April 1886
Richards, Apostle F. D. "Closing Discourse." The Deseret News, May 5, 1886: pg. 242-243.
Richards, Apostle F. D. "Opening Remarks." The Deseret News, May 5, 1886: pg. 242.
The Deseret News. "An Epistle of the First Presidency." April 14, 1886: pg. 194-196.
The Deseret News. "Fifty-Sixth Annual Conference." April 14, 1886: pg. 198-199, 205-206.
FIFTY-SIXTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Apostle F. D. Richards
Opening Remarks
Apostle John W. Taylor
Elder H. H. Cluff
Afternoon Session
Elder B. H. Roberts
Apostle Heber J. Grant
Prest. John D. T. McAllister
Apostle F. D. Richards
Second Day. Morning Session. April 5th.
Elder John Nicholson
Elder Seymour B. Young
Sunday School Report
Afternoon Session
Apostle John Henry Smith
Elder Jacob Gates
Bishop John Q. Cannon
Third Day. Morning Session. Tuesday, April 6th.
Epistle Read
Afternoon Session
An Epistle of the First Presidency
Fourth Day. Closing Session, April 7th
Elder Seymour B. Young
The General Authorities of the Church
Report of the Auditing Committee
Motions
President A. O. Smoot
Apostle F. D. Richards
Closing Discourse
Richards, Apostle F. D. "Opening Remarks." The Deseret News, May 5, 1886: pg. 242.
The Deseret News. "An Epistle of the First Presidency." April 14, 1886: pg. 194-196.
The Deseret News. "Fifty-Sixth Annual Conference." April 14, 1886: pg. 198-199, 205-206.
FIFTY-SIXTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Apostle F. D. Richards
Opening Remarks
Apostle John W. Taylor
Elder H. H. Cluff
Afternoon Session
Elder B. H. Roberts
Apostle Heber J. Grant
Prest. John D. T. McAllister
Apostle F. D. Richards
Second Day. Morning Session. April 5th.
Elder John Nicholson
Elder Seymour B. Young
Sunday School Report
Afternoon Session
Apostle John Henry Smith
Elder Jacob Gates
Bishop John Q. Cannon
Third Day. Morning Session. Tuesday, April 6th.
Epistle Read
Afternoon Session
An Epistle of the First Presidency
Fourth Day. Closing Session, April 7th
Elder Seymour B. Young
The General Authorities of the Church
Report of the Auditing Committee
Motions
President A. O. Smoot
Apostle F. D. Richards
Closing Discourse
FIFTY-SIXTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE
The Fifty-sixth Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints convened in the Provo Tabernacle Sunday morning, April 4, 1886, shortly before 11 o’clock.
On the stand were: Of the Council of the Twelve Apostles—Franklin D. Richards, John Henry Smith, Heber J. Grant and John W. Taylor.
Patriarch of the Church—John Smith.
Of the Presiding Council of the Seventies—Jacob Gates and C. D. Fjeldsted:
There were also a number of Presidents of Stakes and many leading brethren from various portions of this and other Territories.
The Conference was called to order by Apostle Franklin D. Richards, who conducted the proceedings.
The choir sang: “Arise! Arise! with joy survey The glory of the latter day.”
The opening prayer was offered by President John D. T. McAllister, of St. George Stake, after which the choir sang: “Father, how wide Thy glories shine How high Thy wonders rise.”
The Fifty-sixth Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints convened in the Provo Tabernacle Sunday morning, April 4, 1886, shortly before 11 o’clock.
On the stand were: Of the Council of the Twelve Apostles—Franklin D. Richards, John Henry Smith, Heber J. Grant and John W. Taylor.
Patriarch of the Church—John Smith.
Of the Presiding Council of the Seventies—Jacob Gates and C. D. Fjeldsted:
There were also a number of Presidents of Stakes and many leading brethren from various portions of this and other Territories.
The Conference was called to order by Apostle Franklin D. Richards, who conducted the proceedings.
The choir sang: “Arise! Arise! with joy survey The glory of the latter day.”
The opening prayer was offered by President John D. T. McAllister, of St. George Stake, after which the choir sang: “Father, how wide Thy glories shine How high Thy wonders rise.”
Apostle F. D. Richards
addressed the Conference. It was very delightful that we found ourselves so comfortably situated. The good people of Provo had exerted themselves to fit up a place for us to meet in. As usual, however, the place was too small. We have great reason to rejoice, although we have not so much liberty as formerly. We cannot now have the First Presidency with us, and others who have heretofore exercised their calling in our midst. But it is decreed that those who will live godly in Christ shall suffer persecution. It is just as necessary for us to test such sayings as that and others, as to verify those of a more gladdening description. The work of God is subject to various changes, as in nature the seasons alternate, and this is necessary in order to produce the most happifying results. The adverse circumstances through which we are passing are needful for our proper development. Our spiritual natures are improved by them. We should view our present ordeals from that standpoint and acknowledge the hand of God in all things. Those things that seem the most trying may be sanctified to us as the most prolific source of blessing. This life at most is but a speck in our existence.
The speaker felt to regret that the brethren of the Presidency could not be present, but they were with us in spirit if they could not be here in person. The last word received from our worthy, venerable and respected President of the Church was to the effect that he was in good health and devoting himself constantly to the interests of the work of God. Our brethren who hold leading positions are sometimes taunted with being in hiding. This is no new situation for men of God. History affords numerous examples of a similar kind. Let not the people be seized with the spirit of fear. Rather let them rejoice, for a brighter day is near. If we are united, those who assemble to hear the instructions given will be fed with spiritual food. The dawning of a glorious day has come. The light of the millennium is tinging the horizon of our sky. It is necessary that we purge ourselves from every evil, that we may be prepared for what is, in the providence of God, approaching.
addressed the Conference. It was very delightful that we found ourselves so comfortably situated. The good people of Provo had exerted themselves to fit up a place for us to meet in. As usual, however, the place was too small. We have great reason to rejoice, although we have not so much liberty as formerly. We cannot now have the First Presidency with us, and others who have heretofore exercised their calling in our midst. But it is decreed that those who will live godly in Christ shall suffer persecution. It is just as necessary for us to test such sayings as that and others, as to verify those of a more gladdening description. The work of God is subject to various changes, as in nature the seasons alternate, and this is necessary in order to produce the most happifying results. The adverse circumstances through which we are passing are needful for our proper development. Our spiritual natures are improved by them. We should view our present ordeals from that standpoint and acknowledge the hand of God in all things. Those things that seem the most trying may be sanctified to us as the most prolific source of blessing. This life at most is but a speck in our existence.
The speaker felt to regret that the brethren of the Presidency could not be present, but they were with us in spirit if they could not be here in person. The last word received from our worthy, venerable and respected President of the Church was to the effect that he was in good health and devoting himself constantly to the interests of the work of God. Our brethren who hold leading positions are sometimes taunted with being in hiding. This is no new situation for men of God. History affords numerous examples of a similar kind. Let not the people be seized with the spirit of fear. Rather let them rejoice, for a brighter day is near. If we are united, those who assemble to hear the instructions given will be fed with spiritual food. The dawning of a glorious day has come. The light of the millennium is tinging the horizon of our sky. It is necessary that we purge ourselves from every evil, that we may be prepared for what is, in the providence of God, approaching.
Opening Remarks,
of Apostle F. D. Richards
It is very delightful that we find ourselves this morning so comfortably situated. The good people of Provo have diligently labored to provide a place for us to meet in; but it is very apparent that the same class of circumstances attends us here, that has followed us during all the progress of our growth, which may be expressed in scripture phrase, “The place is to strait for us.” The elements seem to be kindly favorable for our assembling together.
When we contemplate the condition of God’s people and their existence on the earth, I do not know that there ever was a day where we had more sound reason to be glad—to rejoice and to praise the Lord, than we have this morning.
It is true, we have experienced times when a greater degree of liberty has been enjoyed by the Latter-day Saints, when the First Presidency, the Council of the Twelve Apostles, and Elders of the various quorums of the Church, could meet in General Conference without fear of molestation; being free to come, to go, and to move at will among the people. But it is a question whether, so great liberty as we have had, could be extended to us always, with the best results, as touching our present and eternal welfare.
It is a fact shown in history and declared in holy writ that they who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. There does not appear to be anything uncertain or ambiguous about that manner of speech. Therefore, where we have things pretty much our own way, we may well question whether we are living as near to the Lord as we should do. But while we cannot and do not court opposition, we have to meet it by reason of the fact that error is hostile to truth, and that the adversary of truth is cognizant of the fact that the Lord has chosen to establish His Church on the earth for the last time. And our mission is “peace on earth, and good will to all men,” if they will but receive it; but if they will not receive the truth, then the other saying of the Savior become applicable: “I come not to send peace, but a sword.” “Father shall be arrayed against the son, and the mother against the daughter,” etc., and a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.
It is just as necessary and important that we should test the truth of these sayings, as any of the more peaceful and happifying promises. All are necessary to complete the programme of our existence, our growth and increase upon the earth.
We have seasons of great outward prosperity and also those of apparent adversity—when everything appears to be at a standstill and even dead; nature itself, declares it to be a necessary condition. After the husbandman has sown his grain, nursed its growth and harvested the crop, behold, the sere and yellow leaf of autumn comes, the winter frosts freeze up the streams and all nature appears sombre and sorrowful—quite a different state of things to that which was going on during the summer.
It is as necessary for us to have cloudy weather and rainy weather, as it is that we should have sunshine, in order to bring about the objects of creation, the purposes of nature, and the best interests of the human family. Seeing it is so in temporal things, it is strange that it should be the same, or even more so in spiritual things? No, brethren, it is as necessary that we should have difficulties to contend with, in order to make intelligent provision for our spiritual concerns, as it is that we should have the winter frosts and stormy weather to enable us to make discreet provision for our temporal necessities.
Then let us, as Saints, learn to look upon the conditions which Providence permits to attend us, as for our greatest good; and acknowledge His hand in all things.
The Lord has been pleased to say to us in His revelations, that no man is under condemnation who keeps His commandments and acknowledges His hand in all things. It, doubtless, taxes our ingenuity, our judgment, and our discernment many times when things operate against us, especially as they, to all human appearance, have been doing of late; but, behold, our vision becomes more clear, and we see things as they are; and we accept the adverse state of things as being conducive to our greatest possible good and blessing. And by thus acknowledging the hand of God, we prepare ourselves through a living and abiding faith in Him, to reap the blessings which He, in His wisdom, designs to bestow upon us; and that we, when we shall have lived out the days allotted to us, may have great cause to rejoice in contemplating the fact that we have been faithful and true through evil, as well as through good report, and thus proven ourselves worthy of the society of the former-day Saints who were tried and proven in their day, as we are tried and proven in ours.
I deeply regret, with all of you, no doubt, that we cannot have the Presidency with us; but it does not seem to be permissible at the present time. We therefore, accept the situation, make the best of it, and, I trust, seek more diligently to the Lord for the light of His Spirit to guide us.
The last news we had from our venerable and worthy President, which was quite recent, his health was good. His spirit is devoted continually to the interest of the people and his labors are bestowed in that direction day by day. I would say to the Saints, be of good cheer. Let your prayers ascend continually in behalf of the authorities of the Church wherever they are. And although we may be taunted with being “underground,” let me assure you, it is a condition that has been incident to the people of God in former ages of the world. It would seem that the spirit of the Infernal knew when the Savior was about to come into the world, and at once instituted a plan to destroy Him by inspiring Herod to kill all the male children. The scheme was devised and was being carried out by the government and highest authorities in the land; but did His friends leave him to be sacrificed and His life taken that they might be considered good, law-abiding citizens, and the purposes of Jehovah to be frustrated? Not at all. When His mother was able to travel, Joseph was commanded in a dream to take a trip on the “underground railroad,” if you please, and he did so. They started out and traveled until they reached Egypt, where they remained “underground” until the angel again ministered unto them, informing them that they might now return, as they who sought the child’s life were dead. Cannot we manage to stand it whether it be “underground” or above ground, as circumstances permit or require, and not consider that there is anything particularly new or strange imposed upon us either?
A great many curious things have transpired since the creation of the world, in order that the righteous might have an existence on the earth; and, doubtless, many more singular events may yet transpire than heretofore.
I do not see any occasion for our knees to knock together, our heads to droop, our hearts to feel heavy, or our faces to look sad. Let every man and woman put on the armor of righteousness and live so near to the Lord that His Spirit shall be with them; and their faces will glisten with joy, because the silent triumphs of truth will be manifest to them continually, and we shall rejoice more and more until the perfect day.
It is a blessed privilege we enjoy to come together in the capacity of a general conference. Let us be glad and rejoice, seeking the blessing of God upon us, that our services may be conducted in a way that shall be according to His mind and will; that instructions may be given unto us that shall be edifying and profitable to all.
If the Saints shall be of one heart and mind, I will venture to say that there will be dispensed unto us that which will furnish edification and spiritual food to every soul that has come hungry, expecting to be fed. I wish to impress upon the minds of the Saints that if all is not just as well as we would like to have it, our enemies can do no more than our heavenly Father permits them to do. He has undertaken a work in which He has said that He will make wisdom of the wise to perish, and the understanding of the prudent He will bring to naught. We know He has done so in times that are past; we have every reason to believe that He will carry on His work to a successful completion, triumph over all the works of darkness, and prepare the earth for the reign of peace, the time which the Saints, ancient and modern, are all looking forward to, with anticipations of eternal joy. The dawn of that day has come; the light of heaven has begun to shine upon the benighted earth; the morning of the great millennium has begun to be seen; its light is tinging the horizon through all the clouds of persecution which lower about us, and we should be making the necessary preparations for the great work while the day lasts; the work which not only pertains to ourselves who are living, but our friends who are dead as well.
If we will but purify ourselves by disfellowshipping sin from among us, and so live as to render ourselves acceptable unto God, He will hasten His work, and will bring it about in His own way and according to the counsels of His own will by cutting it short in righteousness.
of Apostle F. D. Richards
It is very delightful that we find ourselves this morning so comfortably situated. The good people of Provo have diligently labored to provide a place for us to meet in; but it is very apparent that the same class of circumstances attends us here, that has followed us during all the progress of our growth, which may be expressed in scripture phrase, “The place is to strait for us.” The elements seem to be kindly favorable for our assembling together.
When we contemplate the condition of God’s people and their existence on the earth, I do not know that there ever was a day where we had more sound reason to be glad—to rejoice and to praise the Lord, than we have this morning.
It is true, we have experienced times when a greater degree of liberty has been enjoyed by the Latter-day Saints, when the First Presidency, the Council of the Twelve Apostles, and Elders of the various quorums of the Church, could meet in General Conference without fear of molestation; being free to come, to go, and to move at will among the people. But it is a question whether, so great liberty as we have had, could be extended to us always, with the best results, as touching our present and eternal welfare.
It is a fact shown in history and declared in holy writ that they who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. There does not appear to be anything uncertain or ambiguous about that manner of speech. Therefore, where we have things pretty much our own way, we may well question whether we are living as near to the Lord as we should do. But while we cannot and do not court opposition, we have to meet it by reason of the fact that error is hostile to truth, and that the adversary of truth is cognizant of the fact that the Lord has chosen to establish His Church on the earth for the last time. And our mission is “peace on earth, and good will to all men,” if they will but receive it; but if they will not receive the truth, then the other saying of the Savior become applicable: “I come not to send peace, but a sword.” “Father shall be arrayed against the son, and the mother against the daughter,” etc., and a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.
It is just as necessary and important that we should test the truth of these sayings, as any of the more peaceful and happifying promises. All are necessary to complete the programme of our existence, our growth and increase upon the earth.
We have seasons of great outward prosperity and also those of apparent adversity—when everything appears to be at a standstill and even dead; nature itself, declares it to be a necessary condition. After the husbandman has sown his grain, nursed its growth and harvested the crop, behold, the sere and yellow leaf of autumn comes, the winter frosts freeze up the streams and all nature appears sombre and sorrowful—quite a different state of things to that which was going on during the summer.
It is as necessary for us to have cloudy weather and rainy weather, as it is that we should have sunshine, in order to bring about the objects of creation, the purposes of nature, and the best interests of the human family. Seeing it is so in temporal things, it is strange that it should be the same, or even more so in spiritual things? No, brethren, it is as necessary that we should have difficulties to contend with, in order to make intelligent provision for our spiritual concerns, as it is that we should have the winter frosts and stormy weather to enable us to make discreet provision for our temporal necessities.
Then let us, as Saints, learn to look upon the conditions which Providence permits to attend us, as for our greatest good; and acknowledge His hand in all things.
The Lord has been pleased to say to us in His revelations, that no man is under condemnation who keeps His commandments and acknowledges His hand in all things. It, doubtless, taxes our ingenuity, our judgment, and our discernment many times when things operate against us, especially as they, to all human appearance, have been doing of late; but, behold, our vision becomes more clear, and we see things as they are; and we accept the adverse state of things as being conducive to our greatest possible good and blessing. And by thus acknowledging the hand of God, we prepare ourselves through a living and abiding faith in Him, to reap the blessings which He, in His wisdom, designs to bestow upon us; and that we, when we shall have lived out the days allotted to us, may have great cause to rejoice in contemplating the fact that we have been faithful and true through evil, as well as through good report, and thus proven ourselves worthy of the society of the former-day Saints who were tried and proven in their day, as we are tried and proven in ours.
I deeply regret, with all of you, no doubt, that we cannot have the Presidency with us; but it does not seem to be permissible at the present time. We therefore, accept the situation, make the best of it, and, I trust, seek more diligently to the Lord for the light of His Spirit to guide us.
The last news we had from our venerable and worthy President, which was quite recent, his health was good. His spirit is devoted continually to the interest of the people and his labors are bestowed in that direction day by day. I would say to the Saints, be of good cheer. Let your prayers ascend continually in behalf of the authorities of the Church wherever they are. And although we may be taunted with being “underground,” let me assure you, it is a condition that has been incident to the people of God in former ages of the world. It would seem that the spirit of the Infernal knew when the Savior was about to come into the world, and at once instituted a plan to destroy Him by inspiring Herod to kill all the male children. The scheme was devised and was being carried out by the government and highest authorities in the land; but did His friends leave him to be sacrificed and His life taken that they might be considered good, law-abiding citizens, and the purposes of Jehovah to be frustrated? Not at all. When His mother was able to travel, Joseph was commanded in a dream to take a trip on the “underground railroad,” if you please, and he did so. They started out and traveled until they reached Egypt, where they remained “underground” until the angel again ministered unto them, informing them that they might now return, as they who sought the child’s life were dead. Cannot we manage to stand it whether it be “underground” or above ground, as circumstances permit or require, and not consider that there is anything particularly new or strange imposed upon us either?
A great many curious things have transpired since the creation of the world, in order that the righteous might have an existence on the earth; and, doubtless, many more singular events may yet transpire than heretofore.
I do not see any occasion for our knees to knock together, our heads to droop, our hearts to feel heavy, or our faces to look sad. Let every man and woman put on the armor of righteousness and live so near to the Lord that His Spirit shall be with them; and their faces will glisten with joy, because the silent triumphs of truth will be manifest to them continually, and we shall rejoice more and more until the perfect day.
It is a blessed privilege we enjoy to come together in the capacity of a general conference. Let us be glad and rejoice, seeking the blessing of God upon us, that our services may be conducted in a way that shall be according to His mind and will; that instructions may be given unto us that shall be edifying and profitable to all.
If the Saints shall be of one heart and mind, I will venture to say that there will be dispensed unto us that which will furnish edification and spiritual food to every soul that has come hungry, expecting to be fed. I wish to impress upon the minds of the Saints that if all is not just as well as we would like to have it, our enemies can do no more than our heavenly Father permits them to do. He has undertaken a work in which He has said that He will make wisdom of the wise to perish, and the understanding of the prudent He will bring to naught. We know He has done so in times that are past; we have every reason to believe that He will carry on His work to a successful completion, triumph over all the works of darkness, and prepare the earth for the reign of peace, the time which the Saints, ancient and modern, are all looking forward to, with anticipations of eternal joy. The dawn of that day has come; the light of heaven has begun to shine upon the benighted earth; the morning of the great millennium has begun to be seen; its light is tinging the horizon through all the clouds of persecution which lower about us, and we should be making the necessary preparations for the great work while the day lasts; the work which not only pertains to ourselves who are living, but our friends who are dead as well.
If we will but purify ourselves by disfellowshipping sin from among us, and so live as to render ourselves acceptable unto God, He will hasten His work, and will bring it about in His own way and according to the counsels of His own will by cutting it short in righteousness.
Apostle John W. Taylor
complimented the people of Provo on the excellent character of the building in which the Conference was held. He was glad to see that, notwithstanding this was the first meeting of the general gathering, there was such a full attendance. The meetings of the Saints were larger and more interesting since the present legal persecutions began. This was a gratifying result. It was a matter of regret to see them renounce their religious principles and their families. It was, however, a matter of rejoicing that so many were so willing to stand by their covenants like men. The oppressions that were directed against the Church were necessary to cleanse it from those who were hypocritical and otherwise unworthy. Some process had been permitted by divine providence for the same purpose in every dispensation. This latter-day one had its peculiar means for that purpose. In reference to our leading men coming forward and accepting of the penalties and humiliation which their enemies were anxious to heap upon them, they had to be subject in these matters to the will of God. Their natural inclinations might lead them to thus present themselves to be taken within the power of their enemies, but they must be guided by what the Almighty manifests as his mind upon the subject. The First Presidency are Prophets, Seers and Revelators to the Church. Were it not so we, as a people would be the subjects of a delusion and a snare. But we know that this work is founded upon the principle of continuous revelation. The Holy Ghost is the medium of communication between divinity and humanity. The scriptures written by the power of that spirit, say that a wise man foreseeth an evil and escapes from it. The same authority says the fool takes a precisely opposite course. Noah, being possessed of the Holy Ghost foresaw the flood and prepared against the evil day. So with other prophets. It is by the power of the Spirit that a man knows that Jesus is the Christ. It cannot be known by any other power. Hence Paul says: “No man can say that Jesus is the Christ except by the Holy Ghost.” That is, he cannot say so truthfully. Yet the people of the world who are religious will claim to be possessed of the Holy Ghost, yet deny the necessity or existence of prophets, notwithstanding that those who possess that power are prophets. While denying the spirit of prophecy they claim to have the Holy Ghost, which is the same. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. The speaker here testified to his knowledge of the fact that the First Presidency were guided by the power of the Holy Ghost, being directed by revelation from Jesus Christ. He related a number of instances, furnished by the scriptures, showing that holy men of various ages and dispensations had taken a similar course. Let it be known that God had revealed to the First Presidency that it was well for them to keep out of the way for a season. Those who have the testimony of Jesus will know that this is the case, for this is their privilege.
complimented the people of Provo on the excellent character of the building in which the Conference was held. He was glad to see that, notwithstanding this was the first meeting of the general gathering, there was such a full attendance. The meetings of the Saints were larger and more interesting since the present legal persecutions began. This was a gratifying result. It was a matter of regret to see them renounce their religious principles and their families. It was, however, a matter of rejoicing that so many were so willing to stand by their covenants like men. The oppressions that were directed against the Church were necessary to cleanse it from those who were hypocritical and otherwise unworthy. Some process had been permitted by divine providence for the same purpose in every dispensation. This latter-day one had its peculiar means for that purpose. In reference to our leading men coming forward and accepting of the penalties and humiliation which their enemies were anxious to heap upon them, they had to be subject in these matters to the will of God. Their natural inclinations might lead them to thus present themselves to be taken within the power of their enemies, but they must be guided by what the Almighty manifests as his mind upon the subject. The First Presidency are Prophets, Seers and Revelators to the Church. Were it not so we, as a people would be the subjects of a delusion and a snare. But we know that this work is founded upon the principle of continuous revelation. The Holy Ghost is the medium of communication between divinity and humanity. The scriptures written by the power of that spirit, say that a wise man foreseeth an evil and escapes from it. The same authority says the fool takes a precisely opposite course. Noah, being possessed of the Holy Ghost foresaw the flood and prepared against the evil day. So with other prophets. It is by the power of the Spirit that a man knows that Jesus is the Christ. It cannot be known by any other power. Hence Paul says: “No man can say that Jesus is the Christ except by the Holy Ghost.” That is, he cannot say so truthfully. Yet the people of the world who are religious will claim to be possessed of the Holy Ghost, yet deny the necessity or existence of prophets, notwithstanding that those who possess that power are prophets. While denying the spirit of prophecy they claim to have the Holy Ghost, which is the same. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. The speaker here testified to his knowledge of the fact that the First Presidency were guided by the power of the Holy Ghost, being directed by revelation from Jesus Christ. He related a number of instances, furnished by the scriptures, showing that holy men of various ages and dispensations had taken a similar course. Let it be known that God had revealed to the First Presidency that it was well for them to keep out of the way for a season. Those who have the testimony of Jesus will know that this is the case, for this is their privilege.
Elder H. H. Cluff, of the Presidency of the Utah Stake,
announced that arrangements had been made for the people of Provo to entertain hospitably the visitors who had come from a distance.
Adjourned till half-past one o’clock.
The choir sang the anthem: Be glad in the Lord.
Closing prayer by Apostle Heber J. Grant.
announced that arrangements had been made for the people of Provo to entertain hospitably the visitors who had come from a distance.
Adjourned till half-past one o’clock.
The choir sang the anthem: Be glad in the Lord.
Closing prayer by Apostle Heber J. Grant.
Afternoon Session.
The choir sang: “Happy the man who finds the grace, The blessings of God’s chosen race.”
Prayer by Bishop O. F. Whitney.
“He died! the Great Redeemer died And Israel’s daughters wept around,” was sung by the choir.
The sacrament of the Lord’s supper was administered to the congregation.
The choir sang: “Happy the man who finds the grace, The blessings of God’s chosen race.”
Prayer by Bishop O. F. Whitney.
“He died! the Great Redeemer died And Israel’s daughters wept around,” was sung by the choir.
The sacrament of the Lord’s supper was administered to the congregation.
Elder B. H. Roberts addressed the assemblage.
There are many things under existing circumstances to cause us to rejoice in the loving kindness of our Heavenly Father. We can gather strength from our present situation. There are other things connected with our surroundings, however, that cause us much anxiety. So far as the final triumph of the Kingdom of God is concerned there can be no question in the minds of the Latter-day Saints. The purposes of God will be accomplished. The puny strength of man will be incompetent to cope with the strength of Jehovah, whose purposes shall be brought to a successful issue. It is not that that is a cause of anxiety with the Saints. There are things, however, that should arouse them to more watchfulness to stay the progress of evils existing in the community. A recent tour of the Territory under the auspices of the improvement societies has exhibited the condition of the young people especially. Those acquainted with the young of this community cannot help but admire characteristics manifested by them. The speaker had seen many of them under trying circumstances in the Southern Mission. It had led him to appreciate their manhood, their lack of hypocrisy and guile. Thousands of them have set their faces as a flint for the maintenance of truth as incorporated in the work of God. While their educational attainments may not generally be great, yet they possess the characteristics that constitute the foundation of true greatness. This is the case with them as a rule. But while the majority of them are of the class described, there are still many of them who are not converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Perhaps the number of this latter class is greater than many would be willing to admit. Perhaps the cause of this condition is because sufficient attention has not been given by the parents and others to the subject of clearly explaining to them what are called the first principles of the Gospel—faith, repentance, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, the reception of the Holy Ghost, temperance, virtue, charity and godliness. Those who received the Gospel in various parts of the earth were plainly and diligently taught upon all those subjects, and why should not the youth within the Church to a larger extent than now. Those who were indoctrinated in those principles gathered to these valleys, that, in addition to the spiritual advantages accruing from obedience to the Gospel they might lay a foundation for temporal benefits. It is a question whether, in building up in temporalities some of the weightier matters of the law were not almost lost sight of. The promise given through the voice of prophecy was that the Saints were to gather for the purpose of being taught in the ways of the Lord that they might walk in His paths. This regenerative work has to be done by pastors who should feed the people with understanding. Perhaps the teachings given by the servants of the Most High had not been acted upon with sufficient strictness. Much is said about the sacredness of the family relationship. This is a favorite theme with the people of the world, yet their family obligations are only formed for time. How much more sanctity should be attached to home and the domestic circle by the Saints, than can possibly be connected with it in the minds of others. Their associations are founded upon an eternal basis. The Saints are organized from youth to age, in various forms, for the general weal. Yet all organizations pale in point of importance before that of home. It is there where the young could be most carefully and effectually instructed in the principles of eternal life. A grave responsibility rests somewhere upon the subject. During the winter months there is a great part of the time when there is no physical employment for the young men. They are consequently induced to leave the restraints of home and seek work elsewhere. Others go into the mines and other places in summer, make a little money and return to the settlements in winter, where they spend the time in idleness, and thus lead aimless lives, without any proper object ahead of them. Parents and others should, when there is no physical work for them to perform, seek by every available means to induce them to explore the fields of knowledge that by wide information the range of their usefulness may be expanded. The speaker dwelt for some time upon the responsibilities resting upon those of all ages who held the Priesthood, and the results of not discharging the important duties connected with their positions. He read from a revelation in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants showing the displeasure of the Lord against idleness, the disobedience of children, and the existence of the spirit of greediness. These evils in the past had caused judgment to fall upon the people. The position of the Almighty upon that subject was unchanged. The sooner we sanctify our hearts, as Latter-day Saint, the earlier will the dark clouds now hovering over the Church be cleared away, and the sunshine of peace and prosperity beam upon it. The Saints will be scourged and punished, by a loving Father in Heaven, until they are purified.
There are many things under existing circumstances to cause us to rejoice in the loving kindness of our Heavenly Father. We can gather strength from our present situation. There are other things connected with our surroundings, however, that cause us much anxiety. So far as the final triumph of the Kingdom of God is concerned there can be no question in the minds of the Latter-day Saints. The purposes of God will be accomplished. The puny strength of man will be incompetent to cope with the strength of Jehovah, whose purposes shall be brought to a successful issue. It is not that that is a cause of anxiety with the Saints. There are things, however, that should arouse them to more watchfulness to stay the progress of evils existing in the community. A recent tour of the Territory under the auspices of the improvement societies has exhibited the condition of the young people especially. Those acquainted with the young of this community cannot help but admire characteristics manifested by them. The speaker had seen many of them under trying circumstances in the Southern Mission. It had led him to appreciate their manhood, their lack of hypocrisy and guile. Thousands of them have set their faces as a flint for the maintenance of truth as incorporated in the work of God. While their educational attainments may not generally be great, yet they possess the characteristics that constitute the foundation of true greatness. This is the case with them as a rule. But while the majority of them are of the class described, there are still many of them who are not converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Perhaps the number of this latter class is greater than many would be willing to admit. Perhaps the cause of this condition is because sufficient attention has not been given by the parents and others to the subject of clearly explaining to them what are called the first principles of the Gospel—faith, repentance, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, the reception of the Holy Ghost, temperance, virtue, charity and godliness. Those who received the Gospel in various parts of the earth were plainly and diligently taught upon all those subjects, and why should not the youth within the Church to a larger extent than now. Those who were indoctrinated in those principles gathered to these valleys, that, in addition to the spiritual advantages accruing from obedience to the Gospel they might lay a foundation for temporal benefits. It is a question whether, in building up in temporalities some of the weightier matters of the law were not almost lost sight of. The promise given through the voice of prophecy was that the Saints were to gather for the purpose of being taught in the ways of the Lord that they might walk in His paths. This regenerative work has to be done by pastors who should feed the people with understanding. Perhaps the teachings given by the servants of the Most High had not been acted upon with sufficient strictness. Much is said about the sacredness of the family relationship. This is a favorite theme with the people of the world, yet their family obligations are only formed for time. How much more sanctity should be attached to home and the domestic circle by the Saints, than can possibly be connected with it in the minds of others. Their associations are founded upon an eternal basis. The Saints are organized from youth to age, in various forms, for the general weal. Yet all organizations pale in point of importance before that of home. It is there where the young could be most carefully and effectually instructed in the principles of eternal life. A grave responsibility rests somewhere upon the subject. During the winter months there is a great part of the time when there is no physical employment for the young men. They are consequently induced to leave the restraints of home and seek work elsewhere. Others go into the mines and other places in summer, make a little money and return to the settlements in winter, where they spend the time in idleness, and thus lead aimless lives, without any proper object ahead of them. Parents and others should, when there is no physical work for them to perform, seek by every available means to induce them to explore the fields of knowledge that by wide information the range of their usefulness may be expanded. The speaker dwelt for some time upon the responsibilities resting upon those of all ages who held the Priesthood, and the results of not discharging the important duties connected with their positions. He read from a revelation in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants showing the displeasure of the Lord against idleness, the disobedience of children, and the existence of the spirit of greediness. These evils in the past had caused judgment to fall upon the people. The position of the Almighty upon that subject was unchanged. The sooner we sanctify our hearts, as Latter-day Saint, the earlier will the dark clouds now hovering over the Church be cleared away, and the sunshine of peace and prosperity beam upon it. The Saints will be scourged and punished, by a loving Father in Heaven, until they are purified.
Apostle Heber J. Grant was the next speaker.
He hoped there would be a copious outpouring of the Holy Spirit during Conference. When we assemble and receive inspiration from God we are better prepared for the battle of life and the performance of all our duties. It is necessary to have an appetite for and to partake of spiritual food in order to grow in a knowledge of the truth. He could testify, with Brother Taylor, that the persecutions through which the Church is passing is having a good effect in stirring the Saints up to greater faithfulness. It has ever caused an awakening among those who were formerly lukewarm in the work. True, some who were supposed to be true have stepped aside from the path of integrity. But where one has done this many have stepped forward to fill up the ranks of the faithful, that the front presented might be unbroken. Nothing gives a man so much satisfaction as a knowledge that he is walking in accordance with the promptings of duty. Nothing creates greater misery than a departure from that line of action. This was exemplified in the cases of those who had shrunk from meeting an issue between religion and the world in the courts. He did not hesitate to say that those who suffered imprisonment and other similar conditions felt much better than those who failed at the trying moment. There is nothing dearer to the human heart than liberty. Most properly constituted men would rather sacrifice life than part with it. but a love of liberty should not be permitted to extinguish a determination to obey the commandments of God.
The speaker endorsed the remark of Brother Roberts regarding the duties of parents to children. Perhaps the revelation from which he quoted was not given the importance that necessarily attached to it. Brother Grant then read further from the same part of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. The quotation has special reference to the command of the Lord to parents to teach their children the principles of the Gospel, indicating that in cases where this duty is not performed the sins of the children rest largely upon the parents. Some people think that children should not be taught upon religious subjects until they grow to maturity and can choose for themselves. Such surely have not a firm testimony of the truth of the Gospel as revealed through Joseph Smith. Why should there be any hesitancy about teaching children that which is true? Young people cannot be expected to grow up and bear the fruits of the Gospel when the seeds of truth have not been sown in their minds. The revelation referred to in regard to children was given as a law to Zion and her stakes, and cannot be lightly treated with impunity. The speaker related an incident wherein a man attended to family prayers when he had visitors. His child asked him how it was that he only had prayers when he had company. That was the poorest kind of teaching to that man’s children, as it taught them that their father was a hypocrite. He prayed merely to be heard and thought well of by man, and not of God. There should be harmony between our professions and practices.
He hoped there would be a copious outpouring of the Holy Spirit during Conference. When we assemble and receive inspiration from God we are better prepared for the battle of life and the performance of all our duties. It is necessary to have an appetite for and to partake of spiritual food in order to grow in a knowledge of the truth. He could testify, with Brother Taylor, that the persecutions through which the Church is passing is having a good effect in stirring the Saints up to greater faithfulness. It has ever caused an awakening among those who were formerly lukewarm in the work. True, some who were supposed to be true have stepped aside from the path of integrity. But where one has done this many have stepped forward to fill up the ranks of the faithful, that the front presented might be unbroken. Nothing gives a man so much satisfaction as a knowledge that he is walking in accordance with the promptings of duty. Nothing creates greater misery than a departure from that line of action. This was exemplified in the cases of those who had shrunk from meeting an issue between religion and the world in the courts. He did not hesitate to say that those who suffered imprisonment and other similar conditions felt much better than those who failed at the trying moment. There is nothing dearer to the human heart than liberty. Most properly constituted men would rather sacrifice life than part with it. but a love of liberty should not be permitted to extinguish a determination to obey the commandments of God.
The speaker endorsed the remark of Brother Roberts regarding the duties of parents to children. Perhaps the revelation from which he quoted was not given the importance that necessarily attached to it. Brother Grant then read further from the same part of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. The quotation has special reference to the command of the Lord to parents to teach their children the principles of the Gospel, indicating that in cases where this duty is not performed the sins of the children rest largely upon the parents. Some people think that children should not be taught upon religious subjects until they grow to maturity and can choose for themselves. Such surely have not a firm testimony of the truth of the Gospel as revealed through Joseph Smith. Why should there be any hesitancy about teaching children that which is true? Young people cannot be expected to grow up and bear the fruits of the Gospel when the seeds of truth have not been sown in their minds. The revelation referred to in regard to children was given as a law to Zion and her stakes, and cannot be lightly treated with impunity. The speaker related an incident wherein a man attended to family prayers when he had visitors. His child asked him how it was that he only had prayers when he had company. That was the poorest kind of teaching to that man’s children, as it taught them that their father was a hypocrite. He prayed merely to be heard and thought well of by man, and not of God. There should be harmony between our professions and practices.
Prest. John D. T. McAllister of St. George Stake, was the next speaker.
He expressed pleasure at what he had heard, and said I hail from the south, where there are many living who practice what they preach—which is in accordance with the commandments of God. There are some erring ones in that region, but efforts are being made to win them back to the fold of Christ. In representing that Stake I have to say there is a good people there, and that the season is propitious. The floods of last year set a great many back in their temporal affairs, but they have not lost hope. Fifty miles below St. George the growing wheat is in the boot and the people are cutting their first crop of Lucerne. At St. George the people are placed at a disadvantage through not having their dam in the river rebuilt, but it is hoped that it will be in time to irrigate their crops.
We are not a perfect people, but we are striving to improve, and trust that we will be perfect some day. We hope to lay aside everything that offends in the sight of God. I do not think it looks well for a President of Stake or High Councilor to be smoking a pipe or chewing tobacco, but it would not do to use violence with a person for so indulging. Such persons should be labored with and shown their errors.
Since the opening of the spring there has been some frost at St. George, but up to within a few days the fruit prospects appeared to be uninjured. It has been a marvel with many how the people of that region manage to subsist. They trust in God and labor on, and though they do not succeed so well temporally as the residents of some other parts of the Territory, they live and hope to do so. Home industries should be encouraged among the people more than at present. The people of the south are being encouraged to raise more cotton and to take care of their wool and manufacture it at home instead of sending it abroad, that the people may be comparatively independent when Babylon shall fall. We have artisans of the best kind in this Territory, and they should be employed in their several lines, and required to work to the best advantage.
Though we have a Temple in the St. George Stake, and perhaps on that account ought all to be exemplary, there are some in that part who fail to pay their tithing and live up to their other duties, but on the whole they will compare with the people in other parts of the Territory. For people to be unfaithful and then expect to be admitted to the Temples to partake of all the blessings to be obtained thereof is unreasonable. It has been said that persons who fail to keep the Word of Wisdom should not be so admitted, but it has not been usual thus far to exclude persons for their failure to observe that law. The Lord chastens those whom He loves, and the chastening which the Saints are receiving may be a result of the Divine love and care, and calculated solely for their benefit.
He expressed pleasure at what he had heard, and said I hail from the south, where there are many living who practice what they preach—which is in accordance with the commandments of God. There are some erring ones in that region, but efforts are being made to win them back to the fold of Christ. In representing that Stake I have to say there is a good people there, and that the season is propitious. The floods of last year set a great many back in their temporal affairs, but they have not lost hope. Fifty miles below St. George the growing wheat is in the boot and the people are cutting their first crop of Lucerne. At St. George the people are placed at a disadvantage through not having their dam in the river rebuilt, but it is hoped that it will be in time to irrigate their crops.
We are not a perfect people, but we are striving to improve, and trust that we will be perfect some day. We hope to lay aside everything that offends in the sight of God. I do not think it looks well for a President of Stake or High Councilor to be smoking a pipe or chewing tobacco, but it would not do to use violence with a person for so indulging. Such persons should be labored with and shown their errors.
Since the opening of the spring there has been some frost at St. George, but up to within a few days the fruit prospects appeared to be uninjured. It has been a marvel with many how the people of that region manage to subsist. They trust in God and labor on, and though they do not succeed so well temporally as the residents of some other parts of the Territory, they live and hope to do so. Home industries should be encouraged among the people more than at present. The people of the south are being encouraged to raise more cotton and to take care of their wool and manufacture it at home instead of sending it abroad, that the people may be comparatively independent when Babylon shall fall. We have artisans of the best kind in this Territory, and they should be employed in their several lines, and required to work to the best advantage.
Though we have a Temple in the St. George Stake, and perhaps on that account ought all to be exemplary, there are some in that part who fail to pay their tithing and live up to their other duties, but on the whole they will compare with the people in other parts of the Territory. For people to be unfaithful and then expect to be admitted to the Temples to partake of all the blessings to be obtained thereof is unreasonable. It has been said that persons who fail to keep the Word of Wisdom should not be so admitted, but it has not been usual thus far to exclude persons for their failure to observe that law. The Lord chastens those whom He loves, and the chastening which the Saints are receiving may be a result of the Divine love and care, and calculated solely for their benefit.
Apostle F. D. Richards
complimented the Saints on the good order maintained during the meetings and the large attendance, and expressed a hope that the Saints would not feel to begrudge the period of the Conference in attending the meetings notwithstanding their work might seem to require their presence at home. He felt to promise them that they would lose nothing even in a temporal way by so doing, as the Lord would make their crops yield more abundantly for their willingness to make the sacrifice to serve and worship Him: and also promised that an epistle from the First Presidency would be read during the Conference.
The choir sang the anthem: “Lord now lettest thy servant depart in peace.”
Adjourned till to-day at 10 o’clock.
Prayer by Elder Jacob Gates.
complimented the Saints on the good order maintained during the meetings and the large attendance, and expressed a hope that the Saints would not feel to begrudge the period of the Conference in attending the meetings notwithstanding their work might seem to require their presence at home. He felt to promise them that they would lose nothing even in a temporal way by so doing, as the Lord would make their crops yield more abundantly for their willingness to make the sacrifice to serve and worship Him: and also promised that an epistle from the First Presidency would be read during the Conference.
The choir sang the anthem: “Lord now lettest thy servant depart in peace.”
Adjourned till to-day at 10 o’clock.
Prayer by Elder Jacob Gates.
Second Day. Morning Session. April 5th.
The choir sang: The time is night, that happy time, That long expected blessed day, When countless thousands of our race Shall dwell with Christ and Him obey.
Prayer by Apostle John W. Taylor.
Sing to the great Jehovah’s praise, All praise to Him belongs, Was sung by the choir.
The choir sang: The time is night, that happy time, That long expected blessed day, When countless thousands of our race Shall dwell with Christ and Him obey.
Prayer by Apostle John W. Taylor.
Sing to the great Jehovah’s praise, All praise to Him belongs, Was sung by the choir.
Elder John Nicholson
was the first speaker. He alluded to his recent imprisonment for five months in the Utah Penitentiary, and described the general condition of the brethren confined there. They were filled with the spirit of peace and reduced the precepts of the Gospel to practice by being considerate toward each other and all their fellow prisoners. He showed at some length—by relating illustrative circumstances of the past and present—how the existing situation was largely a repetition of what had occurred in past ages. The position of the Saints was clearly defined. The ground upon which they stood was not debatable. They must adhere to the principles of their faith, and maintain human freedom. He spoke for some time upon the suffering which resulted from the present controversy, which was carried on by the aggressors with mercilessness bordering upon barbarity. The hardships it entailed upon many innocent people were far-reaching. That brought upon those thrown into conspicuous view, such as the brethren thrown into prison, constituted but a fragment of it. Many hearts were pained and torn beyond description, and he wondered sometimes how it was that men could be found who could deliberately legislate to produce such deplorable effects upon the innocent, and the administration of the laws thus made was no less vicious and hateful than the measures themselves. Notwithstanding the causes the Saints had for complaint against those who perpetrated such cruelties upon them, they must not foster in their hearts a desire to inflict vengeance upon the perpetrators of the wrongs. They should follow Christ’s teaching and example and eliminate every sentiment of vindictiveness from their minds, for God had commanded his people to “forgive all men.” The speaker touched upon the heroism that had been thus far displayed by the women of the Church. It was worthy of all commendation. He advised his hearers, when they found sisters who were suffering in comparative solitude, to pour into their minds the balm of sympathy and appreciation, as they should not be made to feel as if the cold shoulder of neglect had been turned toward them. The Almighty purposed, by the trials through which they would pass, to teach His people a lesson in reference to trusting in Him that would never be effaced. They would yet be so encompassed about that there would be no natural visual appearance of a possible deliverance. Then would his salvation be exhibited in power. The impression that would then be made would last for all time and would enable those who survived the ordeal to trust in the Lord forever.
was the first speaker. He alluded to his recent imprisonment for five months in the Utah Penitentiary, and described the general condition of the brethren confined there. They were filled with the spirit of peace and reduced the precepts of the Gospel to practice by being considerate toward each other and all their fellow prisoners. He showed at some length—by relating illustrative circumstances of the past and present—how the existing situation was largely a repetition of what had occurred in past ages. The position of the Saints was clearly defined. The ground upon which they stood was not debatable. They must adhere to the principles of their faith, and maintain human freedom. He spoke for some time upon the suffering which resulted from the present controversy, which was carried on by the aggressors with mercilessness bordering upon barbarity. The hardships it entailed upon many innocent people were far-reaching. That brought upon those thrown into conspicuous view, such as the brethren thrown into prison, constituted but a fragment of it. Many hearts were pained and torn beyond description, and he wondered sometimes how it was that men could be found who could deliberately legislate to produce such deplorable effects upon the innocent, and the administration of the laws thus made was no less vicious and hateful than the measures themselves. Notwithstanding the causes the Saints had for complaint against those who perpetrated such cruelties upon them, they must not foster in their hearts a desire to inflict vengeance upon the perpetrators of the wrongs. They should follow Christ’s teaching and example and eliminate every sentiment of vindictiveness from their minds, for God had commanded his people to “forgive all men.” The speaker touched upon the heroism that had been thus far displayed by the women of the Church. It was worthy of all commendation. He advised his hearers, when they found sisters who were suffering in comparative solitude, to pour into their minds the balm of sympathy and appreciation, as they should not be made to feel as if the cold shoulder of neglect had been turned toward them. The Almighty purposed, by the trials through which they would pass, to teach His people a lesson in reference to trusting in Him that would never be effaced. They would yet be so encompassed about that there would be no natural visual appearance of a possible deliverance. Then would his salvation be exhibited in power. The impression that would then be made would last for all time and would enable those who survived the ordeal to trust in the Lord forever.
Elder Seymour B. Young
addressed the congregation. He said he had been on a mission southward lately, to perform some labor in connection with the organization of the Seventies. He had attended a conference of St. Joseph Stake, Arizona, on March 20th and 21st. The meetings were well attended. The Spirit of God had been largely enjoyed. The facilities in that part of the country for new settlers were good, there being eligible tracts of land along the Gila River, to which water could be conveyed. He visited Maricopa Stake, and attended conference at Mesa City. A delightful part of the proceedings was the singing exercises performed by Indian brethren and sisters, rendered both in their own and the English language. The Twelve Apostles have shown excellent judgment in choosing the proper men to colonize and direct the energies of the people in those localities. The land is blessed by the Almighty, the labors of the Saints being rendered fruitful. Places heretofore barren soon bloom and produce the fruits of the earth.
God has established the nucleus of His kingdom upon the earth. This was a desert land, arid and uninviting, when the people who had covenanted to serve the Almighty gathered to it. Before its settlement, men acquainted with the character of the region predicted that no people could subsist in it. The earth has been divinely blessed and made fruitful, however, and the Saints have become a conspicuous and prosperous people. It is predicted by people who do not believe in the divinity of this work that the Saints must go to the wall in the present controversy. Another class who once were connected with the Church but have denied the faith state that the Saints went into transgression when they adopted as a divine revelation the law of celestial marriage. The speaker said that instead of the Lord exhibiting displeasure because of the acceptance of that law, its practice had resulted in greater manifestation of power, the present persecutions to the contrary notwithstanding.
Whatever may be the course pursued by our enemies we cannot afford to feel vengeful or vindictive toward them. We must from our hearts follow the example of Christ and say: “Father forgive them; they know not what they do.” They have a work to do as well as we, and God will turn it to the ultimate benefit of the righteous and his own glory. We cannot afford to step aside from our integrity because of opposition, but must in preference go to prison or even give up life itself should it be necessary to sustain a correct principle in that way.
addressed the congregation. He said he had been on a mission southward lately, to perform some labor in connection with the organization of the Seventies. He had attended a conference of St. Joseph Stake, Arizona, on March 20th and 21st. The meetings were well attended. The Spirit of God had been largely enjoyed. The facilities in that part of the country for new settlers were good, there being eligible tracts of land along the Gila River, to which water could be conveyed. He visited Maricopa Stake, and attended conference at Mesa City. A delightful part of the proceedings was the singing exercises performed by Indian brethren and sisters, rendered both in their own and the English language. The Twelve Apostles have shown excellent judgment in choosing the proper men to colonize and direct the energies of the people in those localities. The land is blessed by the Almighty, the labors of the Saints being rendered fruitful. Places heretofore barren soon bloom and produce the fruits of the earth.
God has established the nucleus of His kingdom upon the earth. This was a desert land, arid and uninviting, when the people who had covenanted to serve the Almighty gathered to it. Before its settlement, men acquainted with the character of the region predicted that no people could subsist in it. The earth has been divinely blessed and made fruitful, however, and the Saints have become a conspicuous and prosperous people. It is predicted by people who do not believe in the divinity of this work that the Saints must go to the wall in the present controversy. Another class who once were connected with the Church but have denied the faith state that the Saints went into transgression when they adopted as a divine revelation the law of celestial marriage. The speaker said that instead of the Lord exhibiting displeasure because of the acceptance of that law, its practice had resulted in greater manifestation of power, the present persecutions to the contrary notwithstanding.
Whatever may be the course pursued by our enemies we cannot afford to feel vengeful or vindictive toward them. We must from our hearts follow the example of Christ and say: “Father forgive them; they know not what they do.” They have a work to do as well as we, and God will turn it to the ultimate benefit of the righteous and his own glory. We cannot afford to step aside from our integrity because of opposition, but must in preference go to prison or even give up life itself should it be necessary to sustain a correct principle in that way.
The general report of the Deseret Sunday School Union was read by Bishop O. F. Whitney.
The following is a synopsis of it.
Number of schools reported, 397; increase during the year, 35; number of officers and teachers, 4,790 males and 3,190 females—total 7,980—an increase of 1,000 during the year; average attendance of officers and teachers, 5,883; number of pupils 24,533 males and 23,588 females—total, 48,121—an increase of 5,194 during the year; with an average attendance of 33,538. Number of theological classes, 308; Bible and Testament classes, 1,044; Book of Mormon classes, 498; Doctrine and Covenants classes, 211; Juvenile Instructor classes, 134; Catechism classes, 224; miscellaneous classes, 2,364; number of books in libraries, 38,884; funds on hand at close of last year; $1993.66; collected during the year, $7279.31; disbursed during the year, $6,896.47; amount in treasuries $2,376.50.
The choir sang the anthem, “Blessed be the Lord.” Adjourned till 2 o’clock. Prayer by President A. O. Smoot.
The following is a synopsis of it.
Number of schools reported, 397; increase during the year, 35; number of officers and teachers, 4,790 males and 3,190 females—total 7,980—an increase of 1,000 during the year; average attendance of officers and teachers, 5,883; number of pupils 24,533 males and 23,588 females—total, 48,121—an increase of 5,194 during the year; with an average attendance of 33,538. Number of theological classes, 308; Bible and Testament classes, 1,044; Book of Mormon classes, 498; Doctrine and Covenants classes, 211; Juvenile Instructor classes, 134; Catechism classes, 224; miscellaneous classes, 2,364; number of books in libraries, 38,884; funds on hand at close of last year; $1993.66; collected during the year, $7279.31; disbursed during the year, $6,896.47; amount in treasuries $2,376.50.
The choir sang the anthem, “Blessed be the Lord.” Adjourned till 2 o’clock. Prayer by President A. O. Smoot.
Afternoon Session.
Lo! The gentile chain is broken, Freedom’s banner waves on high. was sung by the choir.
Prayer by President Wm. W. Cluff, of Summit Stake.
The choir sang: Praise ye the Lord! ‘tis good to raise Your hearts and voices in His praise.
Lo! The gentile chain is broken, Freedom’s banner waves on high. was sung by the choir.
Prayer by President Wm. W. Cluff, of Summit Stake.
The choir sang: Praise ye the Lord! ‘tis good to raise Your hearts and voices in His praise.
Apostle John Henry Smith addressed the congregation.
He said he had arisen without having reflected as to the subject or topics upon which he should speak. The instructions given thus far during Conference have been of a character to encourage us in making efforts to keep the commandments of God. The testimonies that have been borne should cause those who have not yet obtained a knowledge for themselves of the truth of the work they are connected with to strive to gain that great boon. The times are pregnant with great lessons, which can be deduced from affairs abroad in the earth, and those at home. The existing condition ought to be a cause of rejoicing. The voice of jealousy is being hushed among us. The causes that would have tended to our segregation as a community are disappearing, while those which lead to a cementing of interests are increasing. Union is the necessary result of persecution. This is the opposite of the effect desired by those who resort to it. This work we are engaged in is but in infancy. The period of our existence is the epoch of patriotism. The fire of that sentiment which has characterized our fathers is being caught up by the children. In regard to the sufferings of those who have been placed in jeopardy and suffered imprisonment, they have created in them no spirit of fear. Such things but increase the desire of the true Latter-day Saint to act well his part to the end. Some people hold that it requires more heroism to meet death than to face those wrongs which are being heaped upon the community. He that suffers patiently the penalties placed upon him for sustaining conscientiously those principles he holds to be right is truly courageous. It is more difficult to act thus than in a moment of enthusiasm to sacrifice life in an important issue. The ends of the present struggle are not to be gained by giving up of life—although it should not be withheld should necessity demand. They are to be attained by a patient, patriotic, determined meeting of obstacles, and making self-denying sacrifices in life for the cause of truth. Occasionally weak people adopt the heroic method by throwing their lives in the balance by a resort to arms, and they are destroyed. History has exhibited this method of dealing with conflicting questions. How much more prolific of good has been the course of those who have confronted oppression with peaceful, yet not less determined means? The enemies of the Saints desire nothing more earnestly than that they should lay aside their peaceful and patient aspect and commit some overt act by a resort to physical force. It would form an excuse to attack them with the same means.
The feelings in the hearts of not a few of our young people are not what they should be. Perhaps this result has been produced by dereliction of duty on the part of parents. One of the principal sentiments that should be deeply imbedded in the minds of the young is a sacred regard for chastity. Moral purity should, in this community be esteemed as more to be prized than life. There are some members of the community who have become tainted with the evils which are dragging the world down upon the road to destruction. The necessity of keeping all the plain commands of God should be duly considered. There should be a strict regard for truth, falsehood being no part of the characteristics of a follower of Christ. But a sin of that description is more susceptible of correction than a breach of the laws of purity. No person who breaks his covenants by unchaste conduct can ever recover his original condition. Those who fail by the commission of such an offense can never fully wipe out the foul blot. It is a crime against which the flat of Jehovah has been hurled. Adultery, which casts men to perdition, stands next in point of infamy to murder. Of all earthly genius and powers, there is no faculty which God has given to man equal in point of desirability and excellence to that which enables him to beget his species. A special woe is pronounced against him who corrupts it. He who does so entails upon himself and others horrible consequences. All the young should be deeply impressed with the necessity for the preservation of personal purity. That crime, from the standpoint of a Latter-day Saint, stands next to the shedding of innocent blood. The murderer has not eternal life abiding in him. The youth should be careful in relation to the taking of life. This does not refer to one who slays the dealer of his wife, daughter or sister.
If any people on earth have exhibited charity to the human family, it has been the Latter-day Saints. They have traveled on land and sea to do good to others. This has been done while they have been trampled upon, abused, maltreated in every shape. This reception tendered to them has not quenched the desire in their hearts to do good to the people of the earth. So great has been the exhibition of this spirit that they have been driven five times from their homes. Yet never has a people shown less of a spirit of retaliation. The patience of the Saints has been tried to an extraordinary degree of late. The privacy of their home circles has been ruthlessly and brutally invaded. Tender women and children have been insulted, and sufferings have been heaped upon innocent people. The enemies of the Saints have blighted homes, spread terror and pain and sorrow. They have not done those things ignorantly. They have known what they have done. They do know what they are doing now. But while we are wronged we must not take into our hands the task of avenging ourselves upon those who are guilty of those things. We must feel that they are the the hands of God, and that we would do them good if it should be within our power.
The speaker concluded by an exhortation to the people to use an influence against the use of all profane language in the community. The elimination of this evil should be undertaken as a specialty labor by the Church—in the various stakes and wards. He also bore a strong testimony to the divine mission of Joseph Smith and the work of which he was the honored founder, and with which we have the honor of being identified.
He said he had arisen without having reflected as to the subject or topics upon which he should speak. The instructions given thus far during Conference have been of a character to encourage us in making efforts to keep the commandments of God. The testimonies that have been borne should cause those who have not yet obtained a knowledge for themselves of the truth of the work they are connected with to strive to gain that great boon. The times are pregnant with great lessons, which can be deduced from affairs abroad in the earth, and those at home. The existing condition ought to be a cause of rejoicing. The voice of jealousy is being hushed among us. The causes that would have tended to our segregation as a community are disappearing, while those which lead to a cementing of interests are increasing. Union is the necessary result of persecution. This is the opposite of the effect desired by those who resort to it. This work we are engaged in is but in infancy. The period of our existence is the epoch of patriotism. The fire of that sentiment which has characterized our fathers is being caught up by the children. In regard to the sufferings of those who have been placed in jeopardy and suffered imprisonment, they have created in them no spirit of fear. Such things but increase the desire of the true Latter-day Saint to act well his part to the end. Some people hold that it requires more heroism to meet death than to face those wrongs which are being heaped upon the community. He that suffers patiently the penalties placed upon him for sustaining conscientiously those principles he holds to be right is truly courageous. It is more difficult to act thus than in a moment of enthusiasm to sacrifice life in an important issue. The ends of the present struggle are not to be gained by giving up of life—although it should not be withheld should necessity demand. They are to be attained by a patient, patriotic, determined meeting of obstacles, and making self-denying sacrifices in life for the cause of truth. Occasionally weak people adopt the heroic method by throwing their lives in the balance by a resort to arms, and they are destroyed. History has exhibited this method of dealing with conflicting questions. How much more prolific of good has been the course of those who have confronted oppression with peaceful, yet not less determined means? The enemies of the Saints desire nothing more earnestly than that they should lay aside their peaceful and patient aspect and commit some overt act by a resort to physical force. It would form an excuse to attack them with the same means.
The feelings in the hearts of not a few of our young people are not what they should be. Perhaps this result has been produced by dereliction of duty on the part of parents. One of the principal sentiments that should be deeply imbedded in the minds of the young is a sacred regard for chastity. Moral purity should, in this community be esteemed as more to be prized than life. There are some members of the community who have become tainted with the evils which are dragging the world down upon the road to destruction. The necessity of keeping all the plain commands of God should be duly considered. There should be a strict regard for truth, falsehood being no part of the characteristics of a follower of Christ. But a sin of that description is more susceptible of correction than a breach of the laws of purity. No person who breaks his covenants by unchaste conduct can ever recover his original condition. Those who fail by the commission of such an offense can never fully wipe out the foul blot. It is a crime against which the flat of Jehovah has been hurled. Adultery, which casts men to perdition, stands next in point of infamy to murder. Of all earthly genius and powers, there is no faculty which God has given to man equal in point of desirability and excellence to that which enables him to beget his species. A special woe is pronounced against him who corrupts it. He who does so entails upon himself and others horrible consequences. All the young should be deeply impressed with the necessity for the preservation of personal purity. That crime, from the standpoint of a Latter-day Saint, stands next to the shedding of innocent blood. The murderer has not eternal life abiding in him. The youth should be careful in relation to the taking of life. This does not refer to one who slays the dealer of his wife, daughter or sister.
If any people on earth have exhibited charity to the human family, it has been the Latter-day Saints. They have traveled on land and sea to do good to others. This has been done while they have been trampled upon, abused, maltreated in every shape. This reception tendered to them has not quenched the desire in their hearts to do good to the people of the earth. So great has been the exhibition of this spirit that they have been driven five times from their homes. Yet never has a people shown less of a spirit of retaliation. The patience of the Saints has been tried to an extraordinary degree of late. The privacy of their home circles has been ruthlessly and brutally invaded. Tender women and children have been insulted, and sufferings have been heaped upon innocent people. The enemies of the Saints have blighted homes, spread terror and pain and sorrow. They have not done those things ignorantly. They have known what they have done. They do know what they are doing now. But while we are wronged we must not take into our hands the task of avenging ourselves upon those who are guilty of those things. We must feel that they are the the hands of God, and that we would do them good if it should be within our power.
The speaker concluded by an exhortation to the people to use an influence against the use of all profane language in the community. The elimination of this evil should be undertaken as a specialty labor by the Church—in the various stakes and wards. He also bore a strong testimony to the divine mission of Joseph Smith and the work of which he was the honored founder, and with which we have the honor of being identified.
Elder Jacob Gates
addressed the conference. He dwelt principally upon the introduction of the fulness of the Gospel of Christ through Joseph Smith the Prophet, and the organization of the Church 56 years ago. He referred to the predictions of the Prophets in reference to the establishment of the latter-day work of the Lord, showing their fulfillment in the travels and history of the Church. He predicted the final triumph of the work of God, through the power of truth. He bore testimony that the teachings and labors of the Prophet Joseph, his brother Hyrum and others—he having been acquainted with them—were true and faithful.
addressed the conference. He dwelt principally upon the introduction of the fulness of the Gospel of Christ through Joseph Smith the Prophet, and the organization of the Church 56 years ago. He referred to the predictions of the Prophets in reference to the establishment of the latter-day work of the Lord, showing their fulfillment in the travels and history of the Church. He predicted the final triumph of the work of God, through the power of truth. He bore testimony that the teachings and labors of the Prophet Joseph, his brother Hyrum and others—he having been acquainted with them—were true and faithful.
Bishop John Q. Cannon, of the Presiding Bishopric of the Church, was the concluding speaker.
He alluded to the persecutions to which the Saints were subjected. He contended, however, that these conditions were compensated for by the increase of the power of God in the midst of the people and the many blessings that God was, in His loving kindness, bestowing upon the Saints. The educational character of the Gospel and the necessity of paying particular attention to the training of the young were points specially dwelt upon by the speaker. He held that the youth should be gradually trained, step by step, in the exercise of the powers and duties of the Priesthood. The duties of the lesser branch were particularly emphasized. He bore testimony that the Lord had set his hand to accomplish his purposes, and that they would be attained, and exhorted the Saints to envelop themselves in the cloak of His Spirit.
He alluded to the persecutions to which the Saints were subjected. He contended, however, that these conditions were compensated for by the increase of the power of God in the midst of the people and the many blessings that God was, in His loving kindness, bestowing upon the Saints. The educational character of the Gospel and the necessity of paying particular attention to the training of the young were points specially dwelt upon by the speaker. He held that the youth should be gradually trained, step by step, in the exercise of the powers and duties of the Priesthood. The duties of the lesser branch were particularly emphasized. He bore testimony that the Lord had set his hand to accomplish his purposes, and that they would be attained, and exhorted the Saints to envelop themselves in the cloak of His Spirit.
Apostle F. D. Richards
announced that the Epistle of the First Presidency had been received and would be read on Tuesday morning, also that a Priesthood meeting would be held in the evening.
The choir sang an anthem Thine, O Lord is the greatness.
Elder S. W. Richards pronounced the benediction.
announced that the Epistle of the First Presidency had been received and would be read on Tuesday morning, also that a Priesthood meeting would be held in the evening.
The choir sang an anthem Thine, O Lord is the greatness.
Elder S. W. Richards pronounced the benediction.
Third Day. Morning Session. Tuesday, April 6th.
The choir sang: What was witnessed in the heavens? Why, an angel earthward bound. Had he something with him bringing? Yes—the Gospel—joyful sound.
Prayer by Bishop David H. Cannon.
God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform, was sung by the choir.
The choir sang: What was witnessed in the heavens? Why, an angel earthward bound. Had he something with him bringing? Yes—the Gospel—joyful sound.
Prayer by Bishop David H. Cannon.
God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform, was sung by the choir.
“The Epistle of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in General Conference assembled,” was read by Bishop Orson F. Whitney.
The reading was about half completed at the conclusion of the forenoon session.
The anthem, “Praise the Lord,” was sung by the choir.
Adjourned till 2 o’clock, with benediction by Apostle John Henry Smith.
The reading was about half completed at the conclusion of the forenoon session.
The anthem, “Praise the Lord,” was sung by the choir.
Adjourned till 2 o’clock, with benediction by Apostle John Henry Smith.
Afternoon Session.
The choir sang the hymn beginning: Behold the mountain of the Lord in latter days shall rise.
Prayer by Apostle Heber J. Grant was followed by the choir singing:
What wondrous things we now behold,
By Prophets seen in days of old.
The choir sang the hymn beginning: Behold the mountain of the Lord in latter days shall rise.
Prayer by Apostle Heber J. Grant was followed by the choir singing:
What wondrous things we now behold,
By Prophets seen in days of old.
The reading of the Epistle of the First Presidency was resumed and completed by Elder James E. Talmage.
An Epistle of the First Presidency
To the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in General Conference Assembled:
Dear Brethren and Sisters:
In the plentitude of God’s mercy the Saints are once again permitted in peace to assemble in General Conference to worship the Lord, to extol His goodness, to glorify His name, to hear His word, and to receive such instruction from His servants as the Holy Spirit shall dictate, as well as to transact such business pertaining to His Church as may be presented for their consideration. But as we, your brethren of the First Presidency, are, by the force of peculiar circumstances, deprived on this occasion of your society and you of ours, we deem it consistent with the duties of our calling to address you by letter, and in this way to lay before you that which under more favorable conditions we should have been pleased to have delivered orally.
In the first place, we extend our congratulations to you, as Latter-day Saints and members of the Church of Christ, that affairs with us are so favorable that so many can meet together as you do on this the fifty-sixth anniversary of the organization of the Church, in General Conference. Persecution has raged, and hideous wrongs have been and are being perpetrated against us as a Church, but thus far our enemies have not been permitted to go to such lengths as the persecutors of the people of God did in the days of the first Alma, when they put tasks upon his people and put taskmasters over them and put to death those whom they found calling upon God. Though many of us are deprived of the privilege of meeting together in public, yet a goodly number of you can assemble as you do this day and worship your God and listen to His word; and we all—prisoners, exiles and free—can call upon our God without danger of punishment therefor. Indeed, we need not go to the days of Alma for contrast between the condition of the people of God then and our present condition, to find causes for thanksgiving and praise to our God this day for His mercies unto us. We have only to refer to our own history, to scenes in which many of you have taken part, to find contrasts which should prompt us to bear our present afflictions with patient equanimity. Some of the Saints, perhaps, feel that their sufferings under the tyranny which is now exercised over us in the name of law are very severe, and they may ask how long shall these outrages he permitted to continue? But if they would understand how much worse our positions might be let them recall the scenes enacted in the State of Missouri, when the Latter-day Saints were driven by mob violence out of Jackson County into Clay County, and thence into Caldwell County, and finally were compelled to flee, in the depth of an inclement winter, out of the State, under an order of Lilburn W. Boggs, the Governor, which said “that the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State,” and this, too, after many of their number had been killed and the remainder had been robbed of nearly all the property they had in the world; or, recall the treatment the Latter-day Saints received in the State of Illinois, when, after murdering, in the most savage and heartless manner, and while under the pledged honor of the State, the President and Patriarch of the Church, and wounding almost to death one of the Twelve Apostles, mobs organized themselves, burned the houses of the Saints in the outer settlements, destroyed their property and drove them for their lives to the City of Nauvoo; and then, not content with this, brought the whole power of the State to bear upon them to compel them to leave that city and the State and to take refuge, stripped and destitute, in the wilderness where their enemies hoped internal dissensions, starvation or wild Indians would complete the work of destruction which they were not permitted to accomplish.
However grievous the wrongs under which we suffer to-day, there is much yet to be thankful for. Our land is filled with plenty. No cry of man or beast ascends from our borders to high heaven for the want of food; no beggars plead for alms in our streets, and of destitute soul has denied to him that sustenance necessary to supply his wants. And with these blessings on good food, comfortable raiment and sufficient shelter, we have the inestimable blessing of the peace of God, which He gives to every faithful Saint—peace in our hearts, peace in our habitations, peace in our settlements—a peace which the world cannot give, and which, thank the Lord, it cannot take away. Let your hearts, therefore, Brethren and Sisters, be filled with thanksgiving and praise to our God for His goodness and mercy unto us as a people. He has made promises concerning Zion; be assured He will not forget them. Zion may say, in the words of the Prophet Isaiah, “The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.”
But the Lord replies:
“Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.”
At no time has the Lord led His people to expect that they would not have to endure trials, or not have their faith fully tested.
Soon after this Church was organized His people were told: “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.” We scarcely need remind you that if you live godly in Christ Jesus, while Satan has power, you will suffer persecution.
In the providence of the Almighty persecution serves a most useful purpose. Every faithful Saint mush perceive and acknowledge this. Each one feels its effect upon himself: he sees its effect upon his friends and neighbors. Persecution develops character. Under its influence we all know ourselves better than we did before we felt its pressure; and we discover traits in our brethren and sisters of the existence of which, perhaps, we were in entire ignorance. The persecution from which we have been suffering during these eighteen months past, though very painful, has not been without pride to the Latter-day Saints. It has strengthened and infused new zeal, courage and determination into the faithful. It has also caused many who were careless and indifferent to arouse themselves from their lethargy and to renew their diligence in the work of God. It has also brought to light the hypocrisy of many, and caused them to throw off the mask of friendship and fellowship which they wore and to exhibit themselves in their true lineaments. But it is upon the young of our community that has been most marked. Many of the young of both sexes, when all was peace and no war was made upon their parents and friends, seemed to be of the opinion that they could, without any danger to themselves or their faith, be in full fellowship with the world. The names Latter-day Saint and Gentile were alike to them. They appeared to see no reason why they could not be on terms of perfect friendship with both classes. Every Latter-day Saint of experience knows how dangerous it is for children to stand upon this ground. But from this delusive dream they have been awakened by the rude shock of this persecution. The line of demarcation between the Latter-day Saints and the world has been drawn so sharp and distinct that they find themselves (unless they become open apostates) compelled to take sides with their parents and friends; and the difference between their religion and that which is opposed to it is brought home to their hearts and consciences with a force never before known to them. This persecution is driving the rising generation together with surprising compactness. It is making impressions upon the youngest children of the community which the lapse of years can never obliterate. They are learning the truth of the words of the Savior by the painful experience which our enemies are now giving them. “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”
The Lord has said, that the wrath of man shall be made to praise Him, and in this attack which is being made upon us and our religion we see this verified. Our enemies have designed to destroy the work of god. For this they plot and toil and descend to the depths of infamy. So absorbed are they in their wicked schemes, and so bent upon carrying them into effect, that they fail to look beyond the immediate acts which they perform and perceive the consequences which follow. They harass, annoy and torment men, women and children; they compel men and women to conceal themselves to escape from their cruelties and injustice and tyrannical abuse of power; and they consign other men and women to prison; and from these proceedings they derive great satisfaction, as they look upon them as so many evidences of their success in sapping the foundation of the Church of God and in uprooting our religion. We need not say to you, who have so often witnessed the effects of persecution upon our religion and Church, how fallacious are these hopes of our present persecutors. Instead of crushing the truth, they are advertising it; instead of showing the world how unworthy and contemptible we are, they are, unwittingly, furnishing us with opportunities to exhibit the heroic qualities we possess; instead of weakening or unsettling the minds of true Latter-day Saints, they are stimulating their faith and supplying them with additional proofs of the divinity of their religion. They would have the world believe that we are low, sensual, ignorant and degraded, that our religion is a system of lust; but the thinking people of the world know that there is no necessity to endure that which the Latter-day Saints are now enduring to gratify lustful appetites or desires. Licentious, depraved men and women would not suffer such treatment as Federal officials are now extending to us, and bear all manner of indignities and go unmurmuringly to prison, if they were assured, as we are, by courts and prosecuting officers that the war is against our marriages and not against sensuality if indulged in according to popular methods.
This persecution attracts the attention of the world. Its disgraceful features may be concealed for a while from public knowledge, through the lies so industriously propagated by those who are its promoters and instruments; but the truth concerning it is coming to light. For a while the feeling among those ignorant of our true character may have been one of indifference as to our fate, or to any treatment we might receive. As the persecution continues the truth leaks out by degrees. Men and women hear that scores of men, rather than accept the alternative of renouncing their wives and children, pay heavy fines and costs and go cheerfully for long, weary months to prison; and that delicate women, too, rather than betray their husbands and by their testimony involve them in the tolls of their persecutors, go willingly to the penitentiary where the greatest criminals are confined. Thinking people read of these proceedings, and their former indifference gives place to interest. But while we acknowledge the hand of the Lord in these wicked acts of our enemies, they are not relieved from the condemnation which will follow them. They would deny us our rights as citizens, and they talk about us and act towards us as though we were not entitled to any such rights; but this is mere impudent assumption and claptrap on their part. We have rights. We were born free men and women, and it is a duty we owe to ourselves and our posterity and to all the people of this land that we should contend for and maintain the principles of freedom and transmit them unimpaired and undiminished to those who follow us. We do not ask for this freedom as a favor; we demand it as a right. We are as much entitled to the full rights of citizenship in these mountains as any other citizens who dwell under the flag of the Republic. Under any and all circumstances we are their peers.
Such trials as the Latter-day Saints now undergo in the courts in these Territories are not the trials of ordinary vulgar criminals. However much those who figure as prosecutors, judges or jurors in these cases may scheme and plot and falsify to reduce them to this level, and to fix the brand of criminality or the stigma of infamy upon our conduct, they cannot deceive the world. This which we are now passing through is to all intents and purposes a religious persecution and nothing else. It will yet be recognized as such by the whole word. Its hideous features, its atrocious character, its travesties of justice, cannot be concealed by any amount of falsification or disguise. Already men are beginning to understand the motives and objects of those who are engaged in it, and history will set its seal of condemnation upon it and them, and it will yet stand as an ineffaceable blot upon the boasted civilization and liberty of our generation.
The scenes which we are now witnessing in this Territory are the results of a deep-laid and carefully planned conspiracy, which has been in process of formation for years. Its originators knew the elements they had to deal with, and by cunning contrivance they have effected a wonderful combination. Religious and irreligious, ministers in sacerdotal robes and atheistic scoffers, business men of integrity and blacklegs, temperance men and drunkards, men of strict morality and pimps and harlots, are crowded together on the platform they have constructed, and they had no inconvenience from each others companionship. Each is made to believe that it is to his direct interest to combine and destroy “Mormonism.” A more motley collection of human beings was never witnessed. Differ as they may upon everything else, there has been one common thought and purpose running through the whole and holding them together, and that is hatred of the religion of the Latter-day Saints and a determination to destroy it and them. The conspirators have appealed to the prejudices of each one to induce him to work in concert for this common end. In the ministers they have found ready and willing dillies; in fact, these have been the chief authors and promoters of the conspiracy. The Pharisees in the days of the Savior were no more ready to egg the multitude on to cry out “Crucify him, crucify him,” than many of the ministers of our time are to urge Congress to enact measures for our destruction. It is now some years since the sectarian ministers here (with the exception of the Catholic clergymen) combined in a document to Congress, urging that body to legislate against us.
This action they have often repeated since. Destitute of confidence in their own religious systems and their power to cope with the truth which we possess without aid from the secular power, they make the air resound with the clamors for Congress to pass laws to crush us and our religion. They enlist men of their cloth elsewhere in the same unchristian business. It is only a few months since, and at the time the whole machinery of the courts here was being used most savagely in sending men, and women also, to prison on account of their religion, that a deputation of these professed teachers of the doctrines of the crucified Redeemer called upon President Cleveland and presented a memorial signed by upwards of a thousand persons, and, it was said, by some of the most prominent divines in the country, earnestly urging him to enforce the anti-polygamy act! Could the old Pharisees have done any more?
But while the ministers engaged in the conspiracy through zeal for their own craft and sectarian hate, the moralist and the politician, the debauchee and the drunkard, were drawn into support of the plot by appeals to their interests. The cry of polygamy has made a good battle cry: this has called the fanatical element into line; but underneath and above this question of polygamy, and completely enveloping it, has been the design to destroy our rights as citizens, to take away from us our liberties under the Constitution and the laws, and to obtain the political control of our country, so that, being as voiceless in the affairs of government as the Indians or Chinese, we could be taxed and plundered with impunity, and be lorded over by a set of political harpies who would revel and fatten at our expense. This has been, and still is, the object of all the outcry raised against us, of the innumerable falsehoods with which the public journals have teemed, of the constant appeals to Congress to legislate against us and of all the outrages in the name of law inflicted upon us by the courts. The same covetousness and envy that led mobs to band themselves together to drive us from our former homes are the sentiments which prompt the present attack upon us and our liberties. Then mobs acted openly and defiantly, regardless of law; now the policy is a more subtle one; it is to reach the same ends under the shelter and pretense of law. It meant robbery and the deprivation of rights under the old system; under it the new tactics means the stealing of the political control of the country, to be followed by rapine and spoliation.
Trace up the acts of the conspirators from the treason of the Governor in setting aside the will of the people and his usurpation of the powers of the National House of Representatives, in pronouncing upon the qualifications of one of its members, and giving a certificate of election as Delegate to Congress to a man whom the people had rejected, down through the greater part of the proceedings of the courts, and especially the conduct of the Governor during the last two sessions of the Legislative Assembly, and irrefragable evidences of conspiracy against the liberties of the people are apparent at every step. Every act of the conspirators is consistent with every other act to make their plot a success. While engaged in this nefarious business, they throw dust in the eyes of the nation by making an outcry against polygamy—as if they cared anything about our marriages—in order to conceal and accomplish their deeper design.
The most active tools in this conspiracy have been some of the Federal officials. Their positions have given them opportunities which they have been willing to avail themselves of. The preamble of the Constitution of the United States assigns as reasons why it was framed: “To form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” Most excellent reasons for framing such a charter of liberty, and every officer who acts under it should keep these objects in view. But many of the officers sent here have acted as though they were determined that none of these blessings for which the Constitution was framed should reach us. The sanctity of home, the liberty of the person, the modesty of maidenhood, have all been wantonly violated in the effort to punish the Latter-day Saints for their integrity to God and His laws. Instead of seeking to establish justice and insure domestic tranquility, they have sought to array neighbor against neighbor, friend against friend, brother against brother, wife against husband and children against parents, and to loosen and destroy all the bonds which bind man to his fellow-man. Their mission has not been to build up and cement society, but to tear down and break it up. They have taken delight in their efforts to sow dissension and strife, to tempt wives to betray their husbands and to induce husbands, by threats of severe punishment if they refused to comply with their wishes, to disown and forsake their wives, and to discard and bastardize their offspring, and to turn loose, as forlorn outcasts, those whom they have solemnly covenanted to provide for and protect. When these officials commenced their attack upon us and our religion they found our homes filled with love and affection—husbands and fathers devoted to their wives and children, and doing all in their power to make them comfortable and happy; wives and mothers contented and at peace, honoring their husbands and proud of their relationship to them; and children whose respect and obedience testified to the reverence and esteem in which they held their parents. Husbands and wives and children dwelt together without compulsion or coercion. Nowhere on all this broad earth, where matrimonial ties are held to have binding effect, did such complete liberty exist as among the Latter-day Saints. It is true, wives were sealed to husbands by the eternal Priesthood of the Almighty, for time and all eternity; but this union in the first place was only made possible by love, and by love the tie is perpetuated. Women knew their rights, and they knew that they could not be compelled to live with an unworthy man. Happiness reigned in our homes, because freedom reigned there, and all had their full agency. No better proof of this need be addressed than the fact that in the midst of all this persecution, and the many inducements there are offered to women and men to dissolve their family relationships, but few men have accepted the proffered terms and discarded their wives; and to the honor of our sisters be it said, not one woman that we know of up to the present writing has broken her marriage vow and dissolved her relations with her husband and children.
Yet it is to the destruction of these happy homes that all the efforts of these officials have been directed. In the sacred name of law, and under the guise of a pretended desire to enforce it, they would convert this condition of society, so peaceful and so admirable, into a pandemonium. They have worked to this end with such malignant cunning, such heartless persistence and such unscrupulous disregard of the principles of justice as have no parallel in American history; and that they have not accomplished this result has not been for the want of effort on their part, but because God has been with His people and His Spirit has been poured out upon them to strengthen and sustain them.
No man-made system or organization could have withstood the concentrated hate and violent assaults which have been directed against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Division and weakness would have shown themselves, fatal breaches would have been made in the framework of the system, and the imprisonment or enforced concealment of the leading men would have been followed by a decay of faith and the disintegration of the organization. But the Lord, in establishing His Church, provided against such contingencies as these. He promises—and all have been urged to claim the fulfilment of the promise—that He would give to those who entered sincerely into covenant with Him, a testimony of the truth for themselves, and to bestow His Holy Spirit upon all. It is this promise and its fulfilment that to-day constitutes the strength of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Prophet Joseph Smith was once asked by a visitor to the city of Nauvoo, the good order and prosperity of which struck him with surprise, how it was that he governed the people so as to produce such admirable results. The memorable reply of the Prophet of God was: “I teach them correct principles and they govern themselves.” This was the secret of the good government at Nauvoo, and it is still the secret of the good order and freedom from strife and other evils which prevail among the Latter-day Saints in Utah and throughout all this mountain region where they have control. In what other community in the world could a governor, judges and other appointees act as these officials have done in Utah, without producing anarchy and the complete overthrow of all barriers which are erected for the protection of society and the rights of men? Our enemies are loud in their denunciation of the Priesthood and its influence upon the Latter-day Saints; but that violence and confusion do not reign in this fair Territory to-day is due to the teachings of that Priesthood and their influence upon the people who give heed to them. The people have been taught correct principles, and they govern themselves.
Do we overstate the truth when we say that every good, peaceably inclined citizen of Utah—Jew, Gentile and Mormon—would enjoy more peace and prosperity, more kindly feelings towards each other to-day if we had no Federal officials at all of the class of many who are now among us? When a governor introduces himself to the world and to the people he is sent to govern, in all his public utterances from the platform, and through the press, as the latter’s avowed and bitter enemy, and prostitutes the powers of his high office to defame, malign and injure them, would not the Territory be better without such an officer? When judges openly announce from the bench that a law which is general in its language is to be made special in its application, and so instruct attorneys and juries, and punish will all the severity possible one class of citizens under its provisions while notorious offenders of another class go scot free, and, not stopping at this, go on to the public platform and denounce with voluble and unbridled truculence the class of citizens whose cases they expect to come before them to decide upon—had not the temple of Justice better be closed awhile, than such judges should sit therein? Instead of seeking to insure domestic tranquility, these officers have fomented strife, they have fostered religious hate, they have embittered class against class, they have sought in every way possible to destroy that charity which should exist in every community composed of citizens of different religious and politics. They have adopted and enforced a policy of non-intercourse between citizens. A Gentile citizen who has dared to speak of or treat a “Mormon” citizen as a friend and associate has been denounced and ostracized, and an impassable gulf has been created between them.
Is it any wonder, then, while some of the principal officers sent here to govern and maintain law, are the people’s greatest enemies and the most deadly foes to law and order, that prejudice upon all questions affecting us and our Territory should prevail? Or that Congress should be induced, regardless of the Constitution and its guarantees, under the pressure brought to bear upon it by the incessant clamors and misrepresentation of this class to enact measures that would reach such a people as we are described to be? The Edmunds law was begotten by prejudice, conceived in ignorance and brought forth in hate. But its enforcement in these Territories is in the spirit of merciless severity and undiluted malice, and those who prosecute under it have not the excuse which a deceived and blinded Congress might plead for its enactment.
The officials here have gone far beyond the letter and spirit of the law itself and strained it for the purpose of inflicting punishment; this was conspicuously so in the case of Elder Lorenzo Snow, one of the Twelve Apostles, whose trial upon the evidence presented would undoubtedly have resulted in his acquittal had he been tried before a righteous judge and an unbiased jury. If any one fact was more clearly established than another at his trial, it was that he was innocent of any violation of the law as charged against him. But he is a prominent man—one of the Twelve Apostles—and could not be permitted to escape. His case is now on appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court at Washington. In order to have it put forward on the calendar, he surrendered himself to the officers, and is now in the penitentiary. The court has fixed a day when his case will be heard; and, as in every case that has gone to Washington, we hope notwithstanding previous disappointments, that this will receive favorable consideration. It is of such trials as his—and his is but a sample of many others—that we justly complain. The law, as it passed Congress, was harsh and cruel and sufficiently destructive of our rights and liberties to satisfy the implacable author, but by packing grand and petit juries with jurors who are selected expressly because they are the pronounced opponents of the accused and their religion—by strained constructions of the law—by extraordinary rulings framed to suit each case without regard to preceding rulings on the same points—and by charges to juries which amount to direct instructions to convict, this law is made an instrument of the most frightful wrong, and in the torture which it inflicts goes far beyond anything ever conceived of by the men who voted for its passage. It is to be remarked of many of the officers who enforce the law that they seem to take delight in the misery which they think it brings. As to justice in these courts as now constituted, and with the animus the officials manifest, it is out of the question. Every one knows before a trial commences what the sentence will be. Not one escapes, no matter how flimsy or insufficient the evidence may be, who is indicted if the prosecuting officer has made up his mind there shall be a conviction. He finds a willing judge and a pliant jury ready to execute his decree. As to mercy the adamantine heart of the prosecuting officer is impenetrable to the sentiment. If he decides that a victim shall be sacrificed the agony of wives, the burning tears of innocent and helpless children touch him with no pity and have no more effect upon him than if he were made of stone. Impudence and ferocity sit upon his brow. In all his proceedings he has a ready coadjutor in the judge of the third judicial district, who browbeats the accused and evinces an inhuman exultation in pronouncing sentence, his only regret being, as he has expressed himself, that the law does not permit him to inflict sentences of greater severity. When these men decide upon the punishment which an accused man shall have, neither the eloquent arguments of counsel, nor the insufficient of evidence, nor the scantiness of the law, is allowed to stand in the way of the pre-arranged sentence. If they decide upon one indictment or three, upon six or twelve, they have only to intimate to a grand jury that such is their wish and they can be gratified. The more distinguished the man the more certain his fate. No grand or petit jury has failed to find an indictment or a verdict against any man whom the prosecution and court have selected as a victim. The marshal, the prosecuting officers and the court, by the exclusion of all who have not been avowed enemies of the religion professed by the accused, and by the aid of the open venire, have been able to pack the juries to execute their will with unquestioning servility. Seeing, therefore, how useless it is to make defense, many of the accused have made none, but have plead guilty. In doing so they did not acknowledge the rightfulness of the law, nor the justice of the punishment; for they viewed the law as unconstitutional and destruction of religious liberty and the punishment as an act of persecution; but by pleading guilty they saved costs, and what was of still greater importance, they saved their wives and children the humiliation of going into the witness stand and being plied with indecent questions by the brutal prosecutors. The majority of the accused, however, have felt it to be a duty to contest every inch of the ground and to let the world see how utterly destitute of justice these courts are in their treatment of these cases. For this reason they have suffered their families to be exposed to the rudeness of deputy marshals and the insolence of prosecuting attorneys; though to have saved their loved ones from these indignities they would otherwise have been willing to endure the full punishment of the court for the offense with which they were charged.
Against the brutalities, usurpations and falsehoods of men dressed in a little brief authority, we have appealed and apparently, until quite lately, appealed in vain. Our request has been a very modest one; it was simply that the wrongs under which we were suffering might be investigated; but investigation as the last thing that the foes to our liberties desired. A few weeks since our sisters followed in the wake of the brethren and in mass meeting assembled, at Salt Lake City, offered the same simple petition, sent up the same fervid cry for investigation, that the truth might be known and the real facts of the situation be made public. In their memorial to the President and Congress of the United States, they very consistently, and with the best grace in the world, modestly asked as follows:
“We respectfully ask for a full investigation of Utah affairs. For many years our husbands, brothers and sons have appealed for this in vain. We have been condemned almost unheard. Everything reported to our detriment is received; our cries to be heard have been rejected. We plead for suspension of all measures calculated to deprive us of our political rights and privileges, and to harass, annoy and bring our people into bondage and distress, until a commission duly and specially authorized to make full inquiry into the affairs of this Territory, has investigated and reported.”
Is there anything unwise, imprudent or un-American in this? Do we injure man, woman or child by such a request? Are any person’s rights or liberties jeopardized or infringed upon by such a demand? We answer unhesitatingly, No! We simply ask for our own. Will not our fellow citizens grant it? We desire to infringe upon no one, in person or property, in rights or liberties, in privileges or immunities. All we ask is that they will grant us the same blessings they claim for themselves, and, if granted, we shall be abundantly satisfied.
Our sisters have had ample reason for their remonstrances and petitions. No where else on this broad land have the officers of the law treated women with the same indignity, inhumanity and indelicacy that they have in Utah and regions adjacent. Lady witnesses have been arrested, placed under heavy bonds, guarded by impure men, carried on long and unnecessary journeys at unseasonable hours of the night, harassed and perplexed by improper and, occasionally, indecent questions, and treated frequently as though they were criminals convicted of the blackest crimes. A number have been committed to the penitentiary for refusing to answer questions that reflected on their virtue, or tended to criminate those to whom they were joined by the most sacred ties of affection and duty. The first wives—those recognized by the law under which the officers were acting, as the legal wives—have, contrary to all precedent, been compelled to testify against their husbands. We do not mention this fact to draw any line of demarcation between the first and plural wives, if joined to their husbands by the eternal covenants of God’s house, all are alike honorable in His sight; His ordinances stamping their union as equally legal and lawful before Him. Their feelings are as acute, their affections as strong, their susceptibilities as delicate, one as the other. We simply mention this fact to show how utterly the judges and their aids ignore all precedents, ride over all well-established usages and make all things subservient—law or no law—to their effort, which, to use the expression of one of their leaders, uttered from the bench, is “to grind to powder” us and our institutions.
In Idaho Territory the usurpations of the officers have gone from bad to worse. They there out-Herod Herod in their disregard of the peoples’ liberties. One of the latest movements has in view the revocation of all certificates given to school teachers who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ, which means the placing of our children, by the help of our taxes, under the tuition of those who would gladly eradicate from their minds all love and respect for the faith of their fathers. The duty of our people under these circumstances is clear; it is to keep their children away from the influence of the sophisms of infidelity and the vagaries of the sects. Let them, though it may possibly be at some pecuniary sacrifice, establish schools taught by those of our faith, where, being free from the trammels of State aid, they can unhesitatingly teach the doctrines of true religion combined with the various branches of a general education. And in this connection permit us to urge upon the Saints in all the Stakes of Zion the necessity of caring well for the education of our youth. If we are to be a powerful people in the near future, wielding potent influence for good among the peoples of the earth, we must prepare ourselves for those responsibilities, and not expect that ignorance will avail us in that day; but a knowledge of true principle, of doctrine, of law, of the arts and sciences, as well as of the Gospel, will be urgently necessary to enable us to fulfill to God’s glory and the renovation of the world, the responsibilities which we believe will, by right of our calling, at that time be most assuredly ours.
If the threats which are uttered and the war that is made against the Latter-day Saints were made against any other people they would become unsettled and discouraged. A session of Congress has not been held, and scarcely a President’s message been published for years, without some threatening and inimical action or words against the majority of the people of Utah. But we have had this kind of opposition in various terms to contend with from the beginning. We should scarcely have built a house, planted a tree, opened a farm or formed a settlement if we had allowed menaces or attacks to have deterred us. We have had to live by faith, as all the just must do. The present prosecution should not be allowed to weaken us in our exertions to improve. We should live together in love; there should be union in every family circle, and harmony in every neighborhood and city. We should be cleanly in our persons, in our dress and in our habitations and surroundings. Industry should be habitual with the adults of our community, and the rising generation should be taught its lessons and be impressed with its value as a means of happiness. God has given us the earth as a dwelling place, and when mankind live as they should do, it is a delightful residence. It is our duty to adorn and beautify it—to make it so lovely and attractive that angels may condescend to visit it. We should, therefore, have fruitful farms, choice orchards, well arranged gardens, and if every dwelling is surrounded by flowers it will neither detract from its beauty in the eyes of visitors, nor make it less attractive as their home to the children of the household. In some quarters there has been ruinous neglect on the part of parents in making their homes attractive to their children. A well-ordered, lovely home, in which peace and good-will prevail, is a place of perpetual delight to those who reside there, whether old or young. Where such homes exist the young who live there are not found loafing at street corners or stores, or spending their time in gadding about from house to house and in improper company at late hours. Books and musical instruments are now so cheap as to be within the reach of the most humble. By furnishing means of instruction, amusement and enjoyment at home, parents can, by adding kind words and loving deeds, tie their children to them by bonds of affection that can never be broken; and in after years those children will think of that home as the brightest and dearest spot in their memories; in their minds it will always be surrounded by a heavenly halo.
The aim of every farmer, orchardist and gardener should be to produce the best grains, fruits and vegetables. So also with our stockmen; they should raise the best horses, horned stock and sheep; and those who pay attention to poultry should take pains and secure the best breeds. The trouble in raising the best qualities of grain, fruit and vegetables in no greater than in raising inferior articles of the same kind. A good colt, calf or lamb costs but little, if any, more to raise it than a poor one does—and then how much more valuable and saleable first class grain, fruits, vegetables and animals are than those which are inferior! The Lord has given us a land in which grains, fruits, vegetables and animals can be raised to the utmost perfection; and we should appreciate and take full advantage of our climate, soil and water. With the exercise of good judgment, proper care and well applied industry, we can have the best productions of the vegetable and animal kingdoms at our disposal, and the poorest man in the land can have on his table such bread, fruits and vegetables as would be difficult, if not impossible, to find on the tables of the wealthy and noble of land less favored than ours.
Our cities are generally well laid out. Our city lots are roomy. But we should provide for the increase of population. Sanitary regulations should be strictly enforced. Care should also be taken to secure plenty of unoccupied space for public grounds. They are as lungs for large and crowded cities; but it is in the early settlement and laying out of cities they can best be secured. Then land is cheap, settlers are not so numerous, and the struggle for eligible sites is not felt. That is the time to secure and lay out squares for public grounds; trees should be planted as quickly as possible, and be carefully protected, and, as population increases, the grounds should be made attractive. And in this connection permit us to call attention to the burial places of our dead. For a people whose reverence and labor for their dead are as great as ours, we are strangely neglectful of their last resting places. One reason for this is the scarcity of water, and the difficulty of getting it to the cemeteries. But this is no justification for the neglect shown in many places—the grounds left unfenced and uncared for, and cattle frequently allowed to roam at will over the tombs of the loved ones. Artesian wells in many localities are being bored with great success, and in many burial places water may yet be secured by this means for their adornment with trees, shrubs and flowers—a change which will be gladly welcomed by all.
In the construction of our residences, school rooms, meeting houses, tabernacles and other public buildings, there is room for the employment of the most cultivated and unlimited taste. With the increase of facilities during the past few years, there is no longer any need for such structures as we formerly had to be content with. The principles of architecture should receive attention in all our settlements, and there is no good reason why convenience, a regard for health and beauty should not go hand in hand in the erection of all our private and public buildings. The construction of our temples at St. George, Logan, Manti and Salt Lake City has furnished opportunities for many of our young men to obtain a knowledge of skilled branches of mechanism, the effects of which are visible in their own homes and the homes of their neighbors. And while we should impress upon the rising generation, as qualities of incalculable worth, that they should be pure in their morals, and have a high standard of honor, of truth, virtue and integrity, that they should be obedient to their parents and their God, and cherish a reverence for everything holy, be loyal to their country, and respect all constitutional laws; we should not neglect to instruct them in those branches of industry which will make them self-supporting, valuable citizens. All industrial pursuits should claim our attention, and we should endeavor to impart to our young people knowledge, skill and good management in farming, stock-raising, manufacturing, mechanism, trade, commerce and the arts and sciences. Give our young people an opportunity and they will excel as missionaries abroad and in every branch of skilled industry at home, and be behind none in the practice of the leading and useful professions. This they have demonstrated in every instance when they have gone out of the Territory to colleges and schools, and to receive technical instruction in the professions or branches of art.
As the world must yet know, the faith that was taught by the Lord Jesus to the Apostles, and by them to the world, and that brings forth the same fruits now as then, can only be extinguished in a pure people by their destruction. It is this faith that the Lord has restored to the earth, and that we possess. So long as men and women who receive it remain pure that faith will live and thrive and bring forth the fruits of righteousness. This every Latter-day Saint has proved. But faith should be cultivated. By cultivation it increases. The present is a time when the Latter-day Saints should devote themselves to their religion with all the ardor of their souls. They should so live as to enjoy the Holy Ghost and its gifts for themselves. These are needed by every man and woman to enable them to endure the trials which they have to meet.
At this point it may not be improper to again solemnly warn the officers and members of the Church against all conduct that tends to immorality and unchastity. We are being continually though most falsely, accused of teaching and practicing sexual vice under the garb of religion. No charge could be more utterly false; for no system of philosophy, no code of ethics, no articles of religion since the world was first peopled ever taught more strictly and emphatically than does the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the paramount necessity of personal purity in the relations of the sexes. Of this the saints are well aware. Let us see to it, then, that our actions correspond with our faith; for we may rest assured that no prominence of position, no ties of family, no influence of wealth can save us from the penalty if we break the law of God in this regard. But a few weeks ago it became the sad duty of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to sever from the communion of the Saints one of its members who had violated the law of chastity. He was a man of education, of experience, of judgment, of long standing in the Church, but neither these nor his exalted position in the Priesthood could save him from the penalty of the law he had so flagrantly broken. And as with him, so with all others. The law must be administered by the officer of the Church with justice and impartiality, with malice towards none, but with due regard to the commands of god and the honor of His holy name. Hear it, O house of Israel! ye who are seeking to attain to the Celestial Kingdom of our father—none but the pure in heart can see God; none but those who have sanctified all their affections and passions by entire and complete subservience to His laws can dwell in His eternal presence! Let us also remember that the condition of a community, as a whole, depends upon the condition of the individuals composing it; as are its component parts, so is it in its entirety. If the individual members of a people are wise, just, intelligent, honest, honorable and pure, that community will be distinguished among its fellows by those peculiar virtues. To apply the lesson to ourselves, each one for himself, it is, if we wish to see the Church of Christ prepared as a bride for the Savior, we must, individually, live our religion and exemplify in our own lives those virtues which we know must adorn the bride before she can enter the presence of her Lord. This matter of personal purity, faith, diligence and good works is one that we cannot delegate to our neighbor, or place on the shoulders of other men and women; but each must do his own duty, each bear his own responsibilities, each set his own house in order, each magnify his calling, each live near unto God, if he expects God to draw nigh unto him.
We are pleased to be able to report that the Lord is abundantly blessing the labors of the brethren and sisters engaged in the performance of ordinances pertaining to the Temples of our God; and a great work is being done therein in the interest of both the living and the dead. We have been pained, however, to learn that in some few instances, either through misunderstanding, carelessness, or partiality, recommends have been given to unworthy persons. This is a grave error,--one that should be guarded against with every possible care. The Bishops and Presidents of Stakes should take every precaution that the House of the Lord is not denied by the intrusion of the unworthy through their recommendation. we strongly advise more caution and greater care in this regard. To the Saints we say that those who desire the blessing of entering into and officiating in these houses dedicated to the Most High, should render themselves worthy thereof. They should live in harmony and peace at home, they should settle all their differences before attempting to enter this holy place, which should be a house of peace, a house of order. They should pray with their families morning and evening, and not neglect secret prayer; they should honestly pay their debts to all men, and not only to man, but remember also that which is due, as tithes and offerings, to the Giver of all. They should observe the Word of Wisdom in the spirit and meaning thereof, for it is most inconsistent to carry the smell of whiskey and tobacco into the sacred precincts of the Lord’s House. Or in a word, they should observe to do and to keep all God’s holy laws and commandments, that when they enter His House they can enjoy that spirit which gives zest, power and efficacy to their ministrations.
The reports from the Elders engaged in the active field of missionary labor are far from discouraging, though the results in baptism in those lands where our brethren have labored the longest, will not equal the showing of former years. The annual number of baptisms, as well as the total membership of the Church, in Scandinavia, now exceeds those in Great Britain. But the most marked results of our labors, of late, have manifest themselves in New Zealand, amongst the Maoris, the aborigines of those Islands, who being a remnant of the house of Israel, nearly allied to the Sandwich Islanders, have received the Gospel with gladness, and show great firmness and integrity in cleaving to its truths.
In the present depressed state of business, and consequent lack of employment, the Bishops must not forget the duty which, as fathers of the people, they owe to the poor and inexperienced. None must be permitted to suffer. But we have learned long since that benevolence to be worthy of its name must be guided by reason as well as by sympathy; and aid should be given primarily with the view of doing real and lasting good to the recipients, and must be bestowed in a manner to discourage improvidence and the growth of a spirit of pauperism. Our aim should be to develop the powers of the worthy poor through that thoughtful help which will utilize the resources of the new-comer or unfortunate, and assist those who, if able, are willing to help themselves. In these labors of love we trust the fullest cooperation and must perfect harmony will exist between the Ward authorities and the Relief Societies, that thereby they may mutually strengthen, and enhance the value of each others efforts. Nor must the families of the missionaries be forgotten; those whose whole time is spent in proclaiming the truths of the everlasting Gospel must not have reason to complain of want of consideration by their brethren and sisters. If the counsel heretofore given to the Presidents of Stakes and Bishops with regard to the establishment of missionary farms had been more widely carried out, we believe the results would have been more encouraging. Brethren, there is still time for action in this matter.
In these times, when many men, because of being faithful to religious convictions, are immured in prison, if proper precautions are not taken, there is danger of their families suffering on account of their absence. Great care should therefore be taken by the Presidents of Stakes, the Bishops of wards, the Priests and Teachers, and by the people generally, to see that, in the absence of their natural guardians and protectors, they are protected in their persons and property. where there is any lack of means, they should see that it is amply supplied; not in the shape of charity, but as a duty we owe to our brethren who are persecuted for conscience sake and who are immured in prison for their adherence and fidelity to their wives and families.
The so-called Christians are most egregiously ignorant of the relations of man and wife; and while they talk quite flippantly of the eternity of matter and spirit of which man and woman are composed, nor the eternity of the marital relation, nor the eternal covenants entered into between men and women, husbands and wives, parents and children. The acme of all their hopes in relation to matrimony and its continuance, as expressed in their covenants, “until death do you part,” What a gloomy picture! What, nothing more? No; this is the general formula of all the churches, of all the millions of so-called Christians who dwell on this continent and the hundreds of millions of professed Christians throughout the world. What in this case becomes of all our hopes of eternal life, eternal exaltations in the mansions of the just? Does God indeed “join them together,” as they say; and then does death divide them and serve the covenant? No, indeed; they make no such covenant, and therefore cannot break it. Their covenant is until death does them part—no further, no more. When this is accomplished all is ended in regard to their matrimonial relations. What of the resurrection from the dead? What of the New Jerusalem—the celestial glory—the eternal union that the authors of fiction write about? To them, as to the professed Christians, it is all fiction—a beautiful dream which death dissolves. We have other views, other ideas, other hopes. We believe in death being swallowed up in victory, in “a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness;” in the resurrection of the just, both men and women, parents and children. Our Gospel, “The Gospel of the Son of God, brings life and immortality to light.” We believe in Jerusalems, such as the one which John saw when banished as a slave to the isle of Patmos, because of his religion, where the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are to be fulfilled; “which had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels”—“and the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was one pearl.” Its walls were of jasper, its streets and the city were pure gold. The foundations of the wall were garnished with all manner of precious stones, and the glory of God did lighten it, “and the Lamb is the light thereof.” Its pearly gates had written upon them the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel and the foundations of its walls, “the names of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb.” “The throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him; and they shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads. The porters of its gates were angels and its light the glory of God.”
What was written on those pearly gates? The names of the twelve tribes of Israel. Who was Israel? Jacob. From whom did the twelve tribes descend? From Jacob. What were their names? The names of the sons of Jacob, which he had by four wives. Jacob, then, was a polygamist? Yes; he was one of those barbarians of which the Judge of the Third Judicial District says: “These practices might have been proper in a barbarous and primitive time—in crude times—but they won’t do now. Civilization has thrown them away. It won’t do to gather up these old customs and practices out of the by-gone barbarism and by-gone ages and attempt to palm them upon a free and intelligent and civilized people in these days.”
How free the people are in Utah to-day needs no discussion. If the judge cannot stand these things it would seem God and the Lamb can, for He is the light of the city on the gates of which are written the names of twelve men, the sons of one man, by four women—a polygamist. Had Jacob lived now, the judges would have sent spies, spotters and deputy marshals alter him, and if caught would have sent him to the penitentiary with other honorable men who had the courage of their convictions, and for whom “God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.”
And what of his handmaids; will they be there? Yes: where there is so much beauty and glory and so many of his servants the women are sure not to be absent. Besides are they not one? Has not “God joined them together?” It would not be a heaven without them; they have entered into covenants with the men for time and eternity in the Lord; “They twain are one flesh.” “The man is not without the woman nor the woman without the man;” but the corrupt have no place therein. For without are dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
Speaking of the sexes, the same God who created Adam, created Eve, “male and female created He them; and blessed them and called their name Adam.” Who are women? The mothers of the whole human family. They were all born of women, who were created and prepared as companions and helpmeets for man. To Eve God gave another seed in the place of Abel. “For God said, He had appointed me another seed instead of Abel whom Cain slew.” Who made this appointment? God. From whom came kings, emperors, prophets, seers and revelators? They came through women who were often Prophets themselves, and who were frequently ministered to by angels. Jesus was born of a woman; they were His companions on earth, were with Him at His death, and were first at His sepulchre, and will be His and His saints’ companions in heaven.
Polygamy is not understood nor our relations thereto. There is nothing secret about it. When it was first proclaimed in Salt Lake City, in 1852, Elder Orson Pratt went shortly after to the city of Washington and published it to the world in a paper called The Seer; after that, President Brigham Young, who was a known polygamist, was reappointed, by the President, Governor of the Territory of Utah.
It is alleged that we are in danger of perverting the nation’s morals. But how much danger there is of this may be judged by the morality of those in our midst who endeavor to make us believe they represent the government and nation, as exhibited in the following:
Criminal Statistics of Salt Lake City for the Year 1855:
Total estimated population, 26,000
Mormons, 20,800
Non-Mormons, 5,200
26,000
Or 5 Mormons to 1 non-Mormon.
There were during the year, 1,276 arrests.
Adult males, 1,126
“ females, 134
Boys under 10 years old, 16
1,276
The 20,800 Mormons produce arrests, 96
The 5,200 non-Mormons, “ “ 1,180
or 1 to 12 ½
There are now in the city some 6 Brothels, 40 Tap Rooms, a number of Gambling Houses, Pool Tables and other disreputable concerns, all run by non-Mormons.
But for the presence of those who are constantly making war upon us our city would be free from the contaminating influences of houses of prostitution, gambling houses, dram shops and other such death-dealing concerns, and the taxes would be greatly reduced. But, as it is, the “Mormons” are forced to pay a liberal tax in support of the laws against the lawlessness of their non-tax paying enemies. Every other town, city and county in the Territory, and all the jails and the Utah penitentiary, show even a much cleaner record in favor of the “Mormon” than the foregoing exhibit portrays.
If it should be said that these convictions were made by “Mormon” judges and justices, it must also be remembered that the District Court always stands open and gladly extends relief to any who consider themselves wronged by “Mormon” officers.
It is a remarkable fact that in all these years since the introduction of polygamy among us, not one Gentile has ever entered into it through our agency; those who are corrupt have easier methods which are furnished and approved by the professed Christian world. These are not Mormon institutions; but the practical out-growth of monogamy. The question arises, if in thirty-four years not one Gentile has adopted polygamy, how many years will it take to demoralize the fifty-five millions of the United States? The fact is, our Elders could not thus introduce it if they would, and any one so doing would be immediately severed from the Church.
The question arises, What shall we do? Shall we, because of the inconsiderate action of Congress, of the Judiciary and of other Federal officers, array ourselves against the nation, and sacrifice our loyalty to the greatest nation which is now in existence? Certainly not. Joseph Smith told us that “the Constitution of the United States was given by inspiration of God.” Is it less true to-day than it was then? What shall we do? Have they passed “test oaths” which are forbidden in that Constitution? Yes. Have they not “prohibited the free exercise of” our “religion?” Yes. Have they not passed ex post facto laws? Yes. It is not only said that no ex post facto law shall be passed, but also no “law impairing the obligation of contracts.” Some thousands of people in this Territory have entered into sacred contracts for time and for all eternity; Congress has passed a law making this a crime, and many men, who will not violate their contracts, are in prison to-day for a violation of the law of Congress which is ex post facto, making that a crime which was not a crime when the law was passed. This, then, is another violation of the Constitution. What about the “religious test oaths” instituted in Idaho, Arizona and in certain forms in Utah? What about the 4th amendment to the Constitution, which says: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue but upon probably cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized?”
In article 8 of the Constitution it is stated, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” In George Q. Cannon’s case lately, in an offense for which the law provides $300 fine and six months imprisonment, a bail of $25,000.00 and an additional $20,000.00 for two complaints which were not at the time supported by any evidence, was required: thus he was made subject to a $45,000.00 bond. Is this excessive bail? If so, it is a violation of the Constitution. Thus we have six different violations of the Constitution of the United States, sanctioned, approved or winked at by those who have sworn to sustain that charter or liberty.
These are no fictions, but veritable facts that we have had to meet and put up with. But because of this misrule and perversion of the Constitution, and of the rights of American citizens shall we be inimical to that Constitution or to the institutions of the country to which we owe allegiance? Certainly not. These errors have to be corrected, and it is our duty, so far as lays in our power, as it is the duty of all honorable men in these United States, to sustain the Constitution thereof and to oppose in all legitimate ways any infringement of that instrument.
We are inconsiderately asked to rend our family relations and throw away our ideas of human freedom, political equality and the rights of man and “to become like them.” Be like them for what? Like them in sapping the foundations of human liberty, like them in violating our constitutional oaths, like them in covenanting with wives and children till death parts them, and no more but a dead blank? What does it mean to be like them? It means that E pluribus Unum is a fiction; it means that we tamper with and violate that grand palladium of human liberty, the Constitution of the United States and substitute expediency, anarchy, fanaticism, intolerance and religious bigotry for those glorious fundamental principles of liberty, equality, brotherhood, human freedom and the rights of man. It means judicial corruption, perverted justice missionary judges, class rulings and minority representation; it means judicial tyranny and oppression, the introduction of spies and spotters, of packed juries and intolerance, of prisons, chains and terrorism; and introduces cruelty, oppression and despotism, in the place of liberty, equality and brotherhood. We cannot do it. We will rally around the flag of our country and maintain the glorious Constitution for weal or woe. We cannot and will not lay aside our fealty to the nation at the bidding of political demagogues, religious fanatics or intolerant despots.
To you, Brethren, who, as Presidents of Stakes, High Councilors and Bishops, hold in your keeping the purity of the lives of the members of the Church, we again repeat the warnings and admonitions of our former epistles and say, upon you lays the responsibility of the keeping of God’s house in order, each according to his calling, ordination and appointment, and to the extent and scope of the duties imposed upon him. In these duties you cannot be negligent without incurring the displeasure of the Lord and losing His Spirit. The Lord holds each man responsible for that portion of the flock which is placed in his care. The Relief Societies, the Young Men and Young Women’s Mutual Improvement Associations, the Sunday Schools, and the Primary Associations should all receive your hearty encouragement and support. Each of these organizations can be of great benefit to all of you in your labors. All of these Presidents are or should be subject to the authorities of the Wards and Stakes where they reside.
It devolves upon the Twelve Apostles and the Seventies to see that the Gospel is carried, and to carry it themselves, to all the nations of the earth—first unto the Gentiles and then to the Jews. This is their especial calling, and they should keep it constantly before them.
Like the First Presidency, the most of the members of the Council of the Twelve Apostles have been greatly restricted in their movements. One of their number, Elder Lorenzo Snow is in prison. He bears his imprisonment with equanimity and fortitude; and so far as we know all of the Apostles feel cheerful and full of faith, and determined to magnify their calling.
Our latest advices from President Joseph F. Smith report him to enjoying good health and to a goodly degree the spirit of his office and calling. From his letter, recently published in the Deseret News, the Saints have learned his sentiments concerning the work of God and the present situation of affairs.
In conclusion, we say to all the officers and members of the Church be diligent in reading the word of God, contained in the Bible, the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants; search the prophecies and let your hearts be comforted by their precious promises. God has said concerning Zion, that “no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me saith the Lord.”
Our history is one continued illustration of the fulfilment of this word of our God. We can truthfully ask, where is the weapon that has been formed against Zion which has prospered? or where is the tongue that has risen against Zion in judgment which has not been condemned? Her enemies have been very numerous; in many instances they have been prominent and powerful. They have strutted their brief hour upon the stage and have thought they were performing doughty deeds; but where are they? If their names were not kept in remembrance in our history, as enemies of the work of God, the most of them would be as utterly forgotten by the world as if they had never lived. But Zion will prosper and prevail. There may be storms to be endured; there may be trials to be encountered and difficulties to be overcome; and there may be seasons when clouds of darkness may envelop us and shut out the horizon from our view; yet if we humble ourselves before our God and keep the covenants we have made with Him, He will neither desert nor neglect us.
The Lord has said, through one of His prophets, “Hear, ye that are afar off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly, he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from the holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil. He shall dwell on high; his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks; bread shall be given him: his waters shall be sure.”
These are the kind of people we should be; for it is such people who will build up and be counted worthy to stand in Zion. Then it can truthfully be said: “That the Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.”
Be it our lot to live as Saints, to maintain every principle of virtue, of honor, of truth and integrity, to keep sacred the covenants we have made with God and with each other, and to obey in all things the word of the Lord. So shall we and our families be blessed of the Lord in time and throughout the eternities that are to come.
God bless you and all the friends of Zion with peace and happiness in this world and, in the world to come, with life everlasting, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Your brethren in the Lord,
John Taylor,
George Q. Cannon.
Of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
March, 1886.
An Epistle of the First Presidency
To the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in General Conference Assembled:
Dear Brethren and Sisters:
In the plentitude of God’s mercy the Saints are once again permitted in peace to assemble in General Conference to worship the Lord, to extol His goodness, to glorify His name, to hear His word, and to receive such instruction from His servants as the Holy Spirit shall dictate, as well as to transact such business pertaining to His Church as may be presented for their consideration. But as we, your brethren of the First Presidency, are, by the force of peculiar circumstances, deprived on this occasion of your society and you of ours, we deem it consistent with the duties of our calling to address you by letter, and in this way to lay before you that which under more favorable conditions we should have been pleased to have delivered orally.
In the first place, we extend our congratulations to you, as Latter-day Saints and members of the Church of Christ, that affairs with us are so favorable that so many can meet together as you do on this the fifty-sixth anniversary of the organization of the Church, in General Conference. Persecution has raged, and hideous wrongs have been and are being perpetrated against us as a Church, but thus far our enemies have not been permitted to go to such lengths as the persecutors of the people of God did in the days of the first Alma, when they put tasks upon his people and put taskmasters over them and put to death those whom they found calling upon God. Though many of us are deprived of the privilege of meeting together in public, yet a goodly number of you can assemble as you do this day and worship your God and listen to His word; and we all—prisoners, exiles and free—can call upon our God without danger of punishment therefor. Indeed, we need not go to the days of Alma for contrast between the condition of the people of God then and our present condition, to find causes for thanksgiving and praise to our God this day for His mercies unto us. We have only to refer to our own history, to scenes in which many of you have taken part, to find contrasts which should prompt us to bear our present afflictions with patient equanimity. Some of the Saints, perhaps, feel that their sufferings under the tyranny which is now exercised over us in the name of law are very severe, and they may ask how long shall these outrages he permitted to continue? But if they would understand how much worse our positions might be let them recall the scenes enacted in the State of Missouri, when the Latter-day Saints were driven by mob violence out of Jackson County into Clay County, and thence into Caldwell County, and finally were compelled to flee, in the depth of an inclement winter, out of the State, under an order of Lilburn W. Boggs, the Governor, which said “that the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State,” and this, too, after many of their number had been killed and the remainder had been robbed of nearly all the property they had in the world; or, recall the treatment the Latter-day Saints received in the State of Illinois, when, after murdering, in the most savage and heartless manner, and while under the pledged honor of the State, the President and Patriarch of the Church, and wounding almost to death one of the Twelve Apostles, mobs organized themselves, burned the houses of the Saints in the outer settlements, destroyed their property and drove them for their lives to the City of Nauvoo; and then, not content with this, brought the whole power of the State to bear upon them to compel them to leave that city and the State and to take refuge, stripped and destitute, in the wilderness where their enemies hoped internal dissensions, starvation or wild Indians would complete the work of destruction which they were not permitted to accomplish.
However grievous the wrongs under which we suffer to-day, there is much yet to be thankful for. Our land is filled with plenty. No cry of man or beast ascends from our borders to high heaven for the want of food; no beggars plead for alms in our streets, and of destitute soul has denied to him that sustenance necessary to supply his wants. And with these blessings on good food, comfortable raiment and sufficient shelter, we have the inestimable blessing of the peace of God, which He gives to every faithful Saint—peace in our hearts, peace in our habitations, peace in our settlements—a peace which the world cannot give, and which, thank the Lord, it cannot take away. Let your hearts, therefore, Brethren and Sisters, be filled with thanksgiving and praise to our God for His goodness and mercy unto us as a people. He has made promises concerning Zion; be assured He will not forget them. Zion may say, in the words of the Prophet Isaiah, “The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.”
But the Lord replies:
“Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.”
At no time has the Lord led His people to expect that they would not have to endure trials, or not have their faith fully tested.
Soon after this Church was organized His people were told: “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.” We scarcely need remind you that if you live godly in Christ Jesus, while Satan has power, you will suffer persecution.
In the providence of the Almighty persecution serves a most useful purpose. Every faithful Saint mush perceive and acknowledge this. Each one feels its effect upon himself: he sees its effect upon his friends and neighbors. Persecution develops character. Under its influence we all know ourselves better than we did before we felt its pressure; and we discover traits in our brethren and sisters of the existence of which, perhaps, we were in entire ignorance. The persecution from which we have been suffering during these eighteen months past, though very painful, has not been without pride to the Latter-day Saints. It has strengthened and infused new zeal, courage and determination into the faithful. It has also caused many who were careless and indifferent to arouse themselves from their lethargy and to renew their diligence in the work of God. It has also brought to light the hypocrisy of many, and caused them to throw off the mask of friendship and fellowship which they wore and to exhibit themselves in their true lineaments. But it is upon the young of our community that has been most marked. Many of the young of both sexes, when all was peace and no war was made upon their parents and friends, seemed to be of the opinion that they could, without any danger to themselves or their faith, be in full fellowship with the world. The names Latter-day Saint and Gentile were alike to them. They appeared to see no reason why they could not be on terms of perfect friendship with both classes. Every Latter-day Saint of experience knows how dangerous it is for children to stand upon this ground. But from this delusive dream they have been awakened by the rude shock of this persecution. The line of demarcation between the Latter-day Saints and the world has been drawn so sharp and distinct that they find themselves (unless they become open apostates) compelled to take sides with their parents and friends; and the difference between their religion and that which is opposed to it is brought home to their hearts and consciences with a force never before known to them. This persecution is driving the rising generation together with surprising compactness. It is making impressions upon the youngest children of the community which the lapse of years can never obliterate. They are learning the truth of the words of the Savior by the painful experience which our enemies are now giving them. “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”
The Lord has said, that the wrath of man shall be made to praise Him, and in this attack which is being made upon us and our religion we see this verified. Our enemies have designed to destroy the work of god. For this they plot and toil and descend to the depths of infamy. So absorbed are they in their wicked schemes, and so bent upon carrying them into effect, that they fail to look beyond the immediate acts which they perform and perceive the consequences which follow. They harass, annoy and torment men, women and children; they compel men and women to conceal themselves to escape from their cruelties and injustice and tyrannical abuse of power; and they consign other men and women to prison; and from these proceedings they derive great satisfaction, as they look upon them as so many evidences of their success in sapping the foundation of the Church of God and in uprooting our religion. We need not say to you, who have so often witnessed the effects of persecution upon our religion and Church, how fallacious are these hopes of our present persecutors. Instead of crushing the truth, they are advertising it; instead of showing the world how unworthy and contemptible we are, they are, unwittingly, furnishing us with opportunities to exhibit the heroic qualities we possess; instead of weakening or unsettling the minds of true Latter-day Saints, they are stimulating their faith and supplying them with additional proofs of the divinity of their religion. They would have the world believe that we are low, sensual, ignorant and degraded, that our religion is a system of lust; but the thinking people of the world know that there is no necessity to endure that which the Latter-day Saints are now enduring to gratify lustful appetites or desires. Licentious, depraved men and women would not suffer such treatment as Federal officials are now extending to us, and bear all manner of indignities and go unmurmuringly to prison, if they were assured, as we are, by courts and prosecuting officers that the war is against our marriages and not against sensuality if indulged in according to popular methods.
This persecution attracts the attention of the world. Its disgraceful features may be concealed for a while from public knowledge, through the lies so industriously propagated by those who are its promoters and instruments; but the truth concerning it is coming to light. For a while the feeling among those ignorant of our true character may have been one of indifference as to our fate, or to any treatment we might receive. As the persecution continues the truth leaks out by degrees. Men and women hear that scores of men, rather than accept the alternative of renouncing their wives and children, pay heavy fines and costs and go cheerfully for long, weary months to prison; and that delicate women, too, rather than betray their husbands and by their testimony involve them in the tolls of their persecutors, go willingly to the penitentiary where the greatest criminals are confined. Thinking people read of these proceedings, and their former indifference gives place to interest. But while we acknowledge the hand of the Lord in these wicked acts of our enemies, they are not relieved from the condemnation which will follow them. They would deny us our rights as citizens, and they talk about us and act towards us as though we were not entitled to any such rights; but this is mere impudent assumption and claptrap on their part. We have rights. We were born free men and women, and it is a duty we owe to ourselves and our posterity and to all the people of this land that we should contend for and maintain the principles of freedom and transmit them unimpaired and undiminished to those who follow us. We do not ask for this freedom as a favor; we demand it as a right. We are as much entitled to the full rights of citizenship in these mountains as any other citizens who dwell under the flag of the Republic. Under any and all circumstances we are their peers.
Such trials as the Latter-day Saints now undergo in the courts in these Territories are not the trials of ordinary vulgar criminals. However much those who figure as prosecutors, judges or jurors in these cases may scheme and plot and falsify to reduce them to this level, and to fix the brand of criminality or the stigma of infamy upon our conduct, they cannot deceive the world. This which we are now passing through is to all intents and purposes a religious persecution and nothing else. It will yet be recognized as such by the whole word. Its hideous features, its atrocious character, its travesties of justice, cannot be concealed by any amount of falsification or disguise. Already men are beginning to understand the motives and objects of those who are engaged in it, and history will set its seal of condemnation upon it and them, and it will yet stand as an ineffaceable blot upon the boasted civilization and liberty of our generation.
The scenes which we are now witnessing in this Territory are the results of a deep-laid and carefully planned conspiracy, which has been in process of formation for years. Its originators knew the elements they had to deal with, and by cunning contrivance they have effected a wonderful combination. Religious and irreligious, ministers in sacerdotal robes and atheistic scoffers, business men of integrity and blacklegs, temperance men and drunkards, men of strict morality and pimps and harlots, are crowded together on the platform they have constructed, and they had no inconvenience from each others companionship. Each is made to believe that it is to his direct interest to combine and destroy “Mormonism.” A more motley collection of human beings was never witnessed. Differ as they may upon everything else, there has been one common thought and purpose running through the whole and holding them together, and that is hatred of the religion of the Latter-day Saints and a determination to destroy it and them. The conspirators have appealed to the prejudices of each one to induce him to work in concert for this common end. In the ministers they have found ready and willing dillies; in fact, these have been the chief authors and promoters of the conspiracy. The Pharisees in the days of the Savior were no more ready to egg the multitude on to cry out “Crucify him, crucify him,” than many of the ministers of our time are to urge Congress to enact measures for our destruction. It is now some years since the sectarian ministers here (with the exception of the Catholic clergymen) combined in a document to Congress, urging that body to legislate against us.
This action they have often repeated since. Destitute of confidence in their own religious systems and their power to cope with the truth which we possess without aid from the secular power, they make the air resound with the clamors for Congress to pass laws to crush us and our religion. They enlist men of their cloth elsewhere in the same unchristian business. It is only a few months since, and at the time the whole machinery of the courts here was being used most savagely in sending men, and women also, to prison on account of their religion, that a deputation of these professed teachers of the doctrines of the crucified Redeemer called upon President Cleveland and presented a memorial signed by upwards of a thousand persons, and, it was said, by some of the most prominent divines in the country, earnestly urging him to enforce the anti-polygamy act! Could the old Pharisees have done any more?
But while the ministers engaged in the conspiracy through zeal for their own craft and sectarian hate, the moralist and the politician, the debauchee and the drunkard, were drawn into support of the plot by appeals to their interests. The cry of polygamy has made a good battle cry: this has called the fanatical element into line; but underneath and above this question of polygamy, and completely enveloping it, has been the design to destroy our rights as citizens, to take away from us our liberties under the Constitution and the laws, and to obtain the political control of our country, so that, being as voiceless in the affairs of government as the Indians or Chinese, we could be taxed and plundered with impunity, and be lorded over by a set of political harpies who would revel and fatten at our expense. This has been, and still is, the object of all the outcry raised against us, of the innumerable falsehoods with which the public journals have teemed, of the constant appeals to Congress to legislate against us and of all the outrages in the name of law inflicted upon us by the courts. The same covetousness and envy that led mobs to band themselves together to drive us from our former homes are the sentiments which prompt the present attack upon us and our liberties. Then mobs acted openly and defiantly, regardless of law; now the policy is a more subtle one; it is to reach the same ends under the shelter and pretense of law. It meant robbery and the deprivation of rights under the old system; under it the new tactics means the stealing of the political control of the country, to be followed by rapine and spoliation.
Trace up the acts of the conspirators from the treason of the Governor in setting aside the will of the people and his usurpation of the powers of the National House of Representatives, in pronouncing upon the qualifications of one of its members, and giving a certificate of election as Delegate to Congress to a man whom the people had rejected, down through the greater part of the proceedings of the courts, and especially the conduct of the Governor during the last two sessions of the Legislative Assembly, and irrefragable evidences of conspiracy against the liberties of the people are apparent at every step. Every act of the conspirators is consistent with every other act to make their plot a success. While engaged in this nefarious business, they throw dust in the eyes of the nation by making an outcry against polygamy—as if they cared anything about our marriages—in order to conceal and accomplish their deeper design.
The most active tools in this conspiracy have been some of the Federal officials. Their positions have given them opportunities which they have been willing to avail themselves of. The preamble of the Constitution of the United States assigns as reasons why it was framed: “To form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” Most excellent reasons for framing such a charter of liberty, and every officer who acts under it should keep these objects in view. But many of the officers sent here have acted as though they were determined that none of these blessings for which the Constitution was framed should reach us. The sanctity of home, the liberty of the person, the modesty of maidenhood, have all been wantonly violated in the effort to punish the Latter-day Saints for their integrity to God and His laws. Instead of seeking to establish justice and insure domestic tranquility, they have sought to array neighbor against neighbor, friend against friend, brother against brother, wife against husband and children against parents, and to loosen and destroy all the bonds which bind man to his fellow-man. Their mission has not been to build up and cement society, but to tear down and break it up. They have taken delight in their efforts to sow dissension and strife, to tempt wives to betray their husbands and to induce husbands, by threats of severe punishment if they refused to comply with their wishes, to disown and forsake their wives, and to discard and bastardize their offspring, and to turn loose, as forlorn outcasts, those whom they have solemnly covenanted to provide for and protect. When these officials commenced their attack upon us and our religion they found our homes filled with love and affection—husbands and fathers devoted to their wives and children, and doing all in their power to make them comfortable and happy; wives and mothers contented and at peace, honoring their husbands and proud of their relationship to them; and children whose respect and obedience testified to the reverence and esteem in which they held their parents. Husbands and wives and children dwelt together without compulsion or coercion. Nowhere on all this broad earth, where matrimonial ties are held to have binding effect, did such complete liberty exist as among the Latter-day Saints. It is true, wives were sealed to husbands by the eternal Priesthood of the Almighty, for time and all eternity; but this union in the first place was only made possible by love, and by love the tie is perpetuated. Women knew their rights, and they knew that they could not be compelled to live with an unworthy man. Happiness reigned in our homes, because freedom reigned there, and all had their full agency. No better proof of this need be addressed than the fact that in the midst of all this persecution, and the many inducements there are offered to women and men to dissolve their family relationships, but few men have accepted the proffered terms and discarded their wives; and to the honor of our sisters be it said, not one woman that we know of up to the present writing has broken her marriage vow and dissolved her relations with her husband and children.
Yet it is to the destruction of these happy homes that all the efforts of these officials have been directed. In the sacred name of law, and under the guise of a pretended desire to enforce it, they would convert this condition of society, so peaceful and so admirable, into a pandemonium. They have worked to this end with such malignant cunning, such heartless persistence and such unscrupulous disregard of the principles of justice as have no parallel in American history; and that they have not accomplished this result has not been for the want of effort on their part, but because God has been with His people and His Spirit has been poured out upon them to strengthen and sustain them.
No man-made system or organization could have withstood the concentrated hate and violent assaults which have been directed against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Division and weakness would have shown themselves, fatal breaches would have been made in the framework of the system, and the imprisonment or enforced concealment of the leading men would have been followed by a decay of faith and the disintegration of the organization. But the Lord, in establishing His Church, provided against such contingencies as these. He promises—and all have been urged to claim the fulfilment of the promise—that He would give to those who entered sincerely into covenant with Him, a testimony of the truth for themselves, and to bestow His Holy Spirit upon all. It is this promise and its fulfilment that to-day constitutes the strength of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Prophet Joseph Smith was once asked by a visitor to the city of Nauvoo, the good order and prosperity of which struck him with surprise, how it was that he governed the people so as to produce such admirable results. The memorable reply of the Prophet of God was: “I teach them correct principles and they govern themselves.” This was the secret of the good government at Nauvoo, and it is still the secret of the good order and freedom from strife and other evils which prevail among the Latter-day Saints in Utah and throughout all this mountain region where they have control. In what other community in the world could a governor, judges and other appointees act as these officials have done in Utah, without producing anarchy and the complete overthrow of all barriers which are erected for the protection of society and the rights of men? Our enemies are loud in their denunciation of the Priesthood and its influence upon the Latter-day Saints; but that violence and confusion do not reign in this fair Territory to-day is due to the teachings of that Priesthood and their influence upon the people who give heed to them. The people have been taught correct principles, and they govern themselves.
Do we overstate the truth when we say that every good, peaceably inclined citizen of Utah—Jew, Gentile and Mormon—would enjoy more peace and prosperity, more kindly feelings towards each other to-day if we had no Federal officials at all of the class of many who are now among us? When a governor introduces himself to the world and to the people he is sent to govern, in all his public utterances from the platform, and through the press, as the latter’s avowed and bitter enemy, and prostitutes the powers of his high office to defame, malign and injure them, would not the Territory be better without such an officer? When judges openly announce from the bench that a law which is general in its language is to be made special in its application, and so instruct attorneys and juries, and punish will all the severity possible one class of citizens under its provisions while notorious offenders of another class go scot free, and, not stopping at this, go on to the public platform and denounce with voluble and unbridled truculence the class of citizens whose cases they expect to come before them to decide upon—had not the temple of Justice better be closed awhile, than such judges should sit therein? Instead of seeking to insure domestic tranquility, these officers have fomented strife, they have fostered religious hate, they have embittered class against class, they have sought in every way possible to destroy that charity which should exist in every community composed of citizens of different religious and politics. They have adopted and enforced a policy of non-intercourse between citizens. A Gentile citizen who has dared to speak of or treat a “Mormon” citizen as a friend and associate has been denounced and ostracized, and an impassable gulf has been created between them.
Is it any wonder, then, while some of the principal officers sent here to govern and maintain law, are the people’s greatest enemies and the most deadly foes to law and order, that prejudice upon all questions affecting us and our Territory should prevail? Or that Congress should be induced, regardless of the Constitution and its guarantees, under the pressure brought to bear upon it by the incessant clamors and misrepresentation of this class to enact measures that would reach such a people as we are described to be? The Edmunds law was begotten by prejudice, conceived in ignorance and brought forth in hate. But its enforcement in these Territories is in the spirit of merciless severity and undiluted malice, and those who prosecute under it have not the excuse which a deceived and blinded Congress might plead for its enactment.
The officials here have gone far beyond the letter and spirit of the law itself and strained it for the purpose of inflicting punishment; this was conspicuously so in the case of Elder Lorenzo Snow, one of the Twelve Apostles, whose trial upon the evidence presented would undoubtedly have resulted in his acquittal had he been tried before a righteous judge and an unbiased jury. If any one fact was more clearly established than another at his trial, it was that he was innocent of any violation of the law as charged against him. But he is a prominent man—one of the Twelve Apostles—and could not be permitted to escape. His case is now on appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court at Washington. In order to have it put forward on the calendar, he surrendered himself to the officers, and is now in the penitentiary. The court has fixed a day when his case will be heard; and, as in every case that has gone to Washington, we hope notwithstanding previous disappointments, that this will receive favorable consideration. It is of such trials as his—and his is but a sample of many others—that we justly complain. The law, as it passed Congress, was harsh and cruel and sufficiently destructive of our rights and liberties to satisfy the implacable author, but by packing grand and petit juries with jurors who are selected expressly because they are the pronounced opponents of the accused and their religion—by strained constructions of the law—by extraordinary rulings framed to suit each case without regard to preceding rulings on the same points—and by charges to juries which amount to direct instructions to convict, this law is made an instrument of the most frightful wrong, and in the torture which it inflicts goes far beyond anything ever conceived of by the men who voted for its passage. It is to be remarked of many of the officers who enforce the law that they seem to take delight in the misery which they think it brings. As to justice in these courts as now constituted, and with the animus the officials manifest, it is out of the question. Every one knows before a trial commences what the sentence will be. Not one escapes, no matter how flimsy or insufficient the evidence may be, who is indicted if the prosecuting officer has made up his mind there shall be a conviction. He finds a willing judge and a pliant jury ready to execute his decree. As to mercy the adamantine heart of the prosecuting officer is impenetrable to the sentiment. If he decides that a victim shall be sacrificed the agony of wives, the burning tears of innocent and helpless children touch him with no pity and have no more effect upon him than if he were made of stone. Impudence and ferocity sit upon his brow. In all his proceedings he has a ready coadjutor in the judge of the third judicial district, who browbeats the accused and evinces an inhuman exultation in pronouncing sentence, his only regret being, as he has expressed himself, that the law does not permit him to inflict sentences of greater severity. When these men decide upon the punishment which an accused man shall have, neither the eloquent arguments of counsel, nor the insufficient of evidence, nor the scantiness of the law, is allowed to stand in the way of the pre-arranged sentence. If they decide upon one indictment or three, upon six or twelve, they have only to intimate to a grand jury that such is their wish and they can be gratified. The more distinguished the man the more certain his fate. No grand or petit jury has failed to find an indictment or a verdict against any man whom the prosecution and court have selected as a victim. The marshal, the prosecuting officers and the court, by the exclusion of all who have not been avowed enemies of the religion professed by the accused, and by the aid of the open venire, have been able to pack the juries to execute their will with unquestioning servility. Seeing, therefore, how useless it is to make defense, many of the accused have made none, but have plead guilty. In doing so they did not acknowledge the rightfulness of the law, nor the justice of the punishment; for they viewed the law as unconstitutional and destruction of religious liberty and the punishment as an act of persecution; but by pleading guilty they saved costs, and what was of still greater importance, they saved their wives and children the humiliation of going into the witness stand and being plied with indecent questions by the brutal prosecutors. The majority of the accused, however, have felt it to be a duty to contest every inch of the ground and to let the world see how utterly destitute of justice these courts are in their treatment of these cases. For this reason they have suffered their families to be exposed to the rudeness of deputy marshals and the insolence of prosecuting attorneys; though to have saved their loved ones from these indignities they would otherwise have been willing to endure the full punishment of the court for the offense with which they were charged.
Against the brutalities, usurpations and falsehoods of men dressed in a little brief authority, we have appealed and apparently, until quite lately, appealed in vain. Our request has been a very modest one; it was simply that the wrongs under which we were suffering might be investigated; but investigation as the last thing that the foes to our liberties desired. A few weeks since our sisters followed in the wake of the brethren and in mass meeting assembled, at Salt Lake City, offered the same simple petition, sent up the same fervid cry for investigation, that the truth might be known and the real facts of the situation be made public. In their memorial to the President and Congress of the United States, they very consistently, and with the best grace in the world, modestly asked as follows:
“We respectfully ask for a full investigation of Utah affairs. For many years our husbands, brothers and sons have appealed for this in vain. We have been condemned almost unheard. Everything reported to our detriment is received; our cries to be heard have been rejected. We plead for suspension of all measures calculated to deprive us of our political rights and privileges, and to harass, annoy and bring our people into bondage and distress, until a commission duly and specially authorized to make full inquiry into the affairs of this Territory, has investigated and reported.”
Is there anything unwise, imprudent or un-American in this? Do we injure man, woman or child by such a request? Are any person’s rights or liberties jeopardized or infringed upon by such a demand? We answer unhesitatingly, No! We simply ask for our own. Will not our fellow citizens grant it? We desire to infringe upon no one, in person or property, in rights or liberties, in privileges or immunities. All we ask is that they will grant us the same blessings they claim for themselves, and, if granted, we shall be abundantly satisfied.
Our sisters have had ample reason for their remonstrances and petitions. No where else on this broad land have the officers of the law treated women with the same indignity, inhumanity and indelicacy that they have in Utah and regions adjacent. Lady witnesses have been arrested, placed under heavy bonds, guarded by impure men, carried on long and unnecessary journeys at unseasonable hours of the night, harassed and perplexed by improper and, occasionally, indecent questions, and treated frequently as though they were criminals convicted of the blackest crimes. A number have been committed to the penitentiary for refusing to answer questions that reflected on their virtue, or tended to criminate those to whom they were joined by the most sacred ties of affection and duty. The first wives—those recognized by the law under which the officers were acting, as the legal wives—have, contrary to all precedent, been compelled to testify against their husbands. We do not mention this fact to draw any line of demarcation between the first and plural wives, if joined to their husbands by the eternal covenants of God’s house, all are alike honorable in His sight; His ordinances stamping their union as equally legal and lawful before Him. Their feelings are as acute, their affections as strong, their susceptibilities as delicate, one as the other. We simply mention this fact to show how utterly the judges and their aids ignore all precedents, ride over all well-established usages and make all things subservient—law or no law—to their effort, which, to use the expression of one of their leaders, uttered from the bench, is “to grind to powder” us and our institutions.
In Idaho Territory the usurpations of the officers have gone from bad to worse. They there out-Herod Herod in their disregard of the peoples’ liberties. One of the latest movements has in view the revocation of all certificates given to school teachers who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ, which means the placing of our children, by the help of our taxes, under the tuition of those who would gladly eradicate from their minds all love and respect for the faith of their fathers. The duty of our people under these circumstances is clear; it is to keep their children away from the influence of the sophisms of infidelity and the vagaries of the sects. Let them, though it may possibly be at some pecuniary sacrifice, establish schools taught by those of our faith, where, being free from the trammels of State aid, they can unhesitatingly teach the doctrines of true religion combined with the various branches of a general education. And in this connection permit us to urge upon the Saints in all the Stakes of Zion the necessity of caring well for the education of our youth. If we are to be a powerful people in the near future, wielding potent influence for good among the peoples of the earth, we must prepare ourselves for those responsibilities, and not expect that ignorance will avail us in that day; but a knowledge of true principle, of doctrine, of law, of the arts and sciences, as well as of the Gospel, will be urgently necessary to enable us to fulfill to God’s glory and the renovation of the world, the responsibilities which we believe will, by right of our calling, at that time be most assuredly ours.
If the threats which are uttered and the war that is made against the Latter-day Saints were made against any other people they would become unsettled and discouraged. A session of Congress has not been held, and scarcely a President’s message been published for years, without some threatening and inimical action or words against the majority of the people of Utah. But we have had this kind of opposition in various terms to contend with from the beginning. We should scarcely have built a house, planted a tree, opened a farm or formed a settlement if we had allowed menaces or attacks to have deterred us. We have had to live by faith, as all the just must do. The present prosecution should not be allowed to weaken us in our exertions to improve. We should live together in love; there should be union in every family circle, and harmony in every neighborhood and city. We should be cleanly in our persons, in our dress and in our habitations and surroundings. Industry should be habitual with the adults of our community, and the rising generation should be taught its lessons and be impressed with its value as a means of happiness. God has given us the earth as a dwelling place, and when mankind live as they should do, it is a delightful residence. It is our duty to adorn and beautify it—to make it so lovely and attractive that angels may condescend to visit it. We should, therefore, have fruitful farms, choice orchards, well arranged gardens, and if every dwelling is surrounded by flowers it will neither detract from its beauty in the eyes of visitors, nor make it less attractive as their home to the children of the household. In some quarters there has been ruinous neglect on the part of parents in making their homes attractive to their children. A well-ordered, lovely home, in which peace and good-will prevail, is a place of perpetual delight to those who reside there, whether old or young. Where such homes exist the young who live there are not found loafing at street corners or stores, or spending their time in gadding about from house to house and in improper company at late hours. Books and musical instruments are now so cheap as to be within the reach of the most humble. By furnishing means of instruction, amusement and enjoyment at home, parents can, by adding kind words and loving deeds, tie their children to them by bonds of affection that can never be broken; and in after years those children will think of that home as the brightest and dearest spot in their memories; in their minds it will always be surrounded by a heavenly halo.
The aim of every farmer, orchardist and gardener should be to produce the best grains, fruits and vegetables. So also with our stockmen; they should raise the best horses, horned stock and sheep; and those who pay attention to poultry should take pains and secure the best breeds. The trouble in raising the best qualities of grain, fruit and vegetables in no greater than in raising inferior articles of the same kind. A good colt, calf or lamb costs but little, if any, more to raise it than a poor one does—and then how much more valuable and saleable first class grain, fruits, vegetables and animals are than those which are inferior! The Lord has given us a land in which grains, fruits, vegetables and animals can be raised to the utmost perfection; and we should appreciate and take full advantage of our climate, soil and water. With the exercise of good judgment, proper care and well applied industry, we can have the best productions of the vegetable and animal kingdoms at our disposal, and the poorest man in the land can have on his table such bread, fruits and vegetables as would be difficult, if not impossible, to find on the tables of the wealthy and noble of land less favored than ours.
Our cities are generally well laid out. Our city lots are roomy. But we should provide for the increase of population. Sanitary regulations should be strictly enforced. Care should also be taken to secure plenty of unoccupied space for public grounds. They are as lungs for large and crowded cities; but it is in the early settlement and laying out of cities they can best be secured. Then land is cheap, settlers are not so numerous, and the struggle for eligible sites is not felt. That is the time to secure and lay out squares for public grounds; trees should be planted as quickly as possible, and be carefully protected, and, as population increases, the grounds should be made attractive. And in this connection permit us to call attention to the burial places of our dead. For a people whose reverence and labor for their dead are as great as ours, we are strangely neglectful of their last resting places. One reason for this is the scarcity of water, and the difficulty of getting it to the cemeteries. But this is no justification for the neglect shown in many places—the grounds left unfenced and uncared for, and cattle frequently allowed to roam at will over the tombs of the loved ones. Artesian wells in many localities are being bored with great success, and in many burial places water may yet be secured by this means for their adornment with trees, shrubs and flowers—a change which will be gladly welcomed by all.
In the construction of our residences, school rooms, meeting houses, tabernacles and other public buildings, there is room for the employment of the most cultivated and unlimited taste. With the increase of facilities during the past few years, there is no longer any need for such structures as we formerly had to be content with. The principles of architecture should receive attention in all our settlements, and there is no good reason why convenience, a regard for health and beauty should not go hand in hand in the erection of all our private and public buildings. The construction of our temples at St. George, Logan, Manti and Salt Lake City has furnished opportunities for many of our young men to obtain a knowledge of skilled branches of mechanism, the effects of which are visible in their own homes and the homes of their neighbors. And while we should impress upon the rising generation, as qualities of incalculable worth, that they should be pure in their morals, and have a high standard of honor, of truth, virtue and integrity, that they should be obedient to their parents and their God, and cherish a reverence for everything holy, be loyal to their country, and respect all constitutional laws; we should not neglect to instruct them in those branches of industry which will make them self-supporting, valuable citizens. All industrial pursuits should claim our attention, and we should endeavor to impart to our young people knowledge, skill and good management in farming, stock-raising, manufacturing, mechanism, trade, commerce and the arts and sciences. Give our young people an opportunity and they will excel as missionaries abroad and in every branch of skilled industry at home, and be behind none in the practice of the leading and useful professions. This they have demonstrated in every instance when they have gone out of the Territory to colleges and schools, and to receive technical instruction in the professions or branches of art.
As the world must yet know, the faith that was taught by the Lord Jesus to the Apostles, and by them to the world, and that brings forth the same fruits now as then, can only be extinguished in a pure people by their destruction. It is this faith that the Lord has restored to the earth, and that we possess. So long as men and women who receive it remain pure that faith will live and thrive and bring forth the fruits of righteousness. This every Latter-day Saint has proved. But faith should be cultivated. By cultivation it increases. The present is a time when the Latter-day Saints should devote themselves to their religion with all the ardor of their souls. They should so live as to enjoy the Holy Ghost and its gifts for themselves. These are needed by every man and woman to enable them to endure the trials which they have to meet.
At this point it may not be improper to again solemnly warn the officers and members of the Church against all conduct that tends to immorality and unchastity. We are being continually though most falsely, accused of teaching and practicing sexual vice under the garb of religion. No charge could be more utterly false; for no system of philosophy, no code of ethics, no articles of religion since the world was first peopled ever taught more strictly and emphatically than does the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the paramount necessity of personal purity in the relations of the sexes. Of this the saints are well aware. Let us see to it, then, that our actions correspond with our faith; for we may rest assured that no prominence of position, no ties of family, no influence of wealth can save us from the penalty if we break the law of God in this regard. But a few weeks ago it became the sad duty of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to sever from the communion of the Saints one of its members who had violated the law of chastity. He was a man of education, of experience, of judgment, of long standing in the Church, but neither these nor his exalted position in the Priesthood could save him from the penalty of the law he had so flagrantly broken. And as with him, so with all others. The law must be administered by the officer of the Church with justice and impartiality, with malice towards none, but with due regard to the commands of god and the honor of His holy name. Hear it, O house of Israel! ye who are seeking to attain to the Celestial Kingdom of our father—none but the pure in heart can see God; none but those who have sanctified all their affections and passions by entire and complete subservience to His laws can dwell in His eternal presence! Let us also remember that the condition of a community, as a whole, depends upon the condition of the individuals composing it; as are its component parts, so is it in its entirety. If the individual members of a people are wise, just, intelligent, honest, honorable and pure, that community will be distinguished among its fellows by those peculiar virtues. To apply the lesson to ourselves, each one for himself, it is, if we wish to see the Church of Christ prepared as a bride for the Savior, we must, individually, live our religion and exemplify in our own lives those virtues which we know must adorn the bride before she can enter the presence of her Lord. This matter of personal purity, faith, diligence and good works is one that we cannot delegate to our neighbor, or place on the shoulders of other men and women; but each must do his own duty, each bear his own responsibilities, each set his own house in order, each magnify his calling, each live near unto God, if he expects God to draw nigh unto him.
We are pleased to be able to report that the Lord is abundantly blessing the labors of the brethren and sisters engaged in the performance of ordinances pertaining to the Temples of our God; and a great work is being done therein in the interest of both the living and the dead. We have been pained, however, to learn that in some few instances, either through misunderstanding, carelessness, or partiality, recommends have been given to unworthy persons. This is a grave error,--one that should be guarded against with every possible care. The Bishops and Presidents of Stakes should take every precaution that the House of the Lord is not denied by the intrusion of the unworthy through their recommendation. we strongly advise more caution and greater care in this regard. To the Saints we say that those who desire the blessing of entering into and officiating in these houses dedicated to the Most High, should render themselves worthy thereof. They should live in harmony and peace at home, they should settle all their differences before attempting to enter this holy place, which should be a house of peace, a house of order. They should pray with their families morning and evening, and not neglect secret prayer; they should honestly pay their debts to all men, and not only to man, but remember also that which is due, as tithes and offerings, to the Giver of all. They should observe the Word of Wisdom in the spirit and meaning thereof, for it is most inconsistent to carry the smell of whiskey and tobacco into the sacred precincts of the Lord’s House. Or in a word, they should observe to do and to keep all God’s holy laws and commandments, that when they enter His House they can enjoy that spirit which gives zest, power and efficacy to their ministrations.
The reports from the Elders engaged in the active field of missionary labor are far from discouraging, though the results in baptism in those lands where our brethren have labored the longest, will not equal the showing of former years. The annual number of baptisms, as well as the total membership of the Church, in Scandinavia, now exceeds those in Great Britain. But the most marked results of our labors, of late, have manifest themselves in New Zealand, amongst the Maoris, the aborigines of those Islands, who being a remnant of the house of Israel, nearly allied to the Sandwich Islanders, have received the Gospel with gladness, and show great firmness and integrity in cleaving to its truths.
In the present depressed state of business, and consequent lack of employment, the Bishops must not forget the duty which, as fathers of the people, they owe to the poor and inexperienced. None must be permitted to suffer. But we have learned long since that benevolence to be worthy of its name must be guided by reason as well as by sympathy; and aid should be given primarily with the view of doing real and lasting good to the recipients, and must be bestowed in a manner to discourage improvidence and the growth of a spirit of pauperism. Our aim should be to develop the powers of the worthy poor through that thoughtful help which will utilize the resources of the new-comer or unfortunate, and assist those who, if able, are willing to help themselves. In these labors of love we trust the fullest cooperation and must perfect harmony will exist between the Ward authorities and the Relief Societies, that thereby they may mutually strengthen, and enhance the value of each others efforts. Nor must the families of the missionaries be forgotten; those whose whole time is spent in proclaiming the truths of the everlasting Gospel must not have reason to complain of want of consideration by their brethren and sisters. If the counsel heretofore given to the Presidents of Stakes and Bishops with regard to the establishment of missionary farms had been more widely carried out, we believe the results would have been more encouraging. Brethren, there is still time for action in this matter.
In these times, when many men, because of being faithful to religious convictions, are immured in prison, if proper precautions are not taken, there is danger of their families suffering on account of their absence. Great care should therefore be taken by the Presidents of Stakes, the Bishops of wards, the Priests and Teachers, and by the people generally, to see that, in the absence of their natural guardians and protectors, they are protected in their persons and property. where there is any lack of means, they should see that it is amply supplied; not in the shape of charity, but as a duty we owe to our brethren who are persecuted for conscience sake and who are immured in prison for their adherence and fidelity to their wives and families.
The so-called Christians are most egregiously ignorant of the relations of man and wife; and while they talk quite flippantly of the eternity of matter and spirit of which man and woman are composed, nor the eternity of the marital relation, nor the eternal covenants entered into between men and women, husbands and wives, parents and children. The acme of all their hopes in relation to matrimony and its continuance, as expressed in their covenants, “until death do you part,” What a gloomy picture! What, nothing more? No; this is the general formula of all the churches, of all the millions of so-called Christians who dwell on this continent and the hundreds of millions of professed Christians throughout the world. What in this case becomes of all our hopes of eternal life, eternal exaltations in the mansions of the just? Does God indeed “join them together,” as they say; and then does death divide them and serve the covenant? No, indeed; they make no such covenant, and therefore cannot break it. Their covenant is until death does them part—no further, no more. When this is accomplished all is ended in regard to their matrimonial relations. What of the resurrection from the dead? What of the New Jerusalem—the celestial glory—the eternal union that the authors of fiction write about? To them, as to the professed Christians, it is all fiction—a beautiful dream which death dissolves. We have other views, other ideas, other hopes. We believe in death being swallowed up in victory, in “a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness;” in the resurrection of the just, both men and women, parents and children. Our Gospel, “The Gospel of the Son of God, brings life and immortality to light.” We believe in Jerusalems, such as the one which John saw when banished as a slave to the isle of Patmos, because of his religion, where the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are to be fulfilled; “which had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels”—“and the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was one pearl.” Its walls were of jasper, its streets and the city were pure gold. The foundations of the wall were garnished with all manner of precious stones, and the glory of God did lighten it, “and the Lamb is the light thereof.” Its pearly gates had written upon them the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel and the foundations of its walls, “the names of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb.” “The throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him; and they shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads. The porters of its gates were angels and its light the glory of God.”
What was written on those pearly gates? The names of the twelve tribes of Israel. Who was Israel? Jacob. From whom did the twelve tribes descend? From Jacob. What were their names? The names of the sons of Jacob, which he had by four wives. Jacob, then, was a polygamist? Yes; he was one of those barbarians of which the Judge of the Third Judicial District says: “These practices might have been proper in a barbarous and primitive time—in crude times—but they won’t do now. Civilization has thrown them away. It won’t do to gather up these old customs and practices out of the by-gone barbarism and by-gone ages and attempt to palm them upon a free and intelligent and civilized people in these days.”
How free the people are in Utah to-day needs no discussion. If the judge cannot stand these things it would seem God and the Lamb can, for He is the light of the city on the gates of which are written the names of twelve men, the sons of one man, by four women—a polygamist. Had Jacob lived now, the judges would have sent spies, spotters and deputy marshals alter him, and if caught would have sent him to the penitentiary with other honorable men who had the courage of their convictions, and for whom “God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.”
And what of his handmaids; will they be there? Yes: where there is so much beauty and glory and so many of his servants the women are sure not to be absent. Besides are they not one? Has not “God joined them together?” It would not be a heaven without them; they have entered into covenants with the men for time and eternity in the Lord; “They twain are one flesh.” “The man is not without the woman nor the woman without the man;” but the corrupt have no place therein. For without are dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
Speaking of the sexes, the same God who created Adam, created Eve, “male and female created He them; and blessed them and called their name Adam.” Who are women? The mothers of the whole human family. They were all born of women, who were created and prepared as companions and helpmeets for man. To Eve God gave another seed in the place of Abel. “For God said, He had appointed me another seed instead of Abel whom Cain slew.” Who made this appointment? God. From whom came kings, emperors, prophets, seers and revelators? They came through women who were often Prophets themselves, and who were frequently ministered to by angels. Jesus was born of a woman; they were His companions on earth, were with Him at His death, and were first at His sepulchre, and will be His and His saints’ companions in heaven.
Polygamy is not understood nor our relations thereto. There is nothing secret about it. When it was first proclaimed in Salt Lake City, in 1852, Elder Orson Pratt went shortly after to the city of Washington and published it to the world in a paper called The Seer; after that, President Brigham Young, who was a known polygamist, was reappointed, by the President, Governor of the Territory of Utah.
It is alleged that we are in danger of perverting the nation’s morals. But how much danger there is of this may be judged by the morality of those in our midst who endeavor to make us believe they represent the government and nation, as exhibited in the following:
Criminal Statistics of Salt Lake City for the Year 1855:
Total estimated population, 26,000
Mormons, 20,800
Non-Mormons, 5,200
26,000
Or 5 Mormons to 1 non-Mormon.
There were during the year, 1,276 arrests.
Adult males, 1,126
“ females, 134
Boys under 10 years old, 16
1,276
The 20,800 Mormons produce arrests, 96
The 5,200 non-Mormons, “ “ 1,180
or 1 to 12 ½
There are now in the city some 6 Brothels, 40 Tap Rooms, a number of Gambling Houses, Pool Tables and other disreputable concerns, all run by non-Mormons.
But for the presence of those who are constantly making war upon us our city would be free from the contaminating influences of houses of prostitution, gambling houses, dram shops and other such death-dealing concerns, and the taxes would be greatly reduced. But, as it is, the “Mormons” are forced to pay a liberal tax in support of the laws against the lawlessness of their non-tax paying enemies. Every other town, city and county in the Territory, and all the jails and the Utah penitentiary, show even a much cleaner record in favor of the “Mormon” than the foregoing exhibit portrays.
If it should be said that these convictions were made by “Mormon” judges and justices, it must also be remembered that the District Court always stands open and gladly extends relief to any who consider themselves wronged by “Mormon” officers.
It is a remarkable fact that in all these years since the introduction of polygamy among us, not one Gentile has ever entered into it through our agency; those who are corrupt have easier methods which are furnished and approved by the professed Christian world. These are not Mormon institutions; but the practical out-growth of monogamy. The question arises, if in thirty-four years not one Gentile has adopted polygamy, how many years will it take to demoralize the fifty-five millions of the United States? The fact is, our Elders could not thus introduce it if they would, and any one so doing would be immediately severed from the Church.
The question arises, What shall we do? Shall we, because of the inconsiderate action of Congress, of the Judiciary and of other Federal officers, array ourselves against the nation, and sacrifice our loyalty to the greatest nation which is now in existence? Certainly not. Joseph Smith told us that “the Constitution of the United States was given by inspiration of God.” Is it less true to-day than it was then? What shall we do? Have they passed “test oaths” which are forbidden in that Constitution? Yes. Have they not “prohibited the free exercise of” our “religion?” Yes. Have they not passed ex post facto laws? Yes. It is not only said that no ex post facto law shall be passed, but also no “law impairing the obligation of contracts.” Some thousands of people in this Territory have entered into sacred contracts for time and for all eternity; Congress has passed a law making this a crime, and many men, who will not violate their contracts, are in prison to-day for a violation of the law of Congress which is ex post facto, making that a crime which was not a crime when the law was passed. This, then, is another violation of the Constitution. What about the “religious test oaths” instituted in Idaho, Arizona and in certain forms in Utah? What about the 4th amendment to the Constitution, which says: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue but upon probably cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized?”
In article 8 of the Constitution it is stated, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” In George Q. Cannon’s case lately, in an offense for which the law provides $300 fine and six months imprisonment, a bail of $25,000.00 and an additional $20,000.00 for two complaints which were not at the time supported by any evidence, was required: thus he was made subject to a $45,000.00 bond. Is this excessive bail? If so, it is a violation of the Constitution. Thus we have six different violations of the Constitution of the United States, sanctioned, approved or winked at by those who have sworn to sustain that charter or liberty.
These are no fictions, but veritable facts that we have had to meet and put up with. But because of this misrule and perversion of the Constitution, and of the rights of American citizens shall we be inimical to that Constitution or to the institutions of the country to which we owe allegiance? Certainly not. These errors have to be corrected, and it is our duty, so far as lays in our power, as it is the duty of all honorable men in these United States, to sustain the Constitution thereof and to oppose in all legitimate ways any infringement of that instrument.
We are inconsiderately asked to rend our family relations and throw away our ideas of human freedom, political equality and the rights of man and “to become like them.” Be like them for what? Like them in sapping the foundations of human liberty, like them in violating our constitutional oaths, like them in covenanting with wives and children till death parts them, and no more but a dead blank? What does it mean to be like them? It means that E pluribus Unum is a fiction; it means that we tamper with and violate that grand palladium of human liberty, the Constitution of the United States and substitute expediency, anarchy, fanaticism, intolerance and religious bigotry for those glorious fundamental principles of liberty, equality, brotherhood, human freedom and the rights of man. It means judicial corruption, perverted justice missionary judges, class rulings and minority representation; it means judicial tyranny and oppression, the introduction of spies and spotters, of packed juries and intolerance, of prisons, chains and terrorism; and introduces cruelty, oppression and despotism, in the place of liberty, equality and brotherhood. We cannot do it. We will rally around the flag of our country and maintain the glorious Constitution for weal or woe. We cannot and will not lay aside our fealty to the nation at the bidding of political demagogues, religious fanatics or intolerant despots.
To you, Brethren, who, as Presidents of Stakes, High Councilors and Bishops, hold in your keeping the purity of the lives of the members of the Church, we again repeat the warnings and admonitions of our former epistles and say, upon you lays the responsibility of the keeping of God’s house in order, each according to his calling, ordination and appointment, and to the extent and scope of the duties imposed upon him. In these duties you cannot be negligent without incurring the displeasure of the Lord and losing His Spirit. The Lord holds each man responsible for that portion of the flock which is placed in his care. The Relief Societies, the Young Men and Young Women’s Mutual Improvement Associations, the Sunday Schools, and the Primary Associations should all receive your hearty encouragement and support. Each of these organizations can be of great benefit to all of you in your labors. All of these Presidents are or should be subject to the authorities of the Wards and Stakes where they reside.
It devolves upon the Twelve Apostles and the Seventies to see that the Gospel is carried, and to carry it themselves, to all the nations of the earth—first unto the Gentiles and then to the Jews. This is their especial calling, and they should keep it constantly before them.
Like the First Presidency, the most of the members of the Council of the Twelve Apostles have been greatly restricted in their movements. One of their number, Elder Lorenzo Snow is in prison. He bears his imprisonment with equanimity and fortitude; and so far as we know all of the Apostles feel cheerful and full of faith, and determined to magnify their calling.
Our latest advices from President Joseph F. Smith report him to enjoying good health and to a goodly degree the spirit of his office and calling. From his letter, recently published in the Deseret News, the Saints have learned his sentiments concerning the work of God and the present situation of affairs.
In conclusion, we say to all the officers and members of the Church be diligent in reading the word of God, contained in the Bible, the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants; search the prophecies and let your hearts be comforted by their precious promises. God has said concerning Zion, that “no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me saith the Lord.”
Our history is one continued illustration of the fulfilment of this word of our God. We can truthfully ask, where is the weapon that has been formed against Zion which has prospered? or where is the tongue that has risen against Zion in judgment which has not been condemned? Her enemies have been very numerous; in many instances they have been prominent and powerful. They have strutted their brief hour upon the stage and have thought they were performing doughty deeds; but where are they? If their names were not kept in remembrance in our history, as enemies of the work of God, the most of them would be as utterly forgotten by the world as if they had never lived. But Zion will prosper and prevail. There may be storms to be endured; there may be trials to be encountered and difficulties to be overcome; and there may be seasons when clouds of darkness may envelop us and shut out the horizon from our view; yet if we humble ourselves before our God and keep the covenants we have made with Him, He will neither desert nor neglect us.
The Lord has said, through one of His prophets, “Hear, ye that are afar off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly, he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from the holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil. He shall dwell on high; his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks; bread shall be given him: his waters shall be sure.”
These are the kind of people we should be; for it is such people who will build up and be counted worthy to stand in Zion. Then it can truthfully be said: “That the Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.”
Be it our lot to live as Saints, to maintain every principle of virtue, of honor, of truth and integrity, to keep sacred the covenants we have made with God and with each other, and to obey in all things the word of the Lord. So shall we and our families be blessed of the Lord in time and throughout the eternities that are to come.
God bless you and all the friends of Zion with peace and happiness in this world and, in the world to come, with life everlasting, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Your brethren in the Lord,
John Taylor,
George Q. Cannon.
Of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
March, 1886.
The choir sang:
The Spirit of God like a fire is burning;
The latter-day glory begins to come forth,
the congregation joining.
Adjourned till Wednesday, at 10 o’clock.
The Spirit of God like a fire is burning;
The latter-day glory begins to come forth,
the congregation joining.
Adjourned till Wednesday, at 10 o’clock.
Fourth Day. Closing Session, April 7th.
The choir sang:
Lord, when iniquities abound,
And blasphemy grows bold.
Prayer by Apostle John Henry Smith.
Ere long the vail will rend in twain,
The King descend with all his train.
The choir sang:
Lord, when iniquities abound,
And blasphemy grows bold.
Prayer by Apostle John Henry Smith.
Ere long the vail will rend in twain,
The King descend with all his train.
Elder Seymour B. Young
was called upon to make a report of the work of reorganizing the Seventies which had been in progress for some time past. He read a circular address which had been sent by the First Presidents of Seventies “To the Presidents and members of the Quorum of Seventies.” It had some general and special instructions, and contained the treasurer’s report for the period intervening between March 1st, 1885, and Feb. 28th, 1886. It showed the receipts to the general fund to have been $1,192.08, and the disbursements $1,016.74, leaving a balance on hand of $175.34. Elder Young further showed that 14 new quorums had been organized within the last three years, while the others had been more thoroughly filled up and organized. There are now ninety quorums in all. During the last year quite a number of missionaries had been sent to the nations and more could have been supplied had they been wanted.
was called upon to make a report of the work of reorganizing the Seventies which had been in progress for some time past. He read a circular address which had been sent by the First Presidents of Seventies “To the Presidents and members of the Quorum of Seventies.” It had some general and special instructions, and contained the treasurer’s report for the period intervening between March 1st, 1885, and Feb. 28th, 1886. It showed the receipts to the general fund to have been $1,192.08, and the disbursements $1,016.74, leaving a balance on hand of $175.34. Elder Young further showed that 14 new quorums had been organized within the last three years, while the others had been more thoroughly filled up and organized. There are now ninety quorums in all. During the last year quite a number of missionaries had been sent to the nations and more could have been supplied had they been wanted.
The General Authorities of the Church, as follows were presented by the Clerk, and sustained by unanimous vote of the Conference:
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 and Wilford Woodruff, Franklin D. Richards, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, Brigham Young, Moses Thatcher, Francis M. Lyman, John Henry Smith, George Teasdale, Heber J. Grant and John W. Taylor, Members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Counselors to the Twelve Apostles: John W. Young and D. H. Wells.
Patriarch to the Church, John Smith.
First seven Presidents of the Seventies, Henry Herriman, Horace S. Eldridge, Jacob Gates, Abram H. Cannon, Seymour B. Young, C. D. Fjeldsted and John Morgan.
Wm. B. Preston as Presiding Bishop, with Robert T. Burton as his First and John Q. Cannon as his Second Counselor.
John Taylor, as Trustee-in-Trust for the body of religious worshipers 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.
Counselors to the Trustee-in-Trust: the Counselors to the President, the Twelve Apostles, their Counselors, and Bishop Wm. B. Preston.
Wilford Woodruff as Church Historian and General Church Recorder, with F. D. Richards as assistant.
Truman O. Angell, General Church Architect, and W. H. Folsom assistant.
Auditing Committee—Wilford Woodruff, Franklin D. Richards, Erastus Snow and Joseph F. Smith.
Clerk of Conference—John Nicholson.
Church Reporters—John Irvine and George F. Gibbs.
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 and Wilford Woodruff, Franklin D. Richards, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, Brigham Young, Moses Thatcher, Francis M. Lyman, John Henry Smith, George Teasdale, Heber J. Grant and John W. Taylor, Members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Counselors to the Twelve Apostles: John W. Young and D. H. Wells.
Patriarch to the Church, John Smith.
First seven Presidents of the Seventies, Henry Herriman, Horace S. Eldridge, Jacob Gates, Abram H. Cannon, Seymour B. Young, C. D. Fjeldsted and John Morgan.
Wm. B. Preston as Presiding Bishop, with Robert T. Burton as his First and John Q. Cannon as his Second Counselor.
John Taylor, as Trustee-in-Trust for the body of religious worshipers 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.
Counselors to the Trustee-in-Trust: the Counselors to the President, the Twelve Apostles, their Counselors, and Bishop Wm. B. Preston.
Wilford Woodruff as Church Historian and General Church Recorder, with F. D. Richards as assistant.
Truman O. Angell, General Church Architect, and W. H. Folsom assistant.
Auditing Committee—Wilford Woodruff, Franklin D. Richards, Erastus Snow and Joseph F. Smith.
Clerk of Conference—John Nicholson.
Church Reporters—John Irvine and George F. Gibbs.
The following was read by the clerk, and, on motion of President A. O. Smoot, accepted and ordered placed on file in the archives of the Church:
Report of the Auditing Committee,
Covering the period from the time named in their last report, made October 6, 1884, until December 31, 1885.
We, the undersigned, auditors appointed at the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to examine and audit the books and accounts of the Trustee-in-Trust of the said Church, after a careful and thorough examination and comparison made by ourselves and by competent assistants, of the receipts of cash and other property from all sources by the said Trustee-in-Trust, and the accounts of the expenditures of the same, during the past two years, since we made our last report, do hereby certify that we have found the accounts strictly correct, and of the most satisfactory character. We have found that, after allowing for the amounts paid out, the balance is fully accounted for by cash on hand and inventoried property.
We cannot close this, our report, in justice to the Trustee-in-Trust, and for the satisfaction of the Latter-day Saints in Conference assembled, without saying that we have been much gratified, in our examination of the books and accounts, with the prudent, economical, and strict manner in which the funds that have come into the hands of the Trustee-in-Trust have been managed.
All obligations have been promptly met, the business has been placed on a most satisfactory basis, debts have been liquidated, and the financial condition and standing of the Church are most satisfactory.
This condition of affairs is very pleasant for us to contemplate, as we know the statement will be to the Saints in General Conference assembled.
We remain, your brethren,
Wilford Woodruff,
Erastus Snow,
Franklin D. Richards,
Auditing Committee.
Report of the Auditing Committee,
Covering the period from the time named in their last report, made October 6, 1884, until December 31, 1885.
We, the undersigned, auditors appointed at the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to examine and audit the books and accounts of the Trustee-in-Trust of the said Church, after a careful and thorough examination and comparison made by ourselves and by competent assistants, of the receipts of cash and other property from all sources by the said Trustee-in-Trust, and the accounts of the expenditures of the same, during the past two years, since we made our last report, do hereby certify that we have found the accounts strictly correct, and of the most satisfactory character. We have found that, after allowing for the amounts paid out, the balance is fully accounted for by cash on hand and inventoried property.
We cannot close this, our report, in justice to the Trustee-in-Trust, and for the satisfaction of the Latter-day Saints in Conference assembled, without saying that we have been much gratified, in our examination of the books and accounts, with the prudent, economical, and strict manner in which the funds that have come into the hands of the Trustee-in-Trust have been managed.
All obligations have been promptly met, the business has been placed on a most satisfactory basis, debts have been liquidated, and the financial condition and standing of the Church are most satisfactory.
This condition of affairs is very pleasant for us to contemplate, as we know the statement will be to the Saints in General Conference assembled.
We remain, your brethren,
Wilford Woodruff,
Erastus Snow,
Franklin D. Richards,
Auditing Committee.
The following motion, by Apostle John Henry Smith, was carried unanimously:
“That the missionary committee be authorized to continue their labors and supply the various fields as necessity may demand.”
Apostle Heber J. Grant moved:
“That the missionaries now in the field and those who may subsequently be called be sustained by our faith and prayers, and that any of their families who may need assistance, be sustained substantially during their absence from their homes.” Carried unanimously.
“That the missionary committee be authorized to continue their labors and supply the various fields as necessity may demand.”
Apostle Heber J. Grant moved:
“That the missionaries now in the field and those who may subsequently be called be sustained by our faith and prayers, and that any of their families who may need assistance, be sustained substantially during their absence from their homes.” Carried unanimously.
President A. O. Smoot, of Utah Stake,
said he felt gratified at the enjoyable time participated in by those who had attended Conference. The elements had been propitious. Visitors had been hospitably entertained so far as he was aware. Good feelings had prevailed. This had been the largest gathering of people that had ever been witnessed in Provo. It was gratifying that this city had been favored—by the will of God and the First Presidency of the Church—with the holding of a General Conference here. It was to be hoped that it would not be the last gathering of that kind that would convene in the same place. Probably before another event of that nature transpired the Tabernacle would be in a finished condition. He thanked—for their promptness and efficiency—the various committees who had been appointed to prepare the building so that it could be used for its present purpose in its unfinished condition. Doubtless the people of Provo have enjoyed so good a time that they would be more than pleased to have the presence of the Saints who had come together from various places remain four days more. The speaker dwelt upon the prospects ahead of the people of God. Israel would never be removed out of his place. The crusade carried on against the Saints would serve to re-unite them; it would open up the way for the preaching of the Gospel in places where it had never been heard. All should Stand firm and they would eventually see the salvation of God.
said he felt gratified at the enjoyable time participated in by those who had attended Conference. The elements had been propitious. Visitors had been hospitably entertained so far as he was aware. Good feelings had prevailed. This had been the largest gathering of people that had ever been witnessed in Provo. It was gratifying that this city had been favored—by the will of God and the First Presidency of the Church—with the holding of a General Conference here. It was to be hoped that it would not be the last gathering of that kind that would convene in the same place. Probably before another event of that nature transpired the Tabernacle would be in a finished condition. He thanked—for their promptness and efficiency—the various committees who had been appointed to prepare the building so that it could be used for its present purpose in its unfinished condition. Doubtless the people of Provo have enjoyed so good a time that they would be more than pleased to have the presence of the Saints who had come together from various places remain four days more. The speaker dwelt upon the prospects ahead of the people of God. Israel would never be removed out of his place. The crusade carried on against the Saints would serve to re-unite them; it would open up the way for the preaching of the Gospel in places where it had never been heard. All should Stand firm and they would eventually see the salvation of God.
Apostle F. D. Richards
said he had enjoyed the spirit and instructions of the Conference. The Epistle, which ably covered a most extensive ground, would do good in the hearts of the Saints. He hoped the people would take pains to scatter it abroad among their friends. In these times when many of the leading brethren are not in view, all others should redouble their diligence. Because of neglect in some quarters, it was not possible to present reports, statistical and otherwise, that should have been a feature of the proceedings. This applied to the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Association, Ladies’ Relief Societies and other organizations. There was a report at hand from the young ladies’ associations, but it was so incomplete that it was not in a condition to be presentable. The information it conveyed was not full, and would therefore be misleading. Applications were made occasionally for information by the publishers of books. The reports from every quarter should be so exact that it could be imparted without difficulty. It was to be hoped that such neglect in this respect, lately manifested, would never again be exhibited.
The work of the Lord is steadily gaining ground in various parts of the world. The persecutions that occur have the effect of drawing the attention of thinking people to the Gospel. So it is with the crusade carried on here. It is not true that the 55,000,000 of this nation are all against this community. It would yet be developed that many people of this country were favorable to the Saints and had no desire to see them crushed. We had received the same Gospel that had been delivered by Enoch, Noah and Jesus, and the effects were similar in each dispensation. Although in the end it establishes peace and good will—the result of obedience to its principles—it causes disturbances when introduced. It arouses the passionate opposition of the wicked.
The speaker drew the attention of his hearers to the fact that already two races of people had been destroyed from the face of the land—the Jaredites and the Nephites. The Prophets had left it on record that no people should be permitted to dwell and flourish upon this continent unless they should keep the commandments of God. So soon as the cup of iniquity of any people inhabiting this land is full they are destroyed. The Almighty is raising up a people who will honor His name, that they may possess this land in peaceful obedience to his laws.
Referring to the law of conscience the speaker said that conscience was the standard of a man’s moral education. There were men in Utah, he said, who were engaged in the work of prosecuting the Latter-day Saints, and they took delight in following out the convictions of their conscience in so doing. The Indian races were conscientious in many things which they did which were looked upon as cruel in the extreme by the more highly civilized nations. For instance, when anyone of their number met with his death by the hand of an enemy, it became the conscientious duty of the male nearest of kin to the deceased to deal out summary vengeance upon the head of the slayer if he found him, if not upon the first of his race whom he might chance to meet. They believe it right to do this; and if they fail to satisfy their conscience in this respect, they feel that they are lacking in the performance of a great moral obligation, and that they are humiliated in the eyes of their tribe.
In East India we find another people whose conscientious convictions lead them in a very different channel of thought and action. There, when a man dies leaving a widow, her conscience leads her to believe that she cannot in any other way show proof of her fidelity to her deceased husband except in voluntarily offering her body to be consumed upon the funeral pile of his grave. The widow is not taken by force and burnt, as some imagine; she offers herself willingly in order to satisfy her religious convictions; and in thus ending her life she, according to her standard of education, offers indubitable proof of her marital fidelity.
Here then we find people in one part of the earth who, in order to appease their conscience, will deliberately take the life of a fellow-creature; and in another part where they voluntarily give their own life, as a means to answer the same conscientious demand. As with the American Indian so with the Oriental races, the standard of their education morally is their conscience.
The Apostle Paul tells us that he even held the garments of the men who participated in the stoning to death of Stephen. Would you not suppose that he felt sorrowful, after he found the truth, that he had had anything to do with the arresting and putting to death of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ; of consenting in thought, or acting in any way whatever in the shedding of innocent blood? Notwithstanding the inhumanity of the work of persecution in which he took a prominent part, he was a Jew and believed in Jewry; and what may be considered still more extraordinary was the fact of his being a highly educated man, having been brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught in all the learning of the Jewish people. Yet he says, after enumerating all these things which he had done: “In all these things have I lived in all good conscience unto this day.” In arresting true believers in Christ and casting them into prison, and even in stoning them to death, he was merely vindicating the supremacy of the law of Moses, as it is called, as to, heresy which was a capital crime worthy of death. And Paul was merely acting the part of a conscientious bigoted man when he was engaged persecuting the former-day Saints.
Now, let us suppose that here in this the greatest of nations are men in authority who do not acknowledge the right of God to dictate and control, who declare it to e the highest duty of the citizen to render obedience to the law of the land; and because such men enforce the law with severity and even with vindictiveness, shall we not give them credit for their sincerity and their zeal, inasmuch as they can say, as Paul said, that in what they do, they act conscientiously. And may we not hope that all such men may yet have their eyes opened to behold the enormity of their error, as Paul’s were opened to perceive the manifest wrong that he was inflicting on the Saints of his day; an that the day may yet come when they, like him, may repent of their sins and be found sorrowful for the part they have taken in the persecution of the Latter-day Saints. As the conscience of the Indian justifies him, under the circumstances alluded to, in the killing of a fellow creature; and as the conscience of the Oriental widow demands the sacrifice of her life over the funeral pile of her deceased husband; so does the same wonderful law of conscience not only justify but stimulate to action, in punishing men with imprisonment because, forsooth, they cannot conscientiously do as the law, interpreted by themselves, requires them to do, namely, to put away part of their family who are as dear to them as such relations can possibly make them. Then, again, in the face of these examples illustrating the difference may be further augmented by referring to the leading governing traits that characterize the conscience of the Latter-day Saints, are: Fear God and keep His commandments; thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself, upon which hinges all the moral law.
Let us be grateful that we are found worthy to stand upon the higher platform of moral education; and let us be willing to suffer, inasmuch as by our doing so, the Lord will sanctify it to the bringing about of the greater degree of liberty and privileges which must eventually be the lot of the Saints of God to enjoy.
said he had enjoyed the spirit and instructions of the Conference. The Epistle, which ably covered a most extensive ground, would do good in the hearts of the Saints. He hoped the people would take pains to scatter it abroad among their friends. In these times when many of the leading brethren are not in view, all others should redouble their diligence. Because of neglect in some quarters, it was not possible to present reports, statistical and otherwise, that should have been a feature of the proceedings. This applied to the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Association, Ladies’ Relief Societies and other organizations. There was a report at hand from the young ladies’ associations, but it was so incomplete that it was not in a condition to be presentable. The information it conveyed was not full, and would therefore be misleading. Applications were made occasionally for information by the publishers of books. The reports from every quarter should be so exact that it could be imparted without difficulty. It was to be hoped that such neglect in this respect, lately manifested, would never again be exhibited.
The work of the Lord is steadily gaining ground in various parts of the world. The persecutions that occur have the effect of drawing the attention of thinking people to the Gospel. So it is with the crusade carried on here. It is not true that the 55,000,000 of this nation are all against this community. It would yet be developed that many people of this country were favorable to the Saints and had no desire to see them crushed. We had received the same Gospel that had been delivered by Enoch, Noah and Jesus, and the effects were similar in each dispensation. Although in the end it establishes peace and good will—the result of obedience to its principles—it causes disturbances when introduced. It arouses the passionate opposition of the wicked.
The speaker drew the attention of his hearers to the fact that already two races of people had been destroyed from the face of the land—the Jaredites and the Nephites. The Prophets had left it on record that no people should be permitted to dwell and flourish upon this continent unless they should keep the commandments of God. So soon as the cup of iniquity of any people inhabiting this land is full they are destroyed. The Almighty is raising up a people who will honor His name, that they may possess this land in peaceful obedience to his laws.
Referring to the law of conscience the speaker said that conscience was the standard of a man’s moral education. There were men in Utah, he said, who were engaged in the work of prosecuting the Latter-day Saints, and they took delight in following out the convictions of their conscience in so doing. The Indian races were conscientious in many things which they did which were looked upon as cruel in the extreme by the more highly civilized nations. For instance, when anyone of their number met with his death by the hand of an enemy, it became the conscientious duty of the male nearest of kin to the deceased to deal out summary vengeance upon the head of the slayer if he found him, if not upon the first of his race whom he might chance to meet. They believe it right to do this; and if they fail to satisfy their conscience in this respect, they feel that they are lacking in the performance of a great moral obligation, and that they are humiliated in the eyes of their tribe.
In East India we find another people whose conscientious convictions lead them in a very different channel of thought and action. There, when a man dies leaving a widow, her conscience leads her to believe that she cannot in any other way show proof of her fidelity to her deceased husband except in voluntarily offering her body to be consumed upon the funeral pile of his grave. The widow is not taken by force and burnt, as some imagine; she offers herself willingly in order to satisfy her religious convictions; and in thus ending her life she, according to her standard of education, offers indubitable proof of her marital fidelity.
Here then we find people in one part of the earth who, in order to appease their conscience, will deliberately take the life of a fellow-creature; and in another part where they voluntarily give their own life, as a means to answer the same conscientious demand. As with the American Indian so with the Oriental races, the standard of their education morally is their conscience.
The Apostle Paul tells us that he even held the garments of the men who participated in the stoning to death of Stephen. Would you not suppose that he felt sorrowful, after he found the truth, that he had had anything to do with the arresting and putting to death of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ; of consenting in thought, or acting in any way whatever in the shedding of innocent blood? Notwithstanding the inhumanity of the work of persecution in which he took a prominent part, he was a Jew and believed in Jewry; and what may be considered still more extraordinary was the fact of his being a highly educated man, having been brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught in all the learning of the Jewish people. Yet he says, after enumerating all these things which he had done: “In all these things have I lived in all good conscience unto this day.” In arresting true believers in Christ and casting them into prison, and even in stoning them to death, he was merely vindicating the supremacy of the law of Moses, as it is called, as to, heresy which was a capital crime worthy of death. And Paul was merely acting the part of a conscientious bigoted man when he was engaged persecuting the former-day Saints.
Now, let us suppose that here in this the greatest of nations are men in authority who do not acknowledge the right of God to dictate and control, who declare it to e the highest duty of the citizen to render obedience to the law of the land; and because such men enforce the law with severity and even with vindictiveness, shall we not give them credit for their sincerity and their zeal, inasmuch as they can say, as Paul said, that in what they do, they act conscientiously. And may we not hope that all such men may yet have their eyes opened to behold the enormity of their error, as Paul’s were opened to perceive the manifest wrong that he was inflicting on the Saints of his day; an that the day may yet come when they, like him, may repent of their sins and be found sorrowful for the part they have taken in the persecution of the Latter-day Saints. As the conscience of the Indian justifies him, under the circumstances alluded to, in the killing of a fellow creature; and as the conscience of the Oriental widow demands the sacrifice of her life over the funeral pile of her deceased husband; so does the same wonderful law of conscience not only justify but stimulate to action, in punishing men with imprisonment because, forsooth, they cannot conscientiously do as the law, interpreted by themselves, requires them to do, namely, to put away part of their family who are as dear to them as such relations can possibly make them. Then, again, in the face of these examples illustrating the difference may be further augmented by referring to the leading governing traits that characterize the conscience of the Latter-day Saints, are: Fear God and keep His commandments; thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself, upon which hinges all the moral law.
Let us be grateful that we are found worthy to stand upon the higher platform of moral education; and let us be willing to suffer, inasmuch as by our doing so, the Lord will sanctify it to the bringing about of the greater degree of liberty and privileges which must eventually be the lot of the Saints of God to enjoy.
Closing Discourse
by Apostle F. D. Richards
I HAVE enjoyed the spirit and the instructions that have been given at this Conference very much. I think the Epistle, covering the vast ground that it does, will be productive of great good to this people, both at home and abroad. I hope the Saints will take pains to send copies of it to their relatives and friends living in the distant parts of the earth. This you can do and what a preacher it will make. It can go to places and enter habitations where our elders cannot go. It will help to dissipate prejudice and falsehood with which the world is deluged against this people.
Of the few things in I wish to mention this morning, one is, that during these times, when the Presidency, some of the Twelve Apostles, and Elders occupying different positions in the Church are restrained of their liberty, that we who are not, ought to double our diligence in performing the various duties assigned to us. Because of the negligence of the clerks of Wards, Stakes, and their Presidents, we are unable to present to you the usual annual statistical report. This is certainly a great oversight. It should not occur on account of the peculiarity of the times; because some men have been away, and have not been as thoughtful as they should have been. It is very annoying to lack, as we do, important information because of the incompleteness of reports. I trust that all parties concerned will henceforth bear in mind, that at the Annual Conference, all the reports should be brought in. We should have reports from the Temples, from the Relief Societies and the Associations. It is very important that we should make our reports, that they may go upon the records and form part of our history. It is vastly better for us to represent ourselves, than to be misrepresented by others. I hope this will be sufficient; and that everyone concerned, from the Primary Association upwards, will have their reports ready next annual Conference; so that we can learn the condition of the family, all through the house.
We are living in times quite peculiar from what they have been in any part of our history. The fact is, if we had laid out the plan and known how everything was to be, we should be so easy about it that our faith would be greatly slackened. The spirit and genius of our work is that we, in faith, watch and pray continually; for we know not the hour that the thief may come. The Savior made this expression in illustration of what the condition of the human family would be; that they would not know when He would come. For it has been decreed, that the specific time of His coming should be hidden from the world, but this we do know, that He will not come until the Gospel is preached to all the world as a witness. It is being preached to all the nations of the earth; and how pleasing to know that the islands of the sea, and even the ends of the earth, are yielding up their native sons and daughters unto God. It is very cheering to learn, that in New Zealand, there have been nearly 2,000 baptized into the Church; that they are very diligent and very faithful as a general thing. There are among them, a great many who are exceedingly intelligent and noble: men who have sustained to membership of the colonial parliament in that island. A young Elder, writing from there, states that he had been meeting with about sixty of his brethren who were obliged to answer separately, whether they would renounce the religion of “Mormonism,” or be cast out of the Church of England with threats of imprisonment. He relates that out of the sixty, only two or three prevaricated; that nearly all of them were true and faithful; preferring to be expelled from the popular Church than to renounce their true faith. It is very pleasing to know that fidelity to the truth is so manifest in these semi-civilized nations. The work of God is prospering in many of the mission; though in some, where they have been most active, baptisms are not quite so frequent; still the work is making satisfactory headway.
The persecution that is being waged against us is having the effect to open the eyes of thinking men, and of calling forth the attention of many who have never thought of these things before. And so it is in these lands; while we are so persecuted, the justice of our cause is quietly taking effect in the hearts of many of the people. It is not true that the fifty-five millions—the estimate of our nation’s population—are against us; not by any means. The priests that are among us, it is true, join in the common cause of opposition, publish lies and succeed in stirring up the feelings of many against us. They have moved members of Congress by threatening that they should not be re-elected if they did not take a position against us. This is not, however, the feeling of the whole people, though it is to a very terrible extent.
We must continue to labor, and be true and faithful to the covenants we have made. We must keep the commandments of God, seek after the words of truth, abide in them, and our desire to know and do His will should become intensified in us day by day. We should not let temporalities hinder the growth of faith in our bosoms; to hinder the continued increase of the fellowship of God; but obtain more and more of the Holy Spirit to enlighten and prepare us for the future; for the great conflict between truth and error, the great contest that is coming.
It is very difficult for us sometimes to know how to comprehend each other’s views; but singular to say that each Latter-day Saint knows of what his principles or faith consists. The principles are the same with us all; there is only a diversity as to how far some have advanced, some others not quite so far, and some perhaps, further as the case may be. This accounts for our unanimity. We have been baptized into one spirit; we worship one God. One Gospel has been revealed, which is the same Gospel given to Adam, to Enoch, to Moses; the same Gospel introduced anew by Jesus, and preached by the Apostles. The Gospel produces the same effects to-day as it did in the earlier times. To some it comes as the harbinger of peace; to others it proves a disturbing element in their families. In the days of Jesus, people were going on in their quiet old way, thinking there should not be any more revelation; that all things were to remain as they were in the beginning. When the Gospel of Christ comes to such people, how wonderfully it works! It gets into a family, and sets one against another; proving a source of joy and comfort to those that receive it, while it embitters the feelings of those who reject it; and this division of feeling exists until the honest in heart are gathered out, one of a family, and two of a city; while the others are left to fill up the measure of their iniquity, in the rejection of the truth.
Does it occur to you, my brethren, that in this great land which all nations look upon as a choice land, that heretofore two whole nations have been destroyed from the face of it? When the Jaredites were brought here from the time of the confusion of tongues, which occurred about 2,000 years before the birth of our Savior, they flourished 1,400 years, became exceedingly numerous and powerful, built towns and cities, towers and fortifications, and had all the evidences of an advanced state of civilization. In the course of time they became sinful, haughty and proud; until their wickedness at last led them to dissensions and strife, which resulted in the total destruction of that mighty race. They fought against and destroyed each other until there were but few left. So complete was the destruction of the once great and prosperous nation of the Jaredites, that the forces were reduced to but two warriors; the leaders of the two great factions. And they fought against each other until the darkness overtook them; and they slept upon their swords, and, on the morrow, renewed the struggle. They fought until one fell dead, and the other fell fainting on his sword.
Again, the Lord brought out from Jerusalem, six hundred years B. C., Lehi, Ishmael and Zoram, who became the ancestry of another great and mighty people, including also Mulek and his company who came some ten years after. They saw the remains of the Jaredites; witnessed their bones around the hill Ramah, bleached and bare; and it was made known to them how their brethren had fallen. They in turn occupied the land, and became a mighty people until some four hundred years after the coming of Christ. This people also obtained the favor of God to a wonderful degree, insomuch that the Savior established His Church among them. This book, (the Book of Mormon), is a record and history of the people that lived on this western hemisphere, and is a history of the work of God in this land; the building up of His Church among them, and their apostacy, transgression and final destruction as a nation around the hill Cumorah.
The Prophets have left it on record, which in the providences of Almighty God their writings have come down to us for our edification and instruction that any people that shall be permitted to occupy this land who will not serve the God of Israel shall, when they have become fully ripened in their wickedness, be destroyed in like manner. For the Lord promises this choicest of all lands to the house of Joseph, to the seed of Ephraim and Manassa, telling them that it should be a land in which his name should be delivered.
The prophet Ether in the 2nd chapter and 9th verse, says:
And now we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land, that it is a land of promise, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God or they shall be swept off when the fulness of His wrath shall come upon them, when they are ripened in iniquity.
And this cometh unto you, O ye Gentiles, that ye may know the decrees of God, that ye may repent and not continue in your iniquities until the fulness come; that ye may not bring down the fulness of the wrath of God upon you, as the inhabitants of this land hath hitherto done.
Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it, shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who had been manifested by the things which we have written.
God is now raising up another people to carry out his purposes; and we have need to be patient, long suffering, and charitable. We must labor diligently to perform the work He has given us to do, trusting in Him, and in him alone, for the outcome.
Now, it is a very singular thing that here in Utah, a people are endeavoring to live consistent with their religious convictions, according to the light which the Lord has revealed to them; and that among them are men representing the government of the country, who take delight in persecuting them because they follow out their conscientious convictions of religious duty.
Such convictions are mighty, in controlling the actions of men, as illustrated in the history of both individual and national traits of character.
The Indian races which surround us, are conscientious in many things that they do which are looked upon as cruel in the extreme by the more highly civilized nations. For instance, when anyone of their number meets his death by the hand of an enemy, it becomes the conscientious duty of the male nearest of kin to the deceased, to deal out summary vengeance upon the head of the slayer if he finds him, if not, upon the first of his race whom he may chance to meet. They believe it right to do this; and if they fail to satisfy their conscience in this respect, they feel that they are lacking in the performance of a great moral obligation, and that they are humiliated in the eyes of their tribe.
In East India we find another people whose conscientious convictions lead them in a very different channel of thought and action. There, when a man dies leaving a widow, her conscience leads her to believe that she cannot in any other way show proof of her fidelity to her deceased husband except in voluntarily offering her body to be consumed upon the funeral pile of his grave. The widow is not taken by force and burnt, as some imagine; she offers herself willingly in order to satisfy her religious convictions; and in thus ending her life she, according to her standard of education, offers indubitable proof of her marital fidelity.
Here then we find people in one part of the earth who, in order to appease their conscience, will deliberately take the life of a fellow-creature; and in another part where they voluntarily give their own life, as a means to answer a similar conscientious demand. As with the American Indian, so with the Oriental races, their education forms and determines their conscience.
The Apostle Paul tells us that he even held the garments of the men who participated in the stoning to death of Stephen. Would you not supposed that he felt sorrowful, after he found the truth, that he had anything to do with the arresting and putting to death of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ; of consenting in thought, or acting in any way whatever in the shedding of innocent blood? Notwithstanding the inhumanity of the work of persecution in which he took a prominent part, he was a Jew and believed in Jewry; and what may be considered still more extraordinary was the fact of his being a highly educated man, having been brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught in all the learning of the Jewish people. Yet, he says after enumerating all these things which he had done. “I have lived in all good conscience unto this day.” In arresting true believers in Christ and casting them into prison, and even in stoning them to death, he was merely vindicating the supremacy of the law of Moses, as it was called, as to heresy. which was a capital crime worthy of death. And Paul was merely acting the part of a conscientious bigoted man when he was engaged persecuting the former-day Saints.
Latter-day Saints should be exceedingly thankful that they have the revelations of God’s holy will, and that by obedience thereto, and the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, their consciences are formed and conformed to this supreme standard of eternal truth. Their education teaches them that to fear God and keep His commandments is the highest and most important duty of man. “Thou shalt love the Lord they God with all they heart, and thy neighbor as thyself. On this hangs all the law and the prophets.” This is the grand axiom of all intelligence and exaltation. Saints worship the Creator and are forbidden to worship any of His creatures. That would be idolatry. Where little is given, but little will be required. Where much is given, much will be exacted. They who lived without the knowledge of God’s law, will perish or die without being judged by it. Their consciences, meanwhile, accusing or excusing them according to their knowledge of what is right or wrong. So also the Saints who occupy a higher platform of education will be judged by the higher law which they have accepted, and by which they will be judged. Their consciences also are formed and determined by their education in the laws of God.
It, therefore, becomes our highest duty to obey God. How supremely grateful ought we to be, since we are accounted worthy to occupy so high a platform of intelligence and education under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and how exceedingly careful ought we always to be that we preserve in ourselves a conscience void of offense toward and man. Some have, by transgression, stifled the monitions of their conscience, until it had become silent—having become seared as with a hot iron. The faithful Saint can safely adopt the beautiful sentiment;
What conscience dictates to be done, or warns me not to do: this teach me more than hell to shun, that more than heaven pursue.
Concerning the Epistle that has been read, I wish you to peruse it very carefully. Get your families to read it, do not let it pass by like idle wind, and let us see that we practice in our lives, that which is applicable to us. I commend this to the Presidents of Stakes, the Bishops of Wards, and the Presidents of Quorums, trusting that the spirit of that communication will burn within them, and lead them to carry out in their fields of labor the counsel given.
The great boon to the human family is peace. Notwithstanding they want us to become like them, they cannot give us peace. And although we may be harassed, persecuted and deprived by our regrets and liberties as citizen of this great nation, let me tell you as they know nothing at all about—the peace of God that passeth understanding, which is the Comforter, the Holy Ghost. When we lie down at light, our sleep is sweet and refreshing; our hearts are buoyant and our spirits strong in the Lord. So it is with our brethren in prison; The Lord is blessing them with His Spirit, as we have heard during our Conference. Said the Savior, “Fear not them which kind the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him, which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell.” We want to fear God, and have our hearts full of love, that perfect love, which casteth out fear, except the proper fear of God our Heavenly Father. This is the kind of fear we want to entertain.
There are many things I would like to say if I had time. I want to call the attention of the Bishops and that of the lesser Priesthood, to the duty devolving upon them in relation to the people of the several Wards, that duty which requires them to seek after the welfare of the Saints to see that iniquity does not abound; but that the Spirit of the Lord flows freely in their hearts. The divine philosophy of the Gospel is as true as any philosophy that can be established upon the earth; and where there is devotion to God, the Spirit of God will be enjoyed. If it is not enjoyed, there is a cause; and if there is a cause you are the ones to eradicate it. And in the performance of this duty, as in that of all others, you must be wise, lest in taking out the tares you pull up the wheat also. In many instances you may have to let the tares grow with the wheat until the harvest comes; but because there may be instances where wisdom would dictate such a course, that is not to say that wickedness should be tolerated or winked at. If the people have sinned, let wisdom dictate the course to be taken against them.
Do not destroy confidence, nor drive people to despair. Jesus said in His day, “Though their sins were like crimson, they could be made white as snow; and though they were scarlet, they could be made white as wool; if they would put on proper and fitting repentance.” This is the duty of all people, and especially of all Saints. While there are some sins that are unto death; there others which are not unto death; and we should pray for them. Men who are called as Presidents over Stakes, and Bishops over Wards, should learn how to rescue sinners; how to teach the people young and old, and how to rightly divide the word of truth, and give to each his portion in due season.
I feel to labor with all my heart and ability in behalf of the Church, and hope the blessings of God may be abundantly dispensed upon all who have come up hither—I doubt not that all who have come here have received comfort and edification. I pray that His blessing may attend the Saints, in all the world, and especially His servants who are deprived of the pleasure of being present with us, and that the work of God may continue to prosper in the earth, until His will shall be done among men as it is by angels in heaven. God bless you. Amen.
The choir sang the anthem: “Jerusalem, my glorious home.”
Adjourned for six months, the place to be hereafter designated.
Benediction by Patriarch John Smith.
John Nicholson,
Clerk of Conference.
by Apostle F. D. Richards
I HAVE enjoyed the spirit and the instructions that have been given at this Conference very much. I think the Epistle, covering the vast ground that it does, will be productive of great good to this people, both at home and abroad. I hope the Saints will take pains to send copies of it to their relatives and friends living in the distant parts of the earth. This you can do and what a preacher it will make. It can go to places and enter habitations where our elders cannot go. It will help to dissipate prejudice and falsehood with which the world is deluged against this people.
Of the few things in I wish to mention this morning, one is, that during these times, when the Presidency, some of the Twelve Apostles, and Elders occupying different positions in the Church are restrained of their liberty, that we who are not, ought to double our diligence in performing the various duties assigned to us. Because of the negligence of the clerks of Wards, Stakes, and their Presidents, we are unable to present to you the usual annual statistical report. This is certainly a great oversight. It should not occur on account of the peculiarity of the times; because some men have been away, and have not been as thoughtful as they should have been. It is very annoying to lack, as we do, important information because of the incompleteness of reports. I trust that all parties concerned will henceforth bear in mind, that at the Annual Conference, all the reports should be brought in. We should have reports from the Temples, from the Relief Societies and the Associations. It is very important that we should make our reports, that they may go upon the records and form part of our history. It is vastly better for us to represent ourselves, than to be misrepresented by others. I hope this will be sufficient; and that everyone concerned, from the Primary Association upwards, will have their reports ready next annual Conference; so that we can learn the condition of the family, all through the house.
We are living in times quite peculiar from what they have been in any part of our history. The fact is, if we had laid out the plan and known how everything was to be, we should be so easy about it that our faith would be greatly slackened. The spirit and genius of our work is that we, in faith, watch and pray continually; for we know not the hour that the thief may come. The Savior made this expression in illustration of what the condition of the human family would be; that they would not know when He would come. For it has been decreed, that the specific time of His coming should be hidden from the world, but this we do know, that He will not come until the Gospel is preached to all the world as a witness. It is being preached to all the nations of the earth; and how pleasing to know that the islands of the sea, and even the ends of the earth, are yielding up their native sons and daughters unto God. It is very cheering to learn, that in New Zealand, there have been nearly 2,000 baptized into the Church; that they are very diligent and very faithful as a general thing. There are among them, a great many who are exceedingly intelligent and noble: men who have sustained to membership of the colonial parliament in that island. A young Elder, writing from there, states that he had been meeting with about sixty of his brethren who were obliged to answer separately, whether they would renounce the religion of “Mormonism,” or be cast out of the Church of England with threats of imprisonment. He relates that out of the sixty, only two or three prevaricated; that nearly all of them were true and faithful; preferring to be expelled from the popular Church than to renounce their true faith. It is very pleasing to know that fidelity to the truth is so manifest in these semi-civilized nations. The work of God is prospering in many of the mission; though in some, where they have been most active, baptisms are not quite so frequent; still the work is making satisfactory headway.
The persecution that is being waged against us is having the effect to open the eyes of thinking men, and of calling forth the attention of many who have never thought of these things before. And so it is in these lands; while we are so persecuted, the justice of our cause is quietly taking effect in the hearts of many of the people. It is not true that the fifty-five millions—the estimate of our nation’s population—are against us; not by any means. The priests that are among us, it is true, join in the common cause of opposition, publish lies and succeed in stirring up the feelings of many against us. They have moved members of Congress by threatening that they should not be re-elected if they did not take a position against us. This is not, however, the feeling of the whole people, though it is to a very terrible extent.
We must continue to labor, and be true and faithful to the covenants we have made. We must keep the commandments of God, seek after the words of truth, abide in them, and our desire to know and do His will should become intensified in us day by day. We should not let temporalities hinder the growth of faith in our bosoms; to hinder the continued increase of the fellowship of God; but obtain more and more of the Holy Spirit to enlighten and prepare us for the future; for the great conflict between truth and error, the great contest that is coming.
It is very difficult for us sometimes to know how to comprehend each other’s views; but singular to say that each Latter-day Saint knows of what his principles or faith consists. The principles are the same with us all; there is only a diversity as to how far some have advanced, some others not quite so far, and some perhaps, further as the case may be. This accounts for our unanimity. We have been baptized into one spirit; we worship one God. One Gospel has been revealed, which is the same Gospel given to Adam, to Enoch, to Moses; the same Gospel introduced anew by Jesus, and preached by the Apostles. The Gospel produces the same effects to-day as it did in the earlier times. To some it comes as the harbinger of peace; to others it proves a disturbing element in their families. In the days of Jesus, people were going on in their quiet old way, thinking there should not be any more revelation; that all things were to remain as they were in the beginning. When the Gospel of Christ comes to such people, how wonderfully it works! It gets into a family, and sets one against another; proving a source of joy and comfort to those that receive it, while it embitters the feelings of those who reject it; and this division of feeling exists until the honest in heart are gathered out, one of a family, and two of a city; while the others are left to fill up the measure of their iniquity, in the rejection of the truth.
Does it occur to you, my brethren, that in this great land which all nations look upon as a choice land, that heretofore two whole nations have been destroyed from the face of it? When the Jaredites were brought here from the time of the confusion of tongues, which occurred about 2,000 years before the birth of our Savior, they flourished 1,400 years, became exceedingly numerous and powerful, built towns and cities, towers and fortifications, and had all the evidences of an advanced state of civilization. In the course of time they became sinful, haughty and proud; until their wickedness at last led them to dissensions and strife, which resulted in the total destruction of that mighty race. They fought against and destroyed each other until there were but few left. So complete was the destruction of the once great and prosperous nation of the Jaredites, that the forces were reduced to but two warriors; the leaders of the two great factions. And they fought against each other until the darkness overtook them; and they slept upon their swords, and, on the morrow, renewed the struggle. They fought until one fell dead, and the other fell fainting on his sword.
Again, the Lord brought out from Jerusalem, six hundred years B. C., Lehi, Ishmael and Zoram, who became the ancestry of another great and mighty people, including also Mulek and his company who came some ten years after. They saw the remains of the Jaredites; witnessed their bones around the hill Ramah, bleached and bare; and it was made known to them how their brethren had fallen. They in turn occupied the land, and became a mighty people until some four hundred years after the coming of Christ. This people also obtained the favor of God to a wonderful degree, insomuch that the Savior established His Church among them. This book, (the Book of Mormon), is a record and history of the people that lived on this western hemisphere, and is a history of the work of God in this land; the building up of His Church among them, and their apostacy, transgression and final destruction as a nation around the hill Cumorah.
The Prophets have left it on record, which in the providences of Almighty God their writings have come down to us for our edification and instruction that any people that shall be permitted to occupy this land who will not serve the God of Israel shall, when they have become fully ripened in their wickedness, be destroyed in like manner. For the Lord promises this choicest of all lands to the house of Joseph, to the seed of Ephraim and Manassa, telling them that it should be a land in which his name should be delivered.
The prophet Ether in the 2nd chapter and 9th verse, says:
And now we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land, that it is a land of promise, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God or they shall be swept off when the fulness of His wrath shall come upon them, when they are ripened in iniquity.
And this cometh unto you, O ye Gentiles, that ye may know the decrees of God, that ye may repent and not continue in your iniquities until the fulness come; that ye may not bring down the fulness of the wrath of God upon you, as the inhabitants of this land hath hitherto done.
Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it, shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who had been manifested by the things which we have written.
God is now raising up another people to carry out his purposes; and we have need to be patient, long suffering, and charitable. We must labor diligently to perform the work He has given us to do, trusting in Him, and in him alone, for the outcome.
Now, it is a very singular thing that here in Utah, a people are endeavoring to live consistent with their religious convictions, according to the light which the Lord has revealed to them; and that among them are men representing the government of the country, who take delight in persecuting them because they follow out their conscientious convictions of religious duty.
Such convictions are mighty, in controlling the actions of men, as illustrated in the history of both individual and national traits of character.
The Indian races which surround us, are conscientious in many things that they do which are looked upon as cruel in the extreme by the more highly civilized nations. For instance, when anyone of their number meets his death by the hand of an enemy, it becomes the conscientious duty of the male nearest of kin to the deceased, to deal out summary vengeance upon the head of the slayer if he finds him, if not, upon the first of his race whom he may chance to meet. They believe it right to do this; and if they fail to satisfy their conscience in this respect, they feel that they are lacking in the performance of a great moral obligation, and that they are humiliated in the eyes of their tribe.
In East India we find another people whose conscientious convictions lead them in a very different channel of thought and action. There, when a man dies leaving a widow, her conscience leads her to believe that she cannot in any other way show proof of her fidelity to her deceased husband except in voluntarily offering her body to be consumed upon the funeral pile of his grave. The widow is not taken by force and burnt, as some imagine; she offers herself willingly in order to satisfy her religious convictions; and in thus ending her life she, according to her standard of education, offers indubitable proof of her marital fidelity.
Here then we find people in one part of the earth who, in order to appease their conscience, will deliberately take the life of a fellow-creature; and in another part where they voluntarily give their own life, as a means to answer a similar conscientious demand. As with the American Indian, so with the Oriental races, their education forms and determines their conscience.
The Apostle Paul tells us that he even held the garments of the men who participated in the stoning to death of Stephen. Would you not supposed that he felt sorrowful, after he found the truth, that he had anything to do with the arresting and putting to death of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ; of consenting in thought, or acting in any way whatever in the shedding of innocent blood? Notwithstanding the inhumanity of the work of persecution in which he took a prominent part, he was a Jew and believed in Jewry; and what may be considered still more extraordinary was the fact of his being a highly educated man, having been brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught in all the learning of the Jewish people. Yet, he says after enumerating all these things which he had done. “I have lived in all good conscience unto this day.” In arresting true believers in Christ and casting them into prison, and even in stoning them to death, he was merely vindicating the supremacy of the law of Moses, as it was called, as to heresy. which was a capital crime worthy of death. And Paul was merely acting the part of a conscientious bigoted man when he was engaged persecuting the former-day Saints.
Latter-day Saints should be exceedingly thankful that they have the revelations of God’s holy will, and that by obedience thereto, and the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, their consciences are formed and conformed to this supreme standard of eternal truth. Their education teaches them that to fear God and keep His commandments is the highest and most important duty of man. “Thou shalt love the Lord they God with all they heart, and thy neighbor as thyself. On this hangs all the law and the prophets.” This is the grand axiom of all intelligence and exaltation. Saints worship the Creator and are forbidden to worship any of His creatures. That would be idolatry. Where little is given, but little will be required. Where much is given, much will be exacted. They who lived without the knowledge of God’s law, will perish or die without being judged by it. Their consciences, meanwhile, accusing or excusing them according to their knowledge of what is right or wrong. So also the Saints who occupy a higher platform of education will be judged by the higher law which they have accepted, and by which they will be judged. Their consciences also are formed and determined by their education in the laws of God.
It, therefore, becomes our highest duty to obey God. How supremely grateful ought we to be, since we are accounted worthy to occupy so high a platform of intelligence and education under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and how exceedingly careful ought we always to be that we preserve in ourselves a conscience void of offense toward and man. Some have, by transgression, stifled the monitions of their conscience, until it had become silent—having become seared as with a hot iron. The faithful Saint can safely adopt the beautiful sentiment;
What conscience dictates to be done, or warns me not to do: this teach me more than hell to shun, that more than heaven pursue.
Concerning the Epistle that has been read, I wish you to peruse it very carefully. Get your families to read it, do not let it pass by like idle wind, and let us see that we practice in our lives, that which is applicable to us. I commend this to the Presidents of Stakes, the Bishops of Wards, and the Presidents of Quorums, trusting that the spirit of that communication will burn within them, and lead them to carry out in their fields of labor the counsel given.
The great boon to the human family is peace. Notwithstanding they want us to become like them, they cannot give us peace. And although we may be harassed, persecuted and deprived by our regrets and liberties as citizen of this great nation, let me tell you as they know nothing at all about—the peace of God that passeth understanding, which is the Comforter, the Holy Ghost. When we lie down at light, our sleep is sweet and refreshing; our hearts are buoyant and our spirits strong in the Lord. So it is with our brethren in prison; The Lord is blessing them with His Spirit, as we have heard during our Conference. Said the Savior, “Fear not them which kind the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him, which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell.” We want to fear God, and have our hearts full of love, that perfect love, which casteth out fear, except the proper fear of God our Heavenly Father. This is the kind of fear we want to entertain.
There are many things I would like to say if I had time. I want to call the attention of the Bishops and that of the lesser Priesthood, to the duty devolving upon them in relation to the people of the several Wards, that duty which requires them to seek after the welfare of the Saints to see that iniquity does not abound; but that the Spirit of the Lord flows freely in their hearts. The divine philosophy of the Gospel is as true as any philosophy that can be established upon the earth; and where there is devotion to God, the Spirit of God will be enjoyed. If it is not enjoyed, there is a cause; and if there is a cause you are the ones to eradicate it. And in the performance of this duty, as in that of all others, you must be wise, lest in taking out the tares you pull up the wheat also. In many instances you may have to let the tares grow with the wheat until the harvest comes; but because there may be instances where wisdom would dictate such a course, that is not to say that wickedness should be tolerated or winked at. If the people have sinned, let wisdom dictate the course to be taken against them.
Do not destroy confidence, nor drive people to despair. Jesus said in His day, “Though their sins were like crimson, they could be made white as snow; and though they were scarlet, they could be made white as wool; if they would put on proper and fitting repentance.” This is the duty of all people, and especially of all Saints. While there are some sins that are unto death; there others which are not unto death; and we should pray for them. Men who are called as Presidents over Stakes, and Bishops over Wards, should learn how to rescue sinners; how to teach the people young and old, and how to rightly divide the word of truth, and give to each his portion in due season.
I feel to labor with all my heart and ability in behalf of the Church, and hope the blessings of God may be abundantly dispensed upon all who have come up hither—I doubt not that all who have come here have received comfort and edification. I pray that His blessing may attend the Saints, in all the world, and especially His servants who are deprived of the pleasure of being present with us, and that the work of God may continue to prosper in the earth, until His will shall be done among men as it is by angels in heaven. God bless you. Amen.
The choir sang the anthem: “Jerusalem, my glorious home.”
Adjourned for six months, the place to be hereafter designated.
Benediction by Patriarch John Smith.
John Nicholson,
Clerk of Conference.