Journal of Discourses Volume 24

 BY PRESIDENT JOHN TAYLOR,

HIS COUNSELLORS, THE TWELVE APOSTLES, 
AND OTHERS.

REPORTED BY 
GEO. F. GIBBS, JOHN IRVINE AND OTHERS.

RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO THE LATTER-DAY 
SAINTS IN ALL THE WORLD.

VOL. XXIV.

LIVERPOOL:

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY JOHN HENRY SMITH, 42, ISLINGTON.

LONDON:

LATTER-DAY SAINTS' BOOK DEPOT, 19, SUTHERLAND STREET, PIMLICO, LONDON,
S.W.

1884.[p.iii]

Preface

John Taylor,  vol. 24, p.
This, the Twenty-fourth Volume of the like its
predecessors, consists of sermons of Latter-day Saints,
extemporaneously delivered and phonographically reported. That those
who are privileged with its perusal may profit not only by the letter,
but by the spirit also of the utterances herein recorded, is the
earnest desire of

THE PUBLISHER. [p.1]

John Taylor, February 11, 1883

Why the Saints Meet Together—Their Pretensions—What 
Their Profession Implies—No Right to Sit in Judgment on the 
World—All Children of a Common Father—Many Good Men Inspired 
By the Spirit of God Who Did not Possess the Gift of the Holy 
Ghost—How Joseph Smith Obtained Knowledge—The Gospel—What 
the Savior Required—Operations of the Holy Ghost—What is 
Required of the Saints—Their Feelings—Duty of 
Missionaries—National Feelings Buried in 
Embracing the Gospel—Relationship to God—Destiny 
of the Faithful—What Have Religionists of the World to Offer?—
Character of the Would-Be Reformers—Rights to Be Contended 
For—Corrupt Practices Condemned.

Delivered in the Assembly Hall, Salt Lake City, Sunday Feb. 11, 1883.

(Continued From Page 376 Journal Discourses.)

John Taylor

vol. 24, p.1
to assist us? The Lord, and if He does not I am sure we cannot do it,
and if He does not show us how we cannot do it. Well, some people come
and try to convert us. Very well, let them convert away. If they have
anything to convert you to, I say for God's sake take it, if they have
something that is more intelligent than that which has been
communicated to you. We are desirous to obtain all truth from whatever
quarter it comes, and every good thing that can be made manifest, and
if anybody has got any truths that we have not we are prepared to
embrace them, but we have no truths to barter away for the fictions,
ideas, theories and opinions of men. It is written: "They shall be all
taught of God." Have those men received anything from God to
communicate? If they have let them state it, and if they have not let
them hold their peace. "They shall be all taught of God." He will be
their instructor, their judge, their guide, their director and their
lawgiver, and he will give them the light and intelligence which they
require. We are operating with and in possession of principles that
are great, grand, glorious and intelligent, that have existed in ages
past, that exist to-day, and that will exist for ever and ever, worlds
without end, Amen. We are building up the Zion of God, and He is to be
our instructor. We are building up the kingdom of God, and He is to be
our guide. We are building up the Church of God, and unless we are
under the guidance and influence of the Spirit of God, we neither
belong to the Church of God, the Zion of God, nor the [p.2] kingdom of
God. And hence it is necessary that we should comprehend the position
we occupy.

vol. 24, p.2
We have been in the world and we have preached the Gospel to the world
and are doing it, and that is part of our duty, and we are fulfilling
it as fast as the Lord opens the way. We have done a great deal. I
think that at an assembly some little time ago there were twenty-five
nationalities represented. Is there any difference of sentiment among
these diverse people? No. In speaking with a gentleman recently on
some of the difficulties between the English and the Irish people, I
told him that it was lamentable that such a feeling should exist.
Well, said he, they are two different races and they cannot affiliate,
one being Celtic and the other Anglo-Saxon, and their sympathies and
feelings are dissimilar. Their ideas and feelings differ; their
education and their instincts differ. That is very true so far as it
goes. But what of us? We are gathered here under the inspiration of
the Holy Ghost, and that as I before said, produces a unity of feeling
and Spirit, a oneness and sympathy that does not exist, in the world
and Jesus has said, By this shall all men know that ye are my
disciples if ye love one another. We have people among us from all
parts of the United States, from Ireland, Scotland and Wales, from
England, France and Germany, from Denmark, Norway and Sweden; also
from Iceland, Australia, New Zealand, from the islands of the sea, and
in fact, from nearly every civilized country. And how is it brethren?
Are we Scandinavians; are we English; are we Scotch, Swiss or Dutch,
as the case may be? No; the Spirit of God, which we obtained through
obedience to the requirements of the Gospel; having been born again,
of the water and of the Spirit. has made us of one heart, one faith,
one baptism; we have no national or class divisions of that kind among
us.

vol. 24, p.2
What, then, are we aiming at? We are aiming to introduce among us the
principle of virtue, integrity, honesty, and a knowledge of God and of
His laws. This is what we are seeking to do. And do we injure any man
or set of men in so doing? I think not. I will say to the credit of
our merchants, that they are spoken of as honorable men, as men who
pay their debts better than the majority of mankind. Such is the
report I hear from gentlemen with whom I communicate. This is pleasing
to hear. It is pleasing to see the principle of honor introduced in
our trading; and we ought to be honorable one with another and with
all men, treating all with the respect they deserve and merit at our
hands. But because we do this are we to submit to every kind of
indignity; are we to submit to be outraged, to be tradiced; are we to
permit, in a social capacity, evils and crimes to be introduced in our
midst, and never lilt up our voice against them? Are we to permit our
sons and daughters to affiliate and associate with corrupt men and
women? No. But if our youth choose to pursue a course of that kind,
all well. No, I will not say it is well; it would be better if they
did better. We are here to introduce correct principles; and we
profess to be moving on a more elevated plane; we profess to be under
the influence of the inspiration of the Almighty; and God cannot look
upon sin with the least degree of allowance.

vol. 24, p.2
Let me read that prayer a little more: "Our Father, who art in
heaven." What, is He indeed my [p.3] Father? Yes. Is He our Father?
Yes. "Our Father, who art in heaven; hallowed be Thy name." We are
children of God; that is the relationship that we sustain to Him.
Being born of the Spirit, we become the sons of God. The what? The
sons of God. And what else? The heirs of God, and joint heirs with
Jesus Christ our Lord. Is this the position we occupy? So say the
Scriptures. And what is the difference between those who have been
born of the water and the Spirit, and those who know not the Gospel,
and who possess none of the gifts thereof? Let us stop and inquire.
You have sons, have you not? Yes. What will the boys be when they are
grown up. They will be men, will they not? They are now the sons of
men. If a man be inducted into the family of God, and becomes a son of
God, what will he become when he gets his growth? You can figure that
out yourselves. It is said, "Now are we the sons of God, and it doth
not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when he shall
appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is." What
shall we be? Heirs of God. What else? Joint heirs with Jesus Christ.
What, joint heirs with Jesus Christ our Lord? Yes. What do a man's
heirs possess when he leaves this world? They inherit the possessions
of the deceased father or benefactor. We say that God is the God of
the universe, the Maker of heaven and earth, the Sustainer of all
things visible and invisible. And are we to be joint heirs with Him?
So the Bible states. Well may the Lord say in one of the revelations
given through the Prophet Joseph Smith, "He that hath eternal life is
rich." Jesus said to the Samaritan woman when asking her to give him a
drink of water, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that
sayeth to thee, give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of Him, and
He would have given thee living water." "Whosoever drinketh of the
water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I
shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into
everlasting life." Again; Jesus said to His disciples: "In my father's
house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you. I go
to prepare a place for you," Where? In heaven, of which we have very
little knowledge, and about which we comprehend very little. "And if I
go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you
unto myself; that where I am there ye may be also." What was there in
His Father's house? Many mansions. What! Mansions in heaven? Yes? What
else? He declares He was going to prepare a place for them—mansions,
that where he was there they might be also. It is very plain, if we
could only open our eyes and understand it as it is. Them is a great
difference between this principle and the ideas that men entertain
regarding earthly things. The first is in accord with the eternal
duration and exaltation of man, and is in consonance with his highest
and most exalted aspirations; the other is momentary, transient,
fleeting and evanescent. Men are grasping and grabbing at the world,
and at the riches of the world. I might mention the names of prominent
men of this nation—no matter, I do not like to deal in
personalities—men who gather together their millions. By and by they
drop down into a little place just about two feet by six, and that is
all there is of it. And what of their riches?—anything pertaining to
the future? No. Such men are [p.4] foolish, if they could comprehend
it; but they cannot. They, however, think that we are big fools. There
was a prominent man whose name I have forgotten, but I remember some
lines that he wrote. When I am gone, he said, men will erect a
splendid monument to my memory, upon which they will write: "Here lies
the great!" If I could rise and speak, I would say, "False marble,
where? Nothing but poor and sordid dust lies here." Has any man ever
taken anything out of the world? No. Naked they come into the world,
and naked they return; they leave all their wealth behind them. Then
if, as intelligent beings, made in the image of God, we disregard the
teachings of our heavenly Father, and are led by influences that are
wrong, improper, impure and incorrect, and suffer ourselves to make
shipwreck of our faith and our good consciences, shall we not be the
veriest fools when we stand before the Judge of all the earth? But if
we can succeed in securing eternal life and exaltations, thrones and
principalities, powers and dominions, which we sometimes talk about
and which are as true as anything can be—if we can succeed in doing
this, we shall be amply repaid for all the inconveniences that we may
have to put up with, and all the trouble that we may have to endure.

vol. 24, p.4
Now we will return to the old prayer again. "Our Father who art in
heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come." What kingdom? The
kingdom of God. What does that imply? Government, rule, authority,
dominion. "Thy kingdom come." What, that God shall dictate affairs
upon the earth? Yes. That His word, His will, His law shall go forth?
Yes. One of the ancient Prophets in speaking of these things said,
"The law shall go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem." You will find those things written in your Bible, and can
look for them at your leisure. Now if we are to expect a thing of this
kind to take place, when the knowledge of God shall cover the earth as
the waters cover the sea, and when the will of God is to be done on
earth as it is done in heaven, ought we not to try as citizens of the
kingdom of God to introduce it and be governed by and to be under its
influence? I think we ought. Are we then to yield ourselves to the
false traditions, ideas, notions and opinions of men? I think not. We
want to strive in all the relations of life, in our family relations,
in our individual relations, in our marital relations, and in our
associations with men, to conduct ourselves in that way that God would
have us do if He were here Himself to speak on that subject; and to
seek to place ourselves in conformity with His law, His word and His
will.

vol. 24, p.4
Now, people take a great deal of pains to try to interfere with us in
our marital relations. What have they got to give us in exchange
outside of these things? O you Gentiles, present us something superior
to that which God has revealed, and we will embrace it. But you cannot
do it. We are at the defiance of the world to bring forth any better,
purer or more exalting principles. What would they give us in return
for that of which they seek to despoil us? Would they introduce all
the institutions of a pseudo-Christianity, with its prostitution, the
houses of assignation, its social evil, its foeticide and infanticide
and the political and social hypocrisy and depravity, and its
debauching, demoralizing, [p.5] and corrupting influence, and call
this a fair return for virtue, purity, honor, truth and integrity?
Would they induct us into some of the principles advocated by some of
their leading ministers of using the sword, the bayonet, and the
cannon to extirpate what they term heresy, set man against his
fellow-man and deluge the nation in blood? What do they tell us? They
set themselves up as our exemplars, and among other things say, we
must marry as they do. And how is that? Let me ask spine of you
venerable, white-headed men that were married in various places, what
kind of a covenant did you make? You were asked if you would take the
woman to be your lawful wedded wife, for how long? Until death did you
part. What a miserable thing. And this is what they have to offer. A
woman takes a man as long as he lives, and then when he dies all is
gone into oblivion; no eternal unity, no claim pertaining to heaven or
the future; no sons, no daughters, no wife, no husband. That is
nihilism, I think. This is the condition they would put you in to-day,
if you would listen to them. But we are told that we should remember
the rock from whence we are hewn, and the pit from whence we were dug.
God has shown us principles that are ten thousand times more exalting
and ennobling than anything they have to offer. No; you may continue
in such operations; that is your business. You may revel in the idea
of living with your wives in time, and then dropping into the grave
without hope of any further union. But let me have my wives and
children, and my associations in the eternal world. Let me have a
religion that will live in time, and exist, whilst eternal ages roll
along. That is the kind of religion I want, and if you like the other,
all right, take it. But give me, if you please, the liberty to pursue
happiness in my own way; if not I shall try to take it. I want none of
those evanescent principles that vanish when time ceases. I profess to
be an immortal being, as we all are. A spark of Deity, struck from the
fire of His eternal blaze, dwells in us, a portion of that
intelligence that dwells with the Gods; which, if we will follow out
through the influence of the Holy Ghost, of which I have spoken, will
bring us back again into the presence of God; and with us our wives,
our children, and our associations. Godliness, indeed, as stated by
the Apostle Paul, "is profitable unto all things, having the promise
of the life that now is and of that which is to come," and despite the
ideas, the opposition and the contumely of ignorant and unenlightened
men, we will rule and reign and triumph, not only in time but
throughout the countless ages of eternity. That is the kind of
religion that I want. I would not give a straw for the other; if other
people like it, all well and good. I do not want to interrupt them.
But they want to interrupt us; and they do it, many of them, though we
treat them never so kindly. They seem to bare a perfect mania on these
points; they run wild about our private affairs.

vol. 24, p.5
Now, there are certain inalienable rights that some men in this nation
consider belong to all men, one of which is, the right to live. The
government of the United States did not give men life; they received
it from another and higher source. God himself is the author of life
and existence, more so than we ourselves sometimes think. There is not
one of you could leave [p.6] this place to-day unless God permitted
it, and not only permitted it, but sustained you and empowered you to
do so. We live in Him, we move in Him, and from Him we have our being.

vol. 24, p.6
Do you believe that these men are sincere when they allege that we are
so very wicked and that they desire to improve our morals? It would be
something like their marriage—it ends in death, and sometimes even
before that. What has been the proceeding here? Who are the authors
and abettors of the iniquities that prevail in our midst? Wicked and
unscrupulous men, the professed advocates of reform and a hypocritical
civilization, such as ministers, politicians and others. Who are the
introducers and originators of our gambling hells, or bagnios, and of
the open and flagrant acts of debauchery and corruption that prevail
in our cities where Gentiles reside? Who are the protectors of
drunkenness and other vices? Our professed Christian reformers. These
are their institutions; and their emissaries have been trying to
introduce the murder of the innocents in the shape of foeticide and
infanticide. Can we believe in the sincerity and truthfulness of such
hypocritical, corrupt and degraded men? They tell us it is contrary to
law for a man to be married as we are, especially if he has more wives
than one. They talk about polygamy; but that is not the thing which
they are aiming at. I will mention these things some other time.

vol. 24, p.6
There are one or two statements that I wish to make before I close.
Have they manifested a desire to rid us of lasciviousness? Where are
the bagnios? Who are they kept for? For our good neighbors who love
virtue so much. Again when thousands of men withdrew from the polls
that they might not be considered obstructionists, what did they crowd
upon us? You have heard a statement about Mayor Little and his son.
Talk about purity! Was there any purity about that! The young man was
obliged to object to his father, who was an honorable man,
registering, because he had what? Broken any law? I do not think he
had ever broken a polygamic law, but he had two wives. some time ago
when there was no law against it. Some of these things we mean to
contest yet. We have not laid aside our franchise. If any think so
they make a great mistake. There is not one man or woman in twenty who
have refrained from exercising their franchise at the polls who, if
the law of the United States was carried out and constitutional
principles sustained, could be interfered with according to the most
rigid interpretation of the so-called polygamic laws, and we shall
comest these rights. We are not going to give up everything. In the
interests of peace some of us hold our franchise in abeyance at the
present time; but as I stated at Conference when I spoke of these
things—we mean to contend for our rights legally and constitutionally,
inch by inch to the last end, and to maintain the principle of human
rights in the interest of ourselves, in the interest of our children,
in the interest of the honorable men of this nation, and in the
interest of the freedom of man throughout the world. So do not think
we are giving up everything: we have not given up one solitary iota.
Yet we thought it better to withdraw until we had a fair opportunity
to contest all these things peaceably,  and quietly, and to contend
for our rights legally and constitutionally as [p.7] American citizens
and as men. Can we think that men are very sincere who purse the
course that has been adopted toward us? And what on the back of the
refusal to let Brother Little register? It is purity they are after;
is it? Here comes along the keeper of a bagnio and its inmates? Can
they be registered? Yes! Because, according to a ruling, not a law,
but a perversion of law, an oath is prescribed to American citizens,
wherein, loathsome, damning vices are protected. And they can register
while the honorable and virtuous are rejected. And our good, Christian
folks try to crowd these things down our throats. Well, we can bide
our time.

vol. 24, p.7
I will refer to another affair that took place. Another man, when he
came to be registered, after looking at the oath said:  "I don't think
I can take it, because I have got a wife and keep a mistress." But he
was requested to read the oath. After having done so, he said: "I see
the crime is here in it being in the marriage relation, and though I
have a mistress as well as a wife the mistress is not in the marriage
relation, and I can take it. This man was said to he candid. Of course
 he was, and people say that he was  honorable to tell his feelings.
Yes, he was honorable, if it can be honorable for a ma to pledge
himself before the altar to be true to his wife and to the covenants
he had made before God and witnesses—and then break those covenants;
if that is honor, he may be called an honorable man, but we do not
call it very honorable amongst us. This shows that lascivious
cohabitation can be tolerated and protected by men who would seek to
be our teachers and our reformers. Such men and women under the old
Mosaic law would have been stoned to death. I say, my soul, enter thou
not into their secrets, and, mine honor, be thou not with them united.


vol. 24, p.7
Furthermore, there is a little thing which I wish to refer to that has
lately come to my knowledge; I have a knowledge of a great many
things—for men come to me with all kinds of affairs. It is a
circumstance that is to be deplored. A married man considered hers an
honorable man, an upright man, a man that has taken an active part in
some of the schools, who has given considerable to the building of
churches and it has been thought that he was really seeking to do good
amongst us—has lately sought to abduct an honorable young lady, or
tried to persuade her to leave her home clandestinely with him and go
to a distant land. How can we trust these people? These are facts; I
have the letters; I know what I am talking about, and yet these are
who are supposed to be Christian reformers, identified with churches,
schools, and other places of improvement, who do not shrink to
associate themselves with those infamies. A very low state of morality
exists among them, as we know. How is it with us? Do we have men that
sometimes do wrong? Yes. Do we sanction the wrong? Can an adulterer
have a place amongst us? I tell you No, he cannot, and any Bishop who
would permit anything of that sort ought himself to be removed. We are
in favor of chastity, purity and virtue, not nominally but really, and
we should make a distinction between one thing and the other and
maintain virtue and correct principles in spite of the hypocrisy and
corruptions that exists, for it is among us and around us. And it is
for us to look after our wives, our sons and daughters, and preserve
our chastity, our honor and our virtue in all these matters. Let us
seek the blessing of God, and He [p.8] will help us and direct us. But
because some of these men do wrong, and act iniquitously, shall we
condemn the whole? By no means. There are thousands and hundreds of
thousands of honorable, upright men and women in this and other
nations, who outside of religion, would scorn to be associated with
such infamies. Treat all men aright; but be careful of that loose
system of morals that exists in the world; be careful how you
associate with such people or permit them in your habitations. Look
well to yourselves and to your families, to your sons and to your
daughters; and let us seek to do right and cultivate the principles of
truth and God will sustain us, and Zion will go onward, and our
enemies will be confounded, from time to time, and salvation will flow
to Israel if Israel will be true to himself, and we will try and carry
out the things that God has ordained, and accomplish the work that He
has given us to do. For if ever the will of God is done on earth as it
is done in heaven, it ought to commence in the land of Zion. May God
help us to do it in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Joseph F. Smith, October 29, 1882

Greatness of the Work Inaugurated and Accomplished By the 
Prophet Joseph Smith—Sketch of the Prophet's Early Life—
Refutation of the False Charges Made Against Him and the 
Latter-Day Saints—Character of Our Traducers—Divine 
Nature and Value of the Book of Mormon.

Delivered in the Assembly Hall, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon,
October 29th 1882.

(Reported By John Irvine)

vol. 24, p.8
Brother Woodruff in the course of his remarks made the assertion that
Joseph Smith was the greatest Prophet that has ever lived of whom we
have any knowledge, save and except Jesus Christ Himself. The world
would say that he was an impostor; and the Lord said that his name
should be had for good and for evil among all the nations of the
earth, and this much, at least, so far as his name has become known,
has been fulfilled. This prediction was made through the Prophet
Joseph Smith himself when he was an obscure youth, and there was but
little prospect of his name ever becoming known beyond the village
where he lived. It was at an early period of his life and at the [p.9]
beginning of the work that this prophecy   or revelation was given,
and it has  been truly verified. To day there  is not another man,
perhaps, who has figured in religion whose name is so widely known,
and the report of whom has gone so far and  is so wide spread among
the nations  as that of Joseph Smith. In connection with the work of
which he  was the instrument in the hands of  God of laying the
foundation, his name is spoken of in nearly every civilized nation
upon the globe for good or for evil. Where it is spoken of for good,
it is by those who have had the privilege of hearing the Gospel which
has come to the earth through him and who have been sufficiently
honest and humble to receive the same; they speak of Him with a
knowledge which they have received by the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, through obedience to the principles which he taught as a
Prophet and as an inspired man. They speak to his praise, to his
honor, and they hold his name in honorable remembrance. They revere
him and they love him as they love no other man, because they know he
was the chosen instrument in the hands of the Almighty of restoring
the Gospel of life and salvation unto them, of opening their
understanding of the future of lifting the veil of eternity as it were
from before their eyes. Those who have received the principles, which
he promulgated know they pertain not only to their own salvation,
happiness and peace, spiritual and temporal, but to the welfare
happiness, salvation and exaltation of their kindred who have died
without a knowledge of the truth. The work in which Joseph Smith was
engaged was not confined to this life alone, but it pertains as well
to the life to come and to the life that has been. In other words, it
relates to those that have lived upon the earth, to those that are
living and to those that shall come after us. It is not something
which relates to man only while he tabernacles in the flesh, but to
the whole human family from eternity to eternity. Consequently, as I
have said, Joseph Smith is held in reverence, his name is honored;
tens of thousands of people thank God in their heart and from the
depths of their souls for the knowledge the Lord has restored to the
earth through him, and therefore they speak well of him and bear
testimony of his worth. And this is not confined to a village, nor to
a State, nor to a nation, but extends to every nation, kindred, tongue
and people where the Gospel, up to the present, has been preached—in
America, Great Britain, Europe, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and
upon the Islands of the sea. And the Book of Mormon, which Joseph
Smith was the instrument in the hands of God of bringing forth to this
generation, has been translated into the German, French, Danish,
Swedish, Welsh, Hawaiian, Hindostanee, Spanish and Dutch languages,
and this book will be translated into other languages, for according
to the predictions it contains, and according to the promises of the
Lord through Joseph Smith, it is to be sent unto every nation and
kindred and people under the whole heavens, until all the sons and
daughters of Adam shall have the privilege of hearing the Gospel as it
has been restored to the earth in the dispensation of the fullness of
times.

vol. 24, p.9
The world presume that we have not received a knowledge of the truth.
Those who are in ignorance in regard to the character, life and [p.10]
labors of Joseph Smith, who have never read his revelations or studied
or investigated his claims to divine authority and are ignorant of his
mission, revile him, sneer at his name, and ridicule his claims to
prophetic inspiration, and call him all impostor. Jesus was also
called an impostor in His day, except by a few that hearkened to His
instruction, and believed His testimony. The great majority of mankind
then living who knew of Christ, deemed Him an impostor, and considered
him worthy to be put to death; precisely the same feeling existed
towards Joseph Smith.

vol. 24, p.10
The disciples of Jesus Christ anciently were regarded in the same
light as their Master, the Savior; so it is not at all surprising that
the people of the world to-day, who know not the truth, should
pronounce Joseph Smith an impostor and try to ridicule the doctrines
which he taught; but in so doing they make themselves ridiculous, for
they know little or nothing about them; indeed, in ninety nine cases
out of a hundred where the doctrines of the Latter-day Saints—which
are no other than the doctrines which were taught by the Savior
himself or contained in the Bible—are ridiculed and pronounced false
and evil, they are so pronounced by a class of people who, being
ignorant of, or willfully perverting the truth, build ærial castles in
order that they may tear them down, or "make a man of straw" to shoot
at so that they can create a great noise and excitement about the
"Mormons," and thus we are often charged by those who abuse us and
write and preach against us with believing and practicing the most
absurd things—things which no Latter-day Saint ever dreamt of
believing or accepting as a principle of his faith. As I have said, in
ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the Latter-day Saints are accused
by their enemies of believing doctrines which they do not believe, and
which are not the doctrines of the Latter-day Saints at all. They
accuse us of every abominable thing. They call us murderers; they say
we are immoral, ignorant, superstitious; they call us dupes, they say
we are deceived, that we are enslaved by the Priesthood; that we are
lettered and in bondage. Now, is it true that the Latter-day Saints
are ignorant? If so, then I am sorry for the great majority of
mankind, for millions of them are in a far worse condition than we
are, in this respect. I will say here, and not without good and
sufficient proof to back it, that the Latter-day Saints will compare
favorably with any other people upon the face of the earth for good,
sound common-sense, and every other good thing. Hence, to say that the
Latter-day Saints are an ignorant people is saying only what may
truthfully be said of the whole world. Taking the best evidence that
we have to prove the facts, the statistics of the schools as compared
with the statistics of the schools in the various States and
Territories and of European countries, it appears that the people of
Utah stand in the front ranks in relation to education, and are in
advance of many of their neighbors and stand equal with many who have
far greater advantages than they have. Yet we do not boast of being
very intelligent; and only claim time credit which belongs to us, that
we stand on a par with our neighbors and with our fellow-citizens
throughout the United States; and for that matter, will compare
favorably with any people on the face of the globe.

vol. 24, p.10
But we are called an "immoral [p.11] people." Well, is the world so
very moral? Are our accusers so very pure and holy and so extremely
righteous that they should accuse us of being immoral? Consistency
would demand that he that is without guilt should throw the first
stone. But it is a fact that in our case our bitterest accusers—and
this has been well demonstrated hundreds and perhaps thousands of
times—are themselves reeking with corruption. Generally those who are
the most immoral themselves are the first to make the charge of
immorality against the Latter-day Saints! But I deny the charge in
toto, and I assert, without fear of successful contradiction—that
there is not an equal number of people upon the face of the globe
to-day who present to the world as much pure and simple morality and
virtue as do the people called Latter-day Saints. In other words,
there is not a more moral people upon the face of the earth to-day
than the Latter-day Saints, taking them all in all. Not but what there
are some "black sheep" among them. But who can fathom the depths of
crime and corruption which exist in all the great cities of the world?
You may go to the rural districts throughout the United States, and
gather therefrom the most virtuous of our country to the number that
are gathered together as Latter-day Saints, and I will venture to say
that there are half as many children murdered among them annually,
either before or after their birth, by their own mothers or fathers,
as are born to the Latter-day Saints in the same period.    The
Latter-day Saints are proverbial for NOT murdering their children.
They have hosts of them, and they do not try to destroy them neither
before nor after birth, but endeavor to rear them to manhood and
womanhood, that they may teach them the principles of the Gospel of
Christ—the highest code of morals known, that they may be able to bear
off the kingdom of God upon the earth, and to regenerate the world.
This is the object for which the Latter-day Saints are raising
children, that God may have a pure and a righteous people. How much
time Latter-day Saints neglect their opportunities or privileges or
fall short of their duties in regard to training their children, and
instructing them in the principles of morality, virtue, purity and
uprightness, is difficult to say; but of this I feel sure that while
they are the best people that I know of there is great room for
improvement in this direction.

vol. 24, p.11
But, it is said, the immorality of the Latter-day Saints consists in
their marrying more wives than one! We are not charged with thee crime
of frequenting houses of ill-fame, of fostering illicit intercourse,
of infidelity to our wives—of child murder, of drunkenness, profanity,
dishonesty, cruelty or indolence, or if we are the charge is utterly
false, but our great offence is in marrying our wives and protecting
them and our children as all honorable men should. God forbid that I
should undertake to compare the honorable marriage of the Latter-day
Saints with the debauchery and sexual crimes of our accusers! If our
actions and our faith in regard to marriage are called wicked and
immoral by them, in the name of God and humanity what will you call
the crimes of those that accuse us? There is no adequate term in the
dictionary of the English language with which to make a comparison,
hence "Mormon" plural marriage cannot be degraded to the level of a
comparison with the sexual crimes and iniquities of the world; [p.12]
there is no similitude between them. One is the antipode of the
other—one is virtuous, pure and honorable, and the other is corrupt,
treacherous and debasing to the utmost degree. Our system of marriage
promotes life, purity, innocence, vitality, health, increase and
longevity, while the other engenders disease, disappointment, misery
and premature death—that is the difference. Hence there is no
resemblance for they are not allied to each other at all.

vol. 24, p.12
The people of Utah are charged with having committed terrible murders
and robberies. "Danites" or "Destroying Angels" are talked about by
sensational writers and believed in by the uninformed. Now, what is
the fact? Utah stands head and shoulders above every other Territory
in the United States so far as the crime of murder is concerned. You
cannot find a western Territory or State within the United States
where there has not been a hundred per cent. more murders, lynching
and lawlessness than can be found in the annals of Utah. Take the
State of California, the State of Nevada, and all the surrounding
Territories, and it will be found that there has been less violation
of law, fewer murders and less lynching in Utah than in any one of
these from the beginning. There is no man that knows anything about
the history of the western States and Territories for the last thirty
years but knows this to be absolutely the fact. But because a few
horse thieves and murderers have per chance been summarily dealt with
by officers of the law—who were the appointees of the United States,
and acting under the authority of the parent government and the laws
of the Territory—the whole people of Utah are accused of being
murderers. I attended a Methodist revival meeting held in a big tent
in this city a few years ago by some itinerant preachers, who had
spent but a few days in Utah, and were totally ignorant of her
history, and it fairly made one's blood run cold to hear them relate
their pious suspicions of the horrible murders that bad been committed
in Utah. They thought, or pretended to believe, that if the rocks of
these mountain gorges could only speak, that nearly every rock could
some terrible tale unfold of horrible secret murder and rapine. The
most damnable nonsense that was ever uttered by man. But this is the
sort of preaching that is generally done against the Latter-day Saints
by this class of men, and as I have said, those who denounce the
doctrines of this people as heresies and as abominable, in ninety-nine
cases out of a hundred know nothing whatever of the facts. If the
Latter-day Saints had not been Latter-day Saints, if it had not been
for their religion, and their faith in God and in His omnipotence to
deliver them from the power of their enemies; or if the Territory of
Utah had been inhabited by the same number of people composed of the
various sects and denominations of Christianity, so-called, and the
one-thousandth part of the infamies that have been perpetrated upon
this people had been perpetrated upon them, many of the perpetrators
of these infamies would have been long ago summoned to their final
abode by "Judge Lynch." But the patience of the Latter-day Saints, and
their willingness to leave their cause in the hands of God has spared
them from shedding the blood of their enemies, and preserved them from
violence or harm. Men that have not deserved to live, and would not
have been suffered to live in any [p.13] other community under the
same circumstances, have equal protection with the very best citizens,
and no man would harm a hair of their heads. We have too much good
sense to make martyrs of such characters, and consequently they are
left alone to pursue their nefarious course. Sometimes it seems rather
hard to bear it, but it is the best to do so, I suppose. We are
engaged in the work of the Lord, and He will bear it off victorious. 

vol. 24, p.13
Let us return to the Prophet Joseph Smith. He was accused of nearly
everything that was vile, by his enemies, who, as is well known by the
Latter-day Saints, were generally entirely ignorant of his true
character and mission. What did Joseph Smith do? Was human blood found
upon his hands? No verily no. He was innocent. Was he a slanderer and
vilifier? No, verily, he was not. Did he wrongfully and unjustly
accuse men of wickedness? No, he did not. Did he institute an order of
things that has proven injurious to the human family? Let the people
who have become acquainted with his doctrines, and with the
institutions which he established upon the earth and his own life's
labor answer. He was born December 23, 1805, in the State of Vermont.
His parents were American citizens, as had been their ancestors for
generations. In the Spring of 1820 he received the first supernatural
or heavenly manifestation. He was then fourteen years of age.
Ordinarily we do not expect a very great deal from a boy who is only
fourteen years of age, and it is not likely that a boy of that tender
age could have become very vicious or wicked, especially when be was
born and reared on a farm, apart from the corrupting vices of great
cities, and free from contact with the debasing influences of vile
associations. It is not likely that he spent many idle moments during
the working years of his life up to fourteen years of age; for his
father had to labor for his living and earn it from the soil by the
labor of his hands, being a poor man with a large family to support.
In 1820, as I have said, Joseph Smith received a revelation in which
he claimed that God had declared that He was about to restore the
ancient Gospel in its purity, and many other glorious things. In
consequence of this, Joseph Smith became very notorious in the
neighborhood where he resided, and people began to regard him with a
great deal of suspicion. He was at once called an impostor, and a few
years later he was styled by his enemies, "old Joe Smith." His fame
became known throughout the United States. He was called "a money
digger," and many other contemptuous things. If you will look at his
history, and at the character of his parents, and surroundings, and
consider the object of his life, you can discover how much consistency
there was in the charges brought against him. All this was done to
injure him. He was neither old nor "a money digger," nor an impostor,
nor in any manner deserving of the epithets that they applied to him.
He had never injured anybody, nor robbed anybody—he never did anything
for which he could be punished by the laws under which he lived. When
he was between 17 and 18 years of age, he received another heavenly
manifestation, and some great and glorious things were revealed to
him, and for four years subsequently he received visits from a
heavenly messenger. He did not claim he was in communication with
wicked men or demons from the lower regions. He claimed he [p.14] was
in communication with Moroni, one of the ancient Prophets who lived
upon this continent. He was a good man when he lived here and it is
not likely that he had become wicked since he went away. This
personage, he claimed, revealed to hum the mind and will of the Lord,
and showed him the character of the great work that he, in the hands
of God was to be instrumental in establishing in the earth when the
time should come. This was the labor that was performed by the angel
Moroni, during the four years intervening between 1823 and 1827. In
1827 he received from the hands of the angel Moroni, the gold plates
from which this book [book of Mormon] was translated by him through
the inspiration of the Almighty, and the gift and power of God unto
him. I heard it read when I was a child, I have read it many times
since and I have asked myself scores of times, have you ever
discovered one precept, doctrine, or command within the lids of that
book that is calculated to injure anybody, to do harm to the world, or
that is in contradiction to the word of God as contained in the Bible?
And the answer invariably came, No, not one solitary thing; every
precept, doctrine, word of advice, prophecy, and indeed every word
contained within the lids of that book relating to the great plan of
human redemption and salvation is calculated to make bad men good, and
good men better. Did Joseph Smith, during the three years intervening
between 1827 and 1830, while he was laboring with his hands for a
scanty subsistence, dodging his enemies and trying to evade  the grasp
of those who sought to destroy him and prevent the accomplishment of
his mission, struggling all the while against untold obstacles and
depressing embarrassments to complete the translation of this book,
have much chance of becoming wicked or corrupt? I do not think he had.
When he had finished translating the book he was still only a boy, yet
in producing this book he has developed historical facts, prophecies,
revelations, predictions, testimonies and doctrines, precepts and
principles that are beyond the power and wisdom of the learned world
to duplicate or refute. Joseph Smith was an unlearned youth, so far as
the learning of the world is concerned. He was taught by the angel
Moroni. He received his education from above, from God Almighty, and
not from man-made institutions; but to charge him with being ignorant
would be both unjust and false; no man or combination of men possessed
greater intelligence than he, nor could the combined wisdom and
cunning of the age produce an equivalent for what he did. He was not
ignorant, for He was taught by Him from whom all intelligence flows.
He possessed a knowledge of God and of His law, and of eternity, and
mankind have been trying with all their learning, wisdom and power—and
not content with that, they have tried with the sword and cannon—to
extirpate from the earth the superstructure which Joseph Smith, by the
power of God, erected; but they have signally failed, and will yet be
overwhelmed by their efforts to destroy it.

vol. 24, p.14
Again, the world say that Joseph Smith was an indolent person. The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized April 6th,
1830. Joseph Smith was martyred in Carthage, Illinois, on the 27th of
June, 1844,—14 years after the organization of the Church. What did he
accomplish in these 14 years? He opened up communication with [p.15]
the heavens in his youth. He  brought forth the Book of Mormon, which
contains the fullness of the Gospel; and the revelations contained in
the Book of Doctrine and Covenants; restored the holy Priesthood unto
man; established and organized the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, an organization which has no parallel in all the
world, and which all the cunning and wisdom of men for ages has failed
to discover or produce and never could have done. He founded colonies
in the States of New York, Ohio, Missouri and Illinois, and pointed
the way for the gathering of the Saints into the Rocky Mountains; sent
the Gospel into Europe and to the islands of the sea; founded the town
of Kirtland, Ohio, and there built a temple that cost about a quarter
of a million of dollars; he founded the city of Nauvoo in the midst of
persecution; gathered into Nauvoo and vicinity some 20,000 people, and
commenced the building of the temple there, which when completed cost
one million dollars; and in doing all this he had to contend against
the prejudices of the age, against relentless persecution, mobocracy
and vile calumny and slander, that were heaped upon him from all
quarters without stint or measure. In a word, he did more in from 14
to 20 years for the salvation of man than any other man save Jesus
only, that ever lived, and yet he was accused by his enemies of being
an indolent and worthless man! Where shall we go to find another man
that has accomplished the one thousandth part of the good that Joseph
Smith accomplished? Shall we go to the Rev. Mr. Beecher or Talmage, or
any of the great preachers of the day? What have they done for the
world with all their boasted intelligence, influence, wealth, and the
popular voice of the world in their favor! Joseph Smith had none of
their advantages, if these are advantages. And yet no man in the
nineteenth century, except Joseph Smith, has discovered to the world a
ray of light upon the keys and power of the Holy Priesthood or the
ordinances of the Gospel either for the living or the dead. Through
Joseph Smith, God has revealed many things which were kept hid from
the foundation of the world in fulfillment of the Prophets—and at no
time since Enoch walked the earth has the Church of God been organized
as perfectly as it is to-day—not excepting the dispensation of Jesus
and His disciples—or if it was we have no record of it. And this is
strictly in keeping with the objects and character of this great
latter-day work, destined to consummate the great purpose and designs
of God concerning the dispensation of the fullness of times. The
principles of baptism for the redemption of the dead, with the
ordinances appertaining thereto, for the complete salvation and
exaltation of those who have died without the Gospel, as revealed
through Joseph Smith, is alone worth more than all the dogmas of the
so-called Christian world combined. Joseph Smith is accused of being a
false prophet. It is, however, beyond the power of the world to prove
that he was a false Prophet. They may so charge him, but you who have
received the testimony of Jesus Christ by the spirit of prophecy
through his administrations are my witnesses that they have not the
power to prove him false, and that is why they are so vexed about it.
In my humble opinion many of our enemies know that they lie before
God, angels and men, when they make this charge, and they would only
be too glad to [p.16] produce proof to sustain their accusations, but
they cannot. Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God. He lived and died
a true prophet, and his words and works will yet demonstrate the
divinity of his mission to millions of the inhabitants of this globe.
Perhaps not so many that are now living, for they have in a great
measure rejected the Gospel and the testimony which the Elders of this
Church have borne to them; but their children after them and
generations to come will receive with delight the name of the Prophet
Joseph Smith, and the Gospel which their fathers rejected. Amen.

Moses Thatcher, March 7, 1883

Prohibition Advocated—Effects of Drunkenness 
Illustrated, Statistics, Etc.

SYNOPSIS OF A TEMPERANCE LECTURE,
Delivered by Elder Moses Thatcher, before the Young Men's Mutual
Improvement Association of Hyrum, March 7th, 1883.

(Reported By C. C. S.)

vol. 24, p.16
In responding to the invitation of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement
Association of Hyrum, I beg to say that press of other matters has
prevented me from preparing myself to speak upon this subject as its
importance demands, but I can submit some statistics which show the
effects of intemperance on the human body and soul more forcibly than
anything I can say.

vol. 24, p.16
Intemperance, license and prohibition have recently been somewhat
fully discussed through the columns of the Utah Journal. Those who
advocate strict prohibition as a means of checking intemperance among
our people, seem firmly impressed with the idea that every possible
safeguard should be thrown around the youth and those of mature age
who have not, within themselves, the power to resist temptations that
are fast sapping the foundations upon which have rested the
prosperity, morality, and purity of great Christian nations, that are
now wallowing in the filth and degradation of intemperance. Holding
that there are some, even among the Latter-day Saints, too weak to
resist the tempting cup when pressed to their lips by the hands of
false friends, yet who are too good to be left to destroy peace and
happiness, desolate home, and die, perhaps, in the gutter, I am an
uncompromising advocate of prohibition. No man [p.17] is permitted to
sell poisoned food. Who does so knowingly, to the destruction of life,
answers the law on the charge of murder. Why should any be held less
guilty of crime for dispensing liquid poison?

vol. 24, p.17
Put the essence of tobacco into the mouth of a rattlesnake and see if
the venom which makes its fangs the instrument of death, possesses
neutralizing force sufficient to counteract the more deadly poison of
the vegetable drug. And yet I have seen tobacco in pieces larger than
my hand in barrels from which my brethren and friends had drank the
whisky that extracted from that tobacco its deadly narcotic
properties.

vol. 24, p.17
I have beheld with horror the effects of double-distilled,
tobacco-poisoned whisky. Untainted by it, I have seen man face perils
that spoke of death, and under the sway of reason and calm judgment
offer his coat to save the life of his companion; when the fierce
blast of a winter storm was searching the marrow of his bones,
chilling his vitals and clutching with icy hand the benumbed, almost
frozen spark of life. This was the natural man, whose generosity the
fear of death could not conquer.

vol. 24, p.17
Driven wild with whisky, the heart beating like the quick throb of an
overworked engine, reason dethroned by distilled poison burning like
living coals in the brain, he who offered the coat to save, sped the
ball which pierced the heart of his friend, whose warm blood, rushing
through the murderous rent, curdled in crimson clots on the frozen
snow, and the hearts of two mothers broke.

vol. 24, p.17
Who shall declare that to be a legitimate business which, in its
effects, makes man a demon, dyes his hands in blood, and sacrifices
tender and loving hearts upon the altar of intemperance? How can any
man with one spark of the milk of human kindness in his heart, offer
to his fellow-man that which he knows may destroy the body and ruin
the soul? How can any father or brother ask our lawmakers to legalize
and thereby become responsible for the crimes of those who seek to
lead the weak and unsuspecting into temptations, which if yielded to,
generally end in misery, pauperism, and ignominious ruin?

vol. 24, p.17
Look at the home of the drunkard who would move heaven and hell in
order to secure the means for gratifying his unnatural appetite! Is it
a cheerful, prosperous, beautiful and healthful home? Does he educate
his children and feed and clothe them well, or does he permit them to
go bare-footed, half-clad, land otherwise exposed to disease and
suffering? Does he not pay whisky bills while denying wife and
children the means with which to keep the wolf of want from his door?
Look at the waste of property all around him! If he has a house, look
at the tattered rags hanging from the broken windows, the leaking
roof, creaking doors, fireless hearth and general cheerlessness of the
place he calls home. Gaze through the sorrowful eyes down into the
pain-stricken heart of his wife, and see if you can find a sentiment
there which calls for a single blessing upon the head of the man who
has assisted in the degradation of her husband. Look at his lean
horses and starving cattle, if he has any left, as they perish in the
pitiless storms that chill their marrowless bones, and say that no act
of prohibition should be enforced to assist in checking such an one in
his downward course. Is it possible for the inebriate to confine the
results of his intemperance to himself? No, it is not [p.18] possible!
It extends to others in spite of all he can do, and in so far as it
injures them, his agency should be curtailed. With kindness and long
suffering, with gentleness and good will? Yes! and if necessary, by
removing with every legitimate and lawful means the temptation which
he cannot resist unaided.

vol. 24, p.18
Should the acts—the agency of the brother who, a short time ago,
deserted his post at midnight and left exposed, by reason of his
engendered love of liquor, a hundred thousand dollars' worth of
property in trusted to his care, be in any way restrained?

vol. 24, p.18
Do intemperate men usually stand at the head of banking, railroad,
manufacturing and commercial affairs? Do they stand at the head and
control matters in which the Lord and good men have delight?

vol. 24, p.18
Contrast the intelligent look, the energy, the mental and physical
endurance of the temperate man with those of the intemperate. Contrast
the difference between their surroundings, homes and families, and
then say which you prefer, and which you will imitate.

vol. 24, p.18
I will now submit for your consideration an account of some of the
evils of intemperance in England, and its cost: In the year 1879, the
inhabitants of the United Kingdom expended for intoxicating drinks,
$640,716,320. The names of 3,000,000 persons were registered on the
books of the "Poor Law Unions" during that year, and 94,000 lunatics
were in the asylums. In 1877, 320,000 were apprehended for
drunkenness; 75,000,000 bushels of grain—an amount equal to what Utah,
at our present rate would produce in forty years—is used yearly in the
manufacture of intoxicants, which cause there annually 120,000
premature deaths. "It is the opinion of the best informed individuals
that the cost of the mischief resulting from drinking, viz.,
Pauperism, Crime, Disease, Waste of Grain, Accidents, Loss of Labor,
&c., amounts to fully as much as the cost of the drink itself, and,
therefore, if the direct and indirect cost of the  drink be added
together, it will give about thirteen hundred millions of dollars as
the amount the nation loses yearly through intoxicating liquors."

vol. 24, p.18
In return for this stupendous outlay the nation reaps a harvest of
crime, misery, destitution, vice, disease, ruin and death. If the
money was paid to rid the nation of such evils, it would be proof of
common sense, "but to buy them at such a price, is supreme folly," and
would seem utterly impossible to an intelligent people. "During the
seven years ending in 1879 the inhabitants of the British Isles spent
for drink, $4,820,189,180, and paid for Poor and Police Rates
$505,723,590. During the same time, 3,334,110 persons—nearly ten per
cent. of the entire population—were convicted of crime, and 1,271,838
were apprehended for drunkenness.

vol. 24, p.18
From the above tables (taken from Parliamentary returns) it will be
seen what an enormous amount of money is spent on intoxicating
liquors. Side by side we see the crime and drunkenness with the
consequent taxation, &c. How we suffer in other ways from the liquor
traffic can never be realized.

vol. 24, p.18
The money paid for drink during those seven years would cancel
England's national debt, and leave $1,000,000,000 to spare. It would
pay for 26,082 miles of railway which is 10,000 miles more than was
then being operated in the United Kingdom. Had the money been
invested, in building houses it would  [p.19] have erected a new one
for every family there, and built schools to accommodate all the
children in that country.

vol. 24, p.19
Had the money spent by the English people during the past 50 years for
liquors, been invested in securities realizing five per cent. per
annum principal and interest would now exceed by $5.000,000,000 the
entire capitalized value of all the wealth of the United Kingdom,
including its money, lands, railways, collieries ironworks, quarries,
mines, houses mills, and every other description of property.

vol. 24, p.19
Now all these things have grown and developed under the fostering care
of legalized crime. In other words, intemperance in England, and
intemperance in the United States, if not the offspring of legalized
crime is at least the bloated pauper of a system of license that
encourages drunkenness. And for this reason, having shown you some of
the fearful effects of intemperance, I unhesitatingly condemn the
system of license under which it has grown to such proportions. In
contrast I cite you to statistics, compiled by the best authority,
showing that drunkenness has decreased from 40 to 90 per cent. in the
State of Maine, where prohibition has been enforced. [The lecturer
here read from the writings of Hepworth Dixon, a beautiful description
of the happy condition of the people of St. Johnsbury, Vermont, who
had adopted "prohibition," and concluded by adopting as his sentiments
the following sound principles of Dr. Albert Barnes, enunciated in his
sermon, "The Thorne of Iniquity."]

vol. 24, p.19
"I lay it down as a sound principle in regard to legislation that
society should not by its laws protect evil. This, perhaps, is
sufficiently clear from the remarks already made; but the importance
of the principle in itself, and the application which I intend to make
of it, require that it should be made a little more distinct and
prominent. The position is that the purpose of society in organizing a
government, and the purpose of a government under such organization,
should not be to protect evil in any form. The law is made for the
lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy
and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for
man-slayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with
mankind, for men-stealers, for liars, for perjured persons (1 Tim.
1:9,) and not to protect those who practice these vices, or protect
anything which will give facility in practicing them. The true object
of legislation is to prevent, not to protect evil. God never
instituted a government on earth with a view to its throwing a
protecting shield over vice and immorality. He has never commissioned
men to sit in high places to accomplish any such work. The end of
government, so far as it bears on that point at all, is to suppress
crime, to punish wrongdoers, to remove iniquity, to promote that which
is just and true. And it matters not what the evil is, nor how
lucrative it may be, nor how much capital may be invested in it, nor
how much revenue may be derived from it, nor how many persons may have
an interest in its continuance—the business of the lawgiver is to
suppress it—not to protect it; to bring it to as speedy an end as
possible, not to become the panderer to it, or the patron of it. What
would be thought of a government that should, under any pretext
whatever, take under its protecting care thieves, counterfeiters, and
burglars? A third  principle in regard to [p.20] legislation is
equally clear, and equally important: It is that society should not
undertake to regulate evil by law. Its business is to remove it—not to
regulate it."

vol. 24, p.20
Having an abiding faith in prohibition, backed by local option, I
would have the Y. M. M. I. A. of Hyrum, use their influence to have
illicit liquor dealers here, discontinue their degrading, unlawful
traffic. This failing, rise up and help the city authorities to
enforce the law.

vol. 24, p.20
If there are any in favor of license to sell liquor in Hyrum, please
manifest it. [Not a hand was raised.] Who are in favor of temperance
and prohibition? [Every hand was raised,] May God bless and preserve
you from the blight of intemperance and the sin of drunkenness.

Orson Pratt, October 26, 1879

Exhortation From Isaiah—The Saints Obeying It—Glimpse at the 
Settlement of Utah—Fulfilling Ancient Prophecies—Jackson 
County, Missouri, the Destination of the Saints—The Temple 
to Be Built There—New Jerusalem—How It Will Be Preserved 
From Decay—Its Description—The Wicked Powerless to Prevent 
the Saints From Fulfilling Their Destiny.

Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 26, 1879.

(Reported By John Irvine)

vol. 24, p.20
I will read a few passages of Scripture which will be found in the
54th chapter of Isaiah. (The speaker then read most of the chapter
referred to.) Continuing, he said: 

vol. 24, p.20
I hope that the congregation will pardon me for undertaking three
Sabbaths running to instruct them when there are so many of our
brethren—those who are ordained and filled with the spirit of
truth—who would be glad, no doubt, to speak to the people; but a great
many of my younger brethren, younger than I am, may perhaps have a
great many opportunities after I may pass away, provided that the Lord
sees proper in His wisdom to call me hence.

vol. 24, p.20
I feel a great pleasure in standing before a congregation of
Latter-day Saints, or a mixed assembly of those who belong to the
Church and those who have not received the great message which the
Church has received. It gives me great joy and great satisfaction to
speak to them in the name of the Lord, and  unfold, [p.21] as far as
the Spirit will give me utterance, that which the Lord has said
concerning His people in the latter days. I had nothing upon my mind
when I arose and walked into the stand, but upon opening the Bible my
eyes fell upon this chapter, and I thought that I would read it—and
perhaps something might occur in relation to this chapter that would
be interesting in regard to the latter days, for certainly what I have
read relates to future times—times that have not yet come.

vol. 24, p.21
"Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the
curtains of thine habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords and
strengthen thy stakes is the exhortation of the prophet to some class
of people that should dwell on the earth. If we wish to know what
class of people the Prophet had reference to, read the last verse of
this chapter: "This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and
their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord." It would seem then,
from the declaration given in that clause of the seventeenth verse of
this chapter, that the Prophet was speaking of his servants and their
heritage—that is, the heritage that his servants should occupy—that
they were not to be narrowed and contracted in their feelings in
regard to their inheritance as though it were to be in a small tract
or region of country. The Lord had otherwise determined according to
the words of this chapter. He intends they should inherit a great
land, that they were to stretch forth the curtains of their
habitations, and for fear that they would be limited in their views
and contract themselves to a small region of country, the Lord says
expressly, "Spare not, lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes."
Well, we are trying to do this as Latter-day Saints. When we first
came here we located this city in the month of July, 1847, some 32
years ago this last summer. Then it was thought by many that had not a
knowledge of prophecy, that we were too expanded in our views to lay
out a city—being only a handful of pioneers—to lay out a city covering
several miles of ground, when there was not yet a house built; when
comparatively there was before us a great dry, barren desert. It
seemed almost folly to even some of the Latter-day Saints to see the
surveyor with his measure line, others with their instruments of
observation, getting the height of this land above the sea
level—making great preparations, while we yet camped, a little handful
of us, in wagons and in a few tents. It seemed folly to lay out a city
covering an area of several square miles; but those who did this work
were under the direction and inspiration of the Almighty. We knew that
this people would become a very great people. We knew that the words
of Isaiah would be fulfilled which are recorded in the 60th chapter,
"A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong
nation." Now we believed that. It was not merely all opinion such as
might be formed by the enlightened judgment of the human family, but
by the inspiration of that Spirit which knows all things, we laid out
a city sufficiently large in extent to accommodate and gather together
an extensive population for this inland country and desert. Have we
been disappointed? Has the Lord disappointed us in our expectation? Go
over the area of this whole city, over these northern wards and
western wards, and travel and traverse all the different lots and
streets, and see if you [p.22] find many vacant places. Is not the
land generally taken up? Is it not generally occupied? Are there many
vacant lots, where there are no houses or habitations? Are there many
places where there are no fruit trees, no gardens? Are there many
streets where there are no ornamental trees no water ditches? We find
after we have traveled several days and traversed nearly all the
streets of this city, gone for miles each way, that all the lots with
some very few exceptions, seem to be occupied, and not only so but
some of the lots originally intended only for one family are now split
up, divided and subdivided, and contain several habitations in the
same lot, and scarcely room enough at that. We find the population
coming into this city so great that there seems to be scarcely room,
and even our water in dry seasons seems to be very scarce, not
sufficient to water even the trees that are so necessary to be kept
alive, to say nothing of gardens and flowers and shrubbery. "Enlarge
the place of thy tent and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine
habitations; spare not;" that is don't be stingy, don't be contracted,
don't limit yourselves to a small area of country but break forth on
the right hand and on the left. Already within the last 32 years we
have been fulfilling this commandment. We have stretched forth the
gardens of our habitation several hundred miles in the south
especially, and one or two hundred miles in the north, into the
Territory of Idaho. Utah does not seem sufficient for us, hence we
have built many large towns and villages in Idaho. We have spread
forth our towns, our villages and our settlements to the south for
some 300 or 400 miles, and even after doing this we find the place is
too strait, and the saying is: "give place to me that I may dwell." We
would scarcely suppose that a work of this great and important
magnitude would have been accomplished in so short a time as scarcely
one-third of a century, when all this great basin—nearly all with the
exception of one or two small portions of the country traversed by
Fremont and a few of his followers—was explored and considered an
unprofitable desert, considered unfit for the habitation of man, in
consequence of the dryness and parched condition of its soil. But the
Lord when He begins to fulfill and accomplish a work among His people
does so by degrees. He did not convert this great American desert,
several hundred miles in extent, into a fruitful garden in one day,
nor in one year; but in a few years, comparatively speaking, He has
accomplished this work and has done it too with an eye to the
predictions that were uttered by His servant Isaiah, the Prophet, and
His servant, David, the Psalmist.

vol. 24, p.22
The Sabbath before last I addressed the congregation and spoke of the
people inhabiting the great mountain territory, removing. You will
recollect this. You know our enemies have had a great many
speculations about our moving. A great many have supposed that we
would remove to an island of the sea: others have pointed out
Vancouver's Island, others Russian America, as it used to be called;
others have pointed out Mexico; others the islands of the Indian
Ocean; and others South America, as the future destination of the
Latter-day Saints. But Sunday before last I endeavored to point out to
you our hopes, our views as contrasted with the views of our enemies,
in relation to our future destination. I will repeat  again, to bring
to the [p.23] remembrance of the Latter-day Saints, and those who
might have been present on that occasion, what was then said. We
expect that these mountains will not he the residence of all the
Latter-day Saints; we expect that the great majority of the people
will emigrate. We want to tell you where our eyes are fixed. As stated
in our former discourse, they are fixed upon a land—not in the distant
islands of the Indian Ocean, nor in the Pacific Ocean, nor in South
America, but our eyes are fixed upon a land on the western boundaries
of the State of Missouri and the boundaries of the State of Kansas. We
expect to go there just as much as we expect the sun will rise and
set. We have no other expectation. We expect to return there just as
much as the Jews expect to return to old Jerusalem in the latter days.
Perhaps you may inquire if we expect to return as a majority. Yes. Do
we expect to return as a great people? Yes. Do we expect to return
with our wives and our children? Yes. Do we expect to return in a
peaceable manner? Of course. Have you ever seen any other feeling on
the part of the Latter-day Saints, only to promote peace wherever they
may settle? What has been our object from the commencement? Peace and
goodwill to all men. But perhaps you may still further inquire
concerning our emigration to the eastern boundaries of the State of
Kansas, and to the western boundaries of the State of Missouri, what
we intend to do in that part of the country? We expect to be farmers,
a great many of us. We expect to introduce all kinds of machinery and
manufactures. We expect to build mills. We expect to become a very
industrious, frugal, economical people. We expect to have our
merchandise and our stores and storehouses in that land. We expect to
build a great many hundred school-houses in that country, just the
same as we have already done in this country and in the two adjacent
Territories, Idaho in the north and Arizona in the south. We do not
calculate to neglect our children in regard to their education. We
expect to build a great number of academies or the higher schools, and
besides a great many school-houses. We expect to erect universities
for the still higher blanches to be taught. We expect to build many
hundreds of meeting-houses, and we expect to be a people very densely
located there—not one man taking up six or eight miles of land, and
calling it his farm; we don't expect to live in that way, but we
expect to settle a very dense settlement in that region of country. We
expect to own the land, too. How? By purchase. We expect to purchase
the land that we have not already purchased. We have already purchased
a great deal of land in Jackson County and Clay County, Missouri, and
our purchases are on record if they have not destroyed the record; but
we were driven from that land, from our farms and homes; our houses
were burned down, our merchandise that we had in our store was taken
and strewn through the street; our printing office—one of the most
distant western offices in the Union—was also destroyed; the type was
taken out and scattered through the streets; our hay stacks were
burned, our cattle were shot down, and we were driven in the cold
month of November from our houses and lauds purchased of the general
Government, and we fled before our enemies. "Well," says one, "are you
not afraid to go back again to purchase land in that country when
[p.24] you were thus treated in the early settlement in 1833, when you
were driven from your homes, some of you massacred, your property
destroyed—are you not afraid to return?" O, I expect they are more
civilized now. Do you think civilized people would murder now? Do you
think they would drive people from their homes now? We may give them a
chance to see. At any rate we shall fulfill our part, purchase the
land, gather together upon our own purchased land, and we calculate to
obey, all the laws of the State of Missouri, and all the laws of the
State of Kansas that are constitutional in their nature. But, says
one, suppose the people should rise up and say you should not possess
the land, what would you do? We would leave the matter in the hands of
the Lord, just the same as we did at first when He led us by
revelation to where the great central stake of Zion should be built.
We went there because the Lord told us to go. We settled upon the very
spot where the Lord commanded us. We commenced to lay the foundation
of a temple about three-quarters of a mile from Independence, Jackson
County, Missouri. It was then a wilderness, with large trees on the
temple block. I visited that place 47 years afterwards, namely, a year
ago last September, and not a tree was to be found on that temple
block—not so much as a stump—everything seemed to be cleared off, and
one would scarcely know, unless very well acquainted with the ground,
where the temple site was located. There, however, we expect to build
a temple different from all other temples in some respects. It will be
built much larger, cover a larger area of ground, far larger than this
Tabernacle covers, and this Tabernacle will accommodate from 12,000 to
15,000 people. We expect to build a temple much larger, very much
larger, according to the revelation God gave to us forty years ago in
regard to that temple. But you may ask in what form will it be built?
Will it be built in one large room, like this Tabernacle? No; there
will be 24 different compartments in the Temple that will be built in
Jackson County. The names of these compartments were given to us some
45 or 46 years ago; the names we still have, and when we build these
24 rooms, in a circular form and arched over the centre, we shall give
the names to all these different compartments just as the Lord
specified through Joseph Smith. Now, our enemies do not believe one
word of this. They think we are enthusiastic, they think that this is
all nonsense, and I do not know but there may be some of the
Latter-day Saints that begin to partake of the same spirit, owing to
their assimilating themselves so much to the fashion of the world,
that they have lost their strong and powerful faith in that which God
has predicted by the mouth of his servants. Perhaps you may ask for
what purpose these 24 compartments are to be built. I answer not to
assemble the outside world in, nor to assemble the Saints all in one
place, but these buildings will be built with a special view to the
different orders, or in other words the different quorums or councils
of the two Priesthoods that God has ordained on the earth. That is the
object of having 24 rooms so that each of these different quorums,
whether they be High Priests or Seventies, or Elders, or Bishops, or
lesser Priesthood, or Teachers, or Deacons, or Patriarchs, or
Apostles, or High Councils, or  whatever may be the duties that are
assigned to them, they will have [p.25] rooms in the Temple of the
Most High God, adapted, set apart, constructed, and dedicated for this
special purpose. Now, I have not only told you that we shall have
these rooms, but I have told you the object of these rooms in short,
not in full. But will there be any other buildings excepting those 24
rooms that are all joined together in a circular form and arched over
the center—are there any other rooms that will be built—detached from
the Temple? Yes. There will be tabernacles, there will be meeting
houses for the assembling of the people on the Sabbath day. There will
be various places of meeting so that the people may gather together;
but the Temple will be dedicated to the Priesthood of the Most High
God, and for most sacred and holy purposes. Then you see that,
notwithstanding all these Temples that are now building in this
Territory, and those that have been built before we came here in
Kirtland and Nauvoo, the Lord is not confined to an exact pattern in
relation to these Temples building in the different Stakes any more
than He is confined in the creation of worlds to make them all of the
same size. He does not make them all of one size, nor does He set them
rolling on their axes in the same plane, nor does He construct any in
many respects alike there is variation as much as there is in the
human form. Take meal and women. There are general outlines that are
common to all, but did you ever see two faces alike among all the
millions of the human family? What a great variety, and yet all are
constructed in general outline alike—after the image of God. So in
regard to the building of Temples. The Lord will not confine Himself
to any one special method to be so many feet long, so many feet wide,
and so many places for the Priesthood to stand, but He will construct
His Temples in a great variety of ways, and by and by, when the more
perfect order shall exist we shall construct them, through the aid of
revelation, in accordance with the Temples that exist in yonder
heaven. And when I speak of yonder heaven I do not refer to that kind
of heaven the sectarian world sings about, beyond the bounds of time
and space. I have no reference to any heaven beyond space, but I have
reference to the heaven that the Lord has sanctified and made heaven
in other worlds that he has created, consisting of all kinds of
materials the same as our world is, and when this world passes through
its various ordeals, it, too, by and by, will pass away and die like
the body of man and be resuscitated again, a new heaven and a new
earth, eternal in its nature. The new worlds that are thus constructed
and quickened by the fullness of the celestial glory will be the
heavens where the Gods will dwell, or in other words, those that are
made like unto God, when their bodies are changed in all respects like
unto His glorious body, changed from materiality and cleansed from sin
and redeemed, they will then be immortal and dwell in a heavenly
world. Now, in this world there will be Temples, and these Temples
will be constructed according to the most perfect law of the celestial
kingdom, for the world in which they are built or in which they stand
will be a celestial body. This last Temple that I am speaking of, or
this last one to be built in Jackson County, Missouri, will be
constructed after that heavenly pattern in all particulars. Why?
Because it will never perish, it will exist for ever. "What! Do you
mean [p.26] to say," says one, "that the materials of that temple will
not wear?" "Do you mean to say," some of you may inquire in your
hearts, "that age will have no effect upon the walls and the materials
of that temple?" This is what I mean—I mean to say that not only the
Temple, but all the buildings that shall be built round about that
Temple, and the city that will be built round about it, which will be
called the New Jerusalem, will be built of materials that never will
decay. "But," says one, "that will be contrary to the laws of nature."
You may cite me to some of the buildings that existed before Christ
that were built out of the most durable materials that could be found,
and yet when the storms of hail, rain and snow came, these buildings
began to waste away until they could scarcely be recognized. Well, I
do not ask you to think that this temple and the city round about it
will defy the rough hand of time and the work of the elements of our
globe, and exist for ever, so far as natural laws are concerned; but
there is a principle higher than these natural laws. Did you never
think of it—a higher principle, a higher kingdom that governs all
these laws of nature, such as you and I have been accustomed to
understand ever since our youth. I say there is a higher law, a
controlling power over all the laws of nature, that will prevent these
buildings from decaying; and I wish while dwelling upon this subject
to say a little about another subject; that is, the building up of
Palestine with the new Jerusalem. It will be the old Jerusalem rebuilt
upon its former site. Now, will that city ever be destroyed, will it
ever decay? Will the Temple to be built in Palestine ever be thrown
down or ever be furrowed with hail, rain, snow and frost—will these
ever have any effect upon it? No, not in the least.

vol. 24, p.26
Why? Because God will be there. So He will be in the temple of Zion on
this continent, and by His power, by His laws—which are superior to
all those grosser laws of nature—He will preserve both of these
cities, one on the western hemisphere, and one on the eastern
hemisphere, from any decay whatever. Now, we have it recorded here in
this book, in the 31st chapter of Jeremiah, that this city on the
eastern continent shall not be thrown down any more forever. It seems,
therefore, to be an eternal city, never to be destroyed. "But," says
one, "I cannot believe that; I cannot believe but what these cities
will be subject, just as much as anything else to decay." Do you
believe this good book—the Bible? If you do, you are obliged to
believe that such things are possible. Do you want to know some of
them? I will mention one instance. You will recollect that Moses
commanded Aaron to take a pot of manna and lay it before the Lord, to
be kept for their generations. Now it was a noted fact that if the
children of Israel gathered more manna than would last them until
after the next morning, it would decay, but on the last day before the
Sabbath they gathered manna for two days, and they found that on the
Sabbath day it was preserved. Who preserved it? Why did it last two
days instead of one? Because God counteracted those lesser laws, or
laws of nature, by His divine power, which is greater than them all,
and He therefore preserved for two days that which would I not last
longer on the other days of the week than twenty-four hours. Well, we
find that the Lord ordered the manna to be placed in the tabernacle to
[p.27] be kept for their generations, that they might see the bread
wherewith He had fed them in the wilderness, when He brought them
forth from the land of Egypt. Did that manna decay? No, it remained
fresh and pure in the tabernacle. Why? Because God was there; His
divine power was there; a miracle was wrought to counteract the
general laws of nature such as we generally understand them to be, and
this manna was preserved from generation to generation. Now the Being
that could produce this effect upon a small quantity of substance on a
pot of manna could He not do the same in regard to whole buildings, or
is His arm so limited that He has to work in a little narrow corner
and preserve a little handful of manna from spoiling through decay. I
would say that the same Being that could perform this, which we might
term a lesser miracle. could extend the same power to stone, wood, and
to all kinds of metal and material that might enter into the
construction of a Temple. Shall I limit  that power to the preserving
of a Temple! No. The same Being could preserve the city round about
the Temple, hence it is a city that shall never be destroyed nor
thrown down from that time henceforth and forever. God will be in the
city. He will take care that the building materials suffer nothing
from the laws of nature. He will take care that the city is
illuminated by His divine power, and especially the Temple, the most
sacred of all the Temples, where He will have His throne, where the
Twelve Apostles will have their thrones, as the judges of the twelve
tribes of Israel; He will take care that there is nothing in that
Temple that shall decay in the least degree. So it will be in the New
Jerusalem. Zion upon this great western hemisphere will have a city
called the New Jerusalem (because it has never been built before) and
God will preserve it by His divine power. Read what the Psalmist,
David, has said in the 50th Psalm: "Out of Zion, the perfection of
beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come, and shall not keep
silence; a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very
tempestuous round about Him. He shall call to the heavens from above,
and to the earth, that He may judge His people. Gather my Saints
together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me by
sacrifice." Perhaps you may ask why it is called "the perfection of
beauty." Shall I read from the chapter I opened with? In the 11th
verse of that chapter we read: "O though afflicted, tossed with
tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair
colors, and lay thy foundation with sapphires. And I will make thy
windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of
pleasant stones." Now any person that is acquainted with mineralogy or
with geology, and any person that has studied these things to any
great extent, knows concerning these precious stones how very precious
they are esteemed, and how a small portion of these stones is very
frequently valued at more than its weight in gold, some of them one
hundred times their weight in gold, and yet the Lord will bring or
create, or form, as the case may be, or tell His children how to form
those precious stones in great abundance, sufficiently pure and
crystalized in order to complete the foundations and also the temples
and the public buildings of that great city called the New Jerusalem.
But before this shall commence, the Lord has [p.28] addressed them as
a people afflicted: "O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not
comforted." Just as the Latter-day Saints have been now for upwards of
forty years driven from place to place before we emigrated to this
great mountain desert, persecuted by our enemies, our cities taken
from us, our villages taken from us, our farms taken from us, our
flocks and herds shot down; we were robbed of all these things, and
yet without any redress from the Government under which we live. We
then came forth beyond these great rocky chains of mountains, hoping
that in the distant desert, where no other people would have thought
of locating themselves, we might live undisturbed. We have been
greatly prospered in this desert. We have lived here long enough to
fulfill a great many of the prophecies that are contained in this good
Jewish Bible. But we have not yet got through with fulfilling
prophecies. We are designed as a people to fulfill a great many
prophecies. We shall move however, as I have already stated, down into
that region of country. But you may say—that is, some of the weak
Latter-day Saints may say—that it will cost so much; we will have to
purchase all that country sufficiently extensive to give place to all
this people. How are you going to obtain means enough to purchase a
country large enough for all this people to dwell in? Well, now, the
Lord has that in His own hands, don't you know it? Is it a difficult
thing for the Lord to make his people rich when they are prepared for
it, alter days of tribulation, after passing through a great many
afflictions and difficulties, tossed to and fro; would it be a
difficult matter for the Lord to open up whenever He pleases, means of
unmeasurable riches, more than all the Latter-day Saints would know
how to use? Hear what the Lord says: "For brass I will bring gold, and
for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron.
Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction
within thy borders." Who were the people here spoken of? They were
people that should be clothed upon with this light that I have been
speaking of, this glorious light; the presence of the Lord will be in
their midst, and it will radiate over their temples, it will light
their city by night and by day. "But are you sure." says one, "that
such a thing will take place?" I have no time to read all the Lord
says on the subject, but if you read the 60th chapter of Isaiah, you
will find that the sun shall be no longer necessary by day, nor the
moon by night, to give light to a certain people. Why? Because "the
Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.
Thy sun shall no more go down." Not like our sun which arises in the
morning and exists above the horizon for a few hours, then descends,
and darkness covers the earth. Not so with this light, the glorious
divine light that will lighten up the heights of Zion. It will never
go down, it will be a standing miracle by day and by night, from one
week to another, month after month, year after year, until the one
thousand years shall have rolled away over the heads of the people
that dwell on the earth. But let us see what more is said. That same
God that has spoken of these great riches, brass for gold, iron
instead of silver, for wood brass, and for stones iron—I say that that
same God  has exhorted the latter-day people called Zion to "Arise,
shine, for thy light [p.29] is come, and the glory of the Lord is
risen upon thee." I do not mean something that never can be discerned.
I mean that true light that emanates from the great fountain of light,
the Messiah, the Redeemer; that true light that lighteth every man
that cometh into the world; that true light which is in all things and
giveth light to all things; that true light that lighteth up the
understanding of the children of men and quickeneth their memory; that
true light that quickens the eyes of this mortal tabernacle, that we
are able to discern objects round about us; that true light which is
of God, will be rendered visible to the eyes of all the inhabitants of
that city. And shall I limit it there? No. The light will shine so
conspicuously from that city, extending to the very heavens, that it
will in reality be like unto a city set upon a hill that cannot be
hid, and it will have quite a tendency to strike terror to all the
nations of the earth. Will all see it? No, some may be too far off,
beyond the ocean, to behold that miraculous light that will shine
forth in this city, but I will tell you the effect it will have upon
the kings, queens, rulers, congressmen and judges of the earth—they
will hear of it by telegraph; the news will be flashed over the
civilized nations of the earth, but they will not believe it. They
will say, "Let us cross the ocean, and let us see this thing that is
reported to us by telegraph; let us sea whether it is so or not."
Well, when they get within a day or two's journey of the city they
will be alarmed. Some of these kings and nobles, when they see the
light shining forth like the northern lights in the arctic regions,
illuminating the whole face of the heavens—when they see this light
shining forth long before they reach the city, fear will take hold of
them there, says the Psalmist, in the 48th Psalm, they will become
weak, and their knees will smite together like the knees of
Belshazzar. They will try to haste away from the glory of God and from
the power of God, and to get out of the country as soon as possible.
Fear and terror will be upon them. It will have an effect upon many
other kings and nobles, more pure in heart, more honest, that are
willing to receive the truth; it will have a different effect upon
them, so much so, that they will say with Isaiah, "Arise, shine, for
thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For,
behold, darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the people; but
the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen from thee.
And the gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness
of thy rising." These are the different effects which it will have
upon the rulers of the various nations, some believing, some
trembling, some humbling themselves and willing to forsake their
thrones and their kingdoms and their empires to come and dwell with
the people of God, while others more wicked, more corrupt, will not be
able to endure it. This shining light will be seen for many miles
distant, and the wicked will flee away; they will be fearful lest they
be smitten by that power that illuminates the people of God, hence the
terror of the Lord will be there. Terror will take hold of the wicked
when Zion becomes as fair as the sun and as clear as the moon, and her
banners will be terrible to all nations. One would naturally suppose
when we see the present hardness of heart that exists among our
enemies, when we see our Elders waylaid, young peaceable [p.30] boys
that are taking their first mission abroad to proclaim the Gospel of
the Son of God—when we see them shot down and their murderers tried by
a jury and acquitted, and then tried for riot and acquitted of
that—one would naturally suppose that a people so hard in their hearts
would not be converted to believe even if they should see the power of
God manifested. But do you suppose that among these people where such
things are carried on in the light of day, where murderers go free and
where judges say, "commit murder, commit riots, take the life of the
innocent; we will free you"—do you suppose that there are no honest
hearted among the people that are allowed to do this? If you do you
are mistaken. There are many of the honest in heart deceived by the
cunning craftiness of the children of men, by priestcraft which lies
at the foundation of all the persecutions endured by the Latter-day
Saints. Priests, afraid of their craft, afraid of this little one,
afraid that the little one will become a thousand, and the small one a
strong nation, say: "let us down upon them, let us drive them from
their homes, let us burn their houses, let us persecute them from city
to city, let us fall upon their missionaries and put them to death."
We would hardly suppose that there could be found an honest person
among such a people, but there are. There are goodhearted people all
through the States. In Missouri, where they first drove us? Yes, many.
In Ohio, where we were also driven? Yes, many which are honest before
God, and will receive the testimony of the Gospel, and unto this Zion
that I have been speaking of such will gather together, to swell the
numbers of the Latter-day Saints, and we will become a strong nation
and they cannot help themselves, and this is what makes them feel so
bad. But, says one, we can help ourselves. We have got the Secretary
of State, Mr. Evarts, and he in connection with others of the Cabinet,
have published a circular unto the nations of Germany, Great Britain,
Norway, Sweden and Denmark, asking their help; "ill you not step
forward," say they, "and put a stop to the emigration of the
Latter-day Saints. We are afraid they are growing too strong. We are
afraid there are too many of them in yonder hills. O, Great Britain,
help us! O Germany, help us! Let your arm stretch forth and allow no
more of these Latter-day Saints to gather to the mountains of Utah! O
keep them back. Shut up the ports of Liverpool, of Europe, and let no
more emigrate to that land!" Do you think they can shut the ports of
heaven? Do you think that yonder spirits that dwell in the presence of
God the Father, will be kept back, and will not come here and take
infant tabernacles to swell the borders of Zion? Think you, you can
shut down the gates of heaven and control this matter? Stretch forth
your arm and try to stay the arm of the Almighty, that He send no more
spirits here to swell the borders of Zion! Would it not be well to
pass laws to prevent these spirits coming, to prevent this heavenly
emigration? Think you, you can stay the purposes of the Great Jehovah?
No; these spirits will come and our streets will be full of children,
sons and daughters, and they will say, as they crowd up: "The place is
too strait, Give place to me that I may dwell," and they will stretch
forth the curtains of their habitations,  they will lengthen [p.31]
their cords and strengthen their stakes in spite of all the powers of
cartel and hell combined. "A little one," says the Prophet Isaiah,
"shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation." Daniel
caught the same spirit. He saw a little one planted in the mountains.
He saw a kingdom organized, an ecclesiastical government called the
Kingdom of the God of Heaven. He saw it organized—not in the lower
countries of the earth, but he saw it organized in a high and lofty
region; in other words, as is recorded in the 18th chapter of his
prophecies, he saw an ensign lifted up upon the mountains. What is an
ensign? "Why." says one. "according to our dictionary, and according
to our opinion upon this subject, I should suppose an ensign, or
standard, to he something unto which the people will gather." You have
thought right. This ensign, says the Lord, shall be lifted up upon the
mountain. What is an ensign? It is not only something unto which the
people will gather, but it is something of divine appointment,
something that the Lord organizes, something that will be a pattern to
all peoples, nations and governments erected in the mountains, and He
calls upon all the inhabitants of the earth to see it. In another
place the Prophet Isaiah says: "And He shall set up an ensign for the
nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather together
the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth." Can you
hinder it? Can you oppose the almighty hand of Jehovah that he shall
not accomplish His purposes? It cannot be done. You may afflict, you
may pass laws, you may call upon distant nations to help you, you may
shut down the emigration against the Latter-day Saints, you may drive
them, you may burn their houses—you may do all this, but they will
continue to live and to stretch forth in spite of all the powers
beneath the heavens, and become a great people under the Constitution
of this great land. We never want to be freed from the Constitution of
our country. It is built upon heavenly principles. It is established
as firm as the rock of ages, and when those that abuse it shall
moulder in corruption under the surface of the earth, the American
Constitution will stand and no people can destroy it, because God
raised it by our ancient fathers, and inspired them to frame that
sacred instrument. The Constitution is one thing; corrupt politicians
are another thing. One may be bright as the sun at noonday, the other
as corrupt as hell itself; that is the difference. Because we have a
good Constitution that is no sign that the strong arm of the law,
founded upon that Constitution, will protect the minority as well as
the majority. The politician may suffer the majority to trample upon
the rights guaranteed by that Constitution to the minority. They have
done it before, and perchance they will continue to do it until they
are wasted away. Then will be fulfilled another saying in this same
chapter which I have read—"For thou shalt break forth on the right
hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and
make the desolate cities to be inhabited." Now, there are a great many
cities in the United States that will not be totally destroyed when
the inhabitants are swept off the surface of the earth. Their houses,
their desolate cities will still remain unoccupied until Zion in her
glory and strength shall enlarge the place of her tents, and stretch
[p.32] forth the curtains of her habitations. That is the destiny of
this nation, and the destiny of the Latter-day Saints. Amen.

John Taylor, January 21, 1883

The Church Based Upon the Principle of Perfect Freedom—
When a President Resigns, His Counselors Go Out of Office
—High Priests to Preside—Presidents Choose Their Own 
Counselors—All Authorities Sustained By Vote of the 
Saints—Position of Presidents Cannon and Smith If President 
Taylor Should Resign—Saints not to Interfere With 
the Religion of Others.

Delivered at Ogden, Sunday, January 21st, 1883.

(Reported By Geo. F. Gibbs)

vol. 24, p.32
We convene in Conference in the various Stakes that everything
pertaining to the interests of the Stakes may be considered in those
conferences, and that all matters may be properly represented, and all
the Saints have the privilege of voting for or against those officers
who are presented to the Conference for their acceptance. It is also
usual to vote for the officers of Wards in the Wards over which they
preside, such as Bishops and their Counselors, with all the Lesser
Priesthood, so that there may be perfect unanimity in all our acts.
Because the Church of God is based upon the principle of perfect
freedom of action. And while, as was said this morning, we have a
Priesthood and an organization, and proper authority in the Church and
Kingdom of God, it is proper that all of these authorities should be
presented from time to time before the people, that all the people
everywhere, not only in a Stake, but in all the Stakes, as well as at
the General Conference, may have the opportunity if they know of
anything wrong, anything immoral or unrighteous associated with the
acts of any of the leading authorities of the Church, of speaking of
it, that everything and everybody may be properly presented and that
the conduct of all men may be intelligently scrutinized; for, if we
cannot bear the scrutiny of our brethren upon earth, how shall we be
able to meet the scrutiny and investigations of our heavenly Father
when we shall stand before Him. And  if there is anything immoral or
unrighteous, of any kind, it is proper [p.33] and expedient that it be
righted; and this applies quite as much to the Presidency, the Twelve
and the leading authorities as to any other individual in the Church;
in order that everything may be presented in its proper form, and
everybody have a full opportunity of offering their ideas and views in
regard to these matters.

vol. 24, p.33
Now I want to say a little on some of the votes that have been taken
this afternoon, in order that we may comprehend the situation. You
have had a new name presented before you for the President of your
Stake. Brother Peery, who was your former President resigned his
office, which he had a perfect right to do; and we have nothing to say
about it. It was according to his own feelings freely expressed to me
and to others. It was necessary that his place should be filled. We
selected Bishop L. W. Shurtliff, for whom you have just voted; and
that is all right, and having done so you ought now to sustain him. In
regard to the Counselors of the President, when he resigned and his
place was filled, they also ceased to act as Counselors; they were
dropped as authorities of the Stake with the President of the Stake,
not because of any act of theirs. These brethren are good men. Here is
Brother Herrick, for instance, he has maintained a good reputation,
and a good position in the Church; but he was Counselor to a man who
resigned his office; and as I have said, when the President resigned
to whom they were Counselors they also ceased to act as such. The
question arises, who shall be the Counselors to the new President?
That rests with the new President and those that put him in office;
and it seems that he has retained one of the old Counselors, Brother
Middleton, and has chosen a new one; and that is right. Is. there any
disposition to hurt Brother Herrick? Not in the least. I speak of
these things for your information, in order that all may comprehend
the true position. For instance, supposing that I, as President of the
Church, were to resign, or anything should occur to me, what would be
the result? My Counselors would drop into their former place in the
Quorum of the Twelve; and whoever succeeded me would have the
selection of his own Counselors with the approval of the General
Conference. He might and he might not retain as his Counselors those
whom I have chosen. It is proper that we should understand these
things in order that the right kind of feeling may exist, and no
improper reflection be cast upon any person.

vol. 24, p.33
The High Priests occupy a position in their Priesthood whereby they
are enabled to perform the various duties that they may be called upon
to fill. You will find in reading the Doctrine and Covenants the
following statement regarding the quorum of High Priests: "Which
ordinance is instituted for the purpose of qualifying those who shall
be appointed standing presidents or servants over different Stakes
scattered abroad." That is, it is the duty of High Priests to preside;
the principle of Presidency is connected with them. You have a High
Priests' Quorum over which Brother Farr presides; what is the duty of
that quorum? To meet together to instruct one another, in regard to
the principles of the government of the Church and kingdom of God;
that its members may understand the various organizations of the
Church, the laws and the principles of government thereof, and the
various duties they may be [p.34] called upon to fill; it may be to
occupy the position of a President of a Stake; it may be a Counselor
to the President; it may be a High Counselor; it may be a Bishop or
his Counselor. There are divers positions that High Priests are called
to occupy, as deaths and other changes often transpire, and new Stakes
and Wards are being organized. But the changes do not affect the
status of the individual at all, as in the case of Brother Herrick,
referred to. Here is Brother Shurtliff called from acting as Bishop to
be the President of a Stake; have we a right to do that? Yes. Who is
the Bishop? A High Priest. His place being vacated, that position
needs supplying, and who shall supply it? These things are left for
the counsel and the deliberation of the proper authorities to operate
in for the welfare of the Church as far as they know how, and
according to the best judgment they possess; and then they should be
presented to the people for them to vote upon. But in dropping a
President it drops his Counselors. They were selected to be his
Counselors, not somebody else's; and when some one else takes his
place, then he should have his own Counselors. These are the views
entertained on this subject, and they are correct and very proper. The
order of the Church is for us to fulfill and magnify the calling to
which we are called, and do it with an eye single to the glory of God,
each man fulfilling the various duties and responsibilities of his.
office. I referred this morning to the feelings that prompted the acts
of the Savior while upon the earth. He came not to do His own will,
but the will of His Father who sent Him. It was a hard thing for Him
to do. Did you ever think of it? When He found the accumulated weight
of the sins of the world rolling upon His head, his feelings were so
intense that He sweat great drops of blood. Could I tell it, or could
you? No. Suffice it to say that He bore the sins of the world, and,
when laboring under the pressure of those intense agonies, He
exclaimed, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass." But it was
not possible. It was the decree of God; the flat of the great Jehovah,
and he had it to do. And on the cross He was heard to exclaim, "It is
finished." And he gave up the ghost; and went to move in another
sphere, having atoned for the sins of the world and fulfilled His
mission given Him in the flesh.

vol. 24, p.34
We also have been called and set apart to perform a certain mission;
and the Holy Priesthood has been conferred upon us that we may be
enabled to perform the various duties devolving upon us. And many of
our duties are not of the most pleasing nature, and yet we cannot
shrink from them any more than Jesus could; we have them to do. It is
not a very pleasing thing for our Elders to go forth to the nations of
the earth to preach the Gospel without purse or scrip, and then to be
opposed, persecuted, maligned and abused, and even outraged in many
instances. Yet it is a duty placed upon us by the Almighty, and we
have to perform that duty as Jesus performed His, and our Elders go
forth weeping, bearing precious seeds, the words of life and
salvation, carrying in some instances their lives in their hands. This
is required of us. Why? Because all men are the offspring of God, in
whom He is equally interested.

vol. 24, p.34
Then we as Saints of God have duties to perform. We have to build up
His Church according to [p.35] the plan which He has appointed, and
according to the order that He has revealed. Those of you who heard
Brother Lyman yesterday, heard him describe the manner of entering
into the Church of God, also the powers and privileges associated
therewith. Those who heard Brother Joseph F., this morning, heard him
speak about the organization of the Church, and the various orders and
principles, powers and authorities associated therewith. These are so
many principles introduced by the Lord. None of us, as was remarked,
introduced any of them; none of us know them, neither do the world
know them to-day. God introduced and put in order those principles
that have been communicated to us in regard to the Gospel and in
regard to the organization of the Church, and the various offices
thereof, and everything pertaining thereto. And this Church and
kingdom has been placed in communion with the kingdom in the heavens,
with the Church triumphant, as it is sometimes called. And the Church
is a living principle, a living power, a living communion; and as in
former times God placed in the Church Apostles and Prophets, Pastors
and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the
ministry, and for the edifying of the body of Christ, until we all
come in the unity of the faith, and a knowledge of the Son of God; so
it is in these latter-days. He has revealed His will, His law, His
power and His Priesthood; and He has been pleased to receive us as
members and officers of His Church. And it is for us to magnify our
calling and honor our God in any and every position that we may be
called upon to fill. Paul said on a certain occasion, that a
dispensation of the Gospel had been committed to him, and it was woe
unto him if he preached it not. So we may say, that a dispensation of
the Gospel has been committed to us; and woe be unto us if we preach
it not; woe be unto us if we fulfill not the duties and obligations
that are devolving upon us. I would say that this Priesthood is not
for the honor of man, not for his exaltation alone; but it is imparted
to man in order that he may be made the medium of salvation to others.
It is true it is honorable to be a servant of God; it is true it is
honorable to hold any office in the Church and kingdom of God; it is
true there is not a more honorable position that a man can hold than
to be found in the family of faith and the household of God, to belong
to the Church and kingdom of God—there is nothing more honorable than
that. Talking of the Elder, why he is a herald of salvation; he is a
legate of the skies; he is commissioned of the great Jehovah to bear a
message to the nations of the earth, and God has promised to sustain
him. He has always sustained His faithful Elders, and He always will.
And what of the Elder He is commanded to call upon men to believe in
Jesus Christ, to repent of their sins, and to be baptized for the
remission of sins, promising them the gift of the Holy Ghost; and all
who obey the requirements receive this divine gift. Is that true? Do
you Elders not know that to be true? Does not this congregation know
that it is true? And when you obeyed the Gospel, when you had hands
laid upon your heads for the reception of the Holy Ghost, did you not
receive it? If you were honest, you did; if you were true and sincere
you did, and you are my witnesses as to the truth of these things of
which I speak. [p.36] What does it prove? It proves that God is with
the Elders of Israel; it proves that God lives. Is not that a great
witness to the Latter-day Saints, and is it not a witness to the
world? Who dare come before the world with such a statement? Nobody
but those that have the authority, as the Lord sanctions and
acknowledges none excepting those that are authorized of Him.

vol. 24, p.36
Is there any greater position that man can occupy upon the earth than
to be engaged as a herald of salvation, commissioned of the great
Jehovah to proclaim the words of life to a fallen world, and to call
upon them to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the
remission of sins, promising them if they do it that they shall
receive the Holy Ghost? This is the position occupied by our Elders,
as well as that occupied by Seventies and High Priests. They go forth
in the name of the Lord; and people believe their testimony and gather
here. And why? Because they would not allow you to worship God in the
world whence you came, and they will scarcely do it here.

vol. 24, p.36
We talk a great deal about the religious liberty that is guaranteed
unto us in this land of the free, home of the brave and asylum for the
oppressed; yet men are contriving all the time to deprive us of the
rights of conscience, and of religious liberty. And what of it? Would
we treat them as they treat us? No, no, no; a thousand times no. Why
not? Says Jesus, "The servant is not greater than his lord. If they
have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my
saying, they will keep yours also." On the same occasion He said to
His disciples, after commanding them to love one another, "If the
world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye
were of the world, the world would love its own; but because ye are
not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore
the world hateth you." There was then, and there is to-day, and there
always has been, a spirit of antagonism between the powers of light
and the powers of darkness. There has been a conflict in the world
ever since the creation of man to the present time. And that spirit of
antagonism to the truth that existed in former ages exists in this
age, and we have reason to know it. Is it because we are wicked that
we are opposed? We are not as good as we might be by a great deal, it
is true; we ought to be better than a great many people, and we are;
and our lives and conduct prove it, notwithstanding there are a great
many evils among us that we ought to repent of and put away. Yet, do
we injure anybody? I do not know that we do. Do we wish to deprive
anybody of his rights? Not that I know of. We are accused a good deal
of this and everything else, in fact. Do we wish to interfere with
anybody's religion? I hope you do not do it here. You have Methodists
and Presbyterians and Catholics, as well as other different sects;
would you want to interfere with them? I do not think for a moment,
that you would. We may think that their ideas are foolish in many
respects, but then they have a perfect right to entertain them, and
there are none, I think, that recognize that right sooner than we as
Latter-day Saints. We believe in freedom of conscience; we believe
that all men should be guaranteed the right to Worship God according
to the  dictates of their conscience. Some may want to worship a God
[p.37] without body, parts or passions; a God that sits on the top of
a topless throne; although to me the idea of worshiping such a God
would be most ridiculous, if other people desire to do it, all right,
and they should be protected in that right. But while we accord to all
men the right to think, and the right to worship as they please, we
claim the same right for ourselves. And then we do not want to have a
set of men placed over us in a governmental capacity who do not
recognize the rights of humanity; men who want to control the human
mind. We want to maintain correct principles; and we want to sustain
all men that do maintain them. We have a right to do that. Some,
however, think that we have not that right even; and they are
frequently trying to introduce principles that are at variance with
our constitutional rights. But it is our duty to maintain our rights;
it is our duty to stand up for those principles which guarantee
freedom to man, and we intend to do it, God being our helper; and not
permit the wicked and ungodly, the corrupt and depraved to deprive us
of our rights. But I shall be talking about politics if I keep on much
longer; what I have said, however, is correct, and it affects us as
American citizens. We possess just as many rights as any other
American citizens; and if there is anything contrary to this, it is
contrary to the genius of the institutions of our country. We are all
free and equal, at least, we are supposed to be; but we are not. We
may as well laugh as cry about these things though, as it makes but
little difference. We are engaged in doing the work of God; and we are
seeking to do the will of God; and He has established a Church, which
we, in the name of Israel's God, will help to sustain. And we should
not be concerned about the consequences of our acts. The Lord has all
men in His keeping, and He has us in His keeping; and we cannot do
anything only as He permits us. How could you Elders, who have been
out preaching and baptizing, and confirming members into the Church,
have imparted to them the gift of the Holy Ghost through the laying on
of hands, excepting God were with you. And if God were not with Israel
to-day, Israel could not be sustained. But God is on the side of
Israel; and He will sustain His people if they will observe His laws
and keep His commandments. And no man can successfully fight against
Jehovah, for He will say to any that oppose Zion, as He did to the
waves of the mighty ocean, "Hitherto shalt thou come and no further,
and here shalt thy proud waves be stayed." We are in the hands of God;
and the nation is also in the hands of God; and we can do nothing
unless He permits us; neither can this or any other nation. He
controls them according to the counsel of his own will; and He
manipulates, manages and directs the affairs of the children of men.
He has appointed us to do a work. It is not our work; but we are
willing to do it with His help. Will He be thwarted in His designs? I
tell you, No. The kingdom of God will roll forth, and no man can stay
it. And woe to that man who lifts up his hand against it; for the Lord
is managing this work, not us, and it is His business to take care of
His Saints. Therefore, we feel easy, comfortable, joyous and happy.
And I feel all the day long like singing hallelujah, hallelujah,
hallelujah, the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth; and He will reign until
all His enemies are put under His [p.38] feet. And Zion will progress
and triumph, and the work of God will go forth, and the kingdom of God
will be established, and the Zion of God built up, and all things
spoken of by the holy Prophets will be fulfilled; and the kingdom of
God will progress until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom
of our God and His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever, and
unrighteousness and wickedness, corruption and evil will be trampled
under His feet. God bless you, and lead you in the paths of life, in
the name of Jesus. Amen.

Geo. Q. Cannon, June 25, 1882

Hostile Feeling Towards the Saints—Their Morality Compared 
With that of the World—Laxity of Laws and Immorality 
in Washington—Object of the Edmunds' Bill—Cause of 
Former Hostility—Saints to Contend for Liberty—Rights of 
Congress—Other Things to Be Dreaded More Than Hostile
 Legislation—Effect of Such Legislation—Shame of 
Congressmen—Destiny of the Saints.

Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday, June 25, 1882.

(Reported By Geo. F. Gibbs)

vol. 24, p.38
I am exceedingly thankful to have the opportunity once more of being
with you and of partaking of that peaceful and sweet influence which
prevails in the midst of this much despised and terribly abused
people. The contrast, to me, is exceedingly marked between the
circumstances in which I have been placed and the influences that I
have had to meet, and those which surround me to-day. There have been
some things which have transpired which have not been very pleasant;
but on the whole, I can truthfully say, the t I have enjoyed myself
better than I expected, and probably much better than many of you
would suppose that one under the circumstances could do. At no time,
in my experience—in my life, have I ever seen a more embittered
feeling manifested against the Latter-day Saints than prevailed during
this past winter. You have had opportunities of understanding this to
some extent, for you have felt that influence here, and you have seen
its effects in the results that haw been wrought out. And I suppose if
we were like  other people we should have been terribly alarmed at the
manifestations we have [p.39] witnessed. There was a time when it
seemed as though all hell had broken loose, and that nothing less than
the entire destruction of the organization of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints would satisfy popular clamor. A most
extraordinary manifestation, especially when we consider the absence
of all provocation for such an outburst of wrath. If a person last
winter had come into Utah Territory and traveled through our
settlements, visiting the houses of the people and examining the
condition of affairs here, he would have found it difficult to
understand the cause of all the excitement that was raging throughout
the United States concerning this people. If there are those who do
not believe in the existence of spiritual powers and influences, let
them examine into this Utah question and the effects of its agitation
upon the public mind, and it seems to me they must be convinced that
there are unseen powers which operate upon the minds of the people at
large, to produce such extraordinary outbursts of prejudice and
passion as we have witnessed—fifty millions of people stirred up from
one end of the land to the other by a tornado of passion, unreasoning,
blind, besotted, bloodthirsty, which has carried men and women before
it, and has dethroned reason, concerning a people who were quietly
pursuing their avocations, molesting none, doing nothing that could be
construed by any reasonable person into anything that would be
offensive.

vol. 24, p.39
It is generally supposed that we are living in an enlightened age.
Popular preachers claim that this is the crowning generation for
light, and knowledge, and truth; that we are living in fact, in the
full blaze of Gospel light and glory. Politicians also claim that this
republican government of the United States is the fruit of the ripened
experience of all the ages; the product of the accumulated wisdom of
the centuries; that human aspirations finds the fullest development
under our form of government. This is the boast of the press, and
these are the teachings of the pulpit. And yet, through agencies which
boast of their enlightenment, this whirlwind of passion to which I
have alluded—this spasm of feeling that has convulsed the nation, has
swept over the land, and everything has been done that was possible to
make it destructive in its effects upon the objects of its wrath. I
have thought, and have sometimes expressed myself, that if lies could
destroy a people, we should have been buried out of sight long ago.
The basest and most malignant and most cruel, the most unfounded and
causeless misrepresentations and falsehoods have been circulated, and
men and women who knew nothing about us, preachers who had no idea of
our real belief, and editors who had no conception of the true
condition of affairs in this Territory, have all lent themselves,
sometimes understandingly, and other times ignorantly to do everything
in their power to destroy an innocent people. And what has been the
crime? We have been accused of immorality. God knows if that were to
be a crime sufficient to evoke destruction, there would be other
communities visited with wrath besides ours, even if we were all that
we are painted. But the fact is, there is no other Territory or State
in the United States—and I say this knowingly and
understandingly—where virtue is respected, revered and protected as it
is in Utah. There is no other community in the United States in [p.40]
which more young men grow up to manhood pure, in proportion to the
population than in the Territory of Utah.

vol. 24, p.40
As I have repeatedly said, we believe in marriage, we have opened the
door in that direction, and we say to the sexes marry; but we close
the door in the other direction, and say, you shall not commit
adultery, you shall not seduce, defile, prostitute or lead astray
innocent beings; if you do, and we had the power, we would punish you.
It seems like a paradox that those who do that which is according to
their religion should be punished, while those who trample upon their
religion should go free. And yet this is really true. All that we can
be accused of is, we have embodied in our religion practices that
belonged to the Patriarchs, which we believe, and so declare, God has
revealed to us, for the purposes of salvation and of producing greater
purity and of checking the flood of vice that is sweeping through the
land and sapping the foundation of this nation and all the nations of
Christendom. We have adopted the principle of plural marriage as part
of our religion. We have not led women astray, we have protected them.
We have not coerced them or used violence, but have thrown around them
a shield of protection, and at the same time have left them to
exercise the fullest liberty and the most extensive right of free
choice in every respect. But this is a sin; this shocks, we are told,
the moral sense of the nation. While, on the other hand, there are
communities who say they do not believe in adultery or in
seduction—that is, their religion teaches them that these things are
wrong; but many of whose members practice these crimes, and yet they
pass along unnoticed and undisturbed. Salt Lake City is 2,400 miles
from Washington—a remote place; it might be supposed the effect of our
examples, if they were bad, would not reach that distance; that if
there was any contagion flowing from our practices it would have
expended its force before traveling that far. But in Washington City,
at the head of the government, where Congress has unquestioned
jurisdiction, there is no law against adultery; no one can be punished
in the District for violating the marriage vow; that escapes the
attention of Congress. So with fornication; it goes unpunished, unless
it should be of so flagrant a character, done in so open and indecent
a manner as to excite public condemnation. Now if morality were to he
achieved it might be thought that Washington would be a fine field for
the exercise of the power that is unquestionably invested in the
Congress of the United States. I presented this view of the question
to Senator Edmunds, when this bill, which has since become a law, was
being discussed. I called his attention to the fact that it was not an
unfrequent thing, in taking up an evening paper in Washington City, to
read accounts of the finding of two or three infants that had been
cast away or deserted by their inhuman mothers, found in vacant lots
and in out-of-the-way places, and that too in the most elegant city to
be found in the United States. It appeared to me, as I said to him,
that Washington was a splendid field for the exercise of the power of
Congress. If it was a sincere wish to check immorality, and to put
down vice that prompted the Edmunds' bill, however mistaken its author
might be in his ideas respecting the existence of these evils in Utah,
the  best place to commence was at the head. But [p.41] it was plain
to be seen that nothing in that bill was designed to reach real vice,
to strike down immorality; it was a blow at our religious practices.
To be sure, however, as to what the intent of the bill really was, and
to know this from his own lips, I asked him if. adulterers could be
punished in Utah Territory under the provisions of the bill. His reply
was that if a man who had one wife were to live openly and
continuously with another woman he could be punished under it; but
adulterers would not be very likely to expose themselves to the
operations of the law in that manner. He said that "sporadic cases of
adultery could not be punished by this bill." I thought the reply one
of which a Senator of the United States should be ashamed. I have
known Senator Edmunds for some time, and have had some admiration for
him, but I declare I blushed for him when he made the reply that
"sporadic cases of adultery" could not be punished under the
provisions of this bill, now become law.

vol. 24, p.41
Now, you can see what the design is. It is not to punish immorality.
If immorality were the object to be reached, that law would have been
made broad enough for every case, whether they be practices, what they
term under religious guise, or practices in violation of religion.
What then is the object of the measure? It is to strike down a
prominent feature of our religion; that is its object, and there is no
other object to be achieved. It is the fact that we make marriage a
part of our religion that excites animosity, and they are determined
to destroy us.

vol. 24, p.41
"If you were to protect immorality and not call it religion," I have
been told many and many a time, "we should not object to it; but you
are sanctioning by the forms of religion that which we cannot endure,
and which is hateful to our civilization." It is the marriage
ceremony, that is the offensive part of it; it is, in other words, the
marrying that excites dislike and hatred.

vol. 24, p.41
Now, is this to be wondered at? I do not wonder at it; I am not
surprise, I at all at this feeling; for the reason that I have always
expected that this doctrine, like every doctrine connected with this
Church, would excite the bitter hatred of those who oppose the work of
God. It was the fact that the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the Elders of
this Church declared that revelation had been received from God, that
excited animosity in the first place. The Elders of this Church might
have preached any doctrines they pleased and not said they had been
taught them by revelation, nor by special divine assistance, nor by
angels having come from heaven, but preached them as the speculations
of men, as doctrines discovered, framed and arranged by men, by some
theologians of eminent ability, and they would have had no particular
difficulty. In preaching precisely the same doctrines we now preach,
that is, the first principles of the Gospel, a church might have been
made one of the most popular churches upon the face of the earth.

vol. 24, p.41
But what was it that excited animosity? It was the declaration that
God had spoken from the heavens and had restored the primitive Gospel
in its original purity and power, and that we had the power and
authority to administer in the ordinances of the Gospel through which
had been restored the gifts and blessings and powers that pertained to
the Gospel in the days of Jesus. It was [p.42] this declaration that
excited animosity throughout the religious world against the
Latter-day Saints in the beginning. Every preacher felt that he was
condemned by this declaration. If we had stood upon the same platform
as they, saying that our organization was the result of man's wisdom,
we should then have had some sympathy from them. But because our
Elders declared that God had spoken, and that we preached that which
had been revealed to us, animosity was excited, and mobs rose against
us, entertaining the most bitter feelings, and committing the most
terrible outrages.

vol. 24, p.42
It is interesting reading now, in this year of our Lord, 1882, to go
back to that which occurred fifty years ago, in Missouri, soon after
this Church was organized. The charges against us then were that we
believed in Prophets, that we believed in revelation, that we believed
in healing the sick, according to the pattern in the New Testament,
that we were so credulous as to believe that God would work miracles;
and the crowning accusation was that we were Yankees and
abolitionists, and therefore were unfit to live in the State of
Missouri. I say, it is interesting in these days to go back and read
the documents issued by the mob in 1832-3 in Jackson County, Missouri.
There was no plural marriage then to cause offense. The cry against us
then was, that we believed that God was a God of revelation as He was
in ancient days; that He was the same God in this, the 19th century,
that He was in the first century of the Christian era, when Jesus and
the Apostles ministered among men. This was considered sufficient
cause for mobs to organize themselves and drive our people from their
homes and lands, and to kill some of them.

vol. 24, p.42
If we were to practice plural marriage in some other manner, and not
sanctify it by the forms of religion; if we were to be guilty of
anything of thils character, separating it entirely from all religious
ceremonies and ordinances, there would be little, if anything, said
about us. To judge from expressions I hear, I do not suppose it would
excite any particular animosity.

vol. 24, p.42
We, as a people, have to pass through these ordeals. It is a great
consolation to me, it has been while I have been absent, to know that
we are fighting the battles of religious liberty for the entire
people; it might be said, for the entire world. And there is no people
on this continent in so good a position to do this to-day as we are,
for there is no people so well organized as we are. No man,
single-handed, could do what we are doing; no half dozen men could do
it; they would be crushed. Let any man go out from this place and
attempt, single-handed and apart from any other organization, to fight
the battle that we are fighting, and he would soon be overwhelmed. But
we are an organized community; we can live here as we did in the early
days without help from any other source except God. We can raise our
food; we can make our clothing. If it be necessary we can pinch
ourselves, dispense with luxuries, and can live on those things which
are barely essential to life. We do not necessarily have to depend
upon other people for support. If grasshoppers come and sweep our
fields, as they have done, there is no cry from Utah to the general
government for help. We have borne these afflictions unassisted by our
fellow-citizens; and we have  proven to our own [p.43] satisfaction,
if not to the nation at large, that we are capable of sustaining
ourselves. Therefore, when wrath is excited against us, we do not lose
employment, we do not lose food, we are not turned out of our houses
nor otherwise impoverished; because we have the elements in our own
midst from which we can draw a living; and we know how to use them for
our own sustenance, and for the preservation of those who are
dependent upon us. Hence we are in an excellent position to fight the
battles of freedom; and it is the most glorious warfare that men or
women were ever engaged in. I expect we shall continue to contend for
liberty, not with physical weapons but with steadfast moral courage,
despite the Edmunds' law, despite the Poland law, despite the law of
'62, or any other law that may be made in violation of the
Constitution, and of the Bill of Rights. We shall have to contend
unceasingly for those principles, without wavering or yielding one
iota in our determination. I claim this not for Latter-day Saints
alone, but I claim it for every man and woman in this Republic; for I
say that the men and women in this great nation have the right to
worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences, as
long as they do not, in so doing, interfere with the rights of their
fellow-citizens; and I claim that they have the right to do this,
despite the Supreme Court decisions, despite the action of Congress,
despite the expressions of pulpit and press; and I am willing to
contend for that liberty for every man amt woman whether they be of
the Methodist, the Presbyterian, the Episcopalian, or any other
persuasion, or whether they be believers in the doctrines or views of
Col. Robert Ingersol. God has given us this right, and He has given
unto us our agency. If we violate His will He will punish us; He has
threatened us with punishment if we do so, and we are responsible to
Him, and not to the Congress of the United States, not to the
President of the United States, nor to any human being; we are
responsible alone to our God, and there is no power upon the earth
that can justly deprive me or deprive you of this right. They may, by
force of power, by illegal measures and unconstitutional laws do this;
men may be imprisoned or slain; but the principle that I now declare
is a fundamental, a constitutional principle, and it will endure. And
the day will come in this land when every man will have this right,
regardless of his profession. Are we to be dictated to by popular
preachers? Such men say to the Congress of the United States, "You
must enact certain laws; we demand it of you; our congregations demand
it; you must put down 'Mormonism.' We do not want that religion. We
are Methodists; we are Presbyterians, or we are somebody else, and we
call upon you to maintain orthodoxy and to put down heterodoxy." I
would just as soon be dictated to by the Pope of Rome, by Mr. Ingersol
or by a "Mormon" Bishop, as to be dictated to by popular preachers, as
to what I must accept as religion.

vol. 24, p.43
Fault is found with us in this Territory because it is said the
hierarchy dictates legislation; but you know this is not true. I wish
we could dictate it more than it is done. We have our views like other
citizens, but who has ever known them to be forced upon any? And, yet,
this is the head and front of our offending, namely, that in Utah
there is a theocracy dictating legislation. [p.44] Now, who is it that
has demanded of Congress this Edmunds' law against Utah? It has been
the pulpit of our nation, the orthodox pulpit. It is at their behests
this legislation has been enacted. They would destroy us; and if they
could do this then they would turn their attention to somebody
else—the Catholics, the Infidels, the Spiritualists,—they would not be
satisfied until they obtained what they call "uniformity." They do the
very thing themselves that they charge us with doing, and which they
pretend they desire to prevent in this Territory.

vol. 24, p.44
It is this principle of freedom of which I have been speaking that we
are determined to maintain; we shall contend for it to the very
uttermost as long as life remains. This is the feeling I have. Do you
not feel the same? I am sure you do; I know you all do; I need not
call for any expression of your feelings. We cannot fight law; we must
submit to law, the law being more powerful than we are; but we can do
as John Bunyan said: "I cannot obey, but I can suffer." We cannot
renounce our religion; we cannot throw it aside; we cannot trample
upon the commandments of God; but we can endure the penalty of obeying
God's law, even it it be imprisonment. It is part of the contract. We
know what others had to endure for the religion of Jesus, and if we
expect to obtain the same glory as they, we must be prepared to endure
the same consequences.

vol. 24, p.44
I do not make these remarks to stir up feelings of defiance. It would
be a most unwise and a most unfortunate position for us to occupy, to
place ourselves in an attitude of defiance against the laws of the
land; but while we do not defy, we at the same time shall maintain, I
hope, the principles of liberty, and claim them for every man and
woman as well as ourselves. We shall never cease our efforts, I hope,
until from one end of the land to the other men and women can worship
God whether they be Mormon or infidel, or whether they believe in
Buddha, or are believers in the God of Israel, the Lord of the whole
earth, or worship a wooden god, without interference or interruption
from others as long as they do not trespass upon or interfere with the
rights of their fellow-citizens. All ought to have this right, and no
one should seek to deprive them of it.

vol. 24, p.44
The most nonsensical arguments have been used against us in
consequence of our claiming liberty of this kind. Say some men:
Suppose there were Thugs in this country, or Hindoos who believed in
burning widows as they did in India, shall the government not have the
right to put down such murders and such ceremonies of cremation?
Suppose that human sacrifice was deemed proper by some religions sect
and should be called a religious ordinance, do you mean to say that
government has not the right to interfere with and to stop the taking
of life in such a way?

vol. 24, p.44
Certainly, I have never said it had not, neither have I claimed it
when I have said that we had a right to practice this feature of our
religion. There is a very wide distinction, but many do not seem to
understand the difference. There are certain acts that are crimes in
and of themselves; they are not made so by statutory law; one of these
is murder. It always was a crime against nature and always will be. He
who  takes the life of a fellow being commits a crime, even if it
should be in a land [p.45] where there is no law; it is in and t of
itself a crime—malum in se. It needs no statutory law to make it so.
Marriage occupies a very different position from this. Before the law
of 1862 was passed by Congress a man might have married in this
Territory two or more wives, there being no law—human nor divine—that
we had any knowledge of, prohibiting it. There was no law of the
United States against it; there was no law of the Territory against
it, and it was not in and of itself a crime. It was made a crime by
the law of July 1, 1862, which, we assert, was in violation of the
first amendment to the Constitution. It was malum prohibitum!—a crime
made so by statutory law. There is a wide distinction between the two;
and every ordinary mind must, I think, readily admit that there is no
comparison between marriage and murder, robbery, theft and crimes of a
kindred character. Still there are a great many people who do not seem
to understand this.

vol. 24, p.45
They say, "Suppose you believed in murder, in human sacrifice, do you
mean to say that we would not have the right to interfere with you;
that we could not do anything to check that practice?"

vol. 24, p.45
Certainly they could and should. They could check any practice that we
might be guilty of that would interfere with the rights of our fellow
men. Government has the right, and owes it to its citizens, to protect
them in their rights—to protect their lives, to protect their
property, to protect them in all their civil rights and in their
religious rights also, and to prevent others from doing them violence.
Beyond this it should not go. And they call our system of marriage,
bigamy. Such confusion of terms! The essence of the crime of bigamy is
that a man, already married to one wife, clandestinely marries
another. Both women are wronged and deceived; the first by his
marrying a second time during her lifetime; the second by his
concealment of the fact that he already has a living wife. In the
anxiety to attach odium to our system of marriage, our enemies call it
bigamy, ignoring the fact that, according to our rules, a man who has
one wife does not take another wife without the consent of the first
wife; no advantage is taken of her by keeping her in ignorance. The
new relationship has been entered into by common consent. There is no
element of crime about this—that is, of the crime of bigamy. It is, as
I have said the concealment that makes it a crime; it is the fact that
both women are deceived and wronged by the act of the man. And such a
man ought to be punished. That which has been done has been done in
the face of high heaven, in the light of day, believing, as we did,
that it would be the means of preserving this community in purity,
that if every means were used to provide for marriage there would be
no margin of unmarried women left for lust to prey upon.

vol. 24, p.45
Men have said to me: "Mr. Cannon, we cannot understand why it is that
women will consent to such arrangements."

vol. 24, p.45
"My dear sirs," I have said, "do you not think that the ladies who
occupy questionable relationships to gentlemen in this city
(Washington) would be very glad to have that relationship sanctified
by marriage; do you think they would object to it? Would any true
woman, if she loved a man, put herself in such a false position in
society, and yet not marry him if she could do so honorably? Which
relation would [p.46] be the better and more honorable?"

vol. 24, p.46
I do not wish to convey the idea that plural marriage can be
universal. In the very nature of things as I have often said, it is
impossible; the equality of the sexes would prevent this, were men
ever so desirous to make it so. Take our own Territory: the males
outnumber the females; it cannot therefore be a practice without limit
among us.

vol. 24, p.46
No one need be afraid of the extensive spread of this system even if
the Edmunds' law were not in operation. Besides all this, it should be
borne in mind, that God did not give this revelation and commandment
to us to urge upon the world for its practice.

vol. 24, p.46
The greatest foe we have to contend with is ignorance. We are not
known. We are lied about most extensively, and every avenue is blocked
against us. Popular journals are afraid of injuring their circulation
by speaking the truth concerning us. The publishers are affected by
the same influences as the politicians—the pulpit and this popular
clamor cause men to be afraid. If we could be known as we really
are—not in Salt Lake alone, for this city is not a fair sample of
Utah; if it were possible for the people generally, who reiterate
these popular cries against us, to travel through our settlements
north and south, and see our people, there would be a very different
public feeling in regard to us. But we have been inundated by
falsehood, we are nearly covered by its waves, and people who know
nothing about us are so startled at this idea of polygamy, as it is
called, that they are prepared to believe anything that may be said
about us. We have this to contend against. In the end, however, we
shall be abundantly successful, for a people possessing the qualities
that the people of Utah do, can and will live—a people who are united,
a people who are honest, a people who are frugal, a people who are
temperate, a people who are orderly in their lives and who are
virtuous, truly virtuous, can withstand a tremendous amount of
pressure. There is only one way in which this people can be checked
and that is by extirpation. Otherwise, the qualities they possess are
bound to live in the struggle. The doctrine of "the survival of the
fittest," applies to us, and insures us a long, a prosperous, an
uninterrupted and a glorious career. We can live in spite of adverse
legislation, in spite of commissioners, in spite of governors, in
spite of acts of persecution; we can live and still flourish, and
still grow and still increase; and we shall do it. I am not at all
afraid as to the result. Of course legislation of the Edmunds' kind
can pinch us; it can be made excessively disagreeable to us. It may
test us in ways that may be new to us; but sincerely I say to you, my
brethren and sisters, that I dread other things that exist in our
midst more than I do hostile legislation.

vol. 24, p.46
I dread the increase of luxury; I dread the increase of class
distinctions which I see growing up. The disintegrating influences of
wealth are far more to be dreaded than any outside pressure of this
character. All that is being done in this direction is to hoop us up,
as the cooper hoops up barrels. This has been the case already. During
the last five or six months I have had letters from all parts of our
Territory, and they uniformly bespeak a determination to cling
together.

vol. 24, p.46
But watch the effect of wealth; [p.47] look at its effects.
Communities get wealthy and they begin to think about their wealth.
Where their treasure is there is their heart also. Especially is this
the case if they are divided into classes. Then the rich are in a
position to be tempted and tried far more than they would be if they
were on the same plane with their fellows. If we are nearly alike
temporally we feel alike. In this has consisted much of our strength
in the past. We were not divided into classes, with interests diverse
one from the other. The sacrifices we had to make fell pretty equally
upon all, and there was no temptation offered one class because of its
greater wealth, to compromise with principle, or to question the
policy of standing up unflinchingly for principle, or to feel
different from the bulk of the community.

vol. 24, p.47
The increase of wealth, therefore, and the consequent increase of
fashions are more to be dreaded than hostile legislation. Let a wife
follow all the fashions of the day, and then let her children do the
same, and a man must have a deep pocket to sustain such a family. Give
him two or more wives and their children of this kind, and how long
can he keep up? Introduce fashions among us, and make women
fashionable, and make their daughters fashionable, and what is called
"the problem" will not he long in being solved. If a man then had more
than one wife he would need a large income to sustain them. Some women
might be shrewd enough to understand this, and if not wanting their
husbands to have another wife, might take pains to consume all the
income.

vol. 24, p.47
Well, our enemies never have had and never will have wisdom enough to
adopt any plan that will hurt this work. Why, instead of injuring this
people in what they have already done against us, they are only
advertising us. The effect of this persecution—I cannot call it
anything else—has been to call forth three able productions by men who
personally knew little or nothing about us. One man had visited here
and the other two were prompted in the interest of justice to write
and speak as they did, feeling that a great injustice was being done
to us, and that Constitutional rights were being trampled upon. One of
these, a gentleman in Boston, delivered an able lecture; and another
Bostonian wrote an able pamphlet; another gentleman in New York, wrote
one of the best pamplets on life in Utah, that I have seen for many
years; and besides these there have been many correspondents who have
written upon the subject, and the result is that men and women have
been awakened to the consideration and examination of this question.
But if they had been silent concerning it, many never would have
thought of it. We must be advertised, and I do not know any better way
than that which has been adopted.

vol. 24, p.47
As far as my own case in Congress is concerned, I have not allowed
myself to be annoyed. Remarks have been made very frequently about my
bearing the attacks upon me so pleasantly. I have replied, "Why should
I not feel so—I am the wronged man? I had a larger majority in my
favor than any other man upon the floor of the House. I am the
representative of the people of Utah, properly elected, and fully
qualified and eligible for the position. This the committee of the
House, after the close of the strictest examination—and it might be
said, the most prejudiced examination, [p.48] have decided. Fourteen
out of fifteen of the committee on elections, after making a full
examination of the case, have decided that I was properly entitled to
the certificate, and as a consequence to the seat. If the
consciousness of being right ought to make a man feel pleasantly, then
I am entitled to the feeling. I feel as one who is called to make
sacrifices for a glorious cause."

vol. 24, p.48
Great pressure was brought to bear upon republican members to have
them vote solidly on this question. One somewhat prominent man
purposed to make a speech denouncing the wrong which was being
attempted against me. He told me that Speaker Keifer heard of his
intention and "bulldozed" him out of making it. One member said to me:
"Mr. Cannon, in voting against you as I did, I told those around me
that I did the most cowardly act of my public life." Another said,
"Mr. Cannon, I wrote to my wife and told her that I had done the
meanest thing I ever did since I have been a member of Congress, in
voting as I did against you." "But," said he, "what could I do?" These
are samples of expressions made upon the subject. You can understand
that my position was one not to be ashamed of. The man that is wronged
has no occasion to feel the blush of shame on his cheeks; it is those
who commit the wrong who ought to have that feeling; and they cannot
help feeling that they are inferior to the one they have injured. But
notwithstanding the pressure of which I speak that was brought to bear
upon members, the conspirators against the liberties of Utah dared not
trust my case to the House till the Edmunds' bill had passed. There
were some strong men who could not see their way clear to vote against
my taking my seat. It was felt therefore that the only way my case
could be reached was by the Senate and House passing a law and having
it signed by the President of the United States. In this way, by using
all the powers of the government, except the judiciary, the case was
reached; but then they had to trample upon the Constitution to do it;
for the law, as applied to me, was ex post facto.

vol. 24, p.48
I had gone to Washington eight years previously; I had been at the bar
of the House four times to be sworn in, the same man in every respect,
It was not charged that I had violated any law since that time, or
rendered myself ineligible. After a determined contest I had been
confirmed in the seat by the 43d Congress—a Republican Congress—also
by the 44th Congress—a Democratic Congress; also by the 45th and 46th
Congresses. Now by what law could a man in my position, having the
majority of the votes, and the fact being conceded that the election
had been fair and that there had been a full expression of the
people's will, according to the forms of law—I ask, upon what
principle of right could such a man be excluded from a seat in the
47th Congress? Legally he could not. There is only one way in which
that could be done, that is by trampling upon the principle of
representative government and the Constitution of the United States.
This was done in my case, and this action will stand on the books as a
precedent that will cause men to feel ashamed of it in days to come.

vol. 24, p.48
Now, my brethren and sisters, I return here feeling, as I have said,
excellently, and cheerfully, full of courage and hope, not at all
weakened in my feelings. I feel exceedingly hopeful and joyful and am
satisfied [p.49] that we are in the right path, that we are on the
winning side, because we have right, we have justice and we have truth
on our side. The only fear I have is that we shall fail to make use of
the opportunities God has given unto us of maintaining our integrity
and being true and faithful, for God has said, "I have decreed in my
heart 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." He has also
told us, "whose layeth down his life in my cause, for my name's sake,
shall find it again, even life eternal: Therefore, be not afraid of
your enemies."

vol. 24, p.49
This exhortation God has given unto us. And we may as well prepare
ourselves, if we are not already prepared, for everything of this
kind. The time must come when the principles of truth and
righteousness will prevail over the land; and it is our destiny to
maintain them and make them universal. The prophecies that were made
by the Prophet Joseph Smith concerning this nation and us will be
fulfilled. He said that the time would come when the Latter-day Saints
would be the only people that would maintain constitutional principles
upon this land. I have been taught from my youth that that was the
destiny of this people; that this nation would drift away from the
Constitution and Constitutional principles; that mobocracy would
reign, and the principles of right would be sacrificed to the power of
might. And we can see this coming to pass.

vol. 24, p.49
In former times mobs came against us with cannon and muskets, with
powder and ball, and the torch, and life and property alike fell
sacrifices to their violence. That was the expression of the popular
will; it found vent in illegal forms, the laws being trampled upon to
satisfy its demands. But matters have changed. Mobocracy to-day
assumes the forms of legality, and, therefore, in meeting this power
you have to wrestle with it under the form of law. In the early days
when the mob came upon us we could take our guns and meet it, but when
a mob comes backed up by law, clothed in the garb of the law, claiming
shelter under the Constitution, it is very different; and that is our
position to-day. We have fought mobs from the beginning; there have
been times when we have held our own, determined to stand our ground;
at other times we have been driven; until, at last, we found refuge in
these mountains.

vol. 24, p.49
Now we axe subjected to another sort of test, and I look upon it as
necessary to develop us and to prove us. I accept this, in the
providence of God, as a means to school this people. It will make
statesmen and legislators of us; it already shows the necessity of
education; it will have the effect also to broaden our views, to
enlarge our intellects, and to stir up our young men and our young
women to prepare themselves for usefulness. We have to be a superior
people; we have to educate our children, and make them the peers, and
I may say, the superiors of all others, for we have the principles
which will make us a superior people. And in order to become, such a
people, I do not know any better training that we could huge than that
which we are now receiving, unpleasant though it may be. Read the
history of New England and you will see that we are passing through
precisely the same training that the colonists there did. It [p.50]
developed them, and was the means of making them the great people that
they have since become.

vol. 24, p.50
I pray God to bless you and fill you with His Holy Spirit, and help
you to remain faithful and true to Him and to one another, that you
may never lose your courage or falter for a single moment, but
maintain your integrity to the last, and teach your children to do
likewise, that you and yours may be found among those who shall be
recognized as having been valiant in the cause of God upon the earth.
Let us be wise and prudent in all our talk, and cautious in everything
we do, feeling to submit to wrong rather than to do wrong, trusting
the Lord to overrule the intentions of our enemies for our good and
the final triumph of truth over error, and good over evil. There need,
be no rashness, no defiance or manifestation of feeling. Let us show
the world that God has given unto us principles which lift us up above
these clouds that now envelope us; and that we have not been taught in
vain, that we have not passed through the scenes of the past fifty
years without having learned many valuable and excellent lessons.
Amen.

Wilford Woodruff, January 27, 1883

Importance of the Work of God—"The Kingdom of God or
Nothing"—Apparent Insignificance of the Church at First—
Its Growth—Ancient Men of God—Personal Reminiscence—
What is Required of the Saints—How Joseph Smith's 
Prayers Were Answered.

Delivered at Nephi, Saturday Afternoon, January 27, 1883.

(Reported By Geo. F. Gibbs)

vol. 24, p.50
We meet with the Saints of the several Stakes at the Stake Quarterly
Conferences for the purpose of giving instruction which all need in
order to qualify themselves to magnify their calling as Saints of God,
engaged in establishing and building up the Church and kingdom of God.
And I will here say, as I have often said, that all men, and all
women, regardless of the position they occupy, or the office they
hold, are dependent upon the Lord for His Spirit to assist them in
their labors.

vol. 24, p.50
I made a covenant with the Lord, years ago, that whatever He would
[p.51] impress me to say, I would preach to the people. If we are not
able to speak to your edification, it is not because there are not
truth and knowledge, principles and laws sufficient within the pale of
this Church, and connected with the work in which we are engaged. I
look upon the cause of God and the mission that He has given each of
us connected with it, as requiring the whole attention, the might,
mind and strength of each one of us, in order to magnify our calling
and accomplish the work committed to our hands.

vol. 24, p.51
The Lord raised up Joseph Smith specially to do the work that he
performed. He was ordained and appointed before he was born to come
upon the stage of action in this age of God's mercy to man, through
the loins of ancient Joseph who was a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob, to lay the foundation of this great and glorious dispensation—a
dispensation that will be marked and distinguished in the annals of
human history for its grand and mighty, and also its serious and awful
events, The day has already dawned when the light of heaven is to fill
the earth; the day in which the Lord has said that nothing should be
kept hidden, whether it be things pertaining to one God, or many Gods,
or to thrones, principalities or powers; the day in which everything
that has been kept from the knowledge of man ever since the foundation
of the earth, must be revealed; and it is a day in which the ancient
prophets looked forward to with a great deal of interest and anxiety.
It is a day in which the Gospel is to be preached to every nation,
tongue and people for a witness of what shall follow; a day in which
the Israel of God who receive it in their dispersed and scattered
condition are to gather together to the place appointed of God, the
place where they will perform the "marvelous work and wonder" spoken
of by the ancients who, in vision, saw our day; and where they will
begin to inherit the promises made to the fathers respecting their
children. The work that is to be so marvelous in the eyes of men has
already commenced, and is assuming shape and proportions; but they
cannot see it. It will consist in preaching the Gospel to all the
world, gathering the Saints from the midst of all those nations who
reject it; building up the Zion of God; establishing permanently in
the earth His kingdom; preparing for the work of the gathering of the
Jews and the events that will follow their settlement in their own
lands, and in preparing for ourselves holy places in which to stand
when the judgments of God shall overtake the nations. This is truly a
good work; and it is a marvel (when we look at it with our natural
eyes) how this people are sustained in their faith and hope of
accomplishing it, besides having to provide for the wants of
themselves and families, which is of itself as much as most men can
accomplish. We cannot do the work which God through us intends to have
done, unless we place ourselves under His care and direction, and take
the sentiment, "The Kingdom of God, or nothing," for our motto, as
well as the end and aim of our life. This we must do to be truly the
servants of God. We cannot serve God and mammon. We cannot build up
the Kingdom of God and withhold our hearts from Him. We must either
come under the dominion of God, and be led and directed by Him, or
under the dominion of Satan, and be ruled over by him. It is for us,
[p.52] through our faith and works, our desires and course of life, to
choose which we will take, as we must take the one side or the other.

vol. 24, p.52
Nobody in this world has cause to rejoice as we have. None have the
encouraging future before them that we have; for Zion is not to be
moved out of her place, neither is "the kingdom" to be given to
another people. God rules and reigns, and we are His people, and He is
our God.

vol. 24, p.52
This work, this marvelous work and a wonder, the work that will
eventually fill the whole world—and neither man nor the devil can
prevent it—commenced, as all the works of our God begin, in a small
way. It was likened by the Savior to the mustard seed, the smallest of
all seeds, put in the soil, which grew until the fowls of the air
could lodge in the branches thereof. This certainly is the
characteristic of this Chinch and Kingdom, commencing as it did on the
6th day of April, 1830, with only six members. But the Lord told
Joseph in one of the revelations that he was laying the foundation of
a great work, how great he knew not. Joseph was young at that time,
and could not comprehend fully the nature of the work which he had
been called and appointed to commence in the earth.

vol. 24, p.52
When Joseph presented to the Christian world the principles that God
had communicated to him, he at once aroused their prejudices; he had
to struggle against traditions which they had inherited from their
fathers who knew not God nor His ways, traditions which had come down
to them through the ages, which were antagonistic to the saving truths
of heaven. And hence his life was one continual struggle, meeting with
opposition on every hand, especially from the priests of the day; but
he lived through it and rejoiced greatly in his labors until he
finished his testimony in the flesh, after laboring some fourteen
years to that end. He had to wade through deep waters; but he never
was discouraged or disheartened, notwithstanding he had to contend
against foes without and foes within. He never lost sight of the
majesty of his calling, nor the divinity of this work; but spake and
acted in the midst of the people under all circumstances the man that
he was—the Prophet of God, the Seer and Revelator of the last
dispensation. He left us under painful circumstances, sealing his
testimony with his blood; but his works follow him. The Gospel of the
Kingdom which he preached, flourished under the wise administration of
God's servants who followed him. The Lord blessed and sustained His
Apostles, and led them to this land, where the standard of Zion has
been planted, which begins already to, attract the notice of the
nations afar off. And here in this land, notwithstanding the
difficulties we have had to wrestle with, incident to settling a new
country a thousand miles from civilization, having also to protect
ourselves against the raids of the wild and untutored Indians, the
Lord has prospered us, and blessed us on every hand; and we are to-day
a blessed people. Yet the Christian world is opposed to us, and the
Christians generally hate us. The Savior himself had the same spirit
and feeling to contend against. There was no man more unpopular than
He; no man more persecuted than He. And why? Because He preached false
doctrine? No. The real reason was, as He himself declared, because
they loved [p.53] darkness better than light, because their deeds were
evil. There are but the two powers, that of God and that of the devil.
There is but the one true and living God, and He is our Eternal
Father, the creator of this earth: and He will give it to His children
to inherit.

vol. 24, p.53
We are nearing the end of the 6th thousand years. We have the history,
or a partial history, of the dealings of God with the nations from the
day of Father Adam down as, contained in the Bible and the Book of
Mormon, from which we may learn many valuable lessons. God has raised
up at different ages certain men to do a certain work, as He raised up
father Abraham. He was a noble spirit, we are told, before he left the
realms of glory to come and tabernacle in the flesh. He had the spirit
of the Gods with him when he was born; and he was faithful to God, and
He had confidence in him; and whatever God required at his hands, he
performed. So with Enoch. He stood at the head of the dispensation in
which he lived. He, in the course of time, some 350 years, built and
perfected the city called Zion. He, however, met with all kinds of
opposition from the people among whom he labored; but the power of God
was manifested to such an extent that his enemies stood and trembled
through fear; and through that power he was enabled to perform the
mighty work which he and his people did; it was not because the devil
and his party were any more kindly disposed towards the Saints of God,
but because they could not help themselves; and in the wisdom of God
Enoch and his people and their city were taken away front the earth.

vol. 24, p.53
The devil in different ages has made war against the Saints and
overcome them; and he has tried his best to destroy this Church and
Kingdom. As I have said, Joseph and the first Elders met with the
fiercest kind of opposition; but, with some exceptions, we have stood
it all, and are the better to-day for having passed through the fire.
When we went upon our first foreign mission, Joseph said to us, "No
matter what may come upon you, round up your shoulders and bear it,
and always sustain and defend the interests of the Church and Kingdom
of God." When we took our departure his demeanor in parting was
something that I had never noticed or experienced before. After
crossing the Mississippi River I crawled to the side of a house and
lay down upon a side of sole leather, while suffering from the chills
and fever. While resting there the Prophet Joseph came along and saw
me. He gave me some parting advice in answer to some remarks made, and
then told me to get up and go on, and all would be well with me. That
is the way I parted with him upon that occasion. From that day to this
I have noticed the steady growth and increase of this people. We have
nothing else to do but to build up the Kingdom of God. If we do this
He will keep us and provide for us. We want to labor as a body of
Priesthood, to enter into the holy of belies; we want to come before
God, and pray until we get the spirit of this work, until we
comprehend our calling before God.

vol. 24, p.53
There has never been such a dispensation upon the earth as the present
one. In other dispensations men had to lay down their lives, and
others to hide up in dens and caves of the earth, and wander in sheep
skins and goat skins, for the [p.54] word of God. We have had a taste
of the same treatment in our day. And we have also seen days of
poverty. When for instance, we left to go on our first English
mission, two dollars would have bought everything I left to feed and
clothe my wife and children. I hardly had a day's provisions in my
house. It was a good deal so with my brethren; but we did not stay to
nurse our wives. Those were the days of our poverty; and we never knew
what it was to be comfortably well off until we came to these valleys
of the mountains. We had a great many trials in those days or what we
called trials. I want to get this principle into your minds, that God
Almighty is guiding the course of this Church and Kingdom, and not we;
and He has organized it for this day and generation and it never will
be rooted out of the earth again. The Prophet Joseph knew what he was
doing; in fact, he knew much more than he dared to tell on account of
the prejudice, traditions and unbelief of the people. I used to have
peculiar feelings about his death and the way in which his life was
taken. I felt that if, with the consent and good feelings of the
brethren that waited on him after be crossed the river to leave
Nauvoo, Joseph could have had his desire, he would have pioneered the
way to the Rocky Mountains. But since then I have been fully
reconciled to the fact that it was according to the programme, that it
was required of him, as the head of this dispensation, that he should
seal his testimony with his blood, and go hence to the spirit world,
holding the keys of this dispensation, to open up the mission that is
now being performed by way of preaching the Gospel to the "spirits in
prison." But those who shed his blood, and the people and nation who
sanctioned it in their hearts, have that to meet, and they can no more
escape the penalty thereof than they can escape the death of the body.
My views and feelings in regard to the Twelve and leading men of this
Church have been this, that when they leave this stage of action they
will be permitted to lie down in peace surrounded by their families
and friends; and also, that God will never require them to stain their
hands with the blood of their fellow men, in order to protect
themselves from violence; but, that the Lord will fight our battles,
and frustrate the measures that would lead to such an issue. And the
wisdom of this is manifested in the fact that part of our duty is to
build Temples, and officiate in the same; and this we could not do so
acceptably to God if our hands were stained with the blood of our
fellow-men, even in our own defense. Hence I believe that God will
cause the wicked to slay the wicked; and that He will cut off our
enemies by judgment from time to time, as it shall be deemed prudent
by Him. All is peace in Zion, and I thank God for it. I am reminded of
a saying made by Brother Cannon upon entering the well furnished
parlor of one of President Merrill's houses, of Richmond, in Cache
County. "What," he said, "all this and heaven too?" Yes, God intends
to give to His Saints the good things of the earth, as well as the
blessings of heaven, as they shall become able to use them properly.
The Lord intends to build up His Zion through us His weak and feeble
creatures. He intends to make Zion strong and powerful in the earth.
He will bless us with means and He will put it into our hearts to
build Temples to His name, in which His [p.55] Saints may perform the
work that is required at their hands in redeeming their dead.

vol. 24, p.55
Brethren and sisters, you should live by faith, realizing every day
that all power rests with God, and that it is through Him that we are
able to live in peace and enjoy plenty; that it is through Him the
wrath of our enemies is turned aside from time to time, and that it
will be through Him that the remainder of their wrath will be
restrained. You should enter your secret closets, and call upon the
name of the Lord. Many of you have learned how to pray; then fail not
to let your prayers ascend up into the ears of the God of Sabaoth; and
He will hear you. I think sometimes that we do not fully comprehend
the power that we have with God in knowing how to approach Him
acceptably. All that these men holding the Priesthood, and all that
our sisters need do, is to live near to God, and call upon Him,
pouring out their soul's desires in behalf of Israel, and their power
will be felt, and their confidence in God will be strengthened. But
the blessings of heaven can only be obtained and controlled upon the
principles of righteousness. I have heard the Prophet Joseph pray when
the power of God rested down upon him, and all who heard him felt it;
and I have seen his prayers answered in a marvelous manner almost
immediately. Governor Reynolds on one occasion employed men to try and
kidnap Joseph, and they almost accomplished their designs, but Joseph
had some Gentile friends as well as his brethren, through whom he was
rescued, and was taken to Nauvoo and released under a writ of habeas
corpus. But the Governor continued to harass him with writs, and was
determined to destroy Joseph. Joseph and the Twelve went before God in
prayer, Joseph kneeling before the Lord, offered up prayer, and asked
God to deliver him from the power of that man. Among other things he
told the Lord that he was innocent before Him, and that his heart was
heavy under the persecutions he endured. In about forty-eight hours
from that time word reached Joseph that Reynolds had blown his brains
out. Before perpetrating the deed he left a note on his desk stating,
that as his services were not appreciated by the people of the State,
he took that course to end his days.

vol. 24, p.55
There is another instance that occurs to my mind. A certain man took a
stand against Joseph, and endeavored to bring persecution on him. He
went to his God and laid the matter before Him, asking to be delivered
out of the hands and power of that wicked man. Joseph was a Prophet; a
Seer, a Revelator. He was acquainted with God; he knew the voice of
the Spirit when it spoke to him. After offering up his prayer, the
whispering of the still small voice came to him saying, "Wait with
patience." The next day that man was taken sick with cholera, and died
in a few hours. See how quickly the Lord answered his prayer offered
up while a prisoner in Liberty Jail. At that time, Presidents Young,
Taylor and several of the Twelve were on their way through Clay County
to lay the corner stones of the Temple, in fulfillment of the
revelation given in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 118. Joseph
had no sooner called upon God than he was liberated; and his prayer
answered to the very letter. The voice of the Spirit again spoke to
him, speaking peace to his soul, and telling him that his troubles
should be of short duration. It was [p.56] but a few days when he had
the pleasure of shaking hands with his brethren, and enjoying the
society of his family and friends. Joseph lived to accomplish the work
that was required of him notwithstanding the persistent and determined
opposition that he had to contend against. And after his death the
work still went on, God and His angels all the while guiding and
sustaining by His Spirit the Prophet Brigham. And He will continue to
sustain His servants, and through them and His people Israel He will
bring to pass the greatest and grandest work that the world has ever
known. It is for us to wake up to a sense of our duty, and call upon
the Lord in humility, and live near to Him; and our eyes will be
opened, as in the case of the young man the servant of the ancient
Prophet Elisha, and we will see that there are more for us than
against us; and that the element of opposition tends only to hasten
the fulfillment of the purposes of God. Put your trust in God and rely
on His promises, living up to the light and knowledge you possess; and
all will be well with you whether living or dying. God bless you,
Amen.

Geo. Q. Cannon, March 18, 1883

Peculiarities of Public Preaching Among the Saints—A Comprehensive 
Religion—Equality of Man—Saints the Championsof Right—A 
Providence Over the Saints—Leaven of Truth at Work—
Truth Taught By Joseph Smith Now Being Verified—
Ignorant Politicians—Effect of Judge Black's 
Argument—Effectual Prayer

Delivered in the Assembly Hall; Salt Lake City, 
Sunday Afternoon,March 18th, 1883.

vol. 24, p.56
I am glad to have the opportunity once more of meeting with my
brethren and sisters in this place. And while I speak to you this
afternoon I trust I shall have the assistance of the Spirit of God. I
have had excellent health since I have been gone. But this morning,
from the effect of a cold which I have taken, when I arose I felt
worse than I have done since I left home, and as thought I could
scarcely come to meeting. The ride in the air, however, has helped me,
and I feel better than I did.

vol. 24, p.56
There is a natural curiosity on the [p.57] part of the Latter-day
Saints to know everything connected with our political affairs as well
as everything connected with our religious operations throughout the
earth. Everything of this character is so intimately blended in the
work in which we are engaged, that it is an exceedingly difficult
thing to draw the line of distinction between the temporal and the
spiritual, between that which pertains to the body and that which
pertains to the spirit, or which pertains to the dissemination of the
Gospel and the welfare of the people in political matters. It has been
a cause of frequent comment in newspaper articles and in works that
have been published concerning us and our organization, that we are a
peculiar people in this respect, and that this intimate blending of
the practical and the theoretical, of the temporal and the spiritual,
in our meetings and in the addresses of our Elders, is a marked
peculiarity. The reason of this is very apparent to those who are
familiar with the character of our work and with our belief concerning
these matters. We attach an importance to the physical organization
which God has given unto us, greater, I believe, than any other
religious people that I have ever met with. In like manner our
religion extends its ramifications into every department of our lives,
leaving nothing untouched, nothing connected with our earthly
existence uninfluenced by its power and its teaching. I am thankful
that this is the case, because it gives religion full scope, it gives
it an opportunity to exercise its proper influence upon the man and to
make him more perfect and more godlike. Our God is not a religious God
alone. The God we worship does not confine himself to religious
matters, so-called, in contradistinction from those that are secular.
He is not a God that concerns himself alone with the spirit of man,
but He is a God of science, He is a God of mechanism, He is a God of
creative power, a God of government, a God who attends to all the
departments of human life and progress, as we see them exemplified
here upon the earth. The first acts that are recorded of Him in the
record that has come to us were creative acts, acts of organization,
labors that might in one respect be termed temporal labors. Among the
first communications He had with man He taught him how to live
practically, to make himself clothing, and to perform other necessary
labors connected with his comfort and his happiness upon the earth.
And where they have been willing to be taught He has taught men
government, the principles of government, from the beginning. He has
established the best forms of government where men have listened to
His teachings—governments best adapted for the persons for whom they
were intended and for the objects that were to be accomplished; and He
knew in the days of Moses, as He did in the clays of Enoch, the
principles of government that were best calculated for the happiness
of those peoples. So far as they listened to Him, so far as they were
governed in righteousness and in truth, each received the laws and the
necessary instructions that were best suited to their condition and
circumstances, for the progress that they had made and the progress
that it was anticipated they would make. And He knew all that was
necessary to be known, without the benefit of the experience that each
nation has received from their labors and from their progress under
the forms of [p.58] government that they have had. Our government
to-day is considered the ripened fruit of the ages of experience that
men have gained upon the earth. Yet there is not a principle connected
with it that was not known to God, that was not taught by the Almighty
in the earliest days, and that has not been put into operation under
His instruction at one time or another among men. And these principles
are embodied in what we call the Gospel. It has been truthfully and
very forcibly said many times in our hearing that there was no
principle connected with man's existence upon the earth that is not a
part and parcel of that Gospel which God has revealed unto us and
commanded us to obey; that that which the world call "Mormonism"
embraces within its scope every good thing upon the face of the earth,
leaving nothing outside. Every true principle of science, everything
connected with the cultivation of the earth, with the government of
cities and of nations, with the management of all the multiplied
affairs of men in their great and varied diversity—that everything of
this character comes within the scope of the Gospel which God has
revealed, in the system of salvation that He has commanded us to
receive.

vol. 24, p.58
There is one great principle connected with the Gospel of Jesus Christ
as it has been taught among all the people who have ever received it,
as we find from their teachings in the records that have come down to
us, the same principle that lies at the foundation of our form of
government, and makes it the most valuable feature connected with it,
and that is, the equality of man before God. No man can be a true
follower of Jesus Christ; no man ever could be—anterior even to His
coming—a true follower of God, without embodying in His faith and
practice and in every feeling of his heart; this principle to which I
have referred, the equality of man. There could be no class
distinctions wherever this Gospel was received and put into practical
operation. Every man who received it became the equal of his
fellow-man; he would be recognized, a proper place be assigned unto
him, and he would have his proper influence in the society of which he
was a member. It is this principle of the Gospel that will make us,
also, a thoroughly free people, a thoroughly great people, a people
who shall have place in the earth, and have influence in the affairs
of the children of men.

vol. 24, p.58
There have been fears indulged in many times, and expressions have
been given to those fears, that the growth of the Latter-day Saints
was a menace to surrounding peoples and to the government under which
we live. There can be no menace in the growth of such principles as
are taught and as are recognized and enforced among such a people as
we are. It would be impossible for tyranny to flourish for any length
of time in our midst, Oppression of every form would sooner or later
have to disappear, or else there would have to be apostasy from the
true principles of the Gospel on the part of the people. Oppression,
tyranny, misrule, cannot co-exist with the principles of the
everlasting Gospel as they are taught in our midst and received by us.
There must be the greatest possible liberty of thought, of expression
and of action in our midst—that is the greatest possible consistent
with good order, and the preservation of the rights of others. Liberty
cannot be permitted to degenerate rate license, but the utmost [p.59]
liberty can be enjoyed so long as it does not overstep that boundary.
It becomes, therefore, a natural duty devolving upon us, with our
views concerning these eternal principles that have come down from
God, that were taught by God in the early ages unto man, that have
been re enforced from time to time by Him through the silent, unseen
agency of His power in various ages—I say it becomes our natural duty
to see that these principles are carried out and maintained in the
earth. We become their natural champions. Besides advocating and
maintaining them, it becomes our province to struggle for their
supremacy.

vol. 24, p.59
As I have said these principles were taught in the very beginning. If
we had the records we would find that they were taught to our father
Adam, because they are consistent with man's agency. God gave unto man
when He placed him upon the earth, the fullest agency—the power to do
that which was right in his own sight without let or hindrance. He
taught those principles to Enoch, and He taught them from time to time
to all the men of note who would be taught by him. Abraham became in
his turn the great expositor of those truths; and you will find by
tracing the lives of these men in the record that has come down to us,
that in every instance they were men who were champions of the right,
who stood out boldly and fearlessly in the midst of their fellow men,
contending for those God-given principles which they believed to be
the inalienable right of every human being. You will find that the
opponents of truth, or, to speak more plainly, according to our
phraseology and our methods ef expressing ideas, the followers of
Satan—you will find that whenever there was persecution upon the
earth, they were its authors. Whenever men were trampled upon and
their rights were denied them, when men fell victims to violence and
the mal-administration of the laws, it was those who were led by
Satan's influence and yielded to his power, who were the instruments
in committing those evils. Hence you find that good men never
persecuted bad men; never destroyed wicked men when they had power.
They were not oppressors, they were not tyrants, they were not
persecutors, they did not infringe upon the rights of their fellow
men, upon the liberty of conscience, nor upon its proper exercise, nor
upon the exercise of man's agency; they never sought to restrain it.
If wicked men were disposed to do wickedly, so long as they did not
transcend certain well-defined bounds that found their expression in
law, you will find no account of good men interfering with bad men.
You will not find them, as I say, taking upon themselves the role of
oppressors, nor saying that men shall not do that which their
conscience and that which they in their agency think it is their right
to do. God does not do it. Jesus did not do it, and no servant of God
ever did it that had a true conception of his calling. God has given
to every man his agency, and he respects that agency. He might grieve
over its exercise, angels may weep, and the heavens themselves may
weep over the wrong exercise by man of the agency that God has given
unto him, but he nevertheless has it to its fullest extent; but the
devil and those under his influence would, if possible, destroy man's
agency and prevent him from exercising it to suit himself.

vol. 24, p.59
I am thankful that we are surrounded by such delightful [p.60]
circumstances to-day. We have escaped another peril, and we still are
a free people. Is there anyone in this congregation who professes to
be a Latter-day Saint who is not filled with profound thankfulness to
God for that which He has done for us? Is there any man or woman, or
child of age sufficient to comprehend these things, who has not come
this day to this house of worship with a feeling of profound
thankfulness to our God for His mercy and His loving kindness, as
manifested unto us His people? Though I have been taught and always
have believed that not one word of His promises would fail, still I
say that I am almost amazed myself when I see how wonderfully God hath
wrought, when I look at our circumstances, when I see the liberty that
we enjoy, knowing as I do the plans and the concerted efforts which
have been made to deprive us of our liberty, and to bring us into a
bondage that would be intolerable to us. A pæan of rejoicing went up
from all quarters of the land about a year ago, that is, on the 22d of
March. Every man who desired to see the overthrow of the Latter-day
Saints, to see their system obliterated, rejoiced from one end of this
land to the other—there were among them preachers, politicians and
journalists, and the rabble everywhere, who rejoiced that a deadly
blow had been struck  at the Latter-day Saints. Men, while they
admitted that the Constitution had been violated, justified the act in
consideration of the great good that they supposed would be
accomplished. Yet we to-day have all the happiness, the peace, the
enjoyment, and the quiet that we could reasonably desire. If it were
not for God's power; if it were not for His overshadowing protection;
if it were not for the promises that He has made unto us, how long
could we endure? How long could we maintain ourselves in our present
position?

vol. 24, p.60
But God made promises unto His people; and those promises have been
abundantly fulfilled thus far, and they will be fulfilled to the very
letter. And this Church and this people, and this organization will
continue to grow and spread, and gather influence and power in the
earth, until every word that has been spoken under the inspiration of
the Holy Ghost will be fulfilled, and not a single word fall. It
cannot fail, for God has spoken it. Already the influence of this work
is being felt to an extent that none without the eye of omniscience
can comprehend. We can see little glimpses of it here and there where
our eyes are open to perceive; but the full extent of the influence
that is being wrought in the earth through this work that God has
established, is impossible for man to comprehend. I do not believe
that any power short of omniscience itself can comprehend it. The
principles of this Gospel which God revealed through the Prophet
Joseph, have been like a little leaven, and they have been gradually
leavening the whole lump. The effects have gone forth, and the
influence is being felt in every direction throughout the world.
Though we are but a small people, but a handful, so to speak, and in
some respects quite insignificant, yet an influence has gone forth
from this people, from the teachings of the Elders of this Church that
is being felt everywhere. It has invaded every domain of thought, and
gradually made itself felt—the leaven of truth has; and men begin to
acknowledge principles as a part of their faith which but a short time
ago they denied [p.61] and scouted at. In this way the work of God is
being carried on far beyond that which we can see with our natural
eyes. The work of the preparation of the earth, and of its
inhabitants, is pressing for ward with a rapidity that we who are
taking part in it do not realize. We look at ourselves too much, we
think that God's operations and labors are confined to us who comprise
this Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In doing so we make
a great blunder. He is operating among the nations of the earth. His
spirit has gone forth; and it is accomplishing that which He said
should be accomplished. And this great work of the last days will be
cut short in righteousness. It is not the conversion of men and women
and their baptism into the Church that is alone to be accomplished.
The work of God is not to be measured by the number of souls that are
brought into the Church. The progress of events connected with this
last dispensation cannot be thus gauged; and when we think so we make
a great mistake. Look abroad in other realms. Look at the religious
world, and see how fast the principles that we believe in are being
received. It may be said that they are not received properly. True,
but notwithstanding truth is progressing; and the mind of man is being
emancipated from many errors.

vol. 24, p.61
Repentance after the grave is now taught—you have heard of it, and
read about it in the newspapers. Prominent preachers talk about it and
receive it; and actually preach as scriptural doctrine, that it is
possible for spirits to receive the Gospel in the spirit world.

vol. 24, p.61
Another step has been made in advance, through the preaching of the
Elders of this Church, or rather by means of the revelations of God
through the Prophet Joseph Smith, in scientific truth which is
astonishing; I refer to the doctrine of the eternal duration of
matter. When first this was made known it was ridiculed everywhere by
religious people, who viewed it as a principle, the teachings of which
detracted from the dignity and glory of God. The popular idea was that
this earth was created out of nothing. This was the almost universal
belief among Christians. Joseph Smith said it was not true. He
advocated the doctrine that matter always had an existence, that it
was eternal as God Himself was eternal; that it was indestructible;
that it never had a beginning, and therefore could have no end. God
revealed this truth to him. Now who is there that does not believe it?

vol. 24, p.61
So with regard to the periods occupied in the creation of the earth.
Joseph taught that a day with God was not the twenty-four hours of our
day; but that the six days of the creation were six periods of the
Lord's time. This he taught half a century ago; it is now generally
received as a great truth connected with the creation of the world.
Geologists have declared it, and religious people are adopting it; and
so the world is progressing.

vol. 24, p.61
Again: It is not an uncommon thing at all now to hear of faith being
exercised, of healings being produced through the prayer of faith. The
daily papers frequently publish accounts of people being healed in
this way. The adversary is trying, of course, to take advantage of it
to rob God of the glory. He is determined that God shall not have any
credit for these things. But it matters not how much he may struggle,
mankind are receiving these truths, and progress is [p.62] being made
and error is being overcome.

vol. 24, p.62
So it is with regard to religious liberty. We are contending to-day
for liberty on the old platform. God, as I have said, gave it in the
beginning, and we stand on that platform, and are contending for those
rights, and we will achieve the victory too. Mark it! Just as sure as
God lives we will achieve the victory, and this Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints will be recognized as occupying the foremost rank
in this work. The principles of liberty, the rights of man will be
established, and will be guaranteed to every man as in olden times;
but there will be a struggle first.

vol. 24, p.62
The effect that the defence of our system, this last winter, had upon
one of the great political parties of the United States was most
remarkable. I was amused at it, and it afforded me a great deal of
interesting reflection. There are a great many members of this Church
who do not seem to have a thorough comprehension of their own
doctrines, who nevertheless call themselves Latter-day Saints; and
they are Latter-day Saints so far as their profession goes. But if
asked about the principles of their belief some of them are ignorant
of the extent of their application. It is in politics as in religion.
There are a great many men who make a profession of politics,
professing to understand, to act upon, and to stand upon certain
political principles, which are embodied in their platforms, of which,
however, they are really ignorant. You may have thought it very
strange that any members of the democratic party, for instance, which
professes to be the champion of home rule, as well as other great
fundamental principles, should be found so oblivious to their own
principles as to take any part whatever in attacks upon us for the
purpose of depriving us of our rights as citizens. But so it has been.
If it had not been for the recreancy of some Democrats the Act of
March 22, 1882, known as the Edmunds' law, would never have become one
of the Statutes of the United States. Mr. Edmunds succeeded in
cajoling some of the Democrats. An astute man is Senator Edmunds. In
their action towards us these Democrats seemed to be blind to the fact
that they were apostatizing from their own principles; and that in
doing so they were striking a deadly blow at the platform on which the
party stood. We had been reasoning against this action; but our voices
were unheard; we were considered heterodox upon religious matters, and
it was supposed that we were heterodox upon political matters:
therefore all that we said upon this subject fell heedlessly upon
their ears. But we succeeded in getting an apostle of democracy to aid
us, one of the old leaders of democracy—Judge Jeremiah S. Black. He
began to preach the true doctrines of democracy to his Democratic
brethren; and to their amazement, some found that they had, in voting
for this law, been trampling upon their own principles. And he proved
it to them so thoroughly, that some of them became ashamed of it; and
they said, "We have gone far enough." He explained the principles of
the Constitution and the rights that men had under that instrument
when properly administered. Good doctrine for every politician, and
every class, not for democrats so-called alone, but for republicans
also. There is something in such doctrine that strikes a chord [p.63]
in every freeman's breast. It calls forth a response from every lover
of liberty by whatever name he may be called. He says, when he hears
the rights of man explained by an authority that is entitled to
respect: "There is something in that which I cannot but accept." Such
men hesitate before flying in the face of principles expounded in this
way, to commit acts, the effects of which are to deprive people of
liberty. The effect of Judge Black's argument upon some of the
Democrats was to stiffen their backbone so much that they could not
consent this time to have other measures enacted as were proposed.

vol. 24, p.63
I was very much struck by a statement made to me by President Taylor
since my return, showing that faith when connected with works
accomplishes wonderful results: Brother Caine and myself, with some
other Utah friends, were in the Senate chamber on the 23d of February
last, watching Senator Edmunds' attempt to get through his special
legislation of which you have read. It seemed as though nothing could
prevent it. Senators with whom we had conversed said that they saw no
possible chance of stopping it; that its passage seemed inevitable.
But a Cabinet minister gave a dinner party that evening, and one by
one those who were invited stole from the Senate Chamber while the
bill was under discussion to the dinner party; and the first that was
known when a vote was called was that a quorum was not present. In the
absence of a quorum, you know, a legislative body is powerless to act.
For four hours Senator Edmunds did all in his power to get action on
his bill; but every attempt was resisted by the Democrats upon the
ground that there was no quorum, and they accordingly fillibusted
until Edmunds, disgusted and tired, called for an adjournment.
President Taylor told me upon my return that, on the 22d of February,
feeling exercised in his mind about our political affairs, and that it
was a time of peril, he called a few of the brethren together and they
met at the Endowment House according to the holy order, and besought
God, in the name of Jesus, to baffle the plans of our enemies and
frustrate them in their designs, and put them to confusion and shame.
In watching Senator Edmunds that evening, I thought that if ever there
was a man confused, chagrined and confounded at the futility of his
own attempts, it was he. And there is no doubt in my mind that the
prayers of President Taylor and the brethren ascended favorably unto
the ears of the God of Sabaoth, and were heard and answered. The
dreadful wrong was defeated and failed, and it may be said, it met
with its death blow; for every attempt afterwards made to bring it up,
was unsuccessful. In this way God has wrought out deliverance for
Zion.

vol. 24, p.63
I mention this because there are a great many people who think that
prayer is not effective. It is effective in not only producing desired
results, but in increasing faith in the hearts of those who exercise
it in that manner. If you pray to God—as I have no doubt you did, that
He would baffle the attempts of our enemies to injure us—you have had
the satisfaction of knowing that He heard your prayers, and that your
prayers were answered; and you can go before Him now with increased
confidence and ask again,  because you see the fulfillment of your
prayers, and you share in the gratification and joy and [p.64]
thanksgiving which answers to prayer always bring to those who offer
them in faith.

vol. 24, p.64
I have talked longer than I expected. I rejoice with you, my brethren
and sisters, to-day; and I bear my testimony, as I have so often done
in your hearing, that God lives; that He is the same God today that He
was in days of old, and that if he will continue faithful to Him, He
will lead us back to His presence, there to reign with Him eternally
in the heavens, which may God grant, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Erastus Snow, April 6, 1883

The Past and Future of the American Continent—The Law of the 
Lord and the Law of the Land—The Efforts of Our Enemies 
Turned to Our Advantage—Light and Liberty of the 
Latter-Day Saints—The Work of the Lord Among the 
Nations—Judicial Folly and Injustice—Faith 
Inseparablefrom Works—Parable of the Talents Exemplified.

Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Friday Afternoon, (Annual
Conference), April 6, 1883.

(Reported By Gibbs and Irvine)

vol. 24, p.64
If the Lord gives me strength to make myself heard, I shall feel it a
pleasure to occupy a little time this afternoon, accorded to me by my
brethren.

vol. 24, p.64
I feel to express unto my heavenly Father, and to my brethren and the
people, my gratitude for their prayers and faith for the blessings of
God to me in permitting me to appear before you on this occasion, and
to feel the degree of health and strength which is vouchsafed to me,
thus enabling me to continue my efforts and labors with my brethren
and the people of God. For some two or three months my health has not
been of such a nature that I could labor with the satisfaction which
has attended me heretofore; and I fully realize what Elder Woodruff
said this morning concerning the aged Elders of Israel passing away,
and that the responsibility and labor of bearing off this kingdom will
soon rest upon the generation which is growing up in our midst, upon
which will devolve the work of carrying the Gospel to those who have
not heard it among the nations of the earth, and gathering Israel and
establishing [p.65] Zion and building up and maintaining the Kingdom
of our God upon the earth, which must be done through faith, by
righteousness, and by defending and maintaining the rights of man and
the liberty and freedom which God has ordained for the welfare of all
flesh, for the protection and blessing of the human family, and which
it has been His purpose to establish and maintain upon this American
Continent. Latter-day Saints, especially those who have grown up with
this people, as I have done from my childhood, and witnessed the
manifestations of the overruling providence of God in guiding the
destinies of this people, inspiring His servants who have led and
directed the movements of this great people, and in defending them and
fighting their battles by the sword of His Spirit, and the invisible
powers that have labored with us and for us—I say to those who are
able to see and comprehend these things, it is clear and plain that
God has had His eye upon this American continent as the place where He
first commenced His great work on the earth, where the greatest
manifestations of His power were exhibited in the days of the fathers
before the flood, when the fathers were gathered in the valley of
Adam-ondi-Ahman and received their last instructions and blessings
from Father Adam, the Patriarch of this earth, and where Enoch
gathered his people and established Zion, and where Noah preached
righteousness to the people and prepared the ark of safety, and where
He has determined ultimately to establish His Zion and gather together
His people, establish, maintain and defend His government and the
Priesthood which he has revealed for the salvation of the human
family, where He will bring again Zion that He has taken away, even
the Zion of Enoch; for when He shall bring again Zion, says the
Prophet, the Lord will appear in His glory. And He has long been
laboring in His own marvelous manner among the nations of the earth,
turning and overturning, to bring to pass His purposes and to gather
together His elect; and He has moved upon the oppressed of many lands
and climes—those who sought for enlarged freedom and liberty and whose
minds reached out for more light and more truth, and whose
understandings were expanded—to gather upon this American continent,
and implanted in the hearts of our fathers a love of freedom and
liberty and equal rights. He led them through schools of oppression.
They passed through many difficulties, and endured the rule of
tyrants. They bore oppression and suffered until they learned how to
appreciate freedom and liberty, and how to detest misrule, tyranny and
oppression; they struggled to burst the shackles that bound the human
soul; they struggled for freedom of thought, of speech, of action;
they struggled unitedly to burst the bonds, to break the yoke, from
off their necks; they vied with each other in this labor of love from
north to south, from east to west, in all the colonies which were
early planted upon this continent. The Lord guided their labors to a
successful issue, resulting in freedom from the tyranny of the effete
governments of the old world; He directed the combined efforts and
labors of those men in consolidating the result of their labors and
framing the system of government under which we are now permitted to
live.

vol. 24, p.65
[At this point part of the congregation moved from the body of the
[p.66] Tabernacle to the gallery causing a stay in the proceedings.
Quietness having been obtained the speaker continued.]

vol. 24, p.66
I was saying that God our heavenly Father had moved upon the nations
and sent out from the nations of the old world streams of emigration
to the new world, who were panting for freedom and liberty, and who
struggled to burst the bands with which they were bound, and the yoke
from off their necks, and were striving to learn how to be free. And
in penetrating the new world and its wilds, and in grappling with and
overcoming the difficulties attending the forming of new settlements
and planting colonies in the new world, they learned the value of
freedom, and therefore studied to preserve it; and they labored to
establish a form of government under which it might be maintained. In
all these works and labors we discern an overruling providence, and
manifestations of the mercy and loving kindness of God to His people,
and the revelations of His Spirit imparted, to a greater or less
degree; unto the wise and patriotic fathers of our country, who were
thus enabled to unite upon the best form of government existing among
men, or which, perhaps, ever has existed, unless it has been those
which God himself directly revealed through the Patriarchs and
Prophets of older times. But so far as any political organizations of
government upon this earth, the Republican or Democratic form of
government established in these United States—(the foundations of
which were laid by our fathers over a hundred years ago), is the best
calculated to promote the objects sought, and to maintain the rights
of man, and the guarantees of religious and political freedom, of any
form of government known to mankind. But that it or any other form, in
this imperfect and sinful world, is altogether perfect is not to be
expected, and therefore cannot endure for ever. But we regard the
present form of government of this nation as embodying the greatest
amount of virtue and principles best calculated to maintain and
preserve the rights of man.

vol. 24, p.66
In the early history of this Church a revelation was given through the
Prophet Joseph in which the people are commanded to observe the
Constitutional laws of the land, and to uphold by their votes and
sustain upright and honorable men to administer them; which also
stated that He had inspired the fathers to establish this form of
government for the good and benefit of man. I will read a few
paragraphs found on the 342d page of the Doctrine and Covenants, stew
edition:

vol. 24, p.66
"And now, verily, I say unto yon concerning the laws of the land, it
is my will that my people should observe to do all things whatsoever I
command them; "And that the law of the land which is constitutional,
supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and
privileges, belongs to all mankind, and is justifiable before me; 

vol. 24, p.66
"Therefore I, the Lord, justify you and your brethren of my Church, in
befriending that law which is the constitutional law of the land;

vol. 24, p.66
"And as pertaining to the law of man, whatsoever is more or less than
these, cometh of evil.

vol. 24, p.66
"I, the Lord God, make you free, therefore ye are free indeed; and the
law also maketh you free.

vol. 24, p.66
"Nevertheless, when the wicked rule the people mourn.

vol. 24, p.66
"Wherefore, honest men, and wise men should be sought for [p.67]
diligently, and good men and wise men  ye should observe to uphold;
other wise whatsoever is less than these  cometh of evil."

vol. 24, p.67
I deem it of much importance that these principles should be well
understood and thoroughly impressed upon the minds of the Latter-day
Saints throughout the world, and especially those dwelling upon this
American Continent and within the pale of this government, that they
may implant in the hearts of our children a love of freedom and human
rights, and a desire to preserve them, and to aid in maintaining and
defending them in all lawful and proper ways; and to study the
constitutional laws of the land, and make others acquainted with them;
knowing the principles contained therein, and of learning how to apply
them to ourselves, to our children, and to our fellowmen who are
willing to be governed thereby; study them that we may also learn how
to use them in suppressing tyranny, misrule and other evils that
affect mankind; for God has ordained this form of government in this
age of the world, and has chosen His own instruments to further His
great purposes on the earth—the organization of his Church, the
proclamation of the everlasting Gospel, the establishment of His Zion,
and bringing to pass His wonderful works which He predicted by the
mouths of the ancient Prophets. And this political system and order of
government is a power in His hands established, preserved and defended
thus far by Him, which He Will continue to use as long as the people
are worthy of it, as long as they will maintain their integrity,
uprightness and virtue; and at no time will the Latter-day Saints, as
a people, ever stand approved before God in violating those principles
or slackening their efforts to maintain and defend them. They are
closely allied to the teachings of the ancient Prophets and Apostles,
to the doctrines, practices and teachings of the Savior and His
disciples, and they are the best means and aids of extending and
promoting those principles on the earth. Whatever some may have
thought of the mal-administration in our government and of the efforts
of individuals and sometimes of large factions, to abridge the rights
of the people, and of their blind zeal and efforts to reach the
Latter-day Saints, and to stamp out the religion we profess—whatever
may have been thought of the efforts of such individuals, cliques, or
factions, and of their warfare against us; and who in that warfare
trample under foot constitutional provisions of our
Government—undermine the foundations upon which it rests—we must never
in our feelings charge any of these things to this system of
government, or to the principles enunciated is the Constitution, which
we are commanded to observe and keep. We must charge it always where
it belongs—to the bigotry, the ignorance, the selfishness, ambition
and blind zeal of ignorant and corrupt politicians, their aiders and
abbettors, and all this should only serve to make us try more
earnestly, anxiously and faithfully to combat such efforts upon
constitutional grounds, calling upon God to help us therein.

vol. 24, p.67
We were told this morning by Brother Woodruff—quoting the word of the
Lord given through the Prophet Joseph Smith concerning the promises He
has made to His people—that inasmuch as we will be true to ourselves,
true to God, true to our covenants and to our holy religion, that He
will fight our [p.68] battles, defend and maintain our cause, make it
triumph and flourish, so that the wicked shall have no power to
prevail against us. These promises have often been repeated to us, and
last October we had a renewal of this assurance and this promise in
the word of the Lord given unto us through His servant President John
Taylor, and at a time and period, too, when many in our midst were
weakening and their knees were beginning to tremble a little, and
there were others who were inclined to falter and doubt, and fear was
upon some. Our enemies—especially the bigot, the hypocrite, the
demagogue, the political quacks of the country—rejoiced, thinking that
they were succeeding in their efforts to weave webs around us, to
forge fetters for our feet and yokes to place upon our necks, and to
lash us into obedience to them. But the great majority of the
Latter-day Saints were calm in their feelings as a summer's morning,
trusting as they have ever done in the promises of God, inspired with
faith and hope in his overruling providence; and while we were doing
what we might do properly under the Constitution and institutions of
our country for the maintenance of our freedom and liberty, leaving
the rest with God, exercising faith in His promises, continuing to
pray for His blessing to attend our efforts and to hedge up the ways
of our enemies; yet we have waited calmly for the result of the
promises of God, and the answer to our prayers and the fulfillment of
those things that have been spoken to us; and how signally have we
seen them fulfilled. We have seen the very means which the enemies of
this people have devised, and intended for their enslavement become
before us as chaff, as thorns crackling under the pot, as a broken
yoke to be used to kindle the fires of freedom and liberty. In former
times the efforts that have been made in Congress and out of Congress
to press the representatives of the people to hostile and
unconstitutional legislation as a means to help religious bigots to
suppress the doctrines of Christ, the ordinances of life and
salvation, the rule and reign of righteousness among the people of
God—I say, in their efforts to reach our religious principles and
faith, and the exercise of those principles under that faith, and to
crush it out from the earth—in their efforts to do so, they have moved
upon statesmen to violate the Constitution of our country and the
principles of human freedom on which our government has been founded
in order to accomplish this purpose. But all those who have thus
stultified themselves before the world, and before the heavens, and
have clone violence to their oath of office and to the Constitution,
to the rights of man, and to the principles of freedom and liberty,
have weakened, have gone down, the sceptre of their power has fallen
from their grasp, they have been dishonored before the heavens and
before their people as a rule, and sooner or later we will witness
others going down into the pit of forgetfulness as their predecessors
have done. For the Lord has decreed it. And to-day the young men of
Israel who are assembling in their Improvement Associations in all the
Stakes of Zion, in all the Wards and settlements of the people
throughout the land, and in their quorum meetings, and in their
political assemblies, are all learning and cultivating these
principles of liberty in their minds, introducing and extending them
among  the rising generation, the sons of Zion, [p.69] and not only
the sons, but the daughters that are coupled with the sons, the wives
that are coupled with the husbands, in this labor of love, the
struggle for the maintenance of freedom and liberty. It is a source of
satisfaction to me that the Lord has moved upon His servants and the
Legislature of our Territory to be among the first to lead the van of
human progress in the extension of the elective franchise to women as
well as men, and to recognize the freedom and liberty which belongs to
the fairer sex as well as the sterner; for the Gospel teaches that all
things are to be done among us by common consent, and the Prophet
Joseph commanded and introduced in our midst the custom we are
following to-day, that of presenting to all the congregations of
Israel, at our General Conferences, and our local or Stake
Conferences, the General Authorities of the Church, to be justified or
condemned by the voice of the people, to be upheld and sustained by
the confidence, faith and prayers of the people; or otherwise to be
reproved by the votes of the people for their misdeeds or
mal-administration. These are things continually before the people, as
well as the revelations which God has given unto us, and which are
written and taught in our Sabbath schools and public gatherings, and
to all who come within the scope of these instructions, viz., a love
of freedom and liberty. 

vol. 24, p.69
The leaders of this people are charged with being blind, leaders of
the blind; and the people are charged with being blind, led by the
blind. I deny the charge and brand it false. We know and understand
perfectly that our leaders are neither blind nor are the people blind.
On the contrary, we have received the light, the light of truth, the
light of God. We have come to the understanding that every soul of
man, both male and female, high and low, is the offspring of God, that
their spirits are immortal, eternal, intelligent beings, and that
their entity depends upon their agency and independent action, which
is neither tramelled by God himself nor allowed to be restrained by
any of His creatures with His sanction and approval; that the whole
theory of God's rule and government in heaven and on earth is founded
upon this principle of agency—self, independent action. And it is upon
the free and independent exercise of this agency that the decree of
God is founded, that all men shall be judged according to the deeds
done in the body, none having it in his power to say that he was not
at liberty to exercise this agency untramelled.

vol. 24, p.69
So far as relates to the administration of government and the exercise
of political power, or the exercise of any manner of
influence—political, religious or social every man and every woman
will be held accountable to God for the manner in which they exercise
it. Kings and emperors, presidents and statesmen, judges and all
officers of the law, will be held responsible for the administration
of the power reposed in them. And if, while acting officially, they
disregard their oath of office and violate the principles that should
govern them, they become guilty of mal-administration, and will be
held accountable unto God, and should be strictly accountable to the
people who place them in power. But every individual, in an individual
capacity, will be held answerable to God for all his acts of
whatsoever  character, and so far as, in the exercise of that agency,
men trespass upon the rights of their [p.70] fellow-men they must be
held answerable to their fellow-men for such trespass and wrong. And
for this purpose human government is instituted, approved by the
people, to hold each other responsible unto each other or unto the
community, for the abuse of their freedom and liberty, and for this
purpose laws are enacted and judges provided to judge according to the
law, and to administer the law when it becomes necessary to punish
transgressors. And God has commanded us in the revelation which He
gave to us, that in case Church members violate a law of the land,
they shall be delivered up to be dealt with according to the law of
the land; that if they shall murder, rob or steal, or commit perjury
or any other crime of which the law of the land takes cognizance, they
shall be delivered up to be dealt with for their offence. But that for
all manner of iniquity they shall be delivered up to the law of God to
be dealt with according to the law of God; and those laws which are
given unto you, as the laws of God, for your government in the Church
must be treated as such. And it becomes our duty as good Saints, as
those that are bound together by the ties and in the fellowship of the
Gospel, as those that have covenanted to serve God and to keep his
commandments, to work righteously and to deal justly one with another,
that if we violate the principles of the Gospel and the laws which God
has given unto us, that we shall be delivered up to the judges in
Israel, and the Teachers shall labor with such, and their labors of
love shall be directed earnestly to the reformation and repentance of
all persons that have done wrong and done violence to the feelings,
faith and fellowship of their brethren and sisters. And for every
manner of sin shall they be held accountable unto the Councils of the
Church, to the Bishops who are common judges in Israel; and to the
High Councils. And though we may succeed in winning them to
repentance, and they turn away from evil and will do so no more, and
succeed in eliciting the sympathy and forgiveness of their brethren,
still, if they have violated a law of the land, they must he made
subject to that law, and to endure the penalty. And if they pay the
penalty with patience, which is but the legitimate fruits and
testimony of genuine repentance, satisfying all that they appreciate
their wrong and determine to do so no more, when the penalty is paid,
they may with renewed determination begin to serve their God, and
prove to their brethren that their repentance was genuine and sincere.
And although we are required to forgive all men, God says that He
reserves to Himself the right to forgive whomsoever He will, because
he searches all hearts and knows, as we cannot know, how far their
repentance is genuine, and how far they ought to be forgiven. It is
important that we as Latter-day Saints, understand what God requires
of us towards each other in the Church of Christ, and also what, He
requires of us towards the State. For the constitutional laws of the
land are for the protection of the rights of all flesh; the liberties
of Saints as well as those of sinners. And if sinners can afford to
dishonor the law, surely Saints cannot, neither can they justify
others in so doing; neither can Saints afford to override the laws of
God, or to wink at others who may do so.

vol. 24, p.70
God will not hold us faultless if we do. He requires us as Elders, as
Apostles, as Presidents, as Bishops,  [p.71] as Seventies, as parents,
to teach (wherever it is our prerogative and duty,) correct
principles, and observe them ourselves and seek to enforce them upon
others. And it is not alone the duty of High Councils and Presidents
of Stakes, and of Bishops and their Counselors to labor to correct the
errors of the people, but it is the duty of every Elder, High Priest
and Seventy—and especially the Priests, Teachers and Deacons that are
appointed and called to be standing ministers in the Church, to visit
the house of each member and become familiar with every family, and
every individual member of the family, and their daily walk and life
and conversation; and ascertain whether they are living as Saints
should live; whether the heads of families preside in righteousness in
their houses; whether their houses are set in order; whether they have
an altar erected whereon are offered up their daily, morning and
evening devotions; whether every member is taught to reverence and
respect that altar; whether each individual prays in secret as well as
responds to the calls made upon him to pray in the family circle and
in public; whether each one that has enrolled himself in a quorum
attends his quorum meetings and is obedient to the President of his
quorum, his counsels and instructions; and if they are enrolled in the
Mutual Improvement Associations, whether they sustain that institution
and the leaders thereof, and are performing well their part; whether
the parents are faithful in sending their children to Sunday school
and to other institutions of learning; whether they teach their
children to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, etc. These are
duties and obligations that we cannot ignore, that God will not
justify us in neglecting, and those who are called to bear a part of
the holy Priesthood cannot be justified if they neglect all these
duties, or any portion of them; for the Lord has said, "blessed are
they who hear my sayings and shall keep them all, for the same shall
be great in the kingdom of heaven; but if any one shall fail or
neglect to observe and keep the least of these my sayings and teach
others to do so, the same shall be least in the kingdom of heaven."
For the Lord is not to be mocked; and though we may excuse ourselves
in really ways for carelessness and neglect, and we may supplicate for
forgiveness, as we are in duty bound to do for all our transgressions
and shortcomings, yet we cannot in any wise plead justification, or
suppose that God will justify us, for He has said He cannot look upon
sin with the least degree of allowance, and yet He showeth mercy and
kindness unto thousands of those who repent and seek to turn away from
their follies.

vol. 24, p.71
Over fifty years have passed away since the light of the glorious
Gospel in its fullness began to dawn upon us, and still we are
measurably walking in darkness. Yet the Lord has said that we are the
only people and the only church—speaking as a whole—upon the face of
the earth with which He is well pleased. As a whole we are the best
people He can find. He has sent out His word throughout the earth. He
has sent His servants abroad carrying, as it were, a torch in their
hand n—the light of the Gospel, inviting all to come to it, that as
many as love the light may see it and follow it as one would follow a
light in a dark place, or until the dawn of day. The Holy Spirit has
been upon His servants and in the gathering together of this people.
It is the Holy [p.72] Ghost that has moved upon the people in the
islands of the sea, in all the different nations of Europe, in the
various parts of America, and in all lands where the light of the
Gospel has been carried and the testimony of Jesus has been sounded.
It is the testimony of the Spirit from on high bearing witness to and
moving upon the hearts of the people that has drawn them into the
light of truth and that has gathered them together with the Church of
Jesus Christ. It was not worldly prospects held out before them that
induced them to gather. I speak now of the people as a whole and not
individually; for there may be individuals who have been influenced by
worldly considerations, by personal, selfish motives. But all such,
sooner or later, get their eyes open and see their folly and sin and
wickedness, and repent, or they are purged out from among the
Latter-day Saints. They apostatize, they turn away from us; they go
back into Babylon, and they strike hands with our enemies and fight
against God, and go down into perdition; for none can remain and
continue to stand among the Saints of God, and hold fast to the
principles of the Gospel, and enter into life only on the pure
principles of virtue, integrity and righteousness, as we heard this
morning, and as we are told by the Lord in certain revelations to the
Church, namely, that the powers of the Priesthood are inseparably
connected with the powers of heaven, and the powers of heaven can in
no wise be used except on the principles of righteousness. And no man
or woman can continue long in sin in the midst of the Saints, where
the Gospel is preached in power, and where those who minister, do so
in the power of their Priesthood and by the Holy Ghost, without being
purged out from their midst. For that spirit will reveal and make
manifest what sort they are. If the law of the Lord is properly
administered among them and they are found violating it they will be
judged according to the law of the Lord, and be separated from the
Saints. And although we do not look for entire separation of the sheep
from the goats, of the tares from the wheat, until the Great Judge
Himself shall come to complete the separation, it is nevertheless
expected that all men who act as judges in Israel should be helps in
separating the sheep from the goats, the tares from the wheat, as fast
as they are made manifest, and the tares may be plucked up without
destroying the wheat; and it becomes our duty to do it. But He enjoins
us to be wise lest we in our zeal and anxiety destroy or pluck up some
of the wheat that may be growing under the shade of the tare, whose
roots may be intermingled with it. We must therefore be prudent. It is
better in some instances to allow the tare to remain until its
character be more fully developed and made manifest, until it can be
plucked up without endangering the wheat.

vol. 24, p.72
I testify unto all Israel, and unto all the world, that God has called
us, and required us to observe and practice these things; and that it
is not the work of man, and that the institutions of this Church are
not the institutions of man. And when we speak of the institutions of
our common country, we say in the main, though God has used man in
instituting this form of government, and in establishing its
institutions and maintaining freedom upon this land, they are
nevertheless the institutions of heaven; and God has  revealed unto us
that He did [p.73] establish them by the hands of wise men, whom He
raised up for that special purpose, and redeemed the land by the
shedding of blood. It is therefore part of His great work, as much so
as the part of revealing the keys of the Priesthood to Joseph, and the
ordinances thereof, for the salvation of His people. For the political
organization upon the land was designed by heaven to be a protection
to the righteous. "But," says one, "is it not designed to protect the
wicked?" No, not in wicked acts, but in their freedom and liberty, to
think and to speak and to act, and to choose for themselves; for in
those rights all must be protected. God has always protected them,
both in heaven and on earth. And he designed that all men should
protect one another, and if necessary be united for the protection and
welfare of all flesh. Not that the laws of the land or the laws of God
will protect the wicked in doing wickedly, but on the contrary, will
condemn and judge them. They are left to choose for themselves their
course of life in exercising their agency in all things pertaining to
themselves and the service of their God, and to use freedom and
liberty in doing good, that which is right; but there is no such thing
as liberty to do wrong and be justified in that wrong, neither on
earth nor in heaven, neither by the laws of God, nor the just laws of
man.

vol. 24, p.73
Now, the Supreme Court of the United States, in its great zeal to
establish and maintain monogamy upon this American continent, and to
strike a blow at the patriarchal order of marriage, believed in by the
Latter-day Saints, in its decision in the Reynolds' case announced the
doctrine that religion consists in thought and matters of faith and
concerning matters of faith and not actions, and the government is
restrained by the terms of the Constitution from any efforts to
curtail this freedom and liberty. Wonderful doctrine! A wonderful
strain of judicial thought to announce to the world, this wonderful
doctrine that the government should not attempt to restrain the
exercise of thought, or the exercise of faith! I would like somebody,
that knows how to defend this doctrine, to tell me how any one man, or
any set of men on the earth could go to work and catch a thought and
chain it up and imprison it, or stop its flight, or root it out of the
heart, or restrain it, or do away with it. Let them go to and try to
chain the lightning, stop the sun from shining, stop the rains from
descending and the mist from arising from the ocean, and when they
have done this, they may talk about restraining men's faith, and
exercising control over the thoughts and faith of the people. The
fathers who framed our Constitution were not such dunces, I am happy
to say, as Attorney-General Devens, who put that nonsensical language
and doctrine into the mouths of the chief justices of the Supreme
Court of the United States—the fathers who framed our Constitution, I
say, were not such dunces, they did not attempt to place
constitutional restrictions upon the law-making power, to restrain
them from interference with faith and thought and the exercise of
religious opinion; but they did attempt, and they did it in plain
language, to restrain the lawmaking power from any effort at making
law for the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof. And the exercise of religion implies something more
than mere faith and thought. I may think about being baptized for
[p.74] the remission of my sins, I may believe it is right I should do
it, I may be convinced that God has required it of me, and I may think
I ought to do it, and think I will; but all this faith and all this
thought don't amount to as much as you can put in your eye, until I
arise and go forth to be baptized, and when I do this, then I exercise
the faith which is in me, and it produces the works. This principle
may be equally true of everything else pertaining to the exercise of
religion. I may believe it is right for me to be enrolled with a
religious community that meets to worship, and I may believe it is
right and a religious duty to meet with them from time to time to
celebrate the supper of the Lord and partake of bread and wine, and
when I partake of the bread and of the wine in commemoration of the
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, it is but the exercise of that faith
which is in me. I may believe that God meant what he said when He gave
that general commandments to His children to multiply and replenish
the earth, and I may think about it; but it is my duty, if I want to
raise potatoes, to plant the seed; if I desire to raise fruit I must
go to and plant the fruit trees; if I desire to cultivate the earth I
must use the proper means necessary to cultivate and improve it before
I can gather the fruits of it. And then to do the other thing, to form
a union as God has enjoined in the holy bond of matrimony, we must
enter into that bond for the purpose of multiplying our species and
thus bring forth the fruits of our bodies. I may believe this
doctrine, as contained in the revelations of God; but what will this
amount to unless I exercise myself in it. I shall remain a bachelor,
worse than a hermit—a parasite in the commonwealth—unless I rise up
and put my faith in practice and exercise myself in my religious
belief.

vol. 24, p.74
I say also, when the time comes that God sees in the midst of His
people an increase of the female element, and the wicked ready to
devour that element and appropriate it not in the way to "multiply and
replenish the earth," but for the gratification of fleshly lust, and
will actually take and employ hellish means to prevent the increase of
their species, and show that they are not only beneath the brute, but
beneath the vegetable creation, by refusing to bear fruit, thereby
placing themselves in the category of the trees that are dried np, fit
only to be cast into the fire, he can take measures to counteract this
evil. And I say before God, angels and men, that every man and woman
who joins in unholy wedlock for the gratification of fleshly lust, and
studiously plan to frustrate the command of God in the multiplication
of their species, show that they are unworthy—what shall I
say?—unworthy to be classed among the honorable of the earth. And we
have reason to believe that many have done, and are to-day, in the
great cities of Babylon, taking steps to destroy their own offspring,
committing infanticide and foeticide, all of whom, and their aiders
and abettors, are but ripening for the damnation of hell. And when God
sees this damnable doctrine taught, and taught by such men as Mr.
Henry Ward Beecher and other modern divines falsely so-called, who
teach the world that it is a positive evil to multiply and increase so
greatly in the land—when such doctrine is taught by leading lights,
and so readily accepted by the masses, the Lord  says, the time has
come for Him to take [p.75] measures to counteract this great evil, by
introducing laws in the midst of those who fear Him and work
righteousness and live according to the principles of life; men who
are upright, honest and faithful, men who are willing to assume the
responsibility; to take the daughters of Eve to wife and multiply and
replenish the earth, for those men are unworthy of them. It is as
Jesus said concerning the man who hid it in a napkin; he laid it
carefully away, and by and by brought it out, saying, here it is as I
received it, not having increased at all; in other words, we are just
where we were when we started. Another one says I received two
talents; and have increased to four, another says I received five
talents, and now have ten: the master says to the one who hid his
talent, who perhaps laid it carefully away and kept it nice, watching
over it with the greatest care; or in other words, to him who did not
multiply and increase, but on the contrary took pains to avoid doing
so, "Take from him that which he seems to have and give to him that
has ten; for he that has and improves upon that which he receives,
shall receive more abundantly.

vol. 24, p.75
May God bless and keep us in the way in which He can sustain and
defend us, and lead us onward, as He has done hitherto, is my prayer,
in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Joseph F. Smith, February 2, 1883

Consolation Which the Bereaved Have—Other Calamities Worse 
Than Death—Effects of Sin—What is to Be Gained By 
Faithfulness—How All Will Be Judged—The 
Resurrection—Proofs of Christ's 
Resurrection—The Speaker's Testimony.

Delivered at the Funeral Services of the late James Urie, in the 
Sixteenth Ward, Salt Lake City, February 2d, 1883.

vol. 24, p.75
It is a very difficult matter to say anything at a time of sorrow and
bereavement like the present that will give immediate relief to the
sorrowing hearts of those who mourn. Such griefs can only be fully
relieved by the lapse of time and the influence of the good spirit
upon the hearts of those that mourn, by which they can obtain comfort
and satisfaction in their hopes of the future. For the loss of a
father or mother in the family there is no adequate reparation; no
remedy in this world which will supply such a loss, and about the only
consolation, [p.76] we have is in the hope that we may so live that we
may be permitted to meet again with our beloved, faithful and true
friends who go before, or who come after us, and enjoy their society
once more in another sphere or state, which will be immortal. If we
can only be satisfied in our minds by the witness of the good spirit,
to know that the course we pursue in this life is such as will secure
to us this privilege, then, in "this reflection there is a degree of
comfort and satisfaction, if not of joy, notwithstanding our
separation, in time, from those that we have loved and cherished, for
although they are gone from us, we know we shall meet them again in a
better and more enduring sphere. I remember my feelings when first
called upon to part with one of my children—my first born. It seemed
to me to be an irreparable loss—a calamity, and if I had not
restrained my feelings I should have felt that it was cruel for the
Lord to suffer one so bright, so pure and innocent to be taken away by
the hand of death, after remaining with us just long enough to become
the joy of our hearts and the light of our home. Indeed it was a
severe trial of our feelings to part with one who seemed so
indispensable to our happiness, and for a time it seemed that the
substance of our joy and hope had fled forever; but I have learned
that there are a great many things which are far worse than death.
With my present feelings and views and the understanding that I have
of life and death I would far rather follow every child I have to the
grave in their innocence and purity, than to see them grow up to man
and womanhood and degrade themselves by the pernicious practices of
the world, forget the Gospel, forget God and the plan of life and
salvation, and turn away from the only hope of eternal reward and
exaltation in the world to come.

vol. 24, p.76
Far better, in my judgment, follow them to their graves before they
have commenced such fearful acts, or fall into such fearful errors. I
would rather a thousand times die while I have the faith of the Gospel
in my heart and the hope of eternal life within me, with the prospect
of becoming worthy of inheriting a crown of eternal life which is the
greatest gift of God unto man, than to live in possession of all the
world affords and lose that gift.

vol. 24, p.76
It would be far better for me and my whole family to die in the faith
than to live and deny it and bring shame, disgrace and ruin upon us
for ever.

vol. 24, p.76
The Gospel has been revealed to us in this dispensation. The
revelation of the Gospel is a reality; there is no fiction about it.
It is a savor of life unto life or of death unto death. The plan of
salvation has been revealed for the redemption of the world. Shall we
deny it after we have become acquainted with its glorious truths?

vol. 24, p.76
No person can turn away from the truth into darkness and error and
into "by and forbidden paths," and continue in that course without
forfeiting all claim to the blessings and privileges of the first
resurrection.

vol. 24, p.76
If the truth had not been revealed to the world and mankind had been
left in ignorance in relation to these principles, it would have been
a very different thing; there would have been some excuse for them;
but the fact that light has come into the world, that the truth has
been revealed and the way of salvation marked out and made plain and
simple for all to walk in it, makes it absolutely necessary for all to
come  to the knowledge of the truth, to [p.77] walk circumspectly, and
to keep the commandments which the Lord has given. It would be
immeasurably better for us to lay down our bodies now, in the faith of
the Gospel, than to live to ripe old age and turn away from it,
thereby forfeiting our claim upon eternal life.

vol. 24, p.77
If we live and turn away from the truth we will be separated
throughout the countless ages of eternity from the society of those we
love. We will have no claim upon them, and they will have no claim
upon us. There will be an impassable gulf between us over which we can
not pass, one to the other. If we die in the faith, having lived
righteous lives, we are Christ's, we have the assurance of eternal
reward, being in possession of the principles of eternal truth and
shall be clothed with glory, immortality and eternal lives. While we
sojourn in the flesh we pass a great portion of our life in sorrow;
death separates us for a short time, some of us pass behind the vail,
but the time will come when we will meet with those who have gone, and
enjoy each others' society forever. The separation is but for a moment
as it were. No power can separate us then. God having joined us
together we haven claim upon each other—an undeniable claim—inasmuch
as we have been united by the power of the priesthood in the Gospel of
Christ. Therefore it is better to be separated in this life for a
little season, although we have to pass through deprivation, sorrow,
trouble, toil, widowhood, orphanage, and many other vicissitudes, than
to be separated for all eternity. By complying with the principles of
the Gospel we become heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ.
The anticipation of these great privileges brings happiness to us now,
and strengthens our hopes of exaltation and eternal reward in the
kingdom of God hereafter. No other power but that of God, through the
knowledge of truth, can give such enjoyment, peace of mind,
consolation and happiness to the sorrowing hearts of mortals. The
Gospel has been revealed for the salvation and exaltation of the
children of men, and if they would only receive it, it would bring,
finally, unalloyed and perfect happiness to all, even a "fullness of
joy."

vol. 24, p.77
Let us look into the future. We should not brood over the hardships
which we have passed through. This is a world of sorrow, of care, of
probation; a world of disappointment, anxiety and toil. We find it as
it is, and many of us help to make it no better. When God organized
the world, he pronounced it good, but men have transgressed the laws
and departed from the paths of life. Mankind do not live by principles
of justice, truth, righteousness and equality. They are violators of
the law, and will come under its condemnation. I am sorry to say that
mankind bring evil and therefore suffering upon themselves. Men rise
up and oppress their neighbors. Many take delight in oppressing their
fellow creatures, and they do it because they have not the Spirit of
God or the love of the Gospel in their hearts. They hate justice and
righteousness and are strangers to mercy, because they know not God
nor His law, nor comprehend the results of their own acts. Whereas, if
they were imbued with the good spirit, they would comfort and elevate
those by whom they are surrounded. Were men to use properly the
blessings which God has given them for the good of all mankind, we
could soon see the effects in the amelioration of the world; but many
are so fallen and degraded that they care [p.78] nothing for
themselves nor for anybody else.

vol. 24, p.78
Many are lovers of pleasure and lust more than lovers of God. They
delight in the lusts of the flesh, the gratification of their
appetites, having virulent desires, living in corruption, debauchery,
revelry and all manner of wickedness. Many people do not know how to
be happy, not knowing how to use the blessings that God has given unto
them. If they had all the world, they would use it for the
gratification of their own base passions and desires, to their own
destruction. But if they possessed the right spirit, they would seek
to promote the peace and happiness of mankind and extend the influence
of the Gospel of light and truth to all the world. They would love
purity, virtue, honesty, sobriety and righteousness. We should use the
blessings that we receive to the glory of the Lord. We should comfort
the mourner and provide for those who are in need. If we were to use
the blessings that God has given unto us to His honor and glory, all
would be happy; but we do not all see nor do alike. Inasmuch as we do
not use our gifts or talents that are given unto us of God for the
elevation of mankind, we know too well the sad results. They are
misery and ruin for time, and perhaps for all eternity.

vol. 24, p.78
Every man will have to render an account of his stewardship, and every
one of us will be held responsible for his own works, whether good or
evil. We will be judged for the deeds done in the flesh; if they have
been evil we will have to pay the penalty and satisfy justice and the
demands of a broken law. Those that have sinned against the Holy Ghost
will have no redemption. All will be saved with this exception, and
come out of the "prison" and be exalted and receive a reward and an
inheritance in the mansions prepared for them in the house of God. God
does not judge men as we do, nor look upon them in the same light that
we do. He knows our imperfections—all the causes, the "whys and
wherefores" are made manifest unto Him. He judges us by our acts and
the intents of our hearts. His judgments will be true, just and
righteous; ours are obscured by the imperfections of man. We are
required to obey the laws of God revealed unto us in the Gospel. It is
for Sister Urie and her little ones to comply with these laws
throughout their lives. It is for the widow and the fatherless to live
to the principles of the Gospel, be faithful and keep the covenants
they have made. If they do this, they will be exalted in His kingdom,
and they will receive all that their hearts can rightfully desire.
They will receive the reward, if they are faithful, and will lose
nothing. God will not suffer the righteous to be deprived of the
blessings they justly merit; they will gain their exaltation. No eye
hath seen, no ear heard, neither can the heart of man conceive of the
glory and exaltation that is laid up in store for the faithful.

vol. 24, p.78
This is my testimony in relation to this matter. I have known Brother
Urie for quite a number of years; he was a man who had a good heart;
he was a friend fo mankind, so for as it lay in his power to be, which
he has proved by many acts of kindness to his fellow man. He has acted
sometimes unwisely towards himself and family. I am sorry to say this,
but we can not ignore the fact, it is too well known. I do not believe
that he has injured any individual but himself and family. They will
forgive him, we will forgive him, and I trust [p.79] God will forgive
him for this folly. I do not believe that he would have harmed a hair
of any man upon earth, or raised a finger to injure any one. He has
befriended the cause of Zion and the Elders of Israel. He will receive
his reward if he has been true to his covenants with God. I do not
believe for a moment that he forsook them or ever denied the faith. He
will answer for the wrong which he has committed against himself and
family. God will not forsake him, inasmuch as he forsook Him not and
was true to Him, and he will be preserved, but he will have to suffer
the consequence of his folly and pay the debt. This I will say, if I
had the power, as a savior upon Mount Zion, I would forgive him, and
nothing would give me more joy and pleasure than to administer
reclamation, salvation and exaltation to Brother Urie.

vol. 24, p.79
Let us obey our religion. Keep the commands of God, and bring up our
children in the way of life and salvation, teach them the principles
of the Gospel, to be virtuous, honest and pure, that they may lead
pure and holy lives and cleave to the faith, that they may all come
off victorious and receive the crown and the blessing of endless
lives. Bishop Kesler was saying that we are mortal beings. It is true
all of us are clothed with mortality, but our spirits existed long
before they took upon them this tabernacle that we now inhabit. When
this body dies, the spirit does not die. The spirit is an immortal
being, and when separated from the body takes its flight to the place
prepared for it, and there awaits the resurrection of the body, when
the spirit will return again and re-occupy this tabernacle which it
occupied in this world.

vol. 24, p.79
This great and glorious principle of the resurrection is no longer a
theory as some think, but it is an accomplished fact which has been
demonstrated beyond all successful contradiction, doubt or
controversy. Job, who lived before the resurrection of Christ,
possessing the spirit of prophecy, looked forward to the time of the
resurrection. He comprehended the fact. He understood the principle
and knew the power and design of God to bring it to pass, and
predicted its accomplishment. He declares:—"I know that my Redeemer
liveth and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth;" he
further says, "and though after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet
in my flesh shall I see God." He looked forward to something not yet
done, something which had never been done in this world before his
day. It was not accomplished till long after his time. Having received
the spirit of the Gospel and of revelation, he was enabled to look
down into unborn time and see his body which had mouldered and
crumbled rate dust raised from the dead. What he saw by the eye of
faith has become actual history unto us, and we possess not only the
history of the fact but a knowledge by the testimony of the Holy Ghost
of its truth. We are not therefore situated as Job was, we live in the
"latter times which are pregnant with grand and glorious events, among
the greatest of which is this glorious principle of the resurrection
of the dead, which is no longer a mere prediction, a cherished hope,
or a prophetic promise, but a reality; for long before our day it has
actually been accomplished. Christ Himself burst the barriers of the
tomb, conquered death and the grave and came forth "the first fruits
of them that slept." But says one, how can we know that Jesus was put
to death [p.80] or resurrected? We have plenty of evidence to show
that Jesus was crucified and resurrected. We have the testimony of His
disciples and they produce irrefutable evidence that they did see Him
crucified, and witnessed the wounds of the nails and spear which He
received on the cross. They also testify that His body was laid away
in a sepulchre wherein no man had lain and they rolled a great stone
to the door and departed.

vol. 24, p.80
Now the chief priests and Pharisees were not satisfied with the
crucifixion and burial of our Lord and Savior, they remembered that
while living He had said that after three days He would rise again, so
they established a strong guard to protect the sepulchre and set a
seal upon the stone lest His disciples should come by night and steal
the body away and say unto the people, "He is risen from the dead,"
and thus perpetrate a fraud upon the world.

vol. 24, p.80
Lo and behold! by this act those unbelieving guards became actual
witnesses to the fact that a heavenly personage came and rolled away
the stone and that Jesus came forth. The disciples witness and testify
to the resurrection, and their testimony can not be impeached. It
therefore stands good, and is true and faithful.

vol. 24, p.80
But is this the only evidence we have to depend on? Have we nothing
but the testimony of the ancient disciples to rest our hopes upon?
Thank God we have more. And the additional evidence which we possess
enables us to become witnesses to the truth of the testimony of the
ancient disciples. We go to the Book of Mormon; it testifies of the
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in plain and unmistakable
terms; we may go to the book of Doctrine and Covenants containing the
revelations of this dispensation, and we shall find clear and
well-defined evidence there. We have the testimony of the Prophet
Joseph Smith, the testimony of Oliver Cowdery, and the testimony of
Sidney Rigdon, that they saw the Lord Jesus—the same that was
crucified in Jerusalem—and that He revealed Himself unto them. Joseph
and Sidney testify to it, as follows:—

vol. 24, p.80
"We, Joseph Smith, Jr., and Sidney Rigdon, being in the spirit on the
sixteenth of February, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight
hundred and thirty-two, by the power of the spirit our eyes were
opened and our understandings were enlightened, so as to understand
the things of God—even those things which were from the beginning
before the world was, which were ordained of the Father, through His
Only Begotten Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, even from the
beginning, of whom we bear record, and the record which we bear is the
fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who is the Son whom we saw and
with whom we conversed in the heavenly vision." (Doc. and Cov., sec.
76, verses 11-14.) They were called to be special witnesses of Jesus
Christ and His death and resurrection.

vol. 24, p.80
We have also the testimony of the ancient disciples who lived on this
continent of the crucifixion and resurrection. You will find their
testimony recorded in the Book of Mormon. The disciples who lived upon
this continent knew what transpired at Jerusalem; the Lord shewed them
these things. After His resurrection He manifested Himself to His
disciples on this continent, and showed them the wounds He  had
received on Calvary. They were convinced that Jesus was the Christ and
the Redeemer [p.81] of the world. They beheld Him in the flesh and
they bear witness of it, and their testimony is true. We have the
testimony of many witnesses. We have the testimony of eleven special
witnesses to the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon, which book
testifies of Christ's resurrection, containing as it does the records
of the ancient prophets and disciples of Christ on this continent,
thus confirming their testimonies.

vol. 24, p.81
Is it all the evidence we have? No. Joseph Smith boldly declared to
the world that if mankind would sincerely repent of their sins and be
baptized by authority they should not only receive a remission of
their sins, but, by the laying on of hands, they should receive the
Holy Ghost, and should know of the doctrine for themselves. Thus all
who obey the law and abide in the truth become witnesses of this and
other equally great and precious truths. To-day there are thousands of
Latter-day Saints living in Utah and throughout the world who have
attained to the possession of these things, both men and women. If we
witness by our acts, and from our hearts our determination to carry
out the mind and will of the Lord we shall have this double assurance
of a glorious resurrection, and be able to say as the Prophet Job
said—his was a glorious declaration—"For I know that my Redeemer
liveth and that He shall (again) stand at the latter day upon the
earth; and though after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my
flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes
shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me."
Thousands have received this testimony and can witness unto God and
testify from their hearts that they know these things.

vol. 24, p.81
I bear my testimony, and surely it is of as much force and effect, if
it be true, as the testimony of Job, the testimonies of the disciples
at Jerusalem, the disciples on this continent, of Joseph Smith, or any
other man that told the truth. All are of equal force and binding on
the world. If no man had ever testified to these things upon the face
of the globe, I want to say as a servant of God, independent of the
testimonies of all men and of every book that has been written, that I
have received the witness of the Spirit in my own heart, and I testify
before God, angels and men, without fear of the consequences that I
know that my Redeemer lives, and I shall see him face to face, and
stand with Him in my resurrected body upon this earth, if I am
faithful; for God has revealed this unto me. I have received the
witness, and I bear my testimony, and my testimony is true. The
testimony of the Latter-day Saints is in addition to and consonant
with that of the disciples of Jesus Christ who lived at Jerusalem,
those who lived on this continent, the Prophet Joseph, Oliver, Sidney
and others, of our crucified and risen Redeemer, because they received
it not of them, but by the same spirit by which they received it. No
man ever received this testimony unless the Spirit of God revealed it
unto him.

vol. 24, p.81
We will see Brother Urie again. Sister Urie will meet him on the other
side of the grave. The spirit and body will be re-united. We shall see
each other in the flesh, in the same tabernacles that we have here
while in mortality. Our tabernacles will be brought forth as they are
laid down, although there will be a restoration effected; every organ,
every limb that has been maimed, every deformity caused by [p.82]
accident or in any other way, will be restored and put right. Every
limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame. We will know
each other and enjoy each other's society throughout the endless ages
of eternity, if we keep the law of God. It is for us to remain true
and faithful and keep our covenants, and to train our children up in
the paths of holiness, virtue and truth, in the principles of the
Gospel, that we way with them be prepared to enjoy the perfect and
eternal day.

vol. 24, p.82
May God bless you, and my earnest prayer is that the Lord will bless
Sister Urie and her dear little ones in this bereavement; that He will
preserve their lives, establish them firmly in the faith of the Gospel
and in the love of the truth, that they may be worthy to come forth in
the morning of the first resurrection, crowned with glory and eternal
lives. I pronounce this blessing upon them, inasmuch as they live
faithful, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Chas. W. Penrose, March 4, 1883

The Church of Christ—Churches of Men—Conflicting Ideas—
True Sources of Learning—Oneness Explained—Only One 
True Religion—"Probation After Death"—Ideas of Hell 
Changing—Different Degrees of Glory—Work for the 
Dead—Completeness and Simplicity of the Gospel.

Delivered in the Assembly Hall, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, 
March 4th, 1883.

(Reported By Gibbs and Irvine)

vol. 24, p.82
Having been called upon this afternoon, to speak to this congregation,
I earnestly desire that I may be so influenced by the spirit of truth
that I may be able to bring forth such things as will be profitable
for us to reflect upon. I feel that we are greatly blessed in being
privileged to meet in this house, dedicated to the worship and service
of our Heavenly Father, where we can attend to those things which are
required of us, in peace and in unity of spirit, and receive
instructions as the Holy Spirit may prompt.

vol. 24, p.82
We meet in the name of the Lord. All that we do should be done in the
name of Jesus Christ, for so we have been commanded. The Church to
which we belong is the Church of Jesus Christ. It is composed of
people called Latter-day Saints, but [p.83] it is Christ's Church. He
has set it up, He has organized it, and all the principles and
doctrines which have been made known to us have been revealed through
Him. It is His work and He will watch over it and direct it and
consummate it. And He has commanded us that we shall do all things in
connection with our faith in His holy name, and in that way only will
it be acceptable to our Heavenly Father; for all the blessings that
come from our Father to us His children, will come to us through Jesus
Christ. His is the only name given under heaven whereby man can be
saved. The Gospel of Jesus Christ must be preached to every creature.
For it would not be just for our Heavenly Father to condemn any of his
creatures who did not believe in Jesus Christ, without giving them an
opportunity of understanding who He is and what His commandments are.
All people, then, must hear the Gospel and have an opportunity of
receiving it or rejecting it. Jesus Christ sent out His Apostles,
after His resurrection, to preach the Gospel to all the world in that
day and generation, and they went forward and fulfilled the
commandment which he gave to them. Since that time a great many false
doctrines have been introduced into the world, and a great many
churches have been established, according to the notions and ideas of
men not authorized by the Lord Jesus, not accepted of Him, not
recognized by Him in any way. They are the churches of men, and the
doctrines preached therein, in a great many respects are the doctrines
and commandments of men. They are not of God. They are not recognized
by Him. They are not acceptable to Him. And so with many ordinances
which have been introduced since that day. Some men have introduced
them in the name of Jesus Christ, but they were not authorized by the
Lord to do so, and therefore He will not accept them, and they are of
no benefit to the children of men so far as their salvation is
concerned. But in the day and age in which we live the Lord Jesus has
manifested Himself again, and has reorganized the Church which He set
up in ancient days, in the same form and shape, with the same
officers, with the same ordinances, with the same commandments, and
with the same spirit, power, gifts and blessings. And in this Church,
if we live under the inspiration of the spirit and attend to the
duties and obey the commandments which He reveals, in the way He has
pointed out, we will be accepted of Him, and that which His servants
perform on the earth in His name in the way He has appointed, will be
the same as though it was performed by Himself in person, and will be
accepted of the Father, just the same as though performed by the Lord
Jesus Christ, and what they seal on the earth will be sealed in the
heavens, and what they loose on the earth will be loosed in the
heavens, according to His word. We have this great blessing and
privilege, then, in belonging to this Church, that we become the
people of the Lord Jesus, the Saints of the Lord, members of the
Church of Christ, not members of any church made by a man, or a set of
men, but the true church of the living God, established by Himself
through the Lord Jesus Christ. And if we offer up our sacraments
before Him in the way He has appointed, they will be accepted by Him,
and we will receive the benefits that result from properly attending
to these things.

vol. 24, p.84
[p.84] At the present time there are a great many different sects
professing to be the churches of Christ. A great variety of doctrines
are taught therein. Generally speaking these doctrines are supposed to
be taken from the book called the Bible. ministers usually read a
portion of scripture either from the Old Testament or from the New
Testament, and preach discourses therefrom. But although these
different religions and these different discourses are supposed to he
taken from the one book, yet they are very conflicting. The notions
and ideas of one sect in regard to the things contained in the book,
differ from those that are entertained by another sect, also
professing to be the church of Christ. And even in each of these
various sects the people do not all believe alike. They do not
understand alike the doctrines that pertain to their particular sect.
For instance, the people in what is called the Methodist church do not
all believe alike. The people of the Baptist church do not all believe
alike. There is not only a difference existing between the Baptist and
the Methodist, but the Methodists differ among themselves, and
Baptists differ among themselves; and so with the rest of all the
different sects in Christendom. The reason of this is because they
have no real and definite standard. They take the Bible or rather
profess to take the Bible as their standard; but their ideas
concerning the Scriptures differ. They do not all understand the Bible
alike. If they all understood the Bible alike there would be a unity
of faith; but their ideas differ in regard to the meaning of the
things contained in the Bible. At the present time there is a great
controversy going on in the Christian world in regard to the manner in
which this book should be read, and in regard to its authority. Some
claim that every word in the book is inspired; that the word contained
in the Bible must be relied upon implicitly as the very word of God.
Others dispute this, deny the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures,
and some of them think the book should be regarded in the same light
as secular history. And so the notions and ideas concerning the Bible
are quite varied. Outside of the Bible they have no standard. We may
perhaps except the church called the Roman Catholic Church. That
church has a standard in the person of the supreme head of the
church—the Pope, the traditions, and the decisions of the councils of
the church. But neither the Roman Catholic Church, nor the Episcopal
Church, which has come out from it, nor any of the sects which have
come out from the Episcopal Church, have any inspired standard among
them save and except the things that were written of old contained in
the Bible, which they do not comprehend alike. In the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints we have something besides the written
word. We have the living oracles of God, men that have been called and
enabled and set apart to minister in Christ's stead, men in whom the
Lord has placed His spirit, and not only His spirit, but His authority
that they may act in His name; and they have access unto Him. It is
their privilege not only to expound the things that were written of
old which have been preserved and placed on record, and which are
contained in the books of the Bible, but also to receive intelligence
from the same source from  which these things that are inspired that
are in the Book were given. The same [p.85] fountain from which the
Prophets of old partook is open to us, and the servants of God in the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can learn the mind and
will of God respecting us as it exists in His own bosom, because the
fountain of revelation is not dried up. Access is open unto our
Heavenly Father as it was in times of old; and if Peter could learn
the word of the Lord and teach it to the former-day Church, so the
servants of God holding a similar position to-day can call upon the
Lord and receive His word and declare it to the Latter-day Church. If
the Prophets of God of old wrote and spoke as they were moved upon by
the Holy Ghost, there are Prophets of God living upon the earth to-day
who can speak and write as they are moved upon by the same power. And
the word of God that comes down from heaven in our day is just as
authoritative as the word of God that came in times of old and that is
written in the old books, and it is of much more importance to the
people called Latter-day Saints, because it comes direct to them from
our living head. It does not come it, any ambiguous phraseology; it
does not come in a shape that would leave it open to controversy; but
it comes to us clear, plain and straightforward, so that all may
understand. We have the benefit of the living oracles; not only the
words of the oracles that are dead, but the words of those that are
living.

vol. 24, p.85
And we find when we come to investigate the things that God makes
manifest in our own day through the living oracles, that in spirit and
in doctrine they correspond with the things that God revealed in days
of old. We, then, have "a more sure word of prophecy" than the things
that were written aforetime. The Apostle Peter spoke of this in his
day. He said that holy men of God wrote and spoke as they were moved
upon by the Holy Ghost, and that no prophecy of the Scripture is of
any private interpretation. He said, further, "We have also a more
sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto
a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day
star arise in your hearts." They had the living oracles. The people
who lived in Peter's day had not only the words of Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel and the other prophets, and the Book of the Laws, as written
by Moses, the inspired prophet of God, who looked upon God and talked
with Him face to face—they not only had these things written in the
ancient records, but they had living oracles, men in their midst who
were authorized to speak in the name of the Lord and declare to the
people the living word of God for their present benefit. And as it was
with the people in that day, so it is in this Church that Jesus Christ
our Savior has re-established on the earth. We have the living
oracles, those who are called and ordained to stand between us and the
Lord. And in addition to all this we have the great privilege of the
Holy Ghost universally diffused throughout the body of the Church for
the benefit of every member thereof; for every man and for every
woman, for every individual who has been baptized into it and has
received its ordinances. Every person in the Church may receive of
this spirit which is the light of God, which is the spirit of
inspiration, which bears record of the things of God, and makes plain
to all who have it the things that God reveals through the living
oracles. If a servant of God speaks or writes under the inspiration of
the Holy Ghost, the [p.86] same spirit by which He writes or speaks is
in the members of the church, and it is their privilege to see as He
sees, to comprehend as He comprehends, that we may all see "eye to
eye" and understand the things of God alike.

vol. 24, p.86
Some people have an idea that it is impossible to bring a great number
of individuals to understand religion exactly alike. People sometimes
point to the difference that there is in human character. It is true
that our characters vary, as do our countenances. The faces that are
before me to-day are all different, although we are all of the same
race. We are all different in our appearance. Even brothers and
sisters of the same family differ in their appearance in some
respects. So it is with all things that God has made. It is not only
so in regard to the human family, but it is so with the brute
creation. No two blades of grass are exactly alike. No two leaves upon
the trees in the forest are exactly alike. No two worlds that God
Almighty has made that glitter in the firmament on high at night are
exactly alike. There are some peculiarities about each of them,
distinct and different from others. This is all true. But is it
impossible to bring people who are thus organized, people of different
characters and different minds, to see and comprehend exactly alike?
No, there is no difficulty about it when the thing is properly
understood. Take any of what are called the exact sciences, and people
can be brought to understand them just exactly in the same way. Take a
sum in arithmetic, for instance. When a dozen people understand the
rules in the same way they will work out the sum in the same way, no
matter where they were born, or what language they speak. When they
understand the principle and rule that governs the workings of the sum
they all work it out in the same way, and what a dozen or a hundred
can do a million can do. It makes no difference about the number. If
all understand the principle alike they will work it out alike, and
the result will be exactly the same. Why cannot this be done in those
things called religion? It is true that religious principles are not
governed altogether by the same rules and laws as those which govern
secular things. But yet if people are in possession of the same
spirit, and the truth is made clear before their understandings, they
can all be brought to see exactly alike, and we have proven this in
our own experience. For instance, when the Gospel of Jesus Christ came
to us, it found us when we were scattered abroad in different nations.
We have people here from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and from
different parts of the European continent; from Sweden, Norway,
Germany, Italy, and from the various cantons of Switzerland; a great
many from the various States of America, from the islands of the sea,
from the East Indies, from Africa—people from all quarters of the
globe. Now, when the Gospel came to us, it, found us in a scattered
condition. We lived in different countries, we spoke different
languages; we had different ideas in regard to God and His ways. But
we were taught that we must believe in the true and the living God;
that we had all sprung from Him; that He was our Father, and that we
were made in His image; that the idea prevalent in the world that the
Deity is a being without body, parts or passions, an incomprehensible
nonentity, was altogether wrong. We were told that we had  sprung from
God, and [p.87] being His offspring we were like Him, and that,
therefore, in some respects He is like us; that He is a personage, and
as every seed begets its own kind, and we are the offspring of God, we
could form some conception of what He is like, and we put away our old
ideas. We came to a unity of the faith concerning God, that He is an
individual; that although He is a spirit, yet He dwells in a tangible
tabernacle. Man is a spirit as well as God, because we have sprung
from Him. The spiritual part of our being is the offspring of God,
which spiritual part dwells in our natural part that has come from the
dust. In this way we could form some idea concerning the Deity, and we
all formed the same idea; we all came to the unity of the faith in
this respect. We were also taught that it was needful for us to
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and when we had full faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ to obey His commandments, that we were to repent of
our sins. Now there were different ideas in the world as to what
constituted repentance; but we were taught that in order to repent
acceptably before God, we must come to the determination in our minds
to leave off sinning, to cease doing that which is wrong, and to get
to understand and to do what is right. Then we were taught that in
order to receive remission of sins we must be baptized. Now there were
different notions in regard to baptism in the world. Some people
believed that the marking of the sign of the cross with a little water
on the forehead by a priest was baptism. Others believed that
sprinkling water upon the face was baptism. Others that it was needful
to immerse the whole body in water to constitute baptism, and still
others that a person ought to be immersed three times. But we were
taught that baptism was at once a burial and a birth; that in order to
be properly baptized the person who administers the ordinance should
have authority from God, because he uses the name, of the Father, Son
and Holy Ghost, and he has no right to use the names of the holy
trinity without being expressly authorized of God to do so. We learned
that in the first place, then, an individual who administers the
ordinances must have authority to administer, and he must administer
in the way that the Lord has appointed—not the way that man may think
is right, but the way the Lord has ordained, or else it would not be
acceptable to God. And we were taught that the individual to be
baptized must believe and repent, for without faith and repentance
baptism would be of no avail. So the individual who was baptized must
be a repentant believer, and the individual who administered the
ordinance must be an ordained servant of God having legitimate
authority from on high—not that which he had taken upon himself, not
that which he may have felt called upon to do in his own heart; but he
must be a bona fide representative of Deity, a man called and ordained
and set apart by authority from God to administer in His name, or it
would not be valid. And then the individual who baptizes must go down
into the water with the person to be baptized—the candidate must be
buried in the water in the likeness of Christ's death and burial, and
then be raised out of the water in the likeness of His
resurrection—and the object of this was for the remission of sins.
This was very different from the doctrines which prevailed in the
world. But when this was taught to us in plainness, and we were [p.88]
baptized in this way, we received a testimony in our hearts that we
were made clean, that our sins were remitted, that they had been
washed away—not by the water but through our obedience to the
ordinance which God had established and the blood of Jesus Christ,
which was shed for the remission of our sins. We had the conviction
sealed upon our hearts that we had received this blessing. As the
result thereof we were thus brought to the unity of the faith. Then
when the servants of God laid their hands upon us, according to the
pattern revealed from heaven, and conferred upon us the Holy Ghost,
the Comforter, we received the same spirit from on high, the same Holy
Ghost. The people who received this ordinance in Scandinavia had the
same spirit come down upon them as the people who received it in
England or in Scotland, and the people on this Western Hemisphere On
which we live hay received the same spirit as the people received on
the Eastern Hemisphere. In every part of the globe, wherever this
ordinance was administered the same spirit rested down on the people
and bore the same testimony to them. Now, although there are a variety
of operations of this spirit, yet the spirit is the same and the light
that it brings is the same. People do not all receive that light to
the same degree, but the light is the same, just as the light of the
sun is the same to all. Some people can see a great deal further than
others with their natural eyes. Their eyesight is better, but the
light by which both see is the same. So it is with regard to the gift
of the Holy Ghost. All people do not receive it in the same degree,
because they are not all gifted with the same capacity, and all have
not the same desires; but the difference is not in the spirit, it is
in the individual. Some people are very earnest after the things of
God, and he who seeks finds, and the more he seeks in the right
direction the more he finds. He that is dilatory in searching after
the things of God, obtains but little; he that is diligent obtains
much. All may receive it, but they must obtain it in the way that God
has appointed, all receiving their measure according to their
diligence and desire; but the spirit is the same. And this spirit has
operated upon our hearts in such a way as to make us—a people of
diverse feelings and opinions—of one heart and one mind in regard to
this matter. And wherever this Gospel has been preached and people
have received it, they have been brought to a "unity of the faith."
They no longer have many faiths and many baptisms, but one faith, one
baptism and one God, having commenced to walk in the same straight and
narrow way that leads to life and which is the only way of salvation.
And all people who desire to enjoy the fullness of His glory must walk
that straight and narrow way; "for wide is the road, and broad is the
gate that leads unto death, and many there be," we are told, "that go
in thereat." There is only one way of life, only one plan of
salvation, because there is but one God to serve. If there were many
Gods to worship, there might be many different ways to salvation; but
as to us there is only one God, there can be but one Gospel, one
Church, one gate leading to the celestial city.

vol. 24, p.88
I have shown that it is possible for a great many people of different
ideas and notions to be brought to  understand things alike. And if
this can be done in regard to one or [p.89] four things (I have named
four) or principles, it can be done in a million or any number of
principles. And we are told in the Scriptures that the time is to come
when all shall see eye to eye; because all shall know God from the
least unto the greatest. There is, too, a time to come when the Holy
Spirit will be poured cut upon all flesh, "when the sons and the
daughters will prophesy, the old men dream dreams, and the young men
see visions," etc.; and when the earth and all that live upon it shall
be redeemed and sanctified; the earth will then be as it was when it
rolled out of the hands of the Creator, and the people will understand
God and His ways; they will understand them alike. There will not be a
thousand different religions; but there will be one only, one God the
Father of all, and one Holy Spirit burning in the hearts of His
children.

vol. 24, p.89
At the present time there is a diversity of opinions and notions and
ideas concerning God and His ways; but I have stated that this one way
in which the Saints have begun to walk, is the only true way. That may
sound very exclusive; it may seem also to some a little inconsistent.
That is because they may not understand the matter in all its
bearings. I say, there can he but one true religion, simply because
there is only one true God. True religion is that religion which comes
from God; and that religion which is man-made cannot be the religion
of God; it is therefore not binding; nothing religious is binding upon
mankind but that which is revealed from God. That which comes from God
through His servants and is declared to the people is binding; he that
receives it will be saved; and he that rejects it will be condemned.
This must be so because it comes by authority, from Deity himself. It
is His word; it is His will; and he who rejects it, rejects it against
his own salvation; and none can be saved who do not obey.

vol. 24, p.89
Some may ask. "Do you mean to say that all the people that have lived
upon the earth since the days when Jesus and the Apostles preached,
who did not hear and who did not obey the Gospel, are all damned and
lost forever?" I answer, No. We merely hold to the proposition that
there is but the one true way. I will refer you to the language of the
Savior himself upon this point spoken to Nicodemus, one of the rulers
of the Jews, who sought an interview with Jesus by night: "Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the
Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God." There is a very
plain declaration, and a very conclusive one. There are millions of
people who have lived upon the earth who have not been "born of water
and of the Spirit." Take, for instance, the millions of Jews alone who
lived before the introduction of the Gospel by Christ, and after it
was preached to their ancestors. For, let me tell you, the Gospel was
preached before Christ preached it. When Jesus came, he did not
introduce anything new, he came to restore something that had been
lost. The Gospel was known by our first parents when they came out of
the Garden of Eden. It was known to Abraham. It was preached to Israel
before the law was added. It is stated by Paul to the Hebrews. "All
our fathers were under the cloud, and they all passed through the sea;
and they were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did
partake of the spiritual rock that [p.90] followed them, which rock
was Christ." They were baptized the same as we have been, but they did
not receive the faith of the Gospel fully in their hearts; they did
not profit by the word preached, therefore, God added the law as a
schoolmaster, to bring them to the right way. He added the law of
carnal commandments because they would not receive the fullness of the
greater law in faith. When Jesus came, He restored the Gospel; but
there had been millions and millions of people among the Jewish nation
alone, from the days of Moses to those of Jesus, who had not been
"born of water and of the Spirit." They termed nations outside the
Jewish nation the heathen, and none of them for hundreds of years had
obeyed the Gospel—had received ordinances by which they could be born
of water and of the Spirit. So in regard to the people from the days
since the ancient Apostles were put to death, who had authority from
God, who were sent forth to minister in His name, to preach the Gospel
to all people, and baptize them in the name of the Father and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost; and to teach them all things whatsoever he
had commanded them. From their day to the time in which we live,
thousands and millions of people have passed away without receiving or
obeying the Gospel of the Son of God. According to the doctrines of
men, because they did not hear it, they will be condemned for ever.
The heathen nations for ages past have not even heard the doctrines of
men professing to be Christian. They worship idols; they worship
beasts; they worship the heavenly bodies, etc. Many millions of them
are outside the pale of Christendom. What is to become of them?
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye are born of water and of
the Spirit, ye cannot enter into the Kingdom of God." So says the
Savior; and there is no other name given under heaven whereby man can
be saved than the name of Christ Jesus; and yet there are millions and
millions of people who have passed away froth the earth never having
heard the name of Jesus Christ. A great many millions more have died
without a knowledge of the true Gospel. And what is to become of them
all According to the doctrines of modern Christendom, they are all
destroyed, they are all damned. That is a horrible thing to think of.

vol. 24, p.90
There is considerable controversy going on in the Christian world
today, not only in reference to the plenary inspiration of the Bible,
but in regard to probation. There is a discussion in progress now in
regard to what is called "probation after death." The question is
whether there is a probation after people leave this world, or is it
confined to the sphere in which we now move. Some of the ministers are
beginning to think that there must be a chance for souls alter they
leave the earth to learn the way of life and salvation, but the great
majority of modern divines, representing popular religious opinions,
believe that this is the only state of probation; that when death
overtakes a man, that is the end of his opportunities for salvation.
According to that rule all those millions of people who have died
without hearing the name of Jesus Christ have gone to hell. 

vol. 24, p.90
There are different ideas about hell now-a-days. A few years ago there
was only the one idea, winch was that hell is a great, bottomless pit
full of flaming fire and brimstone, into which the wicked are cast
never  to return, whilst the [p.91] devils are continually stirring up
the flames for the everlasting torment of the doomed. And this scene
used to be described by popular divines in the most hideous and
shocking manner. People have recently modified their ideas concerning
future punishment, and the change is greatly due to the teachings of
the Elders of this Church, and the doctrines which have been set forth
and published as revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith. The
controversy that is now being conducted by leading theological minds
upon the subject of probations, has been brought about through the
effects upon the public mind of the preaching of the Elders of the
doctrine revealed in the very beginning of the Church. You will find
in the Doctrine and Covenants that God revealed to Joseph Smith as
early as March 1830, that "eternal punishment is God's punishment."
Because God is an eternal being. His laws are eternal, and there are
penalties attached to all of them. But it does not follow that because
a person may be banished into the eternal punishment it is intended
that he shall stay there eternally. He may go into eternal punishment,
he may go to the place prepared for the rebellious and the sinner and
stay there but for a certain period. Some may stay longer than others.
In the language of the Scriptures, some are beaten with many stripes,
and others are beaten with but few stripes; but all stay until they
have paid the uttermost farthing;" all are punished according to the
gravity of their guilt. It will be "more tolerable" in the day of
judgment for people who did not hear the word of God in the flesh, and
who were wicked, than for the wicked who did hear the word of God and
rejected it. But the time will come when all men will be judged, and
the Apostle Paul says they will be judged by the Gospel; all will
appear before the judgment seat to be judged according to their works,
receiving according to their merits or demerits, guaged by their light
and their opportunities.

vol. 24, p.91
Now, the Lord made this very plain in the revelation he gave to Joseph
Smith. The term eternal damnation God said had been used to work upon
the hearts of the children of men altogether for His glory. That is,
in the low condition of humanity in which most people are placed there
must be a threat of punishment and a promise of reward to influence
people to do that which is right. They ought to do what is right
simply because it is right; to love truth for its own sake. But
humanity is in a low, degraded condition, and a promise of reward has
to be held out to induce people to do right, and threats of punishment
to restrain them from doing wrong. That is not the higher plane on
which men are yet to stand. If people are trained aright they will
love that which is true and dislike that which is untrue; they will
love that which is virtuous, pure and Godlike, and dislike everything
contrary thereto. They will do good, but not for reward; they will
turn from evil, but not from fear of punishment. They will love truth
and work righteousness for their own sake. But in the degraded
condition of humanity this eternal punishment that has been preached
has been allowed to go forth to work upon the hearts of the children
of men altogether for the glory of God, that evil might be curbed,
that transgression and sin might be restrained, that people might be
checked from going headlong to destruction through fear of the
consequences.

vol. 24, p.92
[p.92] On the 16th of February, 1832, the Lord made this matter
plainer. He gave to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, one of the most
glorious visions that human beings ever gazed upon. It is the most
complete and delightful that I have ever read. There is nothing in the
book called the Bible that can compare with it. It is full of light;
it is full of truth; it is full of glory; it is full of beauty. It
portrays the future of all the inhabitants of the earth, dividing them
into three grand classes or divisions—celestial, terrestrial, and
telestial, or as compared to the glory of the sun, the glory of the
moon, and the glory of the stars. It shows who will be redeemed, and
what redemption they will enjoy; and describes the position the
inhabitants of the earth will occupy when they enter into their future
state. In that glorious vision we are told that there is only a
certain class who shall not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord. I
will read a few verses:

vol. 24, p.92
"Thus saith the Lord, concerning all those who know my power, and have
been made partakers thereof, and suffered themselves, through the
power of the devil, to he overcome, and to deny the truth and defy my
power—

vol. 24, p.92
"They are they who are the sons of perdition, of whom I say that it
had been better for them never to have been born.

vol. 24, p.92
"For they are vessels of wrath, doomed to suffer the wrath of God,
with the devil and his angels in eternity;

vol. 24, p.92
"Concerning whom I have said there is no forgiveness in this world nor
in the world to come;

vol. 24, p.92
"Having denied the Holy Spirit after having received it, and having
denied the Only Begotten Son of the Father—having crucified him unto
themselves, and put him to an open shame;

vol. 24, p.92
"These are they who shall go away into the lake of fire and brimstone,
with the devil and his angels;

vol. 24, p.92
"And the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power;

vol. 24, p.92
"Yea, verily, the only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time
of the Lord, after the sufferings of his wrath;

vol. 24, p.92
"For all the rest shall be brought forth by the resurrection of the
dead, through the triumph and the glory of the Lamb, who was slain,
who was in the bosom of the Father before the worlds were made;

vol. 24, p.92
"And this is the gospel, the glad tidings which the voice out of the
heavens bore record unto us;

vol. 24, p.92
"That he came into, the world, even Jesus, to be crucified for the
world, and to bear sins of the world, and to sanctify the world, and
to cleanse it from all unrighteousness;

vol. 24, p.92
"That through him all might be saved whom the Father had put into his
power and made by him;

vol. 24, p.92
"Who glorifies the Father, and saves all the works of his hands,
except those sons of perdition, who deny the Son after the Father has
revealed him."

vol. 24, p.92
I do not intend to read from this vision the condition of the people
who will be redeemed in the different degrees of glory; you can do
that for yourselves. I merely refer to it that the point may be made
clear, that there are only a certain few who will not be redeemed in
the due time of the Lord, through the merits of the atonement wrought
out by Jesus Christ. The sons of perdition are to go away into this
everlasting punishment and abide there. And as we are told in another
part of the revelation, the height and the  depth, and extent of their
misery no man knoweth. It [p.93] is not revealed except to a few, and
then the vision is closed up, as the things they behold are unlawful
to be uttered.

vol. 24, p.93
The "sons of perdition" are those who have received the Gospel, those
to whom the Father has revealed the Son; those who know something
concerning the plan of salvation; those who have had keys placed in
their hands by which they could unlock the mysteries of eternity;
those who received power to ascend to the highest pinnacle of the
celestial glory; those who received power sufficient to overcome all
things, and who, instead of using it for their own salvation, and in
the interest of the salvation of others, prostituted that power and
turned away from that which they knew to be true, denying the Son of
God and putting Him to an open shame. All such live in the spirit of
error, and they love it and roll it under the tongue as a sweet
morsel; they are governed by Satan, becoming servants to him whom they
list to obey, they become the sons of perdition, doomed to suffer the
wrath of God reserved for the devil and his angels. And for them,
having sinned against the Holy Ghost, there is no forgiveness either
in this world or the world to come. But all the rest Christ will save,
through the plan of human redemption prepared in the beginning before
the world was.

vol. 24, p.93
Now the question may be asked, how can these things be? If no man can
enter into the Kingdom of God except he be born of the water and of
the Spirit, and only a few are to receive this eternal condemnation,
how can the rest obtain this great salvation, how can they escape
eternal punishment? The Lord has provided a plan for them, and it is
very simple when properly understood. I noticed in reading the reports
of recent discussions on probation after death that it was admitted by
the learned men engaged in it that they did not know anything definite
about it. The notions and ideas of even the most advanced divines are
but theories and speculations. But here we have the revelations of God
concerning these things, that we may not be in the dark; so that we
can all come together and see eye to eye and understand alike. For it
is true, and truth can be made plain to all that desire its light. But
when people do not want to see the truth, they can slut their eyes and
exclude it from their spiritual vision, as people sometimes shut out
from their eyes the light of the sun, from their "best rooms," which,
by the way, are their worst rooms, for the very reason that the
blessed sunlight does not enter there—so people can close the windows
of the soul and shut out the rays of the sun of righteousness; but he
who desires to behold the truth may see it and comprehend it. As we
now see each other by the light of the sun, so people of different
minds and different races may turn their eyes towards the truth, and
by the light of the Holy Ghost, they will see it exactly alike. They
will no longer be divided on principles of doctrine.

vol. 24, p.93
But how can salvation come to those who never heard the name of Jesus
Christ, who never heard the Gospel while living; who never had the
opportunity of being born of the water and the Spirit, of being
baptized by one with authority, for the remission of their sins, and
having hands laid upon their heads for the reception of the Holy
Ghost—how can they hear, how can they understand, how can they obey?
People have fallen into the common [p.94] mistake that it is
impossible to learn the will of God when they leave this world. I do
not know where the idea sprang from. I think it came from some of the
monkish cells of the old Romish Church, descending down through the
various sects that have come out from that Church. Why should not a
person when out of the body be able to understand as when in the body?
If we believed like some of the people of India, that when the spirit
leaves the body it goes back to Brahma, or emerges into the generally
diffused spirit of the universe, then we might conclude that they
would not understand anything when they leave the body. If the spirit
becomes a nonentity when it is disembodied we might have reason for
entertaining such a notion. But we understand that the spirit is the
real man, and that the body is but the out. side covering; that when
the change we call death comes, the body returns to the earth as it
was, but the spirit returns to God who gave it. That the spirit is the
actual person, that which thinks and reasons, the body being but the
medium conveying impressions to the real man operating inside of it.
That when the spirit is liberated, although not subject to the same
laws as when in the tabernacle, yet it is the same person, a son or
daughter of God; a being capable of thinking; of receiving
inspiration; of accepting or rejecting that which is presented; and
therefore is a subject of salvation. If not, why not? What is the
reason? I think we will find when we shuffle off this mortal coil,
when we get rid of the trammels of the mortal body, and enter into the
spirit state, we shall be if anything more intelligent than when in
the body. We shall not be bound by the same laws that now bind our
mortal flesh, and we will be able to comprehend a great many things
which were very hard for us to get a little inkling of while in the
mortal tabernacle. "Well," somebody may say, "that is very reasonable;
but how does it coincide with the Christian religion, with the
doctrines laid down in the Scriptures?" Let us see. Jesus Christ, we
read, was put to death by wicked men. They took His body down from the
cross and laid it in a new tomb hewn out of the rock. But where was
Jesus? That was not Jesus in the tomb. It was his mortal body that was
laid away. Where was Jesus? People generally suppose that He went to
heaven. Stop a moment. After Jesus Christ was raised from the dead a
woman whose name was Mary, was weeping at the sepulchre, when Jesus
appeared before her. Mary stepped forward apparently to embrace Him,
whereupon He said to her: "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to
my Father: but go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my
Father, and your Father; and to my God and your God." Three days had
elapsed between the time when the body was taken down from the
cross—the time when he said, "Father, unto thy hands I commend my
spirit," and the time of His resurrection. Where had He been in the
interval? Peter tells us in his first epistle, 3d chapter, from the
18th to the 20th verses: "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins,
the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to
death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit: by which also He went
and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were
disobedient; when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of
Noah." It appears that after being put to death He went [p.95]
somewhere. Where? "By which also he went and preached unto the spirits
in prison. What spirits? Which sometime were disobedient, when once
the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark
was preparing." Now, that makes the matter very clear to a person that
wants to understand. But you take a learned divine whose mind has
become befogged by the traditions of men and he does not want anything
to do with that scripture, or if he does he will try to explain it
away. How do the clergy explain it? They say the spirit of Jesus in
Noah preached to the people before the flood. Now, compare that idea
with the text I have quoted. It was not Noah who was put to death. But
it was He that was put to death in the flesh, and quickened by the
spirit that went and preached to the spirits in prison. Again, in the
4th chapter of the first Epistle of Peter, and the 6th verse, we read
this: "For this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that are
dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, and
live according to God in the Spirit." Here were people that were
preached to who were not men in the flesh. Who were they? They were
spirits in prison, and they were in prison because of their
disobedience in the days of Noah. They had been there about 2,000
years, and Jesus went and preached to them. What did he preach? He
preached the Gospel. What did he preach to them for? That they might
be further condemned and taunted with their miserable fate? Oh no. He
went there that He might preach to them the Gospel, "so that they
might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to
God in the Spirit." This is what the ancient prophet predicted
concerning Jesus. We read that he went into the synagogue on the
Sabbath day and stood up for to read. He took the book of the Prophet
Isaiah, and what he read was this: "The spirit of the Lord God is upon
me, because He hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek;
He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to
the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound."
That was Christ's mission—not only to preach to men in the flesh, but
to preach to men in the spirit. Isaiah says in c. xlix, 9 v., "That
thou mayest say to the prisoners, go forth, to them that are in
darkness, shew yourselves;" and in c. xlii, 7 v., "to bring out the
prisoners from the prison and them that sit in darkness out of the
prison house."

vol. 24, p.95
Jesus left His body sleeping in the tomb and went to the spirit world,
and the repentant thief who died by His side went there also. Some
people think that because the thief said, "Lord, remember me when thou
comest into thy kingdom," and Jesus replied, "To-day shalt thou be
with me in paradise," that he (the thief) went direct to heaven and in
the presence of God. Now, if he did, Jesus Christ broke His own word;
for he said, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Where did the thief go?
Wherever Jesus went, the thief went, and he had the privilege of
hearing Jesus preach the Gospel, so that he might have the chance of
being judged according to men in the flesh, but living according to
God in the spirit. And how could he do that? By receiving the same
Gospel that men had in the flesh. Jesus, then, left his body in the
[p.96] tomb and went to the spirit world. Those everlasting gates had
to be lifted up. "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up,
ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in." He went
said preached deliverance to the captives, and opened the prison doors
to them that were bound. He went to proclaim the acceptable day of the
Lord. He came back to His sleeping body, and having the keys of hell
He also grasped the keys of death,,and His body was quickened.. He
stood upon His feet and ministered to His disciples. He could then go
to His Father and report the accomplishment of His mission. He could
say: "I have done the work thou gavest me to do; I have preached the
Gospel to the meek; I have bound up the broken-hearted; I have
preached deliverance to the captives; I have opened the prison doors
of them that were bound; I have led captivity captive; I have shed my
blood as an atonement for the sins of the world; now, Father, accept
of me and my labors." Then He could come to the earth and say: "All
power is given unto me both in the heavens and on the earth." He had
fulfilled His mission, and had received immortal keys and honors and
powers as a reward of the fulfillment thereof. He shall occupy the
highest place among all the sons of God, because He is the firstborn,
and has performed the work of the firstborn in the plan of human
redemption. He will he exalted above every creature, because He was
the most obedient of every creature. He will be the greatest, because
He was the humblest. He will be the richest, because He was the best.
He is the sinless Christ, and therefore He wears the eternal crown.

vol. 24, p.96
There is another question that arises here. If men can hear the Gospel
in the spirit world, can they obey it fully in the spirit world? Let
us look at that a little. Here are the Gospel ordinances. Are
ordinances of any effect? Yes, they are. "Except a man be born of
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God."
Just the same as if an alien does not obey the naturalization laws, he
cannot become a citizen of the United States. God's house is a house
of order. He has a way of His own, and he that will not accept that
way cannot obtain the blessing. Then can those spirits who hear the
Gospel in the spirit world obey the Gospel fully? Can they believe?
Yes. Can they repent? Why not? It is the soul of man, or the spirit of
man in the body, not the body, that believes. It is the spirit of man
in the body that repents. What is it that obeys the ordinances? Why,
the spirit. But these ordinances belong to this sphere in which we
live, they belong to the earth, they belong to the flesh. Water is an
earthly element composed of two gases. It belongs to this earth. What
there is in the spirit world, we know little about. But here is the
water in which repentant believers must be baptized. Can they be
baptized in the spirit world? It appears not. What is to be done,
then. The Apostle Paul asks this question in the fifteenth chapter of
the first epistle of the Corinthians: "Else what shall they do which
are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not any. Why are they then
baptized for the dead?" It seems that the people to whom that was
written were familiar with the ordinance called baptism for the dead,
and they were baptized for their dead. Paul was arguing upon the
literal resurrection of the body, and says, What shall they do if the
dead rise not; why are they then [p.97] baptized for the dead? Our
learned divines may presume from that that the doctrine is not laid
down sufficiently clear to endorse it; but to us there is no doubt
concerning it, the Lord having revealed the principle to the Prophet
Joseph Smith. He also explained the manner in which the ordinances
should be administered, like everything else He has revealed, in great
plainness. And that is why we are building Temples. People who visit
our city frequently say, "What a fine meeting-house you are building."
No, that is not a meeting-house; this Assembly Hall and the adjacent
Tabernacle are meeting-houses. That is a Temple, a building in which
we expect to perform ordinances for the living and the dead; wherein
we may be baptized for our dead, that they may receive the benefit of
that ordinance, provided they believe and repent and do the spiritual
part, while we do the material part, that they may receive the
blessings of obedience to the Gospel, and live according to God in the
spirit. Some will say, "I cannot see why a thing done by one person
should stand for another." How do you understand the doctrine that
Jesus Christ has done something for all of us? We read that "without
the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins." Not my blood or
your blood is to be shed for the remission of our sins; but He who was
without sin allowed His blood to be shed as a sacrifice for our sins.
Now the whole question hinges on that. If you reject the doctrine of
proxy in baptism, you must reject the doctrine of proxy in the
atonement.

vol. 24, p.97
Now, there is no dubiety in the minds of the Latter-day Saints on this
subject. We have learned these things from God, and we understand them
alike. Why? Because we desire the truth; we do not care about the
nonsense of men, we want divine truth which comes from God. And when
it comes we are anxious to receive it; we seek for it; we ask for it;
and He enlightens us by His Spirit, and when the Good Shepherd speaks,
we know His voice; and it is that voice that has made plain to us the
doctrine that we who have obeyed the Gospel in the flesh may be
baptized for our ancestors in the spirit world.

vol. 24, p.97
If you will look at this in the spirit that accompanies its
unfoldment, your hearts will be filled with joy at the mercy and
goodness of God. If there are men or women here who have not believed
this, and they will ponder upon it, and seek to God for light upon it,
they will have their eyes opened to see that it is one of the most
glorious principles. It opens the way for the redemption of our
fathers who lived and died without hearing the sound of the Gospel. It
opens up the way for the redemption of the heathen nations who never
heard the name of Jesus Christ. It opens up the way for the hosts of
Israel, with their posterity, who ages ago fell away from the truth
and went into darkness; for those whose hearts have been heavy, and
whose eyes have been blinded—for it is written "blindness in part has
happened unto Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.
And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, "There shall come
out of Zion a Deliverer, and He shall turn ungodliness from Jacob; For
this is my covenant unto them; when I shall take away their sins."
Those that will live upon the earth of their lineage who shall obey
the Gospel; in the latter times will perform the outward ordinances
for and in behalf of their dead ancestors. This glorious doctrine
lifts up the [p.98] dark curtain of sectarianism and lets in the light
of heaven, and makes plain the justice of God, and the mercy of God.
The mercy. of our God extends to all of his children, not only to one
little branch through the loins of Abraham. All shall hear, all shall
have opportunity of knowing the ways of life and truth, and the
opportunity of rejoicing therein; and this is the means that God will
adopt to accomplish this great and stupendous result! Every heart
shall be gladdened with the tidings of salvation. The living and the
dead shall be visited and even those who have been thrust down to
hell, who have been beaten with many stripes, and have suffered their
portion in the eternal punishment, will have the arm of sweet mercy
extended to them when stern justice is satisfied; and in due time
every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is the
Christ to the glory of God the Father. And the time will come when
death and hell shall be destroyed, and there will be no more death,
neither sorrow nor pain, but every creature, in heaven above and the
earth beneath shall be heard to sing, "Blessing, and honor, praise and
power, be unto God and the Lamb forever, who has redeemed us by His
blood out of every nation and tribe and tongue and people!"

vol. 24, p.98
The Gospel is plain and simple and easily understood and appreciated
by the honest seeker after truth. The reason that people generally do
not receive it when it is preached to them by the servants of God—it
is a hard saying, but time nevertheless is because their deeds are
evil; because they love the things of the world more than the things
of God, and the love of the Father is not in them. And because they
reject the truth when presented to them, and delight in the spirit of
the world, they oppose the truth; and if not openly, in their hearts
they sanction acts of persecution and hatred against the Saints of
God. Some of them are corrupt in their practices, and such persons are
ever ready to assail and traduce the character of our leading men, men
whom we know to be pure in their lives, and to be righteous before
God; it is the very worst of men who take this course, and thus the
Evil One, the destroyer of the souls of men worketh in them and
through them. And when they have opposed this work all that they
possibly can, they will find that it flourishes and grows and spreads
forth, while they will go to the place prepared for them, where they
will remain until they shall have paid the uttermost farthing for
their willful wickedness. All men who fight against the Holy
Priesthood of God, will have to meet that some day. Their acts are not
hidden from the eyes of Him who does not slumber. Their evil deeds and
wicked sayings will be revealed openly. The time will come when the
first angel of God will sound the trump declaring the secret acts of
men during the first thousand years; and the second angel will sound
his trump and reveal the secret acts of men and the thoughts and
intents of their hearts during the second thousand years, and so on
down to the last thousand years, even until it shall be declared that
time shall be no longer, and the secret acts of all men in all the
ages shall be brought to light. My brethren and sisters, let that be a
caution to you and to me. When we went down into the waters of baptism
and were immersed by the servants of God having authority to
administer that ordinance for the remission of sins, though our sins
were as scarlet they [p.99] were washed whiter than snow; and we came
forth from the water clean and pure, cleansed by the blood of Christ
from all sin. But since that time the acts we have performed will have
their effect upon us for good or for evil, and we shall be accountable
for them when we stand before the bar of God. They will be seen and
known of all; they are written in the books out of which we are to be
judged, and every man's acts are stamped upon his own being, in
characters that will speak for themselves, in the day when we shall
see as we are seen and know as we are known.

vol. 24, p.99
Then let us try and do right for the sake of the right, live in the
light of the spirit, see eye to eye, and prove ourselves worthy of the
great salvation; and may God help us so to do, in the name of Jesus
Christ. Amen.

Geo. Q. Cannon, September 24, 1882

Peace Enjoyed, But Trouble Expected—Falsehoods About the 
Saints—Power of the Saints Dreaded—Truth and Error in 
Conflict—Plural Marriage not the Real Objection—
Mining for Precious Metals Avoided—Good 
Effect of Unlawful Legislation and 
Rulings—Hopes for the Future.

Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, 
September 24th, 1882.

(Reported By John Irvine)

vol. 24, p.99
I am thankful this day for the peaceful circumstances that surround
us. I am thankful that throughout these mountain valleys a goodly
degree of liberty prevails, and that the people are able to meet to
worship God without molestation or fear. The saying of the Savior is
exceedingly applicable wherein He taught His disciples that sufficient
to the day is the evil thereof. If we Latter-day Saints did not enjoy
the present and lived in anticipation of the dreaded future, I imagine
that we should be a very unhappy people, for there never has been a
day, or at least a period in our history when, so far as threats were
concerned, the future—if we look at it naturally, from men's
standpoint—did not look forbidding. But we have proved that dreaded
evils, when met courageously and with an undaunted spirit, generally
vanish.

vol. 24, p.99
We are in an excellent position to-day, as we have been at many
[p.100] times in the past, to have our faith tested to the proof, to
see whether we really have faith in God or not. The idea generally
prevails among those who are not familiar with us and with our methods
of preaching and teaching, that in order to gather the people together
from the various nations the Elders of this Church hold out
extraordinary inducements to their converts, telling them flattering
tales about the life that they will lead if they will only gather to
Utah; and by these means they are successful in beguiling the ignorant
and unsuspecting, inducing them to forsake their homes and
connections. But those who have been familiar with the teachings of
the Elders of the Church know that the very opposite of this has been
the course and the style of the teaching adopted by those who have
faithfully preached this Gospel to the inhabitants of the earth. From
the beginning we have been taught to expect that our adherence to this
Gospel might cost us everything that was near and dear to us upon the
earth; that God designed to have a tried people, a people that should
he tested to the very utmost, that should be felt after in the most
trying manner, a people that would be willing to pass through and
endure faithfully the most severe ordeals. And up to the present time
those who have entered this Church, who have espoused the doctrines
taught by the servants of God, have not been disappointed. It is true
that in many respects the faithful people of God have had a much
better time, have enjoyed circumstances that have been more pleasant
and prosperous than they were led to expect; but this has been because
they have had the faith to overlook the evils by which they were
threatened, and attached no importance to them, and did not allow them
to disturb their peace or to annoy them in any manner. For if it had
not been for faith, the faith that God planted in the hearts of those
who espoused the truth, it would have been impossible for them to have
endured; they would have been so frightened that they never could have
remained faithful to this work. And one of the most striking evidences
that this people offer to the world of the divinity of this work,
which the world opprobriously call "Mormonism," is the fact that in
the midst of the most severe trials and persecutions, surrounded by
circumstances that in some respects have been the most threatening in
their character, the people of God have remained true and faithful,
united and undisturbed.

vol. 24, p.100
One by one the falsehoods that are propagated concerning us are
exposed. The idea has been industriously circulated, printed and
published, that the people throughout the valleys of Utah were only
held together by the strength of superstition and delusion; that the
few cunning men who had succeeded in gaining power and place among
them, by their shrewdness and by their cunning arts, had succeeded in
duping the people and holding them together. I do not suppose that any
single idea has been more widely circulated concerning us than this;
and I do not suppose that any other idea is more widely believed about
us than this. The great majority of people who do not understand, by
actual contact with us, or who take no pains to investigate our
doctrines, imagine that it is by this means that the Latter-day Saints
have been gathered  together and held in these mountains. Why, it is
not 20 years [p.101] ago that one of the stories most frequently
circulated, published and dwelt upon, upon the platform and in the
public press, was that no man or woman could leave Utah without the
consent of President Brigham Young; that no man or woman could write a
letter from Utah Territory without it being inspected by him; that we
lived here in a condition of terror imposed upon us by President Young
and those who were immediately associated with him; and that if a man
or woman attempted to leave, especially if he or she had left the
faith, he would be followed by destroying angels, and that if he
escaped at all it would be at the risk of his life and probably the
entire loss of all that he owned. So firmly had this idea obtained
possession of many minds that to-day it forms the staple of two or
three dramas that are played upon the stage and that receive
considerable patronage east and west.

vol. 24, p.101
When Albert Sidney Johnson came here with the army in 1857-8, the
popular idea was, that as soon as the troops reached this valley there
would be a complete outburst on the part of the people; that they
would hail with unbounded joy the presence of the stars and stripes in
their midst, and that women by hundreds would leave the bondage in
which they were supposed to be living.

vol. 24, p.101
Now, as I have said, one by one we have proved the falsity of these
statements. But does this misrepresentation and slander concerning us
cease? Not in the least. The manufacture still continues. Every
conceivable slander is manufactured and put in circulation. No sooner
is one lie nailed to the counter than another is started and passes
current, until there are many people who scarcely know what to think,
they having such exaggerated ideas concerning the people of Utah
Territory.

vol. 24, p.101
The railroad has done us an immense amount of good in making us better
known. The travel to and fro across the continent, together with the
travel throughout these valleys north and south, east and west, has
had the same effect. But with increased knowledge there has come an
increased dread. A feeling has taken possession of a great many minds
that we are a people greatly to be dreaded. This brings to my mind a
remark made by a man whose name you are familiar with, he having taken
a very prominent part in the discussion of our case in Congress, in
the House of Representatives, a representative by the name of Haskell,
a sort of half preacher: One day in conversation with me, at the time
the Edmunds' bill was being discussed, he remarked: "I have had
occasion, Mr. Cannon, to examine Catholicism and am somewhat familiar
with the Roman Catholic organization, I have also paid some attention
to the organization of your Church. I think it the strongest and most
magnificent organization that exists at the present time in
Christendom, or within the range of my knowledge—where did you get
it?"

vol. 24, p.101
It was no feeling of admiration that prompted these remarks. He
followed them up by stating that the time would come, if this
legislation did not answer, when the army would be brought to bear
upon us and our organization would be wiped out in blood. You see the
feeling he had was one of dread, of apprehension. Instead of viewing
this organization in its true light he looked upon it as an engine of
evil  that would be likely to accomplish dreadful results, that was in
[p.102] antagonism to existing institutions, and that would have to be
put down by such law as the Edmunds' law, or if such legislation
failed, then by the strong arm of the military, by the use of weapons
of war and the shedding of blood. That is the feeling that some men
have concerning us. In the course of our conversation I invited him to
come out to Utah. "Come out," said I, "and know what you are talking
about; you have ideas about us which are entirely incorrect. If you
will travel through our valleys, as I will furnish you opportunities
to do, if you will come out, I will give you letters of introduction
which will enable you to see our people at their homes, and if you are
a fair man, a man disposed to accept the evidence of your own senses,
you will change your views concerning the people I represent."

vol. 24, p.102
There are men who make use of us to gain favor with the ignorant and
with those, who have strong religious prejudices and but little
knowledge concerning us. There are men who seek to gain popular
approval in this way, and instead of telling the truth, or being
willing that the truth should be told and known, they are ever willing
to have every kind of story propagated however false it may be. Will
there be any change in this respect? We have been looking for it for
the past $2 years, ever since the Church was organized, but that
change has not come. As I have said, as soon as one slander has been
disproved, another has been put in circulation. There is no end,
neither will there be to the falsehoods that will be told and
circulated concerning us. It may be asked: Why is this? For the best
of all reasons, that whenever God has attempted to do anything upon
the earth, from the days of Father Adam down through the centuries
that have intervened until to-day, all hell has been aroused against
that work and against those engaged in it. Even when men have had only
partial truth, and have attempted to reform existing errors, they have
had this opposition to contend with to a greater or less extent; and
no great reform has ever been effected upon this earth without costing
the best blood of the generation in which the reform was attempted.
Our generation is no exception in this respect. Even in this land,
under our glorious form of government, the most glorious ever framed
by man, under which the largest amount of liberty is to be
enjoyed—even under it, the blood of Prophets and Apostles has been
shed and has stained the earth; and we, because of our religion, were
obliged to flee from our homes and take refuge in these mountain wilds
and build up new homes in order that we might live in peace and in
quiet, unmolested by those who hate us.

vol. 24, p.102
This is not a new thing in the earth, the antagonism between error and
truth, between wrong and right, between the followers of him who seeks
to usurp dominion upon the earth, and the followers of the Son of God.
That antagonism has been a perpetual one, an undying one. It cost the
blood of the best Being that ever trod the earth, even the Son of God
Himself, and all His Apostles and all the prophets—they all, with few
exceptions laid down their lives for the truth. And yet we talk about
our civilization, the enlightened nineteenth century, and we say as
did the generation in which the Savior lived: "If we had  lived in the
days of our fathers, we would not have slain the [p.103] Prophets, we
would not have been guilty of shedding their blood." This was the cry
of the generation in which the Savior lived, yet that same generation
crucified Him in the most ignominious manner.

vol. 24, p.103
Now, it has been said to us—and I cannot tell how many times I have
been told it—"if you 'Mormons' would only do away with some of your
doctrines that are so objectionable, there would be no trouble." I
have had men speak to me in this strain whose opinion I respect very
highly, who were friendly, who were kindly disposed, who were anxious
to have these difficulties settled, and to have us escape the evils
with which they believed we were threatened and might perhaps be
overwhelmed. It is not many days since a prominent man said to me,
'Why, Mr. Cannon, there are fifty millions of people that are opposed
to you. Now cannot you waive some of your peculiarities. If you will
say that you will do this this year, or next year, or within a certain
period, while I am not authorized to speak for the government, yet I
can say there need be no trouble about your affairs."

vol. 24, p.103
Now, I have not a single doubt in may mind that there are thousands of
well-meaning people, who would like to see us enjoy peace in these
valleys, and enjoy the land, which we have reclaimed at so much toil
and sacrifice from a wilderness, undisturbed by outside influences.
They firmly believe that this is attainable if we only would forego
some of our peculiarities. There never was a greater mistake, never a
more mistaken idea entertained by anybody. How do we know it? By the
sad and bitter experience of the past. It is true if we were to
apostatize; if we were to renounce our religion; if we were to put
aside that which we believe God has entrusted to us and commanded us
to impart to the world, I do not doubt but what we would get along so
far as the world is concerned, without the antagonism that we now
have. But, then, who can do this? If a choice has to be made, as it
would have to be made by us, of rejecting salvation on the one hand,
and accepting peace and favor with the world on the other, who is
there that is prepared to make that exchange? But friends have said to
me, "O, you make a mistake when you think that we ask you to renounce
your religion."

vol. 24, p.103
Now, there is something more than marriage as a point of attack that
rises in the minds of men in talking about this. Mr. Haskell expressed
it. It was not plural marriage alone that was in his mind. It is not
plural marriage alone in the minds of hundreds, and I may say
thousands, who have examined this question. There is something more
than this; there is something behind this, something that is greater
than this, and that is the organization of the people, the union of
the people, that which many men call the theocracy of this
organization. It was that which excited the mob, in the earliest, days
of the organization. While at Far West, in Caldwell County, in the
year 1838, the General who headed the militia that came out under the
exterminating order of Governor Boggs of Missouri, in his address to
the "Mormon" people said, "You must scatter and live like other
people, and do without; your Bishops and your Prophets and your
leading men, and not listen to their counsel." This is not the exact
language, but these are the ideas. In other words you must [p.104]
break up; we cannot endure your organization, your coming together and
being united as you are. We fear you will take possession of our
principal counties, and your political influence will be so great that
in time you will hold control of this country; and we cannot endure
it, and you must go. Governor Boggs' order said, if the people did not
leave the State of Missouri in a given period, they would be
exterminated. So the people had to flee in the depth of winter, and
cross the Mississippi into the State of Illinois. Now, whoever heard
then of plural marriage? It was not practiced. it was the organization
of the people that was objectionable; and so it was afterwards when we
were compelled to leave Nauvoo. The mob burned our houses and killed
our cattle, and destroyed our grain, not because of any feature of
this kind, but because we were "Mormons," and believed in a form of
religion that they did not believe in. So they were determined that we
should leave there.

vol. 24, p.104
And that reminds me of another falsehood that went the rounds in those
days to justify the outrages against us. All manner of storms were
circulated concerning our thieving; it was said that we were a band of
thieves and robbers; that the people near Nauvoo and along the upper
part of the Mississippi, through all that region of country, were
living in a state of terror, so it was alleged, because of the
proximity of the "Mormons," and it would be a great blessing to drive
them out, for they were outlaws. So the mob deemed themselves
justified in their outrages for those reasons; and public opinion was
created against us which sustained them in killing the Prophet Joseph
Smith and Hyrum, his brother, in shooting President Taylor, and in
killing other men and women. And public opinion was created so
unfavorable to the "Mormons" that other people thought, "Well, they
are a bad lot; they deserve extirpation; we are sorry to see the laws
trampled upon and violence resorted to, but something must be done
with these 'Mormons.'" 'We must get rid of them in some way; and it
the law cannot reach them," as was remarked by the mob, when Joseph
had been tried and acquitted for treason, "powder and ball can."

vol. 24, p.104
The same process is now going on. What is it that produces the
condition of affairs that exists here to-day? It is a public opinion
that is adverse and hostile to us which justifies the outrages and
illiberal acts to which we are subjected. It is this which actuates
men to trample upon the Constitution and all the institutions of the
government. It is this which permits the right of representation to be
stricken down and causes a Governor of a Territory, who is guilty of
the most outrageous acts of tyranny, to be sustained by three
administrations, and a voice scarcely heard in protest against
it—republican government stricken down and the people of these
mountains, without exception the best and most quiet people to be
found within the confines of the republic, deprived of the right of
representation.

vol. 24, p.104
I allude to this, though it is a political matter, as it comes
appropriately within the line of my remarks. What is the cause of it?
It is, as I have said, because God has stretched forth his hand to do
a work in the earth, and the devil is determined that it shall not be
done. He is determined to shed the blood of every  man connected with
it, and he puts it into the hearts of the children of men to hate the
truth [p.105] and to hate those who teach it. Yet there are a great
many people who say there is no God and no devil. I would like them to
explain why we have suffered as we have; why it is that a people who,
were it not for their religion, ought to be applauded for what we have
clone in these mountains, are treated as we are treated. When we had
the control of these valleys, from one end of the land to the other,
from north to south, drunkenness was unknown; a woman might then have
traveled our streets and our highways, even to the most remote parts
of our Territory, and never hear a word of disrespect, never witness a
gesture that would cause her to blush; she could travel in perfect
peace and safety throughout all our cities and settlements. Robbery
was unknown, and human life was sacred. So with property. Peace
reigned in our borders. We look back to it now—I do, I look back to
those days and contrast them with the present, and ask myself, How
long is this condition of things to continue? We could leave our doors
unlocked; no one thought of thieves. Virtue was cherished, and a man
who would be guilty of unvirtuous acts was denounced. And such
industry as we practiced—and it is no boasting to say so—was
unparalleled. We dwelt here in peace—people from various nations
speaking various languages, of various modes of thought, and various
educations, living here in peace and quiet, each man pursuing his own
course unmolested by his neighbors. This was the condition of our
Territory. It might be thought that a people thus living, living in a
country that no other people could possibly covet; that is so far as
agricultural interests, the pursuits we follow mainly in Utah, were
concerned—it might be thought that such a people might be left
unmolested to enjoy the fruits of their industry and toil.

vol. 24, p.105
We did not touch the mines, for we knew if we opened them and embarked
in mining that they would be coveted by others, and therefore it has
not been our policy to touch mines. In the beginning it would have
been a most unwise policy to have done this; it would have unsettled
us, and instead of spending our time in raising the food necessary to
sustain life we would have been prospecting in the mountains, hunting
for the precious metals. But when the railroad was finished and it was
then possible to obtain, supplies from other places if we ran short,
it was even then impolitic for us to take up mines from the fact that
if we had obtained rich mines we could not have hoped to have held
them; they would have been coveted, and in the courts the
probabilities are we should not have stood as good a chance as other
people.

vol. 24, p.105
If you think, my brethren and sisters, that we are to be unmolested
and left free from attack, you are deceiving yourselves. It is not
written in the heavens above, or in the earth beneath; just as sure as
we live we shall have opposition, persecution and violence to contend
with. God has stretched forth His hand to establish a power in the
earth. That power has excited antagonism in the past; it excites
antagonism today, and it will continue to excite antagonism to the
end, until God reigns, and the inhabitants of the earth bow to His
sceptre. This book (the Bible) is full of predictions concerning it.
All the prophets who have ever spoken concerning the last days have
foretold that God would do a mighty work [p.106] in the last days; and
he is doing it.

vol. 24, p.106
"Well," says one, "Do a handful of people like you expect to
revolutionize the earth and accomplish these results?" Yes, we expect
it; we believe it with all our hearts; we labor for it; we teach it to
our children. We would make this country a peaceful, a delightful
place for people to reside; we would make this union of which I have
spoken possible in these valleys; and if our principles were extended
over the earth, they would make the earth in the same condition. I
thank God with all my heart that there is such a work going on. When I
hear of people coming from remote lands, impelled by their faith, who
have heard the preaching of the Elders who have gone forth in their
weakness, and in many instances, yes, in the most of instances, in
their scholastic ignorance, to proclaim the Gospel—when I see the
wonderful results of their preaching, men and women from foreign lands
with the testimony of God in their hearts, that this is His work,
which they have received through repentance and being baptized by a
man having the authority, each man testifying in his own language—the
Scandinavian, the German, the French, the British, the people of far
of Africa and of the islands of the sea, and the various countries
where our Elders have gone, all flocking together like doves to their
master's windows, many of them never having seen an Elder from Utah,
but having heard men who had the authority to teach this Gospel—all
coming from the various points of the compass, testifying in all
humility and in the name of Jesus, that God has given unto them a
knowledge of the truth—when I see these things my heart is filled with
gladness and thanksgiving. I thank God that my lot has been cast in
these valleys. I thank God for my children, that their lot has been
cast in these valleys; that we live in a day when God is doing so
mighty a work; when He is gathering His people together; when He is
pouring out upon them the spirit of union, for that is the spirit of
the Gospel. Jesus in his last prayer adds: "Neither pray I for these
alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee,
that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that Thou
has sent me." He prayed for them all, that they might be one with Him
as He was one with the Father; that the same union, that the same love
might be in their hearts. The Latter-day Saints are an unlettered
people, far from being what we hope they will be; but they are an
honest people, honest enough to embrace the truth when they hear it;
honest enough to forsake houses and lands and homes, and everything
that men hold dear in this life, for the sake of the Gospel as they
believe it. It requires moral courage to be "Mormons," to take upon
them the opprobrium of the world, to know that it may cost them their
lives before they get through with it, and it requires the power of
God to be with men and women to enable them to do this. And I thank
God that He has found such, here a few and there a few. In the various
nations where the Elders have gone they have found them, God directs
them to them, and they come; and their children will inherit the earth
and they will be intelligent  and they will become a great people. For
they will possess all the virtues which constitute [p.107] true
greatness among men. I have no fears in my own mind for this people.
When I have been spoken to as to the effect of this legislation, I
have remarked that such a people as are in Utah Territory cannot be
crushed out by adverse legislation. They will endure an immense
amount. You take a people who are united; who are industrious, who are
frugal, who are acquainted with hardship, who have endured persecution
in the past and are familiar with it and expect it, you take such a
people, having in their hearts the love of God and the love of each
other, believing that the best expression they can give of the love of
God is to love their neighbor as themselves; a people of that kind
cannot be crushed. They are bound to live upon the earth in the
struggle for existence; bound to have their place among mankind; they
are perfectly fitted to survive any struggle or any condition that may
he brought upon them.

vol. 24, p.107
As for this legislation, I want to say to you, that in some respects I
am thankful for it. Let persecution come if it will have a good
effect. And as for the rules which have been made by the
Commissioners, as I stated myself personally, to those gentlemen, I
disagree with their construction of the law, and I think the rules are
wrong; nevertheless, I am thankful they have made them in their
present form. Brethren have said to me: Cannot we represent to the
Commissioners how wrong and unjust those rules are and endeavor to
have them changed so as to make them applicable to the people out of,
as well as those in the marriage relations? I told them, Yes; try it
if you wish; and if you can effect a change, all right; but in my own
heart I am thankful that the Rules have been made as they are. They
are made applicable to all—those who have never broken any law; as
well as those who have. there is no distinction between those who
entered into plural marriage before and those who entered into that
state after 1862. Until the law of 1862 was passed, you should
understand, there was no law of the United States, no law of this
Territory, that made plural marriage a crime. You ought to understand
this, and I have no doubt you do understand the difference between
that which is a crime in and of itself, per se and that which is made
a crime by statute. Plural marriage is not a crime in and of itself,
it is malum prohibitum, made so by a law, and that law was enacted in
1862. Now unless legislation is made ex post facto persons who married
prior to 1862 violated no law; but the rules as they have been
enforced exclude these people from registration; they exclude even a
wife whose husband took plural wives prior to 1862. Most extraordinary
ruling. But I have been thankful for it. Why? Because it puts us all
in the same boat and does not divide us. A better plan could not haw
been devised to make us one than the ruling they have made in regard
to those "in the marriage relation." There are hundreds of people who
can take that oath that if those words were not in it could not take
it. They can register because of these four words. They can walk up
boldly and take that oath that they have done nothing of the kind "in
the marriage relation." I am thankful that is the case. Why? I should
feel extremely bad, I think, if we were reduced to the level of those
who have violated the laws of God and of man. We have violated, some
of us, the laws of man, but we [p.108] have not in our faithfulness
violated the laws of God. We are sincere in our belief; and give me a
fanatic any time in preference to scoundrel. I can tolerate a fanatic
who does what he believes to be right; but I have no sympathy for a
man or woman who commits an act knowing it to be wrong. We have been
excluded from registering because we have done something enjoined upon
us by the Lord; but men who have done things knowing them to be wrong,
who have acted contrary to the laws of God and of man, men and women
both, can take the oath and register.

vol. 24, p.108
Well, I am glad of it; I am glad I am not in that category; I do not
want to be in that crowd. I want to be able to say, as I can say, that
because of my religion, because of my doing that which I believe I
should be damned if I did not do I have been disfranchised; I believe
with all my heart that God gave a command of that kind, and it rested
with such power upon me that I believed I would be damned if I did not
obey it. Now, I am willing to take the consequences of that; but I
would hate to be put on a level with every adulterer and seducer in
the land; and I am not by the ruling of the commissioners. There is a
sharp, well defined line of demarcation drawn between the Latter-day
Saints, who practice plural marriage because of their religion, and
the adulterer and seducer. 

vol. 24, p.108
I see the hand of the Lord in it all, and I acknowledge it. God is
overruling and will overrule these things for our good. He will test
us, He will prove us, and if there is a weak spot in us that is not
seen He will find it out. We expect to attain to the glory that
Christ, our Lord and Redeemer, has attained to. We pray for it, we
have striven for it, that we might be counted worthy to sit down at
the right hand of God, our Eternal Father; be counted worthy to dwell
with Jesus in the eternal worlds; and with the holy ones who have gone
before, with men whose blood has been shed, who have not counted their
lives dear because of their religion—we expect to be with them. Can
you imagine, then, for one moment that we can attain unto that glory
unless we, like them, are willing to endure all things for the sake of
the Gospel?

vol. 24, p.108
Now, the world thinks this is a very strange practice for a religion;
they wonder at it; they cannot understand it. Yet, let any man look
abroad in the earth and see the flood-tide of corruption, the evils
under which mankind groan in the various nations of Christendom, as
also the division and strife that exist in all religious matters.
Marriage and morals rightfully belong to religion and are part of it.
Go out into the world and ask the ministers of religion: "What shall I
do to be saved?" One will tell you one thing and another another
thing, each man walking his own road, every congregation divided from
its fellow congregation—strife and confusion of every kind amongst
those professing to be the followers of Jesus Christ. But I have often
thought, when I have been traveling in the world and seen the spirit
that is manifested, that if I had no other hope than that which I see
all around me, I would not care to have a family, I would not care to
have children, there would be so little to live for; men seeking to
take advantage of their fellow men in every possible way; men seeking
to destroy their fellow men; professors of religion having none of the
spirit that the Bible teaches us is the Spirit of God. I never go from
home  [p.109] without turning my face towards these valleys, and the
people of these mountains, and without a profound feeling of
thankfulness to God that  my lot has been cast among this people, with
all their faults, and they are numerous, and with all my  faults, and
they are numerous. We have a love for each other and are striving to
overcome our faults and to cultivate that love which belongs to the
gospel of Jesus Christ.

vol. 24, p.109
Now, let us be patient. As I said to some friends whom I met
yesterday, I never felt happier in my life than I do at the present
time. True, I have had to endure domestic affliction, which has made
me sorrowful. Yet I am gladdened by the hopes I have for the future,
and I can truly say I never felt happier among our people than I do
now. All is peace; God is with us, His angels are around about us, and
His Holy Spirit is being poured out upon us. I do not know that the
sun is any less bright, that the moon is any the less clear, that the
elements are any less pure and delightful than they were twelve-months
ago. Our grain, our vegetables, our fruits, all ripen, the earth
yields of its strength and gives us of its increase for our good.
Peace reigns in our habitations; peace reigns in the hearts of the
people. We know that God overrules all, and that He will control all
things for His glory, and for the accomplishment of His purposes. Why,
then, should we be sad? Why should we mourn? Why should we dread the
future? Why should we anticipate that which will never occur? There is
no need for it. Let us enjoy to-day. Let us rejoice to-day in the
goodness of God, and when to-morrow comes it will be laden with
blessings as to-day is. And so it will be every day and every week and
every year until we are ushered into the fullness of the glory of our
God.

vol. 24, p.109
I have not had the opportunity before of thanking you for your faith
and good feelings towards me while I have been gone. I can assure you,
my brethren and sisters, I have appreciated them. Men have said to me,
in view of that which we are passing through, and the bitter feeling
manifested towards us—How cheerful you seem to be! I replied that I
had cause to be cheerful; that there was not a man on the floor of
Congress that had more cause for cheerfulness than I had. Behind me
stood my constituents in solid columns, giving me their support and
kind feelings and love. And I have several times said, that from
almost every habitation in Utah, from north to south, where Latter-day
Saints dwell, I knew that prayers to Almighty. God ascended morning
and evening, not from men alone but from women and children, in my
behalf. I knew that, and it gave me great comfort; yea, indescribable
comfort. I thank you for your kind feelings, as I do all my brethren
and sisters.

vol. 24, p.109
I pray God to pour out His Holy Spirit upon you; to preserve you from
every evil; to keep you in the truth; to cause you to love it more
than anything else in the earth, and to follow it even to the end,
which I ask in the name of Jesus. Amen. [p.110]

Moses Thatcher, April 7, 1883

A Comparison—Wrath of Man Made to Praise God—Fall of Senator 
Edmunds—Fate of Those Who Oppose God's Work—Persecution 
for Religion Unavailing—Case of the Huguenots—
Intemperance—Startling Statistics—Drink 
the Cause of Other Evils—Appeal 
to the Saints.

Delivered in the Large Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Saturday 
Afternoon, at the Annual Conference, April 7th, 1883.

vol. 24, p.110
I feel very grateful indeed for the happy and peaceful circumstances
with which we are surrounded this day, and I cannot help realizing how
different they are to those which surrounded us a year ago. The
pressure from the outside world at that time was very great, and the
power of him who has been an oppressor from the beginning was
exercised throughout this nation for the hurt of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints. But when perils have threatened we have
learned to appeal to the invisible forces of heaven against the
visible forces of earth, and in no age of the world with which I am
acquainted has the right ever failed to succeed if those who
maintained it were directed, sustained and upheld by the power of God
our eternal Father. When men make it their special mission to contend
against this great work, they do not realize that God is a power, they
cannot comprehend that exercise of faith that turns aside the shafts
of our enemies and delivers us from the snares which shrewd
politicians and wicked and ungodly priests lay to entrap the people.
How well I recollect a conversation I had about a year ago, with a
very thoughtful man, a man connected with the Church, but who at times
is given to view things from the natural standpoint. It was shortly
after the arrival of the Commissioners who came to Utah to administer
the provisions of the Edmunds' law. This brother was not ignorant of
the exertions which has been made throughout the Union to secure the
enactment of that and other prescriptive measures, nor was he ignorant
of the intent of leading politicians in the Republican party to forge
chains with which to bind us, while depriving us of our liberties. He
understood full well the means which had been used; he was not
ignorant of the tearful waves of prejudice which had swept every State
in the Union. Realizing what the intentions of the wicked were, and
understanding the mighty power of a mighty nation, he felt exercised
and desired to know if something could not be done to compromise the
question; in other words; if it was not possible to submit to the
President and Cabinet certain propositions by which the people might
be enabled to maintain their rights and liberties. I have not
forgotten what my reflections  [p.111] were while listening, to his
remarks, and I remember the reply which I was led to make. It was
this: We had been gathered from the nations of the earth. We came to
these mountains to serve God without respect to the thoughts or
suffrages of other people. We came here to maintain liberty of
conscience and freedom of worship, the provisions of the Constitution
of our common country, and not to compromise them upon any terms
whatever; that I knew of no earthly wisdom upon which we could safely
rely in maintaining those rights; that if the religious, political and
social affairs of the people were given over to the management of a
hundred of the wisest uninspired men to be found in Zion, they would
utterly fail to accomplish the purposes of God, though they might in
their efforts to please man, sacrifice liberty and the freedom of
conscience, violate the sacred provisions of the Constitution, and
make those whom they sought to serve pliant staves, unworthy of the
blessings which of right belong to a free people; that the adoption of
such a policy would, within six months, place us in such a condition
of confusion and misery that God alone could relieve our distress;
that if, on the other hand, we would exercise faith in Him, live our
religion, be prayerful and humble, He would bring us off, as He has
done many times before, victorious. Can we not see how the Lord has
stayed the passions of men and made their wrath to praise Him? Let us
reflect upon the difference between the power exercised by the great
leading light of the Republican party during the passage of the
Edmunds' bill in the Senate of the United States a little over a year
ago, and the exercise of the influence of the same man a year later.
Senator Edmunds, when he first called up his bill was, in the Senate,
almost supreme. By the power of his intellect and the fierce invective
of his tongue, he ruled, as it were, absolute master, and his bill
unconstitutional and unjust, passed the Senate with but little
opposition. Few statesmen cared then to measure arms with him, but
mark the results when God did so a year later.

vol. 24, p.111
Had the faith of this people changed? Did we believe more in the laws
of God in March, 1882, than we did in March 1883? Certainly not. Why
then was Senator Edmunds unable to carry out his views and measures
regarding this people in the latter as he had succeeded in doing in
the former year? Because God is a force in the world and its affairs,
whether men acknowledge it or not. His power always has been, and
always will be greater than man's power.

vol. 24, p.111
Men may think what they please and sneer at what they may be pleased
to call fanaticism, but this I know, shame and confusion was the part
of Senator Edmunds when, after six hours vain endeavor to force the
passage of another infamous measure against us, he stood up in the
Senate and confessed that he could see by the ruling of the presiding
officer, and by the votes of his opponents, that it was impossible to
carry the measure which he had in hand; and therefore moved for an
adjournment. Was his defeat, chagrin and shame accomplished by the
wisdom of man? We think not. We at least are willing, as we always
have been, to acknowledge the hand of God in these things. God not
only holds the destinies of nations in His hands, but He holds also
the destiny of individual man. He can humble those who measure arms
with Him, as He has done [p.112] many times in the past. We fear not
the power, nor do we gloat over the fall of man, public or private,
but we have learned by experience that when they rise up and contend
against this people and the principles of liberty and right, God marks
them, and their course thenceforth is not upward but downward. In
March, 1882, when in Washington, D.C., in company with other brethren,
visiting Brother George Q. Cannon, then our honored delegate, I
remember the sentiments expressed by some members of the Republican
party. They would come privately and say: "We view this bill—referring
to the Edmunds' bill—as infamous in its measures; we can see that it
is unconstitutional, that it seeks to rob a whole people of their
political rights. But our profession is that of politics; we have no
other business, and numerous petitions are coming here daily from our
constituents, praying us, commanding us, to pass some law for the
suppression of "Mormonism." Now what shall we do? If we comply not
with their demands our constituents will, at future elections, reject
us at the polls." Was not a similar argument used by the Jews, when
they said, "If we let him thus alone, all men will believe in him, and
the Romans shall come and take away our place and nation?" Fearing
that, they crucified him, and what was the result? The very thing they
sought to save was that which was speedily lost. When weighed in the
balance they were found: corrupt, cruel, vindictive, murderous; unable
to maintain principle, defend justice, or do what they knew to be
right. A disposition to oppress swayed their hearts and tyranny marked
their actions to such an extent, that God rejected them as a people,
scattered to the four winds and made of them, in the midst of nations,
a hiss and by word.

vol. 24, p.112
In this connection let any one who feels disposed, take the pains and
trouble to look over the Congressional Record and see how those who
were willing to sacrifice principle at the shrine of everything that
was wrong, willing to sacrifice the liberties of a people poor and
oppressed, examine and see how many of that character have been
returned. Have not more than fifty per cent. of them been rejected at
the polls? Ask the democrats how this has come about, and why it has
come about, and they cannot tell you. Ask the Republicans and they
cannot tell you. But ask God, who holds the destinies of nations and
peoples in His hand, and He can tell you. On the other hand examine
the record of those who fearlessly stood up in defense of
Constitutional liberty, maintained inviolate their oath of office,
sustained the right, and were true to themselves. They too felt the
pressure of priestly inflamed public sentiment, but bowed not to its
tyrannical demands. They too realized the dangers and perils that
might beset their efforts for future recognition at the polls, but
having moral courage they planted themselves on principle, not
prejudice, and their constituents, in a great measure, have endorsed
their policy and sustained their heroic conduct. If I have been
correctly informed, a much greater percentage of those who sustained
right on the "Mormon" question in the 47th, have been returned to the
48th Congress, than of those who pursued the opposite policy. We
should entertain no fear of men or nations, for they cannot prevent
the Almighty from accomplishing His purposes, or bringing to pass His
decrees. History, so far as I have been able [p.113] to trace, no
where records success gained by hatred and persecution over men
pledged to principle, justice and truth. 

vol. 24, p.113
Mens' convictions, religious beliefs and just religious practices
cannot be persecuted out of them. The nearest approach to success in
this direction was, perhaps, the massacre of St. Bartholomew in
France, wherein seventy thousand defenceless Huguenots perished
miserably, victims of the malice and cruelty of Roman Catholicism.

vol. 24, p.113
That shocking butchery of men,  women and children was acquiesced  in
by Charles IX, then King of France, and when his ally Philip  III, of
Spain heard of it he laughed,  the only time he was known to laugh  in
his life. The Pope of Rome illuminated the eternal city, caused medals
to be struck off, mass to be  performed, and named Charles "the
defender of the faith," in commemoration of those horrid deeds of
blood and misery.

vol. 24, p.113
Notwithstanding the Pontifcal approval bestowed upon the king for that
seventy thousand-fold murder he was till his death daily and nightly
haunted by the thought  of his victims until his misery and remorse
caused, it is said, drops of blood to ooze through the pores of his
skin. Through these cruelties the Huguenots received a fearful shock,
but the consciousness of men continued to assert independence and the
right to worship God untrammeled continued to grow. The freedom we now
enjoy is but the fruit of the struggle for right, which persecution
ultimately solidified, united and made strong in the broad, deep
foundations of the freest nation on earth; thereby preparing the way
for the mission of Joseph the Prophet. Much improvement had been made,
but in religious matters Joseph found the people insincere, and the
practices of the Christian world inconsistent and unsound. Guided by
the light of heaven be struck a death blow at the idolatrous worship
of a bodiless, passionless God, which the teachings of false priests
had erected in the imagination of the people. In doing so he disturbed
a sea of malice which since has known no rest. But though that angry
sea may roll fierce billows of persecution, skepticism, infidelity and
priestly hypocrisy must yield, for Joseph Smith, the Prophet of the
Almighty came as a forerunner and teacher of true faith in God that
cannot be conquered; it will prevail. God's kingdom will rise and
shine. They say we are endeavoring to establish a theocratic
government. What is theocracy? The kingdom and government of God. Who
will contend against it—will the Latter-day Saints? No. It is our duty
to contend for it, and to assist to build it up. It is a government of
purity. It is a government of the people, and for the people; it
maintains liberty and right, and is always opposed to oppression and
misrule. I would like to dwell upon the subject, but time will not
permit, as I desire to touch upon another at present, of deep interest
to us.

vol. 24, p.113
We have been called out from the: nations of the earth to serve the:
Lord. "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her
sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. In this connection I
desire to touch upon a few practices existing among us that are not
pleasing in the sight of God. Intemperance is one of them; the use of
alcohol, the use of intoxicating drinks that fevers the blood and
maddens the brain, incites to sin, debases man, destroys his better
judgment, drives [p.114] the Spirit of God from his heart, and renders
the daughters of Zion unsafe in his company. What is the condition of
the Christian nations in this respect to-day? Two hundred thousand men
and women crowd the poorhouses, prisons and asylums of Great Britain
alone. Seventy-five per cent. of them the wretched victims of
alcoholism. Can we think a business legitimate and honorable that
deprives a hundred and fifty thousand men and women of comfortable
homes, drives them wild, and sends them as driveling idiots and
paupers to the asylums and jails of a Christian nation, which derives
a revenue from the liquor traffic of $150,000,000 per annum, and finds
even that enormous sum inadequate to meet the expenses entailed by
reason of its use?  We cannot consistently so consider it.

vol. 24, p.114
Aside from the debauchery, misery, ruin and death caused by the use of
intoxicants, the waste in Great Britain is simply startling.
Seventy-five million bushels of grain—equal at our present rate of
production to what Utah would yield in forty years—is "annually
consumed in the manufacture of liquors there. The inhabitants of
Britain expend yearly for intoxicating drinks over $640,000,000.
During the past seven years they have expended for the same purpose
more than sufficient to cancel their national debt,  or build a new
house for every family in the kingdom, and school houses in which to
educate all their children.

vol. 24, p.114
Had the money expended there for liquor during the past half century
been invested in five per cent. interest bearing securities; it would
now be equal to the entire capitalized wealth of the nation, including
her cities, railroads, ships, factories, mines, farms, fields and
gardens. And yet in view of these figures, taken from parliamentary
returns we hear of the cry of want and complaints of oppression. Do
the people not oppress themselves in the use—excessive use of things
that weaken and corrupt their bodies and darken their minds?

vol. 24, p.114
Is the condition of our own nation in this regard much better? But
little if any. In 1882, according to official reports, the people of
the United States paid nearly twice as much for liquor as they did for
bread. More than the entire value of the products of all our woolen,
cotton, boot and shoe factories. An amount equal to seventy per cent.
of the wages earned in all the manufacturing institutions of the
country, during the same period. Three hundred millions of dollars,
more than was paid for Governmental, state, territorial, county, city
and school taxes combined. Enough to school the children of a nation
numbering 300,000,000, or six times as numerous as ours for the same
year.

vol. 24, p.114
The nation consumes in liquor the value of all the public and private
libraries of the country every sixty days, and spends annually nine
times as much for drink as for printing and publishing.

vol. 24, p.114
Now what can we say for the people of Utah? In the main they are
temperate, but there is room for much improvement. Here, I have no
means for acquiring exact knowledge from statistics, but I venture the
assertion that more money is spent even in Utah for alcohol than is
expended for the education of our children, or the support of the
Territorial government. Do we not expend more means in the purchase of
stimulants than we pay to sustain the Church and Kingdom of God on
earth? And in doing so are we not,  though perhaps thoughtlessly,
[p.115] undermining the virtue of our boys, and the chastity of our
girls? Do not inebriates and harlots usually go hand in hand, and
saloons and houses of in repute grow up side by side?

vol. 24, p.115
Had we the means of ascertaining the facts I am satisfied we should
find that nine out of every ten cases of the lapse of virtue among us,
could be traced to the use and influence of liquor of some kind. I am
led to this conclusion by positive knowledge in a few sad cases that
have come under my personal observation. Again, the love of liquor is
transmissible. No man, therefore, can be a true servant of God while
entailing misfortune and misery—perhaps decrepitude and idiocy upon
his posterity. If any among us cannot control their appetite for
drink, at least let them not transmit their thirst as a heritage to
their children, who should be begotten in purity and brought forth
untrammeled by unnatural and debasing appetites that tend to the lust
of the flesh. A man addicted to intemperance cannot subject himself to
the will of God, nor can he govern his passions to the sanctification
of his body, failing in which he cannot reasonably expect to govern
others in righteousness for their salvation. How then, are such worthy
to stand at the head of families in Zion? To me few sights are more
painful than to see a sorrow stricken wife bending over the wash tub
and working like a slave to support herself and children; and perhaps
her drunken husband, who warms his miserable, useless body on the
sunny side of walls frequented by others of his kind. If we could gaze
through the sorrowful eyes down into the pain-stricken hearts of such
wives—and there are some even in Zion of that kind—we should hardly
find a blessing there for those who lift the tempting cup to the lips
of their fallen husbands. It is true the liquor traffic, among
Christians, is regulated by law and disposed of generally under
license, but that does not make it an honorable business, nor does it
in any way, so far as I can see, restrict the evils that follow its
use. To regulate and license the manufacture and indiscriminate sale
of whisky may, in some places, be a necessary and unavoidable evil,
but such laws as moral and reformatory agencies have certainly proven
failures. The poor, half-starved children, depraved men, and ruined
women that nightly visit the gin palaces of London, Liverpool, New
York, Chicago, and other great cities, speak unmistakably of failure.
The crowded prisons, poor-houses, insane asylums, testify of failure.
The gambler who resorts to forgery as a means with which to retrieve
his fortune, the sot that wallows in the gutter and blasphemes the
name of God, the raving maniac whose reason drink has dethroned, the
murderer who took the life of his brother while intoxicated and dies
with a curse upon his lips as he falls through the trap of the
gallows, all testify of the woe, utter failure and irreparable ruin
wrought by the use of alcohol, made easy of access by the regulations
of law.

vol. 24, p.115
Let me, in the name of the Lord, urge the Saints to abstain from its
use. It weakens the body and impairs the mind. When the highest order
of physical excellence is required, science interdicts its use. Men
trained for great bodily effort and long endurance are forced to be
temperate or be defeated. Those who compete for collegiate or literary
honors understand the value of [p.116] temperance. In view of these
facts, the Elder, High Priest or Seventy who is addicted to the use of
liquor, is unfit to perform the labors which God requires of him. Is
it possible that we as Elders of Israel, at home and abroad, cannot
see the results of these things? Do we not know that like begets like?
Do we not know that men whose blood is fevered and whose judgment is
blinded are not fit to multiply and replenish, not fit to be in that
holy law of matrimony ordained and made sacred by the Almighty? Let
the world talk about and deride the institution of celestial marriage.
What concerns us more in Utah is the fact that there are not men
enough who understand the laws of life, and who stand pure and holy,
upon the higher basis of that sacred law, to be one the husbands of
all the pure and to-day marriageable women in Zion. God foresaw what
the nations would do. We were told yesterday by Elder Erastus Snow
that men of great influence in the world were preaching the doctrine
of human limitation, which leads to murder. And yet these very men
will preach morality to you and me. While killing their own offspring,
and urging others to do it, they tell us we shall not obey the laws of
God pertaining to increase. I say we will. And upon natural
principles, upon scientific principles. The boys and girls who live
according to the law of the Lord will become the head and not the
foot. They will have stronger bodies, stronger minds, and by the force
of the "survival of the fittest," will, eventually, under the
direction of divine revelation, govern the affairs of the world. It
has been so predicted; God has decreed it, who will prevent it? Let us
therefore unite in turning our faces against the evil practices so
prevalent in the world. Let us begin to understand and live according
to the laws of nature, realizing that violations thereof bring
penalties which sometimes are transmitted to the third or fourth
generation. In the transmission of life God has devolved upon His
creations the highest and most delicate functions, and which, if
abused, entail misery and often premature death. God has His glory in
the perpetuation of life. With wonder and admiration, we behold life
everywhere. We see it struggling in the vegetable kingdom and
breathing in the animal creations. Cut down and trample under foot the
noxious weed, and yet by the law that governs its increase it
struggles upwards, and unless utterly destroyed matures seed for new
life, and thereby perpetuates itself. All nature responds to the
eternal law of increase. Man, being prompted by him who rebelled in
heaven, alone seeks to defeat life, and bring confusion and death.
While he and his emissaries strive through the commission of horrid
crimes, even murder, to limit human increase, let us as Saints
sanctify body and soul being pure in heart and mind, a fit lineage
through which noble spirits may possess tabernacles unto the glory of
God the Father of spirits. Let fathers and mothers in Zion beget
children, as Samuel the ancient prophet was begotten, and I tell you
there is no power on earth or in hell that can stop the progress of
this people. We will increase and spread abroad until Zion shall arise
and shine, and the Kingdom of God shall have supremacy and away
forever. Amen. [p.117]

F. D. Richards, April 7, 1883

Causes of Gratitude—The Church Illustrated By a Vine—
Priesthood Represented By the Branches—Independence—
Case of Lyman Wight—Priesthood on the 
Earth and in the Spirit World.

Delivered at the General Conference, Saturday Morning, April 7, 1883.

(Reported By John Irvine)

vol. 24, p.117
It is a very pleasing privilege that we have of meeting together in
Conference assembled in this manner. I have been very ranch gratified,
interested and instructed, as I am sure all the faithful have been,
who have been present and shared or partaken of the spirit of this
Conference. I hope and pray that while we shall remain together we may
feel the spirit of inspiration resting upon us to guide our minds in
our reflections and our speech into those channels of communication
that shall be most profitable to the people.

vol. 24, p.117
We have this day extraordinary reason for gratitude and praise to God
our Heavenly Father for the peculiar manifestation of His kindness and
mercy to us during the past year; not only in granting that the earth
should be fruitful in yielding abundantly for the returning wants of
His people both for man and beast, but for the protection and
deliverance of His people from the machinations and devices and the
subtle plans of men high in authority, who have set themselves to
ensnare us, and if it were possible, to hinder the work of God—men who
have thought to destroy or cripple the great cause which God has
established in the earth for the redemption and exaltation of the
human family, from degradation and sin to the realms of intelligence
and glory in His kingdom. Surely all Saints who have been making
"first the kingdom of God and His righteousness," their aim and study,
cannot fail to have both seen and felt this. It is but another
assurance from on high of his good pleasure in not only having given
unto us the kingdom, but in preserving the rights, the powers and
blessings thereof from encroachment or invasion and from injury by the
hands of the wicked and ungodly.

vol. 24, p.117
I am reminded that the time at my disposal this morning is short,
there being several yet to address the Conference. I will, therefore,
proceed directly to call your attention to a passage of Scripture
found in the 15th chapter of John:

vol. 24, p.117
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

vol. 24, p.117
"Every branch in me that beareth not fruit He taketh away, and every
branch that beareth fruit He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more
fruit.

vol. 24, p.117
"Now, ye are clean through the [p.118] word which I have spoken unto
you.

vol. 24, p.118
"Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except you abide in me.

vol. 24, p.118
"I am the vine, ye are, the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do
nothing.

vol. 24, p.118
"If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is
withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they
are burned.

vol. 24, p.118
"If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you; ye shall ask what ye
will, and it shall be done unto you.

vol. 24, p.118
"Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye
be my disciples."

vol. 24, p.118
One of the Prophets, I think it was Jeremiah, said that the vine was
the noblest or choicest of all the trees of the forest. The Savior, no
doubt, in view of this general understanding, adopted the vine to
figuratively represent the precious principles which He undertook to
illustrate in the foregoing passages of Scripture, and which I wish to
make some allusion to, in illustration of the importance of our being
in a proper position to attend to our duties faithfully, which is
necessary for the complete growth and progress of the vine, to which
we are attached in all its branches, leaves, flowers and fruits.

vol. 24, p.118
Christ's Church is frequently spoken of as a vine of the Lord's
planting in the earth. Our Savior and the ancient Prophets Nephi,
Jacob, Zenos, and others, spoke of the husbandman going forth in the
morning to employ workmen to labor in his vineyard, during the heat
and burthen of the day; and also about the eleventh hour, of his
employing laborers to go into the vineyard and prune it for the last
time. I wish to remind you my brethren of the Priesthood, especially
those who are called to occupy important leading positions in the
Wards, the Stakes and councils of Zion, that you are the men who were
spoken of and written about in their parables.

vol. 24, p.118
The Prophets of those early days were so filled with the spirit and
power of the Gospel and of revelation, that they looked into the
future and saw in vision the birth of Christ and the work that he was
to perform. They also beheld our day, and the work in which we are
engaged. It must be borne in mind ,that we are not working alone for
our dear selves, but for those coming after us; and that our work
bears a strict relation to those that have been here and gone before
us to the spirit world, to whom we are as closely related; and without
whom we cannot be made perfect, any more than they without us.

vol. 24, p.118
Therefore, every Elder clothed with the Priesthood has a right to
officiate in ordinances affecting the happiness of those who have gone
before, as well as of being the means of bestowing blessings upon
those who follow him; and for the use of this power he will be held
accountable.

vol. 24, p.118
Now let it be understood, Jesus said, "I am the true vine." Everybody
acquainted with the art of pruning, knows, that to make a tree bear
the greatest amount of fruit he must trim it so that there will be no
small branches springing up around the roots, but that there be one
vine with all the sap running through it. He has not only said, "I am
the true vine;" but also "ye are the branches." If the tree be
properly trimmed the  sap, which is the life of it, will go [p.119]
from the roots through the vine to all the branches thereof. Jesus
said in connection with this "every branch in me that beareth not
fruit He taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit He purgeth
it, that it may bring forth more fruit."

vol. 24, p.119
Let it be understood that the healthy, thrifty growth of the limbs,
the leaves, the bloom and the fruit, all depends upon the close
adherence of the "branches" to the "vine"—the body of Christ. And
every man bearing the Holy Priesthood must be made conscious of this
in his experience and observations at one time or another if he is of
any use as a living branch in this Church.

vol. 24, p.119
To this vine, in our dispensation there are three branches—the First
Presidency—who are closely allied to the powers behind the veil; and
they are the first to receive the mind and will of God, and
communicate the same to the Church. This is that Spirit of revelation,
the sap that comes from the vine, that goes to all the branches. And
not only do we see these three main branches next the trunk, but a
little further along are twelve other branches, spreading out and each
of them, shooting forth other branches, twigs, tendrils, leaves and
fruit, if they abide in the vine.

vol. 24, p.119
Now if those branches by any means become injured, or are not in a
healthful condition from any course—no matter what—so that the free
flow of the sap from the trunk and main branches is arrested, or
retarded, the consequence is that the lesser branches, the twigs,
leaves and fruit depending for nourishment and life upon the injured
or deadened limb, are more or less affected, hindered in their growth,
dwarfed in their development, and must suffer death unless relieved by
a healthy pruning.

vol. 24, p.119
I wish now to call the attention of the Presidents of Stakes to the
consideration of this fact.

vol. 24, p.119
It is the duty ef every President of a Stake to attend the annual and
semi-annual Conferences, which are held in this place so far as
practicable, but if it should so happen that a President himself could
not be present, then he should see that one or both of his Counselors
come, or some faithful man of an excellent spirit from his Stake who
shall be capable of receiving the instructions given, and who is able
to communicate the same to his President and to the people. And such a
person or persons should be men whose duty it shall be to stay until
the Conference is over, attending every meeting, and paying the
strictest attention to all instructions given and to all Church
business transacted.

vol. 24, p.119
They should not come here in a hurry to get away before the business
of the Conference is attended to; they should not feel as though they
could leave before receiving all that the Presidency have to say to
them; so that when they do return to their homes they may go laden
with counsel and filled with the spirit of the Conference, ready to
impart the same to the people of their several Stakes. The President
who does this keeps alive the fire, the Spirit of the Lord in the
hearts of his people. By attending such conferences he goes home with
more efficient instructions to convey to the people at home, and at
the half yearly or quarterly conference over which he presides, he is
enabled to impart to all who were unable to attend, the spirit of this
general conference.

vol. 24, p.119
I hold it, then, to be of the utmost importance that the Presidents
[p.120] of Stakes do make it their business to see that they as
branches abide more carefully and more strictly in the vine, and that
they receive the sap and nourishment of these conferences to the
utmost capacity and carry it home to support every twig, every leaf,
and every particle of fruit on the vine, for their proper, healthy
growth and maturity. This principle is not only applicable to the
Presidents of Stakes, but it is applicable in like manner in your
quarterly conferences to every Bishop.

vol. 24, p.120
In those conferences every Ward should be represented by the Bishop
and his Counselors, and as many of the people as possible should be
present to receive the counsels there given. What is the result
sometimes when instructions have been given by President Taylor
through the Presidents of Stakes, and only a part of them were
present? Why, it is found, when some important matter comes up, that
this counsel has been neglected, and those who ought to have been well
informed are heard to say, "Why, we never heard of this be fore." Why
did you not hear of it?  Why were you not there in your place to hear
of it; and thus be prepared to carry out the instruction given

vol. 24, p.120
In like manner every branch in all the missions abroad should observe
and secure a correct and proper representation in all the conferences
that are held in the various missions wherever the Gospel is preached
and branches are raised up. This is an absolute requirement. (See
Doctrine and Covenants, section 20, verse 81 and on). By this means,
and in no other way, can the law of the Lord go forth from Zion, and
the spirit of Zion extend to the most remote branch or member of the
Church on the face of the whole earth.

vol. 24, p.120
This is the principle. You brethren of the Priesthood, as branches of
this vine, are expected to abide in it, to have the fullest connection
with it, and be prepared to convey the sap, which has been conveyed to
you, through the trunk to the extreme branches, the tendrils, the
leaves and the fruit that, are under your care. But unless you do this
your people will suffer for want of intelligence; they will have to go
short of that spiritual food which you are made the dispenser of and
which you art; expected to impart for nourishment and support, not
only in spiritual matters, but in temporal things as well.

vol. 24, p.120
Now, there is a feeling among mankind—it is a feeling that is common
in the world, and it is not strange that some wile have been brought
up in the world should retain it—a feeling of independence, a feeling
of self-sufficiency, a feeling that we are capable of doing without
counsel, and that we can do this and that as we think best. My
brethren, the less of this feeling we carry with us, the safer and
better for us and for the people we have to instruct. We should
understand our dependence on God and on our brethren who are placed
over us in the Priesthood for that counsel necessary to sustain us and
that will enable us to bear off the Kingdom of God in righteousness.

vol. 24, p.120
Let me cite you to an instance of a man in the early days of the
Church—Lyman Wight showed this kind of spirit when Joseph lived. It
was all Joseph could do to keep him in subjection to the counsels of
the Priesthood, but he did conform when brought to a consideration of
his position in the Church so long as  Joseph lived. But when the
Prophet Joseph died he did not [p.121] recognize the right of Apostle
Brigham or his brethren of the Council to preside over him. And where
did he go? He started an offshoot of the Church by himself, and both
he and those who followed him went out into the world to destruction
and to the devil together. This is the fate of those who think they
can "run" themselves and can "run" the affairs of the Church and
Kingdom of God separately and independent of their brethren. If he had
continued and abode in the vine and made himself one with Brigham
Young and the Apostles, he would have gathered with us to these
valleys of the mountains, rejoiced with us, and laid down his bones
here, and been one with the people of God. But, no; he went off by
himself, feeling totally independent of his brethren. He abode not in
the vine, and brought forth no fruit.

vol. 24, p.121
If there be any among us who say in their hearts I received my
blessings from President Young, he bestowed upon me all blessings,
authority, Priesthood, and keys of power that any one else has
received, not excepting President Taylor or any of the Apostles, and I
have just as much right to advise and build up according to my own
direction as he or they have—let such take warning by the course of
Lyman Wight, Geo. Miller, and others, who have struck out
independently and see the end which their course has led them to. As
the Savior said, "If a man abide not in me, he is east forth as a
branch, and is withered, and men gather them and cast them into the
fire, and they are burned."

vol. 24, p.121
There is no other way for the brethren of the Apostles, the Presidents
of Stakes, the Bishops of Wards and for all those who stand in
authority in the Church—there is no other way for men to have the love
of Christ in them, to have the power of the Priesthood, to grow with
God's Kingdom, but that they abide in the vine, be one with their
brethren, keep fast to the truth, and derive their full share of the
sap that comes from the roots through the body of the vine.

vol. 24, p.121
This is the principle I wish the brethren would consider. It is a
beautiful figure which the Savior draws, and beautifully represents
the great truth that should be fastened upon our minds, as He tried to
fasten it upon the Apostles and Priesthood of His time. "Every branch
in me that bringeth not forth fruit he taketh away; and every branch
that beareth fruit he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit."

vol. 24, p.121
Then, we must look out and see that nothing offends us; that we live
in harmony with all the instructions and counsels of the Church; we
want to see the spirit of love and power flowing not only through the
body, but through all the branches, until it reaches the utmost
extremity of the vine. Not only the Apostles, Seventies and High
Priests, but the Deacons and members, all who have been baptized into
Christ and who abide in Him.

vol. 24, p.121
Some of you may have noticed and seen that there are vines whose
branches extend quite to the tops of the tallest trees, and that it
was difficult to fell such trees because of the sustaining power of
the vine. The vine bears the choicest of all fruits. This vine which
God has planted in these last days is the choicest and greatest of
all, and it will make itself manifest as such. And we wish all those
brethren who are called to labor in the vineyard, to be in a position
to attend these [p.122] conferences, especially our annual conference,
so that they may hear—and if they have not minds sufficiently strong
to remember everything, to bring pencil and paper and take notes of
all matters that need to be remembered and carried home and imparted
to the people who reside in their various Stakes and Wards,
Conferences and Branches.

vol. 24, p.122
There is another beautiful illustration that might be made with regard
to the vine, but I have not time save to refer to it this morning. It
is this: If you take a vine that has had growth for awhile and you go
carefully and dig it up from the earth, you will find that there is a
very striking similarity in the roots to the appearance and character
of the branches above. Did you ever notice this? Did you ever think of
it? Well, this is a beautiful illustration of the order of the
Priesthood in the eternal world. The Apostle in speaking concerning
these matters, refers to a "hope we have as an anchor of the soul,
both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the
veil." The Priest hood behind the veil are all interested in us, all
anxious for us, all ready to minister to us as far and as fast as
occasion permits or requires, as the roots continually generate
nourishment and minister to the branches or top of the tree; so that
we may be found efficient in our spheres and in our fields of labor.
We ought never to feel that we are alone. We cannot be alone. We ought
to know we cannot live without them, nor they live and be glorified
without us. And while this responsibility is extended to us, we should
sense that we and they are parts of the great whole of father Adam's
family, and that there is a responsibility resting upon us that is
great and that is general. This vine has yet to yield great and
glorious fruits, while its branches must fill the earth and the fowls
of heaven, the angels, will lodge in them. What are we doing to bring
forth these fruits? What to promote the growth of this vine in the
earth? What are you Presidents of Stakes doing? Do you realize that
you are raising up and professedly educating in the name of the Lord a
nation of Kings and Priests to God? Do you impress upon the hearts of
the Saints that this is our work? Do you instruct the Teachers, and
those of the lesser Priesthood how to deal with the people, and to see
that there is no iniquity permitted in their midst? This is the kind
of fruit that grows on this vine, brethren, and this is the kind of
fruit that you are called upon to nourish, strengthen and protect. And
don't you know the grape must not only grow but it must gain color.
The fruit must be fully ripened. It is a fruit that needs a good deal
of warm sunny weather, the sunshine of the Holy Spirit. It can only
ripen in that right kind of climate, and that climate is right
here—the shining of the sun of the Holy Spirit and the understanding
thereof. This nation of "kings and priests" must be so reared that
when the Savior comes He will find a people ready to receive Him; a
people who shall be full of the faith and the power of the Gospel; a
people whose lives shall in all respects comport with the character of
Saints of God; in fact, who shall be the people that the Apostle John
speaks of when he says: "They sung a new song, saying, 'Thou art
worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast
slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every  kindred,
tongue, and [p.123] people and nation; and hast made us unto our God
kings and priests; and we shall reign on the earth.'" This was their
song of joy and rejoicing, which was expressive of the glory and
power, exaltation and gladness that filled their souls.

vol. 24, p.123
There are other interesting and important phases of our great work
which bear a striking analogy to the vine and its branches, but I
cannot take time to dwell upon them now, lest I wrong those who have
yet to address you. I think perhaps I have said enough to call your
attention to the subject and the Spirit will aid you to pursue it. My
earnest desire is that we may master this and all principles of the
Gospel, and make them our own eternal riches, through our Lord Jesus
Christ, Amen.

John Taylor, April 8, 1883

The Gospel Like Leaven—Labor Required of the Elders—Promises 
to Abraham—Honorable Men in the American Nation Formerly 
and Now—Liberty in Religion and the Elective Franchise 
Claimed As Rights—The Saints Cannot Afford to Do 
Wrong—Relationship to God—Exhortation.

Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, 
(Annual Conference) April 8th, 1883.

(Reported By Gibbs and Irvine)

vol. 24, p.123
We have had a very interesting Conference, and a great many very
excellent principles have been presented to the people. As I told the
Priesthood last evening we are occupying a very peculiar position in
the earth, a position that has not been of our own seeking. God has
set His hand to accomplish His purposes upon the earth, and for this
purpose He has revealed Himself from the heavens, as we have heard
since this Conference commenced. In pursuance of this He has
manifested Himself and His Son Jesus Christ, and has restored the Holy
Priesthood by and through the medium of a Priesthood, or various parts
of a Priesthood that existed in former ages—those holding that
everlasting Priesthood, which administers in time and in eternity,
have been commissioned from the heavens to come to the earth to bring
to pass the very things of which they themselves had prophesied.
Although we are, comparatively speaking, a small people, few in
number, [p.124] yet as it was in the days of Jesus so it is to-day.
The Gospel is like a little leaven put into a certain portion of meal,
and it is working and operating, and the ultimate result will be that
the whole lump will be leavened. Not that everybody that is in the
world will obey the Gospel; but the Lord will have His own way in
manipulating His affairs, and great tribulation will overtake the
inhabitants of the earth. As you have heard, really of the wicked will
slay the wicked; but after these things have taken place the good, the
honorable, the virtuous, the pure, those that are desirous to serve
God will all have their position, and that thing will be fulfilled
which was spoken of by Jesus—"Blessed are the meek for they shall
inherit the earth." The time will yet come when the Saints of the Most
High will take the kingdom and hold dominion under the whole heavens.
These are principles that are familiar to us all. In the meantime,
however, many important events have to take place, and a great labor
has to be performed, and will be performed by the agencies which have
been introduced by the Lord, and which will be hereafter introduced by
Him for the accomplishment of His purposes, and the bringing to pass
of His righteous will. For this purpose the Holy Priesthood has been
restored; for this purpose the message of life and salvation has been
proclaimed to the nations of the earth; for this purpose after the
reception of the Gospel, the people have been gathered together in
order that the Lord might have a people who would be under the
influence of His Holy Spirit. We have all been baptized by one
baptism, and have all partaken of the same Spirit, and wherever these
ordinances have been administered according to the order of God, and
have been received by the faithful among the nations of the earth,
these effects have always followed. I have been among the nations
myself, and I have baptized people and confirmed them at least in
three different languages, and the same spirit rested upon all of
those different peoples, and so it is throughout all nations. The Lord
has said he would gather together His elect from the four quarters of
the earth. And how does He do it? By operating upon the minds of those
who obey the Gospel. Jesus said in His day and it is true to-day—"My
sheep hear my voice and know it, and follow me and a stranger they
will not follow because they know not the voice of a stranger." It is
under the influence of this Spirit that we have been gathered
together. We used to sing:

vol. 24, p.124
Whither shall we follow, follow, follow; 
Whither shall we follow, follow thee? 
All the way to Zion, all the way to Zion, 
All the way to Zion, 
	We will follow thee.

vol. 24, p.124
What made you gather here? The impulse of the Spirit of the living
God, and you could not keep away. We have representatives here from
very many nations to-day. Here are Elders who have preached the Gospel
in many nations. A few years ago we had some twenty-five nationalities
represented at one of our public demonstrations. And thus our work is
to go on and spread and increase. The Apostles, the Seventies, the
Elders, and men who have received the light of truth, will spread
forth that light to others of the family of God throughout the world.
This is a labor resting upon the Elders of Israel, and until it is
accomplished we shall not have fat filled our mission here upon the
earth. Then, again, we have other  [p.125] works to perform associated
with the Church, with the Kingdom, and with the Zion of God. I think
sometimes that we as a people are a good deal sectarian in our
feelings, and it is necessary fox us occasionally to look at the pit
from whence we were dug, and the rock from whence we were hewn. We are
all too ready to cry out, as the sectarians do in their different
orders,

vol. 24, p.125
"The temple of the Lord, the temple of the 
	Lord, 
The temple of the Lord are we."

vol. 24, p.125
And we are apt to forget sometimes the mission that God has placed
upon us, which is a mission of mercy, a mission of light, a mission of
intelligence, a mission that is calculated to elevate the world of
mankind, even all those who will receive and obey it. It is not
intended for us alone; it is intended for all men. Who are the world,
and who are we? We say we are the children of God our Heavenly Father.
That is true; we are the children of God our Heavenly Father. And is
God our Father? The Scriptures say so. But what of the rest of the
world—say of this nation, and all other nations—what of them? Whose
children are they? They are also the children of our Heavenly Father,
and He is interested in their welfare as He is in ours; and as a kind
and beneficent father towards His children, He has been seeking from
generation to generation to promote the welfare, the happiness, and
the exaltation of the human family. And let me say here, that He is
the fountain of life, the fountain of light, and the fountain of
intelligence, as we used to say in the Church of England when I was a
little boy, and I suppose they say so now; it is He that hath made us,
and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture,"
He provides for us. We sometimes talk about the hand of God being over
us. Of course it is, and will be over us forever, if we will only
serve Him, for He is always true. But His hand is over the nations of
the earth also. He is interested in the welfare of this nation and all
other nations and all other peoples as well as in our welfare. What
was the greatest blessing conferred upon Abraham? One was that his
seed should be numerous as the stars of heaven, and as the sand upon
the sea shore. I do not know that he would have got along very well in
this land now a days; they would have been after him for polygamy.
People do not believe so much in these things now as they did
formerly. Nevertheless, the Lord told him to take another wife; but,
then, perhaps the Lord made a mistake, He had not strolled modern
Christianity; He was, to use the language of the advanced Christian,
behind the times. But whatever may be thought or said about it,
according to the record that has come down to us, He used to talk to
people in that day.

vol. 24, p.125
But let me refer you to another blessing connected with Abraham,
namely, that in him and his seed should all the nations of the earth
be blessed. Or, in other words, that God would honor him by making of
him and his seed agents through whom He would communicate truth,
intelligence and salvation to the world. It is said "the glory of God
is intelligence," and He is desirous to impart this intelligence to
the human family, that through it they may be exalted to the Godhead.
Abraham's posterity were to stand as messengers of God, as legates of
the skies, commissioned of the great Jehovah to proclaim His word to
fallen man, even to His [p.126] children; for God has made, we are
told, of one blood all the families of the earth, and has given unto
them a portion of His Spirit, if haply they would feel after Him,
although He is not far from any one of us. For in Him we live, and
move, and have our being. And under the influence of His Spirit man
has accomplished very much good; and to-day there are hosts of
honorable, upright men who in their hearts fear God, but they have not
yet found the right way. But in the providences of His mercy He has
gathered a people from the nations that they may be taught and
instructed in regard to the laws of life and salvation. And this has
been brought about in fulfillment of ancient prophecy. Jeremiah, for
instance, in referring to it said, that he would take them one of a
city and two of a family, and bring them to Zion. And what was He to
do with them when He should get them there? He would give them pastors
after His own heart who should feed them with knowledge and
understanding. And the same great event is referred to by other
Prophets.

vol. 24, p.126
I was very much pleased with the remarks made by Brother Erastus Snow,
with regard to our own nation, in which he said that it had been by
and through the power of Almighty God, and in accordance with the
words of the Lord as contained in the Book of Mormon, that the people
were, in the first place, impelled to come here, and after coming
here, to contend for human freedom upon this land; and it was by and
through the power of God, that the fathers of this country framed the
Declaration of Independence, and also that great palladium of human
rights, the Constitution of the United States. There is nothing of the
bigoted, narrow, contracted feeling about that instrument; it is broad
and comprehensive. And they had a bell in Philadelphia, which I, and
perhaps many of you have seen, upon which was written, "Proclaim
liberty throughout the land, and to all the inhabitants thereof;" but
I was sorry to see that the bell was cracked. I suppose it got cracked
after the grand effort that was made to proclaim liberty throughout
the land; and I have thought since that it has not been soldered up
yet. But with all the weaknesses and imperfections associated with
men, the government of this nation has been a great bulwark for human
freedom, and I felt proud at the time when Mr. Edmunds, with his
colleagues, introduced his bill, known as the Edmunds' bill, that
there was such a number of gentlemen who had the manhood and the moral
courage to oppose it in the bold and manly way in which they did,
showing plainly that they cherished in their bosoms the principles
contained in the Constitution. I respect such men, and they command
the respect and esteem of all honorable, right-thinking people. They
could afford to render themselves unpopular in the eyes of religious
bigots and fanatical politicians, but they could not afford to be
amongst those that are ready to tear down the bulwarks of human
freedom, and trail in the dust the flag of our country. They did not
believe in our religion. Of course, that is a matter of their own, it
is none of our business, neither is our religion any of their
business, which they understand and appreciate. There are two things
that I have felt very decided upon ever since I could comprehend
anything; one was that I would worship God as I pleased without
anybody's dictation; [p.127] and that I would dictate to no man his
faith, neither should any man dictate to me my faith; and the other
was that I would vote as I pleased. And I entertain the same
sentiments to-day. When the Commissioners, operating under the
Edmunds' law, made their extraordinary rulings and authorized the
administering of the test oath, declaring who should vote and who
should not, I could not help remarking that people were acting very
foolishly, that they did not know what they were doing; but whether
they knew it or not their attempts to wrest from this people their
rights and liberties, were no more or less than indirect attempts to
tear down the bulwarks of American liberty. But in this inexcusable
attack upon human rights and the principles of liberty we can take no
part. What then will we do? They have no right, it is true, to
interfere with us in the way they have done; they have no right, it is
true, to prohibit us from voting without a hearing and without a
trial; they have no right, it is true, to present to us a test oath,
it being illegal and contrary to our rights as American citizens. But
we will submit gracefully for the time being, withdraw from the polls,
rather than act in the capacity of obstructionists; and when the time
comes we will test these proceedings according to the laws of the
land, and the principles of liberty guaranteed by the Constitution of
the United States, which we recognize and respect. Have we yielded up
our franchises? No, we have not. Will we ever do it? No, never; no,
never. Have we in the least backed down from the principles by which
we have been guided from the beginning? No; we still mean to live by
them and to maintain them, and to contend for our rights, not by
dynamite or nitroglycerine, but to, do so legally and
constitutionally, not only in defense of our own rights, but the
rights and liberties of our children and those of every free man
throughout the land. This is the course we purpose taking.

vol. 24, p.127
As I before stated we have been called from the nations of the earth
by Him who is our Father, we being His children. And He has told us to
ask, and we shall receive. He has told us to seek and we shall find;
to knock and it shall be opened to us. Very well. What shall we do? We
will use the best means we can to defend our rights; and after we have
done this we will then go to our Heavenly Father and ask Him to help
us. Will He do it? Yes. Has He done it? Yes, and we acknowledge His
hand in regard to these things. He has heard our prayers without
noise, without tumult. He has told us thus far that if we will
continue to obey Him and to observe His laws, He will deliver us and
direct us even to the end. And we need have no fears whatever about
the result. He has promised us that inasmuch as we do His will and
keep His commandments, He will fight our battles. And I feel confident
and perfectly easy, and I felt just as easy during the furore and
commotion that raged through the land a few months ago as I do today;
knowing, as I do, that if we will perform our part, the Lord will not
fail to do His. Because others act foolishly we cannot afford to
imitate them. We profess to be the Zion of God, the pure in heart. We
profess to be men and women of integrity, of truth and virtue, and to
have faith in God. This must not only be our profession, but our
practice; we must carry out and fulfill the word and [p.128] will and
law of God. Jesus taught His disciples how to pray. Said He: "Our
Father who art in heaven." That is, your Father and my Father, the God
and Father of the spirits of all flesh. "Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name," O, God, we reverence thee; we observe thy law,
and we wish to keep thy commandments, and purge ourselves from all
evil, that we may be acceptable to time. "Hallowed be thy name; thy
kingdom come." We reverence thee, O, God, mid attribute to thee all
that we have in this world, and all that we expect to have in the
eternities to come. "Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come." Thy
what? Thy kingdom come. That is the rule of God, the government of
God, the dominion of God, the time when men will not be ashamed to
acknowledge God as their Father, their friend and benefactor. "Thy
kingdom come." When all will submit to thy rule, to thy law, to thy
jurisdiction, to thy dominion; that thy will may be done on earth as
it is done in heaven. How was it done in heaven? God spake, chaos
heard, and this world rolled into existence; and so did other worlds
under the same divine impulse and power. And all those systems that
revolve around us were made and are upheld by the mighty power of God,
who governs in the heavens above, and upon the earth beneath, and
among the worlds. Whether men acknowledge that or not, the time will
come on this earth when every knee shall bow to Him, and every tongue
shall confess that Jesus is the Christ, to the glory of God the
Father. That time will come. It is not here now; but as I have said He
has introduced this Gospel as the entering wedge, as the little leaven
by which he can operate, that He may have a people under the influence
of the Holy Ghost, a people that can hold communion with him, like so
many thousand strings penetrating the eternal worlds and drawing down
blessings from the Almighty, drawing fire, and life, and intelligence
from Him; for we ourselves are sparks struck from the blaze of His
eternal fire, emanating, from God our Father, and we wish to operate
with Him and for Him and under His guidance, for the accomplishment of
His purposes here upon the earth. This is what we are here for. Now I
come to another point. We pray "Thy will be done on earth as it is
done in heaven." How is it done there? As I said, God spake, chaos
heard, and the world rolled into existence, and it is supported by the
mighty power of God, and who can stay His hand. Do you think that if
all the Legislatures, all the Congresses, all the Parliaments, and all
the Reichstags, all the Chambers of Deputies and Senates of the earth
were to get together and pass a decree that the sun should rise five
or ten minutes, or half an hour later or earlier than it does—do you
think it would have any effect upon it! I do not think it would—I
think it would still go on in its usual course, and they would feel
that they were dependent upon God. Do the world know that in Him we
live and move and have our being? Does this congregation know that
there is not one of them could leave this house unless God permitted
it and sustained them in so doing? Do the nations of the earth
comprehend that they are in His hands, and that he puts down one
nation and raises up another according to the counsels of His will,
and none can say, "Why doest thou thus." What have we to do? To begin
with, we [p.129] should deal justly and honorably with all men, and
should seek to protect all men in their rights so far as we have the
power to do so, and then to maintain our own on the same principle.
And what then? Fear God and observe His laws, and we ought every one
of us to place ourselves in communication with the Lord, and He has
tried to make us understand this, but it seems very difficult for us
to do so. It was in former times, and it is now. He says, "ask and ye
shall receive." Is it not a very simple thing? "Seek and ye shall
find." Is it not very easy. "Knock and it shall be opened unto you."
But says He, you do not understand it aright. Now, let me mention a
thing to you. If a child ask of you bread, would you give it a
stone—you fathers and you mothers? I think not. If the child asked a
fish would you give it a scorpion." Why, no. The mother would say,
"Sammy, or Mary," as the case might be, "you want some bread—well I
will give you some with butter and molasses." The mother would try to
meet the wishes of the children, and sometimes give them a little
candy to boot. Now, then, says the Lord, "If ye then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your
Father which is in heaven give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him."
It is very plain when you get at it, and it is very simple, and people
wonder sometimes, they think it an astonishing thing that God should
hear people's prayers. Why, bless your souls, that is the strongest
fort we have, and when we set into any difficulty in the nation or
anywhere else, we humble ourselves before the Lord—and we all need to
do this, for we all have our weaknesses and imperfections; and it is
necessary that He should be very merciful to us. And He is, and knows
how to bear with us. We need also to know how to bear with one
another, and to place ourselves in communion with God, and in doing
this to purge ourselves from everything that is wrong and evil. And I
tell you—you Elders of Israel, you brethren and you sisters, that if
you will begin to do the will of God on the earth as it is done in
heaven, the power and blessing of God will rest upon you and upon this
people, and no power will be able to injure you from this time forth.
God expects us to do His will, to carry out his purposes, and if His
will is ever done on the earth as it is done in heaven, where in
creation will it start, if it does not start here? Let every man put
himself right, and every woman and every family do the same, and all
the Priesthood in all its various departments and ramifications, and
let every one walk up to the line and perform his duty, and in the
name of Israel's God, Zion shall arise and shine, and the, glory of
God shall rest upon her. Our progress is onward and upward, until the
kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our God and His Christ,
and loud anthems be sounded from among the nations—glory and honor and
power and might and majesty and dominion be ascribed unto Him that
sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and forever. Amen.
[p.130]

Geo. Q. Cannon, May 27, 1883

Improvement Among the People—Interest Manifested by the World 
in the "Mormons"—Evidences of Divinity in the Work—Same 
Effects Follow the Gospel in Different Ages—Authority 
Restored—Proofs of Joseph Smith's Divine Mission—
Persecutions Endured By the Saints—Reasons 
for the Same

Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, 
May 27th, 1883.

(Reported By John Irvine)

vol. 24, p.130
It is some weeks since I have had the opportunity of meeting with the
Saints in this Tabernacle. Our time has been spent in visiting the
various settlements north and south, and has been spent most agreeably
in holding quarterly conferences. A great change has been effected in
our Territory within the past few years in furnishing facilities for
traveling to and fro and visiting the settlements which were once
quite remote from this city. I have no doubt that these visits are
appreciated by the people who are visited. They certainly are by those
who make the visits. The growth and the development of the people,
their increase in the knowledge of those principles that pertain to
salvation as well as to this earthly existence, is so apparent that it
is exceedingly gratifying to witness it. The Lord is very visibly
working out His great designs and purposes in connection with this
work with which we are identified. Every one who is connected with the
work and who realizes its character does seek, as I believe by
observation, more diligently to comprehend the nature of the duties
and responsibilities which rest upon him or her. The various
organizations in the shape of Primary Associations, of Sunday Schools,
of Mutual Improvement Associations, of Relief Societies, as well as
the meetings of the various quorums of the Priesthood, are all having
a very marked effect as I can observe myself, upon the people. I
probably am in a better position than many to judge of the effect of
these organizations; for the reason that it has not been my privilege
to visit the settlements of late years so extensively as some of my
brethren. I notice a great increase of zeal, of devotion, and above
all, of knowledge concerning the work of the Lord and the labors
connected therewith. And I am thankful that this is so, for certainly
with the increase of the facilities to which I have referred in our
Territory, there has been a corresponding increase of evils which have
to be contended with and overcome, and knowledge and understanding and
wisdom are necessary on the part of the  Latter-day Saints to enable
them to cope successfully [p.131] with these evils. In our former
condition of isolation it was not a matter of such great moment for
the people to be trained as they now are. They were not exposed to the
influences of an adverse and hostile character like they are to-day.
With the change in circumstances there has come a corresponding
change, it may be said, in strictness of organization, and, as I have
remarked, I am happy to say a corresponding increase of knowledge. We
have many things to cope with at the present time, which those who
resided here 25 years ago knew little or nothing about. And it is an
excellent feature of this system which God has established, that it is
so admirably adapted to all the circumstances which may surround the
children of men. God bestows wisdom according to the occasion and to
the necessities of the case, and He gives strength and power to those
who seek after them in the right spirit. He has done so from the
beginning and He will do so until the end.

vol. 24, p.131
When the Elders of this Church have gone forth and preached the
Gospel, calling upon the inhabitants of the earth to believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ and repent of their sins and to be baptized for the
remission of them, those who submitted to these requirements received
the strength and the grace necessary to enable them to contend with
the difficulties which immediately surrounded them. God poured out His
spirit upon them. God gave unto them a testimony concerning the truth
of the work with which they had identified themselves. He gave unto
them the strength necessary to overcome all the obstacles which laid
in their pathway, and they were filled with joy and peace, and from
that day until the present the man or the woman who has thus bowed in
submission to the requirements of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
has been sustained, upheld, strengthened and delivered. The strength
and the grace, the gifts and the blessings which God has promised have
been abundantly bestowed and have made the individual who has received
them equal to every emergency. And that which is true concerning
individuals is true concerning this entire people in their collective
capacity. As difficulties have increased, as obstacles have had to be
overcome, and the condition of affairs has changed and seemingly grown
more threatening, they have had strength and grace and power given
unto them commensurate with the trials they have had to meet. And
God's hand has thus been manifested in the most wonderful manner in
the eyes of those who believe and who have had faith, and they have
had causes for thanksgiving and praise to God every day that they have
lived.

vol. 24, p.131
Now, the whole work from its inception until the present time is a
marvel and a wonder. It may be termed phenomenal in the earth. It is
unlike anything else that we know of. It differs from every other
system that is extant among men. There are features connected with it
which cannot be witnessed anywhere else. Human nature exhibits itself,
it may be said, in new forms. Characteristics are developed in
connection with this work which may truly be said to be unique. You
cannot witness their exhibition among any other people, nor in any
other land. And it is a remarkable thing that though the Latter-day
Saints number so few, comparatively speaking, there is no topic to-day
that can be broached in the hearing of any of the people of
Christendom [p.132] that excites the interest that "Mormonism" does.
And yet if you ask men the reason of this, it would be difficult for
them to account for it. They only know that the fact exists; that to
them and to the word at large it is a topic of unflagging interest.
The "Mormons" are looked upon as a peculiar people. Let a "Mormon"
travel anywhere in the United States or in Europe or in other lands,
and it be known that he is a "Mormon," he will attract more attention
than any other man. Why is this? Is it because the people are so
numerous? Is it because they are so wealthy? Is it because they
exercise such political power? Is it because they wield such influence
in the affairs of the children of men! No, it cannot be said that any
of these causes exist to any extent. The "Mormons" are not a numerous
people. The "Mormons" are not a wealthy people. The "Mormons" do not
wield political influence to any extent, nor influence of any other
character outside of their own society. What, then, is it that
constitutes this, I may say, attractiveness or this interest in men's
minds concerning this organization? "Oh," says one, "it is because you
marry more wives than one. You believe in plural marriage, and that
excites interest and causes talk and attracts attention; it is that
that makes you so noticeable." 

vol. 24, p.132
Perhaps so. But it is not many years since we did not believe in this,
since it was not a practice of this Church, and yet in those days a
"Mormon" was as much an object of curiosity as he is to-day—that is,
in proportion to the celebrity that, attended the name. "Mormonism"
was as much talked about according to the extent it was known as it is
to-day. It excited as much curiosity. It aroused as much hatred. It
called forth as much persecution, in fact, the most severe persecution
that, as a people, we have ever endured, we received prior to the
announcement by our Church that we believed in this peculiar doctrine.
I have no doubt that our espousal and advocacy of this doctrine has
given us considerable notoriety. It has added to our celebrity. But
our celebrity has not consisted alone in this. As I have remarked, our
organization aroused as deep antipathies prior to the revelation of
this doctrine as it has ever done since.

vol. 24, p.132
Now, we have our own method of accounting for this great interest that
is taken in this work. It is admitted too freely for the truth that we
are an illiterate people. It is said that we are under the control of
impostors, shrewd men, who lead the masses and bend them to their
will. This is said concerning us everywhere. To account for the
ingathering of the people from the nations of the earth men have
recourse to many theories, or to several at least, one of which is
that our Elders go out to the ignorant and unlearned and the
down-trodden, and depict in glowing colors the beauties of this land
of ours and the blessings that they will receive if they will only
gather here; and that by these glowing tales and by persuading them
that they can have all the wives they want when they come here, they
induce the ignorant hordes of Europe to come to this country. This is
one of the popular methods of accounting for the ingathering of the
people from the nations of the earth and their adhesion to the
"Mormon" cause.

vol. 24, p.132
Well, now, if this were true, I would consider it one of the greatest
[p.133] miracles ever wrought among men, for this reason, that people
influenced by such notions could not be held together in a land like
this. It would be an impossibility to bind people together in such
bonds as exist among the Latter-day Saints in Utah Territory, if they
were people of this character. They would fall to pieces by their own
corruptions. There would not be any cementing influence among them to
hold them together one month if these were the influences which drew
them here. But no observing man or woman who travels through this
Territory, and mingles with the people can be deceived by any such
nonsense as this. They would see in a few days that there was some
other influence, that there was some other power, that there was a
principle of union among this people that could not originate in such
a system as "Mormonism" is popularly represented to be.

vol. 24, p.133
What, then, is it that causes the Latter-day Saints to be so much
noticed? What is it that has drawn them together from the various
nations of the earth and produced this phenomenal condition of affairs
that we witness here? Is it the shrewdness of men? Is it the power and
authority of men? Then for God's sake and for the sake of suffering
humanity, let some men band themselves together and do, in the name of
God and true religion, that which the Latter-day Saints are accused of
doing in the name of imposture and false religion. Here is an
opportunity for Christendom to test this matter. They have learning,
they have wealth, they have everything at their back—the popular
sects, who claim to be orthodox and to worship God according to the
Bible, and to divine truth, have all these—if they can do, in the name
of God and true religion, that which we are doing, as they say, in the
name of a false religion and as impostors, let them go to work, unite
themselves together, and accomplish something like this for the sake
of suffering humanity. The Latter-day Saints are gathered from the
nations of the earth—the poor, the unlearned, the ignorant. Our Elders
preached the Gospel to them as they understood it, and under its
influence and by its influence they are successful in gathering out a
few. This Territory is being peopled by them. They are being taught
how to live, how to better their earthly condition, how to improve
their minds, how to acquire sound education and sound knowledge; they
are being taught to live in love, in peace, to avoid litigation, to
avoid strife, to avoid contention, to avoid everything of this
character, and to love one another. How successful we are in this let
those who travel through the Territory bear testimony. If we had our
way there would be no drinking saloons from Franklin in the north to
St. George in the south. If the courts would let us have our way, we
would banish drunkenness from our land, or rather we would keep it
from our land as we did in the beginning, for there was a time when
there was nothing of the kind to be witnessed. But, unfortunately for
us, it seems, some of our charters were defective. We found we did not
have the power that we thought we had. The courts ruled against us,
against the exercise of such power as we wielded, and we were
compelled to let down the bars. Hence in Ogden, in Salt Lake City, and
perhaps in some other few places, there are drinking saloons. But if
we had our way, as Latter-day Saints, there would be no drinking
saloons, there would be no houses of ill fame, [p.134] there would be
no gambling saloons, there would be nothing of this character
permitted in our cities or in our settlements. We would not only be
free from litigation and strife, as I have said we are as a people,
but we would be free from those other evils, those other vices.

vol. 24, p.134
Now, we know very well that according to the word of God as it has
come down to us in this sacred volume [the Bible] union and love were
two of the great characteristics that attended the preaching of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. "By this," says one of the Apostles, "we know
that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the
brethren." Jesus taught His disciples to be one. He prayed to the
Father that they might be one as He and the Father were one, and not
only that they might be one, but that those who should believe in
their words might be one also. That prayer of the Savior was answered
upon His disciples. They were distinguished everywhere for their
oneness and for their love, and wherever they went preaching the
Gospel that Jesus committed unto them, those who obeyed their teaching
and submitted to the ordinances which they administered, received the
same spirit.

vol. 24, p.134
Now, it is a remarkable feature of this organization called the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that the same effects follow the
proclamation of its principles; not in one land, but in every land
where it has been carried by the Elders of this Church.

vol. 24, p.134
When Joseph Smith in his youth had revealed to him that God was about
to restore the old Gospel in its ancient power and simplicity, and
accompanied by its ancient gifts, and was told that the authority to
administer its ordinances should also be restored, it seemed, I
suppose, to look at it naturally at that time, as though it would be
an impossible, thing to accomplish. The earth was full of religion, so
called. There were any number of men professing to be followers of
Jesus Christ, any number of men professing to be His ministers,
professing to have the power and authority to administer the
ordinances of His Church, until men were actually confused and
distracted in their thoughts—and especially when they came to select
the form of doctrine that they wanted to espouse—by the multiplicity
of sects, each one claiming to be the true church of Christ. But
Joseph Smith was told that this would be the effect when God would
reveal His Gospel. It was foreshadowed to him in the plainest possible
manner that which we now behold. The effect of the preaching of the
true Gospel would be that persecution would be aroused. He was shown
the hatred he would have to contend with, and all the adverse
influences that have had to be overcome from that day until the
present. Joseph Smith was told that there was no authority upon the
face of the earth to administer the ordinances of the, Gospel of Jesus
Christ. He was told that there was no church which God recognized as
His own, while there were many that had parts of the truth, portions
of the Gospel. There was no church which God acknowledged amid the
multiplicity of sects as His. He was told to wait until the Lord
should give the power and communicate the authority. Now, though he
had received this communication from heavenly messengers, Joseph Smith
did not presume to take one step towards  organizing a church because
of the fact that he had received communications of this [p.135]
character. According to popular ideas, if a man had received a
communication of this kind from heaven it would have been sufficient
justification to him to have gone to work and organized a church. But
he did not do this. He waited, and a heavenly messenger, as he
testifies, came and laid his hands upon his head and ordained him to
the authority that was necessary for man to hold in order to baptize
his fellow-men in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.
When he received that authority he commenced to baptize, and not till
then. But there was still a power lacking. The Apostles had a power
beyond that which John the Baptist exercised. John said, "I indeed
baptize you with water unto repentance; but he that cometh after me is
mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize
you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire"—referring to the Savior. And
when He came He came in the authority of the Melchisedek Priesthood,
as it is termed. John held merely the authority to baptize for
remission of sins. But he could not lay on hands for the reception of
the Holy Ghost. And when, on one occasion after the death of the
Savior, Philip went and preached the Gospel to Samaria, and people
were converted and baptized, he did baptize them, but he did not lay
on bands for the reception of the Holy Ghost. He did not have,
apparently, the authority to do so. But when the Apostles heard that
people in Samaria had received the Gospel, they sent unto them Peter
and John, who, when they came, laid their hands upon them and they
received the Holy Ghost. In like manner Joseph Smith received the
authority by divine or by heavenly administration to baptize men for
the remission of their sins, but he had not then the authority to lay
on hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost. He afterwards did
receive it, as he testifies, through the administration of the three
Apostles, who presided over the Twelve in the days that they lived
upon the earth, namely, Peter, James and John; they came to him and
laid their hands upon him and ordained him to the Apostleship, the
same authority that they themselves held, and authorized him to go
forth and to build up the Church of Christ as it was built up in
ancient days; and then having baptized people he commenced to lay on
hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost.

vol. 24, p.135
"But," says one, "I do not believe in the administration of angels. I
think that angels have ceased to come. While I believe that many
ancient servants of God did receive the administration of angels, I
think they have ceased to administer, and when I hear people assert
that they have not, it always creates in my mind a feeling of doubt,
and I think anybody an imposter who asserts he has received the
administration of angels in these days."

vol. 24, p.135
Perhaps so. But suppose that the statement that Joseph Smith says the
angel made to him should be true—that there was no church upon the
face of the earth whom God recognized as His, and whose acts He
acknowledged—suppose this were true, and that from the Catholic Church
down to the last church that was organized there was no one church
that held the authority in its primitive power and purity—suppose this
were so, how in the world can the authority be restored unless
heavenly messengers do come and bring it from heaven? If the
Priesthood, and the authority, power and gifts of the Priesthood were
taken [p.136] from the earth and taken back to heaven, how can man
ever receive it again unless some beings from the heavenly world come
and restore it to man again? You can readily see that if you grant one
proposition, the other must necessarily follow. There must be divine
communication from heaven or the authority could not be restored. But
how shall we tell that it is restored—by what signs? What are the
evidences by which we can judge of the restoration of this divine
power?

vol. 24, p.136
Joseph Smith went forth and he ordained other men to go forth—gave
them the authority under God, he being commanded of God to impart this
authority to others who were suitable, on the same principle that
Moses imparted the authority to Aaron, "being called of God as was
Aaron." And they went forth and called upon the people to believe in
Jesus and to repent of their sins, and to be baptized for the
remission of them, and they promised them that if they would believe
in Jesus Christ, repent of their sins and be baptized in His name for
a remission of them, they should receive the Holy Ghost, and it should
produce the same effects upon them in these days that it did upon
those who received it anciently. Now, here was a promise that no man
that we know anything about was authorized to give aside from him. In
all the churches of which we have any knowledge, there has yet to be
heard the promise made by one of its ministers to the humble believer
who submits to its ordinances, that he shall receive the Holy Ghost as
they did in ancient days, with its accompanying gifts and blessings
and powers. But. Joseph Smith made this promise. The world have the
opportunity of testing it. If people did not receive the Holy Ghost,
then he was an impostor. If they did receive it, then his ministry was
sealed by the power of God, and it was indisputable. The best possible
means was given to the human family of testing his claims and his
statements. He was either an impostor, trying to deceive the people,
or he was a man of God, for it cannot be supposed that heaven would
lend itself to an imposture, or that heaven would aid in any manner in
fostering a deception. But wherever the Elders of this Church have
gone preaching this Gospel, declaring unto the people these tidings,
there have been men and women who have come forward and submitted to
the ordinances which they administered, and who testify, in the name
of Jesus Christ, that they did receive the promised blessings; and
they have gathered out from the various nations of Europe, some from
Asia, some from far-off Africa and the islands of the sea, and every
State in the United States; they have gathered out, until now they are
numbered by thousands and tens of thousands throughout these valleys,
and wherever you mingle with the people and talk to them, either in
their own habitations, by their firesides, in the streets, in the
public gatherings, or wherever they may be, the universal testimony of
these people called Latter-day Saints is that they, in obedience to
the requirements which were communicated unto them by the servants of
God, received the promised blessings, and the Holy Spirit has been
poured out upon them, and the gifts thereof have rested down upon
them. And as an evidence of this we see this union that I have spoken
of. We witness this love. We see the gathering of the people
together. We see such a love as is [p.137] unexampled anywhere upon
the face of the earth—the love that exists in the midst of the
Latter-day Saints in these mountains. You may traverse the wide earth
and go to every religious denomination, and even to those of Pagan
belief, and nowhere else will you see such an exhibition as this I
have spoken of, as you witness here. And yet these people are
illiterate. These people are unlearned. These people are weak. These
people have come from various nations of the earth. These people have
been brought up in different creeds, belonging to different churches,
speaking different languages, they have been trained in different
habits; not of one nation, not of one form of thought, not gathered
together from one township, or from one neighborhood, but from various
nations and neighborhoods with this diversity of belief—that is, of
former belief and education and training. Now, what would this
principle accomplish amongst a more homogeneous people than ours?—a
people more united than ours originally, more one in thought and
training—what, I say, would this principle accomplish among such a
people as this that I allude to? Why, we can imagine what it will be
in years to come, as the rising generations of this people grow to
manhood and womanhood under the influence of this principle—we can
imagine what the results will be a people banded together as no other
people upon the face of the earth are by the bowls of the new and
everlasting covenant, by the bonds of the Holy Priesthood that God has
restored to the earth, and by the administration of those divine
ordinances which constituted the power of the Church of Christ when it
was upon the earth. It is the old Gospel restored again. You cannot
point to a single feature that characterized the Gospel of Jesus as it
was administered by His Apostles that is not to be witnessed among the
Latter-day Saints—not a single feature. I defy the world to point to a
single one. Every characteristic that made it great, that made it a
power in the earth, that made it divine, belongs to this Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Were the ancient Saints persecuted?
So are we. Did they die for the truth of their principles? So have
many of our people. Did they have to flee from their homes? Were they
driven by their enemies because of their religion. So have we had to
flee from our homes in this nineteenth century, in this land of
boasted liberty, the proudest nation and the freest nation upon the
face of the globe—we have had to flee to these mountains and take
refuge here because we believed in those ancient principles, and
because we contended for the restoration of this ancient power. And
now even in these mountains our homes are envied and men would destroy
us; not because we are vile; not because we do injury to our fellows;
not because our land is a land of wickedness, because it is not; not
because we are full of strife and war upon our neighbors and seek to
destroy them; not because of any of these things is our destruction
sought; but because we believe that God has spoken from the heavens;
because we believe in a Church that has Prophets and Apostles, and has
the Holy Ghost and its gifts in it; because we believe in living
together in love and not fighting each other, and are not pitted
against each other in parties; and because of this we are considered
dangerous, and our existence is considered a menace to our neighbors.
Hear and think of it! That [p.138] a people with the virtues that I
declare we possess, are looked upon as a menace to our neighbors, and
that our destruction is a desirable thing.

vol. 24, p.138
Now, while we do not profess to have the faith that we should have—we
could all do with more—yet it is the aim, it is the object of the
teachings of the Elders of this Church to endeavor to instill into the
minds of the people faith in God, to have them contend earnestly, as
the Scriptures say, "for the faith which was once delivered to the
Saints." While this is the aim and the object of the teachings of the
Elders—and we are well aware of the weakness of the people—yet we do
testify, in the most solemn manner, that God has restored the ancient
gifts that were in the Church. The sick are healed. There are hundreds
of families in this Territory, thousands of them who never think of
anything else but sending for the Elders, as the Apostle James said
they should do, in cases of sickness. "Is any sick among you? let him
call for the Elders of the Church; and let them pray over him,
anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of
faith shall save the sick," said the Apostle. Now, among the people
called Latter-day Saints, this is an almost universal practice, and we
solemnly testify that—while we are far from being what we should be,
far from having that faith we should have—there are numerous instances
of the sick being healed by the laying on of hands. You know this, my
brethren and sisters. Not only have the sick been healed, but the
blind have been restored to sight, the deaf have been made to hear,
and the power of God has been manifested in accordance with the
promises he has made. And it is the outpouring of the Spirit in this
manner, the confirmation of God's promises upon the people, that makes
the Latter-day Saints so united. It is not the strength of imposture.
It is not the delusion of shrewd men. It is not because wicked men
have deceived this people. It would be impossible to hold them
together under such conditions. To do so would be a greater miracle
than that which we now behold in the existence of the people. To see a
people united together and scattered as they are over this extent of
territory held together by a few impostors,—no, such a thing is
abhorrent to reason. No man with reason can believe such a statement,
and accept that as the solution of this organization—that is, of the
problem connected with it. No man can think it. There is something
more than this. There is some power beyond this; for, as I have said,
if it were not so, we should have some exhibition on the part of good
men in establishing such a system as we now behold. One would think
they would show their power in organizing. But it is the outpouring of
the Spirit of God. Men and women and children, throughout all the
congregations of the Latter-day Saints in all these settlements, if
they had the opportunity, would bear solemn testimony, in the name of
Jesus Christ, that they did receive those promised blessings, that
that was the cause of their continuing their association with the
people of God, and that that was the reason of their gathering with
them to this land or of their coming here.

vol. 24, p.138
Now, I know that in talking in this strain it may sound strange to
many who have no knowledge of these things. They may think it a very
strange thing that men should testify in our day concerning the
existence  of these things. But let [p.139] me ask you: Where is the
man of God of whom we have any account in this book, from Genesis to
Revelation, that did not have communication with God? Where is there
one? Not one. You have no account of a single individual who was a
servant of God from the days of Adam, our father, to John the
Revelator, who did not have communication from our Father in Heaven.
God communicated with the people always when they were faithful.

vol. 24, p.139
"But," says one, "we have none now, and we have not had, and therefore
God has ceased to communicate His mind and His will to His children."

vol. 24, p.139
Do not deceive yourselves. This is the cry of men who themselves are
destitute of this power and of this knowledge, and who take this means
of accounting for it, and of making people believe that the present
condition of things is the condition that should exist and that God
designed to exist.

vol. 24, p.139
I do not wish to reflect upon any other body of people or upon any
sect; I believe there are thousands of excellent people in the
world—people as good as any that are numbered in the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints—scattered through all the sects and in the
Pagan world and in the infidel world. I do not confine my feelings of
admiration to those who believe even in Jesus, the Son of God, whom I
view as my Redeemer and my Savior. I believe that there are thousands,
and it may be said millions of well-meaning, good people, whom God
loves, that are numbered among the Pagans and that are numbered among
the infidels to Christianity. But at the same time while I thus
believe, I know that God has revealed His everlasting Gospel to be
preached to the inhabitants of the earth, and when light comes, if men
reject it, condemnation follows. And this is the condemnation of our
present generation. A great prophet has arisen in their midst. They do
not believe it. They do not believe that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of
God. They basely and cowardly slew him. Yet he was a Prophet of God,
just as much as Elijah, or as Isaiah was, or as any of the ancient
Prophets were, and he has founded a system that will grow, that will
increase, that will yet be the dominating power in the earth, because
the promises of God are to this effect. And this is the sin of this
generation. This man came in their midst bringing to them gifts from
God, bringing to them a message of love and salvation, and they
cruelly and basely slew him in the most abominable manner. But like
all the Prophets, his blood has not been avenged. Who ever heard of
people being punished for killing a Prophet? Who ever heard of the
people turning round and punishing his murderers? Such a case is not
known in the history of the world. And it is true concerning Joseph
Smith. His blood stains the soil of one of the sovereign States of the
nation. He was slain under the pledged honor of that State that he
should be protected, and yet his murderers have never been punished.
And as I say, this is the sin of this generation. A church was
organized by the command of God, and members of that; church have been
cruelly treated. They have been driven from their homes. Their pathway
has been marked by the graves of those who have died in consequence of
their suffering. Our track can be traced, or could be traced front
Illinois by the graves of our people—[p.140] men, women and
children—who died of suffering, because they chose to worship God
according to the dictates of their own consciences. And who is there
that has raised bis voice and said one word against, this? A few men
have done so—a few honorable men—have protested against it; but the
great body of the people have assented to it, and have not only
assented to it, but they have endeavored to follow us to our retired
homes here and destroy us. They are not content we should live in this
wilderness land which we found so dreadful, in many respects, and so
hard to conquer. We have come here. We have conquered. We have subdued
the land by continuous, persistent, and unlimited toil, and we will
not cease our exertions to make this a beautiful land, and to extend
hospitality to all who visit us. But we have been envied our little
possessions—the fruits of our toil, the hard earnings of the last 35
years; we have been envied these; and there are those who think that
the best thing that could be done with us is to extirpate us from the
face of the earth, blot us out of existence. Now, I say that this is
the sin of this generation. God has sent a mighty Prophet who
predicted, among other things, the civil war that took place in 1861.
It is on record in this book (the Book of Doctrine and Covenants).
Joseph Smith warned this nation of it—twenty-eight years before it
occurred. He told them the cause of it, and the consequences that
would follow. This great Prophet has been in their midst, and they
have slain him, and have destroyed as far as possible those who
believe in his doctrine. God will hold this generation to a strict
accountability for these acts, just as sure as He did the generation
who slew the Apostles and those who lived contemporaneous with the
Apostles. We may be a feeble people, but we are God's people; no more
than our fellow men in some respects, only so far as we obey His laws
more than they do; but nevertheless we are God's people, and God will
not allow His children to be slain without cause, nor be cruelly
treated. He reigns in the heavens. I thank God that He has revealed
himself, and that we know Him. He reigns. His justice never sleeps. We
will be protected and preserved, and His anger will he poured out upon
those who have merited it by their transgression. We therefore call
upon them in the name of Jesus, to repent of their sins, to turn away
from wickedness and return to righteousness. And if they desire to
know whether we tell the truth, let them go to God in the name of
Jesus and ask Him, and we will be satisfied with the answer. That is
what our Elders tell everybody wherever they go. They tell them to ask
God in the name of Jesus, whether the testimony they bear be true or
false. Is not this fair? Certainly it is. 

vol. 24, p.140
May God help you, my brethren and sisters and friends, to receive the
truth and to cling to it all your lives, to love it more than life
itself, that in the end you may be saved and exalted in the Kingdom of
God. Amen. [p.141]

Geo. Q. Cannon, May 6, 1883

Blessings Enjoyed By the Saints—Improvement—A Perfect Law—
What Would Result If the Saints Obeyed the Word of God 
in All Things—Perfect Organization of the Church—
No Excuse for the Saints Who Sin—How Satan 
Can Be Bound—Exemption From Disease 
As a Reward—Exhortation.

Delivered at the Quarterly Stake Conference, held in Logan, 
Cache County, Sunday Morning, May 6th, 1883.

(Reported By John Irvine)

vol. 24, p.141
I feel greatly pleased at the opportunity of meeting once more with
the Saints in Conference in this place. It is nearly two years since I
have had this privilege, during which time many important events have
transpired. There is one thing, however, connected with the work of
God which is very gratifying, that notwithstanding the perils through
which we have passed, though our liberties have been menaced, and the
perpetuity of the institutions of the kingdom of God have to human
appearances been endangered, we still meet together this day in this
Tabernacle unembarrassed from the efforts of our enemies and free to
worship our God according to the dictates of our own consciences. This
land to which God led us and in which He has planted us is still a
land of liberty to us and to all those who are of our faith. To me
this is a cause of profound thankfulness, for it is an evidence that
God has not forgotten us, that the promises which he has made are
still kept in remembrance by Him, and that as a people we have been
living so as to receive the fulfillment of those promises and the
benefits which flow from them. And there is no doubt in my mind that
if the Latter-day Saints will still continue to do as they have done,
will be faithful to God, and to the covenants we have made with him,
and wilt persevere in the path which He has marked out and which we
have commenced to tread, that we shall still be preserved, that we
shall still have our liberty, that our enemies will not have power to
disturb or interrupt us to any extent, or to bring down upon us those
evils which they have sought after so diligently.

vol. 24, p.141
I believe that the testimony of the servants of God concerning the
condition of the Saints in this Stake, and in other Stakes is true,
and that as a people the Latter-day Saints are striving to bye nearer
unto their God, and to put in practice more perfectly those holy
principles which He has revealed unto us. I believe there is more
diligence being manifested in the various Wards and throughout the
various Stakes than [p.142] has been manifested in the past. I believe
that there is a higher standard of life being sought after by the
Latter-day Saints. I believe that the Priesthood themselves are
seeking more diligently to carry out the counsels which God has given
and to set examples unto the people that they shall imitate, and I
know that the Spirit of God rests down upon His servants to make them
more rigid in the enforcement of the laws that God has revealed unto
us concerning the government of His church, so that there may be more
purity, a higher standard of purity enforced and maintained among us
than has been in the past.

vol. 24, p.142
We have had from the beginning of this work revelations given to us
concerning the lives that we should lead. We consider the Christian
world who have this Bible as their guide, very delinquent, because
they do not live up to the commandments which are herein contained,
because they come short of obeying the requirements that God has made
through the Gospel as contained in the Bible, the Old and New
Testament. But I often think of our own condition. We have in this
book, the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, which is the word of God to
us, a perfect law. Here are contained the requirements, here are
contained the ordinances that God requires this people, called
Latter-day Saints, to obey. Now, let me ask you, brethren of the
Priesthood, let me ask you, brethren and sisters of the Church, how
many of us who are here to-day live in accordance with the
requirements of God's word as contained in these revelations? I can
truthfully say that as a people we do not live up to the requirements
that God has made of us. I can truthfully say that as a people we do
not obey God's commands to us—the revelations which are contained in
this book, and which we receive as the word of God, not to a past
generation, not to a people who lived 1800 years ago, but the word of
God to us who live now and who constitute this Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints. This is our rule of life. This is the law for
our guidance. It is embodied in this book. And how many of us, I ask
again, live in conformity with it? How many of us have obeyed and do
obey the word of God as it is here revealed and as it is here printed
and given to us? And yet we condemn the sectarian world—all of us who
have gone forth to preach the everlasting Gospel—for not obeying God's
word given 1800 years ago, and have said that in consequence of this
the gifts and graces and the blessings of the Gospel have been
withheld from them. We have thus reasoned, we have thus proclaimed to
the people and said to them that the cause of the absence of the
gifts, the cause of the disappearance of the power, the cause of there
being no faith in the land among the children of men to receive the
blessings and the gifts of God, was to be found in the fact that they
had not obeyed the commandments of God as revealed to them, or as
revealed to the ancients rather, in the New Testament by the Son of
God. Yet, I believe, notwithstanding what I now say respecting us,
that there is a growing disposition among the people—I can feel it
myself among the Priesthood, and I believe it extends to the whole
body of the Church—a growing disposition to obey the word of God, as
it is given to us in its  plainness, in its simplicity and in its
fullness, and because of this [p.143] growing disposition God, having
mercy upon us in our weakness and in our infirmities, blesses us as He
does, and He saves us from our enemies. But you can readily perceive,
if you will reflect a few moments, how much the power of this Church
would be increased in the land and before the heavens if the
Latter-day Saints were all to obey the word of God as it is given to
us in His latter-day revelations. You can readily perceive how united
and strong a people we would be, and how much the heavens would be
moved in our behalf, the power that would be evoked and that would be
brought down to aid us and to deliver us if we only lived in strict
conformity to the words of God as they are contained in this book (the
Book of Doctrine and Covenants). Each man and each woman can
interrogate himself and herself upon this point. Each man can ask
himself in the light of the Holy Ghost, how near he comes to
fulfilling all the requirements which are here made, or how far he is
from arriving at that perfection which these revelations demand, and
each woman can do the same, and we can in this mirror of divine truth
look at ourselves in our true light and see our reflection by the
Spirit of God as it is revealed unto us in these revelations.

vol. 24, p.143
For one I know that I am far, individually, from coming up to this
perfection. Yet it has been the labor of my life to be a Latter-day
Saint. It has been the strongest wish of my heart all my days to be a
Latter-day Saint, to be a perfect man if I could be before the Lord.
Yet when I read these revelations; when I see the requirements which
God has made of us as a people, I bow myself before the Lord and
confess in His presence that I am far from being that which I should
be, and it may be said that the same is the case with the Church.

vol. 24, p.143
Now God designs that we shall be just such a people in every respect
as these revelations describe. God did not give us these revelations
in vain, they were not spoken idly, they were not given through the
prophet of God without a purpose. There was a design on the part of
God in giving them, and when you come even to the very weakest, it may
be said, of the revelations, or that which is the least obligatory
upon us, that which was given merely as a word of counsel—the Word of
Wisdom I refer to—we can judge of the rest by the manner in which that
is observed among us as a people—a matter which pertains to our bodily
life and health, and which is so simple that the weakest can receive
and obey it. There will be a people raised up, if we will not be that
people—there will yet be a people raised up whose lives will embody in
perfection the revelations contained in this book, who will live as
the doctrines here taught require, as the laws here revealed show unto
us, and they will be raised up, too, in this generation, and such a
people will have to be raised up before Zion can be fully redeemed,
and before the work of our God can be fully established in the earth.
In this book, as I have said, is the pattern of the Zion of God. Here
are embodied the doctrines, precepts, laws, ordinances,—everything in
fact that is necessary in order to make us a perfect people before the
Lord.

vol. 24, p.143
The perfection that we have arrived at to-day is due to these
revelations. The organization of this people is such as is not to be
witnessed anywhere else on the face of the earth. You may travel from
one [p.144] end of the land to the other; you may travel from the
equator to the poles, and in no land and among no people will you find
such an organization as that which we have in this land, or rather
that which belongs to this Church. And it is due to the fact, that God
gave commandments through His servant Joseph Smith, by which we have
been organized upon a principle and a platform that is superior to
anything known among men. There is nothing to equal it. This Church in
its organization is adapted to a branch, to a small handful of people.
It was well adapted to the condition of the six persons who composed
the Church on the 6th day of April, 1830. It is as well adapted to the
condition of the Saints to-day, covering hundreds of miles of
territory, as it was to the six persons who composed the Church at
that time. It will be as well adapted to the government and
organization of the people when the Church of Christ shall extend
itself throughout the earth, and when the whole people will become the
people of God, when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that
Jesus is the Christ—just as well adapted then as it is now. God
organized it; God has prepared the way for it; and when Zion is
organized properly, it will be found to be as admirably adapted to the
wants of the children of men as the organization of the Church is
today to the wants of the people. There will be nothing lacking. In
every particular it will be found adequate to the wants of humanity.
The evils under which mankind groan to-day, are attributable to the
false organization of society. The evils under which we groan as a
people and from which we suffer are  not due to any lack of knowledge
as  the method or the means that will  correct these evils, but they
are due to the fact that we ourselves fail to conform to the
organization which God has prescribed, which God has revealed.

vol. 24, p.144
I wish we could all understand this; but it is true, it is as true as
God lives, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is admirably adapted, in
fact, perfectly adapted to save man from every evil under which he
groans to-day. What has it done for us? Why, as far as it has gone it
has saved us; it has saved us from every evil so far as we have gone.
And as for adultery, to which allusion has been made, and fornication,
there are no people on the face of the earth that will be damned with
a greater damnation for that sin than we, if we be guilty of it. Why?
Because there is no necessity for it. The necessity that men may plead
as an extenuation for their practices with the opposite sex in the
world ceases to exist in the midst of the Latter-day Saints. What
necessity has any man to meddle with any woman that does not belong to
him? In other lands the laws make men adulterers in many instances.
That is a hard saying, but it is a true one. Men are driven by their
passions, very frequently, because of unjust laws, to commit crimes
that their souls revolt at. But is it so with us? No. God has given
unto us a more perfect law. He has commanded us to marry, all that can
marry; and there is no man among us that can plead that which others
may in a different state of society; no man can do that amongst us;
and therefore I say that those men and women among us who commit
adultery and fornication will be damned with a deeper damnation than
any other people, because there is  no necessity for it. If a man
wants a wife he can get one among the Latter-day [p.145] Saints. You
organize society aright, as God contemplated in these revelations, and
those evils under which we now groan—this dishonesty and this
disposition to take advantage of each other—will be done away with.
God has devised a plan and has revealed it, that in its operations
will relieve mankind from those evils and the commission of those sins
to which they are now subject. When we are organized properly theft
will cease among us, for the temptation to steal will be removed.
Organize us properly, and the temptation to take advantage of our
neighbor will cease, because there will be no profit in it or
connected with it. And it is all contained in this book. God has
revealed it fifty years ago in plainness to this church, and we for
fifty years have been crawling along at our slow gait without obeying
the word of God, that is so plainly revealed, and that might relieve
us; if we did obey it, from all those evils.

vol. 24, p.145
Now, my view of the Gospel is, that when it is obeyed by mankind the
power of the devil will cease. That is my view respecting a part of
the power that will be brought to bear to bind Satan. Satan will be
bound because he will not have power over the hearts of the children
of men. Why? One reason will be because they will have obeyed the more
perfect law which will have relieved them from his power. You take the
majority of the Elders of this Church, who are faithful to the Gospel
of Jesus Christ, and Satan has but little or no power to tempt them to
commit adultery, to commit sin with their neighbor's wife or with the
opposite sex; they are to a great extent relieved from that, and so
far as that crime is concerned Satan has but little power to tempt
them, because they have obeyed a more perfect law. In the Gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ as God has revealed it unto us, there are laws
so perfect that when this people called Latter-day Saints shall obey
them they will be so far lifted up above the power of Satan that he
will have but little power to tempt them. But we never shall be
emancipated from the power of Satan until we do obey these laws of
God. An obedience thereto will bring emancipation to us and to every
human being on the face of the earth, and it is upon no other
principle that emancipation can be brought. It will not be as many
suppose by our being withdrawn, without volition on our part, from the
influences of Satan; but it will be by our obedience to the laws of
God, by our conforming to the requirements which He makes of us, by
our putting into practice all those higher laws which God has
revealed, and which He designs we shall practice. Any soul that is
waiting for some outward deliverance, waiting for some time to come
when by some extraneous means, and independent of our action and the
exercise of our agency, deliverance will be brought, he will wait in
vain, I am afraid. Not that I would convey the idea that God is not
going to help us, that God is not going to do it by His power; I would
not convey any such idea, because I know and you know that without
God's help all our efforts are powerless, and it is vain to seek to do
anything in and of ourselves; we cannot do it. Human nature is too
fallible to do anything of this kind; but we must exercise the powers
God has given to us by obeying His law, by conforming to His
requirements. In this way we will be emancipated through the blessing
and aid of God upon us, and in this way the earth will be redeemed
from the power of [p.146] Satan. The more people obey the laws of God,
as God has revealed them, and as they are embodied in the Gospel of
Jesus Christ, the nearer they approach unto God the more they become
like Him the more power they get over them selves and over the
adversary. I there could be a man or a community found who lived in
strict obedience to all the laws taught in this book [Doctrine and
Covenants] you would find almost a perfect people; yet would find a
people in the condition of the people of Enoch—that is they would be
approximating to that perfection which he and his city obtained, and
which caused them to be translated.

vol. 24, p.146
When God revealed the Gospel, He designed that we should obey these
laws. He taught us in the first place that it was necessary to have
faith in Jesus Christ, then to be baptized for the remission of sins,
then to have hands laid upon us for the reception of the Holy Ghost.
Then the people that were scattered were taught to gather out from the
nations of the earth. Every law that they obeyed brought salvation.
Every time they bowed in obedience to the requirements of God, they
brought, by their obedience, salvation to themselves and to their
families, so far as their families conformed to the requirements. When
they got to Zion, if they obeyed the law of tithing, it brought
salvation. And so with every other law that God has taught in the
revelations that have been given unto us, and the men, as I have said,
who have the most faithfully complied with those requirements have
emancipated themselves, through the blessing of God, the most
perfectly from the power of Satan. I look open the men and upon the
women who have entered into the new and everlasting covenant
concerning patriarchal marriage as being more advanced than their
brethren and sisters who have not obeyed that law. And if a community
were found who would enter upon the order of Enoch as God has revealed
it and who would hold themselves and their property subject to that
law, I should look upon them as still more in advance and still nearer
to that perfection which God designs to bring about in Zion among the
Latter-day Saints. It should be the aim of every man and every woman
in this Church to thus conform to the law and to the will of God,
because by so doing they bring salvation to themselves and to their
children, and if they persevere in doing so, God will bless them in
their efforts, and they will eventually be brought to live with Him
and to dwell in His presence, and to receive the exaltation and glory
that He has in store for them. Now, I have obeyed those laws thus far,
because I know they have these effects. I obey the Word of Wisdom—or
try to obey it—because I know it brings a blessing. And in like manner
I obeyed the ordinance of baptism; in like manner I submitted to have
hands laid upon me for the reception of the Holy Ghost; in like manner
I pay my tithing; in like manner I have gone on missions and done that
which God has required of me, because in each and every act of this
kind I knew that God intended to bring salvation to me if I would be
obedient. And I obeyed the doctrine of patriarchal marriage, upon the
same principle, because I knew that it was a principle of salvation
and of exaltation, and that if I would be exalted in the presence of
God I must obey  the law. So it will be with other laws which are yet
in the future, and which God [p.147] will reveal to us as we grow in
grace and in the knowledge of the truth. He will continue to give
revelation upon revelation, precept upon precept, and He will reveal
unto us more light and more knowledge and give unto us more power and
more of the gifts and graces of the Gospel as we become more perfect
in keeping, the laws He has already revealed.

vol. 24, p.147
It has been said—and I think all who have had any experience know that
it is true—that in families where the Word of Wisdom is obeyed there
is greater faith in administering the ordinances of the house of God
unto those who are sick. We have a Bishop in Salt Lake City who, I
believe, took an account of the number of those who were sick in his
Ward, and he brought a statement to the Presidents office to the
effect that in the families where the Word of Wisdom was strictly
observed fewer deaths had occurred than in families where the Word of
Wisdom was not observed. Diphtheria or some other disease was raging
at that time in the city, and in his ward in particular, and his mind
was turned to this matter, and after making inquiries he satisfied
himself that there were more cases of healing and restorations to
health through the administrations of the Elders by the laying on of
hands in families where the Word of Wisdom was observed than in
families where it was neglected, and that deaths were more frequent in
the latter.

vol. 24, p.147
[President Taylor: There were more died in the families where the Word
of Wisdom was observed.]

vol. 24, p.147
President Taylor says there were none died in the families where the
Word of Wisdom was observed. Is it not natural that this should be the
case? Have we not as Elders proclaimed to the world that the
sectarians do not have the gifts and graces of the gospel because they
do not keep the word of the Lord, do not keep the commandments of God?
Has not this been our testimony to the nations of the earth Yes, all
of us who have gone forth to proclaim the word have thus testified
time and time again. Will not that rule apply to us as a people?
Certainly it will. The men who obey the laws of God most perfectly,
and the women who do so, have the greatest faith, and God will bless
them in proportion to their faith; He will bless their families
according to their faith; the gifts of the Spirit will be manifested
more in their behalf than upon those who deliberately violate or are
careless concerning the word of God. This is certainly true. So it is
with every law that God has given. The nearer we approach unto God the
more perfect we live in accordance with the revelations He has given,
the more faith undoubtedly we will possess, the more God will hear us,
the nearer the heavens will draw to us, the more the heavens will be
opened to us to hear our cries and to answer our petitions. And, as I
have said, the day will come, if we obey the laws that God has given,
that Zion will be redeemed and the adversary will not have power over
us to tempt us, and try us, and to afflict us as he does at the
present time.

vol. 24, p.147
It may be thought I am enthusiastic in thus speaking, but I think I am
not; I do not think I am the least enthusiastic on this point—that is
more than I am warranted in being from that which God has said unto us
as a people. I do not expect any salvation or redemption for Zion upon
any other principle than this I speak of. I do not expect that Satan
will be bound in any other way. Of course God will [p.148] bring His
power to bear; He will do it. God will have the glory of it, because
it cannot be done by man. Man's power is insufficient to accomplish
it. It must be done by man's obedience, by man's submission to God's
law, by man's continually doing that which God commands him and
requires of him, and in this way alone can it be brought about.

vol. 24, p.148
It may be said, as has been said, that the seed of the righteous shall
multiply and increase in the land and possess the land. But supposing
we. do not marry, supposing we remain single, can that blessing be
brought about? In our case, certainly not. It requires obedience to
law on our part to bring about the fulfillment of that promise. We
must marry as a people. Men must take wives. The daughters of Eve must
marry the sons of Adam in order to bring about the fulfillment of that
promise. But supposing this people were to refuse to marry, neither
this prophecy nor promise could be fulfilled through them; it would
have to be fulfilled through some other people. Obedience is necessary
on the part of the people to bring about the fulfillment of this
prediction, and so also respecting the binding of Satan. God bestows
the gifts and graces of the Gospel according to their obedience, and
it should be the aim of every man in this Church not to rest satisfied
with his own condition until he has bowed in obedience to the laws of
God. If a man had but one wife, and the Spirit of God moved upon him
to take more than one, should he refuse to obey the promptings of God
in that respect? Not to gratify lust, not to gratify any improper
passion, but to obey the law of God, because if he did not obey that
he could not receive the blessing. So with all the laws in this book
which are yet unfulfilled. If there be a law that we have not
fulfilled, it should be the aim of every individual in this Church to
prepare himself to fulfill that law as fast as he can. I look upon
this as an obligation devolving upon every man, woman and child in
Zion; not upon the First Presidency alone, not upon the Twelve alone,
not upon the Presidents of Stakes alone, not upon the High Councilors
alone, but upon every man and every woman in the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints; going on from the first principles to
perfection, carrying out in our lives all the laws that God has
revealed to us, until Zion shall be fully redeemed, and the way be
prepared for the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

vol. 24, p.148
It is very wonderful to me what God has done and is doing with us as a
people. When I look at this work; when I contemplate how the Prophet
Joseph commenced it and how it has grown; when I see this immense
congregation assembled here this morning, I cannot help thinking that
if the Prophet had lived to behold such a scene, his heart would have
been filled with gladness. There has been no word, no promise given
unto us by the servants of God from the beginning that has not been
thus far fulfilled, and the remainder will be fulfilled. God is
carrying forward this work with an irresistible power, and those who
will not obey the law of God will be left behind. This is an awful
thought to me, there is something awful in the reflection. When I read
the history of the Church and see the names of many men who have been
prominent in it, I ask myself, where are these men to-day? Where is
their posterity [p.149] to-day? Men who in their day and generation
were mighty in this work, who helped to establish it, who helped to
spread it. And they have disappeared. Their names are lost from among
the Saints of God. Their families have disappeared—gone into oblivion.
When I think of it the thought is almost too awful to contemplate—the
idea of being lost in connection with this work, this work in which
all our hopes are centered, and which is dearer to us than life. Who
is there among us to-day, who has the Spirit of God, who would not
rather be taken out and shot on this public square than lose the
spirit of this work, than be separated from the church and lost to all
hope, all the promises, and all the glorious prospects of our
salvation and redemption? Why, it is the most awful thought I can
contemplate. The thought of it fills the soul with horror. But there
is only one way in which we can remain connected with this Church, and
that is by keeping step with it, by marching onward, obeying the
counsel that God gives through His servants, and by being pure in all
our thoughts, in all our words, and in all our actions. In no other
way can any human being—however great his attainments, however great
the blessings he may have received, however great the promises which
have been given unto him—ever remain connected with this work.

vol. 24, p.149
Therefore, let us be obedient. Let us correct our lives if we are in
fault. Let us repent of our sins and put them far from us. If we have
sinned let us humble ourselves before God, and in the very depths of
humility ask forgiveness of our transgressions, and let us lay
ourselves and all we have—everything that God has given to us, every
faculty of our mind, every power of our body, everything that God has
placed within our control, all the property and everything that he has
placed in our stewardship—let us hold all subject to His will and to
His counsel, willing to go, willing to come, willing to give, willing
to withhold, willing to do everything that God requires of us with
glad hearts, for in doing so we secure unto ourselves our salvation
and exaltation.

vol. 24, p.149
My brethren and sisters, you who have tasted of this precious word of
God; you whose souls have been filled with the Holy Ghost; you who
have felt its joy; its peace, and the glorious feelings that it
produces in the human heart—would you forego this for anything else
upon the face of the earth? Would you exchange it for anything else?
No, you would not. You have seen the time—every one of you who have
had the Holy Ghost resting down upon you—when you have felt as though
you would rather part with your lives than you would part with that
spirit.

vol. 24, p.149
Well, now, be entreated of me, a humble servant of God, this morning,
to repent of your sins and put them away from you; repent truly and
sincerely of, your follies, hardness of heart, rebellion,
stubbornness—repent, I say, in the name of Jesus, and bow yourselves
before Him, and entreat Him for the outpourings of His Holy Spirit
until your hearts are filled therewith and you have received a
forgiveness of your sins. And then when you have done that, go
forward, seeking diligently to comply with all the requirements of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ, as it has been revealed unto us, until we
shall be brought back into the presence of our God and be crowned with
glory, immortality and eternal lives, which I ask in behalf of all, in
the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. [p.150]

Joseph F. Smith, December 3, 1882

Interest in the Work of God—Faith in the Destiny of the
People—"Mormonism" a "Knotty Problem"—No Freedom for 
the Saints—Good Effect of Sifting—Growth of theKingdom—
Commandments to the Saints—Travels of the Saints 
Compared With Journeyings of Ancient Israel—
Inspiration of President Young.

Delivered in the Tabernacle, Provo City, Sunday 
Afternoon, December 3, 1882.

(Reported By John Irvine)

vol. 24, p.150
I am deeply interested in the welfare of Zion. There is nothing that
tends to benefit the people of God in the least degree in which I have
not a deep and abiding interest. My feelings and desires are
interwoven and centered in this latter-day work. I should have no
other interest, desire, or feeling, and so far as I know I have not. I
am thankful for this, because it does not seem to me to be any task to
do, so far as I am capable, whatever the Lord calls me to do in the
work of the ministry, or in the building up of Zion. I am proud to say
this comes natural to me. I have no praise to bestow upon myself for
it, and I ask none. I have no credit to claim on that score. I have
this disposition and desire and I thank God for it. I feel that if
Zion prospers all is well, and if Zion does not prosper, then my own
happiness and prosperity is in jeopardy. For I expect nothing outside
of the Gospel. I expect to gain no favors of the world. I do not court
nor expect the love or sympathy of the ungodly. I do not care for
their favor. I do not seek nor desire their society any further than
it may be possible to do some good. If I am sent to preach the Gospel
to them I am willing to go and labor among them and do all the good I
can; but when I get through with the labor that devolves upon me, by
virtue of that calling and appointment, I feel—and I speak from
experience when I say this—like other missionaries, most grateful for
the privilege of getting home. I never was particularly pleased to go
away. I went on a mission when I was quite a boy—some 25 years ago—and
I have been engaged in missionary duties and labors more or less ever
since. I have never been out of the harness, nor laid my armor on the
shelf, nor have I sought to be released from that day to this. I have
always been on the altar, so to speak, ready and willing to do
whatever is required of me to the best of my ability. I am just as
willing to-day as I ever was in my life. I expect to become more and
more willing as I gain experience, as I get older—that is, if it is
possible to advance in that direction, and I presume it is.

vol. 24, p.150
I have great faith in the destiny, of this people. I never had any
doubts or fears in regard to the destiny  and final triumph of the
people [p.151] of God. I can remember the time when I was quite a
little boy, when we were hurried very unceremoniously across the river
Mississippi from the city of Nauvoo just previous to the bombardment
of the town by the mob. I had a great anxiety then—that is for a
child—to know where on earth we were going to. I knew we had left
home. We had left it willingly—because we were obliged to—we left it
in a hurry, and we were not far away when we heard the cannonade on
the other side of the river; but I felt just as certain in my mind
then—as certain as a child could feel—that all was right, that the
Lord's hand was in it, as I do today. My feelings have been the same
from that day to this. I know that Zion is onward and upward. I know
that God has charge of His great latter-day work; that His hand is
extended over His people for good; that He will work out their
deliverance; that He will bless them and increase them upon this land
until they shall become powerful and terrible to the wicked nations of
the earth. We are now, it would appear, becoming troublesome to the
nation of which we form a part, so much so that one of the greatest
men of the nation, feeling unable to deal with this question of
"Mormonism," this "knotty problem," actually called upon the
government of Great Britain to help to stop the progress of this work.
You know what Secretary Evarts did a few years ago—he actually
appealed to the several European governments to pass laws, or do
something else to prevent the "Mormons" coming from their respective
countries to this "asylum for the oppressed, this land of liberty." I
am happy to say, however, that the wisdom exercised and manifested by
some of the notable ones of Great Britain was greater than that
exercised by some of the notable ones in our own land. They had sense
enough to know that they had no business to deal with any such
question, and they rather snubbed the poor deluded Secretary, and
through him the Government of the United States, by telling them that
it was a matter over which they had no control. There—in the "effete
governments of the old world"—a man might worship God, the devil, or a
yellow dog, and it would be all right; but in the United States—the
much-vaunted "land of liberty"—while a man might worship the devil, or
a yellow dog, he must look out and be very chary how he undertakes to
worship the true and living God; for if he undertakes that he will
have trouble on hand the first thing he knows. The Methodists may
worship aged without body, parts or passions, who sits on the top of a
topless throne, and the Government will say nothing about it; but as
sure as you undertake to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
Jesus and the Apostles, they are after you with "sharp sticks" in the
shape of inimical laws, unconstitutional enactments, missionary
judges, governors, marshals, etc. We have proven this, and we know it
is true. It is not because we have not the truth; it is not because we
have not revelation; it is not because we have not Prophets, Apostles,
and inspired men; it is not because we have not the Priesthood;
because if we had not these we would be like the rest of the world,
and they would be no more concerned about us than we are concerned
about them. Why are they not as troubled over the rest of mankind as
they are over us? Simply because they have nothing to fear from them;
they are all sailing [p.152] in the same boat, all going down the same
stream; they are all "birds of a feather," if you please. But here is
something that is opposed to that downward tendency; here is something
that is going up the stream, something that is going in an entirely
different direction from the rest of mankind. And they howl about it,
and say, "If we let this kind of thing go on we shall lose our place
and nation." Something has got to be done, they say, to stop the
onward progress of this abominable "Mormonism." Now, mark it—this
abominable "Mormonism!" If a man is a thief in Utah, it is because he
is a "Mormon." If he is a liar, it is because he is a "Mormon." If he
commits adultery, it is because he is a "Mormon." If he commits
murder, it is because he is a "Mormon." It is not because he is an
adulterer; it is not because he is a murderer; it is not because he is
a liar; it is not because he is a thief, that he does these things,
but it is because he is a "Mormon!" Now, why is this? Is it because
the world do not know to the contrary No, it is not, for they they do
know better—that is. the great majority of mankind that know anything
about us. I acknowledge that there are a great many in the world who
do not know anything about us; they simply believe the slanders of a
few malicious scriblers concerning us. But it is not the ignorant and
deceived that are seeking to bring trouble upon this people, but the
crafty, whose crafts are in danger. They cry out, "delusion!
delusion!" in order to distract attention from their own delusions,
from their own sins and corruptions. They try to scare the people away
from their own infamies, and turn them upon the Latter-day Saints. But
it is a poor miserable dodge and will not succeed. Their crafts are
not only in danger, but they are doomed to fall. But the truth is not
in danger, and it is destined to continue until it accomplishes its
mission. This is my testimony, and I predict this without any fear of
being a false prophet. I do not fear to prophesy this, because the
Lord God Almighty has foretold it. God has declared it by his own
voice, and by the voice of angels, and of Prophets, and I believe
their testimony. I know by the Spirit of God in my own heart that
their testimony is true; I know that the kingdom of God will succeed
and finally triumph. While I say this, I do not say we will not have
to pass through tribulation, that we may not have to be scourged for
our weaknesses, follies and shortcomings; for I do not know any more
effectual way in which the Lord could bring us to our senses, that the
chaff, the smut and the refuse may be sifted out and the wheat
preserved, than to suffer to be scattered among us the influences of
the world, the leaven of unrighteousness, that that which is no part
of the body of Christ may be separated and the good perfected,
cleansed and purified. Those who are corrupt do not belong to the body
of Christ's Church; it is only that which is pure and holy that can
have a part therein. We have all got to he fashioned, modelled and
reformed, before we can become like unto our Savior. A man who is
deformed by iniquity, lack of faith, by wicked and unrighteous
practices, can never reflect the image of his Creator, until that
deformity is removed. We must purify ourselves before God, and this is
what the Gospel of the Son of God—by some called "Mormonism"—teaches
us to do. We say that  "Mormonism" is onward and upward, and as I have
said, I have never had any fears as [p.153] to the ultimate triumph of
the kingdom of God. Upon what are our hopes based? What is the
foundation of our expectation in regard to this matter? Is it that all
the people will do right? Do we expect or hope that all the people
will be saved with a full salvation? Do we expect or hope that all the
people that are now numbered among the Latter-day Saints will be true
and faithful to the end? No; we may justly fear that many will fall by
the way. But there will always be a sufficient number of this people,
and of their children and children's children, and of the honest in
heart who are at present in darkness but who will yet come to a
knowledge of the truth, who will be sufficiently faithful to the
covenants that they make with God, that the Kingdom will never fall or
be left to another people. I judge this from the history of the past.
It has been so from the beginning until now, and this is a glorious
assurance to me, besides the testimony of the Holy Spirit in my heart,
that this will be the case in the future. Notwithstanding many have
fallen by the way and have manifested intense hatred towards the work
of God in which they were formerly engaged, and have done their utmost
to destroy it, notwithstanding all opposition of this character, the
Kingdom has grown steadily and unmistakably from the day it was
organized, April 6th, 1830, until the present moment, and it will
never cease to grow. We may be brought under affliction, if not under
bondage. Now for my own part I do not care to be brought under greater
bondage than I am under at the present time. I feel in my heart as
though I was under as much bondage as I care to bear with out some
more help from the Lord and from my brethren. When I am restrained by
unjust laws or bills of attainder from exercising the rights of
citizenship, from worshipping God according to the dictates of my own
conscience, and openly practicing the principles of my religion, which
are in strict accord with the holy Scriptures, the Bible; when I am
legislated against contrary to the constitutional law of the land, and
my rights interfered with and trampled upon without a cause, I feel
that is about as much bondage as a free born American citizen, never
convicted of any crime, ought to submit to. That is the case at
present to a certain extent; but we are not yet very much hurt. It
cools our affections a little for "Uncle Sam," or the administrators
of government, but draws us nearer to God and closer to the precious
principles of the Constitution, and excites our sympathy for our
misruled country. But all the powerful engines that have been framed
for the destruction of the liberties of the Latter-day Saints have
hitherto proven in the main failures. The framers of these engines of
destruction, and base plots, have not been able to accomplish by them
the objects for which they were intended. In consequence of this, our
enemies are dissatisfied with themselves and with the Government
because of their failures. It is not because we have opposed them; it
is not because we have used any violence; it is not because we have
resisted any wicked and corrupt law, for we have said but little; we
have simply let them do as they pleased, knowing that they are in the
hands of the Lord, who will suffer them to go just as far as will
subserve His purposes, and when they have gone that far He will say to
them, as He says to the mighty deep, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no
farther and here shall [p.154] thy proud waves be stayed." They can go
no further than He permits them, and inasmuch as we do right and keep
the commandments of God, we need have no fear; but if we play into
their hands, cater to them, encourage them, and give them of our
strength and support, then we may some day expect to be caught in
their meshes, for as Paul says: "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield
yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey."
When we become servants of the enemies of the people of God, we will
find we have got unmerciful masters. We have come to these mountains
to serve the Lord. We have not come here to serve ourselves, nor to
serve man, nor to serve Babylon. The voice of God has been to us,
"Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and
that ye receive not of her plagues." And, furthermore, it is said, "Be
ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship
hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what concord hath Christ
with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And
what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the
temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and
walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
This is the call that is made upon the Latter-day Saints. Now what
will it avail us if we come out from Babylon and bring the customs of
Babylon with us? What will it avail us if we come out from among the
nations of the earth and mingle with the ungodly, the infidel, worship
idols, and do all manner of evils? What good will it do? I can tell
you what harm it will do. It will just add that much more condemnation
to those who have been called to be not unequally yoked with
unbelievers, etc.; they will be held that much more culpable before
the Lord; "for unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be
required; and to whom the Lord has committed much, of him will men ask
the more." We know what is good, and if we do it not, we then are
guilty of sin. Much has been given unto us, therefore much is required
at our hands. If our righteousness exceeds not the righteousness of
the modern Pharisees and Scribes, what better are we than they? We are
called to be the salt of the earth. What say the Scriptures? "If the
salt shall lose its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? The salt
shall thenceforth be good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be
trodden under foot of men. I give unto you to be the light of the
world; a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.  Therefore, let
your light so shine before this world, that they may see your good
works." That is our calling. We are not called to be infidel to the
work God has commenced upon the earth, to be infidel to the truths He
has revealed unto us, but we have been called out from the midst of
the earth that we may be the servants of the Lord, that we may be His
chosen people, that we may raise up a righteous people, and that we
may so live that God will acknowledge and own us, and that we may
claim Him to be our Father and our God.

vol. 24, p.154
When we came out here we came out from the midst of bondage and very
much oppression and tyranny. Some of the brethren were talking to us
yesterday about bondage; and it is said in the revelation that "ye
must needs be led out of bondage by power, and with a stretched out
arm."

vol. 24, p.155
[p.155] Now, the Lord also promised that He would raise up a man that
should lead the people out of bondage; and, further, He promised that
when He should raise up that man His angels should go before them and
also His presence, not as it was in the days of the children of Israel
in the wilderness, when His angel went up before them, but not His
presence; but in the last days the Spirit of God and the angels shall
go before the people and shall follow after them.

vol. 24, p.155
There are some wonderful events to transpire in the future, but one of
the most wonderful events has already transpired, but that event, I
suppose, like that witnessed by the children of Israel in the dividing
of the waters of the Red Sea and their pilgrimage to Canaan, will be
left to other generations to appreciate. I do not think that the
children of Israel thought a great deal about their crossing the Red
Sea in the way they did. Perhaps they thought it was done upon natural
principles. They probably attributed the separation of the waters to
some natural causes, and failed to see the hand or power of God in it
any more than the people of Missouri, in 1878, saw the power of God in
a cyclone there, which was so powerful that it lifted the water and
mud out of a large lake in its course clean to the solid ground or bed
rock, leaving a dry pathway from shore to shore about a quarter of a
mile wide, carrying away and scattering thousands of fish over the
country for miles away, and it was some little time before the water
flowed back to its level in the lake. This was accounted for, I
suppose, on scientific principles. It was the power of this electric
storm that raised the water out of the lake, swept it clean to bed
rock, carrying everything before it, and leaving a path upon which
people could walk dry shod! They do not think God had any thing to do
with it. But by and by their children may think the power of God was
manifested even in this. Doubtless the children of Israel learned to
thank God for dividing the waters of the Red Sea and allowing them to
pass through dry shod, while the Egyptians who were pursuing them were
drowned.

vol. 24, p.155
A wonderful event has occurred in these last days among this people,
an event many times more wonderful than the marching of the children
of Israel from Egypt to the holy land. It is only a short distance
from the River Jordan to the land of Egypt—only a few hundred
miles—and yet they wandered about for forty years seeking the goodly
land, until every last one of them, except two, had fallen asleep
because of their rebellious spirit, and. only their posterity were
permitted. to enter the holy land. Now, what has happened in this
dispensation? This people have crossed deserts that are beyond
comparison with those traversed by the children of Israel. They were
not fed by manna it is true, although they were fed with quails in
great abundance on at least one occasion, and they performed a journey
nearly four times as great as that performed by the children of
Israel—which occupied them forty years—in the course of a few months.
Now this was a wonderful thing. We had to make the roads, build the
bridges, "kill the snakes" and withstand the attacks. of the Indians
while crossing the trackless deserts. And when President Young first
set his foot upon the ground where the Temple now stands in Salt Lake
City, by the testimony of the spirit of God that was in his heart, by
the inspiration [p.156] of the Almighty, he exclaimed to the pioneers:
"Here we will make our resting place, and here is the spot upon which
we will build the Temple." He had before seen an ensign descend and
light upon the mountain peak which is now called from that
circumstance "Ensign Peak"—which was an indication to him that this
was the resting place God designed for His people. God led this people
from the midst of their persecutors, delivered them from prison bars
and lettering chains, delivered them from bondage, brought them out
here and made them free—as free as any people upon the earth. I am at
the defiance of the world to-day, to show me an equal number of people
any where that enjoy greater freedom or liberty at this moment than
the Latter-day Saints do, notwithstanding the efforts of our enemies
to the contrary. It cannot be done. We were led out of bondage by the
power of God. The angels of God and the power and presence of the
Almighty accompanied us, so much so that notwithstanding the country
was covered with sagebrush and crickets, presenting the most
forbidding appearance President Young was enabled to point out where
the Temple and city would be built. He said: "You may go north and
south, east and west, and explore the country all over, but when you
have done it, you will come back and say that this is the spot where
we are to settle." And that has been the universal experience and
unwavering testimony of the people that have enjoyed the spirit of
their religion from that day to this. There is no where between here
and the Pacific coast, no where between the frozen zone in the north
and Old Mexico in the south, where this people could enjoy more
liberty or prosper better than we have done and do in the midst of
these mountains. Over thirty years experience has proven this beyond
the possibility of doubt, and this is an evidence that those who led
the people were inspired of God, inspired to teach, inspired to build,
inspired to cultivate and reclaim these deserts, inspired to dedicate
the land and the waters unto the Lord, that they might have His
blessing poured out upon them, that they might be changed from
sterility to abundant fruitfulness, and this the Lord has done for the
people.

vol. 24, p.156
Now, it is quite possible that the Lord will raise up somebody in the
future who will be powerful and mighty to lead the people to rebuild
the waste places of Zion, but when He does, the power of God which has
been manifested in the leading of this people in the past will not be
forgotten nor despised, but will be more apparent to future
generations than to this, and will be regarded quite as remarkable and
as wonderful as anything that will occur in the future to them that
participate in the scene. When God leads the people back to Jackson
County, how will he do it? Let me picture to you how some of us may be
gathered and led to Jackson County. I think I see two or three hundred
thousand people wending their way across the great plain enduring the
nameless hardships of the journey, herding and guarding their cattle
by day and by night, and defending themselves and little ones from
foes on the right hand and on the left, as when they came here. They
will find the journey back to Jackson County will be as real as when
they came out here. Now, mark it. And though you may be led by the
power of God "with a  stretched out arm," it will not be more manifest
than the [p.157] leading the people out here to those that participate
in it. They will think there are a great many hardships to endure in
this manifestation of the power of God, and it will be left, perhaps
to their children to see the glory of their deliverance, just as it is
left for us to see the glory of our former deliverance from the hands
of those that sought to destroy us. This is one way to look at it. It
is certainly a practical view. Some might ask, what will become of the
railroads? I fear that the sifting process would be insufficient were
we to travel by railroads. We are apt to overlook the manifestations
of the power of God to us because we are participators in them, and
regard them as commonplace events. But when it is written in
history—as it will be written—it will be shown forth to future
generations as one of the most marvelous, unexampled and unprecedented
accomplishments that has ever been known to history.

vol. 24, p.157
I believe with all my heart that President Brigham Young was a man
mighty and strong whom God Almighty raised up to lead this people out
of bondage. What do you believe about it? And I believe He did it by
the power of God and the help of his brethren. I know that he did it,
and I know since that event that this people have been comparatively,
to a great extent, free from malicious courts, from imprisonments,
from chains and fetters, from mobocracy, and from injury by
persecution, and they have thriven, prospered, multiplied, built and
inhabited, planted and reaped the fruits of their labors and rejoiced
in them ever since. And we have never been in bondage since, and we
need not have been under what bondage we are if we had only done our
duty, kept the commandments of the Lord, followed the counsels of His
servants implicitly and without doubt in our minds, we would have been
as free to-day as we were the moment we set foot in these valleys.

vol. 24, p.157
This is my testimony in relation to this matter. God has led His
people out of bondage, and he has given them these strong mountain
fastnesses for an inheritance. This will be a land of Zion unto us. We
shall rejoice in it and prosper exceedingly, if we continue to do our
duty. Amen. [p.158]

Erastus Snow, June 24, 1883

Leaders of the Church Inspired—Man's Free Agency—True
Independence—Joseph Smith on Church Government—Fallen 
Condition of Mankind—God's Promise to Abraham—New and 
Everlasting Covenant—Difference Between Salvation and
Exaltation—Testimony in Regard to Plural Marriage—
Political Crisis—Why the Saints Are Opposed.

Delivered at the Quarterly Conference, Parowan, 
Sunday Afternoon, June 24th, 1883.

(Reported By John Irvine)

vol. 24, p.158
I want to say to the young men and the young ladies and to all the
people—but especially our children the youths in Israel—that the
leaders of this people do not speak of themselves. That which they are
striving to impress upon the people is of the Lord and not of man. The
Latter-day Saints have not been gathered from the different nations of
the earth, and brought together in these mountains to worship man, nor
to serve man, to be their slaves, nor to be obedient unto man, and if
anybody has such an idea or intention they have got hold of the wrong
people. The people who are gathered here are not the people calculated
to do such a thing. The faith we teach throws everybody upon their own
responsibility; they are at liberty to act and choose for themselves,
and all will be held responsible before God for their faith and
conduct. The free agency of man is and always has been a prominent
doctrine in this Church, and no one advocated it more strongly than
the Prophet Joseph Smith. The free agency of man is inseparably
connected with intelligence, as the revelations of God in the Doctrine
and Covenants plainly and explicitly declare, that all intelligence is
independent. Without this agency there would be no self-existence. And
because of this agency, which existed in eternity before the worlds
were, with intelligent beings, with our spirits when they existed in
the spirit world—through the exercise of this agency Satan fell, and
all those who clung to him and rebelled against our Heavenly Father.
Brother Cannon has impressed us with the idea that obedience to
correct principle, believing in the truth and living it and obeying
it, is as good an evidence of independent thought and character—and
perhaps a little more so—than to be disobedient; that no man, woman or
child will be more independent by rejecting the truth, by disobeying
correct laws and correct principles, than those who receive and obey
the truth with contrite hearts. Now, what say you, you must all judge
for yourselves, and choose what you will be. My experience and
observation of the Latter-day Saints is that they are the hardest
people I know anything about to either drive or lead in a  wrong
[p.159] direction. Brother Cannon speaks of President Young and
President Taylor, and other good men, our leaders, being led, as it
were, by a hair in obedience to the Priesthood, which implies simply
obedience to truth and to correct doctrine, and to righteousness. This
is the explanation the Prophet Joseph Smith gave to a certain lawyer
in his time who came to see him and his people and expressed
astonishment and surprise at the ease with which he controlled the
people, and said it was something that was not to be found among the
learned men of the world. Said he: "We cannot do it. What is the
secret of your success?" "Why," said the Prophet, "I do not govern the
people. I teach them correct principles and they govern themselves." I
have been young, now I am getting old and expect to pass away soon, as
well as all those who have been for many years before the people
serving the Lord, and laboring to promote the welfare of the people;
but from my youth up I have observed the dealings of God with the
Latter-day Saints. I am pretty well acquainted with them. They are
pretty well acquainted with their leaders. They are pretty well
acquainted with the voice of truth, and they know it when they hear it
as a rule—that is, all those who are humble and prayerful and who love
the truth and the voice of the good Shepherd, they know it when they
hear it, and when principles are taught that are good, that come from
God, they comprehend them and receive them. But as Paul said in one of
his epistles to the ancient Saints: "There is a law in our members,
warring against the law of the spirit and bringing our bodies into
bondage to the law of sin and death." That is, the lusts and desires
of the flesh and the pride of life which we have to war against. And
this warfare commences as soon as we begin to grow up to maturity. It
is this that lays the foundation for rebellion. As soon as this begins
to manifest itself in us, in our youth, so soon we need to begin to
curb it. And here comes in the duty of parents in their Priesthood and
calling, to watch over those children that are given them of the Lord,
which are lent to them for a season. It is required of them to teach
those children the law of the Lord and the ways of the righteous, and
to restrain them from passions, from anger, from strife, from
contention, from envy, from jealousy, from disobedience; to impress
them with the necessity of doing right and repenting of wrong whenever
they do it, that they may hold in check the passions that are common
to our nature; and to show them how to enjoy all that the Lord has
designed for our happiness in this world and our exaltation in the
next without excess, without allowing our tabernacles to be used as
instruments of sin and wickedness.

vol. 24, p.159
We have heard during this conference—and especially this forenoon from
President Taylor—some very important principles advanced for our
government, as individuals and as communities, principles which we are
to observe and which are essential to our purity and progress as a
people, and as individuals, and our exaltation in the eternal world.
For the law of the Lord is strict unto those who are instructed and
have opportunities to observe it, and far more so with us as
Latter-day Saints than with the Gentile world. The Lord will make
greater allowance for the Gentile world than He will for us, and He
has had [p.160] compassion upon us and made greater allowance for us
in the days of our ignorance than He will do for us in the future; for
He expects us as a people to profit by our experience and our
instruction and the opportunities affo