us one by one, or deceive us, but he who has the light of God and is guided by it, will not go astray. The Apostles of Jesus had listened to the sermon on the mount, had seen the multitude fed by a few loaves and fishes, the eyes of the blind opened, and many wondrous works wrought, but with all their experience they were not qualified to preach the Gospel of life and salvation until they had received this light, being endowed with power from on high. The Elders of this Church are sent to the nations to preach the Gospel by the same power. No other ministers are able to promise with assurance the bestowal of this power from high, if the people believe their testimony, with the signs following as promised by the Savior. The speaker alluded to the absence of those gifts in the Christian world and the divisions existing therein. This shows that either the words and prayers of Jesus were unfulfilled or the people called “Christians” are not true believers. He related instances of suffering endured voluntarily by Catholics in Mexico as evidence of their sincerity. He respected the sincerity of religious worshippers even though they might be in error. God gave to man his agency in the beginning, and in this great republic a man should be free to worship anything or nothing as he pleased, so long as he does not interfere with the rights of others. God gave a commandment when he created man in His own image, which has never been repealed. It was, “increase and multiply.” No matter what laws man might make this law of God is in force. The Catholic church attempts to establish celibacy and governments try to restrain obedience to this commandment, but the word of God remains. The Lord will judge them according to their light. The speaker would not cease to pray for the leaders of this nation. He felt that there was “salt” in the land yet. He believed that there were a great many more righteous men in Congress than the number required for the preservation of Sodom and Gomorrah. There are yet a few men who have courage to oppose unconstitutional measures like the Edmunds bill, although threatened with the lash of party and the anger of their constituents. Touching on the petitions sent by 75 thousand people of Utah to Congress he showed that they did not ask for anything but fair investigation of our principles and condition before taking action against us. Our prayers were not heard. But we have no enmity or hatred in our hearts towards those who refused our petition; our religion has taught us better. And when we have tutored ourselves to return good for evil and have no feeling to oppress any one, God would give this people the dominion as He had promised. The speaker denied the charge that the Saints were under dictation which they had to follow, right or wrong, and testified that nowhere was there a freer people than in Utah. He was proud of being a born citizen of the United States, but rejoiced more in the knowledge that he had received the light and power of God in the Gospel. In his recent trip east he had looked upon the treasures of art and wealth and displays of beauty and culture, but who would exchange for this the humble and pure in heart through the Gospel. Alluding to the charge of disloyalty he showed that we had been taught to regard the principles of this government as the best ever given by man to man. Public opinion he maintained, had caused rivers of blood to flow, immured men in dungeons and crushed out their lives; it followed Christ through the hall of justice where he was pronounced guiltless, and hurried him to his death on the cross. If there had been a Daniel Webster or a Charles Sumner in Congress when through a depraved public opinion the principles of republicanism were assailed and trampled upon, he would have drive back into their corners those who, enraged and deceived by error, threatened members who were supposed to be against the legislation designed to oppress a weak people. There is room enough in Utah for Jews, Gentiles, Indians, Chinese and negroes without our interfering with their rights. We have never done so. Ministers opposed to our faith have been invited to preach in our Tabernacle, while our Elders sent forth to preach to the places from whence those men came have slept at night under the trees, and have been scorned, threatened and despised. And our religion has taught us not to feel hatred in our hearts to those who do spitefully use us. Elder Thatcher touched on the condition of those who, having received the light and testimony of the truth, have then through fear or man denied the Son of God and turned away from the faith, and expressed his desires that the Saints might be able to cleave to the right under every circumstance. Referring to the Edmunds bill, he showed that if the suppression of polygamy was the object, there was no need to take away the rights of 150,000 people and place them in the hands of a Returning Board who could set aside the vote and voice of any number of citizens. He claimed that this is a loyal people who will defend and protect the Constitution of the United States and contend for their liberties, only by proper means, and we will contend for the rights of others as much as for our own, and will hold up to our children the principles for which the fathers of this country fought and bled. We have never been called, as alleged, to make a covenant against the Government, but he was prepared to make a covenant to defend its principles and aid in securing equal rights for all. In conclusion he showed that the outside pressure would only tend to consolidate the Saints. We will treat those who are sent among us with courtesy, while we claim the ... against us, we will follow Christ in life and in death, preach the Gospel to the world, and then to the spirits in prison, walk in the one, only way of salvation, roll on the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, until the image is destroyed and every knee shall bow, not to man but to Christ, the Redeemer and King, who preached salvation to the living and the dead, and exhorted His people to return good for evil. We will pray for the misguided who have been led astray by those who have sought to make merchandise of the souls of men, treat the officials sent there with courtesy and kindness, be full of love, charity and kindness, that we may receive the blessings and power and dominion promised by the Lord through the mouth of His servant Joseph, to distil upon us like the dews of heaven, and flow unto us without compulsory means for ever.
The Mission of the Holy Ghost—Commissions of the Ancient and Modern Apostles—Unbelief, Division, Superstition and Fanaticism—Sincerity No Evidence of Truth, But Always Entitled to Respect—Marriage Commanded of God and Forbidden By Man—Moral Courage and Anti-“Mormon” Legislation—Righteous and Unrighteous Dominion—The Purity of the Elders of Israel—The Worship of Wealth and Its Poverty—Public opinion and Independence of Character—The Latter-Day Saints Never Destined to Be Slaves—Persecution and Its Consequences—Exhortation to Loyalty, Long-suffering, Kindness, Integrity and Righteousness
Discourse by Apostle Moses Thatcher, delivered at the General Conference, Saturday, April 8th, 1882.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
I have been very happy in attending the meetings of this Conference. I have rejoiced in listening to the remarks of brethren who have spoken; and earnestly hope that I may be influenced and guided in the remarks I may make, by the same spirit and power which has actuated them. Realizing as I do, that God is working in the hearts of the Saints and is, at the same time, holding as in his hands the destiny of nations, I have seen no happier day than this. And, while proscriptive, ex post facto laws, abridging the liberties of the people have been, and others may hereafter be enacted by the lawmakers of the nation, still the honest and good, the meek and pure in heart rejoice in the Holy One of Israel, who while preserving their lips from uttering guile makes steadfast their feet in Zion, that they slip not.
I am not aware that we, as a people, have any policy marked out by which to meet the issues or overcome the annoyances which may be forced upon us, but with those who merit the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, all will be well. The sight of the eye, the hearing of the ear, the touch of the hand may each and all be deceived, but, the instructions of the spirit are in all things correct. The combined senses may misguide or fail, but he who happily secures the companionship of the Holy Spirit, walks in the ways of life and neither fears, becomes weary nor faints by the wayside. Christ as the author of human redemption—himself a willing sacrifice—comprehending by his divine nature, the fulness of this great truth, commanded his disciples to tarry at Jerusalem until endowed with power from on high—until he should send the Comforter whose mission it was to show them things to come, bring all things which he had taught to their remembrance and lead them into all truth.
They had listened to the words of life and light as the marvelous sermon on the Mount came from the divine lips of their Lord and Master: they had seen him touch the eyes of the blind, making them to see again, the ears of the deaf to hear, and had witnessed his power quicken into life, the decomposing body of the dead; they had traveled throughout the land of Judea with, and perhaps watched many weary nights to keep him from the injury of those who desired to harm him; they had eaten and drank with, and slept by him, listening by night and day to the inspired instructions; but, notwithstanding all the experience thus gained during years of unsurpassed opportunity for learning the truth as it was in him, they were not yet fully qualified and authorized to preach that perfect law of liberty—the Gospel of their Redeemer. Hence the command, “Tarry ye in the City of Jerusalem until ye be endowed with power from on high.”
The Comforter which came to them is the same that has come to us, and his mission then, as we have demonstrated it now to be, was to bring things to the remembrance, show things to come and lead into all truth. No man has authority to preach the Gospel and administer its ordinances without a commission from Jesus Christ; and the seal of such commission has always been, and always will be the gifts, blessings and endorsement of the Holy Ghost, which, not only leads to the form, but also to the power of godliness.
It is this that cheers the hearts of the Latter-day Saints, brings knowledge of things past, present, and to come, unites and makes them in their testimony, hopes and aspirations, distinct from all the world—a peculiar people.
The Elders of Israel acting under the authority of an endless Priesthood, bear the message of peace, of life and salvation to the inhabitants of a fallen world. Without money and without price they visit the ends of the earth and, while warning the wicked of the judgments to come, they urge the honest and good to gather, before the coming of the great and dreadful day when Babylon shall fall. Bearing a faithful testimony, they speak of that which they know and testify of that which they have experienced, saying, “do the will of the Father and you shall know whether the doctrine is true or false.” In this, their testimony differs from that of the ministers of all other religious denominations, and they not only speak as having authority, but they have it. Where, outside of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is there a man authorized to make the promise of the knowledge of God by revelation as the reward of obedience to the principles of the Gospel? Who, beside the Elders of this Church are commissioned to perform ordinances in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost through which, and by which, the Comforter comes to the obedient penitent, leading him into all truth and showing him things to come? Who, beside them are authorized by God, commissioned by Jesus and endorsed by the Holy Spirit to preach repentance, baptism and the laying on of hands, saying to the inhabitants of the earth, “believe in the doctrines of Jesus Christ, repent of all sins, be immersed in water for their remission and have hands laid upon you for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and you shall know these things to be true, for, through obedience to the law of life, comes the testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy.”
Ask the members of the so-called Christian sects if their ministers come to them offering such a test of their authority to speak in the name of Him who descended beneath all things that he might arise above all things—ask them for the testimony of Him who led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men, what gifts they have to offer, what promises of godly knowledge they have to make? Ask them for the testimony of Jesus and to show the plan of salvation built upon the rock of revelation against which the gates of hell cannot prevail, and you will be made painfully to feel that they have none of these things. A form of godliness they may exhibit, but the power, they do not have.
“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.”
Such was the commission given to the Apostles anciently, and the gifts and blessings, some of which I have enumerated, following the believer whose faith led to works, were evidences of the authority of the Lord's disciples who bore that commission. Their testimony being true and faithful, received the endorsement of the Holy Spirit.
Unlike ministers of the various Christian denominations the Elders of this Church claim no part of the commission given by the Lord to his ancient Apostles, but they do claim, and do have authority from Jesus Christ to preach his Gospel, and the signs that followed believers then follow them now, as thousands can testify. Most so-called Christians have long since discarded the idea of works, holding that salvation coming only by grace, belief alone, is essential.
Now, I hold that they have not only discarded all works, but belief as well. My reason for so doing is I think logical and conclusive. Jesus declared that certain signs should follow them that believe, but modern divines do not even pretend that any one of the signs enumerated follow those that accept their teachings. Therefore, relying upon the words of the Lord, we must, we are bound to conclude that they do not even believe the Gospel, or if they do the promise of Christ certainly fails. I am aware that such a conclusion gives a choice between but two horns of a disagreeable dilemma, but we had nothing to do in the arrangement of matters which have brought it about; we only speak of facts as they exist. Again, ask the ministers of any of the Protestant churches where they got their authority to preach? They will tell you not from the Roman Mother Church which claims Apostolic succession from Peter, but they will refer you I think, in most instances, to the words of Jesus already quoted, wherein he instructed his disciples to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, etc. They will tell you that here is where they get their authority, and they claim that commission is to them as well as to those to whom it was directly given. Let us submit the test and see how this claim stands. Those who anciently had the commission and authority were endorsed by the spirit and power of God which caused certain heavenly gifts and blessings to follow those who believed their testimony and teachings. Do any of those gifts and blessings follow the believers in the teachings of modern divines who claim the same authority and commission? No, not one. They the ministers themselves hold them nonessential, and hence done away. They are, indeed, done away so far as our Christian friends are concerned, and so is the authority and commission of their ministers done away, so far as the endorsement of their teaching by the Holy Ghost is concerned.
I desire here to bear my testimony that the gifts and blessings enumerated by the Savior as those that should follow believers, do follow in this day, the authoritative preaching and administration of the ordinances of the Gospel, and that the Elders of this Church are clothed with authority from God. It did not come from the Roman Mother Church, nor from any of her Protestant daughters, but was restored to earth in our day by Peter, James and John, to whom Jesus Himself gave it. In their charge it was authority that bore fruit as testimony of its efficacy and divine power; committed to the charge of God's servants it does likewise in this age among this people.
Lacking the revelations of the Holy Ghost, men and self-constituted ministers are not led into all truth but teach, instead thereof, opinions and vain imaginings. As an instance I refer to a sermon preached not long since by an eminent divine in the East for whose liberal views and outspoken advocacy of them in many respects I entertain admiration, for they have, in my opinion, a tendency to liberalize the ideas of some who otherwise would have inclined to religious bigotry or, on the other hand to infidelity. In seeking to illustrate how the various Christian sects were moving heavenward, this divine compared the kingdom of God to the city of Philadelphia, which has numerous railway connections leading from almost every direction but all centering in that city. Upon these numerous railways daily move many trains composed of numerous cars containing many people traveling from various directions on different roads, but all bound for the city of Philadelphia. Now this doctrine being broad and liberal would certainly commend itself to every thoughtful and charitable Christian did it not, when tested by the Master's perfect standard, reveal a defect—a fatal one too, which all who rely upon it must eventually find to their disappointment and sorrow. The doctrine however attractive, is absolutely untrue, for Jesus Himself has declared that there is but one way, “Straight is the gate and narrow is the way (not many ways like the roads leading to the city of Philadelphia), and few there be that find it.”
Now why do eminent, educated, influential men, who have chosen the ministry as a profession, and who pretend to teach the Gospel to others advocate as doctrine ideas so diametrically opposed to the eternal truths advanced by Christ himself? The answer is simple, lacking the inspiration and revelations of the Holy Spirit—having no Comforter to lead them into all truth, bring things to their remembrance and show them things to come, they teach for doctrine the opinions of men. Being filled with worldly wisdom but not the power of God. “They divine for money and preach for hire.” Again Christ prayed that his disciples might be one with Him as He was with the Father, and that all should believe the words of the disciples that they might be one with Him, as He was one with the Father. Are Christians claiming belief in those words, one? No, the various denominations are not only divided against each other, but in some instances are divided among themselves. During the late civil war, as was stated yesterday, members of the same church south of the Mason and Dixon line were praying for the destruction of their brethren of the same church north of it, while, on the other hand, those north were making a like petition to the same God against their brethren south of that line. According, however, to their own idea of God, He could hardly have heard and answered either party; for, having no body he could not hear, and having no passions he would have been indifferent, had he been able to hear.
Notwithstanding this, however, many, very many on both sides were destroyed and, as we believe, needlessly. Of one thing we may be certain, and that is the members of the various Christian denominations are not one. Therefore there is but one of two conclusions at which the reasoning and thoughtful can arrive. Either God has ceased to answer the prayer of His Son, or the various conflicting religious sects are not believers in the Gospel. And as they put great stress upon faith or belief, I have endeavored and think I have not failed to show that they are not even true believers, for they are certainly not united and one with Christ as He is one with the Father, nor as His ancient disciples were one with Him.
In mentioning these matters, I have tried to do so in a respectful manner, having regard for the feelings of those who differ from us in religious affairs. There are many people in the world who do not believe as we do, but for whom I entertain a high personal regard; for according to the light they have, they are moral, honest and just, and are as devoted to what they believe to be right as we possibly can be. Thousands and hundreds of thousands of people in the world are just as sincere as we are; but to be sincere in a matter does not make that matter true.
While at the City of Mexico recently, I saw many exhibitions of religious devotion and sincerity. On certain feast days people there do strange things. I have seen women walk upon their knees three miles over rough stony roads, being rewarded at the end of their painful journey with a plaited crown of thorns placed upon their heads, while being carried upon the shoulders of strong men, amid the cheering multitude, who praised them for having accomplished what they believed to be a saintly, meritorious task. Again, I have seen ladies of refinement, wealth and influence trail their rich satin and velvet robes through the dirt and filth accumulated upon the floors of the great cathedral, for hours they would kneel in adoration before an image, while being jostled by ignorant, degraded, vermin-covered Indians, worshipping at the same shrine. On other occasions I have witnessed for weeks together the revelry of Catholic maskers who frequented the streets, theaters and balls, night and day. At some of those masked balls it was said scenes were enacted that were so immoral in their tendency that the general of the Mexican army issued orders prohibiting officers and men of the army from attending them. And yet, at the termination of the thirty days' dissipation, religious sincerity caused those poor, ignorant people to feel free from sin after confessing to their priests and receiving absolution for all their abominations and securing a great black mark in the form of a cross in their foreheads. Now, while these things, and many others which I have no time to mention, appeared very repugnant, immoral and debasing in their practice and tendency, yet I respected those people in their religious belief, customs and ceremonies as I desire to respect the people of other creeds so long as they do not infringe upon the rights and liberties of others. For God intends that all should be absolutely free in such matters. When Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden, the doctrine of free agency was fully established and endorsed by the Creator, for He there gave a conditional commandment, obedience to which was to perpetuate life, disobedience was to bring death, but the choice was left with the man and woman, and from that day to this he has intended that man should act upon his own agency; that he should be permitted to receive the truth, choosing the path that leads back to the presence of God and the knowledge that comes from above; or, on the other hand, to reject it, following in the path which leads to ruin and destruction.
In this great American government a man should be free to worship the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost; he should be equally free to worship a mountain, a stream, the sun, moon, or anything or not to worship at all; so long as his practice and belief do not interfere with the inalienable rights guaranteed to man, so long should he be free.
From the time when God gave to man and woman their free agency in the Garden of Eden, making the law and defining the penalty for breaking that law, I can find nothing in the revelations that would bind or fetter the soul or the body of the children of men. There was, however, one unconditional command; it was given in the generation of the heavens, when God created man and woman in His own image; and that command still rests upon the fishes of the sea, upon the fowls of the air, upon the beasts of the field, and all beating throbbing nature naturally obeys the edict, “multiply and replenish the earth.” This great unconditional, unrepealed law is still in force. The Roman Catholic church, as it has done heretofore, may issue edicts binding certain members of that church to celibacy, making the union of man and woman obnoxious, but that great command is nevertheless still binding. The Roman church and our own Government, in their blind efforts to defeat the purposes of God, may continue to forbid marriage, and thus fulfill ancient prophecy, but their efforts should not surprise us. Is there anything occurring in the midst of the Nation today that we have not anticipated? I have recently returned from the east, and I rejoice exceedingly in what I saw manifested there. Does God hold the members of Congress responsible for their acts as he does the Elders of this Church? No. They will be judged by the light they have and no more. They are, many of them, educated, and are men of influence, possessing, however, but little genuine moral courage. Notwithstanding the evident disregard for principle manifested by some of them touching affairs in which we are interested, I confess that I lose confidence in them with the deepest regret, and find it most difficult to withdraw the faith formerly reposed in the lawmakers of our great nation. I still desire and hope to be able to continue praying for them and for the President and cabinet, that they may honor the positions to which the people have called them. We will uphold, sustain and pray for them at least until God rejects and condemns their works. There is salt in the nation yet. I try to comprehend the feelings of faithful Abraham when pleading for Sodom and Gomorrah; which, had they contained five righteous men, might have been spared.
Now, I think there are a great many more than five righteous men—righteous according to the light they have, in the United States; good men too, who, while they cannot see as we see, and while they cannot endorse our peculiar ideas in regard to the plan of human salvation, love liberty, cherish the memory of our forefathers, and regard the foundations of this great government so highly that they could not even under the pressure of public opinion, vote for a measure so radically wrong, a measure so thoroughly unconstitutional as every lawyer must know the Edmunds law to be. There were a few honorable members of Congress whose high regard for the labors and sacrifices of our forefathers precluded them from advocating that infamous measure which strikes with deep intent and a spirit born of hatred, at the very foundation upon which our government and the liberties of the people rest. Those honorable gentlemen, in opposing the bill, counted the cost by realizing that their course in the matter might offend their constituents, who by reason thereof, might retire them forever from the walks of public political life.
Now I must admit that it would have required nerve and genuine moral courage to enable members of the Republican party to vote against the passage of that bill when the party lash was being swung around them as I have never before seen a party lash used. To overcome the fear arising from the contemplated action of constituents at home, and the cut and the sting of the party leaders in Congress, required more courage than we could reasonably expect from members of the dominant party. Moral courage is a virtue possessed by few men in this gilded age in which ambition, rather than principle, too frequently is the moving cause which prompts to action. When, therefore, party leaders, sarcastic and unscrupulous, shake their fists under the noses of their timid followers, daring them to place themselves upon record as advocates of “Mormonism” by opposing measures intended for the bondage of “Mormons,” it is indeed difficult, and we ought not to expect weak men, under such circumstances, to do what is right.
I remember before going East, certain petitions to Congress were being circulated in the midst of the Latter-day Saints, which were afterwards, I understand, signed by about 65,000 people, and what was the prayer of those petitioners—did they ask Congress to endorse polygamy, or in the least manifest sympathy for the marital relations of the Latter-day Saints? No. The burden of the prayer of this community was to give us a trial before condemning us, to hear our cause before convicting and executing us; in other words, that an investigating committee be sent to the people of Utah to see them as they are; to come, if need be, into our homes and pry into every detail of our social relations, and then judge the tree by its fruits. If the children of the Latter-day Saints, as has been asserted, are frail in body and weak in intellect, we asked the statesmen of our land to come and demonstrate it for our benefit and their information, or send a competent and reliable commission to investigate the matter for them. If we are all immoral people—as we have been accused of being—we want the nation to say so through the mouths of honorable men. That is what we prayed for. Our petitions were not heard, I doubt if they were even read, and, yet, have we any feelings of enmity towards our nation because of it? I have not, not in the least. There is not a man, woman or child in all this broad land for whom I have one particle of hatred. Thank God for that. That is what my religion has taught me. And while I know that I am by no means perfect in keeping that higher law which Jesus gave, namely, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you, I am trying to become so. That is a law of the Gospel which we must all eventually observe in spirit and practice. I am trying to pray for men who by night and day use their influence and every means in their power to crush out a people whom I love, and who are innocent before God of the vile slanders constantly heaped upon them. When we, as Saints of the Most High, shall have learned to love our enemies and pray for those who despitefully use us—shall have learned it so well, that prayerful humble practice impresses it upon the tablets of our hearts, from which every desire to oppress our fellow man has been eradicated, then, and not till then will the government rule, and dominion be given into the hands of this people.
Zion will be redeemed, God's kingdom bear sway and His people, under Christ Jesus our Lord, will rule when the law goes forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
Much has been said about the domination of the “Mormon” Priesthood. In Europe, in the States of the Union, and even in Mexico it has been stated that “Mormons” are controlled like slaves, being obliged to yield obedience, right or wrong, to the behest of Church leaders. I bear my testimony that the statement is utterly untrue. No part of the Union possesses a freer and more independent people than these mountain valleys. Indeed I hesitate not to say that their equal in fearlessness of wrongful church, political or other influences cannot be found elsewhere. They neither crouch beneath public opinion nor cower before the pulpit and press. The names of prominent businessmen of Eastern cities, with whom for years our merchants have done business, appeared in the public prints as the vice-presidents of anti-”Mormon” meetings; thus making them seem to join in the raid against our people. When asked regarding the matter a number confessed that their names had been used without either their knowledge or consent. But they had not the moral courage necessary to stem the current of public opinion and run the risk of incurring the displeasure of the press by withdrawing their names; and, while disclaiming to me personally, any sympathy with the anti-”Mormon” raids, then so numerous in the East, they dare not publicly so express themselves. Now, while expressing sympathy for those who, under any circumstances, could be placed in such a position, I am bold to assert that nowhere in Utah among Latter-day Saints could such a thing be found. Such domination, ecclesiastical, political or social does not exist in Utah among the “Mormons;” possibly it may exist in the midst of those comprising their enemies, and known here as the “ring.” Whatever may have been said or whatever may hereafter be asserted regarding the domination of the “Mormon” Priesthood, I know no people who regard more highly the individual rights of man or who are more willing to defend them than the people called “Mormons,” who here, as elsewhere, have the moral courage to protect and defend their names while maintaining their individuality. I don't think they would hesitate to defend the oppressed whether Jew, Gentile or “Mormon,” nor would they sacrifice in their lack of independence, principle or persons at the shrine of public opinion or popular prejudice. The “Mormon” Priesthood dominates the affairs of the “Mormon” people upon the principles of righteousness and equity. Outside of these it has neither power nor authority. I wish this were equally true with the religious, political and social organizations throughout the Union; but it is not, as I have already shown. When principle is sacrificed to prejudice there can be neither safety nor stability. Acting upon such a basis men become great in small things, but small in greater matters.
Did principle or a proper regard for the rights of man prevail in the Senate and House of our National Congress, pending the passage of the Edmunds law? It is true a number of honorable members in each branch recognized and protested against the passage of that unconstitutional and un-American measure, but how few, if any, comprehended the opportunity afforded a great statesmen to stem the current and by the force of patriotism and the power of right, rise above the waves of popular prejudice and, striking out of disguises stand proudly upon the solid foundations of constitutional law while victoriously battling for human freedom and the natural rights of man. Such an opportunity had made Webster, Clay or Sumner even greater than the great men we now esteem them. The thought of such as they were, the devotion to principle, liberty and right exhibited by Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and others in their struggles for human freedom, have made me proud to be an American citizen. But when I see sacred principles, for the establishment of which our fathers devoted property, honor and lives, trampled under foot by our national lawmakers, in order to answer the fanatical demands of religious bigots against a few thousand loyal citizens in Utah, I blush and almost wish I had been foreign born.
Aside from these drawbacks evidencing the degeneracy into which statesmen are falling, I have ever been proud of my citizenship. Of but one thing have I ever been prouder and that is of my allegiance to God and His laws, and a love for His kingdom and people. For these I have patiently, and almost uncomplainingly, endured the scorn and ridicule of many people in various countries. This I could never have endured, being naturally proud and perhaps oversensitive, had it not been for the comforting influence which accompanies a knowledge of truths revealed in our day.
During twenty-five years of experience in the Church, having been more or less in the missionary field since I was fifteen years of age, I have met thousands of people in Europe and America who thought of “Mormonism” and the “Mormons” only with contempt, believing the system to be a fraud they thought of its advocates as wicked deceivers. Under other circumstances I have been thrown into contact with men and women who, while appearing chaste and fair without, were foul and corrupt within, but who nevertheless, would act as though the touch of a “Mormon” Elder was pollution. Hundreds of times I have been forced to notice the reluctance of men, themselves not averse to the destruction of chastity, to publicly appear in the company of Elders, whom I knew, would suffer their right hands to be burned from their bodies rather than look upon a woman with lust, much less seek to destroy virtue, or defile themselves with the unclean.
Whatever the world may think or say to the contrary, the Elders of this Church are the purest men on earth, and there are abundance of facts with which to substantiate the assertion. They are not all, perhaps, what they should be, but take them as a whole—consider their works, their sacrifices, trials and temptations, and in that virtue that comes of chaste thoughts, words and actions, they have no rivals in this world; for, as married men, they are true at home and abroad to their marital vows; as single men they are equally true to God and their covenants. With men of the world these things may be of but little moment, with us they are of vital importance, for upon the basis of sexual purity shall be perpetuated that which is noble, good and lovely.
The love of wealth, a desire for luxury, or an ambition for fame may move the world, and stir men to ceaseless activity; but for us and our children there is more happiness, peace and salvation in the quietness and purity of our simple homes, than can be found anywhere else.
In some of the Eastern States, especially in the larger cities, the evidences of increasing prosperity appear numerous. Trade and commerce, pushed by enterprise and capital, are accumulating wealth in the hands of the far-seeing and shrewd very rapidly, and the luxurious habits manifested in the erection and decoration of magnificent, palatial residences, is only equaled by the rich personal ornaments of their owners. To excel in these things the highest ambition of the worldly is excited to the utmost extent, and intelligent men and women too often sacrifice truth and honor in the mad strife for gain. Wealth, or the love of it, is fast becoming the God of the Christian world. To what extent their idolatrous worship produces happiness I am not aware, but am personally satisfied to cast my lot with the poor, despised people of Utah; who, having less of the things of this world, have more of the imperishable things of God. Possessing the keys of inspiration, we are able to draw upon the only true source of happiness, and our path, if we are faithful, will grow brighter and brighter, until the perfect day. Were we able to convince the rulers of nations of this fact, they would, I have no doubt, willingly forego all earthly hopes of worldly fame and the honors of men, and meekly receive that which has been so freely given to us. If God were to open the eyes of the Queen of England and the President of the United States, as He has opened our eyes, I think they would rejoice as we have rejoiced, with a boundless gladness. But they, like millions of others, having never been born of water, cannot even see, much less enter the kingdom of heaven. Could they do so and receive the manifestations and revelations, the companionship and instructions of the Holy Ghost, they would willingly exchange the honors and emoluments of their offices, for the persecution and slander to which all who live godly in Christ Jesus are subject.
They have their mission and work to perform; we have ours. We would gladly confer upon them and others a knowledge of that which we have received from God, if we could, but we cannot. The wealth of this world can neither purchase such knowledge, nor can the influence of the mighty and great ever become potent enough to secure it for themselves and convey it to others, except upon the simple conditions prescribed by the Master and to which we have yielded a willing obedience.
As this people have been obedient to God, so have they been loyal to the government. I desire to ask those composing this vast congregation, if you are a disloyal people you are frequently accused of being so. Do you not regard the Constitution of our nation with respect and veneration? Have you not taught your children that the Declaration of Independence is the highest bill of rights which man has ever bequeathed to man? Have you not held up to them for emulation the character of the father of his country, the great George Washington? When recently gazing upon his monument in Washington, D.C. which has been so many years in building, I asked myself the question: Is all this mass of polished marble being accumulated and put together with such accurate nicety and at such vast expense because George Washington was willing to float with the current of public opinion, right or wrong, or is it because he had those noble sentiments which beat and throb in generous hearts for freedom? He, while possessing many ideas of the English aristocratic school, was no weather-cock to be turned by the passing breeze. How few men in the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, appear to have been close students of history. Had they been such they would have seen in the characters of Washington, Jefferson, and the Adams's something far different from that possessed by the average statesmen of our day. Close students of history should be able to sense the fact, that in emergencies when the waves of popular feeling run high, great men whose hearts beat for liberty and freedom come to the front but they do not float with the tide, nor are they swerved by prejudice or biased by public opinion.
Public opinion followed Jesus Christ into the garden of Gethsemane when, alone and unwatched by His Apostles, He prayed to the Father for strength to endure suffering which caused drops of blood to ooze from every pore of his agonized body. Public opinion followed him to the bench of the heathen judge who, being above the prejudices of the age, washed his hands of innocent blood and said: “I find no guilt in this man.” But the self-righteous Jew—the hypocritical Scribe and Pharisee—cried out, “Crucify Him!” “Crucify Him!” “His blood be on us and our children.” Public opinion has caused rivers of human blood to flow; sacrificing, it is said, sixty millions of lives during the reign of the inquisition. Who can think of the dark and cruel work of those days and years of religious superstition and bigotry without a shudder of horror?
In the museum at the City of Mexico I have gazed upon the mummied forms of men and women who lost their lives under the pressure of the religious public opinion that fed flames, and instituted racks, in that land.
Public opinion, backed by persecution, drove our fathers across the deep, and planted the Pilgrims upon Plymouth Rock, ready to perish if needs be for God and liberty. Had they been of the class predominating today in our National legislature, a free government on this land would have been unknown to the present generation. But they were noble, self-sacrificing men who, loving liberty better than life, could neither cringe to the dictates of kingly power nor bow to the behest of priestly authority. Hence, that conscience might be free and God worshipped accordingly, they braved the dangers of the sea in search of a land of freedom, a home for the oppressed. And here, upon the choice land of Joseph, still persecuted and hated, the survivors prospered and grew and became strong under the blessings of God, until their noble hearts and generous brains produced thoughts and actions that led to one of the grandest and most successful efforts, in the interest of human freedom, the world has ever known. How strange, how unreasonable it seems that the children of those noble ones, should ever become oppressors. Thus attesting the truthfulness of the saying: “The oppressed of today may become the oppressors of tomorrow.”
Persecution, prompted by religious bigots, and urged forward by public opinion incited to deeds of violence, and sacrificed in a cool, premeditated and bloody manner the Prophet Joseph and the patriarch Hyrum Smith, at Carthage in the free and sovereign State of Illinois. Unappeased with the blood of martyrs, it devastated cities, villages and farms, pillaged homes, killed defenseless women and children, and finally drove us as a people into these mountains. I remember as a child, the pains and sorrows of those days of destitution when the aged and the young together walked weary miles with blistered feet in the hot sands that formed a part of the wilderness which stretched out between the so-called civilization and the place of peace and rest, so much desired by our people. Heat and cold, hunger and thirst, were each and all forgotten in the intense desire to be free from the cruel persecution of our enemies. We asked for neither riches nor fame, but around the camp fires at night the people were inspired with but one prayer during the weary days of that long journey—it was for peace and rest—freedom to worship God without being molested, without being persecuted by cruel, relentless enemies. For the enjoyment of these blessings we were willing to forego the comforts of life, associate with savages, and dig roots with which to keep body and soul together, as many of us had to do.
For a time we enjoyed comparative peace, but bitter prejudice manufactured and fostered by Christian divines and political demagogues, has followed us with malice unparalleled. Securing the support of public opinion it sent, in 1857, all army to Utah to despoil our people, while sedition ripened in the heart of the nation. In 1862 it culminated in a congressional enactment against a religious tenet, notwithstanding the positive and explicit prohibition of the Constitution which forbids Congress to pass any law “respecting the establishment of religion or preventing the free exercise thereof,” it urged and succeeded in passing the Poland law, under the provisions of which “Mormon” citizens were deprived of trial by an impartial jury of their peers, and by the decision of biased judges were not only subject to, but some of them actually were, tried by packed juries. At the demand of the clergy of the various religious denominations throughout the Union the Edmunds bill, substantially as it was drafted by clergymen and carpetbag officials here, became law; and without excuse or apology citizens in Utah are deprived of franchise, a sacred, blood bought right, without which no American can ever feel proud or properly exercise the liberties bequeathed by our fathers to their children.
Now what does it all mean? What can be the object of this unjust, inexcusable, unholy raid? Can it be possible that the dominant party holding the reins of government, desire to make of the people of Utah a race of slaves—fit subjects for fetters and chains? I hope not. But if such is the object would it not be well to transport us to the flats of the Mississippi River, to the swamps of Louisiana, where association with the black freedman might accustom us to the chains of slavery that now lie rusting in the blood of thousands that were brave and true—willing sacrifices at the shrine of human liberty and the equal rights of man.
There, perhaps, restraining bonds might fret and gall until the love for liberty and the rights of free men might be forgotten. Not so in these mountains. They are high and noble and grand. They are the mighty bulwarks of our God. The snows that drift upon their lofty peaks, the waters that leap down their steep sides and rush through their rugged gorges, are full of the harmony that accords with our love for freedom. The very air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, the soil we walk upon, inspire the soul with thoughts and a love for liberty undreamed of in lands that produce oppressors. Loyal citizens of a great government, honest, frugal, just, charitable and obedient to constitutional law, we desire to continue while fulfilling our mission of peace on earth and good will to man, but while our surroundings remain unchanged and Nature's bulwarks stand, with the blessings of God we never can become slaves. Oppressions, frauds and wrongs we may for a time endure. We may as in the past be subjected to annoyances and to the petty tyranny of small tyrants, but we know in whom we trust, and we are not ignorant of what the final result will be. Traitors may arise and seek to trample upon the provisions of the Constitution, but right here in these mountains—on the backbone of the continent—will grow the men who will preserve intact that sacred inspired charter of human rights, under the just provisions of which millions will rejoice long after usurpers and traitors shall have been buried in oblivion. And right here in this connection I desire to repeat what I have said in public once before. In reviewing the tribulations through which the Saints have passed, and while contemplating the wrongs which they have endured at the hands of despoilers, I have felt and said, rather than be robbed as my father on several occasions was, on account of his religion, I would endeavor to have facts plainly submitted to the President of these United States, so that he might fully understand the situation, and then, before I would permit my possessions—the hard earnings of year's of toil—to go into the hands of those who covet our property, and who would rob us, as our fathers were robbed, I would deed it to, and make a present, if he would accept it, of all the property I have to the President and his successor in office forever, as a perpetual reminder, that here, in free America, whole communities of citizens have been plundered, persecuted and deprived of the peaceful possession of property without cause and without redress.
It is said “there are no persons in Utah who desire the property of the “Mormons” except upon the fair basis of purchase.” I would be glad if this were true, for I wish to think well of all men, and especially of fellow citizens, but I fear recent movements and present indications will scarcely warrant belief in the statement, and if future developments of the plot of conspirators do not demonstrate that polygamy was the chosen pretext with which to excite and blind the public mind, while unscrupulous tricksters sought to transfer the revenues of the Territory and virtually the property of the majority of the people through increased and excessive taxation, to the control of the insignificant minority in this Territory, then I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet. The passage of the Edmunds bill and the means used to make it law, are but a part of the plot concocted in this city and endorsed by certain parties east against the rights and liberties of the people of Utah. The peculiar mathematical calculation by which Governor Murray succeeded in counting about 1,300 votes for a person almost unknown here, a greater number than over 18,000 cast for Hon. George Q. Cannon, the people's choice for Delegate to Congress, was but another part of the program, and one which has, thus far, deprived us of representation in the National Legislature, and rendered nugatory, to the majority in this Territory, the sacred right of franchise. The late President Garfield, in a public State document, declared, in effect, that as a person who plotted against the life of the king in a monarchical government committed treason, so one who tampered with the ballot-box and thereby deprived the citizen of his right of franchise also committed treason. If this be sound doctrine and authoritatively enunciated, what crime has the Governor of Utah Territory committed? If the canvassing of those votes and the issuance of a certificate of election to a man who received only about one-fifteenth of the whole number, foreshadow the future action of our chief executive, what have the people of Utah to expect, by way of justice, from him? Being neither of, nor from among us—depending upon others for the tenure of his office and the amount and payment of his salary, we have, perhaps, no reason to expect sympathy or disinterested service, but we do have a right to expect unbiased justice in the administration of official duties.
No American citizen having the love of liberty and the rights of man at heart, can endorse the course pursued by the Governor in the Cannon-Campbell case. I cannot and never expect to. From childhood I have been taught to respect officials because of the dignity of their offices, and it may be possible to respect the office after having lost confidence in the man occupying it. As people, our regard for the Government ought perhaps to enable us to do this in the future, as in the past. Faithful, loyal citizens can afford to do it, and much more, if necessary.
But says one, “You are thought to be neither faithful nor loyal to the Government, and it is believed by many that you make secret covenants against it.” In answer I have this to say: The brain that concocted and the heart that prompted such accusations were possessed by the wicked and cruel. We have proven our loyalty under circumstances most trying circumstances in which actions were more weighty than words, deeds than promises.
The patient, heroic endurance of the “Mormon” battalion while making their wondrous march of 2,030 miles, the planting of the Stars and Stripes on these mountains and in these valleys, then Mexican soil by their fathers, brothers, sisters and wives are historical facts, and so are the circumstances under which these things were done, historical facts establishing love for, and loyalty to our country that no honest man can ever question. As to making secret covenants against the Government, I never was requested to do it, and would have spurned the request and the person making it if I had been. As applied to this people the charge is false as those who make it. I think, however, I can understand why these false and unjust accusations are made. We have been treated from the beginning like an unloved child, when asking for bread we have been given a stone, for a fig we have been given a serpent. Now, who ever knew a father to be just to an unloved child? Or one unwilling to listen to the accusations of the favored against him? And here may be applied the saying “We can forgive those who injure us, but those we injure, never.” And that is just the position we occupy. We have been injured, repeatedly injured, and those who have injured cannot forgive us. They hate us because they know they have wronged us. If statesmen and lawmakers disregard the Constitution by overriding and trampling on its provisions in their efforts to solve the “Mormon” problem, I hold the act to be no less treasonable than if performed by private citizens. I say treasonable because disregard for the Constitution by the nation's lawmakers, must ultimately result in their rejection by the people, or in the dissolution of the Government. Thus the charge of lawbreaking and disloyalty might more consistently come from, than against us. Of one thing we are certain: that which is a crime to an individual or a community cannot become a virtue in lawmakers, even though advocated as an expedient. George Washington, in his farewell address to the American people, foreseeing, perhaps, what might occur, uttered the following forcible sentiments: “If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed.” Very different are these sentiments from those uttered not many years since by a prominent republican leader in the House of Representatives, who, when asked if he, as a lawyer, would state to the House that the measure introduced by him, and then under consideration by it, was in its provisions in harmony with the Constitution, answered with a sneer, “Why, any justice of the peace would tell the gentleman it is not constitutional, but it is a measure we want and one we shall pass, and by the time its constitutionality is tested, it will have accomplished the object we have in view.” The same sentiments as those we have referred to were clearly and unhesitatingly uttered by members of Congress pending the final passage of the Edmunds bill. They show the drift of the party, perhaps the spirit of the times, in which the sentiments of Washington are below par. Other members, while not entertaining such views, lacked moral courage to oppose them. Some of them came privately and confessed that the Edmunds bill was an infamous measure; but, said they, What can we do? Public sentiment is against your people, and we dare not defend you; if we do, our constituents will withdraw their support, and we shall be retired.” The force of such reasoning we may not comprehend, but we do feel that we have no desire to have any man sacrifice himself or his prospects for us. We are used to oppressions, and with the help of God we can stand all the special ex post facto laws and bills of attainder which Congress may pass and the President approve, and we don't expect much sympathy or friendship from the outside either; for we have proven years ago that a man never has fewer friends than when he needs them most, nor more than when he needs them least. Does a knowledge of this fact tend to destroy our confidence in man? No, I think not, but it does tend, by showing how weak and unreliable man is, to increase our trust in God.
In asking for a commission of honorable gentlemen to visit Utah to investigate affairs before passing judgment upon us, we did express as I said before, a hope that we might be fairly tried before being convicted. The signers of these petitions knew, and their enemies here knew that the charges constantly heaped up against this people could be proven utterly false if a chance to do so were afforded. But that is just what certain parties did not want, fearing that a thorough investigation conducted by honorable men would defeat their plot against the people of Utah. I speak of these matters as I understand them. I am not and never have been radical, but have desired always to view things from an impartial standpoint.
Irrespective of creed or color, I think there is room in Utah for all who wish to locate in the Territory, and those who are here and others who may come hereafter, should be protected in the enjoyment of their rights, and should be free to exercise them so long as they do not infringe upon the rights of others. In these matters Gentile, Jew and Mormon should stand upon the same level.
So far as I am concerned I would contend for, and if necessary defend the liberties of the one as soon as I would those of the other. Naturally I am inclined to be timid and am disposed to shrink from troubles rather than to court them believing it to be better to suffer wrong than to do wrong; but there are circumstances under which even the cowardly throw off their timidity, and fearlessly assert their rights. I am not able to say how patient, long-suffering and kind this people may prove under the oppressions which wicked plotters may bring upon them; but of one thing I am certain and that is, God will permit nothing to occur to our hurt. Nor will he, if we are faithful, permit the wicked to do anything that will not ultimately prove beneficial to those who love and obey Him. With the companionship of the Holy Spirit the doctrines of the Priesthood will distil upon our minds as the dews of heaven, and we have nothing to fear. The time may be near at hand when men's souls will be tried, but those possessing the inspiration of the Almighty, will hear the test as the faithful and true in other ages have done. Unaided by the power of God, we might be placed under circumstances that would cause us to fear and tremble and possibly plead for life at the sacrifice of allegiance to Him. Under the pressure of fear Peter denied his Lord and Master, but that transpired before he was “endowed with power from on high.” From the day of Pentecost, when he received the Comforter, until his death no power on earth or beneath could have induced him to do such a thing. This fact is attested beyond doubt, by what we know of his life and labors subsequent to that awful night, when the powers of earth and hell seemed to prevail even over the Son of God.
Deprived of the sustaining powers of the Holy Spirit, the Latter-day Saints might yield to the fear of artillery, bullets and bayonets, so often recommended by Christian divines as the best means with which to solve the “Mormon” problem; but with that spirit such agencies become impotent. Confidence in God destroys fear, and a knowledge of the resurrection of the just, takes away the sting of death. The inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit have prompted the Presidency and Apostles of this Church to open meetinghouses and Tabernacles for ministers of various religious denominations to preach in while our Elders were being persecuted, hunted and sometimes whipped by members of these same denominations. The contrast between the treatment which we have given and that which we have received is very great. And if we have not under every circumstance “turned the other cheek to be smitten,” we have at least tried to do good for evil. Without purse or scrip our Elders have faithfully sought to preach the Gospel in every Christian land; and while we, here in Utah, have extended courtesy and kindness to ministers of Christian denominations, many of our Elders have wandered like outcasts, sleeping under the hedges and in the woods with leaves as their only covering, like their Master, having no place other than that provided by nature, to lay their heads. Others when provided with places of rest have been called out and flayed with hickory withes. Poison has been administered in the food of some, and others have been killed.
How exactly similar this treatment is to that received by the Saints of old; and yet Christians appear to be utterly unable to learn a lesson from the parallel. To them nothing good can come out of Nazareth, and the kingdom of heaven they cannot see, for they have not been born again. The world loves its own, but it loved not the disciples of Jesus because he called them out of the world. On the same principle the world cannot love us. Let us realize this fact, and while being just to all men, let us live the religion of Jesus Christ, and trust in God. If we are pressed on all sides from without, it will tend to unite and make us all the more solid. Snow is soft and yielding, melting easily under the genial rays of the sun, but press it hard from every side and it congeals into a frozen mass, and in that state is capable of resisting mighty forces.
Pressure from without, as observed before, will tend to unite and make us better and stronger. Better because the spirit manifested towards us by the wicked, will cause us to lay aside the little envies and jealousies that may have existed among us. Stronger, because the hatred of our enemies will teach us to trust more fully in God. And in doing this we shall learn to follow the example of the faithful and true. A special law was passed for the sole purpose of entrapping the three Hebrew boys. It failed. When questioned by the wrathful king they could not say whether God would preserve or suffer them to perish, but they could say that “they would not fall down and worship the image which the king had made.” No fault could be found with Daniel, so those who were jealous of his growing influence and power succeeded in securing the enactment of a special law which they knew he must violate or be false to his God. But Daniel was true to God, and with his face turned toward Jerusalem, prayed as before. How many Daniels or Hebrew boys we have among us I do not know. Lions' dens and heated caldrons, prisons and dungeon cells, the rack and the rope, have each and all been used to punish those unwilling to forsake God, or disobey His laws. They have their terrors, but the bloodstained pages of history attest that they have been failures when applied as means with which to change men's religion, violate conscience, or coerce the human mind. As it has been in the past, so it will be in the future; the faithful being inspired with the Holy Ghost, will set their hearts upon the redemption of Zion, and relying upon the promises, will turn their faces towards Jerusalem, pray as before, and follow Jesus Christ in life and death. Let the wicked rage and the adversary exert his power, the righteous will gain the victory, and when thrones are cast down the Saints shall prevail.
Let us maintain the Constitution of our country, and all laws enacted in conformity therewith, realizing that the destruction of the Constitution must lead to the ruin and destruction of the Union. Let us honor the rulers of the nation and uphold them, by faith and prayers as long as it is possible to do so. I desire to regard the President as an honorable man. As the chief executive of a great nation he should have the confidence and respect of the people. Should he select honorable, unbiased gentlemen for the Utah commission, as I have reason to hope he will, they can do much towards modifying the unjust law under which they must act, but whether such are appointed or not, we must continue to pray for our enemies and those that despitefully use us, until by and by we shall learn the lesson so well that when the little stone cut out of the mountains without hands shall roll forth, become a mighty mountain, fill the whole earth, and the Saints of the Most High have the rule and dominion they will never be disposed to oppression.
I pray for the peace and blessings of God to be with all Israel, and with the honest everywhere. Thousands are misguided and deceived by priests who preach for money and divine for hire; ministers who make merchandise of the souls of men. The mother of Harlots has “made all nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication,” just as John the Revelator saw she would do, but among those nations are many honest, upright ones. For them I pray. In conclusion let me impress upon your minds the spirit of inspiration given through Joseph the Prophet, while incarcerated in Liberty Jail, while suffering the abuse of his enemies, and while being deprived of his liberty and the association of family and friends for the Gospel's sake, he says. “No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;
By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile--
Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy; That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death.
Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God, and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.
The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever.”
May God enable us to learn these things, and to be true and faithful to Him, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.
The choir sung and anthem Heavenly Zion.
Conferenced adjourned till to-morrow (Sunday) at 10 a.m.
Benediction by Apostle Erastus Snow.
Discourse by Apostle Moses Thatcher, delivered at the General Conference, Saturday, April 8th, 1882.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
I have been very happy in attending the meetings of this Conference. I have rejoiced in listening to the remarks of brethren who have spoken; and earnestly hope that I may be influenced and guided in the remarks I may make, by the same spirit and power which has actuated them. Realizing as I do, that God is working in the hearts of the Saints and is, at the same time, holding as in his hands the destiny of nations, I have seen no happier day than this. And, while proscriptive, ex post facto laws, abridging the liberties of the people have been, and others may hereafter be enacted by the lawmakers of the nation, still the honest and good, the meek and pure in heart rejoice in the Holy One of Israel, who while preserving their lips from uttering guile makes steadfast their feet in Zion, that they slip not.
I am not aware that we, as a people, have any policy marked out by which to meet the issues or overcome the annoyances which may be forced upon us, but with those who merit the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, all will be well. The sight of the eye, the hearing of the ear, the touch of the hand may each and all be deceived, but, the instructions of the spirit are in all things correct. The combined senses may misguide or fail, but he who happily secures the companionship of the Holy Spirit, walks in the ways of life and neither fears, becomes weary nor faints by the wayside. Christ as the author of human redemption—himself a willing sacrifice—comprehending by his divine nature, the fulness of this great truth, commanded his disciples to tarry at Jerusalem until endowed with power from on high—until he should send the Comforter whose mission it was to show them things to come, bring all things which he had taught to their remembrance and lead them into all truth.
They had listened to the words of life and light as the marvelous sermon on the Mount came from the divine lips of their Lord and Master: they had seen him touch the eyes of the blind, making them to see again, the ears of the deaf to hear, and had witnessed his power quicken into life, the decomposing body of the dead; they had traveled throughout the land of Judea with, and perhaps watched many weary nights to keep him from the injury of those who desired to harm him; they had eaten and drank with, and slept by him, listening by night and day to the inspired instructions; but, notwithstanding all the experience thus gained during years of unsurpassed opportunity for learning the truth as it was in him, they were not yet fully qualified and authorized to preach that perfect law of liberty—the Gospel of their Redeemer. Hence the command, “Tarry ye in the City of Jerusalem until ye be endowed with power from on high.”
The Comforter which came to them is the same that has come to us, and his mission then, as we have demonstrated it now to be, was to bring things to the remembrance, show things to come and lead into all truth. No man has authority to preach the Gospel and administer its ordinances without a commission from Jesus Christ; and the seal of such commission has always been, and always will be the gifts, blessings and endorsement of the Holy Ghost, which, not only leads to the form, but also to the power of godliness.
It is this that cheers the hearts of the Latter-day Saints, brings knowledge of things past, present, and to come, unites and makes them in their testimony, hopes and aspirations, distinct from all the world—a peculiar people.
The Elders of Israel acting under the authority of an endless Priesthood, bear the message of peace, of life and salvation to the inhabitants of a fallen world. Without money and without price they visit the ends of the earth and, while warning the wicked of the judgments to come, they urge the honest and good to gather, before the coming of the great and dreadful day when Babylon shall fall. Bearing a faithful testimony, they speak of that which they know and testify of that which they have experienced, saying, “do the will of the Father and you shall know whether the doctrine is true or false.” In this, their testimony differs from that of the ministers of all other religious denominations, and they not only speak as having authority, but they have it. Where, outside of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is there a man authorized to make the promise of the knowledge of God by revelation as the reward of obedience to the principles of the Gospel? Who, beside the Elders of this Church are commissioned to perform ordinances in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost through which, and by which, the Comforter comes to the obedient penitent, leading him into all truth and showing him things to come? Who, beside them are authorized by God, commissioned by Jesus and endorsed by the Holy Spirit to preach repentance, baptism and the laying on of hands, saying to the inhabitants of the earth, “believe in the doctrines of Jesus Christ, repent of all sins, be immersed in water for their remission and have hands laid upon you for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and you shall know these things to be true, for, through obedience to the law of life, comes the testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy.”
Ask the members of the so-called Christian sects if their ministers come to them offering such a test of their authority to speak in the name of Him who descended beneath all things that he might arise above all things—ask them for the testimony of Him who led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men, what gifts they have to offer, what promises of godly knowledge they have to make? Ask them for the testimony of Jesus and to show the plan of salvation built upon the rock of revelation against which the gates of hell cannot prevail, and you will be made painfully to feel that they have none of these things. A form of godliness they may exhibit, but the power, they do not have.
“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.”
Such was the commission given to the Apostles anciently, and the gifts and blessings, some of which I have enumerated, following the believer whose faith led to works, were evidences of the authority of the Lord's disciples who bore that commission. Their testimony being true and faithful, received the endorsement of the Holy Spirit.
Unlike ministers of the various Christian denominations the Elders of this Church claim no part of the commission given by the Lord to his ancient Apostles, but they do claim, and do have authority from Jesus Christ to preach his Gospel, and the signs that followed believers then follow them now, as thousands can testify. Most so-called Christians have long since discarded the idea of works, holding that salvation coming only by grace, belief alone, is essential.
Now, I hold that they have not only discarded all works, but belief as well. My reason for so doing is I think logical and conclusive. Jesus declared that certain signs should follow them that believe, but modern divines do not even pretend that any one of the signs enumerated follow those that accept their teachings. Therefore, relying upon the words of the Lord, we must, we are bound to conclude that they do not even believe the Gospel, or if they do the promise of Christ certainly fails. I am aware that such a conclusion gives a choice between but two horns of a disagreeable dilemma, but we had nothing to do in the arrangement of matters which have brought it about; we only speak of facts as they exist. Again, ask the ministers of any of the Protestant churches where they got their authority to preach? They will tell you not from the Roman Mother Church which claims Apostolic succession from Peter, but they will refer you I think, in most instances, to the words of Jesus already quoted, wherein he instructed his disciples to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, etc. They will tell you that here is where they get their authority, and they claim that commission is to them as well as to those to whom it was directly given. Let us submit the test and see how this claim stands. Those who anciently had the commission and authority were endorsed by the spirit and power of God which caused certain heavenly gifts and blessings to follow those who believed their testimony and teachings. Do any of those gifts and blessings follow the believers in the teachings of modern divines who claim the same authority and commission? No, not one. They the ministers themselves hold them nonessential, and hence done away. They are, indeed, done away so far as our Christian friends are concerned, and so is the authority and commission of their ministers done away, so far as the endorsement of their teaching by the Holy Ghost is concerned.
I desire here to bear my testimony that the gifts and blessings enumerated by the Savior as those that should follow believers, do follow in this day, the authoritative preaching and administration of the ordinances of the Gospel, and that the Elders of this Church are clothed with authority from God. It did not come from the Roman Mother Church, nor from any of her Protestant daughters, but was restored to earth in our day by Peter, James and John, to whom Jesus Himself gave it. In their charge it was authority that bore fruit as testimony of its efficacy and divine power; committed to the charge of God's servants it does likewise in this age among this people.
Lacking the revelations of the Holy Ghost, men and self-constituted ministers are not led into all truth but teach, instead thereof, opinions and vain imaginings. As an instance I refer to a sermon preached not long since by an eminent divine in the East for whose liberal views and outspoken advocacy of them in many respects I entertain admiration, for they have, in my opinion, a tendency to liberalize the ideas of some who otherwise would have inclined to religious bigotry or, on the other hand to infidelity. In seeking to illustrate how the various Christian sects were moving heavenward, this divine compared the kingdom of God to the city of Philadelphia, which has numerous railway connections leading from almost every direction but all centering in that city. Upon these numerous railways daily move many trains composed of numerous cars containing many people traveling from various directions on different roads, but all bound for the city of Philadelphia. Now this doctrine being broad and liberal would certainly commend itself to every thoughtful and charitable Christian did it not, when tested by the Master's perfect standard, reveal a defect—a fatal one too, which all who rely upon it must eventually find to their disappointment and sorrow. The doctrine however attractive, is absolutely untrue, for Jesus Himself has declared that there is but one way, “Straight is the gate and narrow is the way (not many ways like the roads leading to the city of Philadelphia), and few there be that find it.”
Now why do eminent, educated, influential men, who have chosen the ministry as a profession, and who pretend to teach the Gospel to others advocate as doctrine ideas so diametrically opposed to the eternal truths advanced by Christ himself? The answer is simple, lacking the inspiration and revelations of the Holy Spirit—having no Comforter to lead them into all truth, bring things to their remembrance and show them things to come, they teach for doctrine the opinions of men. Being filled with worldly wisdom but not the power of God. “They divine for money and preach for hire.” Again Christ prayed that his disciples might be one with Him as He was with the Father, and that all should believe the words of the disciples that they might be one with Him, as He was one with the Father. Are Christians claiming belief in those words, one? No, the various denominations are not only divided against each other, but in some instances are divided among themselves. During the late civil war, as was stated yesterday, members of the same church south of the Mason and Dixon line were praying for the destruction of their brethren of the same church north of it, while, on the other hand, those north were making a like petition to the same God against their brethren south of that line. According, however, to their own idea of God, He could hardly have heard and answered either party; for, having no body he could not hear, and having no passions he would have been indifferent, had he been able to hear.
Notwithstanding this, however, many, very many on both sides were destroyed and, as we believe, needlessly. Of one thing we may be certain, and that is the members of the various Christian denominations are not one. Therefore there is but one of two conclusions at which the reasoning and thoughtful can arrive. Either God has ceased to answer the prayer of His Son, or the various conflicting religious sects are not believers in the Gospel. And as they put great stress upon faith or belief, I have endeavored and think I have not failed to show that they are not even true believers, for they are certainly not united and one with Christ as He is one with the Father, nor as His ancient disciples were one with Him.
In mentioning these matters, I have tried to do so in a respectful manner, having regard for the feelings of those who differ from us in religious affairs. There are many people in the world who do not believe as we do, but for whom I entertain a high personal regard; for according to the light they have, they are moral, honest and just, and are as devoted to what they believe to be right as we possibly can be. Thousands and hundreds of thousands of people in the world are just as sincere as we are; but to be sincere in a matter does not make that matter true.
While at the City of Mexico recently, I saw many exhibitions of religious devotion and sincerity. On certain feast days people there do strange things. I have seen women walk upon their knees three miles over rough stony roads, being rewarded at the end of their painful journey with a plaited crown of thorns placed upon their heads, while being carried upon the shoulders of strong men, amid the cheering multitude, who praised them for having accomplished what they believed to be a saintly, meritorious task. Again, I have seen ladies of refinement, wealth and influence trail their rich satin and velvet robes through the dirt and filth accumulated upon the floors of the great cathedral, for hours they would kneel in adoration before an image, while being jostled by ignorant, degraded, vermin-covered Indians, worshipping at the same shrine. On other occasions I have witnessed for weeks together the revelry of Catholic maskers who frequented the streets, theaters and balls, night and day. At some of those masked balls it was said scenes were enacted that were so immoral in their tendency that the general of the Mexican army issued orders prohibiting officers and men of the army from attending them. And yet, at the termination of the thirty days' dissipation, religious sincerity caused those poor, ignorant people to feel free from sin after confessing to their priests and receiving absolution for all their abominations and securing a great black mark in the form of a cross in their foreheads. Now, while these things, and many others which I have no time to mention, appeared very repugnant, immoral and debasing in their practice and tendency, yet I respected those people in their religious belief, customs and ceremonies as I desire to respect the people of other creeds so long as they do not infringe upon the rights and liberties of others. For God intends that all should be absolutely free in such matters. When Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden, the doctrine of free agency was fully established and endorsed by the Creator, for He there gave a conditional commandment, obedience to which was to perpetuate life, disobedience was to bring death, but the choice was left with the man and woman, and from that day to this he has intended that man should act upon his own agency; that he should be permitted to receive the truth, choosing the path that leads back to the presence of God and the knowledge that comes from above; or, on the other hand, to reject it, following in the path which leads to ruin and destruction.
In this great American government a man should be free to worship the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost; he should be equally free to worship a mountain, a stream, the sun, moon, or anything or not to worship at all; so long as his practice and belief do not interfere with the inalienable rights guaranteed to man, so long should he be free.
From the time when God gave to man and woman their free agency in the Garden of Eden, making the law and defining the penalty for breaking that law, I can find nothing in the revelations that would bind or fetter the soul or the body of the children of men. There was, however, one unconditional command; it was given in the generation of the heavens, when God created man and woman in His own image; and that command still rests upon the fishes of the sea, upon the fowls of the air, upon the beasts of the field, and all beating throbbing nature naturally obeys the edict, “multiply and replenish the earth.” This great unconditional, unrepealed law is still in force. The Roman Catholic church, as it has done heretofore, may issue edicts binding certain members of that church to celibacy, making the union of man and woman obnoxious, but that great command is nevertheless still binding. The Roman church and our own Government, in their blind efforts to defeat the purposes of God, may continue to forbid marriage, and thus fulfill ancient prophecy, but their efforts should not surprise us. Is there anything occurring in the midst of the Nation today that we have not anticipated? I have recently returned from the east, and I rejoice exceedingly in what I saw manifested there. Does God hold the members of Congress responsible for their acts as he does the Elders of this Church? No. They will be judged by the light they have and no more. They are, many of them, educated, and are men of influence, possessing, however, but little genuine moral courage. Notwithstanding the evident disregard for principle manifested by some of them touching affairs in which we are interested, I confess that I lose confidence in them with the deepest regret, and find it most difficult to withdraw the faith formerly reposed in the lawmakers of our great nation. I still desire and hope to be able to continue praying for them and for the President and cabinet, that they may honor the positions to which the people have called them. We will uphold, sustain and pray for them at least until God rejects and condemns their works. There is salt in the nation yet. I try to comprehend the feelings of faithful Abraham when pleading for Sodom and Gomorrah; which, had they contained five righteous men, might have been spared.
Now, I think there are a great many more than five righteous men—righteous according to the light they have, in the United States; good men too, who, while they cannot see as we see, and while they cannot endorse our peculiar ideas in regard to the plan of human salvation, love liberty, cherish the memory of our forefathers, and regard the foundations of this great government so highly that they could not even under the pressure of public opinion, vote for a measure so radically wrong, a measure so thoroughly unconstitutional as every lawyer must know the Edmunds law to be. There were a few honorable members of Congress whose high regard for the labors and sacrifices of our forefathers precluded them from advocating that infamous measure which strikes with deep intent and a spirit born of hatred, at the very foundation upon which our government and the liberties of the people rest. Those honorable gentlemen, in opposing the bill, counted the cost by realizing that their course in the matter might offend their constituents, who by reason thereof, might retire them forever from the walks of public political life.
Now I must admit that it would have required nerve and genuine moral courage to enable members of the Republican party to vote against the passage of that bill when the party lash was being swung around them as I have never before seen a party lash used. To overcome the fear arising from the contemplated action of constituents at home, and the cut and the sting of the party leaders in Congress, required more courage than we could reasonably expect from members of the dominant party. Moral courage is a virtue possessed by few men in this gilded age in which ambition, rather than principle, too frequently is the moving cause which prompts to action. When, therefore, party leaders, sarcastic and unscrupulous, shake their fists under the noses of their timid followers, daring them to place themselves upon record as advocates of “Mormonism” by opposing measures intended for the bondage of “Mormons,” it is indeed difficult, and we ought not to expect weak men, under such circumstances, to do what is right.
I remember before going East, certain petitions to Congress were being circulated in the midst of the Latter-day Saints, which were afterwards, I understand, signed by about 65,000 people, and what was the prayer of those petitioners—did they ask Congress to endorse polygamy, or in the least manifest sympathy for the marital relations of the Latter-day Saints? No. The burden of the prayer of this community was to give us a trial before condemning us, to hear our cause before convicting and executing us; in other words, that an investigating committee be sent to the people of Utah to see them as they are; to come, if need be, into our homes and pry into every detail of our social relations, and then judge the tree by its fruits. If the children of the Latter-day Saints, as has been asserted, are frail in body and weak in intellect, we asked the statesmen of our land to come and demonstrate it for our benefit and their information, or send a competent and reliable commission to investigate the matter for them. If we are all immoral people—as we have been accused of being—we want the nation to say so through the mouths of honorable men. That is what we prayed for. Our petitions were not heard, I doubt if they were even read, and, yet, have we any feelings of enmity towards our nation because of it? I have not, not in the least. There is not a man, woman or child in all this broad land for whom I have one particle of hatred. Thank God for that. That is what my religion has taught me. And while I know that I am by no means perfect in keeping that higher law which Jesus gave, namely, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you, I am trying to become so. That is a law of the Gospel which we must all eventually observe in spirit and practice. I am trying to pray for men who by night and day use their influence and every means in their power to crush out a people whom I love, and who are innocent before God of the vile slanders constantly heaped upon them. When we, as Saints of the Most High, shall have learned to love our enemies and pray for those who despitefully use us—shall have learned it so well, that prayerful humble practice impresses it upon the tablets of our hearts, from which every desire to oppress our fellow man has been eradicated, then, and not till then will the government rule, and dominion be given into the hands of this people.
Zion will be redeemed, God's kingdom bear sway and His people, under Christ Jesus our Lord, will rule when the law goes forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
Much has been said about the domination of the “Mormon” Priesthood. In Europe, in the States of the Union, and even in Mexico it has been stated that “Mormons” are controlled like slaves, being obliged to yield obedience, right or wrong, to the behest of Church leaders. I bear my testimony that the statement is utterly untrue. No part of the Union possesses a freer and more independent people than these mountain valleys. Indeed I hesitate not to say that their equal in fearlessness of wrongful church, political or other influences cannot be found elsewhere. They neither crouch beneath public opinion nor cower before the pulpit and press. The names of prominent businessmen of Eastern cities, with whom for years our merchants have done business, appeared in the public prints as the vice-presidents of anti-”Mormon” meetings; thus making them seem to join in the raid against our people. When asked regarding the matter a number confessed that their names had been used without either their knowledge or consent. But they had not the moral courage necessary to stem the current of public opinion and run the risk of incurring the displeasure of the press by withdrawing their names; and, while disclaiming to me personally, any sympathy with the anti-”Mormon” raids, then so numerous in the East, they dare not publicly so express themselves. Now, while expressing sympathy for those who, under any circumstances, could be placed in such a position, I am bold to assert that nowhere in Utah among Latter-day Saints could such a thing be found. Such domination, ecclesiastical, political or social does not exist in Utah among the “Mormons;” possibly it may exist in the midst of those comprising their enemies, and known here as the “ring.” Whatever may have been said or whatever may hereafter be asserted regarding the domination of the “Mormon” Priesthood, I know no people who regard more highly the individual rights of man or who are more willing to defend them than the people called “Mormons,” who here, as elsewhere, have the moral courage to protect and defend their names while maintaining their individuality. I don't think they would hesitate to defend the oppressed whether Jew, Gentile or “Mormon,” nor would they sacrifice in their lack of independence, principle or persons at the shrine of public opinion or popular prejudice. The “Mormon” Priesthood dominates the affairs of the “Mormon” people upon the principles of righteousness and equity. Outside of these it has neither power nor authority. I wish this were equally true with the religious, political and social organizations throughout the Union; but it is not, as I have already shown. When principle is sacrificed to prejudice there can be neither safety nor stability. Acting upon such a basis men become great in small things, but small in greater matters.
Did principle or a proper regard for the rights of man prevail in the Senate and House of our National Congress, pending the passage of the Edmunds law? It is true a number of honorable members in each branch recognized and protested against the passage of that unconstitutional and un-American measure, but how few, if any, comprehended the opportunity afforded a great statesmen to stem the current and by the force of patriotism and the power of right, rise above the waves of popular prejudice and, striking out of disguises stand proudly upon the solid foundations of constitutional law while victoriously battling for human freedom and the natural rights of man. Such an opportunity had made Webster, Clay or Sumner even greater than the great men we now esteem them. The thought of such as they were, the devotion to principle, liberty and right exhibited by Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and others in their struggles for human freedom, have made me proud to be an American citizen. But when I see sacred principles, for the establishment of which our fathers devoted property, honor and lives, trampled under foot by our national lawmakers, in order to answer the fanatical demands of religious bigots against a few thousand loyal citizens in Utah, I blush and almost wish I had been foreign born.
Aside from these drawbacks evidencing the degeneracy into which statesmen are falling, I have ever been proud of my citizenship. Of but one thing have I ever been prouder and that is of my allegiance to God and His laws, and a love for His kingdom and people. For these I have patiently, and almost uncomplainingly, endured the scorn and ridicule of many people in various countries. This I could never have endured, being naturally proud and perhaps oversensitive, had it not been for the comforting influence which accompanies a knowledge of truths revealed in our day.
During twenty-five years of experience in the Church, having been more or less in the missionary field since I was fifteen years of age, I have met thousands of people in Europe and America who thought of “Mormonism” and the “Mormons” only with contempt, believing the system to be a fraud they thought of its advocates as wicked deceivers. Under other circumstances I have been thrown into contact with men and women who, while appearing chaste and fair without, were foul and corrupt within, but who nevertheless, would act as though the touch of a “Mormon” Elder was pollution. Hundreds of times I have been forced to notice the reluctance of men, themselves not averse to the destruction of chastity, to publicly appear in the company of Elders, whom I knew, would suffer their right hands to be burned from their bodies rather than look upon a woman with lust, much less seek to destroy virtue, or defile themselves with the unclean.
Whatever the world may think or say to the contrary, the Elders of this Church are the purest men on earth, and there are abundance of facts with which to substantiate the assertion. They are not all, perhaps, what they should be, but take them as a whole—consider their works, their sacrifices, trials and temptations, and in that virtue that comes of chaste thoughts, words and actions, they have no rivals in this world; for, as married men, they are true at home and abroad to their marital vows; as single men they are equally true to God and their covenants. With men of the world these things may be of but little moment, with us they are of vital importance, for upon the basis of sexual purity shall be perpetuated that which is noble, good and lovely.
The love of wealth, a desire for luxury, or an ambition for fame may move the world, and stir men to ceaseless activity; but for us and our children there is more happiness, peace and salvation in the quietness and purity of our simple homes, than can be found anywhere else.
In some of the Eastern States, especially in the larger cities, the evidences of increasing prosperity appear numerous. Trade and commerce, pushed by enterprise and capital, are accumulating wealth in the hands of the far-seeing and shrewd very rapidly, and the luxurious habits manifested in the erection and decoration of magnificent, palatial residences, is only equaled by the rich personal ornaments of their owners. To excel in these things the highest ambition of the worldly is excited to the utmost extent, and intelligent men and women too often sacrifice truth and honor in the mad strife for gain. Wealth, or the love of it, is fast becoming the God of the Christian world. To what extent their idolatrous worship produces happiness I am not aware, but am personally satisfied to cast my lot with the poor, despised people of Utah; who, having less of the things of this world, have more of the imperishable things of God. Possessing the keys of inspiration, we are able to draw upon the only true source of happiness, and our path, if we are faithful, will grow brighter and brighter, until the perfect day. Were we able to convince the rulers of nations of this fact, they would, I have no doubt, willingly forego all earthly hopes of worldly fame and the honors of men, and meekly receive that which has been so freely given to us. If God were to open the eyes of the Queen of England and the President of the United States, as He has opened our eyes, I think they would rejoice as we have rejoiced, with a boundless gladness. But they, like millions of others, having never been born of water, cannot even see, much less enter the kingdom of heaven. Could they do so and receive the manifestations and revelations, the companionship and instructions of the Holy Ghost, they would willingly exchange the honors and emoluments of their offices, for the persecution and slander to which all who live godly in Christ Jesus are subject.
They have their mission and work to perform; we have ours. We would gladly confer upon them and others a knowledge of that which we have received from God, if we could, but we cannot. The wealth of this world can neither purchase such knowledge, nor can the influence of the mighty and great ever become potent enough to secure it for themselves and convey it to others, except upon the simple conditions prescribed by the Master and to which we have yielded a willing obedience.
As this people have been obedient to God, so have they been loyal to the government. I desire to ask those composing this vast congregation, if you are a disloyal people you are frequently accused of being so. Do you not regard the Constitution of our nation with respect and veneration? Have you not taught your children that the Declaration of Independence is the highest bill of rights which man has ever bequeathed to man? Have you not held up to them for emulation the character of the father of his country, the great George Washington? When recently gazing upon his monument in Washington, D.C. which has been so many years in building, I asked myself the question: Is all this mass of polished marble being accumulated and put together with such accurate nicety and at such vast expense because George Washington was willing to float with the current of public opinion, right or wrong, or is it because he had those noble sentiments which beat and throb in generous hearts for freedom? He, while possessing many ideas of the English aristocratic school, was no weather-cock to be turned by the passing breeze. How few men in the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, appear to have been close students of history. Had they been such they would have seen in the characters of Washington, Jefferson, and the Adams's something far different from that possessed by the average statesmen of our day. Close students of history should be able to sense the fact, that in emergencies when the waves of popular feeling run high, great men whose hearts beat for liberty and freedom come to the front but they do not float with the tide, nor are they swerved by prejudice or biased by public opinion.
Public opinion followed Jesus Christ into the garden of Gethsemane when, alone and unwatched by His Apostles, He prayed to the Father for strength to endure suffering which caused drops of blood to ooze from every pore of his agonized body. Public opinion followed him to the bench of the heathen judge who, being above the prejudices of the age, washed his hands of innocent blood and said: “I find no guilt in this man.” But the self-righteous Jew—the hypocritical Scribe and Pharisee—cried out, “Crucify Him!” “Crucify Him!” “His blood be on us and our children.” Public opinion has caused rivers of human blood to flow; sacrificing, it is said, sixty millions of lives during the reign of the inquisition. Who can think of the dark and cruel work of those days and years of religious superstition and bigotry without a shudder of horror?
In the museum at the City of Mexico I have gazed upon the mummied forms of men and women who lost their lives under the pressure of the religious public opinion that fed flames, and instituted racks, in that land.
Public opinion, backed by persecution, drove our fathers across the deep, and planted the Pilgrims upon Plymouth Rock, ready to perish if needs be for God and liberty. Had they been of the class predominating today in our National legislature, a free government on this land would have been unknown to the present generation. But they were noble, self-sacrificing men who, loving liberty better than life, could neither cringe to the dictates of kingly power nor bow to the behest of priestly authority. Hence, that conscience might be free and God worshipped accordingly, they braved the dangers of the sea in search of a land of freedom, a home for the oppressed. And here, upon the choice land of Joseph, still persecuted and hated, the survivors prospered and grew and became strong under the blessings of God, until their noble hearts and generous brains produced thoughts and actions that led to one of the grandest and most successful efforts, in the interest of human freedom, the world has ever known. How strange, how unreasonable it seems that the children of those noble ones, should ever become oppressors. Thus attesting the truthfulness of the saying: “The oppressed of today may become the oppressors of tomorrow.”
Persecution, prompted by religious bigots, and urged forward by public opinion incited to deeds of violence, and sacrificed in a cool, premeditated and bloody manner the Prophet Joseph and the patriarch Hyrum Smith, at Carthage in the free and sovereign State of Illinois. Unappeased with the blood of martyrs, it devastated cities, villages and farms, pillaged homes, killed defenseless women and children, and finally drove us as a people into these mountains. I remember as a child, the pains and sorrows of those days of destitution when the aged and the young together walked weary miles with blistered feet in the hot sands that formed a part of the wilderness which stretched out between the so-called civilization and the place of peace and rest, so much desired by our people. Heat and cold, hunger and thirst, were each and all forgotten in the intense desire to be free from the cruel persecution of our enemies. We asked for neither riches nor fame, but around the camp fires at night the people were inspired with but one prayer during the weary days of that long journey—it was for peace and rest—freedom to worship God without being molested, without being persecuted by cruel, relentless enemies. For the enjoyment of these blessings we were willing to forego the comforts of life, associate with savages, and dig roots with which to keep body and soul together, as many of us had to do.
For a time we enjoyed comparative peace, but bitter prejudice manufactured and fostered by Christian divines and political demagogues, has followed us with malice unparalleled. Securing the support of public opinion it sent, in 1857, all army to Utah to despoil our people, while sedition ripened in the heart of the nation. In 1862 it culminated in a congressional enactment against a religious tenet, notwithstanding the positive and explicit prohibition of the Constitution which forbids Congress to pass any law “respecting the establishment of religion or preventing the free exercise thereof,” it urged and succeeded in passing the Poland law, under the provisions of which “Mormon” citizens were deprived of trial by an impartial jury of their peers, and by the decision of biased judges were not only subject to, but some of them actually were, tried by packed juries. At the demand of the clergy of the various religious denominations throughout the Union the Edmunds bill, substantially as it was drafted by clergymen and carpetbag officials here, became law; and without excuse or apology citizens in Utah are deprived of franchise, a sacred, blood bought right, without which no American can ever feel proud or properly exercise the liberties bequeathed by our fathers to their children.
Now what does it all mean? What can be the object of this unjust, inexcusable, unholy raid? Can it be possible that the dominant party holding the reins of government, desire to make of the people of Utah a race of slaves—fit subjects for fetters and chains? I hope not. But if such is the object would it not be well to transport us to the flats of the Mississippi River, to the swamps of Louisiana, where association with the black freedman might accustom us to the chains of slavery that now lie rusting in the blood of thousands that were brave and true—willing sacrifices at the shrine of human liberty and the equal rights of man.
There, perhaps, restraining bonds might fret and gall until the love for liberty and the rights of free men might be forgotten. Not so in these mountains. They are high and noble and grand. They are the mighty bulwarks of our God. The snows that drift upon their lofty peaks, the waters that leap down their steep sides and rush through their rugged gorges, are full of the harmony that accords with our love for freedom. The very air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, the soil we walk upon, inspire the soul with thoughts and a love for liberty undreamed of in lands that produce oppressors. Loyal citizens of a great government, honest, frugal, just, charitable and obedient to constitutional law, we desire to continue while fulfilling our mission of peace on earth and good will to man, but while our surroundings remain unchanged and Nature's bulwarks stand, with the blessings of God we never can become slaves. Oppressions, frauds and wrongs we may for a time endure. We may as in the past be subjected to annoyances and to the petty tyranny of small tyrants, but we know in whom we trust, and we are not ignorant of what the final result will be. Traitors may arise and seek to trample upon the provisions of the Constitution, but right here in these mountains—on the backbone of the continent—will grow the men who will preserve intact that sacred inspired charter of human rights, under the just provisions of which millions will rejoice long after usurpers and traitors shall have been buried in oblivion. And right here in this connection I desire to repeat what I have said in public once before. In reviewing the tribulations through which the Saints have passed, and while contemplating the wrongs which they have endured at the hands of despoilers, I have felt and said, rather than be robbed as my father on several occasions was, on account of his religion, I would endeavor to have facts plainly submitted to the President of these United States, so that he might fully understand the situation, and then, before I would permit my possessions—the hard earnings of year's of toil—to go into the hands of those who covet our property, and who would rob us, as our fathers were robbed, I would deed it to, and make a present, if he would accept it, of all the property I have to the President and his successor in office forever, as a perpetual reminder, that here, in free America, whole communities of citizens have been plundered, persecuted and deprived of the peaceful possession of property without cause and without redress.
It is said “there are no persons in Utah who desire the property of the “Mormons” except upon the fair basis of purchase.” I would be glad if this were true, for I wish to think well of all men, and especially of fellow citizens, but I fear recent movements and present indications will scarcely warrant belief in the statement, and if future developments of the plot of conspirators do not demonstrate that polygamy was the chosen pretext with which to excite and blind the public mind, while unscrupulous tricksters sought to transfer the revenues of the Territory and virtually the property of the majority of the people through increased and excessive taxation, to the control of the insignificant minority in this Territory, then I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet. The passage of the Edmunds bill and the means used to make it law, are but a part of the plot concocted in this city and endorsed by certain parties east against the rights and liberties of the people of Utah. The peculiar mathematical calculation by which Governor Murray succeeded in counting about 1,300 votes for a person almost unknown here, a greater number than over 18,000 cast for Hon. George Q. Cannon, the people's choice for Delegate to Congress, was but another part of the program, and one which has, thus far, deprived us of representation in the National Legislature, and rendered nugatory, to the majority in this Territory, the sacred right of franchise. The late President Garfield, in a public State document, declared, in effect, that as a person who plotted against the life of the king in a monarchical government committed treason, so one who tampered with the ballot-box and thereby deprived the citizen of his right of franchise also committed treason. If this be sound doctrine and authoritatively enunciated, what crime has the Governor of Utah Territory committed? If the canvassing of those votes and the issuance of a certificate of election to a man who received only about one-fifteenth of the whole number, foreshadow the future action of our chief executive, what have the people of Utah to expect, by way of justice, from him? Being neither of, nor from among us—depending upon others for the tenure of his office and the amount and payment of his salary, we have, perhaps, no reason to expect sympathy or disinterested service, but we do have a right to expect unbiased justice in the administration of official duties.
No American citizen having the love of liberty and the rights of man at heart, can endorse the course pursued by the Governor in the Cannon-Campbell case. I cannot and never expect to. From childhood I have been taught to respect officials because of the dignity of their offices, and it may be possible to respect the office after having lost confidence in the man occupying it. As people, our regard for the Government ought perhaps to enable us to do this in the future, as in the past. Faithful, loyal citizens can afford to do it, and much more, if necessary.
But says one, “You are thought to be neither faithful nor loyal to the Government, and it is believed by many that you make secret covenants against it.” In answer I have this to say: The brain that concocted and the heart that prompted such accusations were possessed by the wicked and cruel. We have proven our loyalty under circumstances most trying circumstances in which actions were more weighty than words, deeds than promises.
The patient, heroic endurance of the “Mormon” battalion while making their wondrous march of 2,030 miles, the planting of the Stars and Stripes on these mountains and in these valleys, then Mexican soil by their fathers, brothers, sisters and wives are historical facts, and so are the circumstances under which these things were done, historical facts establishing love for, and loyalty to our country that no honest man can ever question. As to making secret covenants against the Government, I never was requested to do it, and would have spurned the request and the person making it if I had been. As applied to this people the charge is false as those who make it. I think, however, I can understand why these false and unjust accusations are made. We have been treated from the beginning like an unloved child, when asking for bread we have been given a stone, for a fig we have been given a serpent. Now, who ever knew a father to be just to an unloved child? Or one unwilling to listen to the accusations of the favored against him? And here may be applied the saying “We can forgive those who injure us, but those we injure, never.” And that is just the position we occupy. We have been injured, repeatedly injured, and those who have injured cannot forgive us. They hate us because they know they have wronged us. If statesmen and lawmakers disregard the Constitution by overriding and trampling on its provisions in their efforts to solve the “Mormon” problem, I hold the act to be no less treasonable than if performed by private citizens. I say treasonable because disregard for the Constitution by the nation's lawmakers, must ultimately result in their rejection by the people, or in the dissolution of the Government. Thus the charge of lawbreaking and disloyalty might more consistently come from, than against us. Of one thing we are certain: that which is a crime to an individual or a community cannot become a virtue in lawmakers, even though advocated as an expedient. George Washington, in his farewell address to the American people, foreseeing, perhaps, what might occur, uttered the following forcible sentiments: “If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed.” Very different are these sentiments from those uttered not many years since by a prominent republican leader in the House of Representatives, who, when asked if he, as a lawyer, would state to the House that the measure introduced by him, and then under consideration by it, was in its provisions in harmony with the Constitution, answered with a sneer, “Why, any justice of the peace would tell the gentleman it is not constitutional, but it is a measure we want and one we shall pass, and by the time its constitutionality is tested, it will have accomplished the object we have in view.” The same sentiments as those we have referred to were clearly and unhesitatingly uttered by members of Congress pending the final passage of the Edmunds bill. They show the drift of the party, perhaps the spirit of the times, in which the sentiments of Washington are below par. Other members, while not entertaining such views, lacked moral courage to oppose them. Some of them came privately and confessed that the Edmunds bill was an infamous measure; but, said they, What can we do? Public sentiment is against your people, and we dare not defend you; if we do, our constituents will withdraw their support, and we shall be retired.” The force of such reasoning we may not comprehend, but we do feel that we have no desire to have any man sacrifice himself or his prospects for us. We are used to oppressions, and with the help of God we can stand all the special ex post facto laws and bills of attainder which Congress may pass and the President approve, and we don't expect much sympathy or friendship from the outside either; for we have proven years ago that a man never has fewer friends than when he needs them most, nor more than when he needs them least. Does a knowledge of this fact tend to destroy our confidence in man? No, I think not, but it does tend, by showing how weak and unreliable man is, to increase our trust in God.
In asking for a commission of honorable gentlemen to visit Utah to investigate affairs before passing judgment upon us, we did express as I said before, a hope that we might be fairly tried before being convicted. The signers of these petitions knew, and their enemies here knew that the charges constantly heaped up against this people could be proven utterly false if a chance to do so were afforded. But that is just what certain parties did not want, fearing that a thorough investigation conducted by honorable men would defeat their plot against the people of Utah. I speak of these matters as I understand them. I am not and never have been radical, but have desired always to view things from an impartial standpoint.
Irrespective of creed or color, I think there is room in Utah for all who wish to locate in the Territory, and those who are here and others who may come hereafter, should be protected in the enjoyment of their rights, and should be free to exercise them so long as they do not infringe upon the rights of others. In these matters Gentile, Jew and Mormon should stand upon the same level.
So far as I am concerned I would contend for, and if necessary defend the liberties of the one as soon as I would those of the other. Naturally I am inclined to be timid and am disposed to shrink from troubles rather than to court them believing it to be better to suffer wrong than to do wrong; but there are circumstances under which even the cowardly throw off their timidity, and fearlessly assert their rights. I am not able to say how patient, long-suffering and kind this people may prove under the oppressions which wicked plotters may bring upon them; but of one thing I am certain and that is, God will permit nothing to occur to our hurt. Nor will he, if we are faithful, permit the wicked to do anything that will not ultimately prove beneficial to those who love and obey Him. With the companionship of the Holy Spirit the doctrines of the Priesthood will distil upon our minds as the dews of heaven, and we have nothing to fear. The time may be near at hand when men's souls will be tried, but those possessing the inspiration of the Almighty, will hear the test as the faithful and true in other ages have done. Unaided by the power of God, we might be placed under circumstances that would cause us to fear and tremble and possibly plead for life at the sacrifice of allegiance to Him. Under the pressure of fear Peter denied his Lord and Master, but that transpired before he was “endowed with power from on high.” From the day of Pentecost, when he received the Comforter, until his death no power on earth or beneath could have induced him to do such a thing. This fact is attested beyond doubt, by what we know of his life and labors subsequent to that awful night, when the powers of earth and hell seemed to prevail even over the Son of God.
Deprived of the sustaining powers of the Holy Spirit, the Latter-day Saints might yield to the fear of artillery, bullets and bayonets, so often recommended by Christian divines as the best means with which to solve the “Mormon” problem; but with that spirit such agencies become impotent. Confidence in God destroys fear, and a knowledge of the resurrection of the just, takes away the sting of death. The inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit have prompted the Presidency and Apostles of this Church to open meetinghouses and Tabernacles for ministers of various religious denominations to preach in while our Elders were being persecuted, hunted and sometimes whipped by members of these same denominations. The contrast between the treatment which we have given and that which we have received is very great. And if we have not under every circumstance “turned the other cheek to be smitten,” we have at least tried to do good for evil. Without purse or scrip our Elders have faithfully sought to preach the Gospel in every Christian land; and while we, here in Utah, have extended courtesy and kindness to ministers of Christian denominations, many of our Elders have wandered like outcasts, sleeping under the hedges and in the woods with leaves as their only covering, like their Master, having no place other than that provided by nature, to lay their heads. Others when provided with places of rest have been called out and flayed with hickory withes. Poison has been administered in the food of some, and others have been killed.
How exactly similar this treatment is to that received by the Saints of old; and yet Christians appear to be utterly unable to learn a lesson from the parallel. To them nothing good can come out of Nazareth, and the kingdom of heaven they cannot see, for they have not been born again. The world loves its own, but it loved not the disciples of Jesus because he called them out of the world. On the same principle the world cannot love us. Let us realize this fact, and while being just to all men, let us live the religion of Jesus Christ, and trust in God. If we are pressed on all sides from without, it will tend to unite and make us all the more solid. Snow is soft and yielding, melting easily under the genial rays of the sun, but press it hard from every side and it congeals into a frozen mass, and in that state is capable of resisting mighty forces.
Pressure from without, as observed before, will tend to unite and make us better and stronger. Better because the spirit manifested towards us by the wicked, will cause us to lay aside the little envies and jealousies that may have existed among us. Stronger, because the hatred of our enemies will teach us to trust more fully in God. And in doing this we shall learn to follow the example of the faithful and true. A special law was passed for the sole purpose of entrapping the three Hebrew boys. It failed. When questioned by the wrathful king they could not say whether God would preserve or suffer them to perish, but they could say that “they would not fall down and worship the image which the king had made.” No fault could be found with Daniel, so those who were jealous of his growing influence and power succeeded in securing the enactment of a special law which they knew he must violate or be false to his God. But Daniel was true to God, and with his face turned toward Jerusalem, prayed as before. How many Daniels or Hebrew boys we have among us I do not know. Lions' dens and heated caldrons, prisons and dungeon cells, the rack and the rope, have each and all been used to punish those unwilling to forsake God, or disobey His laws. They have their terrors, but the bloodstained pages of history attest that they have been failures when applied as means with which to change men's religion, violate conscience, or coerce the human mind. As it has been in the past, so it will be in the future; the faithful being inspired with the Holy Ghost, will set their hearts upon the redemption of Zion, and relying upon the promises, will turn their faces towards Jerusalem, pray as before, and follow Jesus Christ in life and death. Let the wicked rage and the adversary exert his power, the righteous will gain the victory, and when thrones are cast down the Saints shall prevail.
Let us maintain the Constitution of our country, and all laws enacted in conformity therewith, realizing that the destruction of the Constitution must lead to the ruin and destruction of the Union. Let us honor the rulers of the nation and uphold them, by faith and prayers as long as it is possible to do so. I desire to regard the President as an honorable man. As the chief executive of a great nation he should have the confidence and respect of the people. Should he select honorable, unbiased gentlemen for the Utah commission, as I have reason to hope he will, they can do much towards modifying the unjust law under which they must act, but whether such are appointed or not, we must continue to pray for our enemies and those that despitefully use us, until by and by we shall learn the lesson so well that when the little stone cut out of the mountains without hands shall roll forth, become a mighty mountain, fill the whole earth, and the Saints of the Most High have the rule and dominion they will never be disposed to oppression.
I pray for the peace and blessings of God to be with all Israel, and with the honest everywhere. Thousands are misguided and deceived by priests who preach for money and divine for hire; ministers who make merchandise of the souls of men. The mother of Harlots has “made all nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication,” just as John the Revelator saw she would do, but among those nations are many honest, upright ones. For them I pray. In conclusion let me impress upon your minds the spirit of inspiration given through Joseph the Prophet, while incarcerated in Liberty Jail, while suffering the abuse of his enemies, and while being deprived of his liberty and the association of family and friends for the Gospel's sake, he says. “No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;
By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile--
Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy; That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death.
Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God, and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.
The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever.”
May God enable us to learn these things, and to be true and faithful to Him, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.
The choir sung and anthem Heavenly Zion.
Conferenced adjourned till to-morrow (Sunday) at 10 a.m.
Benediction by Apostle Erastus Snow.
FOURTH DAY.
Sunday, 10 a. m.
The choir sang the hymn on page 17,
Ere long the vail will rend in twain,
The king descend with all his train.
Prayer by Elder Joseph E. Taylor.
The choir sang the hymn on page 195,
Let Zion in her beauty rise,
Her light begins to shine.
Sunday, 10 a. m.
The choir sang the hymn on page 17,
Ere long the vail will rend in twain,
The king descend with all his train.
Prayer by Elder Joseph E. Taylor.
The choir sang the hymn on page 195,
Let Zion in her beauty rise,
Her light begins to shine.
Elder L. John Nuttall then presented the Authorities of the Church, who were sustained by the unanimous votes of the Conference, as follows:
John Taylor, Prophet, Seer and Revelator to, and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in all the world.
George Q. Cannon as First, and Joseph F. Smith as Second Counselor in the First Presidency.
Wilford Woodruff, President of the Twelve Apostles.
Members of the Council of the Apostles: Wilford Woodruff, Chas. C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, Brigham Young, Albert Carrington, Moses Thatcher, Francis Marion Lyman, John Henry Smith.
Counselors to the Twelve Apostles, John W. Young and Daniel H. Wells.
The Counselors to President John Taylor, the Twelve Apostles and their Counselors, as Prophets, Seers and Revelators.
Patriarch of the Church, John Smith.
The First Seven Presidents of Seventies, Levi W. Hancock, Henry Herriman, Horace S. Eldredge, Jacob Gates, John Van Cott, Wm. W. Taylor.
The Presiding Bishop of the Church, Edward Hunter, with Leonard W. Hardy and Robert T. Burton as his Counselors.
John Taylor as 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.
The Counselors to the President, the Twelve Apostles, their Counselors and Bishop Edward Hunter, as Counselors to the Trustee-in-Trust.
Albert Carrington as President of the Perpetual Emigration Fund Co. for the Gathering of the Poor, and F. D. Richards, F. M. Lyman, H. S. Eldredge, Joseph F. Smith, Angus M. Cannon, Moses Thatcher, Wm. Jennings, John R. Winder, Henry Dinwoodey, Robert T. Burton, A. O. Smoot and H. B. Clawson, as his assistants.
Truman O. Angel as General Architect of the Church, and T. O. Angell, Jr., and W. H. Folsom, as his assistants.
As Auditing Committee—Wilford Woodruff, E. Snow, F. D. Richards, J. F. Smith, W. Jennings and W. H. Hooper.
George Goddard as Clerk of the General Conference. George F. Gibbs as Church Reporter.
John Taylor, Prophet, Seer and Revelator to, and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in all the world.
George Q. Cannon as First, and Joseph F. Smith as Second Counselor in the First Presidency.
Wilford Woodruff, President of the Twelve Apostles.
Members of the Council of the Apostles: Wilford Woodruff, Chas. C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, Brigham Young, Albert Carrington, Moses Thatcher, Francis Marion Lyman, John Henry Smith.
Counselors to the Twelve Apostles, John W. Young and Daniel H. Wells.
The Counselors to President John Taylor, the Twelve Apostles and their Counselors, as Prophets, Seers and Revelators.
Patriarch of the Church, John Smith.
The First Seven Presidents of Seventies, Levi W. Hancock, Henry Herriman, Horace S. Eldredge, Jacob Gates, John Van Cott, Wm. W. Taylor.
The Presiding Bishop of the Church, Edward Hunter, with Leonard W. Hardy and Robert T. Burton as his Counselors.
John Taylor as 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.
The Counselors to the President, the Twelve Apostles, their Counselors and Bishop Edward Hunter, as Counselors to the Trustee-in-Trust.
Albert Carrington as President of the Perpetual Emigration Fund Co. for the Gathering of the Poor, and F. D. Richards, F. M. Lyman, H. S. Eldredge, Joseph F. Smith, Angus M. Cannon, Moses Thatcher, Wm. Jennings, John R. Winder, Henry Dinwoodey, Robert T. Burton, A. O. Smoot and H. B. Clawson, as his assistants.
Truman O. Angel as General Architect of the Church, and T. O. Angell, Jr., and W. H. Folsom, as his assistants.
As Auditing Committee—Wilford Woodruff, E. Snow, F. D. Richards, J. F. Smith, W. Jennings and W. H. Hooper.
George Goddard as Clerk of the General Conference. George F. Gibbs as Church Reporter.
He then presented the names of missionaries:
GREAT BRITAIN.
Charles Wetherston, Plain City
Wilson Gates Nowers, Beaver
Charles C. Harris, “
William Smith Tanner, Payson
UNITED STATES.
John Ormond, Logan
Charles M. Nielson, Koosharen
Christian Berger, South Cottonwood
Wm. M. Palmer, Glenwood
Mons Anderson, Lehi
John W. Coons, Richfield
Elias Nebeker, “
Robert S. Duke, Heber
Jacob Fisher, Orderville
GERMANY.
Ward F. Pack, Jr., Kamas
Peter Krough, Bloomington
HOLLAND.
Peter Lammas, Ogden
John Eccar, 15th Ward
SANDWICH ISLANDS.
Marvin E. Pack, Kamas
NEW ZEALAND.
Peter E. Hansen, 2nd Ward
Jens Jensen, “
Joseph Morris, Greenville
MEXICO.
Anthony W. Ivins, St. George
ICELAND.
Geeslie Byarnison, Spanish Fork
Pjetur Walgardson, “
Egikur Otassen, “
SAN JUAN SETTLEMENTS.
Porter V. Clark, Parowan,
William Adams, “
George A. Adams, “
John E. Adams, “
Thomas Roley, “
Alvin Benson, “
Heber C. Holyoak, “
Lars P. Jensen, “
John E. Eyre, “
Rasmus Mickelson, Jr., “
Abraham A. O. S. Webb, “
Freeman W. Pendleton, “
Adelbert F. McGreggor, “
Simon T. Topham, Paragoona,
John B. Topham, “
Marius E. Dunton, “
John R. Robinson, Jr., “
Richard A. Robinson, “
Albert Lamroax, “
George Robb, “
Thomas A. Smith, Summit,
Davis G. Adams, Cedar,
John Leigh, “
John C. Hamilton, “
Christian Anderson, “
David Bullock, “
Frederick Jones, “
Samuel Wood, “
Charles Wilden, “
Christian Makkeprang, “
ARIZONA.
Alonzo Higbee, Cedar,
Horace A. Steele, Salina, Salt River.
SAN LUIS VALLEY, COLORADO.
Carl Fredricksen, Fountain Green.
Evan F. Green, St. George.
Niels C. Heiselt, Pleasant Grove.
Hansen Heiselt, “
Jens C. Cornum, “
James Neilson, Fountain Green
James Jensen, “
John Shawcroft, “
Jordan Brady, Fairview
Wm. Cheeney, “
George Tucker, “
N. M. Anderson, Redmund
Carl Hanson, St. Charles, Idaho.
Hiram Scofield, Paragoonah
David Boice, Franklin, Idaho
GOOSE CREEK, IDAHO.
Dorr P. Curtis, Herriman
CASTLE DALE, EMERY COUNTY.
Rasmus Justeson, Spring City
Henning Olsen, “
Elder Nuttall explained that Edwin R. Miles, Sen., was the Elder intended who was called on Friday as a missionary to the Southern States.
Also that Elder John Dunn had been honorably released from the call made upon him as a missionary to the United States.
And that Elder John Sutton, of Bear Lake, is called to Great Britain instead of the United States.
The foregoing were sustained by the unanimous vote of the Conference.
An exhibit of the Perpetual Emigration Fund Company during the past six months was then read to the Conference.
GREAT BRITAIN.
Charles Wetherston, Plain City
Wilson Gates Nowers, Beaver
Charles C. Harris, “
William Smith Tanner, Payson
UNITED STATES.
John Ormond, Logan
Charles M. Nielson, Koosharen
Christian Berger, South Cottonwood
Wm. M. Palmer, Glenwood
Mons Anderson, Lehi
John W. Coons, Richfield
Elias Nebeker, “
Robert S. Duke, Heber
Jacob Fisher, Orderville
GERMANY.
Ward F. Pack, Jr., Kamas
Peter Krough, Bloomington
HOLLAND.
Peter Lammas, Ogden
John Eccar, 15th Ward
SANDWICH ISLANDS.
Marvin E. Pack, Kamas
NEW ZEALAND.
Peter E. Hansen, 2nd Ward
Jens Jensen, “
Joseph Morris, Greenville
MEXICO.
Anthony W. Ivins, St. George
ICELAND.
Geeslie Byarnison, Spanish Fork
Pjetur Walgardson, “
Egikur Otassen, “
SAN JUAN SETTLEMENTS.
Porter V. Clark, Parowan,
William Adams, “
George A. Adams, “
John E. Adams, “
Thomas Roley, “
Alvin Benson, “
Heber C. Holyoak, “
Lars P. Jensen, “
John E. Eyre, “
Rasmus Mickelson, Jr., “
Abraham A. O. S. Webb, “
Freeman W. Pendleton, “
Adelbert F. McGreggor, “
Simon T. Topham, Paragoona,
John B. Topham, “
Marius E. Dunton, “
John R. Robinson, Jr., “
Richard A. Robinson, “
Albert Lamroax, “
George Robb, “
Thomas A. Smith, Summit,
Davis G. Adams, Cedar,
John Leigh, “
John C. Hamilton, “
Christian Anderson, “
David Bullock, “
Frederick Jones, “
Samuel Wood, “
Charles Wilden, “
Christian Makkeprang, “
ARIZONA.
Alonzo Higbee, Cedar,
Horace A. Steele, Salina, Salt River.
SAN LUIS VALLEY, COLORADO.
Carl Fredricksen, Fountain Green.
Evan F. Green, St. George.
Niels C. Heiselt, Pleasant Grove.
Hansen Heiselt, “
Jens C. Cornum, “
James Neilson, Fountain Green
James Jensen, “
John Shawcroft, “
Jordan Brady, Fairview
Wm. Cheeney, “
George Tucker, “
N. M. Anderson, Redmund
Carl Hanson, St. Charles, Idaho.
Hiram Scofield, Paragoonah
David Boice, Franklin, Idaho
GOOSE CREEK, IDAHO.
Dorr P. Curtis, Herriman
CASTLE DALE, EMERY COUNTY.
Rasmus Justeson, Spring City
Henning Olsen, “
Elder Nuttall explained that Edwin R. Miles, Sen., was the Elder intended who was called on Friday as a missionary to the Southern States.
Also that Elder John Dunn had been honorably released from the call made upon him as a missionary to the United States.
And that Elder John Sutton, of Bear Lake, is called to Great Britain instead of the United States.
The foregoing were sustained by the unanimous vote of the Conference.
An exhibit of the Perpetual Emigration Fund Company during the past six months was then read to the Conference.
President Joseph F. Smith
said we had received some excellent instruction during the present Conference. He felt impressed to read some passages from the revelations of God to this Church through the Prophet Joseph Smith.
This we understand to be the law of God to the Latter-day Saints in all the world. These requirements must be observed and obeyed by the people of Zion. If we will do these things, then the Lord has said He is bound, but if we do not observe the laws of God, we have no promise. We are told in these revelations there is in keeping the commandments of God no need for us to break the laws of the land. But this is further shown to signify those laws that are according to the Constitution of the United States. Such is the interpretation that God himself has given, and no Latter-day Saint need be in doubt as to what his course should be. The speaker maintained that as an American citizen he had the right not only to express his views on this subject, but also to practice the laws of God. He was a native-born citizen, and had come from a long line of ancestors who had maintained the principles of freedom. He had never broken any laws and was not amenable to its penalties. He was not a violator of law, but had been an upholder of law, a preacher of righteousness, and a practicer of the laws of God. What then had he to fear. The Lord has commanded us to observe the laws of the land, and be subject to the powers that be. But if laws are passed in direct opposition to the constitutional law of the land the speaker knew of no power that could or had the right to prevent us from expressing our disapproval of such innovations. If men pass proscriptive and oppressive laws like those of Herod and the Chaldeans, and thus violate their oaths of office to observe the Constitution, there is no valid law, human or divine, to compel our acceptance. God has expressly commanded His people to keep His laws, and all who do so are prepared to risk the consequences, and our only safe example is that found in Holy Writ. He also read from Doctrine and Covenants, page 364, showing the promises of God that His people should prevail against the wicked, and went on to say, It is written that the wicked can do nothing against, but what they do will turn out to be a benefit to the people of God. Joseph Smith the Prophet was opposed from the beginning. He was a lad, yet his enemies persecuted him and cast out his name as evil, and during his career of usefulness he was continually assailed. He stood at first alone, having no such host of Elders at his back as we have here to-day: but although every conceivable trap was laid for his feet, and every diabolical effort possible was made to check his labors, notwithstanding all those wicked endeavors, he was enabled by the help of God to prosecute the work that he was raised up to accomplish. The plates were translated, the Book of Mormon was published, the Church was organized, missionaries were sent out, thousands of the Saints were gathered, and the Church was established on a sure foundation, before he was called to lay down his life as a testimony to the truth. All the world was aroused and the only reason why they did not destroy this work and this people was because they couldn’t. The expulsion of the Saints from Missouri was only tearing up the tree by the roots and planting it in richer soil where it could bear greater fruit. The whole world has this example before them. In Nauvoo the saints obtained power and authority such as they never had before. When the mob killed Joseph and Hyrum and shed the blood of our present honored leader they thought they had accomplished their ends. But the work and purposes of God can never be destroyed. The wicked may lay their plans, and pursue their hellish plots, but the work of God was onward and upward, the faith of the Saints becoming stronger and stronger. He well remembered when but a little boy his widowed mother ferrying her children across the Mississippi from Nauvoo, to the Iowa side, where, under the shade of a tree, they heard the bombardment of the city, which they had just left, with their house, furniture and property. He also remembered his own feelings at that time. They were not of sorrow or regret, but of joy and thankfulness to God for the shelter even of a tree, and that they were away from their enemies and were once more free. He then portrayed the present circumstances of the Church, and showed that the “Mormons” were a hard people to destroy. We have an objection to being killed, we don’t mean to be demolished, and although we cannot tell what our immediate experiences may be, yet we are sure to prevail. We may possibly be driven again, he did not say we shall be, but if we are, we shall come up again greater than before. Whatever may happen, whatever our enemies may be permitted to do with us, will ultimately result in the greatest possible good to the kingdom of God. No power can stop it one iota. We have got to meet every issue squarely, and every man and woman also will not falter in their faith, but will seek righteousness, and live for its truth, God will surely bring off victorious, from this time, henceforth and forever.
said we had received some excellent instruction during the present Conference. He felt impressed to read some passages from the revelations of God to this Church through the Prophet Joseph Smith.
This we understand to be the law of God to the Latter-day Saints in all the world. These requirements must be observed and obeyed by the people of Zion. If we will do these things, then the Lord has said He is bound, but if we do not observe the laws of God, we have no promise. We are told in these revelations there is in keeping the commandments of God no need for us to break the laws of the land. But this is further shown to signify those laws that are according to the Constitution of the United States. Such is the interpretation that God himself has given, and no Latter-day Saint need be in doubt as to what his course should be. The speaker maintained that as an American citizen he had the right not only to express his views on this subject, but also to practice the laws of God. He was a native-born citizen, and had come from a long line of ancestors who had maintained the principles of freedom. He had never broken any laws and was not amenable to its penalties. He was not a violator of law, but had been an upholder of law, a preacher of righteousness, and a practicer of the laws of God. What then had he to fear. The Lord has commanded us to observe the laws of the land, and be subject to the powers that be. But if laws are passed in direct opposition to the constitutional law of the land the speaker knew of no power that could or had the right to prevent us from expressing our disapproval of such innovations. If men pass proscriptive and oppressive laws like those of Herod and the Chaldeans, and thus violate their oaths of office to observe the Constitution, there is no valid law, human or divine, to compel our acceptance. God has expressly commanded His people to keep His laws, and all who do so are prepared to risk the consequences, and our only safe example is that found in Holy Writ. He also read from Doctrine and Covenants, page 364, showing the promises of God that His people should prevail against the wicked, and went on to say, It is written that the wicked can do nothing against, but what they do will turn out to be a benefit to the people of God. Joseph Smith the Prophet was opposed from the beginning. He was a lad, yet his enemies persecuted him and cast out his name as evil, and during his career of usefulness he was continually assailed. He stood at first alone, having no such host of Elders at his back as we have here to-day: but although every conceivable trap was laid for his feet, and every diabolical effort possible was made to check his labors, notwithstanding all those wicked endeavors, he was enabled by the help of God to prosecute the work that he was raised up to accomplish. The plates were translated, the Book of Mormon was published, the Church was organized, missionaries were sent out, thousands of the Saints were gathered, and the Church was established on a sure foundation, before he was called to lay down his life as a testimony to the truth. All the world was aroused and the only reason why they did not destroy this work and this people was because they couldn’t. The expulsion of the Saints from Missouri was only tearing up the tree by the roots and planting it in richer soil where it could bear greater fruit. The whole world has this example before them. In Nauvoo the saints obtained power and authority such as they never had before. When the mob killed Joseph and Hyrum and shed the blood of our present honored leader they thought they had accomplished their ends. But the work and purposes of God can never be destroyed. The wicked may lay their plans, and pursue their hellish plots, but the work of God was onward and upward, the faith of the Saints becoming stronger and stronger. He well remembered when but a little boy his widowed mother ferrying her children across the Mississippi from Nauvoo, to the Iowa side, where, under the shade of a tree, they heard the bombardment of the city, which they had just left, with their house, furniture and property. He also remembered his own feelings at that time. They were not of sorrow or regret, but of joy and thankfulness to God for the shelter even of a tree, and that they were away from their enemies and were once more free. He then portrayed the present circumstances of the Church, and showed that the “Mormons” were a hard people to destroy. We have an objection to being killed, we don’t mean to be demolished, and although we cannot tell what our immediate experiences may be, yet we are sure to prevail. We may possibly be driven again, he did not say we shall be, but if we are, we shall come up again greater than before. Whatever may happen, whatever our enemies may be permitted to do with us, will ultimately result in the greatest possible good to the kingdom of God. No power can stop it one iota. We have got to meet every issue squarely, and every man and woman also will not falter in their faith, but will seek righteousness, and live for its truth, God will surely bring off victorious, from this time, henceforth and forever.
The Laws of God and the Laws of the Land—The Saints An Obedient and Law-Abiding People—Their Persecutions Productive of Prosperity—Their Past and Prospective Experience and Eventual Triumph
Discourse by President Joseph F. Smith, delivered at the General Conference, on Sunday, April 9th, 1882.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
Nearly all the brethren who have spoken at this Conference have referred to the circumstances in which we, as a people, are now placed; and it would seem unnecessary for me to make any further reference to this all-prevailing subject with which the people generally are more or less familiar, and in which we necessarily are considerably interested. But while the brethren who have spoken have merely referred to some of the sayings of the Prophet Joseph, and to items in the revelations through him, to the Church, I feel impressed to read in the hearing of the congregation one or two passages from the revelations previously referred to. I will, therefore, call the attention of the congregation to a verse or two in the revelation given in 1831, which will be found on page 219 of the Doctrine and Covenants:
“Let no man break the laws of the land, for he that keepeth the laws of God hath no need to break the laws of the land.
“Wherefore, be subject to the powers that be, until he reigns whose right it is to reign, and subdues all enemies under his feet.
“Behold, the laws which ye have received from my hand are the laws of the church, and in this light ye shall hold them forth. Behold, here is wisdom.”
The following I quote from a revelation given December, 1833, page 357:
“According to the laws and the constitution of the people, which I have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles;
“That every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment.
“Therefore, it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another.
“And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.”
Again, in a revelation on page 342:
“And now, verily I say unto you concerning the laws of the land, it is my will that my people shall observe to do all things whatsoever I command them.
And that law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind, and is justifiable before me.
Therefore, I, the Lord, justify you, and your brethren of my church, in befriending that law which is the constitutional law of the land;
And as pertaining to law of man, whatsoever is more or less than this, cometh of evil.
I, the Lord God, make you free, therefore ye are free indeed; and the law also maketh you free.
Nevertheless, when the wicked rule the people mourn.
Wherefore, honest men and wise men should be sought for diligently, and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold; otherwise whatsoever is less than these cometh of evil.
And I give unto you a commandment, that ye shall forsake all evil and cleave unto all good, that ye shall live by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
For he will give unto the faithful line upon line, precept upon precept; and I will try you and prove you herewith.
And whoso layeth down his life in my cause, for my name's sake, shall find it again, even life eternal.
Therefore, be not afraid of your enemies, for I have decreed in my heart, saith the Lord, that I will prove you in all things, whether you will abide in my covenant, even unto death, that you may be found worthy.
For if ye will not abide in my covenant ye are not worthy of me.”
This, as I understand it, is the law of God to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in all the world. And the requirements here made of us must be obeyed, and practically carried out in our lives, in order that we may secure the fulfillment of the promises which God has made to the people of Zion. And it is further written, that inasmuch as ye will do the things which I command you, thus saith the Lord then am I bound; otherwise there is no promise. We can therefore only expect that the promises are made and will apply to us when we do the things which we are commanded.
We are told here that no man need break the laws of the land who will keep the laws of God. But this is further defined by the passage which I read afterwards—the law of the land, which all have no need to break, is that law which is the Constitutional law of the land, and that is as God himself has defined it. And whatsoever is more or less than this cometh of evil. Now it seems to me that this makes this matter so clear that it is not possible for any man who professes to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to make any mistake, or to be in doubt as to the course he should pursue under the command of God in relation to the observance of the laws of the land. I maintain that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has ever been faithful to the constitutional laws of our country. I maintain also, that I have a right to this opinion, as an American citizen, as one who was not only born on American soil, but who descended from parents who for generations were born in America. I have a right to interpret the law in this manner, and to form my own conclusions and express my opinions thereon, regardless of the opinions of other men.
I ask myself, What law have you broken? What constitutional law have you not observed? I am bound not only by allegiance to the government of the United States, but by the actual command of God Almighty, to observe and obey every constitutional law of the land, and without hesitancy I declare to this congregation that I have never violated, nor transgressed any law, I am not amenable to any penalties of the law, because I have endeavored from my youth up to be a law-abiding citizen, and not only so, but to be a peacemaker, a preacher of righteousness, and not only to preach righteousness by word, but by example. What therefore have I to fear? The Lord Almighty requires this people to observe the laws of the land, to be subject to “the powers that be,” so far as they abide by the fundamental principles of good government, but He will hold them responsible if they will pass unconstitutional measures and frame unjust and proscriptive laws, as did Nebuchadnezzar and Darius, in relation to the three Hebrew children and Daniel. If lawmakers have a mind to violate their oath, break their covenants and their faith with the people, and depart from the provisions of the Constitution where is the law human or divine, which binds me, as an individual, to outwardly and openly proclaim my acceptance of their acts?
I firmly believe that the only way in which we can be sustained in regard to this matter by God our Heavenly Father is by following the illustrious examples we find in holy writ. And while we regret, and look with sorrow upon the acts of men who seek to bring us into bondage and to oppress us, we must obey God, for He has commanded us to do so; and at the same time He has declared that in obeying the laws which He has given us we will not necessarily break the constitutional laws of the land.
I wish to enter here my avowal that the people called Latter-day Saints, as has been often repeated from this stand, are the most law-abiding, the most peaceable, long-suffering and patient people that can today be found within the confines of this republic, and perhaps anywhere else upon the face of the earth; and we intend to continue to be law-abiding so far as the constitutional law of the land is concerned; and we expect to meet the consequences of our obedience to the laws and commandments of Godlike men. These are my sentiments briefly expressed, upon this subject.
Now I desire to read another passage in a revelation given in 1834, which will be found on page 364 of the Doctrine and Covenants, commencing at the first verse:
“Verily I say unto you, my friends, behold, I will give unto you a revelation and commandment, that you may know how to act in the discharge of your duties concerning the salvation and redemption of your brethren, who have been scattered on the land of Zion;
Being driven and smitten by the hands of mine enemies, on whom I will pour out my wrath without measure in mine own time.
For I have suffered them thus far, that they might fill up the measure of their iniquities, that their cup might be full;
And that those who call themselves after my name might be chastened for a little season with a sore and grievous chastisement, because they did not hearken altogether unto the precepts and commandments which I gave unto them.
But verily I say unto you, that I have decreed a decree which my people shall realize, inasmuch as they hearken from this very hour unto the counsel which I, the Lord their God, shall give unto them.
Behold they shall, for I have decreed it, begin to prevail against mine enemies from this very hour.
And by hearkening to observe all the words which I, the Lord their God, shall speak unto them, they shall never cease to prevail until the kingdoms of the world are subdued under my feet, and the earth is given unto the saints, to possess it forever and ever.
But inasmuch as they keep not my commandments, and hearken not to observe all my words, the kingdoms of the world shall prevail against them.
For they were set to be a light unto the world, and to be the saviors of men.;
And inasmuch as they are not the saviors of men, they are as salt that has lost its savor, and is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men.
But verily I say unto you, I have decreed that your brethren which have been scattered shall return to the land of their inheritances, and build up the waste places of Zion.”
It is somewhere written as the word of God, that the enemies of the people of Zion can do nothing against but for Zion. Now let us review for a few moments the history of the Church, and see how far the acts of the enemies of this people have gone towards nullifying those words.
When Joseph first looked upon the face of the Father and the Son in 1820, until the Book of Mormon was translated and published to the world in 1829, his enemies did not cease their efforts to destroy him; they sought his life continually; they blackened his character; they maligned and proscribed him, and his name was cast out as evil among all men. But mark you, at the beginning of this period Joseph was a lad of a little over fourteen years of age; and during the nine years of persecution he was but a boy; he had no vast congregation as we see before us this morning to sustain, encourage, or cheer him in his ministry and labors. He stood alone in the world, friendless and despised, cast out, maligned and persecuted on every hand. But did the work cease? Did his enemies prevent him from performing the mission which he had been sent to accomplish? They tried and they did their utmost. They not only made frequent attempts to imprison him under the law, but they made several attempts to take his life, and thus stop the progress of the work in which he was engaged. They spared neither pains nor means, nor did they shrink from hypocrisy, falsehood and misrepresentation to accomplish their purposes; but they signally failed, and he continued to steadily pursue his course, and performed his work, translated the plates, published the Book of Mormon, and in 1830 organized the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to the law of the land.
When the Book of Mormon was published and the Church organized, did they cease their endeavors? Did the hatred of the world diminish? Did the wicked stop their persecutions? Did they refrain from slandering, misrepresenting, and otherwise attempting to obstruct the progress of this work? No, they did not, but on the contrary, as the work developed, as the Church increased in numbers and began to spread on the right and on the left, the feeling of hatred, animosity, bitterness and persecution increased proportionately, and as the Church became stronger, her enemies become more numerous and gained strength. But notwithstanding, we moved on; built a Temple in Kirtland, Ohio, from whence we colonized Jackson County, Missouri. We were afterwards driven into Clay, Caldwell and Davies's Counties, Missouri, where we founded new colonies. Like the snowball starting from the summit of the mountain which gathers not only in bulk but in velocity, so did the work of God increase in the midst of the opposition, persecution and hatred of the world. In the midst of all the powers that were exerted to stop it, it moved right on. But did they succeed in expelling our people from Jackson County, and finally from the State of Missouri? Yes, they drove the Saints from their homes, deprived them of their rights as citizens and freemen, murdered many of them in cold blood, while others they confined in dungeons feeding them on the flesh, (as those heartless wretches themselves boasted) of their own brethren; and they dispersed the people, as they supposed, to the four winds of heaven, rejoicing in the belief that they had finally consummated the destruction of the “Mormons.” But like the phoenix rising from the ashes of its supposed destruction, they gathered like swarms of bees in Illinois, founded a city, and built another Temple, which cost a million dollars—the most beautiful structure in the Western States at that time; and they continued to thrive. Here they gained something which they never possessed before, a city charter granted to them by the State government of Illinois. They soon became notable for their union and their tenacity to the principles which they had espoused, for their faith in God and in His servant the Prophet, for their unconquerable, irrevocable will to prosecute what they knew to be the work of God, and to accomplish, so far as in their power lay, His purposes and designs, concerning this great latter-day work.
In all these vicissitudes and during all the persecutions of fourteen years which were as ceaseless against the Prophet Joseph as the forces of nature are endless, did they diminish the numbers of Saints? Did they break the Saints to pieces? Did they destroy them? No; you know they did not and it seems that our enemies themselves are fully aware of this fact. But when they thought they had torn up “Mormonism” by the roots and cast it out to dry up and wither under the parching, blighting influence of hostile public sentiment, behold, they had only transplanted the tree into new and better watered soil. Instead of destroying our confidence in the promises of God to us, it had the tendency to strengthen our faith, to increase our knowledge and experience, thus fitting and preparing us for the future that lay before us.
Finally they succeeded in taking the life of the Prophet and that of his brother; and they shed the blood of our honored President who sits here today upon this stand. They thought then they had accomplished their hellish work, they thought then the head and front, or root and branch of “Mormonism” was destroyed. But was it? No; it only made us stronger in faith and more united in purpose. “The blood of the martyrs became the seed of the Church.”
They next drove us from our homes in Nauvoo. I remember the circumstances, although at the time I was but a lad. I also remember my thoughts on the day the mob besieged the City of Nauvoo. My widowed mother had been compelled a day or two previously to take her children and ferry them, in an open flat boat across the Mississippi River into Iowa, where we camped under the trees and listened to the bombardment of the city. We had left our comfortable home with all the furniture remaining in the house, together with all our earthly possessions, with no hope or thought of ever seeing them again; and I well remember the feelings I had when we made our camp on the Iowa side of the river. They were not feelings of regret, sorrow or disappointment, but of gratitude to God, that we had the shelter of even the trees and the broad bosom of the “father of waters” to protect us from those who sought our lives; I felt to thank God that we still possessed our lives and freedom, and that there was at least some prospect of the homeless widow and her family of little ones, helpless as they were, to hide themselves somewhere in the wilderness from those who sought their destruction, even though it should be among the wild, so-called savage, native tribes of the desert, but who have proved themselves more humane and Christlike than the so-called Christian and more civilized persecutors of the Saints.
After the expulsion of the Saints from Nauvoo, and from the State of Illinois, our enemies thought surely the “Mormons” are now broken up, and that this would be the last of “Mormonism.” But it is strange how hard we are to kill; it would seem that we object to being killed:
there is something dreadful in the thought of being destroyed—annihilated. We naturally recoil from such a doom and seek to preserve and perpetuate our existence. The fact is, we think we have a right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” so long as we do not interfere with the rights of others; we therefore most decidedly object to being demolished; we do not like nor do we intend to be destroyed. Not that we presume to be able to defend ourselves unaided by divine power, against our numerous and unrelenting foes; but knowing in whom we trust, and the nature of the work in which we are engaged, we are not slow to believe, neither are we afraid to openly maintain that we were born to live and to uphold truth, to defend virtue, to establish righteousness, and to stand by the right, and by the help of God we intend to fill the measure of our creation.
Let us follow the wanderings of the Latter-day Saints across the plains to these mountain valleys, and look at our condition today compared with our condition in Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, or New York, or compared with our condition at any period of our existence as a church. What do we see today? We see the promises of God made on certain conditions fulfilled; and that is an evidence to me that the majority of the people have complied with the conditions, although many may not have done as they should have done. We have prevailed thus far, in accordance with the word of God. And what of the future? So far as the ultimatum of this work is concerned, there is no man in Israel who has a spark of the inspiration of the Almighty in his heart who does not know just as well as he knows that God lives or that he himself lives, that it will be triumphant. But I do not suppose it would be wisdom in God to show us all the vicissitudes and changes, the trials and persecutions through which we may have to pass in order to reach this consummation, because if He did we might get fainthearted before we were prepared to enter into that trial. We may have to be driven again. I do not say we shall be driven; I do not believe we shall—but what has been done may be done again. And supposing we were driven again, what would be the result? Is it not fair to presume—have we not good grounds to believe from the experience of the past, that if we should be again driven and despoiled of our homes, we should rise up somewhere else, many fold greater and more numerous than we are now? The enemies of God can do nothing against, but much for, the work of God. Is it not written that the God of heaven has set His hand for the last time to establish His kingdom upon the earth, never more to be thrown down, and no more to be left to another people? Are we not assured by the word of God, ancient and modern, that its destiny is onward and upward, until the purposes of God concerning this great latter-day work are consummated? This seems to be a point difficult for many to comprehend; but when comprehended it is a key to the whole matter. What God has decreed cannot be annulled by the learning, wisdom, wealth, power, numbers or cunning of man! There is no power beneath the celestial kingdom that can stop or impede its progress one iota. Its destiny is onward and upward—man may fail, but the purposes of God will not. All His enemies, combined with the cunning and perfidy of the infernal spirits by which they are moved to hate, hound, and pursue him unto death, failed, signally failed, even in the crime of murdering him, to prevent Joseph Smith from accomplishing his mission; he filled his destiny and sealed his testimony with his blood. And his blood is upon this nation and upon all the nations that have consented to that terrible deed inasmuch as they do not repent of their sins and obey the Gospel of salvation which is being preached unto them.
My childhood and youth were spent in wandering with the people of God, in suffering with them and in rejoicing with them. My whole life has been identified with this people, and in the name and by the help of God it will be to the end. I have no other associations or place of abode. I am in this respect like Peter when the Savior, on seeing the people turn away from Him, asked him, Will ye go also? Said Peter, Lord, if I leave Thee whither can I go, Thou hast the words of eternal life. We have nothing else to do save to keep in the narrow path that leads back to God our Father. That is the channel He has marked out for us to pursue, and it is our duty to press on; we cannot turn aside, we cannot switch off; there is no side track, it is a “through train” and its destiny is already fixed and mapped out. We have got to meet opposition as it presents itself, battling against it with the weapons of truth which God has placed in our hands. And we must make up our minds that this world with all its pleasures is as dross compared with the excellency of the knowledge of God. He intends to try us and prove us, and He has a right to do it, even to the death if need be, and only those who endure to the end, who will not flinch, but will maintain their integrity at the risk and sacrifice of their all, if need be, will gain eternal life, or be worthy of the reward of the faithful.
I am thankful to God that circumstances are as well with us as they are. He has delivered His people thus far and blessed them from the beginning. His word has been fulfilled concerning them, and will be fulfilled from this time henceforth until His purposes shall be accomplished with regard to them, providing they keep his commandments, which, that they may do, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Discourse by President Joseph F. Smith, delivered at the General Conference, on Sunday, April 9th, 1882.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
Nearly all the brethren who have spoken at this Conference have referred to the circumstances in which we, as a people, are now placed; and it would seem unnecessary for me to make any further reference to this all-prevailing subject with which the people generally are more or less familiar, and in which we necessarily are considerably interested. But while the brethren who have spoken have merely referred to some of the sayings of the Prophet Joseph, and to items in the revelations through him, to the Church, I feel impressed to read in the hearing of the congregation one or two passages from the revelations previously referred to. I will, therefore, call the attention of the congregation to a verse or two in the revelation given in 1831, which will be found on page 219 of the Doctrine and Covenants:
“Let no man break the laws of the land, for he that keepeth the laws of God hath no need to break the laws of the land.
“Wherefore, be subject to the powers that be, until he reigns whose right it is to reign, and subdues all enemies under his feet.
“Behold, the laws which ye have received from my hand are the laws of the church, and in this light ye shall hold them forth. Behold, here is wisdom.”
The following I quote from a revelation given December, 1833, page 357:
“According to the laws and the constitution of the people, which I have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles;
“That every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment.
“Therefore, it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another.
“And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.”
Again, in a revelation on page 342:
“And now, verily I say unto you concerning the laws of the land, it is my will that my people shall observe to do all things whatsoever I command them.
And that law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind, and is justifiable before me.
Therefore, I, the Lord, justify you, and your brethren of my church, in befriending that law which is the constitutional law of the land;
And as pertaining to law of man, whatsoever is more or less than this, cometh of evil.
I, the Lord God, make you free, therefore ye are free indeed; and the law also maketh you free.
Nevertheless, when the wicked rule the people mourn.
Wherefore, honest men and wise men should be sought for diligently, and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold; otherwise whatsoever is less than these cometh of evil.
And I give unto you a commandment, that ye shall forsake all evil and cleave unto all good, that ye shall live by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
For he will give unto the faithful line upon line, precept upon precept; and I will try you and prove you herewith.
And whoso layeth down his life in my cause, for my name's sake, shall find it again, even life eternal.
Therefore, be not afraid of your enemies, for I have decreed in my heart, saith the Lord, that I will prove you in all things, whether you will abide in my covenant, even unto death, that you may be found worthy.
For if ye will not abide in my covenant ye are not worthy of me.”
This, as I understand it, is the law of God to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in all the world. And the requirements here made of us must be obeyed, and practically carried out in our lives, in order that we may secure the fulfillment of the promises which God has made to the people of Zion. And it is further written, that inasmuch as ye will do the things which I command you, thus saith the Lord then am I bound; otherwise there is no promise. We can therefore only expect that the promises are made and will apply to us when we do the things which we are commanded.
We are told here that no man need break the laws of the land who will keep the laws of God. But this is further defined by the passage which I read afterwards—the law of the land, which all have no need to break, is that law which is the Constitutional law of the land, and that is as God himself has defined it. And whatsoever is more or less than this cometh of evil. Now it seems to me that this makes this matter so clear that it is not possible for any man who professes to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to make any mistake, or to be in doubt as to the course he should pursue under the command of God in relation to the observance of the laws of the land. I maintain that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has ever been faithful to the constitutional laws of our country. I maintain also, that I have a right to this opinion, as an American citizen, as one who was not only born on American soil, but who descended from parents who for generations were born in America. I have a right to interpret the law in this manner, and to form my own conclusions and express my opinions thereon, regardless of the opinions of other men.
I ask myself, What law have you broken? What constitutional law have you not observed? I am bound not only by allegiance to the government of the United States, but by the actual command of God Almighty, to observe and obey every constitutional law of the land, and without hesitancy I declare to this congregation that I have never violated, nor transgressed any law, I am not amenable to any penalties of the law, because I have endeavored from my youth up to be a law-abiding citizen, and not only so, but to be a peacemaker, a preacher of righteousness, and not only to preach righteousness by word, but by example. What therefore have I to fear? The Lord Almighty requires this people to observe the laws of the land, to be subject to “the powers that be,” so far as they abide by the fundamental principles of good government, but He will hold them responsible if they will pass unconstitutional measures and frame unjust and proscriptive laws, as did Nebuchadnezzar and Darius, in relation to the three Hebrew children and Daniel. If lawmakers have a mind to violate their oath, break their covenants and their faith with the people, and depart from the provisions of the Constitution where is the law human or divine, which binds me, as an individual, to outwardly and openly proclaim my acceptance of their acts?
I firmly believe that the only way in which we can be sustained in regard to this matter by God our Heavenly Father is by following the illustrious examples we find in holy writ. And while we regret, and look with sorrow upon the acts of men who seek to bring us into bondage and to oppress us, we must obey God, for He has commanded us to do so; and at the same time He has declared that in obeying the laws which He has given us we will not necessarily break the constitutional laws of the land.
I wish to enter here my avowal that the people called Latter-day Saints, as has been often repeated from this stand, are the most law-abiding, the most peaceable, long-suffering and patient people that can today be found within the confines of this republic, and perhaps anywhere else upon the face of the earth; and we intend to continue to be law-abiding so far as the constitutional law of the land is concerned; and we expect to meet the consequences of our obedience to the laws and commandments of Godlike men. These are my sentiments briefly expressed, upon this subject.
Now I desire to read another passage in a revelation given in 1834, which will be found on page 364 of the Doctrine and Covenants, commencing at the first verse:
“Verily I say unto you, my friends, behold, I will give unto you a revelation and commandment, that you may know how to act in the discharge of your duties concerning the salvation and redemption of your brethren, who have been scattered on the land of Zion;
Being driven and smitten by the hands of mine enemies, on whom I will pour out my wrath without measure in mine own time.
For I have suffered them thus far, that they might fill up the measure of their iniquities, that their cup might be full;
And that those who call themselves after my name might be chastened for a little season with a sore and grievous chastisement, because they did not hearken altogether unto the precepts and commandments which I gave unto them.
But verily I say unto you, that I have decreed a decree which my people shall realize, inasmuch as they hearken from this very hour unto the counsel which I, the Lord their God, shall give unto them.
Behold they shall, for I have decreed it, begin to prevail against mine enemies from this very hour.
And by hearkening to observe all the words which I, the Lord their God, shall speak unto them, they shall never cease to prevail until the kingdoms of the world are subdued under my feet, and the earth is given unto the saints, to possess it forever and ever.
But inasmuch as they keep not my commandments, and hearken not to observe all my words, the kingdoms of the world shall prevail against them.
For they were set to be a light unto the world, and to be the saviors of men.;
And inasmuch as they are not the saviors of men, they are as salt that has lost its savor, and is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men.
But verily I say unto you, I have decreed that your brethren which have been scattered shall return to the land of their inheritances, and build up the waste places of Zion.”
It is somewhere written as the word of God, that the enemies of the people of Zion can do nothing against but for Zion. Now let us review for a few moments the history of the Church, and see how far the acts of the enemies of this people have gone towards nullifying those words.
When Joseph first looked upon the face of the Father and the Son in 1820, until the Book of Mormon was translated and published to the world in 1829, his enemies did not cease their efforts to destroy him; they sought his life continually; they blackened his character; they maligned and proscribed him, and his name was cast out as evil among all men. But mark you, at the beginning of this period Joseph was a lad of a little over fourteen years of age; and during the nine years of persecution he was but a boy; he had no vast congregation as we see before us this morning to sustain, encourage, or cheer him in his ministry and labors. He stood alone in the world, friendless and despised, cast out, maligned and persecuted on every hand. But did the work cease? Did his enemies prevent him from performing the mission which he had been sent to accomplish? They tried and they did their utmost. They not only made frequent attempts to imprison him under the law, but they made several attempts to take his life, and thus stop the progress of the work in which he was engaged. They spared neither pains nor means, nor did they shrink from hypocrisy, falsehood and misrepresentation to accomplish their purposes; but they signally failed, and he continued to steadily pursue his course, and performed his work, translated the plates, published the Book of Mormon, and in 1830 organized the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to the law of the land.
When the Book of Mormon was published and the Church organized, did they cease their endeavors? Did the hatred of the world diminish? Did the wicked stop their persecutions? Did they refrain from slandering, misrepresenting, and otherwise attempting to obstruct the progress of this work? No, they did not, but on the contrary, as the work developed, as the Church increased in numbers and began to spread on the right and on the left, the feeling of hatred, animosity, bitterness and persecution increased proportionately, and as the Church became stronger, her enemies become more numerous and gained strength. But notwithstanding, we moved on; built a Temple in Kirtland, Ohio, from whence we colonized Jackson County, Missouri. We were afterwards driven into Clay, Caldwell and Davies's Counties, Missouri, where we founded new colonies. Like the snowball starting from the summit of the mountain which gathers not only in bulk but in velocity, so did the work of God increase in the midst of the opposition, persecution and hatred of the world. In the midst of all the powers that were exerted to stop it, it moved right on. But did they succeed in expelling our people from Jackson County, and finally from the State of Missouri? Yes, they drove the Saints from their homes, deprived them of their rights as citizens and freemen, murdered many of them in cold blood, while others they confined in dungeons feeding them on the flesh, (as those heartless wretches themselves boasted) of their own brethren; and they dispersed the people, as they supposed, to the four winds of heaven, rejoicing in the belief that they had finally consummated the destruction of the “Mormons.” But like the phoenix rising from the ashes of its supposed destruction, they gathered like swarms of bees in Illinois, founded a city, and built another Temple, which cost a million dollars—the most beautiful structure in the Western States at that time; and they continued to thrive. Here they gained something which they never possessed before, a city charter granted to them by the State government of Illinois. They soon became notable for their union and their tenacity to the principles which they had espoused, for their faith in God and in His servant the Prophet, for their unconquerable, irrevocable will to prosecute what they knew to be the work of God, and to accomplish, so far as in their power lay, His purposes and designs, concerning this great latter-day work.
In all these vicissitudes and during all the persecutions of fourteen years which were as ceaseless against the Prophet Joseph as the forces of nature are endless, did they diminish the numbers of Saints? Did they break the Saints to pieces? Did they destroy them? No; you know they did not and it seems that our enemies themselves are fully aware of this fact. But when they thought they had torn up “Mormonism” by the roots and cast it out to dry up and wither under the parching, blighting influence of hostile public sentiment, behold, they had only transplanted the tree into new and better watered soil. Instead of destroying our confidence in the promises of God to us, it had the tendency to strengthen our faith, to increase our knowledge and experience, thus fitting and preparing us for the future that lay before us.
Finally they succeeded in taking the life of the Prophet and that of his brother; and they shed the blood of our honored President who sits here today upon this stand. They thought then they had accomplished their hellish work, they thought then the head and front, or root and branch of “Mormonism” was destroyed. But was it? No; it only made us stronger in faith and more united in purpose. “The blood of the martyrs became the seed of the Church.”
They next drove us from our homes in Nauvoo. I remember the circumstances, although at the time I was but a lad. I also remember my thoughts on the day the mob besieged the City of Nauvoo. My widowed mother had been compelled a day or two previously to take her children and ferry them, in an open flat boat across the Mississippi River into Iowa, where we camped under the trees and listened to the bombardment of the city. We had left our comfortable home with all the furniture remaining in the house, together with all our earthly possessions, with no hope or thought of ever seeing them again; and I well remember the feelings I had when we made our camp on the Iowa side of the river. They were not feelings of regret, sorrow or disappointment, but of gratitude to God, that we had the shelter of even the trees and the broad bosom of the “father of waters” to protect us from those who sought our lives; I felt to thank God that we still possessed our lives and freedom, and that there was at least some prospect of the homeless widow and her family of little ones, helpless as they were, to hide themselves somewhere in the wilderness from those who sought their destruction, even though it should be among the wild, so-called savage, native tribes of the desert, but who have proved themselves more humane and Christlike than the so-called Christian and more civilized persecutors of the Saints.
After the expulsion of the Saints from Nauvoo, and from the State of Illinois, our enemies thought surely the “Mormons” are now broken up, and that this would be the last of “Mormonism.” But it is strange how hard we are to kill; it would seem that we object to being killed:
there is something dreadful in the thought of being destroyed—annihilated. We naturally recoil from such a doom and seek to preserve and perpetuate our existence. The fact is, we think we have a right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” so long as we do not interfere with the rights of others; we therefore most decidedly object to being demolished; we do not like nor do we intend to be destroyed. Not that we presume to be able to defend ourselves unaided by divine power, against our numerous and unrelenting foes; but knowing in whom we trust, and the nature of the work in which we are engaged, we are not slow to believe, neither are we afraid to openly maintain that we were born to live and to uphold truth, to defend virtue, to establish righteousness, and to stand by the right, and by the help of God we intend to fill the measure of our creation.
Let us follow the wanderings of the Latter-day Saints across the plains to these mountain valleys, and look at our condition today compared with our condition in Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, or New York, or compared with our condition at any period of our existence as a church. What do we see today? We see the promises of God made on certain conditions fulfilled; and that is an evidence to me that the majority of the people have complied with the conditions, although many may not have done as they should have done. We have prevailed thus far, in accordance with the word of God. And what of the future? So far as the ultimatum of this work is concerned, there is no man in Israel who has a spark of the inspiration of the Almighty in his heart who does not know just as well as he knows that God lives or that he himself lives, that it will be triumphant. But I do not suppose it would be wisdom in God to show us all the vicissitudes and changes, the trials and persecutions through which we may have to pass in order to reach this consummation, because if He did we might get fainthearted before we were prepared to enter into that trial. We may have to be driven again. I do not say we shall be driven; I do not believe we shall—but what has been done may be done again. And supposing we were driven again, what would be the result? Is it not fair to presume—have we not good grounds to believe from the experience of the past, that if we should be again driven and despoiled of our homes, we should rise up somewhere else, many fold greater and more numerous than we are now? The enemies of God can do nothing against, but much for, the work of God. Is it not written that the God of heaven has set His hand for the last time to establish His kingdom upon the earth, never more to be thrown down, and no more to be left to another people? Are we not assured by the word of God, ancient and modern, that its destiny is onward and upward, until the purposes of God concerning this great latter-day work are consummated? This seems to be a point difficult for many to comprehend; but when comprehended it is a key to the whole matter. What God has decreed cannot be annulled by the learning, wisdom, wealth, power, numbers or cunning of man! There is no power beneath the celestial kingdom that can stop or impede its progress one iota. Its destiny is onward and upward—man may fail, but the purposes of God will not. All His enemies, combined with the cunning and perfidy of the infernal spirits by which they are moved to hate, hound, and pursue him unto death, failed, signally failed, even in the crime of murdering him, to prevent Joseph Smith from accomplishing his mission; he filled his destiny and sealed his testimony with his blood. And his blood is upon this nation and upon all the nations that have consented to that terrible deed inasmuch as they do not repent of their sins and obey the Gospel of salvation which is being preached unto them.
My childhood and youth were spent in wandering with the people of God, in suffering with them and in rejoicing with them. My whole life has been identified with this people, and in the name and by the help of God it will be to the end. I have no other associations or place of abode. I am in this respect like Peter when the Savior, on seeing the people turn away from Him, asked him, Will ye go also? Said Peter, Lord, if I leave Thee whither can I go, Thou hast the words of eternal life. We have nothing else to do save to keep in the narrow path that leads back to God our Father. That is the channel He has marked out for us to pursue, and it is our duty to press on; we cannot turn aside, we cannot switch off; there is no side track, it is a “through train” and its destiny is already fixed and mapped out. We have got to meet opposition as it presents itself, battling against it with the weapons of truth which God has placed in our hands. And we must make up our minds that this world with all its pleasures is as dross compared with the excellency of the knowledge of God. He intends to try us and prove us, and He has a right to do it, even to the death if need be, and only those who endure to the end, who will not flinch, but will maintain their integrity at the risk and sacrifice of their all, if need be, will gain eternal life, or be worthy of the reward of the faithful.
I am thankful to God that circumstances are as well with us as they are. He has delivered His people thus far and blessed them from the beginning. His word has been fulfilled concerning them, and will be fulfilled from this time henceforth until His purposes shall be accomplished with regard to them, providing they keep his commandments, which, that they may do, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
President Taylor
then said that there had been some remarks made during the conference about our dealing with those not of our people, that which we wished to be liberal, when made manifested a spirit of hostility against us, it became us as wise and prudent men to take care of ourselves. Cooperation had been talked about considerably from time to time as being a stepping stone to something that would yet be more fully developed among the people of God, namely, the United Order. We have had no ensample of the United Order strictly in accordance with the word of God on the subject. Our co-operation was simply an operation to unite us together in our secular affairs, tending to make us one in temporal things as we were one in spiritual things.
A feeling had been manifested in some of our brethren to branch out into mercantile business on their own account, and his (the speaker’s) idea, as to that, would be that a people would be governed by correct principles, laying aside covetousness and eschewing chicanery and fraud, dealing honestly and conscientiously with others as they would like others to deal with them, there would be no objection on our part for our brethren to do these things; that it was certainly much better for them to embark in such enterprises than our enemies. Because in putting money into the hands of our friends we sustain our friends; whilst by putting money into the hands of our enemies we placed ourselves, to that extent at least, in their power to do us injury, which, it would seem from past experience, they were not as a general thing, slow to do. We believe in being generous, hospitable and kind, but when our generosity abused as it has been so flagrantly of late, it behooves us to be cautious in our moves. The old adage “Self-preseveration is the final law of nature,” was applicable to us, especially under the present circumstances. Those that were wise and had good judgment would understand.
Our co-operative institution generally had done very well in subserving the interests of the people; and if other institutions should be introduced in the various stakes by which honorable, just and honest men who have at heart, themselves, the spirit of co-operation and who practise the principle, and carry it out, there would be no objection to their calling upon the people to sustain the same principle in anything that they might introduce by way of financial enterprises among themselves. It was far better for our own people to do these things, and derive themselves the benefits arising therefrom, than to employ enemies to our people to do it for them. But men who embarked in financial enterprises expecting the patronage of the people should be honest and honorable men, men who would deal fairly and uprightly with their patrons, and men who live their religion. An honorable Gentile was preferable to a dishonorable Mormon. The present Co-operative and other institutions in which the people were interested paid their tithing to help to meet the requirements of the Church; and any other institution whose business was conducted in accord with the spirit and principles of our faith we would sustain, otherwise we would not, for if people would not sustain co-operation themselves we would not sustain them, it mattered not under what name or guise it was carried on. In those affairs they should consult the Stake authorities.
Some people were trembling in their feelings, and were full of fear and doubt, and felt like some of the Ancient Israelites, that there were Saints in the land, that the Cananites were very numerous, that they were strong and powerful, but the speaker wished to say that the Lamanites nor any other “ites” possessed power only as God gave it to them; that the Latter-day Saints could only be sustained as God sustained them, and it was for us to put our trust in Him, knowing no fear but the fear of God. He felt like crying, Halelujah, halelujah! the Lord God omnipotent reigneth, and He will reign until he has put all enemies under His foot.
Adjourned till 2 p.m.
Singing by the choir.
Prayer by Apostle F. M. Lyman.
then said that there had been some remarks made during the conference about our dealing with those not of our people, that which we wished to be liberal, when made manifested a spirit of hostility against us, it became us as wise and prudent men to take care of ourselves. Cooperation had been talked about considerably from time to time as being a stepping stone to something that would yet be more fully developed among the people of God, namely, the United Order. We have had no ensample of the United Order strictly in accordance with the word of God on the subject. Our co-operation was simply an operation to unite us together in our secular affairs, tending to make us one in temporal things as we were one in spiritual things.
A feeling had been manifested in some of our brethren to branch out into mercantile business on their own account, and his (the speaker’s) idea, as to that, would be that a people would be governed by correct principles, laying aside covetousness and eschewing chicanery and fraud, dealing honestly and conscientiously with others as they would like others to deal with them, there would be no objection on our part for our brethren to do these things; that it was certainly much better for them to embark in such enterprises than our enemies. Because in putting money into the hands of our friends we sustain our friends; whilst by putting money into the hands of our enemies we placed ourselves, to that extent at least, in their power to do us injury, which, it would seem from past experience, they were not as a general thing, slow to do. We believe in being generous, hospitable and kind, but when our generosity abused as it has been so flagrantly of late, it behooves us to be cautious in our moves. The old adage “Self-preseveration is the final law of nature,” was applicable to us, especially under the present circumstances. Those that were wise and had good judgment would understand.
Our co-operative institution generally had done very well in subserving the interests of the people; and if other institutions should be introduced in the various stakes by which honorable, just and honest men who have at heart, themselves, the spirit of co-operation and who practise the principle, and carry it out, there would be no objection to their calling upon the people to sustain the same principle in anything that they might introduce by way of financial enterprises among themselves. It was far better for our own people to do these things, and derive themselves the benefits arising therefrom, than to employ enemies to our people to do it for them. But men who embarked in financial enterprises expecting the patronage of the people should be honest and honorable men, men who would deal fairly and uprightly with their patrons, and men who live their religion. An honorable Gentile was preferable to a dishonorable Mormon. The present Co-operative and other institutions in which the people were interested paid their tithing to help to meet the requirements of the Church; and any other institution whose business was conducted in accord with the spirit and principles of our faith we would sustain, otherwise we would not, for if people would not sustain co-operation themselves we would not sustain them, it mattered not under what name or guise it was carried on. In those affairs they should consult the Stake authorities.
Some people were trembling in their feelings, and were full of fear and doubt, and felt like some of the Ancient Israelites, that there were Saints in the land, that the Cananites were very numerous, that they were strong and powerful, but the speaker wished to say that the Lamanites nor any other “ites” possessed power only as God gave it to them; that the Latter-day Saints could only be sustained as God sustained them, and it was for us to put our trust in Him, knowing no fear but the fear of God. He felt like crying, Halelujah, halelujah! the Lord God omnipotent reigneth, and He will reign until he has put all enemies under His foot.
Adjourned till 2 p.m.
Singing by the choir.
Prayer by Apostle F. M. Lyman.
2 o’clock p.m.
The choir sang on page 57:
Praise ye the Lord, ‘tis good to raise
Your hearts and voices in His praise.
Prayer by Apostle Erastus Snow.
The choir sang on page 403:
While of these emblems we partake,
In Jesus’ name, and for his sake.
Sacrament was administered.
The choir sang on page 57:
Praise ye the Lord, ‘tis good to raise
Your hearts and voices in His praise.
Prayer by Apostle Erastus Snow.
The choir sang on page 403:
While of these emblems we partake,
In Jesus’ name, and for his sake.
Sacrament was administered.
President John Taylor
said he desired to speak such words as would be both edifying and useful, and to do so he earnestly desired the prayers of the faithful in his behalf. He was aware of the position he occupied to day, surrounded by thousands of intelligent men and women. And while he was speaking to the Saints he was also speaking to the world, for his words would be published, and he desired to speak upon such principles, as emanated from God our heavenly Father. He continued a very interesting discourse of over two hours, a verbatim copy of which will be published in a few days in the Deseret News.
The testimony of Governor Cummings in 1858 was read, as well as some statistical facts in relation to our educational status, also pertaining to the office-holders throughout the Territory and comparative number of convicts in our prisons and penitentiary.
said he desired to speak such words as would be both edifying and useful, and to do so he earnestly desired the prayers of the faithful in his behalf. He was aware of the position he occupied to day, surrounded by thousands of intelligent men and women. And while he was speaking to the Saints he was also speaking to the world, for his words would be published, and he desired to speak upon such principles, as emanated from God our heavenly Father. He continued a very interesting discourse of over two hours, a verbatim copy of which will be published in a few days in the Deseret News.
The testimony of Governor Cummings in 1858 was read, as well as some statistical facts in relation to our educational status, also pertaining to the office-holders throughout the Territory and comparative number of convicts in our prisons and penitentiary.
The Gospel's Restoration—Its Priesthood and Principles—The Saints Misrepresented—The “Mormon” War—Comparative Statistics—The Impending Judgments of God—Duties of the Saints—A Warning to Their Oppressors—The Wickedness of the World—Exhortation to Righteousness
Discourse by President John Taylor, delivered at the General Conference, on Sunday Afternoon, April 9th, 1882.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
In attempting to address the congregation this afternoon, I trust that all will be as quiet as possible. It is extremely difficult to make the congregation hear in this place, especially in so large an assembly, when there is the least confusion. While I address you, I wish to speak such words as shall be interesting, edifying and instructive, and I desire an interest in the prayers of the faithful, that I may be able to do so intelligently, that we may be the better for our coming together.
I am aware of the position that we occupy today. I feel that I am surrounded by a large number of intelligent men and women, and while I am addressing you, I am also addressing the world, for the remarks I make will be reported and published to the world. Therefore, I am desirous to advance such sentiments as will be in accord with the enlightenment of the Latter-day Saints, with the intelligence of the 19th century, and with the principles that have emanated from God.
Any intelligence which we may possess and which we may be able to impart, is not of ourselves, but of God. It did not originate with us; it did not originate with Joseph Smith, with Brigham Young, with the Twelve Apostles, nor was it received from any institution of learning, nor of science, either religious, political, or social. Our philosophy is not the philosophy of the world; but of the earth and the heavens, of time and eternity, and proceeds from God.
A message was announced to us by Joseph Smith the Prophet, as a revelation from God, wherein he stated that holy angels had appeared to him and revealed the everlasting Gospel as it existed in former ages; and that God the Father and God the Son had also appeared to him: the Father pointing to the Son, said, “This is my beloved Son, hear ye him.” Moroni, a prophet that had lived on this continent, revealed unto Joseph the plates containing the Book of Mormon, and by the gift and power of God he was enabled to translate them into what is known as the Book of Mormon. That book contains a record of the ancient inhabitants who dwelt upon this continent, a part of whom came from the tower of Babel at the time of the confounding of tongues, and another part came from Jerusalem in the time of Zedekiah, king of Judah, 600 years before the advent of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This book contains a record of the dealings of God with those people; it contains a record of their worship, of their wars and commotions, of their righteousness and iniquity, and of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ unto them, and of His preaching unto them the same Gospel that was taught on the continent of Asia, attended by the same ordinances, the same organization and the same principles.
I shall not attempt to bring any proof with regard to these matters today; I am simply making statements, the truth of which you Latter-day Saints know, as it would be impossible to enter into all the details in a short discourse. Suffice it to say, that the Father having presented His Son to Joseph Smith, and commanded him to hear Him, Joseph was obedient to the heavenly call, and listened to the various communications made by men holding the Holy Priesthood in the various ages under the direction of the Only Begotten. He and Oliver Cowdery were commanded to baptize each other, which they did. John the Baptist came and conferred upon them the Aaronic Priesthood. Then Peter, James and John, upon whom was conferred, in the Savior's day, the keys of the Melchizedek Priesthood came, and conferred that Priesthood upon them. Then Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Elias, and many other leading characters mentioned in the Scriptures, who had operated in the various dispensations, came and conferred upon Joseph the various keys, powers, rights, privileges and immunities which they enjoyed in their times.
Again, Joseph was commanded to preach this Gospel and to bear this testimony to the world. He was taught the same principles that were taught to Adam, the same principles that were taught to Noah, to Enoch, to Abraham, to Moses, to Elijah and other Prophets, the same principles that were taught by Jesus Christ and the Apostles in former times on the continent of Asia, accompanied with the same Priesthood and the same organization, only more fully, because the present dispensation is a combination of the various dispensations that have existed in the different ages of the world, and which is designated in the Scriptures as the dispensation of the fulness of times, in which God would gather together all things in one, whether they be things in heaven or things on earth. Therefore, whatever of knowledge, of intelligence, of Priesthood, of powers, of revelations was conferred upon those men in the different ages, was again restored to the earth by the ministration and through the medium of those who held the holy Priesthood of God in the different dispensations in which they lived.
Under the direction of the Almighty, Joseph organized a church; and when people were called upon to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to repent of their sins, to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and to have hands laid upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost, those who did believe and obey received the attendant blessings. Then the various offices of the Priesthood began to be conferred upon men who believed, and in due time the quorum of the Twelve was organized, whose commission was to proclaim this Gospel to every people, to every nation, to every kindred, to every tongue. Then a quorum of seventy Elders was selected, known by the name of Seventies; and we now have some 76 times 70 of those Elders.
A First Presidency was also organized to preside over the whole Church in all the world. Then there were High Priests ordained whose office was principally to preside as well as to preach the Gospel. Then there were Elders, Priests, Teachers and Deacons; and this organization was given by direct revelation, by which the Church has been governed from that time until the present. Bishops were also appointed whose position in the Church was clearly defined by the word of the Lord. Then High Councils were organized for the adjustment of all matters of difficulty, for the correction of incorrect doctrine, for the maintenance of purity and correct principles among the Saints, and for the adjudication of all general matters pertaining to Israel. This was the testimony and this is our testimony today to the nations of the earth. The Lord stood at the head as instructor, guide and director; and the Elders were told to go forth and to preach the Gospel to every creature, because confusion, disorder, sectarianism and the theories of men had been substituted for the word and will, and the revelation, law and power of God. These Elders were told that we approached the latter times, when God would have a controversy with the nations, and the message which they had to proclaim was that which was described by John when wrapped in prophetic vision upon the Isle of Patmos. Among other great and important events he said “I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come.” This was the commission given by the Lord to the Latter-day Saints. This is the mission we have been trying to carry out from that time to the present; and I myself have traveled tens of thousands of miles without purse or scrip, trusting in God, to teach these holy principles, and so have many of my brethren by whom I am surrounded.
When we started we were told that we were not sent to be taught, but to teach. Why? Because the world was not in possession of the principles of life, and therefore could not teach them. We went in obedience to the direct command of God to us through his servant Joseph, and we have spread forth the Gospel among the nations. And is there anything unreasonable about it? No. Is it true? Yes. Is it scriptural? Yes. Is it philosophical? Yes. And I say today, not by way of boasting, because we have nothing to boast of (I have no intelligence but what I am indebted to God, my heavenly Father and my brethren for), that while I have traveled through various parts of the United States and the Canadas, also in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, Germany, and different parts of the earth, among the wise and intelligent as well as the poor and ignorant, among all classes of men—I have stood in their halls and talked with their professors, ministers, legislators, rulers, divines, judges and wise men of every class, grade and position in life—but I have never met with a man who could gainsay one principle of the Gospel of the Son of God, and I never expect to; because truth, eternal truth, as it emanates from God, cannot be controverted.
And what is the nature of the Gospel? It is the same as that taught on the day of Pentecost by the Apostles, when they cried out to the multitude, “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.” That was the testimony which they bore to the people. That is the testimony which the Elders of this Church bear. There is something about this that is reasonable, that is intelligent, and that is susceptible of proof. It was a very fair proposition for the Apostle to make, promising the people who would obey the requirements which the Gospel imposes upon its adherents, that they should receive the Holy Ghost. And what should this do for them? It was to cause their old men to dream dreams and their young men to see visions, it was to make their sons and daughters prophesy, it was to bring things past to their remembrance, to lead them into all truth, and to show them things to come. This proposition was not alone of a religious nature, but it was also strictly philosophical. The farmer sows oats or wheat, or plants corn, and what does he expect? He expects oats, wheat or corn, as the case may be, and nothing else. There are laws and principles in nature, in the vegetable, the animal and the mineral kingdoms, as well as in all the works of God, that are true in themselves and they are eternal. There are such metals as gold, silver, copper or iron, each possessing certain distinctive elements which they always did possess; and the different bodies in their chemical relations possess principles that are always true to unchangeable laws. It is so also in regard to all the elements by which we are surrounded, and also in regard to the heavenly bodies. Because of these unchanging laws, we know precisely when the sun will rise and when it will set. We know when certain planets or comets will appear and disappear. All their movements are undeviating, exact and true according to the laws of nature.
Now here is a principle of the Gospel that will admit of as strong evidence as anything in nature. What is it? “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.” Or in other words, sow wheat and you reap wheat; plant corn and you gather corn. It was a bold position to take. I remember that on these points I questioned the Elder who brought the Gospel to me. I asked, What do you mean by this Holy Ghost? Will it cause your old men to dream dreams and your young men to see visions; will it bring to pass the scripture which saith: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy? Yes. Will it give you the permeating influence of the Spirit of the living God, and give you a certain knowledge of the principles that you believe in?
“Yes,” he answered, “and if it will not, then I am an impostor.” Said I, That is a very fair proposition. Finding the doctrine to be correct, I obeyed, and I received that Spirit through obedience to the Gospel which gave me a knowledge of those principles which I simply believed before, because they were scriptural, reasonable and intelligent, according to that scripture which saith, “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.”
I was ordained an Elder by the proper authorities, and I went forth to preach this Gospel. Other Elders went forth as I did to the civilized nations, preaching the same doctrine and holding out the same promises. Some of them were not very learned; some were not very profoundly educated. We send a singular class of people in our Elders. Sometimes a missionary is a merchant, sometimes a legislator, a blacksmith, an adobe maker, a plasterer, a farmer, or common laborer, as the case may be. But all under the same influence and spirit, all going forth as missionaries to preach the Gospel of light, of life and of salvation. They have received the treasures of eternal life, and they are enabled to communicate them to others; and they hold out the same promises. You who hear me this afternoon, as well as thousands upon thousands of others, have listened to those principles, you have had held out unto you those promises; and when you obeyed the Gospel, you received this same spirit; and you are my witnesses of the truth of the things that I now proclaim in your hearing, and of the Spirit and power of God attending the obedience to the Gospel, and you will not deny it. This congregation will not deny it. When you yielded obedience to the laws of God, obeyed His commandments, were baptized for the remission of your sins and had hands laid upon you for the reception of the Holy Ghost, you did receive it; and you are living witnesses before God. This is a secret that the world does not comprehend. Its people have not obeyed it and they do not know it; and the things of God, say the scriptures, no man knoweth but by the Spirit of God; and this Spirit has imparted to us that intelligence and that knowledge. This people have in their possession a hope that enters within the veil, whither Christ, our forerunner, has gone. They are living and acting and operating for eternity. God is their Father, and they know it. Some people think we are a set of ignorant boobies, who do not know what we are talking about, and they try to overrun the faith of the Latter-day Saints by sophistry, falsehood and folly. Whilst the fact is, we are in possession of the principles of eternal life, and are operating for eternity; and then we are operating to build up the Zion of God, where righteousness can be taught, and where men can be protected, and where liberty can be proclaimed to all men of every color, of every creed and of every nation.
Being placed in communication with God, the sophistry, nonsense and dogmas of men have no influence upon us. We are built upon the rock of revelation, as Peter was, and on the same principle. Said Jesus to him, “Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” The answer was: “Some say thou art one of the Prophets; some say thou art the Elias who was to come,” etc. “But whom say you that I am?” Peter answered and said: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven; and I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” What rock? The rock of revelation—upon the intelligence communicated by the Holy Ghost to those who obey the Gospel of the Son of God; by this, men shall know for themselves, and stand as the rock of ages, invulnerable, immovable and unchangeable. That is the position which we the Latter-day Saints occupy.
This, then, is the religious part of the question. What do we believe in? We believe in purity, in virtue, in honesty, in integrity, in truthfulness and in not giving way to falsehood; we believe in treating all men justly, uprightly and honorably; we believe in fearing God, observing His laws and keeping His commandments. Do we all do it? No, not quite. I wish we did. But a great majority of the Later-day Saints are doing this; and if there are those that are not, let them look well to their path, for God will be after them, and their brethren will be after them, for God cannot look upon sin with any degree of allowance. And as we are here for the purpose of building up Zion, He expects that we will be upright and honorable in all our dealings with one another and with all men.
One part of the Gospel is that we should be gathered together to a land that should be called Zion. Have we been doing this? Yes. Some people are very much opposed to it. Have we injured anybody by gathering in this way? Is this indeed the land of the free, the home of the brave, and the asylum for the oppressed? Cannot the people of this nation afford to listen to the principles of truth, and allow men who are fearing God to assemble together to worship Him according to the dictates of their own consciences? Have we violated any law of the United States in thus gathering together and in thus worshiping our God? Not that I know of. Have we been opposed to the United States? No! no! no! We never have, and we are at the defiance of all men to prove anything of the kind. There are falsehoods set afoot by low, degraded, unprincipled men. We believe that the Constitution of the United States was given by inspiration of God. And why? Because it is one of those instruments which proclaims liberty throughout the land, and to all the inhabitants thereof. And it was because of those noble sentiments, and the promulgation of those principles which were given by God to man, we believe that it was given by the inspiration of the Almighty. We have always esteemed it in this light, and it was so declared by Joseph Smith. Did we do any wrong in coming here in the way we did? I think not. Did we transgress any of the laws of the United States? I think not. Did we transgress any of the laws of the nations we left? I think not. We gathered together simply because we were told there was a Zion to be built up. And what was that Zion? The term means the pure in heart. In connection with our gathering, I would remark, that a short time ago, at one of our public celebrations, there were twenty-seven nationalities represented. This is in accordance with the scripture which says: I will take them one of a city and two of a family, and bring them to Zion. And I will give them pastors after mine own heart, that shall feed them with knowledge and understanding. This is what we find in the Christian Bible, and there is certainly no harm in believing the Bible. The Christians send their Bible missionaries among us to circulate it, and we are always glad to receive the Bible and be governed by it.
Now, then, being gathered together, we necessarily required some kind of social relations with each other, for when we came here we brought our bodies with us as well as our religion, and we brought our wives and families with us as well as our religion; and we needed to cultivate the earth and build houses, and plant orchards, and vineyards, and gardens, and attend to the common affairs of life. And then as we began to increase we began to open and build farms, hamlets, villages and cities. Is there anything wrong in this? No. Finally, when we came here we petitioned for a State government, the people held a convention and a constitution was framed, and forwarded to Washington. Congress refused our application for a State, but they gave us a Territorial form of government and named the Territory Utah; and strange to say, how men and nations change, they are trying to interfere with us because of our polygamy, and at that time the government appointed a polygamous governor, Brigham Young. People change in their sentiments and views; I suppose they call it progress. Apostle Orson Pratt, whom you all knew, as soon as that revelation was made public, went down to the city of Washington, and there published the doctrine of plural marriage and also lectured upon it. The paper he published was called The Seer, which many of you brethren remember very well. They were not in ignorance in relation to these matters. It was then well understood by the nation that these were our sentiments, and that President Young was a polygamist.
But passing on. Sometime after that, we had some United States officials sent out here, who were not polygamists, but one of them went so far as to show us what beautiful civilization they had where he came from, and he left his wife at home and brought with him a strumpet and took her on to the bench with him, to let the people see how intelligent and enlightened the people were in the United States. However, fortunately for him, there was no Edmunds bill then. Still, we were not much edified. It might be according to some people's system of ethics; it may be considered beautiful or aesthetic by the admirers of this fast and progressive civilization; but we could not appreciate it, and the consequence was, that the people felt indignant, they looked upon him as a profligate, and that he had defiled and disgraced the ermine. These were the sentiments of the people then, and they are yours today, for you have never been taught anything else. He and some others went back to Washington, and reported that the “Mormons” were in a state of rebellion; that they were a very wicked people, very corrupt and very depraved, almost as bad as some of our truth-telling ministers make us out to be, for some of them are not very notorious for telling the truth, nobody believes them here; but then they have reverend put before their names and that, of course, covers—what is it? a multitude of sins. And therefore, the mendacious stories that they tell and circulate are received as actual truth by thousands of blind, ignorant, bigoted people, who, doubtless, are far more sincere and far more honest and pure in their lives than these specimens of fallen humanity who, in the garb of sanctity, manufacture falsehoods and prepare them specially for the vitiated taste of the age.
But to return; judges and other officials were sent here, and suffice it to say, we did not like their civilization; and, then, they were not much enamored with ours, because whatever we may be in the estimation of the world generally, we are utterly averse to anything like licentiousness and debauchery; and, if there is any among us, we are indebted to our Christian friends for it, and to our Christian judges for maintaining and protecting it in our midst. We have no affiliation with such things; they cannot exist among us as a people, only by the force, the power and influence of this federal Christianity that has been introduced among us. Until these people came into our midst we had no house of ill fame; and a lady could travel as safely in our streets at any time of night as in the day; we had no occasion to lock our doors to prevent thieves from preying upon us; we had no drunkenness, ribaldry or blasphemy in our streets; all these things have been introduced among us by our good, kind, pure, pious Christian friends, and in scores of our remote settlements where this civilization has not penetrated, they are free from these vices today.
Now we will go back to the statement of these men. They were believed in Washington. What did they state? Among other things they said that we had burned the United States library, and the court records, and that a dreadful state of anarchy was in existence; and instead of the United States sending out a commission to enquire into these matters, they took the statement of a Lothario and his associates, and sent out an army to destroy us. And these troops were reduced to gnawing mules' legs about the vicinity of Bridger, refusing salt when we sent it to them—for we would have done them good, notwithstanding they came as our enemies. I remember writing a letter to one of the officers who had a letter of introduction to me, and forwarded it by a messenger; I told him that I was very sorry, that as a United States' officer, as an honorable man, he should be placed in the situation he was then in; because he could not help it, as an officer, any more than we could, as he was operating as a servant of the government under military rule and had, therefore, to obey orders. And that while we esteemed him and other officers as patriots and high-minded, honorable men, who had exhibited their patriotism and bravery in Mexico and other places, and while we heard of their excellent military equipments, we did not like the idea of their trying the temper of their steel upon us. I told him that republics which reflected the voice of the people were in many instances excitable and erratic, and that I looked for a reaction in public opinion, and that when that change came I expected the difficulties that the government had placed us in would be done away, and that then I would be glad to extend to him that courtesy in our city that one gentleman should extend to another, and would then be happy to see him. But we could not meet then of course; they could not come to us, and we could not very well go out to them.
So that the Latter-day Saints may know the truth or falsity of the allegations made by Judge Drummond, I will have the official statement of Governor Cumming, who came out with the army, read to this congregation.
It would be unfair and disingenuous to blame one administration for the acts of another, yet when we see a disposition to listen to the same kind of popular clamor that then existed, we cannot but notice a great similarity of circumstances.
[Elder L. John Nuttall then read the following extracts from the official statement of Governor Cumming, which was dated Great Salt Lake City, April 15th, 1858:]
“Since my arrival I have been employed in examining the records of the Supreme and District Courts, which I am now prepared to report as being perfect and unimpaired. This will, doubtless, be acceptable information to those who have entertained an impression to the contrary.
I have also examined the Legislative Records and other books belonging to the office of Secretary of State, which are in perfect preservation.
* * * * *
The condition of the large and valuable Territorial Library has also commanded my attention: and I am pleased in being able to report that Mr. W. C. Staines, the librarian, has kept the books and records in most excellent condition. I will, at an early day, transmit a catalogue of this library, and schedules of the other public property, with certified copies of the records of the Supreme and District Courts, exhibiting the character and amount of the public business last transacted in them.”
Thus it appears that the allegations made by our enemies were false, and the army was sent out under false representations, and their own Governor furnishes the evidence for their own refutation. Yet we were subjected to the indignity and outrage of having an army sent among us, predicated upon these false statements.
From the above and other similar actions manifested towards us as a people we have learned in the sad school of experience, and by the things that we have suffered, the excitability of the populace, and the unreasonable, savage and relentless feelings that frequently possess the people in their antagonism towards us, to be very careful, in all our acts among men, not to excite that feeling of hate which seems to be implanted in the human bosom against the principles taught by the servants of the Lord in all ages of the world.
Our mission is and always has been peace on earth and goodwill to man, to all men. We have in our midst Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Roman Catholics and all kinds of “ites.” Does anybody interfere with them? Not that I know of. Yet there was a man, a professed minister in Sanpete County—[addressing President Canute Peterson of Sanpete Stake] Brother Peterson, did you not have a man in your Stake who got up a sensation by publishing far and wide that he had to preach the Gospel in Sanpete with a revolver on his desk, to prevent the “Mormons” from interfering with him—was not that the purport of his statement? [President Peterson: Yes, sir.] Do you know the man? [Ans.: Yes, sir.] Is he there yet? [Ans.: No, sir.] [Laughter.] Others have stated lately that we were in a state of sedition, and that in our different counties there were armed bodies of men prepared to fight the United States. The person that made and published this last statement was, as I understand, also a minister, one of these reverend gentlemen. Do any of you know his name? [A voice: Sheldon Jackson.] I am told it was one Sheldon Jackson; a reverend gentleman with a big R, a pious man, of course, and therefore what he says must be true. [Laughter.] We have a set of people that seem to be prowling about; I suppose, however, they are as necessary as anything else; I do not know but what they are. We have a species of birds called buzzards, whose natural tastes are for any kind of nauseous food; nothing suits them better than to gorge on carrion. Like them, these defamers are fond of trying to root up something against our people here. They themselves fabricate all kinds of notions and opinions, similar to the above that I have mentioned, that everybody here knows to be false, and they circulate them, and they have fanned the United States almost into a furor. People generally are ignorant of what these men and women are engaged in. They think these persons are honorable men and women; and they get up a lot of stories about some poor woman or some poor girl who has been crowded upon by her husband, and that in this state of polygamy there is the most abject misery, and the greatest distress that can be found anywhere. Are they true? Some individual cases may be true. Some of our men do not treat their wives right, and then some wives do not treat their husbands right. We do not all do right by a great deal. I wish we all did right. But supposing we were to go down to the places where these people hail from, to the slums of Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, New York, and other cities, beginning, say, in New York, with the gilded palaces of 4th and 5th Avenues, and trace the thing down to Five Points, and then go through other cities in the same way, and what would we find there? Do you not think one could get up something as dirty and filthy as the most foul-minded person can get up about us? A thousand times more so.
They say we are an ignorant people. We admit that we are not so very intelligent, and we never boast of our learning or intelligence; but then, they should not boast of theirs either. However, we can compare favorably with them any day; and while they have had millions of the public funds to sustain their educational establishments, we have been despoiled, plundered and robbed over and over again, yet we are prepared to compare notes with them on education, and also on virtue, honesty and morals, any way they can fix it. And I would be ready to say, as one said of old, Thou fool, first take the beam out of thine own eye, that thou mayest see the more clearly to take the mote out of thy brother's eye.
We will have read some figures for the information of the brethren who come from a distance, who may not be acquainted with these matters.
Discourse by President John Taylor, delivered at the General Conference, on Sunday Afternoon, April 9th, 1882.
Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.
In attempting to address the congregation this afternoon, I trust that all will be as quiet as possible. It is extremely difficult to make the congregation hear in this place, especially in so large an assembly, when there is the least confusion. While I address you, I wish to speak such words as shall be interesting, edifying and instructive, and I desire an interest in the prayers of the faithful, that I may be able to do so intelligently, that we may be the better for our coming together.
I am aware of the position that we occupy today. I feel that I am surrounded by a large number of intelligent men and women, and while I am addressing you, I am also addressing the world, for the remarks I make will be reported and published to the world. Therefore, I am desirous to advance such sentiments as will be in accord with the enlightenment of the Latter-day Saints, with the intelligence of the 19th century, and with the principles that have emanated from God.
Any intelligence which we may possess and which we may be able to impart, is not of ourselves, but of God. It did not originate with us; it did not originate with Joseph Smith, with Brigham Young, with the Twelve Apostles, nor was it received from any institution of learning, nor of science, either religious, political, or social. Our philosophy is not the philosophy of the world; but of the earth and the heavens, of time and eternity, and proceeds from God.
A message was announced to us by Joseph Smith the Prophet, as a revelation from God, wherein he stated that holy angels had appeared to him and revealed the everlasting Gospel as it existed in former ages; and that God the Father and God the Son had also appeared to him: the Father pointing to the Son, said, “This is my beloved Son, hear ye him.” Moroni, a prophet that had lived on this continent, revealed unto Joseph the plates containing the Book of Mormon, and by the gift and power of God he was enabled to translate them into what is known as the Book of Mormon. That book contains a record of the ancient inhabitants who dwelt upon this continent, a part of whom came from the tower of Babel at the time of the confounding of tongues, and another part came from Jerusalem in the time of Zedekiah, king of Judah, 600 years before the advent of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This book contains a record of the dealings of God with those people; it contains a record of their worship, of their wars and commotions, of their righteousness and iniquity, and of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ unto them, and of His preaching unto them the same Gospel that was taught on the continent of Asia, attended by the same ordinances, the same organization and the same principles.
I shall not attempt to bring any proof with regard to these matters today; I am simply making statements, the truth of which you Latter-day Saints know, as it would be impossible to enter into all the details in a short discourse. Suffice it to say, that the Father having presented His Son to Joseph Smith, and commanded him to hear Him, Joseph was obedient to the heavenly call, and listened to the various communications made by men holding the Holy Priesthood in the various ages under the direction of the Only Begotten. He and Oliver Cowdery were commanded to baptize each other, which they did. John the Baptist came and conferred upon them the Aaronic Priesthood. Then Peter, James and John, upon whom was conferred, in the Savior's day, the keys of the Melchizedek Priesthood came, and conferred that Priesthood upon them. Then Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Elias, and many other leading characters mentioned in the Scriptures, who had operated in the various dispensations, came and conferred upon Joseph the various keys, powers, rights, privileges and immunities which they enjoyed in their times.
Again, Joseph was commanded to preach this Gospel and to bear this testimony to the world. He was taught the same principles that were taught to Adam, the same principles that were taught to Noah, to Enoch, to Abraham, to Moses, to Elijah and other Prophets, the same principles that were taught by Jesus Christ and the Apostles in former times on the continent of Asia, accompanied with the same Priesthood and the same organization, only more fully, because the present dispensation is a combination of the various dispensations that have existed in the different ages of the world, and which is designated in the Scriptures as the dispensation of the fulness of times, in which God would gather together all things in one, whether they be things in heaven or things on earth. Therefore, whatever of knowledge, of intelligence, of Priesthood, of powers, of revelations was conferred upon those men in the different ages, was again restored to the earth by the ministration and through the medium of those who held the holy Priesthood of God in the different dispensations in which they lived.
Under the direction of the Almighty, Joseph organized a church; and when people were called upon to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to repent of their sins, to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and to have hands laid upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost, those who did believe and obey received the attendant blessings. Then the various offices of the Priesthood began to be conferred upon men who believed, and in due time the quorum of the Twelve was organized, whose commission was to proclaim this Gospel to every people, to every nation, to every kindred, to every tongue. Then a quorum of seventy Elders was selected, known by the name of Seventies; and we now have some 76 times 70 of those Elders.
A First Presidency was also organized to preside over the whole Church in all the world. Then there were High Priests ordained whose office was principally to preside as well as to preach the Gospel. Then there were Elders, Priests, Teachers and Deacons; and this organization was given by direct revelation, by which the Church has been governed from that time until the present. Bishops were also appointed whose position in the Church was clearly defined by the word of the Lord. Then High Councils were organized for the adjustment of all matters of difficulty, for the correction of incorrect doctrine, for the maintenance of purity and correct principles among the Saints, and for the adjudication of all general matters pertaining to Israel. This was the testimony and this is our testimony today to the nations of the earth. The Lord stood at the head as instructor, guide and director; and the Elders were told to go forth and to preach the Gospel to every creature, because confusion, disorder, sectarianism and the theories of men had been substituted for the word and will, and the revelation, law and power of God. These Elders were told that we approached the latter times, when God would have a controversy with the nations, and the message which they had to proclaim was that which was described by John when wrapped in prophetic vision upon the Isle of Patmos. Among other great and important events he said “I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come.” This was the commission given by the Lord to the Latter-day Saints. This is the mission we have been trying to carry out from that time to the present; and I myself have traveled tens of thousands of miles without purse or scrip, trusting in God, to teach these holy principles, and so have many of my brethren by whom I am surrounded.
When we started we were told that we were not sent to be taught, but to teach. Why? Because the world was not in possession of the principles of life, and therefore could not teach them. We went in obedience to the direct command of God to us through his servant Joseph, and we have spread forth the Gospel among the nations. And is there anything unreasonable about it? No. Is it true? Yes. Is it scriptural? Yes. Is it philosophical? Yes. And I say today, not by way of boasting, because we have nothing to boast of (I have no intelligence but what I am indebted to God, my heavenly Father and my brethren for), that while I have traveled through various parts of the United States and the Canadas, also in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, Germany, and different parts of the earth, among the wise and intelligent as well as the poor and ignorant, among all classes of men—I have stood in their halls and talked with their professors, ministers, legislators, rulers, divines, judges and wise men of every class, grade and position in life—but I have never met with a man who could gainsay one principle of the Gospel of the Son of God, and I never expect to; because truth, eternal truth, as it emanates from God, cannot be controverted.
And what is the nature of the Gospel? It is the same as that taught on the day of Pentecost by the Apostles, when they cried out to the multitude, “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.” That was the testimony which they bore to the people. That is the testimony which the Elders of this Church bear. There is something about this that is reasonable, that is intelligent, and that is susceptible of proof. It was a very fair proposition for the Apostle to make, promising the people who would obey the requirements which the Gospel imposes upon its adherents, that they should receive the Holy Ghost. And what should this do for them? It was to cause their old men to dream dreams and their young men to see visions, it was to make their sons and daughters prophesy, it was to bring things past to their remembrance, to lead them into all truth, and to show them things to come. This proposition was not alone of a religious nature, but it was also strictly philosophical. The farmer sows oats or wheat, or plants corn, and what does he expect? He expects oats, wheat or corn, as the case may be, and nothing else. There are laws and principles in nature, in the vegetable, the animal and the mineral kingdoms, as well as in all the works of God, that are true in themselves and they are eternal. There are such metals as gold, silver, copper or iron, each possessing certain distinctive elements which they always did possess; and the different bodies in their chemical relations possess principles that are always true to unchangeable laws. It is so also in regard to all the elements by which we are surrounded, and also in regard to the heavenly bodies. Because of these unchanging laws, we know precisely when the sun will rise and when it will set. We know when certain planets or comets will appear and disappear. All their movements are undeviating, exact and true according to the laws of nature.
Now here is a principle of the Gospel that will admit of as strong evidence as anything in nature. What is it? “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.” Or in other words, sow wheat and you reap wheat; plant corn and you gather corn. It was a bold position to take. I remember that on these points I questioned the Elder who brought the Gospel to me. I asked, What do you mean by this Holy Ghost? Will it cause your old men to dream dreams and your young men to see visions; will it bring to pass the scripture which saith: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy? Yes. Will it give you the permeating influence of the Spirit of the living God, and give you a certain knowledge of the principles that you believe in?
“Yes,” he answered, “and if it will not, then I am an impostor.” Said I, That is a very fair proposition. Finding the doctrine to be correct, I obeyed, and I received that Spirit through obedience to the Gospel which gave me a knowledge of those principles which I simply believed before, because they were scriptural, reasonable and intelligent, according to that scripture which saith, “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.”
I was ordained an Elder by the proper authorities, and I went forth to preach this Gospel. Other Elders went forth as I did to the civilized nations, preaching the same doctrine and holding out the same promises. Some of them were not very learned; some were not very profoundly educated. We send a singular class of people in our Elders. Sometimes a missionary is a merchant, sometimes a legislator, a blacksmith, an adobe maker, a plasterer, a farmer, or common laborer, as the case may be. But all under the same influence and spirit, all going forth as missionaries to preach the Gospel of light, of life and of salvation. They have received the treasures of eternal life, and they are enabled to communicate them to others; and they hold out the same promises. You who hear me this afternoon, as well as thousands upon thousands of others, have listened to those principles, you have had held out unto you those promises; and when you obeyed the Gospel, you received this same spirit; and you are my witnesses of the truth of the things that I now proclaim in your hearing, and of the Spirit and power of God attending the obedience to the Gospel, and you will not deny it. This congregation will not deny it. When you yielded obedience to the laws of God, obeyed His commandments, were baptized for the remission of your sins and had hands laid upon you for the reception of the Holy Ghost, you did receive it; and you are living witnesses before God. This is a secret that the world does not comprehend. Its people have not obeyed it and they do not know it; and the things of God, say the scriptures, no man knoweth but by the Spirit of God; and this Spirit has imparted to us that intelligence and that knowledge. This people have in their possession a hope that enters within the veil, whither Christ, our forerunner, has gone. They are living and acting and operating for eternity. God is their Father, and they know it. Some people think we are a set of ignorant boobies, who do not know what we are talking about, and they try to overrun the faith of the Latter-day Saints by sophistry, falsehood and folly. Whilst the fact is, we are in possession of the principles of eternal life, and are operating for eternity; and then we are operating to build up the Zion of God, where righteousness can be taught, and where men can be protected, and where liberty can be proclaimed to all men of every color, of every creed and of every nation.
Being placed in communication with God, the sophistry, nonsense and dogmas of men have no influence upon us. We are built upon the rock of revelation, as Peter was, and on the same principle. Said Jesus to him, “Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” The answer was: “Some say thou art one of the Prophets; some say thou art the Elias who was to come,” etc. “But whom say you that I am?” Peter answered and said: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven; and I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” What rock? The rock of revelation—upon the intelligence communicated by the Holy Ghost to those who obey the Gospel of the Son of God; by this, men shall know for themselves, and stand as the rock of ages, invulnerable, immovable and unchangeable. That is the position which we the Latter-day Saints occupy.
This, then, is the religious part of the question. What do we believe in? We believe in purity, in virtue, in honesty, in integrity, in truthfulness and in not giving way to falsehood; we believe in treating all men justly, uprightly and honorably; we believe in fearing God, observing His laws and keeping His commandments. Do we all do it? No, not quite. I wish we did. But a great majority of the Later-day Saints are doing this; and if there are those that are not, let them look well to their path, for God will be after them, and their brethren will be after them, for God cannot look upon sin with any degree of allowance. And as we are here for the purpose of building up Zion, He expects that we will be upright and honorable in all our dealings with one another and with all men.
One part of the Gospel is that we should be gathered together to a land that should be called Zion. Have we been doing this? Yes. Some people are very much opposed to it. Have we injured anybody by gathering in this way? Is this indeed the land of the free, the home of the brave, and the asylum for the oppressed? Cannot the people of this nation afford to listen to the principles of truth, and allow men who are fearing God to assemble together to worship Him according to the dictates of their own consciences? Have we violated any law of the United States in thus gathering together and in thus worshiping our God? Not that I know of. Have we been opposed to the United States? No! no! no! We never have, and we are at the defiance of all men to prove anything of the kind. There are falsehoods set afoot by low, degraded, unprincipled men. We believe that the Constitution of the United States was given by inspiration of God. And why? Because it is one of those instruments which proclaims liberty throughout the land, and to all the inhabitants thereof. And it was because of those noble sentiments, and the promulgation of those principles which were given by God to man, we believe that it was given by the inspiration of the Almighty. We have always esteemed it in this light, and it was so declared by Joseph Smith. Did we do any wrong in coming here in the way we did? I think not. Did we transgress any of the laws of the United States? I think not. Did we transgress any of the laws of the nations we left? I think not. We gathered together simply because we were told there was a Zion to be built up. And what was that Zion? The term means the pure in heart. In connection with our gathering, I would remark, that a short time ago, at one of our public celebrations, there were twenty-seven nationalities represented. This is in accordance with the scripture which says: I will take them one of a city and two of a family, and bring them to Zion. And I will give them pastors after mine own heart, that shall feed them with knowledge and understanding. This is what we find in the Christian Bible, and there is certainly no harm in believing the Bible. The Christians send their Bible missionaries among us to circulate it, and we are always glad to receive the Bible and be governed by it.
Now, then, being gathered together, we necessarily required some kind of social relations with each other, for when we came here we brought our bodies with us as well as our religion, and we brought our wives and families with us as well as our religion; and we needed to cultivate the earth and build houses, and plant orchards, and vineyards, and gardens, and attend to the common affairs of life. And then as we began to increase we began to open and build farms, hamlets, villages and cities. Is there anything wrong in this? No. Finally, when we came here we petitioned for a State government, the people held a convention and a constitution was framed, and forwarded to Washington. Congress refused our application for a State, but they gave us a Territorial form of government and named the Territory Utah; and strange to say, how men and nations change, they are trying to interfere with us because of our polygamy, and at that time the government appointed a polygamous governor, Brigham Young. People change in their sentiments and views; I suppose they call it progress. Apostle Orson Pratt, whom you all knew, as soon as that revelation was made public, went down to the city of Washington, and there published the doctrine of plural marriage and also lectured upon it. The paper he published was called The Seer, which many of you brethren remember very well. They were not in ignorance in relation to these matters. It was then well understood by the nation that these were our sentiments, and that President Young was a polygamist.
But passing on. Sometime after that, we had some United States officials sent out here, who were not polygamists, but one of them went so far as to show us what beautiful civilization they had where he came from, and he left his wife at home and brought with him a strumpet and took her on to the bench with him, to let the people see how intelligent and enlightened the people were in the United States. However, fortunately for him, there was no Edmunds bill then. Still, we were not much edified. It might be according to some people's system of ethics; it may be considered beautiful or aesthetic by the admirers of this fast and progressive civilization; but we could not appreciate it, and the consequence was, that the people felt indignant, they looked upon him as a profligate, and that he had defiled and disgraced the ermine. These were the sentiments of the people then, and they are yours today, for you have never been taught anything else. He and some others went back to Washington, and reported that the “Mormons” were in a state of rebellion; that they were a very wicked people, very corrupt and very depraved, almost as bad as some of our truth-telling ministers make us out to be, for some of them are not very notorious for telling the truth, nobody believes them here; but then they have reverend put before their names and that, of course, covers—what is it? a multitude of sins. And therefore, the mendacious stories that they tell and circulate are received as actual truth by thousands of blind, ignorant, bigoted people, who, doubtless, are far more sincere and far more honest and pure in their lives than these specimens of fallen humanity who, in the garb of sanctity, manufacture falsehoods and prepare them specially for the vitiated taste of the age.
But to return; judges and other officials were sent here, and suffice it to say, we did not like their civilization; and, then, they were not much enamored with ours, because whatever we may be in the estimation of the world generally, we are utterly averse to anything like licentiousness and debauchery; and, if there is any among us, we are indebted to our Christian friends for it, and to our Christian judges for maintaining and protecting it in our midst. We have no affiliation with such things; they cannot exist among us as a people, only by the force, the power and influence of this federal Christianity that has been introduced among us. Until these people came into our midst we had no house of ill fame; and a lady could travel as safely in our streets at any time of night as in the day; we had no occasion to lock our doors to prevent thieves from preying upon us; we had no drunkenness, ribaldry or blasphemy in our streets; all these things have been introduced among us by our good, kind, pure, pious Christian friends, and in scores of our remote settlements where this civilization has not penetrated, they are free from these vices today.
Now we will go back to the statement of these men. They were believed in Washington. What did they state? Among other things they said that we had burned the United States library, and the court records, and that a dreadful state of anarchy was in existence; and instead of the United States sending out a commission to enquire into these matters, they took the statement of a Lothario and his associates, and sent out an army to destroy us. And these troops were reduced to gnawing mules' legs about the vicinity of Bridger, refusing salt when we sent it to them—for we would have done them good, notwithstanding they came as our enemies. I remember writing a letter to one of the officers who had a letter of introduction to me, and forwarded it by a messenger; I told him that I was very sorry, that as a United States' officer, as an honorable man, he should be placed in the situation he was then in; because he could not help it, as an officer, any more than we could, as he was operating as a servant of the government under military rule and had, therefore, to obey orders. And that while we esteemed him and other officers as patriots and high-minded, honorable men, who had exhibited their patriotism and bravery in Mexico and other places, and while we heard of their excellent military equipments, we did not like the idea of their trying the temper of their steel upon us. I told him that republics which reflected the voice of the people were in many instances excitable and erratic, and that I looked for a reaction in public opinion, and that when that change came I expected the difficulties that the government had placed us in would be done away, and that then I would be glad to extend to him that courtesy in our city that one gentleman should extend to another, and would then be happy to see him. But we could not meet then of course; they could not come to us, and we could not very well go out to them.
So that the Latter-day Saints may know the truth or falsity of the allegations made by Judge Drummond, I will have the official statement of Governor Cumming, who came out with the army, read to this congregation.
It would be unfair and disingenuous to blame one administration for the acts of another, yet when we see a disposition to listen to the same kind of popular clamor that then existed, we cannot but notice a great similarity of circumstances.
[Elder L. John Nuttall then read the following extracts from the official statement of Governor Cumming, which was dated Great Salt Lake City, April 15th, 1858:]
“Since my arrival I have been employed in examining the records of the Supreme and District Courts, which I am now prepared to report as being perfect and unimpaired. This will, doubtless, be acceptable information to those who have entertained an impression to the contrary.
I have also examined the Legislative Records and other books belonging to the office of Secretary of State, which are in perfect preservation.
* * * * *
The condition of the large and valuable Territorial Library has also commanded my attention: and I am pleased in being able to report that Mr. W. C. Staines, the librarian, has kept the books and records in most excellent condition. I will, at an early day, transmit a catalogue of this library, and schedules of the other public property, with certified copies of the records of the Supreme and District Courts, exhibiting the character and amount of the public business last transacted in them.”
Thus it appears that the allegations made by our enemies were false, and the army was sent out under false representations, and their own Governor furnishes the evidence for their own refutation. Yet we were subjected to the indignity and outrage of having an army sent among us, predicated upon these false statements.
From the above and other similar actions manifested towards us as a people we have learned in the sad school of experience, and by the things that we have suffered, the excitability of the populace, and the unreasonable, savage and relentless feelings that frequently possess the people in their antagonism towards us, to be very careful, in all our acts among men, not to excite that feeling of hate which seems to be implanted in the human bosom against the principles taught by the servants of the Lord in all ages of the world.
Our mission is and always has been peace on earth and goodwill to man, to all men. We have in our midst Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Roman Catholics and all kinds of “ites.” Does anybody interfere with them? Not that I know of. Yet there was a man, a professed minister in Sanpete County—[addressing President Canute Peterson of Sanpete Stake] Brother Peterson, did you not have a man in your Stake who got up a sensation by publishing far and wide that he had to preach the Gospel in Sanpete with a revolver on his desk, to prevent the “Mormons” from interfering with him—was not that the purport of his statement? [President Peterson: Yes, sir.] Do you know the man? [Ans.: Yes, sir.] Is he there yet? [Ans.: No, sir.] [Laughter.] Others have stated lately that we were in a state of sedition, and that in our different counties there were armed bodies of men prepared to fight the United States. The person that made and published this last statement was, as I understand, also a minister, one of these reverend gentlemen. Do any of you know his name? [A voice: Sheldon Jackson.] I am told it was one Sheldon Jackson; a reverend gentleman with a big R, a pious man, of course, and therefore what he says must be true. [Laughter.] We have a set of people that seem to be prowling about; I suppose, however, they are as necessary as anything else; I do not know but what they are. We have a species of birds called buzzards, whose natural tastes are for any kind of nauseous food; nothing suits them better than to gorge on carrion. Like them, these defamers are fond of trying to root up something against our people here. They themselves fabricate all kinds of notions and opinions, similar to the above that I have mentioned, that everybody here knows to be false, and they circulate them, and they have fanned the United States almost into a furor. People generally are ignorant of what these men and women are engaged in. They think these persons are honorable men and women; and they get up a lot of stories about some poor woman or some poor girl who has been crowded upon by her husband, and that in this state of polygamy there is the most abject misery, and the greatest distress that can be found anywhere. Are they true? Some individual cases may be true. Some of our men do not treat their wives right, and then some wives do not treat their husbands right. We do not all do right by a great deal. I wish we all did right. But supposing we were to go down to the places where these people hail from, to the slums of Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, New York, and other cities, beginning, say, in New York, with the gilded palaces of 4th and 5th Avenues, and trace the thing down to Five Points, and then go through other cities in the same way, and what would we find there? Do you not think one could get up something as dirty and filthy as the most foul-minded person can get up about us? A thousand times more so.
They say we are an ignorant people. We admit that we are not so very intelligent, and we never boast of our learning or intelligence; but then, they should not boast of theirs either. However, we can compare favorably with them any day; and while they have had millions of the public funds to sustain their educational establishments, we have been despoiled, plundered and robbed over and over again, yet we are prepared to compare notes with them on education, and also on virtue, honesty and morals, any way they can fix it. And I would be ready to say, as one said of old, Thou fool, first take the beam out of thine own eye, that thou mayest see the more clearly to take the mote out of thy brother's eye.
We will have read some figures for the information of the brethren who come from a distance, who may not be acquainted with these matters.
[President Taylor then called upon his secretary, Elder L. John Nuttall, to read some extracts from a work published by an ex-United States official in New York City, which were as follows:]
Before citing from the still incomplete census reports of 1880, let us take that of 1870 and compare Utah and Massachusetts, the new theocracy with the descendants of an old theocracy—priest-ridden Utah with “cultured” Massachusetts, also adding the District of Columbia, which has the enlightening presence of the American Congress to add to its advantages, and is under its direct government.
Comparative Statistics from Census of United States 1870. Utah Mass. District of Columbia
School Attendance. 35 25 27
Illiteracy—can’t read or write, 10 years and upwards. 11 12 40
Paupers. 6 55 23
Convicts. 3 11 9
Printing and Publishing establishments. 14 11 11
Church Edifices. 19 12 8
From statistics contained in the Report of the Commissioners of Education for 1877, it is shown that in the percentage of enrollment of her School population, Utah is in advance of the general average of the United States, while in the percentage in actual daily attendance at school, she still further exceeds the average of the whole Union.
In 1877, when the school population of Utah numbered 30,792, there was invested in the Territory in school property the creditable sum of $568,984, being about eighteen and one-half dollars per capita of the school population.
In contrast with this, take the amount per capita of their school population, which some of the States have invested in school property: North Carolina, less than $0 60; Louisiana, $3 00; Virginia, about $2 00; Oregon, less than $9 00; Wisconsin, less than $11 00; Tennessee, less than $2 50; Delaware, less than $13 00.
In respect to the amount, per capita, of her school population, which Utah has invested in school property, she exceeds several other Southern and Western States, is in advance of the great States of Indiana and Illinois, and I believe in advance of the general average of the entire Union.
Thus, in the matter of education, Utah stands ahead of many old and wealthy States, and of the general average of the United States in three very important respects, namely, the enrollment of her school population, the percentage of their daily attendance at school, and the amount per capita invested in school property.
From the census of 1880 I have compiled the following:
COMPARISON OF ILLITERACY--
The United States & Utah Territory:
United States. Utah.
Total population 50,155,783 143,963
Total over 10 years of age who cannot read 4,923,451 4,851
Percentage who cannot read, 10 years & over 9.82 3.37
Total over 10 years of age who cannot write 6,239,958 8,826
Percentage who cannot write, 10 yrs. & over 12.14 6.13
Total white population 43,402,970 142,423
Total white population over 10 years of age
who cannot write 3,019,080 8,137
Percentage of white population who cannot
write, 10 years & over 6.96 5.71
Of all the States and Territories in the Union there are but thirteen showing a lower percentage of total population who cannot read, Connecticut having the same 3.37. The rest range all the way up 32.32 percentage of total population in South Carolina.
We will now produce some evidence with regard to crime, etc., drawn from official sources:
The population of Utah by the census of 1880 is about 144,000, divided as follows:
Mormons ........................................... 120,283
Gentiles ................ 14,155
Apostate Mormons.. 6,988
Josephites ................. 820
Doubtful .................. 1,717
23,680
Total ...................................................143,963
It will be seen that the “Gentiles” constitute only ten percent of the population, yet from this small minority are taken the incumbents of nearly every position of influence and emolument. They have the Governor, with absolute veto power, Secretary, Judges, Marshals, Prosecuting Attorneys, Land Registrar, Recorder, Surveyor-General, Clerks of the Courts, Commissioners, principal Post Office Mail Contractors, Postal Agents, Revenue Assessors and Collectors, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Indian Agencies, Indian Supplies, Army Contractors, express, railroad and telegraph lines, the associated press agency, half the jurors in law, but at least three-fourths and always the foreman in practice, in fact, every position not elective.
Last winter there was a census taken of the Utah penitentiary and the Salt Lake City and County prisons, with the following result: In Salt Lake City there are about seventy-five Mormons to twenty-five non-Mormons. In Salt Lake County there are about eighty Mormons to twenty non-Mormons. In the city prison there were twenty-nine convicts, all non-Mormons; in the county prison there were six convicts, all non-Mormons. The jailer stated that the county convicts for the five years past were all anti-Mormons except three.
In Utah we have seen that by the United States Census the proportion of orthodox Mormons to all others is as eighty-three to seventeen. In the Utah penitentiary there were fifty-one prisoners, only five of whom were Mormons, and two of the five were in prison for imitating Father Abraham in their domestic menage, so that the seventeen per cent “outsiders” had forty-six convicts in the penitentiary, while the eighty-three percent, Mormons had but five! The total number of Utah lockups, including the penitentiary, is fourteen; these aggregated one hundred and twenty-five inmates. Of these one hundred and twenty-five, not over eleven were Mormons, several of whom were incarcerated for minor offenses and polygamy; while if all the anti-Mormon thieves, adulterers, blacklegs, perjurers, murderers and other criminals who are at large, were sent to prison, the Mormons claim that their prisons could not hold them.
In 1878 a Mormon publication made the following boastful statement:
Out of the twenty counties of the Territory, most of which are populous, thirteen are, today, without a dram shop, brewery, gambling or brothel-house, bowling or billiard saloon, lawyer, doctor, parson, beggar, politician or place-hunter, and almost entirely free from social troubles of every kind; yet these counties are exclusively ‘Mormon;’ and with the exception of a now and then domestic doctor or lawyer, the entire Territory was free from these adjuncts of civilization (?) till after the advent of the professing Christian element, boastingly here to ‘regenerate the Mormons,’ and today every single disreputable concern in Utah is run and fostered by the very same Christian (?) element. Oaths, imprecations, blasphemies, invectives, expletives, blackguardism, the ordinary dialect of the “anti-Mormon,” were not heard in Utah till after his advent, nor till then, did we have litigation, drunkenness, harlotry, political and judicial deviltries, gambling and kindred enormities.
This is what the Mormons assert. Let us see how the case stands today, and what the facts attest.
Out of the two hundred saloon, billiard, bowling alley and pool table keepers, not over a dozen even profess to be Mormons. All of the bagnios and other disreputable concerns in the Territory are run and sustained by anti-Mormons. Ninety-eight percent of the gamblers of Utah are of the same element. Ninety-five percent of the Utah lawyers are Gentiles, and eighty percent of all the litigation there is of outside growth and promotion.
Of the two hundred and fifty towns and villages in Utah, over two hundred have no “gaudy sepulchre of departed virtue,” and these two hundred and odd towns are almost exclusively Mormon in population. Of the suicides committed in Utah, ninety odd percent are non-Mormon; and of the Utah homicides and infanticides, over eighty percent are perpetrated by the seventeen percent “outsiders.”
The arrests made in Salt Lake City from January 1, 1881, to December 8, 1881, are classified, as follows:
Men ....................................................................................782
Women ..............................................................................200
Boys ....................................................................................38
Total ................................................................................1,020
Mormons, Men & Boys ................ 163
" Women .......................................... 6 169
Anti-Mormon Men & Boys............ 657
" Women .......................................194 851
Total ............................................................................... 1,020
A number of the Mormon arrests were for chicken, cow and water trespass, petty larceny, etc. The arrests of anti-Mormons were in most cases for prostitution, gambling, exposing of person, drunkenness, unlawful dram selling, assault and battery, attempt to kill, etc.
If the seventy-five percent Mormon population of Salt Lake City were as lawless and corrupt as the record shows the twenty-five per cent anti-Mormons to be, there would have been 2,443 arrests made from their ranks during the year 1881 instead of the comparatively trifling number of 169 shown on the record; while if the twenty-five percent anti-Mormon population had as law-abiding and upright a record as the seventy-five percent Mormons, instead of the startling number of 851 anti-Mormon arrests during the year, there would have been but 56 made."
Before citing from the still incomplete census reports of 1880, let us take that of 1870 and compare Utah and Massachusetts, the new theocracy with the descendants of an old theocracy—priest-ridden Utah with “cultured” Massachusetts, also adding the District of Columbia, which has the enlightening presence of the American Congress to add to its advantages, and is under its direct government.
Comparative Statistics from Census of United States 1870. Utah Mass. District of Columbia
School Attendance. 35 25 27
Illiteracy—can’t read or write, 10 years and upwards. 11 12 40
Paupers. 6 55 23
Convicts. 3 11 9
Printing and Publishing establishments. 14 11 11
Church Edifices. 19 12 8
From statistics contained in the Report of the Commissioners of Education for 1877, it is shown that in the percentage of enrollment of her School population, Utah is in advance of the general average of the United States, while in the percentage in actual daily attendance at school, she still further exceeds the average of the whole Union.
In 1877, when the school population of Utah numbered 30,792, there was invested in the Territory in school property the creditable sum of $568,984, being about eighteen and one-half dollars per capita of the school population.
In contrast with this, take the amount per capita of their school population, which some of the States have invested in school property: North Carolina, less than $0 60; Louisiana, $3 00; Virginia, about $2 00; Oregon, less than $9 00; Wisconsin, less than $11 00; Tennessee, less than $2 50; Delaware, less than $13 00.
In respect to the amount, per capita, of her school population, which Utah has invested in school property, she exceeds several other Southern and Western States, is in advance of the great States of Indiana and Illinois, and I believe in advance of the general average of the entire Union.
Thus, in the matter of education, Utah stands ahead of many old and wealthy States, and of the general average of the United States in three very important respects, namely, the enrollment of her school population, the percentage of their daily attendance at school, and the amount per capita invested in school property.
From the census of 1880 I have compiled the following:
COMPARISON OF ILLITERACY--
The United States & Utah Territory:
United States. Utah.
Total population 50,155,783 143,963
Total over 10 years of age who cannot read 4,923,451 4,851
Percentage who cannot read, 10 years & over 9.82 3.37
Total over 10 years of age who cannot write 6,239,958 8,826
Percentage who cannot write, 10 yrs. & over 12.14 6.13
Total white population 43,402,970 142,423
Total white population over 10 years of age
who cannot write 3,019,080 8,137
Percentage of white population who cannot
write, 10 years & over 6.96 5.71
Of all the States and Territories in the Union there are but thirteen showing a lower percentage of total population who cannot read, Connecticut having the same 3.37. The rest range all the way up 32.32 percentage of total population in South Carolina.
We will now produce some evidence with regard to crime, etc., drawn from official sources:
The population of Utah by the census of 1880 is about 144,000, divided as follows:
Mormons ........................................... 120,283
Gentiles ................ 14,155
Apostate Mormons.. 6,988
Josephites ................. 820
Doubtful .................. 1,717
23,680
Total ...................................................143,963
It will be seen that the “Gentiles” constitute only ten percent of the population, yet from this small minority are taken the incumbents of nearly every position of influence and emolument. They have the Governor, with absolute veto power, Secretary, Judges, Marshals, Prosecuting Attorneys, Land Registrar, Recorder, Surveyor-General, Clerks of the Courts, Commissioners, principal Post Office Mail Contractors, Postal Agents, Revenue Assessors and Collectors, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Indian Agencies, Indian Supplies, Army Contractors, express, railroad and telegraph lines, the associated press agency, half the jurors in law, but at least three-fourths and always the foreman in practice, in fact, every position not elective.
Last winter there was a census taken of the Utah penitentiary and the Salt Lake City and County prisons, with the following result: In Salt Lake City there are about seventy-five Mormons to twenty-five non-Mormons. In Salt Lake County there are about eighty Mormons to twenty non-Mormons. In the city prison there were twenty-nine convicts, all non-Mormons; in the county prison there were six convicts, all non-Mormons. The jailer stated that the county convicts for the five years past were all anti-Mormons except three.
In Utah we have seen that by the United States Census the proportion of orthodox Mormons to all others is as eighty-three to seventeen. In the Utah penitentiary there were fifty-one prisoners, only five of whom were Mormons, and two of the five were in prison for imitating Father Abraham in their domestic menage, so that the seventeen per cent “outsiders” had forty-six convicts in the penitentiary, while the eighty-three percent, Mormons had but five! The total number of Utah lockups, including the penitentiary, is fourteen; these aggregated one hundred and twenty-five inmates. Of these one hundred and twenty-five, not over eleven were Mormons, several of whom were incarcerated for minor offenses and polygamy; while if all the anti-Mormon thieves, adulterers, blacklegs, perjurers, murderers and other criminals who are at large, were sent to prison, the Mormons claim that their prisons could not hold them.
In 1878 a Mormon publication made the following boastful statement:
Out of the twenty counties of the Territory, most of which are populous, thirteen are, today, without a dram shop, brewery, gambling or brothel-house, bowling or billiard saloon, lawyer, doctor, parson, beggar, politician or place-hunter, and almost entirely free from social troubles of every kind; yet these counties are exclusively ‘Mormon;’ and with the exception of a now and then domestic doctor or lawyer, the entire Territory was free from these adjuncts of civilization (?) till after the advent of the professing Christian element, boastingly here to ‘regenerate the Mormons,’ and today every single disreputable concern in Utah is run and fostered by the very same Christian (?) element. Oaths, imprecations, blasphemies, invectives, expletives, blackguardism, the ordinary dialect of the “anti-Mormon,” were not heard in Utah till after his advent, nor till then, did we have litigation, drunkenness, harlotry, political and judicial deviltries, gambling and kindred enormities.
This is what the Mormons assert. Let us see how the case stands today, and what the facts attest.
Out of the two hundred saloon, billiard, bowling alley and pool table keepers, not over a dozen even profess to be Mormons. All of the bagnios and other disreputable concerns in the Territory are run and sustained by anti-Mormons. Ninety-eight percent of the gamblers of Utah are of the same element. Ninety-five percent of the Utah lawyers are Gentiles, and eighty percent of all the litigation there is of outside growth and promotion.
Of the two hundred and fifty towns and villages in Utah, over two hundred have no “gaudy sepulchre of departed virtue,” and these two hundred and odd towns are almost exclusively Mormon in population. Of the suicides committed in Utah, ninety odd percent are non-Mormon; and of the Utah homicides and infanticides, over eighty percent are perpetrated by the seventeen percent “outsiders.”
The arrests made in Salt Lake City from January 1, 1881, to December 8, 1881, are classified, as follows:
Men ....................................................................................782
Women ..............................................................................200
Boys ....................................................................................38
Total ................................................................................1,020
Mormons, Men & Boys ................ 163
" Women .......................................... 6 169
Anti-Mormon Men & Boys............ 657
" Women .......................................194 851
Total ............................................................................... 1,020
A number of the Mormon arrests were for chicken, cow and water trespass, petty larceny, etc. The arrests of anti-Mormons were in most cases for prostitution, gambling, exposing of person, drunkenness, unlawful dram selling, assault and battery, attempt to kill, etc.
If the seventy-five percent Mormon population of Salt Lake City were as lawless and corrupt as the record shows the twenty-five per cent anti-Mormons to be, there would have been 2,443 arrests made from their ranks during the year 1881 instead of the comparatively trifling number of 169 shown on the record; while if the twenty-five percent anti-Mormon population had as law-abiding and upright a record as the seventy-five percent Mormons, instead of the startling number of 851 anti-Mormon arrests during the year, there would have been but 56 made."
I give these statements of facts for the information of the brethren who are here from a distance; but, then, they know them as facts; that is, they know how these soi disant regenerators act, but many of them do not know what their civilization is here, and what is sought to be introduced among us, and the infamous statements circulated concerning us. We are ready, as I said before, to compare notes with them or the people of this or any nation at any time. And then again, we ought to be more pure and virtuous than they, for we do profess to be the Saints of the Most High God. With this view, when this Edmunds bill was being canvassed, and there was a prospect of its passing—although we thought at first it was impossible that such a concern could pass through Congress; but when we saw the falsehoods that were being circulated, the furor that was being raised and fanned by religious fanatics and political demagogues, petitions were gotten up by the people here, one of them representing the male class, another our Relief Societies, another our young men, and another our young ladies' Improvement Societies. All of them represented that we were a virtuous people—that polygamy was a religious institution; and the young people asserted that it had been taught to them by their parents from their youth up, and that the principles of purity, virtue, integrity and loyalty to the government of the United States had been instilled into their minds and hearts since their earliest childhood; and further, that they had been taught and understood that chastity was their greatest boon, far above jewels or wealth, and more precious than life itself. In a few days we had 165,000 signatures, and they were forwarded to Washington. The request was that Congress would not act as the government had before—first send out an army and then send commissioners to inquire, but that they would send commissioners first to inquire into the facts of the case. But they did not choose to listen. In fact, there has been a great furor in the United States in relation to these matters, and that has originated to an extent through our Governor. Now I am very much averse to talking about official men; I do not like to do such things. They ought to be honorable men; the most charitable construction I could put upon his acts would be to say that his education had been sadly neglected, and that he was not acquainted with figures. He might have learned to read and write perhaps, but I would question his having gone so far as arithmetic; because he did not apparently know the difference between 1,300 votes and 18,500 votes. It does denote a lamentable absence of a knowledge of the rudiments of a common education; but then, a man should not, perhaps, be blamed for that which he does not know. And, indeed, it would seem that some of our lawmakers in Washington are not educated. With all due respect to them, with these facts before them and condemned throughout the United States, they did not think it was any crime for a man to be thus ignorant, or they would not have sent him back again. We hope the Commissioners will be better educated, that they will be men who can tell the difference between 1,300 and 18,500. Now we may be very ignorant—and we do not boast much of our intelligence, but when such people perpetrate such palpable, flagrant outrages, we have to resort to a political phrase in order to express our disgust towards them by saying, “There is something rotten in Denmark.” I have to be a politician as well as everything else.
Still, in the midst of these things, what are you going to do? Do the very best we can. Are you going to rebel? That would please our enemies, but we do not have much of that spirit in us. We feel to sympathize with people who have no better judgment than to adopt so suicidal and dishonorable a course as that which has been pursued towards us. Yet notwithstanding this, we are unshaken towards the principles of our government and believe that we have got the best on the earth, these evils arising from the corruptions of men and maladministration. It is said that error and falsehood will run a thousand miles while truth is putting on its boots, but truth ultimately will triumph, as according to the old adage, “Truth, crushed to earth, will rise again.” And what will you do? Contend for constitutional principles, or lie down and let the vicious, the mendacious and unprincipled run over and overslaugh you?
We have peacefully, legally and honorably possessed our lands in these valleys of the mountains, and we have purchased and paid for them; we do not revel in any ill-gotten gain. They are ours. We have complied with all the requisitions of law pertaining thereto, and we expect to possess and inhabit them. We covet no man's silver or gold, or apparel, or wife, or servants, or flocks, or herds, or horses, or carriages, or lands, or possessions. But we expect to maintain our own rights. If we are crowded upon by unprincipled men or inimical legislation, we shall not take the course pursued by the lawless, the dissolute and the unprincipled; we shall not have recourse to the dynamite of the Russian Nihilists, the secret plans and machinations of the communists, the boycotting and threats of the Fenians, the force and disorder of the Jayhawkers, the regulators or the Molly Maguires, nor any other secret or illegal combination; but we still expect to possess and maintain our rights; but to obtain them in a legal, peaceful and constitutional manner. As American citizens, we shall contend for all our liberties, rights and immunities, guaranteed to us by the Constitution; and no matter what action may be taken by mobocratic influence, by excited and unreasonable men, or by inimical legislation, we shall contend inch by inch for our freedom and rights, as well as the freedom and rights of all American citizens and of all mankind. As a people or community, we can abide our time, but I will say to you Latter-day Saints, that there is nothing of which you have been despoiled by oppressive acts or mobocratic rule, but that you will again possess, or your children after you. Your rights in Ohio, your rights in Jackson, Clay, Caldwell and Davis counties in Missouri, will yet be restored to you. Your possessions, of which you have been fraudulently despoiled in Missouri and Illinois, you will again possess, and that without force, or fraud or violence. The Lord has a way of His own in regulating such matters. We are told the wicked shall slay the wicked. He has a way of His own of “emptying the earth of the inhabitants thereof.” A terrible day of reckoning is approaching the nations of the earth; the Lord is coming out of His hiding place to vex the inhabitants thereof; and the destroyer of the Gentiles, as prophesied of, is already on his way. Already the monarchs of the earth are trembling from conspiracies among their own people; already has one Czar of Russia been destroyed and another holds his life by a very uncertain tenure through the perpetual threats and machinations of an infuriated populace; already have the Emperor of Germany, the King of Italy, the Queen of England, the King of Spain, the Sultan of Turkey, and many others of the honorable and noble rulers of the earth had their lives jeopardized by the attacks of regicides; already have two of the Presidents of this Republic been laid low by the hands of the assassin; and the spirit of insubordination, misrule, lynching, and mobocracy of every kind is beginning to ride rampant through the land; already combinations are being entered into which are very ominous for the future prosperity, welfare and happiness of this great Republic. The volcanic fires of disordered and anarchical elements are beginning to manifest themselves and exhibit the internal forces that are at work among the turbulent and unthinking masses of the people. Congress will soon have something else to do than to proscribe and persecute an innocent, law-abiding and patriotic people.
Of all bodies in the world, they can least afford to remove the bulwarks that bind society together in this nation, to recklessly trample upon human freedom and rights, and to rend and destroy that great Palladium of human rights—the Constitution of the United States. Ere long they will need all its protecting influence to save this nation from misrule, anarchy and mobocratic influence. They can ill afford to be the foremost in tampering with human rights and human freedom, or in tearing down the bulwarks of safety and protection which that sacred instrument has guaranteed. It is lamentable to see the various disordered and disorganized elements seeking to overthrow the greatest and best government in existence on the earth. Congress can ill afford to set a pattern of violation of that Constitution which it has sworn to support. The internal fires of revolution are already smoldering in this nation, and they need but a spark to set them in a flame. Already are agencies at work in the land calculated to subvert and overthrow every principle of rule and government; already is corruption of every kind prevailing in high places and permeating all society; already are we, as a nation, departing from our God, and corrupting ourselves with malfeasance, dishonor, and a lack of public integrity and good faith; already are licentiousness and debauchery corrupting, undermining and destroying society; already are we interfering with the laws of nature and stopping the functions of life, and have become the slayers of our own offspring, and employ human butchers in the shape of physicians to assist in this diabolical and murderous work. The sins of this nation, the licentiousness, the debauchery, the murders are entering into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and I tell you now, from the tops of these mountains, as a humble servant of the living God, that unless these crimes and infamies are stopped, this nation will be overthrown, and its glory, power, dominion and wealth will fade away like the dews of a summer morning. I also say to other nations of the earth, that unless they repent of their crimes, their iniquities and abominations, their thrones will be overturned, their kingdoms and governments overthrown, and their lands made desolate. This is not only my saying, but it is the saying of those ancient prophets which they themselves profess to believe; for God will speedily have a controversy with the nations of the earth, and, as I stated before, the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way to overthrow governments, to destroy dynasties, to lay waste thrones, kingdoms and empires, to spread abroad anarchy and desolation, and to cause war, famine and bloodshed to overspread the earth.
Besides the preaching of the Gospel, we have another mission, namely, the perpetuation of the free agency of man and the maintenance of liberty, freedom, and the rights of man. There are certain principles that belong to humanity outside of the Constitution, outside of the laws, outside of all the enactments and plans of man, among which is the right to live; God gave us the right and not man; no government gave it to us, and no government has a right to take it away from us. We have a right to liberty—that was a right that God gave to all men; and if there has been oppression, fraud or tyranny in the earth, it has been the result of the wickedness and corruptions of men and has always been opposed to God and the principles of truth, righteousness, virtue, and all principles that are calculated to elevate mankind. The Declaration of Independence states that men are in possession of certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This belongs to us; it belongs to all humanity. I wish, and the worst wish I have for the United States, is, that they could have liberality enough to give to all men equal rights, and, while they profess to have delivered the black slaves, that they strike off the fetters of the white men of the South, who have been ground under the heel of sectional injustice, and let them feel that we are all brothers in one great nation, and deliver all people from tyranny and oppression of every kind, and proclaim, as they did at the first, liberty throughout the land and to all people. That is the worst wish I have for them. And when I see them take another course I feel sorry for it. I would like if I had time to talk a little upon constitutional rights; I would like a little to discuss the unconstitutionality of that Edmunds bill; but it was ably done by many senators of the United States, and by others in the House of Representatives. Very ably done; and I honor the men who maintain such sentiments. It is true that most of them apologized and said that they were as much opposed to polygamy as anybody. Well, that is a matter of their own; they have a right to their opinions as much as I have a right to my opinion. Would I deprive them of that right? No, I would not. I preach the Gospel to the world. What is it? Force, tyranny and oppression? No: it is all free grace and it is all free will. Is anybody coerced? Did anybody coerce you, Latter-day Saints? Are any of you forced to continue Latter-day Saints if you do not want to? If you think you are, you are all absolved today. We know of no such principle as coercion; it is a matter of choice. The principle that I spoke of before—that is, men receive the Holy Ghost within themselves, is the cementing, binding, uniting power that exists among the Latter-day Saints. What right have I to expect that members of the House of Representatives or the people of the United States should advocate polygamy? They would not understand it. Nor would it be reasonable for us to expect it at their hands; but what I admired in those Senators and Members was their fealty to the government, to the Constitution and the maintenance of the freedom and the inalienable rights of man, of every color, creed and profession.
I will relate a little conversation that I had with President Hayes, when he was here, on the subject of polygamy. I said to him, we are not generally understood by the people of the world, by the outsiders; and I can look with very great leniency upon the action of members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the governors, and others who have expressed strong indignation against this principle. From your standpoint, you think we are a corrupt people; you think it is a part or portion of the thing you call the social evil, that permeates all classes of society, and is sapping the foundation of the life of so many throughout the land. You think that we are trying to introduce something that is encouraging licentiousness and other kindred evils among the people, and to legalize these things by legislative enactment and otherwise, and trying to popularize and make legal those infamies. I continued, that is a false view to take of the subject. Mr. President, I have always abhorred such practices from the time I was quite young; when I have seen men act the part of Lotharios, deceiving the fair sex and despoiling them of their virtue, and then seeing those men received into society and their victims disgraced, ostracized and esteemed as pariahs and outcasts, I could not help sympathizing with a woman that was seduced, I looked upon the man who seduced her as a villain; I do so today. Said I, when Joseph Smith first made known the revelation concerning plural marriage and of having more wives than one, it made my flesh crawl; but, Mr. President, I received such evidence and testimony pertaining to this matter, scriptural and otherwise, which it was impossible for me as an honest man to resist, and believing it to be right I obeyed it and practiced it. I have not time now to enter into all the details; but in regard to those honorable gentlemen in the Senate who maintained the principle of constitutional rights and who declare, as I declare today, that that instrument which was then gotten up was unconstitutional in several particulars, I could not expect them to advocate my religion; it is not their business, but is mine and yours. They can take what religion they please; we do not wish to force our religion nor our marital relations upon them, nor have we ever done it, nor could we do it if we wished, for this principle is connected with the Saints alone, and pertains to eternity as well as time, and is known to us by the appellation of “celestial marriage.” It does not belong to them, nor does it pertain to all of our own people. None but the more pure, virtuous, honorable and upright are permitted to enter into these associations. Now I speak to the Latter-day Saints, who are acquainted with what I say. If I state untruths, tell me, and I will consider you my friends, and the friends of this community. Should we preach the doctrine of plurality of wives to the people of the United States? No; you know very well that it is only for honorable men and women, virtuous men and women, honest men and women who can be vouched for by those who preside over them, and whom they recognize as their Presidents; it is only such people as these that can be admitted to participate in this ordinance. You know it. I know it, you Presidents of Stakes know it and the people know it. There are any number of people in this Territory who are good people in many respects, but who cannot come up to that standard. That is the position we occupy in relation to this principle.
If the United States were to ask us if we could give to them the same ordinance, we would say, No; no, we cannot. Why can you not? Because it is a religious ordinance, as I have stated; because it connects men and women together for time and for eternity; because it associates people of this world in the next; because it makes provision for our marital associations in the other world, and that while we have our wives here we expect to have them in eternity; and we believe in that doctrine that reaches beyond time into eternity. Others make their marital relations to end in death; their covenants last only till death does them part. Ours take hold of eternity, they enter into the eternal state of existence, and contemplate an eternal union of the sexes, worlds without end.
We believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life in the world to come; and not only in the resurrection of the male, but also of the female. We believe also in eternal unions, union on earth and in heaven. And as the heavens declare the glory of God, and the stellar universes roll on according to eternal laws implanted in them by the Deity, and perform their revolutions through successive ages, so will man progress and increase—himself, his wives, his children—through the eternities to come. Who is injured by this faith? Cannot a great and magnanimous nation afford the privilege to enjoy these principles without passing bills of pains and penalties for the belief and enunciation of such divine, ennobling and Godlike principles?
Man is a dual being, possessed of body and spirit, made in the image of God, and connected with Him and with eternity. He is a God in embryo and will live and progress throughout the eternal ages, if obedient to the laws of the Godhead, as the Gods progress throughout the eternal ages. Is it a thing incredible in this generation that God shall raise the dead? Is it a thing incredible that the finest and most exalted ties and sympathies of humanity, sanctified by family relations—pure undefiled love, should continue in the resurrection?
We have no fault to find with our government. We deem it the best in the world. But we have reason to deplore its maladministration, and I call upon our legislators, our governors and president to pause in their career and not to tamper with the rights and liberties of American citizens, nor wantonly tear down the bulwarks of American and human liberty. God has given to us glorious institutions; let us preserve them intact and not pander to the vices, passions and fanaticism of a depraved public opinion.
Cannot the enlightenment, civilization and statesmanship of the nineteenth century in this great American nation find a more worthy object than to fetter human thought, to enslave its own citizens, to forge chains for the suppression of human progress, to bind in Cimmerian darkness the noblest aspirations of the human soul, to tear down the pillars of the temple of liberty, to inaugurate a system of serfdom and oppression, and to copy after Egypt, Russia, and the late practices of this nation in enslaving and brutalizing humanity, tearing to pieces that great Palladium of human rights, the Constitution of the United States? Can they afford to do this? If there are supposed wrongs, can they not find a legal and constitutional way of correcting these wrongs? Surely the tearing down of the bulwarks, the very temple of freedom, will not aid them in the solution of this, to them, vexed question, for if they tear away the strongholds of society, they themselves will perish in the ruins.
But with regard to those not of us, I will tell you what I believe about the matter. I believe it would be much better for them to have even polygamy in their state of existence than this corroding, corrupting, demoralizing and damning evil that prevails in their midst. We look upon it that polygamy is the normal condition of man; but that has nothing to do with Mormon plurality of wives, or what is termed “celestial marriage.” I would state also, that when we speak of its being the normal condition, it has so existed throughout all ages. And when we talk about polygamy, I have read the speeches of men in Congress when speaking about the Mormon position, telling us that the British in India put down suttee, which is the burning of widows on the funeral pile of their husbands; casting children into the Ganges, etc.—that the British put that down by force of law. But the British, if my memory serves me right, have about two hundred millions of polygamists under their jurisdiction, and they can afford to treat them right and to give them the protection of law; but our free government cannot. And when we talk about the suttee, that is the destruction of life, while polygamy means the propagation of human life. One tends to destruction and death, the other to the propagation of life. I will guarantee today, without fear of contradiction, that there is more of the suttee in the United States today pertaining to infants than there ever was in India among the same number of population. It has become unfashionable in the east for women to have large families. I have heard remarks like this: one lady was asked, How many children have you? One or two. Is that all? What do you take me for, do you think I am a cow? Why no, you are not a cow, for cows do not murder their offspring. What a terrible tale is here told! What a horrible state of affairs is here exhibited. And I am told that some of these iniquities are being introduced here. I tell you, in the name of God, if you do we will be after you. I am told of physicians who are acting as they do in the east—as the butchers of infants. Let us look after these things, you Bishops, and if you do find it out, bring them up. As God lives we will not permit such infamies in our midst; you will not commence your fashionable murders here. And I will say now, Wo to this nation and to the nations of Europe, or any people among any nation, that sanctions these things. Have you not read that no “murderer hath eternal life abiding in him?” What shall be thought of those unnatural monsters, the slayers of their own offspring? This revolting, unnatural, damnable vice may be fashionable, but God will require this crime at their hands. Wo to men and to women that are licentious and corrupt, depraved and debauched, and especially wo, tenfold wo, to the murderers of helpless innocence. I tell you this in the name of the Lord. If these things are not stopped, God will arise and shake the nations of the earth and root out their infamies.
Now then what shall we do?
We do not wish to place ourselves in a state of antagonism, nor to act defiantly, towards this government. We will fulfil the letter, so far as practicable, of that unjust, inhuman, oppressive and unconstitutional law, so far as we can without violating principle; but we cannot sacrifice every principle of human right at the behest of corrupt, unreasoning and unprincipled men; we cannot violate the highest and noblest principles of human nature and make pariahs and outcasts of high-minded, virtuous and honorable women, nor sacrifice at the shrine of popular clamor the highest and noblest principles of humanity!
We shall abide all constitutional law, as we always have done; but while we are Godfearing and law-abiding, and respect all honorable men and officers, we are no craven serfs, and have not learned to lick the feet of oppressors, nor to bow in base submission to unreasoning clamor. We will contend, inch by inch, legally and constitutionally, for our rights as American citizens, and for the universal rights of universal man. We stand proudly erect in the consciousness of our rights as American citizens, and plant ourselves firmly on the sacred guarantees of the Constitution; and that instrument, while it defines the powers and privileges of the President, Congress and the judiciary, also directly provides that “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively or to the people.”
I have heard it boasted by British statesmen, that as soon as a slave planted his foot on British soil, his fetters were broken and he was a free man. It is the proud boast of Americans that her flag floats for all; and while Congress claims the right of dominion and legislation over territories, with that same right is associated the right of manhood, freedom and American citizenship. We need have no fears, no trembling in our knees, about these attempts to deprive us of our God-given and constitutional liberties. God will take care of His people, if we will only do right. I am thankful to say that you are doing pretty nearly as well as you know how. There are many things among us that are wrong, many things that are foolish, but generally you are seeking to fear God and keep His commandments. Now, treat your wives right, but do not subject yourselves to the infamous provisions of the Edmund's act more than you can help, avoid all harsh expressions and improper actions, act carefully and prudently in all your social relations. Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. A gentleman in Washington told another, who related it to me, in answer to the question, What will the “Mormons” do with their wives and children when this bill passes? He was told: Turn them out in the streets as we do our harlots. I say in the name of God we will not do any such thing, and let all Israel say Amen. [The vast congregation, amounting to from 12,000 to 14,000 persons, responded Amen.] We will stand by our covenants, and the Constitution will bear us out in it. Among other things, that instrument says that Congress shall make no law impairing the validity of contracts. You have contracted to be united with your wives in time and in eternity, and it would not do for us to break a constitutional law, would it? [Laughter.] Others may do it, but we cannot. We cannot lay aside our honor, we cannot lay aside our principles; and if people cannot allow us freedom, we can allow freedom to them and to all men. We will be true to our wives and cherish them and maintain them, and stand by them in time, and we will reign with them in eternity, when thousands of others are weltering under the wrath of God. Any man that abuses his wife, or takes advantage of this law to oppress her, is not worthy of a standing in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and let the congregation say Amen. [The immense congregation responded by a loud Amen.]
Now, what will we do in our relations with the United States? We will observe the law as we have done, and be as faithful as we have been. We will maintain our principles and live our religion and keep the commandments of God, and obey every constitutional law, pursuing that course that shall direct us in all things.
Brethren and sisters, God bless you and lead you in the paths of life, and give you wisdom; be calm and quiet; all is well in Zion. You need not be under any fears about anything that may transpire, as though some strange thing had happened. We have met such things before; we can meet them again. God has delivered us before. He will deliver us again, if we put our trust in Him and remain true to the covenants we have made with Him. Our trust is in God. You have heard me say before, Hosanna, the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth; and if this congregation feels as I do we will join together in the same acclaim. Follow me.
[The speaker then repeated and was followed by the congregation: Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna! to God and the Lamb, forever and ever worlds without end, Amen, Amen and Amen.]
Still, in the midst of these things, what are you going to do? Do the very best we can. Are you going to rebel? That would please our enemies, but we do not have much of that spirit in us. We feel to sympathize with people who have no better judgment than to adopt so suicidal and dishonorable a course as that which has been pursued towards us. Yet notwithstanding this, we are unshaken towards the principles of our government and believe that we have got the best on the earth, these evils arising from the corruptions of men and maladministration. It is said that error and falsehood will run a thousand miles while truth is putting on its boots, but truth ultimately will triumph, as according to the old adage, “Truth, crushed to earth, will rise again.” And what will you do? Contend for constitutional principles, or lie down and let the vicious, the mendacious and unprincipled run over and overslaugh you?
We have peacefully, legally and honorably possessed our lands in these valleys of the mountains, and we have purchased and paid for them; we do not revel in any ill-gotten gain. They are ours. We have complied with all the requisitions of law pertaining thereto, and we expect to possess and inhabit them. We covet no man's silver or gold, or apparel, or wife, or servants, or flocks, or herds, or horses, or carriages, or lands, or possessions. But we expect to maintain our own rights. If we are crowded upon by unprincipled men or inimical legislation, we shall not take the course pursued by the lawless, the dissolute and the unprincipled; we shall not have recourse to the dynamite of the Russian Nihilists, the secret plans and machinations of the communists, the boycotting and threats of the Fenians, the force and disorder of the Jayhawkers, the regulators or the Molly Maguires, nor any other secret or illegal combination; but we still expect to possess and maintain our rights; but to obtain them in a legal, peaceful and constitutional manner. As American citizens, we shall contend for all our liberties, rights and immunities, guaranteed to us by the Constitution; and no matter what action may be taken by mobocratic influence, by excited and unreasonable men, or by inimical legislation, we shall contend inch by inch for our freedom and rights, as well as the freedom and rights of all American citizens and of all mankind. As a people or community, we can abide our time, but I will say to you Latter-day Saints, that there is nothing of which you have been despoiled by oppressive acts or mobocratic rule, but that you will again possess, or your children after you. Your rights in Ohio, your rights in Jackson, Clay, Caldwell and Davis counties in Missouri, will yet be restored to you. Your possessions, of which you have been fraudulently despoiled in Missouri and Illinois, you will again possess, and that without force, or fraud or violence. The Lord has a way of His own in regulating such matters. We are told the wicked shall slay the wicked. He has a way of His own of “emptying the earth of the inhabitants thereof.” A terrible day of reckoning is approaching the nations of the earth; the Lord is coming out of His hiding place to vex the inhabitants thereof; and the destroyer of the Gentiles, as prophesied of, is already on his way. Already the monarchs of the earth are trembling from conspiracies among their own people; already has one Czar of Russia been destroyed and another holds his life by a very uncertain tenure through the perpetual threats and machinations of an infuriated populace; already have the Emperor of Germany, the King of Italy, the Queen of England, the King of Spain, the Sultan of Turkey, and many others of the honorable and noble rulers of the earth had their lives jeopardized by the attacks of regicides; already have two of the Presidents of this Republic been laid low by the hands of the assassin; and the spirit of insubordination, misrule, lynching, and mobocracy of every kind is beginning to ride rampant through the land; already combinations are being entered into which are very ominous for the future prosperity, welfare and happiness of this great Republic. The volcanic fires of disordered and anarchical elements are beginning to manifest themselves and exhibit the internal forces that are at work among the turbulent and unthinking masses of the people. Congress will soon have something else to do than to proscribe and persecute an innocent, law-abiding and patriotic people.
Of all bodies in the world, they can least afford to remove the bulwarks that bind society together in this nation, to recklessly trample upon human freedom and rights, and to rend and destroy that great Palladium of human rights—the Constitution of the United States. Ere long they will need all its protecting influence to save this nation from misrule, anarchy and mobocratic influence. They can ill afford to be the foremost in tampering with human rights and human freedom, or in tearing down the bulwarks of safety and protection which that sacred instrument has guaranteed. It is lamentable to see the various disordered and disorganized elements seeking to overthrow the greatest and best government in existence on the earth. Congress can ill afford to set a pattern of violation of that Constitution which it has sworn to support. The internal fires of revolution are already smoldering in this nation, and they need but a spark to set them in a flame. Already are agencies at work in the land calculated to subvert and overthrow every principle of rule and government; already is corruption of every kind prevailing in high places and permeating all society; already are we, as a nation, departing from our God, and corrupting ourselves with malfeasance, dishonor, and a lack of public integrity and good faith; already are licentiousness and debauchery corrupting, undermining and destroying society; already are we interfering with the laws of nature and stopping the functions of life, and have become the slayers of our own offspring, and employ human butchers in the shape of physicians to assist in this diabolical and murderous work. The sins of this nation, the licentiousness, the debauchery, the murders are entering into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and I tell you now, from the tops of these mountains, as a humble servant of the living God, that unless these crimes and infamies are stopped, this nation will be overthrown, and its glory, power, dominion and wealth will fade away like the dews of a summer morning. I also say to other nations of the earth, that unless they repent of their crimes, their iniquities and abominations, their thrones will be overturned, their kingdoms and governments overthrown, and their lands made desolate. This is not only my saying, but it is the saying of those ancient prophets which they themselves profess to believe; for God will speedily have a controversy with the nations of the earth, and, as I stated before, the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way to overthrow governments, to destroy dynasties, to lay waste thrones, kingdoms and empires, to spread abroad anarchy and desolation, and to cause war, famine and bloodshed to overspread the earth.
Besides the preaching of the Gospel, we have another mission, namely, the perpetuation of the free agency of man and the maintenance of liberty, freedom, and the rights of man. There are certain principles that belong to humanity outside of the Constitution, outside of the laws, outside of all the enactments and plans of man, among which is the right to live; God gave us the right and not man; no government gave it to us, and no government has a right to take it away from us. We have a right to liberty—that was a right that God gave to all men; and if there has been oppression, fraud or tyranny in the earth, it has been the result of the wickedness and corruptions of men and has always been opposed to God and the principles of truth, righteousness, virtue, and all principles that are calculated to elevate mankind. The Declaration of Independence states that men are in possession of certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This belongs to us; it belongs to all humanity. I wish, and the worst wish I have for the United States, is, that they could have liberality enough to give to all men equal rights, and, while they profess to have delivered the black slaves, that they strike off the fetters of the white men of the South, who have been ground under the heel of sectional injustice, and let them feel that we are all brothers in one great nation, and deliver all people from tyranny and oppression of every kind, and proclaim, as they did at the first, liberty throughout the land and to all people. That is the worst wish I have for them. And when I see them take another course I feel sorry for it. I would like if I had time to talk a little upon constitutional rights; I would like a little to discuss the unconstitutionality of that Edmunds bill; but it was ably done by many senators of the United States, and by others in the House of Representatives. Very ably done; and I honor the men who maintain such sentiments. It is true that most of them apologized and said that they were as much opposed to polygamy as anybody. Well, that is a matter of their own; they have a right to their opinions as much as I have a right to my opinion. Would I deprive them of that right? No, I would not. I preach the Gospel to the world. What is it? Force, tyranny and oppression? No: it is all free grace and it is all free will. Is anybody coerced? Did anybody coerce you, Latter-day Saints? Are any of you forced to continue Latter-day Saints if you do not want to? If you think you are, you are all absolved today. We know of no such principle as coercion; it is a matter of choice. The principle that I spoke of before—that is, men receive the Holy Ghost within themselves, is the cementing, binding, uniting power that exists among the Latter-day Saints. What right have I to expect that members of the House of Representatives or the people of the United States should advocate polygamy? They would not understand it. Nor would it be reasonable for us to expect it at their hands; but what I admired in those Senators and Members was their fealty to the government, to the Constitution and the maintenance of the freedom and the inalienable rights of man, of every color, creed and profession.
I will relate a little conversation that I had with President Hayes, when he was here, on the subject of polygamy. I said to him, we are not generally understood by the people of the world, by the outsiders; and I can look with very great leniency upon the action of members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the governors, and others who have expressed strong indignation against this principle. From your standpoint, you think we are a corrupt people; you think it is a part or portion of the thing you call the social evil, that permeates all classes of society, and is sapping the foundation of the life of so many throughout the land. You think that we are trying to introduce something that is encouraging licentiousness and other kindred evils among the people, and to legalize these things by legislative enactment and otherwise, and trying to popularize and make legal those infamies. I continued, that is a false view to take of the subject. Mr. President, I have always abhorred such practices from the time I was quite young; when I have seen men act the part of Lotharios, deceiving the fair sex and despoiling them of their virtue, and then seeing those men received into society and their victims disgraced, ostracized and esteemed as pariahs and outcasts, I could not help sympathizing with a woman that was seduced, I looked upon the man who seduced her as a villain; I do so today. Said I, when Joseph Smith first made known the revelation concerning plural marriage and of having more wives than one, it made my flesh crawl; but, Mr. President, I received such evidence and testimony pertaining to this matter, scriptural and otherwise, which it was impossible for me as an honest man to resist, and believing it to be right I obeyed it and practiced it. I have not time now to enter into all the details; but in regard to those honorable gentlemen in the Senate who maintained the principle of constitutional rights and who declare, as I declare today, that that instrument which was then gotten up was unconstitutional in several particulars, I could not expect them to advocate my religion; it is not their business, but is mine and yours. They can take what religion they please; we do not wish to force our religion nor our marital relations upon them, nor have we ever done it, nor could we do it if we wished, for this principle is connected with the Saints alone, and pertains to eternity as well as time, and is known to us by the appellation of “celestial marriage.” It does not belong to them, nor does it pertain to all of our own people. None but the more pure, virtuous, honorable and upright are permitted to enter into these associations. Now I speak to the Latter-day Saints, who are acquainted with what I say. If I state untruths, tell me, and I will consider you my friends, and the friends of this community. Should we preach the doctrine of plurality of wives to the people of the United States? No; you know very well that it is only for honorable men and women, virtuous men and women, honest men and women who can be vouched for by those who preside over them, and whom they recognize as their Presidents; it is only such people as these that can be admitted to participate in this ordinance. You know it. I know it, you Presidents of Stakes know it and the people know it. There are any number of people in this Territory who are good people in many respects, but who cannot come up to that standard. That is the position we occupy in relation to this principle.
If the United States were to ask us if we could give to them the same ordinance, we would say, No; no, we cannot. Why can you not? Because it is a religious ordinance, as I have stated; because it connects men and women together for time and for eternity; because it associates people of this world in the next; because it makes provision for our marital associations in the other world, and that while we have our wives here we expect to have them in eternity; and we believe in that doctrine that reaches beyond time into eternity. Others make their marital relations to end in death; their covenants last only till death does them part. Ours take hold of eternity, they enter into the eternal state of existence, and contemplate an eternal union of the sexes, worlds without end.
We believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life in the world to come; and not only in the resurrection of the male, but also of the female. We believe also in eternal unions, union on earth and in heaven. And as the heavens declare the glory of God, and the stellar universes roll on according to eternal laws implanted in them by the Deity, and perform their revolutions through successive ages, so will man progress and increase—himself, his wives, his children—through the eternities to come. Who is injured by this faith? Cannot a great and magnanimous nation afford the privilege to enjoy these principles without passing bills of pains and penalties for the belief and enunciation of such divine, ennobling and Godlike principles?
Man is a dual being, possessed of body and spirit, made in the image of God, and connected with Him and with eternity. He is a God in embryo and will live and progress throughout the eternal ages, if obedient to the laws of the Godhead, as the Gods progress throughout the eternal ages. Is it a thing incredible in this generation that God shall raise the dead? Is it a thing incredible that the finest and most exalted ties and sympathies of humanity, sanctified by family relations—pure undefiled love, should continue in the resurrection?
We have no fault to find with our government. We deem it the best in the world. But we have reason to deplore its maladministration, and I call upon our legislators, our governors and president to pause in their career and not to tamper with the rights and liberties of American citizens, nor wantonly tear down the bulwarks of American and human liberty. God has given to us glorious institutions; let us preserve them intact and not pander to the vices, passions and fanaticism of a depraved public opinion.
Cannot the enlightenment, civilization and statesmanship of the nineteenth century in this great American nation find a more worthy object than to fetter human thought, to enslave its own citizens, to forge chains for the suppression of human progress, to bind in Cimmerian darkness the noblest aspirations of the human soul, to tear down the pillars of the temple of liberty, to inaugurate a system of serfdom and oppression, and to copy after Egypt, Russia, and the late practices of this nation in enslaving and brutalizing humanity, tearing to pieces that great Palladium of human rights, the Constitution of the United States? Can they afford to do this? If there are supposed wrongs, can they not find a legal and constitutional way of correcting these wrongs? Surely the tearing down of the bulwarks, the very temple of freedom, will not aid them in the solution of this, to them, vexed question, for if they tear away the strongholds of society, they themselves will perish in the ruins.
But with regard to those not of us, I will tell you what I believe about the matter. I believe it would be much better for them to have even polygamy in their state of existence than this corroding, corrupting, demoralizing and damning evil that prevails in their midst. We look upon it that polygamy is the normal condition of man; but that has nothing to do with Mormon plurality of wives, or what is termed “celestial marriage.” I would state also, that when we speak of its being the normal condition, it has so existed throughout all ages. And when we talk about polygamy, I have read the speeches of men in Congress when speaking about the Mormon position, telling us that the British in India put down suttee, which is the burning of widows on the funeral pile of their husbands; casting children into the Ganges, etc.—that the British put that down by force of law. But the British, if my memory serves me right, have about two hundred millions of polygamists under their jurisdiction, and they can afford to treat them right and to give them the protection of law; but our free government cannot. And when we talk about the suttee, that is the destruction of life, while polygamy means the propagation of human life. One tends to destruction and death, the other to the propagation of life. I will guarantee today, without fear of contradiction, that there is more of the suttee in the United States today pertaining to infants than there ever was in India among the same number of population. It has become unfashionable in the east for women to have large families. I have heard remarks like this: one lady was asked, How many children have you? One or two. Is that all? What do you take me for, do you think I am a cow? Why no, you are not a cow, for cows do not murder their offspring. What a terrible tale is here told! What a horrible state of affairs is here exhibited. And I am told that some of these iniquities are being introduced here. I tell you, in the name of God, if you do we will be after you. I am told of physicians who are acting as they do in the east—as the butchers of infants. Let us look after these things, you Bishops, and if you do find it out, bring them up. As God lives we will not permit such infamies in our midst; you will not commence your fashionable murders here. And I will say now, Wo to this nation and to the nations of Europe, or any people among any nation, that sanctions these things. Have you not read that no “murderer hath eternal life abiding in him?” What shall be thought of those unnatural monsters, the slayers of their own offspring? This revolting, unnatural, damnable vice may be fashionable, but God will require this crime at their hands. Wo to men and to women that are licentious and corrupt, depraved and debauched, and especially wo, tenfold wo, to the murderers of helpless innocence. I tell you this in the name of the Lord. If these things are not stopped, God will arise and shake the nations of the earth and root out their infamies.
Now then what shall we do?
We do not wish to place ourselves in a state of antagonism, nor to act defiantly, towards this government. We will fulfil the letter, so far as practicable, of that unjust, inhuman, oppressive and unconstitutional law, so far as we can without violating principle; but we cannot sacrifice every principle of human right at the behest of corrupt, unreasoning and unprincipled men; we cannot violate the highest and noblest principles of human nature and make pariahs and outcasts of high-minded, virtuous and honorable women, nor sacrifice at the shrine of popular clamor the highest and noblest principles of humanity!
We shall abide all constitutional law, as we always have done; but while we are Godfearing and law-abiding, and respect all honorable men and officers, we are no craven serfs, and have not learned to lick the feet of oppressors, nor to bow in base submission to unreasoning clamor. We will contend, inch by inch, legally and constitutionally, for our rights as American citizens, and for the universal rights of universal man. We stand proudly erect in the consciousness of our rights as American citizens, and plant ourselves firmly on the sacred guarantees of the Constitution; and that instrument, while it defines the powers and privileges of the President, Congress and the judiciary, also directly provides that “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively or to the people.”
I have heard it boasted by British statesmen, that as soon as a slave planted his foot on British soil, his fetters were broken and he was a free man. It is the proud boast of Americans that her flag floats for all; and while Congress claims the right of dominion and legislation over territories, with that same right is associated the right of manhood, freedom and American citizenship. We need have no fears, no trembling in our knees, about these attempts to deprive us of our God-given and constitutional liberties. God will take care of His people, if we will only do right. I am thankful to say that you are doing pretty nearly as well as you know how. There are many things among us that are wrong, many things that are foolish, but generally you are seeking to fear God and keep His commandments. Now, treat your wives right, but do not subject yourselves to the infamous provisions of the Edmund's act more than you can help, avoid all harsh expressions and improper actions, act carefully and prudently in all your social relations. Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. A gentleman in Washington told another, who related it to me, in answer to the question, What will the “Mormons” do with their wives and children when this bill passes? He was told: Turn them out in the streets as we do our harlots. I say in the name of God we will not do any such thing, and let all Israel say Amen. [The vast congregation, amounting to from 12,000 to 14,000 persons, responded Amen.] We will stand by our covenants, and the Constitution will bear us out in it. Among other things, that instrument says that Congress shall make no law impairing the validity of contracts. You have contracted to be united with your wives in time and in eternity, and it would not do for us to break a constitutional law, would it? [Laughter.] Others may do it, but we cannot. We cannot lay aside our honor, we cannot lay aside our principles; and if people cannot allow us freedom, we can allow freedom to them and to all men. We will be true to our wives and cherish them and maintain them, and stand by them in time, and we will reign with them in eternity, when thousands of others are weltering under the wrath of God. Any man that abuses his wife, or takes advantage of this law to oppress her, is not worthy of a standing in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and let the congregation say Amen. [The immense congregation responded by a loud Amen.]
Now, what will we do in our relations with the United States? We will observe the law as we have done, and be as faithful as we have been. We will maintain our principles and live our religion and keep the commandments of God, and obey every constitutional law, pursuing that course that shall direct us in all things.
Brethren and sisters, God bless you and lead you in the paths of life, and give you wisdom; be calm and quiet; all is well in Zion. You need not be under any fears about anything that may transpire, as though some strange thing had happened. We have met such things before; we can meet them again. God has delivered us before. He will deliver us again, if we put our trust in Him and remain true to the covenants we have made with Him. Our trust is in God. You have heard me say before, Hosanna, the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth; and if this congregation feels as I do we will join together in the same acclaim. Follow me.
[The speaker then repeated and was followed by the congregation: Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna! to God and the Lamb, forever and ever worlds without end, Amen, Amen and Amen.]
Elder L. J. Nuttall then presented the following additional names of Missionaries, who were unanimously sustained by the vote of the Conference:
FOR THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.
Edward Partridge, of Fillmore, to preside over that mission.
William C. Partridge, Fillmore.
UNITED STATES.
Thomas C. Briggs, of East Bountiful.
The choir sang an anthem: Put on thy strength, O Zion.
Conference was adjourned till the 6th of October next at 10 o’clock a.m.
Benediction by Prest. Joseph F. Smith.
George Goddard,
Clerk of Conference.
FOR THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.
Edward Partridge, of Fillmore, to preside over that mission.
William C. Partridge, Fillmore.
UNITED STATES.
Thomas C. Briggs, of East Bountiful.
The choir sang an anthem: Put on thy strength, O Zion.
Conference was adjourned till the 6th of October next at 10 o’clock a.m.
Benediction by Prest. Joseph F. Smith.
George Goddard,
Clerk of Conference.